Somatic Exercise Movements help people to move well.
Somatic Exercise Movements are a gentle, safe, and dramatically effective way of eliminating pain and increasing movement and flexibility. They are an inexpensive way to begin to learn to take back control of your muscles so you can get rid of your pain – for yourself. By learning to self-monitor, by understanding what muscles do and feel like when they move, you can self-correct. This has been proved time and again by class members, and people who have done 1:1 sessions get themselves out of pulled muscles, aching backs whilst gardening - then going on to finish the job, or the day.... whilst giving energy, or the ability to move more freely for others. For me – life-giving and it settled my body that had reacted very badly to some treatment sessions with other therapists - I can maintain movement in my body, which enables me to do what I want to do in life.
They help release SMA (Sensory Motor Amnesia), which builds up through muscles becoming so habitually contracted that the sensory signals no longer feedback - and all that is felt is pain and nothing else - nor can being in a different state e.g. freedom be imagined. By learning how to do the movements slowly and gently (so as not to cause a further ouch and tighten the muscles more).... learning how Pandiculating a muscle is so much more effective than stretching - which can cause even more pain to already painful muscles... the muscles and body can be slowly released back to neutral.
The story doesn't stop there though because movement is so subconscious and automatic, learnt through repetition (think babies learning to walk, driving lessons, learning to ride a bike).... that once muscles have become contracted, constrictive, habituated in their patterns of movement - they only know how to move from "that" place - and so when the muscles are released the body needs to learn a new/different pattern of movement too - or they will just go back to their "old pattern". The more the body learns to be in its released neutral state - the more it will learn to move with freedom and ease and recognise that the old pattern isn't comfortable or pleasant and going back there is not an option. If I put my shoulders towards my ears now - they just find their way back down again - staying up is not an option now they have learned to be lower - I too can recognise and feel the difference, so able to self-monitor and know the movements to do to fully release them if they appear to be getting stuck there again. Recognition and awareness mean I can take back control of what my body does subconsciously.
SEM are not standard exercises, but done in a very specific way, slowly, lazily, and gently contracting the muscles - like you are having a yawn.... and then slowly release the muscle out again. If you pull a knot in a chain, it only serves to tighten it....work into it and you are more able to ease it out, bit like dropping a stitch in knitting - you have to go into draw it out again.... or add traction to a screw to be able to undo it.
They are an excellent complement to any workout, yoga practice or athletic activity because they free up constriction in the muscles and allow them to move freely – making your exercise of choice even more effective (think about being able to rotate your trunk more freely in golf and how much more powerful your swing will be; same with tennis - learn how to release tight / constricted chest muscles and you will be able to add more power to your swing in hitting the tennis ball). You might find the videos below interesting!
SEM sessions can be 1:1 in person, online; or class/workshop-based sessions. They are also given to be done at home for yourself – to help yourself improve and/or maintain your flexibility and mobility on an ongoing basis.
How Our Unconscious Habits of a Lifetime can create our Historical Limitations
So, what these pictures are showing is what happens to muscles when “life happens”.
When we are born, we generally (unless something goes wrong) have full use of our muscles... and as we grow, they grow. However life doesn't always go smoothly... life “happens”; “Stuff” happens ... accident happens, and on an impact or jolt the muscles “ouch” and recoil;
They can do this too at a negative – brought up in a negative environment or bullied with negative words that stick – the body recoils from that too – although the tendency here is for the body to go into protective mode – curling inwards; or sometimes we just tense up because our muscles/bodies react subconsciously to stressors or we hug ourselves against the cold or huddled over the steering wheel as we dash about ....... life happens – and the muscles just forget that they have the ability to release and let go .... and they stay in a contracted state – what we call a “holding pattern”.
To be able to keep going and moving, the body then learns to adapt its patterns of movement to accommodate the “holding” pattern, and it sets up compensatory patterns of movement, which over time through repetition it adopts as its new “normal state of being”; and so we are left with a smaller range of movement (the red line area in the diagram is the contracted "life happenings" the green line area shows the reduced range of movement and what the body eventually imagines to be 100% but is actually a smaller range of movement due to the contracted muscles).
People also think that their muscles are weak – or it's due to the ageing process, but that isn't so – if the muscles were weak, they wouldn't be able to maintain the contracted state – they are weak in effect because there is less muscle being used, and so less powerful....(which is very different!). They (muscles) are also in a shortened state too – hence the smaller range of movement... so your reach is less, your mobility is reduced – as is your circulation etc. your skeletal system (bones) can be pulled out of place and alignment too – that is not an aging process, muscles are functional, and they have just plain and simply forgotten to release themselves back to neutral.
Can you get out of it? For sure, yes! Teach the muscle to relax, switch off and fully release and you can reset the muscle back to its natural neutral state... you also regain the energy that the muscle has been using up to “hold it” in that contracted state – release the muscle and you regain that energy too! And the freedom is amazing! The energy is amazing......
But that is only half the picture – because the body learns movement by repetition.... and the new feels alien, and the body isn't used to being in the "new" place.... it is so easy for the muscles to revert back to a contracted state and to its old, habituated ways of moving again – that's why people come back to me with the same recurring issues ...........but perseverance pays off – and your body can regain – and maintain its freedom to move well – for life!!
Some comments made after each movement in Workshops
In the 1st picture the comments in black are after the first movement we do; In the 2nd picture the comments in red are after the first movement.
Body work massage - NO HANDS®
I call myself a Bodyworker rather than a massage therapist (although I am trained to advanced massage levels), because I work on relaxing the muscles over a much bigger area and not just the area the client thinks is causing the problem. Sometimes pain in the legs could be generated in the lower back and hips; neck or arm pain from the upper back; abdominal discomfort connected to lower back issues, and vice versa.
Everything is connected and reacts, so it is better to work on a combination of areas rather than just where you think the pain is coming from...e.g., not just a back and neck massage. I also work with the touch and the feel of the muscles. When I am doing a massage, I am connecting with my client sometimes working deep, sometimes light; sometimes fast, sometimes slow or still. I tune into how the muscles feel and how they react or respond to the massage touch. By connecting with clients in this way it turns massage treatments into something more profound than "just a relaxing massage".
Each treatment is tailored to meet your needs at the time of each massage. Massage need not always be about releasing tight tense muscles, or relaxing and falling asleep, it can also help to balance moods, depleted or hyper energy levels, leave you feeling awake and alert instead of the usual chilled and half-asleep feeling, whilst also bringing you into a state of inner peace and calm. So, I work in a slightly different way to standard massage styles. It also means I can tailor the treatment to suit your needs at the time of the massage, with no two massage treatments ever being the same.
In truth I can do 36 different styles and combinations, so whatever your reasons for booking a massage treatment, at the time of your massage we will discuss your “Outcomes” and what you want from the session so that I make each and every treatment you have a truly individual experience.
How often should you have sessions?
We can discuss what is best for you at the time of your initial treatment. Generally speaking, sessions closer together will help you to get results quicker, but it is your time and your pocket and it has to suit your needs and ability. So, I can suggest but it is still your choice to make, no pressure from me. The aim is to help you to release stress and tension, not add to it!
Most treatments might be a combination of Back, Neck and Shoulders, Leg, Hips, Feet, Head, Face, Scalp, or put together to form a Full Body Treatment (1.5 hour total session time - full 1 hour massage with time for consultation and to connect with any changes you feel from the session) the following though can be taken as stand-alone treatments:
