Why Somatic Coaching?
The Embodied Clarity Approach is a form of Somatic Coaching.
What is Somatic Coaching you ask? The word “somatic” comes from the Greek root soma, which means "the living body in its wholeness." When we begin to experience the body from within, the body, mind and even spirit, are no longer separated but experienced as a whole. The premise of somatic theory is that the mind and body are so linked together in action, that if you want to change behavior, you also need to change the body and its organization. Just as, you don’t learn a new sport by reading a book you can’t learn confidence by having purely cognitive insights. Any cognitive shift must be “embodied” as a felt sense, which means that the actual organization of the body has to change. I utilize several different somatic practices to help my clients become aware of the living body in its wholeness, but specialize in Feldenkrais and Qigong.
When you begin to experience the richness of your bodily experience, the body, mind and spirit are no longer experienced as separate. When you become aware of your body, you become more yourself because you become aware of yourself in response to life. Most of the time you are probably unaware of how the physical body is informing, shaping and altering your thinking, your moods and your actual behavior in the world at large. But rather than numbing yourself to certain situations and powering through, you can learn to notice your reaction and respond in a way that leaves you feeling whole.
As you develop greater awareness of your bodily sensations you can begin to notice when and how you react to life — whether it is fight, flight, freeze or delight. By grounding your awareness in the living sensations of your body you gain the ability to be fully at choice and able to consciously respond to your partners, children, friends, and boss. As Moshe Feldenkrais said, "If you know what you are doing you can do what you want. If you can do what you want, you can do anything."
Each person’s self-image and sense of possibility show up through the physical structure and holding patterns in the body. Generally, in times of change, people get anxious and wound up. Trying to solve problems from this physical and mental spinout generates more of the same confused, unclear results. IN contrast, when you begin to shift these physical patterns, you gain a new possibility for who you can be in the world. By settling down physically, you experience a sense of visceral calm and mental ease that takes you out of your confusing spin, and allows you a new perspective on yourself and your situation. Simply put, when you change your shape, you can change how you think and feel about yourself and therefore, you can take new action. It is being able to sense the body in its wholeness, as intimately intertwined with mind and spirit that leads to profound transformation.
Felden-what? Feldenkrais—What is it? How does it apply?
"If you know what you doing you can do what you want. If you can do what you want, you can do anything."
— Moshe Feldenkrais
The Feldenkrais Method® is a remarkable approach to human movement, learning and change. Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc., (1904 – 1984), the creator of the method that bears his name, synthesized his insights from physics, motor development, bio-mechanics, psychology, and martial arts to develop a powerful, effective, and practical application, that reconnects learning with human health and function.
Feldenkrais explained that all action is composed of movement, sensing, thinking and feeling. In other words, every thought, feeling or emotion, has a corresponding set of muscle contractions associated with it. And, vice versa, every body pattern or muscular contraction has a corresponding emotion, thought and behavior associated with it. If you alter the pattern of muscle contraction, you can shift the corresponding thought, action or emotion. Thus, if you want to change your responses, the nature or your actions, your emotional responses, and even your thoughts, it is essential to change your bodily organization. This includes patterns of muscle contraction, how you habitually shape or organize your body, and how you direct your attention. The short of it is that changing your bodily organization can create new possibilities for new behavior.
The Feldenkrais Method is highly relevant to coaching because it cultivates awareness of your habitual movement patterns and corresponding habitual thoughts and emotions, all of which constrain you to a small portion of your potential as a human being. Through your personal history, upbringing, culture, injuries, illness, etc., you have adopted patterns of physical movement. These patterns are deeply embedded in your nervous system, and often become outmoded or dysfunctional, but yet, keep you tethered to unhealthy behaviors, thoughts, feelings etc. The Feldenkrais Method teaches you to sense your breath, sensations, emotions, thoughts, and muscle contractions alone and in relation to each other. In this way, you build a more complete self-image and deepened awareness that cultivates the ability to make subtle shifts in how you use and inhabit your body.
Thus, the Method provides the opportunity for you to sense yourself in a completely new way—free from your habitual movement patterns, and corresponding thoughts and feelings, allowing you to discover a new perspective and take new actions.
Basics of Qigong
Qigong is one of the branches of Chinese Medicine used as a method of health maintenance, a means to enhance artistic creativity and a path of spiritual growth. There are many aspects of Qigong ranging from meditative to exuberant and martial. Its applications are almost endless.
Although in many respects, Qigong is a complicated and exoteric topic, at its heart, I have found that it teaches me to sense and respond both to my internal experience and the world around me in ways that make life at the same time easier and more directed.
If you ask a Qigong master, they will say there are as many styles of Qigong as there are Qigong. The styles I have learned, and base my coaching principles upon, focus first on the biomechanics of the body. In this way, there is a profound experience of returning to the support of the body. A visceral experience of trust and well-being is cultivated.
Upon the foundation of a supported system, the energetic system can open and flourish to reveal its mysteries and subtleties, cultivating a sense of connectedness to oneself and the world around, and enhancing ones’ ability to sense one self and others. Deep meditation and states of profound calm can be cultivated, confusion drops away, clarity and awareness flourish. The body’s innate desire for homeostasis is ignited.
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