What is Somatics?

What is somatics?

This is a term that gets used a lot, but a lot of people are confused about what it means. It can be challenging to define, partly because it can have lots of different definitions.

I think that adrienne maree brown rises to this challenge beautifully with the definition that she gives in her book, Pleasure Activism. She says:

“Somatics is a path, a methodology, a change theory, by which we can embody transformation, individually and collectively. Embodied transformation is foundational change that shows in our actions, ways of being, relating, and perceiving. It is transformation that sustains over time. Somatics supports our values and actions becoming aligned. It helps us develop depth and the capacity to feel ourselves, each other, and the life around us.”

Somatics is about sensation and gut feelings. In learning, trusting, and becoming aligned with these sources of information, in addition to our thoughts, we acknowledge our wholeness.

Also from brown:

“Somatics works through the body, engaging us in our thinking, emotions, commitments, vision, and action.”

In a society that places hierarchy on the thinking mind over the body, it is an act of resistance to tune into our quiet, brilliant embodied wisdom. It’s easy to forget that essentially, the mind and body are the same thing. One does not exist without the other, and the two are inextricably linked. In connecting to our bodies, we connect to nature: constant motion, soft edges, ebb and flow, expansion and contraction.

Einstein said, “look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better.”

Somatics is a way in to deeper understanding of our nature, and a way out of the reductionist, unsustainable pace that we get ourselves wrapped in.

It starts here, with our breath, our bodies, and our creative choices of how we show up.