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Article originally featured in the Birmingham 13, Kings Heath's Monthly Magazine in July 2008

Well connected to health... but not for Grown-ups!

by Janet Thomas

(Article originally featured in the Birmingham 13, July 2008)

“Somatics” is the new kid on the block where health is concerned as many therapists realise the importance of integrated and whole-body treatments. Put simply, it's about experiencing mind-and-body as a whole rather than perceiving the mind as located in the head, separate from the body. The key word here is "experiencing". Once you are able to experience how mind and body work together, it generates the ability to make better decisions, improves mental and physical flexibility and enhances & enriches our perceptions of the world about us. It reconnects us with our inner world, often giving us a renewed sense of purpose and reducing the stresses associated with life in modern society.

NOT FOR GROWN-UPS

I've pondered this label 'grown-up' for some years, having been constantly told by parents 'When you're a grown-up you can do what you like but until then you'll do as you're told!' I've waited for this unknown, unimaginable and unexplained phenomena to occur... and I'm still waiting despite my advancing years!

I discussed it with a friend who took the view that grown- ups are people you meet who know everything, are rigid in their views (and often in their body), it's their way or no way, and you can't teach or tell them anything unless you can prove it! "Those of us who haven't yet grown-up," he said, "are curious about the world and ourselves, and still understand the language of the unconscious – imagination, the mythical, the metaphoric".

IT’S SCIENCE OR SOMATICS THEN…

The somatic approach draws people back inside themselves, restoring heart and soul to health. Whereas science values only what can be analysed, quantified, labelled and proved, somatics combines art with science in its approach to what constitutes being a healthy (and happy) human. Throughout life we adopt patterns of thought, of movement and behaviour that do not serve us well, but as we are unaware of these patterns we are unable to change them because it all happens at an unconscious level.

Consider the changes of heart-rate, breathing and blood pressure you experience throughout a day, how you know which muscles to move to perform an action, how you react to danger or respond to kindness. Mind and body are intimately connected using chemical and electrical communications rather than verbal language which resides in the realm of the intellect, so internal events seem to happen "all on their own". Somatics builds awareness via the senses – sight and sound, feelings, smell and taste – which provide the interface between our inner and outer world.

If you feel stressed, pressured, at odds with life and overwhelmed by the world in general, it's often the language of the body and the words of the intellect communicating conflicting messages. When the heart says "No" and the intellect says "Yes" we rarely end up achieving our goals. Through somatics our emotional and intellectual desires can be melded into a comprehensive whole. Humans are not designed to have our rational mind instruct the body what to do and how to feel, as you will have experienced if you've ever told yourself not to feel so heartbroken, angry or stupid!

Individual disciplines that can be described as somatic in approach include Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), the Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander Technique and many non-Western disciplines such as Qi Gong, Akido, and some forms of meditation and yoga. All share a first-person view of the body and mind and are based on individual experience. There are also many practitioners of other therapies using somatic principles to guide their work.

Somatics could help change your life – but only if you're not quite a grown-up!

Janet Thomas is a therapist at the Bodymind Clinic in Kings Heath.