Clinical Somatics engages the nervous system in an active learning process that involves slow, conscious movements. This neuromuscular re-education (brain/muscle messaging system) helps you to understand your unconscious habitual and postural patterns, so that you can modify your functional movements to become more comfortable, aligned, and relaxed in your body.   

As you regain conscious awareness, sensation, and motor control of your muscles, your brain is able to remember how to move your body more effectively.  The process of sensory motor training improves muscle balance, releases trauma reflexes/compensations, and empowers you to move and live in a more free and relaxed state.  

This approach aims to address the root cause of chronic pain, from the brain’s reaction to stress, injuries, lifestyle or on-going tension. We learn our movement patterns throughout our lives, and can actually perpetuate dysfunction in our bodies over time.  Thomas Hanna coined the term ‘Sensory-Motor Amnesia’ SMA which is a habituated state of forgetfulness of how certain muscle groups feel, and how to control them.  Our patterns become so deeply rooted that we don’t even have to think about them (this is often called muscle memory).  Sensory Motor Amnesia is the condition of chronically-tight muscles that have learned to stay contracted due to repeated and reflexive response to stress such as accidents, injuries, surgeries, repetitive tasks, and on-going emotional stress. The resulting patterns of muscular contraction that develop, result in such common conditions as chronic back pain, neck, shoulder and hip pain, limited mobility, joint pain, poor posture, shallow breathing, and uneven leg length.

Somatics is a gentle assisted approach to relieving tight muscles that cause chronic muscular pain, and disfunction.