Body Language

The body always tells the truth! Yet its crystal clear communication of discomfort and pain is more often than not treated like an annoying house guest that you wish would just go away.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house. 
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all! 
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, 
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture, 
still, treat each guest honorably. 
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice, 
meet them at the door laughing, 
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes, 
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi ~

Most of us try to avoid the irritating guest of the body in many complex ways. All this rather than sit down and simply have a civilized talk with them. Somatics is the common language of mediation between the parts of your body that you have been ignoring and your whole self or Soma . The Somatic language is made up of controlled movements that act as embodied verbs which are slowly and carefully received by the central nervous system. On the other side of the somatic feedback loop your Soma gets the response of your tight restricted muscles gently releasing. This is not just a temporary alleviation of symptomatic pain it is a way to wake up the sleeping possibilities of your soma and keep them awake. This re-education then uncovers your ever present birthright of a continually expanding freedom of being.

Dr. Thomas Hanna began his philosophical search for freedom in the realm of the mind and managed to discover it through his body and giving birth to the Soma. The word as it originates from Greek means “The living body in its wholeness”. It also distinguishes it from the frozen idea of the conceptual image of a physical body. The Soma is constant change incarnate. On the surface we appear to stay generally the same but even our physical sciences prove that this static form of “body” is an illusion. Just beyond this veil is a flowing conversation of adaptability. Somatics is the way we can rejoin that conversation and even direct it.

This form of communication may be challenging to facilitate in the beginning but as time goes on you will see that Somatics is the best way to find a peaceful and unifying solution. It is our original language that we put aside and have forgotten. The mutually agreed upon illusion of the body mind split begins to disappear as you use somatic re-education to reconnect that which has been lost. Once this direct communication is reinforced with a daily practice and greater control through awareness is being achieved the intellectual division between body and mind is no more than a line in the sand up against the ever rising somatic tide. Let the guests come to visit and learn how to let them go with the empowerment of somatic education.

Ryan Moschell CHSE, LMT

2 – 16 - 2011