Somatic stretching involves the release of muscular tension through natural, unintentional movements. Getty Images; Canva
If you tend to hold a lot of tension in your neck, lower back, or wrists (hello, desk workers), somatic stretching may be the practice you’re looking for.
Before we delve into what somatic stretching is, it’s helpful to understand where the term “somatics” comes from and the wider field of somatic movement. The word “somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma,” meaning “body”; the dictionary definition is simply: “of, relating to, or affecting the body.” Thomas Hanna is widely credited with coining the term “somatics,” as it relates to movement, in his 1985 book, Bodies in Revolt: A Primer on Somatic Thinking.
“Somatic movement is awareness or presence during movement, and being connected in your body,” explains Rachelle Tsachor, an associate professor of theater movement at the University of Illinois in Chicago, who researches somatic movement. “It’s an awareness and sensitivity to what’s going on in the moment, in the movement,” says Tsachor, who is also a movement therapist registered with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA).
Somatic practices were defined in article published January 25, 2021, in Frontiers in Psychology as movement-based approaches to awareness of the internal body (interoception), the external environment (exteroception), and movement in space (proprioception).In somatic movement you focus on the internal experience and feeling of the movement instead of what it looks like from the outside, explains Sarah Warren, a clinical somatic educator certified by the Somatic Systems Institute and the owner of the Somatic Movement Center, who is based in Somerville, Massachusetts. And, Warren says, it’s about using that internal experience to guide the movement, instead of pushing your body to move in a certain way.
