I'm often asked what I do for my own somatic movement routine. My favorite thing to do is to create variations of the basic somatic movements. I often start with Arch & Flatten and then begin playing around with ways I can create variations. For example, I may do Arch & Flatten with long straight legs, and as I inhale and Arch, I also plantarflex my feet. As I exhale and Flatten, I also dorsiflex my feet. This is illustrated in this class. In the movement of Lateral Flexion, I guided the class to start in the regular way, focusing on the contraction, and then I guided participants to focus on the lengthening aspect of the movement. My goal was to expand ways people can keep their somatic movements interesting and creative. It is also good for the brain to organize movements using different myofascial combinations. This class contains quite a few variations of our fundamental Hanna Somatic Movements with a few new movements thrown in, including a wonderful movement for the pelvic floor. Many thanks to Jacqui Neurauter for being our model. We have many requests to have a model so if people get lost they can take a peek.

6/1/24 Zoom Class: Basic Somatic Movements and Variations

Aimee Takaya continues to study, enhance, and develop her professional presentation process. She is currently encompassing a larger somatic dimension, exploring how to add a psycho-emotional aspect to her somatic movement repertoire. I hope you enjoy this class and grasp her explanation and actively participate in creating a meaningful phrase, like planting a seed, to enhance your awareness as you explore your somatic movement. Aimee guides us in a beautiful series of basic somatic movements, with plenty of room for moving in comfort and without rushing. She has a gift for adding a nuance here and there, which completely changes your internal experience and expectation.

7/6/24 Zoom Class: Adding A Psycho-Emotional Dimension to Somatic Movements Taught by Aimee Takaya

Lisa Sack led a fantastic class. I hope you watch it. She started with a very practical assessment guiding us to do activities of daily living such as washing our arm pits, reaching up to a high shelf to get something, reaching down to pick up something from the floor, reaching behind us as in a car, and more. We compared doing these activities with our right arm and then our left arm. She took us through basic ranges of movement of the shoulder and scapula, and even included some neck/shoulder movements. We worked from supine, side-lying, and prone. She also modulated many of the movements so we could get the general feel of a movement in opposite directions, and then turned these into pandiculations. She guided us to integrate specific movements into full body movements. She included numerous differentiations such as focusing more on the shoulder joint, then focusing on including the scapula, then integrating into full body movements to experience the roll of the neck and shoulders all the way down to the feet. You may contact Lisa directly: flourish@clearsightyoga.com

9/7/24: Zoom Class: Shoulder Girdle, Guest Presenter Lisa Sack

I am excited to present this class which integrates foot movements into our daily somatic movements.  I believe it's very important to integrate floor movements into standing and walking. To effectively change inefficient and restrictive patterns we need to experience integrating our feet into full body movement patterns. The first half of the class is done in standing. It starts with an assessment of our feet including weight bearing and postural issues. We integrated foot movements into spinal flexion and extension, lateral flexion, and rotation. We did some special movements for increasing ankle flexibility and stability. The second half of the class was about waking up our feet from sitting since so much of our life is in front of a computer, TV, or other sedentary activities. We ended as we began with our assessment in standing so we could compare the changes from the beginning and at the end. I hope you watch this video many times.

10/5/24: Zoom Class: Wake Up Your Feet

This class is dedicated "In Loving Memory to Eleanor Criswell Hanna, May 12, 1929 - September 19, 2024," who was my teaching partner for 33 years.

For a long time I've wanted to integrate information about fascia with somatic movement. The current model of anatomy uses the term "myofascia" instead of muscle. Fascia is the current name for the body’s soft tissue network which is continuous and ubiquitous throughout our whole body. The term "muscle" gives us a general location within the body. Every muscle fiber, every bundle of muscle fibers, and the whole muscle is wrapped in fascia. Therefore muscle itself is interpenetrated and surrounded by fascia. Fascia is our largest sensory organ, is responsible for our proprioception (self sensing), for our shape, which we mold over time, holds our patterns, and manages our body-wide force transmission system. When we move our whole body reconfigures to produce that movement. As we move some areas condense, some areas expand, in a continuous dance. We are a unity. When we focus our movement, for example, on shoulder movement, our whole body is reconfigured. This is why releasing myofascial tension and pain in one area can be the key to releasing tension and pain in another area of the body. In my opinion, if we broaden our awareness as we alternate between movement and rest, we'll have greater ability to experience the positive and healthful potential embedded in somatic movement.

11/2/24: Zoom Class: Let's Talk Fascia!

I've become very interested in how organs support our movement and how movement supports our organs. My approach is to learn more scientific information about the organs, but even more important to me is how to embody my own experience of the organs. My main tools are bringing focused awareness, breathing and movement to my organs. The lung movements I am presenting in this video are a combination of my own somatic exploration, and influences studying with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Thomas Meyers, and Gil Hedley. I would love to hear your comments and feedback.

The Lungs: Awareness and Movement of the Organ of the Lungs, September 21, 2024

Alexis Flores Williams led a wonderful somatic movement class. He took the basic Cat Routine movements and created many variations. For example, he took many of the regular movements and guided us to do them in a different position. For example, if the movement is usually done in supine, he led it in either side-lying or prone. He also created simple variations by changing our leg positions from bent knees to straight legs, or one leg bent, one leg straight. He also varied our arm positions. For example, if the movement is usually done with one hand behind the head, he guided us to do the movement with our hand on our upper chest. Then he often combined variations in hand position with variations in leg positions. He gave us plenty of rest and integration time, which was quite lovely. Even simple movements can become challenging in a different relationship to gravity, or a different way to turn the head, or rotate a leg or arm, from the usual routine. Alexis has such a kind and gentle manner; there was no rushing or a sense of urgency.

12/7/24: Zoom Class: Playing With The Cat Routine, Guest Presenter Alexis Flores Williams

Karen will be recalibrating the 8 basic movement lessons in the book Somatics, by Thomas Hanna, pp. 101 - 153. This class represents her recalibration of lesson 1. She brilliantly updated some of the language and content based on her experience working with clients and teaching classes. She began with an extensive standing and walking assessment, which laid the foundation for participants to become aware of a number of their postural and weight-bearing patterns. Karen is extremely talented in guiding foundational movements such that we come to understand how we are doing our movements. She has us do a lot of comparison between our two sides so we are able to notice differences in comfort, ease, awareness, balance, stability, and effort as we move. Sometimes she has us "motor plan" before we do a movement and sometimes she has us focus on how we change our body position from supine to prone to side-lying. I recommend you view this class more than once in order to gain more and more somatic understanding of how you are moving your body.

1/4/25: Zoom Class: Recalibration of Lesson 1 from "Somatics" by T. Hanna, Guest Teacher Karen Meyer

Samantha starts her class with the best standing assessment that I have ever experienced. She starts at our feet and thoroughly takes us through how we bear weight not only between our right and left feet, but in many parts of our feet as well. As she guides us up through our body we begin to notice various relationships between our feet, legs, pelvis, and on up through our head and neck. In my experience, you will learn or clarify many aspects of your postural patterns.By the end of class, you’ll feel better, gain deep somatic awareness, and notice significant improvements in your posture. Samantha perceptively guides us to self-regulate our movements for greater comfort, ease of movement, and toward sensing the effect of both our movement and rest periods throughout our whole soma. She includes some wonderfully novel movement explorations with our ribcage and how we organize the act of reaching through our whole body. This is a class you'll want to take many times.

2/1/25: Zoom Class: Somatic Awareness from the Feet Up, Guest Teacher Samantha Holland

Karen continues recalibrating the 8 basic movement lessons in the book Somatics, by Thomas Hanna. In this class she focuses on the second lesson, pp. 106-109, controlling the flexor muscles of the stomach. She continues to brilliantly update some of the language, content, and choice of movement examples based on her experience working with clients and teaching classes. She always begins in standing with an assessment, starting with feet and a comparison of weight bearing between the right and left foot and proceeds up through the body. She also guided us through an assessment in sitting regarding weight bearing with the sits bones, feet on the floor, and our relationship to uprightness. She spent some time having us be aware of where we position our eyes in relationship to spinal and trunk movement, especially flexion and extension. Most of the rest of the class was guided with us lying on the floor. Karen is very precise in her instructions which helps us to pay attention to how we are organizing ourselves. Her guidance often leads us to challenge our expectations which may confront our comfort levels. She uses the technique of "motor planning" which helps us think through how we are going to move ourselves before we actually move. This is a valuable skill to practice and is widely used in the sports world for improving performance. She thoroughly led us through variations of the complimentary oppositional trunk and spine movements involving flexion and extension and how that affects our entire body.

3/1/25: Zoom Class: Recalibration of Lesson 2 from "Somatics" by T. Hanna, Guest Teacher Karen Meyer

Disclaimer: These recordings are for educational purposes only.  Please do all somatic movements comfortably, slowly, and without pain or force. Please consult appropriate medical or health care providers if you have any concerns about whether the movements are suitable for you, especially if you are dealing with an illness or injury, are pregnant, or have other health, balance or mobility issues.

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