The term Somatics was coined by professor and theorist Thomas Hanna in 1976 and has come to represent a field of movement studies and bodywork that foregrounds the internal physical sensations, perceptions, and experiences of the body – essentially, your first person experience of yourself. Though the term is relatively new, the concepts and principles of somatic practices have been studied, investigated, and developed around the world through a variety of disciplines and cultures for hundreds, even thousands, of years.
Though somatic work is most often associated with exercise practices, fitness, dance, and approaches to alternative medicine, somatic theories and techniques are now finding pivotal applications in the fields of physical therapy, neurology, psychology, leadership, communications, artificial intelligence, robotics, and on…
Some of the more well known disciplines within the field are traditional yoga practices, Pilates, the Feldenkrais Method, Alexander Technique, Rolfing Structural Integration, Qigong, Body-Mind Centering, Somatic Experiencing, and the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System.
jen graham 