If you are reading this it means that there is a strong interest in learning about modes of mind-body healing that have brought you to this very place and moment. Mental, physical and emotional health go hand in hand. Emotional wellness practices help us integrate into our wholeheartedness.
Somatic healing is a holistic approach to wellness that prioritizes the mind-body connection in treatment to help address both physical and psychological symptoms of certain mental health concerns, including trauma, grief, anxiety, and depression. Traumatic life experiences may lead to dysfunction in your nervous system, which can keep you from fully processing the experience. Through somatic work, we work together to find a grounded, soft and harmonious way to find connection with self and others. Additionally, somatic healing sessions provide you with a toolkit of various movement practices and breath work to help you break chronic stress, inflammation and pain cycles.
During my advanced studies in therapeutic yoga and somatic awareness training for yoga attunement (SATYA) through Prajna Yoga, it was solidified within me that there is no one right way to approach one’s healing. During our time together, we will move through a carefully sequenced movement practice that is based on small movements made accessible to your body. The breath guidance further helps to support ease, joy, and flow in the body. Ultimately, it is the natural rhythm of your body that we are attempting to gain access to.
SATYA (Sensory Awareness Training for Yoga Attunement) is a combination of movement modalities such as dance, yin yoga, Feldenkrais, and myofascial release. And, of course, yoga asana. This practice reduces fatigue by filling the body with prana, or life force. SATYA is a somatic practice that builds mindfulness through movement. We practice finely articulated movement to open new pathways of perception and feeling. Done mostly on the floor, SATYA involves sliding, gliding, stretching, unwinding, and core building movements.
An example of somatic practice
As a practitioner of yoga asana and mindfulness meditation since the early 2000s, I would often find myself free of the physical discomforts such as muscle or joint pain right after class. However, they'd return soon after. Often psychological stress and emotional suffering do not subside unless we get to the root of the issue. Somatic healing does just that.
I was introduced to somatic awareness during my first 300-hour teacher training by Tias Little when I noticed a deeper transformation simply after a 25 hour session with a skilled teacher. I find my yoga and meditation practice foundational. Yet, the somatic work has added a much needed depth and richness to my own self care regimen. My go-to weekly practice for nervous system regulation, any sort of lymphatic congestion or hormonal imbalance that may be triggering a mind-body disconnect is through somatic healing.
The way I immersed into this practice was after a traumatic life episode where I knew the only way out was through. And, the only way through for me was with the wise guidance of an experienced trauma informed somatic teacher.
To see clearly and slowly release the effects of social conditioning, physical or emotional trauma and the grip of addictive patterns require both discipline and play. Freeing the mind-body and realizing that allowing joy and love is your birthright. Feeling safe and at ease begins with dedicating time and space for you. At Pür Joy Yoga, we will chart out a plan to help you relieve pain or discomfort by looking at the whole system and finding a therapeutic approach that is unique to your body. We believe and are here to support rediscovering your body's innate wisdom and capacity to self-regulate. You are allowed and able to break free from stress cycles. We are here to help you show how.