Soma Yoga Definitions
Soma: is the sensing, feeling, moving component of our body. It also refers to the process of integrating new sensations, feelings and movements into this living, thinking part of our body.
Somatics: A word coined by Thomas Hanna in 1976 to describe the movements he developed that use the process called Pandiculation (which he also developed) to reduce pain and improve mobility, while reminding the sensory motor cortex of the brain that it knows how to fully release a muscle after that muscle has been contracted.
Sensory Motor Amnesia: A condition in the sensory motor cortex of the brain, where it has forgotten how to fully release a muscle after it has been contracted. This could be caused by a trauma, anxiety, tension, lack of use or any continuous action that contracts the muscle and holds the contraction beyond normal limits. Constantly contracted muscles use energy, causing fatigue, restless sleep and discomfort ranging from stiffness to severe chronic pain.
Pandiculation: A four part process that reduces pain, improves mobility and reminds the brain that it knows how to fully release a muscle:
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TIGHTEN the muscle
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FOCUS on the muscle, making the sensory motor connection between the muscle and the brain
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RELEASE the muscle, very slowly while holding your focus and feeling the muscle letting go
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PAUSE take a breath or two and feel what you have done, provide time for your body to assimilate it
Soma Yoga: Is a Yoga practice that utilizes Pandiculation to achieve the Yoga asana objectives of stability and ease. It uses Somatic movements that tighten specific muscles that can then be Pandiculated.
Soma Yoga Therapy: A Soma Yoga Therapist can pinpoint areas of instability and dysfunction that cause chronic pain and guide their client through Somatic movements specific to those muscles to shift the movement patterns that cause the pain.
Belly Breathing in Your Back: The objective of belly breathing is to fill the lower areas of the lungs with air, by pulling the diaphragm down.
Belly breathing is best done by focusing on expanding the lower back not by extending your belly forward. Feel the lower back ribs expand to each side. This brings more air into the lungs and thus more energy into your body.
Chronic Pain: Is any pain that persists and does not improve after a 3 month period.
