"What's next?" is a great question! If you want to get the most out of what you see on this RUclips channel, here are two recommendations: work one on one with a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator (you can find one on the Essential Somatics "Find a Practitioner" page of our website) and then attend a Fundamentals Immersion course (see our schedule on the ES website). Most people's muscle pain develops over time...unconsciously due to our habits, emotional responses, and thoughts. Developing new habits that create relaxation, spaciousness, and an ability to have more choice in how you're going to be, move, and think requires learning. Learning takes time and a good teacher. I'm also a senior and I have to say that I feel better now than I did when I was in my 40's!
Thank you, Martha, for your videos, which are providing me with invaluable, liberating information and technique. A question about finding/staying in neutral: should I be relaxing my belly muscles completely? I am definitely stuck in the red light/Type A posture, due, in part, to the fact that I have "sucked in" my lower abs for decades.
You're very welcome. I'm so glad the videos are helping you. Clinical Somatic Education is indeed liberating because it educates you so you can make the changes for yourself. Ah yes, the belly muscles! For many of us (I was in the same situation as you having held my belly in for decades as a dancer) it's a real challenge to let go of the belly when we relax. Yes, when you release out of the Flower or Arch and Curl or when doing the Back Lift the belly should ideally be soft and relaxed. When we stand and move our brain will contract our abdominals as much as is necessary to get any one thing done. There's no need to add additional tension in the front by continuously holding the belly in. The whole point of Clinical Somatics is to teach you how to reduce excess tension that is keeping you from moving freely and comfortably. Being habituated to the Red Light Reflex means that you have excess tension in the front of your body - the chest muscles, between the ribs, in the neck, the abdominals, even the inner thighs. There's much you can do about it, however. My advice would also be to find a teacher with whom you can work in person, or to consider learning in person at a weekend immersion course. We have opportunities around the world (essentialsomatics.com/experience/) so you can work with someone who can help you speed your learning with skilled guidance. Keep moving and enjoy your learning!
@@EssentialSomatics Thank you -- I really appreciate your reply. I am in FL and have reached out to Cilene Larrivee in Winter Springs. I hope to attend one of your workshops or retreats in the future.
@@JessicaHarland-Jacobs I would love to see you at one of our workshops. We'll definitely get down to Florida probably later in the year. Enjoy your learning!
Hi Martha, I would like to ask you a couple questions. What about emotions according to the somatics approach and what do you think about bioenergetics? Are stress reflexes associated with repressed emotions and muscle blockages? Greetings and thank you very much!
Hi, Thanks for your question. Everything in life is "somatic," meaning that it is first experienced from within, from the first person experience. Only you know what it's like to be "you." Modern day neuroscience has now proven what Somatic Educators have known for 100 years: that the brain doesn't distinguish between thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations; it's all just sensation and sensory feedback and motor output. Consider how trauma shows up as "fight, flight, or freeze." Photos have been taken of people stuck in these reflexive responses to trauma and stress. Thomas Hanna merely put two and two together when he created Clinical Somatic Education, which focuses on how Sensory Motor Amnesia and stress habituation (whether mental, emotional, or physical) presents itself within these universal reflexive, full body patterns. So yes - the three stress reflexes are associated with emotions and mental mindsets. Our traumas, stresses, and mental challenges show up in "the body." Begin to free the muscles, through movement, and this goes a long way towards freeing up mental and emotional issues...because, as I said at the beginning of this response, all life is "somatic," and experienced from within.
@@EssentialSomatics Thank you very much for the response, it is fantastic to be able to communicate at a distance. This makes the matter very clear. The mind always wants to divide everything! I am very excited about the exercises, I hope to do them on a regular basis so see permanent results. I'm going to start with those on this channel and see if I can buy your dvd. Maybe one day teachers arrive in Argentina! You are fantastic martha and with this you help many people around the world, I hope you continue publishing! Greetings and good life
@@gonzalollache7306 Thank you for your very kind words of support and encouragement. We would love to come to teach in Argentina! All we need is someone to host us and a group of enthusiastic students eager to learn a new perspective on themselves, their bodies and movement, and what they're capable of. Keep practicing! Know that whatever improvement you feel - you created it from the inside out. Be well!
@@micaelat3734 Yes, exactly. We are a somatic system, experienced from within. As Somatic Educators - from Elsa Gindler to FM Alexander, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Feldenkrais, all the way to Hanna, have taught for decades, it is the ability to sense ourselves from within - our conditioned reactions to life and how that affects our muscles, movement, and who we are, that matters. This is what Somatic Education is about.
You're very welcome. I hope this video sheds some light on why you might experience tension in your body and how you're connected as a full body system. It's never one muscle or muscle group causing your pain!
Thnx! Very helpful! Think i have it all! There is so much tension in My right leg en left shoulder and neck. Knee inwards and feel out of balance. What is a first step or movement that you recommend? Thnx!
My first recommendation to everyone is to come take some classes with us. Learning step by step is the best way to get expert guidance and to learn slowly, but surely. Your SMA and muscle tension built up over time, so learning over time to restore full voluntary control and ease of movement is a process. Go to our online class page to check out our current schedule: essentialsomatics.com/essential-somatics-online-classes Sign up for our newsletter to learn more and get pro tips for your practice! Also - find a clinical practitioner or certified ES Movement Teacher near you to work with: essentialsomatics.com/find-clinical-somatics-practitioners We have skilled practitioners who are able to teach one on one as well as online. You will learn self-care tools and valuable information about yourself that you can use for the rest of your life.
I really enjoy these videos. Thank you! I do movement training with clients and was wandering if you had experience working withTrendelenburg gait. How does this type of weakness motor pattern relate in terms of Somatics?
I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. From a somatic perspective Trendelenburg gait is't so much about muscle weakness as it is about sensory motor amnesia in the center of the body to the extent that there is no rotation or freedom in the spine. Try this out for yourself: by tighten all the muscles of the center - strongly - lock down the ribcage, the waist, shoulders, and hips. Now walk and see if you do anything other than move side to side like a refrigerator! When there is no release through the waist muscles, movement in the pelvis, or movement forward or back of the shoulders and hips - all of which occurs due to unconscious habituated muscle tension (Sensory Motor Amnesia), you will see a Trendelenburg gait. Come to class and begin to explore on your own for you yourself what we do in Somatic Education that teaches people to maintain a free and efficient gait.
@@marthapeterson8238 Yes that makes sense. I will look more into Somatics in future. I did noticed muscles completely turned off with my trendelemberg client. There is lack of awareness and poor motor control specially in countralateral patterns. One of my work with him is using ski poles for opposite arm leg movement. Thank you!
@@pauremi396 Using ski poles is a great idea. That being said, when he can sense the center and can voluntarily contract and slowly release the muscles front, back, and sides, then his movement will be generated from the center to inform his strength and coordination out to the periphery (his arms and legs). It sounds like your client could also benefit from Somatics! Enjoy exploring!
The problem is the chair I have is not straight, its lean back and I might get back support cause I'm very been seeing myself bending and realized and it does hurt went I bend forward like that. I don’t know because of my posture that cost my whole body to spasms when compress on it, I'm so sick and tired trying to figure the cause of it
It sounds as if you've identified a problem (your chair) and can connect how that feels in your body. This is good learning! I often sit in a backless chair in order to continue to teach myself to sit comfortably, with the least effort. Watch this video and practice a seated arch and curl in a chair. See if this helps you be able to sit comfortably despite the fact that your chair leans back. ruclips.net/video/dqSGbzRGgLQ/видео.html You can also find a chair that is flat or even try a stool that is the correct height for you. It's not about the chair; it's about how you sit in the chair that matters. I hope that's helpful.
My mid back is rigidly stuck in green light & everything else is rigidly stuck in red light. And trauma response too. Have vertebrae that have fused in wrong position. In severe, protracted Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. Was on diazepam 20 years for upper body, neck shoulder tightness after L5/S1 surgery. Muscles now so rigid and contracted that no position bearable. Can’t lie on back at all even with knees bent because buttocks/sacrum like hard gristle, T10/11 stuck forward forcing rubs forward and up pulling right up to base of skull which is pulled back and won’t let go, and pulls down to surgery site. Jaw like hard gristle that snaps shit of try to open it and pulls into temporalis. I know this is a lot... Any suggestion where to start?
You need to be working one on one with a skilled Clinical Somatic Educator. It sounds like you have a long history of physical pain and trauma and you will benefit most by learning the basics under the watchful eye and expert guidance of someone who knows how to assess you, help you sense that which you cannot sense, and slowly, but surely, restore your ability to move well. You can find an Essential Somatics-trained Clinical Somatic Educator on the ES website under "Services." This is my best advice.
So clear explaining i have the trauma and when i copy you movment i felt almost like i wana scream crying but holdi g it back i gues the emotion tightning an if i let it out its gona feal so free i almost can feal how free and space after something know that. I was hurting my ankel many times and start to have zeizurs crsmps and hur my c4 c5s and down all my rigt side spine is lokt almost. Where should i turn for help kilopraktors osteopath ore a guy his study 30year omt fmt and acupukter and some red cord eqitment. Therapis for body and soul. I suffer verry hard for 1 year now the trama after docktors give a pill whu make me go in to a cramp.
Trauma and stress are so much a part of the human experience. When aren't able to discharge the energy and sensation of an original trauma or stress, that tension becomes habituated; the symptoms we experience are the residue of the trauma - no longer the trauma itself. Peter Levine write clearly about this in his wonderful book, Waking The Tiger. My suggestion to you would be to work with a skilled Clinical Somatic Educator. Start attending classes and consider coming to one of our Fundamentals Immersion courses. Releasing your nervous system from the residue of trauma involves not only a good trauma therapist, but a good Somatic Movement teacher who can guide you to become friends again with your body and feel safe and comfortable moving through life.
Hi Martha I was wondering if you have an email I can contact you at? I have been struggling with sensory motor amnesia which has caused pelvic floor issues/impotence issues for me. I am a young male so it is hard for me to have these issues but I am wondering if through the teachings of Thomas Hanna and his book I can resolve these issues
Contact info@essentialsomatics.com. My suggestion is to make an appointment for a 30 minute video consultation in which you can ask questions and get answers and guidance.
@@EssentialSomatics thank you for your response, i know that my English is very bad😅, but i still searching for solutions for my problems. actually i was asking you about solution for the third stress reflex, but i found the solution on your channel in another video. best wishes 🌻🌻
Yes… I totally get/experience what you are saying. Being a senior having watched this video "What's next"
"What's next?" is a great question! If you want to get the most out of what you see on this RUclips channel, here are two recommendations: work one on one with a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator (you can find one on the Essential Somatics "Find a Practitioner" page of our website) and then attend a Fundamentals Immersion course (see our schedule on the ES website). Most people's muscle pain develops over time...unconsciously due to our habits, emotional responses, and thoughts. Developing new habits that create relaxation, spaciousness, and an ability to have more choice in how you're going to be, move, and think requires learning. Learning takes time and a good teacher. I'm also a senior and I have to say that I feel better now than I did when I was in my 40's!
"RUclips comments are for losers" -JRE🐒 🐵 🙊
Thanks Martha ..this so true…
You're so welcome!
Thank you, Martha, for your videos, which are providing me with invaluable, liberating information and technique. A question about finding/staying in neutral: should I be relaxing my belly muscles completely? I am definitely stuck in the red light/Type A posture, due, in part, to the fact that I have "sucked in" my lower abs for decades.
You're very welcome. I'm so glad the videos are helping you. Clinical Somatic Education is indeed liberating because it educates you so you can make the changes for yourself.
Ah yes, the belly muscles! For many of us (I was in the same situation as you having held my belly in for decades as a dancer) it's a real challenge to let go of the belly when we relax. Yes, when you release out of the Flower or Arch and Curl or when doing the Back Lift the belly should ideally be soft and relaxed.
When we stand and move our brain will contract our abdominals as much as is necessary to get any one thing done. There's no need to add additional tension in the front by continuously holding the belly in. The whole point of Clinical Somatics is to teach you how to reduce excess tension that is keeping you from moving freely and comfortably. Being habituated to the Red Light Reflex means that you have excess tension in the front of your body - the chest muscles, between the ribs, in the neck, the abdominals, even the inner thighs. There's much you can do about it, however.
My advice would also be to find a teacher with whom you can work in person, or to consider learning in person at a weekend immersion course. We have opportunities around the world (essentialsomatics.com/experience/) so you can work with someone who can help you speed your learning with skilled guidance.
Keep moving and enjoy your learning!
@@EssentialSomatics Thank you -- I really appreciate your reply. I am in FL and have reached out to Cilene Larrivee in Winter Springs. I hope to attend one of your workshops or retreats in the future.
@@JessicaHarland-Jacobs I would love to see you at one of our workshops. We'll definitely get down to Florida probably later in the year. Enjoy your learning!
The 2nd reflex is also the "prey" reaction. A learned behavior to stay down and protect, or keep out of sight of the danger/predators.
Yes exactly!
Hi Martha, I would like to ask you a couple questions. What about emotions according to the somatics approach and what do you think about bioenergetics? Are stress reflexes associated with repressed emotions and muscle blockages?
Greetings and thank you very much!
Hi,
Thanks for your question. Everything in life is "somatic," meaning that it is first experienced from within, from the first person experience. Only you know what it's like to be "you."
Modern day neuroscience has now proven what Somatic Educators have known for 100 years: that the brain doesn't distinguish between thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations; it's all just sensation and sensory feedback and motor output. Consider how trauma shows up as "fight, flight, or freeze." Photos have been taken of people stuck in these reflexive responses to trauma and stress. Thomas Hanna merely put two and two together when he created Clinical Somatic Education, which focuses on how Sensory Motor Amnesia and stress habituation (whether mental, emotional, or physical) presents itself within these universal reflexive, full body patterns. So yes - the three stress reflexes are associated with emotions and mental mindsets. Our traumas, stresses, and mental challenges show up in "the body." Begin to free the muscles, through movement, and this goes a long way towards freeing up mental and emotional issues...because, as I said at the beginning of this response, all life is "somatic," and experienced from within.
@@EssentialSomatics Thank you very much for the response, it is fantastic to be able to communicate at a distance. This makes the matter very clear. The mind always wants to divide everything! I am very excited about the exercises, I hope to do them on a regular basis so see permanent results. I'm going to start with those on this channel and see if I can buy your dvd. Maybe one day teachers arrive in Argentina! You are fantastic martha and with this you help many people around the world, I hope you continue publishing!
Greetings and good life
@@gonzalollache7306 Thank you for your very kind words of support and encouragement. We would love to come to teach in Argentina! All we need is someone to host us and a group of enthusiastic students eager to learn a new perspective on themselves, their bodies and movement, and what they're capable of. Keep practicing! Know that whatever improvement you feel - you created it from the inside out. Be well!
@@micaelat3734 Yes, exactly. We are a somatic system, experienced from within. As Somatic Educators - from Elsa Gindler to FM Alexander, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Feldenkrais, all the way to Hanna, have taught for decades, it is the ability to sense ourselves from within - our conditioned reactions to life and how that affects our muscles, movement, and who we are, that matters. This is what Somatic Education is about.
So interesting
Thank you
You're very welcome. I hope this video sheds some light on why you might experience tension in your body and how you're connected as a full body system. It's never one muscle or muscle group causing your pain!
thank you very much for your work
You're so very welcome. Come to a Fundamentals Immersion and learn more!
Thnx! Very helpful! Think i have it all! There is so much tension in My right leg en left shoulder and neck. Knee inwards and feel out of balance. What is a first step or movement that you recommend? Thnx!
My first recommendation to everyone is to come take some classes with us. Learning step by step is the best way to get expert guidance and to learn slowly, but surely. Your SMA and muscle tension built up over time, so learning over time to restore full voluntary control and ease of movement is a process.
Go to our online class page to check out our current schedule: essentialsomatics.com/essential-somatics-online-classes
Sign up for our newsletter to learn more and get pro tips for your practice!
Also - find a clinical practitioner or certified ES Movement Teacher near you to work with: essentialsomatics.com/find-clinical-somatics-practitioners
We have skilled practitioners who are able to teach one on one as well as online. You will learn self-care tools and valuable information about yourself that you can use for the rest of your life.
I really enjoy these videos. Thank you! I do movement training with clients and was wandering if you had experience working withTrendelenburg gait. How does this type of weakness motor pattern relate in terms of Somatics?
I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. From a somatic perspective Trendelenburg gait is't so much about muscle weakness as it is about sensory motor amnesia in the center of the body to the extent that there is no rotation or freedom in the spine. Try this out for yourself: by tighten all the muscles of the center - strongly - lock down the ribcage, the waist, shoulders, and hips. Now walk and see if you do anything other than move side to side like a refrigerator! When there is no release through the waist muscles, movement in the pelvis, or movement forward or back of the shoulders and hips - all of which occurs due to unconscious habituated muscle tension (Sensory Motor Amnesia), you will see a Trendelenburg gait.
Come to class and begin to explore on your own for you yourself what we do in Somatic Education that teaches people to maintain a free and efficient gait.
@@marthapeterson8238
Yes that makes sense.
I will look more into Somatics in future.
I did noticed muscles completely turned off with my trendelemberg client. There is lack of awareness and poor motor control specially in countralateral patterns. One of my work with him is using ski poles for opposite arm leg movement.
Thank you!
@@pauremi396 Using ski poles is a great idea. That being said, when he can sense the center and can voluntarily contract and slowly release the muscles front, back, and sides, then his movement will be generated from the center to inform his strength and coordination out to the periphery (his arms and legs). It sounds like your client could also benefit from Somatics! Enjoy exploring!
Great suggestions
Thank you!
@@pauremi396 You're very welcome!
The problem is the chair I have is not straight, its lean back and I might get back support cause I'm very been seeing myself bending and realized and it does hurt went I bend forward like that. I don’t know because of my posture that cost my whole body to spasms when compress on it, I'm so sick and tired trying to figure the cause of it
It sounds as if you've identified a problem (your chair) and can connect how that feels in your body. This is good learning!
I often sit in a backless chair in order to continue to teach myself to sit comfortably, with the least effort. Watch this video and practice a seated arch and curl in a chair. See if this helps you be able to sit comfortably despite the fact that your chair leans back.
ruclips.net/video/dqSGbzRGgLQ/видео.html
You can also find a chair that is flat or even try a stool that is the correct height for you. It's not about the chair; it's about how you sit in the chair that matters.
I hope that's helpful.
My mid back is rigidly stuck in green light & everything else is rigidly stuck in red light.
And trauma response too.
Have vertebrae that have fused in wrong position.
In severe, protracted Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome.
Was on diazepam 20 years for upper body, neck shoulder tightness after L5/S1 surgery.
Muscles now so rigid and contracted that no position bearable.
Can’t lie on back at all even with knees bent because buttocks/sacrum like hard gristle, T10/11 stuck forward forcing rubs forward and up pulling right up to base of skull which is pulled back and won’t let go, and pulls down to surgery site.
Jaw like hard gristle that snaps shit of try to open it and pulls into temporalis.
I know this is a lot...
Any suggestion where to start?
You need to be working one on one with a skilled Clinical Somatic Educator. It sounds like you have a long history of physical pain and trauma and you will benefit most by learning the basics under the watchful eye and expert guidance of someone who knows how to assess you, help you sense that which you cannot sense, and slowly, but surely, restore your ability to move well. You can find an Essential Somatics-trained Clinical Somatic Educator on the ES website under "Services." This is my best advice.
So clear explaining i have the trauma and when i copy you movment i felt almost like i wana scream crying but holdi g it back i gues the emotion tightning an if i let it out its gona feal so free i almost can feal how free and space after something know that. I was hurting my ankel many times and start to have zeizurs crsmps and hur my c4 c5s and down all my rigt side spine is lokt almost. Where should i turn for help kilopraktors osteopath ore a guy his study 30year omt fmt and acupukter and some red cord eqitment. Therapis for body and soul. I suffer verry hard for 1 year now the trama after docktors give a pill whu make me go in to a cramp.
Trauma and stress are so much a part of the human experience. When aren't able to discharge the energy and sensation of an original trauma or stress, that tension becomes habituated; the symptoms we experience are the residue of the trauma - no longer the trauma itself. Peter Levine write clearly about this in his wonderful book, Waking The Tiger.
My suggestion to you would be to work with a skilled Clinical Somatic Educator. Start attending classes and consider coming to one of our Fundamentals Immersion courses. Releasing your nervous system from the residue of trauma involves not only a good trauma therapist, but a good Somatic Movement teacher who can guide you to become friends again with your body and feel safe and comfortable moving through life.
@@EssentialSomatics thank you,
@@janandersson8012 You're very welcome!
Hi Martha I was wondering if you have an email I can contact you at? I have been struggling with sensory motor amnesia which has caused pelvic floor issues/impotence issues for me. I am a young male so it is hard for me to have these issues but I am wondering if through the teachings of Thomas Hanna and his book I can resolve these issues
Contact info@essentialsomatics.com. My suggestion is to make an appointment for a 30 minute video consultation in which you can ask questions and get answers and guidance.
U r the 💣
How to get red off the third one please?🌻
I'm not sure I understand your question. Please elaborate so I can answer more clearly. Thanks!
@@EssentialSomatics thank you for your response,
i know that my English is very bad😅, but i still searching for solutions for my problems.
actually i was asking you about solution for the third stress reflex, but i found the solution on your channel in another video.
best wishes 🌻🌻