Somatics for Sensory Motor Amnesia

Awakening through Somatics

How we move, express and reach out into the world is in the hands of our somatic nervous system (SNS). It is part of the peripheral nervous system, which is basically everything outside of the brain and spinal cord, our central nervous system (SNS). Specifically, the SNS is responsible for how we the muscles we can affect in a voluntary way ie we can be conscious this is happening, moving as we need and choose in a process known as a reflex arc. There is constant communication through nerve impulses between the CNS and out via the PNS to skeletal muscles, fascia, skin and sensory organs.

Sensory Motor Amnesia

Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA) is a term coined by Thomas Hanna to describe when muscular activation has become switched off or inefficient.  These are so deeply habitual that we cannot even sense, let alone control them. A common, modern postural pattern is to lose the signals to relax the neck, lower back or shoulders, alongside how to activate areas of support like the abdominal muscles and glutes (buttock muscles). Loss of awareness in one part of the body can also create imbalance in another, such as leaning to one side or feeling stronger in one side than another.

Much of this is a product of modern living – a mixture of sedentary behaviours, chronic psycho-social stress and societal traumas such as isolation all play their part, as do any other trauma states. These modes that have wandered far away from our original, primal beings shut down the part of us that become over- or under-used. We can signal both soothing and ‘wake-up’ through all of our tissues by attending to some key areas that are affected via modern habits:

• Observing where our faces get caught into ‘masks’ from social norms or presenting a ‘persona’ to the world – move into all of the muscles in the face, opening the mouth wide, sticking out the tongue and making faces
• Noticing when we are clenching our jaw from chronic stress – slackening the lower jaw and moving it from side-to-side
• Recognising habitual tension held in our hands from technology use – move fingers and wrists, interlink the fingers and make ‘figure-of-eight’ motions with the wrists
• Waking up loss of feeling and engagement in the buttocks from sitting for long periods of time – get up and stand, walk up and down stairs or a hill, lunge and balance on one le

Somatic movement to unravel SMA

With SMA, some parts may be talking loudly while others silenced or not on our sensory radar. This might not be apparent until we start to move. A common example is to have this amnesia in the pelvis but then get lots of noise in a related part above or below, for example, in the lower back. Parts of us that aren’t shouting in pain can be easily ignored or forgotten. Somatic movements wake up areas where there may be weakness, inefficiency, loss of response, poor coordination and eventually pain.

"Somatic exercises are a direct way to reprogram the sensory-motor system and reverse (the ageing) process. Bodily decrepitude presumed under the myth of aging is not inevitable. It is, by and large, both avoidable and reversible." - Thomas Hanna

Somatics is a term used to encompass movement practices such as those here, that emphasise internal physical perception and experience. They often remove a sense of form and allow us to feel a more fluid, fascial identity, rather than moving from muscle and strength. They work by helping retrain neural pathways out into the somatic nervous system that have lost their communication routes. Some benefits include:

• A safe, easy, enjoyable and accessible alternative to medication and surgery
• Increased flexibility, coordination, balance and proprioception
• Reduced inflammation, energy and pain through fascial (connective tissue) health
• Feeling more physically able, expressive and free
• Awareness of where you tend to hold tension and when you need to address that
• Less likelihood of clumsiness, falling and injury

Unravelling holding patterns that contribute to symptoms

All of this means that Somatics can help with the following specific conditions:

• Joint and muscle pain
• Neck, shoulder and back pain
• Sciatica
• Hip, knee and foot pain
• Lower back pain and sacroiliac joint dysfunction
• Repetitive strain injuries (RSI)
• Slumped, collapsed or tense posture
• Headaches
• Accident traumas and whiplash
• Breathing issues and diaphragmatic holding
• Frozen shoulder syndrome
• Temperomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction and jaw pain

Interspersing the directed movements here with spaces of simply lying and exploring what feels congruent in the body, fosters a sense of autonomy. Rolling, rocking, pulsing, wriggling and free-form moving into arms and legs hands over trust that this is your body and you know what it needs more than any imposition upon it. Being physical anchors us at this base level – mindful movement, exercise, meditation, gardening, massage, dance, nature can all increase feeling real and connected. This not only helps to awaken body memory, but also soothes the nervous system, as it no longer needs to keep up vigilance to establish where we are.

“You can be fully in charge of your life only if you acknowledge the reality of your body in all its visceral dimensions.” - Bessel van der Kolk

Examples of Somatic Practices

Firstly, lay on the ground in Constructive Rest Position (CRP) with your head supported, to connect into your breathing. Try not to 'do' or 'fix' here, but rather simply notice your body as it is; without adjustment. In this way you can notice the difference between left and right, top and bottom body and where your body meets the ground. Notice the very real physical movement of your breath in your body, even placing your hands on your belly to feel it there.

Come back to this position between movements to let them integrate and assimilate through body tissues - moments of 'pause' and letting things settle in. CRP is a reset for our natural spinal curves and a place to allow space and cultivate internal awareness of unconscious, habitual instincts.

After 10-15 minutes observing your breath with soft eyes and space between the back teeth, move your jaw and face, wriggle your shoulders and take your arms out to the side at shoulder height.

Exhale your head to roll it to one side, without pushing or forcing. Inhale it back to centre and exhale to the left. As you feel your neck soften, as you turn your head to one side reach the opposite arm out from the centre to make space in that shoulder. Inhale back to centre and move that side-to-side.

Move your knees a little side-to-side to loosen your lower back. Lift the arms above the shoulders to wriggle there and loosen with the weight of the arms.

Take your feet out as wide as the mat. With the next inhalation let your legs drop to the side as your chest opens. Exhale them back to centre and inhale to the other side. As you feel your spine loosen up from the base, turn your head to the opposite side to the legs as you twist. Settle into the twist each side for a minute or so to feel the movement of your spine.

Back to centre, on the exhalation turn your head to look at your right hand as you rotate your arm the 'awkward' way ie thumb moves down towards the ground. Inhale back to centre, letting it rotate back to neutral; both palms facing upwards. Take that to the left and then move side-to-side, also turning the other arm the 'easy' way ie thumb rotates to the ceiling to bring the palm downwards. Moving that either side, feel a 'wringing out' sensation through the shoulders and upper chest, even letting the legs drop away from the side you are looking to, for an extra twist.

Rest with your arms hugged around your chest.

Arms out to the side, on an inhalation, let one knee drop out to the side, rolling onto the outside edge of that leg, then easily exhale it back. Then move to the other leg, so the motion alternates side-to-side with the breath. Keep the foot on the ground rooted and lot that side of the pelvis lift to urn the belly in the direction of the knee out to the side. As you inhale and open the chest, you can lift the chest, squeezing between the shoulder blades to awaken that area. You can stay and explore into holding and pulsing into the body with the breath, from the active foot on the ground.

With arms back above the shoulders, let the right knee drop out to the side, whilst lifting the left arm and shoulder up to the ceiling and turning the head to the right. Move back through the central position and to the other side, then alternating side-to-side. Feel free to explore whatever movement feels good along the way.

Taking your legs and arms out into a star shape, settle to feel that broader space. Then on an inhalation, reach just the right leg out from the centre and let retract back on the exhalation. Then do the same with the right arm, then left arm, then left leg and back to the beginning. Do this rotation several times and then round to the other side.

Then reach out just the right arm and left leg together as one long line through your 'diagonal'. Exhale to neutral and the reach out the left arm and right leg. Alternate, noticing the focus needed (with soft face) to constantly switch across the midline like this.

Finish reaching out the whole body and exhaling to fully release with a sigh - as many times as you need.

Come back to CRP and cross your right leg over the left. Inhale your legs to the left and exhale back to centre. Follow this pendulum type motion, with the right shoulder and arm heavy on the ground. After about 10 motions, start to reach out the right arm more on the diagonal and turn to look at the right hand; the back may arch and the shoulder may lift off the ground. Then come to the other side.

Laying on your side, head laying on your lower arm and knees bent, take the top arm up and over the side of the head to reach to the bottom ear. On an inhalation, lift the head with this hand to lengthen (not simply compress) the lower side of the neck. After about 10 breaths, add in lifting the top foot with knees staying together, so you feel length in the whole bottom side of the body. Rest on your front before moving to the other side.

On your front, bring your elbows under your shoulders or further forward if your lower back pinches. Inhale here and then exhale to draw up on knee – inner leg on the floor – to look at that knee and open through the front of the opposite hip and side body. Inhale back to the centre and then exhale to the other side, alternating with the breath and coming back to the position up on the elbows.

Roll back onto your back into CRP and gently lengthen out your legs to rest out fully and integrate for at least 5 minutes.

References:

Eckberg M. Victims of Cruelty: Somatic Psychotherapy in the Healing of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (North Atlantic Books 2000).

Haines S. Pain is Really Strange (Singing Dragon 2015).

Haines S. Trauma is Really Strange (Singing Dragon 2015).

Hanna T, Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health (Da Capo Press Inc, 2004).

Schmalzl L, Crane-Godreau MA, Payne P. Movement-based embodied contemplative practices: definitions and paradigms. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:205

Totton N. Embodied Relating (Routledge 2018).

Van der Kolk B. The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma (Penguin 2015).

If you'd like to study more on mindful, somatic and therapeutic practices I invite you to look at my Therapeutic Somatics for Yoga Teachers certification. The 170 CPD hours are made up of my Somatics for Yoga Teachers course and Yoga & Somatics for Healing & Recovery.