Ayurveda • Somatic Yoga • Contact
Posture (asana) [should be] stable (sthira) and comfortable (sukha),
Sutra 2.46, Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Somatic yoga is about being curious about the living process through exploring the traditional poses of yoga. It is also a practice in letting go of excessive effort and goal orientation. This can be challenging as the culture surrounding physical practices commonly value maximum strength and achievement milestones. Think Jane Fonda’s iconic phrase “feel the burn” and “no pain no gain’ during the 1980’s aerobic craze. In yoga the phrase “meet your edge” is often repeated in practices. Somatics counters this cultural drive to push our bodies excessively. It is a gentle approach to movement.
As somatic educator Mary A. Foster puts it: “During somatic patterning, the focus on the process of change overrides goal orientation.” It is easy in yoga to get distracted by how far one can go in a posture to imitate what practitioners have modeled either through classes or yoga textbooks. Although there is nothing wrong with wanting to progress one’s practice and have certain images in mind for this, it can distract from what the body is communicating in the moment. Being in tune with the body’s need during a somatic yoga practice requires internal rather than external focus.
As the culture becomes more and more outward focused, with an abundance of images and videos dictating what a yoga posture (and bodies) should look like, extra focus should be placed on staying curious about our own individual process and see each movement as a chance to connect with our current state of being rather than push ourselves to where we think we should be.
Excessive pushing is simply not effective in building functional ease of movement and can exasperate existing tension patterns. Criswell Hanna offers a useful analogy: “If you want to untie a knot, you must look at the cord carefully, then gently undo the tangle. Yanking on the cord will only make the knot tighter.” The act of untying brings to mind a release which is at the core of the somatic yoga practice. While stretching and strength building have an equally important place in various yoga traditions, somatic yoga invites the practitioner to find that easy space, which might unlock new ways of relating to the body and mind.
Guidance in somatic yoga
Take extra time getting in and out of postures. You can measure this using the breath (3 -5 measured breaths), counting to 10 seconds or mentally repeating a mantra.
Follow an ’initiation-action-rest’ sequence for each posture with an extra emphasis on the rest phase. Reserve time after the posture to notice what has changed, differences from one side to another or if something has released.
Sense the amount of effort you are using while practicing and consciously reduce it. This allows for deeper awareness in a posture. As Moshe Feldenkrais states, “You cannot increase your sensitivity without simultaneously reducing your effort.”
Sources
Criswell, E. (1989) How Yoga Works: An Introduction to Somatic Yoga. Foreperson Press.
Feldenkrais, M. (2011). Embodied Wisdom. North Atlantic Books.
Foster, M. A. (2007) Somatic Patterning: How to improve posture and movement and ease pain. Educational Movement Systems Press.