Yoga with Somatics — PathaYoga

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“Yoga is, as I can readily believe, the perfect and appropriate method of fusing body and mind together so that they form a unity which is scarcely to be questioned.” ― Paramahansa Yogananda

Somatic practices have a lot in common with the yoga tradition, especially with those developed by Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) as well as the Kriya Yoga tradition originating with Mahavatar Babaji and introduced to the west by Paramahansa Yogananda. Intentional movements with mind-body awareness are at the heart of both somatic movements and yoga. Paired together in a practice deepens understanding of each individual’s unique sensations, reactions and patterns.

Thomas Hanna’s partner, Eleanor Criswell Hanna recognized this when she developed somatic yoga and saw somatics as a way to ‘enhance’ the yoga practice by bringing in an emphasis on activating the relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system).

This is practiced by visualization of both postures and anatomical structures, extra time and awareness getting into and out of postures (“The more slowly you go, the more you perceive”), and pauses to sense and notice bodily changes throughout the practice.

In somatics there is also care taken in understanding habitual patterns in the body and learning to reawaken muscles that have become more passive and relax those muscles that are stuck in a contracted state. This is part of what Criswell Hanna calls “the somatic learning process” where we are actively engaging with the body to notice its patterning and ease tension.

See video for an example of how yoga and somatics can be combined in a practice. In this gentle back-bending sequence, somatic back-lifts engage the contralateral pattern in the body while Shalabasana (locust pose) strengthens the postural chain muscles of the back body. In somatic yoga, the focus is placed equally on the contraction and the relaxation of muscles.

The mind is very active during this processing which is why yoga therapist Megan MacCarthy terms the practice as “brain yoga”. Specifically, somatic yoga is engaging the somatosensory cortex, the part of the brain responsible for sensation, perception and body awareness. By consciously activating this pathway which takes in information from the senses, more refinement and control of movement is possible. Put simply by MacCarthy, we need to “feel to heal” and stimulating the brain through movement unlocks this ability.

Combining this understanding of neurocircuitry with yoga yields interesting and creative results. It invites a sense of playfulness and exploration of both the vast dimensions of yoga and the intricacies of the mindbody connection exercised in somatics.

Sources

Criswell Hanna, E. (1989) How Yoga Works: An Introduction to Somatic Yoga. Foreperson Press.

MacCarthy, M. (2024, April, 1) Somatic Yoga Training - Movement As Medicine With Megan MacCarthy Level 1, Lesson 4. West Cork Ireland.

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