Musings from Think Somatics + Kristin Jackson

Years ago I worked a few hours a week in the fitness room of a local rec center. I was there to help newbies learn how to use the equipment properly, tidy up a bit, and make sure meatheads shared the chest press benches. I was also on the lookout for anyone at risk of injuring themselves. One day there's a guy loading up the preacher curl machine—a completely ridiculous machine IMO, that mimics nothing in real life—with waaayyyy too much weight, rounding his back and grunting away. Now here's a guy definitely at risk of injuring his back, i.e. a bulging or herniated disk in his lumbar spine. I gently offered up something like, "Hey, how's it going? Be careful there. You're putting your low back at risk by. . .." I got about that far and he barked at me, "I've broken my back three times! I know exactly what I'm doing!" Whoa. Ok then. You are correct sir, you DO know exactly how to break your back. Well done. I said this in my head, of course.

I have a friend I'll call M. A lot of people say M. "has all the luck." She was hearing that quite often when she moved into her beautiful rental home.  A cute little cottage on a spring-fed pond with ducklings, a huge deck on which to host friends with champagne, hidden away in a Portland neighborhood, yet with walking distance of hip shops and eateries. It was a secret spot that some Portlanders had heard of, but it remained elusive because it was on private property. She had recently just returned from a trip to the Caribbean too. Super lucky gal, right? But what folks weren't aware of, or paying attention to, was the fact that while she was on a trip with her extended family her husband, who had stayed home, had moved out and she found out by seeing photos on Facebook. Uh oh. Sure, she was stunned and feeling all kinds of emotions. Instead of hitting a wall of despair, she got down to business. M. really wanted to stay in the neighborhood that she so loved, so she

Do you consider yourself a visual learner?  A lot of people do. Some even worry they won't be able to keep up or enjoy the audio recordings I share with  Think Somatics Online Community  Members.  Fear not!  Here are key reasons why I predominately offer audio recordings vs videos, and why audio lessons are actually better for your Somatic Education. We're talking Somatic Education Well, let's start right there, with Somatic Education . Somatics is about working with your somatic nervous system, the part of the brain/nervous system that moves and senses what you do and how you do it. To get rid of pain you need to really start feeling and sensing yourself from an internal perspective. Not just your achy parts. All of you.  Your re-educating your brain and body through your sensory and motor cortexes. Muddling the learning process with extraneous input As an adult you have likely been conditioned to believe that watching the teacher is how you learn to move, whether it's

If you want to learn and reap the benefits of Clinical (Hanna) Somatics you have a several options from which to choose. I've offered them all, so I'd like to share some tips, and humble opinions too. :-) How and Where Can I Learn Somatics? Schedule a private session with a Clinical Somatic Educator , meeting in person. Schedule an online private session with a Clinical Somatic Educator. Attend a live Somatics class or workshop in an in-person setting. Attend a live Somatics class online, meeting in real time, but online. Stream Somatics recordings . Download Somatics recordings. Private Session IN-PERSON with a Clinical Somatic Educator This is the top-notch way to learn Somatics. The challenge? Clinical Somatic Educators aren't on every street corner like yoga studios or chiropractors. If you have the ability to work with a quality CSE in person, do it. There are a few caveats to this though. People hanging out a shingle offering Somatics can all have varying degrees of

If you've been around here for a while you may remember I offered Proactive Postural Restructuring classes many moons ago. Folks really enjoyed it, but alas I put it on the back burner, got hit by a car while riding my bike, which led me to fall deeply in love with Hanna-based Somatics, and went through 4 years of training to become certified. Anyhoo.... Proactive Postural Restructuring is back! This link will take you to all the details and how to register.  Proactive Postural Restructuring is a somatic method of movement education. As is Hanna-based Somatics. So before I dive into some details about PPR, let's cover some key terms and principles. Somatic Vocabulary + Key Principles somatic nervous system - the part of your brain and nervous system in charge of controlling how you move and sensing/feeling what you are actually doing. neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to form neural pathways between the brain and body in response to learning or experience or following in

I've never been much for cooked carrots. Give me raw ones with peanut butter, or hummus, or bleu cheese, or just plain and I'm good to go. With the current supply chain disruptions I recently resorted to buying a 3 pound bag of whole carrots. . . which led me to resorting to cooking some of them, since there were so many! I am not a foodie blogger and I don't measure when I cook, I just wing it. But since I wanted to share this dish with you, the last time I made these, I paid more attention to ingredient quantities. Well, roughly. Use your senses to figure out what will be best for you. Ingredients 1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil* 3-5 large carrots (I peel mine, if you don't, that's cool) 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice  ** salt to taste, or not * unrefined coconut oil tastes like coconut oil. Refined doesn't, so it's bland and works with recipes when you don't want to impart coconut flavor.) You could use any oil to your l

I'm gonna have this engraved on my tombstone:  No part of your body works by itself. Unfortunately we have been told where there is pain, is where the problem lies .  So, to meet you where your beliefs are, I offer classes and recorded lessons to pique your interest. :-) But as soon as students get into a lesson they quickly discover just how everything is connected. In fact I worked with a woman once who had "been to everyone under the sun" to address the pain in her left shoulder and side of neck. When she came to me I didn't "work on" her shoulder and neck. Instead we addressed all the tension along the right side of her body. The tension on her right side caused her right shoulder to drop down, making her left shoulder draw up.  That drawn up left shoulder was achy and stiff. The pain was a signal from her brain that something was amiss . She could stretch, massage, inject it until the cows came home, but until she addressed the full body patterns she