Musings from Think Somatics + Kristin Jackson

When I was very young I took a butt-banging fall going down the stairs. I feel smack dab on my tailbone, and holy mother did it ever hurt. It was so painful I remember backing out of a friend's upcoming roller-skating birthday party. I wanted to avoid any possibility of falling like that again.  Within a few days I was fine. Or so I thought.  Fast forward a few decades and I am just now becoming aware of the tension I hold around my tailbone. Ta da! See, even us Clinical Somatic Educators can have deeply ingrained cases of sensory motor amnesia . When clients say things like, "Since you are a Clinical Somatic Educator, you must not have any issues or pains." I privately think to myself.  Hilarious! I wish.   Every day is a different lived experience, so every day I may experience my body in different ways. Thankfully I don't have pain around my tailbone. Maybe that's why I'm just now realizing how the particular pelvic floor muscles that attach to my tailbone

I usually sleep through the night, wake rested, seldom needing an alarm to rouse me. That hasn't been my case sense the freaking insurrection happened. Now not only is my sleep suffering, I'm drawn to my phone to check the news. In the middle of the night! Whoa, that's no good, and so not my usual MO, at all. Yes, I want to stay up to date on the news. What I don't want to do, is constantly check in on it. When I do that, I go researching the cognitive and psychological impact of uncertainty that seems put us all somewhere on the anxious-to-bat-shit-crazy spectrum. And worst of all, I definitely don't need to get on  social media that reenforces the tribalism that feeds the fear and hate of others. Anything we do often enough becomes a pattern, a habit. I do NOT want any of these activities to become my patterns, my habits, become my norm. I for one am really going to focus on healthy distractions from the distractions that don't serve humanity well. Really, t

If ever there was a time to dive into the philosophy of Somatics , this is it. I'm primarily referring to the attempted coup last week in Washington DC.  I've kept politics and business separate, but the fact that so many  people are not just out of their minds, but out of their bodies , and since I am a Clinical Somatic Educator in the tradition of Thomas Hanna, I can no longer stay silent. This is no longer just about politics, it's about humanity. We all must do something in our own way to set humanity back on an even keel.  So here we go.  Most people come to Somatics because they are in pain. But it's more than that.  Somatics with a capital "S" is based on the work of Thomas Hanna. Hanna was a philosopher and his driving philosophical question was how do humans stay free and autonomous?  The world is a place of constant pressures, all causing us to contract and tighten. Stress to our bodies is like water to a fish. It's so normal to be in a state of

 The word somatics is being thrown around a lot these days. I just want to interject a quick note amidst all the chatter.  You have a somatic nervous system. It is the part of the nervous system that voluntarily moves your body the way you want, and senses it. A lot of "mind-body" fitness/movement programming can fall under somatics (with a lower case s). Yoga, pilates, tai chi, etc., when done slowly and with awareness can be considered "somatic."  The somatic modality of Thomas Hanna, the philosopher behind the work I do, is referred to as Hanna Somatics or Clinical Somatics. Hanna actually wanted to call his work just "Somatics" but couldn't trademark the word, so he added his name to it for his method. So when I refer to Somatics with a capital S, that's what I'm talking about. Somatics is the tradition of Thomas Hanna.  But alas, there are lots of somatic modalities out there, many calling themselves "Somatics" but aren't th

Happy New Year!  Guess what? I've created a new Somatics 101 | Somatics Fundamentals for Beginners E-course ! What I use to cover in my once-a-month free webinars is now all encompassed in this new streaming e-course. I'll explain what Clinical Somatics is and how it can help so many things that challenge us all. You get to experience basic Somatics movements too.   I've divided it into bite size chunks of info so you can easily digest it at your own pace. Because Somatics is so different from physical therapy, yoga, massage, etc, be sure to go through all the parts so you have a greater understanding of Somatics.  The course is free and open to all. So if you have been trying to explain Somatics to others, be sure to share this with others.  Being a Somatics Educator, of course, I think everyone could benefit from a Somatics practice. :-) We all know by now that being a more mindful and aware are key to not just surviving, but thriving, in our 24/7 world. Somatics 101 |