Somatic Movement for Mental Health

A Movement Practice Of Awareness And Presence To Ease Psychological Tension

By Lisa Greenbaum

GREW UP WITH MOVEMENT. I

COMPETITIVE

I could not articulate it then, but the feeling of strength while my muscles contracted as I balanced in a pose, or the exhilaration after landing a powerful switch split were incredibly impactful as I navigated the intensity of my teenage years. We did not have open discussions about mental health in the early 90s, but there was often an underlying current to my emotional mainframe. I could not identify it back then but when I danced, whatever it was would recede, even if just for a little while.

It was this feeling that drew me into the fitness studio, and then an inner calling that I was meant to make this space the central part of my career. I needed this continuous movement every day as much as I wanted to share this experience with others. This led me to my yoga practice and teaching, and to my curiosity about trauma-informed yoga.

Physiotherapy uses specific movements or stretches to heal physical injuries; psychotherapy and psychiatry are used to help in our emotional and mental well-being. But where is the link between the two? We do not go to physiotherapy and leave our thoughts behind. We do not experience grief without a tightening in our chest. The concept of mind-body exercise is also not new, but generally when we practice this, whether Pilates or yoga, we are often asked to clear our minds (impossible) or to focus all our thoughts on the movements we are performing. But how is this any different than lifting weights, running a marathon, or enjoying a dance class?

Somatic movements are different. Soma comes from a word meaning “body” in Greek, so somatic means

the body; bodily; physical.”

A somatic practice releases the emotional tension from our body that shows up as physical tension. It is often introduced as an aid along with talk therapy to help move through trauma and chronic stress. While turning our thoughts off to focus on our workout helps immensely, the deeper experiences of mental and emotional instability do not just disappear. We need to allow them to surface and release as well.

System

Somatic exercise is focused specifically on re-training and stabilizing our nervous system, and because of this it is an important part of emotional healing and well-being. Yoga can play a key role in somatic practices, but despite sometimes causing an emotional reaction, not all styles of yoga asana will take you there. The point of somatic work is that it is slow and focused. Hot power yoga or vinyasa can be an incredible workout, but they often move too fast. Restorative yoga can be too slow as the only movement that happens is in the transitions between postures. Yin yoga can be too still and all too often we cannot help but push deeper into the poses to feel more.

As I navigated some difficult times in the past few years, relief was certainly in my yoga practice, but it was how I was practicing, not what. It was mindful, therapeutic, but it was also about approaching the feeling in my joints, muscles, tendons with care, compassion, and curiosity. Stopping at 60% level of effort, sinking not pulling, and above everything allowing my breath to guide my flow and the threedimensional movement in my torso that comes with that deep breath. The focus was in incorporating micro-movements, gentle stretches, diaphragmatic breathing, and specific positions to release the inner line of tension from the body, in particular the iliopsoas (hip flexor), sternomastoid (front of neck), upper trapezius (back of neck) and the masseter muscles (jaw). With this work, our only goal is in trying to soften and relax. To move through the body, not just moving our body, and in this process slowly untying the emotional knots within.

Our signature program, Yin+Restore, at Sangha Yoga Collective is based upon slowing down, paying attention to the simplest movements, allowing emotions and thoughts to move through us as they come. This is also the foundation of somatic release and trauma work, and it is far more subtle than you might think. It is not something to be practiced once or twice and then move on, but to be added as a regular part of our schedule. While the movements themselves are quite simple, to share this practice with others requires a deep understanding of how the brain and body process stress and trauma. Learning how to support our clients if they are triggered and how to encourage them to soften and release from the inside out, reducing pain, improving sleep and overall mental well-being. Somatic practices are an important means for managing and optimizing mental health, for both you and your clients.

Lisa Greenbaum, E-RYT 500 + C-IAYT is the founder of Sangha Yoga Collective, a trauma informed and philosophy first Yoga Education School offering 200 + 300-hr YTT certifications across Canada. Lisa is an award-winning presenter and change maker with 20+ years of industry experience.