The word somatic means “of or relating to the living body,” and it has long been used in medical terminology like somatic cell, somatic nervous ...SkiptocontentPreviousNextViewLargerImageWhatissomaticmovement?Asomaticmovement,generallyspeaking,isonewhichisperformedconsciouslywiththeintentionoffocusingontheinternalexperienceofthemovementratherthantheexternalappearanceorresultofthemovement.Thetermsomatichasbecomeabitofabuzzwordinthehealthandwellnessindustry.Thewordsomaticmeans“oforrelatingtothelivingbody,”andithaslongbeenusedinmedicalterminologylikesomaticcell,somaticnervoussystem,somaticdisorder,andsomaticpain.Duetoitsgenericdefinition,thetermsomaticcanbeusedtodescribeavarietyofformsofmovementandhealingmodalities.Youmayhaveheardofsomaticyoga,somaticexperiencing,somaticpsychology,somatictherapy,orsomaticdancetherapy.Youmayhaveevenheardofsomaticeducation!ThetermsomaticeducationwascoinedbyThomasHanna.Hannausedthetermsomaticeducationtodescribemethodsofsensory-motoreducationthatusesomaticmovementtoimprovemotorcontrolandsensationandchangelearnedmuscularpatterns.Manypeoplefindsomaticmovementeducationmethodstobehighlyeffectiveinrelievingchronicpain,improvingbodilyfunction,andrecoveringfromcommonmusculoskeletalconditions.Howexactlydoessomaticmovementwork?Inordertobemosteffective,asomaticmovementshouldbeperformedasslowlyaspossible.Thehumannervoussystem,whichcontrolsourpostureandmovement,mustlearnnewthingsveryslowly.Withpractice,weareabletograduallyspeedupandperformmovementsmorequicklywhilestillmaintainingformandcontrol.Whenwedomovementsquickly,wearenotlearninganythingnew—wearesimplyreinforcingexistinglearnedpatterns.Asomaticmovementmustalsobeperformedconsciously,withourcompleteinternalfocusandattention.Consciousattentioniskeytothelearningprocess;wecan’tlearnsomethingnewifwearen’tawareofwhatwe’redoing.Somaticmovementisexploratoryinnature.Evenwhenwepracticeasomaticmovementwiththeintentionofimprovingourpostureormovementinaspecificway,westillneedtobefocusedontheinternalexperienceo