Somatics??

What is Somatics?? 

So this question was raised in Natalie's Garrett's class and when I looked round the circle a lot of people looked blank and I'm sure including myself in that.....I had some idea that it was to do with a connection between mind and body, maybe thinking about how you embody your thoughts, but if I'm honest I barely knew.  My first thoughts were this is definitely something I should know by now being in third year, so the first thing I did when I got home was research this is first thing I came too..

"The term is derived from the word "Somatic" (Greek "somatikos", soma: "living, aware, bodily person") which means, pertaining to the body, experienced and regulated from within. The concept of soma posits that neither body nor mind is separate from the other; both are part of a living process. Many of the approaches in the field of somatics address the body-mind split endemic in Western culture and body-mind integration is a common goal. Freedom from restrictions in body and mind is another goal, so that the individual functions and thrives optimally with self-mastery and healthy responsibility within the environment in which he or she lives. A fundamental principle is that growth, change, and transformation are always possible at any age.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cWnoZqJZ8g

To me this suggested a phrase/term/umbrella for everything I had been studying, practicing and trying to achieve for the last two years. Looking at my body from within and through the combining mind and body I was trying to move towards a holistic approach with my body so that as a human/mover/dancer I could be more versatile, efficient and as a result adapt well to change. Not only do dancers need this in their normal lives but in such techniques as improvisation or in performance circumstances, the space is always changing, other beings are around changing it too- you must be able to notice these changes and make decisions with your body about how you will react to these. You never can predict what another dancer or how a performance will turn- you have to be ready to go with transformation and willing to accept it and move forwards.

From the research that continued after this I decided that the integration between mind and body through ideas of embodiment and how we had got these theories through science, psychology and history greatly interested me. I had struggled with deciding on a dissertation topic I was passionate enough about and this just married my areas of interest perfectly between; science, movement, history and psychology.