Overview
Testimonial
Biography

Overview

Beverly Davies-Mes and Servaas Mes are the Directors of The Somatic Health Center of St. Helena, California.

Beverly Davies-Mes is a Certified Massage Therapist and Massage Instructor since 1993.  She is also a Hanna Somatic Educator® and a Reiki Master Teacher and practices intuitive Energy Medicine.

Servaas Mes is a Registered Physiotherapist (Canada, The Netherlands), a Hanna Somatic Educator®, a Pranassage™ Practitioner and a Pilates Mat Instructor.  He is the founder of Mobilizing Awareness™ Somatic Movement Programs. In 2002 he combined all his knowledge and understanding into a fitness model called Somatic Conditioning™.

Testimonial

Servaas Mes, Director of The Somatic Health Center:

“It was 1996 that I was introduced to Hanna Somatic Education^®. I got very excited after a short explanation where this work originated from and what it was based on. I decided to experience a session. By that time, I had seen over 30 health care professionals for my foot that I had injured playing soccer in 1992. My foot had been made visible on many X-rays, CT-scans, bone scans, nerve conduction studies, MRI’s etc.. The result of all this medical attention: lots of atrophy in my leg and I was still limping. When my somatics-session was finished, I got up and for the first time since the injury I could put weight on my foot in a normal way. The sensation was incredible. My foot was finally back where it belonged, with me !

I am a Physical Therapist by profession. I have taken many continuing education workshops and courses. However, something happened there that was very unknown to me. Something inside of me got mobilized that had never been mobilized before. The process made total sense and was exhilarating as well as fascinating. It was as if everything I knew in the field of rehabilitation were pieces of a puzzle. And here was the missing piece that put it all together !

It was not only my foot that became alive, but also me. And with me, my clients and their process of rehabilitation. It is now, after having worked with hundreds and hundreds of people and facilitated thousands of sessions, that I can honestly say: "Somatics works !". The skill to mobilize awareness, the corner stone for human potential, is available in all of us. It is only now that we are starting to understand the true values of the works of Thomas Hanna (1928 – 1990; founder of the field of Somatics and pioneer in the field of human awareness). In the big picture, somatic awareness means a lot more than just rehabilitation. Somatic awareness is about life and human potential. In our western society, we have ignored and neglected the cry for this basic human skill for many centuries. The results have been devastating and have created huge health problems, violence and agony. We have to catch up. I see the field of rehabilitation as the field that has to put out the fires ignited by the lack of somatic awareness within our society. To prevent these fires in the future, it will be important to involve the educational system. When more people will become somatically awake, it will also become easier to define this task. When managed appropriately, the mobilization of somatic awareness can spread over the globe as a fertile virus. Vaccinations will not be necessary for this upgrade in human potential. This is a huge task which is, in my opinion, not impossible. However, it will take time and effort. This process can easily stretch itself out over several generations. It is only then that society will be more at ease and less at disease. Are you interested in joining me ?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my previous and future clients for giving me the chance to develop this work. I couldn’t have done it without you. Stay healthy, stay warm and keep moving !”

Biography

Servaas Mes is the Director of The Somatic Health Center in St. Helena, California. He received his training as a Physical Therapist / Physiotherapist in the Netherlands before moving to Northern British Columbia, Canada in 1989. After being injured himself, Servaas tried many different ‘experts’ and treatment techniques for over five years, only resulting in temporary relief. In 1996 he experienced his first hands-on session in Hanna Somatic Education^®, which not only gave him long term relief, but also strengthened his belief that we have to learn to take responsibility for our own healing. Following the Hanna Somatic Education^® training program in California, Servaas opened his own clinic in Somatic Rehabilitation. In October 1999, Servaas moved back to the Netherlands, where he was invited by Dr. Andry Vleeming (founder and organizer of the ‘World Congress on Low Back and Pelvic Pain’; Director of the Spine & Joint Center The Netherlands). He introduced Somatics to his new colleagues in Rotterdam and participated in a research project on awareness and movement. One year later, Servaas returned to the Westcoast of Canada and resumed his practice in Smithers, BC.  In March 2003, he got married to Beverly Davies.They joined forces and together they founded The Somatic Health Center of St. Helena, California in Beverly's hometown.  His knowledge, skill and experience of working with injured clients and being able to relate to injuries himself, give him a definite advantage in the field of bringing relief to the people who need it. He is the only Physical Therapist among all certified Hanna Somatic Educators worldwide. Being dual trained, he has seen and experienced the advantages of bridging modern medicine with complimentary medicine. To develop a better understanding and better treatment methods for the people who need it, he promotes ‘Somatic Physiotherapy’ and ‘Somatic Rehabilitation’.

Over the years, he has followed many continuing education workshops and studies, both in the field of Physical Therapy (orthopaedic manual therapy, Sahrmann’s Muscle Imbalances, McKenzie, PNF, Butler’s Neural Mobilization Techniques) as well in the field of Somatics (Hanna Somatic Education^®, Harriet Goslins’ Cortical Field Re-Education^®, Charlotte Selver’s Sensory Awareness). He has also experienced work in ‘Feldenkrais^®’, ‘Pilates’, Zero-Balancing^®’, Somatic Yoga^TM, Aston Patterning^®, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, BioFeedback and several other somatic modalities.

Besides individual sessions in his clinic, he conducts classes and workshops throughout North America. Please contact The Somatic Health Center for more details.