The Somatic Health Center

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A link to a written article by Servaas that was published in the Orthopaedic Division Review Magazine of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (September/October 2003):

The Somatic Health Center of St. Helena covers the full spectrum of movement programs necessary to stimulate rehabilitation, health, wellness & performance in any of us:

During sessions, people are taught to differentiate and isolate their own movements with their internal awareness. ‘Bad’ patterns of compensation, which are often the result of physical or emotional injuries from the past, are upgraded instantly the moment your awareness is involved. The intent is to teach the client to move better in present time: without pain and with the agility that we used to have when we were young.

Becoming aware is a somatic process that mobilizes and unites the emotional, physical and energetic component of a movement. We all have awareness: it came for free when we were born! Instead of someone else manipulating you, the Mobilizing Awareness-process re-educates your Sensory Motor Control with intelligent participation from you: the client!

When you have become ‘somatically aware’, you are in the present moment. In present time you are observing yourself as you are, the way you are. In present time there is often no need to hang on to attachments from the past that create conscious or unconscious discomfort. How would it be to walk around in an intelligent body ? Would there still be pain & stiffness ?

The term ‘Somatics’ is derived from the Greek word ‘soma’, meaning ‘body’. However, the body is not just a ‘body’ like a piece of meat, but it is alive and has the ability to sense and to move (=function). Many people talk about the ‘mind’, the ‘body’ and the ‘spirit’, but these are all part of the same human being, being you. That is what we call the ‘soma’. When assisting people in upgrading their health or performance, it is fundamental to address the body as well as the mind, and more importantly the bridge between the two and your internal awareness.

During our lives, our bodies are continually exposed to different types of stress, injuries, trauma’s, surgery or habituated movement patterns. Our body reacts in certain muscular reflex patterns of tension. These repeatedly triggered reflexes create habitual contractions which we cannot voluntarily relax anymore. The results are patterns of stiffness, soreness and weakness that are easily able to sabotage normal joint function and sabotage normal movement. For instance, even though ‘the victim’ will try his hardest to relax the muscles in his back, he will not succeed because he has lost the ability to voluntarily connect with his back muscles.

There is a name for this process and it is called ‘Sensory Motor Amnesia’. As if ‘the muscles have forgotten how to contract fully and how to relax fully’, the client will have lost conscious control over his own muscles. It is a condition that does not show in any medical test, because it is a functional problem (most diagnostic medical tests are based on discovering structural anatomical pathology). Sensory Motor Amnesia has over the years become so apparent in our society, that it can be referred to as being the most prominent health problem around, leading to many of the existing common diseases and pathologies in our society. It is a cultural disease that is gaining recognition in the health care field as well in the educational system. The ‘Aging Process’, stress, stiffness, aches and pains, not recovering from injuries, poor posture, behavioral problems etc. are in many cases nothing more than the manifestation of the characteristics of Sensory Motor Amnesia.

A method to reverse and change the damaging effects of Sensory Motor Amnesia into Sensory Motor Learning is the ‘Pandicular Response’. This gentle and pain free technique instantly brings the muscles under control again of its owner, being you. Based on sound neuro-physiological principles, the results of the Pandiculation are startling: muscle groups that have been contracted for many years will not only release, but with minimal effort, will stay relaxed. As well, a calming effect will be experienced throughout your body. When you will expose your body to new movement patterns that are easier and that are more organic, your body will instantly unlearn its inefficient and painful movement patterns, releasing tightness, pain and discomfort. It is the experience of the The Somatic Health Center that on average approximately 90% of ailments will have been resolved the moment clients will have regained control over their specific somatic reflexes of stress. Mobilizing Awareness™ recognizes the damaging effects of these reflexes and reverses its pattern within only a few sessions.

The main goal of somatic rehabilitation is to educate the client to consciously release their own contracted musculature at will. Re-educating your client with the core movement patterns that are necessary for successful human existence is a somatic process, meaning you are experiencing, upgrading and exploring your own human potential. By becoming ‘self-sensing’ and ‘self-correcting’, you will become active and independent in your process of rehabilitation, health and wellness.

During an individual session, the client does not have to undress, just wear comfortable clothing. A session takes approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. You will leave with a set of tools (‘Somatic Explorations’) that will maintain your balance within your system throughout your life. A 10-minute daily routine of Somatic movements (‘The Daily Cat Stretch-Series’) is available to maintain posture and movement. Not only will there be relief to the problem, but many of your other ailments will benefit as well.

As the medical model is now, Mobilizing Awareness™ brings a new dimension into the existing world of Rehabilitation, Education, Health & Wellness. To gain conscious control and awareness over your own body is a survival skill that is available in everyone. Mobilizing this skill is an empowering process that leads to more freedom and less rigidness. For many people, this is like coming home.

In our current health care system, it is a standard procedure for you and your body to lie on a table and get treated on by a doctor or a therapist. It is my belief that, on contrary, the greatest accomplishment for yourself is to be actively involved in your process of rehabilitation and become independent in regards to your own health and wellness. When your body will have become self-sensing and self-correcting, you often won’t have the need to visit doctors and practitioners. That is the greatest accomplishment !

How familiar is “There is nothing more that I can do for you’ or the excuse: “I am not as young as I used to be ?”. It is the general understanding in our society that certain conditions are there for life and will require ongoing medical treatment or medication. The ‘disease’ cannot be changed and you will have to learn to live with the disease, as well with the consequences of the treatment (side effects; stiffness; scars; emotional dysfunction). When incorporating the knowledge and understanding that Somatics brings us, you will understand that it is not the disease that is being treated, but you as a living organism will improve your own efficiency. Your body’s potential will increase, resulting in a lessening and in many times, disappearance of symptoms.

Mobilizing Awareness™ can be seen as the missing link that has not yet been taught in medical schools and universities. The missing link that not only makes us understand what is going on with our client, but also provides us with the tools to change the situation rapidly. This is accomplished without machines, medication or surgery, just by organic movement. It is your Mobilizing Awareness™ practitioner who will teach and help you how to recognize, reverse and release your specific patterns of tightness. When truly understanding the concepts of Mobilizing Awareness™, many of the mysteries and complications about health and our health care system will become not only explainable and predictable to you, but more importantly, they also become resolvable.

Mobilizing Awareness™ Rehabilitation programs bring a new dimension and a new profession to our society. Incorporating the somatic concepts into our health care system is a promising start for the 21st century, creating a more independent and cost saving climate for all of us to live in. It is the upgrading of existing health care providers with the somatic concepts (doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, body workers, insurance companies) that will bring the field of ‘health care’ and the field of ‘rehabilitation’ to a new level. The results are stunning and revolutionary: on average it only takes between 1 and 4 sessions to bring not only long lasting relief to one’s discomfort, but many other ailments will benefit as well. Your client will have become independent and will also be able to maintain this improved situation in the future. Not only will your client feel better, but you as the providing health care professional will feel better too ! Mobilizing Awareness™ is easy to understand, and is also easily teachable to other health care providers or educators.

It is fundamental to human existence to understand your own body. Your own movements. Your own thoughts. Your own behavior. How motion changes emotion and how emotion changes motion. It is a process of mobilizing your own awareness that unites your own movements, behaviors and emotions. When there is an imbalance within your system, it is only by creating more awareness that you will be able to change your situation. When your system is in balance, it is up to you to maintain your level of balance or even to upgrade yourself to a higher level.

Somatic Rehabilitation or Somatic Education is a very powerful form of health care. However, it is also very fundamental and complimentary to all other existing medical modalities as well as fundamental and complimentary to recreational activities like yoga, dancing, Pilates, sports and meditation. It is not until you are ‘somatically aware’ that you will be able to enjoy the above mentioned activities even more. Instead of working against yourself, you will finally start working with yourself !

The Somatic Health Center, based in St. Helena, California, offers Somatic Rehabilitation / Somatic Education services to interested parties. Individual sessions, informative lectures, classes and workshops are taught throughout North America. For further information, please contact The Somatic Health Center.