There are days when we step onto the mat and feel completely connected to our practice. We notice the breath moving through the body, the subtle shift of weight through our feet, the places holding tension and the moments where something within the body or breath begins to release.
And there are days when we can move through an entire class almost on autopilot.
We know the shapes, we know or can sense what comes next. Our body moves while our mind wanders elsewhere, and before we know it, we're lying in Savasana wondering where the last hour went.
Both are part of practising yoga. But the difference between those experiences opens up an interesting conversation around somatics, and what it really means to experience movement from within.
Somatics has become an increasingly popular word across yoga, movement and wellbeing in recent years. You may have come across somatic yoga, somatic movement, somatic shaking or free movement practices. Yet for a word we hear so often, it isn't always clear what actually makes a movement somatic.
Maybe, there isn't one neat answer.
SO, WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SOMATICS?
The word somatic comes from the Greek soma, meaning the living body. Within the field of somatics, the word came to describe the body as it is experienced from within; our felt, first-person experience rather than the body viewed purely from the outside.
This distinction feels particularly interesting when we bring it onto the yoga mat.
So much of our lives are experienced from the outside in. We see our reflection in the mirror, we compare ourselves with images, and we constantly think about how we appear to other people. Even in yoga, we can become preoccupied with how a posture looks, where a particular body part should be, how deeply we can move into a shape or whether we are doing it "right".
Somatic awareness turns our attention to something deeper.
- What can you actually feel?
- Where does your breath move?
- What happens (sensations, feelings, awareness, observations) when you shift your weight slightly?
- Are you gripping somewhere you don't need to?
- Does your body want to stay here, move differently, or come out of the shape altogether?
Suddenly the body isn't simply following instructions - we are in conversation with it.
Something to sit with: When you're practising, how often are you aware of how your body feels, rather than how you imagine it looks?
HAS YOGA ALWAYS BEEN SOMATIC?
This is where the conversation becomes more nuanced ...
Yoga and modern somatics have different histories, and we don't want to collapse one tradition into the other. Yet there are clear points of connection. Yoga has long worked with awareness of the body, breath, mind and subtle experience. Practices such as asana, pranayama and meditation continually bring our attention towards what is happening within us.
Maybe an interesting question isn't simply, "is yoga somatic?".
It might be more along the lines of: How somatically are we practising yoga?
You could move through a slow, gentle yoga class whilst remaining completely disconnected from what you're feeling. Equally, you could be holding a strong Warrior II and be acutely aware of the ground beneath your feet, the rhythm of your breath, the heat building through your legs and the subtle choices you're making from one moment to the next. The posture hasn't made the experience somatic - your relationship with it has. And this is what feels like the important distinction.
Somatic movement doesn't have to look soft, slow or particularly free. A dynamic Vinyasa practice can hold an enormous amount of felt awareness. So can walking, running, dancing, strength work or simply sitting still. What changes is where we place our attention.
And it makes us curious about our own yoga practice:
- How often are we moving from memory or habit?
- How often are we following the teacher before checking in with ourselves?
- When do we override a sensation because we want to reach the fullest expression of a posture?
There is no judgement in these questions, we've all done it. They simply give us something interesting to observe.
SOMATIC MOVEMENT & FREE MOVEMENT
Somatic movement and free movement are often spoken about together, and they can certainly overlap, but they aren't quite the same thing.
Free or intuitive movement usually gives us greater freedom to choose how the body moves. There may be less choreography, fewer prescribed shapes and more room to follow sensation, curiosity or instinct. For some of us, that freedom feels wonderful. For others, being told to "just move however your body wants to move" can feel surprisingly uncomfortable and that response is interesting in itself.
We're so accustomed to being told where to place our hands and feet that suddenly having no instructions can reveal how much we've come to rely on them. What happens when there isn't a right shape to make? Where does your body naturally want to go? Can you trust yourself enough to follow it?
Free movement can offer a beautiful space to explore those questions, but a practice doesn't need to be free-form to be somatic. You might be in Downward Facing Dog, a posture you've practised thousands of times, and suddenly become curious about it again. Perhaps you bend one knee, shift into the opposite hand, soften your jaw, move your hips or simply stay still and feel your breath.
The shape may be familiar but your experience of it is happening for the first time.
LEARNING TO LISTEN AGAIN
It is without a doubt that modern life asks us to spend a lot of time in our heads.
We plan, analyse, organise, make decisions, answer messages and move from one thing to the next. The body can become something that carries us through the day while our attention lives somewhere else entirely, yet it is communicating with us constantly.
Like a jaw that tightens when we're stressed, or a breath that becomes shallow when we're rushing. The feeling of tiredness we've been ignoring all afternoon, or the spontaneous stretch our body asks for after sitting at a desk. That beautiful releasing exhale that arrives when we finally get outside.
Somatic practice gives these quieter signals somewhere to be heard. Sometimes we might respond through movement, or sometimes the answer is rest.
There may be moments where we don't need to do anything at all; simply noticing is enough. This is also where curiosity becomes so important. If every sensation immediately becomes something we need to diagnose, improve or release, we're still approaching the body as a problem to solve.
What happens if we simply become interested instead? We invite you to take some time this month to contemplate or journal with these questions in mind:
- What am I noticing today?
- Has this sensation always been here?
- What changes if I breathe into this space?
- What happens if I stop trying to change it?
There is something beautifully freeing about meeting the body without immediately asking it to be different.
BRINGING SOMATICS INTO YOUR YOGA PRACTICE
You don't necessarily need another practice or a new style of yoga to begin exploring somatics. You can start with the practice you already know.
The next time you arrive on your mat, notice how you feel before you move. Not how you think you should feel that day, but what is actually there. As you begin moving, see where your attention goes... perhaps you notice yourself anticipating the next cue, maybe you're automatically moving to your usual depth in a posture. You might even discover that one side of your body wants something completely different from the other. Give yourself time to notice. To feel what is happening, stay curious about what you find, and become more aware of what your body is revealing to you in that moment.
Somatic practice asks us to develop our own relationship with the body, and that relationship will look different for every person. Even the same body will need something different from one day to the next.
A question for your next practice: If nobody could see you and there was nothing to achieve, how would you move today?
OUR SEPTEMBER THEME AT THE SOUL SANCTUARY
Throughout September, we'll be exploring somatics across the Soul Sanctuary membership and becoming curious about what it means to experience our practices from the inside out. There will be space for intuitive and free movement, alongside the yoga practices you already know. We want to explore the moments where movement becomes less about following a shape and more about noticing your own experience within it.
We’d love you to approach the month without deciding in advance what somatics is supposed to feel like and join us so you have the space to explore it for yourself. Notice which practices make you feel most connected to your body. Notice where you resist. Notice what feels unfamiliar. Notice whether having more freedom feels liberating or uncomfortable, and see what you discover. Our hope is that by the end of September your understanding of somatics will be different from where it began, because there is something interesting in leaving the definition slightly open.
Your experience of being in your body belongs to you. No teacher can feel a posture for you, tell you exactly what you need in every moment, or know the landscape of your body in quite the way you can.
So this month, we're interested in the question more than the answer:
What does it feel like to truly inhabit your own body?
