Word of the Moment: Somatic, and How It Can Help Right Now

Word of the moment: somatic.

Has this word crossed your radar lately also?

It feels particularly relevant to hover over it for a moment this week, as our industry like so many others keeps being thrown off-balance by the reverberations of a disruptive news cycle that, to varying degrees, threatens our professional security and personal well-being.

We are having a moment, friends.

Are you okay?

And are we okay, altogether?

It might be a tough question right now. If you, too, find yourself swaying out of rhythm more than usual these days, let me share a few things I’ve learned recently about somatic movement and somatic education. It has helped me, and I hope it can help you also.

At the thirty thousand foot level, somatic education studies the body and its relationship to the mind, emotions and the environment. For me, somatic education starts in the familiar comfort zone of the mind-body connection (yoga and Pilates are a few of the techniques) and also adds the lightbulb of responding physically with our bodies in different ways to different stressors.

The stress of anxiety, for example, could be soothed by certain physical movements or activity while the stress of depression could be soothed by other movements or activity. To wind down before bed and soothe an over-busy mind before sleep, I’ve learned about rocking techniques one body-scan part at a time: feet and ankles, then knees and thighs, then hips, then shoulders. Another example is how to descend from the wind-up and stress-build of an agitating conversation at work. In that case, a moderating activity like physical exertion through exercise (hello, Peloton!) has shown itself to be a different and more effective response to that stressor scenario.

Different set-ups. Both real-life. Both increasingly common in our current economic and political environment.

What’s been helpful is thinking about my individual response to those stressors differently. Yes, I knew before that yoga and meditation are helpful and even critical tools. And yes, we all certainly know the benefits of exercise and physical exertion. The learning is around matching the physical response to the psychological stressor, and “closing the loop” in a way that’s biologically and emotionally appropriate.

Here I’m taking an assist from authors you may have read before: Emily Nagoski PhD (an educator in health behavior and author of Come As You Are) and her twin sister, Amelia Nagoski DMA (a conductor and specialist in burnout prevention). Even before COVID, they had the prescience to write Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle and it has become all the more relevant now. Their descriptions of the biological stress cycle, and their advice on what to do when we recognize we’re in one of those cycles, are game-changing. Another resource that has also been helpful is The Workout Witch.

[Insert deep breath here. Because even now, as I come to the end of writing this post, I’m recognizing my body’s response to wanting very much for this community – for our community – to be okay. It’s getting harder. Fortunately there are, always, new things to learn that we can try and share.]

Please be in touch any time. I’d love to hear from you. My cell phone number is +1.702.528.3717, and my email is cathy@enolytics.com.

Namaste,
Cathy