I found a blind spot. In conversation with someone in The Anxious Body course, they finally said to me, “You have used the word ‘somatic’ several times and I’m not sure I know what that means.”
My response was really basic. I said, “It means having to do with the body. A fancy way to say ‘body.'”
As soon as I said it I knew I was missing something important. So I set out to find out what “somatic” really does mean when I use the word. Google says (using the Oxford Languages as source): adjective relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind. “patients completed a questionnaire about their somatic and psychological symptoms” BIOLOGY relating to the soma.
Another clue to the meaning, “soma”— but what is that? Google says as well, “the body as distinct from the soul, mind, or psyche.” Most commonly though, the words “soma” and “somatic” come up in technical terms from biology relating it to cell structure, e.g. “chromosome”.
I also conducted an informal survey of self-selected respondents on my Facebook wall. I posted: “Ah friends, tell me your understanding of the word “somatic”… it’s research. Thank you all!”
The responses I received varied from very direct definitions akin to what Google offered, as in “having to do with the body.” But other responses dipped into awareness and body intelligence and emotional content held as physical sensation. Asking the question helped me see how it shows up in people’s lives. Sometimes practically, sometimes therapeutically, sometimes exploratorily (new word?), sometimes performatively.
Now we come to the context in which I have been using it. That context is in relation to the worlds of bodywork, dance, mindfulness, and trauma-awareness. The following quote is the best framing for it that I have found at the moment:
“The term somatic, then, refers to any process which treats an individual as an active participant in an activity, treatment, or other process. The truest definition of somatic avoids the pitfall of separating a soma into parts — the body, mind, spirit, chi, energy, and other terms are all taken into account in all interactions with clients, students, anyone else who walks, phones, or surfs in.” —From Clinical Somatics
Using “somatic” as I do then considers you as a whole bodymind in all the arenas of life, with the specific characteristic that you are paying attention to, and responding to, experiences as they are happening. In science or medicine, you may have a body. In philosophy, you may have a mind. In spirituality, you may have a soul. Somatics asks you to pull them all together in a way that recognizes their interdependence.
Somatic practices are those that invite attention, intention and present moment awareness. They allow the presence of all your parts…mind, body, soul, psyche, et. al.
If you would like to see how somatics is used and framed in practice, I’ve linked to a set of video articles published by The Journal of Embodied Research.
Especially relevant are the first video “Dancing Together Alone,” the third video “Virtually Embodied,” and the fourth video, “Notes from a zoom 5Rhthyms session.” The second and fifth videos are more artistic interpretations/explorations .
Are you interested in somatic practices? Or possibly finding a new relationship with your physicality? Do you want to learn how to understand the voice of your body? Schedule a consult with me to learn how that could happen.
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