#somatics

[lazyyogi]

The key is to be in a state of permanent connectedness with your inner body — to feel it at all times. This will rapidly deepen and transform your life. The more consciousness you direct into the inner body, the higher its vibrational frequency becomes, much like a light that grows brighter as you turn up the dimmer switch and so increase the flow of electricity. At this higher energy level, negativity cannot affect you anymore, and you tend to attract new circumstances that reflect this higher frequency…

Do not give all your attention away to the mind and the external world. By all means focus on what you are doing, but feel the inner body at the same time whenever possible. Stay rooted within. Then observe how this changes your state of consciousness and the quality of what you are doing…

Whenever you are waiting, wherever it may be, use that time to feel the inner body. In this way, traffic jams and lines become very enjoyable. Instead of mentally projecting yourself away from the Now, go more deeply into the Now by going more deeply into the body.

Eckhart Tolle

[muscle-monk]

I am activating the deep core myofascial synergy in the groin and torso with assistance from the swollen upper extremity.

The big arm complex starts in the scapula on the back but wraps around the sides and front. From the front that you see only the front part but most of the activation is on the back and in the sides—in the armpit (not the shoulders!!) and centered on the scapula—the only major moving bone in the area. You have to retrain this primal awareness.

As I push myself apart and pull myself back together in the legs and groin, I use the bulging arms anchored in my armpits and on my back to provide a really nice synergistic boost. A boobs boost.

It is sexy and feels good.

My name is Musclemonk and my mission is the save the world with muscle.

To make the best possible contribution, something that is truly very new and important t us, I have chosen to teach about the deep core postural system of muscles.

It’s sexy and beautiful and transcendent and holographic. It’s meaty and juicy and sensitive and electric. It erupts with color across the sensorium. It is touch and care and universal. It is you.

[youremyheaven]

female (yin)-centric exercises and movement practices

i am personally all for the burgeoning popularity of somatics and i think the rise of pilates is wonderful.

for a long time, "exercise" meant hitting the gym and painfully enduring sessions that felt like physical torture. unless you're a high performance athlete, i dont really see the merit in resistance training tbh. obviously everybody has different tastes and preferences and some people probably find somatics and pilates too boring and slow and want something more high intensity which is 👍🏼

however, for many of us who struggle to keep up with these and repeatedly admonish ourselves for being "lazy" due to our inability to thrive or be consistent or enjoy these workouts, there are manyyyy other forms of practices that are wonderful and fun to do and are perhaps better suited for our bodies, temperaments, lifestyles etc

first of all, the concept of "exercise" has become synonymous with either losing weight or making gains. we are told that we have to "exercise" to stay fit. but exercise can mean manyyy different things, its not just cardio and weights. and this means a lot of people think if you're not trying to gain or lose anything, you dont "need" to "exercise".

but this is not true, i think "movement" is a better word and everybody regardless of their weight, age, gender or whatever else needs to move their bodies. we were not meant to just sit, stand and lay down, we need to move. not to serve some moral purpose of "fitness" (another flawed concept) but because its spiritually, physically and emotionally bad for us to not move. we feel more alive when we move. our culture has become so dopamine fried, sex addicted, toxic eating and drug abusing in large part because our lifestyles are so sedentary and we crave stimulation. we wouldnt depend on external substances to feel "alive" if we felt that aliveness within us every day.

you dont need to "exercise" but you def need to move!!! when we dont, we feel lethargic, stagnant, our joints (from years of inactivity) become more sensitive, our body hurts, our immunity suffers and aging can bring aches of all kinds but this does not have to be anybody's reality. we change this!!

you're not lazy for not exercising, if you liked how doing an activity made you feel, you would do it all the time. dont punish yourself!!!

i personally think strength training works for many people. this can mean, swimming, cycling, hiking, dancing, pilates, yoga, barre etc

now about somatic movement practices,

somatics is all about the mind-body connection and intentional movement. pilates (which was basically developed from yoga) and yoga are examples of somatic practice

but there are other methods as well:

Rolfing

Alexander method

Feldenkrais method

Laban movement analysis

Fascia training (myofascial release)

and somatic practices also include things like progressive muscle relaxation, emotional freedom technique, body scanning etc

i know it can all be a little overwhelming but tbh there is a lot of overlap between all of these practices so dont feel like you're missing out by not trying them all,, stick to what feels right for you and focus on that.

yin yoga and restorative yoga (very similar but also different) are also helpful

the reason i put "female centric" in the title is bc i feel like the world of diet and exercise is dominated by a masculine worldview of doing things the hard way/aggressive way and by acting with resistance/restraint instead of a more open/whole approach and valuing "slow" progress over quick and easy ones. the reason why ppl hit the gym make quick progress and then relapse is bc its genuinely difficult to put up with a gym routine for most people who aren't physically immune to pain. movement does not have to "hurt", be "draining" or a proof of your willpower as a human being. its fun, easy, natural, fulfilling and a part of life<333 you can proceed more slowly and make progress over time but tbh you'll be lost in the flow so you wont bother checking to see if you have and life is long so there's no rush!! what we gain slowly will last us forever!! bc we alter our body's alignment and our own relationship with it + our lifestyle/routine to truly embody it instead of a "crash and burn" style that leads to burnout.

remember, the river wears out the rocks not through force but simply by flowing<3

anybody can do these exercises btw, not just women lol

if you have doubts or questions, feel free to ask me <333

[loveandthepsyche]

Strike at the root ➡️ honor your nervous system to develop resilience & stability from within 💜 from this place of power, you can meet the demands of reality in every situation that presents in your life.

[teachanarchy]

This Simple Japanese Philosophy Will Change the Way You Think about Pain

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

If a cursory study of somatics shows that we think with our entire body, then how much better could we think, if we thought with our entire web of wild kin? I want to think and feel and weep and grieve with my whole multi-species, poly-nucleated mind. I want to let the yolk of my small desires slide into otherness. I want to nucleate a symbiotic quest for a better future. Throw open all the doors in my cells. Let my river run both ways. Sophie Strand, Supracellular (via astranemus)

[nastydeity]

did some somatics today while dealing with some really bad PMDD symptoms. It helped so so much. I was able to just release everything. Shoutout to yasmene badereldin on youtube.

[thejaymo]

Surface Flatness | 2412

Don’t you think that the surface of the Internet feels super flat right now? I don’t just mean it's UX but the whole internet.

[ears-awake-eyes-opened]

One of the best resources I’ve encountered for healing attachment wounds

[erica-hart]

On Movement

Movement to me is the only way to cope. It soothes me. It quiets my mind for a minute, putting it to sleep while I dance and jump and spin. When I wake up I can make sense of it all. A revelation that needed to be shaken out of me. My own wisdom. Who knew we could hold such knowledge? The knowledge lives inside my big toe and I have to shake it all the way up to my brain.

[lazyyogi]

So when such challenges come, as they always do, make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much as you can on the inner energy field of your body. This need not take long, just a few seconds. But you need to do it the moment that the challenge presents itself. Any delay will allow a conditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take you over. When you focus within and feel the inner body, you immediately become still and present as you are withdrawing consciousness from the mind. If a response is required in that situation, it will come up from this deeper level. Just as the sun is infinitely brighter than a candle flame, there is infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind.

Eckhart Tolle

[muscle-monk]

The Interoceptive Sensory Motor System

[unofficialchronicle]

Resiliency is our inherent capacity to see beauty, find connection, commune with something larger than ourselves, and create- even in or after horrendous experiences

Staci K. Haines 

Staci Haines is the author of “The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing and Social Justice.” She is the founder of generationFIVE and the co-founder of generative somatics.

[imrama-within]

Union

I feel almost happy, almost serene, mostly content. I knew it would come, it just hasn't felt possible. In the last two weeks I have had five panic attacks, some not intense as others, but debilitating just the same. It was while I was crying for 6+ hours straight and only got roughly an hour's sleep on a Thursday night, either side panic attacks that I realised I wasn't going crazy, that it is actually PTSD. It is amazing, once the mind is able to grasp and make sense of something, it can relax and ease a little more. I have been worried about my bipolar returning, having felt fully healed from it. I have not been on psych meds for years and it was interesting to notice how much louder my mind got without them. The difference is, with all the years of self-work, therapy, the support of meds and mostly my spiritual path led me to a place where I was liberated, empowered and not controlled by my diagnosis. I truly believe that my bipolar is a manifestation of my brain figuring out to cope in intense times of survival. These last few months have been brutal. My somatic and nervous system work absolutely intense. At one point I was laying on the floor each day and immediately my body would convulse for an hour+. Yes, it was and has been utterly exhausting, my nervous system has just been in overdrive and it is so naturally used to regulating in this innate way now that suppression and bottling anything down is impossible. This is the power of healing. I finally purchased the Activation Sequence to the Gene Keys a couple of days ago after having a difficult conversation with my best friend, who said she has noticed a decline in my mental health over the past year. I admitted to her that I have just been scared. Because I have been. Every part of me beginning to freeze in terror at the possibility of what might be happening to me. I am so proud that I have so many learned skills and tools that I can utilise to help support myself. It has been so hard, as I have wanted so much to start working with others and begin to bring some of this work to the world. But, with my state being the way it has, I have just needed such a deep pause and rest state. Instead of going to a yoga class this evening I followed my intuition and was stayed home to do a restorative practice and reconnect my body, with my heart. I was reminded today through the gene keys teachings of the beauty of yoga, in bringing myself back to union, my natural state and my natural nature. I set the intention to connect with Mother Gaia and send all that extra electrical charge and anything that does not serve me back into the Earth. And to be breathe in grounding transmuted energy back into my body and connect with my heart. It was so interesting to witness and watch. Because my body moves so much, I have been holding back heaps in my practice so as not to disturb others, as it is not appropriate. What has happened is a disconnection with my heart. Through each intuitively guided pose, staying there for roughly 5 minutes and as my body unwound and let go, I allowed it to convulse, shake, move and heal as it needed. Already in the first module. A glimpse and a glance to the art of contemplation I am already reconnected more deeply with my higher self and my ego has taken a very deep back seat. What a blessing to be here now. x

[graygarland]

When we’re living in survival mode, we turn to our creativity when we need to offload some energy or process emotions.

Our relationship to our creative channel is shaped by our awareness. And when our creativity is crammed into the shape of survival for long periods of time, we lose contact with what shape it wants to be.

I think this is why people sometimes talk about losing the motivation for creative work after they begin releasing their trauma and unwinding old coping habits.

I think this is also why some people struggle to initiate creative work. Whether they get stuck waiting on an idea or become deterred too quickly when actualizing their initial idea presents obstacles…

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