generative somatics 

Unlike traditional talk therapy, somatics works with the wisdom of the body, not just the mind. It’s not a pathologizing model and doesn’t focus on what is broken in people: it looks at how the coping mechanisms we’ve evolved are smart, adaptive responses to the world we’ve lived in. To transform and evolve we need to honor the experiences we’ve had and the strategies we’ve come up with to get through hard times.

A key lesson of somatics is the importance of developing intentional practices in order to transform the way we show up in the world. We are always practicing something and what we practice becomes embodied: we act out of it automatically. To make sustainable shifts in our behavior and ways of thinking we need to “embody” new behaviors. And this takes making clear commitments about what’s important to us.

I am a student of generative somatics. I completed their 8 month long Somatics and Trauma course which was geared towards teaching social justice activists and politicized healers how to use body based awareness practices to transform our own trauma and be more effective in our work. In my personal life I’ve incorporated many of their ideas into my daily practice and in my healing work I use the development of commitments and the somatic arc of transformation as a guide or map towards growth and development. Learn more about generative somatics here.