Somatics with Sara

12/01/2025

My article on chronic pain was recently published by the Feldenkrais Guild of North America. Check it out!

This article contains everything I wish someone had told me when I started experiencing persistent chronic pain six years ago and was very new to somatic movement.

If you know anyone struggling with chronic pain, please share this article with them. I'd love to continue the conversation and offer support to those experiencing chronic pain 💗

Understanding Neuroplastic Pain aka Learned Pain Over the past few years, I’ve been on a learning journey to understand the root cause of chronic pain that has no structural or mechanical cause. I’ve struggled with chronic tension and anxiety most of my adult life, but it wasn’t until part way...

11/03/2025

Take a walk under the maple canopies with me 🍁🍂✨️

09/28/2025

What a rich learning experience the Accurate Touch retreat was in Vermont!

A theme of the Accurare Touch retreat was clarifying the axes we work from: sensing, feeling, thinking, and acting.

Moshe Feldenkrais believed that a unified self-image encompasses sensing, feeling, thinking, and acting as an interconnected whole, where changes in one area influence the others.

A person's self-image is built from these four interconnected elements, and a limited self-image can lead to habitual and less effective actions. This applies to how we show up as practitioners too!

We spent our days exchanging Functional Integration lessons, playing learning games, challenging our habits, enjoying deep conversations, and dining al fresco. It was nourishing on so many levels!

Thank you to my teachers .moves, , and for creating this space for deep learning 💚

09/07/2025

Learned pain occurs when the brain, often due to fear, anxiety, or past experiences, creates or amplifies pain signals even after the initial injury or illness has healed.

Through a process of "negative neuroplasticity," neurons become more excitable, synaptic connections become more efficient, and more emotional resources are redirected to pain. The body's natural pain-dampening mechanisms also become less effective, allowing more pain signals to reach the brain. 

This can lead to a vicious cycle where the brain generates more pain as a protective response, which in turn reinforces the fear and attention to the sensation.

The good news is that learned pain is reversible through techniques that help retrain the brain, by restoring internal safety and altering how the brain perceives and responds to pain signals. 

The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education is one of the techniques that can help you unlearn pain. If you're ready to find freedom from chronic pain, reach out to learn more!

08/05/2025

The "flight, fight, freeze" label often increases fear, worry, and self-judgment, especially if there's a lack of self-compassion.

This categorization of human behavior can lead to a sense of pathology and stuckness, rather than an exploration of what's possible.

Upon learning the polyvagal terminology years ago, I became quite skilled at tracking when my nervous system would dip into flight or freeze states. But the act of noticing and labeling would also bring a wave of judgment and shame. I didn't feel empowered, I felt stuck.

When doing Feldenkrais somatic movement, I would often be distracted by anxiety or chronic pain sensations. As explained in my previous posts on central sensitization, these chronic pain sensations are simply pain messages generated by a brain that feels unsafe and overwhelmed.

In the Feldenkrais Method, creating internal safety is paramount to somatic learning. We simply can't learn if we are stressed or fearful. For most students, safety can be found through support from the ground, moving at your own pace, and resting as often as you need.

However, for students who experience high levels of chronic pain or anxiety, these conditions might not be enough to convince the brain that it's safe.

So I began weaving in elements of Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Parts Work into my Feldenkrais practice. Relating to the part of me that was feeling overwhelmed and worried about my pain in an explicit and compassionate way has made all the difference!

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To give you a sense of how I with these patterns with my Feldenkrais students...

✨️ 1. I invite you to get curious about your habits of thinking and movement in order to understand what is actually happening with greater specificity.

In a moment where you might notice "freeze energy" or the desire to flee, what movements or contraction are taking place? This includes micro-movements that correspond to worrying, overthinking, and anticipating.

✨️ 2. Once you have awareness of what you are actually doing, you can explore strategies for being with the discomfort and pain, which might include:

👣 Sensing and scanning (aka somatic tracking), while offering attention and care to the parts that hurt

💗 Self-compassion and reassuring self-talk - "You are so brave. You are doing the movements so good. Yes, these sensations are uncomfortable but I can be with them."

👁 Conscious compartmentalization - say to your sensations, "I hear you, I care about you, but can you step aside so that I can focus on this lesson or enjoy this experience?"

If this post resonates and you're curious about the integration of Feldenkrais and PRT, send me a DM and check out my offerings.

07/28/2025

Welcome to my new somatic movement studio in Buckhorn!

In this beautiful space, I offer 1:1 somatic touch work on a table, as well as small group classes.

In 1:1 sessions (known as Functional Integration), I offer light touch that works on a neurological level to help your body and mind find a new integrated way of working together.

In group classes, I verbally guide you through slow, gentle movements on the floor that unwind tension and calm the nervous system.

If you're not local to the Kawarthas, I offer online 1:1 sessions and group classes as well.

Check out the links in my bio or send me a DM to begin your somatic learning journey today! 🧠👣✨️

07/27/2025

I'm delighted to share that I moved into a 100 year old farmhouse in the Buckhorn area this summer!

My somatic movement studio is officially open and I'm excited to welcome clients to this farmhouse sanctuary.

It's a quick 20 minute drive from Peterborough through rolling countryside.

I've always dreamed of teaching somatics in the country, so that my clients have the opportunity to integrate in nature before returning to their daily lives.

From garden strolls to wild forest walks, this rustic farm has it all! Follow the link in my bio to book a 1:1 session and experience this sanctuary for yourself 💐

07/06/2025

Building on my previous post on the brain's anticipatory system (aka predictive powers), this post explores how the Feldenkrais Method can help refine your brain's functioning through movement.

As a Feldenkrais practitioner working with someone with anxiety, I ask them to consider: what is this anticipatory power good for?

When does it help you, when does it serve you? When does it cause problems for you? Making this distinction both cognitively and somatically (in your felt sense) is key!

How could you begin to inhibit your anticipatory system in situations where it goes into overdrive and is not helpful?

And when can you recognize and celebrate this incredible neurological capacity within yourself?

To make this learning concrete, we explore these patterns through movement and sensation (rather than thinking).

Struggling with anxiety and overthinking? Book a 1:1 somatic movement session with me to begin working with your inherent biological intelligence 🎨✨️

07/04/2025

In 2024, esteemed neuroscientist and pyschologist Lisa Feldman Barrett published an article that was mind-blowing to me.

Barrett argues that the "fight or flight" theory is an oversimplification of how the brain actually works. Recent scientific studies using brain imaging reveal that dedicated fight-or-flight neural circuits don't exist in the brain.

Instead, the brain's primary function is to predict and prepare for future events, rather than simply reacting to threats. This predictive process, which aims to reduce uncertainty and conserve energy, is often experienced as stress, particularly when the world is unpredictable. 

These findings suggest that stress and anxiety are not simply automatic reactions, but rather consequences of the brain's predictive activity in a complex and uncertain world. 

🧠✨️Takeaway: The brain’s primary job is to reduce uncertainty in an ever changing world. Yet, our world is becoming increasingly uncertain, complex, and threatening.

Fortunately, the Feldenkrais Method specializes in helping your brain adapt to uncertainty and discover novel solutions.

Check out the offerings in my bio to begin this powerful integrative practice that supports the functioning of your brain and nervous system in an ever changing, stressful world.

05/10/2025

In somatic movement practices like the Feldenkrais Method, it's the very act of attending to your movement that begins to improve the quality of your movement.

If you pay attention to your chronic pain or illness through the lens of fear, worry, or fixing, the pain will likely get worse. Hyperviglience around your pain reinforces signals of danger to your brain.

If you pay attention to your pain through the lens of compassion, curiosity, and playfulness, then your pain sensations will likely change and dissipate.

In the Feldenkrais Method, you practice relating to your skeleton, which is the slowest moving part of your self-image.

Your skeleton is a source of support and stability that allows your brain and nervous system to orient to the world around you and respond effectively.

In other words, your skeleton provides a sense of safety that imbues your embodied experience and everything you do.

Moving slowly and focusing on your bones can calm the brain's pain pathways. This allows you to focus on ease and pleasure rather than constantly monitoring your pain sensations.

Would you like to experience a deep felt sense of safety and freedom from chronic pain? Follow the link in my bio to book a 1:1 session or sign up for a group class!

05/04/2025

Feldenkrais somatic movement is a form of somatic learning that requires presence and attentional resources.

I've found through my own experience that engaging in somatic movement while in a pain flare can be counterproductive.

Somatic learning requires a quieting of the nervous system, a shift into a parasympathetic state. If your brain is on high alert due to pain signals, then you have a lot noise in your nervous system - which makes it difficult to relax and make sensory distinctions from a place of curiosity.

It can also create a negative feedback loop, where you are intellectually searching for answers and movement patterns that will reduce your pain. This mindset often has underlying tones of worry, fear, and pressure that will cause your pain to persist.

I always bring it back to somatic learning in babies. What emotional affect does a baby have when it is playing on the floor and learning to move itself through space? The baby is in a state of curiosity and wonder...free of worry, pressure, and intellectual analysis.

If the baby is tired, hungry, or in discomfort, it is not going to be playing and learning how to crawl. It is going to be crying in order to get its biological needs met.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for my email newsletter via the link in my bio, where I share more personal reflections on the Feldenkrais Method and chronic pain.