10/31/2025
Fellow LMT friends, this is one of my favourite people to learn from, teaching one of my favourite subjects! Online class option, and such good value for CEs!
Spiraling, undulating, unwinding, wave-like shakes, radiating flows: these qualities describe a form of semi-voluntary movement that, while familiar to many traditional and contemporary schools of movement, has only recently become the subject of empirical research.
This is one of the topics we'll be covering in a 4-hr workshop this Saturday 11/1, ‘Embodied Anatomy: Unwinding & Becoming’ — Open to all explorers of movement, somatics, mindfulness, and physical medicine.
⚡️ More info here: http://bit.ly/4e66pEB
Neither wholly self-directed nor wholly automatic, these movements seem to emerge at the intersection of conscious and subconscious process. Practically, how might these open up a range of embodied states - painful restrictions, tension patterns, emotional-energetic blockages - that would otherwise be inaccessible to conscious experience and input?
"The movements arise most easily when the subject is relaxed, thus allowing subconsciously-generated movement to occur…Movements can start locally and then spread to neighboring areas, often encompassing the whole body…There is a natural tendency for the spontaneous movements to seek input and external support. We hypothesize that this may improve the efficiency with which internal forces can be used for self-organization and fascial reconfiguration. Manual therapy can be an effective source of input…[which can] bring about a redistribution of forces that the patient instinctively responds to with changed movement patterns."
(from Characterizing a Common Class of Spontaneous Movements -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9401082/)
This article presents a review and several case studies on the phenomenon of spontaneous movement in the context of manual and somatic movement therapy. Though its underlying mechanisms are still only vaguely understood, spontaneous movement has been anecdotally observed to support parasympathetic states of calm, pleasurable sensation, ease of mobility, and reduced pain perception. Some promising areas for future exploration, the authors suggest, may include the adaptive role of the autonomic nervous system with respect to social engagement, co-regulatory attunement between subject and therapist, and the connection between spontaneous movement and postural reflexes.
How might spontaneous movement serve as a clinical tool for cultivating the body’s intrinsic resources for healthy repatterning and integration?
We would love to have you join us for this exciting workshop. The last chance to register is Friday.
Can't make Saturday's live session? No problem—all registered participants get the full experience with the complete class recording to watch on your schedule and permanent access to the workshop!
⚡️ Embodied Anatomy: Unwinding & Becoming⚡️
Open to all practitioners of movement, somatics, mindfulness, and physical medicine.
Saturday November 1st from 10a-2p Pacific
4 CE hours • Cost: $85 USD
In-person, online, or view in your own time
For more info & to sign up:
http://bit.ly/4e66pEB
Reference:
The Anatomist Eustachi, 1783... (Famous for the eustachian tube!)
Begin, J., Bertolucci, L. F., Blostein, D., & Minasny, B. (2022). Characterizing a Common Class of Spontaneous Movements. International journal of therapeutic massage & bodywork, 15(3), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.3822/ijtmb.v15i3.719
