Wisconsin Somatic Movement - PSEngelking,LLC

09/12/2024

When all you’ve got is the picnic table to release and relax muscles.

06/05/2024

A new client just reached out because she’s had shoulder issues after a significant trauma and surgeries. Her mobility and comfort are not satisfying especially because she’s an active person. At least she wants to be.

Her biggest frustration is that doctors and surgeons are treating her shoulder in parts rather than looking at the shoulder as a whole and creating a treatment plan that creates mobility in the whole shoulder and the whole body.

So she reached out to see if Somatic Movement can help her. Why is Somatic Movement effective?

1. It addresses the body as a whole
Muscles work together to create comfortable, relaxed movement. Not only do they contract and shorten, but they relax and lengthen. Movement is a complex operation. Your brain signals the muscles to coordinate together in contraction and relaxation to move your body.

During clinical lessons and classes, clients connect muscles from one end of the body to the other. In fact, during class this evening, clients were flexing and relaxing their feet and could feel how the hip joint, hip, waist and even the spine was moving along with the foot.

Why is this important? Because if there is tension in the center of the body, it limits movement and comfort in the feet, neck, knees …. the whole body. In this evening’s class, we did a movement helping students feel how abdominal muscles, back muscles, and waist muscles torque the sacrum creating SI joint pain. By sensing these movements and making connections, clients were able to relax their abdominals, back, and waist muscles and felt their own pelvis relax and their knees, ankles and feet.

2. Sensation
The purpose of movement in Somatic Movement is to (1) create new sensation, (2) tune attention to the sensation (3) feel what how to relax muscles and tension (4) create relaxed, comfortable movement patterns.

(1 & 2) Simply put, to regain control of muscles to relax them and improve mobility, you must learn how to sense yourself. You learn how to tune into sensation. That sensation creates new information for your brain to regain control of your muscles so it can relax them. (3) This is especially true when you experience how to not only contract muscles but also when you learn how to relax and lengthen your muscles to rest. Have you ever learned hot to relax and release your muscles before? Ever?

Once you have new awareness via movement and sensation and you can feel how to relax your muscles, then you learn how to create new movement patterns like walking. Here’s another example from class this evening. Many people with SI joint pain, have tension in their hips causing the hips and center body to tighten and hike to one side rather than allowing the pelvis and trunk to rotate while walking. And so we practiced both, hiking and releasing from the hips to the throat and releasing. Once students felt comfortable with this, we segued to rolling the pelvis and trunk in rotation.

This is why it is so important to treat the body as a whole unit rather than individual parts. When one part of the body is held in contraction (tension), it is no longer available to participate in full body mobility and generally that creates discomfort.

04/23/2024

#2 Why does it feel good to know you have the capability of creating ease, comfort and mobility in your own body?

When you experience muscle tension and pain, you have the agency to lie down on the floor and give your body a calm, simple, relaxed experience that changes your personal reality in the moment. You have the opportunity to choose to quiet down the "fight, flight or flee" aspect of your nervous system and enhance "rest and digest" which is most effective at relaxing muscle tension and pain.

A couple weeks ago, I hurt myself and couldn't get off the floor. I felt fear, anxiety and agitation kick in and I knew my Sympathetic Nervous System (fight, flight or flee) was responding to the threat my body was experiencing. Instead of getting taken away by fear or anxiety, I stopped myself and addressed my breath. I asked myself, "what is the easiest, most relaxing breath I can experience right now?" I did that for quiet awhile until I felt like I could experiment with a couple movements.

Next, I did simple, easy versions of the Somatic Movements. I listened to my body as weight shifted, muscles contracted, and muscles relaxed. I did only one movement at a time and let myself relax completely into the floor before I started another movement so my nervous system could feel complete relaxation.

Addressing my body and emotional state in this way helped me take back control. I intentionally created what I wanted to experience in my own body. Why? Because I knew I could change the state of my nervous system by changing my response to the fear of pain. And repeating that response switched my nervous system from fight, fight or flee to rest and digest.

In his presentation, "How to break the addiction to negative thoughts and emotions," Joe Dispenza said that when a predator is chasing its prey, the prey is only concerned about 3 things: body, environment, and how much time it takes to get to safety.

What does this have to do with muscle comfort and mobility?

When there is any kind of discomfort, tension, panic or disruption in the body, the Sympathetic Nervous System (responsible for fight, flight or flee) becomes dominant over the Parasympathetic Nervous System (rest & digest). The Sympathetic Nervous System interrupts the brain and creates tunnel vision of obsession or concentration on three things:
(1) body (safety, fixing ourselves);
(2) environment (being in control);
(3) time (is there enough time to flee and most efficient coordination of body to get to safety).

While predator and prey can recover from stress pretty easily, humans tend to habituate the stress response and causes an obsession about:
(1) our bodies: fixing a perceived problem like pain, appearance (shape, weight, form, exercise, sloth), achievement, failure, exhaustion, etc.
(2) environment (trying to control it at all costs);
(3) time (decreased coordination in the body's timing function, fear-producing thoughts about time, or attempting to control time by obsessing over time management)

How do we take back control?
Address the body and breath as it shows up in the moment. Drop any judgements, make small, simple, calm movements. For example, sense how weight shifts during a movement, make connections between body parts or notice where your breath is relaxing tension or adding tension. Take breaks in between each movement to feel relaxation. When you take time to experience these qualities, you experience what you want to feel.

(2) Environment: Instead of trying to control the outcome, use gravity to help you relax. Each movement is generally moving away from gravity and relaxing back down into gravity to rest. This becomes a calming, rhythmic pattern between yourself and the floor. Use all the props you need to be comfortable.

(3) Timing. Give yourself permission to clear your obligations or get help so you allow your nervous system to tell you how much time it needs to relax. When I hurt myself, I couldn't get off the floor very well for a couple of days. Because I listened and honored what my body was telling me, I was walking on day 3.

Second, slow down the movements, take your time with them. Your body is like a piece of written music with measures throughout called neurons. When you slow your movements down and listen to sensation, you lay down a trail along your neurons (which are like measures in music) that provide the information your brain needs to release and relax your body. If you go too fast, you skip segments of neurons which is like skipping measures in a piece of music.

Also, giving yourself time to pause, rest and breathe is like letting all 4 wheels of your car stop completely at a stop sign. The nervous system feels this and quiets stress hormones to relax your body.

How you respond to yourself when you feel tension, pain or stress can change the state of your nervous system. You can relax your nervous system and promote ease and comfort in your body, or you can let your nervous system get agitated by chasing a fix or allowing stress producing thoughts to take you away. What would it feel like to take a pause during the tension, pain or stress and ask yourself, "what would I rather be experiencing and feeling?" Then address your physical and emotional body in that way. If your answer was, I want to be pain free, then do simple, small movements in a pain free manner. I could hardly move when I hurt myself, but I figured out how to move myself with kindness. I tuned into the sensation in my body to ensure that every bit of movement was comfortable and easy. Have that experience over and over again so your nervous system can sync to it and create more of it for you.

04/20/2024

Why does it feel so good to know you have the capability of creating ease, comfort and mobility in your own body?

#1. This is a new series that I hope will help you not only connect with your body, comfort and mobility in a new way, but I also hope it can help you improve the quality of your life.

These posts are meant to be easy, simple snippets that can inspire your Somatic Movement practice and movement today.

When I was well into my training back in 2015, I got a little confused about the movements. I played with the idea that they are just choreography and it showed in my body because my tension was tighter, my language while teaching was confusing and it was a difficult experience. What I learned and am still learning is that HOW we approach our bodies is just as important as the movements we are doing.

And this is normal, to go back and forth when you are learning between the ”old way” and the “new idea” that is being integrated. This is probably what I was forgetting. We cannot be in the state of mind of our reflexes when we do our movements, which is called pandiculation, and create relaxation, ease and mobility. Why?

There are two states of mind. I’ll call the first one the “thinking” mind and the other the “sensing” mind. The thinking mind is generally controlled by our primitive, reflexive, and generally unconscious Limbic brain which is trying to protect us at all times. When this part of the brain is dominant, it drives thoughts from beliefs based on past experiences. For example, let’s say you hurt your back raking your lawn. The Limbic brain will contract something in your body under the level of your awareness of your consciousness to keep your back safe. In other words, you’ll be having the experience of constant contraction which is muscle tension. Muscle tension causes pain and immobility.

Or let’s say someone told you that you were ugly or stupid in junior high school and you didn’t have the resources to believe otherwise, the Limbic brain fuels that old belief over and over again in your life by producing unconscious and involuntary thought patterns as you respond to all parts of your life. You might spend your whole life trying to prove that you aren’t stupid. All emotional responses that are based on past beliefs elicit a physical response in the form of contractions in the body that eventually end up as muscle tension and pain.

This thinking brain is also a “fixing brain.”. It labels problems, creates wrongness, shame, anger, blah, blah, blah…. We cannot resolve our comfort and mobility using this part of our nervous system.

The good news is that there is a part of your brain that can help you. It’s called the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). And that PFC comes on-line when you leave your thinking brain for your sensing brain.

What would it feel like next time you do your Somatic Movement practice to tune into the sensations your body is having? What would it feel like to feel how your weight shifts in your pelvis? To feel how your elbow is connected to your shoulder? What would it feel like to feel the difference between breathing while contracting your belly, diaphram or chest versus breathing with relaxation in these areas? What does it feel like to say to yourself, “I am going to do this movement, right now, in a way that feels good?“. What would it feel like to be curious? To use imagery (I.e., imagine your lungs are round cylinders while breathing of flattening and releasing and sensing them rolling toward each other with the flatten and relax and unroll as you ease off your contraction to relaxation)? What would it feel like to feel differences like contracting your hip in a hike while witnessing the rolling of the pelvis on the floor to unrolling and relaxing your waist and pelvis completely to the floor?

These are some of the qualities we use in our Somatic Movement practice to shift from our thinking, fixing brain and nervous system to the sensing side of our nervous system.
Intention ~ Can I do this movement so it feels good, simple, easy
Curiosity~
Differentiation~
Imagery~

Do not be surprised if your “thinking, fixing, judging, doing it right” brain makes several surprise appearances during your practice. Notice that and then use these tools to help you shift to sensation and simple movement.

We’ll discuss how our thought loops in regard to body, time, and environment effect the body in positive and negative ways in #2 and how we can respond to these Limbic thoughts in a new way creating a new way of Be~ing.

01/23/2024

The intention of the movements is to create sensation. When you give your attention to this sensation, when you listen to it, you create a feed of information from your muscles to your brain. Your brain responds with relaxation, comfort and improved coordination.

Listen to the sensations created during movement. Listen to the muscles coordinating together to move your body, listen to the contractions shortening your muscles like pulleys, listen to the softening and be curious about how relaxation feels inside of yourself. What does it feel like to relax your muscles?

01/10/2024

Why Somatic Movement? Somatic Movement is knowing that you have the capability of creating your own comfort and mobility. It's knowing you can always improve yourself. It's also learning how to speak with your body kindly and feeling it respond with the same tone.

A daily Somatic Movement practice can change how you feel in your body depending on how your approach yourself in your practice .... kind, safe, beautiful, ..... it's up to you.

A daily Somatic Movement practice compounds itself in your body and your brain. Being aware of sensation and responding to it on day 1 sets the stage for day 101. The practice feels like curiosity rather than a chore. A daily practice improves coordination between the muscles and brain and it feels like internal intelligence and confidence.

A regular practice is an investment in vitality.

12/05/2023

Wisconsin Somatic Movement has weekly classes that help you work directly with your nervous system to improve comfort and mobility and reduce muscle tension and pain.

How?
It helps to understand the cause of functional muscle tension and pain. There are 2 causes. First, repetitive movements or muscle memory can cause muscle tension and pain. When you repeat movements, groups of muscles contract to create the movement. The contraction is a shortening of muscles and is initiated by a reflex. Reflexes cause unconscious and involuntary muscle contractions and are initiated by the brain stem or cerebellum.

Second, physical and emotional trauma can cause muscle tension and pain. Physical trauma like falling off your bike causes a reflex to contract your muscles very quickly to protect your bones, muscles and other structures. Contractions are initiated by a reflex at the level of your brain stem or cerebellum, not your intelligent Cortex. Emotional pain, especially if it is habituated, contracts muscles around your organs initiating fight, flight or flee. Again, this is a reflex, it is unconscious and involuntary.

The key to Somatic Movement is to move the contraction from the reflexive brain (cerebellum and brain stem) to the Cortex. During Somatic Movement, we contract and release muscle groups with great awareness and control. The guided language directs your attention to connections in your body to notice how muscle groups contract together, soften together and relax completely together. Your monitoring of the muscles during the movements, or awareness helps your brain's Cortex regain control of your muscles relaxing and improving your muscles.

Somatic Movement is a daily practice. Sometimes results happen quickly, but the biggest benefit is that awareness during movement compounds on itself. New awarenesses today support tomorrow's new realizations and discoveries.

Also, the practice helps you respond to your body and it's muscles in an intentional way which helps reset emotional muscular habits.

The Science of Somatic Movement creates faith and hope that you and I can improve ourselves every day when we learn how to tune inward, move with intention and kindness, listen, soften, and discover how to release and relax muscles. This is a skillset that is new for many.

If you are interested in attending classes, please contact me at tricia.movement@gmail.com (not facebook messenger). I look forward to working together. Thank you, Tricia

11/12/2023

What is Somatic Movement?

Somatic Movement is a gentle and mindful approach to movement that focuses on developing awareness and perception of the body. It is a way to listen to the body and learn to move in a way that is comfortable and supportive. Somatic Movement can be used to improve flexibility, strength, and balance, as well as to reduce stress and tension.

One of the key principles of Somatic Movement is awareness. This means paying attention to the sensations in your body as you move. You may notice sensations such as warmth, coolness, pressure, or stretch. You may also notice the way your breath changes as you move.

Another key principle of Somatic Movement is perception. This means understanding how your body feels as you move. You may notice that some movements feel easy and fluid, while others feel more challenging or uncomfortable. You may also notice that some movements create more space and openness in your body, while others make you feel more closed in or restricted.

Somatic Movement exercises are typically very gentle and slow. This allows you to focus on your awareness and perception of the body without getting overwhelmed. Somatic Movement exercises can be done in any position, whether you are standing, sitting, or lying down.

This introductory explanation was written by AI's Bard. I'd change a couple things, but overall I like it.
~I would add that Somatic Movement improves comfort. I'm not sure I'd add "flexibility." It does improve flexibility but that word is so often correlated with pulling on contracted muscles which can induce the stretch reflex.
~It's interesting that Bard says some of the sensations you may notice are warmth and coolness. It's probably true but I don't often bring my attention to these qualities. Most often I use language to direct attention to weight shift or to help make connections between areas. For example, when hiking a hip I'd use language to notice the muscles in the waist contracting to lift and relax the hip. While doing movements on the floor, I often say "imagine you are using the floor to massage a particular area of the body." This brings the attention away from gross movement to comfortable smooth movement.

I really like this explanation.
I've done this exercise a couple other times and in other examples, Bard said Somatic Movement is a mind-body technique. I do not agree as the mind and body aren't separate. They are so integrated with sensory and motor information flowing between them so much that they are like a symphony making music. The distinction between mind and body is interesting though in that it helps us understand that sensory information is fed from the body to the brain and the brain sends motor signals to the body. So many ways to look at it.

11/12/2023

Interesting....
Movement involves all of the sensory systems of the body including tactile, proprioceptive, kinesthetic, visual and vestibular. As babies, we learn how to move by tracking sensation. Babies repeat movements over and over and thus develop an awareness of the sensations of movements.

~ paraphrased from Lois Bly's The Components of Normal Movement During the First Years of Life & Abnormal Motor Development

So why then do children have unlimited energy and mobility? Perhaps because they are constantly tuning into their sensory motor nervous systems? When we stop, we accumulate unconscious and involuntary contractions called Sensory Motor Amnesia created by our own reflexes. They compound on each other. Somatic Movement is returning to the regular practice of listening to our own bodies. ~by Tricia Engelking

08/11/2023

Muscle tension and pain occurs when muscles are held in tension by a reflex. And as you have probably experienced when the doctor uses the rubber hammer on your joints at your annual visit, reflexes are largely outside of your control.

Somatic Movement does not try to fix a tension problem, a body problem, or a deficiency in your body. When you practice Somatic Movement, you are working directly with the sensory-motor loop of your nervous system. You create new sensation and new movement patterns interrupting the patterns that cause muscle tension and pain.

Somatic Movements work differently than body therapy. Somatic Movement is movement education, not therapy or treatment. Sensation created while moving wakens your awareness of muscles, movement directions, and sometimes entire areas of your body that were previously "blank" or non existent to your awareness and control. It feels invigorating and refreshing to awaken sensation and control to these areas because the muscles soften their tonus, they relax in gravity and get longer and you regain control.

06/19/2023