Think Somatics & Take It Outside Fitness

05/30/2025

The latest newsletter with all the details!

This year marks the first annual Smoky Mountain Yoga and Wellness Festival, right here in my fabulous town of Waynesville, NC!

05/15/2025

There are a few more spots for Craft+Fitness: Crochet Rag Rug + Glider Disc Workout Series! ​
~In this class you will first learn how to crochet a rag rug. You will make two small rag rug samplers.
~Next you’ll will learn how to use your samplers as gliding discs for full body workouts.
~Gliding is a great low-impact form of exercise that engages your core, lower and upper body, develops long, lean muscles, improves balance and coordination.
~Super fun too!
Classes are Tuesdays May 20-June 10 (4 weeks) 4:30-5:30pm at Think Somatics Studio inside Folkmoot Center, Waynesville NC. A few folks have asked if they can attend via Zoom. Sure! Though you will need to collect your supplies.
Ready to learn two great skills in one class? Great!
https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=16686038&appointmentType=77606726

05/07/2025

I’ll be in the studio crafting on one of my many squirrel brain projects. THURSDAY May 8 12:30-2:00ish. Come join me. Bring your own project or just hang out. Please sign up so I know you’re coming! https://www.thinksomatics.com/live-classes.html

05/01/2025

Hey world! Yes, I have been woefully neglectful of my Think Somatics FB page. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last, oh I don’t know, 5 years.

There was that pandemic, so I started teaching online, which I was already doing, but now it was across the board.

Then we remodeled our PDX home, sold it, and moved across the country from PDX to Asheville. During a pandemic.

Everyone and their dog was trying to buy a house when we arrive, so with a large dog we found a house to rent. No easy task!

A year later of spending pretty much every weekend traipsing across WNC, looking for a house of our own, we found one thankfully a shorter distance, to lovely Waynesville NC!

Within weeks of moving in our large, sweet doggie died. She was our angel and she got us through so much, but she was needed somewhere else, we guess, and I cry just writing this. . . but I digress.

I had no studio space so I set up shop in our living room. . . then I got a space at the local yoga center, which then decided closed.

Then Hurricane Helene hit. Yes, a hurricane. In the mountains! We personally were safe and lost nothing, but we went into hyperdrive volunteer mode!

I found a temporary rental space. . .

Then an opportunity to move into a studio space in the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville came along, so here I am! My fellow creatives, movement teachers, musicians, the board and staff are such lovely people!

First order of business: I’ve been busy painting and made curtains to cover the vintage-but-not-in-a-good-way wood panelling. Ick. The space needs some color pops and such. I have a ton if ideas, but throw me some of yours in the comments. :-)

I am so excited and feel this is the place to settle in and ramp up more offerings. Stay tuned!

,

08/15/2024

Somatics — A Natural, Drug-free Way to Reduce Pain and Tension

In case you’ve never heard of Somatics, here’s a primer to explain this unique restorative therapy and how it can help you get rid of pain.

Your somatic nervous system helps you learn to stand, walk, ride a bike, play guitar, target shoot, knit, dance, etc.

Any motor pattern you do repeatedly becomes ingrained in your nervous system. Once it's learned, you no longer have to concentrate on it in order to move.

But, we can also learn patterns that negatively impact our bodies.

In our modern age, many of us sit more than we stand. We fold forward over our devices, keyboards and steering wheels. Our chests, bellies, shoulders and neck muscles may stay contracted, to some degree, for 8, 10—even up to 16 hours a day.

Through repetition, our brains learn faulty postural patterns that can shorten our muscles and cause us tension and pain. On top of all that, our emotions—anxiousness, fear, anger, etc.—can affect our posture, keeping us in a state of constant tension too.

The loss of voluntary control of muscles and the inability to release them to their natural resting lengths is called Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA).

Look around and you’ll notice that many people are stuck in various full-body tension patterns that alter their alignment, posture and gait and lead to pain-inducing SMA. It’s no fault of theirs! It’s simply everyone’s brains running on autopilot.

By practicing Somatics, with awareness, you can “reeducate” your whole body to move with more ease and with greater power. That’s why this work is called Somatic Education.

Instead of turning to outside forces to change your body (stretching, manipulation, drugs, surgery), Somatics puts you in the driver’s seat. Somatics utilizes simple, safe, enjoyable movements called pandiculations to reverse your Sensory Motor Amnesia. This can help you voluntarily take back control of your freedom of movement.

There are a wide variety of somatic therapies out there. The method explained here is based on the work of Thomas Hanna, Ph.D., the man who coined the term “Somatics.” It’s the only somatic method that incorporates pandiculating. It's a paradigm shift from what we have been told to do for pain, posture, and quality of life!
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I wrote this article for July 2024 issue of Positively Haywood. I thought I’d share it here as well, in case any newbies are seeking a good explanation of what Somatics is and how it works. Thanks for reading! Feel free to share it :-)

06/04/2024

Ready to try Somatics? Book a private session with me! I'm available for in-person sessions Thursdays and Fridays at the Yoga & Bodywork Collective in Waynesville NC. Out of town? No problem! Let's meet online.
Book your session today! http://thinksomatics.weebly.com/private-lessons.html

02/06/2024

Just got some swag to match the back of my biz cards. My graphic design degree is still good for something. 🤩

PS if you want to say “good bye pain”, I work with people around the world via online. Seriously, I can help you!

02/05/2024

NEW Somatics class on the schedule!
Mondays at 5:30pm
at K-9 Curriculum Training room in Clyde, NC. Starts 2/12.

01/05/2024

No matter what time of year, if you want to set a goal, making it a SMART one helps you succeed.

Whether you’re trying to lose weight, build muscle, or run your first 10k, goal setting is an essential step for helping you be successful.

08/24/2023

Hey there! I had the lovely time talking with Jake over at Waynesville Yoga Center yesterday on FB Live. Here's our conversation, talking Somatics, stress, society and keepin' it weird. :-) https://fb.watch/mDiyp1vNBi/

08/14/2023

My friend and colleague Gina Rho will be leading this workshop in Winston-Salem, NC. Sure to be a great emersion into the world of Somatics. You should go!! There’s nothing like a real live in person workshop to learn something new.

06/19/2023

FOOD AND MOOD
https://www.acefitness.org/continuing-education/certified/mental-well-being-special-issue/8362/mental-well-being-what-s-food-got-to-do-with-it/?j=1572961&sfmc_sub=87248468&l=1433_HTML&u=76836540&mid=100018573&jb=1002&utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2023-06-17_ENEWS_CertifiedSpecial&utm_campaign=2023-06-17_ENEWS_CertifiedSpecial&SFID=0038000001uAFeQAAW

They say that you are what you eat. Of course, what you eat can also strongly impact how you feel (and vice versa). This article examines the relationship between nutrition and mental health and details how you can support clients who are feeling stressed-out in making more nutrient-dense food choic...