Somatic Movement Therapeutics: The Development of our Senses from a Nervous System Perspective

Our exteroceptive sense faculties of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting and touch, come together like an orchestrated symphony to form our reality from womb to land. They begin as potential and develop in response to stimulation and experience. The senses of touch and movement are located throughout the body — in every cell. Most of these senses are received through sense organs in the head region. The sequential emergence of these senses also correspond to the different areas of our brain development, hence playing a significant role in our nervous system regulation. We rely on what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch to determine safety or danger. Information from our internal environment (microcosm) and the external environment (macrocosm). They form the foundation of our relationship to self, other, and the environment we inhabit, our movement and holding patterns, and our nervous system baseline.

How we filter, modify, distort, accept, reject, and use that information becomes the lens in which we perceive the world. Perception is a global experience. It is the psychophysical process of interpreting information based on past experiences, present circumstances and future expectations. When we choose to receive this information, we form a connection to that aspect of our environment. When we block out information, we defend against that aspect. Learning is the process by which we calibrate our responses to information based on the context of each situation.

Come and join Daphne in this somatic movement therapeutics workshop to uncover how we embody these senses and their relationships to the nervous system regulation. Learn about our sixth sense of interoception as well as vestibular attunement (movement) to help create a safety baseline through embodied practices and  delving into experiential anatomy.

What we will cover -

• Explorations of the six senses (movement, touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision).
• Analysis of the perceptual-response cycle as the process of perception.
• Safety, Comfort, Bonding, Defending and Learning as psychophysical processes based on our perceptions.
• Overview of the Polyvagal Theory framework and its relationship to our sensory perceptions

Date: 29 June 2024
Time: 2.30pm to 5.30pm
Venue: P7:1SMA, 155 Waterloo Street #03-01, Singapore 187962
Fee: $138 (early bird before June 10) $168 (regular)