Props required:

• 1 yoga mat
• 1 blanket (optional)
• 1 soft squishy ball / roller (optional)

The post Nervous System Workshop 2/2 appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

In the first out of two workshops on the nervous system, we bring our focus back to the pelvis. The pelvic diaphragm works with the respiratory diaphragm to contain and support healthy functioning of all of our organs in the body, particularly in the areas of digestion, elimination, and sexual function. The vagus nerve – which is instrumental to restoring balance to our body and nervous system – passes through all these organs. Through the afferent nerve network of the Vagus nerve, information from the body travels back to the brain. By bringing awareness to the pelvis through interoceptive movement and proprioception, we allow the nervous system to respond with a baseline of the parasympathetic tone of safety and spaciousness. This in turn resets our gut motility and opens up the breath to regulate our nervous system.

The workshop begins with pelvic clock exercises, followed by movement explorations that create activation from a sense of grounding, specifically movement sequences that radiate bi-directionally from the pelvis through the transverse plane – lower half to upper half of our body to the lungs, heart and head. We also engage in movement explorations from the feet too, as well as play with balance and sound.

Props required:

• 1 yoga mat
• 1 blanket
• 1 strap (or scarf/belt)
• 1 soft squishy ball (or 1 pair of socks)

The post Nervous System Workshop 1/2 appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

That in every movement or gesture that we perform, the Nervous System is listening to the Fascia System and talking to the Musculo-Skeletal system.

Our body of intelligence is always trying to figure out how to respond to the environment. The nervous system is our safety barometer – it perceives both our internal and external environment and everything in between to scan for potential danger. It records every phenomena and labels them as good or bad based on the imprints of historical experiences.

Our connective tissues via the self-organising fascia matrix give us a sense of where and how we’re moving through space and gravity across multiple joints. Every muscle, every bone, every organ and even every cell lives embedded within the sea of a unitary fascial matrix. It gives us a sense of continuity and integration of our whole body. 

All these information is then related back to our brain to control our musculo-skeletal system for both volitional and sub-conscious movement and action.

These trinity of system then form a feedback loop – The Neuromyofascial Web. These processes and the way in which they dialogue with each other define our responsiveness / reactivity to our environment, our defensive mechanisms in which we view the world as safe or dangerous. It shapes our emotions, our posturing and our body language. It creates the container in which we experience life and conjugates our reality.

DM to find out more about how we can tap into these somatic inquiries through our trainings, workshops and private sessions.

The post Neuromyofascial Web appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

The final class of the creating safety workshop.

Our sub-occipital muscles tends to hold a lot of stress because of the function it plays in keeping our heads upright as bipeds, and its association with our eyes. In this session, we explore an exercise to release tension in the sub-occipital muscles as we lean into the support of gravity, and find full body integration. In the session, we also explore movement across 3-dimensional planes, bringing awareness to our body’s mid-line and our anatomical structures.
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Props required:

• 1 yoga mat
• 1 strap (or scarf)
• 1 blanket
• 1 yoga block
• 1 weighted ball (or water bottle)

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on December 5th 2021.

The post Somatic Workshop Series: Creating Safety (3/3) appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

This is 2 out of 3 classes of the Creating Safety Workshop conducted last year.

This second class of the creating safety workshop starts off with exploring a sense of integration between our individual bodies (the micro), with that of the earth (the macro). We tap into body weight, and the forces of gravity and rebound to find a sense of ease, support and body awareness. I also speak about yielding and collapsing, and how through the somatic exploration exercises, we can strike a healthy symbiotic relationship between these two states. In this sense, yielding would not equate to the over-activation of our nervous system, and collapsing would not equate to the total lapsing or shut down of our nervous systems. The ability of our nervous systems to calibrate and shift itself flexibly between these two states translates to a greater sense of being. We also explore feet work and a somatic play exercise with a chair.
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Props required:

• 1 yoga mat
• 1 blanket
• 1 yoga block
• 1 weighted ball (or water bottle)
• 1 chair

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on November 26th 2021.

The post Somatic Workshop Series: Creating Safety (2/3) appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

I force my lungs into space
Push into verticality from gravity
Search the upswell for a reason
to try again

Today
Another day like yesterday
Start over again
So tomorrow will be better

Put on my gear
Put on my smile
Put on my gig
For time is commodity in the roulette called Life

Lingering there in the shadows
Heavy, looming darkness
Taunting, mocking
Spinning tales

Of un-belonging
Of never being whole
Of never being met
Of being just too much

Darkness says
I’ve been in your dreams
I’ve been in your wake
Time and again you’ve looked away

Now I’m in your head
Now I’m under your skin
Now I’m screaming in your ears
Now let’s see you plead!

In the deafening silence of suffering
The graveyard of hearts, wings clipped
Drenched in the dense cold liquid of fear
Shackled by the rusted chains of wants

Undress your armour of pretend courage
Untether from your longings and heartaches
Put out the fire of your rage
Let it go let it go let it all go!

Let’s plunge … Into the darkness of metamorphosis
A realm dense with void
A playground of pain to revel in
Till there’s no more …

Oh, the relief, the catharsis!
Of never having to care again
Of never having to try to do better
Of never having to seek an-other

But there…in the distance
A glint of an ember
An echo of reason
In the balm of being
​
Through the dark cold swamp of shadows
I got down on my knees
And offered my mangled heart for keeps
For Love still deserves a place by the light

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on October 30th 2021.

The post Unbeatable (a mental health piece) appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

Could the tightness that you’re feeling in your back be caused by your organs sitting in the front of the body?⁣⁣
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When our body isn’t able to provide a conducive environment for the organs and gut tube to function and move optimally in relationship with one another, they are not able to yield into the support of gravity. ⁣This can also happen when our nervous system can’t get into the rest and digest mode. ⁣Our organs become sticky, frozen, inanimate, braced. ⁣And they sit at the front of the abdominal cavity and pull into our lower back.⁣⁣
This might cause our whole body to come into a holding pattern of bracing against gravity.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Creating more thoracic mobility and releasing the pelvic floor helps to bring the respiratory and pelvic diaphragms back into resonance.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Want to know more? Join me at my next Somatic Movement & Therapy Training on Polyvagal Theory in Somatic Applications. Happening 31 May to 9 June. ⁣

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on April 23rd 2021.
⁣

The post Bloating and Back Pain appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

Much of the work I do is also teaching people how to get on the floor and get back up.

I train my clients to not be fearful of the ground beneath us.

A big part of somatic coaching is to lean into the support of gravity so we don’t have to do all the work of tensing all our muscles and be in fight / flight mode constantly.

In today’s society we spend way too much time in the vertical plane, and on elevated platforms such as chairs and couches. We slouch into them and then collapse into our elevated beds at the end of the day.

Ease your way onto the floor and uncover your inner child.

Your spine will thank you for it 💃

#spinalhealth#somaticmovement#preciousmoments
#getonthefloor#somawithdaphne#yogawithdaphne
#yogatherapy#embodiedintelligence#somaticcoaching

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on September 24th 2020

The post Floorplay appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

On the other hand, muscles do the work of mobility, muscle fibres fire and contract to help us move through / across space Muscles and our bones work symbiotically for optimal functioning in stability and mobility.

However, what happens is that we often get stuck to trying to achieve a form or a goal, or we are rushing to get somewhere, or to perform a task based on what we think it should look like and if it fits certain mould. When our nervous system is constantly wired to react to stress and the constant need to “try harder”, the muscles take over the direction of the bones. We tend to get set in movement habits that are driven from the perspective that we are a machine made of parts rather than an relational organism.

This is a little somatic practice of exploring the support we can create if we bring awareness to our bones / ligament and movement continuity. The dynamic fluidity to respond rather than react. So we can create more healthy bone and joint health, as well as regulate our nervous system to come into a sense of being rather than having to do more all the time.
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#bodymindcentering#somatics#somaticmovementeducation#somatictherapy#somawithdaphne
#yogawithdaphne#movementinquiryembodiment#bonehealth#osteopathy
#yogatherapy#somaticyoga

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on November 9th 2020

The post Finding support from your bones appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.

Lucie is taking a little hiatus…

When Lucie told me early this year that she is venturing into the decluttering profession, unlike most who know her, I wasn’t at all surprised at this career choice she has chosen.
In working with her the last 3 years from teacher-student to movement collaborators, Lucie is always able to demonstrate her presence in understanding the nuanced concepts in movement, and also in the creative ways she’s able to apply them in real life.

We share a common deep love affair in the work of somatics and embodiment which goes above and beyond just being healthy and fit.
It calls upon us to do our inner shadow work so we ca clean out the cobwebs of our somatic imprints through relational inquiries.

There is no demarcation between body and mind. The body is the mind. The mind is the body.
The body is the canvas upon which our experiences are wonderfully written with movement as its language. Within the microcosm of the body we inhabit in – a universe of fluids, cells, organs, breath – belies a magic we can lean into, a harmonious balance of space, gravity, support and surrender.

As a movement teacher and body therapist, our work parallels each other’s. What I do is to guide and hold sacred space for these storylines to be organised, to be told, to be released or reframed. Through this co-creation, I help my clients uncover their authenticity for expression and agency to live more fully.

Keep in touch with Lucie at Your Space as she embarks on her adventure too in the alignment of inner and outer spaces.

How does your home reflect your inner state of being?
It goes beyond just inquiring #doesthissparkjoy.

Till soon Lucie! ​

This post was previously posted on Yogawithdaphne.com on July 29th 2020

The post Space Within. Space Without appeared first on Somatic Therapy Asia.