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Building on the foundation laid by Moshe Feldenkrais, Thomas Hanna’s groundbreaking work completely redefines the body’s potential for withstanding decline. His gentle program for the mind and body proves once and for all that so many problems we accept as inevitable over time — chronic stiffness, bad back, chronic pain, fatigue, and, at times, even high blood pressure — need never occur if we maintain conscious control of nerve and muscle, replacing Sensory-Motor Amnesia with Sensory-Motor Awareness. The good news of Somatic Exercise is that most people simply do not have to become captives of age or injury. Once learned, this lifelong program can help almost anyone maintain the pleasures of a supple, healthy body indefinitely, with only a five-minute routine once a day.
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After following the recorded Myth of Aging (chapter 14) PATIENTLY and DILIGENTLY this work changed so much more ... I remembered what COMFORT is! After this, I could even dance again! Thank You Dr. Hanna and all who continue his work.
Yoga adds a dimension to somatics by bringing in the breathing and meditation aspects as well as the strength piece. After you work through Thomas Hanna's approach, or even while you are working through it, you still need to build strength. Certain yoga approaches, like gentle Hatha, are more compatible with the somatics philosophy than others. Definitely there is a "no pain" mentality to this approach that works.
I am hoping to find someone close by to teach me how to do the exercises right, because I feel if you don't do them right, it may not be as effective as it could be, or it may even make your problem worse.
Anyway - happy with this book - worth the read.
I highly recommend purchasing the downloadable audio guides called "The Cat Stretches" by Hannah's student, Lawrence Gold, to accompany this book. It is so much easier to do the exercises correctly with a professional talking you through. You won't have to stop constantly to read, which allows you to move through the lessons faster with greater concentration. Most importantly, the audio lessons establish an effective pace for the exercises. Pacing is key to moving somatically, which is quite unlike typical stretching or strength training you will get from your physical therapist.
Done correctly, somatic movement feels like the kind of "stretch" you might do with a great big yawn in bed when you wake up in the morning. There is stretching aspect, but not in the common sense of holding muscle in a lengthened position (the word "stretch" seems to be an obstacle for the somatic instructors to the point they will say "no stretching", which is more confusing than helpful). Equally important is the contracting aspect, through which the brain (re-)learns how to exert voluntary control over muscles that may be chronically tight due to stress or trauma, or weak due to lack of use. That's the gist of it. The cat stretch series developed by Thomas Hannah will balance out the body for better posture and improved walking. Once you learn the basic cat stretch program, you can find more specific exercises to your condition online from Hannah's students, Lawrence Gold and Martha Peterson, both of whom provide coaching (though I have done a coaching myself). You can even develop your own exercises. And you can find opportunities to move more somatically in other activities.
I took my time to work through the lessons (abut 6 months) with the help of Lawrence Gold's audio coaching. Now I spend about 30-40 minutes a day doing somatic exercises. In time I expected to reduce my practice to 15 minutes. Normal people, who aren't dealing with a very old trauma response like I am, should be able to work through the lessons in 8-12 weeks, as suggested.
FYI. Martha Peterson, who was also a student of Hannah, has updated Hannah's Somatics with much better illustrations. However, a book is still a book, with all the difficulties of having to stop frequently to read until you know the exercises, and the inability to articulate pacing in words. Peterson has some good video clips online to illustrate how this all works. She also offers a DVD, which could be useful in the way I found Gold's audio program useful. I don't have her video. But, for me, I am still partial to audio because it is very relaxing, and once you get going you won't be watching a video anyway. I have found very useful tips in Peterson's book. But, in either case, Hannah or Peterson, a book serves well as an introduction and reference, not an effective manual for beginners.
I had chronic debilitating back pain. I started to go to chiropractors because I couldn't work around dangerous equipment on pain drugs. I was seeing him sometimes 3 times a week. Each visit cost as much as this book. Eventually after switching to a different chiropractor my back was X Rayed and the Chiropractor said that my back was structurally healthy. He suspected that it was being caused by problems that were muscular. Working on Ice in the winter was making my Chiropractor rich and me poor. .
I'd slip my back would go out. More dollars to the DR.
Long story from there to here but eventually ended up with this book.
Skipped to the back did what I thought were exercises no improvements.
Next I read the book followed it step by step end of pain. That quick. Within 3 months my chiropractic visits were down to 1 a month then 2 a year. Now maybe if I do something stupid a couple of visits then until I do something stupid again I don't need to go. I have lent this book to numerous people. Some it helps some it doesn't. Unfortunately it seldom comes home .
I gave a copy of this book to a friend who was rebuilding her house 10 yrs ago because she was about to be wheelchair bound. She is quite active now and though she spends a couple hour nightly in the hot tub, gets therapeutic massages and regular chiropractic care she is chair free. She figured it out first by reading this book. She did finish getting her house handicap accessible but so far she has not bought a chair. Might not be what you need cause we are all different .
I'm one of the lucky ones who this book addresses the particular issue I was having. The book is packed full of information that I have never gotten from a doctor and never knew to ask my chiropractor about. However you must read it front to back. Don't figure you know enough to skip this or that.
Now I keep a copy on hand incase I over do Anything minor I am able to take care of with this book. Hope it works for U
After reading the first several pages and absorbing the concept, feel free to skip over the rest of the examples for they serve nothing but author’s self-admiration. The exercises though were of tremendous value to me.
Feldenkrais
system. This book is an offshoot of that discipline with special exercises involving visualization which are utilized for the relief of chronic pain.
My husband and I both experienced traumatic injuries from separate car accidents years ago, with resulting long-term, chronic pain for both of us in our backs, and for me in my neck and him in his hip. His hip pain has been much worse than any of my pain, but we have both gone to many of the same pain management doctors for our injuries. We have been treated with prolotherapy, chiropractic, therapeutic massage, electrical stimulation, cold laser, acupuncture, and rolfing, as our least invasive treatments. In addition, we have explored many different techniques for non-invasive, home care to relieve our pain, and stretching, heat applications, relaxation techniques, and water workouts are regular parts of our pain-reducing, health routines.
One pain specialist we saw in 2004 told us that in his professional opinion, 80% of all chronic pain is caused by dysfunctional muscles which go into spasm habitually. This book shares that opinion, though not in those exact words.
It is possible to read this book very carefully, step by step, and do the full blown set of exercises the author recommends. In my case, I didn't need to pursue the author's suggestions to that extent because I stumbled on exactly what I had been needing for decades in the beginning of the book.
I tried out the diagnostic exercise the author uses on new patients to test how dysfunctional their muscles are. He asks them to press and release muscles in different parts of their bodies, in particular an exercise where you lie on your back and press the small of your back down, then release, then press the lower back muscles by arching upward, then release. This exercise alone, done twice a day, created massive improvement in the "bad spot" on my mid back that I have had trouble with its going into spasm unpredictably for over 20 years.
From there I extrapolated a simple version of that one exercise and expanded into doing press/release on every muscle of my body, from the crown of my head to my feet, and I would follow up with another Feldenkrais technique called "micro movements" that a Rolfer taught me. She said that we constantly do "gross" or large body movements, but we almost never do tiny movements. Thus, when you learn stretches for the body, you will, for example, turn your head to the right as far as you can and hold a few seconds, then turn your head to the left as far as you can and hold a few seconds. If you were doing this type of stretch as a micro movement, you would turn your head barely an inch to the right in a delicate motion, then do the same to the left. On larger areas like the buttocks or back, you visualize moving the muscle in a clockwise motion, gently and delicately, and then in a counterclockwise motion.
Over time experimenting with somatics, it occurred to me that one thing that all the personal trainers I have had over the years for instruction in weight lifting consistently taught me is a technique very similar to the exercises in this book in its focus on muscles. That technique is called
isometrics
. You can do isometrics either while lifting weights, or do them without any weights. Isometrics is basically consciously contracting a muscle while focusing your attention on it (versus doing it absentmindedly), and then consciously releasing it. In other words, the same type of press/release you do for the somatics in this book.
When most people lift weights, they attempt to work essentially every external muscle in the body with the exception of the head and the feet--and to some extent the feet are exercised, too, if you go up on your toes for any of your exercises, such as workouts for the calves. Weightlifting, however, does not consciously attempt to strengthen the muscles contained within internal organs. It occurred to me that I could apply the principles of somatics even more effectively by emulating the exercises I do lifting weights at the gym and doing conscious isometrics on my various external muscles as I took the positions commonly used while lifting weights--but without the weights--in order to create somatic healing of my muscles. Examples of these exercises are the positions taken for a chest press, lat pull down, leg lifts, bicep curls, and so forth. I began doing this on waking and at bedtime, and when actually lifting weights, in addition to doing isometric focus while lifting weights, I did isometric/somatic press/release of the muscle just worked after I was done with my set of repetitions, before moving on to the next body part.
After this experiment, I decided to also routinely do press/release on the external muscles that are not included in weight lifting, which involved press/release of the feet and of every muscle in the head, including all parts of the face, top, sides and back of the head.
From there I progressed to doing press/release of internal organs. Many women, and some men, have been taught
kegels
by their doctor. That is a prime example of doing isometric aka press/release somatic exercise of an internal organ. Other internal organs that give many people trouble are the gastrointestinal tract. It is possible to do press/release somatics, I discovered, of the stomach, the small intestines, the ileocecal valve (which connects the small and large intestine), and the large intestines. For people who suffer from IBS or stomach cramps due to stress, this use of somatics can offer strong relief from their pain and heal the dysfunctional peristalsis that leads to alternating constipation and diarrhea.
The result for me has been this: I have relieved the spasms in my right arm caused by using a mouse that is typically called "carpal tunnel syndrome." I almost never get headaches anymore. When my long-time worst pain source in my mid back goes into spasm, using press/release of the muscle alone, I can get it out of spasm within minutes, versus the awful situation in my past where a locked spasm could result in indefinite, extreme pain. I have an ease of movement that I haven't had since my twenties. Best of all, I feel that I have knowledge that can save me not only pain, but the money and loss of time of seeking outside care rather than helping myself at home for free--any time of the day or night.
One of the most exciting things for me about any particular self-help book I read is if it inspires me to utilize what it teaches and make it my own. This book did that for me. It has been life-changing in the way very few books on health ever have. I highly recommend it.
The illustrations in the book are somewhat hard to follow, but one gets used to it. Most importantly, unlike other techniques, there is no "one" way to do the movements. One has to sense and find the movement yourself. In that sense, this technique is a lot different. This book is worth every penny you spend on it.
Next, Hanna shares case studies from his clinical experience that evidence this.
Throughout the main text Hanna's claims are proven more than credible by solid scientific support: by his references of clinical studies and common physiological (and psychoneuroimmunological) processes.
The book ends with preparation for and full detail (including helpful photographs) of the Somatic Exercises Hanna set down in order that EVERY person could make the changes he detailed in the earlier sections of the book.
These Exercises are not traditional strenuous aerobic exercises but a series of movements done gently and slowly with attention to the inner sensations that arise with the movements. It is this attention to one's internal sensory-motor process (with emphasis on the relaxation half of movement) that allows the profound improvements in posture, muscle control and general physiological-psychological ("Somatic") function.
Learning through doing these sets of movements and then daily practicing the streamlined summary "Cat Stretch" 7-part sequence of maintenance movements will enable any person to unlearn their constricted habits of movement and behavior while opening to greater and greater increase of relaxation, flexibility, range of motion and freedom from pain.
The widespread application of this information has the potential to significantly decrease the cost-per-person of healthcare and dramatically increase the well-being of every human being on the planet.
Let's keep the news moving!
For even more information and to make appointments for sessions with a practitioner like those described in the case studies in this book, the following Websites will prove very useful: [...] and [...].
The explanations are clear and straightforward, the exercises (at least the ones I've done so far) produce results you can feel very quickly. This isn't a panacea nor is it some "guru" thing - it's basic anatomy of the musculo-skeletal system broken down in very clear terms.
I'd recommend this to anyone with stiffness, soreness, back-leg-neck issues - with your doc's approval so you don't counter whatever else you may be doing.
For those of us for whom Yoga is a distant dream (I used to lift weights, but was never particularly flexible), this is a wonderful tool to get back into the bodies we remember.
This book has a series of exercises designed to help us regain conscious control over our muscles. I have had great results so far. It does require some amount of focus to become aware of which muscles you may be flexing unconsciously, but the results are really impressive:)
I think almost anyone could benefit to some degree from this book. Even if you don't have pain or discomfort, these exercises could prevent these problems from arising in the future.
The lessons were completely doable and not too difficult to follow. I recommend "The Busy Person's Guide to Easier Movement" for much more comprehensive Feldenkrais exercises.
The problem is that the author has it out for modern medicine. And seems to go too far fetched with the idea that aging doesn't have to happen. He should've emphasized that with better use of self, aging potentially can be only a fraction of how limiting it is. It's not that a person doesn't age and weaken at all.
The book is organized as first, a series of case studies, which the author uses to illustrate his theory of muscle amnesia, followed by a series of illustrated exercises with detailed instructions. Anyone reading this book should first read the case studies before doing the exercises.
The author's objective is to help you reacquaint you with parts of your body that you have lost touch with - and therefore lost control of. He believes that much back and body pain is due to involuntary actions of muscle groups that we have forgotten how to control. By doing exercises and focusing on how they feel, we can regain sensation and control of our muscles. We can replace painful involuntary muscle actions with graceful voluntary ones.
All I can say is, the exercises - and theory - helped me, and I do the short version of the exercises most days. The exercises are not strenuous or painful - they are pleasurable and relaxing, leaving you feeling invigorated.
Each lesson does take some time and must be repeated at least a second day, but after completing them (takes about two weeks), the maintenance cat stretch takes 5 minutes a day.
Am sharing this with others in my family with neck and/or back problems, and others who have repetitive stress injuries.
Somatics are a system of gentle movements - while breathing and mildly focusing (and sometimes simple "looking" in certain directions)- which through a combination of neuromuscular stimulation and the gentlest of stretches (no pain!) manages to to roll back years of stiffness, aid injury recovery, and significantly relieve some of the stresses of aging.
Somatics is based on sound science, and Feldenkrais, yoga, and Pilates are related. But Somatics exercises - movements really - are even gentler, and smarter, No equipment but a towel or mat is needed. Any level of fitness can benefit, even someone in a wheelchair or bedridden can do some of the movements.
If you have the patience and interest, I suggest reading the book and working through every single exercise presented, which is what I did coming back from traumatic injury. Some will "speak to you", and you'll incorporate them later into daily practice.
If you lack the patience or the time for this, the book is still valuable for its simple "CAT STRETCH" a five minute series of gentle movements which gently moves the whole body and seem to me like "the fountain of youth" . I do the cat stretch twice a day - on arising and before bed.
I could not recommend this book and Somatics in general more highly. Your back, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, and neck will thank you!!!! And so will your friends when you pass this book along!