Awakening Somatic Intelligence


Book Description

“A detailed operating manual for healing pain and awakening embodied joy” through body-oriented Somatic Learning practices that incorporate mindfulness, breathing, and more (Rick Hanson, author of Buddha’s Brain) Awakening Somatic Intelligence offers a guide to Somatic Learning, an innovative body-oriented approach that incorporates mindfulness, visualization, breathing exercises, postures, and stretches. Developed by author, psychotherapist, and award-winning songwriter and poet Risa Kaparo, PhD, Somatic Learning is based on leading-edge research demonstrating the power of the mind to activate physiological, mental, and emotional healing. Kaparo has successfully used her approach with patients suffering from chronic pain, high blood pressure, and mood disorders including depression and anxiety. Recounting her own struggle with chronic pain, Kaparo begins with a moving description of her journey from crippling pain to renewed health and aliveness. Kaparo introduces the concepts and characteristics of Somatic Learning, a method that grew out of her personal healing experience. Incorporating the latest brain research in mindfulness and neuroplasticity, the book presents breathing exercises; postures and stretches for morning and bedtime; instructions for integrating mindfulness practice into one's daily life; and ways of deepening the practice through touch and caring interaction with others. Enhanced with over 100 detailed instructional photos and illustrations, the book includes inspiring case stories and the author's own expressive poetry that illuminate the healing power of this practice.




Somatic Intelligence


Book Description

Your body talks to itself and with its environment every millisecond of every day. Don't you want in on that conversation? It will make a huge difference in how you experience the day. Every type of well-being, whether it's physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, happens through the body. However, what happens in the body will be according to its programming or conditioning unless we guide and shape its responses. Hundreds of millions of Americans live day by day in preventable chronic pain that limits their ability to work, play, and rest at night. This little known, easy-to-learn method has been around for decades and helped countless people to be empowered to help themselves. Somatic education not only is an invaluable adjunct to whatever workout routine you already have, it can also be used as the foundation of your wellness plan. It uses the body's own communication systems that retrain tension patterns to release, balance, and reset your system. It really works! The principles of this body of work are embedded in osteopathy, chiropractic, t'ai chi and chi kung, meditation, yoga, performing arts, sports, and dance. They all require consciously tuning in and connecting to an aspect of the body and mind in order to optimize its capacity to respond in a harmonious, efficient way. Understanding these principles sets you free to self-regulate and maintain balance on your own. "Somatic Intelligence" embodies the wisdom, tools and principals to tap into the universal field and the inner world of awareness of body/mind, the now and future of medicine, awakening the healer within! Written for professionals and lay persons as well, it is a living, breathing gift to humanity. Suresha's wisdom gift has many times over assisted my own healing, transformation, teaching and healing practice. A blessing Indeed." - Shahido Kempter, M.A., Enicnitas CA, Pilates teacher, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist "In striving for wellness & self-awareness, we must learn to listen to our inner voice. This well-researched, easy-to- implement treatment plan helps us to gain access to this deeper realm to of what it means to be human." Dr. M. Lindauer, B.A., M.Sc., D.C. "Adding Neuromuscular rehabilitation to my skill set has enhanced not only my efficacy as a massage practitioner, but also given my yoga teaching added dimension. Combining yogic based awareness practice into my bodywork, including neuromuscular therapy has furthered that discipline as well. They are well suited for one another." - Mark Kahn, Yoga Instructor and Massage Therapist




Awakening Somatic Intelligence


Book Description

Focussing on distinct body practice from a range of different methods, Graeme Lynn demonstrates how to use the physical body to encourage general health and wellbeing. Starting with the fundamental concepts of movement to more advanced practice, this book will serve as a comprehensive guide to developing the physical body to transform the quality of movement, and bring greater pleasure and effectiveness into every action. Specific lessons include The Alexander Technique, The Feldenkrais Method, and Hatha Yoga. Describing the core benefits of these methods, why they complement each other and how to use them, this is essential reading for students and practitioners of somatic methods as well as anyone interested in learning new ways to optimise health and wellbeing.




Your Body is Your Brain


Book Description

Tap the intelligence hidden in posture, gesture, and sensation and you will open the door to more meaning, greater courage, deeper connection, and more powerful leadership than you imagined possible.




Somatic Psychology


Book Description

This book brings attention to the interface of psychotherapy and psychological theory with the somatic practices of bodywork and movement therapy. To offer a client only psychotherapy, or only bodywork may subtly or directly reinforce the body-mind split from which so many of us suffer; in some cases this will be a reinforcement of a dilemma central to the client's problems. Hartley views body psychotherapy and transpersonal psychotherapy as building bridges between the once separated processes of psyche, soma, and spirit. Today the emerging field of somatic psychology is also contributing to the expanded field of psychology a subtle differentiation of bodymind process, developed through almost a century and a half of research and practice in somatic therapy and education. Originally trained as a dancer, movement therapist and bodywork practitioner, Hartley continues to use movement and somatic process as an important foundation for her own work. Training in Dance Movement Therapy, the transpersonal psychotherapy of Psychosynthesis, and Process-Oriented Psychology have further deepened Hartley's awareness of the relationships between psyche, soma and spirit, and the need to respond to all levels of experience in therapeutic work.




Resilience


Book Description

Whether it’s a critical comment from the boss or a full-blown catastrophe, life continually dishes out challenges. Resilience is the learned capacity to cope with any level of adversity, from the small annoyances of daily life to the struggles and sorrows that break our hearts. Resilience is essential for surviving and thriving in a world full of troubles and tragedies, and it is completely trainable and recoverable — when we know how. In Resilience, Linda Graham offers clear guidance to help you develop somatic, emotional, relational, and reflective intelligence — the skills you need to confidently and effectively cope with life’s inevitable challenges and crises.




A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice


Book Description

An introduction to embodied movement through the work of a dance education pioneer In this introduction to the work of somatic dance education pioneer Nancy Topf (1942–1998), readers are ushered on a journey to explore the movement of the body through a close awareness of anatomical form and function. Making available the full text of Topf’s The Anatomy of Center for the first time in print, this guide helps professionals, teachers, and students of all levels integrate embodied, somatic practices within contexts of dance, physical education and therapy, health, and mental well-being. Hetty King, a movement educator certified in the Topf Technique®, explains how the ideas in this work grew out of Topf’s involvement in developing Anatomical Release Technique—an important concept in contemporary dance—and the influence of earlier innovators Barbara Clark and Mabel Elsworth Todd, founder of the approach to movement known as “ideokinesis.” Featuring lessons written as a dialogue between teacher, student, and elements of the body, Topf’s material is accompanied by twenty-one activities that allow readers to use the book as a self-guided manual. A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice is a widely applicable entry point into the tradition of experiential anatomy and its mindful centering of the living, breathing body.




The Art of Somatic Coaching


Book Description

The Art of Somatic Coaching introduces the concepts and principles of coaching with practices that include body awareness, bodywork, and mindfulness for both the coach and the client. Author and expert coach, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, explains that in order to achieve truly sustainable changes in individuals, teams, and organizations, it is necessary to implement body-oriented somatic practices in order to dissolve habits, behaviors, and interpretations of the world that are no longer relevant. He explains that these ways of being are integrated in the body--at the level of the musculature, organs, and nervous system. By implementing a somatic approach, these patterns can be shifted in order for transformation to occur. Opening with a discussion of the roots of Somatic Coaching, the book describes the emotional and physical cost of being distanced from our bodies. Originating from the rationalistic idea that the mind and body are separate, this sense of disconnection spurred the emergence of the field of somatics that views the body as not just a physiological entity, but as the center of our lived experience in the world. Out of this philosophy, Somatic Coaching was developed as a way to cultivate the self through the body. Methods in this book include: • Somatic awareness--becoming aware of sensations • Somatic opening--includes bodywork to release held patterns in the body • Somatic practices--meditation, movement, and being present in everyday life The social context in which one is raised, the supportive, healing force of the outdoors and nature as well as acknowledgment of the spirit are also woven into the practice. Through these practices, a rhythm of unfolding occurs in what Strozzi-Heckler describes as an Arc of Transformation--moving in stages from conditioned tendencies to a new satisfying and fulfilling way of being that is fully embodied. Contents: Introduction; Chapter One: A Short Distance but a Big Cost; Chapter Two: Coaching; Chapter Three: Somatics and Somatic Coaching; Chapter Four: The Methodology; Chapter Five: The Rhythm of Action; Chapter Six: The Somatic Arc of Transformation




Somatic Descent


Book Description

A powerful meditation practice for connecting with your body's innate, guiding wisdom. Have you ever had a "gut feeling" about a certain person or situation? Or a sense of intuition about how to respond to a particular challenge in your life? There's nothing magical or mystical about those kinds of scenarios. In fact, our body contains immense wisdom not directly available to our conscious mind, and it is continually communicating to us in the form of bodily feelings, impressions, sensations, corporeal intuitions, and felt senses. However, because most of us are so cut off from our somatic experience, we are quite unaware of this dimension of our body's expression. Although this intelligence may feel hidden most of the time, the wisdom of the body can actually be a guide for us in living our lives fully and also in responding compassionately to others. Through a meditation practice called Somatic Descent, Reggie Ray shows us how to connect with our body's intuitive intelligence. In Somatic Descent we see that the body is always showing us what sort of response, direction, or action may be called for at any given time, and can in fact be relied upon as a primary practical resource for decision-making in our everyday life. The book will include links to online audio recordings of the guided meditations to further aid the reader.




Physical Intelligence


Book Description

Winner of the Business Book Award (Personal Development) 2020 "Using our Physical Intelligence we can strengthen our cognitive function and alter our mood, emotional responses, stress, confidence and happiness levels at will." HR magazine "This could be the next big thing." Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst, BBC World News "This clever new neuroscience-backed wellness trend will help you take charge of your body, brain, schedule and life." GLAMOUR MAGAZINE "'Physical intelligence' is the latest buzzword in wellbeing.' WOMAN & HOME The highly successful four-part strategy for raising your performance at work and home so that you can thrive in a busy, challenging world, from the experts who have worked with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies across the globe. Do you wish you could be more focused and productive? Would you like to ensure your most confident performance when the stakes are high and your stress levels are even higher? The way your body reacts in any given situation determines your ability to think clearly and your capacity for managing your emotions. When you understand the way your body reacts and how to manage it, your physical intelligence, you can handle that stressful family situation, the make-or-break meeting and the important business presentation. Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton have spent the past thirty years helping business people achieve outstanding success and a deeper sense of fulfilment by applying techniques used by top performers in sport and the arts. This practical guide contains the effective techniques you need to develop your strength, flexibility, resilience and endurance, leaving you feeling confident and fully equipped to deal with whatever comes your way. Each step-by-step strategy can be easily integrated into a busy day and is combined with useful tips and inspiring stories of people who have turned their lives around through physical intelligence. "This book is an essential counterblast to a better, more integrated way of working and living." Edward Kemp, Director, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) "Scientific research paired with practical experience and easy life hacks makes Physical Intelligence an inspiring read that will literally change the way you walk through life." Dr Stefanie Teichmann, Director, Google EMEA "This book is totally brilliant." Wayne McGregor CBE, resident choreographer, Royal Ballet