About Somatics

What causes chronic pain and stiffness?

Life can be very stressful in the modern, industrialized world. After age 30, many people start noticing aches and pains that won't go away as easily as before and as time goes by it gets worse. According to recent surveys, three-quarters of the population over 45 suffer from chronic lower back pain, reduced mobility, aches, pains and stiffness. Most of the time, it's assumed to be a sign of old age and that they just need to get used to living in pain. But this idea that as we age it's normal to be in pain and lose mobility is a myth.

We all know, life is stressful. Stress can present itself in different ways – traumatic situations, both physical and emotional, accidents, fearful environments, life's responsibilities, demanding jobs, loss of a job, sudden change in one's circumstances, surgery, the list is endless.

You may have observed that in the presence of stress, your muscles tend to contract (like a tension headache or a tight jaw for example) – this is a normal reflex of the nervous system. It's an automatic reflex that gets triggered when there's danger, trauma, stress, etc. Over time, with the accumulation of stress, these reflexes get triggered repeatedly , and an habitual muscular contraction sets in - we lose the ability to voluntarily relax them. When this happens it's like we have forgotten to relax, the muscles are contracted all the time, even when we are asleep, and this leads to pain, sometimes severe, stiffness, and restricted range of motion.

The restricted range of motion may not be apparent at first but symptoms like shallow breathing and high blood pressure, for example, can indicate tight chest and abdominal muscles. Other examples of contracted muscles are a tilted posture, one shoulder lower than the other, one leg feeling shorter than the other, a swayed back, a spine that has lost its natural curvature and is just rounded, loss of height, frozen shoulder, chronic pain, fatigued and sore muscles, headaches, neck pains, to name a few.

This pathology, forgetting to voluntarily relax the muscles, is called “sensory-motor amnesia”.

It's neither a medical nor a surgical condition. And the good news is that it can be treated via education with simple exercises designed to reprogram the brain to remember to relax contracted muscles.

Anyone can learn to reverse the process of pain.

Because the nervous system “learned” the habit of contracting the muscles as a response to stress and trauma, it can unlearn that habit just as easily. This means that this process can be reversed anytime, at any age by anyone who suffers from a loss of bodily function.

Here are the experiences of some students in Novagaia Yoga and Wellnes Center somatics classes: Shirley G. after just two classes of Somatics exercises reported:

"I started having knee problems several months ago. Tried exercise, medication and acupuncture to no avail. I was introduced to somatics. Two classes later my knees were better with more mobility and less pain. I feel certain they will continue to improve with the somatics program."

After taking her first Somatics class, Mary Lynn Jordan found that “ So far the chronic pain I have had in the muscles in my back and shoulders has lessened considerably. They used to get tight during the night and I would have to get up and sit up for a while. This past week I have been sleeping without pain. It also feels like the small of my back is closer to the floor when I am lying on my back and there is less discomfort there as well. Looking forward to the rest of the classes”.

What are Somatics?

Somatics exercises are a painless and harmless living body (from the Greek, soma) approach based on the work of Hans Selye and Moshe Feldenkreis and designed by Thomas Hanna (Director of the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training, Novato, California). Somatics exercises help us to unlearn the habit of keeping the muscles contracted, allowing us to regain motor control of movement, flexibility and health. They are recommended for anyone who desires to move from pain to a lasting change in comfort, range of motion, posture and general functioning. These exercises are ideal for people of any age that suffer from reduced mobility, chest pains, chronic low back pain, hip, knee, shoulder and neck stiffness, people with demanding jobs like caregivers, health care practitioners and support staff. Because they are gentle, painless and harmless they are particularly suited for seniors.

They are also an excellent complement for anyone who's practicing yoga or in a fitness program.

You can learn Somatics exercises at Novagaia Yoga and Wellness Center in Braeside

Paula Vibert, Certified Yoga Teacher, Anxiety, Pain and Stress Reduction Specialist, and Director of Novagaia Yoga and Wellness Center, has been teaching yoga and somatics since 2003. She has witnessed the benefits in the participants, whether they are students that come to her Yoga classes or have taken the private or group sessions.

For most people Somatics is a revolutionary technique – some believed they just had to live with pain forever or had to depend on medication to keep the pain at bay. The exercises are different from anything they have experienced so far, simple and addressing all major muscle groups in the body. The learning is gradual as the brain needs to learn and integrate new movements each week. But the benefits are experienced immediately and compounded as they learn the whole Somatics series.

“It's such a joy to bring this technique to people that have been in pain for so long”, says Paula Vibert “and also such an honor to witness them regaining movement that has been restricted in certain parts of the body”. Because all major groups are targeted the whole body will experience the shift into a more aligned posture, a more elongated back, arms moving more freely, neck pain reducing or disappearing, knees feeling better, improved diaphragmatic breathing, lowering of blood pressure etc. - in sum greatly improved well being. “It's delightful to see hope in their faces as they experience the direct result of their new practice” concludes Paula.

To learn more about private and group sessions as well as upcoming workshops and events, please contact Paula Vibert at 613-623-6610 or e-mail paula@paulavibert.com. You can also visit www.novagaia.ca or became a fan of Novagaia Yoga and Wellness Center on Facebook.