An important first step in Somatic Stretch® is learning to release tension. For a variety of reasons, tensions in the body build up and become lodged in the musculature, resulting in stiffness and bad posture and contributing ultimately to poor health. Weight that should properly be supported by the bone structure falls instead onto muscles, tendons, and ligaments, fatiguing and straining them. Nerves can be pinched and blood flow diminished, lessening the supply of vital nutrients to the body. Through gentle stretching and isolated strengthening exercises, Somatic Stretch® gives the body the time it needs, and the opportunity, to release tensions and undo wrongful patterns of use; muscles begin to lengthen and joints to loosen, while underlying support muscles gradually strengthen. At the same time, an awareness of the inner body develops, making bodily movements more consciously controlled. Posture can then be corrected and the bone structure brought into proper alignment, removing strain from soft tissue and freeing blood flow throughout the body. 

Whenever we stretch, a protective mechanism called the stretch reflex simultaneously causes many muscles to contract in order to prevent injury. While this is a good thing, the more tension we have, the more reactive the stretch reflex becomes, leaving the body more prone to injury when exercising.

To reduce the stretch reflex, Somatic Stretch® exercises are not goal oriented. They’re not about “touching your toes” or even thinking about positions. Instead, the focus is on drawing the mind inward and becoming aware of the sensation that each exercise produces. This is done by learning to relax the whole body to produce a stretch, rather than reaching for one - a very simple, yet radically different approach to stretching today.

With the release of tension, flexibility increases, allowing for independent movement and re-alignment of body parts for increased mobility and improved posture. In addition, a ‘Stretchcloth’ unique to Somatic Stretch®, is used to intensify the effect of both stretching and strengthening and to heighten muscular awareness.

Relaxation is the most important sensation to recognize and nurture in that it is the very foundation of wellbeing. Unless we have a pain of some kind, we’re not normally aware of the inside of our bodies. With Somatic Stretch®, however, we can identify, or “locate,” the muscles that are affected through the sensations that each exercise produces; stretching produces one kind of sensation, contracting muscles produces a different kind.

These sensations bring muscles into our conscious awareness as though a spotlight is shining on them, and this is what we put our attention on, rather than on the outward appearance, or position, of an exercise. In keeping with the meaning of “somatics,” which is, “relating to the inner body,” as we develop this inner “connection” with our muscular system, we’re able to bring our bodies to a more ideal physical condition.

In so doing, we can then use our bodies with greater pleasure, skill and safety in all that we do. Most importantly, through conscious awareness, we can begin to recognize the sensation that registers to our senses as relaxation. This is the sensation that tells us we’re letting go of tension, which, when left unchecked for lack of awareness, builds up throughout our bodies.

Strengthening exercises in Somatic Stretch® are not intended to build muscle mass. Rather than targeting the larger, motor muscles, they focus on the more internal muscles that hold the parts of the body in alignment and that support body weight against the constant pull of gravity.

This tones and firms muscles for inherent body strength while maintaining postural integrity to prevent muscle fatigue.

In addition to floor and standing exercises, the Stretchcloth is used to help target specific muscles in strengthening exercises, while surgical tubing is used to build muscular stamina.

The method of aligning posture in Somatic Stretch® is different from methods that use the image of pulling oneself up with an imaginary string attached to the chest or the top of the head. The Somatic Stretch® view is that this image produces an unnatural tension in the body and inhibits breathing.

Somatic Stretch® corrects posture by, first, straightening the pelvis so that, like the walls of the ground floor of buildings, a true vertical is established for all the “walls” or parts of the body, above. In this way, each part is properly supported by the parts below.

With proper alignment and support, body weight is placed directly on the bone structure, taking strain off muscles, tendons and ligaments, so we have fewer aches and pains and fewer injuries.

As well, blood and nerve supply flow freely to all parts of our bodies and feed our cells with the nutrients we need to stay healthy. All of this registers on our bodily senses as “wellbeing,” which reflects on our self image and enhances our self esteem.

As with yoga, Somatic Stretch® employs abdominal breathing, but only when the body is relaxing, as in some exercises, or when resting or sleeping.

When the body is active or in any upright position, including sitting, Somatic Stretch® uses “rib cage,” or thoracic, breathing. This is because the abdominal muscles must be used to hold the pelvis straight and they can’t, therefore, be relaxed.

Thoracic breathing is not “chest” breathing, which lifts the chest and arches the back. Instead, it expands the ribcage outward to both sides and to the back, rather like an expandable wire basket, creating space inside the rib cage for the lungs to fully inflate.

It also activates the rib cage muscles, which helps to support upper body weight, removing downward pressure on muscles and joints below.

Somatic Stretch® views the combination of a straight pelvis and a rib cage that is supported and properly aligned with the pelvis as the essential components of proper posture.

Somatic Stretch® exercises work the internal areas of the body not normally reached in more active types of exercise.

They increase flexibility and joint mobility, correct muscular imbalances, improve muscle tone, build resilience in tendons and ligaments and stimulate the circulatory, nervous and lymphatic systems.

At the same time, they reduce the possibility of injury and relieve many discomfiting ailments such as indefinable aches and pains, backache, neck and shoulder tension, stiffness, fatigue, insomnia, and general malaise.

Often described as “an internal massage,” the exercises become gratifyingly pleasant after initial muscular resistance is overcome.

While meditation per se is not part of the classes, the effect of working with an internal focus is meditative throughout. Class participants commonly experience the effects of the exercises as an “awakening” of the body and an enlivening of the mind and spirit.

We use the word “fit” to describe something that is in a suitable condition for use. We say, for example, “This food is fit for a king,” or, “The car isn’t fit to drive.” Being fit, therefore, is a precondition, a condition of readiness that minimizes potential problems and allows for safe, long term, enjoyable use. Just as every part of a machine must be in good working condition in order for the machine as a whole to function well, so must every part of our bodies be in the best possible condition for our whole body to work well.

Somatic Stretch® views fitness, therefore, not as a condition that results from activities, as it’s commonly understood, but as a condition that prepares the body for activities. This includes any and all uses of the body, from everyday activities like walking and sitting to sports and artistic performances.

The conditions that make the body fit to use, that minimize injuries, promote healing, and that keep the body mobile and feeling young into the later years of life are:

• release of tension
• flexibility of muscles and joints
• postural alignment
• internal strength for weight support

When these conditions are met, posture inevitably improves, bringing with it a multitude of benefits: aches and pains are relieved, strains and injuries happen less frequently, bodily movements become freer and easier, health is more stable, lessening the need for doctors and other healthcare practitioners, and energy and vitality increase, in all, adding up to a heightened sense of wellbeing that reflects positively on the emotions and spirit.

All exercises in Somatic Stretch, help make the body “fit to use.”

A fit body is free of tension;

its muscles are flexible and strong, 

its joints fully mobile;

it stands straight and its weight is easily supported

to withstand the constant pull of gravity;

it is characterized

by an increase of life energy

that imbues the body with an enduring sense

of wellbeing.