The Somatic Shift

For the past five years, I’ve been exploring life transitions–my own transitions through professional pivots, supporting a parent experiencing dementia, my mid-life innermission, and grieving the loss of my parents. I’ve also developed resources and helped others through life transitions–divorce, job transitions, and becoming a first-time parent. Transitions are abundant and there is rhythm and a pattern to them, even when the loss, grief, frustration, and confusion make it feel untethered and frenetic. 

In examining transitions, I’ve relied a lot on the logical patterns of the process–naming the endings, investigating the messiness of the neutral zone, and intentionally planning the next step. But sometimes logic isn’t enough. Sometimes our rational brain wants to control or think through the process of transition at a pace, or with an approach that isn’t authentic to our real needs in moments of transition. 

Enter my journey into somatics.

I first learned about somatic coaching through books and webinars and the concept sparked curiosity. Somatics, derived from the Greek word "soma" meaning the body, is an approach that recognizes the inseparable connection between the mind and body. It emphasizes the importance of experiencing life through the physical sensations and awareness of the body.  That inseparable connection made sense in theory, but it wasn’t until I experienced somatic awareness and somatic opening that I really felt it.

I spent four days in Petaluma California at the Strozzi Institute in their Embodied Transformation offering. Through that experience I realized I had spent most of my life focused on my brain’s interpretation of the world around me, and the changes in my life. Embracing the Strozzi approach of somatic practices was an invitation to step out of my brain and into my body and really feel my way into the world and feel the transitions that I was still processing. 

Those four days created a profound shift in me, my personal practices, and in my professional calling. I’m embarking on a somatic coaching course this year to help others recognize how  somatic practices can help us feel our way through transitions and empower us to listen to our full selves, body and mind, as we take the next step in our respective journeys.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you. In the coming weeks, I’ll share more about some of the essential core practices of somatics in transitions and how they can support the journey of transition. Until then, I’ll leave you with a reflection question for your own journey:

Innermission Invitation: How do you currently quiet your mind to listen to your body and the wisdom it holds?

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