Our bodies are not just a resource we can use as a tool, our bodies are our very source for healing, growing, and learning.

I was recently reading a private online discussion amongst somatic psychotherapists and other somatic practitioners who were sharing how they use different body-based exercises as a resource for working with clients. I believe that for our clients, as well as for ourselves, our bodies are not just a resource we can use as a tool, our bodies are our very source for healing, growing, and learning.

Our somatic reality — our bodies and how we physically shape ourselves in every moment — is the ground floor for all learning.

How we shape ourselves — our physical-emotional-cognitive selves — is our source and our guide for participating at the most fundamental level in how we behave. This includes how we construct our attitudes and beliefs, shape our emotional landscape, frame our experiences and form our thinking.

By actively participating in and working with the somatic patterns of how we reflexively or habitually organize our behavior, we can influence how we shape ourselves, experience ourselves and form our personal realities.