Outgrowing Back Pain, Asthma, Depression, and other Conditions: The Somatic Paradigm

Individual differences in the way people breathe, sit, and walk are obvious to all of us, but almost totally ignored by medical models, which typically prescribe one-size-fits-all, are treatments for back pain, asthma, depression, and other conditions. 'Somatic' refers to the way people sense, feel. and think about the body - the way each of us actively and uniquely makes sense of our bodily experience - as distinct from considering the body objectively. (A more common term is 'psychosomatic.' which people use to suggest that the psyche or mind causes bodily symptoms. 'Somatic' transcends mind-body dualism and dissolves the constraints of conventional notions of cause and effect.) Somatic approaches can provide significant benefits for health and healing. The idea of outgrowing pain is based on the way very young children learn to walk and outgrow crawling. This presentation will include case studies involving FlexAware™ exercises and the Feldenkrais Method®.