Unlocking Trapped Trauma: The Body Keeps Score — Somatic Movement Secrets

When was the last time you truly felt your body from the inside out? Not just noticing an ache or pain, but deeply sensing your physical existence?

For many of us, living primarily in our thoughts has disconnected us from crucial information our bodies are constantly trying to communicate. Karen Statner, clinical somatic educator and author, joins us to explore the revolutionary practice of clinical somatics—a method developed by philosopher Thomas Hanna that creates freedom through intentional movement.

Karen illuminates the profound connection between our physical tension patterns and emotional states, explaining how our nervous system doesn't differentiate between body and mind, but operates as one integrated system. "We cannot change anything that we cannot feel," Karen shares, revealing how our bodies hold emotional patterns in specific muscular configurations. These patterns, whether from acute trauma or repetitive stress, become unconscious habits our nervous system maintains until we consciously release them. The result? Chronic tension, pain, disconnection, and a limited capacity to experience life fully.

The beautiful revelation in this conversation is that no matter how long you've been stuck in specific patterns, change is always possible through the magic of neuroplasticity. Rather than approaching ourselves as problems to be fixed, clinical somatics offers a gentler path—becoming aware of tension, intentionally engaging it, and mindfully releasing it through a process similar to how animals naturally stretch.

By reconnecting with our bodily sensations and learning to release chronic tension, we don't just improve physical comfort—we unlock emotional freedom, better relationships, and deeper connection to our authentic needs. This isn't about quick fixes but sustainable transformation that ripples outward, affecting not just ourselves but everyone around us.

Ready to experience this for yourself? Karen guides us through a simple yet powerful three-step practice that demonstrates how effortlessly we can begin releasing tension and coming home to ourselves. What might change in your life if you could feel more, move freely, and live with greater presence?

Listen, practice, and discover the wisdom your body has been waiting to share.

Resources:

• Karen's website: https://www.somatichabit.co.uk/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Breaking Mental Health Stigmas
• 2:50 Understanding Somatics: The Felt Sense
• 10:54 Emotions & Muscular Holding Patterns
• 17:44 Trauma, Wholeness & Healing
• 28:12 Finding Safety Through Bodily Awareness
• 35:41 Clinical Somatics: Simple Yet Powerful Practice
• 53:08 Yawning, Tension Release & Self-Regulation
• 1:04:18 Creating Ripples of Change & Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast, where we break mental health stigmas through conversations. I'm your host, nat Nat, and we dive into topics about trauma and how it impacts the nervous system. Yet we don't just leave you there. We share insights and tools of self-care, meditation and growth that help you be curious about your own biology. Your presence matters. Please like and subscribe to our podcast. Help our community grow. Let's get into this. Oh, and please remember to be kind to yourself.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast. I'm your host, nat Nat, and today I am in a deluge because we're going to be talking about somatic, and I know many of you might think what is that? And it sounds woo-woo. Yet just stay with us because you might find some tools and you might get some ahas and some insights that finally make sense to you and your healing journey and, you know, removing those stigmas around mental health that I so profoundly do with this podcast. So today I have a wonderful guest. Her name is Karen Statner and she is joining us all the way from the other side of the pond, which is in the UK. So, karen, could you introduce yourself to myself and the listeners and let us know a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 2: 1:28

Oh, hey, nat, Nat and hello to all your listeners. So yeah, I live over on the other side of the ocean from you. I'm over in a beautiful city called York in England and I am to give the I guess what my title, job, work title is I'm a clinical somatic educator, and to many people that won't mean much, so I I teach a method I share, a method called clinical somatics that was developed by the late Thomas Hanna, and as well as teaching, I also provide training. I'm training manager at Essential Somatics and I'm an author as well. I have a book as well, and this is all about sharing with the world Clinical somatics. That's my calling in life to spread this and share this as far and wide and with as many people as possible. So I'm grateful to have this platform to come and share it with you.

Speaker 1: 2:36

I'm in like delight because before we started recording, we should have been recording when we weren't recording, because we got into some really deep insights and sharing just within 10 minutes. So I know this conversation is going to be deep, so stay with us Before we start. Will you join me in a mindful moment? I'd love to. Okay, and for the listeners, you know my safety spiel when I ask to close the eyes. If you're driving or need your visual, keep them open, safety first. Yet you're able to do the other prompts that we are going to be guided in. So, karen, I'll ask you to get comfortable in your seating and you're going to, if it's safe to do so, gently close your eyes and you're going to begin breathing in and out through your nose and you're going to bring your awareness to watching your breath go in and out. You're not going to try and control your breath, you're just going to be aware of its rhythm, allowing it to guide you into your body. There may be some sensations or feelings coming up, and that's okay. You're safe to feel. You're safe to let go, surrender the need to control, release the need to resist and just be, be with your breath, drop deeper into your body, allowing yourself to just be Now.

Speaker 1: 4:17

Some thoughts or to-do lists may have popped up in your mind, and that's okay. Gently bring your awareness back to your breath, creating space between the awareness and the thoughts and dropping deeper into your body. You see, the mind has a challenge of just focusing and just being present. Yet when you can just release that analytical aspect of the mind and just be dropping deeper into your body again, some thoughts may have popped up. Gently bring your awareness back to your breath, back to your breath, beginning again, creating even more space between the awareness and the thoughts, just being. You may have noticed the rhythm of your breath has changed. You may have noticed some aches or some pains in the body. That's okay, just observe, while still staying with your breath and not grasping on anything. Now, at your own time and at your own pace, you're going to gently open your eyes while still staying with your breath. How's your heart doing?

Speaker 2: 6:04

It's feeling. It's feeling it's. It's feeling very happy. Yeah, a moment to be present helps to really feel connected and grounded. So what a lovely start, thank you, thank you for guiding, guiding us through that you're welcome.

Speaker 1: 6:23

you know, when I first started doing this in the podcast, I was very hesitant.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Yet in a world that tells you to meditate, in a world that tells you to pause, it's like you have to model that and invite people into bringing this into their interaction so they can understand the benefit of something that's free, that you can do on your own. And there's significant benefit of checking in with yourself, seeing what your mental state is, what your body's trying to communicate to you in a pace where you're being distracted all over the place. So I'm thankful that my guests are always open to doing these mindful moments and that the listeners get to engage in this practice. Even if it's just simply with this podcast, it makes a difference. Yet if they can do it several times a day, there's significant benefit, and it's what brought me to where I am right now. Now we spoke about somatic, and I know some listeners are like what are you talking about? Some of my listeners will be very familiar, yet for those new ones that have no idea, what does somatic mean? Could you define that for them?

Speaker 2: 7:33

It's a great place to start, and you and your listeners some of your listeners may have noticed that this is a word that seems to be popping up more. Perhaps it's becoming or certainly in in my world it's becoming more familiar, more widely heard and and used on lots of different platforms. So, yes, let's, let's define. What does this word somatic mean? So we can think of the word somatic as being like an umbrella term, and the meaning of it is felt sense. It's our body, experienced from within, or experience or modality that is somatic means that there's a focus upon your bodily sensations, how it feels from the inside out, and you may have come across lots of different kinds of somatic modalities. Some of the more commonly heard ones that I come across are somatic yoga, somatic therapy, somatic breath work.

Speaker 2: 8:51

So it's this umbrella term that could be applied to different, different experiences, but it's all about the felt sense, it's all about the unspoken world, right? What do we feel? What do we sense? And, as we may well come on to, actually, what are we not feeling, what are we not aware of? Because that's where the change in the learning comes from. So it's our internal world, it's our unspoken world, and then the method that I teach specifically under this umbrella banner of somatics is clinical somatics, and I mentioned before that this was developed by the late Thomas Hanna and this, specifically, is about creating change and freedom. Tom Hanna was a philosopher and he developed this method. One of his start points was how can we be free? So how do we restore, restore our whole connected free sense? And this approach helps us to restore that through movement. So this is specifically a movement somatic practice in a very intentional and deliberate way. So we explore change and freedom and connection and functional ways of being through movement.

Speaker 1: 10:32

So what I'm hearing is I know a lot of people here feel, yet they don't realize that. You know, our experiences have emotional charges. So the somatic that you're speaking about feeling and that the body has things that are stored is this I call myself an energy healing specialist. Which? The energy is really the suppressed emotions that people have not been able to feel, and many of us think our feelings we don't actually feel our feelings and some of us actually, when we do feel, it's our secondary emotions, it's not our authentic emotions. So how do you help people with the movement to allow the body to feel safe to express and feel these emotions?

Speaker 2: 11:27

So I'm going to answer that in a couple of different parts.

Speaker 2: 11:29

I'll come on to the you know how can somebody feel safe, but I'll start with the emotions. So what's really interesting about our emotions and what I've, what I really came to embody through this practice, is that there is no separation between our physical sense and our emotional sense, our energetic sense, our spiritual sense. There is no divide and separation, and our nervous system doesn't recognize us in that way. It doesn't organize us or help us to function in a separated, divided sense. So we have this lovely term of how to refer to ourselves in this practice, and it's that we refer to ourselves as a soma, a living body, experience from within. So it's not that we're a body, it's not that we're a mind, we're this incredible, fully entwined system that encompasses every aspect of our function and our existence, of our function and our existence. We're not separated parts, we're a whole system. So the term soma is what we use to describe that, rather than, oh, I've got this mind and I've got this body, which is a separation right, it's a disconnect. This is about experiencing ourselves as a whole system. And what's further interesting about that from our nervous system's point of view. Therefore, we don't have this physical sense and then we have this emotional sense. There is, in fact, a deliberate muscular holding pattern for the kinds of emotions that we experience. So different emotional states are held within any number of muscular holding patterns, and when we think about the word feeling, it's part of our felt sense. Right yeah, we do a great job in our culture and our society, in the Western world of intellectualizing and thinking. We've been so stuck in that culture for so long that this practice is about helping us to go back to okay.

Speaker 2: 13:55

Well, how do I know that I'm upset or anxious, or scared, or delighted? How do I know that? How do I know that I feel energized? It's not because of necessarily what thoughts we're telling ourselves or stories we're telling ourselves. It's actually because there's a physical process taking place within our system, them. So I know when I'm anxious or worried, my stomach is tense, I feel the tension, I feel the contraction. So there is a physical process that takes place when we experience emotions.

Speaker 2: 14:44

And if we experience those emotions deeply enough or often enough, if we're living in a way that means we're repeatedly frightened or we have an experience that hits us so hard and so deeply, our brilliant nervous system goes do you know what? I've got this and it will hold that state until we're ready and know how to release it. It will hold that. It doesn't need another order, it doesn't need another instruction to go. Oh yeah, you are scared. Okay, let me tighten up again. It's just going to hold you there and that helps us to function, right, it helps us to get up and get through each day. But the other side of that is that we then forget to release it. Okay, I'm not actually in that place anymore where I need to be scared or anxious, and yet I still feel it. Why is that? Because our amazing nervous system is just waiting to be told okay, now you can let that go, now you can release that, and that's part of habit building, right? It becomes unconscious that it can happen without any conscious effort. It just happens, and thank goodness, because then we can get on and do other things and our system has got us, it's going to hold us in that state.

Speaker 2: 16:19

So when we apply this practice clinical somatics it's through movement and our brain is wired for movement. Your listeners might be familiar with the work of Bessel van der Kolk and he talks about the brain's primary function as being for movement and, from a developmental point of view, we were moving before we were thinking. So when we explore this practice and we start to release these chronic muscular holding patterns and we have a particular phrase for this that Tom Hanna coined, so it's called sensory motor amnesia. We've basically basically that means sensory is to feel, motor is to move and amnesia is to forget. We've basically forgotten how to move and feel and, to put that in simple terms, we're talking about chronic muscle tension that's always there.

Speaker 2: 17:27

So when we start to release those chronic muscular holding patterns that our system has done so well, we not only start to feel more comfortable and move more freely, but also we might find that we start to release the emotional states that are connected to those patterns. So if you're to go back to that example of, actually, when we feel scared or anxious, our belly muscles and therefore our chest muscles, start to tighten and hold us. Actually, we start to release that holding pattern all through our front. Then we start to feel a little easier and a little more comfortable and then we might start to feel a bit safer or perhaps even more open to exploring difference, to exploring difference. So that can help us to start to step away from, maybe, our comfort zone where we've been holding ourself. So there is no separation between our emotional state and our physical state. We are one full system. To affect one is to affect the other Exactly one full system.

Speaker 1: 18:46

To affect one is to affect the other. Exactly I. I cringe when people are talking about letting go and being a new person and getting rid of parts of themselves, getting rid of this part and it's like. No, it's about integration. Like you will create holes with an H within yourself and you will not be able to have the full communication and you'll be running around in loops and wondering. You know like your mindset will get you only so far, but that elastic band will pull you right back because you want to be whole with a W and feeling your emotions. Like.

Speaker 1: 19:21

I understand the stoicism, you know, negating all emotion and just pushing through. Yet if we look at the state of the world, our humanity is being lost and look where it's gotten us with too much stoicism and acting like emotions are not supposed to be a part of our interactions, our communications, our power of choices. Does it take time? Yeah. Is it messy? Yeah. Is it uncomfortable? Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:51

Yet when you start really doing the work at the beginning, those emotional charges, they last long. They're debilitating, they're disorientating, they're really uncomfortable. Yet once you allow the body to have safety and release those defense mechanisms of the nervous system and feel and be. You know, like you said, all communicating fully, not disassociating or separating yourself, there becomes a fluidity and a clarity that, oh, you're activating. You're coming to give me information about something. You're not coming to actually stop me. You're actually coming to give me some information that I may not be aware of and, like you said, the nervous system knows nothing about past, present or future. All it knows is sensations, and our mind is very powerful of looping a narration, bs, which are belief systems that keep us trapped into. What happened before is happening now, even though it doesn't look the same. It's the feeling and sensation that activates the armament. Like you mentioned, it could be closed chest, sweaty palm, anxiety running rampant. Does that make sense for you in the work that you're doing?

Speaker 2: 21:06

Oh, absolutely. And when we think about the impact of trauma, my understanding of it is that it's anything that affects our ability to really live in a present state. It really interferes with our, our connection to the present moment. And when we talk about wanting to get rid of parts of ourselves and create those divides and segregation, the effect that I believe that can have is that it takes us further away from wholeness, and for me, wholeness and healing are completely entwined. We can talk about healing, we can talk about becoming more whole, but when we, when we start to create parts of ourselves that we try and get rid of, we're putting our intention and our focus into becoming less whole.

Speaker 2: 22:04

And, as you said, it might be uncomfortable to experience certain emotional states, but actually that's the reality of our existence and the essence of who and what we are. We experience a wide range, we have the ability to experience a wide range of states and emotions and I want to have access to all of me, to be able to experience all of life, everything that life has to offer, the comfortable parts, the fun parts, the upsetting parts, the uncomfortable parts, the messy parts, in whatever way, I want to be able to access and experience all of life, but in a way that I don't get stuck in any of those experiences, and the impact of trauma keeps us stuck. The impact of chronic tension keeps us stuck. We literally get stuck in a pattern, in a loop. But what is what is so incredible about our system? No matter how long we've held ourselves in a particular state and I'm talking about physicality, I'm talking about the stories we tell ourselves, the beliefs we have, our perspectives on life Thanks to neuroplasticity, which might be a term your listeners are familiar with, we always have the ability to create a change in how we feel, in how we function, in how we feel, in how we function, in how we connect with ourselves and the rest of the world.

Speaker 2: 23:50

We always, always have the ability to create a change in any moment. We just need to remember how, or learn how, right. But we always have that ability because of the design of this incredible system that we get to experience life through. We always have that ability even if we don't believe it. You know I'm not trying to convince anyone or believe something that might go against the grain for them at all, but what if you could just indulge in the idea for a moment that, no matter where you're at and how long you've been there and felt that way, you always have the ability to create a change, and I know for me that's just so empowering and what brings me back to this time and time and time and time again, and, I hope, forever yeah, um, that's what.

Speaker 1: 24:45

You know how I define it also a part of healing. Part of healing is actually feeling your authentic emotions, where many of us, when we were a child, we weren't even able to feel, that we were told to feel something different than what we were feeling, like many, can you know, relate to when you were crying you were told I'll give you something to cry for. You're not supposed to cry. Or when you're angry, don't be angry, fix yourself, go in the corner. Or when you wanted something and desired something. You should be grateful for what you already have. So all the time you were told what you were actually feeling wasn't your truth and it needed to be something different. So it's very understandable that you would keep grasping on the outside of the world for that validation, to tell me how I should feel, tell me how I should show up to feel like I belong, that I'm accepted, that I'm a good person, that I'm enough, that I'm whole. So when you start doing this work, then you have to not that you have to. It is in your best interest to have a willingness to see. What did I create? What was the narration in the belief systems that I create? Yes, people programmed it in, yet you took it as truth. Now your power is to release those things and engage with these emotions so that you can like. You know, the buzzword is I'm going to be my authentic self. Well, my authentic self, well. Authentic self doesn't mean projecting and dumping all your stuff onto people and blame, gaming that oh, you're the narcissist and you're this and you're that. It's like spoiler alert everybody has narcissism in them, like we, as children, have narcissism because we're all self-absorbed, we all have it Like, we all want our way, we all want this. So to want to just categorize people and this is just you this is a disservice of wanting to do separation and conquer, wanting to do competition rather than understanding the wholeness of all of us. So you can have better understanding of, oh, within myself, I see a bit of me in you, and maybe I don't want to see that. Yet if I really look, I actually do a little bit of that stuff, not as intensely intensely, I should say, but I just do a little bit of that. But we have it ingrained that we want to be perfect to be able to get the attention and approval. So then we I give a visual of it's like an elephant in the room and you're alone with the elephant. When you're in the room with other people, you can see other people's elephants. It's really easy. Yet can you see your own elephant? Do you create enough safety for that elephant to reveal itself and say, hey, this is what you keep rejecting, this is what you keep denying, this is what you're not willing to be honest and transparent about?

Speaker 1: 27:31

As many people in my personal, I was just in Barbados for two months and I went to integrate the grief and I went through deep emotional pain and I couldn't understand some of the pain that I was going through because I felt inflicted and hurt by certain individuals and I was just emoting and I knew intellectually like this is something deeper, because what's going on here? Why am I still looping in here? And then, when I finally came back to Canada, and while I was driving, so there was movement not physical, but still a movement in a car. And while I was driving, so there was movement not physical, but still a movement in a car, and I was relaxing, what popped up was my sexual trauma. And what popped up was exactly how I was treated, how I experienced it, and everything that was happening right now was the same mirror, but it didn't look the same. Now was the same mirror, but it didn't look the same. So it's not until you can connect into your body to really understand. Oh, I'm interpreting this. That's why I was looping and moting so much and it was hurting and personalizing so much, because I was reliving the same pattern experience and I still haven't done the deep wound work of, you know, holding that little girl, holding that experience and recognizing what I created as a narration for myself and understandable of why I created it because it was protection.

Speaker 1: 28:58

Like people want to get rid of trauma and chastise trauma and it's this and that it's like no trauma protected you, like the experience of harm and pain. No individual should have to go through that. Yet it's don't chastise the trauma of what your nervous system did to protect you. People don't see it as a protection though. They see it as an inconvenience because it keeps messing with my behavior. And it's like an inconvenience because it keeps messing with my behavior and it's like, well, if it keeps messing with your behavior, it's because you're not feeling your emotions, you're not letting go of the emotional charges that are stuck inside your body. Does that make sense?

Speaker 2: 29:41

It makes complete sense and thank you for sharing your experiences. When we're able to accept where we're at and just notice what we're experiencing with that awareness is where the start of change comes from. We cannot change anything. Tom Hannah had this great saying of we cannot change anything that we cannot feel. Anything that we cannot feel. And when we think about the impact of experiences we may have had throughout our life, we might.

Speaker 2: 30:20

We might seek approaches to help us to find some peace with that, down therapeutic routes, talking therapies, psychotherapies, all kinds of different approaches, and I think there is absolutely a significant importance to being able to process our experiences in a spoken way. I think that can create such an empowering feeling and is so necessary and so important and so beneficial to many. However, I never believe that there is only one way to become whole and to become present, because really, this, this method, is about learning how to be present, not shutting off, not avoiding, not getting stuck. So I don't believe there's only one approach that works. You know this is, this is gonna be, this is gonna be your savior. Do this and your life will be as right. You know it should be that I mean it doesn't exist right the one size fits all.

Speaker 1: 31:28

It's like our biologies are all different in the way that we're. It all has different paths. So it's like find, be the are all different in the way that we're. It all has different paths, so it's like find, be the mad scientist that works for your biology.

Speaker 2: 31:39

Be the scientist, go and explore, and I think we're open to and they're open to different approaches at different times, so different approaches will be accessible to us. We can engage in them at different times. Going back to what you were saying before about how do we support people to feel safe enough that they're able to explore what they've been avoiding, so it may be that talking therapy is the less scary or confrontational way in to start unpicking our experiences in life. For other people it might actually come first through actual bodily awareness, sensation awareness, so they might choose to explore any number of somatic ways into, to releasing and connecting and recognizing, because our muscular holding patterns that help us to respond to all the experiences we have in life and our functions. They're not so bothered about what the actual story was or what the actual event was. Our system just takes hold of us and looks after us until we're ready to release it. So the stories are attached up here from our mind, from our cognitive part of us, yeah, but our but our muscular holding patterns are less concerned with that.

Speaker 2: 33:06

For some people, then, going in through the felt sense is the start point, but often in my experience and for my own experience working with others and for myself, one leads to the other. So we might get so far through a talking therapy route or um, something like emdr, and we realize that we've got understanding and we've created more freedom and a bit more peace, but something isn't quite shifting. So we need to step into our bodily sensations, into a somatic practice, to then release more of these experiences. And for other people, actually their way in was through something like what I teach clinical somatics, and then they start to release these patterns and then what you were describing there, in your journey home in the car, start to notice that suddenly long forgotten or suppressed experiences and thoughts might start to reoccur. And then we realize that, oh, you know, there's, there are things in my life that actually I haven't come to terms with, I haven't let go of, I haven't accepted or ever talked about.

Speaker 2: 34:30

So clinical somatics can then open the door and make something like a talking therapy accessible for them, and people will come at the different options at different times. There's no right way, there's no one size fits all at all, and there's certainly when it comes to regulating our nervous system and learning how to be present and not be stuck in any experience or any state to accept where we are but also not to approach ourselves as a problem that needs to be fixed. Yeah, the moment we go down that that path it kind of takes into it, takes us down a kind of judgmental path of there's something wrong with me and especially in kind of western medical culture approaches to ourselves. It takes us down a diagnose and fix route which, depending on what is going on if there's something structural going on, actually that's really helpful, but again it isn't a one-size-fits-all and when we think about our, our think of ourselves as a soma, as as a living body experienced from within an emotional sensing organism, an energy system, actually diagnose and fix doesn't quite fit with.

Speaker 1: 36:08

Because then you identify with that after and it stops some of your work, because then you can crutch onto that. Well, this is what I am and there's nothing more I can do about it, because that's a part of what the mind will do too, with certain diagnoses that they just identify and then they just stop right there.

Speaker 2: 36:27

For sure, and what we also then seek, I think, is that, well, if there's a problem that needs to be fixed, then I need to know what the diagnosis is and I need to know what the treatment is. And if I'm going to get that, I need to go to an expert for them to tell me about me, yeah, and I don't know about anyone else, but I have no way of knowing how it feels to be anyone other than me. Coming back to what you were asking before about, actually, how does somebody start to feel safe? Well, firstly, we have to start to feel ourselves in a way that we're able to access, at a pace that we're able to access, and when we can start to feel ourselves and what's taking place in any given moment, then we start to really hear what our needs are. If we cannot connect to our physiological state, our internal sensations, how do we know what our needs are? And then, how do we actually get to meet them, how do we get to give ourselves what is what our soma is actually crying out for?

Speaker 2: 37:43

And there's a, there's a brilliant book, um, by a psychologist called babette rothschild, called the body remembers, and she talks in there about actually the most, the most direct, immediate way of becoming present and therefore listening to your needs is to actually bring your awareness to your sensations, your physiological sensations, not for someone else, a third party looking at you, to tell you about yourself, but actually to take your focus internally. What is happening right now and what you might find is that you're taking a moment to explore that and you go is that you're taking a moment to explore that and you go. I have no idea what I feel right now. And there is so much gold in that awareness of I don't know what I'm feeling right now because until we realize we can't feel, we can't do anything about changing or shifting that yeah so that's the start.

Speaker 2: 38:58

It's awareness is what underpins this, and it might be that I don't, I don't know that I'm feeling anything and that goes back to chronic tension, that that phrase of sensory motor amnesia. We've actually forgotten how to feel. But we can restore that with being very intentional. It's actually quite simple. It's actually very simple. Our system can be very simple. We do a great job of overthinking and complicating it right. I can never change this because I need. I need a consultant or a doctor to tell me about my nervous system. Actually, there's such a simplicity to this. That doesn't mean easy, it just means we don't need to overcomplicate it and we can always create change in how we feel, how we function, absolutely. And then the other thing that I was just going to mention on that, going back to your, your lovely guided moment before we started this.

Speaker 1: 39:58

That's what I was going to say the mindful moment. That's why I guide you in the breath, because the breath is always present, it's always in the now and then when you can. And that's why I say I guide you into the body so you can feel the sensations and all of a sudden come up and you don't realize you've been neck up, you like this stuff down here, you're inconveniencing me and it's like it has information, it's part of you, like there's. You can feel a more fuller life if you're listening to all of this guidance and stuff. So sorry for cutting, cutting you off.

Speaker 2: 40:32

No, no, no, that's absolutely spot on. And what I was going to mention and then the other thing to just add onto that was when you, when you asked me and your listeners just to notice if you've got a to-do list popping into your head. And being present isn't about trying to clear your mind, it's noticing where are you at in that moment. And as I teach my classes, people might find that actually for only a small part of following my teaching, they were able to actually be present to what they were feeling, what their sensations were. And the rest of the time it's on their to-do list, right, or things they've got coming up or what happened yesterday or earlier in that day. But again, that is just information of where you're at in that moment. There's no judgment with that, it's just noticing.

Speaker 2: 41:28

Wow, do you know what? I'm really distracted today, today, so no wonder I'm perhaps feeling a bit more niggly or a bit more tense, or I've got a bit of a. You know, I'm a bit sharper to reply to other people than normal. I've just, I've just taken a moment to realize, yeah, I'm really distracted. No wonder I forgot to pick up whatever it was on the way home. Yeah, again, it's just about information. There's no judgment, there's no right or wrong, but just that recognition of. Okay, that's where I'm at today. Okay, so I know my practice, my clinical somatic practice today might be somewhat less effective at releasing tension than it is on a day where actually I can focus a little bit more, I'm less distracted. It's just information and again we're. We've this moment that we're in now, having this conversation. We've never been in this moment before, exactly exactly we've never been here. And what I loved before we started recording this for your listeners.

Speaker 2: 42:33

We were chatting away, but one of the things you asked me before you pressed record was you know where, where are you feeling you want to go today because you know something might have come up yesterday or this morning that has, that has is kind of taking your focus and attention, that we might want to focus our conversation on. And I really, really appreciated that question because that's about being in the moment. We've never been here before, so whilst we could have had I mean, it wouldn't be a script, right but we could have decided this is what we're talking about actually if something significant had happened this morning or yesterday, because this is my we're on different time zones, right, my morning has been and gone. Actually, if I had to kind of try and step away from that to focus on something else.

Speaker 2: 43:26

Sometimes things don't quite align. Things feel a little bit, there's a bit of friction there, there's a bit of friction there, there's a bit of tension there, and tension, friction, stress, is manifest in our system as muscle tension. So if we're constantly living in a way that doesn't really align with our basic fundamental needs, that's only going to be tolerated for so long before we get any number of symptoms Such as when we think about chronic muscle tension, back pain, neck and shoulder pain, any kind of joint pain. But because this is so much more than just movement, we're a soma right, we're a full system. It might come out in other symptoms, such as we always feel upset or we can't concentrate, we don't sleep well. We have a lot of conflict in our lives. There's a chronic sense of dis-ease or just disconnection, like we don't belong. We're always trying to fit in with what others needs or expectations are of us. Expectations are of us, so the symptoms show up in any number of ways.

Speaker 2: 45:01

Um, what I've come to learn, what I came to learn so quickly in my own exploring and indulging into this method, is that actually our needs, our needs, are all the but in order to affect all of those symptoms. That will only happen on a long-term basis if we speak to the root cause, and there is no amount of thinking our way out of back pain or an anxiety state or a scared state. There is no thinking our way out of that chronic pattern. We have to go to our felt sense and that's what this method, clinical somatics, offers. It takes us to the root cause of all of those root cause, potential root cause, of those kinds of symptoms that come out in any number of ways.

Speaker 2: 45:59

And what's brilliant is that, to go back to what you were saying before people, some of your listeners, might think somatic, oh, that's all a bit woo-woo. Actually, this is rooted in science. It's rooted in our neurophysiology, in our nervous system. This is woo in science. It's rooted in our neurophysiology, in our nervous system. This is a woo-woo. It's absolutely rooted in science. And there's such a beautiful simplicity to this. Practice Doesn't mean it's easy.

Speaker 1: 46:27

No.

Speaker 2: 46:28

Because actually, what it requires is for us to be very intentional and helps us to become more present. So, whilst it's simple, they're probably some of the safest, easiest movements you could start to learn. Actually, it requires us to be very intentional, be that for two minutes or an hour's practice, and in a world where there are so many distractions and I think what most of us on a global scale struggle with is to actually be present. So it's not that the older we get, the less able we are to create change. Actually, a, there's a real simplicity to how we can create change on a nervous system level, but it just require us to make, requires us to put different information in and make some different choices, perhaps in how we spend our time.

Speaker 2: 47:29

It's not about lots of time or even lots of work or effort, because those who come to my classes will have heard me say so many times that actually less is more For you to create long term change, and you get to create that change because you're the one that's making the changes. Yeah, actually, less effort and more feeling and awareness is what will take you there, and that kind of goes against what we're told in life. Right, we're told we have to work hard to get results. The opposite is true of this, and that in itself can be a big enough challenge to try and get your head around. It's like, no, this can't be, this can't be the case, that can't be, can't be right. I'm always told I have to work harder and then I'll be all right. Well, how's that working out for you?

Speaker 1: 48:16

right, yeah, exactly, exactly. Um, one of the somatic practices that I do with some of my clients that are having very intense emotions and they don't know how to really feel or they've never expressed. I'm like yell, yell in a pillow, like take a pillow and start just yelling, especially when they have a lot of anger, and anger is a protective emotion for vulnerability and helplessness. I'm like just give that feeling and sensation a voice so that it can feel, seen, that it can be expressed. And a lot of them are like I can't do that, like that's childish, like I was like did you ever do that as a child? No, well, try it now to see what kind of release. And when they do it, they're like it feels like a ton of bricks came off my shoulders, like how is that possible? I'm like because you're feeling it and you're allowing it to see, be in your awareness, and it also the body needs to express. Like some of my clients, I'll tell them okay, if you're in a really low state, movement is needed.

Speaker 1: 49:22

Dance Like people forget that dancing is exercise and movement and music can change our mental state very quickly. Yet it also can allow the body to express without it feeling awkward. All of a sudden you're wondering why am I tapping this way or moving my hips that way or moving my arms? Yet the body is somatically releasing some things that your analytical mind won't allow it to, because it just feels too awkward or it doesn't match up with the image that you're, the mask that we all have to walk in society and be with other people. So some of these simple practices that you know, even smash rooms for people that have been really violated or harmed, just really in a safe container that you can break some stuff and it's not stuff that you need, it's stuff that is being repurposed, but you can get some of that out so it has language, it has expression. Are those some of the things that you would recommend with your therapeutical for people?

Speaker 1: 50:26

I understand like there's other, deeper ways, but I just try to help them with the simple aspects, to start engaging so that they can now go dive in deeper with. Okay, let me get connected with my body and my mind and my soul. So they're a trinity, they're all one, they're not separate, they're all one as together. Yet the body needs to express some of these emotional charges that have been there for decades, like to think it's going to be gone because you're aware of it. It's like, no, there's an embodiment of having to release because there's patterns and habits that have been ingrained. That it's like a knee jerk reaction. I just get to anger right away and it's like, well, you're going to have to learn to unprotect yourself and feel whatever else there is that's trying to come up as an emotion and a feeling.

Speaker 2: 51:18

I think there are so many wonderfully effective ways of releasing charged pent-up energy for sure. Lots of different ways from a releasing muscular holding patterns, from a chronic holding pattern perspective, then it takes very intentional, deliberate movements in order to release that. So if you were to experience one of my classes, either either a group class or a one-on-one session, it wouldn't be smashing up the room, yeah of course not.

Speaker 1: 51:58

No, no, of course not but we need to.

Speaker 2: 52:01

It's important to be able to express and through clinical somatics, we explore release through very gentle movements that are guided by me, but done in a way that the person I'm working with is able to explore them. There's no right or wrong way. I'm just there to help guide somebody. And what's so empowering about this method is that because I'm I'm essentially a teacher, I'm not a therapist. This is movement education rather than a movement therapy. But in order to create change, we need to either remember what's been forgotten in how we function as a soma or we need to learn how. So, actually, my role is as a teacher. I'm just there to guide you, to be able to explore your own somatic process, to help you to release and help you to reconnect with yourself so you can meet your needs. And what's so empowering about this is that actually you are the one that creates that change, and you're creating it at the level of your nervous system and, and because it's because it's created at that level, actually it becomes long-term change.

Speaker 2: 53:33

It's not a quick fix, it's not a treatment. You get to keep that right. You can't unlearn anything and, like any skill or any habit, the more intentional you are. The more you explore that particular skill or habit, the more freely it comes, the more accessible it is. So, the more you explore that particular skill or habit, the more freely it comes, the more accessible it is so, the more you practice being having moments of being aware. However, however you might explore, that actually your awareness becomes like one of your superpower skills and you're just able to connect more easily you know, there's.

Speaker 2: 54:15

There are less layers of life that have accumulated. There are less. You've peeled them away, yeah, so actually you get to connect with yourself much quicker. It's almost like it's an early warning system when you practice this method that you just you become more aware of where you're at in any given moment, because life happens every day. Right, distractions, discomfort and all the wonderful things in life are going to happen every single day. So, therefore, this is a regular, simple practice every single day, week, month. However, you want to engage in it, to be present, because we, like I was saying before, we've never been in this moment before.

Speaker 1: 54:59

So I might have an idea of what's going on, but until I take a moment, take my focus internally to me, I have no idea actually yeah, it's a surprise, but our mind will try to predict what's going to happen, because it's predicting to avoid pain, because we're in a society that's taught don't feel pain. Where we're not equipped of well life has pain. So how do we remember that we have the capacity? So would you be willing to show, demonstrate a small practice that you use with your clients that the listeners would be able to do with themselves right now, and you could walk me through it, and I can do it.

Speaker 2: 55:41

So this is one that I use regularly. Actually, it's an immediate way of just starting to create a change in how much tension and stress you're carrying right now, and there are three steps to it. I'm going to guide you through them. I'll explain them first. So the way that we release chronic tension and stress is three steps. You're going to contract and tighten your muscles more than they are, so you're just going to turn up the tension. Think of your muscle tension as being like a thermostat. You're just going to turn up the tension. Think of your muscle tension as being like a thermostat. You're just going to turn it up a little bit hotter than it, than it was. Notice that. And then you're going to intentionally, with awareness, slowly turn that tension back down. There's your second step. And then the third step is to just take a rest and just notice. So, if you're ready, I'll guide you through.

Speaker 2: 56:43

I'll guide you through those steps and, because this is about the feeling of it, if it's comfortable to you can go ahead and close your eyes, or or, if you don't want to close, maybe just soften your gaze a little bit so you're not distracted by what's in front of you, and then go ahead, tighten and tense anywhere and everywhere. You feel comfortable too, not going into pain or discomfort, and then feel the difference. Notice where have you tightened into, where do you feel that? Maybe it's clear, maybe it's not. Keep breathing and slowly release with awareness.

Speaker 2: 57:23

Might take a breath or two and then, when you feel you've completely released, maybe you could indulge in a almost like a post-yawn sigh and notice where you release to. You might have felt a little bit more release that came after that sigh. If you took it, there's always more release to come. So it's these very simple three steps. We never work too hard, we never move ourselves into more discomfort or pain because it's movement education and I don't know about you, nat, nat, but I've never really learned anything where it's confusing or I'm uncomfortable. I've just never really learned well in that way. And this is about reminding our nervous system of how it's designed to function. So staying within our range of comfort and not working too hard makes for such an effective practice.

Speaker 1: 58:49

I was doing some of this because I was offering free meditation through COVID online and this was one of the practices that I would have the participants do so that they could release and recognize where they're holding on to tension and everything else. And I don't realize that these practices are already embodied in me, like I'm already doing this, so it's a way of living for me and I forget that some people, they have no idea. So that's the thing of being a teacher you have to remember to look at it with fresh eyes because it's just part of my life. So I figure, well, yeah, everybody knows, and it's like, oh no, like you continuously do this because it's your way of living. You got to remember some people have no awareness of this.

Speaker 1: 59:36

So you just reminded me of practice that I got to. You know, just remind people of that they can do and everything, because it's just been, because people don't see you doing this. Everything's internally. So it's just like a woman doing Kegels Nobody knows that you're doing Kegels, only you do. Yet if you don't let people know, they wouldn't know that you're doing these inside inner work practices and this is just my way of living. So thank you for the reminder, for that and your voice is very soothing, so it guides in a very safe way that makes it with ease oh well, I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you felt safe, which in turn made it easier for you to follow along.

Speaker 2: 1:00:21

So that's wonderful to hear and what I would just add to what I've, what I guided you through there. You might want to explore that a few times and notice where do you tighten into, where do you feel, soften and release? And that is actually those three steps are called it's a funky term it's called pandiculation and it's actually what cats and dogs do 40 plus times a day to keep tension at bay. And this is built within our nervous system to do this. So we might have forgotten to do it and and how to do it, but it's actually part of all of all of us to be able to release tension in in this way. It's part of our system and essentially what it is. That was a freestyle version that I guided you through. Just tighten into anywhere and everywhere. If you come to a class or come to me for a one-on-one session, I'll guide you through particular movements, but that was just a freestyle way to feel those.

Speaker 2: 1:01:24

Yeah, and essentially pandiculation means to yawn. So a question for your listeners might be how often do you let yourself indulge in a really great, satisfying yawn. When was the last time you had a full indulgent yawn? Maybe you made a noise when you yawned. How many people let that happen?

Speaker 1: 1:01:49

A good release. Yeah, because it helps with that vagus nerve.

Speaker 2: 1:01:52

Yeah great cats and dogs do it repeatedly, children do it repeatedly and then at some point we start to learn that actually it's not socially acceptable to yawn. We apologize, and how hard is it to stop yourself from yawning in front of someone. The amount of of tension like you feel, like you end up like in a gurning competition, like trying to resist the urge to yawn, and if we resist it enough, we'll stop doing it. And then we can start to appreciate why we always feel on edge, we feel disconnected, we always feel, feel tired. Yawning is a great way of boosting our energy or we start to get niggles and aches and pains, because when we stop yawning, actually we stop releasing tension throughout our day. We become less present, less connected.

Speaker 2: 1:02:52

So, going back to actually, this is based in our neurophysiology, it's based in science. We're essentially remembering how to yawn tension out of our nervous system so that we can self-regulate again. Remember how to do that. There's a simplicity. How often do you have to think about how to yawn when you go into a yawn? It's just instinctive, right? Exactly, exactly. It's just instinctive.

Speaker 1: 1:03:20

But a lot of us resist because of society norms.

Speaker 2: 1:03:24

Exactly, exactly. So go ahead and yawn. I always say to my clients you feel a yawn coming on. Could you make that even fuller and more delicious and indulgent than it was going to be? And it's absolutely the one place that you are never going to need to apologize for yawning.

Speaker 1: 1:03:42

Yeah, exactly that. You're bringing that rest and release and safety within the body and allowing it to recognize what it needs and you're supplying those needs. The body and allowing it to recognize what it needs and you're supplying those needs, not going with the standards of what society tells you. I'm mindful of time so I want to ask you is there a question I didn't ask you that you think would benefit the listeners?

Speaker 2: 1:04:10

Well, I don't. I mean there is I could talk about this all day long which you may have gotten an idea of that I feel like we could just keep chatting for hours, um, I think. Coming back to stigma, so one of the messages that you share is about trying to take the stigma away from mental health. I think if we can consider ourselves as this incredible full system, a soma that doesn't separate our physical and mental health, we just are one whole system. I think that can go a long way to help ease the stigma, because there doesn't seem to be a stigma attached to the term physical health and yet the moment that we label particular parts of of disease soma and their entire health, not having to label it, that then that opens a doorway to be able to then start being more aware and move towards meeting their needs to be the most connected whole version of themselves.

Speaker 1: 1:05:44

Yeah, as I tell people more and more now, I'm like you have to be insane to be able to function in the world that we're in. I know a lot of people are like, no, you need sanity. I'm like, no, some of it you have to be insane, because some of it doesn't make sense. Some of it doesn't make sense of how you know governments and systems are treating certain humanities. So it's like in that insanity you're letting go of what the structures and the standards that society tells you you need to be in that you can come into your wholeness and be able to be in that empathy. Like there's significant empathy fatigue that many are experiencing right now, because seeing the state of how things are going and how people are being treated, that can deplete a lot of people. So I just want to let some of the listeners feel seen and recognize like, yeah, like what you think is like insane is actually sanity to be able to view the world and everything else, because it will activate a lot of your emotional states.

Speaker 1: 1:06:48

Yet, as we said in this conversation, it's for you to take power in decisions and choices of what you're intaking for information and recognize you know, some of this media, especially social media, any media outlet.

Speaker 1: 1:07:05

They're trying to take your focus and many of them fuel you with fear that have you rocking in a rocking chair and you're not able to go anywhere. So recognize that you know you're seeing something across the world. It's infuriating you, yet it makes you feel like you don't have control. Yet the control that you can have is being present in your state and finding something in your direct experience that will help you to, you know, dissolve some of that fear into kindness, into openness, into joy. I know it feels like a threat and that you should stay in a state of negativity because other people are suffering. Yet what the world needs is that we're feeling bodies that think, and if we feel joy that lights up a system, it doesn't mean negating and denying somebody else's pain. It's actually letting people know that we can still feel this state of joy. And where can we move in a state of solutions and connection as community with humanity.

Speaker 2: 1:08:17

And we can only affect change for ourselves, first and foremost. But I know and believe that we are all connected. We all have the same same design. We are all deeply connected. So, whilst we only have autonomy over ourselves and how we choose to respond to the world around us, our external environment, actually, when we create a change in how we feel to ourselves, that affects how we show up, how we feel and interact and respond interact with and respond to others around us and then the change starts rippling out, especially as energy beings right, actually our energy affects those around us and again it's the open world, it's we can't see it, we can't, it's not tangible, we can't necessarily touch it or take a hold of it, but actually we are certainly affected by that part of our, our process.

Speaker 2: 1:09:23

So change always, always starts, starts with us bringing the focus back to us, and every time we're affected by something outside of ourselves, that can be a wonderful reminder to say, okay, how am I experiencing that and what will be helpful for me right now?

Speaker 1: 1:09:43

Can you now let the listeners know where they can find you in your offerings and especially where your book is?

Speaker 2: 1:09:50

I would love to Thank you. So I have a website which is somatichabitcouk, and if you add a forward slash free class onto that, you can access a free 20 minute taster. So will take, take your listeners beyond what I guided you through with that one one very brief, freestyle pandiculation. So my website, somatichabitcouk, my book is available on Amazon, on all the Amazon sites, and the name of my book is Somatic Movement Restoring Functional, pain-free Movement and Moving Towards Connection and Wholeness. And the name of my book is somatic movement restoring functional, pain-free movement and moving towards connection and wholeness. So that is accessible on amazon. And I'm also on instagram as well, so you can find me at somatic habit on instagram.

Speaker 2: 1:10:51

And if anyone wants to reach out, ask any questions, if they're not sure whether this is an approach that's um, that's right for them at this moment in their lives, then they can drop me a message, drop me an email. All my contact details are on those platforms um to share and I have an online membership. So I work, I work virtually with people and because you're the one creating the change, actually I don't need to be in the same room with you as you for you to feel different and create a change for yourself which is just. I'm not interested in fixing anyone. I also work in person with people, but I know that might not quite be accessible for many of your listeners, so I could always. If working in person with somebody is right for them, then I'll certainly have a look at all my wonderful fellow teachers and perhaps colleagues that might be within their area as well. We could explore that too.

Speaker 1: 1:11:51

And for the listeners. All that will be in the show notes, especially the free class, so that you're able to get more of a taste of what Karen has to offer, and that would be a modality and practices to bring wellness in wholeness within your body and in your living. And at any time in this conversation, if there was an aha, there was a tingle, there were shivers, there were like, oh my gosh this is talking about my experience. That is your vagus nerve signaling you that Karen has some information for you. So be sure to reach out to her, as she said, send an email, send a DM on Instagram, reach out and find out. And even if there was something that I said, reach out to me. You know how easy accessible I am on all the social media platforms and on my website, liftoneselfcom, which will be in the show notes also.

Speaker 1: 1:12:43

The whole reason why I do this podcast is so that you find more wealth in your mental and your spiritual, your physical and your emotional well-being. That is all intertwined and together. This is about integration and empowerment and reminding each of us, like Ram Dass said, that we're all walking each other home, so let's make the walk an enjoyable one and one that we can support one another in times of need. So, karen, this has been a delight. I am so energized. My day is just starting, so it is on a high, and what a great way to start off the weekend. So thank you so much for what you're bringing into the world and how much ease it is to have a conversation with you. I'm deeply, deeply grateful for you and I hope that we will stay in connection.

Speaker 2: 1:13:38

Oh, your words just like a big warm hug. That means the world. Thank you so much for inviting me along that Now. It's such a treat and a privilege to be able to share this, this method, with people, so I'm really grateful, thank you, thank you, and you see that one light beam that's shining on you what did you know?

Speaker 1: 1:13:57

It's letting you know keep shining your light, because many of them need to see that the lights within themselves. So, thank you so much and please remember to be kind to yourself. Hey, you made it all the way here. I appreciate you and your time. If you found value in this conversation, please share it out. If there was somebody that popped into your mind, take action and share it out with them. It possibly may not be them that will benefit. It's that they know somebody that will benefit from listening to this conversation, that they know somebody that will benefit from listening to this conversation. So please take action and share out the podcast. You can find us on social media on Facebook, instagram and TikTok under Lift One Self, and if you want to inquire about the work that I do and the services that I provide to people, come over on my website, come into a discovery, call liftoneselfcom. Until next time, please remember to be kind and gentle with yourself. You matter.