…. Facilitating ease in others through development of their own Inner Felt Sense.

A 6 day face to face course over 3 weekends with David assisted by Debby exploring the effective application of Somatics principles and practices in Yoga Therapy and one to one yoga teaching.

There’s an increasing interest in the practice of Somatics, quite simply because it is a beautiful practice that works!  A deep mind-body system that supports the practice of ‘mindful yoga’, Somatics can bring about significant change to the functioning of the body and is utterly transformative.  Through it we can develop a deep ‘inner felt sense’ that changes the way we move our body in all that we do, including our yoga practice.

So, what is Somatics?

Somatics is a practice where we learn to re-programme our muscles (neuromuscular re-programming); where we discover what is tight and learn through guided movement how to release it.  Our bodies react unconsciously to habitual movement and daily stresses, often becoming tight and painful.  Following an injury or illness, or due to repetitive use, muscles can get ‘stuck’ in a certain pattern of holding. Somatics can help you learn how to release and recalibrate your muscles allowing the body to re-find an ease in movement that may have been ‘long gone’.  In Somatics you use your brain to change your body and so the effects are faster and longer lasting.  At the same time, you rebalance your muscular-skeletal system and you learn to perceive your body from within.  This internal awareness can transform the way we practice Yoga making postures more easeful and graceful and reducing the amount of effort required to do them.  The deep sense of embodiment that can be achieved through Somatics can provide a gateway to unlocking the deeper dimensions of yoga.

Somatics and Yoga Therapy

Somatics is a mindful movement form which has effects across the pañca maya kosha and, as such, has a symbiotic quality to yoga practice in one to one situations.  In many ways Somatics approaches can be very much more effective than traditional āsana because of the subtlety and awareness needed for the practices to work.  In Yoga Therapy Somatics practices can be used effectively to address issues presented in terms of injury or certain medical conditions:

• Issues in the body, injury or medical conditions – addressed through neuromuscular and fascial reprogramming.
• Capacity and quality of breathing.
• Energetic state – Somatics can be a useful tool for conditions such as ME/CFS due to the softness and subtly of approach.
• Mind and emotions through mindful nature of practices.

Having a practical and useable understanding of Somatics principles and practices offers a very powerful toolbox to Yoga Therapists which can be used alongside traditional yoga approaches.

This 6 day course will explore in depth the relationship between Somatics and Yoga and will include:

• A review of relevant aspects of anatomy and physiology to allow for greater ‘embodiment’ of practices
• A look at the theory behind Somatics
• Guided practices of a range of Somatics movements
• An exploration of the relationship between Somatics and Yoga āsana, leading to guided practices where we will explore how the awareness gained through Somatics can fundamentally change the way we practice and feel in our Yoga
• An exploration of how the awareness gained can go beyond the practice of āsana and can inform other yoga practices including prānāyāma.
• An exploration of relevant yoga philosophical models to see how the practice of Somatics within yoga can reinforce some aspects that are so often excluded from modern practice.
• An exploration of regularly presented specific conditions and a comparison of yoga and Somatics approaches to deal with them.

The course will have lots of practice and group/pair work but there will be plenty of time for rest.

Dates 2025

Saturday 29th and Sunday 31st March 2025

Saturday 3rd and 4th May 2025

31st May and 1st June 2025

Weekend 1 is an introduction to the principles and relevant practices of Somatics.  Anyone who has completed our How can Somatics Influence Our Yoga Practice? course will not need to attend Weekend 1 and the cost for this course would then be £400.

Timings: 11:00am-5.30pm each Saturday and 9:30am to 4:30pm each Sunday (times may vary)

How to book:  Please contact David directly to either book a place or to ask any questions.  Places can be secured with a £100 deposit.  Deposit refunds will only be offered (less a £25 admin fee) if the place is resold.  If we have to cancel the course for any reason then deposits/fees will be fully repayable.

There will be a maximum of 14 students on the course to allow for plenty of space.

This course is suitable for Yoga Therapists, Yoga Teachers from any background working in one to one situations, and Student Yoga Therapists.

About the tutors:

David is an experienced Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist working in the classical Viniyoga tradition of Prof. J. Krishnamacharya and T.K.V. Desikachar.  He is trained in Somatics and uses the practice of Somatics extensively in both his class teaching and his Yoga Therapy work.  He is an Anatomy and Physiology specialist and teaches the A&P elements of Teacher Training and Yoga Therapist Training courses for a number of training organisations.  He also teaches yoga philosophy and Meditation.  He is a Founder Member of the Yoga Therapy Association and co-owner/director of White Horse Yoga Centre.

Debby is an experienced Yoga and Somatics teacher and has been a BWY Diploma Course Tutor and assessor for the last 12 years.  She is the owner/director of White Horse Yoga Centre.  Debby doesn’t align herself to any ‘style’ of yoga.  Coming from a creative background she prefers to explore meaningful influences and paint her own pictures!

“I am less concerned with the performance of yoga postures and more interested in guiding my students towards a greater sense of ease and ‘sensing’ in their bodies.  I approach all movements and postures from a functional movement point of view, refining movement patterns that will continue to serve us as we age.  My Yoga is ‘slow mindful somatic yoga’ where we have plenty of time to pay attention and to really feel something; time to discover a felt sense of who we are; to discover more natural and easeful ways of moving and to move freely in the practice of yoga without using strain or force.  We listen to the body; listen to sensation. We learn to integrate the whole body and postures unfold rather than being forced or imposed.  It is meditation in movement.  I encourage my students to slow down and notice what they notice”.