User:FourViolas/sandbox/Somatics

=Somatics=

In human movement, a somatic technique or practice is one which emphasizes individual proprioceptive experience. The term is used in movement therapy to signify a therapeutic approach based on the soma, or "the body as perceived from within," and in dance as an antonym for "performative techniques" such as ballet or modern dance which emphasize the external perception of movement by an audience. Somatic techniques may be used in physical therapy, dance education or performance, or spiritual practices.

History
Movement practices in Asia, outside the influence of Cartesian mind-body dualism, have included somatic components such as embodied cognition and physical mindfulness for many centuries. Somatic movement in Western culture can be traced to the turn of the twentieth century, when philosophers such as John Dewey and Rudolf Steiner advocated experiential learning while Isadora Duncan and Rudolf von Laban challenged traditional European conceptions of dance. Although Frederick Alexander developed a seminal somatic technique as early as the 1890s, the term "somatic" or "somatics" was not in general use until movement therapist Thomas Hanna introduced it in the 1980s.

Therapeutic practices
Many forms of alternative medicine hold that the interrelationship of mind and body plays a role in the genesis of physical ailments.

The Alexander technique, an early example of such an alternative medicine practice, was developed by Frederick Alexander, an actor, in the 1890s. It is an educational somatic technique intended to undo students' habits of using unnecessary tension in movement.

The Pilates method is a somatic form of physical fitness conditioning developed by Joseph Pilates in the 1910s. He designed his technique, which he called "Controlology," to benefit posture, strength, and flexibility. He emphasized the somatic principles of mind-body connection, concentration on proprioceptive observations, and attention to breath. Most contemporary forms of Pilates focus on correct physical technique and form more than proprioceptive connection.

The Feldenkrais Method is a somatic movement pedagogy developed by Moshé Feldenkrais. It aims to improve well-being by bringing attention to movement patterns which are inefficient or unnecessarily tense and replacing them with more beneficial patterns.

Movement disciplines
In non-medicinal movement contexts, the term "somatic" generally refers to techniques which emphasize the mover's internal proprioceptive sensations, in contrast with performance-basedtechniques.

Traditional practices
Many traditional Asian spiritual practices involve the integration of body and spirit. Yoga is the best-known and most influential in Western civilization, but many others exist.

Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices which originated in modern-day India before 500 BCE. The ultimate goals of yoga are spiritual, and yoga practice generally involves physically assuming and moving through codified asanas or body positions. Yoga physiology describes a system of interconnected bodies, having different but interrelated physical and energetic properties. The concept of energy flow through corporal channels reappears in other somatic forms, including contact improvisation and Qigong.

Qigong, another traditional Asian somatic practice, helps its practitioners align body, breath, and mind through cultivation of qi, or "life energy".

Performance
All forms of dance demand close attention to proprioceptive feedback on the position and motion of each part of the body, but "somatic movement" in dance has a more specific meaning; it refers to techniques whose primary focus is the dancer's personal, physical experience, rather than the audience's visual one.

Contact improvisation is a somatic genre developed by Steve Paxton and others in the 1970s, which consists of two or more dancers responding organically to the physical sensations generated by their mutual contact; it can be performed, but is not designed to have any particular visual impact.

Ruth Zaporah's Action Theater, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, is an improvisational performance technique based on "'embodied presence', a state of awareness in which performers maintain conscious contact with their somatic experience," according to dance scholar Susanna Morrow.

Education
Some dance educators use somatic principles and training, especially Laban Movement Analysis, Ideokinesis, Alexander, and Feldenkrais, in performative technique classes. These practices are used to train dancers' proprioceptive skills, to adjust alignment, and to reduce the risk of injury by correcting improper or inefficient movements.