'Spring into Freedom' with Somatics

"The human soma is a functional system that will rebalance and reharmonize itself if given the chance".

Thomas Hanna Ph.D. - founder of Hanna Somatics

17 November 2019 11am - 1.30pm

with Jo Bentley

Clinical Somatics is a form of movement re-education. It improves the sensory motor system so your brain changes the way it senses and moves your body.
The word Somatic means what it feels like to be in your body. Soma, which is a word that founder Thomas Hanna used a lot, is the body as experienced from within.

All that we experience in life, whether it’s mental, emotional, physical, is experienced as feedback. That feedback travels to the brain which responds with a motor message, or instinctive ‘reflex’ pattern by contracting muscles in a specific way. When repeated long enough, days, months or a lifetime - it becomes habituated and we get stuck in that contractive pattern that causes pain. Whether it be a result from accidents, injuries, over-training, surgeries, holding babies on hips, or even because of the demands of 21st century life (constantly on the go, extended periods slumped at a computer) we get stuck. The brain has changed the way it senses and moves your body. You actually lose your ability to move freely.

Somatics gets your brain back in 'voluntary' control of those muscles, and with repeated practice, learns a new way of moving - without pain!

Only you know what it feels like to be you. Only you can fix your problem at the level of the brain.

You will learn:

• Why tension and pain develop in your body

• How to get your brain back in control of the muscles

• 3 easy steps to release muscle tension - and NO, it’s not stretching!

• Slow & gentle movements you can access for the rest of your life

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About the workshop leader: Jo Bentley

In her early 30's, Jo was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (a chronic neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system) that left half her body paralyzed and taking over a month to be able to walk again. The positive she has taken out of her diagnosis is a greater body awareness; how it moves, heals and breathes. Over the past 17 years, she has fought back to reclaim some semblance of her former health using Hanna Somatics, Yoga, improved nutrition and balanced choices.

Jo Bentley is a Clinical Somatic Educator (in the tradition of Thomas Hanna, Ph.D), and Registered Hatha Yoga Teacher.

Her initial yoga teacher training was steeped in somatic awareness, a practice that asks us to notice from the "inside-out" rather than focusing on the "outside-in." It was a natural progression for her to begin to explore Clinical (Hanna) Somatic Education as she dove deeper into her practice and realised the benefits in her own body as well as her students.

She was instrumental in introducing Clinical (Hanna) Somatics to Australia where she coordinated the first courses in Clinical Somatics to be held in Adelaide. Jo has brought Martha Peterson (author of the book Move without Pain, Pain-Free DVD series and Director of Essential Somatics) to Australia since 2013 to run Clinical (Hanna) Somatics Exercise Coach trainings.

She has assisted Martha during her Australian trainings in both Adelaide and Melbourne and runs courses in Clinical Somatics across Adelaide and interstate.

Jo has completed Levels 1 & 2 of the Somatic Exercise Coach Trainings, and in 2019 completed her studies in a 3 year Clinical Hanna Somatic Educator training programme. This is the first of its kind to be offered in Australia.

Jo is one of only 10 students across AUS & NZ to be trained in this work, under the tutelage of Martha Peterson and the faculty of Essential Somatics.

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Investment in Pain-free movement

This workshop costs $60

Or save $15 on the Early Bird price by booking by 25 October.