Somatics Immersion Series
I am offering a series of Somatics immersions from February – July of 2021.Please see further details here.
Somatics offers the gift of empowerment, awareness and freedom. For many Yoga teachers and students it is quite simply love at first sight! These immersions explore how cultivating somatics within Yoga asana leads to flexibility, strength and long-term change. Beyond the basics, this practice will teach you how to change your nervous system and repattern ease into your body, mind and life. Whether you are a teacher or a student, come experience for yourself how somatics can help you bud, grow and THRIVE.
‘The Thinking Body’
Foundation Training in Somatic Movement Education with
Lisa Petersen
All in-person trainings are postponed until it is safe to meet in person, touch, and breathe in the same space : )
The Somatics Exercise Coach (SEC) training is a ten-day professional in person training consisting of four modules spread out over one year. The training is currently offered in Ireland, the UK and Spain with Scandinavia, South Africa and New Zealand in the pipeline.
We are taking expressions of interest for our next Irish, UK and Spanish trainings.
Ireland contact: info@living-yoga.ie
UK contact: somatics@gabyporter.co.uk
Spain contact: info@city-yoga.com
‘If you can sense it and feel it, you can change it’ – Thomas Hanna
Somatic Movement Education (SME) offers a safe, fast and profound way to release and recalibrate tight muscles by retraining the nervous system and re-patterning the soma
(body-mind). This training unites modern neuroscience and ancient yogic wisdom within the
practice of somatics. Learn how to make the unconscious conscious and feel how everything becomes easier and pain free from your head to your toes. For many movement teachers and students, it is quite simply love at first sight!
Somatic Exercise Coach (SEC) Training
A certified SEC is qualified to teach a wide range of somatic exercises confidently and professionally, has displayed competency in diagnosing somatic patterns, and is capable of prescribing exercise programs to groups or individuals. SEC Training is suitable for students and teachers of yoga and pilates, athletes, dancers, bodyworkers, physio and massage
therapists, psychotherapists, GP’s, mind-fulness teachers and anyone interested in functional movement.
This training is also suitable for people who are not looking to teach somatics, but are simply interested in realizing their personal movement potential and healing the body-mind. SEC certification is gained with the completion of three modules and attendance at a one day assessment. This course is currently offered in Ireland, Australia and the UK.
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- Module 1: Learn about the three basic stress responses, how they influence posture and movement patterns, and the somatic movement approach to re-patterning the bodymind. This module is a deep dive into embodying somatics and learning how to do thirty fundamental exercises yourself.
- Module 2: Repattern and recalibrate your learning from Module 1. Discover profound ease in walking and learn fourty new exercises. This module guides you towards deeper understanding, embodiment and refinement.
- Module 3: Learn how to be a safe, competent and professional somatics coach. This module includes sequencing, class planning, instruction and modifications.
- Assessment and Competency: a day of group practice, competency, assessment and group teaching.
The body has three primary stress responses that hijack our posture and movement patterns. These responses are hardwired into unconscious neuromuscular reflexes. This training will teach you to recognise these reflexes, understand how they affect you and what to do to create lasting change.
In Module 1 you will:
- Learn about the three primary neuromuscular reflexes in the body – what they are – and how they influence your entire soma (body-mind)
- Explore, refine, and break-down over thirty somatic exercises with a focus on posture and repatterning the central torso (somatic centre)
- Refine awareness of your own posture and become competent in analysing posture in others
- Learn how to set a kinaesthetic baseline for self-enquiry
- Investigate the functional/embodied anatomy of your muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones and myofascias
- Discover new found ease, flexibility, balance, co-ordination and muscle function
- Enhance kinesthetic awareness and proprioceptive feedback
- Learn to pandiculate instead of stretch
- Investigate sensory-motor amnesia: the nervous system response to injury, trauma, and repetitive strain
- Find freedom from pain, tension and muscular contraction
- Create natural and impeccable alignment
- Learn to become your own somatic educator: self-sensing, self-correcting and self-healing
In Module 2 you will:
- Dive deeper into somatics as an art, science and practice
- Recalibrate and refine your understanding and embodiment of the exercises learnt in Module 1
- Explore, refine, and break-down over fourty new somatic movements with a focus on upper and lower limbs, breathing and functional walking
- Continue to enhance your awareness, muscle function, control, posture, alignment, flexibility, balance and strength
In Module 3 you will:
- Learn the art of teaching somatics and how it is different from other teaching modalities like Yoga or Pilates
- Explore how somatic movements can be seamlessly incorporated into a public class or private session, exercise routine, or other training program
- Learn how to sequence a somatic class or session
- Refine your instruction, touch, and ability to teach self-enquiry
- Practice using somatic exercises for common conditions such as neck pain, shoulder pain, hyper-kyphosis, functional scoliosis, lower back pain, hip/knee pain, and arthritis
- Learn how to educate others to be self-sensing, self-correcting and self-healing
This training includes:
- Guided practice sessions each morning to both embody and calibrate the exercises
- Short lectures, visual content, guided somatic enquiry, movement re-patterning, postural analysis, dyad and group work, restorative practices
- A comprehensive program to use in your classes or private sessions
- A clear understanding of the methodology behind Somatic Movement Education as an art as well as science
- Instructions on teaching techniques, cueing, modifications, customising instructions, language, and imagery
- A colour manual detailing history, philosophy, anatomy, teaching and practice fundamentals, full instructions and photographs of each exercise.
What am I qualified to do?
You are qualified as a Somatic Exercise Coach (SEC) which means you can safely, competently, and professionally teach somatic exercises to groups or individuals
SAMPLE WORKSHOP TIMES
10am – 1pm and 2.30pm – 5:30pm each day
Registration is open from 9.15am, and the workshop will start promptly at 10am
SAMPLE FEES
Total cost: €1700
A payment plan option is available. Please contact
info@living-yoga.ie for details.
Early Bird: €1450 payable in one amount
Please be aware that your booking is for the entire
course.
For any further queries please contact info@living-yoga.ie
CANCELLATION POLICY
Your payment can only be refunded (minus a €40 administration fee) if your place can be filled from the wait-list.
PARTICIPATION NUMBERS
Early booking is highly recommended as there are a limited number of places at the workshop. There will be a high ratio of participants to assistants to ensure clear and detailed personal attention.
WHAT TO BRING
Enjoyment of the workshop is enhanced by having the equipment listed. To avoid loss or confusion, please make sure all equipment is clearly named. We are happy to provide equipment for international students by prior arrangement.
1 x yoga mat
2-3 x wool blankets (Iyengar style preferred)
Testimonials
“I have been exploring Somatic Movement Education for three years now and I am continually amazed by the depth and accessibility of the practice. Although the movements may appear simple – they command all of my attention and lure me easily into the depths of my being to that space of deep connection, bliss and stillness. On a physical level, I have experience more sustainable postural and functional improvements in three years than I have in fifteen years of teaching and practicing asana or my twenty-two years of working as a Physiotherapist. Somatic movement education is now a regular part of my daily practice, my teaching and my clinical practice – i describe it to clients as the ‘missing link’ between yoga asana practice and Physio. I love how its simplicity makes it so accessible and how profound and long lasting the effects are on the body, mind and spirit- thank you Lisa Petersen for coming to Australia and sharing this amazing practice with us. ”
Shelly Freund, Physiotherapist and Yoga Teacher
“Every time I attend a workshop with Lisa I enter with one body and leave with quite another! I deepen my understanding of myself, my practice, the human body and walk away with practical tools, sequences and information that I can immediately apply to my own teaching and practice.”
Claire Nettley, Yoga Teacher
“Somatics is the subtlest, deepest, most integrated body therapy I have experienced.”
Peter Labanyi, Psychotherapist
“After only one session of Somatics, it was like a reset button was pressed and old patterns of holding and tension were released and my pain was gone”
Cathy Enright, Yoga Teacher
“From the first practice I realised how deeply effective Somatics is. I was amazed how my body responded so quickly and I finally understood from inside what ‘less effort – better results’ means and feels like.
Lisa explains in a clear, accessible and thorough way for everybody. She guides you with a self-confidence that only knowledge and experience can give you and she embraces you during the workshop with a kindness and a tact that only a pure loving heart can share”.
Simona Bezzoni, Yoga and Meditation Teacher – Office Worker
“Lisa has a way of teaching that opens the door for possibilities you didn’t even know are there. She has an ability to shine a light into corners and let you see what is going on without making you feel bad or small in any way. The way she presents the somatics practice makes it such a gift of awareness and freedom in your body. Thank you for creating such a well structured and fascinating course !”
Nicole Minogue, Yoga Teacher and Tail-maker
“I found the exercises wonderful. They are very gentle and slow and extremely relaxing. What I really like about them is that they don’t put a strain on your body. I am standing straighter and taller. It’s also great to know that Lisa is there for follow-up advice.”
Maria Meehan, UCD Lecturer
“During her magical teaching of somatics, Lisa has enabled me to connect to my authentic self with peace freedom and joy. Her acceptance, passion and sense of humour during the weekends as well as her wide knowledge make her one of the great teachers in the field.”
Margaret Peasegood, Yogi Lawyer
‘It has taken me a long time to find the words for the deeply, moving experience I had whilst undertaking Lisa’s Somatics sessions. Within a week I noticed the arch of my
foot returning and a feeling of being really attuned to my spine that I had never felt before.Although I still have to be diligent about keeping myself aligned in everyday life, I have noticed a massive difference in what standing up straight means to me.
But apart from the physical stuff, I experienced a shift in my mental thought patterns and from that grew a way that I could heal myself from my past. I feel more connected to myself than I ever did before. I wish to say a huge thank you Lisa for your light, intelligence and inspiration that helped me to get to this stage. You have a knack of making everyone feel comfortable and safe and that is very special’.
Colette Nolan, Student
‘Lisa has a way of not just teaching and sharing her knowledge, but totally embodying the principles she teaches. It is clear she has a deep intellectual understanding of what she is teaching, but the beauty is that she can share that knowledge in many different ways, making it accessible to everyone. When I watch her something is ignited deep within me and all the information aligns.’
Anna Jakes, Yoga Teacher