Somatic Patterning

This book is about posture and movement. As such, it is an excellent sourcebook for somatic practitioners and movement teachers, particularly for teachers who integrate postural education into their classes, including dance, yoga, exercise, and massage training classes. But it was written first and foremost with the massage therapist and bodyworker in mind. Why?

Most massage therapists know how important it is for them to use good body mechanics while working to avoid pain and burnout. Massage magazines today are full of stories about how to recover from carpal tunnel syndrome and from shoulder, neck, and back pain, and how to avoid these problems in our work. This sourcebook offers the first comprehensive look at posture and movement for massage therapists, bodyworkers, movement educators, and somatic practitioners, as well as for their clients and students.

With books popping up left and right for massage therapists these days, you might be asking how this book is different and how it can help you. Somatic Patterning is unique in that it pulls together a broad body of information about body-mind patterns that until now you would have needed to study at least 40 books, many of them obscure, to understand.

Somatic Patterning is a practical and comprehensive sourcebook that can help you in three ways:

1. It gives you concrete tools to improve your own posture and movement so that you can have a long and prosperous career without burnout.  This book goes far beyond the typical posture studies taught to massage therapists. It draws on a broad array of somatics and biomechanical approaches to provide theoretical information and simple exercises for you to improve your posture and movement not just on the job, but in all aspects of your life.

2. It gives you simple, logical, and easy-to-teach exercises for your clients.  If you’re like most massage therapists, you probably teach your clients stretches and relaxation exercises to help them with the problems for which they come to you for relief. Most of the problems that clients need help with are rooted in poor posture and faulty movement habits, and this book is chock-full of exercises that you can share with your clients to help solve these problems.

3. It gives you a template for understanding body-mind patterns in such a way that you can apply your new understanding directly to your table work with clients, which will boost your skill level and help you get better results. Understanding which technique to use when on whom for the best results is another kind of knowledge altogether. Whenever we practice hands-on work, we are continuously stretching, moving, and repositioning the client’s body. Whatever the choices we make about these movements shapes the neuromuscular patterning in their muscles, joints, and nerves.

Somatic Patterning provides a detailed template from which to understand the body-mind patterns that promote alignment, health, and well-being. With this information, you can make informed choices about how you touch your clients, and not only improve your skill level, but get better results.

Whenever massage therapists integrate movement education into hands-on work, they are practicing somatic patterning. If you are the type of massage therapist who likes to teach your clients stretches and relaxation skills in order to give them the tools with which to help themselves, this sourcebook will provide you with many new tools in postural education.