Yoga Evolution

Creating lasting freedom in your body simply and naturally

Hanna Somatics

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Sharing My Exciting News With You!

I hope this finds you healthy, happy and safe today.

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve graduated from the Essential Somatics® 3-Year 600 hour Clinical Somatic Education Certification Training (an extra fourth year due to covid restrictions – completely worth it!!).  Thank you for your encouragement and support throughout this training.  

Why do I love this slow, gentle and safe practice?  As Thomas Hanna, the founder of Hanna Somatics, so beautifully shared:

“Because you are dealing with something that is so precious; it’s one of the dearest and most satisfying things you could possibly do with your life. To relate to other people in a way that you give and create experiences that are self-transformitory. That’s more than healing. It is in a sense, like giving people back their lives.”

Don’s posture improvement from practicing Clinical Somatic Education

Don’s Kind Words:

“Over the past few years I have had a couple of equine assisted ground impacts. These have resulted in a number of fractures that with time and caution healed but my body also took some precautions which left me with a number of issues. I had worked with Alana on previous occasions and decided I needed her help again. In the past 3 months she has helped fix my posture which relieved some of my ongoing pains. We have also worked on a number of other issues that had shown up because of the fractures and I can now ride my horse pretty much pain free. The material she has provided for my home work has been very informative and easy to follow which has helped us getting such good results.”  Don M.

The photos above show Don’s progress over an 8 week time frame from the start of his very first Clinical Somatic Education session on the left to 8 weeks later on the right of each photo.

Bravo Don!!! 

His amazing progress was due to his commitment to attending private sessions where he became aware of where he was holding muscle tension and learned specific somatic movements to do at home to release it himself.

When you are unaware that you have muscles that are stuck in deeply ingrained dysfunctional movement patterns you may be experiencing  discomfort or pain.

Even ten minutes of a daily gentle, slow somatic movement practiced mindfully and with curiosity will allow your brain to begin regaining voluntary control of your muscle function:

  • releasing muscle tension to create ease
  • improving movement patterns 
  • improving coordination, mobility, balance, posture
  • increasing your energy
  • settling your nervous system
  • reducing or completely resolving discomfort and/or pain

The purpose of Somatic Movement Education is to enhance your function and body-mind integration through movement awareness.
It includes:

  • postural and movement evaluation
  • movement patterning and re-patterning
  • communication and guidance through touch and verbal cues 
[Read more…] about Sharing My Exciting News With You!

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The Gifts of Freedom in Your Movement

I have to tell you, when I was first introduced to Somatic Movements, I didn’t get it.  I wasn’t ready or maybe I should say my ego wasn’t ready for exploring such slow, small, gentle movements.  Surely I could do faster and more complex movements than this?  Well, the answer is that yes, I could, however I didn’t realize how much I was compensating in order to do those movements.  It was no wonder that I didn’t feel comfortable taking part in a traditional yoga class.  I began to explore answering the questions:

  • What’s moving that should be?
  • What’s moving that shouldn’t be?
  • What isn’t moving that should be?

I am so glad that I was given another opportunity to explore Somatic Movements becoming more deeply aware of sensing and feeling inside myself.  I’m grateful to have my family, teachers, students and colleagues supporting me as I’ve learned more and more about these slow, gentle practices to support my own wellness and the wellness of others.  I don’t know where I’d be physically or emotionally without them.  One does not preclude the other.  When my body is feeling great I feel better emotionally, however, when I’m experiencing pain then I don’t feel well emotionally either – sleep is harder due to discomfort, movement is harder, and it is also hard to accept when I have less freedom to choose what I’d like to do when I am limited by discomfort or pain.

I had a spinal fusion when I was 16.  I found out I had a grade 4 spondilolisthesis after being in a car accident.  What does this mean?  Well, my lowest lumbar vertebra slipped forward greater than 75% on my sacrum.  I had experienced sciatic pain and low back pain from about age 12.  The car accident ended up being a blessing as it revealed this obstacle to health and wellbeing.  Surgery was the only option to stabilize my spine.  In 1982 that meant six weeks of bedrest after surgery.  At age 16 I did not realize how much this affected me emotionally as well.  I had been a very active teenager – softball, volleyball, basketball – they were my life and then I could no longer participate.  

I wish I knew about Clinical Somatic Education and Somatic Movement then. 

[Read more…] about The Gifts of Freedom in Your Movement

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Sensory Motor Amnesia

“I very much enjoy the classes. Alana has a very gentle and calming spirit. She is very thorough in teaching and takes time to explain if needed.”  Rosalie

“I love your class, not only are you completely suited to this but, you draw a class of people that are also suited to this.  I not only go to your class because my back feels better, but, the atmosphere is so freeing.
I feel that everyone who attends have an amazing spirit.  I have Never, Ever felt this anywhere else.”  Donna

I am curious.  Have you ever driven somewhere and wondered how you got there?  You’ve travelled the route so frequently that it has made a groove in your brain.  You sit behind the wheel of your car and it’s like being on autopilot.  You arrive at your destination and try to think back to specific parts of the drive and it doesn’t come back easily.

Then, one day there is a detour in the route.  Something has caused the original route to change and you need to learn and adapt to the detour for a period of time.  This detour isn’t as efficient but it gets you where you need to go.

When the detour is finished you may still take the same route that you have adapted to.  You now need to relearn the original, more efficient route.

This is what Sensory Motor Amnesia is like. The brain has lost it’s ability to sense and move the muscles to voluntarily control  them.

We start out with freedom in our movements, however, we may experience an injury, a trauma, a surgery or do a specific movement over and over again.  This is our soma’s detour.  Our brain and muscles learn a maladaptive movement pattern just like the detour in the route.  This allows us to do our daily tasks accommodating this stressor to our soma.  

[Read more…] about Sensory Motor Amnesia

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Red Lights, Green Lights and Happy Holidays!

Well, with the holidays and a very busy time just around the corner, I want to give you the gift of understanding how tension can develop in one’s body to help you prepare for and release the tension that this beautiful time of year can sometimes bring to one’s soma.

Green Lights and Red Lights of the holidays make me also think of three innate reflexes the body responds to stress with – Red Light Reflex, Green Light Reflex and the Trauma Reflex.  These reflexes can cause involuntary muscle tension (Sensory Motor Amnesia) when the brain can no longer access the voluntary control of the muscle to release the tension.

Red Light Reflex

So, you’ve been in the process of writing your to do list for the upcoming holidays.  So much to do…   [Read more…] about Red Lights, Green Lights and Happy Holidays!

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Reawaken Your Body’s Brilliance!!

I was recently thinking about how our bodies are similar to trees.  Say what?

Yes, I was thinking of how the tree loses all of it’s leaves in the fall and lives through the winters that are sometimes long and hard.  Then in spring, with nourishment from rain and the warmth of the sun, it begins to produce new growth and reawaken into the brilliance that it becomes in summer.  There will be changes throughout the life of the tree and adaptions will occur only to return to it’s brilliance.

At times the body adapts to what is presented to it just as the tree does.  That may be as a result of misuse, injury, trauma, physical or emotional stress, surgery or repetitive movement.  The body adapts to this new movement pattern, which serves us well in the interim, [Read more…] about Reawaken Your Body’s Brilliance!!