Yoga Evolution

Creating lasting freedom in your body simply and naturally

retrain your brain

By

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

By

Sharing the Love…

“Alana provides a great Somatics practice in her classes with the added bonus of breathing exercises each class. She is attentive to the individual needs of each of us. I leave feeling more relaxed in my mind, less tension in my body and more energy overall.”… Linda

I love reading how SomaYogis like Linda feel when they leave a Somatic Movement group class. This is why I LOVE sharing the classes!

It is always my intention to provide a class that creates a safe space for each and every participant to have this personal experience.

But how does that happen? Through engaging our sense of Interoception we explore movement that leaves us feeling relaxed and yet more energized.

We can place our attention on:

  • Exteroception which is “what is going on around me?”
  • Proprioception which is “where is my body in this space?” or
  • Interoception which is “What do I sense and feel inside my body?”

Interoception is the focus of the Somatics Practice.

When I am doing my own personal practice, I feel like it is a meditation in itself. I am truly being present and trusting the sensations that are arising in my soma (we each have our first person experience of what we sense and feel as a “soma”) to guide me through my breath and movement practice.

What are the words that may be associated with Interoception in a Somatic Movement practice?

[Read more…] about Sharing the Love…