What is Somatic Relating?

Somatic Relating is a form of togetherness that creates the possibility of nourishment and the deep satisfaction of basic human needs through human contact:

to feel safe
to be seen
to feel accepted
to belong

To be met in our vulnerability, to be addressed with kindness, to express feelings, to play, to move, to feel comforted, and to relate in a satisfying way.

Somatic Relating Includes:

• Establishing healthy boundaries suitable for each interaction

• Embodied presence

• Breathing freely and letting the breath be expressive

• Attuning to nonverbal cues of others

• Widening our perception

• Resonating through movement, breath, and sound

• Admitting our needs

• Asking openly for what we want

• Expressing when something doesn’t feel right

• Pausing and slowing down

• Improvising and inviting the unknown

• Free agency

• Distinguishing between intimacy and sexuality
  
  

A Whole-Person Approach

Somatic Relating sees the person holistically —
as a soul, spirit, mind, psyche with its stories, a body with all its systems, memories and parts, a personality,
a unique being, a friend, a brother or sister.

What Might Get in the Way?

This work helps you meet and move through internal obstacles such as:

• Limiting beliefs

• Past traumatic experiences

• Lack of nourishing intimate interactions

• Attachment styles

• Survival strategies

• Cultural differences

• Prejudices and misconceptions

Where Can Somatic Relating Be Practiced?

• Between friends, family, and partners

• In parenting and caregiving

• In doula work

• In sessions between therapists and clients

What You'll Experience

Each class is a laboratory for exploration, with guided practices that may include:

-Partner and group touch sequences

-Co-regulation through body contact

-Cycle of Satisfaction - Yielding, Pushing, Reaching, Grabbing, Taking Hold, Pulling, and Absorbing 

-Somatic repaterning - ways to re-write existing patterns in the body for more conscious and healthy reactions

-Time and space to rest, float, and be held

You'll work in pairs, trios, and small groups, always with clear consent and gentle guidance.