What is Ecosomatics

Somatics is a broad and growing field of bodymind philosophies and practices. It’s become popular these last years – especially associated to nervous systems - but somatics is nothing new. Connecting, feeling, and knowing through our bodies is woven into healing and spiritual traditions around the world, especially those of the global majority, whose influence on the field is not always recognized. 

At its core, somatics is about experiencing yourself from within – you, as a unique expression of the Earth and cosmic consciousness. As a creative force. It’s about being a participant in your own becoming – as a member of a community, ancestral lineage, and part of the ecologies that hold you.

I understand the soma to be the body-mind-spirit in its wholeness; this includes our memories, habits, desires; our stories and actions. Our soma is always entangled with context: culture, community, land, history. These forces shape how we live our lives, protect what we love, and connect with others.

In sessions, somatics starts with the language of the body – the sensations and the impulses that move us towards Life. We work upwards from there, through emotions, thoughts, actions and relationships with self and world. Starting with sensation helps us return to the aliveness, coherence, and rhythms of our living systems. Many of us have lost vital relationships to our bodies and to the earth - yet these relationships hold wisdom that can orient us in times of change.

Trauma and stress disconnect us from our inner essence and lock our neurophysiology into survival states and chronic stress. Stories and strategies become embedded in our tissues. They are passed through lineage generations and held in our bodies throughout our lifetimes. This can show up as energetic blocks, tension, or chronic symptoms, affecting our ability to live well in this moment.

By working with and through our bodies, we tap into our innate capacity to reorganize, repair, and act with greater alignment. Somatics supports us to gently shift stuck patterns into more flow, vitality, and choice. So we can show up more fully for ourselves and the collective work of building worlds where Life can thrive.

The “eco” in eco-somatics speaks to the truth that we are not separate from the natural world — we are participants in a living, intelligent system. The earth is not a backdrop to our lives, not a tool for our development. We co-arise with and depend on the more-than-human world.

I take a relational approach that honors more-than-human beings as teacher, guide, and kin. This work is based in an animist perspective, which recognizes that spirit and consciousness are inherent to all matter.  By listening to and learning from these beings, we find wisdom and resources that support our work together.

I believe that this kind of relational repair work is especially important for settlers of European ancestry, like myself, who hold centuries (even millennia) of severance from place-based, ancestral ways and the wisdom of our living bodies.  The harm we perpetuate through white modernity stems from this original wound. 

Eco-somatic work is about shifting our embodied perception from separation to belonging - not as an idea, but as a lived experience. This changes how we live and what we value; we begin to act with more response-ability, reciprocity, and care towards all life, including our own. 

In sessions, eco-therapeutic work may be held outdoors, but it can also be done indoors by drawing on sensory, spiritual, and imagined pathways of connection. We may work with your place of living and bioregion, with ancestors, landforms, elements, and other-than-human beings who participate in our journeys of transformation.