Clinical Somatic Education Archives - Somatic Movement Center

Q&A 4: Why do we work with the core of the body before the extremities?

Sarah Warren — Thu, 30 May 2024 19:55:25 +0000

Q&A Video #4: Why do we work with the core of the body before the extremities? Today I want to address a topic that I know a lot of students wonder about and sometimes get frustrated by. And that is, why in Clinical Somatics do we focus on working with the core of the [...]

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New Study Shows Pandiculation Relieves Lower Back and Neck Pain

Sarah Warren — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 14:27:00 +0000

New Study Shows Pandiculation Relieves Lower Back and Neck Pain Chronic back pain and neck pain are disabling conditions experienced by many people at some point during their lifetimes. A new study published in September 2022 demonstrates the efficacy of using pandiculation to relieve chronic back and neck pain by releasing chronic muscle tension. [...]

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After a Crisis of Pain by Mia Juhn

Sarah Warren — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 18:42:23 +0000

After a Crisis of Pain by Mia Juhn I thought that Sarah Warren's Clinical Somatics Level One & Two Courses would help me overcome pain. I had no idea how profoundly it would go beyond that to change my life's course. I had pain that would mount during the day, incapacitating me by afternoon [...]

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What is Pandiculation?

Sarah Warren — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 13:30:06 +0000

You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is pandiculation? Pandiculation is generally defined as the act of stretching oneself and yawning, especially upon waking. However, our automatic pandicular response has far more significance than simply prompting us to stretch and yawn. As you'll learn in this post, pandiculation is [...]

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The Myth of Unequal Leg Length

Sarah Warren — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 15:25:11 +0000

You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: The Myth of Unequal Leg Length Your doctor or chiropractor may have told you that you have one leg longer than the other, and that your leg length discrepancy is the cause of your back, hip, or knee pain. The truth is that [...]

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The Cause of Idiopathic Scoliosis: Involuntary Muscle Contraction

Sarah Warren — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 14:21:44 +0000

The Cause of Idiopathic Scoliosis: Involuntary Muscle Contraction Scoliosis is regarded as mysterious and incurable by many people in the medical community. While some scoliosis cases are caused by congenital structural abnormalities or neurological or muscular diseases, the vast majority—around 85%—are of unknown cause. The fact is, the bones in our body do not [...]

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The Diverse Ways in Which SMC® CEI instructors Use Clinical Somatics to Help People

Sarah Warren — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 15:14:57 +0000

The Diverse Ways in Which SMC® CEI Instructors Use Clinical Somatics to Help People The Somatic Movement Center® Certified Exercise Instructor (SMC® CEI) program was born out of a desire to make Clinical Somatic Education accessible worldwide. With the three in-person training schools all located in the United States, bringing the training online has [...]

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Why You Can’t Release Your Tight Psoas Muscle With Stretching

Sarah Warren — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 11:28:24 +0000

Why You Can't Release Your Tight Psoas Muscle With Stretching Your physical therapist, chiropractor, or yoga teacher might have told you that you have a tight psoas muscle, and they may have taught you stretching exercises to release it. While they're probably right—having a tight psoas is a very common problem—static stretching has little [...]

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What is the Stretch Reflex (Myotatic Reflex)?

Sarah Warren — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:49:06 +0000

You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is the stretch reflex (myotatic reflex)? From a young age, we’re taught that stretching is a necessary part of any workout routine. If we’re involved in sports or physical training, we stretch to warm up, cool down, and during breaks to help [...]

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How Muscular Learning Leads to Pain and Degeneration

Sarah Warren — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 18:28:45 +0000

How Muscular Learning Leads to Pain and Degeneration Chronic pain is invisible, and can be all too easily ignored by people who haven’t experienced it. But if you suffer from chronic pain, you understand the stress, helplessness, depression, and fatigue that accompany it. You might deal with financial hardship as a result of missed [...]

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5 Ways Clinical Somatics Will Change the World

Sarah Warren — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 17:05:15 +0000

5 Ways Clinical Somatics Will Change the World If you've gotten out of pain with Clinical Somatics, you know how life-changing the exercises are. To not endure pain on a daily basis frees you from stress and suffering—like loss of sleep, mood disorders, and physical degeneration related to the pain. You can also be [...]

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Breathing in Clinical Somatics exercises

Sarah Warren — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 18:53:07 +0000

Breathing in Clinical Somatics exercises Many students ask me how to breathe correctly when practicing Clinical Somatics exercises. Your breathing pattern is more important in some exercises than others, depending on whether or not the exercise includes extension (arching) or flexion (curling) of the spine. In this article I'll describe why diaphragmatic breathing is important, [...]

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The Functional Cause of Sciatica

Sarah Warren — Tue, 28 May 2019 15:37:03 +0000

The Functional Cause of Sciatica Sciatica often occurs along with back pain, which 80% of Americans will experience at some point in their lives. By the time your doctor diagnoses you with sciatica, the cause may appear to be structural—most commonly, a herniated disc pressing on the root of the sciatic nerve. However, as [...]

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Fix Forward Head Posture with Pandiculation

Sarah Warren — Sun, 05 May 2019 15:56:18 +0000

Fix Forward Head Posture with Pandiculation Forward head posture is becoming an epidemic due to constant use of smartphones and computers. When we look downward over and over, the muscles in the front of our neck, our chest, and our abdomen become chronically contracted—and they keep us stuck in forward head posture all the [...]

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What is the Gamma Loop?

Sarah Warren — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 18:06:04 +0000

You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is the gamma loop? The gamma loop (also referred to as the alpha-gamma loop) is a feedback loop in our nervous system that regulates the level of tension in our muscles. The way the gamma loop works can get a little confusing, [...]

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The Anatomy of Your Tension Headache

Sarah Warren — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 16:33:25 +0000

The Anatomy of Your Tension Headache If you're reading this post, you may be one of the 45 million Americans who suffer from chronic headaches. Headaches are one of the most frustrating pain conditions because the causes are so varied and can seem completely mysterious. In fact, over 150 different types of headache have [...]

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The Life-Changing Link Between Anxiety and Muscle Tension

Sarah Warren — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:27:11 +0000

You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: The Life-Changing Link Between Anxiety and Muscle Tension Anxiety is thought of as a psychological disorder, but it actually involves many systems of the body. Anxiety is a true “somatic” condition: It is typically brought on and made worse not by any external source [...]

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Did you know that Plantar Fasciitis starts in your lower back?

Sarah Warren — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 20:05:11 +0000

You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: Please scroll down to watch the YouTube video on this topic.Did you know that Plantar Fasciitis starts in your lower back?Plantar fasciitis is a very painful condition—I've had it, and it's awful. It's considered to be a disorder of the connective tissue that [...]

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10 Shocking Ways That Your Posture Affects Your Health

Sarah Warren — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 19:16:57 +0000

10 Shocking Ways That Your Posture Affects Your Health Our posture—the way we sit and stand—is rarely genetic or out of our control. It's simply the result of chronic muscle tension pulling our skeleton out of alignment. This muscle tension builds up over time as a result of our daily movement habits and our [...]

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7 Reasons Why Every Athlete Should Do Clinical Somatics

Sarah Warren — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 20:31:58 +0000

7 Reasons Why Every Athlete Should Do Clinical Somatics If you haven't heard of Clinical Somatics before, you've been missing out. These incredibly effective exercises retrain deeply learned, automatic muscular patterns and undo years of chronic muscle tightness and pain. The benefits of the exercises are so life-changing that every athlete needs to be [...]

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