Hanna Somatic Education: Releasing Chronic Tension and Pain Through Neuromuscular Re-education

Hanna Somatic Education (HSE) is a system of gentle movements that teaches you to lengthen and relax tight muscles using the motor cortex of your brain. It is a practical and innovative way of releasing chronic tension and pain. Additionally, HSE helps remind your brain of functional movement patterns to replace dysfunctional ones. This results in better coordination, effortless "good" posture and ease of movement.

Understanding the Foundations of Somatic Education

Somatic education, in all its forms, seeks to improve the use of our structures. It does not seek to teach specific activities but enable us to perform any activity economically, efficiently, and with good body use. This can be applied to anything from walking to driving or even a sporting activity. As children, we use our bodies well, but as we gain years, we can force actions/movements, and coupled with a decreasing variety of movements, our bodies start to habituate and become distorted as we sit for prolonged periods, whether at a desk or car seat.

Somatic education is an educational process, not a therapy. Unlike a therapy, you are actively participating, whether undertaking movements or by being aware of the movements being applied to your body.

Pioneers of Somatic Education

Several individuals have contributed significantly to the development of somatic education:

F. Matthias Alexander: He developed his method, the Alexander Technique, after losing his voice while acting. Through self-awareness and the use of mirrors, he noted that his head-neck relationship changed while reciting, obstructing the functioning of his vocal organs. Through this awareness, his problem was no more. By focusing proprioceptively on the “means-whereby”, Alexander changed his posture. He then despaired of the “goal” of attempting to straighten his neck and, instead, concentrated his proprioceptive attention on the “means-whereby” his neck, shoulders, chest, and head moved together. Rather than focusing on the “end” of a straight neck, Alexander focused his attention on the “means” by which he was unconsciously using his neck, shoulders, chest, and head while doing any movement whatsoever. What he termed the “means-whereby” was an analytical procedure of breaking down the total movement of the body into its several component parts and of sensing those parts without any concern for the goal of neck straightening. By “inhibiting” the “end” and focusing proprioceptively on the “means whereby,” Alexander gradually, but surely, taught himself to control the muscles of the upper trunk, achieving an admirably tall neck and erect posture.
Elsa Gindler: A physical education teacher who contracted tuberculosis undertook breathing exercises and awareness of her breathing, allowing the affected lung to recuperate. Sensory Awareness aims to allow a clear awareness to be gained of movements and the sensations in the body. A teacher guides the students verbally through movements, and the students analyze the sensations.
Moshe Feldenkrais: A scientist and martial artist, upon injuring a knee, consulted surgeons who gave him a very poor prognosis. He decided against the operation and started studying human movement/development, the work of F.M Alexander, Elsa Gindler, martial arts, and also yoga. Through this, he restored function to his injured knee.
Thomas Hanna: A philosophy professor and author with a fascination with human potential. He directed one of the first training programs for Feldenkrais practitioners and subsequently became a practitioner himself. Hanna eventually added to the work of Feldenkrais (who himself had incorporated facets of Alexander and Gindlers work) and gained insight from the work of Hans Seyle, who recognized the effect of stress on the body.

The Impact of Stress on the Body

The body adapts to stress in both positive and negative ways; we learn and get stronger through stressing the brain and the muscles. The flip side is that the body can (through what Seyle called the General Adaptive Syndrome) be affected by "negative actions," whether it is posture or continual emotional stress. Any of these reflexes can be temporary adaptations, but they can form as habits, and long after the stimuli/injury has passed, the muscular contractions can remain. If a muscle group is contracted and you are unaware, it may never relax. This may result in soreness, pain, and weakness due to exhaustion.

The Core Concept: Sensory-Motor Amnesia (SMA)

Thomas Hanna called this condition “sensory-motor amnesia” (SMA). Long-term chronic muscular contractions are often felt as generalized pain in the body because the sensory-motor neurons of the voluntary motor cortex have lost some portion of their ability to sense, and we may be unable to control some of the muscles of our body. It is a terrible feeling to have some parts of your body not under your control, as if they belong to a different person or have fallen asleep completely. Traditional medicine has, by and large, accepted the notion that long-term muscular contractions are a normal part of the aging process. Back pain, arthritis, sciatica, scoliosis, tendonitis, TMJ, and many other chronic conditions are actually caused by the accumulated physical stress residuals held by the body during “fight-or-flight” episodes. When incidents of physical trauma, such as broken bones, whiplash, and invasive surgeries occur, the body will tend to "protect" these areas by non-use, which may also result in sensory-motor amnesia.

Hanna Somatic Education (HSE) is a neuromuscular re-education technique incorporating both verbal and hands-on movement instruction. Your nervous system (brain) controls your muscles. HSE teaches you to release and relax your muscles so you can regain proper muscle function again. Hanna Somatics consists of gentle, interactive hands-on work, movement sequences, and sensory awareness training that increases brain-muscle coordination and triggers tight muscles to relax. Hanna Somatics can help you eliminate or reduce habitual muscle tension in your body and increase stability, flexibility, and comfort in your body.

The Brain's Role in Muscle Control

Consider this: each muscle in your body is innervated by a nerve which carries signals from the brain and the rest of the central nervous system. If that nerve is cut and the muscle disconnected from the central nervous system, the muscle becomes flaccid and loose. This happens regardless of whether or not the muscle is "tight" or "loose." The tonicity of the muscle is determined by signals from the central nervous system. So, it follows if you have tight muscles, the problem is not intrinsic to the muscles but rather in how your brain and central nervous system signal to the muscle. To get "loose and relaxed muscles," one must learn to relax them.

Hanna Somatic Education is a safe, gentle, and common-sense approach to learning to relax tight and painful muscles. It does this by targeting muscles that we've forgotten how to relax. The field of Hanna Somatics refers to the state of these forgotten, tight muscles as SENSORY MOTOR AMNESIA (SMA).

The "Fight or Flight" Response and Its Impact

Fear helps us make decisions about our actions via a special “survival instinct” pathway. All animals, not only humans, respond to potentially threatening situations by turning to face a potential threat. Once you are facing your threat, again without thinking, you have a natural instinct to protect yourself, either by a direct attack or by quickly running away. This instinct is referred to as the “flight-or-fight” response. The part of your brain that is making these life-and-death decisions is called the amygdala. The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped nucleus in the limbic system that processes sensory information in terms of emotional significance, coordinates the action of systems to allow for appropriate responses, and aids in our emotional memory.

The limbic system also includes the hippocampus (where we learn to fear), the reticular formation (where we shift attention to areas of need), and the prefrontal cortex (where we can both learn and unlearn). Unlearning fear is a part of the work that psychologists do with people who have disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). The limbic system uses emotions, memory, and learning to make important decisions regarding our safety and well-being and gives us the holistic sense of self that engages with the outside world.

The autonomic nervous system consists of reciprocal organizations: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems. The sympathetic nervous system gets activated first by the amygdala, which then sends a message to the hypothalamus to prepare for “fight or flight.” The hypothalamus releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior part of the pituitary into the nervous system, and in response, the adrenal glands, above the kidney, respond by releasing catecholamine and corticoid into the bloodstream, which alerts and stimulates the muscles to get ready to meet extraordinary challenges. When the life-threatening emergency is over, the parasympathetic nervous system will restore the body to normal levels through its reciprocal “rest and digest” process. The parasympathetic nervous system slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure, opens blood vessels to the skin and organs, and stimulates smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal system, enhancing digestion and elimination.

When stress reactions are ongoing and chronic, we never have a chance to activate our parasympathetic systems enough to go back to true homeostasis. Damage to our immune system can occur through high cortical levels, and this can also decrease natural immune responses and affect DNA repair mechanisms (cancer risk) and increase autoimmune mechanisms (raising multiple sclerosis and lupus risk).

Overcoming Sensory-Motor Amnesia

Sensory-motor amnesia can be cured. We must work, however, only within our corticospinal pathway and not rely on learned motor programs. By consciously using the voluntary sensory-motor cortex, we can learn to sense and move what has been forgotten. This takes some real mental effort on our part; we have to relearn something that has been forgotten and not rely on already known programs. If we are not careful, we can easily relax into an old, default motor program. This is what “somatic learning” is about: It is slow, deliberate, conscious work, done primarily through the cerebrum. Somatic learning is concerned with using the sensory-motor feedback loop and slowly and deliberately reprogramming the functional systems of the body. Unlike learning a highly skilled motor movement, such as playing an instrument or training for the Olympics, somatic learning is not a rote method; we do not want to memorize our movements so we can do them without thinking; we want to consciously experience every aspect of the movement in the moment.

In order to overcome SMA, somatic learning occurs through direct and indirect corticospinal messages that will either excite or inhibit motor neurons and, in turn, create an effect on the muscles. A Hanna Somatics practitioner can guide you to lengthen and relax overly contracted muscles. You are an active player in the somatic learning process, and in understanding what is happening neurologically in your body, you will get better results with Somatic exercises. Our muscles are mere servants of our brain and have no will of their own. The corticospinal motor tracts running up and down the brain stem tell the muscles how to act. Excitation and inhibition messages are relayed via alpha motor neurons (which extend from the spinal cord to out to the muscles) and gamma motor neurons (which stay within the spinal cord and tell the muscles to get ready to stretch). Motor neurons have a program for a default resting level of muscle contraction. In SMA, even if the resting level is painfully high, we may not be able to relax it. We might be able to relax the muscle a little, but it still stays near its given set point of tonus. When we are stuck in sensory-motor amnesia, what we need is to receive strong and true sensory feedback from the muscle cells to inform the neurons that a normal ratio of muscle origin to muscle insertion has been exceeded. When this happens, like a thermostat that has sensed that the ambient temperature has exceeded its set point, the motor neurons stop firing, and the muscle begins to relax.

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Techniques Used in Hanna Somatics

Hanna Somatics utilizes several techniques to address sensory-motor amnesia and restore muscle control:

Means Whereby: This technique was first discovered by F. Matthias Alexander, father of the Alexander Technique. Alexander found that by "inhibiting" the "end" and focusing proprioceptively on the "means whereby," he was able to teach himself to control the muscles of his upper trunk and achieve an almost perfect posture. Instead of focusing on the goal of having a perfectly erect posture, Alexander concentrated his proprioceptive attention on sensing how his neck, shoulders, chest, and head moved together. Hanna Somatics uses this technique in a similar way that gives moment-to-moment sensory feedback to the motor cortex as it is planning and executing its voluntary movement messages to the muscles. By means of new sensory information, what was habitually unconscious is now made conscious.
Kinetic Mirroring: Originated from bodywork done by Moshe Feldenkrais. Rather than trying to force a contracted muscle to stretch, Feldenkrais discovered that if you moved the muscle in the direction of the contraction itself instead of away from it, the muscle would relax. "If you do the work of a muscle,” Feldenkrais explained, “it ceases to do its own work." Stretching techniques often used in bodywork and by chiropractors actually cause the “stretch-reflex,” which in actuality brings the muscle back to its original constricted set point. In contrast, kinetic mirroring is a technique used in Hanna Somatics that is very useful because it allows the muscle to stop firing and shut off temporarily and relax.
Pandiculation: Can be seen in animals when they naturally stretch and yawn upon wakening. Pandiculation is a sensory-motor action that arouses the voluntary cortex via a strong muscle contraction that feeds back an equally strong sensory stimulation to motor neurons. It is a way of "waking up" our sensory-motor cortex. Unlike kinetic mirroring, where the client is passive, pandiculation actively engages with the contracted muscles and slowly inhibits their contraction rate at the same time. According to Hanna (1990), “Perhaps the client cannot relax the muscles below forty percent, but he can voluntarily contract them above that ratio--say, seventy percent. This voluntary contraction, if both strong and prolonged, creates exactly the sensory feedback the cortex is lacking. Pandiculation done correctly is hard work for the brain. It is easy to know that you are actually pandiculating if you experience jerks or starts and stops in a movement. This is because the motor cortex does not “do” smooth movements very well; that is not its job, that is the job of the cerebellum. Somatic learning happens when the motor cortex is re-learning how to inhibit the neurons from over-firing, while at the same time the primary sensory areas are continuing to bring in proprioception information from the Golgi tendon organs, spinals, and joint kinesthetic receptors. Pandiculation is like learning to drive a stick shift in a car with a clutch. You must relax the clutch while maintaining just the right amount of gas; this can be tricky at first, and it is expected that there will be a few lurches here and there.

Eric Cooper Somatics

Eric Cooper Somatics grew out of the foundational work of Thomas Hanna, the developer of Hanna Somatics and Clinical Somatic Education. Hanna identified three simple tension patterns-“Green-Light Reflex”, “Red-Light Reflex”, and “Trauma Reflex”-which he used to explain how our bodies respond to stress and injury. While Hanna’s insights were revolutionary, Eric Cooper Somatics addresses the limitations of only focusing on these three patterns and confining protocols. People’s tension patterns are more complex, and not everyone fits neatly into the original framework. Eric Cooper Somatics expands the method to work with at least 10 distinct tension strategies, allowing for a more flexible and adaptable approach to meet individual needs. It looks deeper into the inner experience of movement, guiding you to connect with the hidden un-knowings that lie beneath the surface. It explores the subtlety of your body’s inner space, revealing places that have been overlooked and teaching you how to sense and release deeply held tension.

The core technique of Eric Cooper Somatics is pandiculation. When focused on in the improved movements that Eric Cooper has developed, it allows you to release deeply ingrained tension. Eric Cooper Somatics not only addresses physical tension but also recognizes the deep connection between emotions and tension patterns. Emotional trauma and stress can create lasting tension habits in the body, and this method is designed to unwind both the emotional and physical echoes of your past. It focuses entirely on Sensory-Motor Amnesia (SMA), the disconnection between movement and the perception of movement.

Benefits of Hanna Somatic Education

Hanna Somatic Education offers a range of benefits, including:

Release and reverse neuromuscular pain (chronic and acute)
Improve mobility, strength, and coordination
Improve posture and appearance
Eliminate the need for guarding to protect injured areas
Improve physical fitness
Create a new freedom of movement
Ease breathing
Improve athletic skills

What to Expect in a Hanna Somatic Education Session

A typical session lasts about 60 minutes. The practitioner starts by examining how your brain is organizing muscle contraction patterns while you are standing, walking, and lying down. You will be guided through a series of simple, interactive movements designed to help your brain pick up sensory signals from your muscles. As you consciously move your body with intention, your practitioner will add gentle hands-on feedback -- a process called assisted pandiculation. This unique form of sensory-motor education reengages your conscious brain's ability to lengthen and relax your tense muscles.

Preparing for a Session

The most important thing for you to remember is that Somatic Exercises change your muscular system by changing the way your central nervous system controls your body. You will derive the most benefit from Somatics if:

While doing the Somatic Exercises, your primary task is to focus your attention on the sensations of movement.
Wear loose clothing and minimize/eliminate distractions. Turn off your phone if you can and try to come mentally prepared to focus on your session.
There's no need for athletic gear. You're not supposed to work up a sweat doing Somatic Exercises.
Always move slowly. Moving slowly, you give your brain the chance to notice all that is happening in your body as you move. The slower you go, the more you perceive.
Always move gently and with the least possible effort. Do not force any movement. Imagine your tight muscles like a tangled cord or string. If you want to untie a knot, you must look at the cord carefully then gently undo the tangle. Yanking on the cord will only make the knot tighter.
Be persistent, patient, and positive. Somatic Exercises change your body by teaching your brain. Your learning grows steadily and solidly. Sometimes our muscles have been tight for many years, and you cannot expect to be "fixed" in one session. However, many of our clients and patients report significant relief in as little as one or two sessions.

Hanna Somatics vs. Other Therapies

Typical manual physical therapy, chiropractic manipulations, and massage rely on a practitioner manipulating your joints or tissues while you are passive. Essentially, the practitioner attempts to "fix" you.

HSE identifies and directly addresses your maladaptive muscular holding patterns controlled by unconscious and habituated reflexes that you might not be aware of. HSE uses the technique of assisted pandiculation to teach you to re-set muscle tension and length (tonicity) and control at the level of your nervous system. Most critically, you learn to do voluntary movements to create sensations that enable increased awareness and control of skeletal muscles. In essence, you use your own experience of bodily sensations and your own controlled movements to break unconscious habits, in effect, fixing yourself.

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