Somatic method | Soma Body Work

What is Soma Bodywork based on?

The Soma Method is based on the life's work of the US researcher Dr. Ida Rolf. She was a biochemist and since the 1940s she was involved in a bodywork known today as Rolfing, which Ida Rolf herself called "Structural Integration". She died in 1987 at the age of 87.

Soma - What does the term mean?

The founder of Soma bodywork is Dr. Bill Williams, MD. As a psychologist with a strong interest in psychosomatics, he was a long-time assistant to Ida Rolf. His experience with many patients, his research and experiments with the help of electromyography (recording the electrical action currents of the muscles) and his knowledge of the nervous system made him develop a method of bodywork, which Ida Rolf called "Soma". The term comes from ancient Greek and means in its original sense the totality of the human being, consisting of body, mind and soul. Here the philosophy becomes clear, which understands humans as a unit, whose three aspects influence each other.

Soma Therapy - psychotherapeutic and physical therapies for a holistic healing

Soma Therapy is defined as body-centred therapy that aims to connect body and mind. Both psychotherapeutic and physical therapies are included in somatic therapy to achieve holistic healing. In addition, physical activities are undertaken to release accumulated tension, which has a negative effect on the physical and psychological well-being of the patient.

Why a Soma Therapy?

Somatic therapies can, among other things, contribute to

• Anxiety
• Stress
• Grief
• addiction and
• Traumata

to be reduced. In addition, people who suffer from chronic physical pain or digestive disorders can also benefit from soma therapy. Good to know: Soma Therapy procedures are used in both individual and group therapy.

What can you expect from soma therapy?

Somatotherapy is considered an alternative form of physiotherapy. A therapist helps patients to reconstruct memories and analyses how they physically react to them. Breathing exercises, yoga or dance, for example, are used as alternative physical techniques.

Somatotherapy is based on the assumption that emotions, body, mind and spirit are interrelated and that traumatic experiences in the past have an impact on the nervous system and can lead to changes in the body and even in body language. An example of this could be facial expressions and posture and physical pain.

The overall goal of soma therapy is to relieve patients of pain and stress so that they can return to full activity in their daily lives.