Introduction to Somatic Awareness and Relating

Introduction

What is Somatic Awareness?
The word Somatic, as used here, refers to the human body/mind, considered as a whole, and experienced from the first person perspective.  Body awareness and intelligence, and holistic mind/body practices, of course, are a basic fact of human existence and are used in a very large number of traditions and field.  The term "somatic" however, dates from the 1980's, which may have been the first time this was given a unified treatment as a philosophy and area of study.

Who is this class for?
This class is open to the general public.  If you are interested in enhancing and deeping your relationship with yourself, intimate partners, spiritual friends, or Nature, than this is for you. 

What will be covered?
This introductory class has an experiential emphasis and will start with basic awareness practices and a minimal amount of "theory".  These practices can result in greater and more nuanced awareness of one's already-present experience.  This in turn can translate into greater intelligence -- insight and/or skill -- in nearly any area of human activity. 

Are there followup activities?
Somatic awareness and practice is a huge field.  If there is sufficient interest and energy we hope to follow up with additional classes that go into each area in more depth.  These will include both a study and a pratice component.

Key Ideas

• Somatic awareness is a "self study" approach.

Basic Awareness

Introducing the basic concept of the body/mind unity (bodymind) as a field of direct experience.  We will do a series of exercises or "meditations", either alone or with a partner, and review them with the group.

Exercise 1: Body Scan
We will start with the fundamental practice is "body sensing", which is to move attention throughout one's body in a thorough and systematic way.

Exercise 2: Awareness of Centers
Different areas or "centers"  of the bodymind have distinct qualities and "functions", including thinking, feeling, and sensing/moving.

Exercise 3: Space and Focus
We tune into space-like experiences, including containment, boundaries, surrounding, location, and the presence of objects.

Exercise 4: Open Awareness
We practice open (undirected and uncontrolled) awareness.  This is done with a partner, giving it extra dimensions compared to a solo meditation practice.

Key Ideas

• Every facet of experience is an expression of an evolving wholeness.
• Approach your experience without preconception and see what emerges.
• We are not looking for specific answers (but insights may result).
• New knowledge may arise through a deeper awareness of the "elusive obvious".
• Keep watching your experience develop and unfold.  There are no right / wrong experiences.
• Trust the bodymind as an intelligent process with its "own" knowing.
• Bodymind intelligence continually changes and reveals new "information".

Awareness In Relationship

We explore awareness as it appears IN and AS relationship.

Exercise 5: Objects and the Felt Sense
We notice different kinds of "objects" that may be the content of an experience.  This is a normal mode of experience.   The content of an experience may be a physical (external) object, a sensed phenomenon, an idea, and so on.  We notice some of the many facets or "dimensions" of this experience, as well as its overall unity or "felt sense".  We also notice that any such experience is a kind of relationship (the I/It relationship).

Exercise 6: Others
We notice the experience of another person (another awareness or experiencer).   This is the "I/Thou" relationship.

Exercise 7: A Shared Object
We experiment with what happens when two different people "share" an experience.

Exercise 8: The Field
Extending Exercise 4, we experiment with the sense of a shared "field" of experience.

Key Ideas

• All knowledge and experience is relational.
• Every relationship has two ends, and its own center.
• Expect the unexpected.

Partner Practices

Exercise 9: A Basic Relating Practice
We will explore an interactive awareness exercise with a partner, which combines personal and shared (inter-subjective) experience into an evolving process.

Exercise 10: Reflection
We study a reflective (past) experience, specifically, what has happened up to the current moment in the class itself. 

Key Ideas

• Relational practices are founded on loving presence and radical acceptance of self and others.
• New knowledge emerges from "outside" the known, by an "alchemical" process.
• Process and significance is not known in advance,  but reveals itself through attention and participation.

Discussion

After a brief summary, we will have a period for discussion and/or questions and answers.

Where to Go from Here

This class is just a survey or "tasting menu" for many other possibilities which we can study in more depth.  In particular, we want to develop aware relating practices (Exercise 9 in this class) as a resource  (source of knowledge, insight, connection) in the following areas:

• Enhancing intimate relationships.
• Spiritual friendship and communion.
• Nature awareness and meditation.

Future classes may also include in-depth practice sessions as well as a lot more "theory" and detailed study of the structures and processes of somatic experience.