Scope of Practice

The purpose of somatic movement education and therapy is to enhance human functioning and body-mind integration through movement awareness. These practices of somatic movement education and therapy include:

• postural and movement observations

• experiential anatomy and physiology explorations

• movement patterning and re-patterning

• communication and guidance through verbal cues, and/or demonstration

 

Each method helps to:

• increase awareness of the sensations of the moving body, including interoception and proprioception

• focus on the body both as an objective physical process and as a subjective process of lived consciousness

• recognize habitual patterns of perceptual, postural and movement interactions with the environment

• discover new possibilities for perceptual, postural and movement interactions with the environment

• enhance the awareness of biological, psychological, social, and ecological aspects of the human experience through movement

 

Somatic movement education and therapy can be applied to both pedestrian and specialized activities for people in various contexts across the lifespan. 

 

Somatic movement education and therapy does not include:

• psychotherapy

• physical therapy

• massage therapy

• diagnosis of medical conditions

• prescription of medications

 

I'm able to:

• Demonstrate the primary movement principles of the body systems;

• Articulate observations of the client’s posture/somatic organization;

• Describe observations of the client's movement processes;

• Design movement activities to support the client’s somatic awareness;

• Facilitate movement activities to cultivate the client’s somatic awareness;

• Develop lesson plans to foster movement repatterning;

• Lead experiential explorations of anatomical structures and physiological processes;

• Demonstrate skillful use of verbal and non-verbal communication;

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I aspire to acknowledge that our somas are integral parts of the web of life, and to respect the sanctity of the living systems that sustain us. 

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Please visit ismeta.org for more information about the Somatic Movement Education and Therapy profession.