Yoga (India)
Origin: Thousands of years ago
Dating back millennia, yoga integrates movement, breath, and meditation to cultivate physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. It represents one of the oldest documented systems of somatic practice.
While somatics as a formal field emerged in the West in the 20th century, its roots are global and ancient. Many cultures have long recognized the importance of embodied awareness, ritual, and collective healing.
The history of somatics has often centered white, male, Western figures, but many of its most important innovators have been women, people of color, and Indigenous practitioners. Their stories and contributions are essential to a full understanding of the field.
Ancient and Indigenous Traditions
Somatic wisdom predates the modern term by thousands of years. Here are some key traditions:
Qigong and Tai Chi (China)
Origin: Ancient China
These practices use slow, flowing movements and breath to balance energy (qi) and promote health. They emphasize the cultivation of internal awareness and life force.
African and Indigenous Rituals
Origin: Throughout human history
Trance dance, drumming, sweat lodges, and grief rituals are examples of somatic practices used for healing, community bonding, and spiritual connection across diverse Indigenous cultures worldwide.
Shamanic Healing
Origin: Global Indigenous traditions
Many Indigenous cultures use movement, sound, and altered states of consciousness to access healing and wisdom, recognizing the body as a portal to spiritual and communal knowledge.
Western Teachers Who Shaped Somatics
While the roots of somatics are global and ancient, these Western figures helped formalize and name the field in the 20th century.
Thomas Hanna (1928-1990)
American philosopher, movement educator
Coined the term "somatics" in 1970 and founded the field of Somatic Education. Hanna defined somatics as "the field which studies the soma: namely the body as perceived from within by first-person perception." He studied with Moshe Feldenkrais and developed Clinical Somatic Education (later called Hanna Somatic Education), which addresses Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA) through gentle movement re-education using a technique called pandiculation.
Moshe Feldenkrais (1904-1984)
Ukrainian-Israeli physicist, martial artist
Developed the Feldenkrais Method, including Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration. His approach emphasized learning through movement exploration and nervous system education, profoundly influencing Thomas Hanna and many others.
F. Matthias Alexander (1869-1955)
Australian actor, educator
Created the Alexander Technique after discovering how to resolve his own vocal problems. His method teaches conscious awareness and inhibition of habitual patterns, emphasizing "use of the self" and the mind-body unity. Widely taught to performers, his work influenced generations of somatic practitioners.
Peter Levine, PhD
American psychologist, trauma specialist
Developed Somatic Experiencing (SE), a body-oriented approach to healing trauma. Levine's work focuses on releasing trauma by completing the body's natural defensive responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn) that were interrupted during traumatic events. His bestselling book Waking the Tiger brought somatic trauma therapy to mainstream awareness.
Staci K. Haines
White woman, social justice practitioner
A somatic practitioner, teacher, and author who co-founded generative somatics, integrating somatics with social justice organizing and transformative practice. Her work focuses on healing trauma, building resilience, and supporting movement leaders. Author of The Politics of Trauma and Healing Sex, Haines centers collective transformation and systemic change.
Fritz Perls (1893-1970)
German-Jewish psychiatrist
Co-founder of Gestalt Therapy, which emphasizes present-moment awareness, personal responsibility, and the integration of mind and body. Perls developed a relational and experiential approach to psychotherapy that recognizes bodily experience as central to psychological healing. His work emphasized the "here and now" and attending to somatic sensations, emotions, and contact, profoundly influencing body-centered psychotherapy.
David Berceli, PhD
American social worker, trauma specialist
Developed Trauma Release Exercises (TRE), a series of simple exercises that activate the body's natural tremoring mechanism to release tension and trauma. Based on observations that animals naturally shake to discharge stress, TRE helps people access neurogenic tremors that facilitate nervous system regulation and trauma recovery. The practice has been taught globally in conflict zones and communities experiencing collective trauma.
Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD
American founder of somatic coaching
Founder of the Strozzi Institute and originator of Leadership Somatics and somatic coaching as a formal discipline. Drawing on four decades of study in Aikido (6th-degree black belt), bodywork, and psychology, Strozzi-Heckler developed Strozzi Somatics — a methodology for producing sustainable change by working with the body's habitual patterns, posture, and shape. He launched the first Somatic Coach Certification program in 1999 and has trained coaches, executives, and leaders across Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, the US military, and social justice organizations. Author of The Art of Somatic Coaching.
Overlooked Voices in Somatics
Women, People of Color, Indigenous Contributors
Black and African American Contributors
Katherine Dunham (1909-2006)
African American woman
Often called the "matriarch of Black dance," she was a dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist who pioneered the integration of African and Caribbean dance traditions into modern dance. She developed the Dunham Technique, blending rigorous anthropological research with embodied practice, and profoundly influenced both somatics and dance education.
Dr. Resmaa Menakem
African American man
A therapist, trauma specialist, and author who founded the practice of Somatic Abolitionism, focusing on healing racialized trauma through the body. Best known for his bestselling book My Grandmother's Hands, which explores how racism and white-body supremacy live in our nervous systems and how embodied practices can help communities heal.
Prentis Hemphill
Black, genderqueer person
A writer, therapist, and somatics teacher who founded The Embodiment Institute and The Black Embodiment Initiative. Known as a cartographer of emotions and embodiment facilitator, bringing somatic practices into social justice movements and serving as Healing Justice Director for the Black Lives Matter Global Network from 2016 to 2019.
Marika Heinrichs
Queer, femme somatics practitioner
A queer, femme somatics practitioner, educator, and founder of Wildbody and Embodied Ancestral Inquiry. Their work focuses on recovering ancestral wisdom through body-based practices, challenging the appropriation of Indigenous knowledge in somatics, and fostering justice, dignity, and belonging for all bodies.
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
Black woman of Jamaican heritage
A pediatrician and California's first Surgeon General (2019-2022) who pioneered the study of how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress are "written into our bodies." Founder of the Center for Youth Wellness, her groundbreaking research revealed how childhood trauma affects brain development and manifests as physical health conditions in adulthood. Author of The Deepest Well (2018) and creator of a viral TED talk, she brought national attention to the embodied nature of trauma and the importance of body-centered approaches to healing.
Indigenous and Decolonial Practitioners
Joseph P. Gone
Aaniiih (Gros Ventre), Indigenous psychologist
Integrates Indigenous healing practices with modern therapy, advocating for anticolonial approaches in mental health. His work centers Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty in healing.
Nazbah Tom
Diné (Navajo)
A somatic practitioner, writer, and drama therapist who integrates Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and somatic bodywork to support healing and transformation. Their work combines conversation, breath, gesture, and touch to help individuals and communities embody resilience.
Women Pioneers
Ida Rolf
American woman, biochemist
Developed Rolfing (Structural Integration) and was a formidable figure in a male-dominated field.
Elsa Gindler
German woman
Early innovator in somatic movement and breath education who influenced generations of teachers and therapists.
Genevieve Stebbins
American woman
American innovator in physical culture who influenced both European and American somatics education.
Anna Halprin
Jewish-American woman
Pioneered somatic dance and community healing rituals, emphasizing inclusivity and social justice.
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
American woman
Founded Body-Mind Centering, integrated movement, anatomy, and consciousness.
Charlotte Selver
German-Jewish woman
Brought sensory awareness practices to the U.S., influenced Esalen and the Human Potential Movement.
Pat Ogden
American woman
Developed Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, integrating somatic awareness with trauma therapy.
Dr. Aline LaPierre
American woman, psychologist, body psychotherapist
Developed NeuroAffective Touch (NAT), a polyvagal-informed therapeutic approach that uses intentional, attuned touch to address developmental trauma and attachment wounds. Founding Director of The NeuroAffective Touch Institute, President of the United States Association of Body Psychotherapy (USABP), and Editor-in-Chief of the International Body Psychotherapy Journal. Co-authored the bestselling book Healing Developmental Trauma, now available in fourteen languages. Her work integrates somatic psychotherapy, attachment theory, and affective neuroscience to bring unconscious memories held in the body into conscious awareness.
Joan Skinner
American woman
Developed Skinner Releasing Technique, integrating dance, imagery, and somatic education.
Gabrielle Roth (1941-2012)
American woman, dancer, musician
Created the 5Rhythms movement practice, a dynamic dance meditation that guides participants through five universal rhythms: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. Her work emphasizes embodied expression, emotional release, and self-discovery through ecstatic dance, profoundly influencing contemporary dance therapy and somatic movement practices.
Emilie Conrad (1934-2014)
American woman, dancer, somatic innovator
Founded Continuum Movement, a revolutionary practice using breath, sound, and micro-movements to explore the fluid intelligence of the body. Her work emphasized that the body is fundamentally fluid and undulating, challenging rigid models of body structure and opening new paths for healing, creativity, and embodied awareness.
Multicultural Contributors
Janet Helms
African American woman
Developed racial identity theories and promoted racial justice in psychology.
Hideko Sera
Japanese American woman
Developed equity and inclusion programs, integrated Indigenous and African traditions.
Germine Awad
Arab American woman
Advocated for MENA inclusion, researched prejudice and discrimination.
Somatic Sex Education Contributors
Betty Martin, DC
American chiropractor, sex educator
Developed The Wheel of Consent, a powerful framework for understanding consent, touch, agency, and boundaries. Her work clarifies the dynamics of giving and receiving in touch contexts, distinguishing who is acting and for whose benefit. The Wheel of Consent is widely used in somatic sex education, relationship coaching, and consent education, offering a somatic approach to understanding and practicing consent.
Ethics, Cultural Appropriation, and Respectful Practice
As somatics has grown in popularity, important ethical questions have arisen about cultural appropriation, power, and representation.
Key Ethical Considerations
Credit and Compensation
Practitioners should acknowledge the origins of the practices they use and ensure that knowledge holders are credited and, where possible, compensated.
Context and Consent
Practices should be taught and adapted with sensitivity to cultural context, avoiding the stripping away of spiritual or communal meaning.
Decolonial Practice
Decolonizing somatics means centering the voices, needs, and leadership of marginalized communities, and recognizing the ongoing impact of colonialism on bodies, land, and healing.
Collective Liberation
True somatic healing is not just about individual well-being, but about collective liberation, justice, and the repair of relationships with self, others, and the earth.
Honoring Where Practices Come From
Contemporary somatics is increasingly recognizing the need to honor and credit these global lineages, rather than appropriating or diluting them.
Decolonial somatic practitioners emphasize the importance of cultural context, ancestral knowledge, and collective liberation. This means:
- Acknowledging that many somatic innovations came from colonized and marginalized communities
- Ensuring that original communities benefit from the popularization of their practices
- Resisting the commodification and dilution of sacred or cultural practices
- Centering the voices and leadership of those whose knowledge systems were historically suppressed
- Working toward healing that is collective, not just individual
- Addressing how colonialism, racism, and oppression live in bodies and institutions