About Rachel Newson
Essential Somatics Movement Coach
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I am passionate about helping you rediscover and enhance your natural range of movement through Clinical Somatic Education.
I am an Essential Somatics Movement Coach and Clinical Somatic Educator in training. I have completed several courses with Essential Somatics and am now embarking on a 3-year training course to be able to provide hands-on sessions to individuals. I originally trained as a Pilates teacher and enjoyed teaching classes in London. However I still felt there was a piece of the puzzle missing and so I continued to explore movement modalities and my search led me to Clinical Somatics. I am passionate about encouraging people to become self-aware as a way to really learn about yourself, as well as bringing more natural movement into our everyday lives. |
My Journey to CSE
I have suffered with chronic pain for several years. In the beginning, I thought it was normal, surely everyone has a bit of back pain? But I soon realised this was not something I should simply accept. I soon felt like I'd "tried everything" and it was a struggle to see a day when things could be different. But I continued my search and eventually my journey led me first to Feldenkrais and then on to Clinical Somatic Education.
After practicing Feldenkrais for a couple of years I was already used to slow and gentle movements and to be curious about what I found. But reading Thomas Hanna's book (Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health (1989)) was a complete revelation. For the first time in my life I suddenly started to feel the tension in my body and the movement patterns my brain was organising for me. For a couple of weeks I worked on simple breathing exercises and the somatic movements described in Hanna's book and the result was astonishing. Pretty much all the normal pains subsided and I enjoyed a sense of freedom I hadn't felt in ages.
Since then I have continued a daily practice, attended workshops and utilised any resource I can get my hands on. In general, I have a lot less pain than before, but Somatics is not a silver bullet. It is after all the way we use our bodies that causes us harm, so sometimes going back to the same habits can bring the pain back. But I love the practice for its encouragement of self-awareness and it is this that enables me to monitor my wellbeing much more closely and with all that I have learnt about Somatics, be able to do something about it.
I am so deeply convinced of the power of this work that it was with great excitement that I signed up for the 3-year clinical course with Essential Somatics. There are still not that many CSE teachers, but slowly this is changing and I'm proud to be joining them to help spread the word.
After practicing Feldenkrais for a couple of years I was already used to slow and gentle movements and to be curious about what I found. But reading Thomas Hanna's book (Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health (1989)) was a complete revelation. For the first time in my life I suddenly started to feel the tension in my body and the movement patterns my brain was organising for me. For a couple of weeks I worked on simple breathing exercises and the somatic movements described in Hanna's book and the result was astonishing. Pretty much all the normal pains subsided and I enjoyed a sense of freedom I hadn't felt in ages.
Since then I have continued a daily practice, attended workshops and utilised any resource I can get my hands on. In general, I have a lot less pain than before, but Somatics is not a silver bullet. It is after all the way we use our bodies that causes us harm, so sometimes going back to the same habits can bring the pain back. But I love the practice for its encouragement of self-awareness and it is this that enables me to monitor my wellbeing much more closely and with all that I have learnt about Somatics, be able to do something about it.
I am so deeply convinced of the power of this work that it was with great excitement that I signed up for the 3-year clinical course with Essential Somatics. There are still not that many CSE teachers, but slowly this is changing and I'm proud to be joining them to help spread the word.