Pandiculation
At the heart of Clinical Somatics are gentle movements called pandiculations. When you look this word up in the dictionary, it is defined as stretching but this description loses its nuance. Next time you wake up and “stretch” see if you can slow the movement down and really pay attention. You will find that the first part of the movement is a pulling, contracting, shortening movement and sensation followed by an opening and lengthening. And it feels so good! This is a natural movement for most vertebrates. Look at your cat or dog. They pandiculate 30-40 times a day. And we should too but we are driven by our mental and physical habituated patterns to override this natural reset. The amazing work of Thomas Hanna, founder of Clinical Somatics was to develop “voluntary self-pandiculations”. We learn with conscious and patient attention to re-educate and remind our bodies and minds to let go of long-held tension patterns. With time we reclaim this natural function and it arises spontaneously.