Everyone has seen and done pandiculation, but most people misunderstand it as "stretching". It's a natural action of waking up. It involves tightening oneself in certain ways (e.g., the "morning stretch"), in the mood of a yawn. The sensation of this action triggers wakes up the parts of the brain involved in moving and feeling movement. Then, we're ready for action. Pandiculation (or the omni-yawn) improves the abilities both to move and to relax, freeing musclebound muscles and ending the tendency to cramp or go into spasm.

What's new is the application of this response to muscular pain patterns. It works quickly to restore freedom of movement and comfort.

Your Experience?

You may have noticed that you don't, and can't, really, completely relax, that you always hold tension. Here's why:

When you experience physical or emotional trauma or long-term stress, a memory imprint forms. This memory imprint shows up as involuntary muscular tension (guarding reactions) that resists stretching or external therapeutic modalities -- guarding reactions that make you tight enough to cause chronic pain and restrict movement.

Such guarding reactions operate from centers in the brain involved in reflexes and posture -- involuntary muscular actions. The pandicular response shifts the center of control from those involuntary reflex centers to the parts of the brain involved in voluntary movement. Muscles relax and pain fades out, leaving you completely fit for activities.

You can see differences between HSE and common therapeutic modalities in a comparison chart and understand why by comparing how they approach pain and their results.

Comparing Somatic Education and Standard Therapeutic Modalities

The specific advantage seen in Hanna Somatic Education by referring physicians is that, while being effective in the relief of muscular pain and spasticity, it has the specific virtue of teaching the client an ability so to control the muscular complaint that there is little chance of a future return of the problem. ~~ Thomas Hanna, Ph.D.

Somatic Education Exercises

Self-Paced Somatic Education Exercise Programs

Hanna Somatic Educators are certified by the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training.  certified Hanna Somatic Educators practice throughout the world (Point and click underlined words for locations.)

Our goal is for you to become self-sufficient and independent of therapy as quickly as possible. Long-term dependency on a Hanna Somatic Education practitioner is unnecessary and not to be expected, since we expect your improvements to be durable. Sometimes, people return later, after having complete a course of a few sessions, but usually it's to address a new or different problem.

Somatic education improves more than symptoms -- it alters the functional condition that underlies your symptoms. Three steps: Recognize the entire pain pattern. Release the entire pain pattern. Renew your life.