The relevance of Buddha’s four noble truths in our modern lives The fundamental and most important teachings of the Buddha are disarmingly simple. There is suffering There is a cause of suffering There is an end of suffering There is a way to the end of suffering. It...
Have we reduced Buddhist psychology to mindfulness training? What might have been lost in the translation? The core teaching of the Buddha has always about how to reduce human suffering. The freedom or liberation his teachings refer to is freedom from suffering. It...
Somatics and somatic movement classes grew out of Feldenkrais, and developed alongside new research into neuromuscular reprogramming. Somatics is based on the principle of neuroplasticity – the understanding that the brain is continually remodelling itself in response...
Reflections arising from a Somatics Practice Part 3 – The Symphonic Body The skeletal structure of the body is an intriguing confusion of so many curves and angles and knobbly bits. In particular I find the pelvic bone almost impossible to visualise internally – it...
Reflections arising from a Somatics Practice Part 2 – How much of my body is my friend? When I started somatics I was stunned to realise that I couldn’t directly sense much of my physical body. I didn’t have any direct feeling for it at all. This was after a lifetime...
Reflections arising from a Somatics Practice Part 1 – My relationship to my Body Do I see it simply as a body-vehicle I can use to do what my mind wants? Is it something to manipulate according to my will and ideas and desires. Is this body a source of pain or...