'Soma' is the latin-based word for 'body'; the study and theory of somatics is a deep consideration of the mind-body connection with a emphasis on internal body sensations and how they relate to our thoughts, emotions, impulses, behaviors, relationships, and environment. We are not only our thoughts or reactions; when we consider that we are a whole being having an experience with our entire body at any given moment we learn to live and interact more fully. Within this full living we can more keenly understand our own individual needs and desires in any given moment. The field of somatic theory and it's related therapies has developed over the last 80+ years, with more recent focused attention on neuroscience in the last last thirty years this genre of therapy has  elevated the deep connection of our bodies through the lens of the nervous system playing a vital role in how we respond to life around us. 

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To be embodied is to experience life with the fullest of sense.  Embodiment allows our body to be a major component to our ability to relate, sense, and communicate with ourself and others. Embodiment can be learned and experienced by anyone. When we are born we are already fully embodied; as a baby we express with our whole body sensing our way through the survival of being fed, held, and cared for without the means for cognitive thinking. As we develop and age, our cognitive abilities and intellectual complexities can often erode our relationship with our bodies and overrides the wisdom our body is continually lending us. This results in our feeling disconnected from ourselves and one another: a chronic disembodiment.  Developing sensory awareness and learning the language of our body's needs, desires, and messages leads to the ability to feel empowered, stable emotionally and physically, and able to build resilience to the stressors and traumas of life.