Log 1.1 — The Soma and Reawakening the Forgotten
Beginning at the beginning with Chapter 1 of Thomas Hanna’s Somatics. I am reflecting on the core difference between a cold, mechanical body and a living, subjective Soma, while exploring how the central nervous system slowly forgets how to move freely when it's under constant stress.
Hanna introduces a beautiful distinction right away: the difference between a "body" and a "Soma". To the outside world, a body is just a physical, mechanical object to be observed, measured, or mechanically corrected. But a Soma is the body experienced from within by the individual person.
This completely reshapes how I view my practice. When we work in the studio or out with the horses, we aren't trying to force a mechanical correction onto a body. We are cultivating an internal, quiet awareness of the Soma. True wellness moves away from rigid, competitive training models and returns to this subjective, self-sensing center.
Then we meet the real culprit behind chronic physical tightness: Sensory-Motor Amnesia (SMA). Hanna describes this as a functional state where the central nervous system literally loses its ability to feel and control specific muscle groups. It happens because of habituated stress, old injuries, or simple lack of use. The brain simply forgets how to let the tissue go, leaving it chronically locked down.
In the arena or at the dance barre, we often call this "The Handbrake" stasis or a "Somatic Power Gap". When a rider or a horse exhibits a persistent stiffness, it isn't a structural failure of their bones, nor is it a lack of effort. It is a functional loop of SMA. It cannot be forced out through aggressive stretching; the pathway has to be gently re-educated.
The final note of the chapter directly challenges the cultural belief that growing older automatically condemns us to becoming stiff, frail, and decrepit. Hanna asserts that what we call "aging" is mostly just the cumulative, uncorrected buildup of SMA over decades.
This brings a beautiful sense of hope to our daily studio work. Physical decline is not an inevitable timeline. By slowing down and reawakening the mind's control over movement, genuine restoration is possible at any stage of life—whether we are talking about an aging rider or a veteran schoolmaster like Montana.
