Atlas›Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical›Guide 068
Guide X-068

Hanna somatics

Thomas Hanna1976
A 19 · L 63 · M 1819 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Thomas Hanna's own published account. This covers his 1990–91 article "Clinical Somatic Education: A New Discipline in the Field of Health Care" and the daily self-practice routine from his book Somatics (1988; current edition Balance/Hachette, 2004), as the Somatic Systems Institute summarises it. Credentialing follows the Novato Institute and the Association for Hanna Somatic Education (AHSE). Other lineages are named where they differ. [source: Hanna 1990–91 article; Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide; Hachette book page]

Hanna Somatic Education (HSE) is a movement-education method for chronic muscular pain and restricted movement. Thomas Hanna (1928–1990) was a philosopher who coined the term "somatics" in 1976. He studied with Moshé Feldenkrais and founded the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training with Eleanor Criswell Hanna. [source: Wikipedia, Thomas Louis Hanna]

The method has two formats:

  • Clinical sessions. These are hands-on and one-to-one, given by a certified Hanna Somatic Educator. The client lies on a table and is guided through assisted pandiculation. A psychotherapist refers clients to these sessions and does not deliver them (see 2.4).
  • Somatic exercises. These are verbal, self-practice or group movement lessons. A psychotherapist with movement-teacher training can teach them (see 2.4).

[source: somatics.com introduction; Essential Somatics, "What is Somatics?"]

Core idea of change (attributed to Hanna). Hanna called the problem "sensory-motor amnesia" (SMA). In SMA, repeated stress or injury reflexes leave some muscles held at a contraction level set by subcortical reflexes. The person's voluntary control and sensory awareness of those muscles are partly lost. Hanna saw this as a functional problem, not a structural one. He wrote that SMA "can only be overcome by education", not by treatment. [source: Hanna 1990–91]

The change mechanism Hanna proposed is the pandicular response: a strong voluntary contraction of the affected muscles, released very slowly. In his account, this returns cortical control, and the muscles then relax below their former resting tension. [source: Hanna 1990–91]

These are the developer's explanatory concepts. They are not established neurophysiology (evidence status in 2.5).

2. Framework

2.1 The three reflex patterns (attributed to Hanna)

Hanna described three chronic reflex patterns. Educators use them to read a client's posture and to choose which body areas to work on. [source: Hanna 1990–91; Lawrence Gold, "Pain Control, Sensory-Motor Functioning, and Somatic Education"]

  • Landau response, popularly called the "green light reflex". This is an arousal and action reflex. It contracts the muscles at the back of the body: spinal extensors, rhomboids, gluteus medius and piriformis, and hamstrings. Calls to action trigger it, such as a ringing phone or a knock at the door, and repetition makes it chronic. Gold links it to most back trouble.
  • Startle reflex, popularly called the "red light reflex". This is a withdrawal response to threat or worry, real or imagined. Chronic startle gives raised shoulders, a depressed chest and tight thigh adductors, and in severe cases bent elbows and knees. Hanna linked it, indirectly, to shallow breathing and sympathetic dominance.
  • Trauma reflex. This is protective guarding after physical injury or surgery, driven by avoiding pain. The guarding muscles stay contracted after the tissue has healed. Examples are the abdominal wall on the side of a hernia repair, or a sideways pull of the trunk when one leg is painful. Practitioners describe it as tension through the sides of the body, often with rotation.

The "red light / green light" labels are used on Essential Somatics' site: green light for the back of the body, red light for the front and trauma for the sides. Hanna's 1990–91 article uses "Landau" and "startle" instead. Whether Somatics (1988) uses the colour labels is [uncertain: not verified]. [source: Essential Somatics, "What is Somatics?"; Hanna 1990–91]

For psychotherapists: the trauma reflex is not psychological trauma. In Hanna's usage, the trauma reflex means guarding after physical injury. The pattern Hanna ties to stress, worry and anxiety is the startle reflex. Hanna's concepts are not a model of PTSD or trauma memory, and they should not be presented to clients as one. [source: Hanna 1990–91; synthesis]

2.2 Phases of work

The developers publish no formal phase model with entry and exit criteria [uncertain: not verified]. Their sources describe the following sequence, and the criteria for moving between steps below are [synthesis].

  1. Assessment of posture and movement. The educator identifies which reflex pattern or patterns are present. The Somatic Systems Institute's training teaches "diagnostic recognition" of the Landau, startle and trauma patterns. [source: Somatic Systems Institute training page]
  2. Clinical sessions (hands-on). The educator guides the client through pandiculation of the involved muscle groups, usually starting with the trunk. Published course content runs from the trunk and spine, to shoulders, arms, hips and legs, and then to gait and balance. [source: Somatic Systems Institute training page]
  3. Self-practice. The client learns exercises that repeat the sessions' pandiculations at home, so that progress does not depend on the practitioner. [source: somatics.com introduction; Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  4. Maintenance. Hanna framed the daily routine as a lifelong practice. [source: Hachette book page]

Criteria for moving on [synthesis]:

  • Move from sessions to self-practice once the client can make the contract-and-slow-release movement independently, without pain.
  • Move from self-practice to maintenance once the presenting symptoms are steady.

2.3 Session count and format

All figures below are reported facts, not prescriptions.

  • Clinical sessions are one-to-one. Practitioners compare them to a massage or physical therapy visit, with the client clothed on a table. [source: Somatic Systems Institute training page]
  • Number of sessions. A practitioner site states that clients often need "fewer than seven sessions" and that most conditions resolve in about two to eight. This is a promotional claim. [source: somatics.com introduction]
  • One retrospective clinical series recorded two to five one-to-one sessions of 40–60 minutes each, every one to two weeks, with a mean of 2.8 sessions. [source: Huang & Babgi 2022]
  • Exercises are taught in group classes, private lessons, and audio or video programmes. [source: somatics.com introduction; Somatic Systems Institute training page]

2.4 Who may deliver it, credentials and regulation

Credentials and trainings

  • Certified Hanna Somatic Educator (CHSE). Certification is by the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training, the institute founded by Thomas and Eleanor Criswell Hanna. The AHSE presents itself as the official organisation for Hanna Somatics information, continuing education, practitioner support and the practitioner directory. AHSE's founding date, the CHSE training length and the CHSE prerequisites are [uncertain: not verified]. [source: somatics.com introduction; AHSE home page]
  • Somatic Systems Institute (Northampton, MA). This separate lineage is led by Steven Aronstein, who trained in Hanna's second training programme. It runs a three-year, three-semester "Clinical Somatic Education™" training:
    • Semester 1: trunk and spine, kinesiology and SMA (150 hours over two weeks).
    • Semester 2: limbs and neurophysiology.
    • Semester 3: extremities, gait, balance and a competence exam.
    Graduates are certified as "approved clinical practitioners of Clinical Somatics". No prerequisites are listed. The institute calls itself the only programme authorised to train on Hanna's behalf, a claim the Novato lineage would contest [uncertain]. [source: Somatic Systems Institute training page]
  • Essential Somatics. It offers two levels:
    • Level 1: Essential Somatics Movement Teacher Training (ESMTT), which covers teaching the exercises.
    • Level 2: Clinical Somatic Education Training (CSET).
    Durations and prerequisites are [uncertain: not verified]. [source: Essential Somatics, "What is Somatics?"]
  • History of Hanna's own trainings. Sources differ on the dates. Wikipedia says Hanna started his training programme at Novato in 1990. The Somatic Systems Institute refers to Hanna's "first" and "second" programmes [uncertain: dates not verified].
  • ISMETA. The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association is a professional association for somatic movement educators [uncertain: not verified]. Whether ISMETA registration covers Hanna practitioners is [uncertain: not verified].

Government regulation. No government licensure specific to Hanna Somatic Education is known to apply [uncertain: not verified]. Practitioners often hold another licence, such as massage, nursing or physiotherapy, and work within that licence's scope.

Role of the psychotherapist

  • Exercises. A psychotherapist may teach the verbal Somatic exercises after completing a movement-teacher training, such as ESMTT or a CHSE or Clinical Somatics certification.
  • Hands-on clinical sessions. A psychotherapist refers clients for these and does not combine them with psychotherapy. The exception is a therapist who holds the somatic certification and whose own code permits touch.

2.5 Evidence status

  • Clinical series. The main clinical publication is a retrospective, uncontrolled series: 103 patients with chronic neck and/or low back pain (Huang & Babgi 2022, Saudi J Med Med Sci 10(3):266–271). Pain fell from first to last visit, and use of pain medication and doctor visits fell across the six months before versus after HSE. There was no control group, randomisation or blinding, so the series cannot show that HSE caused the improvement. [source: Huang & Babgi 2022]
  • Systematic reviews. No systematic review or randomised trial of HSE is known [uncertain: not verified].
  • Developer claims. Hanna's view that SMA accounts for perhaps half of chronic pain, and the publisher's statement that the programme can help avoid chronic stiffness, back pain, fatigue and sometimes high blood pressure, are the developers' claims and have not been demonstrated. [source: Hanna 1990–91; Hachette book page; Gold essay]
  • Not a treatment for disease. Present HSE as movement education, not as a treatment for physical disease.

2.6 Safety screening and contraindications

The developers' published material gives no formal contraindication list [uncertain: not verified]. What practitioner sources say:

  • Somatic education cannot erase pain caused by tissue damage. Contractures caused by nerve damage fall outside its scope. [source: Gold essay]
  • Pandiculation should not hurt. If discomfort arises, reduce the effort or the size of the movement. Some next-day achiness is described as normal. [source: Essential Somatics, pandiculation article]
  • Do not force a movement. Skip any exercise that cannot be made comfortable, start away from the painful area, and use seated, reclined or propped versions when lying on the floor is hard. [source: Somatic Movement Center, "Modifying Exercises and Adjusting Your Student"]

Screening a psychotherapist should do before teaching or referring [synthesis]:

  • Get medical assessment first for undiagnosed, worsening or night pain.
  • Watch for neurological signs: numbness, weakness, or bladder or bowel change.
  • Ask about recent surgery or fractures, osteoporosis, joint replacements, pregnancy, hypermobility, acute injury and cardiovascular instability, and get medical clearance where these apply.
  • Do not let the method replace medical care. Coordinate with the client's physician or physiotherapist.

3. Guiding principles

  • Education, not treatment (Hanna). Frame the work as learning, with the client as the active agent. In practice: the client does the movement, and you do not do it to them. [source: Hanna 1990–91]
  • Sense it to change it (from the book's tagline, If You Can Sense It, You Can Change It, as cited on secondary sites [uncertain]). In practice: slow every movement down until the client can feel it.
  • Voluntary contraction comes before release. In practice: the client first tightens into the existing pattern, then lets go slowly; nothing is passively stretched. [source: Hanna 1990–91; Essential Somatics, pandiculation article]
  • Slow release is the active ingredient. In practice: the lengthening phase is slower than the contraction, and the client rests fully afterwards. [source: Hanna 1990–91; Essential Somatics, pandiculation article]
  • Pandiculation, not stretching. Hanna's school holds that static stretching triggers the stretch reflex and does not change the brain's set point. In practice: never pull muscles to their end range. This is the developers' claim. [source: Essential Somatics, pandiculation article]
  • Comfort and no pain. In practice: keep the effort and range small enough that nothing hurts, and do fewer movements rather than push. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide; Somatic Movement Center]
  • Work with the whole reflex pattern, not the painful spot. In practice: start at the trunk or at a non-painful area and move outward. [source: Somatic Movement Center; Somatic Systems Institute training page]
  • Pandiculation is a skill to be taught. Hanna wrote that teaching correct pandiculation "is neither obvious nor easy". In practice: coach the quality of the movement, not how many are done. [source: Hanna 1990–91]
  • Self-sufficiency. In practice: aim to transfer the routine to the client for daily self-care. [source: somatics.com introduction; Hachette book page]
  • Words before hands. In practice: teach verbally and demonstrate first. Touch only with advance notice and consent, and only if you are trained and your code permits it. [source: Somatic Movement Center; USABP Code VIII]
  • Stay in your lane [synthesis]. In practice: the psychotherapist holds the emotional and relational meaning of body experience, and the somatic educator and medical clinicians hold the musculoskeletal work.

4. Intervention inventory

This section has three groups:

  • 4.1–4.2: clinical procedures. These are delivered by certified educators. They are described so you can refer clients and prepare them.
  • 4.3–4.14: teachable exercises. These are verbal or self-practice procedures that a psychotherapist with movement-teacher training may teach.
  • 4.15–4.19: the psychotherapist's own role.

Example language throughout is illustrative wording, not the developers' scripts. No repetitions, durations or intensities are given as instructions.

4.1 Reflex-pattern assessment (clinical; educator-delivered)

  • Purpose: Identify which chronic reflex patterns (Landau, startle, trauma) organise a client's posture and pain, so that sessions target the whole pattern. [source: Hanna 1990–91; Somatic Systems Institute training page]
  • Steps (as described):
    1. The educator observes standing posture, gait and how the client moves.
    2. The educator looks for the following signs:
      • Back-body shortening, with an exaggerated lumbar curve and tight back and hamstrings (Landau).
      • Front-body flexion, with raised shoulders, a sunken chest and tight adductors (startle).
      • A sideways or rotational pull, with uneven shoulders and hips, often linked to a past injury (trauma reflex).
    3. The educator relates the pattern to the client's history of injury and stress.
  • Example language (illustrative), for a psychotherapist preparing a referral: "The educator will watch how you stand and walk to see which habits of tension are involved. That is a description of movement, not a diagnosis."
  • Watch for:
    • Clients who hear the reflex labels as a medical diagnosis. Remind them that diagnosis belongs to physicians.
    • Clients who read their posture as proof of a hidden psychological trauma. The trauma reflex is about physical injury guarding.

4.2 Assisted pandiculation in clinical sessions (hands-on; referral only)

  • Purpose: Restore voluntary control of muscles the client cannot release alone. Hanna describes this as the core clinical procedure. [source: Hanna 1990–91; somatics.com introduction]
  • Steps (as described):
    1. The client lies clothed on a table.
    2. The educator places the client's body to bring out the target pattern.
    3. The client, not the practitioner, makes a strong voluntary contraction of the affected muscles, while the educator's hands give feedback or resistance.
    4. The client releases the contraction very slowly, then rests completely.
    Hanna contrasts this active method with Feldenkrais's more passive "kinetic mirroring". Exact hand placements and the order of procedures are taught in certification and are not published in detail [uncertain]. [source: Hanna 1990–91]
  • Touch safeguards (the psychotherapist confirms these with the client and the educator):
    • Explicit consent before touch and checked again during it.
    • The right to stop at any moment.
    • Clothing stays on.
    • A chaperone or a trusted person can be present if the client wants.
    • No sexual or genital touch of any kind.
    • Any pelvic-floor or other intimate-area concern is referred to a regulated clinician, such as a pelvic-health physiotherapist.
    [source: USABP Code of Ethics VIII; synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "In a session you will do the tightening yourself, and the educator's hands mainly guide you. You can ask them to explain any touch before it happens, and you can stop at any point."
  • Watch for:
    • Pain during or after sessions.
    • Feeling pressured to continue.
    • Touch that was not explained.
    • A practitioner who claims to treat disease or psychological trauma.
    Ask about all of these at your next session after each referral appointment.

4.3 Teaching the pandiculation sequence (core skill)

  • Purpose: Teach the contract, slow release and rest sequence that every Hanna exercise uses. [source: Essential Somatics, pandiculation article; Hanna 1990–91]
  • Steps:
    1. Have the client notice the area and how it feels before moving.
    2. Voluntary contraction: the client tightens gently and deliberately into the existing pattern, for example arching the back that is already tight. Hanna describes the contraction as strong, but practitioner sources stress it must stay pain-free.
    3. Slow, controlled lengthening: the client lets the contraction go far more slowly than they made it, following the sensation.
    4. Complete relaxation: the client rests fully and notices any change.
    5. Repeat only while the movement stays comfortable, and do fewer rather than push.
  • Example language (illustrative):
    • "Tighten into it a little more than it already is."
    • "Now let it go as slowly as you can, as if you were turning down a dimmer switch."
    • "Let everything rest, and notice what feels different."
  • Watch for:
    • The release turning into a quick drop.
    • Breath-holding. Keep the breath easy, and never time a breath hold.
    • Pain. If it appears, reduce the effort or the size of the movement.
    • Some next-day achiness is described as normal. Pain that is sharp, spreading or lasting needs medical review.
    • Signs it is working: the client reports more sensation, ease or length in the area.

4.4 Arch and Flatten (Cat Stretch, movement 1)

  • Purpose: Pandiculate the lower back and abdominal muscles, which are central to the Landau and startle patterns. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide; Essential Somatics, pandiculation article]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies on their back with knees bent and feet on the floor.
    2. They gently arch the lower back away from the floor, then slowly release.
    3. They flatten the lower back toward the floor, then slowly release.
    4. Breathing stays natural and unforced; the published routine's breath cues are not reproduced here.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let your lower back lift a little, like a small bridge. Now let it settle slowly. Then press it gently toward the floor, and slowly let that go too."
  • Watch for:
    • Forcing a large range.
    • Pain in the lower back or the sacroiliac area. Make the movement smaller, or add a pillow.
    • Signs it is working: a growing sense of ease and choice in the back.

4.5 Arch and Curl (movement 2)

  • Purpose: Coordinate the front muscles (head and abdomen) with the back muscles. This brings together the work on the startle and Landau patterns. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies on their back with knees bent and hands behind the head.
    2. They lift the head while flattening the back, then lower the head slowly.
    3. As they lower, they let the back arch slightly.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let your hands carry the weight of your head. Curl up only as far as is easy, then come down slowly."
  • Watch for:
    • Neck strain or pulling on the neck with the hands.
    • People with neck conditions should skip this movement or keep it very small, and get clinical advice [synthesis].

4.6 Back Lift (movement 3)

  • Purpose: Pandiculate the back-body muscles (the Landau pattern) in diagonal pairs. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies face down.
    2. They lift the head, one arm and the opposite leg together, lifting only a little.
    3. They lower slowly, rest, and repeat on the other diagonal.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Just lift high enough to feel the back muscles working, then lower more slowly than you lifted."
  • Watch for:
    • Lying face down may be uncomfortable or distressing for some clients with trauma histories, and it is unsuitable in later pregnancy. Offer a seated or side-lying alternative (see 4.12) [synthesis].
    • Low-back pinching.

4.7 Side Curl (movement 4)

  • Purpose: Pandiculate the waist and side muscles (the trauma-reflex pattern). [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide; Essential Somatics, "What is Somatics?"]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies on one side.
    2. They lift the top foot and the head toward each other, then lower them slowly.
    3. They repeat on the other side.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Bring your head and foot a little closer together along the top side, then let them drift apart slowly."
  • Watch for:
    • Differences between the two sides. These are useful information, not a failure.
    • Hip or shoulder discomfort when lying on the side. Use a pillow under the head and between the knees.

4.8 Diagonal Arch and Curl (movement 5)

  • Purpose: Pandiculate the oblique, rotational muscles of the trunk. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies on their back.
    2. They bring the head and one elbow toward the opposite knee, then return slowly.
    3. They repeat on the other diagonal.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let your elbow and the opposite knee move toward each other only as far as is easy, then slowly unwind."
  • Watch for:
    • Neck strain.
    • Holding the breath.
    • Any abdominal or hernia history: get medical clearance first [synthesis].

4.9 Washcloth, or Washrag (movement 6)

  • Purpose: A gentle whole-spine twist that coordinates the arms, legs and head in opposite directions. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies on their back.
    2. They roll the arms in opposite directions.
    3. At the same time, they let the knees drop to one side and turn the head the other way.
    4. They return slowly and change sides.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let your knees fall to one side and your head turn the other way, a little like wringing out a cloth, and keep it easy."
  • Watch for:
    • Dizziness when turning the head.
    • Hip or back discomfort.
    • Anyone with recent spinal surgery needs medical clearance before twisting movements [synthesis].

4.10 Inversion and Eversion, Bow-legs and Knock-knees, Skiing (movement 7)

  • Purpose: Pandiculate the rotators of the feet, legs and hips, which bear on gait and balance. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  • Steps:
    1. The client lies on their back.
    2. They rotate each foot, leg and hip inward and outward.
    3. They alternate the legs between bow-legged and knock-kneed positions.
    4. They finish with ski-like side-to-side leg motions.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let the soles of your feet turn slightly in, then slightly out, and feel how the movement travels up to your hips."
  • Watch for:
    • Hip replacement precautions about rotation: the client must follow their surgeon's restrictions [synthesis].
    • Knee pain.

4.11 Seated Twists (movement 8)

  • Purpose: Rotate the trunk and head, and separate the movement of the eyes and face from the trunk. This bridges floor work and everyday upright movement. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide]
  • Steps:
    1. The client sits with one hand on the opposite shoulder.
    2. They turn the trunk and head in alternating directions.
    3. They then move the face and eyes in the opposite direction to the trunk.
    4. They repeat on the other side.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Turn gently, and now let your eyes look the other way from where your body is turning. Notice how that changes the turn."
  • Watch for:
    • Dizziness or nausea during eye movements. Stop if they appear.
    • Neck pain.

4.12 Modifying and substituting exercises

  • Purpose: Make the exercises available to clients with pain, limited mobility, or difficulty getting down to or up from the floor. [source: Somatic Movement Center, "Modifying Exercises and Adjusting Your Student"]
  • Steps:
    1. Positions: Offer seated versions on a flat-seated, straight-backed chair, slightly reclined so that gravity helps. Lying versions can be done in bed.
    2. Support: Use towels or pillows under the head, torso or ankles. Allow a wall or walker for any standing work.
    3. Size of movement: Shrink the range. The client lifts only enough to feel the muscles working.
    4. Outside in: With significant pain, start in a non-painful area and work gradually toward the painful one.
    5. Substitution: Skip any movement that hurts and cannot be made comfortable. Replace it with another exercise that pandiculates the same area.
  • Example language (illustrative): "We'll do a chair version today, and it works the same muscles. If anything pinches, we'll skip it and find another way in."
  • Watch for:
    • Clients pushing through pain to "do it properly".
    • Shame about modifying. Normalise it.

4.13 Verbal cueing and hands-on adjustment with consent

  • Purpose: Correct how a client is doing the movement while keeping their sense of agency.
  • Steps:
    1. Teach with words first.
    2. Demonstrate only if the client cannot understand the position.
    3. Before adjusting any body part or touching, tell the client in advance and ask.
    4. Keep any touch light and supportive. A light touch can help the client feel which muscle is working.
    5. Afterwards, ask whether the new position is comfortable.
    [source: Somatic Movement Center, "Modifying Exercises"] For psychotherapists: touch requires training and a code that allows it. Body-psychotherapy codes (USABP VIII; EABP Principle 7) require the following:
    • An assessment of whether touch suits this client.
    • Informed consent beforehand, with written consent recommended.
    • Consent monitored over time.
    • The client's right to refuse or end touch at any time.
    • No genital or sexual touch, ever.
    Mainstream talk-therapy codes (BACP, UKCP, HCPC, APA, AAMFT) have no explicit touch clause. They do prohibit sexual contact and require you to practise within your competence. In those frameworks, a hands-off verbal format is the default [source: touch-code summaries; synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it help if I put two fingers lightly on your shoulder blade so you can feel which muscle is working? It's completely fine to say no."
  • Watch for:
    • Freezing, holding the breath, or a "yes" that sounds like compliance. If you see these, return to verbal cueing.

4.14 Building a daily self-practice routine

  • Purpose: Hand the work over to the client for self-care. The publishers present the Cat Stretch sequence (4.4–4.11) as a brief daily routine, best done on waking. [source: Somatic Systems Institute Cat Stretch guide; Hachette book page]
  • Steps:
    1. Teach the movements in the published order.
    2. Give the client a legitimate written or recorded resource: Hanna's book, or an institute's audio or video.
    3. At follow-up sessions, review how the movements are going: comfort, sensation and changes noticed. Do not count adherence.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Think of this as checking in with your muscles each morning, not as a workout to get through."
  • Watch for:
    • Perfectionism, or turning the routine into another demand.
    • Pain-avoidant clients doing nothing at all. Negotiate the smallest step they can manage [synthesis].

4.15 Referral to a certified educator and collaboration

  • Purpose: Connect clients with chronic muscular pain or postural tension to a qualified educator while keeping care coordinated. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Confirm that the client has had a medical assessment of the pain.
    2. Find practitioners through the AHSE directory, or through the training body's lists (Somatic Systems Institute, Essential Somatics). Check the credential and any other licence the practitioner holds.
    3. With written consent, share relevant information: trauma history in outline only, triggers, and preferences about touch.
    4. Agree how adverse events will be communicated.
    5. Discuss parallel care openly with the client, as the EABP Guidelines 6.b advise when a client receives similar services from another professional.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'd like to suggest a movement educator who works with exactly this kind of tension. If you agree, I can let them know a little about what helps you feel safe."
  • Watch for:
    • The client expecting the educator to resolve emotional issues.
    • Mixed messages between the two of you.
    • Fees for referral, which EABP prohibits (5.d).

4.16 Preparing clients with trauma histories for hands-on sessions

  • Purpose: Reduce the risk that table work retraumatises the client. [synthesis; USABP Code VIII]
  • Steps:
    1. Explore what the client knows and expects about lying on a table and being touched.
    2. Rehearse a stop signal together, and plan how the client will say "no" or "slower".
    3. Identify any body areas or positions that are off-limits, such as lying face down or being touched near the neck.
    4. Discuss whether a chaperone or companion should be present.
    5. Plan grounding steps for after the session.
    6. Review the experience together at your next session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's work out what you would say if something felt like too much, and practise saying it here first."
  • Watch for:
    • Dissociation.
    • Agreeing in order to please.
    • Shame about stopping.

4.17 Integrating body awareness into psychotherapy

  • Purpose: Use what the client notices during the exercises (bracing, a startle-like hunching, back tightening during demands) as material for therapy. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Invite brief noticing during sessions, for example asking which posture appears when the client talks about deadlines.
    2. Link it, tentatively, to Hanna's ideas: the startle pattern with worry, and the Landau pattern with pressure to act.
    3. Present these links as the developer's framework, not as fact.
    4. Keep the therapy's own model (CBT, psychodynamic, etc.) as the frame.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Hanna would call that hunching a startle pattern. I'm curious what you notice when your shoulders rise like that as we talk about your manager."
  • Watch for:
    • Over-interpreting posture.
    • Clients feeling scrutinised.
    • Confusing the physical "trauma reflex" with psychological trauma.

4.18 Responding to emotion or memories that arise during somatic work

  • Purpose: Handle tears, fear, or images and memories that surface during movement or table work. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Slow down or stop the movement, and orient the client to the room.
    2. Validate the feeling without interpreting it.
    3. Process it within psychotherapy, not on the educator's table.
    4. Treat images or "body memories" as experiences to explore. They are not evidence of past events. Memory research shows that suggestion can shape recollection, so avoid leading questions [synthesis; no source specific to HSE].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Something strong came up. Let's pause and feel your feet on the floor. We can make sense of it together, without needing to decide what it means right now."
  • Watch for:
    • Flooding.
    • The educator interpreting emotions or suggesting abuse. If this happens, discuss it with the client and consider whether to continue the referral.

4.19 Recognising adverse effects and boundary violations

  • Purpose: Protect clients and meet your professional duties. [synthesis; USABP, EABP and other codes]
  • Steps:
    1. After each referral appointment, ask about pain, unexplained touch, pressure to buy products or extra sessions, and claims to cure disease.
    2. If you suspect a sexual boundary violation, support the client to report it. Routes include the practitioner's certifying body (Novato or AHSE, or the relevant institute), any licensing board for the practitioner's other licence (such as a massage board), and the police where a crime may have occurred.
    3. Follow your own code's safeguarding duties.
    4. Record what was reported.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You're allowed to tell me anything about those sessions, including things that felt uncomfortable or confusing."
  • Watch for:
    • Minimising ("it was probably nothing").
    • Practitioners discouraging medical care.

5. Handling problems

Most of this section is [synthesis]. Source-based points are tagged.

  • Pain during exercises. Reduce the effort and the range, change position, start outside-in, or skip the movement. Practitioner sources say pandiculation should not hurt. Sharp, radiating or worsening pain, and any neurological signs, call for medical review. [source: Essential Somatics, pandiculation article; Somatic Movement Center]
  • Client cannot release slowly (the muscle drops or jerks). Hanna noted that correct pandiculation "is neither obvious nor easy". Make the contraction smaller, cue the release with imagery such as a dimmer switch, or refer to a certified educator for assisted pandiculation. [source: Hanna 1990–91]
  • "Nothing is changing" (stuck).
    • Check the quality of the movement rather than the quantity.
    • Check that the work matches the client's reflex pattern. A sideways, trauma-reflex pattern may need side work, not only arch work.
    • If symptoms persist, ask for medical re-assessment. Do not keep escalating the exercises.
  • Non-adherence.
    • Explore what makes the routine hard: time, pain, shame, or meaning.
    • Shrink the routine to one movement.
    • Link it to an existing daily habit.
    • Do not monitor adherence in a way that feels punitive.
  • Overwhelm or dissociation during floor work.
    • Offer seated, eyes-open versions and keep the client oriented to the room.
    • Avoid face-down positions.
    • Return to verbal-only teaching.
    • Pause the somatic component and stabilise first.
  • Strong emotion or memories. See 4.18. Avoid suggestive interpretation.
  • Rupture over touch or the body focus (for example, the client feels exposed or watched).
    • Acknowledge it and take responsibility.
    • Return to hands-off, client-led work.
    • Re-contract consent before any further body work.
  • The client wants you to provide hands-on work as well as therapy.
    • Decline unless you hold the certification and your code allows it.
    • Most talk-therapy codes call for practising within your competence and managing dual relationships.
    • Refer to an educator instead. [source: touch-code summaries]
  • Expecting a cure for a physical disease, or for high blood pressure.
    • Correct this. The developers' health claims are untested.
    • Keep medical treatment in place.
    • Present HSE as movement education. [source: Hachette book page; Huang & Babgi 2022]
  • Conflicting lineages and trademarks. Clients may meet several labels: "Hanna Somatic Education", "Clinical Somatics", "Clinical Somatic Education" and "Somatic Movement". Check each practitioner's actual credential and training body rather than the label. [source: Somatic Systems Institute training page; Essential Somatics; somatics.com introduction]
  • Older, frail or post-surgical clients.
    • Get medical clearance first.
    • Use chair or bed versions.
    • Follow the surgeon's movement restrictions, such as joint-replacement precautions.
  • Pregnancy.
    • The developers' sources give no specific guidance [uncertain: not verified].
    • Get obstetric clearance.
    • Avoid face-down positions in later pregnancy, and avoid lying flat on the back if it causes discomfort or dizziness.

Sources

Web sources

Hanna Somatic Education

Professional codes on touch, sexual contact and referral

Books

  • Hanna, T. (1988). Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health. Da Capo Press, as Wikipedia gives it [uncertain: original publisher not verified]. Current edition: Balance (Hachette), 2004, ISBN 9780738209579.
  • Hanna, T. (1970). Bodies in Revolt: A Primer in Somatic Thinking. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston (as given by Wikipedia) [uncertain: not verified].
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