Receive simple yet powerful movement techniques to reverse chronic tension, calm your nervous system, and reduce physical and emotional limitations due to trauma held in your body.
Discover how to reset your whole system with neuromuscular re-education, so you can move forward in your life with more comfort and ease.
Did you know that animals can shake off trauma with involuntary stress-relieving gestures that clear tension from their bodies?
Picture a tiger chasing a gazelle in the wild. As a natural survival response, the gazelle leaps into “flight” mode, which enables her to run for her life. If she escapes unharmed, she shakes off the fear in a unique and instinctual way — yawning and stretching through with a process called pandiculation, which serves to reset her nervous system.
Humans are different. When we experience trauma, our bodies get stuck in constriction and discomfort, which makes doing even the smallest tasks difficult — preventing us from engaging in the life we truly desire.
What’s become increasingly clear from leading-edge somatic practices is that our whole body is far more malleable than we give it credit for — and we can, often quite rapidly, transform our tension into fluidity.
According to Martha Peterson, founder of Essential Somatics® and author of Move Without Pain, the root cause of much of our pain is trauma, which most of us experience throughout our lives.
Trauma can result in continuous stress and constriction, creating unhealthy habitual movements that keep us stuck in uncomfortable and unhelpful patterns — both physically and emotionally.
Even low-grade traumas tend to freeze certain habits and patterns in the body, and then our brain forgets how to guide the body back into its optimal state of relaxation — a phenomenon known as Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA).
A former professional dancer, Martha’s expertise comes from over 30 years of experience working in the fields of dance and bodywork, and from practicing and teaching the groundbreaking work of Hanna Somatic Education (aka Clinical Somatic Education) to help people recognize how the reflex patterns they’ve created in their bodies contribute to pain, stiffness, and restricted movement.
There are three universal stress reflexes everyone experiences, that, when repeated over and over, compromise the way you move and live:
- The green light reflex, the sense of fight-or-flight that calls the body to action
- The red light reflex, or startle reflex, which occurs in response to anxiety, apprehension, fear, or any perceived threat
- The trauma reflex, which puts you into avoidance mode
When you live in a perpetual state of fight or flight, the tension builds up (unlike with animals) and chips away at your whole system. It also undermines your ability to listen, move, express yourself, and even plan for the future.
Each of these reflexes is related to certain stressors and past or present traumas and can show up everywhere — from your feet, to your pelvis, and up to the ribcage, shoulders, head, and even eyes!
The good news is, through the power of somatic movement and pandiculation, you can strategically address each of the three stress reflexes and interrupt your habitual trauma responses — resetting your nervous system — and finally experience the relief you’ve been seeking.
Join Martha in a highly experiential and profoundly healing 7-week live video journey to discover how to sense where you have tension in your body, identify its root cause...
... and free yourself from the traumas of a lifetime through powerful yet gentle somatic movement techniques... learning to relax your muscles and release the chronic discomfort that may be holding you back from living your most self-actualized life.
You’ll discover that true healing and growth, as well as the ability to look toward the future, lies in being able to reset yourself from within.
Martha will show you how to transform your body’s default response of fight/flight/freeze to one of joy, freedom, bliss, and heightened potential. You’ll learn how to easily release yourself from even very old traumas.
At the heart of Martha’s work is the powerful somatic movement technique of pandiculation (what Martha calls “nature’s reset reflex” because it’s used so much in the animal kingdom) — as well as an easy-to-learn set of practices that enables you to improve your brain’s ability to sense and move your muscles with ease as it calms your nervous system and allows deep relaxation.
Pandiculation is a complex sounding word, but it involves a series of simple, yet highly effective ways to stretch the soft tissues involuntarily, as a way to release muscle tension, reduce pain, improve posture, and increase mobility.
As the seven weeks of this course progress, Martha will take you through a perfectly designed, systematic process of movement lessons — from head to toe — to relearn how to move, much like babies discover themselves and progressively develop the capacity to control their muscles.
During this course, you’ll:
- Discover somatic practices to restore freedom throughout your whole body — so you can regain balance, improve breathing, and enjoy comfort in everything you do
- Learn ways to heal the underlying causes of your stress and tension — not just your symptoms — and learn easy practices that will reset your whole body to function at optimal health
- Be guided in simple and safe somatic movement techniques in every session that “unstick” your body from harmful repetitive movements and restore your freedom of movement from head to toe... by reconnecting your mind with your body
- Explore the 3 universal reflexes of the brain and body when faced with stress and trauma — and which kinds of experiences can set them in motion
- Experience guided pandiculation and other somatic practices that serve as a reset to reconnect your brain and muscles — and hold the key to restoring comfort and ease in your body
- Learn the powerful truth that your response to stress and trauma are equally emotional, psychological, and physical — and how understanding this can help you move forward with a sense of true self-agency and freedom
- Uncover the phenomenon of Sensory Motor Amnesia, the state of chronic muscle contraction, causing unhelpful patterns of posture, movement, and thoughts that may prevent you from moving freely
- Learn how to a restore brain-to-muscle communication to reduce tension in your muscles and nervous system
- Participate in differentiation techniques to change how you feel in real time — building a new brain map that will result in more comfort and ease in movement
- Learn how to use the miraculous workings of your brain to sense and regulate tension, so you can experience greater freedom of movement, self-actualization, self-agency, and emotional wellbeing
- Create a daily somatic practice with small movements you can do anytime, anywhere
- Uncover what’s possible as you continue on your path to achieve your highest potential once you can move with more ease
- And much more...
You’ll learn aspects of neurophysiology that will help you understand stress and trauma. Knowing how stress interacts with your brain and body will assist you in moving out of the stress reflexes and into a more regulated sense of calm — and a more comfortable way to connect with yourself.
You’ll also look at the different ways you might be unconsciously holding yourself when you’re stuck in Sensory Motor Amnesia and locked trauma, and explore how to slowly, comfortably, and intelligently move your way toward a safer experience of how you move through the world on many levels.
And, as you learn more about Sensory Motor Amnesia and the impact it has on your body, you’ll be better equipped to prevent injuries and other medical issues, as well as diminish depression and anxiety.
By the end of the program, you’ll have a full toolbox of practical, easy-to-use techniques that will transform how you feel in your body and your life — so you can move from pain to possibility. You’ll walk away with your own daily movement practice to remain pain-free, with full mobility and presence...
... and the capacity to continually grow and thrive in a self-actualized, deeply fulfilling life.
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Weeks
In this 7-week transformational course, Martha will guide you through the fundamental skills and somatic movement practices you’ll need to address the stress and tension in your body — due to stuck trauma — and reset your whole body to function more optimally.
Join the Livestream — or Stream Later to Watch at Your Convenience
You’ll connect with Martha and experience her teachings through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Martha’s transmissions. Can’t make it live? After each class, you can stream the video and audio recordings to enjoy anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Course Sessions Tuesdays 9:00am Pacific
This course will feature LIVE teachings, interactive sessions, experiential practices, and Q&A with Martha. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to a variety of gentle yet powerful movements that provide more comfort, ease, and mobility.
Module 1: Begin to Reconnect to Yourself to Release Tension & Stress and Restore a Sense of Calm (August 13)
How do stress and trauma manifest in your body, and what’s the best way to address these physical manifestations — so you can become more embodied and comfortable?
In this opening module, you’ll look at what stress and trauma actually are and how they can physiologically and psychologically impact you. You’ll learn about the three reflexive ways that all humans respond to stress and why we can get stuck in those responses. This is called Sensory Motor Amnesia, and it takes hold in your brain and ripples out to your body, mind, and emotions.
Martha will guide you through the technique of pandiculation, the “reset” reflex that will reconnect your brain and muscles for more comfort. You’ll also explore different areas of breath in the context of three basic somatic movements.
In this session, you’ll:
- Discover how your breathing is an indicator of your stress level
- Learn a simple movement (Arch and Flatten) that can be explored in a variety of ways
- Explore simple ways to free your breath for more mental clarity and energy
- Begin to restore a calm sense of self
- Learn to assess how held trauma and stress are showing up in your body
- Begin to release accumulated tension and stress in the front and back of your body
Module 2: Learn About Hypervigilance, the Flight Response & How to Release Tension in Your Back Muscles (August 20)
This week, you’ll learn about the parts of the brain that are impacted by stress and trauma and how they might affect your responses to life.
You’ll explore one stress reflex that’s emblematic of “fight or flight” — the Green Light (or Landau) reflex. We tend to evoke this reflex when we’re under constant demands... whether you’re caretaking for a loved one, responding to work or family demands, or meeting a deadline.
It can also take hold as a result of past experiences that have caused you to think that you must always be on the lookout for something that might go wrong. When this happens, your back muscles begin to accumulate tension, as if you were preparing for the next task to be done. It’s as if you’re a runner at the starting block, waiting for the signal to “go!”
Martha will show you how to release those muscles and, in turn, release any concerns about the future — even just for the moment.
In this module, you’ll:
- Experience a fun and integrative movement to assess the level of tension in your body as well as encourage yourself to relax
- Explore 3 basic but powerful movements to reduce tension in your back muscles so you can find a sense of balance
- Learn about areas of the brain that are affected by stress and trauma, and can be reconnected through movement
- Enjoy a new connection between your neck, spine, pelvis, and feet
Module 3: Free Yourself From the Posture of Collapse & Freeze to Release Tension in the Center of Your Body & Breathe More Easily (August 27)
In this class, you’ll explore the function of the vagus nerve and its effect on the body when it’s not functioning optimally.
You’ll learn the posture of collapse and submission (the Red Light or Startle reflex) that’s so commonly seen in those suffering from depression, “held trauma,” and long-term emotional stress.
Using gentle pandiculation, you’ll locate held tension in the front of your body, all the way up to the neck, shoulders, and head.
This week, you’ll:
- Begin to release tension in the center of your body so you can stand up straighter and breathe more deeply
- Enjoy a calmer connection to your center through differentiated breathing techniques
- Experience freedom in your breathing that enables you to speak up and speak out
- Reflect objectively on your own history and how it may be showing up in your body and movements
Module 4: Release the Jaw & Eyes to Calm the Nervous System & Let Go of Deep Tension (September 3)
In this class, you’ll uncover daily stressful habits that are universal, yet uniquely individual — including jaw clenching, nail biting, fist clenching, and stress eating.
What’s happening in your thoughts, emotions, and sensations when you revert to those habits, and how do you bring awareness to them as they appear?
The roots of these habits are known only to each of us, yet you can become physically, somatically habituated to them, which may only perpetuate the cycle. You will learn about the Trauma Reflex, a stress reflex of avoidance, through twisting and side bending — which are integral to reconnecting both sides of your brain and body.
In this session, you’ll discover:
- Several easy and gentle ways to release jaw tension and anxiety
- Increased awareness of your own responses to stress and what you can about them in the moment
- How releasing the center of your body and connecting it to the head, neck, and jaw can relieve jaw pain and calm the nervous system
- How small, seemingly insignificant movements can release deep tension that you’ve been experiencing and holding
Module 5: The Power of Differentiation & Reconnection to Improve Your Movement & Sensations (September 10)
Your eyes, tongue, larynx, and face hold 33% of the sensory neurons in your brain. Everything in your life is processed first through your brain and then responded to muscularly in your body.
Movement yields deeper sensing, yet for held trauma and stress habituation, less is more. In this session, you’ll focus on using differentiation of the hands, eyes, jaw, and tongue to affect deep change in your level of awareness, comfort, and ability to be present in your body.
This will be a gentle class in which you’ll learn the power of differentiation at the brain level — and how doing much less promotes much more calm and positive change in your nervous system.
In this module, you’ll:
- Give yourself permission to let old sensations and feelings rise to the surface as you dive into the deeper workings of your brain
- Revel in the extraordinary change that occurs when you use differentiation to improve your movement and sensation
- Begin to sense the connection between your periphery (head, eyes, neck, fingers, hands, arms) and your somatic center
- Experience improved rotation and movement through your spine as you learn to connect your head, eyes, shoulders, and hips in simple rotation
Module 6: Somatic Movements for Restful Sleep (September 24)
How well do you sleep? In this session, you’ll learn how stress and trauma can impact your sleep and why improved sleep is critical to overall mental, physical, and emotional health.
Tension and stress (whether eustress, which is beneficial stress, or distress, which is negative stress) can accumulate in your muscles and nervous system. Physical tension and mental stress stimulates the brain, and sometimes, we just can’t shut it off. We may lie in bed going over conversations we’d like to have or just had, listing things to do tomorrow, and running scenarios in our imagination.
All of this conflicts with our natural need for rest and rejuvenation. When you “empty the cup” of your stress at the end of your day using gentle pandiculation and somatic movements, you’ll experience deep release and relaxation so you can sleep like a baby and wake up feeling refreshed!
In this class, you’ll:
- Discover a sequence of easy, gentle movements that will prepare you to fall asleep like a baby and wake up feeling refreshed
- Learn strategies to calm your mind for more restful sleep
- Experience a routine of movements you can do easily before bedtime for deep, restful sleep
Module 7: Find Your Balance to Find Your Groundedness & Joy (October 1)
In this closing session, you’ll discover strategies for creating a sense of stability and connection to the ground.
When you’re stuck in Sensory Motor Amnesia or have the residue of trauma running your brain and body, you may feel unstable standing and moving forward. This means you’re not in sync with your movement. You may even describe yourself as “klutzy,” and start to fear movement.
When you begin to forge a new connection to yourself through pandiculation and the release of muscular tension, you can reconnect to your feet and the ability to move forward in life.
In this final class, you’ll:
- Feel more grounded by connecting to the earth from your feet to the top of your head
- Make friends with your body as you discover a playful sense of movement
- Continue to deepen your awareness of yourself and what’s possible for you now that you’re more connected top to bottom, side to side, and front to back
- Discover a renewed sense of connectedness from the center of your body outward to your extremities
The Somatic Movement & Pandiculation to Release Trapped Trauma Bonus Offering
In addition to Martha’s transformative 7-week online course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Daily Somatic Awareness Practices
PDF Article From Martha Peterson, CCSE
Sensory Motor Amnesia (chronic, habituated muscle tension) can develop because of small, seemingly insignificant habits that are repeated daily. They can become so habitual that they affect how you experience yourself. Take the first step to differentiate how you do what you do on a daily basis as you discover the connection between your thoughts, physical sensations, and emotions. In this 2-page article, you’ll learn two powerful daily somatic awareness practices that will help you connect how you feel with your thoughts, feelings, and movement habits. You’ll learn how to integrate the changes and discoveries you make in your practice with the way you live your life.
Seated Shoulder Releases
Video Practices From Martha Peterson, CCSE
In this video, you’ll learn helpful pandiculations to relieve tension in your neck and shoulders that can accumulate as a result of emotional stress, poor posture, or long hours at a desk job. You can do these movements seated or standing. You’ll discover that pandiculation allows you to easily and quickly release built up tension in just a few minutes. And you’ll experience how the neck and shoulder muscles are connected to any tension you may hold in the center of your body.
What Graduates of Martha’s Courses Are Saying...
I have a similar movement background to Martha. I found this course a revelation. I’m a 78-year-old yoga teacher. I took the course because I was feeling stiff and had ongoing mysterious back pain no therapist could help with. During the last session, having practiced the other movement since the start of course, I experienced an awakening in my glutes. No more back pain, no more motor amnesia of the bum. Great course, very well run, and skillfully delivered. Grateful thanks to Martha and Shift Network.
Dublin, Ireland
I was already familiar with Martha Peterson via books, but it has been wonderful to engage via video.
I became newly aware of how my body history affected my current bodily tightness and discomfort, which surprised me. I’ve become more aware, even in simple movement — like walking on a sidewalk or sitting while driving — of just how my body is moving. I hope this will help me move more comfortably!
Corvallis, Oregon
Martha provided me with a language my body understood and remembered. These simple movements are how we learned to move as infants. My adult body realigned in a simple and powerful way.
Ft. Worth, Texas
I learned so much about slowing down and going deeper with somatics. It’s helped me understand why this is so effective.
Dublin, Ireland
Join the Global Community
Somatic Movement & Pandiculation to Release Trapped Trauma offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Martha Peterson, CCSE will share in this powerful program.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Class Sessions With Martha Peterson, CCSE
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from the founder of Essential Somatics® Martha Peterson, CCSE, author of Move Without Pain — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a livestreaming video option and will guide you to release chronic tension and transform unhealthy habitual movements and physical and emotional limitations due to trauma — for a fully self-actualized life. Course sessions are on Tuesdays at 9:00am Pacific.
Seven Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Transcripts of Class Sessions
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
The Somatic Movement & Pandiculation to Release Trapped Trauma Bonus Offering
- Daily Somatic Awareness Practices
PDF Article From Martha Peterson, CCSE - Seated Shoulder Releases
Video Practices From Martha Peterson, CCSE
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, Somatic Movement & Pandiculation to Release Trapped Trauma
We feel honored that Martha Peterson, CCSE has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online course. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with the founder of Essential Somatics® whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about moving without stress and tension so you can experience a joyful freedom that will enable you to pursue everything you want in this life, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind program.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE Somatic Movement & Pandiculation to Release Trapped Trauma — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before August 27, 2024 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Martha Peterson, CCSE...
I had been struggling with acute back and hip pain for months, and other therapies were not helping. Now I have the tools to address whatever my soma presents on a given day. Any discomfort I feel is a way for me to learn and explore what my body needs, physically and emotionally. The back pain I was experiencing every day is now just an occasional background noise.
Yoga teacher, United Kingdom
If you want to live life to the fullest, you have to recognize and eliminate all your non-productive habits. Since learning Essential Somatics, I have a new lease on life, as everything is becoming easier and more enjoyable. It seriously improves your sense of wellbeing in ways I could only have dreamt.
Martial arts teacher, ESMTT graduate, United Kingdom
After practicing somatic movements for eight weeks, my shoulder that has been frozen for six months is almost completely back to normal. My gait is more balanced and efficient, and I am completely out of pain for the first time in my adult life. I have been exploring self-care modalities for 20 years, and nothing has given me the benefits that I have experienced from a consistent somatic movement practice.
Pilates teacher, MELT method instructor
About Martha Peterson, CCSE
Martha Peterson, CCSE, is a certified clinical somatic educator and leader in the field of somatic education. She’s the founder and CEO of Essential Somatics® and the author of Move Without Pain. Martha heads a growing faculty of clinical somatic educators who present Essential Somatics teacher trainings, retreats, workshops, and seminars around the world. She also maintains a private clinical practice.
Martha’s expertise comes from more than 30 years of working in the fields of dance, bodywork, and somatic education. As a former professional dancer who suffered chronic hip and knee pain due to injuries, Martha understands the frustration and struggle many people experience when trying to discern between the myriad methods that claim to relieve or “fix” chronic pain. She eventually discovered clinical somatic education, the only method that taught her how to reverse her pain and postural imbalances, regain physical control, and create a life of movement, choice, and joy.
Martha is an experienced hiker, inspired by her mother with whom she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and trekked in Sikkim, Northern India. She has learned that the key to remaining healthy and mobile is daily, vigorous, fun movement, a regular somatic movement routine, a sense of humor, and learning the fine art of relaxation and self-regulation.
