Somatic Movement Education
Courses /Private Sessions Click Here
Groundbreaking techniques help you retrain muscle memory and relieve chronic pain.

Slow, gentle somatic exercises help you to release chronically contracted muscles and improve your posture and movement by retraining your nervous system.
Four Ways Somatics Exercises Will Help You
- Relieve chronic aches & pains
- Release muscle tightness and stiffness
- Reduce or eliminate pain medication
- Find greater ease of movement
Developed by Thomas Hanna, PhD, Hanna Somatics is a neuromuscular education that uses the groundbreaking technique of pandiculation to retrain muscle memory and relieve pain.
“Somatic exercises are easy to follow and provide benefits almost immediately. I have been diagnosed with a frozen shoulder (right) and could not reach the middle of the back of my neck with my right hand. I can now, and it took only a couple of sessions to accomplish this. This stuff works! I am looking forward to more advances in flexibility and pain reduction.” John, Retired Navy Veteran
Most chronic pain, joint degeneration, and recurring injuries are caused by how we use our bodies – the way we sit, stand, and move. Our nervous system is responsible for telling us how to use our bodies….which muscles to contract and release and how to just be still. The more we repeat a certain posture or movement, the more our bodies accept it as normal and create set patterns. This is what we call muscle memory. Unfortunately, we sometimes learn patterns that damage our bodies–like sitting hunched over a computer.
The only way to change these deeply learned muscular patterns is to re-educate the nervous system. Hanna Somatics does just that. It engages the nervous system with very slow, focused, conscious movements to teach the nervous system how to release chronic muscle tension and move in natural, efficient ways that heal the body and create new healthy patterns.
“I am happy to report that I woke up today and my back ache that has plagued me for months was gone! Inspired, I have done my exercises every day. Also walked more than three miles—twice. Onward and upward. To Health and to Life.” – Jackie Nelson
Jacqui, I wanted to thank you and tell you how powerful yesterday’s session was for me. Everything just clicked and felt complete. At the end I experienced a sensory awareness very different from savasana. I just felt very alive. This morning in my yoga practice I experienced a wonderful, easy openness in my upper torso. And I slept 10 1/2 hours last night! –Paula
Courses & Private Sessions
Online and in-person
- Somatic Movement Education for Pain Relief
In-person classes at Harper College, Palatine, IL–Spring/Fall - Weekly Classes – Free/Donation: Tuesdays at 5 pm CST – Via Zoom –
- Weekly Classes for Veterans – Free/Donation: Tuesdays, 10:30 am CST – Via Zoom
Email for information or to register Jacqui@HarmoniousPathways.com
Online classes and sessions are easy and convenient. All you need is a laptop, tablet or smartphone, a WIFI connection, a Zoom app downloaded and a quiet space.
Private sessions Via zoom in the comfort of your home or in-person at the Healthy Living Counseling Center in Palatine, IL. Schedule your private Somatic sessions today. You will receive a recording to practice on your own.
30-minute complimentary private session via Zoom: Learn more about the practice, how it can benefit your situation, and the best way to meet. Experience a simple movement to get a feel for how it can benefit you.
Since I started practicing somatics my restless leg syndrome, which has plagued me for decades, has all but disappeared. And more, my surgically repaired shoulder has improved greatly with a measurable decease in pain and discomfort. – Tom Wilzinski, Retired 78-year-old Marine
Learn more
Read my blog on Cultivating Somatics