Generative somatics

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Staci K. Haines

What it is

What it is: generative somatics (lower case is the organisation's own styling) is a training organisation and method co-founded by Staci K. Haines, rooted in the Strozzi Institute somatics tradition and also drawing on Polarity Therapy, Gestalt, meditation, aikido and NLP. It calls its approach a…

Format

• Haines presents a five-phase arc for individuals, groups and organisations (book p. 156). The Circles are sequenced but recur; later Circles can call for more opening.
• An earlier and shorter version in the organisation's papers names three elements: somatic awareness, somatic opening and somatic practices; somatic opening there runs: feel the individual and collective old shapes, increase awareness of the default shape, open or deconstruct it, embody new ways of…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Training and group format (2011 Somatics & Trauma training): four four-day intensives over about six months, daily home practice, reading, writing and partner calls, peer practice circles; senior students saw community clients one-to-one using session outlines.
• Version followed: Staci K. Haines, The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing, and Social Justice (North Atlantic Books, 2019), "Somatic Arc of Transformation" with five Circles, supplemented by generative somatics' own published papers ("What is a Politicized Somatics?", "Personal & Social Transformation") and its 2011 Somatics & Trauma training outline. The book itself is not drawn on here; its Circle structure and…
• What it is: generative somatics (lower case is the organisation's own styling) is a training organisation and method co-founded by Staci K. Haines, rooted in the Strozzi Institute somatics tradition and also drawing on Polarity Therapy, Gestalt, meditation, aikido and NLP. It calls its approach a "politicized somatics": body-based trauma healing that is explicitly tied to an analysis of oppression and to…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• losing self in the other or withdrawing. Working sign: client stays present to self and other together.
• shame masquerading as accountability; using the frame to pressure victims into reconciliation. Working sign: repair actions follow.
• practice that becomes perfectionism; no real-world test. Working sign: action matches values "even under the same old pressures" (Haines).
• flooding from too much inward focus; use eyes-open orienting. Working sign: richer, more specific sensation vocabulary; noticing sensations earlier.
• conflict that is actually abusive or unsafe (do not encourage engagement; safety planning instead). Working sign: conflicts end with more trust, not rupture.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.