The Art of Somatic Coaching

Embodying Skillful Action, Wisdom, and Compassion

By: Richard Strozzi-Heckler

Narrated by: Kirk Magoon

The Art of Somatic Coaching introduces the concepts and principles of coaching with practices that include body awareness, bodywork, and mindfulness for both the coach and the client. Author and expert coach, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, explains that in order to achieve truly sustainable changes in individuals, teams, and organizations, it is necessary to implement body-oriented somatic practices in order to dissolve habits, behaviors, and interpretations of the world that are no longer relevant. He explains that these ways of being are integrated in the body--at the level of the musculature, organs, and nervous system. By implementing a somatic approach, these patterns can be shifted in order for transformation to occur.

Opening with a discussion of the roots of Somatic Coaching, the book describes the emotional and physical cost of being distanced from our bodies. Originating from the rationalistic idea that the mind and body are separate, this sense of disconnection spurred the emergence of the field of somatics that views the body as not just a physiological entity, but as the center of our lived experience in the world. Out of this philosophy, Somatic Coaching was developed as a way to cultivate the self through the body.

Methods in this book include:
• Somatic awareness--becoming aware of sensations
• Somatic opening--includes bodywork to release held patterns in the body
• Somatic practices--meditation, movement, and being present in everyday life

The social context in which one is raised, the supportive, healing force of the outdoors and nature as well as acknowledgment of the spirit are also woven into the practice. Through these practices, a rhythm of unfolding occurs in what Strozzi-Heckler describes as an Arc of Transformation--moving in stages from conditioned tendencies to a new satisfying and fulfilling way of being that is fully embodied.

Contents: Introduction; Chapter One: A Short Distance but a Big Cost; Chapter Two: Coaching; Chapter Three: Somatics and Somatic Coaching; Chapter Four: The Methodology; Chapter Five: The Rhythm of Action; Chapter Six: The Somatic Arc of Transformation

Great intro to Somatic Coaching philosophies

Loved all of the content and getting into the philosophy of somatic coaching, even had some useful exercises. A must read (listen) for anyone wanting to step into the world of somatics.

Great Book

Well written with lots of valuable information that you can use to better understand your self. Excellent

comprehensive book

Easy tot listen to. Many examples make the theory easy to understatement. Ik don't like the summing op of charters/lists.

Stick with the tools

Overall I enjoyed the book. I could have done without the author’s opinion on religion. He seems to have had a poor sampling of Christianity and Sacred Scripture. Before making blanket statements about “dogma” and other religious beliefs and practices it would be good to research some authors and theologians with a solid view of both body/Spirit and how the two are one in humanity. One theologian would be Karol Wojtyla aka Pope John Paul II. His work “Love and Responsibility” and “The Theology of the Body”. Are worth the read even from a somatic perspective.
There is much in both bodies of work that are in line with one another.

Least favorite narrator

Like listening to a terrible professor droning on and on; as if the sentences ran into one another because there was so little inflection. I will probably buy the book to read it instead. Great topic, but it was nearly impossible to stay mentally engaged to listening for more than a couple minutes at a time.