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Искусство не стареть
Эта книга рассказывает об уникальной методике избавления от так называемых возрастных болезней. Оказывается, совершенно напрасно многие недуги с годами мы воспринимаем как неизбежность: боли в спине, в ногах, в суставах, хроническая утомляемость и даже гипертония – вовсе не удел пожилых. Это с успехом доказал известный американский врач Т. Ханна – основатель института соматических исследований и автор данной книги. Секрет невероятной популярности его методики за рубежом – в высокой эффективности и доступности каждому. Теперь вы сможете убедиться в этом сами, освоив гибкую и несложную программу физических и психологических упражнений. Уделяя им совсем немного времени, вы сможете не только избавиться от целого ряда болезней, но и наслаждаться прекрасным самочувствием и гибкостью тела и в 40, и в 60, и даже в 80 лет.
First published January 21, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
August 7, 2012
Complete honesty: Somatics and Hanna Somatics in particular is one of the most important discoveries of my adult life. I'm 28 now and had incured a series of small muscle pulls in my lower body and then a groin pull (combined with horrible posture and alignment) that eventually threw my whole body into a cycle of degeneration and discomfort. Somatics is the one discipline that is helping me to unravel these patterns. I literally feel 10 years younger.
Hanna's greatest insight is that we are both an interior sensing and feeling being as well as an exterior organism. We have a double sense of our physical nature -- inside we feel ourselves as a soma, outside we see and observe ourselves as a body. Most medicine obsesses over the exterior body and denies or supresses the soma. This is unfortunate because the soma, and our inner awareness of our sensations, feelings, pains, and sense of balance, has tremendously useful healing capacities. These are activated by unlocking the potential of our brain and nervous system, which control so much of how well our bodies function and how we hold onto muscular tension and pain
By accessing and working with (rather than against) our nervous responses and muscle groups through simple movement exercises, we can allow our bodies to let go of painful patterns and habits of how we hold ourselves. This is accomplished primarily through pandiculation, a method of slowly contracting and relaxing the tight and unresponsive muscles in order to gain better control over them, thereby increasing their strength and flexibility, or their ability to contract and relax. This overcomes what Hanna calls sensory-motor amnesia, or a loss of control and feeling of our musculature. This loss of control can develop over time by poor postural patterns or acutely through injury. In either case our brain rewires the neural connections to the area through reflex patterns that need to be unlearned in order to restore healty functioning. This is only possible if we go slowly and develop an inner awareness of these patterns. Only then can we release them.
This work is highly effective and smart. It seems miraculous, since the mechanism is an interior one. I love the implications -- we are basically computers with a self-correcting diagnostic and repair system. Somatics just teaches you how to activate and utilize it for maximum benefit. We do have control of our own bodies and nervous system. We just have to be clever and inwardly-aware and have the right techniques to unlock it. Truly groundbreaking and paradigm shifting work!
Hanna's greatest insight is that we are both an interior sensing and feeling being as well as an exterior organism. We have a double sense of our physical nature -- inside we feel ourselves as a soma, outside we see and observe ourselves as a body. Most medicine obsesses over the exterior body and denies or supresses the soma. This is unfortunate because the soma, and our inner awareness of our sensations, feelings, pains, and sense of balance, has tremendously useful healing capacities. These are activated by unlocking the potential of our brain and nervous system, which control so much of how well our bodies function and how we hold onto muscular tension and pain
By accessing and working with (rather than against) our nervous responses and muscle groups through simple movement exercises, we can allow our bodies to let go of painful patterns and habits of how we hold ourselves. This is accomplished primarily through pandiculation, a method of slowly contracting and relaxing the tight and unresponsive muscles in order to gain better control over them, thereby increasing their strength and flexibility, or their ability to contract and relax. This overcomes what Hanna calls sensory-motor amnesia, or a loss of control and feeling of our musculature. This loss of control can develop over time by poor postural patterns or acutely through injury. In either case our brain rewires the neural connections to the area through reflex patterns that need to be unlearned in order to restore healty functioning. This is only possible if we go slowly and develop an inner awareness of these patterns. Only then can we release them.
This work is highly effective and smart. It seems miraculous, since the mechanism is an interior one. I love the implications -- we are basically computers with a self-correcting diagnostic and repair system. Somatics just teaches you how to activate and utilize it for maximum benefit. We do have control of our own bodies and nervous system. We just have to be clever and inwardly-aware and have the right techniques to unlock it. Truly groundbreaking and paradigm shifting work!
April 1, 2011
In his book Somatics, Thomas Hanna, Ph.D. tackles the medical assumption that pain and degeneration are the inevitable result of the aging process. Not only that, he offers a simple plan to recover lost flexibility, balance, and posture. His exercises, he assures us, will bring us back into connection with our lost mobility while reducing pain and discomfort. It almost sounds too good to be true. But is it?
Most people suffer from pain and discomfort at some point in their lives. When this follows an injury, it is easy to watch the play of cause and effect. This can allow us some feeling of control during our healing process as we regain lost function and strength. When we don’t know why we hurt, we can feel like victims of our own bodies. When we ask our doctors for help, they offer drugs for pain, and tell us to buck up and accept our lot. We are growing older, after all. What else should we expect? Everyone knows that bodies wear out eventually.
Hanna challenges this idea. He points out that although this is true for many people today, there are also many circumstances in which people maintain function and vitality right up to the very end. Gerontologists call this “successful aging.” Rather than dismiss such cases as oddities, Hanna thinks we should embrace them as possibilities, and learn how to make our own lives turn out like theirs.
Five case studies are reviewed in the course of the book. In each case, through guided movements, flexibility is restored and pain is alleviated. Several of the cases are quite extraordinary; one woman regained the use of her frozen shoulder after just one treatment, despite almost two unsuccessful years of conventional treatment. Another case involved a man who had not been able to straighten his knee for almost two years. He rediscovered how to control what he had once given up as lost.
Although Somatics is full of information for the professional, it is very accessible to the lay reader as well. He uses clear language that anyone can understand. After describing commonly seen habits of movement, he gives us the keys to unlock our own blockages through simple exercises that almost anyone can do. These slow movements rebalance our structure by bringing awareness to the way we actually move our bodies, and teach us how to develop more balanced ways of moving.
The final chapter includes his basic movement explorations. His exercises are simple, mild, and brief. He offers a series of lessons, in which the reader may explore different areas of the body. By encouraging the reader to reacquaint themselves with their movements, he invites us to take our own steps on this healing path. And if my brief explorations with this work are any guide, change really is possible. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to find a new sense of vitality, movement, and freedom in their body. And really, who isn’t?
Most people suffer from pain and discomfort at some point in their lives. When this follows an injury, it is easy to watch the play of cause and effect. This can allow us some feeling of control during our healing process as we regain lost function and strength. When we don’t know why we hurt, we can feel like victims of our own bodies. When we ask our doctors for help, they offer drugs for pain, and tell us to buck up and accept our lot. We are growing older, after all. What else should we expect? Everyone knows that bodies wear out eventually.
Hanna challenges this idea. He points out that although this is true for many people today, there are also many circumstances in which people maintain function and vitality right up to the very end. Gerontologists call this “successful aging.” Rather than dismiss such cases as oddities, Hanna thinks we should embrace them as possibilities, and learn how to make our own lives turn out like theirs.
Five case studies are reviewed in the course of the book. In each case, through guided movements, flexibility is restored and pain is alleviated. Several of the cases are quite extraordinary; one woman regained the use of her frozen shoulder after just one treatment, despite almost two unsuccessful years of conventional treatment. Another case involved a man who had not been able to straighten his knee for almost two years. He rediscovered how to control what he had once given up as lost.
Although Somatics is full of information for the professional, it is very accessible to the lay reader as well. He uses clear language that anyone can understand. After describing commonly seen habits of movement, he gives us the keys to unlock our own blockages through simple exercises that almost anyone can do. These slow movements rebalance our structure by bringing awareness to the way we actually move our bodies, and teach us how to develop more balanced ways of moving.
The final chapter includes his basic movement explorations. His exercises are simple, mild, and brief. He offers a series of lessons, in which the reader may explore different areas of the body. By encouraging the reader to reacquaint themselves with their movements, he invites us to take our own steps on this healing path. And if my brief explorations with this work are any guide, change really is possible. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to find a new sense of vitality, movement, and freedom in their body. And really, who isn’t?
May 7, 2013
Though I liked his ideas and explanations the book could have done with a little bit less medicine bashing (that got boring quickly). The third of the book that actually deals with the exercises that one can do to improve body awareness was not a clear as it could have been. The exercises were demonstrated with wooden puppets (the ones normally used for drawing anatomically correct positions). In the black and white print the puppets appear almost black and a lot of the contrast of limbs is lost, so it is not always clear what the different steps are. I think the book would have gained much benefit from better visual representation.
August 10, 2019
Everyone over the age of 40 should read this book. We do not have to lose our mobility as we get older. We do not have to suffer chronic back pain. Thomas Hanna shows how to protect our bodies and thus avoid things like traumatic surgery.
May 21, 2019
I am amazed that this book hasn't taken off. Somatics is such a simple but life-changing technique.
January 19, 2022
The one where it's all in your head. No, not like that.
The theme of this book is that over time your nervous system/muscular systems literally forget to do certain things. You keep a set of muscles habitually tightened for so long that your body forgets how to relax them. You sit so much that muscles you used in childhood just don't get used. They don't die, they don't go anywhere, they're just like a folder in your computer that you changed the name of so that all your shortcuts don't work any more.
My physical therapist is using some of Hanna's methods with me as we work on a hip issue that's more than twenty years old. She recommended that I read this book.
I have deeply mixed feelings about the book. The first part (where the theory is) has a definite whiff of the tinfoil hat about it; I'm not any kind of expert, but something that claims to be rigorous can't use so much "all," "none," "always," "never" type language and still be taken seriously. The second part (where the exercises are) is hard to follow and you'd do better to check out something like the Somatic Movement Center on youtube.
On the other hand, as improbable as some of these stories sound, I have experienced some of what he's talking about. Lying on my back discovering that it's difficult to locate the mental path to make me extend one heel out along the floor and draw it back again -- it's not difficult to do, it's difficult to find. It doesn't hurt. It makes me yawn, and it makes me laugh, and it feels very strange, and then gradually I can make the connection that allows me do it any time I want to. (If you want to see if you can experience it yourself, try this: stand and try to raise your big toe without moving your other toes, then try to raise the other four toes without raising your big toe.)
So I guess -- if you have pain or soreness or lack of capacity, I don't consider this method rigorously proven, but it's worth a try.
The theme of this book is that over time your nervous system/muscular systems literally forget to do certain things. You keep a set of muscles habitually tightened for so long that your body forgets how to relax them. You sit so much that muscles you used in childhood just don't get used. They don't die, they don't go anywhere, they're just like a folder in your computer that you changed the name of so that all your shortcuts don't work any more.
My physical therapist is using some of Hanna's methods with me as we work on a hip issue that's more than twenty years old. She recommended that I read this book.
I have deeply mixed feelings about the book. The first part (where the theory is) has a definite whiff of the tinfoil hat about it; I'm not any kind of expert, but something that claims to be rigorous can't use so much "all," "none," "always," "never" type language and still be taken seriously. The second part (where the exercises are) is hard to follow and you'd do better to check out something like the Somatic Movement Center on youtube.
On the other hand, as improbable as some of these stories sound, I have experienced some of what he's talking about. Lying on my back discovering that it's difficult to locate the mental path to make me extend one heel out along the floor and draw it back again -- it's not difficult to do, it's difficult to find. It doesn't hurt. It makes me yawn, and it makes me laugh, and it feels very strange, and then gradually I can make the connection that allows me do it any time I want to. (If you want to see if you can experience it yourself, try this: stand and try to raise your big toe without moving your other toes, then try to raise the other four toes without raising your big toe.)
So I guess -- if you have pain or soreness or lack of capacity, I don't consider this method rigorously proven, but it's worth a try.
July 1, 2020
Оригинальное название книги - "Somatics: Reawakening The Mind's Control Of Movement, Flexibility, And Health" и оно сильно лучше объясняет о чем эта книга. Размышлений о старости много, но главный посыл об осозновании собственного тела и о том какое влияния на него могут оказывать стресс и травмы. Автор объясняет что такое мышечная амнезия, почему она возникает и как она ведет к ряду проблем с телом, от сутулости, до болей в разных частях тела и даже, иногда, до неспособности полноценно двигаться. Треть книги посвящена упражнениям, которые помогают мозгу "вспомнить" о забытых напряженных мышцах.
May 30, 2021
Ambitious and important, but the message needs to be distilled further.
Somatics is all about how to identify and resolve disfunction in your body using breath control, mobility techniques, and an understanding of the central nervous system. This is a critical area of human health that is largely overlooked by the health care industry. These methods have the power to resolve chronic pain, stress-related issues, and even intestinal problems without resorting to surgery or drugs.
I think of somatics as similar to the traditional aims of yoga. Yoga classes that you might find at your local gym only emphasize the flexibility and strength aspects of yoga, but that really misses the meditation, breath work, and body-awareness aspects that are critically important. Somatics covers much of the same ground but takes a western approach to understanding it.
Unfortunately this book suffers from grand ambitions and a lack of focus. It tries to simultaneously be a college-level textbook, a how-to guide for the average person, and a philosophical framework. I'd love to see a book that focuses on just one of those things as most readers will find this book to be difficult to read without some background in physical therapy or kinesiology.
Somatics is all about how to identify and resolve disfunction in your body using breath control, mobility techniques, and an understanding of the central nervous system. This is a critical area of human health that is largely overlooked by the health care industry. These methods have the power to resolve chronic pain, stress-related issues, and even intestinal problems without resorting to surgery or drugs.
I think of somatics as similar to the traditional aims of yoga. Yoga classes that you might find at your local gym only emphasize the flexibility and strength aspects of yoga, but that really misses the meditation, breath work, and body-awareness aspects that are critically important. Somatics covers much of the same ground but takes a western approach to understanding it.
Unfortunately this book suffers from grand ambitions and a lack of focus. It tries to simultaneously be a college-level textbook, a how-to guide for the average person, and a philosophical framework. I'd love to see a book that focuses on just one of those things as most readers will find this book to be difficult to read without some background in physical therapy or kinesiology.
Read
May 23, 2021Read this back in the 90s and again just now. I attended a group that met over several weeks (back in 90s) to do these exercises together, guided by a friend using the book. We all measured our height at the beginning and again at the end. My friend's mother participated -- she was in her late 70s at the time. She gained 3/4" in height in a few weeks doing these exercises. It's really a wonderful guide to minimizing the ravages that 'body amnesia' can bring. I'm now nearly 67 and still mostly feel like the lithe dancer I was when younger, though I seldom dance anymore as it aggravates knee and hip pains that don't bother me if I balance my movements and avoid overdoing things. Maybe if I stay with doing these exercises daily, I'll feel good even when I dance hard.
August 19, 2007
This is a great first-encounter with the topic of sensory motor amnesia, and so much of it rang true for me. It is based on the Feldenkrais method of dealing with chronic pain. Makes a whole lot of sense.
October 11, 2007
Excellent book to learn how to regain back all of your natural range of motion using simple exercises. Valuable. Not a 5 star simply because I think the pics could have been much better.
June 26, 2024
Game changer for anyone with pain that the doctor cannot diagnose or fix! The stretches are in my daily routine and make me feel so much better!
January 22, 2024
I was interested in learning more about somatic therapy because it seems to be really popular in influencer circles, or maybe just the algorithm Instagram personalized for me.
This is the main book my library has about somatic therapy. It's almost as old as I am, so it's probably not that great for someone looking to research updated theory and practice.
I definitely take pretty much everything in this book with a grain of salt, as with all pop psychology and medical advice. That being said, I see no problems with much of Hanna's advice. I'm not sure much of his theories aren't a bit normalized now.
The book is in three parts: a handful of case studies, a breakdown of the basics of somatic theory, and then a series of exercises (stretches). I can't vouch for the effectiveness of the stretches, but I also don't see how they'd make most problems any worse. Just don't forget to see an actual in-person doctor for medical advice!
This is the main book my library has about somatic therapy. It's almost as old as I am, so it's probably not that great for someone looking to research updated theory and practice.
I definitely take pretty much everything in this book with a grain of salt, as with all pop psychology and medical advice. That being said, I see no problems with much of Hanna's advice. I'm not sure much of his theories aren't a bit normalized now.
The book is in three parts: a handful of case studies, a breakdown of the basics of somatic theory, and then a series of exercises (stretches). I can't vouch for the effectiveness of the stretches, but I also don't see how they'd make most problems any worse. Just don't forget to see an actual in-person doctor for medical advice!
October 4, 2022
This book had a great impact on the health of my back. I was hobbling around, told I had spinal stenosis and slipped disks. After reading the book and beginning the daily movements my gait improved so much that people noticed I was walking differently. I go up and down stairs easier and with more confidence. I feel much better and am able to move around with much less pain. The explanations of the psychology behind posture and how we experience the movement of muscles was enlightening. This is not an 'exercise book', it is a method for increasing awareness of the sensations of movement and how I hold my body when I sit, stand or walk.
February 4, 2018
I've only just finished reading the book and haven't had a chance yet to experiment with the exercises, but it seems like a useful way to think about body and motion.
That said, I feel like Hanna makes some extreme claims for his system. I sincerely doubt it's the answer to all ailments of aging. But it certainly seems like a reasonable bit of preventative maintenance one could add to one's routine.
That said, I feel like Hanna makes some extreme claims for his system. I sincerely doubt it's the answer to all ailments of aging. But it certainly seems like a reasonable bit of preventative maintenance one could add to one's routine.
January 22, 2020
4.5 stars.
Very interesting. A lot of the information resonated with me and made me think differently about aging and how I move my body. Exercises appear to be helping my scoliatic back become more relaxed and flexible again. Minus half a 🌟 because exercise pictures are a little fuzzy and low quality.
Very interesting. A lot of the information resonated with me and made me think differently about aging and how I move my body. Exercises appear to be helping my scoliatic back become more relaxed and flexible again. Minus half a 🌟 because exercise pictures are a little fuzzy and low quality.
September 10, 2020
Amazing stuff from Hanna. As humans, our activity levels tend to decline before our muscles atrophy. Understanding that order of events is key for health & fitness longevity.
Hanna has a high ego (what great physiotherapist doesn't?) but the book is an easy read. Essential reading for anyone serious about their exercise
Hanna has a high ego (what great physiotherapist doesn't?) but the book is an easy read. Essential reading for anyone serious about their exercise
January 3, 2024
This book is great for dealing with longstanding muscle issues, but it's a little long-winded. I feel it could have been cut down quite a bit. He talks about things that seem to be off-point. I don't feel, as another reader stated, that he's bashing traditional medicine or other modalities. He makes great points, I just wish he'd stick to the core rather than repeating things.
July 25, 2019
То, что мы вкладываем в нашу жизнь, определяет и то, что мы от нее получим. Мы должны думать о вкладе в жизнь не менее серьезно, чем о вкладе в какое-либо финансовое предприятие или в другой вид бизнеса...
November 29, 2025
A perspective changer book on how our minds can control and influence our movement and our perceptions of our own bodies. It is an important foundation for body movement if you have pain and restriction in your body. Easy exercises may be able to solve your problem.
October 30, 2017
Потрясающая книга. Обязательна к прочтению, если хотите быть вечно молодым и здоровым.
December 18, 2018
This book and field of study is revolutionary. Read the book, or just find a practitioner to work with. This will change your life.
June 15, 2019
If you are wanting to learn the stretches to help you and your clients this is a book to read. Especially if tur trainings in this technique is to far away.
Licneses Masage Therpaist.
Licneses Masage Therpaist.
December 21, 2019
A quick read that drives home the points, 'You get better at what you practice every day,' and that you really don't have to grow old if you don't want to.
February 23, 2021
This should be mandatory reading!
April 8, 2022
Wow, this is amazing insight! I am going to try doing the exercises to see if it works for me.
September 16, 2022
This book helped me to recover from sciatica and dive deeper in somatic field. All is connected and most things can be reversed.
March 14, 2023
Rounded up. The actual mechanics are fantastic, the language and philosophy less so.
December 28, 2023
I am in love with Somatics and loved this book very much.
January 18, 2024
A good starter and the movements are nicely illustrated with a small wooden artist’s model. I read this and then used a video series from Johns Hopkins to follow a program.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews