Scent: Warm and subtly sweet. Scented with our signature JUARA fragrance, with notes of lush tropical greens, freesia, bergamot, rose, blooming white jasmine, and a touch of fresh coconut.
Texture: Buttery, whipped, fast-absorbing with a velvety after-feel.
Directions
Can be used daily for maximum benefits.
Warm the desired amount of product in the palm of your hand, and then massage creme gently into the skin until it is fully absorbed.
Apply generously on cleansed skin or any time of day for a boost of moisture.
Recommended Ritual
This Body Creme is the perfect finishing touch following cleansing with JUARA Candlenut Hydrating Shower Gel or Candlenut Bar Soap. You can also layer it with our Candlenut Glow Body Oil or Kartini Body Oil for the ultimate skin pampering protocol.
Ingredients
Candlenut Oil: Moisturizes and softens skin with a non-greasy, velvety feel. Rich in linoleic and linolenic acid, candlenut oil moisturizes and helps mend rough, chapped skin.
Rice Bran Oil: Maintains elasticity. Rich in natural Vitamin E and essential fatty acids, rice bran oil intensely hydrate and help maintain youthful elasticity.
Avocado Oil: Nourishes and calms. Traditionally used in Indonesia, Avocado Oil is richly hydrating and highly soothing.
Illipe Butter: Moisturizes and protects. Provides a cushiony barrier to protect skin from dehydration, hard water, and harsh elements.
All Ingredients: Water/Eau, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Emulsifying Wax NF, Cyclomethicone, Illipe (Shorea stenoptera) Seed Butter, Candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) Oil, Avocado (Persea gratissima) Oil, Stearyl Alcohol, Rice Bran (Oryza sativa) Oil, Dimethicone, Carrot (Daucus Carota sativa) Seed Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Carbomer, Fragrance/Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin, Glyceryl Caprylate, Phenypropanol.
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About 36 million Americans regularly practice yoga. Yoga is an excellent addition to your wellness routine, as it can improve strength and balance, relieve stress and anxiety, and encourage deep awareness. Certain types of yoga, such as somatic yoga, are ideal for relaxation and restoration, as they are centered around the internal benefits of mindful movement.
Key Takeaways
Somatic yoga is a wellness practice that focuses on enhancing mind-body awareness through gentle movements.
Somatic yoga is centered around internal sensations and personal experiences and seeks to reduce stress, release tension, and manage emotions.
Somatic yoga has many benefits for the mind and body, including improved sleep, chronic pain relief, and improved posture.
Also known as "yoga from the inside," somatic yoga heavily focuses on the mind-body connection. It prioritizes internal awareness over external appearances, allowing you to reconnect with yourself in a profound way.
Keep reading, and we'll tell you everything to know about somatic yoga.
Somatic yoga is a type of yoga that encourages a deeper understanding of your mind and body. It's an excellent practice for developing and improving your mind-body connection. At its core, it allows you to release muscular tension, restore emotional balance, and enhance sensory awareness.
A defining characteristic of somatic yoga is the prioritization of internal sensations over external appearance. Though there are physical benefits of somatic yoga, this wellness practice is focused primarily on the internal experience. It allows you to nurture your health and well-being from the inside out.
Somatic yoga is typically very gentle and soothing and doesn't allow for strain or stress on the body. Unlike traditional forms of yoga that are built on strength and balance, somatic yoga revolves around feelings and sensations. It's a deeply unique and personal experience that is different for each individual.
Traditional Yoga Vs. Somatic Yoga
Approximately 300 million people worldwide regularly practice yoga. Traditional yoga is a spiritual practice that is commonly used in traditional medicine and holistic healing. Somatic yoga, also known as "embodied yoga," paves the way for enhanced self-discovery and greater body awareness.
The poses of somatic yoga are not a be-all and end-all. They are seen as a jumping-off point for you to explore new poses. This allows for a unique experience that can be tailored to address your personal health goals.
Here are a few differences between traditional yoga and somatic yoga:
Traditional yoga strives to strengthen and stretch the physical body, while somatic yoga strives to activate your innate healing capacity and turn off conscious thinking.
Traditional yoga utilizes common alignment rules and repeated pattern flows, while somatic yoga utilizes non-linear and non-habitual movements to create new neural pathways.
Traditional yoga tames the mind using structured movements and mantras, while somatic yoga seeks to enhance the ability to experience feelings and sensations.
History of Somatic Yoga
"Soma" is Greek for "living body" and hints at the connection between the body and soul. "Somatics" is a movement therapy that taps into internal energy to improve balance, increase awareness, and relieve stress.
It is said that somatic therapy was founded by Thomas Hanna in the 1970s. Thomas Hanna believed that the body reacts to stress and trauma with specific muscular reflexes that can lead to stiffness and pain. Somatic therapy is designed to help the brain undo habitual movement patterns that can lead to pain and stiffness. It does this by allowing the muscles to relax and return to their natural state.
Somatic yoga is a combination of somatic therapy and yoga. It's an excellent wellness practice with many benefits for the mind and body.
Somatic yoga is a personal and holistic experience that balances the mind and relaxes the body. It has many benefits for your physical, emotional, and mental health, including:
Improved postural awareness: Somatic yoga helps you become more attuned to poor posture, allowing you to correct alignment and balance.
Improved flexibility and mobility: Somatic exercises can build strength, increase flexibility, and improve balance.
Enhanced breath awareness: A key component of somatic yoga is breathwork. Breathwork can improve respiratory function and elevate lung capacity.
Encouraged trauma healing: If you are embarking on a healing journey, it's a good idea to practice mindful movements like somatic yoga. Somatic yoga is gentle on the mind and body and gives you a chance to practice self-care, self-love, and self-compassion.
Improved sleep quality: Somatic yoga reduces tension, relaxes the body, and relieves stress, all of which can improve sleep quality and quantity. It's the best way to enjoy a good night's sleep!
Somatic yoga can also encourage holistic healing, increase energy flow, and improve overall body function. Here are some of the most notable pros of practicing somatic yoga.
#1. Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Your body has two modes: fight-or-flight mode (known as sympathetic activation) and rest-and-digest mode (known as parasympathetic activation.) Somatic yoga is able to help your body transition from fight-or-flight mode to rest-and-digest mode. When the fight-or-flight response is triggered too often or for too long, it can lead to chronic stress.
Chronic stress is known to increase the risk of physical conditions like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and metabolic disorders. It can also increase the risk of anxiety and depression, affect sleep quality and quantity, and contribute to muscular pain and chronic migraines.
Most of the time, stress will manifest as shallow breathing, muscular pain, digestive issues, lightheadedness, and increased heart rate.
Somatic yoga is known to stimulate the body's relaxation response. This calms the nervous system, reduces stress hormones like cortisol, and releases physical tension. This also reduces the physical symptoms of stress and anxiety. There are a few reasons why somatic yoga and somatic exercises are able to accomplish this.
To start with, somatic yoga allows you to reconnect with your mind and body. It allows you to take stock of your feelings, emotions, and thoughts and properly manage any negative sensations. The slow pace and inward exploration send safe and reassuring messages to your body, releasing tension and reducing stress.
Somatic exercises are typically gentle and relaxing on the body, which also allows the body to exit the fight-or-flight response. Somatic movement encourages relaxation, enhances body awareness, and improves deep breathing.
#2. Releases Emotional Tension
It is common for many people to carry stored emotions. This typically occurs when people subconsciously subdue emotions that they don't feel comfortable expressing. You may have been told to "get over it" or "move on," which didn't allow you to process or manage your emotions.
Though this often starts in childhood, it usually sticks around well into adulthood. However, it's incredibly important to address stored emotions in order to find happiness and discover peace. Though that may feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar, somatic yoga can create a safe and welcoming environment for letting go of suppressed and repressed emotions.
There are certain somatic movement practices that are specifically designed to release suppressed emotions and encourage trauma healing. For example, the psoas muscle is known to store unprocessed emotions. As a result, somatic exercises for the hips can help release trapped emotions.
#3. Chronic Pain Relief
An estimated 20% of U.S. adults have experienced chronic pain as of 2021. Somatic yoga is useful for managing chronic pain. Some have the misconception that chronic pain is a solely physical experience. However, studies have shown that chronic pain can be influenced by mental and emotional factors.
Somatic yoga helps release tension and manage emotions that may be contributing to chronic pain. Somatic yoga allows you to experience physical sensations with more depth and increased clarity that can reduce aches and pain.
Somatic yoga also helps relieve muscular tension, improve posture, and correct repetitive movements, all of which can contribute to chronic pain when unmanaged.
Somatic Yoga Exercises for Beginners
Somatic yoga practice allows you to explore your mind-body connection, experience a deeper sense of self, and improve external alignment. If you are a beginner, it's important to approach somatic movement and somatic yoga with patience and kindness.
There are a few things to keep in mind when practicing somatic yoga:
Close your eyes if you want to focus on physical sensations and internal emotions. This allows you to block out external stimuli that may be distracting.
Explore inner sensations with curiosity. Don't feel embarrassed about any thoughts or emotions that you may experience - simply accept that they exist.
Listen to your body's feedback. Your body can help you decide the flow of your somatic toga practice. It may tell you to switch poses early, stay in a pose for longer, or try a new pose. Your experience will be personal and unique to your mind and body.
Movements will be gentle, small, and slow. This is soothing and calming for the mind and body.
We'll cover a few basic somatic yoga exercises for beginners. If you want more information, watch this YouTube video for a quick tutorial on the most popular somatic yoga poses for beginners.
#1. Full Body Scan
The Full Body Scan is a calming and relaxing pose with minimal movement. It's the ultimate pose for reconnecting with yourself.
How to:
Slowly lay down on a yoga mat on your back. Ease your body into the pose. Your legs should be fully extended, and your arms should rest at your sides.
Allow your body to melt into the ground beneath you. Close your eyes and gently scan your body for points of connection. Focus on your breathing, and feel your breath move throughout your body.
Rest in this position for as long as necessary. Communicate with your body to discover the ideal duration.
Once you've completed a full scan, you can transition out of the pose. Slowly start by wiggling your toes and fingers, and eventually, roll to your side and sit up.
#2. Moving Bridge
How to:
Get into the Full Body Scan pose. Bend your knees, plant your feet on the ground, raise your hips, and place your arms palm-down.
Gently rock your pelvis back and forth. Feel the movement through your lower back. Feel which muscles become activated and stimulated during this movement.
Once this movement is complete, lower your back to the floor. Feel which muscles are now relaxed and calm.
Repeat this pose as many times as necessary. With each repetition, explore new muscles and new sensations so that you can slowly expand your awareness.
Once you've completed this exercise, you can transition out of the pose. Roll to your side and sit up.
The Bottom Line
Somatic yoga is a powerful yet calming way to feel connected with your inner self. It allows you to explore the relationship between your mind and body, helping you improve awareness through conscious breathing, gentle movements, and physical reflection. If you're looking for a new way to enhance your wellness routine, this is the perfect way to do so.
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