Some of the favorite body work I do is known as SATYA; which is a system of movements created by Tias Little. In this practice, we tune into how we feel internally, we tune into our nervous system, and we strengthen our capacity for interoception. Here is a 12 minute video introduction to SATYA. If you are curious, try it out. Read on to learn more of what SATYA is and why it’s important to do this type of somatic work.
Beginning SATYA movements
SATYA practice is a perfect style of yoga for morning practice and it rarely (if ever) requires props. Just a spot on the floor. I often lay down a blanket to practice on, but if you have a carpeted floor you can just plop down on that. As we move, our fascia glides along our muscles and, over time, begins to move more freely in a healthy way.
Why is that important?
Great question! Fascia is tissue that surrounds and covers all of our muscles right down to the muscle fiber level. It in a way allows muscles to move and shift in our body. When our fascia isn’t healthy or well hydrated, it tends to stick or bunch up. Tias describes it like if you took a hand full of spaghetti and tossed it into a pot of boing water, but didn’t stir the noodles. The noodles will clump up and bind to one another in a tight mass. When we move and hydrate our fascia, it becomes unstuck and allows our body to move in the way it’s meant to.
Why does this matter?
Friction, tightness, and lack of mobility in our body leads to all sorts of unwanted things, such as, poor quality sleep, sore muscles, and just a general feeling of being not quite right. Often, we become so used to these feelings that we think they are just normal. That is, until we start to move and heal. As we work on taking care of ourselves, we find that our body has an ease of movement we never knew and longer periods of relaxation creep into our life.
How does SATYA support recovery?
Yoga, in general, supports recovery by connecting our mind & body. As this connection builds and deepens, we find a few things:
- We don’t react so quickly to our triggers and we find space between trigger and reaction
- We more easily shift from our fight & flight mind to our rest & digest mind, so our nerves are not on edge all the time
- We come to appreciate our body in a healthy way and become less willing to harm ourselves
SATYA in particular, supports our recovery by training our body to find a restful state without the use of substances to calm us down or numb us. Shifting from anxiety and tension to relaxation is a skill that we can improve over time, it’s not magic, it is a physiological shift which we learn to engage.
Learn more about how yoga supports recovery by reading “How it works”
The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren’t enough. -Amy Weintraub