The Church says: The body is a sin. Science says: The body is a machine. Advertising says: The body is a business. The body says: I am a fiesta. —Eduardo Galeano, from “Window on the Body” Somatics integrates sensing, feeling, thinking and action. It comes from the Greek word "soma", which means "the living organism in its wholeness". It is anti-reductionist. It sees the self as indistinguishable from the body. We adapt to our experiences and environment, which shape our bodies in ways that become habitual and familiar. We acquire "practices" that are inherited through our families and social systems, and are mostly unconscious. Everything from the way we breathe, to riding a bike, to how we fall in love, is a practice. Somatics examines our practices to see which ones are aligned with what we value. By increasing awareness, it gives us a way to transform our practices. Rather than achieved top-down through thinking, this transformation is enacted by a bottoms-up approach, through the body.