A Personalized Profile

Stephen Williams

B.A. M.A. GCFP LMT

Honolulu, HI USA

and thanks Dad, for everything !

In 2017 I revisited the master's U.S. Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the lofty goal of winning 3 national titles. I succeeded with the first two, and was happy with Bronze in the final effort! These events had been the perfect "Field Test", and I was the perfect "lab rat". In those few years, starting with 'unable to walk' and ending with a #3 World Ranking, I discovered what was possible simply by practicing what I was teaching. Running ended (due to a dog attack) and I began overhauling my entire practice, fully embracing somatic learning and breathing. It was clear what it had done for me, and I saw what it was doing for my clients. There were holdouts among them and I respected that, but I'm sad to this day, seeing the condition some are presently in and knowing how they could have benefited ... if only! Sports accolades had felt great, but no greater than hearing the gratitude expressed by those I had helped, while seeing them improve in ways not seen before. In 2018 I chose to enter the Feldenkrais Professional Training, a 4-year certification program that became 6yrs with the COVID-19 shutdown. I added an Advanced Breathing Instructor certification during that period. Given my age, travel and logistics, cost, and time away from home, it would've been difficult even without the pandemic! I'm sure everyone faced their own hardships at the time. I chose to embrace the challenge as opportunity, and do so still. The physical and physiological benefits became obvious. but it is the profound links to recent Neuro-Science discoveries that now fascinate me the most. The path that leads to functional somatic awareness (breath included) does not end there; interpret that as you will. I hope this rather personal introduction has been helpful in providing insight regarding me and the site itself.

Thanks for visiting,

SDW

As a Somatic Educator, Practitioner, and Breathing Instructor, I use the term "Somaticist" (not to be confused with "Somatist") to best describe those who work in the field of Somatic Awareness. Having come full circle to the behavioral and cognitive aspects that first interested me, I often use the term Neuro-Somaticist. Regardless, it all begins with the sensing of movement, position, and feelings or emotions. Over the years, I've noticed the tendency to treat Somatics and Breathing separately. However, I see them as the same, and often present both within a session. For me, every aspect of breathing is somatic in nature, and every aspect of Somatics involves the breath. The two are inseparable.

My work with NeuroSomatics began obscurely when I returned to post-graduate study in Neuro-Psychology, and began to integrate it into my practice as a Shiatsu Therapist. Truthfully, most clients had no interest in the somatic content. They just wanted their sore back or stiff neck fixed while they slept. But the few who came aboard helped grow my interest and understanding of what was possible.

In early 2007, a bike accident changed everything! A painful limp ended my physical activities for 18 months. Eventually, with my limited knowledge of functionally-applied somatics, I began to walk using focused attention. I was shocked to discover one day that jogging was less painful than walking, and soon came to understand why. Thus, in August of 2008, I began running (sorry..." jogging"), something I hadn't done for 40 years. When I mentioned to several runners that it would be cool to "run Boston someday", they laughed at me! With stringent time-qualifying brackets, the Boston Marathon often remains on one's "bucket list" for a lifetime. As a once decent runner, their response burned in me all the way home ...so that very night I registered for a December marathon that could qualify me for Boston. I achieved that goal, and returned to Boston 5 more times, winning the silver medal for my division in 2012, and gold in another big event that year. Sadly, I never again saw those three who had laughed at me.

As work demands grew, I trained for shorter events. On a hot July morning in 2015, I won a 2nd National Championship title (Running), a half-century after a different one, in honor of my father. Fifty years earlier, the newspaper showed him lifting me at the airport, having quarterbacked the 1960 Pop Warner World Champions in football. I had chatted with Walt Disney in his office as he lunched, and been kissed by teen heartthrob Annette Funicello. Does it get any better for a 12-year-old? Now it had all come full circle, gifting my father with a national title on his 100th birthday, to complement his black eye from a fall. It was good timing, as he died soon afterward. The following year, I happened upon a series of online posts from a woman in Berlin who was analyzing running form in major events. The observations and comments were strangely identical to my own. Eventually, I reached out to connect and realized I had seen her methodology, "Feldenkrais", profiled in a news article 10 years earlier but had brushed it off. If I had read further, I would have seen how closely it resembled what I was already doing, and how genius the creator was. He had literally been a pioneer in Neuro-Plasticity, as much so as Paul Bach-y-Rita had been, just differing in approach. So a shout-out to Jae Gruenke for giving me a reason to look again.