Episode 36: Somatic Dominance

Movement Logic: Strong Opinions, Loosely Held

Welcome to Episode 36 of the Movement Logic podcast! In this listener-requested episode, Sarah and Laurel discuss somatic dominance, a phrase coined by author Matthew Remski to describe the manner in which teachers of movement, and yoga specifically, can come to exert control over their students, and the potential for abuse of this control.

Content Warning: This episode contains references to physical and sexual abuse.

We discuss:

• The definition of somatic dominance
• How some teachers use somatic influence, purposefully or not
• Sarah’s experiences as a Jivamukti Yoga teacher and practitioner, including the famously aggressive physical adjustments, the culture of explaining away behaviors and pain as karma, and whether Jivamukti Yoga can be considered “cult-lite”
• How we can all monitor and adjust our teaching methodology to avoid unconsciously creating unwanted somatic influence over our students

Matthew Remski book: Practice and All is Coming

Remski article on Sharon Gannon’s Somatic Dominance

Conspirituality Podcast

Remski article on Michael Roach, Christie McNally and Ian Thorson

NY Times article: Michael Roach and Christie McNally

NY Times article: Diamond Mountain University and death of Ian Thorson

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