Clothing
Sessions, while gentle, do require movement, and that movement should generally be slow and unrestricted, not forced or uncomfortable. As such, it is important that you wear appropriate, non-restrictive clothing. Jeans and other tight pants will interfere with your session (and may significantly limit your results and the value of your session. Shirts that do not allow comfortable movement will also interfere. Skirts or dresses should also not be worn, as they do not allow comfortable movement of the lower body for either the client or the practitioner. Be prepared to remove your shoes, jewelry, belts or restricting apparel, and pocket items.
Slacks, yoga pants, sweat pants, shorts or other easy moving pants are the best things to wear, along with a comfortable shirt such as a t-shirt or jersey (“button-down”/“oxford” shirts may work, but some clients find them restrictive).
Because the session will be conducted without shoes, socks must be worn during the session, even during summer months. If you are wearing sandals in bare feet, or if you are arriving from an athletic situation, please bring a pair of clean socks as a courtesy to your practitioner. Similarly, if you will be coming to the session from a setting where your clothing will be excessively soiled or covered in chemicals or industrial materials, please bring a change of clothing. Our clinic tables are expensive, and can be torn by sharp parts of clothing or permanently damaged by paints, solvents, etc. Furthermore, our practitioners work with other members of the public all day and we cannot expose them or their belongings to dangerous or destructive substances. Please also refrain from wearing strong perfumes, as others may have chemical sensitivities to synthetic fragrances. We thank you in advance for your responsibility and consideration in these matters.
Preparation
Sessions are not aerobic, but it is recommended you do not come to your session overly stuffed from a meal. Additionally, please do not prepare for your session by stretching or conducting any other body routine from other modalities.
Session Arrival
Clients should arrive 5 minutes early for their session, to be ready in time for the session. If you have brought a change of clothes (to change out of restrictive work clothes, etc.), you should change before the scheduled start time for your session. Most of our locations have bathrooms or other changing facilities for your convenience.
First time sessions may involve completion of some paperwork and other intake, so you should arrive 15 minutes before the start time of your scheduled appointment.
Session Participation
Somatics sessions are gentle, comfortable, and easy. You will not need to be physically fit, or aerobically active. You will be actively participating for much of the session, consciously engaging in slow, simple movements. Thus, while this is not a math test, you will be involved and awake. Somatics is not like some kinds of massage, where you can nap for the duration of the session. Somatics is also not like some kinds of fitness training, where you will be watching television while working out.
Session Times
Your session will generally take the entire scheduled time, and may occasionally run over a few minutes. You should plan to be present for the entire time alloted, and possibly for 15 minutes beyond that.
Occasionally, in the process of day's schedule, sessions may start a few minutes after their scheduled times. Regardless, you will be provided with the complete time required for your session.
On the other hand, each individual session is specialized precisely for the client's individual needs, including how long or short their duration should be. Different clients will need more or less neurological information and physical effort per session for the work to be effective. This means that some sessions will be shorter than others, even within the scheduled time slot. First sessions may be scheduled for one hour and a half, but some may only take, for example, 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Regular sessions are typically scheduled for a period of one hour, so they are shorter than first time sessions, but each of these shorter sessions may vary in duration as well.
At the End of the Session
The value of some sessions for some clients will be enhanced by the neurological integration your body does in the time after the session. We recommend that you allow some time after the session to not rush into your normal schedule. Long-distance travelers may wish to take 15 minute walk before driving home; local clients may wish to plan a few moments of time to move leisurely before their next high-demand activity.
Session Aftercare & Compliance
To obtain optimal benefits and results from your session, we recommend that you do not engage in any high-performance athletic events for approximately 1-3 days after your session. There is no harm in doing so, but you may counteract some of the improvements made in your session (and slip back into some of the symptoms and conditions you had before your sessions), by re-engaging your body in old habitual activity before it has had a few days to fully integrate the changes achieved in your Somatics session.
To best achieve the outcomes sought in your course of sessions, you should follow your practitioner’s complete recommendations and routines. Leaving out some parts of your routines may diminish the efficacy of the sessions.
Payment for Services
All services are payable when rendered. Payment may be made by cash, check or credit card. Please make checks payable to Somatic Systems Institute.
Canceling or Rescheduling Session Appointments
Your clinic session appointment is reserved for you. It takes a substantial amount of commitment and energy from your practitioner and our clinic, and it is reserved for you, so others cannot take that time. To assure you this quality of care, session cancellations or rescheduling must be made at least 24 hours in advance of the session starting time. Sessions that are canceled or rescheduled any later than that (or missing an appointment and failing to call at all) must still be paid for in full.
Clinic sessions usually require the entire time alloted to you. Clients arriving more than 10 minutes after the scheduled start time of their session will be considered to have missed the session, and charge policies outlined above may apply.
Classes and Workshops
Clothing
Unless otherwise specified, attire for classes and workshops is generally the same as for clinic sessions (see above).
Classes and Workshops Arrival
Please arrive 5 minutes early for your regular weekly class, to be ready in time for the start of class. If you have brought a change of clothes (to change out of restrictive work clothes, etc.), you should change before the scheduled start time for your class. Most of our locations have bathrooms or other changing facilities for your convenience.
For the first day of a regular weekly class, please arrive 10 minutes early, to get oriented and settled in before the start of class, and to take care of any outstanding logistical details.
If you have not registered or paid for your class, please arrive at least 15 minutes early, to register and pay for class. In some cases, if you are unregistered and arrive late, you may not be able to get into the class.
One-time Workshops may have different arrival and registration schedules. When in doubt, it is a good idea to arrive at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time to be prepared to start class on time. This is especially true if you have not yet registered and/or paid for the workshop.
Canceling or Rescheduling Classes and Workshops
Registration for exercise classes reserves a place for you in the class. In weekly exercise class series, refunds cannot be issued for students missing a class.
However, in some regular weekly class series, if you miss a week, you will be allowed to attend that same class at another time the series is offered. For example, if you miss Class #3 of the Somatics Exercises for the Hip Joints class series, you can attend Class #3 for that series when it is offered again in the future. This offer is available on a space available basis, meaning that if the class you wish to attend is fully occupied, you may have to wait for the next available offering of the class.
One-time Workshops may be booked based on reservations, and may be space limited, so cancellations must be made sooner than 5 days before the start of the workshops. Refunds may not be able to be issued for cancellations after that time.
Medical Advice
Somatics, including promotional and educational materials as well as conversations with staff and information provided in sessions and classes, is not intended, nor should it be regarded, as medical advice. For such advice, you should consult a medical doctor. If you experience serious or protracted pain during or after Somatics sessions or exercises, then you may have problems other than sensory-motor amnesia, and you should consult your doctor immediately.
Of course, you should always speak with your doctor before beginning any exercise or movement regimen, or if you have concerns about your health. Neither Somatic Systems Institute nor your Somatics practitioners and teachers are medical doctors; they cannot provide medical advice or diagnose medical conditions.