Somatic Systems Institute was founded in 1993 in Amherst, Massachusetts to bring awareness of the field of Somatics, to act as global resource center, and to preserve and expand the integrity and availability of Somatics for people and institutions all over the world.
Since its founding, the Somatic Systems Institute has been an international resource and educational center for the general realms of somatic education, healthcare, science, and philosophy, and for many of the specific fields and modalities somatic in nature or orientation. SSI launched the first web site about somatics, The Somatics Center, in 1995, and then opened the first online somatics store, enabling people from all over the world access to somatics books and important hard-to-find self-help tools, when Amazon was not even a glimmer in most people's eyes. Even before those early days of the World Wide Web, SSI was a leader in providing information and resources for somatics, offering the first and only toll-free Somatics hotline.
SSI was the first clinic for the then all-too-rare Clinical Somatic Education™ in all of New England. After SSI had established satellite clinics in Manhattan (1995) and Providence, Rhode Island (1999), Somatic Systems Institute became the first and only practitioner training program after Thomas Hanna's.
Somatic Systems Institute works year round to expand access to Somatics, and increase availability of trained professionals in the field. In 2006, in an effort to solve the problem of many peoples' only access to Somatics being books or CDs, Somatic Systems began the process of building a nationwide chain of Clinics. These Somatics Centers serve as clinics, exercise class centers, and retail outlets for clients, customers, students, and health care professionals of all kinds.