Ecosomatics
What is Ecosomatics?
Eco-somatics is an emerging field that reclaims our innate connection to the Earth through the living wisdom of the body. It begins with a simple yet profound truth: the body is nature. We are not separate from the rivers, forests, and cosmos but are an integral expression of the same ecological intelligence that animates all life. Eco-somatics bridges the divide between humans and the more-than-human world, offering a way to heal both personal and planetary disconnection.
The field specifically merges somatics and deep ecology. Somatics recognises the body as a source of knowing, a source of wisdom or innate intelligence from which we can orient our lives. Whereas Deep Ecology is a study of philosophy that understands our interconnectedness with all of life, and that there is intrinsic value and consciousness or animacy that exists in the wider ecology. Eco-somatics thus acknowledges that the way in which we understand and practice our interconnectedness to the animate world is through our bodies.
At its heart, eco-somatics explores ways the individual body or soma provides a medium through which we relate to and interact with the expanded Earth body. Importantly, this pioneering research stipulates that the revaluation of the body and its role in ecological self-realisation is essential to human-nature reconnection and thus socio-ecological wellbeing.
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times
For as long as we can recall, humans have moved together in acknowledgment of life’s rhythms that animate our experience as and of the Earth. Ancient rock art in southern Africa, living practices of Australian Aboriginal corroborees, Gaelic Maypole dances celebrating Beltane, rain dance traditions among First Nations people of North America, and healing dances of the Jo/hoan San (Bushmen) all speak to the evolution and becoming of human culture inextricable from somatic practices such as dance, song and ceremony. Eco-somatics is an emergent field of research and practice that acknowledges this intimate dance between somatic practice and our ecological identity, and thus explores the potential of eco-embodiment in positively transforming contemporary human-nature relationships.
The Body as Earth, Earth as Body
Eco-somatics sees the body not as a machine to be controlled or a vessel for the mind but as a living microcosm of the Earth. This perspective invites us to move beyond intellectual abstractions and experience ourselves as embodied ecosystems. Through somatic practices like dance, movement, breathwork, song, and ceremony, we come to feel—not just think—our place within the living web of existence. As we experience the Earth within our bodies, we also recognise the Earth as a living, breathing body of its own—a sacred, animate presence with which we are in constant dialogue.
Recognizing the Animacy of the Natural World
Eco-somatics reawakens our understanding that the natural world is alive, dynamic, and filled with agency. This perspective shifts us from seeing nature as a resource to honouring it as a community of sovereign beings with their own intrinsic value. When we open ourselves to the possibility that the Earth wants to dance with us; that our environments are not just a participant in movement but a conscious initiator—a space for potential dialogue beyond human control opens up. Through eco-somatics, we are called to step into this dialogue with humility and curiousity, recognising that the Earth has much to teach us—if only we are willing to listen.
Coming Home to Ourselves and the Earth
Eco-somatics is an invitation to come home—to your body, to the Earth, to your soul and the truth of who we are. It is a practice of reawakening our potential, dissolving barriers, and embracing the mystery of life as an ongoing dance of intraconnection. Through this embodied journey, we rediscover what Indigenous cultures and ancient wisdom have always known: that we are Earth in motion, part of a sacred, animate dance.
By embodying this truth, eco-somatics offers not just personal transformation but a way forward for humanity—one grounded in reverence, reciprocity, and the radical act of remembering we belong.
The body is our most ancient and under-utilised medium for knowing, being and relating to the living ecologies we belong to.
— Brittany Laidlaw