Somatic Semantics
You may have noticed that I’ve begun transitioning to the use of the word somatic to describe meditation, movement, and even bodywork. Over the coming weeks, you’ll also see my business name change to North Star Somatic Arts.
I will continue to use the terms yoga and somatic embodiment interchangeably, just as somatic meditation and yoga nidra will remain connected in language and practice.
As many of you know, I have been practicing and studying yoga for most of my life. I began “teaching” in 2013, during a time when yoga studios seemed to appear on every corner. Within the modern yoga community, there has long existed a yearning to keep yoga separate from the fitness world—as if associating yoga with fitness might somehow diminish its spiritual roots.
Yet yoga is fitness. You can find it in nearly every gym and wellness studio. But yoga is also a living tradition—evolving, adapting, and expanding just as we do. I’ve always tried to honor its ancient wisdom and source teachings by continuing to use the word yoga, even when the modern language around it felt misleading. At times, I even stepped away from “teaching yoga,” unwilling to rename sacred practices that have too often been appropriated or commodified by a culture fixated on domination and possession.
Over time, I’ve come to a deep knowing that Somatics—a term now recognized as relating to the body—is more accurate for the practices I offer in service to wholeness. Soma is a Sanskrit word that refers to nourishment, the cooling bliss of the moon, and the sacred elixirs that foster integration, resolution, and realization—the very essence of practices like Yoga Nidra. This linguistic and energetic connection nourishes my soul. It’s a thread that ties me to a lineage of wisdom and a practice that feels as if it has lived within me for many lifetimes.
My movement away from naming my offerings as “Yoga” comes from a desire for clarity and integrity of intention. Your experience—felt through your own body—is the truest authority on your spiritual evolution. Embodiment is the sacred relationship between mind, body, and spirit—not as separate systems, but as one living wholeness.
You are like a drop in the vast ocean—complete and whole in yourself, yet inseparably part of the greater whole.
