Arnold Askew, LMT, GCFP - Somatic Solutions

06/06/2026

🔥 In persistent pain work, more effort is not always the answer.

Many clients already use too much effort for simple tasks. They brace, grip, hold their breath, and recruit muscles that do not need to be working so hard.

This can make movement feel heavy, unsafe, or exhausting.

❓Somatic education offers a different clinical question: “What is the least effort needed to perform this movement clearly?”

That question can be powerful.

When clients learn to reduce unnecessary effort:
✅ Movement often becomes smoother
✅ Breathing becomes easier
✅ Protective muscle tone may decrease
✅ Confidence can improve
✅ The client gains more options

This does not replace strengthening, rehabilitation, or hands-on work.
It gives those approaches a better foundation.

When the nervous system learns that movement can be safe, clear, and efficient, other interventions often become easier to integrate.

If you’d like to learn more, check out upcoming NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Courses here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

05/31/2026

💨 What happens to the breath?

One of the simplest clinical observations in persistent pain work is also one of the most useful: what happens to the breath?

Ask a client to roll, reach, bend, or gently tilt the pelvis.

Then watch.
⚠️ Does the breath pause?
⚠️ Does the abdomen grip?
⚠️ Does the chest lift?
⚠️ Does the jaw tighten?
⚠️ Does the client rush through the movement?

These are not random details. They often show how the nervous system is organizing the task.

Breath-holding can be a sign that a movement feels less safe or more demanding than it actually is.

In somatic education, we can use this observation gently. Rather than saying, “Stop holding your breath,” try asking: “Can the movement be small enough that breathing stays easy?”

✅ That question changes the task. Now the client is not forcing range. They are learning how to move with less threat, less urgency, and more choice. For many clients, that is where useful change begins.

If you’d like to learn more, check out upcoming NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Courses here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

05/30/2026

🚨 EARLY BIRD RATE EXTENDED!! Alabama LMTs, this one is for you.

If you need 14 CE hours and want a live, hands-on course that can directly help you with chronic pain clients, we have an upcoming live training in Athens, Alabama:

Understanding and Transforming Chronic Pain
June 6 to 7, 2026
Athens, AL

You’ll learn practical concepts and hands-on approaches you can bring back into your sessions right away.
⏰ Early Bird pricing is ending soon
✅ Save $50
🚨 Limited seating

If you’ve been thinking about registering, now is the time.

👉 LEARN MORE: https://www.somaticsolution.com/course-0626-al

05/23/2026

😫 Many clients with persistent pain are not “doing movement wrong.”

They are often doing movement with more protection than the task requires.
In bodywork and movement sessions, this may show up as:

➡️ Jaw tension during simple movement
➡️ breath holding during transitions
➡️ abdominal gripping during low effort tasks
➡️ shoulders working when the movement is in the pelvis or hips
➡️ a sense that the whole body has to help with a small action

From a somatic perspective, bracing is not something to criticize. It is information.

The nervous system may be organizing movement around safety, not efficiency.
When we slow the task down, reduce the size of the movement, and help the client notice unnecessary effort, the system often has a chance to reorganize.

❌ The goal is not to tell the client to “relax.”
✅ The goal is to help them experience the difference between protection and support.
🔄 That distinction can change how they move.

If you’d like to learn more, check out upcoming NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Courses here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

05/23/2026

⚠️ Alabama LMTs, this one is for you.

If you need 14 CE hours and want a live, hands-on course that can directly help you with chronic pain clients, we have an upcoming live training in Athens, Alabama:

Understanding and Transforming Chronic Pain
June 6 to 7, 2026
Athens, AL

You’ll learn practical concepts and hands-on approaches you can bring back into your sessions right away.

⏰ Early Bird pricing is ending soon
✅ Save $50
🚨 Limited seating

If you’ve been thinking about registering, now is the time.

👉 LEARN MORE: https://www.somaticsolution.com/course-0626-al

05/16/2026

🔥 Many low back pain clients move carefully and still keep flaring up.

🚨 They brace.
🚨 They restrict.
🚨 They try to protect the area.
➡️ And over time, that same strategy can reduce efficiency and increase cumulative strain.

This article explores how bodyworkers can use a somatic lens to look beyond isolated tissues and help clients improve coordination between the pelvis and spine through awareness, reduced effort, and better load sharing.

👉 Read here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/pelvis-spine-coordination

👉 Learn more during one of my upcoming NCBTMB Approved CE Courses: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

How pelvis and spine coordination affects persistent low back pain, guarding, movement variability, and functional bodywork outcomes.

05/08/2026

🔄 Movement Variability Protects the Low Back

In persistent low back pain, we frequently see movement patterns become rigid and repetitive.

Clients may:
🚨 Hinge from one spinal segment repeatedly
🚨 Avoid hip movement
🚨 Brace excessively during normal activity
🚨 Move cautiously even when tissue healing has occurred

This is understandable. Pain changes how the nervous system organizes movement.

Somatic education helps clients explore new options for distributing effort through the pelvis, hips, ribs, and spine.

When movement becomes more adaptable:
✅ Mechanical strain is shared across more structures
✅ Breathing improves
✅ Fear of movement often decreases
✅ Daily function becomes less threatening

The clinical aim is not perfect posture. It is improved coordination and adaptability during real tasks like walking, reaching, and lifting.

If you’d like to learn more, check out upcoming NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Courses here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

05/02/2026

👀 Simple Clinical Exploration of Chronic Low Back Pain

Pelvic Initiation Instead of Lumbar Effort. Try observing this with a client who reports persistent low back discomfort.

➡️ Have them lie on their back with knees bent.
➡️ Ask them to slowly begin a very small pelvic tilt.
➡️ Then ask them to pause and notice what else is working.

Common responses include:
⚠️ jaw tension
⚠️ shoulder gripping
⚠️ breath restriction
⚠️ strong lumbar contraction

This tells us the movement system is using more effort than necessary for a simple task.

From a somatic perspective, the goal is not stretching or strengthening first. The goal is to help the client feel the difference between:
❌ moving with excess tension
✅ moving with just enough effort

When clients experience that distinction, they often develop more confidence and better motor control.

Small changes in coordination can reduce protective muscle guarding and improve movement quality over time.

If you’d like to learn more, check out upcoming NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Courses here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

04/25/2026

💡Why Pelvic Movement Matters in Chronic Low Back Pain

Many people with ongoing low back pain are not simply weak or tight. Often, they have learned to hold or stabilize their pelvis too much in everyday movement.

This creates a pattern where the lumbar spine begins to do more work than it was designed to handle. Over time, this can lead to fatigue, guarding, and increased pain sensitivity.

In somatic work, we often observe:
🚨 Limited pelvic motion during walking or bending
🚨 Breath-holding or abdominal bracing during simple tasks
🚨 Movement that feels effortful even when the load is low
🚨 Reduced confidence in normal movement

When clients begin to rediscover small, comfortable pelvic motion, several things can change:
✅ Load is distributed more evenly through the hips and trunk
✅ Spinal muscles reduce unnecessary tension
✅ Movement feels safer and more predictable
✅ Functional tasks become easier

This is not about forcing range. It is about helping the nervous system relearn coordination that has become restricted.

If you’d like to learn more, check out upcoming NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Courses here: https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse

04/09/2026

👋 Here’s a quick look at the kind of hands on somatic movement work I use with clients.

At first glance, it may look simple. Maybe even subtle. But this kind of guided movement can tell us a lot.

It can help reveal whether a client tends to assist, resist, brace, or hold.
It can show where there may be mechanical limitation. And it can introduce the client to new possibilities for movement and mobility they may not have felt in a long time.

That’s part of what makes this work so valuable.

The very same movement can serve as an assessment or a treatment, depending on the therapist’s intention.

For bodyworkers and massage therapists, this opens up a powerful clinical question:
Are you only working on the body, or are you also helping the client learn through the body?

When we use movement this way, we’re not just trying to “fix” tissue. We’re gathering information, building awareness, and helping clients experience safer, easier, more organized movement.

That can be especially valuable with chronic pain clients, guarded clients, and clients who seem stuck in the same patterns no matter how much work you do.

Learn more during one of my upcoming NCBTMB Approved CE Courses:
https://www.somaticsolution.com/cecourse