CMA Somatic Practices & Movement Re-education 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In somatic practices, 'proprioception' is best described as:
- The sense of body position and movement arising from muscles, tendons, and joints (Correct answer)
- The visual perception of the body's location in space
- The emotional awareness of physical sensations
- The auditory feedback used in voice-based movement therapy
Correct answer: The sense of body position and movement arising from muscles, tendons, and joints
Proprioception is the sensory system providing information about body position, movement, and force through receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints.
Question 2: The Rolfing Structural Integration approach, developed by Ida Rolf, primarily works with which tissue to reorganize the body in gravity?
- Bone
- Fascia (connective tissue) (Correct answer)
- Skeletal muscle
- Cartilage
Correct answer: Fascia (connective tissue)
Rolfing manipulates the myofascial network — the fascial web surrounding muscles and organs — to release restrictions and realign the body in the gravitational field.
Question 3: Which developmental movement pattern, central to BMC and Bartenieff work, involves simultaneous movement of both arms and both legs?
- Homolateral
- Contralateral
- Homologous (Correct answer)
- Radial
Correct answer: Homologous
Homologous movement involves the upper or lower halves of the body moving simultaneously and symmetrically, as seen in a frog jump or both arms reaching overhead together.
Question 4: In somatic movement education, 'interoception' refers to:
- The perception of the body's internal physiological state (Correct answer)
- The movement of attention outward to the environment
- The mapping of external space during locomotion
- The kinesthetic sense of another person's movement quality
Correct answer: The perception of the body's internal physiological state
Interoception is the sense of the body's internal state — including organ sensations, heart rate, hunger, and visceral feelings — increasingly recognized as central to somatic practices.
Question 5: The concept of 'inhibition' in the Alexander Technique means:
- Suppressing emotional expression during movement
- Pausing to prevent habitual reactive responses before acting (Correct answer)
- Restricting range of motion to avoid injury
- Inhibiting the stretch reflex through passive stretching
Correct answer: Pausing to prevent habitual reactive responses before acting
In AT, inhibition is the conscious pause between stimulus and response that allows the practitioner to choose a new, non-habitual action rather than reacting automatically.
Question 6: Which somatic approach uses 'Functional Integration' (FI) as its hands-on one-to-one teaching modality?
- Body-Mind Centering
- Feldenkrais Method (Correct answer)
- Trager Approach
- Hakomi
Correct answer: Feldenkrais Method
Functional Integration is the individual hands-on form of the Feldenkrais Method, where the practitioner guides the student's movement through gentle touch to suggest new neurological patterns.
Question 7: In the Trager Approach, the quality practitioners cultivate internally before and during a session is called:
- Grounding
- Mindfulness
- Hook-up (Correct answer)
- Presence
Correct answer: Hook-up
Milton Trager called the meditative, receptive internal state of the practitioner 'hook-up' — a felt connection to a larger field of energy that informs the quality of touch and movement.
CMA Somatic Practices & Movement Re-education 3
In somatic practices, 'proprioception' is best described as: