The Somatic Reflexes

We are constantly required to react and adapt to our changing environment. Our bodies react to protect us and move into action. Thomas Hanna identified three basic responses which underly many of the postural and pain problems experienced by people.

Green Light (Landau Response)​​

This Green Light reflex is activated everyday ande allows us to leap into action when needed. In our fast moving society we are constantly placing demands on our bodies to move and go! The phone rings, our boss asks us for a report, a child tugs at your hand – we let ourselves react to all of these demands. In doing so our backs are constantly called to action in order to attend to all of these daily tasks.  

As a result of the continued call to action our back muscles become habitually tightened over time. We may not notice it at first but over time the contacted muscles limit our freedom of movement and eventually start to cause chronic pain.

As a result your posture changes to become like a soldier standing at attention: your shoulders are pulled back and down, the chin tips up, the pelvis tipped or pushed forward, the legs are turned out slightly. These are all because of the activated green light muscles.

These habituated contractions of our green light muscles can lead to back and shoulder pain, herniated discs, lower back pain, plantar fascilitis and TMJ issues.​

Red Light Reflex (The Startle Response)

All animals have this protective reflex to withdraw from a dangerous or threatening situation. Our backs round, shoulders curl forward, pelvis tucks under to protect our very vulnerable underbellies.

Rarely do we humans have to protect ourselves from a wild animal, so our red light reflex will engage when we hear a loud noise, become scared, or have a sudden shock. It will also engage when we feel emotionally threatened.

The red light posture has shoulders slumping forward, pelvis tucking under, chin jutting forward, knees pointing in toward each other. 

We can also learn the red light reflex from long hours spent driving or sitting in front of a computer.

Repeated red light contractions can lead to long term issues such as neck and shoulder pain, shallow breath, respiratory issues, reproductive issues, and knee problems.

Trauma Reflex

The trauma reflex is related to side and waist issues. It develops as a reaction to injury, surgery or an accident that allows the body to avoid further injury. 

In the Trauma response the waist and side muscles become engaged and permanently contracted in order to compensate for the injury

Sitting for prolonged periods at a computer, using  a mouse with the same hand can cause waist and side muscles on that side to become habitually contracted as the body leans or sags into that side, leading to a trauma response. Check it out for yourself!

Once the injury has healed, if these muscles do not eventually release, they can lead to more permanent postural deviations, which then can lead to other issues such as sleep disorders, fatigue, and respiratory problems.

Long term trauma muscle issues include sciatica, scoliosis, “long or short leg syndrome”, or one shoulder lower or higher than the other.

These issues are easily corrected with Somatic exercises.