By Keng Yang Shuen,
The Manila-born, Singapore-based Chloe Chotrani is a practitioner of somatic therapy – an increasingly popular alternative form of healing that's premised on how past traumas can inflict stress and pain on the body.
She was also formally trained in ballet and involved in the street hip-hop scene back home in the Filipino capital for over a decade.
Here, she tells us how dance can be good for one's physical, mental and emotional well-being especially during manic times like these.
“The crisis brought about by the pandemic has given everyone a common collective trauma… I think the movement of the healing arts-and-wellness field has become more popular because we need it.
Our world on a social level is sick emotionally and physically, and we are learning increasingly that the two are interwoven. It’s why I was drawn to (formally) practise somatic therapy last year.
Interestingly, the word ‘pandemic’ originates from the Greek words ‘pan’, which means all, and ‘demos’, which means people. One could see it as something that unifies; a gateway into a deep healing journey.
In somatic therapy, we acknowledge that our emotional states affect our physical reality. Stress has a direct effect on the nervous system, which affects the way we function, digest food, absorb information and essentially regulate ourselves.”
Wool sweater, Longchamp. Cotton tights, Miu Miu
“In somatic touch therapy, the intention is to let the nervous system feel safe and supported through deep listening and touch with the help of a practitioner – or what we call co-regulation (in psychology speak, this refers to having another person help modify one’s actions and behaviour)...
When the nervous system can co-regulate more – seen, for example, via picking up a new habit – it will eventually learn how to self-soothe in times of distress. In a typical session, people can possibly feel relaxed and even enter a light sleep; heightened noticing of sensations in the body; emotional release; visualisations of memories and much more. Healing is a long-term and complex process.
I think it’s quite natural for someone like myself who has a background in dance to fall into somatic practice and the healing arts because dancers are trained to sense movement and other bodies.
Dancing can be therapeutic. It helps our bodies to release endorphins. Sometimes it can even release us from fight/flight/freeze-type situations and into feeling good about ourselves. And it for sure helps us to manage stress.”
Mohair dress, Longchamp
“Outside of somatic therapy (she’s attached to the holistic clinic Illuma Health at Robinson Square), I lead a holistic workshop called Dancing Landscapes that uses dance and movement to build body and spatial awareness. It’s structured as a movement workshop because ‘dance classes’ can seem intimidating.
I’m aware of how dancing can make one feel vulnerable especially if you’re body-conscious and that’s almost everyone in this age of social media, so I wanted to make sure that this class is accessible to anyone who wants to dance and move.
Each session focuses on getting to know one’s own body by exploring its movement range; connecting with oneself in an embodied way; and learning your own groove and flavour through improvising. To facilitate all of these processes, it is important for me to make sure that people feel safe.
From there, I invite them to feel and be more free with and in their bodies because there are times when we get in our own way – there is always some level of shame and shyness to work through when it comes to our own bodies.
Globally, there is a growing interest in getting in touch with one’s body – in slowing down and understanding movement – from not just a performative space, but also from a space of understanding that the body can reveal a lot to us.
I don’t think that anyone can deny that we often spend too much time in our heads because of what modern society requires and the result is that a lot of that innate wisdom of the body is lost.”
Cotton blouse, Tory Burch
Photography Veronica Tay Styling Damian Huang, assisted by Yuan Kun Hair Ayako/1TTO + Lim Makeup Beno Lim, using Chanel Makeup
This article first appeared in the July 2021 Dance edition of FEMALE