Soma

The Distinction between soma and body

Somatics is the study of the soma—the body as experienced from within. When we look at a person from the outside, we see their physical body. But when we experience ourselves from the inside, through our own senses, we perceive something quite different: our soma.

Human perception naturally includes both an internal awareness of ourselves and an external awareness of the world around us. The soma is distinct from the physical body not because the person is different, but because the way they are observed is different. Internal awareness is based on direct sensory feedback, known as proprioception, which provides unique and immediate information.

Recognising this distinction is essential. The same person appears completely different when viewed from the outside versus when experienced from within. The data collected from these two perspectives are fundamentally different.

Third-Person vs. First-Person Perspectives

Medicine, for example, typically takes a third-person perspective, seeing a patient as a physical body with symptoms that can be examined, diagnosed, and treated. Physiology follows a similar approach, viewing the body as an object governed by physical and chemical laws, measurable like any other biological system. Psychology, too, often adopts this external viewpoint, observing behaviour as a set of responses that can be analysed and studied scientifically.

However, from a first-person perspective, things look very different. Our proprioceptive system constantly provides feedback about our body’s internal state, our past experiences, and our expectations for the future. This information is immediate and does not need to be processed through scientific principles to be valid—it is simply felt as direct experience.

The Importance of Both Perspectives

Neither viewpoint is more accurate or more valuable than the other—they are simply different and equally essential. The third-person perspective allows us to study the body objectively, while the first-person perspective gives us direct insight into our own lived experience.

In healthcare, failing to acknowledge the first-person perspective can lead to gaps in understanding. For instance, the placebo and nocebo effects—where beliefs and expectations influence health outcomes—highlight the importance of subjective experience in medicine.

Ultimately, human beings are unique in that we can be observed in two completely different ways: from the outside as a body, and from the inside as a soma. Somatics is the study of this internal experience—how we perceive and understand ourselves from within.