Somatics - It's about... you!

A critical element in our conversations about girls' empowerment is recognizing the BODY as a source of intelligence, empathy, and power. 

Somatic Movement Education guides participants towards deeper discovery about themselves, the ways they connect with others, and who they see themselves to be in their world.  Spanning scientific fields of anatomy, kinesiology, physiology, and encompassing an array of physical practices from creative dance to martial arts, yoga, Laban Movement Analysis, Feldenkrais, and Alexander Technique, Somatic Movement Education heightens perception of physical sensation as a catalyst for cultural reflection and individual change. 

Moving Out Loud! is a series of ten workshops for movers of all levels.  Each class explores a specific movement principle and its application to bold living and bold leading, in and through the body.  It does this by:

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1. deepening awareness of physical sensation in the body

2. providing language for observing and describing movement in specific ways

3. identifying cultural forces and personal history shaping individual movement habits

Moving Out Loud! provides each participant with tools needed to make more intentional choices about how she will BE in her body, and how she will BE in her world.

Learning activities include:

• guided movement improvisation

• neuromuscular repatterning through touch

• small and large group discussion

• vocalization

• journaling

• drawing

• creating, and

• performing

Participants experience:

• physical benefits of a more fully functional body, including increased energy, strength, flexibility, alignment

• emotional benefits of access to a more fully expressive body

• social benefits of moving, creating, and sharing with others

• psychological benefits of increased body image and awareness of outside influences effecting body image

• professional benefits of leadership training through facilitating somatic based movement experiences in their communities

Examples of workshop topics include:

BREATH IS LIFE- We tap into the most basic function of the body, Breath, and its power to connect us in an open, empathetic way to ourselves, to others, and to our environment.

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CLAIM YOUR SPACE - Kinesphere is the amount of space we take up without taking a step.  This class explores our relationship to kinesphere, asking,  "How do I relate to the Space around me, and how do I fill into it, or retreat from it, in different situations?  How can my body work, functionally and expressively, to propel me more boldly into my world?"

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PEACEFUL WARRIOR - Participants explore the full spectrum of Laban's Weight Efforts, from Light Weight to Strong Weight.  Discussions help identify cultural values and individual assumptions about movement to help participants make more conscientious choices about how to relate to, and assert, their physical mass. 

How do YOU use your body to communicate the beliefs and ideas that are most important to YOU?  How do you use your eyes?  Your hands?  Your posture?  How do you fill Space?  How do you assert Energy?

"Full physical expression, in the through the body, is the right of every woman and man, adult and child. Through somatic based movement education, girls can recognize and embrace the gift of a fully integrated and expressive body, understand their embodied experience in context of their culture, and create change through compassionate engagement with diverse populations and perspectives."  - MLR