Here are the dates for the next set of Somatic Movement workshops at The Barlow Rooms, Middlethorpe Hall. I hope you’ll come and be part of this group of people who love to move.
30th January
20th February
13th March
3rd April
24th April
Sessions will be will be 10.30 am – 11.45, £12 per session. Get back to me to book your space, you can pay on the day or in advance by bank transfer, I’ll give bank details when you book. I’m able to take 8 movers, but sessions will always take place, even with just one other.
What is a Somatic Movement Workshop like?
I will usually begin with a loosely structured moving warm up. This work is not mat based, you are free to use all the lovely space in this beautiful room. We might walk, skip, run or roll, I’ll make movement suggestions, you choose how you’d like to interpret them. I often introduce a theme, maybe to do with our physical anatomy, or ideas from poetry, pictures, objects. The group then explores movement with the theme in mind. While you move other ideas, memories or imaginations bubble up into our awareness, you can follow your own movement impulses. Towards the end of the time we take 15 minutes or so to make drawings or write, reflecting on whatever our experience of movement has been during this time.
You might dance, sort of, but you don’t have to be a dancer. Somatic movement is not about performance, nor about physical fitness, we develop a sense of self and a sense of community as we move. Sometimes our movement is minimal, we might just want to cover up with a blanket and listen to the room ( blankets are provided!). We learn to listen to our body, really listen and respond to it. Without pressure, or judgement we can make the silliest movements we like, or the most serious and deeply felt shapes. And we see what arises as a result. Like training a muscle or learning to play an instrument, this type of movement practice helps reshape our neural pathways, we discover our own place of restfulness, concentration, the joy of moving and being moved, and an opening of our creative impulse as we find a feeling of flow.
I’m now available for private somatic sessions, (£55) which are of course more tailored to each person. Let me know if you’d like to work individually, either on a regular basis or an occasional session. In a private session we can move/dance together, touch and contact improvisation might be used to bring awareness to the body. We might draw, write, make structures, use props, in response to moving. Our session together will be regenerative, promoting deep rest as we drop out of the everyday and into imagination, movement and creativity.