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Somatic Movement

“Being where I am is where my body is.”

Somatics is a research field that includes different methods of pedagogy and movement analysis techniques. The common principles are the holistic conception of the subject in which body, emotion and thought compose an inseparable continuum, a wide and sophisticated availability of gestural and manual techniques and a construction of subjective experience through the constant and in-depth practice of listening and sensitivity, especially proprioceptive and kinesthetic.
In common scientific language, somatic is what refers to or belongs to the body or to the organs of living beings, while in the language of anthropology it refers to the features of the body characteristic of a human type or individual. However, since the 1960s the American philosopher Thomas Hanna coined the term somatics to define the field of study of the body through the perspective of individual experience. He began using the term soma to define the body as an experiencing subject, as opposed to the body considered as an object.

The body has an innate wisdom and ability to regulate and monitor ease and well-being and knows how to move towards balance. Each individual may be able to perceive their own bodily sensations, to know themselves in the body and experience themselves from within.

Learning to experience the body from within increases the awareness and efficiency with which one moves in the world, allows one to renew and strengthen the sense of real presence of oneself in every moment of life, to recognize one's own limits and resources and to bring out unexpected capabilities and be immediately active in change. It supports self-esteem, assertiveness and the ability to manage tension. It allows the integration and harmonization of the different levels of our experience: sensation, perception, emotions, thoughts.

Ho un diploma di Educatrice del Movimento Somatico (SME) e Educatrice dello Sviluppo del Movimento in Età Evolutiva (IDME) Body-Mind Centering®, sono accreditata dalla Body-Mind Centering Association (BMCA) e dalla International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA) come Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT).

Body-Mind Centering® e BMC® sono marchi registrati di proprietà di Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen e usati con sua autorizzazione.

In qualità di professionista ISMETA, rispetto gli elevati standard di pratica e sostengo il codice etico. Per ulteriori informazioni visitare il sito www.ISMETA.org

Purpose

  • Bringing consciousness to the body and to the body-mind-movement relationship
  • Promote body-mind integration processes
  • Exploring their motor patterns and new movement paths
  • Analyze and re-educate movement and reorganize perceptual patterns
  • Perceive yourself and others with greater clarity and presence
  • Analyze and re-educate movement and reorganize perceptual schemes
  • Improving the sense of self, supporting psychophysical well-being
  • Understand the evolution that each body system has had in the person's development process and the role it plays in expression
  • Offer a range of qualities and resources in the body to be able to pay attention to the different origins and directions of movement
  • Explore the qualitative and relational aspects of movement and its expression
  • Bringing to light the uniqueness of the sensorimotor, perceptive and cognitive experience of each individual
  • Bring awareness to how we move in the world, to the impact we have on others, to the intention that motivates our actions, to how we choose the direction to take
  • Reorganize perceptive schemes by exploring the relationships between what happens inside the body and its expression in movements in space
  • Identify, distinguish, relate and integrate the various tissues within the body
  • Discover how each of them contributes to giving the movement a specific quality of movement
  • Expand body vocabulary and movement possibilities
  • Research the relationships between what happens inside the body and its expression in the movements performed in space
  • Fostering the creative process and enriching expressive skills
  • Improve presence on stage
  • Cultivate an attitude oriented towards support, trust and everything that provides well-being, a sense of ease with oneself and creative solutions in daily life

Methods and approach

Somatic Movement Education BMC®, Experiential Anatomy, Bioenergetics, Expressions Primitive, Osho Dance Therapy, touch, voice, verbal and creative sharing of experience (individual, in pairs or in groups).

Among the various somatic approaches and methods, Body-Mind Centering® – developed in the 1970s by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen – specifically explores the relationship between body and mind through movement. It is an experiential study based on the embodiment and application of principles of anatomy, physiology, psychology and on knowledge of the development of movement from conception to the first year of life. It explores physiological body systems and their expression, evolutionary patterns of movement, the development of the senses, primitive reflexes, balance and the relationship with gravity and space. It uses movement, touch, voice and images and pays attention to the whole person and individuality.

The BMC® approach allows us to acquire a broader awareness of our body, movement, psycho-perceptive and relational patterns, and to explore new alternatives for feeling, thinking, moving and interacting with the world.

Body-Mind Centering® states that each body part and physiological system has its own uniquely patterned quality of movement and, in some cases, a spatial range that we can consciously access. In the BMC® the body systems are grouped according to tissue types: skeletal, muscular, nervous, organs, fluids and glands. The first three body systems form the “voluntary” system and are the most commonly known and explored anatomical concepts in most dance classes. Paying attention to the other three systems also brings awareness to the "involuntary" components of human physiological experience and is a special attribute of the BMC® that distinguishes it from other somatic movement education systems.

One of the most interesting implementations of this approach is somatization, the cenesthetic experience, as opposed to visualization which uses images. With somatization and the use of body-based language to describe movements and body-mind relationships, information is transmitted from the cells of the body to the brain and vice versa. This allows the natural reorganization and transformation of patterns, the acceptance and appreciation of how we express who we are, how we perceive the world, others, ourselves and our way of learning.

Applications

Movement practice, dance, yoga, bodywork, rehabilitation, psychotherapy, child development, education, music, voice, art, meditation, martial arts, athletics and all disciplines that involve the mind-body together.

Excellent for operators in the areas of movement education and practice who wish to release tensions that block the expressiveness of the body and voice, expand the possibilities in movement, recognize their own motor patterns, explore origins and paths of movement and improve perception of himself and others.

Suitable for individuals of any age, men and women, who wish to find comfort with their body, rediscover a natural source of strength and relaxation, enhance the state of real presence in every moment of life, increase well-being, vitality, sense of self-confidence and comfort, thus improving the relationship with oneself and relationships with others.

Somatic Movement for everyone

A space to feel and experience ourselves from within, release tensions, improve coordination, flexibility, dynamism and ease with ourselves and with others.
A chance to refine our self-listening, pave the way towards natural and effortless fluidity and transform the way we perceive ourselves and move in the world.

We often think that movements in general are based on muscles, in reality all systems of the body play important roles in its support and articulation and are expressed in a wide range of movement quality and consciousness.

Each class has a theme which can be a movement pattern or a part of the body in functional and qualitative relationships with the other parts and with the different systems (organs, glands, ligaments and muscles, fluids, nervous system) to encourage the reorganization of the movement in the direction of fluidity, ease and functionality.

Practices of movement, touch, voice and viewing of anatomical images are proposed.

Somatic Movement for expectant mothers

Through maternal movements and its own activity in the womb, the baby begins to know their own body, to learn where it is in space and to lay the foundations for the development of the senses, reflexes, balance and movement which it will strengthen after birth.

Explores the basic physiological principles involved in pregnancy and fetal embryonic development and understanding the developmental process and developmental motor patterns from conception to birth.

During classes or individual sessions the mother increases her awareness of how she can support the harmonious development of the child and herself.

Movement, somatization, touch and voice practices are proposed

Infant Development Movement Education

The first year of life is crucial in the development of the child and the adult he will become. During this period, contact, touch and play are the first ways of learning in which the child gets to know himself and forms the models of movement, perception and organization of information on which he will build his relationships with himself, with others and with the world and they form the basis for more complex processes. Facilitating development during this period can greatly improve one's physical, emotional and intellectual abilities, sense of well-being, ease and joy of being, curiosity, confidence, ability to relate to others, create bonds and skills. organizational and problem solving.

Infant Development Movement Education – IDME BMC® – is a highly sophisticated and subtle approach to facilitating movement patterns in infants. It is direct and specific to the individual child, to support their agility and adaptability and to avoid restrictive movement patterns that inhibit the development of their full potential. It places attention on the child's individuality and relationships rather than on the execution of a task. The approach is kind and non-intrusive. It does not impose, but engages and tries to involve the child's intrinsic curiosity and interest by including and educating the family in the interactive process.