Body-Mind Centering® Workshops
exploring the dynamic relationship between mind & body
Spring / Summer Workshops 2024
Infant Developmental Movement Embryology from an embodied perspective Saturday 11th - Wednesday 15th May 2024 Sunday 21st - Wednesday 24th July 2024
Caddaford Barns Studio Devon UK Caddaford Barns Studio Devon UK
Teachers: Rosalyn Maynard & Julie Rousseau Teachers: Rosalyn Maynard & Julie Rousseau
Open and accessible to anyone interested in Body-Mind Centering® Open and accessible to anyone interested in Body-Mind Centering®
Module 11: SELF (the Somatics Experiential Learning Facilitator course) Module 12: SELF (the Somatics Experiential Learning Facilitator course)
FEES: £290 / £255: 5 days FEES: £225 / £190: 4 days
workshop information, venue & teachers workshop information, venue, teachers
This workshop will explore the Basic Neurocellular Patterns (BNP) from Body-Mind Centering® and associate primitive reflexes as a series of innate movement patterns that sequentially emerge and integrate into our body-mind throughout our infancy.
They include homologous, homolateral and contralateral patterning as well as a series of “fluid” patterns in utero.
The BNP inform and establish:
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our interaction and exchange with gravity and space,
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our sense of self,
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our relationship with others
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and our relationship with the world outside us.
We will explore the development of these patterns in humans as a corresponding lineage of life on earth as we developed from simple to more complex organisms. The BNP have been grouped into those that appear in animals without a spine (Prevertebrate) which developmentally precede the vertebrate patterns, and those found in animals with a spine (Vertebrate).
We will give time and space for each of us to explore and discover for ourselves the patterns that are present and comfortable, those that are less so, patterns we have perhaps missed or skipped, or patterns that have become overly dominant. A practice of acceptance and curiosity will guide the explorations. The first pattern of development is comfort.
"Each movement pattern is a reference point to experientially explore & gain insights into our movement, mind, emotional & sensory experience of self & world. When fully embodied these patterns can allow us to enter with more ease and comfort into the fullness of our being, and to live our lives with greater confidence, flexibility & presence." Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
During our embryological development our body begins creating her form. Different tissues and structures begin to emerge and come into being. Some remain, many are transformed and some others are absorbed into our developing process.
Through the embodiment process from Body-Mind Centering® we will explore the following:
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Female (egg) and male (sperm) qualities
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Development of the embryonic disc and differentiation of the front body (endoderm), back body (ectoderm), and middle body (mesoderm)
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Self-nourishment (yolk sac) and self-protection (amniotic cavity)
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Vertical axis (notochord, gut tube, and neural tube)
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Center (vertebral column) and periphery (limbs)
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Blood, blood vessels and our primitive heart
"If you open your heart and try to put yourself into the position of the embryo and join in experiencing the gestures of growing that are taking place there, all at once the embryo will tell you a very profound story. It will tell you the story of becoming a HUMAN BEING, of the struggle of the person and his spirit to come to light through the tough resistance of cells, genes, tissue. A human being performs so much work and lives so intensely while being an embryo!" Jaap Van der Wal: embryo.nl
Human Fetus: 11-12 weeks: surrounded by nest like placenta.
Lennart Nillson
Body-Mind Centering® workshops at SOEL, offer a holistic, creative teaching approach to multi dimensional waies of learning about our self and our relationship with our world.
Through the process of embodiment we explore the wonders of our anatomy & physiology, developmental movement and embryology offering us a deeper understanding of how the mind is expressed through movement, touch and perception.
Workshops include gentle movement inquiry, dance, discussion & dialogue, gentle sounding, directed breathing, quiet contemplation, somatic writing & somatic drawing, & hands-on touch upon our self & in partners.
The study of BMC® is a creative process in which embodiment of the material is explored in the context of self-discovery and openness. Each person is both the student and the subject matter and the underlying goal is to discover the ease that underlies transformation.
The Body-Mind Centering® approach has an almost unlimited number of areas of application. It is currently being used by people in movement, dance, yoga, bodywork, somatic studies, physical and occupational therapy, psychotherapy, child development, education, voice, music, art, meditation, athletics and other body-mind disciplines.
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen: www.bodymindcentering.com
"The separation of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual faculties in our culture is a direct reflection of our by-passing the need to survive on an automatic physical level. This means on one hand that automatic physical defense mechanisms on the low brain level are minimally stimulated to develop, while on the other hand, high brain mental consciousness is greatly emphasised.
Less and less time is spent on low brain development. For example, many of our infant rearing practices are emphasising early and out of sequence eye-hand and bipedal activities (infant seats, baby bouncers, early walking), less and less time is devoted to prone, supine, and quadrupedal development which stimulates lower brain. Infants are being placed in advanced postures before they have developed the means to move in and out of them on their own. Without fully developed automatic physical survival mechanisms, higher brain consciousness lacks a balanced grounding."
Developmental Movement Therapy
by Margret Mills & Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
All the Body-Mind Centering Workshops listed are open and accessible to anyone interested in body-mind integration and related disciplines.
The May and July workshops also form part of SELF (Somatics Experiential Learning Facilitator) course. For more information about courses at SOEL click here or for information and to register for a workshop click contact.
Thanks again for an inspiring weekend, I was really touched by the way you talked & moved through the embryo's journey.
Dr Gemma Anderson, Artist & Research Fellow Exeter University
I am deeply moved by the embryology of body mind centering and the embodiment of this science... it is a missing piece of my learning In movement and birth and a continuum of deep enquiry.
Jessica Pheonix. Doula
TEACHERS & Assistants at SOEL:
Teachers & Assistants at SOEL have been teaching and researching somatics movement education together & independently within their own fields and professions for many years, and share a rich history of working together informed by the experiential anatomy of Body-Mind Centering®, Elsa Gindler's Human Work, western science & anatomy, the arts, philosophy, human embryology and the evolutionary history of life.
Over time, we have explored the development of our approach to the application and the practice of somatics in many contexts, activities & projects including pedagogy, well being, arts and ecology, community workshop, natural horsemanship, small mixed farming, mentoring practice, mythology, walking, pilgrimage and personal development. At SOEL we are dedicated to knowing and learning about our self and the world as an interdependent, interconnected, creative, whole; through experience, felt sensation, intuition and mind.
I got a lot out of the workshop and it has provoked my increasing awareness of my internal environment. I feel so much more aware in a positive way which has lead me to be more consciously aware of the interconnectedness of us all - the essence of life which is in all living things. Just so simple yet so profound. A beautiful piece of work, literally.
Heather Griffith Retired OT
(Body-Mind Centering® Workshop: The Heart as an organ of perception FEB17)
Description of Body-Mind Centering®
Body Mind Centering® is an innovative approach to experiental anatomy and physiology, within the expanding field of somatics. BMC® offers a deep understanding of how the mind expresses itself through movement, touch, and perception. It fosters an embodied knowledge of the human body, with a special emphasis on the different body systems, the principles underlying the development of our movement patterns, and the study of embryology.
The method was founded 30 years ago by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, a pioneer in the arena of movement research, who has
never ceased to deepen its scope and expand its curriculum. The essence of the work lies in the subtle consciousness and inherent intelligence with which every cell, tissue, organ, and system is endowed with. This study leads to an understanding of how the mind is expressed through the body and the body through the mind.
Merging creatively the cognitive and experiential dimensions, BMC® opens a doorway that leads to an increasing awareness of the conscious body.
Body-Mind Centering® is a creative process in which we learn to meet and recognise ourselves and others through the exploration of embodiment: through feeling, sensing and action. Each person is both the student and the subject matter. Principles and techniques are taught in the context of self-discovery and openness. We learn to engage ourselves and others non-judgmentally starting at the place where we are and the place where others are. In this way we seek to find the ease that underlies transformation.
About BMCA Professional Members
BMCA Professional Members have completed a rigorous, hands-on training which ensures a safe and consistent experience of the work and are required to fulfil continuing education requirements on an ongoing basis. To locate a professional member of BMCA go to: bmcassociation.org
Further reading about BMC®
Body-mind Centering® by Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen click here to download
Somatics: the experience from within by Thomas Hanna click here to download
To learn more about Body-Mind Centering® go to: bodymindcentering.com
Body-Mind Centering® and BMC® are registered service marks of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, used with permission.