Foundations of Embodiment CPD Series
Why take CPD?
- Are you looking for fresh perspectives to support and expand your practice and teaching? Integrating somatic yoga and movement opens the door to so many therapeutic and creative possibilities as a practitioner, teacher and a therapist
- Are you interested in how the understanding and attuning to the autonomic nervous system adds a crucial piece of embodied knowledge to your practice and teaching that can really transform stress, pain and suffering from the inside out? These CPD’s are underpinned by Somatic Experiencing principles (Dr. Peter Levine’s body orientated trauma therapy).
- Do you love nature? Are you curious as to how to integrate the universal resource of nature through the elements into your practice and use this understanding to regulate the nervous system and develop new frameworks and pathways to explore the body and new spaces through which to explore movement?
- Are you interested in Mindfulness and how the teachings of Mindfulness can be seamlessly integrated into Yoga and movement? How can a deeper connection with the sensing inner body and breath lead to both deep healing, profound spiritual experiences that can find expression through multiple creative forms?
The Elemental Body Somatic CPD Training
Dartington, Devon, UK
30th September – 4th October 2023
This Elemental Movement CPD offers a bridge for yoga and movement teacheres / practitioners, dancers, creatives and therapists to enter the wold of Somatics; a multi-faceted CPD of embodied practices that foreground the connection to and the expression of the inner body in movement. Somatics has therapeutic, creative and performative aspects characterised by a fluid expression of form that can shapeshift to embrace all ages, abilities, shapes, colours, genders, sexualities, disabilities, and neuro diversities.
The Elemental Movement CPD is an empirically based somatic, therapeutic approach to movement that utilizes creative and expressive modalities that are informed by nature to engage the body, mind, and spirit in order to transform stress and suffering. To this end, it incorporates elements from diverse disciplines such as Yoga, Buddhist Meditation (Insight and Zen,) Contemporary Dance, Butoh Dance, Trauma Therapy (Somatic Experiencing), and Somatic Movement Practices (Body Mind Centering).
More specifically on this CPD training we will be exploring the inner body’s relationship to nature and the five elements in both stillness and movement through a range of structured and improvisational practices that refer to and develop the moving body as a field of contemplation, creative intelligence and artistic process. Physiologically this approach cultivates nervous system regulation, resource, internal balance, inter-relatedness and unlocks creative energy
As a participant you will become familiar with the principles that underly this approach and how we can build safe foundations to experience our inner world through cultivating quieter internal practices that then flower into freer movement expression and improvisation (inspired by Butoh, Contemporary Dance and Body Mind Centering) where we will work with the inner body moving through and in space and danced by the elements.
Practice and teaching spaces are dedicated to open enquiry, dialogue and creative process in a non hierarchical environment supporting an understanding of the material within community discovery & experiential pedagogic technique.
These spaces are queer spaces meaning that they are open and inclusive to people who may find themselves somehow different, marginalised or underrepresented on the grounds of sexuality, age, gender, colour, race, neurodiversity or disability. They are safe and inclusive spaces.
The Dartington Estate provides us with choices to explore dance/movement both outside in nature, in a beautiful natural safe space where we can be with the earth, trees, river, and space (weather permitting) and also inside the Nest where we can explore containment, boundary, safety and rest.
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Student Testimonial – Caitlin Prince
I’ve not found anything like Still Flowing Yoga’s teacher training and practice community anywhere else in the world, and I’ve roamed the globe looking. It feels like the practice offered by Still Flowing has been developed from the inside out; learned in the body, from the body, taught whilst embodied. Still Flowing brings together knowledge from yoga, mindfulness and somatic therapy, but it is the way this understanding has been metabolised through practice and then transmitted to students from a nervous system embodying these practices that creates a uniquely safe, and powerful, container. The practice space offered by Still Flowing has allowed me to experience profound safety and resource in my body, that facilitates not only dropping into the depths of my psyche but also helps me inhabit my every day life with more ease, confidence and flexibility. I’ve used what I’ve learned in class in my work as a therapist and yoga teacher, but also in my relationships—able to reach for resources in the body and be more present and resilient, whatever the moment throws at me.(Testimonial from Caitlin Prince ongoing Still Flowing student, practitioner since 2009, teacher & therapist – caitlin_prince@outlook.com
What Does Somatic Yoga & Movement Look Like?
Here are a few clips for you to see with Marcela and Gemma. This work is often difficult to capture or fix in a particular form as it expresses in different ways at different times but follows clear somatic principles that we develop on the trainings. The movement blossoms and expresses from the inside out and is born from our inner landscape dancing into and playing with form rather than imposing an outer fixed systemised form on the body.
Video Playlist
Below you can see four videos from our Playlist. Please select videos to watch from the top right corner.
Hey! To the Earth
Creative Collaboration with Gemma Singing and Marcela Dancing (Created 1st Year of Lockdown)
Still Flowing KaleidoSymmetry
Creative Collaboration Video from Still Flowing Yoga Training (Dartington) and Taran Burns Videographer
Soundtracks by Transmitstatim and Kroke (Usual Happiness)
Student Testimonials
The Teacher Training in Ibiza was comprehensive, professional and structured. Considered timetabling enables the student to cope with each day without being physically overwhelmed which is no small feat given the 200 hours in four weeks. No shortage of food and water/tea/coffee ect and comfortable sleeping arrangements also augment the experience in this idyllic Villa setting overlooking the Mediterranean. The practice is varied and challenging and the approach is one that will definitely make you think and possibly challenge previously held assumptions about all things yoga, so there is variation and stimulation coming at you from all angles.The combination of Yoga practice and Meditation complement each other perfectly and for myself this was a great benefit, however, for those with no experience of meditation this new concept might prove a challenge so I recommend that this aspect should be considered/investigated before committing to the course, however, the teachers can help to approach this new form of consciousness if you find it a struggle. Simply put; the teaching staff is excellent, considerate, perceptive and adaptable so that they can cope with and relate to every kind of student, which of course helps to harmonize what is realistically a group of people who have probably never met before and find themselves living together for a month. The experience for me was transformative and I feel that it has changed me very much for the better
Philip Martin – Graduate, Ibiza, May 2014 (ph.e.mar@hotmail.com)
“I have found that the teachings that I have been introduced over the month are so pertinent and so valid; I am amazed that more people are not practicing in this way. It is so organic, and intuitive. The nature of the somatic approach seems to just make sense on every level.
It has been so wonderful to be in my body, properly connected and dialoguing with it. I feel it in every cell, its saying thank you!!
To take time, and to not rush past the subtleties of movements is allowing me deeper access to the most fascinating thing on earth, my own self.”
Katherine Gibb – Graduate, Ibiza, May 2014 (kat_gibb@yahoo.co.uk)
My understanding of yoga now is that it is all about getting into your body, not getting into poses! At times during the course, I wondered if I was good enough or if my self-practice was at a high enough level. This was great to work with and really challenged my thoughts on what yoga is about.
Previously I saw my yoga practice and meditation practices as quite separate, whereas now I am bringing mindfulness into my Hatha Yoga. I am more aware of my body while practicing yoga and feel more freedom to respond to my body. I think I have learnt to be more flexible in my Hatha practice and don’t feel the need to just follow sequences from a book or video. By listening to my body I am able to flow freely from one asana to another in a more fluid way. I see now that through Hatha Yoga I am able to enquire into my body, mind and emotions.
Laura Jane Porter – Graduate, Ibiza, May 2014 (laurajaneporter@hotmail.com)
A really exceptional course. The range of teachers — each with their own perspective, areas of expertise and unique individuality — made for a very well-rounded teacher training. I found the Buddhist Insight aspects invaluable, providing a useful complimentary perspective on the Yoga philosophy, provoking insights into one’s own personality and motivations, as well as developing calm, patience and persistence with the meditations.
The morning Asana class was inspiring, stimulating, challenging and fun; I really learnt a lot. Just the right amount of anatomy, and excellent insights into Yoga technique that I use daily when teaching. In general, a considered curriculum, that was broad enough to be comprehensive whilst still remaining manageable. The schedule, while intense, also provided enough free time to integrate, regroup and do self-study. Oh, and the setting was beautiful.
I’d highly recommend the course to any aspiring yoga teachers who not only want a technically solid course, but also one with real spiritual depth.
Simon Bekker – Graduate, Koh Phangan, April 2011 (simonbekker@hotmail.com)
