Environmental Movement Workshop - September 2009

Sea Moves: Environmental Movement Workshop 19th-20th September, 2009 Charmouth, Dorset

What happens when you move by the sea? How do the sounds, smells and textures (sand, rock, pebbles, clay) affect you? Where do you feel vulnerable or excited; safe or tired? What do you notice? What do you overlook? Where do you find stillness and what causes disruption? This workshop focuses on you in your surroundings. Starting indoors, you will come to the shoreline and move between the cliffs, clay, shingle, boulders, flat rocks, sand, rockpools and the sea.

How do you respond to being by the sea, with nothing to do except move and observe your movement? How does your mood respond to the time and weather? Where does your attention take you? What can you learn from the others moving near you?

Over the weekend, you will become aware of: • •

•

•

Yourself as part of the seascape. How your sense of self changes as your focus shifts from your feet to the far horizon – and back. How your mood affects your movement and your movement can change your mood. What suits you and what attracts your attention as you stay still or move through the environment.

Move on the beach. Notice your habits. Play with new ways of moving. Change your habits and find creative new ways to address everyday situations. This workshop (almost all outdoors, moving on and along the seashore) is open to adults of all ages. No previous experience is needed.

What is Move into Life? It’s a gentle way of exploring life through everyday movement (the way we walk, sit, crawl, crouch, stretch and stand, for example). It is not dancing and doesn’t involve any formal ‘moves’. You just move the way you like to. Old habits affect the way we move: - We may walk like our parents, hunch our shoulders or lie only on one side. - We may move this way because our bodies hurt. Our bodies may hurt because we move that way. - We may look around as we walk or keep our eyes down. - We may hesitate as we meet people, turn slightly away, or move closer. How we move is as distinctive as how we speak. Our movement has its own vocabulary – but we seldom notice it. What will happen on the workshop? You will be given guidelines (as a group and individually) to help you explore the way you move. There is no right or wrong way. Simply notice what happens – feelings and thoughts that arise, movements that occur. Workshops are always stimulating, invigorating and fun. Is it for me? Adults of all ages and walks of life come. Most have never doing anything like this. You needn’t be clever, fit, thin or graceful! Some teachers, therapists and health professionals use it in their work – while other people just take it into their daily life.

Move into Life has been my life’s work. It draws in particular on Buddhist principles, on dance movement therapy and on the teaching of Suprapto Suryodarmo – the world-famous Javanese movement artist with whom I have worked and studied for 20 years. Move into Life work helps to focus on your body in movement, in the environment and in relation to others. For me it has been my principal source of creativity and my guide to health. My passion is to share Move into Life with others. I live near Charmouth and have recently finished my PhD on movement and The Ecological Body at Exeter University.

Sandra Reeve

In the angle between cliff and sea/shore,

Bodies Lie, shift, stretch, crawl, sit, squat, crouch, stand, walk, reach, life up, run, slow, lean, slip, slide, lower themselves. Examine themselves in perspective. Reconsider their proportion. Experiment with alongside, under, with, among, behind. Watch themselves moving. Learn something more of who they are. Come to rest. Move into life.

What previous participants at Move into Life Environmental Movement workshops have said: “Moving in nature seems to awaken my senses in a way I rarely experience indoors. My sense of sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing are involved. As are my body sensations and movement and my emotions and thoughts.” “I work all week in an office. Moving in the open, by the sea, among the rocks, in the mud and clay opened me up and made me feel alive again. There was something remembered from childhood holidays, but mostly I was exploring my feet in the mud, now. I found my joy and my tears.” “I am always impressed that people come from different disciplines and gain differently from your courses.”

Sea Moves: Environmental Movement Workshop details: Cost: £100.00 + accommodation (B&B/campsite list available) Location: The Charmouth Coast, West Dorset Early bookings: Save £15.00 if you book by 18th August.

Further information and Contact Details: Website:

www.moveintolife.co.uk

e-mail:

[email protected]

tel:

01297 560511 (intl: +44 1297 560511)

post:

Move into Life Westhay, Charmouth, Dorset DT6 6SD

If you’re booking near the time of the workshop, please ring or e-mail to check that places are available. To book, please send a cheque for the full workshop fee or a deposit of £50. (The balance can be paid at the workshop).

Move into Life