If Your Body Could Speak

The body is a living narrative, an interconnected web of our physical, emotional, and intellectual experiences. Every organ, bone, body part, and movement holds an energy, a feeling, a memory that calls our attention and seeks expression. With curiosity and care to the stories our bodies hold, we become embodied artists, choreographers of our life experience. 

This workshop will be a creative exploration and discovery of what truly matters in your life through movement and art making, listening to the body, and listening to the heart. When we don’t take time or know how to be creative listeners, the body will tell its stories in disabling ways. Encountering our bodies creatively, we discover artful ways to re-story ourselves, bringing new vision to the life themes that matter to us.

A process called Body Mapping will lead participants through an art based journey with each body part. Challenges and resources will be identified and explored as rich material for movement, art making, group collaboration and ritual. Participants will explore personal and group creativity, body- mind connections, and engage with psychological themes relevant to our historical and everyday lives. 

Morning sessions will focus on somatic awareness – individual and group movement exploration to tune the physical body to sensation and feeling. Afternoon sessions will facilitate creative encounters with the art mediums of dance, drawing, and spoken and written narrative. Evening sessions will be devoted to presentations of the work created, reflection and questions generated by the day’s work, releasing activities and meditative art practices.

Participants will explore:

• Expanding body awareness through somatic movement experiences.
• Utilizing the creative arts to explore life narratives. Learning methods for movement/dance and expressive arts that can be applied to their personal and professional practices.
• Practicing approaches to  improvisation and performance  designed for the  beginner and the experienced alike.
• Employing the arts as a psychological process and communication tool.

The Halprin Life Art Process developed at Tamalpa Institute innovated groundbreaking work in the fields of somatics, psychology and artistic practice. Anna and Daria both worked with Fritz Perls, Ida Rolf, and Will Schultz in the early experimental days of Esalen.  

This is an approach to movement/dance as a healing art that is accessible to everyone and is offered in underserved communities. 20% of faculty tuition goes to Tamalpa ArtCorps social justice programs.

Recommended reading: The Expressive Body in Life, Art & Therapy, by Daria Halprin