THE EASTWEST SOMATICS
Institute for Dance & Movement Studies
Mission
It is the purpose of Eastwest Somatics to train somatic movement therapists and educators, to provide community workshops that bridge dance with somatic therapy and education, and to provide continuing education for dance movement therapists and bodywork professionals.
History and Program Description
Eastwest Somatics was founded by Sondra Horton Fraleigh to bridge Somatic Studies with dance. At the heart of this program is a basic belief in the healing power of aesthetically derived movement. Within a somatic design, both dance and movement receive a special definition: Somatics is the study of the body as perceived by the self. It is through the soma of our living wholeness and our relationship with the bio-dance that we identify aisthesis (sense perception) as the affective in movement. Movement, aesthetics, and somaesthesis are connected from dance through somatics, as explored at Eastwest. Our bodies and the living body of the earth are one.
Shin Somatics® is the registered service mark of Eastwest Somatics Institute. Shin is a Zen word that means center, heart, body, mind, and tree trunk. The techniques of Shin Somatics taught at Eastwest develop the healing potentials of movement. They further affective body-mind change through educational means so that participants may become empowered through self-direction. Students at Eastwest can enhance their skills as therapists, performers, teachers, or athletes while gaining the necessary techniques to become somatic educators and therapists. Eastwest students may pursue somatic studies on three different levels. 1) Some may study somatics in relation to primary interests in other fields such as music, dance, sports, or leadership. 2) Those who make a commitment to the full training may seek certification as somatic therapists and educators. 3) On still another level, students may take workshops for self-development.
Eastwest students become certified and registered as movement therapists and educators. They may apply to become instructors at Eastwest through teacher training programs. Graduates take individual paths according to their own talents, and some will have a special talent for teaching. Eastwest remains a source for networking for all of its students through ESN, Eastwest Somatics Network.
Eastwest Somatics also seeks to network with other schools and training programs with like interests. Eastwest is a recognized program for training somatic practitioners through ISMETA, International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association. It welcomes the opportunity to associate with other professionals in the field, and to further the goals of ISMETA and its standing in health and educational areas. Eastwest is a recognized school of Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. Eastwest graduates may become members of ABMP and receive insurance benefits through application.
Somatics is a field that makes use of the self- regulating and healing capacities of the body. This trust in the body is not new, nor is it novel, but somatic educators and therapists are refining specific tools that can access this trust. The tools of Shin Somatics® are gentle movement patterns influenced by somatic yoga, movement meditation, the Feldenkrais method, Craniosacral Therapy, and various breathwork modalities.
Shin Somatics® Techniques: Core Movement Patterning, Somatic Release Hands-on Repatterning, Contact Unwinding, Holding Presence, and Healing Dances. Sondra Fraleigh’s unique yoga: Land to Water Yoga integrates all of these techniques in teaching group work.
Certification & Continuing Education Workshops: Workshops are offered with various emphases: Dancing Down the Bones introduces Movement Patterning with developmental movement and hands-on applications. Dancing on Your Path makes use of the interface of somatic bodywork, meditation, and intrinsic dance. Seven Core Lessons in Somatic Kinesiology emphasizes the kinaesthetic and anatomical basis for dance and movement therapy. Land to Water Yoga combines yoga with somatic principles in a creative form. Expression and Myth promotes active imagination, excavating body memories through silent focusing and bodywork. Healing Dances & Integrated Bodywork further develops the central techniques and processes taught at Eastwest Somatics. Workshop themes vary, but the central techniques and processes named above are taught in all workshops. Workshops may be taken in any order. Seven workshops are required for certification as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist along with any and all pre-requisites as outlined in the Eastwest Program Description Booklet. Its graduates in relation to their own talents may extend core principles and techniques of the institute. All graduates must be proficient as movement educators and movement hands-on therapists. The intrinsic aesthetic benefits of dancing are cultivated throughout our educational and therapeutic processes.