Embodiment Foundations (50 hours)
Embodiment Foundations is a 50 hour unique personal (or professional) development course that takes you on a journey into discovering your body’s deep natural intelligence, strengthening your body-mind connection, cultivating a new relationship to practicing embodiment skills, harnessing your body connectivity, and enlivening your enjoyment of your amazing moving body!
Our intention is that you leave this course feeling rejuvenated, inspired, clearer on your life’s path, more connected with and inside your body, and more expressive, confident and knowledgeable as a moving being. We also promise you will have lots of creative fun!
This course may be taught by a variety of Movement Arc instructors, who are all long-time Somatic Movement practitioners, but was developed by Hana Kamea Kemble who is your lead instructor.
Our mascot for this course is The Tree, as metaphor for the human body-mind and all of its unique aspects. We will explore rooting, grounding, rising, level change, spiralling, feeling our supported reach into space, exploring our core. Participants will learn how to express through the moving body and follow organic impulse. Using experiential anatomy we will also engage with all the systems of our body and its structural supports too.
Just like a tree, our bodies root into and rise from the earth, they respond to gravity’s support as they reach for the sky. They grow spiralically, through inward and outward pathways, and can express our inner and outer beauty. The body tingles with energy and sensation and with nerve pathways longing to be awakened.
Come join us on your own personal embodiment journey, receiving support for your own wellbeing, body connectivity, and personal creativity, along with gaining new tools and ideas for movement activities that you may wish to share with others.
What are the benefits of this PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM?
Discover your body’s functional and expressive movement potential.
Harness your Body Connectivity as a neuro-muscular organizer.
Understand basic principles of somatic theory and inquiry.
Be introduced to some aspects of Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies (not in depth).
Explore your felt sense of the inside of your body using experiential anatomy.
Contact the layers and beauty of your body’s systems and expand your mobility.
Play with peers in fun, movement-oriented expressive activities.
Learn how to harness your body-sourced creativity.
Experience more joy and wellbeing!
This course begins online with weekly classes for 12 weeks, then this is followed by a retreat in person is on Saltspring Island, BC (during the months of March or August). The course is open to non-dancers as well as those with some dance background, and is for people interested in deepening their own embodiment as a personal development and creative journey. This gives a foundation for developing one’s somatic work in the world and may as desired lead to next steps of enrolment in another level of The Movement Arc’s training.
Program Description:
Embodiment Foundations is a somatic self-discovery process engaging experiential anatomy, LBMS, movement/dance and expressive arts. This course draws from the natural intelligence of the body-mind and diverse modalities of embodied inquiry. This is a wellness-focused creative exploration for living a more embodied life and allowing movement expression to support your wellness.
We are not teaching you to be a facilitator (that is the focus of our other Expressive Movement Facilitator program), nor is this a therapy group; rather the focus is on using somatic education to enliven your connection with your own moving body and harness your embodied understanding, knowledge and creativity. We take you on a deep dive into your body’s many systems; into the connection you have to your own voice, and into your body’s desire and capacity for movement. You will practice authentically connecting with yourself using many tools of body awareness that we offer to you.
- Have curiosity and interest in the world of somatic movement.
- Have good capacity to work well in a group learning environment.
- Have an open mind to learning through embodied experiential processes.
- Have energy, time and commitment to fulfilling the course hours and participating in earnest.
- We recommend all students applying to this program have taken our introductory workshop Dipping Your Toes In as a way for instructors and students to meet and get to know each other through movement.
Next workshop: Sunday February 26, 2023 10:00am to 3:30pm Pacific Standard Time (Online)
- Students are asked to submit a short letter of intent that includes information about their current work and background in somatic movement or dance or yoga.
- Submission of a short 2-3 minutes video of a dynamic dance created and performed by you. We suggest the dance be an expression of your interest and passion for movement/dance and working with people.
- To be followed by a 30 minute conversation with a faculty member by phone or Zoom to confirm enrollment and answer any questions the student may have.
What is involved in this 50 hour training
This 50 hour course is composed of a 1 hour long asynchronous webinar (self-paced before we begin), then weekly classes of two hours in length (25hours total online) in either the spring or fall seasons, followed by a 4 day (25 hour) intensive retreat at a beautiful location on Saltspring Island, BC., Canada
Days and Hours: Wednesdays 5:00=7:00pm on Zoom (Pacific Time Zone) (8-10 ET)
Spring: Begin online classes in the second week of April and run for 12 weeks through June, followed by retreat on Labour Day long weekend in late August/Sept from Thursday 9am through Sunday 4:00pm.
Fall: Begin online classes in the second week of September and run til late November (25 hours), then the retreat is scheduled for the first weekend in March from Thursday 9am through Sunday 4:00pm..
Expectations:
Students can arrive ready to move! We will create group agreements which everyone can agree to. Students will make any special needs, including learning differences known to instructors before program start (we welcome students of all abilities, gender identifications, ages).
**In-person courses are dependent on COVID safety protocols; if we cannot meet in person due to any new government regulations we will meet online, likely with revised schedule. In person, we may request mask wearing and daily Covid home testing in order to participate, if required by gov’t. We honour medical exemptions.
***Students are expected to attend the intensive in person. We are not able to accommodate hybrid learning by filming the intensive. If you were to miss the intensive due to illness or other emergency, you would be welcome to attend the following year’s in person intensive and would receive your course completion certificate after all classes are completed. Students need to attend 80% of the classes live in order to receive a completion certificate.
REGISTRATION and FEES:
DEADLINE to register is August 1, 2024 for our program start on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
Students are invited to register after a phone interview with course Director Hana Kamea Kemble. To start, click on the Apply Now button below and send us your information and any questions you have. You will then be contacted for a phone interview.
Course fees are: $1875.00 CAD plus 5% GST tax for total of $1968.75, with $500 deposit required to register and due by August 1, 2024.
Please note that deposits are only refundable up to 30 days prior to course start date.
Remainder of course fees is due by Sept 1, 2024.
(Fees do not include travel, accommodations or food at the 4 day retreat, and these will vary depending on where you are travelling in from). Average cost of accommodations at the retreat centre is approximately $750 for six nights, and average of $75-85 per day (4days) for catered food and daily tea/coffee bar.
Come join us!
Fall 2024 Embodiment Foundations Schedule
Online Training Component:
Zoom classes – 25 Hrs total (2 hours per class times 12 classes, plus 1 asynchronous webinar to self-pace through).
Online weekly classes live via Zoom: from Sept to Nov – Wednesdays 5pm-7pm (Pacific Time Zone).
Dates: Sept 11, 18, 25 and Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and Nov 6, 13, 20, 27.
PLUS 1 hr Asynchronous learning by Webinar (pre-recorded).
In Person Training Component: 4 day intensive – 25 Hrs total
March 6, 7, 8, 9 (2025) on Saltspring Island, BC, Canada (Hours 9:30am-12:30 and 1:30-4:30pm), with an extra 1hour dance party on Saturday evening.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Online classes through Zoom:
Wednesdays 5-7pm Pacific Time
Sept 11, 18, 25 (plus completion of 1 hour of asynchronous webinar prior to Sept 11)
Asynchronous Learning
Assignments for September: Graphics and readings to be found in LearnDash for each class.
OCTOBER 2024
Online classes through Zoom:
Wednesdays 5-7pm Pacific Time
Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Asynchronous Learning
Assignments for October: Graphics and readings to be found in LearnDash for each class.
NOVEMBER 2024
Online classes through Zoom:
Wednesdays 5-7pm Pacific Time
Nov 6, 13, 20, 27
Asynchronous Learning
Assignments for November: Graphics and readings to be found in LearnDash for each class.
MARCH 2025
IN PERSON RETREAT
March 6, 7, 8, 9, 2025
9:30am-4:30pm
25 hours over 4 days Thursday-Sunday, on Saltspring Island BC
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Certificates of completion sent for those who have completed assignments and attended 80% of course hours.
BEFORE MAY 30, 2025 Follow-up SUPPORT CALL
1hr student support call by Zoom with Hana to see how you are doing with integration of your Embodiment Foundations experiences and to discuss potential next steps in your Somatic field interests and training.
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Instructors may include any of the following:
Hana Kamea Kemble, MA, RCC, RSMT, BC-DMT, CLMA
Laurie Potter, R-DMT, RCC, RDT
Amy Kiara Ruth, BSc (Educational Kinesiology)
(we may have visits from other somatic movement experts, as available)
