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movement workshops

Imagine being in a quiet room with people in your community, class, or congregation. You are moving and working together to explore a topic or a text by using simple breathing exercises, group activities, and frozen images.

 

Everything you do is done corporately, so that no one feels like they are being put "onstage." You have the opportunity to see each other and to be seen without being in the spotlight, and most importantly, you have the opportunity to hear, be heard, and explore in a kinetic way.

 

This is a space to not just hear words, but to feel them in your bones.

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A Movement Workshop at Laity Lodge, October 2019

What is a movement workshop?

The goal of each movement workshop is twofold: to illuminate a text or topic by physically exploring the text, and to create community among participating members.

 

Each workshop is built on the following two principles:​

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  1. Content is specifically crafted for the group

  2. Workshops are accessible to everyone, regardless of age, mobility, or experience

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Because every group is different and has different desires and needs, the movement workshops can be tailored in length, content, and style. A typical workshop is 90-180 minutes and often include the following elements:

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  • Stretching

  • Breathing

  • Contemplative meditation/prayer

  • Discussion of the text (if applicable)

  • Physical exploration using frozen image

  • Debrief and questions

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Workshops can be shortened to an hour in length or extended to span an entire day.

What is the benefit of a movement workshop?

Consider the context of a church. In many traditions, the most common experience of interacting with scripture is through hearing it read or reading it oneself. The emphasis is on intellectually understanding the text. While a cognitive understanding of scripture can be important, the impact of a physical exploration is profound. It is one thing to hear a story, and another thing altogether to physically recreate it.

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By providing opportunities to communities of all kinds to experience story and text in a physical way, we are not just taking the time to truly comprehend, we are also acknowledging that both our bodies and minds are essential to life, and they are integrally intertwined. These workshops provide a living understanding of stories in which communities, cultures, and individuals find deep meaning.

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Aside from the benefit of this type of exploration, a movement workshop can be a profound experience in and of itself. In our disembodied culture, it's easy to never take a moment to stop and breathe, and consider what it means to be grateful for our bodies and our breath. We seldom have the opportunity to look into another person's eyes and feel like we are truly taking the time to see them, or to be seen. In these movement workshops, that is exactly what we do.

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A Movement Workshop at Old School Makerspace in San Antonio, December 2021

How do I bring a workshop to my community?

I am happy to travel and would love to hear more about your community center, school, place of worship etc and your specific needs and desires. Please contact me for more information, or if you are interested in any of the following:

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  • A workshop surrounding a specific theme (joy, suffering, relationship, growing up, etc.)

  • A seasonal workshop (Easter, Christmas, Lent, Pentecost)

  • A population-specific workshop (teachers, women's retreat, business leaders, parents, etc)

  • A longer workshop, with a short performance at the end

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