Somatics
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Somatics
Somatics is a field within bodywork (alternative medicine), bodywork and movement studies which emphasizes proprioception, internal physical perception and experience. The term is used in movement therapy to signify approaches based on the soma, or "the body as perceived from within", including Skinner Releasing Technique, Alexander technique, the Feldenkrais method, Gerda Alexander, Eutony, Rolfing Structural Integration, among others. In dance, the term refers to techniques based on the dancer's internal sensation, in contrast with "performance, performative techniques", such as ballet or modern dance, which emphasize the external observation of movement by an audience. Somatic techniques may be used in bodywork, psychotherapy, dance, or spiritual practices. History An early precursor of the somatic movement in Western culture was the 19th-century physical culture movement. This movement sought to integrate movement practices, or "gymnastics", related to military and athletic ...
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Elsa Gindler
Elsa Gindler (19 June 1885 – 8 January 1961) was a somatic bodywork (alternative medicine), bodywork pioneer in Germany. Born in Berlin, teacher of wiktionary:Gymnastik, gymnastik, student of Hedwig Kallmeyer (who, in turn, had been a student of Genevieve Stebbins). From her personal experience of recovering from tuberculosis (it is said by concentrating on breathing only with her healthy lung and resting the diseased lung), Gindler originated a school of movement education, in close collaboration with Heinrich Jacoby. What Gindler had called ''Arbeit am Menschen'' (work on the human being) emphasised self-observation and growing understanding of one's individual physically related condition. Simple actions such as sitting, standing, and walking were explored, as well as other everyday movements. This became one of the bases of body psychotherapy since many of the most influential body psychotherapists studied with her or "Sensory Awareness" with Charlotte Selver at the Esalen ...
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Genevieve Stebbins
Genevieve Stebbins (March 7, 1857 – September 21, 1934) was an American author, teacher of her system of Harmonic Gymnastics and performer of the Delsarte system of expression. She published four books and was the founder of the New York School of Expression. Early years Genevieve Stebbins was born on March 7, 1857, in San Francisco, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ..., to James Cole Stebbins and Henrietta Smith. Her mother died when she was two years old. As a young child she always loved to dance and perform. Career Theatre Stebbins first came to New York City from San Francisco to study for the stage, under a leading actress of Albert Marshman Palmer's Union Square Theatre. After a Winter's course of instruction, she made her debut on the stage as ...
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Skinner Releasing Technique
Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT) created by Joan Skinner (USA) is practised and taught worldwide. Emslie, M.A. (2021) describes it as "a somatic movement, dance and creative practice with a core underlying principle of releasing blocked energy, held tension, and habitual patterns of body mind. It enables us to move with greater freedom and ease whilst awakening creativity and spontaneity". "By focusing on personal, kinaesthetic experience of essential principles of movement, SRT may enhance any movement style whilst fostering artistic sensibility and creative unfoldment" SRT is unusual in that technical aspects of moving and dancing, such as posture and alignment are experienced as creative explorations that take form as spontaneous movement. Technical and creative aspects of practice are indistinguishable. Joan Skinner created an Introductory Level of SRT, as well as an Ongoing Level and there is a children's pedagogy in existence. The introductory Level consists of 15 clas ...
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Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method (FM) is a type of movement therapy devised by Israeli Moshé Feldenkrais (1904–1984) during the mid-20th century. The method is claimed to reorganize connections between the brain and body and so improve body movement and psychological state. There is no conclusive evidence for any medical benefits of the therapy. However, researchers do not believe FM poses serious risks. Description The Feldenkrais Method is a type of alternative movement therapy that proponents claim can repair impaired connections between the motor cortex and the body, so benefiting the quality of body movement and improving wellbeing. Practitioners view it as a form of somatic education "that integrates the body, mind and psyche through an educational model in which a trained Feldenkrais practitioner guides a client (the ‘student’) through movements with hands-on and verbally administered cues," according to ''Clinical Sports Medicine.'' The Feldenkrais Guild of North America ...
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Gerda Alexander
Gerda Alexander (February 15, 1908 – February 21, 1994) was a German/Danish Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Dalcroze eurhythmicist and teacher, and later creator of Eutony. She was involved with the vanguards of the arts, education, and movement culture in Germany in the first decades of the 20th century, and established herself in Denmark in 1929 onwards. Through the creation of Eutony, Gerda Alexander collaborated with medical centers, pedagogical and artistic training institutes in Europe, North and South America and the Middle East. Gerda Alexander was a pioneer among the creators of Somatics, somatic education practices in the world. Her school in Copenhagen trained professionals for 45 years, and Eutony is currently taught in professional training schools in Europe and South America. Life and work Early life and education Gerda Alexander was born in Wuppertal, Germany, and her parents were enthusiasts of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, passing on to her a similar interest in the art ...
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Modern Dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was considered to have been developed as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet, and also a way to express social concerns like socioeconomic and cultural factors. In the late 19th century, modern dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called improvisational or free dance. These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary (the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet) and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in the search for greater freedom of movement. Throughout the 20th century, sociopolitical concerns, major historical events, and the development of other art ...
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Alexander Technique
The Alexander technique, named after its developer Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), is an alternative therapy based on the idea that poor posture causes a range of health problems. The American National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health classifies it as a "psychological and physical" complementary approach to health when used "together with" mainstream conventional medicine. Alexander began developing his technique's principles in the 1890s to address his own voice loss during public speaking. He credited his method with allowing him to pursue his passion for performing Shakespearean recitations. Proponents and teachers of the Alexander technique believe the technique can address a variety of health conditions, but there is a lack of research to support the claims. , the UK National Health Service and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) cite evidence that the Alexander technique may be helpful for long-term back pain and ...
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Rolfing
Rolfing () is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf (1896–1979) as Structural Integration. Rolfing is marketed with unproven claims of various health benefits, is recognized as pseudoscience: "The idea of vital energy... does not correspond to known facts of how the human body operates. Similarly, there is absolutely no support in psychological literature for the idea of traumatic experiences being repressed in the form of muscle memory, and so the basic ideas of Rolfing certainly fall into the category of pseudoscience." and is generally characterized as quackery. It is based on Rolf's ideas about how the human body's " energy field" can benefit when aligned with the Earth's gravitational field. Rolfing is typically delivered as a series of ten hands-on physical manipulation sessions sometimes called "the recipe". Practitioners combine superficial and deep manual therapy with movement prompts. The process is sometimes painful. The safety of Rolfing ...
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Bodywork (alternative Medicine)
In alternative medicine, bodywork is any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving Manual therapy, manipulative therapy, Breathwork (New Age), breath work, or energy medicine. Bodywork techniques also aim to assess or improve Posture and occupational health, posture, promote Self-awareness#Psychology, awareness of the "Bodymind, bodymind connection" which is an approach that sees the human body and mind as a single integrated unit, or to manipulate the Aura (paranormal), electromagnetic field alleged to surround the human body and affect health. See also *Mind–body interventions *Somatics *Energy medicine References

{{Authority control Manual therapy Mind–body interventions Massage therapy ...
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John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overriding theme of Dewey's works was his profound belief in democracy, be it in politics, education, or communication and journalism. As Dewey himself stated in 1888, while still at the University of Michigan, "Democracy and the one, ultimate, ethical ideal of humanity are to my mind synonymous." Dewey considered two fundamental elements—schools and civil society—to be major topics needing attention and reconstruction to encourage experimental intelligence and plurality. He asserted that complete democracy was to be obtained not just by extending voting rights but also by ensuring that there exists a fully formed public opinion, accomplished by communication among citizens, experts, and politicians. Dewey was one of the primary figures associ ...
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Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including '' The Philosophy of Freedom''. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings are influenced by Christian Gnosticism or neognosticism.Sources for 'Christian Gnosticism': Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.Sources for 'pseudohistory': In the first, more philosophically oriented phase of this movement, Steiner attempted to find a synthesis between science and spirituality. His philosophical work of these years, which he termed " spiritual science", sought to apply what he saw as the clarity of thinking characteristic of West ...
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Experiential Learning
Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students reflecting on their product. Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. It is related to, but not synonymous with, other forms of active learning such as action learning, adventure learning, free-choice learning, cooperative learning, service-learning, and situated learning.Itin, C. M. (1999). Reasserting the Philosophy of Experiential Education as a Vehicle for Change in the 21st Century. ''The Journal of Physical Education'' 22(2), p. 91-98. Experiential learning is often used synonymously with the term " experiential education", but while experiential education is a broader philosophy of education, experiential learning considers the individual lear ...
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