Somatic Workshops.
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"Movement is the doorway into the body-mind relationship"
(Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen)
Why practice somatic education
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Learn more about your own body, no matter your age!
Feel more alive and present in your body
Find new levels of ease and comfort
Uncover new sensations
What can happen in a class
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Classes will start with learning about anatomy of the body, using video, or images in anatomical books. We might become playful! Lay on the floor or stand, be still or improvise movement. There will be solo work, and partner work if that’s comfortable for you.
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No previous experience required.
Monday evenings.
Sign up directly through Isabelle for Monday classes:
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Dates: On Mondays, October 2 to December 18, 2023 (10 weeks)
(No class on October 9 and October 23, 2023)
Day/Time: Mondays, 6:00 - 7:45 pm
Location: 61 Main St., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Pricing: Drop-in $20. All 10 classes: $165. Sliding scale available upon request.
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The first 4 classes will focus on the prevertabrate patterns:
Class 1. Oct 2 Intro to human development pattern; Vibration; Cellular breathing
Class 2. Oct 16 Sponging; Pulsation
Class 3. Oct 30 Navel radiation; Mouthing
Class 4. Nov 6 Preparing for vertebrate patterns: Yield & Push, Reach & Pull. Also: How do you organize in relationship to gravity? From the ground up or the sky down?
The following 5 classes will focus on the vertebrate patterns:
Class 5. Nov 13 Intro to vertebrate patterns; Spatial aspect; Postural tone & yielding
Class 6. Nov 20 Spinal patterns: Yield & push; Reach & pull
Class 7. Nov 27 Homologous: Yield & push; Reach & pull
Class 8. Dec 4 Homolateral: Yield & push; Reach & pull
Class 9. Dec 11 Contralateral: Yield & push; Reach & pull; Brachiation
The final class brings it all together:
Class 10. Dec 18 Development Movement Sequence bringing the patterns together
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Isabelle uses her training in Body-Mind Centering® to develop these workshops on Development Movement Patterns.
Wednesday afternoons.
Sign up through the Community Activity Group (CAG) of Old Ottawa East for Wednesday classes:​
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Dates: October 4 to December 20, 2023 (11 weeks)
(No class on October 25, 2023)
Day/Time: Wednesdays, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Location: Brantwood Park Fieldhouse (in-person)
Pricing: $121.00 (+GST) - 11 Classes (Prorated for late registrations)​
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Class 1. 4 Oct Digestive track
Class 2. 11 Oct Heart & Lungs
Class 3. 18 Oct Waking up the hands, learning to touch
Class 4. 1 Nov Vagus Nerve
Class 5. 8 Nov Playing with our kinesphere and opening up the back body
Class 6. 15 Nov The ocean within, sounding
Class 7. 22 Nov Role of organs in movement
Class 8. 29 Nov Development movement patterns
Class 9. 6 Dec Development movement patterns (continued)
Class 10. 13 Dec Senses and perceptions
Class 11. 20 Dec The final class will bring the explored systems all together
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This series is an introduction to somatic education. In this series, Isabelle is inspired mostly by the method of Body-Mind Centering®, but also loosely by Continuum Movement®, Bartenieff Fundamentalsâ„ and Observation and analysis of movement (Observation-analyse du mouvement).
Classe content is subject to change.
Winter 2024
Winter 2024
Exploring touch
A laboratory for giving and receiving
Touch is a vital need for humans, but it's not always wanted or satisfying. This series proposes to build awareness around dynamics at play when we touch, including learning about our boundaries and desires. This can all happen by touching the hand only, with any other human being willing to engage in this exploration with curiosity.
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COST for 6 workshops:
· $150 or $250 for two (bring a friend or partner)
· Sliding scale available
· RECEIPTS WILL BE ISSUED by a registered MSW
for extended medical insurance benefits.
LOCATION:
· Studio located near downtown Ottawa
FACILITATORS:
· Marlene Neufeld (MSW, RSW) and Bob Neufeld (M.Ed.) are relationship teachers/facilitators and body-centered therapists. They are committed to helping others learn life-changing relationship skills. They bring a sense of wonder, curiosity, play, and fun to any topic. www.marleneandbob.com
· Isabelle Oppenheim is interested in how increased body-awareness can deepen self awareness, and a sense of connection with others. Isabelle Oppenheim has a master's in dance at UQAM and is in the process of becoming certified as a Somatic Movement Educator in Body-Mind Centering ®.
Tango Somatix Workshops.
Right before
Milonga
de la Confesión
Wed. Nov. 1st
7-8 pm
Topic:
Abrazo: Wake up your back
No need to sign up,
just show up at 7pm!
PC: Photographs by Summer
Documents.
Synopsis de recherche: La connexion tango extatique et inoubliable
Synopsis of a research "Unforgettable, Blissful Tango Connection"
Free reading! But please request written permission from the author, Isabelle Oppenheim, before using, reproducing, distributing, publishing or retransmitting the content of this document, in whole or in part.
Mémoire de maitrise COMPLET:
La connexion tango extatique et inoubliable
Lecture libre ! Mais demander l'autorisation écrite de l’autrice, Isabelle Oppenheim, avant l'utilisation, la reproduction, la diffusion, la publication ou la retransmission du contenu de ce document, en tout ou en partie.
PC: Photographs by Summer
PC: Ludmila Bazarov
About.
What is
Tango Somatix?
Tango Somatix is the practice of somatic education to further improve one's tango dancing.
Somatic education is a type of bodywork that focuses on the internal perceptions of the body. It unfolds through slow, guided explorations of mindful movement.
To practice Tango Somatix is to enter into the learning of tango through an alternative door, which does not consist of learning steps and figures, but rather of becoming familiar with the depths from which movement is born.
With time and practice, this is what may happen as you explore tango somatically:
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An increased awareness of how your body moves;
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Heightened sensitivity, for yourself and your partner;
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A progression towards an ideal body alignment;
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The discovery of new levels of ease and comfort in your tango body;
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The refinement of your body language, non-verbal communication with the other becoming more precise;
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The arising of a new freedom in your dance expression;
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Getting "out of your head" so that pleasure becomes more easily accessible, especially the pleasure of co-creating movement with another person;
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Easier access to a meaningful tango connection, increasing the odds of experiencing tango bliss!
About
Isabelle Oppenheim
Isabelle finds meaning to her life by immersing herself in the study of movement. She spent the last few years completing a master's in dance at UQAM.
In parallel to her university career, she has been progressing toward becoming certified as a Somatic Movement Educator in Body-Mind Centering ®.
This call to self-awareness through movement begins with her passion for Argentine tango, which is at the center of her research. Isabelle is particularly interested in how increased body-awareness can deepen the experience of connecting with another through dance.
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Isabelle has been part of the Ottawa tango community since 2009.
PC: Ludmila Bazarov
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