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Writer's pictureMioi Forster-Nakayama

Newsletter No.17 Witnessing Inner Self


Hello, everyone. I hope you all are doing well. April was a super busy month for me resulting in writing a newsletter now. As I am writing this, I now feel cold breeze with sunshine coming into my eyes and feel ready for winter in Adelaide.


Body Mapping Autumn Workshop – Nurture and Harvest Inner Self

The Autumn Body Mapping Workshop with the three women was rich and another learning for me. Body Mapping quite often reveals women’s one of the most sensitive issues such as the womb and this time was no exception. You can see the pictures of the WS here. There was a woman who explored her life and death. I noticed about myself that I struggled to just acknowledge someone’s journey towards death – it is a fear for me to even say a word of death. This woman expressed her experience of being in an imaginary “coffin” while doing a body meditation (an exploration of body sensation) and this was one of the powerful statements I heard in this workshop. Perhaps she may have had accessed her inner eye to understand her upbringing and now her retirement.

As a body mapping facilitator, I practice Authentic Movement which is about developing an “inner witness” (Adler, p.25) where I witness participants’ inner exploration through the body and art expressions. I see the woman deeply settle into her lying position and feel relieved and grounded. I say this in the present sentence so that the witness brings us a sense of here and now.


My body mapping colleague, Vanessa Daughtry, with a trauma informed approach and visual arts background, gently and honestly supported the participants. As a psychotherapy practitioner, it is a gem to find someone like Vanessa who understands the power of body in a psychotherapeutic setting and an importance of arts to support people. We are offering three more workshops until the end of this year. Our next workshops are scheduled as below.


Workshop for MEN – 18th and 19th June Register here

Winter for WOMXN - 2nd and 3rd July 2021 (Adelaide) Register here

Spring for WOMXN – 15th and 16th October 2021

You can also have a glimpse of the workshop on Youtube.


Movement Facilitation

I was delighted to offer a dance movement therapy workshop for the staff of the Arts Therapy Spectrum in April. It was after a long time for me to do a movement session for adults as I normally work with young children now. This was my favourite time as I easily find a close connection with arts therapists who regard arts and creativity. One art therapist asked me a question – what if an art therapist does movement and dance with her clients in session? My immediate answer is “Why not?” I as a dance movement psychotherapist use arts (painting and drawing), instruments and plays if that would be client’s choice and help them to express in their way. I would not claim that I am an art or music therapist to respect qualified practitioners. I believe that we could incorporate different modalities into clinical work so that we work for the best interests of the client.

I planned to offer Move & Connect, a monthly moving space for anyone interested in April, but sadly I had to cancel the session as I was feeling up to my neck as well as sadly no one confirmed the attendance. I now decided to keep offering a space. Please help me spread words about this opportunity as I am keen to build a community in Adelaide where like-mind people would gather for movement. This is a space for anyone to creatively explore movement or stillness and connect with yourself or others. It is not a therapy session, but I will offer a dance movement psychotherapeutic element in this space. For those who are curious about this modality or would like to authentically move, this is the space for you. You require no skills or experience of dance or movement. The fee is $7 (or with concession $5). Register by email me at info@intertwinebodymind.com.


24th June and 22nd July 2021 at 6:30-7:30 at Mitcham Community Centre


For the last one month, I have been feeling quite sad and helpless about the current covid crisis in India. My Indian friends have been busy with supporting those who cannot feed themselves for today. Some of them are burying the bodies every single day. Hopefully, the country unites now and fights against the virus with international supports. I hope you all continue to stay safe.



Reference

Adler, J. (2007). From Autism to the Discipline of Authentic Movement (Chapter 1) In: P. Pallaro, ed., Authentic Movement. Moving the Body, Moving the Self, Being Moved. Collection of Essays Volume Two. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London and Philadelphia


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