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Back in the mid to late 80s in the San Francisco Bay Area, there were meetings with many movement teachers, body workers and others looking to create a somatic organization. I am not sure if these are the roots of ISMETA or if it evolved out of another effort to centralize and organize Somatics into an association. In any event I went to a number of these early meetings and was always taken aback, because the participants only wanted to define “Somatics” as Western-based practices.

We were three weeks into the lockdown here in the UK and perhaps like many I was beginning to settle in, after the initial shake-up and all the online messaging that we had collectively reached for in order to stay in touch. A book called to be read, written by my dear friend Liz McCormick and her colleague Nigel Wellings, both experienced transpersonal psychotherapists, teachers and authors. The title Nothing to Lose (Wellings and McCormick 2010) seemed a good message in this time that seems so full of loss.

The first Encuentro Somático in Mexico, Celebrating Embodiment, took place from March 29 to 31, 2019, at the Centro Cultural Pedregal, in the south of Mexico City. More than 140 participants gathered from five countries (Argentina, Colombia, Spain, the U.S., and many regions of Mexico) with 34 teachers and performers representing many different somatic movement traditions

If we only train to toughen ourselves, to make our muscles harder, this will lead to losing confidence. Why is that? Because our body is confident when it moves properly, and this requires softness. When I say softness, I mean the ability of our body to change its muscle tone and adapt. “Softening down” implies alleviating the fierceness, anger, and nerve, toning down. In Spanish, softening down is “ablandarse,” from the Latin “blandiri,” which means, “caressing.” It is also connected to the meaning of “to yield,” to soften our stance, or our way of thinking.

Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, has gotten a lot of recent airplay in the educational circles in which I have traveled for the past 40 years. Deservedly so. Flowing in and out of academic settings while simultaneously practicing and teaching The fluid body practices of Continuum and Yoga has given me a pulse read on the culture-at-large and the challenges that lay ahead with a degree of clarity that would have otherwise been impossible.

While Emilie’s teachings have always been profound, the direct application of Continuum became somewhat illusive in the world of the high school and college age students I was teaching, especially with the onslaught of digital technology and smart phones.

ACIH welcomes ISMETA, the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association, as the newest member of ACIH’s Traditional World Medicine/ Emerging Professions Category

“Since our inception over thirty years ago, ISMETA’s board has intentionally sought to identify organizations that are doing similar work nationally and internationally in order to find out how we can work together and support the larger whole.  We would like all members of the Collaborative (ACIH) to know that there is an organization of movement practitioners that meet specific criteria and that are ready to work in integrative environments with other professions represented within ACIH.”

The annual meeting of the Federation of Therapeutic Massage, Bodywork, and Somatic Practice Organizations (Federation MBS) took place in Austin, TX on March 29-30, 2019, hosted by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA).  ISMETA sent two representatives, Elisa Cotroneo, Executive Director and Mary Abrams, Government Relations Consultant. Eleven organizations participate in the Federation MBS and each year one organization chair’s the meeting.  This year it was ISMETA’s turn so Elisa and Mary conferenced numerous times prior to the March meeting in preparation, and then co-chaired the two-day meeting.

Years ago, before I began studying somatics, anxiety controlled me. I feared new situations, people, and conflicts. Constantly trying to cope was exhausting.

During a class moving with the cellular breath brought an experience of bliss, of unconditional love.

With practice, it became possible at any moment to touch on this state. It remains today, a resource underneath all else.

ISMETA Member Jaya Kanal, RSME

Skating on ice can be a subtle, flowing experience. It can also jolt us when we fall or exhilarate us when we fly across the ice with speed. It introduces our body-mind system to a multi-sensory activity in a unique environment. External factors that affect a skater’s proprioception include the equipment, ice surface, environment, and movement of other skaters.

ISMETA Member Kelly Ferris, MFA, RSME
What is somatics though? It often seems to describe so many practices, strategies, movements, choreographic processes, and more in dance and higher education.