Two-Day Workshop

Aiki-Somatics: Bridging the Spirit of Harmony and the Body of Power
with Paul Linden and Rich Sims

Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 26, 2026 • 12–3pm ET
Find your local time here. 

Live participation is strongly encouraged. However, if you are unable to attend a session, the recordings will be available to all who have pre-registered.

Aiki is the term used in the non-violent martial art of Aikido to denote the methods of self development that lead to a “Spirit of Harmony.” Somatics denotes the combination of the first-person experience of the body with the scientific approach to studying the person in the body. Our goal is to live fully in our body and meet the challenges of life with awareness, strength, and compassion. Power is the ability to control your body and your environment to create safety and comfort. When people experience difficulties they do not have the resources to manage, they usually contract or collapse their breathing, attention, vision, hearing, posture or movement. This is the fight/flight/freeze/collapse pattern, and is often experienced as powerlessness, fear, anger, dissociation, resignation and so on. Paul Linden (Developer of Being In Movement® mind-body education) and Richard Sims (President of the ISMETA Board of Directors and Board Member of Aiki Extensions), are both black belts. They have extensive experience working in the trauma, stress, pain, abuse, health/wellness, and peacebuilding worlds. No experience in Aikido or other martial arts is necessary. Any movements we explore will be gentle in nature and each participant will have the option to participate or observe as they see fit. 

This two-class series will highlight the use of Aiki-Somatics and how it can be incorporated into other professionals’ work. The tools, skills and approaches will add to the professionals existing toolbox they can use for themselves personally or professionally.  

Participants will learn:
1: How Aiki-Somatics enables people to choose new more effective and comfortable possibilities in their lives.
2: Emotions are actions we do in our body. Fear, anger, and hatred create collapse and contraction in the body, making us weak and unable to act effectively. 
3: Exercises for centering the body and integrating power and love. 
4: How replacing negative emotions with actions of awareness, balance, flow, sensitivity, and love we regain our power. 
5: How to find compassionate, respectful ways of confronting the problems we face.
6: Clear and precise somatic methods of self-regulation that can be used in “emotional” areas such as getting along with difficult people (we can disagree without being disagreeable) or “physical” areas such as preventing back injuries from lifting (we can work hard while still staying relaxed). 

Paul Linden (Developer of Being In Movement® mind-body education) and Richard Sims (President of the ISMETA Board of Directors and Board Member of Aiki Extensions), are both black belts in the nonviolent Japanese martial art of Aikido. In addition to their somatics expertise, they draw upon the principles and methods of Aikido in their work. They have extensive experience working in areas such as trauma, stress, pain, abuse, health/wellness, and peacebuilding.
https://www.being-in-movement.com/
https://richardesims.com/

Course Information

Cancellation Policy:
If a participant cancels their registration to any paid offering in the Professional Development Center, they will receive the following refund:
Full refund minus the PayPal fees, more than 4 weeks before the event begins
75% refund from 1 - 4 weeks before the event begins
50% refund from 1 - 6 days before the event begins
No refund on the day that the event begins or while it is in progress ISMETA reserves the right to cancel any offering in the Professional Development Center before the course begins due to unforeseen circumstances. In this case, a full refund will be given.