UK IBMT Newsletter October 2023
In this newsletter, read about …
- Linda Hartley steps back from being the Director of IBMT
- Reflections and taking a pause – The diploma training continues
- Looking Ahead: Intro Workshops & autumn 2024 Diploma.
- Resources for Authentic Movement – IBMT Intro days, North London Practice Group, Discipline of Authentic Movement Retreats.
- Remembering Janet Adler.
- Follow us on social media #ibmtuk
Linda Hartley, Founder of IBMT, steps back as Director
From September 2023 Linda has passed on the directorship of IBMT to Jane Okondo & Paul Beaumont. This has been a gradual process, over the last few years. Paul and Jane studied with Linda in the early 2010s, graduating and then slowly taking on certain tasks within the organisation.
Linda writes:
August 31st 2023 marked the end of a 33-year cycle for IBMT, when I handed over the Directorship of the Institute to Jane Okondo and Paul Beaumont. We have been preparing for this over several years, making a gradual and gentle transition into a new phase of the IBMT Institute’s life, and I know that it is in very good hands under the co-Direction of Paul and Jane.
The first programme began in Berlin in 1990 when a colleague invited me to teach a year-long introduction to Body-Mind Centering®. Because of the enthusiasm and commitment of those first German students, the programme was able to grow and eventually expand into the evolving community that we have today. Many students have passed through our Diploma programmes in Germany, the UK, Lithuania and Russia, and IBMT graduates are now practising in many countries across Europe.
I could not have imagined this growth when I began that first course in Berlin thirty-three years ago, and am deeply grateful to every student, assistant, teacher, organizer and co-ordinator who has worked with us – each one has helped to shape and support the development of IBMT and its rippling out into ever widening circles in our communities.
I send my heartfelt wishes and support to Jane and Paul as they step into this new role as Institute Directors, and my deepest gratitude to them and all our Programme Directors, whose hard work and careful guidance is enabling IBMT practice to grow and flourish. Today’s world needs embodied relational practices, such as we offer, more than ever!
Thank you, thank you to each of you.
With my warmest wishes,
Linda Hartley
IBMT Institute Founder
Paul and Jane write:
It is a great honour and privilege to be taking on this role. It wasn’t something that we had envisioned but has slowly, slowly come into a reality. We both feel grateful to be part of a team of faculty, assistants, organisers and co-ordinators, taking Linda’s work out into the world. The embodied holistic approach has so much to offer for personal and professional development, and is so needed.
As we look ahead we are excited by what we might be able to support, as we develop the training. We are engaged with how being an ISMETA Approved Training Programme guides us to reflect on and improve what we offer to students. We continue to refine student learning resources and materials as we respond to feedback and develop the rigour of the programme.
Reflections – taking a Pause
Amongst the ongoing work of running the programme, the summer enabled us to take a pause, to breathe out and settle as we came to the end of our academic year. We have completed our first part of Embodied Anatomy & Movement Repatterning, with students exploring skin & connective tissue, the skeletal and muscular systems and the organ systems.
We have begun the new term with explorations of the nervous system, central and peripheral, and the nature of nerve cellular tissue. Here we met the synapse, and the possibility of a pause from the sensory to the motor. As the season progresses we will be continuing with the autonomic nervous system, neuro-endocrine, immune and fluid systems.
Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome, a current IBMT student, writes:
There has been so much learning, adjusting, reshuffling, opening and letting go going on since starting this course! So far beginning the Embodied Anatomy Module it is facilitating a fascinating change of perspective coming into somatic movement and touch through the lens of the practicing therapist.
As a movement practitioner something hugely beneficial has been practicing, researching and exploring different anatomical structures in movement and in relation to each other to ground each experience within another body system. This has created new movement research curiosities, experiences and interests.
You can read the full article from Fernanda here.
We also paused after a series of introductory workshops that began in February, which were open to anyone interested in our work. Paul Beaumont, IBMT Faculty UK teacher, ran these single day events that are designed to give participants a flavour of the training.
It’s always interesting to meet new people on the intro workshops. People come from far and wide and from a range of different backgrounds and experience. For some they might have known of IBMT for a while, and find that the time is right for them to move towards knowing more and do a workshop in preparation for joining us on the diploma. For others, they might know little of somatic approaches, and are wondering how it could fit with other things they have done and want to explore.
One participant said “It feels like the work of IBMT is a really important offering. One that this world needs more of and as such I came away feeling as though I had been a part of something that has the potential to be immensely transformative personally and within my own family and wider community.”
Read other recent Testimonials here
Looking Ahead – Intro workshops ready to join the diploma in 2024
Even though we are just starting with this academic year, we are looking ahead to 2024 and pleased to be offering ways that new students can join our training. We are offering some general introductory workshop as well as one specifically tailored to Infant Movement Development and Authentic Movement & Therapeutic Presence.
You can read about both modules, following the links above.
We include workshops that offer a general introduction to IBMT as well as ones specifically for our next diploma module that starts next year, Infant Movement Development. Further dates will be added that will also include intro’s for Authentic Movement & Therapeutic Presence.
To reach further afield, we are offering some intro workshops facilitated by experienced IBMT graduates in other parts of the UK. The first of which happened in September in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Mari Winkelman and Ali Rose ran the event. Sign up to our mailing list via the website for details of future events.
Resources for Authentic Movement
IBMT Intro Workshops: Authentic Movement & Therapeutic Presence
In preparation for this module starting in October 2024, Jane Okondo is offering 2 single day introductory workshops for those interested in joining the diploma. Book for one of the dates.
Dates: Sat 24 February 2024 and Sun14 April 2024
Location: South London, UK.
Full details can be found by following the links from here.
Authentic movement – Practice circle in North London
IBMT Graduate Brenda Naso is offering a practice space for anyone with some experience of authentic movement and a willingness to deepen their practice.
She writes:
We will start with 3 monthly gatherings with a view of continuing for a year. My aspiration is to hold a practice space for those who are keen on engaging in regular group practice. Availability is limited to a maximum of 8 participants.
Since 2007, I have been studying and practicing Authentic Movement with Linda Hartley and have assisted her in teaching this practice. I have graduated from the Institute of Integrative Bodywork & Movement Therapy in 2010 and have been working as a qualified Dance Movement Psychotherapist for over 17 years. You can find more information about my professional qualifications and experience on my Linkedin profile – Brenda Naso.
Click here to download a flier
If you have questions about this practice circle or you would like to register, please email me here: brendanaso@yahoo.co.uk
Discipline of Authentic Movement Retreats:
Jane Okondo, Faculty for IBMT and Circles of Four. Dates: 22 – 24 March 2024, 19-20 July 2024, 15-17 November 2024. www.somaflow.co.uk or janeoko@mac.com
Linda Hartley: details: www.lindahartley.co.uk
Remembering Janet Adler
In July we honoured the death of Janet Adler, the founder of the Discipline of Authentic Movement.
It is with much gratitude that through her work, sharing her exploration with others over many years, we are able to include Authentic Movement as a foundational element of our IBMT study.
We develop tracking, language and relational skills to support our therapeutic work. We learn about a practice that can support our embodiment, spiritual, emotional and psychological worlds. We develop our ability to hold and contain as we witness ourselves and others in the unfolding process of being present.
Berlin filmmaker Jens Wazel has created a beautiful film about Janet at her home and studio on Galiano Island, Canada. It offers a very fitting tribute to her life, her work and her spirit. Jens generously encourages people to share the film widely and freely:
https://www.
In recent years we have witnessed the passings of other pioneering women, who have brought into the world key practices that have shaped and formed somatic work internationally: Emile Conrad and Anna Halpin. It is wonderful to see how their work also ripples out through current inspiring practitioners.
IBMT on Social Media
Please link up with us on our new accounts to connect with IBMT and the wider somatic field. Get advanced notice and reminders of workshops, details of events and other items of interest for somatic practitioners. Follow the hashtag #ibmtuk
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