| G Hoffman Soto has been actively inolved in the Movement
Arts since 1969. This means as a student, teacher and performer.
His background includes 32 years practicing the martial arts including
Tai Chi Chuaun, Aikido, Capoiera (Brazilian Martial Art/Dance),
Filipino Martial Arts (where he holds master ranking), QiQong, and
Tae Kwan Do. He has studied structured and free improvised dance
and theater since 1969. He began his hands on body work practice
hands in 1970, this including Swedish Massage, Shiatsu, Polarity
Therapy, Ideokinesis (where he has written a manual on the work),
Lomi body work, Cranial Sacral Therapy and Passive Joint Mobilizations.
His objectives in his sessions are to assist clients to come into
their bodies in the moment, to open and create space, and to allow
the body to heal itself.
Soto teaches and lives in the San Francisco Bay area and has
taught internationally since 1979 throughout Europe, Canada, Japan,
Lebanon and Australia. He presently has training programs in Europe
in the Filipino Martial Arts, Movement Awareness, and Performance
Lab: a Training in the Life/Art Process.
Somatics
Somatics is a word that implies embodiment of experience. It
means wholeness of one's experience: body, mind, intellect, psych,
and spirit. Somatics can, and is, applied to education, psychology,
movement and dance, meditation, martial arts, religion, theater,
walking and eventually (and hopefully) to all our daily activities
and life.
In this course this embodiment of experience will be approached
and studied through movement, dance, and meditation. We will use
movement approaches from both western and eastern disciplines.
From the western approach we will use Movement Awareness. This
is an approach that has been developing since the 1930's in Europe
and America. Much of the work is done lying down and looks and
feels like yoga but has some different, and some similar, goals.
Working on the floor is emphasized because it neutralizes much
of the effects of gravity and allows the bodymind to learn to
relax and move in more efficient ways with less stress and strain
on the bodymind. Additinally, work is done standing, and in simple
movement studies, to begin to translate the new found relaxation
and flexibility into action.
The Eastern approach will focus on QiQong (Ki Kou in Japanese).
Qiqong means
"cultivation of the life force." Qiqong is probably
the most popular form of exercise practiced in the world today.
It is very gentle, and in this approach, stresses relaxation in
action and visualizations to help integrate the body, mind and
spirit.
Dance is a universal language. Dance allows us to express who
we are in the
present. It is communicaton without words. In this seminar there
is no steps to imitate or learn. We simply encourage participants
to let the feelings, emotions, music, energy and the moment to
move them. Dance is a part of being human. When we dance we express
our humanness.
In this approach Meditation is used as a study of movement in
stillness. We use meditation to ground and center us in the moment
and to help us understand who we are in the present. There are
techniques and there are no techniques, there is simply the now.
For those who wish, we will offer techniques to assist participants
to relax and settle in themselves, and for those who have a practice
then we encourage them to use what they have.
The overall objective in this seminar is to learn to relax,
to become more flexible in the body, mind and spirit, and in one's
life, and to let the bodymind be free to express and create who
we are. As we become more relaxed, flexible, expressive and creative
in our bodymindspirit we become more relaxed, flexible, expressive
and creative in our lifes.
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