Books
Mindful Movement
The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action
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Description
Drawing on original interviews, case studies, and practice-led research, exercise physiologist, somatic therapist, and dance educator Martha Eddy maps the origins of somatic movement education and therapy — a holistic field whose influence now reaches fitness, ecology, politics, health, education, and performance.
The book shows how dance has helped shape the history and cultural story of the somatic arts: approaches to consciousness grounded in awareness of the soma, the living body. With chapters from contributing experts, it looks at Asian movement traditions, the European physical culture movement, the language of neuroscience, and the role of women in developing somatic movement, somatic dance, social somatics, somatic fitness, and ecosomatics.
Reviews
What readers are saying
“This is a dense (as in nutrient-rich) read — the bibliography alone is worth the price of the book.”
“The scholarship reflects decades of Eddy’s passion to bring together an octopus of a field, whose diversity appears to defy categorization.”
“Somatics is the softest revolution in human consciousness that can be imagined.”
Inside
Table of Contents
Part 1 Influences and Development of Somatic Education
- 1 Introduction and Overview — The What and Why of Somatic Education
- 2 The First Generation — Founders of Somatic Education Technique
- 3 Second Generation — Set One: The Influence of Dance on Somatic Education
- 4 European Antecedents to Somatic Movement Kelly Jean Mullan
- 5 Global Roots of Somatic Movement: Asian and African Influences Sangeet Duchane
Part 2 The Emergence of Somatic Movement Education and Therapy
- 6 Second Generation — Set Two: Dynamic Approaches to Well-Being in Dance and Fitness
- 7 Third Generation — The Amalgams: Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Today
- 8 The Universities and Somatic Inquiry: The Growth of Somatic Movement Dance Education in Britain Sara Reed and Sarah Whatley
- 9 How Dance Has Helped Situate Academic Fields of Somatic Inquiry: Case Study University of Illinois-Urbana Rebecca Nettl-Fiol
- 10 Somatic Movement and Dance Education in pre-K-12 Education Kate Tarlow Morgan, Eve Selver-Kassell, Lauren Lipman and Mary Ann Brehm
Part 3 Current Trends in Somatic Thinking and Being
- 11 Healthy Movement, Healthy Mind: Neuroscience Connections to Somatic Healing and Action
- 12 Conscious Action and Social Change: “Social Somatics”
- 13 Somatic Dance and Environmental Activism: Is this Spirituality?
- 14 Concluding Thoughts: Does Somatic Awareness Interplay with Genetics, Ecstasy and Space?
Related Publications
Further reading
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Bring Dr. Eddy to your organization
Available for keynotes, workshops, and ongoing consulting in schools, health systems, and the arts.