Walking along the street in New York City two days ago I found myself thinking about how much energy we put into protecting ourselves from and avoiding "being hurt". We study martial arts, we work out, we study anatomy to understand mechanics, and we learn self-defense and self-help tricks to feel stronger and communicate more effectively. All of these skills can be useful and there is nothing wrong with them, yet we still experience hurt--physically and more so emotionally.
This wandering thought process led me to question:
"What if we spent more time and energy learning through our hurting instead of defending against it or avoiding it?"
What would our world feel like if we all were more curious about what hurting can teach us?
Recently, I was hurting from an unfortunate challenge with my next door neighbor. Part of me wanted to label her as crazy, inept, and controlling, as I thought she was labeling me noisy and insensitive. Feeling the way my body responded to extra tensions that arose every time I thought about protecting myself from her or being aggressive towards her, I kept pausing to breathe, listen, and feel for a supported "gesture". Eventually, on Mother's Day weekend with an apartment full of family and three very lively loud little boys, I recognized how noisy "I" really was. Accepting this, I moved to buy her flowers, write a note appreciating her motherhood and neighborly patience, and I then made the gesture of giving them to her. My whole being opened with curiosity and relief. A few hours later she stopped by to thank me for the flowers and for a few minutes she and her daughter joined my family.
The feeling in me as I think of her now is completely different and I am amazed that by staying with the awkward and uncomfortable feelings of hurt and learning my through them, that somehow our combined hurting actually brought us together in a much more intimate and gentle way than living side by side had done in 5 years. As I continue to wander and learn my way when hurting, I truly wonder what else is possible?
During June our teachers and practitioners are available to support you in learning through all that is wandering, alive, hurting, and healing in you. We offer attentive listening, gentle patient touch, and safe environments to help you find your supported right gestures for moving about the world. We hope you'll join us this month in classes, workshops, or private sessions and so much more.
June highlights are below and check out our website for other opportunities.
Learningly yours,
Mary Abrams & All at Moving Body Resources
|
|
Classes with Mary Abrams
MOVING BODY INNOVATIONS Taught by Mary Abrams Tuesdays 11 am - 1 pm Ongoing
Thursdays 10 am - 12 pm Ongoing
Fees: $30/single class $130 / 5 class series See info below.
MOVING BODY DANCE
June 13, July 11
Fees: $30/single class $130 / 5 class series
See info below.
MOVING BODY HEALING
June 27 6 - 8 pm Fees: $30/single class $130 / 5 class series
ALL ABOUT ATTENTION One Friday each month June 16. July 14
9:30 am - 1 pm $55
MBR Community Classes:
SOMATIC SOLSTICE MAT
Taught by Laura V. Ward
Tuesdays 10am - 11am
PACHUAN TAI CHI Taught by Dominique Jenkins Thursdays 6:30 - 7:30 pm (please register before attending)347-607-2886 drj604@gmail.com
HEART-CENTERED TOUCH FOR MEN Led by Adam Brown Thursdays 8 - 10:00 pm (pre-registration required)212-366-9025 adam@heartcenteredtouch.com
|
|
UPCOMING
WEEKEND EVENTS & WORKSHOPS
|
STANDING YOUR GROUND: A Workshop With Stacey Klein, LCSW and Dan Rindler GCFP
Jun 11
10am - 1pm See below...
THE CONTINUUM OF YOGA An Introduction to the Evolution of Practice
June 11
2pm - 5pm See below...
LESS IS MORE: Moving from the spine as a source for motivation, support & directional movement
June 19-20
See below...
MOVING BODY SALON Enlightenment or entertainment at MBR!
Friday June 23! 7 pm
Great performers showing up....See below!!!
SOMATIC MOVEMENT IMMERSION: Inhabiting the Body, Moving the World
Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
July 23 - 28 See below...
|
|
Taught by Mary Abrams & Colleagues
These classes are an amazing opportunity to awaken your senses, experience your body as movement, interrupt your habitual ways of thinking and feeling, and to develop new clarity, awareness, strength, and liveliness in your entire being. We will explore with breath and sound play, sensing, feeling, micro-movement, expressive movement, and deep stillness. Beginners are welcome anytime.
Every Tuesday 11 am-1 pm
Every Thursday 10 am-12 pm
Teacher schedule:
Mary Abrams is teaching ALL of June.
Drop-ins welcome to ALL classes.
Fees for 2017:
$30/single class $130/ 5 class series
Pre-registration via email or phone 24 hours in advance is appreciated but not necessary.
TO REGISTER via email or phone contact:
|
|
Taught by Mary Abrams
Every living breathing body is a dance of life each moment of existence. Dancing occurs deep within as subtle unseeable movements that awaken through small meaningful gestures that can explode with wild exuberant expression. Dancing takes form in many cultures in service of celebration and sacred ritual. Moving Body Dance classes offer a safe environment to find your uniquely authentic dance from within, and to celebrate your personal sacred ritual in community. Each class will begin with a ½ hour of Continuum practice (breath/sound, fluid movement, sensation awakening) to interrupt daily patterns, to deepen inner awareness, and to provide support for full genuine flow of expression. This segues into an hour of dancing with music, winding down with a ½ hour of breath/sound and inner movement exploration to support integration of all that awakens in your dancing body.

2nd Tuesday of each month
June 13, July 11
6pm-8pm
Fees for 2017:
$30/single class $130/ 5 class series
TO REGISTER via email or phone contact: mary@movingbodyresources.com
or 212-206-7542
|
|
Taught by Mary Abrams
This monthly class explores the questions, “What is healing? Who is the healer? Who is healing? Can healing occur if nothing needs fixing? Can healing occur if no one has special powers? Or if everyone has special powers?
During these sessions all participants will be invited to explore themselves moving, sounding, breathing, and being in the space as healers, as being healed, and in endless creative roles appearing and disappearing for no rational reason. Participants will be invited to bring their special, sacred, and mundane objects to heal with, along with fabrics, singing bowls, shakers, candles, water, and all other items in our healing space. Together we will feel for all the beautiful gestures we can make, and together we will discover the mysteries of healing.
This class is inspired by Mary’s lifelong creative explorations in the mystery of being, ongoing Somatic Movement practice, and Fake Therapy as articulated by Valentina Desideri and experienced at the Body IQ Conference with Peter Pleyer.
4th Tuesday of every month
June 27
6pm-8pm
Fees for 2017:
$30/single class $130/ 5 class series
TO REGISTER via email or phone contact: mary@movingbodyresources.com or 212-206-7542
|
|
Taught by Laura V Ward
Tuesdays - 10am - 11am
Somatic Solstice Mat classes emphasize the subjective experience of embodiment by inquiring into the potential space inside and outside of the body with playful awareness. Through this approach we lean into greater connectivity, fluid resilience and functional integrity. Simple user-friendly exercises elicit healthy movement patterns that stimulate, massage and hydrate the soft tissues and the nervous system. This class cultivates a level of body intelligence and fitness that will continue to support your agility throughout life. Drawn from diverse movement forms including Ballet, Pilates, Yoga, Dance, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Sounding, Continuum Movement, and Connective Tissue Therapy, there is balance of specific form-based exercise and non-judgmental free moving improvisational work. IT SHOULD BE FUN and FEEL GOOD!
No prior experience required. This is appropriate for all levels, ages and body types.
To register, or for more information:
646-241-8254 laura@lauravward.com
|
|
Standing Your Ground : How Movement Work and Body Oriented Psychotherapy Can Help You Transform Your Relationship With Yourself and Others
|
A Workshop With Stacey Klein, LCSW and Dan Rindler GCFP
June 11, 2017 10am - 1pm Advance Registration Required: Early-Bird Fee $65 before May 21. $75 thereafter
Would you like to learn how to feel more grounded and connected to yourself and less tossed around by the ups and downs of your feelings and life? Do you tend to get anxious and avoid speaking your truth or asserting yourself in relationships when you need to?
Do you sometimes feel stuck in your life, or in psychotherapy — knowing intellectually what changes you want to make but unable to make them emotionally?
While therapy and movement work can each be powerful in their own right. When these two practices are combined, you simultaneously experience an integration of your psychological functioning and a sense of foundational support through your physical structure which supports how you meet your own experience and everything in your world. Becoming mindfully aware of your movement choices opens up more options for responding with an expanded range in living and meeting others.
This workshop brings together two seasoned practitioners who practice mind-body integration. Dan Rindler, GCFP is an experienced Feldenkrais practitioner who specializes in using movement work with anxiety and other psychological issues in children and adults. Stacey Klein, LCSW is a seasoned somatic and relational psychotherapist who integrates body, mind and spirit in her practice with children, adolescents and adults. They will share their thoughts on how movement and psychotherapy complement and enhance each other, and demonstrate experientially why engaging in body awareness and movement work from a psychological lens can be transformative in mobilizing our stuck places.
In this 3 hour workshop, you will be guided through gentle experiential body awareness and movement exercises designed to heighten awareness of your habitual and unconscious patterns and discover untapped inner resources that will help you feel more empowered and grounded in your life. We will use individual exploration and partner experiments in which you will be able to share your experiences with your partners according to your own comfort level. This workshop is open to all, including new and experienced movement practitioners, psychotherapists and anyone interested in beginning or going deeper into examining the interrelationship of their mind, body, emotions and relationships.
To Register:
danrindler@brooklynfeldenkrais.com
347.406.4464
http://www.brooklynfeldenkrais.com/standing-your-ground/
|
|
An introduction to the evolution of practice with Bobbie Ellis
Sunday, June 11 2-5 pm Location: Moving Body Resources Fee: $45
Discover new and unexpected possibilities when you combine the fluid movement practices of Continuum with the principles and practice of Yoga. An introductory program designed for everyone interested in the practice of Yoga or Continuum, as well as people exploring new approaches to conscious embodiment, Bobbie will guide experiential learning as you explore:
- How the fluid nature of the body can inform yoga practice.
- Movement as what we are, not what we do.
- How the “8 limbs” of yoga are found in Continuum .
- The body as a creative process, not an object.
- Inhabiting, and pouring our bodies into and out of asanas as a living, fluid process.
- Signs of life in your yoga practice, as opposed to the need to perfect the form of your practice.
- Preventing yoga-related injuries by changing our habitual tempo and listening from within in new and novel ways.
- Moving beyond the physical aspects of Yoga and questioning the flexibility of being human, rather than the literal flexibility of your body.
- Awareness of internal experience through breath, sound, guided and silent meditation, and fluid movement.
- The dexterity and variety of breathing practices in Yoga and Continuum.
- Cultivating curiosity.
- Inner resources for resilience, adaptability, and change.
- The difference between discipline and devotion to practice.
Bobbie Ellis has been deeply committed to exploring the territory of inquiry and creativity using the wisdom of the body for 32 years. As a yoga and somatic movement educator, Bobbie leads classes, workshops and explorative trainings rich in fluid expression, self-discovery, writing, drawing and moving with living anatomy at Soma Center in Highland Park, NJ. She explored Continuum Movement with founder Emilie Conrad from 1999-2014 and was an authorized Continuum teacher from 2005-2015. For information and to contact Bobbie please visit: www.somactr.com and www.meaningfulceremonies.net
To register contact:
Mary Abrams: mary@movingbodyresources.com 212-206-7542
|
|
LESS IS MORE: Moving from the Spine as a Source for Motivation, Support & Directional Movement
|
Taught by Margalit Peri
Monday & Tuesday
June 19-20
3-5 pm
$30 single class
$50 for both classes
We will explore our spines as a great elemental structure responsible for much of our range of motion. We will utilize sensing, images, voice, physical space, gravity and everything in between, as we seek freshness in the vitality of our bodily being.
Margalit Peri has been exploring movement as a dancer/choreographer, teacher, and bodyworker in Israel, Germany, and the USA. Her career of over 30 years spans teaching and learning with people of all ages.
We welcome Margalit to MBR from her home in Tel Aviv.
Register NOW!
212-206-7542
mary@movingbodyresources.com
|
|
Friday, June 23rd
7 pm
Moving Body Salons create a space for artists to share their work live, in real time, with real people to create living resources for us all.
Artistic expressions may be raw, fermenting, fully cooked, and more.
Calling all artists of all kinds and all levels.
June 23rd will include performances by:
Eelka Lampe, Poetry
Marian Rich, Reading Fred Newman
Amy Spaulding, Storytelling
Lillian Stamey, Dance "Dreaming into Being"
Sara Mulry, Dance
Suggested Donation: $10-$25/person
Bring snacks & a beverage (or more)
Performances, conversation, schmoozing, and who knows
what else will MOVE us!
To RSVP contact:
services@movingbodyresources.com
212-206-7542
|
|
OMEGA INSTITUTE SOMATIC MOVEMENT IMMERSION:
|
Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY July 23 - 28
REGISTER NOW!!!
Attention all licensed Massage Therapists:
CEU credits approved by NCBTMB are available.
|
|
Save the dates!
November 10-12, 2017
The first ever Moving Body Festival of Somatic Movement.
ONLINE REGISTRATION & DETAILS COMING SOON!!!
Festival Committee: Jennifer Maeve Moloney, Lee Fogel, Lillian Stamey, Cindy Shum, Ali Fischer, Corazon Tierra, and Mary Abrams
|
|
PRACTITIONER HIGHLIGHT:
REI PEROVIC
|
MBR welcomes Rei Perovic!
Rei Perovic (pronounced Ray Perovich) is a certified Reiki Master Teacher from Japan in NYC. Her mission is to support people with a self-rediscovery journey in finding the light again in them and beyond. The light that guides their path even when it seems dark. The light that fuels their passion. And the light that sheds on the possibilities that they didn’t know existed.
Contact:
Hello@Reikirei.com347.509.6455https://www.reikirei.com
|
|
MBR has wonderful spaces
for teaching
and healing arts
of all kinds.
MBR has 3 office spaces and 2 group spaces available by the hour and by the day. Any space can be rented for one time, one hour, a few hours, a full day, an entire weekend, or for ongoing classes.
Our 3 offices are ideal for a variety of private practice sessions. Our 2 group studios -- 400 sq. ft. Small Studio and 1300 sq. ft. Large Studio -- are great for classes, workshops, and other group events.
The more you rent, the better your deal! Office rates begin at $30/hr for 2017.
Please inquire for daily rental rates for offices. Movement studio rates range from $47-$130/hr. Go to our website and click RENTAL INFO & Email: services@movingbodyresources.com or
call Greg at (212) 206-7542 - Mailbox option 2
Please Note: If you contact us after 7 pm, on weekends, or at short notice please email rather than call.
Photo by Barbara Schaefer
|
|
|
|
112 West 27th Street. Suite 402. New York, NY 10001. (Between 6th and 7th Ave)

Phone: (212) 206-7542
Email: services@movingbodyresources.com
|
|
|