Course Descriptions

Special Offerings
Body Systems Courses
Body Processes Courses
Developmental Movement Courses
Professional Competency Courses

Special Offerings

SO1--Conscious Embodiment: Intro to Global Somatics™
3 days, 16 hours, No prerequisites

If you are seeking a dynamic, experiential understanding of your Natural Body and an approach to exploring it with others, Conscious Embodiment is for you! Global Somatics is a powerful and pioneering approach to experiential anatomy, developmental movement and the energy field created by Suzanne River. This three-day workshop will draw from the Global Somatics curriculum to meet the desires of the particular students. Every Conscious Embodiment workshop is unique! Through breath, energy, movement, touch, voice, and process you will uncover the living intelligence of your body. You will come home to yourself. In this workshop you will:

• Develop a consciousness from a cellular level
• Explore your movement, mind, and touch from your bones, organs, muscles, nerves, and fluids
• Evolve personally through doing developmental dances
• Expand your skills in movement, bodywork, yoga, athletics, and other body-mind disciplines
• Integrate your physical body and energy body

SO2--Breathing Freely: Embodying the Breath
3 days, 16 hours, No prerequisites

Enjoy the vital nature of breath as you embody the parts of the body that participate in this dance! You will improvise with breath, movement and touch. In this workshop you will:

• Explore conscious breathing through external respiration (lungs), internal respiration (cellular) and light respiration (the energy field)
  
• Access the lobes of your lungs, bronchial tree and nasal conchae
  
• Balance the pelvic, thoracic, shoulder, vocal, and cranial diaphragms
  
• Gain awareness of your own breathing patterns and facilitate breath repatterning in others
  
• Practice specific breath and movement patterns

SO3--Global Somatics Healing Paradigm 3 hours, No prerequisites During this 3-hour lecture demonstration, Suzanne River will present the underlying theory of the Global Somatics™ Healing Paradigm. Each participant will be offered a healing session by Suzanne, Global Somatics™ Practitioners and Trainees, and the circle.

SO4--Inside-Out Asana: interplay of Body- Mind Centering® and Asana
Intensive with Amy Patee and Suzanne River

Donna Farhi, internationally recognized Yoga teacher states “The study of Body-Mind Centering® is an essential preparation for any serious yoga student or teacher.” These weekend workshops offer a variety of Global Somatics™ techniques and principles that foster embodiment of the body systems, developmental movement patterns and energy field. Participants are guided in suggested applications of Global Somatics to the practice of Yoga Asana and encouraged to discover their own!

• Gain anatomical and physiological understanding of your body through personal embodiment
  
• Organize the asanas from the different body systems, developmental patterns and energy field.
  
• Deepen external asana form through inner inspiration

SO5--Moving Perceptions: Embodying the Natural Senses 4 day Retreat with Amy Patee and Suzanne River During this retreat, you will open your senses to the mysteries of Nature. You will deepen your connection to yourself and your oneness with the beauty and power of Nature. This playshop includes: Guided explorations to embody the senses of touch, movement, taste, smell, hearing and vision Introduction to the Global Somatics™ Process and Taoist perspective on the senses and perception Gentle Yoga and grounding in the physical body Communing and communication with Nature Creative Arts expressions (journaling, painting, sculpture, movement and voice) Community experience A private Global Somatics™ session with Suzanne or Amy

SO6--Embodied Contact Improvisation
5 day Workshop Jam with Jane Shockley and Suzanne River

Join the dynamic combination of Jane Shockley and Suzanne River at Pictured Rocks National Seashore in Michigan's wild Upper Peninsula for a week of workshops-jams! Take a vacation, artist retreat or continuing education! This workshop is open to anyone interested in Contact Improvisation and GS™. We will explore the connection and application of experiential development and anatomy to Contact Dancing.

• Daily GS™ classes in the bones, organs, fluids and development movement patterns
  
• Daily Contact Improvisation classes with structured explorations and open dancing
  
• Nightly jams and performances
  
• Personal time daily to enjoy the abundance of Nature
  
• Space to focus on your own creative projects with some additional inspiration
  
• Availability of bodywork
  
• Opportunity to network with awesome people from all over the world

Body System Courses

BS1--Following Flow: Embodying the Fluids System
42 hours, 13 classes
No prerequisites

Fluid harmony nurtures whole body health, personal presence, playfulness, authentic relationships and nonverbal communication. The living water of the body reveals itself in tides. These tides are the essential expression of the healing intelligence within the Natural Body. The ten major fluids of the body emerge from this one flow. They are water, cellular, transitional, intercellular, synovial, blood, lymph, cerebral spinal fluid, fascia, fat and superfluid.. Each fluid inspires certain qualities of movement, touch, sound and consciousness. The fluids offer easy access to the body systems and the developmental movement patterns. You will:

• Understand the physiology of the fluids
• Embody the qualities of specific fluids through movement, touch and voice with improvisation and Global Somatics™ techniques
• Explore the alchemy of balance between fluid, membrane and vibration
• Recognize psychophysical characteristics of each fluid
• Learn to tap into all your fluids, familiar and less developed
• Experience natural re-creation through rest and action
• Apply the fluids to bodywork, movement therapy and visual and performance art

BS2--Knowing Bones: Embodying the Skeletal System
42 hours, 14 classes
No prerequisites

The skeletal system grounds the self in its core architecture. Your bones contain your organs and allow you to move through space. Alignment of the bones affects respiration, circulation, digestion and brain functions. Embodying the bones frees movement, organizes thinking and brings clarity, effortlessness and form to one's life.

• Meet and know every bone and joint in your body by name, touch, movement and sound
  
• Learn special techniques and principles that communicate with the bones and enhance effortless movement
  
• Discover skeletal lines of force that integrate the limbs with the spine
  
• Evaluate and repattern skeletal alignment and movement imbalances
  
• Engage the three layers of the bone and bone cells

BS3--Organic Dance: Embodying the Organ System
42 hours, 13 classes
No prerequisites

Your organs are the home of your authentic self -- emotions, memories, desires and dreams. They are responsible for your internal survival through breath, nourishment and elimination. Embodied organs support postural tone and bring volume and three-dimensionality to movement. You will increase your internal comfort, expand your emotional range and tap sources of inspiration and passion.

• Learn how to breathe, move, sound and touch from each of your organs through techniques and improvisation
  
• Discover the relationships between the bones and the organs
  
• Analyze and repattern imbalances in individual organs and the system without harmful intervention
  
• Express your creative self through art and singing
  
• Apply organ work to yoga asanas and visual art

BS4--Holding On: Embodying the Fascia and Ligamentous System 24 hours, 8 classes Prerequisites: The Skeletal System, Helpful: Following Flow The ligaments are specialized fascia that wrap around the joints of the body. When the ligaments of a joint are healthy, the movement of that joint becomes specific. The fascia then carries that movement effortlessly to successive joints enabling the muscles to respond with greater efficiency. Embodying your fascia and ligaments helps you feel the expansive support of the universe through all the details of your life. Initiate movement, touch and sound from the fascia and the ligaments Learn Global Somatics techniques and principles for strengthening and repatterning ligaments and fascia Communicate with the fibroblasts and heal scar tissue
BS5--Glory in the Glands: Embodying the Endocrine System 18 hours, 6 classes Prerequisites: Organic Dance. Helpful: Following Flow, Developmental Movement II & III Sixteen glands live like tiny power seeds along your vertical axis. The endocrine system, one of the body's earliest communication networks, sends its hormone messages through the fluids to every cell. With the nervous and immune systems, the glands support your life as an integrated organism. Through the endocrine system you access your intuition and aspects of your Subtle Energy Field. Understand the anatomy/physiology of the endocrine system Initiate breath, movement, voice and touch from each of the glands Embody the relationships between specific glands and their reflex points, chakras, skeletal affinities and matching developmental patterns Analyze and relieve back problems based on endocrine activation Create optimal hormones and hormonal balance Experience the psychophysical consciousness of the endocrine system from every cell Explore the glandular basis for intuition and psychic work
BS6:i--Magnificent Muscles I: Embodying the Muscle System 18 hours, 6 classes Prerequisites: Knowing Bones. Helpful: Following Flow, Organic Dance and Holding On The muscle system of the body is a three dimensional web of elastic forces moving the bones through space. The muscles function through the relationship dynamics of resistance and cooperation. Through your muscles you embody your vitality, express your power and engage in your life's work. Understand muscle structure and function Embody the psoas complex and the muscles of the lower limbs Practice principles (proximal and distal initiation, concentric and eccentric contraction, muscle coupling and currenting) Discover the relationship between fascia and muscle Initiate movement from the molecular complex of actin/myosin Explore the role of the satellite cells in muscle regeneration Learn massage techniques
BS6:ii--Magnificent Muscles II: Embodying the Muscle System 39 hours, 13 classes Prerequisites: Muscles I. This class continues the embodied research of Muscles I with the art of muscle repatterning and re-education. Study and integrate the muscles of the torso, spine, upper limbs, and head Learn to analyze the four stages of muscle action and the eight functions of a muscle Explore the role of muscle spindles and the golgi tendon organs as proprioceptors

BS7--Renewing the Nervous System: Embodying the Nervous System and Brain
39 hours, 13 classes
Prerequisites: Three of the following classes: Following Flow, Organic Dance, Glory in my Glands, Knowing Bones or Developmental Movement I, II, III

You experience life through your fluids, cells and energy field. You witness, interpret, remember, record and replay your experiences with your nervous system. The nervous system organizes experience into patterns. Together with the endocrine and immune systems, it controls the way you interact with your internal and external worlds. It underlies learning, thought, intuition, alertness and precision of coordination.

• Initiate movement, touch, voice and consciousness from the various aspects of the nervous system: types of nerve cells, ganglia, peripheral /central nerves, somatic/ autonomic nerves, sympathetic/parasympathetic and the enteric nervous system
• Facilitate nerve release in yourself and others
• Understand the Global Somatics™ theory of Trauma Healing
• Embody the anatomy of the brain through movement, touch and voice.
• Apply the nervous system and the brain to the Developmental Movement Patterns
• Explore the integration of the nervous system and electromagnetic field of vibration
• Integrate the embodied nervous system with verbal counseling methods
• Learn movement approaches that repattern the nervous system

BS8 I, II, III Vibrational Aspects I, II, III: Embodying the Energy System
50 hours 18 classes
Prerequisites: minimum two years of Global Somatics™ Process and/ or BMC™ study and interview with director

The Vibrational Aspects™ System developed through Suzanne River is a noninvasive, creative facilitation of the energy body and physical body. Students will deepen their kinesthetic and proprioceptive sensitivity to patterns of the electromagnetic field that surrounds and permeates the physical body. Vibrational Aspects™ is taught in the format of a sacred laboratory in the art/science of vibration that applies embodiment principles/techniques to the energy field. Vibrational Aspects™ applications include:

• Self-realisation, authentic healing and development of intuition
• Skills in Clairsentience, Clairekinesthesia and energetic perception
• Teaching and sensitivity to the “field of the room"
• Repatterning and the release/recycling of energy between the physical body and the energy field
• Diagnostic protocols that facilitate efficient treatment
• Ability to practice in situations where the physical body cannot be touched such as surgery, tactile defensiveness and long distance
• Facilitation of the life transitions of birth and death

In this workshop you will:

• Learn to offer local and non local Vibrational Aspects™ sessions
• Learn the art of grounding, connecting, containing and creating sacred space.
• Receive Reiki training and attunement
• Learn esoteric mappings of the energy body and physics
• Embody, differentiate and integrate the seven frequencies of self and subtle bodies of the Physical, Energetic, Emotional, Mental, Soul, Spirit and Genesis of Spirit.
• Embody the system of energy centers (chakras) and align with physical tissue affinities
• Learn to offer non local Vibrational Aspects™ sessions

BS9--Sub Cellular Ceremony
10 hours, 5 classes
Prerequisites: Fluids and five other Body Systems Courses

Every cell in your body knows its function within your body and within the universe. Cellular intelligence reflects the internal dynamics of the cell. This sub-cellular dance reveals the deepest patterns of relationship to self, others and to the planet. Through vibration, movement, touch, voice and consciousness, you will meet and begin to embody the sub-cellular organelles. You will explore the microcosmic and macrocosmic connections between the parts of the cell, the body's systems and the vibrational field.

Back to Top

Body Processes Courses

BP1 Breathing Freely
30 hours, 5 days
Certification Students only

Enjoy the vital nature of breath as you embody the parts of the body that participate in this dance! You will improvise with breath, movement and touch. In this workshop you will:

• Explore conscious breathing through external respiration (lungs), internal respiration (cellular)
  and light respiration (the energy field)
  
• Access the lobes of your lungs, bronchial tree and nasal conchae
  
• Balance the pelvic, thoracic, shoulder, vocal, and cranial diaphragms
  
• Gain awareness of your own breathing patterns and facilitate breath repatterning in others
  
• Practice specific breath and movement patterns
  
• Study the Perceptual-Response Cycle as the science of perception
  
• Experience bonding, defending, and learning as psychophysical processes based on perception

BP2--Singing Fully: Embodying the Voice
15 hours, 5 classes
Prerequisite: Breathing Freely

Your voice reflects how vibration meets the gravity of all of your body systems. You express who you are by how you sound, sing and speak. As you bring auditory and kinesthetic awareness to your physical vocal mechanism, you open communication channels for your natural self.

• Embody the anatomy and physiology of breathing and vocalization (pharynx, larynx, body cavities, lips, tongue)
  
• Practice activating the pharynx and other cavities to create resonating vowel sounds
  
• Differentiate and integrate the cartilages and muscles of the larynx in the production of pitch and intensity
  
• Increase awareness of your breathing and vocal patterns and facilitate repatterning in others
  
• Explore the development of vocalization
  
• Use sound to transform tissues

BP3--Moving Perceptions I, II, III: Embodying the Senses
36 hours, 6 days
Prerequisite of previous course

The primary six senses- touch, movement, taste, smell, hearing and vision- are channels of perception and paths of personal orientation. The human being has many more senses than these six, each designed to receive certain information from the outer and inner worlds. Embodying the primary senses increases energetic perception and action potential. Moving Perceptions I, focuses on the Skin/ Touch and the Vestibular System/ Movement. Moving Perception II, researches the Nose/Smell and Mouth/ Touch. Moving Perception III explores Ears/Hearing and Eyes/ Vision.

• Experience the Learning Wheel as the science of perception
• Explore the experiential anatomy of the skin, vestibular system, mouth, nose, ears and eyes
• Deepen your relationship with Nature through your senses
• Cleanse the senses with Taoist practices
• Repattern the senses through cranio-sacral techniques

Back to Top

Developmental Movement Courses

DM1--Developmental Movement I:
The RRR, Reflexes, Righting Reactions and Equilibrium Responses
42 hours, 13 classes
No prerequisites

The RRR activate all vital and integrated movement. The body holds hundreds of potential action loops of stimulus-response that bridge your inner world and the outer environment. The reflexes, active in the spinal cord and hindbrain, establish your basic survival patterns. The righting reactions of the midbrain support your continuous vertical posture with gravity. The equilibrium responses of the forebrain help maintain dynamic balance. Embodiment of the RRR offers you entry into the Global Somatics™secret of successful touch and movement repatterning -- the creative encouraging of another person's innate readiness to change. You will:

• Study, explore and integrate the RRR through information, movement, touch and psycho-physical process.
• Use the RRR to enhance relationship dynamic to self, others and the earth
• Activate skills to approach and withdraw, roll, change levels, bear weight, verticality, travel, and balance
• Apply the RRR to the three planes of movement -- horizontal, vertical and sagittal
• Integrate the RRR with contact improvisation, dance composition and infant development

DM2--Developmental Movement II: The Pre-Vertebrate Patterns
15 hours, 5 classes
No Prerequisites

Your original movement patterns emerge in the womb. Not only did these fetal dances facilitate your growth but they also expressed your identity and perceptions. These pre-vertebrate patterns prepared you for birth and are the templates for your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual movements. They are called the Basic Neurological Patterns (BNP) because they create the learning networks of the brain. As humans, our developmental movements mirror those of our animal relations through our shared evolutionary heritage. These patterns include Vibration (molecules), Cellular Breathing (one cell), Sponging (sponge), Pulsation (jelly fish), Navel Radiation (starfish), Mouthing (sea squirt), and Pre-Spinal (lancelot amphioxus) and Simultaneous Condensing and Expanding Yield.

• Embody the pre-vertebrate patterns through movement, touch, sound and consciousness
  
• Facilitate developmental repatterning in yourself and others
  
• Practice BNP movement sequences
  
• Apply these patterns to bodywork, meditation, yoga, infants and ecology

DM3--Developmental Movement III: The Vertebrate Patterns
24 hours, 8 classes
Prerequisites: Developmental Movement I and/or II

The Vertebrate Patterns express the integration of the Pre-Vertebrate Patterns and require the activation of the reflexes, righting reactions and equilibrium responses (RRR). You will explore all the developmental movements that take place after birth and have the opportunity to complete missing patterns.

• Embody the Vertebrate Patterns through improvisation and set movement forms: spinal, homologous, homolateral and contralateral
  
• Explore the movement cycle of Yield - Push - Pull - Yield - Reach - Pull
  
• Observe these patterns in movement and mind.
  
• Repattern using relevant Pre-Vertebrate Patterns and RRR
  
• Initiate the Vertebrate Patterns from the fluids, organs and bones
  
• Apply the Vertebrate Patterns to yoga, dance composition and contact improvisation

Back to Top

Professional Competency

PC1, 2, 3, 4--Professional Competency Seminars for Certification Students
165 hours of class, tutorial and independent study
366 hours of Practicum
Global Somatics™ Professional Competency has five goals:

• thorough and successful completion of the training program's components
• building of community
• practice of psychophysical integration and counseling skills
• demonstration of ability to offer somatic movement education, bodywork and energy healing professionally
• guidance in personal business focus
  

Students participate in community council and study professional competency issues (written records, ethics, boundaries, transference, etc.) These intensives provide the forum for Course Competency Demonstrations and Presentations of Integration Projects, Case Studies and Research Projects in Global Somatics™. Students prepare for post graduation work in the somatic field (business plans, finances, insurance, application to ISMETA, ABMP, or BMCA, ongoing supervision and creation of directory).