The Fluid Nature of Being is a collection of writings by practitioners of Integrative Bodywork & Movement Therapy (IBMT), an approach to somatic movement education and therapy. The cultivation of consciously embodied movement is at the heart of somatic movement practice. Through embodiment practices, soma - the subjectively experienced sense of embodied self - becomes a vital, living reality and a foundation through which healthy relationship to others, to Nature, and to life as a whole can be nourished.
The book describes the practice, thinking, research and creative work of twenty-one IBMT practitioners. Each has also trained in other disciplines and their writing weaves together their broader learning, passion and professional practice within the IBMT approach to somatic work. In this volume we offer a collection of expressions with a rich diversity of themes and styles, bringing these voices from the next generation of somatic movement practitioners, writers and leaders to a wider audience.
The book covers topics such as IBMT in therapy, education, early years learning, dance and theatre; the integration with psychotherapy, psychoanalytic thinking, and somatic trauma therapy; and the connection between individual healing and the healing of the Earth and Nature during this time of planetary crisis.
There are many aspects of IBMT practice described in this book that are shared with somatic practices in general, though there are also aspects which are specific to this approach. IBMT uniquely integrates in-depth studies in Somatic Psychology and the Discipline of Authentic Movement into a foundation of Body-Mind Centering® training. At the core of the practice is the quest to deepen connection with self, and from there, connection with others and the world around us.
Linda Hartley has studied, practised and taught in the fields of somatic movement and dance, somatic and transpersonal psychotherapy, and Authentic Movement for almost five decades. In 1990 she founded what became the Institute for Integrative Bodywork & Movement Therapy, developing and running a three-year Diploma Programme in Germany, the UK, Lithuania and Russia since that time. Based upon the practice and principles of Body-Mind Centering®, and integrating in-depth studies in Authentic Movement and Somatic Psychology, IBMT is an ISMETA Approved Training Program.
Linda's studies in the somatic dance approach of Release Work (Mary O'Donnell Fulkerson), T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Buddhist meditation, and the Process Oriented Psychology of Arnold Mindell have also informed the development of a holistic approach to learning, growth and healing. She practised for thirty years as a somatic movement therapist and somatic & transpersonal psychotherapist, and has taught for numerous organisations across the UK and Europe.
Currently Linda focuses her time on her writing and teaching the Discipline of Authentic Movement in North Norfolk, UK, where she now lives.
She is the author of several books including Wisdom of the Body Moving (1995), Servants of the Sacred Dream (2001), Somatic Psychology: Body, Mind and Meaning (2004) and Contemporary Body Psychotherapy: The Chiron Approach (Editor - 2009). Information about these and some of her articles and chapter contributions can be found at https://www.lindahartley.co.uk/index.html
