Empowering the Next Generation Teaching Somatic Movement Practices to Teens & Young Adults
Susan Bauer, MFA, RSME/T, RSDE
Susan Bauer, MFA, RSME/T, RSDE
This course will not include CEs. Our upcoming recorded live events will be available here, free for members and non-members who register for them. Members and event registrants can use their discount code to watch this event free. For assistance email [email protected].
Drawing from her book, The Embodied Teen, the presenter will introduce somatic movement practices she has developed and adapted over decades of working with youth to support them now and into adulthood. The practices presented help students reconnect to their sense of self, cultivating both self-assurance and self-care. In the words of one teen student: “I started out feeling very self-conscious in this class. I think I was afraid of my body. But being aware of what’s in my body and how I move makes me more at ease. Having the knowledge about my body allows me to be a little more confident.” Further, as they recognize their commonalities (such as that we all have a heart, lungs, and skeleton within us), students develop compassion for themselves and others. Just as important, they also begin to accept and appreciate their diversity. These core social-emotional skills are essential in building more inclusive and collaborative environments. In the words of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, “Susan Bauer offers educators a dynamic curriculum with clear guidelines for helping adolescents discover ways to enliven their sense of self, recognize and accept the diversity of others, and establish a base of lifelong habits for well-being. This book should be read by anyone who wants to create a trusting and enriching environment for teens.”
Gaining the capacity to facilitate somatic movement practices—in a way that is specifically adapted to the unique needs of adolescents and young adults—can be beneficial to professionals in many fields, including psychologists, dance therapists, somatic educators, dance teachers, and a wide variety of mental health professionals. In this workshop, we will examine methods to skillfully invite students into somatic activities, scaffolding the learning so they gain confidence by building their capacity for embodied practice. Participants will first be guided in a sample movement exploration based in embodied anatomy, since enhancing their own embodied experience is central to the ability to teach the material. A brief presentation/discussion related to the specific pedagogy skills demonstrated follows, based on the presenter’s “Eight Pedagogy Principles” for teaching teens. Workshop participants will also reflect upon their application to their own professional scope of work.
Susan Bauer, MFA, RSME/T, RSDE is a dance/somatic educator, the founder of Embodiment in Education™, and author of The Embodied Teen: A Somatic Curriculum for Teaching Body-Mind Awareness, Kinesthetic Intelligence, and Social and Emotional Skills (North Atlantic Books). A Fulbright Scholar, she has taught for over three decades in the U.S and Asia, informed by her extensive background in dance, Body-Mind Centering®, and Authentic Movement. She has a private practice as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, has served on the Board of Directors of ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association), and offers a 300-hour Embodiment in Education™ Teacher Training Certification Program for professionals. She has served as faculty at such institutions as Denison University, CIIS, John F. Kennedy University (JFKU), and University of San Francisco (USF) in the U.S, as well as at Taitung University in Taiwan. She has contributed chapters in several books, including Dance, Somatics, and Spiritualities; Embodied Lives; and Essays on Authentic Movement, Volume 2. Susan holds an MFA from the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA and an MALS degree in Dance and Movement Studies from Wesleyan University. www.susanbauer.com; www.embodimentineducation.org; [email protected]