Moving Into Presence: somatic practices for a changing world

with Kim Sargent-Wishart and Kate Barnett

These fluid and changing times call for new ways of perceiving and navigating.

Our bodies know a lot about change. Cellularly, physiologically, as human beings we are a transformational process. Attending to our moving body can give rise to insight – about ourselves, about the actions we can move towards, about the social bodies we are part of.

In this workshop, somatic practitioners and movement improvisers Kim Sargent-Wishart and Kate Barnett share multi-disciplinary, embodied and creative approaches to meeting the present moment. Drawing on practices from Body-Mind Centering®, InterPlay and Social Presencing Theatre, we offer pathways to full-body listening and tools for resourcing the body’s organisational intelligence.

From connection to self we activate connection to others, so that we can engage more co-creatively as social bodies, and act more generatively as social change agents (which we see as including anyone interested in being present to change).

Join us for a nourishing and playful afternoon of movement and reflection.

All are welcome. You may be particularly interested in this material if you are a mover or a movement teacher, a facilitator or a coach, a leader of teams or organisations, an artist or designer, a therapist or an educator.

Bring your curiosity and a willingness to move your body. No particular movement experience is necessary and all activities are adaptable to your needs and comfort.

About Kim & Kate

Kim Sargent-Wishart (RSME, RSMT, PhD) is an artist, researcher, educator & writer specialising in somatic education, physical practices, somatic writing & contemplative photography. Kim loves teaching somatic and creative methodologies for a range of people in support of personal, professional and creative development.

A Certified Teacher of Body-Mind Centering® and Registered Somatic Movement Educator & Therapist (ISMETA), Kim has practised movement education and bodywork since the early 1990s. Her arts practice is influenced by Miksang contemplative photography and dance/movement improvisation. Kim is the co-editor of The Art of Embodiment (2021), co-founder of ASTER Association Inc, and the Administrative Director of Somatic Education Australasia (SEA), offering the Body-Mind Centering® licensed Somatic Movement Education program in Melbourne. She lives in Australia on the Bellarine Peninsula (Wadawurrung country), south-west of Melbourne.

https://kimsargentwishart.com/

Kate Barnett is an Alexander Technique teacher and InterPlay facilitator with a deep commitment to making practices of somatic embodiment and play more accessible to our everyday worlds. Since moving to Aotearoa NZ in 2017, she has taught in private practice with a variety of people interested in enriching their embodiment and life navigation skills, and as an Employee Experience Manager in a Trans-Tasman software firm. Kate has a BA (Hons) in Social Ecology, a Diploma of Alexander Technique Teaching, and is currently enrolled in the Somatic Movement Education program in Melbourne. She is a member of the InterPlay Leaders Circle, and on the managing committee of ASTER Association Inc. She lives on the Miramar Peninsula, south-east Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington.

https://interplayaus.com.au/facilitators/

Kim & Kate met 7 years ago when Kate participated in The Circulation Project with Kim. They collaborate in many ways, including in an online Social Presencing Theatre practice group, as co-facilitators of online Mindful Embodiment classes, and on the managing committee of ASTER Association. They are looking forward to their first time teaching together in the same physical space!

About ASTER

ASTER Association Inc is a new Australasian not-for-profit organisation. ASTER cultivates the growing fields of somatics and embodiment through education, research, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary conversations. We craft connections, bridge communities, and grow ecosystems that extend the positive impacts of body-oriented practices. We foster social change in individual and collective life through the art and craft of conscious embodiment.