psychology in movement
Fascia of Humanity
Connective tissue for inclusive living
Erasmus+ training course
12. - 20. October 2024
Slovenia
Fascia of Humanity is a 7-day Erasmus+ Training Course dedicated to fostering inclusive and supportive communities by drawing inspiration from nature, human body, and dance.
This program aims to cultivate an environment where resources are shared equitably, differences are embraced, and individuals are empowered to grow.
This project seeks to create ripple effects of positive change, leading to the development of more inclusive, supportive, and resourceful communities.
If you want to join this training, send us your application.
About this training
What is fascia?
Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue that envelops and supports every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber, and muscle in the body. Beyond merely providing structural integrity, fascia is highly sensitive, almost as responsive as the skin, due to the presence of nerves. When subjected to stress, fascia tightens and adapts, playing a crucial role in our physical well-being and flexibility.
Source: web
What is Fascia of humanity?
Just as fascia provides support and flexibility within our bodies, our project seeks to create communities where individuals are supported and able to adapt and grow into their potential. By understanding how fascia functions under stress and how it maintains structure, participants can draw parallels to building resilient, inclusive communities. Contact improvisation, with its focus on physical connection and support, serves as an embodied metaphor for the interconnectedness and mutual reliance that is essential for fostering inclusive environments.
Main questions for this training:
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Learning from Nature: How can we emulate natural ecosystems to create inclusive and resourceful living environments where everyone has what they need?
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Learning from Our Bodies: What insights can we gain from understanding our own physical systems, particularly connective tissues, to support inclusive living?
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Learning from Dance: How can dance (contact improvisation) teach us about cooperation, subtle listening, and the support necessary to sustain movement and growth in any context?
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Learning from Each Other: How can we learn to accept and celebrate individual differences, fostering authenticity and daring to be unique?
Methodology:
Somatics - Ecopsychology - Contact improvisation
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Somatic practices: Somatic practices focus on increasing awareness of bodily sensations, movements, and patterns to enhance overall well-being and self-awareness. This work emphasizes the body's internal physical perception and experience.
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Ecopsychology: explores the relationship between human beings and the natural world through ecological and psychological principles. It seeks to understand and address the psychological underpinnings of environmental issues, proposing that the health of the planet is intrinsically linked to human mental health. It emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with nature to foster emotional well-being and a sense of ecological responsibility.
Ecopsychology and somatics both seek to foster a sense of belonging. Ecopsychology does this by reconnecting individuals with the natural world, while somatic practices help individuals feel more at home in their own bodies. Together, they can create a profound sense of belonging to both oneself and the larger ecosystem.
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Contact improvisation: Contact improvisation is a dance form centred around spontaneous, physical interaction between dancers, often involving weight sharing, balance, and responsive movements. Through contact improvisation, we can experience the principles of cooperation, listening, support, and embracing diversity. These experiences are not just confined to the dance studio but can be translated into real-world skills for building inclusive, supportive communities.
Objectives:
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Personal Development: Enhance self-awareness and self-confidence, encouraging participants to discover and harness their inner resources.
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Social Development: Foster empathy, cooperation, and communication skills, essential for building supportive and inclusive communities.
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Professional Development: Equip participants with leadership and mentoring skills to guide marginalized youth and other community members towards self-discovery and empowerment.
Why to apply?
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Develop a deeper understanding of inclusivity and resource-sharing inspired by nature, somatic and dance practice.
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Gain insights into how their own bodies and movement can inform community support systems.
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Learn to value and celebrate individual differences, promoting authenticity and acceptance.
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Acquire practical skills and knowledge to lead and support marginalized groups, enhancing their personal and professional growth.
Who can apply?
This project is designed for youth workers, trainers, educators, dancers, NGO leaders, mental health professionals, etc. who are willing to...
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challenge themselves to explore and understand the multifaceted world of our physical, psychological and social functioning by embracing the practices that will be offered,
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explore the expressive potential of the body through technical and philosophical practice of Contact improvisation and somatic work,
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trust the unfolding wisdom of the group process we will be cocreating together,
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spend time outdoors for physical activities, no matter the weather,
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gather new tools and inspirations for their work and activities with your community,
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commit fully to the program, and be open, curious and adaptive.
We aim to have 30 participants from Italy, Slovenia, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Latvia and Finland.
Participants must be over 18 years old and have a communicative level in English so that they can participate fully in the program.
This training course is co-funded through the Erasmus+ Programme, travel costs up to a specific maximum allowed amount will be fully reimbursed.
Slovenia: 28 EUR (56 EUR for Green Travel*)
Italy: 211 EUR (285 EUR for GT*)
Germany, Spain, Poland, Latvia, France: 309 EUR (417 EUR for GT)
Portugal, Finland: 395 EUR (535 EUR for GT)
Important notice before applying:
The training course is open to people of all ages and experience levels. However, being open and interested in investigating this approach is important. We expect you to participate in the whole program. It means coming later or leaving earlier is not possible. Also, prepare for an intensive experience with at least 6 hours
of physical activities every day!
Our work primarily centres around somatic movement practices, Contact Improvisation principles. Participants must be comfortable with giving and receiving touch as a means of learning.
Clarification on Training Purpose:
Please note that this training is not meant to replace psychotherapy or serve as a method of healing. Instead, it provides a learning opportunity for individuals to gain a better understanding and experience which they can later share.
Travel reimbursement & Contribution
Venue information and location
Food and insurance
FAQ
Meet the team
Foto by: Laura Szekeres
Antonio is a passionate trainer who loves to craft experiences for self-development, group awareness, creative expression and pursuit of wise and joyful freedom.
He facilitates workshops for teenagers, students, youth workers and adults, using and mixing his expertise and experiences from theatrical improvisation, contemporary dance, martial arts and contact improvisation.
"Among many other things, I feel movement as composition, the body composes in order to recompose, transitioning through poses,
and pauses.
It is about playing with the form,
to in-form and
trans-form
transform the space
within me and you
between us
Us
in touch
is a composition of guessings,
of held intensity
of waving, compressing,
stretching and spiraling forces."
Živa is an anthropologist, manual therapist and researcher of somatic practices and contact improvisation.
Her field of activity focuses primarily on developing and maintaining sensitivity and awareness towards oneself, fellow human beings and the environment, finding organic, creative and non-violent ways for the coexistence of differences and their mutual enrichment, which enables continuous transformation and personal growth.
She uses work with the body, touch and awareness of space as the basic tools of her practices.
"CI invites me to relax into the place of not knowing. To find a deeper sense of safety in this wide open presence, where anything can happen anytime.
Being ready for welcoming the unknown.
Trusting the intelligence of stars and galaxies playing itself through my little human body. Observing the cultural patterns and personal tendencies
shaping my dance.
Recognizing how I'm being moved. Returning again to the place of not knowing, a place bigger than we all are. In it, creativity unfolds and the next move happens.
And so I'm getting to know myself through you, each time a bit more, touched by the untamed truth of spontaneous emergence.
Somewhere between earth and sky, between you and me and before me and after you.
Nayeli is a psychologist, working privately with gestalt experiential psychotherapy approach. She is contact improvisation dancer, and trainer inside the field of non-formal education. Her deep calling is to work on the bridge of psychology and movement. In her work, she offers a process orientated approach where she invites participants to slowly dive back into their bodies in order to remember and rest in the meeting of oneself. The dance that comes out of this meeting is a unique authentic expression and a story that is worth listening and admiration.
"Nature is for me a very precious teacher.
It seems motionless yet it is in constant movement and continuation. What inspires me is the interconnectedness of this profound system. So I wonder how, us humans, can become a part of this system, by deeply and sensibly listening to what is already there, what is already moving in its own way.
How can we perceive through our senses and enlarge this perception into the layers of living beings such as rocks, stones, water, trees. Maybe in this way Earth teaches us something about movement that is happening through us instead of from us.
In contact improvisation, this subtle layer of attention and listening to the wider space beyond our skin, can deepen the way we are present in the dance, so our natural system can remember how to move harmoniously in the system of whole."