“I cannot heal anything: I can create a generative field of possibility, within which healing is possible.”
– Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
What is Body-Mind Centering?
Body-Mind Centering® (BMC) is a pioneering Somatic Movement education and therapy method. As a body-centered therapy method, it incorporates verbal dialogue, bodywork, and movement. cultivating awareness and integration between touch, movement, emotions, breathing, voice, and thought. BMC was developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, a dancer, intrepid researcher, occupational and neurodevelopmental therapist.
“The study of Body-Mind Centering is a creative process in which we learn to meet and recognize ourselves and others through the exploration of embodiment. Each person is both the student and the subject matter. Principles and techniques are taught in the context of self-discovery and openness. We learn to engage ourselves and others non-judgementally starting at the place where we are and the place where others are. In this way we seek to find the ease that underlies transformation.”
The method is grounded in anatomy, physiology, neurology, perceptual studies and developmental movement patterning.
Body Mind Centering® has applications to a broad range of physical, emotional and social issues, including psychology and counseling, infant development, yoga, pregnancy and post partum care, sports, dance, theater, martial arts, creative process, relationship issues, career development, trauma, and more.
In my work I’ve specialized in two things: creative process and understanding how trauma affects the mind, body, and energy systems. When overwhelmed, we find ways of organizing or crystallizing around events we were not able to resolve. Any pattern in our body-mind is a way we organized ourselves to handle life events.
I work with information and practices that are critical to understanding how to facilitate the full resolution and healing of shock and overwhelm in the body-mind. This can include releasing old pain, widening your range of choices, modulating your sensations and responses, transforming personal and professional relationships, and learning to cultivate the mind-states that generate both healing and development.