Come home to your body

And teach others how to do it!

Movingness teacher training 2021

Welcome to one of the greatest adventures on this planet – the journey back to your own body! During the teacher training in Movingness, you will not only learn how to awaken your interoception and move from within, but also how to teach it to other people. Every time you get up in front of a class, you will have the opportunity to truly enrich the lives of your students.

Overview and focus

The teacher training is a step-by-step journey, divided into three levels, each with its own focus and depth. Each level takes about 10 weeks to complete. During weekly live classes, I’ll guide you through the six movement series (there will be several options, according to your time zone). Simultaneously, you’ll have access to the online material, which makes it possible for you to practice on your own. Since Movingness is a body-mind method, we’re also going to deeply explore the following subjects:

Interoception

Learn how to reconnect with your body and move from within.

Yoga Nidra

Learn to teach Yoga Nidra and how to combine it with movement.

Fascia

Learn about how the different types of fascia and how to gently work with them.

Body psychology

Learn about human evolution, trauma, and body psychology.

Movement anatomy

Feel and connect the different parts of your body and move as one body.

Embodiment

Integrate your body and mind and bring your new skills into your daily life.

When is the next teacher training?

The next Movingness teacher training starts in spring 2021. And the following in fall 2021. Sign up now on the preliminary list without obligations and I’ll keep you updated about the training. Of course, you’ll be the first to know when it starts and get the best price!

What is Movingness? Movingness is a new method for interoception, natural movement, and embodiment.

You can teach it as a Movingness teacher. Or you can integrate it into your yoga or dance classes, your coaching, or your personal practice.

Learn more about your opportunities

Movingness: Portrait of Donna Farhi, author and teacher of yoga teachers

Donna Farhi, New Zealand

“Fascinating! And, much needed in the automatic and mechanical rendition of Yoga that has become widespread.”

Teacher of yoga teachers; developer of new models of teaching and practicing yoga; author of five groundbreaking yoga books

Movingness Teacher Training, level 1

During the Earth Series you will learn how to deeply relax. This makes it possible to feel the sensations in your body and let them guide your movements (aka interoception). Natural breathing is another important subject. During the Gecko Series, you will learn how to move from the spine and add more effort without losing your underlying relaxation. You will also learn how to teach a Yoga Nidra, specially developed for movement.

Earth Series

The Earth Series is the foundation. It awakens your interoception and takes you into deep states of flow and meditation.

Gecko Series

The Gecko Series is about moving from the spine. And how to add more effort (Yang), without losing your relaxation (Yin).

Interoception. The ability to sense and feel your body from within is the foundation of Movingness.

Learn more about interoception

Yoga Nidra. Learn about flow states, meditative states, and hypnosis. And how to teach them in class.

Learn more about Yoga Nidra

Is Movingness right for me?

The Movingness Teacher Training 2021 is specifically designed for yoga and dance teachers (ecstatic dance, meditative dance, free dance, contemporary dance etc.), movement teachers, and coaches looking for new tools to help their students or clients reconnect with their bodies. If you are a dedicated yoga or dance practitioner, you can also consider the training for your own joy and personal development!

Your investment

Teacher Training level 1,
two installments

2x220 = $440

Two monthly payments á 220 US dollars, 440 US dollars in total.

10 live classes with Q&A (60–80 min)
Instructive videos and downloadable audios
Body-mind theory and movement anatomy
Assignment and teaching in pairs

Teacher Training Level 1,
upfront

$410

Save 30 US dollars by paying upfront for the level 1 training.

10 live classes with Q&A (60–80 min)
Instructive videos and downloadable audios
Body-mind theory and movement anatomy
Assignment and teaching in pairs

Teacher Training 1–3,
pay now for all three levels

$1120

Save 200 dollars by paying upfront for the whole training

26 live classes with Q&A (60–80 min)
Instructive videos and downloadable audios
Body-mind theory and movement anatomy
Assignments and teaching in pairs

Movingness: Missy Pfohl Smith, professor, dancer and choreographer

Missy Pfohl Smith, USA

“Movingness is making a meaningful difference in our ability to notice ourselves, our habits, and our imbalances. To open flow through our joints, muscles, organs and fluids is to find openness, health and freedom – how exciting!”

MFA; Choreographer, performer and collaborative artist; Director, Program of Dance and Movement at the University of Rochester; founder and artistic director of BIODANCE

Movingness Teacher Training, level 2

In the Dolphin Series, you will experience the joy of effortlessly moving between different planes. In the Tiger Series, you will explore your inner power, and yield and push as a natural rhythm in your way of moving. You will also study human evolution. What happened when we became the most dangerous animal on the earth? How did the cognitive and agricultural revolutions change our lives?

Dolphin Series

In the Dolphin Series, you can explore the joy of movement. And playfully and freely flow between different positions and planes.

Tiger Series

The Tiger Series is about physical and emotional power, and shows you how to transform them into effortless movement.

Human evolution. How did we end up in a situation where so many people are living in their heads and not in their bodies?

Learn more about human evolution

Body psychology. Learn “body tongue” and understand how your body and mind communicate with each other.

Learn more about body psychology

In body psychology, we’re including both the evolution of the human body-mind from pre-history until modern times and the main psychological and trauma treatment theories of today. Human evolution is covered in level 2 of the teacher training. In level 3, we continue with trauma therapy and body psychology.

Right now there’s a growing understanding between body therapies like yoga and dance on one side, and psychology, brain science, and trauma therapy on the other.

As yoga or dance practitioners we know that this has not always been the case. Mainstream psychology, to choose one example, has only acknowledged the body for about 15 years!* However, during the same time frame, brain science and trauma research have found more and more compelling evidence of the mind-body and the body-mind connection.

For us, who are working with and through the body, this is very exciting and encouraging.

Just like yoga, dance and DMT (dance and movement therapy), Movingness is a body-mind method. All of the above-mentioned practices have their own approach, which they express in different ways. The Movingness method is based on

Safety (strengthening Yin before adding Yang; activating the social engagement system)
Conscious movement (listening to the body; interoception)
Deep breathing (pranayama; activating the vagus nerve)
Moving from within (following prana/chi; following the sensations of the body; natural movement)
Union (yoga; embodiment; body-mind integration)

During a Movingness class, many of these processes can happen by themselves. But to give the mind a map to follow and something to relate to, we also need a psychological framework. During the teacher training we’ll look into some of today’s most important body psychology theories:

Polyvagal theory. This is the most used theory in trauma therapy. Here you’ll get a general understanding of how the body reacts when it’s safe, in danger, or in extreme danger. This understanding is essential for understanding your own and your students’ body states and reactions.
Attachment theory. We will also briefly look into the attachment theory. It describes how early experiences of trust and safety, or the lack thereof, affects our choices and behavior later in life. This will give you a deeper understanding of your own teaching style and why different students react in different ways to your approach.
Taking in the good. Bad experiences don’t need our help to stick, but good experiences actually need a certain approach. This is an area where brain science and old traditions completely agree about what is needed.
The Satisfaction cycle. During the later movement series, we’ll also explore The Satisfaction cycle from Body Mind Centering (BMC). It proposes that our early developmental movement patterns influence our sense of who we are in the world, and that movement patterns that are not sufficiently embodied can create disruptions not only in our physical development but also in other areas of life.

Please notice that we’re not studying these theories from a theoretical viewpoint. We use them as tools to understand how our bodies and minds function in a practical, experiential way.

*According to Ruth M. Buczynski, Ph.D., President, and Licensed Psychologist, NICABM

Movingness: Narelle Carter-Quinlan, yoga therapist, dancer, and photographer

Narelle Carter-Quinlan, Australia

“As an Australian, I’ve been dancing the relationship of the body-land all my life; Peter’s authentic and sensitive work in Movingness sings a Sister Song of deep wholeness that echoes the reverent listening of the organism in the presence of Earth.”

BAppSc, Yoga Therapist, Dancer, Photographer, Founder of Embodied Terrain and The Saltwater Songlines Project.

Movingness Teacher Training, level 3

In the Anatomy Series, you will explore the body’s power centers and how to activate them. During this period, you will also learn how to work with fascia. In the Wild Goose Series, you will add emotions, energy, and spaciousness to your practice. You will also learn different ways of embodying your new skills and bringing them into your daily life.

Anatomy Series

The Anatomy Series is a unique integration of your body’s power centers and movement patterns from fingers to toes.

Wild Goose Series

The Wild Goose Series explores the freedom of movement, personal expression, qi energy, and an open mind.

Working with fascia. Recent findings about fascia are revolutionizing our understanding of the body.

Learn more about fascia

Movement anatomy. Explore and study how your body is moving all the way from your fingertips to your toes.

Learn more about Movement anatomy

MOVEMENT ANATOMY

Today, we have a vast knowledge of the immobile body, or the body in specific positions (physiotherapy, yoga anatomy). But we don’t know so much about the moving body. The knowledge we have is mostly used for training athletes, for students of martial arts, and for elite dancers. Furthermore, this anatomical knowledge is often used to force the body beyond its limits, with injuries and a short active career as a result.

Natural, sustainable movement for normal people is for the most part ignored.

If you think about school gymnastics, you might recall that the movements were quite geometrical with straight lines and positions. But this is not how the body is designed. When you move naturally in accordance with your joints, your muscle chains, and your fascia, your body moves in a totally different way. Your movements become graceful and effortless, more like the way a dancer moves. Walking and moving also feels differently, it creates a sense of pleasure in your body.

In Movingness, we combine the body’s natural movements with interoception, the ability to feel and sense our body while moving. In this way, we can make corrections in real-time. We can move from within.

DEVELOPMENTAL SERIES

The developmental movements in Movingness are built into 5 different movement series.

During the Earth Series, we explore the spine and learn how to move from the spine on the back and side.
During the Gecko Series, we add crawling and reptile-like movements on the stomach and side that engage the whole spine.
In the Dolphin Series, we let the whole body effortlessly twist and move in and out of different planes.
During the Tiger Series, we move up on all fours. We start with a catlike crawling to reconnect our feet and arms with the spine. Moving as one body and one mind is a totally different experience! Later, we also add yield and push into the movements – and emotions!
The Snow Goose Series is about integrating our new movement skills into standing and moving positions. This series can give you a new level of body self-confidence and ease of movement. It includes the psychological actions of yielding, pushing, reaching, grasping and pulling. Allowing yourself in an embodied way to reach for what you want, and to receive it and keep it once you get it, can create a deep sense of freedom and gratification. In the end, we can even open up our bodies and minds into receiving and sharing in an endless circle of boundless energy.

ANATOMY SERIES

In the new Anatomy Series, we’ll systematically go through how the different parts of the body are moving in themselves and together, in simple and complex movement patterns. Particularly, we’ll look at these areas:

The movers: Feet, knees, thighs, legs
The center: Hips, SI-joints, stomach, lower back, complex movements from the center
The heart area: Ribcage, upper back, neck, shoulders
The reachers: Fingers, hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, shoulder blades
One body, one mind (integrated complex movements): Fascial elasticity, muscle chains, lines of movement, balance points in the body, full-body movements from toes to fingertips, etc.

Embodiment. Integrate your new skills into your daily life and live an embodied life.

Learn more about Embodiment

EMBODIMENT

The word embodiment is often used in yoga and dance, but for many, it’s still an unclear concept. So what is it then?

Let me explain by showing how we work with embodiment in Movingness. (It’s a very natural process in a live setting, but I’ve broken it down into small steps to make it easier to follow along.)

The nine steps of embodiment

Step 1: Relaxation

Create a feeling of safety in your body and mind

Open up your body and mind and make them receptive to new experiences

Step 2: Interoception

Listen to the sensations in your body (not your thoughts)

Let the sensations guide your movements

Step 3: Pranayama

Invite your breath to be a natural part of your movements

Initiate your movements from your breath

Step 4: Integration

Reconnect your legs and arms with your spine when you move

Move and feel as one body

Step 5: Satisfaction

Enjoy being in your body

Feel how your way of moving increases your wellbeing

Step 6: Freedom of movement

Freely flow between form and improvisation

Step 7: The joy of creativity

Enjoy the creative art of movement

Express yourself through your body!

Step 8: Use your interoception on the go

Stay connected with your body while moving and respect your unique anatomy

Love your joints as yourself and don’t overstretch your fascia

Practice in a way that is sustainable throughout your whole life

Step 9: Bring it into your life!

Make movement a natural part of your life

Stay fluid and active

Take breaks when your body wants to move

Variate your movements

Enjoy the freshness and openness of being alive!

GO WITH IT!

As you can see, embodiment is not about being good on the dance floor or on the yoga mat. That's just our laboratory, where we can experiment and find out what works and what doesn’t. That's the place where we have the freedom to keep what’s helpful and forget the rest.

Embodiment is about integrating our new relationship with our bodies into our daily life. And use it in real situations, in real time. Sometimes with more, sometimes with less success.

Living an embodied life is mostly about a relaxed body and a clear mind. Because this is our natural state! So it’s not about finding something new, it’s about returning to ourselves.

However, I also think it's important to avoid seeing embodiment as a “thing”, something we can own and keep in our pocket. Just like life – because it’s basically about our relationship to life – embodiment is constantly changing.

The skill is to be there, open and alive, and ride the current.

And when we lose our balance and fall, which we obviously will, that’s ok too. In fact, it's totally normal and a natural part of the ride. The difference is that we now have a totally new level of self-confidence. When we fall, we know how to get on our feet again!

To be a part of it, instead of fighting it, makes life so exciting.

Go with it, enjoy it, love it!

That’s my version of the embodied life.

/Peter

Hi, my name is Peter Appel! I’m an internationally acclaimed embodiment teacher. I’m also a yoga teacher in four traditions, dance facilitator, mental trainer, and the founder of Movingness. I have a life long interest in different somatic and meditation practices. When you study with me, you get practical knowledge and deep insights into the human body-mind.

Peter has been teaching at The University of Rochester, US; The Stockholm Yoga & Dance Festival, Sweden; and The Sound, Music and Wellbeing Symposium in Joensuu, Finland. He was one of the featured teachers during the Embodiment Conference in 2018 and 2020.

Let me show you in practice!

Here are some short examples from the five movement series. They are practiced slowly to create a deep connection with your body and make it possible to move from within.

What exactly is Movingness?

Movingness is an interoception based movement method for body mind-integration. It is based on five series of natural movements and one series of movement anatomy. The movements combine slow stretches with deep breathing. Starting from simple exercises to reconnect body and mind, they gradually take you into complex, free-flowing movement patterns. Practicing Movingness often leads to deep states of flow or meditation, where your body and mind truly feel as one.