Body-Mind Centering (BMC) is an integrated approach to the study of movement based on an experiential model of psychophysical learning.
The BMC was developed beginning in the 1970s by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (1942), a dancer and occupational therapist. Her teaching brings together research and multidisciplinary training in neuromotor rehabilitation therapies (Bobath method), experiential anatomy and neuromuscular rehabilitation (in the tradition of Mabel Todd and Barbara Clark), Dance Movement Therapy (Marion Chace), movement analysis (Laban-Bartenieff and Kestenberg Movement Profile), Eastern meditation and movement disciplines (Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Katsugen Undo), and various manual therapy techniques.
BMC explores the functional and expressive organization of movement in resonance with developmental psychomotor integration processes.
The method rests on the foundations of Western anatomy and physiology explored in a creative and dynamic path that interweaves sensation and imagination, educational touch and vocal expression, in order to expand the repertoire of movement qualities and self-awareness.
In the BMC perspective, the experiential study of anatomy involves a systematic exploration of each function of the body – visceral, circulatory, respiratory, joint, muscular, endocrine, etc. – to link biological knowledge to personal experience. From a descriptive science, anatomy becomes the starting point for a specific cognitive activity that connects the abstract and “formal” map of the body to the inner map of sensations, emotions and images.
This practice allows you to put perception in motion and free the imagery of gesture from fixed body representations, supporting new ways of being present and listening to self and others.
BMC can be practiced in individual and group sessions.
Particular attention is given to interaction sessions with infants and children accompanied by their parents, and sessions of sensorimotor integration dedicated to children and young people with disabilities.
Links:
www.bodymindcentering.com
For training in Italy: www.lebensnetz.it
For training in Germany: www.moveus.de
Readings:
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Sensing, Feeling and Action. The Experiential Anatomy of Body-Mind Centering, Third edition, 2012. Paperback; 219 pages, Publisher: Contact Editions