Conscious Moving: An Embodied Guide for Healing, Learning, Contemplating, and Creating

Conscious Moving extends from one transformative belief: we feel more human, more empowered, and more ourselves when we live from that place within us--and all around us--that simply moves. And when we examine and trust in the emerging and evolving movement of our minds and bodies, we can better harness the tools needed to expand our creativity, wellbeing, and learning.

Body-based psychotherapist, movement specialist, and renowned author-educator Christine Caldwell (Oppression and the Body) offers a radically ambitious mode of somatic awareness and inquiry--and shows how designing our own conscious movement practices can improve not only our own lives, but our relationships, communities, and culture.

This anthology explores how movement practices can help us be more present; more grounded and intentional in responding to and working with experiences in the moment; and claim our own bodily autonomy. Caldwell and contributors explore these key benefits and applications in four critical areas:

• Creativity
• Contemplation
• Healing
• Learning

Rooted in both ancient and modern scientific ways of knowing, Conscious Moving imparts fundamental principles and tools applicable to a broad spectrum of fields and professions. Topics explored in partnership with conscious movement practice include: Trauma and Oppression, Isolation and Loneliness, Addiction, Group Therapy, Sexuality, Creative Arts, and Grief.

Encouraging each reader to pay attention to--and honor--their own embodied intuition, Conscious Moving is a non-prescriptive guide to accessing body-based wisdom for personal growth, community impact, and widespread social change.


About the Author
Christine Caldwell, Ph.D., BC-DMT, LPC, is the founder of and professor emeritus in the Somatic Counseling Program at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, USA, where she has taught coursework in somatic counseling theory and skills, clinical neuroscience, and diversity issues. Caldwell's Moving Cycle involves body-centered psychotherapy and Conscious Moving when applied to other disciplines, such as artmaking, contemplative practice, and education. Caldwell has taught at the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Concordia, Seoul Women's University, Southwestern College, Pacifica, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and SRH University in Heidelberg. She trains, teaches, and lectures internationally, and has published over 30 articles and book chapters. Her previous books include Getting Our Bodies Back, Getting in Touch, The Body and Oppression, and Bodyfulness. She is also an editor for the Journal of Dance, Movement and Psychotherapy, the International Journal of Body Psychotherapy, and the American Journal of Dance Therapy.