SOMA - more training opps for activists

‘SOMA – an anarchist experiment’ group. It will run for 12 weeks every Monday evening, from 24th September to 10th December. The two introductory workshops are open for people interested to know more about SOMA, and also they will be a first ‘get together’ for participants of the group.


Introductory Workshops
Wednesday 12th September – 7 to 10 pm
Monday 17th September - 7 to 10 pm
(Suggested donation £10 full /£7 concession)

12 week group on Mondays, 7 to 10pm
From 24 September to 10 December
£120 / £80 Please contact us to indicate interest

The Boxing Club
Limehouse Town Hall
646 Commercial Road
LONDON
E14 7HA

SOMA is a series of sessions/experiences using body games to create a group dynamic, inspired by principles of self-organisation and solidarity. When Roberto Freire created ‘SOMA – an anarchist therapy’ in Brazil, more than thirty years ago, he was looking for therapeutic methodologies that could help people emotionally who were fighting against the military dictatorship. Changing therapy into experiment, we have turned the SOMA (which means ‘totality of being’ in Greek) approach away from an emphasis on neurosis (we have something wrong) towards the gaining of skills (we can learn something new).
This approach breaks the traditional rational way to develop skills, where the mind is split from the body, the individual removed from its surroundings. SOMA games are proposals to play in a group - sharing experiences of collaboration, trust and responsibility. It’s this group dynamic created by SOMA games that stimulate the whole being to engage with the world. After the games, the participants will feedback, talking about their perceptions and behaviour playing together.
The body is the material to work with: movement, perception and contact with each other to dare to be creative in everyday life. Play is a way to rediscover the body, just as collaboration helps to rediscover relationships.

FACILITATOR:
Jorge Goia has been a Soma practitioner since completing his training in 1993 with Roberto Freire, the Brazilian psychologist who created ‘Soma – an anarchist therapy’ in 1970s. He has coordinated Soma groups in many cities in Brazil during more than 10 years. Since March 2004, he’s been doing Soma in Europe (England, Scotland, Germany and Spain). Goia has a PhD in Social Psychology and he researched the changes that Soma and Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art used in some Soma exercises) can make to individuals and groups. With Capoeira, he has been working with special schools and young people with behavioural issues. He is also a Research Associate in the Brazilian and Portuguese Studies department at King’s College, University of London.

Info: 07758224334 (Goia) jorge.goia at bol.com.br
and 07947596589 (Arthur) arthur.swindells at gmail.com


For directions see http://twenteenthcentury.com/lth/#directions

map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=536720&y=181065&z=1&sv=536750,181250&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf