Tamara from The Netherlands, training with the Open Floor.

I didn't expect this.

As a recipient of the ICMTA scholarship, I've been able to travel to Forest Row, England, to attend the Open Floor Teacher Training Practicum, where we learn the Art of teaching embodiment and dance, led by our masterful teachers and kindly guiding teaching assistants, and in the excellent and warm company of our peers.

I didn't expect this residency to be in such a historical place, surrounded by magical nature (try swinging from the branch of a tree in the meadow in the morning, or exploring a vibrantly alive forest later that day), complete with a quiet library filled with timeless bookish treasures!

That was the frame for our lovely, intense Open Floor Practicum, the second phase of our teacher training, focusing on embodied emotional intelligence.

What a theme to work on! I cried, I laughed out loud, reflected quietly, and danced my heart out.

The enlightening tearoom conversations with my peers were heartwarming, sometimes whimsical - what a joy to dance on a Pocahontas song outside, to discuss our shamanic journeys experiences after dinner, and to learn how to physically and emotionally connect to ourselves and to others - and to hug afterwards!

What a joy to learn how to guide people through the journey we have taken - or even better, to support them to listen to their own bodies, and their hearts, instilling trust to follow their own life path in the process.

I hope some of what we're doing here (working on embodied emotional self-connection in a group, and from there, to connections to our community members) spreads: we are all needed, as we are.

I'm positive being in person (instead of online) made all the difference in the world to getting so many inspiring insights this week. So here's to ICMTA, here's to travelling, and here's to in-person-events! Thank you.