Learning through being in relationship is at the core of the HOMA Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy. At HOMA you will learn how to be a relational therapist by discovering how to be in relationship with your whole self: body, heart and mind; with your fellow trainees, with the group and its leaders, with the other than human world and the wider communities you belong to.
Embodied movement plays an important part in this relational and experiential learning throughout the four year training. Open Floor movement practice provides a space for trainees to move with and through the training, developing their capacity for attunement to themselves and the world around them. There are daily movement sessions on the residential at the end of the Foundation Year, Saturday movement sessions in the Gender, Sex and Sexuality module in Year 2 and a tutorial in Year 3 focusing on how to resource yourself in the therapist’s chair.
We have chosen Open Floor as our movement practice at HOMA because dance and music nurture creativity, self expression and belonging. Open Floor was designed by highly experienced trainers, psychotherapists, mindfulness teachers, embodiment facilitators and some of the most skilled conscious dance teachers globally. The focus of the Open Floor movement practice is on awareness through the moving body - there are no moves or routines to learn and you can’t get it wrong. The Open Floor curriculum is an inclusive and flexible framework that allows trainees to move as little or as much as their bodies can and want to.
We asked trainees across the years to tell us about their experience of movement practice at HOMA.
Beyond words… the power of awareness through the moving body
“I appreciated the chance to bring more awareness and presence into my movement. Our morning movement practice was centring in a way that beautifully complemented the rest of our work.”
“I enjoyed that I could take time exploring my inner world without words, while staying grounded in the movement resource focus for the session”
“Dancing to my own tune seemed rather alien at first, this was unlike anything I'd done before. But I've found movement practice one of the most transformative processes in the training. As a way of connecting to the body and what's going on deeper than words.”
“I was able to unlock a part of myself through movement and connection, accessing emotions and releasing pain in a way that has been inaccessible to me through normal “talking” therapies.”
“The training involves a LOT of talking each day and I really appreciated the opportunity to connect with myself somatically each morning in our sessions.”
“Moving in a space with other souls organising my experience through play, discovering the no’s and yes’es in my body beyond words.”
Embodied movement practice as a resource for self regulation and integration
“Dance helps me get out of the overwhelm. When I can no longer connect to myself using thoughts or writing and even talking it through with someone seems too much, it grounds me, reconnects me to my body, and clears my head until I feel lighter and more able to function and I start getting clarity on my priorities, or on a situation.”
“Starting my training day with Open Floor practice allowed me to connect with myself in the room and set some roots for the day. When I felt overwhelmed by emotion I could easily regulate by shapeshifting gently - a new favourite tool of mine”
“The whole thing became like a physical manifestation of a Gestalt Circle of Experience and I really connected with that. The same feelings… a stimulus, a response.. interruptions to contact from intrusive thoughts, a change in music.. or an instruction, all affected me physically. They changed the impulses I was responding to and the level to which I could embody them.”
“Listening to self was the most important part for me. Without judgement of myself and without care of judgement of others. I found so much liberation in movement practice and it’s informed how I move in the world.
“Embodied movement allows me to connect with my inner power. And it’s a resource for me to access when I’m feeling anchor-less and lacking in power. It's been life changing.”
“Open Floor is a journey of meeting parts of your self that don’t usually show up in the everyday of life. The old, early parts of myself, the soul part of who I am before life put it’s stamp on that soul. Movement practice has facilitated a deep healing of both these parts enabling them to meet and come back home together.”
Building Relational Depth, Belonging and Community
“It's very powerful to do this practice in a group - all individuals but in a space together. I find it very profound to moving with the others on the course”
“Connecting with the movement of my peers was like being given permission to be in relation to those around me - to try and embody their experience and I LOVED that.”
“It was a fantastic way to connect to my peers in a different way, and develop friendships and even clear the air between people. It was joyful to be moving along with all my Homa friends, and it bonded us as a group hugely.”
“It added a grounding layer to our days, allowing us to connect more deeply with ourselves and each other — before a single word was spoken.”
“Being introduced to an embodied movement practice as a trainee opened the opportunity of getting out of the expressive movement limitations of the chair into the exploration of shapeshifting and discovery of the self, moving between and among, inside and out in the field of relational depth.”
“It is a portal to kinaesthetic, interoceptive and community awareness with more dimensionality so I can show up as a therapist both resourced and open.”
Freedom, Creativity, and Joy in Exploration
“I was initially extremely resistant to the idea of a “movement class” and was anticipating something akin to yoga. What we were actually introduced to was something much more free, unstructured, liberating and creative (the one rule being talk with your body not your mouth!) - and if that meant sitting on a chair not participating at all, that was fine. Oddly though, with the beats becoming increasingly up tempo and the freedom and joy of movement becoming contagious, I found myself feeling curious about standing up and joining in.”
“It feels obvious to me that our body is part of the therapeutic process/being a human - the results are surprising, confusing and freeing, confusing, painful and wondrous.”
“Movement and dance have always been apart of my upbringing, particularly as a young person. However as I’ve aged, I’ve lost connection with that part of myself. Movement practice has helped me reconnect with my inner child and my freeness. I felt like I was invited to shake off the shackles and move in anyway my spirit desired.”
“It sparked an old dormant energy that exists within me! I’m now approaching it with empathy and curiosity, exploring what it needs from me and what I need from it. A new connection to self is emerging with compassion and creativity. I dance and move from the inside out and not the outside in!”
At HOMA, movement is more than an activity, it’s a way of knowing, relating, and becoming. Through meeting ourselves and each other on the dance floor, in a shared and intentional practice, we tap into all the dimensions of embodiment and deepen connection with ourselves, the group, and the world.
That’s why we dance at HOMA: to support the therapists of tomorrow to show up aware, fully embodied and firmly anchored in the here and now.
Embodied movement at HOMA is taught by Audrey Boss
Find out more about Open Floor
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