Open Floor Foundational Programs

Take your movement practice to the next level with our flagship programs. Led by world class dance and mindful movement teachers. Cutting edge programs for mindfulness, self awareness, and purpose to life.

Ground Floor Lab
Therapy in Motion Lab

An Exploration of Life Through Movement for Personal Healing, Professional Growth, and Community Building

Our Foundational Programs attract a diverse, international community of like-minded movers from all walks of life and mental health practitioners committed to bringing the healing power of mindful movement into their lives, workplaces and communities.

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"The quality of faculty is superb. As someone who has been a teacher in many arenas for my entire adult life this one surpasses any teacher training I've done. Yes, you learn how to teach this curriculum, but more importantly it prepares you to embody the role of teacher in whatever environment you find yourself inhabiting. It goes beyond the dance floor."

— Joseph Machado, San Francisco, USA

The First Step

DEEPEN YOUR PRACTICE, EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE, AND LEARN NEW SKILLS TO RESOURCE YOURSELF AND REVIVE THE WORLD

Our Ground Floor Lab and Therapy in Motion Lab are the starting point for anyone who wants to teach Open Floor movement practice or qualify as a Therapy in Motion practitioner. 

Join our highly experienced teaching team for an in-depth tour of Open Floor, practical tools and insights you can use immediately in your personal and professional lives. Skills will be built progressively through experiential exercises, demonstrations, and theory to provide a toolbox for a more purposeful and embodied life.

More About Our Teacher Track
More About Our Therapist Track

The Ground Floor Lab

A foundation in the most up to date approaches to embodiment and mindful movement, our Ground Floor Lab is an intensive, experiential, five-day introduction to the Open Floor Curriculum. You’ll come away with an understanding of the core teachings and practical skills to use in your movement practice and beyond.

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About Ground Floor Labs

  • The key concepts and foundational principles of Open Floor movement practice.
  • An understanding of how the body moves and shapes our experience of life from an embodied perspective.
  • With an experiential session dedicated to each of ten Open Floor Movement Resources, you will practice moving with intention and self awareness and understand how to call on these resources to build resilience, flexibility and ease both on and off the dance floor.
  • A taste of how we move on the Open Floor through the Four Dimensions of Embodiment (the body, the mind, the heart and the soul) and the Four Relational Hungers (solitude, connection, belonging and spirit)
  • Each movement session includes a look ‘behind the scenes’ from a professional perspective for an understanding of the intention, structure and purpose of each experience.
  • An overview of the philosophy and core values that inform the Open Floor teachings. This includes Dynamic Governance, our non-hierarchical, transparent organizational structure.
  • You’ll have ample opportunity to ask the teachers questions and to make connections with your peers.
  • For those wishing to take the Open Floor training path further, this foundational training fills the requirement for acceptance.

Our Ground Floor Labs attract people from a wide range of backgrounds interested in expanding their skills and knowledge of embodiment and mindful movement for both personal and professional reasons. This training is particularly suited to:

  • Dedicated, long-term movers interested in knowing more about Open Floor movement practice and how it works
  • Coaches, trainers or teachers of an embodiment, movement or conscious dance practice looking for inspiration and new skills
  • Professionals in social care, health, mind-body therapies, education, and first response services, who want to integrate embodiment and mindful movement into their work
  • Mental health professionals who already work with an embodied approach, or want to do so and are interested in the Open Floor Therapy in Motion training
  • Anyone considering the Open Floor Advanced Training

A Ground Floor Lab is an excellent opportunity to experience and explore the Open Floor approach and decide if it is for you. Attending a Ground Floor Lab is a prerequisite for the Open Floor Teacher Training.

To attend the Ground Floor Lab, you are required to have at least 75 hours of accepted embodied movement practice, of which at least 15 hours are Open Floor workshops or classes. More details about the pre-requisites and application criteria can be found here.

The tuition for attending a Ground Floor lab is USD $650 (€590 / £530 / AUD $985). Travel, accommodation, and meals are not included. If you cancel after acceptance and payment there will be a $25 processing fee. Please note that Open Floor International donates into a scholarship/ bursary fund to support those with challenging financial circumstances wishing to attend this lab.

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Upcoming Labs

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MARCH 5-9, 2021 Online

Melbourne, Australia time zone

The Therapy in Motion Lab

Integrate movement into your therapeutic practice. Our Therapy in Motion Lab is for experienced mental health professionals who want to include embodiment and movement to bring about healing, integration, and improved therapeutic outcomes. Therapy in Motion is a dynamic methodology that integrates leading psychological concepts into an embodied movement vocabulary. 

Offered as a 5 hour intensive or 3 day workshop, we tailor our Therapy in Motion Labs to suit your professional needs. If you would like to organize a Therapy in Motion Lab for yourself, your colleagues or your organization, please get in touch.

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About Therapy in Motion

This specialized lab for therapeutic professionals
introduces the theoretical grounding of Therapy in Motion and includes:

  • Regulation
  • Core Movement Resources as
    interventions/support
  • Embodied Therapeutic relationship.
  • Continuum of Embodiment.
  • Channels of Perception.

Our Therapy in Motion Labs attract professionals from a wide range of mental health backgrounds interested in expanding their skills and knowledge of embodiment and mindful movement to take into their therapeutic practices. This training is particularly suited to:

  • Therapists and mental health professionals who are dedicated, long-term movers interested in learning more about Therapy in Motion and how it works
  • Psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, dance movement psychotherapists, and expressive art therapists looking for inspiration and new skills to support their clients and patients
  • Anyone considering the Therapy in Motion Advanced Training

This is an excellent opportunity to experience and explore this approach and decide if it is for you. Attending a Therapy in Motion Lab is a prerequisite for our Therapist Training track.

Therapy in Motion Labs are open to:

  • Licensed therapy professional with at least 300 hours of supervised practice
  • Personal experience with an accepted embodied movement practice. More details about the pre-requisites and application criteria can be found here.
  • Attendance at a Ground Floor Lab program to familiarize yourself with Open Floor Movement Practice curriculum, which is the ground of Therapy in Motion training.

 

Please get in touch for more information on the cost .

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Upcoming Labs

Organize a therapy in motion lab in your practice or workplace

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Words From Our Lab Graduates

This training helps individuals find ways of taking embodiment into everyday life, especially to the places they work. Can you imagine a workplace with individuals who know how to sense, feel, think, and be? Open Floor movement practice is good medicine for how to live.
Joseph Machado
Public High School Teacher, USA
I was looking for a basic understanding of the parameters and scope of Open Floor, and this workshop really demonstrated this in both practical terms and the information that was delivered. The information resonated with me at many levels – physically, emotionally and mentally. It was perfect for me.
Shane Delonix
Ground Floor Lab attendee, Australia

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