ERASMUS+ Mirmica Developing Body-Mind Practices

Experiencing the body in training: an Erasmus+ project (training of trainers) on somatic integration in active and inclusive arts practices

Mirmica Developing Body-Mind Practices between 2019 and 2021 involved 15 professionals from the association, 4 European organizations, and different territorial realities, networks, and local citizenship in a training and action-research on the integration of lived corporeality in art-based training practices.

The aims were to (1) deepen the somatic skills and competencies of Mirmica Cultural Association trainers; (2) better understand how these competencies can be flexibly and creatively integrated by trainers in different practices and contexts; and (3) facilitate and promote a dialogue on the topic as in public and private institutions, from communities and research centers.

The project realized five stages of experiential training abroad focused on experiential anatomy and motor schemes and movement patterns acquired and integrated during child and adult motor development (through Body-Mind Centering methodology) and how voice and movement can be connected in functional and expressive ways (VMI-Voice Movement Integration and Roy Hart/Margaret Pikes).

Alongside the international training activities, provided by highly skilled teachers within structured methodologies, the project developed, throughout its duration, local dissemination and research actions in different contexts (schools, hospitals, disability and mental health centers, citizenship, training trainers) and a participatory development and evaluation program.

The Covid-19 pandemic hit the heart of the project, the lived body, and challenged the usual practices of training and the capacity of the Mirmica network to respond to emerging needs. The project thus tried to be a resource for adaptation and resilience, putting the relationship between well-being and innovation at the center of its practices.

The following documents outline the research reflections and project results.

An overview of the Mirmica project Developing Body-Mind Practices:
Integrating Somatics into Art-Based Education (ITA)

Reflections derived from the project on integrating the body-mind into training processes:
Integrating the lived body into active and inclusive art-based training contexts (ITA)

Actions, results and themes that emerged from participatory development and evaluation activities:
Summary document of the participatory evaluation process (ITA)

During the pandemic emergency period, the project was partly supported in its readjustment phase by the Lets GO! grant from Fondazione Cariplo.