Description

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The exploration of the direct experience of healing and of the divine through the witnessing of movement becoming conscious.

• Uses sample sessions and descriptive theory to explain the discipline.

• Based on the author's 35 years of movement work.

Offering from the Conscious Body reveals both the theory and practice of a unique body-based process that is cathartic, creative, healing, and mystical--as presented by Janet Adler, the presiding voice in the field. This Western awareness practice encourages the individual to experience the evolving relationship with oneself, another, the collective, and the divine through the natural impulses of conscious movement, compassionate witnessing, and clear articulation of experience. Through the vivid examples taken from her own practice, Adler demonstrates that physical movement can invite direct experience of spiritual truths. The reader is led through the multiple layers within the discipline--moving and witnessing in dyads and then groups, in the presence of a witnessing teacher--to develop a comprehensive and experiential understanding of this innovative way of work. Designed for professionals and laypersons interested in psychology, bodywork, mystic traditions, or personal transformation, the discipline of Authentic Movement is at the cutting edge of emerging Western healing practices.

About the Author

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Janet Adler (1941–2023) was the founder of the Discipline of Authentic Movement. She had been teaching and exploring emergent movement in the presence of a witness since 1969. Her archives are housed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. She is the author of Arching Backward and Offering from the Conscious Body.

Praise For…

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"Janet's astonishing ability to track and articulate the development of this work makes her writing a necessity for those of us who know about Authentic Movement and for others on similar journeys who seek to know about the relationship of the body to psychological healing, artistic impulse, and experience of the numinous."
— Andrea Olson, choreographer and author of Bodystories

"Janet's astonishing ability to track and articulate the development of this work makes her writing a necessity for those of us who know about Authentic Movement and for others on similar journeys who seek to know about the relationship of the body to psychological healing, artistic impulse, and experience of the numinous."
— Annie Geissinger, creative arts therapist and coeditor of A Moving Journal

"Janet Adler's shaping of Authentic Movement is a significant response to a widely felt needs for a spiritual practice that is both embodied and non-authoritarian. Offering from the Conscious Body gives a lucid description of each element of the discipline of Authentic Movement and its impact on the soul. It is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in this area of human development."
— Don Hanlon Johnson, Ph.D., professor of Somatics, California Institute of Integral Studies; author o

"Janet Adler's Offering from the Conscious Body is an outstanding contribution?beautifully written, rich with information, scholarly, and deeply moving. Her definitive work on the origins, theory, and practice of Authentic Movement is a great gift to us all."
— Joan Chodorow, Ph.D., author of Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology and editor of Jung on Active Imag

"A remarkably subtle guide to discovering who we are in the present moment through the spontaneous movements of our bodies."
— Rosemarie Anderson, Ph.D., professor of Transpersonal Psychology, Institute of Transpersonal Psychol

"Offering from the Conscious Body is a tour de force for exploring the further realms of our essential human development."
— Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D., co-author of The Feminine Face of God and The Cultural Creatives

"In the richness of her offering, Janet embodies the mystical journey present in all of humanity. Her writing inspires us from the soul of antiquity."
— Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Founder and Educational Director, The School for Body-Mind Centering

"An unusual book--a novel approach to self-discovery through movement and careful observation . . . a slowing down to step into Presence."
— Edward Espe Brown, Zen priest and author of The Tassajara Bread Book

"A remarkable guide to this spiritual, kinetic, transformative practice."
— Anna Harris, Magical Blend's Natural Beauty & Health, Spring 2003

"This text promises to find its place among the primary literature on movement written in this epoch. I would teach from it, and I would recommend it to others."
— Andrea Olson, Choreographer and author of Bodystories