You Would Have Loved It!

Imagine walking through large, wood-framed doors into a welcoming lobby. Warm smiles greet you as you’re escorted up a natural wood staircase to a spacious, sprung dance floor. You settle onto cushions or chairs arranged in a semi-circle, surrounded by fellow movement instructors and coaches from a wide range of disciplines. Here, you meet friends and co-collaborators. The week opens with a reminder to check in with your body and become anchored in the awareness of your bones. Sense your bones, you’re prompted.

Last week, we completed our first-ever in person Academy of Mindful Movement Instructor Level 1 Training at Still & Moving Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i. What a thrill! Trainees filled the room with eagerness and focus. One morning, trainees hung in aerial silk hammocks as a lesson in gaining insight into the subtle art of body observation. One trainee later mentioned how she had never felt safe taking an aerial class. She’d always get motion sickness and have to stop. But this time, led by an Academy-trained instructor, she felt guided in a way that would not put her body at risk of sickness. She actually enjoyed her mindful aerial session!

At another lesson, a costumed instructor rushed into the room to give a bootcamp-style class. Trainees froze a bit at the contrast of this Academy trainer acting as a no-pain-no-gain fitness coach. She instructed briefly with brash, bossy cues. Nobody wanted to participate, nobody felt safe. What a relief when she returned to the room as herself, a mindfully trained instructor. Everyone’s sense of safety returned.

All week long, I enjoyed watching trainees, interns, and trainers collaborate. They helped each other design ways to incorporate mindfulness techniques into their own movement disciplines.

Coming from Hawai’i and across the continental US, participants practiced with short teaching demos. As we explored new techniques, the room came alive. A balance between learning and doing took us through each day, never sitting for too long or moving too much.

By the end of the week, everybody felt a deeper grasp of what mindful movement instruction is all about. The trainees were ecstatic, feeling massive progress in their path as movement instructors and coaches. They bubbled with gladness to have found new friends and peers to keep in touch with.

Stay tuned for more trainings and workshops in 2026. You, too, will love it!