The Movement Medicine Study Hub was born in April 2020, and as we reach our fourth anniversary, we want to thank everyone who has been and is part of this exciting and evolving worldwide online community of practice, learning, ceremony, sharing and study in the field of Movement Medicine. We are so proud and happy with what we have co-created together, and delighted that this resource is now fully active and operational.
In this blog, we're sharing a great idea from Hub members about how they are using the Hub to deepen their experience of life through dance. They tell us what a difference the resource of the Hub and its contents, and their practice with it, is making to their capacity to dance with life. And we share a little about why we have come to the decision to raise the price of Hub membership from June 1st this year.
1. New Hub Pricing - 1 June 2024
current members price remains the same
We will be raising the membership price (a little) for new members from the 1st of June. What that means for current members and those who join the Hub before the 1st of June is absolutely nothing. Your membership price will remain the same as when you joined, as long as you maintain an active membership.
Despite the economic climate of the past few years, we haven't changed the price of our membership plans since 2021. As of the 1st of June, our Study Hub prices for members who are joining will be increasing from £21 to £25 per month (and from £210 to £250/year). The good news - if you're already a member or if you join before June 1 2024, your subscription level will remain the same for as long as you maintain consistent membership. This price rise for new (or re-joining) members reflects our commitment to delivering high-quality services and sustaining the growth and development of the Study Hub platform.
This price rise reflects many things which are different from where we were in 2021:
- Hub Library: There is now a substantial number of high quality Keynote lessons, Live Classes, Mini-Embodiment practices in the library. Go deep with your Movement Medicine practice from within your own home at your own pace at any time.
- Online Ceremony upgrades: The production level of the 8 ceremonies we offer to mark the changing seasons has been significantly enhanced as we have invested in new technology and a new studio to work from.
- Live Sharing: We've added the monthly Listening Bowl - a live opportunity to meet and share with other Hub members and the teacher of the month's Lesson on zoom.
- New Skin: The Hub has recently had a full design upgrade. All features remain in the same place as they were (don't worry - no muddle!) and everything is (even more) beautiful and easy to find.
- New Teachers: Guest Movement Medicine teachers are now teaching some of the Hub lessons.
- Price: And last but not least, of course costs everywhere have gone up whilst ours have stayed the same.
So if you're already a member, we are glad to be travelling with you. And if you're not, we wanted to give you a heads up 7 due notice of this change and encourage you to try out the Hub before the prices go up. You can join on a monthly subscription (currently £21/Month) or yearly (currently £210/year). If you're already a member, it's a good time to invite your friends to step on board too (see point 3. below). 😉💚
2. A word for new members
If you join the Hub, for a month or a year, first of all, you are so very welcome. This community gets richer and deeper with every participating new member.
There is lots of great material in the Hub. However, it can feel overwhelming! You don't have todo everything before joining in with where the journey is now. In fact we suggest you don't. Each lesson is designed to be accessible and at the same time relevant and useful for everyone. We suggest you get orientated using your welcome letter and then simply join in this month's Lesson. It will be a gateway to everything else in this holographic map, which you can discover and play with at your own pace.
As Breda Perme told me recently: "I can't tell you how grateful I am (for the Hub lessons) because I am reminded every time again that it's not the form and way of dancing that matters, but that the dancer in me always find the path to get in touch with the centre of my being.” Breda Perme, (Hub member and Movement Medicine dancer) Slovenia.
3. Live or/and online?
When we have been teaching workshops in the room recently, we try and remember to ask who is a member of the Study Hub? And we keep being delighted to see how many Hubbers are in the room. It's not either/or with "in the room" workshops and the online work. For various reasons, not everyone can do both, but if you can, it's a great and mutually complementary mix. Solo practice at home offers something which is not available in workshops together with others, and vice versa.
Solo practice at home means you are integrating your practice into your home setting. It is something you can do every day - 15 minutes of dance can change your state - and is a powerful support for real sustained practice - a powerful "mineral" for the human psyche. You are also not within a big relational field of dancers, and this can make it easier to stay with your own journey and go within. At the same time, you are not alone, your teachers are with you as you dance and the Hub has become a deep worldwide online village community where many folks share deeply and others choose to travel more solo. We have also recognised, together with Hub members, that there is a beautiful awareness in our ceremonies, that we are sending prayers from our different dance floors all over the world, a network of dancing connection around the planet.
On the other hand, dancing in the room together offers the relational space which is a powerful "vitamin" for the human psyche. Why vitamins and minerals? Well, they are clearly different and one is not designed to replace the other. Ideally for a balanced diet of movement Medicine, you'd have both 😉.
At the same time, it's a joy for us to hear about people rejoicing in dancing on the Study Hub who absolutely cannot get to a workshop at this time for any number of reasons. We are so glad you can access the Hub. And we've seen profound changes in people who really stay with their practice via the Hub. Regular consistent practice is a powerful agent of change.
And when we are at a workshop and invite the Hubbers present to come together in a break, to meet and share a little, and then we keep being told the same story with lots of excitement. And this idea works for those who can and cannot make it to workshops "in the room".
4. A great idea from Hub members
We keep being told of small groups of friends who use the resources on the Hub together. Whether their group practices once a week, 3 times a week or once a day, they meet regularly to share a practice or listen to a Keynote. Some groups are working through all the Lessons from the very beginning of the Hub to now, which means they don't have to think about what to do. All the members of the group start their practice at the same time and then they share about their experience together on zoom, often using one of the Embodied Listening protocols.
What a wonderful way to bring the dance back home and into daily life! We've felt the warmth of travelling alongside each other these practice groups share and the committed energy they bring to each other. Regular practice is a refuge. A place to remember your core values and principles and prepare for or release the day. We have witnessed how the people in these groups are changing through this steady stream of practice and connection with friends who might be on the other side of the world, or might be close by.
We know how much easier it is for me to maintain a practice if we do it together. And we can imagine that many other great ideas will emerge from the community as we continue our journey through life together.
to end, some words from a Hubber
QUOTE continued.........
"With my history of Gestalt, Reichian bodywork, Feldenkrais, Meditation, etc , it just seems to be the missing link! When I dance (and I do that very often) all valves open: tears come out, laughter comes out, anger comes out, aliveness and joy flow - and I just feel THIS IS ME! Music medicine puts me in touch with MY SELF and I feel nourished, fulfilled and deeply grateful. It is spiritual work that works through music, through the body; it integrates ALL aspects of the person.
After all, it’s all about the heart and about love, I suppose.
So what I want to express is: I feel blessed to have the possibility to make these heart opening experiences, and to be part of this community of people who share this wonderful combination of the physical, the spiritual and the emotional."
Hanne Ekke psychotherapist/psychologist
Thank you Hanne!
So, whether you haven't yet poked a toe in to the waters of Movement Medicine, or whether you're a seasoned in the room dancer and haven't tried out the delicacy of Movement Medicine Online, we encourage you to take a leap and come and dance.
Whether it's online or in the room, with one of us or with one of the teachers who have trained with us, we know this is good medicine designed to help support you to be the one you are and offer what you've got.
We wish you every blessing and are happy that the Hub can, if you choose, help you bring the resources of Movement Medicine right into the heart of your life,
With love and dedication,
Susannah and Ya'Acov Darling Khan
April 2024
