Movement at An Talamh

Sligo is a land of great beauty. Ben Bulben stands steadfast and majestic to the North, Knocknarea to the West and those that enter from Dublin pass beneath the magnificent Briecklieve Mountains, home of Carrowkeel, one of the many sacred sites in this place.

Sligo has inspired poets, writers, surfers and latterly this ground/earth/place – An Talamh – has held, supported and fostered a movement practice which recognises the movers but gives equal value to the land where the movement takes place. This recognition of place, this dialogue with ground, earth, trees, water, rock -, as well as with the self and with other movers - is pivotal to the movement practice on offer here at An Talamh. 

This work is simple and powerful:

• It starts from daily life movements like walking, sitting, standing and invites you to move as you wish from there.

• It recognises the knowing held in the body and the body’s own wisdom and understanding.

• It agrees with David Abram when he says “we are human only in contact and conviviality, with what is not human”. When we move amidst the wind, the ever flowing river, the changing terrain of rocks and earth, we are in contact with our ever changing environment which is not human, yet somehow touched and freed to embrace our ever changing nature to become, even more human.

At its most basic, this work can offer a renewed sense of vitality, flexibility, joy, play and awareness. For those who wish to enter the practice more deeply, it offers a lens to explore the daily life movement of each person in their own life. It can, in addition, help to transform old habits, patterns, beliefs and attitudes, deepen prayer, meditation and mindfulness practice, open the heart and facilitate a deeper connection with self, other and all of life around us.

At present movement work at An Talamh consists of:​

• Themed Days - Day-long workshops, usually at weekends, that allow time for deeper exploration of themes such as walking and stopping, receiving and offering, embodied prayer/intention, poetry in motion. Where possible these workshop are held outdoors to facilitate awareness of the dialogue with environment.  Details fow rokshops held can be sees in archives. 
• Weekend and longer workshops – Workshops of 2 -7 days duration with a visiting teacher to explore some aspect of the work more fully. Sandra Reeve with her Move into Life work has been a consistent guest teacher. Suprapto Suryodarmo (Prapto) taught here in 2010. Other workshops with an emphasis on systemic healing such as Family Constellation Work, Capacitar work, and drumming are also held at An Talamh. 

An Talamh acknowledges with gratitude Sandra Reeve’s Move into Life work, her PhD on the Ecological Body and various books, alongside Amerta Movement - Prapto’s concept of movement gardening where he moves with, or guides the mover, to a greater sense of their own blossoming. 

Gratitude also to the Body Soul Europe community and specifically those that belong to the Sligo group (Imogen O' Connor, Linda Fulton and Louise Keating). Through their embodied dreamwork, mask , movement and voice work and consistent encouragement they have influenced and supported the work at An Talamh greatly.

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Photo James Fraher