Welcome back to the 255! As we enter November, we wanted to bring another segment of our #InClassToday series to showcase the awesome activities going on in our virtual classrooms. Today we highlight Professor Epelbaum’s Writing Seminar, where they welcomed Martha Eddy to lead an experiential workshop. We reached out to some students to hear their takeaways from the event.

Martha Eddy is an international advocate of Somatic Movement Education & Therapy as well as Somatic Movement Dance Education. She is the author of Mindful Movement. The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action in which she defines the origins of a new holistic field, somatic movement education and therapy, and its impact on fitness, ecology, politics and performance. For those who are unfamiliar, Dynamic Embodiment Somatic Movement Therapy is a type of experiential education that conveys how to maximize embodied cognition for deeper psycho-physical understanding.

Dr. Martha Eddy visited Professor Epelbaum’s class to engage students with their whole self in observing and writing, and to explore the differentiation of their ‘writers’ voice through subtle embodiment techniques. Overall, both faculty and student, thoroughly enjoyed the event. Check out what some of the students had to say below.

STUDENT RESPONSES:

I really enjoyed the embodiment and writing workshop. It helped me connect my writing, my body and emotions, which is something I never thought about. Dr. Eddy had us walk around and perform movements that we thought related to the word she gave us. After that, we wrote down how these movements made us feel. I loved being able to connect movement with writing and emotions because I think all three of these aspects can help me achieve authentic writing. We also went outside. Here, we listened to Dr. Eddy run us through a sort of guided meditation. Being outside was a different experience because we got to walk around and take in the nature and the vastness of the outside world. Overall, I loved this experience and it made think about writing in a totally different way.

Alexis George

The workshop was extremely beneficial and eye-opening. It allowed me to connect my body to my spirit/mind. It connected writing as thinking as we connected our bodies to our thoughts. Overall, I grew from the experience and I can now express my body through my words and vice versa. 

Hannah Van Gelder

I thought that the video we saw was very inspiring and something that motivated me to make a difference in my future rather than focusing on myself. It made me realize that it’s important to make differences rather than just chasing your dreams.

Anonymous Writing Student

We would like to thank Professor Epelbaum for sharing her in-class activities and Dr. Eddy for bringing her knowledge and research regarding experiential educational learning to the MMC community. We look forward to our next #InClassToday segment as the semester winds down. As always, a gentle reminder to be kind, stay safe, and always express yourself.