Lavinia Plonka, RSME, has designed this program with ISMETA Educational Standards in mind. Graduates of this program are eligible to apply to ISMETA through the Independent Track Process.
Year-Long Program Fee is $5,297. The program includes the introductory 7-week Kinēsa course.
*A $250 refundable deposit is due at the same time as your application. With a limited number of spaces available, your deposit holds a spot for you. See details below.
What if you could help others reduce their pain, improve flexibility and balance, and live life to its highest potential — not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, all at once...
... all through building awareness of your body and how you move?
Body language expert and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher Lavinia Plonka developed and teaches a powerful approach to somatic movement that can help you address every issue that limits your ability, or that of your clients, to live the healthy, pain-free, joyful, purpose-filled, and creative life that is our birthright. She calls it the Kinēsa process:
Kinēsa is a kinesthetic learning process designed to improve the quality of life itself. Click on the brief video below to learn more about this unique approach to somatic movement:
How the Kinēsa Process Works
Along with Lavinia, we created the Kinēsa process somatic movement teacher training program to give you the skills you need to share this life-changing process with the world.
It’s the ONLY learning system, movement modality, and personal growth approach available that brings together the “seven bodies” and seven distinct principles (more about that below). By immersing yourself in this work, you not only dramatically increase your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health, but also guide others in their own transformation.
It’s a Feldenkrais-inspired modality that addresses your whole being, not just your physicality. Lavinia has developed this technique over 30 years of research in body language, emotional studies, ancient wisdom, and neuroscience, to create a somatic package that allows you to feel, think, sense, and experience yourself in a completely integrated, multidimensional way.
In this highly unique method of somatic movement, Lavinia combines Feldenkrais with a significant understanding of your emotional world…
… enabling you to achieve heightened physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness by focusing on your movement from a more holistic perspective.
As a student in this program, you’ll:
When you work with all of these bodies simultaneously, you gain clarity about the full range of your potential and the vast possibilities for your life — and apply it in everything you do, personally and professionally.
Have questions? You can schedule a group meeting with Program Manager Meghan Rufener and other prospective students here.
Click here for more detailed information about each of these elements.
You’ll work closely with Lavinia, Candy, and your Collab Leader to master and apply Kinēsa’s seven principles in practical ways to whatever you do — whether you’re a dancer, yoga instructor, school teacher, healer, therapist, body worker, somatic movement practitioner in a clinical setting.
Who This Certification Program Is For
*To save your spot, a $250 refundable deposit is due at the same time as your application. See details below.
Lavinia’s commitment to understand movement and the psyche builds upon 50 years of dedicated study. Out of this profound journey, she has synthesized many of the leading modalities into a method that is powerful, easy-to-learn, and creates real freedom for clients. We are confident that this is at the leading edge of the field of somatics.
In this certification program, Lavinia will guide you through a synthesis of different disciplines — movement, meditation, science, and spirit — designed to train you holistically and expedite healing and enhanced wellbeing for you and your clients.
Check out the video below to learn more about her remarkable and diverse background — all of which has culminated in the creation of her NEW process, Kinēsa, a distillation and synthesis of all of her study, wisdom, teaching, and practice based on the teachings of Moshé Feldenkrais .
I Am Lavinia Plonka
Also joining this stellar team is Candy Conino, a Feldenkrais assistant trainer and one of the top Feldenkrais teachers in the world. Candy, who Lavinia specifically chose as the Integration Facilitator for this training, will lead two of the three Integration Sessions per month and lead the team of small group leaders with whom students will work all year long.
Candy Conino Introduces Herself
Lavinia has invited other world-class teachers, colleagues, and spiritual guides with expertise in specific areas to join her throughout the year to share a wealth of teachings (Click on images to read bios):
Cynthia Allen
Senior Movement Intelligence trainer
Russ Hudson
Renowned Enneagram teachers
Laura Bond
Founder of the Emotional Body® method
Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone
Jungian psychotherapist
Sharla Jacobs
Co-founder of Thrive Academy
Zoran Kovich
Feldenkrais® teacher
Anodea Judith
Founder and director of Sacred Centers
Stephen Nachmanovitch
A leader in music, dance, theater, and multimedia arts
Donna Ray
Feldenkrais® trainer and licensed psychotherapist
*To save your spot, a $250 refundable deposit is due at the same time as your application. See details below.
The Kinēsa process brings our awareness to every movement made, every action taken, and every word uttered. It will help with effective communication and brings understanding to the source of pain — physical and emotional —
According to Lavinia, there is no more important time than now to cultivate these capacities, because the world is in dire need of attention, clarity, ease, and elegance. For Lavinia, the most effective way to do that is to achieve personal mastery — this is where embodying the seven principles of Kinēsa can be essential.
So, what are the seven principles and how do they offer such potent transformation?
If you want to help others as a professional Kinēsa teacher, or practitioner of any other somatic or therapeutic art, this program is for you.
The descriptions of the multi-class units farther down this page detail the specific and far-reaching content of this program.
The Importance of This Certification Program
Many ancient wisdom traditions tell us that we have to go through our own personal growth processes and embody our own transformation before we can share our learning and wisdom to help others. As such, this program is divided into two 6-month parts.
Part 1 is an immersion into deep personal healing, development, and transformation, through which you can finally release anything that’s been holding you back from living the life you desire. This immersion can be undertaken as a stand-alone program — if you believe it will fulfill your needs for personal development, you can apply for Part 1 only.
If you feel called to take this work even further — to cultivate your skills as a Kinēsa practitioner or teacher and grow your capacity to assist others — join us also for Part 2 of this year-long somatic movement teacher training program.
The 6-month immersion is a process of learning through movement... integrating movement lessons with research... multidisciplinary explorations... guided meditations, inquiry, and discussions. This exploration into your biology, history, and humanity provides a body/mind/emotion/energy prism for personal transformation.
Throughout Part 1, the 6-month Immersion, you’ll work with healing from the Kinēsa perspective — that is, through kinesis, emotion, sensation, and attention. Let’s break down what that looks like:
During the Immersion, you’ll engage deeply with the seven bodies, spending one full unit with each. You’ll work with the seven principles of Kinēsa and explore how they can move you toward profound personal healing, self-development, and self-exploration... using movement as a lens through which you study yourself.
As you do, you’ll gain more flexibility, balance, and resilience... learn how to interact more effectively with your emotional life... and enhance your spiritual practice.
Over these six months, you’ll experience powerful transformation as you:
The descriptions of the multi-class units farther down on this page detail the specific and far-reaching content of this program.
Part 2, which is also six months long, will build on the self-transformation you underwent in Part I, to train you to become the most effective Kinēsa practitioner or teacher you can be.
When you complete the full year, you’ll receive a certificate that will help you create an added dimension in your practice and effectively expand your clientele, thereby building a successful healing profession. This is for everyone who wants to integrate this into a teaching practice that can help heal others and support conscious evolution.
You’ll expand your knowledge of and experience with concepts and movement lessons that build on what you learned in Part 1.
The second half of the year provides extensive opportunities to apply the principles to your personal practice, your profession, and your relationships... as you practice the skills you’re mastering with your student colleagues and receive guidance and feedback from supportive mentors and world class leaders.
When you participate in the complete certification program, you’ll transform personally as you:
When you participate in the complete certification program, you’ll transform professionally as you:
Upon completing the full year, you’ll receive a certification affirming that you’ve been educated and trained as a professional Kinēsa practitioner, and are prepared to work with clients in any appropriate clinical setting.
The descriptions of the multi-class units farther down this page detail the specific and far-reaching content of this program.
You’ll connect with Lavinia and her guest faculty through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of the transmissions.
While we hope you’ll attend all the sessions live, you’ll be able to download or stream recordings of the weekly classes and the three monthly Integration Sessions if you occasionally need to miss one. As you’ll discover, your live attendance is integral to your learning, understanding, and community connection.
This program will feature LIVE teaching transmissions, demonstrations, movement processes, Integration Sessions with Lavinia and Candy Conino, two monthly Collabs, nine Elective sessions with guest faculty, and Q&A. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones to help you develop a complete, holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to receive the highest benefit from this comprehensive study.
All sessions will be held online through Zoom. There will be no in-person engagement.
The 6-month Immersion (Part 1) starts on November 29, 2022, and ends on June 6, 2023.
The 6-month Certification (Part 2) starts on July 6, 2023, and ends on January 16, 2024.
Holidays: There are holiday breaks throughout the training, including a full month off in June 2023, and a week off for Spring and holiday breaks.
Class Sessions: 120 minutes per week on Thursdays at 10:00am Pacific, most weeks of the year. Students may attend live on Zoom or access the recording soon after. Students are expected to attend all class sessions or access the recordings during the same week of the live teaching.
Integration Sessions: 90 minutes on three Tuesdays at 10:00am Pacific throughout each month, led by Lavinia Plonka or Integration Facilitator Candy Conino. Students are expected to attend or access the recordings of two Integration Sessions monthly.
Guest Faculty Sessions: Workshops will be offered one Tuesday per month, most months of the year, on various topics to expand on the teachings. Students are expected to attend two Electives per 6-months (four total sessions) throughout the year for their certification. Recordings will be available for students to access on their own time.
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored and taught by body language expert and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher Lavinia Plonka, RSME — online, from the comfort of your own home. Each class includes a live streaming video option and guides you to immerse yourself in deep, comprehensive, practical, somatic teachings. You’ll receive experiential practices and opportunities to build your skills and catalyze profound transformation. Primary class sessions are on Thursdays at 10:00am Pacific.
As part of the core curriculum, Integration Sessions will be led by Lavinia or Candy Conino for deeper learning, further immersion in the teachings, and working closely with faculty, who will demonstrate the Kinēsa process in action and provide group direction. Integration Sessions will be recorded for you to refer to time and again.
In these sessions, you’ll be able to ask questions and practice movement processes, concepts, and techniques you’ve learned under Lavinia and Candy’s guidance. They’ll demonstrate the key components of a successful professional somatic movement process — with group member contributions. Integration Sessions are on Tuesdays at 10:00am Pacific.
Twice each month, you’ll be able to meet with a cohort of 15-20 fellow participants on Zoom. Here, you can have more personalized discussions and experiences, and practice embodying the teachings. Each Collab will be led by a Collab Leader (CL) who has extensive somatic movement training in one or more modalities — including the Feldenkrais Method, Somatic Experiencing, or others. You’ll meet with the same CL and group for the duration of the program. You’ll be required to attend at least one of these Collabs each month, and live attendance is required. To safeguard confidentiality, the Collabs will not be recorded, so they won’t be available to watch later if you’re unable to attend. We will do our best to schedule them for a variety of days and times to accommodate participants’ schedules and time zones.
Throughout the year, you’ll be invited to attend several online workshops on somatic movement-related topics, presented by guest faculty on Tuesdays when there is no Integration Session. These offerings will supplement and personalize your year-long experience as you gravitate to what most interests you. You must attend at least four Electives throughout the year to receive your certification, but you are welcome to attend all of them. Elective sessions will be recorded so you can listen to them again and again.
After each online class, Integration session, and Elective session, the digital video will be available for you to stream in high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
After each online class, the audio will be available for you to download in high-quality MP3 format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Lavinia will be teaching principles that are best absorbed through direct experience. She’ll provide you with movement processes to practice between sessions to accelerate your learning and more deeply embody the material. You’ll complete a written reflection after each unit to demonstrate your understanding of the content.
Our exclusive online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your program materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
It all begins with reaching for the coffee cup. Running up the stairs. Crossing the stream. Catching the ball...
Your connection with the ground, the movement of your limbs, your ability to bend, reach, stretch, and recover start with sensation and function.
This first unit is literally the ground on which the certification is built, as well an avenue toward grounding yourself.
Yet, how much do you know about how it all works?
The path to wellbeing is a journey of discovery of how movement and sensation inform every action. The study of your physical body is an opportunity to program your personal GPS coordinates...
Every moment of your life is mobilized by an intention, even if it feels invisible.
In the Kinēsa process, anatomy is not studied in a textbook or memorized in charts. It’s experiential anatomy. As you go inside yourself and learn how things work within, you’ll develop the ability to make choices to move and feel better.
During Unit 1, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 1 classes:
Your emotions aren’t strange, alien forces that appear out of nowhere and rule your life.
Your emotions are part of every move you make. Your posture, breath, and face send instant messages to your nervous system — to create sensations that become the stories we call joy or sorrow.
Your emotional body responds to the environment as well as your inner experience, sometimes realizing and sometimes betraying your intentions.
Learning to recognize your habitual emotional patterns can recalibrate your reactions so that you develop choice on how you respond to life’s circumstances.
Learning the somatic markers of different emotional reactions can help you navigate difficult situations and offer objective solutions to unwanted emotional states.
During Unit 2, you’ll explore:
Your Unit 2 classes:
Different spiritual paths speak about the emotional and mental bodies — located outside your physical border — that connect you to higher functional abilities...
People often talk about these other “bodies” interpenetrating in subtle energy patterns. But there’s another way to look at the mental body. It’s how we apply intelligence to our actions. Like your emotions, your mind lives within and is influenced by your physical functions.
While your breath reveals your emotions, it’s also a source of information. Every breath you take is actually part of a feedback loop of information and energy.
We’ve all heard of the mind/body connection. Yet in reality, your mind is your body. It’s not someplace separate. Your brain gathers all your sensory data, refers to your past and your knowledge base, and communicates that information to everything all at once. When you want to “use your mind” you’re accessing information from all your parts and bringing them together in the cognitive process.
Your eyes are your information processors. The eyes actually have neurons in them that connect to functions in your brain. And, as you learn to connect your two information systems — the breath and the eyes — you will begin to clearly see the path ahead.
Recent research shows that your mental abilities are directly connected to your mobility. Intentional movement with attention is intelligence squared.
During Unit 3, you’ll explore:
Your Unit 3 classes:
Fear of failure, rejection, and injury can govern and limit our choices. Yet, when we choose to stay stuck, we’re also making a choice.
As Lavinia will share in this unit, your moment-to-moment experience, your mood, and your actions are your creation. Making mistakes, trying new things, and finding yourself in unfamiliar situations can invite freedom or freezing.
The ability to be open, relaxed, and ready to welcome the unknown is one of the many steps in the creative process. Which at times, is difficult to do.
Lavinia has a mantra for herself — when the going gets tough, the tough lie down. It’s not about giving up. It’s about recalibrating, reorganizing, and reconnecting to the muse within yourself.
Once again, the key is in your relationship with yourself. It’s about going back and reconnecting with the physical, emotional, and mental bodies.
As you’ll discover, your ability to be spontaneous, seriously playful, and open to surprise are all within your creative body.
During Unit 4, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 4 classes:
Four powerful archetypes echo through history and are part of us — the Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary.
In this unit, Lavinia will share how each archetype has a Center of Presence which, when activated, helps you embody the highest qualities of humankind. This includes the warrior’s grounded presence in the pelvis... the teacher’s compassionate presence in the chest... the healer’s energy of the hands... and the visionary’s connection to the art of seeing.
By learning to access these Centers of Presence, you can become the change you want to see in the world.
As you’ll discover, one way to access the wisdom and energy of these forces of nature is through finding the embodiment of each energy.
By experiencing the power of the pelvis, the receptiveness of the heart center, the energy in the hands, and the clarity in your vision, you cultivate tools for navigating life’s challenges from a place within your body. Then when you encounter challenges, you can use your somatic wisdom to make changes.
By accessing the energy of these archetypes, you begin to literally change your story — the one you’ve been carrying since childhood — and create a life you’ll love.
During Unit 5, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 5 classes:
May the force flow through you...
Movement is life, from the first single cell to the most complex mammal.
While science is still arguing about what “moves us,” there are clues in ancient teachings that inform our physical, mental, and emotional presence.
From kundalini to meridians to the Tree of Life, a study of energy and how it moves can help bring us toward greater health.
The human body at rest generates 100 watts of electricity — enough to power a light bulb. But when you learn to use and conserve that energy, you generate the power to do so much more. You’re also a conductor of energy, receiving from the air, and transmitting to the earth.
When there’s tension, trauma, or stress, energy becomes trapped. Moving your body also moves what’s inside you — your organs, your blood, and your energy, freeing your energy centers to do the “great work” of connecting to your highest purpose.
During Unit 6, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 6 classes:
Your personal lead affects all seven bodies. Where do you feel it, sense it, and understand it? How has it affected your life and your choices?
The lead can take many forms, some of which you’ve discovered in previous units — habitual anxiety patterns, old wounds, stories from the past, blind spots, and emotional distress, for example.
Transformation can be messy or elegant. A caterpillar completely liquifies before metamorphosing into a butterfly. You can learn to drop the lead or transform it into an asset without melting down.
Becoming centered, literally getting yourself together, is the unifying process connecting all seven bodies with your divine nature. When you’re connected to yourself, you feel weightless, like water or space.
Inner alchemy offers you the opportunity to literally re-organize yourself. As you’ll discover, with practice you can take what holds you back and transform it into an integral part of how you move through life.
By connecting your alchemical body to the other six bodies, you become a unified whole. The power of attention — as a currency that connects you to others, yourself, and higher energy — can move freely, offering you greater ability to choose your direction.
During Unit 7, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 7 classes:
You’ll now begin to apply your learning from the first six months to others, while going deeper into connecting the ancient and the modern, the science with spirit, and the theoretical with the practical.
The foundations of the Kinēsa process and your relationship to your seven bodies is based on seven pillars of learning and experience: Breath, Sensation, Perception, Choice, Power, Balance and Presence.
In the first six months, these principles were implicit in the exploration of the seven bodies. As you move into the certification process, Lavinia will share how these pillars will become your allies, teachers, and guides toward becoming a Kinēsa practitioner.
Your body is a mysterious sacred vessel that carries your longing and possibilities of deeper connection. You can take a scientific approach toward understanding what’s taking place. What is the relationship between awareness and the inner attention spoken of in various traditions? Is there a way to quantify a somatic experience? Can movement literally move energy toward something ineffable?
As Lavinia will explain, there are cosmic laws at play at every moment. These cosmic laws impact how a lesson is constructed, how a play is written, the rhythm of a good joke, and the rise and fall of empires. As you begin to sense how these laws manifest in your physical existence, you begin to experience the possibility of a deeper embodied presence.
During Unit 8, you’ll explore:
Your Unit 8 classes:
You can think, feel, sense, and move simultaneously. Movement helps you uncover habitual emotional patterns for a more satisfying life. While emotions move faster than the thinking mind, and can therefore be difficult to “catch,” you can begin to recognize emotional patterns in yourself and others.
The breath, posture, and facial expressions that connect with the sensations we call emotions can be studied and eventually mastered. This skill helps you create rapport, improve your ability to respond instead of merely react... and better understand the story behind the story that people are telling you.
During Unit 9, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 9 classes:
According to the American Psychological Association, “Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.”
Resilience is the quality that allows you to recover and thrive.
Throughout this certification training, you’ve developed processes and strategies for returning to yourself — the sensation of the physical body, the resilience of the emotional body, the intelligence of the mental body, the resources of the creative body, the power of the archetypal body, the light of the energy body, and the integration of the alchemical body.
As you deepen your skills, you’ll improve your capacity to navigate bumps in the road — and become empowered to recover, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and learn from your experience with minimal collateral damage.
Developing your personal resilience helps you support others as they deal with adversity.
During Unit 10, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 10 Classes:
Nothing is permanent about our behavior patterns except our belief that they are so.
— Moshe Feldenkrais
You’ve been on a journey of expanded possibility, developing resources, skills, and awareness — bringing together the seven bodies that make up human functioning, recognizing your sabotaging behaviors, and exploring new ways of learning.
Now, how do you make this learning stick?
The seven Kinēsa pillars are here for you as touchstones and support: Breath, Sensation, Perception, Choice, Power, Balance, and Presence.
Each of these principles provide guideposts and allies on your journey toward the life you want. As you tune in to each of your seven bodies, you have the ability to investigate your relationship to each principle. In this way, you not only maintain the benefits of what you’ve learned, you continue to expand.
As your skills develop, you start to see how these pillars manifest in others, and you develop choices from your own repertoire to navigate toward your highest purpose.
Whether you want to change careers, improve your relationship skills, heal your physical or emotional pain, or something else, you can use the resources you’ve developed to alter your reality and be the change you want to see in the world.
During Unit 11, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 11 Classes:
Now it’s time to put all you’ve been learning into action.
Whether you’re a yoga teacher, psychotherapist, doctor, school teacher, or politician, you face challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning every day.
Life without challenge would limit the possibility of growth. Obstacles can be turned into opportunities when you apply somatic wisdom to the process.
A Kinēsa practitioner develops a deep understanding of how the interplay of the seven bodies and the seven pillars can be applied to life’s challenges.
This unit is an opportunity to use your own life as your laboratory — and begin to use the learning in your professional and social environments. You’ll take your real-life challenges and explore step-by-step processes to make actionable plans.
During Unit 12, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 12 Classes:
You want to finish this program with panache, with a flair, with the supreme delight of a job well-done.
To become certified, there’s just one more step — actually taking Kinēsa into your life.
Maybe you want to teach movement, or offer a course on deep listening. You’ve learned how Kinēsa can impact your own life choices. As a Kinēsa practitioner, you’ll be able to use your learning with others.
You may choose to integrate it into your yoga classes, or develop a movement repertoire based on the lessons in this training.
Perhaps you want to create units in your Humanities course, or offer one of the units to a group that could really use it. You can choose to use your Kinēsa training professionally or among friends. Either way, this last unit is your opportunity to own your story, make magic happen, and see how far you’ve come.
It’s not a test. If you’ve come this far, you have learned what you need to know. This is a chance for you to celebrate your accomplishment — and take it out into the world. The world needs it!
During Unit 13, you’ll discover:
Your Unit 13 Classes:
Year-Long Program Fee is $5,297. The program includes the introductory 7-week Kinēsa course.
When you enroll in the year-long certification program, you get access to this powerful pre-requisite course as well as four free bonuses from Lavinia. You can complete this material at your leisure, but it’s highly recommended that you begin before the certification program starts.
In this 7-module course, you’ll explore the foundations of Lavinia”s Kinēsa process and experience powerful, yet subtle somatic movement for transformation.
Module 1: Your Physical Body — Learn the Language of Your Nervous System to Reduce Pain & Increase Flexibility
Module 2: Your Emotional Body — Improve Your Mood as You Improve Your Posture
Module 3: Your Mental Body — Apply Intelligent Choice to Your Actions
Module 4: Your Creative Body — Open to New Possibilities & Spontaneity
Module 5: Your Archetypal Body — Discover the Healer Archetype & the Power of Your Hands to Address Wounds
Module 6: Your Energy Body — Finding Your Voice, Speaking Your Truth & Unlocking Your Jaw
Module 7: Your Alchemical Body — Access the Power of Inner Transformation
PLUS, you’ll get the Bonus Collection
Bonus #1
You’ve Got the Power! Four Paths to Awaken Your Body’s Archetypal Energies
PDF Excerpt of the Book by Lavinia Plonka
Explore the Four Archetypes — Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary — in this excerpt from Lavinia’s recent book. This book has been years in the making, and these chapters will introduce you to Lavinia’s approach to embodiment as well as qualities of the Warrior and the Teacher. You’ll explore the ways you’re constantly being touched and influenced by these archetypes’ appearance in the world.
Bonus #2
Movement & Presence
Video Dialogue With Lavinia Plonka & Larry Goldfarb
What does it really mean to be in the present moment? We speak of the importance of presence, but it seems that the very presence we’re seeking often evaporates as soon as life intervenes. In conversation with master Feldenkrais trainer and fellow somanaut, Larry Goldfarb, PhD, Lavinia explores the possibility of embodied presence. Larry weaves his cybernetic perspective with practical expertise that comes from over 40 years of teaching the Feldenkrais Method for an innovative approach to understanding Awareness Through Movement and its value in contemplative practice.
Bonus #3
Softening Your Ribs, Enlivening Your Breath
Audio Teaching From Lavinia Plonka
This movement exploration offers you an opportunity to explore both movement and breath more deeply, inviting novel positions and unusual ways to experiment with your breathing patterns. You’ll experience new places for your ribs to participate in the action of breathing, as well as see how more functional breathing can influence the movement of your ribs and spine.
Bonus #4
The Smart Way to a Strong Core
Audio Teaching From Lavinia Plonka
This lesson is a wonderful adventure into understanding the relationship of core strength to your back, your neck, and the function of sitting up. When you engage your core without strain, you’ll also enjoy healthier walking, knees, and ankles. This teaching offers an alternative way to strengthen your core and improve the way you move so you can step into your true power.
The original price of The Kinēsa®Process: A New Feldenkrais®-Inspired Somatic Movement System on its own was $297.00, but it’s INCLUDED in your registration for the certification!
— Lisa Stanley: “I’m 60 Years Old, and I Feel Stronger and More Balanced and More Capable Than I Did in My Thirties”
— Brenna Wilcox: “I Can Stand Up Long Enough Now to Cook Dinner”
— Chrish Kregse: “Lavinia Is a Patient, Understanding, and Very Wise Witness to Your Process”
In practicing Feldenkrais, it looks and feels like you’re doing next to nothing, yet the effects are profound. Taking Lavinia’s classes always leaves me feeling taller, stronger, pain-free, and awakened to the potential of a better me. The power in the art of the subtle can’t be emphasized enough, and Lavinia delivers it with fun, precision, and grace.
— Merina Ty-Kisera, LAc, DiplAc, author of Acupressure With Essential Oils
Lavinia is an engaging and expert movement teacher who helps you know your body in easy and accessible ways that lead to transformation. I’m consistently amazed at how small movements have huge effects.
— Leanne Cusumano Roque, president of Shine Like the Sun and author of the award-winning book Live Light: Simple Steps
The more I learn, the more I’m able to effect change in a positive way — for my physical, mental, and spiritual being. Lavinia is a wonderful teacher and she makes these teachings easy to understand.
— Tressa Guth, San Jose, California
Lavinia’s online lessons are an invaluable resource to get out of pain and back to the ease that our bodies have capacity for... but that we lost out of habit, stress, or injury. Lavinia’s clarity and excellent teaching make it simple to do these lessons with her from the comfort of your own home. I’m grateful that she’s committed to making this profound learning method available to as many people as possible online. If you haven’t tried it... don’t wait!! You’ll be glad!
— Judy Greenman, Feldenkrais Center of the Florida Keys
The Feldenkrais Method with Lavinia Plonka has been pitched perfectly for both lay people and professionals. As a yoga therapist, my training has been aligned with the principles of Feldenkrais, placing emphasis on the uniqueness of each and every individual and the integration of movement. I love the balance of Lavinia’s explanations and practical application.
— Therese Lew, yoga therapist
Lavinia’s course was a powerful, clear, insightful, and practical introduction to developing an awareness of your body’s habitual movements and postures, offering experienced and skillful guidance to support you to develop a new kind of relationship to your body and habits. I’d really recommend this to anyone curious about their habits and keen to understand how to create a more positive and connected relationship to their body.
— Rebecca, Derby, United Kingdom
I felt taller today when the class ended, and more easefully flexible — which is saying something for me given the physical challenges I’ve been healing from. If you cannot do a movement as directed, Lavinia is great about reminding you to amend it and get creative, and often offers specific suggestions for how to try an alternative/modification. These classes are designed to meet you where you are — regardless of physical condition or ability.
— Julianne
The Somatic Movement Certification offers some of the most advanced online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners from around the world to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Lavinia Plonka will share in this powerful certification program.
You’ll be part of an international community leading a global movement to manifest a world grounded in principles of health, resilience, spiritual wholeness, and cooperation — to help bring about the change our world so desperately needs.
When you sign up for this year-long certification program, you’ll get instant access to Lavinia Plonka’s 7-module online course and bonuses to ground yourself in her teachings and experience subtle, yet powerful somatic movement, cogent wisdom, and guided meditations to move with greater freedom, cultivate emotional fluency and turn your sensations into a powerful way to heal.
We feel honored that Lavinia Plonka has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online training program. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with Lavinia and other renowned somatic movement teachers whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and transform ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about immersing yourself in a world-class certification and doing the intense inner work necessary for personal and global transformation, please join us for this one-of-a-kind training. Lavinia is deeply humbled to journey with anyone who feels this level of calling and commitment.
If you’re ready to take the next step in evolving yourself, click the Register Now button below to start the process now.
The program includes the introductory 7-week Kinēsa course.
Enroll within 10 days and receive $250 off. (Year-Long Program Fee is $5,297). Check your email for a time-sensitive discount code.
Please note: We’ll be limiting the number of students in this extraordinary teacher training program to ensure that each person receives the learning, practical application, individual attention, and support they need as they move through this in-depth curriculum.
The full Somatic Movement Certification is a year-long program. You can register for the first 6-Month (Part 1) alone if you feel that it will meet your personal goals. . If you’re interested in participating in the 6-Month Certification portion (Part 2), Part 1 is its prerequisite. You will not be able to join only for Part 2.
The full Somatic Movement Certification is a year-long program. You can register for the first 6-Month Immersion (Part 1) alone if you are interested in personal growth only and don’t wish to pursue the professional certification. If you’re interested in participating in the 6-Month Certification portion (Part 2), the Immersion is its prerequisite. You will not be able to join only for Part 2.
6-Month Immersion Only
$3,297 when paid in full
Full Year-Long Certification Program
$5,297 when paid in full
Various payment plans available. Any applicable discounts will be deducted from the total amount at the time of purchase.
*A $250 deposit is due at the same time as your application. With a limited number of spaces available, your deposit holds a spot for you. See details below.
This deposit is 100% refundable within five calendar days for any reason, and 100% will be returned should your application be declined.
Upon acceptance of your application, your deposit will be applied to the total cost of the program and deducted in equal amounts from the balance due according to the payment plan you choose.
Have questions? You can schedule a group meeting with Program Manager Meghan Rufener and other prospective students here.
To consider you for this Somatic Movement Certification program, we must receive your completed application and refundable deposit by Midnight Pacific on November 15, 2022.
Note: If you’re a graduate of Lavinia Plonka’s 7-module The Kinēsa® Process: Advanced Feldenkrais®-Inspired Movement for Heightened Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Wellness course, go to this special link to access your exclusive offer for this year-long certification.
A: The investment is $5,297 USD if paid in full (9- and 10-month payment plans are available). Access to The Kinēsa® Process: Advanced Feldenkrais®-Inspired Movement for Heightened Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Wellness (7-module introductory course) is included.
If you register with a payment plan, your first payment will be due upon registration, and subsequent payments will be automatically processed every 30 days until complete. The total payment plan price includes a finance charge.
*A $250 deposit is due at the same time as your application. As we have a limited number of spaces available, your deposit holds a spot for you. See details below.
This deposit is 100% refundable within five calendar days for any reason, and 100% will be returned should your application be declined.
Upon acceptance of your application, your deposit will be applied to the total cost of the program and deducted in equal amounts from the balance due according to the payment plan you choose.
A: A limited number of partial scholarships are available. For more information and to apply for a partial scholarship, click here. (Do not fill out a regular program application or submit a deposit if you wish to be considered for a partial scholarship.)
A: Your purchase will be refundable on or before Midnight Pacific on Thursday, December 15, 2022. Refunds will not be available after this date.
A: Lavinia Plonka, RSME, has designed this program with ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education Therapy Association) Educational Standards in mind. Graduates of this program are eligible to apply to ISMETA through the Independent Track Process. For more information, click here.
A: This will vary, depending on whether you choose to attend all offerings or the minimum requirement, but on average, you can expect to spend approximately 16 to 20 hours per month on this program.
For answers to additional questions about the Somatic Movement Certification, please see our extended Frequently Asked Questions support page.
To consider you for this Somatic Movement Certification program, we must receive your completed application and refundable deposit by Midnight Pacific on November 15, 2022.
