I was speaking to a colleague several days ago via a Facebook messenger audio chat. She would record a message to me. And I would record a reply.
My colleague asked me what I think the business models are in some of the Somatics-based organizations, such as the Feldenkrais Guild.
This person said that she felt her (non-Feldenkrais Guild) somatics training was conducted in the format of a charismatic religion. An environment where you could rarely question the trainer because that person was considered “the top of the pyramid” (my words), similar to a guru, priest, or pastor.
And she felt that it was difficult in her training to criticize the founder or the work. This led to some very toxic interactions at times, including occasional yelling and bullying of students who spoke out.
She wanted to know if I thought somatic professional organizations are directly modeling themselves after hierarchically organized religions such as the Catholic Church or perhaps modeled after charismatic Christian or non-denominational churches.
I think it is a great question.
And after recording several messages to her, I decided to have them transcribed, expand upon my answers and post them here for you.
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