It is a joy to recognize that two organizations have now been offering School for Body-Mind Centering® programs for 20 years. Two decades of inquiry, embodiment, and relationship.

The School was founded as a living exploration, and it continues to grow through the dedication of those who hold and transmit the work with integrity and care. I am grateful for the many hands and hearts that have sustained these programs.

Here, each organization reflects on their 20-year journey and the path ahead.

With Love,
Bonnie

Leben nuova – Italy

An anniversary marks the recurrence of a special day in a person’s life. For a process, it can be the opportunity to reflect on a piece of history, maybe for better understanding the transition into a current change.

Celebrating Leben nuova’s 20th anniversary this year refers to April 2006, when Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen came to Tuscania for the international conference, “The Experience of Movement: the Child, the Parent, the Caregiver”, organized by Leben.

We then launched the first Infant Developmental Movement Education Program in Italy, with Bonnie, Thomas Greil, and myself as faculty — my first time teaching in a School for Body-Mind Centering® (SBMC) program, and as a director!

But Leben’s origins may be traced back to 1998 in the US, when at the end of my SBMC Teacher Training, I envisioned “my mission” with Body-Mind Centering® (BMC®) in Italy. Six years later, in December 2004, I legally constituted Leben in Tuscania, resolved contractual and financial issues, and this independent organization was the first to be licensed by the School.

Over the years, with the completion of two cycles of the Practitioner Program, and this year a sixth Somatic Movement Education Program cycle ending and a fifth cycle of the Infant Developmental Movement Education Program starting, Leben has promoted conferences, application projects, and other opportunities for sharing experiences, developing community, and spreading the BMC® approach.

Two celebratory moments will be in Tuscania: one in the occasion of the School for Body-Mind Centering® Program Directors’ In-Person Meeting in May; the other in the fall, specifically dedicated to the Italian community. These will be the occasions for honoring Leben’s history and all those who have contributed to its life.

This anniversary also marks a significant turning point for me personally and professionally, as I’m transitioning towards passing the “torch” to others to keep it lit.    

Gloria Desideri
SBMC Program Director, founder of Leben nuova

SOMA – France

In 2026, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of SOMA.

Twenty years of encounters, collaborations, and the transmission of the wonderful somatic practice that is Body-Mind Centering®.

Over these 20 years, SOMA has invited nearly 2,000 students to move with precision, curiosity, and a great deal of empathy.

Ten Somatic Movement Education Program cycles have been completed, three Practitioner Program cycles, and we are now beginning a fourth. We are also taking part in organizing the next Teacher Training.

Our French teachers have been trained at SOMA.

We, the co-directors of SOMA, devote a large part of our time and energy to transmitting and nurturing the bodyminds of our ever-present students. We are supported by a strong administrative team and by brilliant, committed teachers.

BMC® is spreading across France like a tide: first underground, then emerging more and more to the surface. It has become essential within the field of somatic practices. It nourishes dancers and body practitioners, who in turn nourish other dancers and professionals. It appears in our society — sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes more boldly — in a world thirsty for care and consideration for our beings.

The wave continues to roll in with calm and determination, and we help sustain it.

We feel deeply grateful to Bonnie and the School for Body-Mind Centering® for this wonderful legacy that has been passed on to us, as well as to all those who, over the years, have contributed to this adventure.

We will celebrate this commitment on Friday, March 6, at a gathering held at La Briqueterie in Vitry-sur-Seine, near Paris.

The whole community is invited!

The SOMA team
Lulla, Janet, Caroline and Emilie