About Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
For over 50 years, as a movement artist, researcher, educator and therapist, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen has been working with movement, touch and the body-mind relationship. An innovator and leader in developing the Body-Mind Centering® approach, her work has influenced the fields of bodywork, movement, dance, yoga, body psychotherapy, childhood education and many other body-mind disciplines. In 1973, she founded The School for Body-Mind Centering®.
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen is the author of the books:
- Sensing, Feeling, and Action
- The Mechanics of Vocal Expression
- Basic Neurocellular Patterns: Exploring Developmental Movement
- Embodied Anatomy and the Axial Skeleton
- Embodied Anatomy and the Dynamics of Breathing
- Embodied Anatomy and the Dynamics of Vocalization
- Embodied Anatomy and the Endocrine System
- Embodied Anatomy and the Fluid System
- Embodied Anatomy and the Ligamentous System
- Embodied Anatomy and the Lower Limbs
- Embodied Anatomy and the Nervous System
- Embodied Anatomy and the Organ System
- Embodied Anatomy and the Upper Limbs
- Embodying Authenticity, Organicity, and Expression: Organs and Glands as a Foundation for Movement, Touch, and Voice
- Embodying Cellular Consciousness
- Embodied Touch as Transformative Practice
- Embodiment and Expression for Musicians and Singers
- Embodying Muscles Part 1 and 2
- Embodying the Embryological Foundations of Movement
- Engaging Self and Other through Embodiment
- Exploring the Embodiment of Cellular Consciousness through Movement
- Four Special Children
- Free the Vital Energy and Illuminating Presence of Your Spine
- Perception as a Key to Embodying and Repatterning the Nervous System and the Role of the Brain in Perception
- Practicing the Basic Neurocellular Patterns
- Releasing Patterns of Stress and Uncovering Patterns of Ease
- The Origins of Movement: The Embodiment of Early Embryological Development
- Dance and Body-Mind Centering®
- Only the Child Knows.
Bonnie began her research in movement therapy and anatomy in 1958 and has an extensive background in movement, including various dance styles, dance therapy, bodywork, martial arts, yoga, and voice. She has a B.S. in Occupational Therapy from The Ohio State University, where she also studied dance. Bonnie was certified as a Neurodevelopmental Therapist by Dr. and Mrs. Bobath in England, as a Laban Movement Analyst by Irmgard Bartenieff at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies and a Kestenberg Movement Profiler by Dr. Judith Kestenberg in New York.
Bonnie taught dance at Hunter College and at the Erick Hawkins School of Dance in New York, and kinesiology in the Graduate Dance Therapy program at Antioch College in Keene, New Hampshire. She has been a guest teacher at Naropa, Esalen and Omega Institutes, at the American Dance Festival, the American College Dance Festival, and in dance departments at numerous colleges throughout the United States.
In addition to the programs and workshops at her school, Bonnie has taught workshops throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Since 1973, she has had a private practice in occupational therapy and the Body-Mind Centering® approach to somatic education and therapy. Although she works with people of all ages, a major focus has been with infants and young children, especially infants with neurological challenges and children/teenagers developing scoliosis. She is currently turning more of her attention to writing and to producing videos of her work.
AWARDS
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, 2018
- Pioneer Award from the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP), 2023
You can find more detailed background information about Bonnie in her extended bio and curriculum vitae.