SOMATIC MOVEMENT EDUCATION: MODERN RESEARCH METHODS REVIEW

Abstract

Introduction. This article, for the first time in Ukraine, presents a systematic review of modern research methods in the fields of activity somatic movement education and somatic movement therapy as aspects of the field of somatic education. What is somatic education? When was this field of knowledge defined? What problems are researched by scientists in this field? How are the concepts "somatic education" and "somatic movement education" related? Finding answers to these and other questions is the goal of this study. Results. Thomas Hanna (a student of Moshe Feldenkrais), who introduced the term "somatics" into circulation in the second half of the 1970s, is considered a pioneer in the study of somatic education as a scientific direction. Subsequently, at the end of the 20th century, philosophers and scientists recognized somatic education as a phenomenon and created a new field of knowledge. In particular, specialists of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association developed and formed somatic movement disciplines. In addition, they defined the type and range of work performed by a somatic movement specialist, the "field of practice" (Eddy M., 2009). Conclusions. Over the past half-century, many works have been published in the scientific literature, in which various aspects of the field of somatic education were studied, namely: somatic psychology, somatic bodywork, somatic movement. (Eddy M., 2009). In particular, in one of the fields of activity, namely Somatic Movement Education and Therapy (SME&T), according to the ISMETA definition, somatic movement education and somatic movement therapy are combined. The article considered only a narrow spectrum of this direction and highlights the works published over the past 5-10 years. The Feldenkrais method (FM) or its derivative ('FeldenkraisCore Integration method') was used as the only means of influence (or one of.) Unfortunately, there are no Ukrainian studies on this topic yet