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Teaching Team Máriahalom Course 2023:
The course is led by a team of trainers: Gesine, Hilary, Ela, Asia and Jael.
Gesine and Hilary have been part of the generative somatics course work and teacher training in the US. Ela, Asia and Jael are teachers in training and have been involved in organizing and practicing generative somatics in Central & Eastern Europe since 2014.
Gesine Wenzel has been training in generative somatics since 2008. Born and raised in Northern Germany (BRD) she went to the US in 2007 in order to pursue a decade of study and practice, fueled by a deep commitment to social transformation.
Gesine is a generative somatics teacher, and a somatic psychotherapist and coach. She has been shaped by a wide range of grassroots struggles in European social and environmental justice movements. She also holds the rank of black belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu and a Master’s degree in Somatic Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. For ten years she worked as a somatic psychotherapist and coach in Oakland, CA, supporting queer and trans people and activists.
In 2004 Gesine co-founded Activist Trauma Support in the UK and has since been led by a vision of a paradigm shift toward embodied political work – supporting individuals, collectives and movements toward greater connection, resilience, cooperation and power.
Gesine is raising her child as a community-supported solo parent, teaches courses and works with clients, and is committed to a mutually enriching co-aliveness of her work and her family. Since 2014, she has focused her energies on developing a community around politicized somatics in Central & Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
„The work with generative somatics changed my life. It impacts our political movements as well as our communities and our very selves, and can offer a path towards the transformation we want to see.“ – Gesine Wenzel –
Hilary A Moore is a working class political educator, organizer, and author who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. She was politicized through direct action campaigns for Climate Justice and has spent the last ten years organizing in majority white communities to end white supremacy.
Hilary authored:
and co-authored:
No Fascist USA!: The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today’s Movements.
Ela Maja is an anthropologist and organizer from Ljubljana, currently living in Berlin. She has been shaped by struggles for freedom of movement, did support work and migrant solidarity work (along the Balkan route). Last year she gave birth, so these days she is a full time single parent and is excited to be bringing her kid along to the course.
Asia Bordowa is white, queer feminist activist from Warsaw, PL. Asia is involved in reproductive justice network, helping people to access safe abortions. Apart from somatics she is also an illustrator and facilitator.
Jael Rollin is a white, queer, non-binary parent and organiser who was born and raised in GDR/ Eastern Germany. They live in a collective in rural Northern Germany and are part-time working with Bewegungsstiftung. Apart from politicised Somatics, Jael is working on transformative/ loving justice and transformative community organising – as an activist, organiser and facilitator.
