About Petra

I bring to my practice, my teaching and facilitating my intense passion for life and my deep love for the Earth and all our relations.

I am passionate about supporting us all to make our unique contribution to an equitable and life-sustaining world for all. I am inspired and influenced by my studies, work and experience in the following areas:

Movement Medicine and other somatic & embodiment practices.

Studies in the areas of trauma therapy, Processwork, the Work that Reconnects, Neuroplasticity, Embodied Relational Therapy.

International development work with communities, NGOs and governments.

All of these have been my personal and professional learning laboratory when it comes to the questions of

How do we create change, on both individual and collective levels in ways that recognize their interdependence? And what do we need in order to do this work sustainably, with joy, meaning and impact?

My teaching and facilitation is supported by my previous experience of facilitating international workshops for over 13 years as part of my work in international development. Among the many inspirations that inform my work are poetry, Joanna Macy's The Work that Reconnects, the Pachamama Alliance Symposium (of which i am a trained facilitator), somatic approaches to trauma healing, and the experience of spending time in nature, in connection with trees, the ocean, rivers, mountains and all the wildlife encountered there, from the smallest insect to the elephants and the whales.

For me the felt and embodied experience of (inter)connection has been central to my journey with dance and represents one of the keys to creating positive change in the world. In Movement Medicine, as we take time to move back into, fully inhabit and express ourselves with our body, and bring it into alignment with heart and mind, we re-connect firstly with a more whole and holistic sense of self. We also become more aware of the infinite ways in which we are connected with everything around us – we are literally made of Earth, Sun, Water and Air; we are profoundly interdependent with each other; the life force that is found in trees, birds, flowers, elephants is what animates us - we are part of the giant web of life that includes all our human and non-human relations. This experience and understanding of ourselves as ‘inter-being’ as Thich Nath Hanh puts it, not only offers us support and resources for living our lives, but also inspires us to live more compassionately, to put our creativity in the service of life and make choices that are more aligned with the highest good of all our relations.

I am a fully qualified teacher and facilitator and have also completed CPD Level 1  Advanced Training in working with the Heart and the SEER Process (systemic essential energy retrieval), CPD Level 2 in Ceremonial Leadership, CPD Level 3 in the PHOENIX process, CPD Level 4 in Initiation work. I also serve as a mentor for the School of Movement Medicine's Professional Training Programme.

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Specialising in:

Websites:

https://www.movementmedicineassociation.org/petrabongartz
www.becomingkin.earth
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