Body intelligence – individual and social potentiality/emerging thoughts from a festival

In October 2015, the Somatic Academy Berlin (SAB) hosted the first BODY IQ Festival. The festival was dedicated to the experience, exchange and research of body intelligence from the perspectives of various somatic approaches. Its main focus was the social relevance of somatic practices and of body intelligence. The festival-viewpoint considered that the practice of somatics supports the development of intelligent skills and knowledge based on the experience of the conscious body. It suggests that these human capacities are not only relevant for individual development but also for application within social-cultural contexts. Practitioners, teachers and participants were invited to further explore and research the potential of the relation between body intelligence, somatic methods and social impact. In order to develop a shared understanding of somatic knowledge beyond existing methods it is important to develop common terminology including a definition of ‘body intelligence’. To do so, I begin this reflection with a clarification of the term body intelligence as it is used here. I then provide an overview of the festival format, the workshop contents, and the panel discussion. I finish with a reflective summary on the relevance of the festival and the social potential of somatic research and body intelligence.