Somatic Groundwork
Teacher Training
Interdisciplinary Movement & Somatics
Embodied Research and Systems Science for Teachers, Therapists and Artists.
Interdisciplinary Movement & Somatics (IMSomatics) is the place for somatic movement education. Learn the art and science of guiding somatic movement experiences to help others move from relaxation, restore whole person well being, enhance creativity and boost motivation.
2026 Annual Enrollment
September 1st – 10th
Enroll by Sep. 5th for Early Bird Special
see details below
During the 2-year 100% virtual program:
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Develop and apply professional skills to teach somatics in a responsible way that generates mutuality and respects autonomy
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Learn a systems science that reveals why somatic movement provides therapeutic and healing effects in state, function and structure
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Expand view and perspectives on relating through the body and with the environment
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Create a step-by-step process for interdisciplinary movement design and client programs
Our program maintains the high standards of an
Approved Training Program of ISMETA
Approved Training Program with ISMETA
IMSomatics has 2 Membership types: CORE & TOTAL. The TOTAL membership leads to Program Graduation.
Professional Certificates & Credential
With Program Graduation: the IMSomatics TOTAL Membership leads to a 300-hr Certificate of Completion and designation as a qualified Somatic Groundwork teacher.
With Program Graduation + 60 live online hours of synchronous learning: earn the 250-hr credential Associate Somatic Movement Professional through International Somatic Movement & Therapy Association (ISMETA). Total online training hours include 20% synchronous/ 80% asynchronous (synchronous learning is training time ‘live online’ during any IMSomatics Live Event).
Learn to Teach Somatic Groundwork & Join a Contemporary Somatics Movement
In the IMSomatics program, you will discover how to bring a somatic approach to your work while learning to teach Somatic Groundwork. Guide Somatic Groundwork classes as a standalone offering or weave the movement system with other modalities like dance, yoga, strength training and bodywork. Somatic Groundwork helps improve nervous system regulation and capacity, feeling states and mood, plus enhances whole body coordination and creative expression. Based on developmental patterns and natural movement skills, Somatic Groundwork follows an “inside out– ground up” approach to movement research. Somatic movement and inquiry begins with activities intended to elicit the rest and digest system for optimal learning and repatterning through “ground touch” with practices like pandiculation, rhythmic rocking, soft body rolling and gentle joint mobility. Movement activities happen on all levels (floor, mid-level and standing) and flow between specific forms and improvisational studies.
Read more about Somatic Groundwork here
After 50 years, the somatics field is undergoing a phase-shift. Somatic research is context specific, meaning it is directly related to the ‘environment’ of the times including available knowledge domains, changes in technology, trends in health and wellness, current events, artistic expression and social movements. IMSomatics explores the relationships between somatic practices and systems science and offers a framework for understanding systems sensing, structural integrity, developmental movement and social relating.
IMSomatics seeks to bring together ideas from different sciences, explore the relationships between systems, honor knowledge that is generated from more than one worldview, and understand and implement both evidence-based and discovery-based research and learning. Interdisciplinary approaches challenge dominant ways of perceiving and seek to find integration between disciplines and perspectives to create new understanding and behavior change.
Our work as body-based teachers is more important than ever. Through our offerings, we contribute simple and effective methods for maintaining both body-to-brain connectivity and kinship with nature. By relating with and through our body environment, we help to restore feelings of calm and well-being. With practice, we can more readily return to a relaxed and receptive baseline. Our ability to listen, interpret and respond both creatively and appropriately is enhanced. As somatic skills develop, they provide organizational updates to how we move, think, behave and relate to all beings on our path.
“If, as I believe, connection with the body is the way to our deepest knowing and the sense of wholeness that underlies our ability to live joyfully and compassionately, the IMS approach has the potential to both address specific ailments and transform entire ways of life.”
Charo Montoya
Conscious Yoga and Movement Teacher
“The IMS program will up level your understanding of the science of movement without abandoning innate wisdom. This program is a masterful portal to understanding the brilliance of somatic movement. IMS is a sophisticated program that allows participants to be well versed within multi-wellness disciplines.”
Nikki Olsen
Advanced Rolfer and Movement Practitioner
“My pains and restrictions have diminished or disappeared. I now experience more joy in movement. I have experienced not only healing in Somatic Groundwork but ways of moving and being present in my body that feel nourishing and vivifying. To me Somatic Groundwork is not a technique or special form of exercise, but a way of entering and exploring the body’s inborn natural movements which my former exercises and approaches had in some ways supplanted and cut me off from. I am very grateful to Kaila for all her work in sharing these teachings and practices that really bring us back to nature’s life giving wisdom in motion.”
Sean Kramer
Artist & Teacher
Why IMSomatics?
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you appreciate movement as a therapeutic tonic medicine that restores system harmony and balance
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you want a comprehensive education that includes embodied practice, theory and applied professional skills
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you desire a flexible learning container that also has structure and social interaction
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you like the idea of a movement system that is both creative and functional
Membership Options
IMSomatics in unlike any other virtual somatic movement program available. The Ed Site itself is a standalone online platform with a step-by-step learning path that provides everything you need to learn the art and science of somatic movement. The Ed Site provides embodied research with more than 100 Somatic Groundwork classes and tutorials. Additionally, there are dozens of lecture videos with practical application for how the science serves the practice. Many members come to IMSomatics specifically for access to the Ed Site because it offers a comprehensive somatic education at your finger tips. Then, the IMSomatics prorgam offers the added bonus of Live Learning Sessions in the Fall and Spring that bring the Ed Site themes and IMS curriculum to real-time discusssion, reflection and community practice.
IMSomatics Curriculum
IMSomatics Fall Session Live Events
Choose between two options: TOTAL & CORE
TOTAL MEMBERSHIP
The IMSomatics TOTAL Membership leads to Program Graduation and 300-hr Certificate of Completion. To Graduate you will complete the 1:1 Mentorship and 4 Projects. Additionally, there is the opportunity to gain the Associate Somatic Movement Professional credential with ISMETA. To be eligible to earn the ISMETA credential, you are required to have 60 live online training hours of synchronous learning. Synchronous learning include ‘live online’ attendance to any Live Event. See IMSomatic Curriculum (linked above) for details and training hour breakdown.
CORE MEMBERSHIP
The IMSomatics CORE Membership includes full access to the Ed Site and community Live Events. Core members have ample opportunity to be involved in group discussions, ask questions and receive feedback from Kaila and other Lead Instuctors. CORE members can add-on TOTAL during the first year of the program if they decide to pursue Graduation or the ISMETA designation.
IMSomatics Enrollment
Early Bird Special
Enroll by Saturday September 5th and save on the Program Fees for IMS Total or IMS Core
IMSomatics TOTAL regular fee:
$3480 usd
Early Bird Special $3100 usd
save $380 usd
(discount is applied to the first payment in a “payment plan” or deducted from entire amount with “pay in full”)
IMSomatics CORE regular fee:
$1920 usd
Early Bird Special $1700 usd
save $220 usd
(discount is applied to the first payment in a “payment plan” or deducted from entire amount with “pay in full”)
Take these steps for the Early Bird Special:
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Learn about the Enrollment Fees and Memberships
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Complete the IMSomatics Application
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Book a Call with Kaila or Send a Message Here with your questions
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Receive the coupon code by email for the Early Bird Special
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Return to this page to pay enrollment fees by September 5th
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Get access to the IMSomatics Ed Site on September 10th and start your journey!
“Kaila’s teaching honors the complexities, nuances, and intersections of how we experience ourselves, how we relate to others, how we offer our work, and how we respond to our communities, the land, and the world. Her body of work has helped me weave together the many disciplines that have shaped my path.
I’ve come to believe that the most important work is often the least performative and the least popular. It honors complexity while expanding through simplicity. It is more concerned with how we practice than what we perform. It isn’t black and white, nor does it promise easy answers or make false claims. Instead, it invites us into deeper relationship—with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us.
If you feel called to explore somatic education more broadly or more deeply, I wholeheartedly recommend the programs at the School for Somatic Groundwork. They offer a rigorous, thoughtful, and expansive path of learning.”
Kili Marti
IMSomatics Graduate
Movement Specialist, Doula, Life & Wellness Coach
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to complete IMSomatics?
If you join TOTAL and engage with the learning process for 3-6 hrs/week and attend most of the Live Events, you will easily finish the Graduation Requirements and earn the ISMETA credential in under 2 years. CORE is a self-paced path with ‘learning checks’ built in to each Section
Am I required to complete the Final Project if I join the program?
If you enroll in the TOTAL Membership you will complete 3 Small Projects and a Final Project. Completion of all Projects is required to Graduate IMSomatics and to earn a Certificate of Completion.
Is everything recorded or are there live classes?
The Ed Site has pre-recorded and ondemand content. Live Events are ‘live online’ and happen in two seasonal Sessions: March- June and September- December.
Is there any kind of support available if I have questions or get stuck?
During your Membership, you are encouraged to email Kaila with your questions about content, reflections on process and needs for next steps or direction with the material. Additionally, there are opportunities for Q/A and discussion during Live Events.
How much time will I need to dedicate to the program?
The short answer to that question is 3 – 6 hours/ week on average. My recommedation is:
- schedule 2 – 3 dedicated study sessions/ week, each study session should be 1 – 2 hours with reading, watching and writing
- schedule 2 – 4 somatic practices/ week doing movement classes from the Ed Site
- attend as many Live Events as possible
What kind of movement is taught in IMS?
Somatic Groundwork is the base movement in IMSomatics. Somatic Groundwork (SG) is a movement system that incorporates Yielding Practices, Unwinding Methods and Patterns of Connectivity for inside out – ground up somatic patterning. This movement system is flexible in its delivery and adaptable to weave with your other modalities in yoga, dance and fitness.
Will I be able to teach Somatic Groundwork after I finish IMS?
Yes! The intention of the program is to develop somatic skills while learning to teach Somatic Groundwork. IMS TOTAL is a more rigorous path- it is specific, personalized and project-based. Members develop and demonstrate their abilities through somatic cueing, movement design, embodied anatomy and applied systems science. Teachers are therefore designated “Somatic Groundwork qualified teachers” when they graduate the program. IMS CORE teachers are designated as “Somatic Groundwork inspired teachers”. See here.
I want to know more about human anatomy, is that covered in the program?
Understanding human anatomy and how to apply this knowledge to movement design is a fundamental skill set for the movement teacher. IMSomatics teaches movement science based on biotensegrity, fascia science and kinesiology. In Module 6, there is a dedicated 15-hr Embodied Anatomy Course that surveys the entire body.
IMSomatics is a 2 year membership, will I have access to the education site after 2 years?
Your initial enrollment fee includes a 2-yr Membership with IMSomatics. After 2 years, members have the option to renew their membership with a seasonal subsciption to maintain access to the Ed Site + Live Events.
IMS sounds great, but I am not sure I have enough experience to join. Should I wait?
Members in IMSomatics enter the program with various levels of somatic movement and teaching experience. Some people have years of practice and inquiry and others are new to the field. If you are curious about movement as a healing approach and desire a fresh and contemporary perspective backed by science and experience, IMSomatics is a step in that direction. In the program you will learn a developmental and neurofascial approach to therapuetic movement.
“I came home to my body during the IMS membership. It has fundamentally changed the way I move! It has taken my practice to a new level. I work with the breath in a new way! I think about the body in new way! I lift heavy objects in a new way!”
Amanda Perry-Bolt
Yoga teacher/Breathworker
“I have emerged with a clear method for helping athletes navigate their path to pain free play. The process pulses between comprehensive study of the human movement system and dynamic exploration of your own lived body through felt experience. IMS includes rich content that is brilliantly packaged into modules and sections that prepare you to assess, interpret, design and apply intuitive, safe and effective programming.”
Emily Steers White
Somatic Movement Guide, Yoga Teacher & Fitness Professional
“IMS gave me a system to understand the source of cumulative injury and how to design a progressive client program with a somatic approach. With a somatic language, now my students are doing their own thinking rather than being spoon fed how and what they should be feeling.”
Linda Gerletti
Somatic Yoga Teacher