Cultivating Presence in Motion
Learn to notice and nourish awake aliveness as you move through everyday activities
You don't have to sit still to find presence.
You go through most of your day on autopilot. Washing dishes while mentally rehearsing a conversation. Walking to your car without noticing a single step. Eating lunch while scrolling. Your body moving through the motions while your mind is somewhere else entirely.
What if the problem isn't that you're failing at presence? What if presence is already here, and you just haven't learned to sense it?
Your body is already here, already sensing, already alive. Every simple action is already a doorway to presence.
This workshop is an invitation to befriend your body, to discover the aliveness available in each moment, and to cultivate presence through movement. You'll discover what it feels like when your body leads—when you listen to the aliveness already flowing through you. When you befriend yourself rather than fight yourself. When everyday movements become an invitation to come home.
About this workshop
This is a 2-hour experiential workshop, not a lecture. You'll spend most of your time in guided movement. You’ll explore simple everyday movement and discover how to flow instead of forcing. You’ll also learn to feel the aliveness in your body as you move.
You'll work solo, in pairs, and as a group. There will be movement, stillness, reflection, and sharing. But mostly, you'll be exploring your own direct experience. What it actually feels like to inhabit your body with awareness.
This is not about:
Achieving perfect mindfulness or never losing presence
Learning specific movement techniques or choreography
Fixing or optimizing yourself
Meditation as something you can only do sitting still
This is about:
Discovering presence through your body's natural aliveness
Learning to listen rather than control
Befriending yourself instead of fighting yourself
Finding simple ways to stay awake in everyday activities
This might be for you if...
You want to bring more presence into your daily life
You're curious about your body and how it moves
You catch yourself going through the motions on autopilot
You're tired of treating your body like a task-completion machine
You already meditate and want to explore embodied practice
You're willing to move, experiment, and see what happens
You've tried meditation but felt frustrated sitting still
This is not for you if...
You want techniques you can implement immediately without practice
You're looking for a specific outcome or fix
You prefer structured instruction over exploratory, open-ended facilitation
You're not interested in 2 hours of movement practice and group inquiry
What you'll experience
This is 2 hours on Zoom. You'll need a space where you can move freely, even just a little. And curiosity about what your body might teach you.
You'll practice:
Simple, everyday movements with fresh attention
Noticing the sensations in your body as you move
The difference between forcing movement and letting it flow
Flowing movement and dance (whatever feels good to you, no choreography)
Bringing presence to a complex activity from your own daily life
Partnered inquiry and reflection
The format:
Guided movement practices (most of the workshop)
Solo exploration and journaling
Breakout rooms for paired sharing
Brief conceptual framing
Group reflection
What won't happen in 2 hours:
You won't become perfectly present in every moment. But you might discover what it feels like when your body leads instead of your mind. When you listen instead of control. When a simple gesture like opening your hand becomes alive with sensation. That discovery is enough to shift how you move through the rest of your day.
No movement or meditation experience necessary. All movements are adaptable to your body.
Meet your facilitator
Laura Victoria Ward is a somatic movement educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, choreographer, and artist. She's the artistic director of Octavia Cup Dance Theatre, plays in the punk rock band Dick Pinchers, and teaches Movement for Meditators at meditation retreats.
Laura's work is grounded in radical self-acceptance and playful curiosity about what it means to inhabit a human body. She draws from multiple traditions including Laban/Bartenieff movement analysis, Emilie Conrad's Continuum, meditation, breathwork, and experiential anatomy. Her teaching invites people to befriend their bodies, to listen to their own wisdom, and to discover the aliveness available in every moment.
She has studied with Gil Hedley, Mary Abrams, Michael Taft, Tim van der Vliet, Liz Koch, and many others. Laura earned her CMA in 1996 and holds a BA in Dance, Theatre, and Movement Studies from SUNY Empire State.
Learn more about Laura's work.
Workshop details
Date: Saturday, April 11th
Time: 4–6pm Eastern Time
Duration: 2 hours
Platform: Zoom (link sent upon registration)
What you need: A space where you can move freely (even just a few feet). Curiosity. Willingness to explore.
Recording: Available to all registrants after the workshop
Sliding scale pricing: $5–40
If you can't afford $40, pay what you can. If you can comfortably afford $40, please do—it supports making this accessible to others.
If this speaks to you, join us.
Right now, as you're reading this, your body is alive. Your breath is moving. Your heart is beating. Sensations are arising and passing. You didn't have to think your way into any of it. It's already happening.
Presence isn't something you need to achieve. It's already here, woven into the simple fact of being alive in a body. This workshop is an invitation to come home to what's been here all along.
About Aurora
Aurora is a community for inner development. We partner with exceptional facilitators to design and host online programs and practice spaces. We're new, still finding our shape, and building what Aurora becomes together with the people who show up for it.
You can find other upcoming events on our Luma calendar.
To learn more or get involved, visit auroracommunity.space