Somatic Facilitation for Embodied Learning and Creative Risk

Storytelling, Movement Research, and Reproductive Justice Facilitation

I am a somatic artist, facilitator, and educator offering workshops and teaching in Berlin and internationally. My work brings together movement, storytelling, and care practices to support embodied learning, creative process, and collective inquiry.

My teaching pulls from deep practices in somatics, reproductive justice, and artistic research. I create spaces where participants can engage their lived experience, deepen bodily awareness, and explore new ways of relating to themselves and others.

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Workshops & Teaching Offerings

I offer workshops, classes, and facilitation in Berlin and beyond, including:

  • embodied storytelling and narrative practices

  • somatic movement research and improvisation

  • reproductive justice and abortion storytelling

  • creative process and performance development

  • care-centered and community-based learning spaces

Workshops are adaptable and can be shaped for different contexts, communities, and needs.

Approach

My approach to teaching is relational, embodied, and process-oriented. I draw from somatic practices, facilitation tools, and my experience in reproductive care to support learning that is attentive, participatory, and grounded in lived experience.

This includes:

  • working with the nervous system and pacing

  • creating space for multiple forms of expression beyond language

  • supporting both individual and collective processes

  • engaging art as a site of inquiry, connection, and transformation

Who I Work With

I work with a range of groups and institutions, including:

  • dance and performance students

  • universities and educational programs

  • arts organizations and festivals

  • community groups and grassroots initiatives

  • interdisciplinary and socially engaged projects

I have particular experience working with young people and artists.

Selected Teaching & Facilitation

  • Tanzfabrik

  • Lake Studios Berlin — move*d Impulstage

  • Schokofabrik Frauenzentrum (Berlin)

  • Berlin Cosmopolitan School - Kindergarten

  • Ruth-Cohn-Schule

  • Neue Nachbarschaft Moabit

  • John Marshall High School

  • Independent workshops and community-based projects

Invite Me to Teach

If you are looking for a facilitator, workshop leader, or educator in Berlin or beyond, I welcome invitations to collaborate.

book a free consultation
Cristina facilitating a conflict resolution workshop for social workers

Body-based Cultural Storytelling & Archiving

I facilitate collaborative, process-led labs and workshops in Berlin and internationally that position the body as a site of research, knowledge (re)production, and relation. Crossing performance, somatics, and reproductive justice, these spaces engage embodied experience as material, attending to how personal and collective histories are held, transmitted, and archived through the body.

These somatic workshops and artistic research labs are structured as open-ended processes rather than outcome-driven classes, prioritizing co-creation and relational practice. Participants are invited into shared inquiry through movement, voice, writing, and score-based exploration, generating material that emerges from individual lived experience and collective process.

I offer workshops in Berlin for artists, students, and community groups, as well as facilitation for universities, arts organizations, and festivals. Sessions can function as stand-alone workshops or as part of larger artistic, educational, or curatorial frameworks.

Offerings

  • Labs & Residencies (Berlin & International)
    Half-day to multi-week somatic workshops, intensives, and ongoing series

  • Collaborative Artistic Research
    Movement-, voice-, text-, and score-based development for performance and interdisciplinary projects

  • Somatic Storytelling Workshops
    Practices for working with sensation, memory, and embodied archives

  • Thematic Inquiry Labs
    Workshops exploring reproduction, care, identity, and relationality

All offerings are trauma-informed, access-centered, and context-responsive, with experience facilitating somatic workshops in Berlin across artistic, educational, and community settings.

Youth Culture & Arts Programming

I facilitate youth workshops in Berlin and internationally that integrate creative practice with conflict transformation. Working across artistic, educational, and community contexts, I support young people in building skills in communication, collaboration, and self-expression through movement, storytelling, and somatic practice.

These workshops center youth leadership and culturally affirming, trauma-informed approaches, supporting both individual voice and collective care. Participants engage creative and relational tools that foster emotional awareness, embodied expression, and collaborative learning.

Workshops are adaptable across schools, community organizations, and arts spaces, and can be offered as one-time sessions, multi-session residencies, or project-based collaborations with optional performance or storytelling outcomes.

Tidal Bodies

Tidal Bodies: Reproductive Somatics is a somatic community care and collective imagination practice and archive centering reproductive experiences and speculative futures. Through workshops and storytelling circles, participants engage personal and collective reproductive narratives while generating and archiving somatic practices that support community care and movement-building in the present and into uncertain futures.

This work has been facilitated across workshop, residency, and community contexts, and is designed as a flexible, process-based offering that can be brought into institutions, festivals, and grassroots spaces. Each iteration adapts to the specific group and setting while maintaining a focus on reproductive embodied experience, relational somatic practice, and collective archiving and imagining.

Tidal Bodies has been facilitated in workshops, residencies, and community contexts in Berlin and internationally. Inquire about bringing it to your community or students.

Circle Facilitation & Conflict Transformation

I facilitate conflict transformation and repair processes in Berlin and internationally using circle-based practice. I work with young people, teachers, organizers, and intentional communities to support conflict analysis, accountability, and collective repair.

I am trained in restorative justice facilitation with Kay Pranis and in Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities with Santa Sorenson, bringing trauma-aware, community-centered methods that prioritize safety, dignity, and accountability.

Circle practice is both a structure and an ethic. It creates a held space for honest dialogue, builds relational trust, and honors difference while centering equitable voice. The process assumes equal dignity for all participants, clarifies roles and agreements, and makes autonomy and mutual responsibility visible—so that repair can be collective rather than punitive.

I weave restorative circle practice into all my workshops and can be engaged specifically to facilitate conflict transformation circles upon request.

Wilkommensklassen Workshop

Somatic Storytelling + Archiving Workshop for Wilkommensklassen is a collaborative arts education project co-facilitated with teaching artist Riley Cavanaugh at the Ruth-Cohn-School in Berlin. Designed for Willkommenklassen students aged 16–21 who had recently arrived from Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Somalia, and Afghanistan, the project integrated somatic movement, music, visual art, and digital storytelling to support multiple forms of expression beyond language. Across a week-long intensive, students responded to autobiographical themes through film, sound, image, and movement—working individually and in small groups to explore identity, memory, and resilience. These creative responses were then collectively curated into a mixed-media presentation, shared with peers, teachers, and the wider Berlin public, centering student voice, process, and lived experience.

This workshop can be adapted for schools, youth programs, and educational or community contexts, and is available for booking in Berlin and internationally.

Room with scattered cushions, pillows, notebooks, papers, and personal items on the wooden floor, suggesting a casual meeting or workshop.
“Cristina brings a wealth of knowledge to her facilitation work. Given the content of our project, she prompted us to critically think about the intentions of our project and its connection to race and racism. Centering the voices of the most vulnerable communities, she asked us to reflect on how white supremacy culture shows up in our day-to-day interactions. She then transformed this moment of sharing into knowledge that we used for our artistic process. Her presence, grace, and honesty guided us in a supportive collaborative process of understanding and agreements. She helped us to firmly connect our artistic choices with racial justice. We walked away from the facilitation session with a strong sense of how we can stand firmly against racism and how we individually and collectively can advocate for racial justice. These are tools that I know bring to my own classroom, projects, and everyday life. Thank you, Cristina!”
— Dr. Patricia Herrera

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Somatic facilitation integrates bodily practices: breath, grounding, movement, and interoceptive attention into learning and group processes to increase presence, safety, and embodied problem‑solving.

  • Circles work well for groups seeking equitable dialogue and relational repair: youth groups, classrooms, ensembles, community organizations, staff teams, and any group needing structured, accountable conversation.

  • Workshops typically run 1–3 hours; intensives or half‑day labs run 3–6 hours; multi‑week series or residencies are customizable from 2 weeks to several months, depending on goals.

  • Yes. I design culturally responsive, trauma‑aware curricula for schools and youth programs, centering youth leadership, accessibility, and age‑appropriate practices.

  • All sessions include pre‑session access planning, clear agreements, multiple modes of participation (movement, voice, writing), break protocols, and options for sensory or mobility accommodations on request.

  • Click “Book a free 15‑min consult” on the teaching page or email cristina.leoni.osion@gmail.com with project dates, participant numbers, and desired outcomes; I’ll respond with availability and a tailored proposal.

  • Workshops (1–3 hr)

    • Focused practices for groups: somatic warm-ups, breath and regulation techniques, embodiment exercises for performance presence and facilitation.

    • Outcomes: increased presence; quick regulation tools; ensemble listening.

    • Labs & Short Intensives (half‑day to 2 days)

      • Process-driven sessions for deepening craft and group dynamics: devised movement, score-based practice, and reflective somatic inquiry.

      • Outcomes: sustained embodiment, rehearsal frameworks, facilitation skills.

    • Trainings & Curriculum (multi‑week)

      • Custom curricula for institutions or collectives — trauma-informed facilitation methods, somatic pedagogy, early-childhood creative play, and assessment tools.

      • Outcomes: pedagogical frameworks, scalable activities, staff capacity for embodied practices.

    • Residencies & Collaborations (long-form)

      • Embedded creative partnership for project development, community engagement, or research-based practice.

      • Outcomes: project strategy, somatic research methods, public-facing work.ption