~ Eline Kieft, Dancing in the Muddy Temple
Although every research project is unique, most move through similar stages. They spark off with an idea, and are strengthened through literature review and data gathering to analysis, writing and presentation.
Working with the body can offer fresh insight at each step. Simple, guided attention to bodily sensation, spatial awareness and movement often reveals perspectives that are difficult to access through thinking alone.
Researchers also face considerable mental and emotional pressure: challenging content, ethical dilemmas, data overwhelm, stressful encounters, time constraints and questions around identity, confidence and belonging. Embodied approaches can provide grounding, clarity and support throughout these demands.
Over the years I’ve worked with academics, artists and practitioners across disciplines from agriculture, ecology and medicine to anthropology, somatic practice and the arts. Again and again, people discover the untapped potential of the body as a site of knowledge-making, resilience and orientation within their research.
I believe the body is an essential, and still largely underused, resource for pedagogy and inquiry across professions and experience levels. Below you'll find workshops and presentations tailored to your programme or organisation, as well as options for 1:1 Embodied Research Coaching.
Choose the format that best supports your project, programme or department.
(½ day, full day, multi-day)
These sessions introduce embodied approaches to research and/or wellbeing. Content is shaped in dialogue with your aims, discipline and audience, and can be delivered online or in person. Think of topics such as boundaries, analysis, ethical reflections, integrating polarities, body language in the field, and researcher wellbeing.
60–120 min sessions (online or in person)
These engaging classes offer accessible, practice-based introductions to embodied methods, sensory awareness, movement-based inquiry and researcher presence. Ideal for methodology courses, fieldwork preparation, professional development sessions or seminar series and suitable for undergraduate, postgraduate or doctoral programmes.
1-10 sessions specific to your project
Coaching can help clarify your research direction, support fieldwork preparation, data overload, writing blocks, identity questions, emotional overwhelm or general researcher wellbeing. A space to think, feel and problem-solve through the body, with grounded guidance and practical tools tailored to your specific project and research challenges.
At Coventry University I led the ESRC/NCRM funded Somatics Toolkit project. It offers free audio practices, videos, blogs and a podcast to support embodied research across disciplines.
Departments frequently pair the Toolkit with guest workshops or 1:1 mentoring for deeper application.
Over the years I've had a chance to work with amazing people, teams and institutions and I really like fostering networks around shared interests and intentions... Read more of what they say below...
The session was refreshing and insightful. Being outside in connection with the earth helped to keep the research grounded, real and ethical. I gained insights not easily obtained indoors. Combining intuition, movement and interspecies communication was exciting and novel. The movement and feel of the earth barefooted definitely helped make a connection. I learned not to ignore the input from the body, the importance of movements and that everything around us is alive and wishes to communicate with us if we open up ourselves to it.
Eline is dedicated to developing forms of embodied enquiry in the context of academic research. Her work at the Centre for Dance Research stood out for its contribution to ethnographic methodology, particularly through the development of the Somatic Toolkit for which she was Principle Investigator. Such projects raise awareness of fundamental assumptions and expand critical sensibilities, deepening the understanding and potential impact of embodied forms of knowledge.
Eline is very experienced. The Yes/No exercise brought up a lot of issues which needed processing and is a very effective tool to revisit when issues crop up in other situations too. It’s a different way of asking questions and receiving answers to qualitative questionnaire type research. I know now that I can move my body when asking and responding to my own questions.
I liked the use of movement to express challenges and solutions – e.g. standing one’s ground, embodying self-compassion, acknowledging one’s power etc. I’m impressed that this work is done within the rigours of academic research (my PhD was in science).
Dr. Kieft is both an excellent interdisciplinary researcher, and an exceptionally gifted teacher able to deeply inspire those who are fortunate enough to learn from her. Her sessions to our undergraduate Anthropology students at UCL on examining the role of the body and its experiences as a tool for research have consistently been delivered to a very high standard, creating a challenging but safe environment for students to explore ‘knowing’ through dance.
>>> continue with Jerome's testimonial >>>
I’ve not met another academic who has developed such theoretically sophisticated experiential approaches to exploring her subject. Students consistently give excellent feedback on her teaching.
Dr Kieft is a charming, proactive, energetic and caring teacher and person who contributes enormously to what ever group she is part of. I most strongly recommend her to you.