school of myth & movement arts

Established 2009

The School of Myth & Movement is the home of the innovative work of Laura Melling.

We seek to support the return of human nature to Nature through the programs and therapies we offer.

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Background:

We believe certain styles of culture and philosophy help us live in harmony with Nature because they help us fulfill our human nature. Out of that fulfillment, we come easily into harmony with Nature and its Ways.

We have studied the healing practices, psychologies, socialization practices, lifestyles and arts of these more harmonious cultures and philosophies.

Our programs put this study into action by offering modes of being together that operate outside of normal Western approaches. Our programs are simultaneously living art, ritual, learning, and healing.

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We believe most people living in the modern West need additional grounding in activities that are based in the right hemisphere of the brain.

Harmony with our surroundings arises from the dynamic use of this part of our intelligence.

The right hemisphere is the first part of our brain to develop in early childhood and the seat of our deepest feelings.

A well functioning right hemisphere constantly assesses our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the Earth and those around us. It is deeply tied to the nervous system with its nuanced capacity for instinct and intuition.

It expresses its assessments through metaphors, symbols and gestures that speak in a multidimensional, associative way.

Sustainable cultures are right-hemisphere dominant. Destructive cultures are left hemisphere dominant.

In sustainable cultures, the connective tissue of society is symbol and embodiment. These are present in education, decision-making, and identity.

Symbol and embodiment are skills of the right hemisphere, which in the West is called the ‘‘feminine’’ side of the human brain.

Based on the right hemisphere assessments of wellness, the left-hemisphere and the neocortex are given their tasks and can set long and short term goals for returning to or maintaining wellness.

The left hemisphere and neocortex bring logic, integrity, ethics, and cooperation to the table to bring about the accomplishment of generalized wellness.

Adherence to this developmental plan of the human brain brings about psychological resilience.

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In modern culture, the connective tissue of society is book-based learning in politics, religions, economy, law, science and idealism. These are left-hemispheric dominant modes of thought.

They have arisen out of pervasive modes of socialization and education that disfavor right hemispheric consciousness.

This has led to a collective trauma-pattern of pressing ahead even when the right-brain says ‘‘all is not well’’ and generally ignoring the embodied and symbolic foundations of our being.

No ‘‘legitimate’’ institutions of learning or power in the West include right hemisphere modes of being together or learning.

Ignoring the right hemisphere in early childhood or at any point means the left hemisphere and neocortex lose their grounding within the nervous system.

This leads to nervous system dysregulation (trauma), lack of self-dialogue (integration), emotional disorders, cruelty, self-harm, neurosis, etc.

Left-hemispheric dominance ignores human nature and accordingly damages all touched by its imbalance.

Seven-generations type thinking (the gift of an integrated neocortex) seems to be absent in the power centers driving North Atlantic culture, because of the degradation of the right hemisphere with its ‘voice of wellbeing.’

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In order to return to our harmony with Nature, we must transform how we understand and support our own nature.

We can each learn to listen to the ‘voice of wellness’ within by rebalancing the imbalance.

We must study holistic forms of child-rearing and education which respect the right hemisphere.

In healing trauma, we must first honor embodiment and symbolic consciousness to enrich our conversation with the nervous system and its ancient wisdom.

Working with and through the right hemisphere means placing an assessment of wellness of self, others and Earth as a primary focus of all we do.

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We can more toward healing by spending more time doing right hemisphere types of things.

Dance, nature-observation, story and myth, gardening, farming, crafting, hands-on healing, elemental living, dream-tending, cooking, community organizing, music, and visual art are all more right hemispheric.

These activities make us feel better as they restore our wholeness.

They will also contribute toward the emergence of a new-ancient post-modern culture.

We may also need specialized help in healing nervous system dysregulation (trauma) that stands in the way of our capacity to learn, engage, dream and hope. Neuroscience-informed approaches emphasize somatic and symbolic integration.

In time, we can build families, schools, institutes, modes of teaching, modes of government and ways of being together based on this new-ancient culture.

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Our programs offer opportunities for engaging in holistic, developmentally-supportive learning, healing, festivity, and fellowship.

Director Laura Melling is a somatic Jungian trauma therapist, Cultural Anthropologist, Waldorf teacher, Dancer, Storyteller, Farmer, and Herbalist.

Laura grew up in New Jersey, and is of Irish, Quaker and Native American descent. As a teen, she was a near-Olympic athlete and received training in body-mind integration, sports psychology and yoga.   

Early on, she noticed that modern culture did not understand how athleticism expands consciousness. At 16, more exposure to ancient holistic culture led to her bold decision to leave behind opportunities in athletics in search of another path.

For her undergraduates studies, Laura pursued a self-developed program combining Comparative Religion, Native American and Western philosophy, Jungian psychology, and Cultural Anthropology.  Given a full fellowship for her doctoral studies at the age of 20, Laura studied in the Anthropology of Human Development. She prepared dissertation research comparing Western modes of education with non-Western forms of socialization and initiation. Within other cultures she noted a pervasive focus on the fulfillment of human nature through embodied and symbolic culture, a focus utterly rejected in the West.

Laura made another bold decision in leaving her prestigious doctoral fellowship to seek out anyone with holistic intelligence since she found this lacking in the highest ranks of academia. This led her to the Isadora Duncan International Institute. Isadora was the creator of the first holistic form of education in modern times. Her approach is based on coming into alignment with Nature by rewilding the mind and body. Aspects of her work were copied by Steiner to create Waldorf education. Laura is a fourth generation lineage holder in direct connection to Isadora and a certified teacher of the Institute.

In 2004, Laura began creating festivals celebrating nature through dance, music and drama for large groups of children in the Botanical Gardens of NYC.  During these New York years, she also co-directed a dance school, trained in Waldorf education, performed with Japanese Butoh artist Atsushi Takenouchi and created a very successful arts-based ESL-program for Catholic Charities NYC. 

Intersecting with her studies, Laura traveled extensively. At 18, she used her college scholarship to go to South Africa. There she worked in the Zulu community in KwaZulu-Natal during the rebuilding of civil society and the Reconciliation Commissions after apartheid. She was forever changed. Later, Laura was befriended by Quechua-speaking people of highland Ecuador who invited her to their community.  Acknowledged by local elders to be a medicine carrier, Laura spent six months creating nature-arts programs for indigenous children in collaboration with indigenous leaders. She has returned to work and live in this community several times.  

Laura's touring with the Duncan Institute took her to Europe where she spent several summers performing and immersing in ancient sites and art of Greece and Italy.  She then settled for several years in Connemara, Ireland, where she collaborated with local artists and poets and directed a dance troupe. 

Laura returned to the US and established the School of Myth and Movement in the Arapahoe land now called Boulder, Colorado.  For 9 years the Boulder School offered weekly events and programs for all ages combining learning, ritual, celebration, community and Nature-connection. Most popular among these was Fairy Tale Forest, which attracted children from all over the country to attend summer immersions. It also attracted scholars of Sustainability education who came to the school to study its unique methods of teaching a love of Nature through the arts of festivity.

In 2018, Laura moved out of Boulder and switched to teaching only online. Pursuing her lifelong interest in depth psychology, she became trained in Bodydreaming trauma therapy. Through her current one-on-one work with clients she is conceiving a new approach to healing deep trauma into community renewal, art-making and ecology.

Laura lives on 30 acres of ancestral Tewa land/ New Mexico where she grows food, makes herbal medicine, and lives in elemental simplicity.

FORMAL TRAINING: Laura carries a Masters in Anthropology of Human Development from New York University, a Bachelors in Cultural Psychology and Human Development from Rutgers Honors College, a post-graduate degree in Isadora Duncan Studies, and post-graduate training in Myth and Movement.  She was privately mentored for ten years by reknowned philosopher Bruce Wilshire. Laura is a trained and experienced Waldorf teacher and selected Waldorf teacher-trainer.  She has more than 15 years of training in Jungian psychology, Bioenergetic psychotherapy, the Body-soul Rhythms work of Marion Woodman and Bodydreaming somatic Jungian trauma therapy.  Laura trained with RJ Stewart and Anastacia Nutt in the pagan traditions of Europe. She was previously part of a Lakota ceremonial community and is now under the tutelage of Mohawk medicine woman Okhi Forest.

AWARDS/POSTS: Her studies and work have received generous support from the National Arts Council of Ireland, New York University, Isadora Duncan International Institute, Rutgers University, the state of New Jersey, Boulder Arts Council, Boulder County Arts Alliance, Galway North Beach Poetry, and a generous anonymous patron. Laura has held teaching and directing positions at National University of Ireland, Shining Mountain Waldorf School, Boulder Waldorf Kindergarten, NYC Botanical Garden, Galway Dance Centre, The Meadow Studio NY, Catholic Charities NYC, among others.