Dear Colleagues

It is my great honor and pleasure to write this welcoming letter to you all. Our forthcoming IIBA Conference will be held in the city of Búzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from the 21st to the 25th of October, 2009, and is entitled Body in Poetry – Unveiling the Grace of Self.

The theme of the conference stems from a dialogue about the refinement of our identity as body therapists and the realization that throughout the years we have been working on our ability to promote and express the ART OF BEING. We hope we will be using this conference to further develop this art, as well as to embody our own poetry, creating our personal rhymes by means of the work we do as Bioenergetic Therapists. Also, we will use this opportunity to propose a more harmonious and multidisciplinary dialogue with other fields of study.

In our struggle to deal with life's brisk pace and in our the search for inclusion (= paradigm shifts), we face the challenge of building ourselves continuously as free, integrated human beings who use their bodies, language, perception and expression to achieve their goals.

During the conference we will also pay tribute to the founding member of Bioenergetic Analysis, Alexander Lowen, whom we dearly miss. Alexander Lowen was the original poet who helped us inscribe our bodies with meaning. A year after his death, we will be able to reflect upon the path we have walked so far as well as the one that lies ahead and how we intend to live and honor the legacy that was bestowed on us.

In a moment of great international insecurity and reluctance to invest in new projects, we trust our sense of grounding will help us organize this event. As alchemists of the human nature we sincerely hope to be able to weave together a web of possibilities, which will undoubtedly include growth and contention. Our ultimate goal is to find a new metric which will help us face our a new global reality.

From this perspective, all members of BA societies around the globe are kindly asked to join us in this conference. A number of well-known IIBA trainers have already confirmed their presence.

Anyone who wishes to submit a paper, lecture or lead a workshop is warmly welcomed to do so. The conference will last four days and the event's plenary sessions will be translated into English and Portuguese. Other languages may be considered on request, provided there are more than 30 speakers of the language enrolled.

Buzios, where the conference will be held, is situated on the coast - a two and a half hour drive from Rio de Janeiro. The city's cozy atmosphere is, in itself, an invitation for a poetic dialogue with our own bodies. The city also offers first-class infra-structure with comfortable accommodation and a safety environment which is truly conducive to the work and growth we have in mind.

The 2009 IIBA Conference is being prepared with love and care and we are looking forward to seeing you there. Together we will be celebrating the magic and joy of being.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee

Miriam Mantau



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Guilherme B. Pacheco