Dr Anna Dako, AHPP, RSME/T, UKSMDT

Location:

Scotland, Aberdeen & London, UK

Interdisciplinary artist, educator, therapist, author, practitioner-researcher

Website: www.dunami-somatics.com
Email: anna.a.dako@gmail.com

Tel:07754797856

Information:

Anna is the founder and director of Dunami - Movement, Arts, Wellbeing, a platform for ecologically mindful growth, psycho-somatic health, intercultural dialogue and artistic development. Dunami’s offer includes regular practice-based workshops like Spring Seedling and Body Scapes, as well as self-therapy resources. 

As a writer, she specialises in practice-based research, eco-psychology and environmental philosophy perspectives. In her doctoral research in art-based therapeutic education she has been developing movement-based approaches toward more embodied ways for ‘being well’ with the natural environment guided by processes of Somatic Felt Thinking. As a grounding methodology of reflexive and expressive self-inquiry, Felt Thinking opens up a whole new realm of philosophical contemplation on ‘relational movement’ as the basic ontology of belonging to the living world. The methodology is now offered as Anna’s online course in EcoSomatic Movement Education and further described in her book ‘Dances With Sheep - On RePairing the Human-Nature Condition in Felt Thinking and Moving Towards Wellbeing’. 

Following her interests in building bridges between movement arts practice and environmental psychologies of personal development, Anna is developing movement productions with In The Open - Outdoor Arts Theatre, and her latest production Forest Within has been nominated for Scottish Landscapes Awards 2023. She has delivered a number of workshops focused on inclusive self-care throughout UK including University of Oxford, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Edge Hill, and she is also a winner of Images of Research Competition 2019 at the Un. of Aberdeen.

In her private practice Anna specialises in supporting and working through versatile psycho-somatic imbalances, including stress, anxiety, ADHD, depression as well as chronic and eating disorders. Her therapeutic focus lies in helping her clients develop the inner skill of relating to the natural world and she loves guiding experiential walks outdoors. 

To connect to Anna’s work, visit: www.dunami-somatics.com  

Recent and Upcoming Publications:

Dako, A. Walking to Wellbeing - A Guide to Practising Self-Care in Somatic Felt Thinking, Self-published, Anna Dako, 2023 

Dako, A. Dances with Sheep: On RePairing Human-Nature Condition in Felt Thinking and Moving towards Wellbeing, Intellect Books, 2023

Dako, A. Open Spaces, Open Senses – On Sensuous Presence in Eco-Somatic Practice of Walking to Wellbeing with Children and Young People (forthcoming chapter in Arts in Nature, book by Routledge, edited by Dr Zoe Moula and Prof Nicola Walshe)

Dako. A. Body Scapes - Celebrating Seasonality of Wellbeing in Somatic Dialoguing with the Natural World (forthcoming chapter in Female Dancer, book edited by Dr Helen Kindred and Claire Farmer)

Dako, A. Forest Within: Reflections on the Felt Qualities of Living Entanglements (forthcoming)

Dako, A. On How to Feel Think in Movement – A Short Introduction: Contemplating Ecological Belonging in Somatic Practice (article in Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices 13.1&2, 2021) 

Dako, A. Night(s) and Day(s) – A Behind the Scenes Story of Night(s) & Day(s) Short Dance Film Production, Inspired by Somatic Adventures into the Experience of Inter-Connectedness Between ‘Knowing’ and ‘Not Knowing’ (available online: www.aberdeen.academia.edu/AnnaDako)

Dako, A. ‘I Am Movement’ – An essay on Movement, Connection and Support Based on Personal Practice (forthcoming)

Dako, A. Dynamic Composing - On Choreographic Processes of Conceptualization as a Way to Artistic Knowing (available online: www.aberdeen.academia.edu/AnnaDako)

Qualications: PhD Counselling in Therapeutic Arts Education (Practice-based Research)
MA Dance and Somatic Wellbeing
MA Theatre Studies
Registered Humanistic Psychology Practitioner (AHPP)
Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist (RSME/T)
Registered Somatic Movement Dance Therapies Practitioner (UKSMDT)