The Listening Touch
A massage gathering to explore presence through touch
23 & 24 January 2027
We believe that listening and presence are at the core of massage
Four practitioners, each bringing different backgrounds and experiences, come together to explore and share what lies beyond technique
23 & 24 January 2027
The Listening Touch is an invitation to pause, soften into being, embrace simplicity, and begin the year by reconnecting with ourselves and each other through touch.
Before technique, there is a state we bring to the session: how we listen, how we touch, how we meet another body, and how we create a space where both giving and receiving can happen, with presence, care, and mutual attention.
During the gathering, we will explore different approaches to massage and bodywork, guided by teachers with different backgrounds and ways of working.
All the practices will be offered on the floor, on futons, following the traditional Asian way of working. We love working close to the ground. It gives us a sense of support, connection and presence, while opening up more possibilities for how we move and work with the body.
Across 12 hours of practice, exchange and exploration, there will be time to learn, give, receive, rest and share.
We want to share some of the principles that guide our practice, as well as practical tools that can bring more confidence, creativity and clarity to the way we give massage. This includes exploring fundamental biomechanics that allow us to find ease and relaxation in our own bodies, creating a foundation for the quality of touch and the presence we offer. Rather than simply collecting techniques, we want to create space to practice, experiment and integrate what we learn.
Who is it for?
This gathering is open to both beginners and experienced bodyworkers.
If you are new to bodywork, it is an opportunity to build a foundation based on connection, awareness and listening, while discovering different approaches to massage.
If you already practise bodywork, it is a chance to deepen your listening skills, reconnect with the foundations of your practice, and explore new techniques and approaches that you can bring into your sessions.
The teachers
A team of passionate bodyworkers
based around Lisbon
Irene Pons
Dancer and Bodyworker
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As a dancer, bodywork is, for me, a movement filled with presence and care. Learning techniques is crucial, but so is working on my own personal process through practices like meditation and dance, which help me maintain a beautiful state of presence. This presence is the foundation of my work as a massage therapist.
I traveled to Thailand with the intention of learning more about Thai Massage, and I landed in Chiang Mai, where I studied Traditional Thai Massage with Master Joe Khumlee and Chi Nei Tsang (Abdominal Massage) with Remco at Blue Garden.
This was a good beginning, but what actually captured me in the practice was meeting my friend and Master Mikis Taguchi and discovering Somatic Thai Massage. I immediately fell in love with Mikis’s style; his gentle touch, harmony, and presence deeply inspired me. Following his advice, I studied OsteoThai at the Thai Massage Circus School in Laos, guided by Arno L’Hermitte. This allowed me to integrate traditional Thai techniques with osteopathic methods.
At the moment, I am in the process of studying WuoTai, the OsteoDance, and I already integrate some elements into my treatments.
Egle Genova
Doula and Bodyworker
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Egle’s journey with the body began through Medicine, where she developed a strong foundation in anatomy and physiology and a deep curiosity about how the body functions, adapts and finds balance. Over time, this curiosity took her beyond anatomy and physiology, towards a broader and more holistic understanding of the body.
She now works as a doula and bodyworker, with a focus on Thai Massage and Deep Tissue, while drawing inspiration from other approaches such as Osteothai and Craniosacral work. She also works with Rebozo, a practice she finds particularly meaningful when supporting women during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
A lifelong movement practitioner and acroyoga teacher since 2015, she has explored disciplines ranging from Kung Fu and capoeira to dance, climbing and parkour. She brings together her medical background, bodywork and movement experience to explore the meeting point between science, touch, movement and presence.
https://www.egle.pt/
Eric Gonçalves
Somatic Revolution – Laboratories of Being
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Eric discovered the world of therapies in 2004 and quickly realized that he had found his purpose — to help people reconnect with their body’s natural capacity to live free from pain and limitations.
Since that moment of clarity, his focus on this mission has been absolute. He travelled the world in a quest for a deeper understanding of the fascinating human body, studying extensively in the United States, Thailand, Nepal, India, and throughout Western and Eastern Europe. He was privileged to study with great masters and to drink directly from their source of wisdom.
Along the way, Eric also specialized in postural therapy through the Egoscue Method. Through years of practice, he found this to be the missing link in helping people address the underlying patterns behind pain and physical limitations, and create lasting change.
As he continued to deepen his studies, Eric undertook extensive training in breathwork, including the Buteyko Method and Oxygen Advantage, as well as lymphatic activation — disciplines that have had a profound impact on his own life and on the lives of his clients.
Today, his work brings together more than two decades of exploration, study, and hands-on experience, integrating these different approaches into a deeply individual way of working with each person and their body.
Nina Deely
Bodyworker and Yoga Teacher
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Nina’s journey with the body began through yoga, which she has been practising and teaching since 2001. Her early training and time living within the Satyananda Yoga tradition in Australia and India shaped the foundations of her practice, while her work has also been greatly influenced by Katonah Yoga and its practical approach to alignment and breath, creating structure, stability and space.
Her interest in Thai massage, the art of sacred touch and partner work grew through her studio at Reva Yoga in London, where working alongside many inspiring practitioners deepened her curiosity about bodywork and the relationship between practitioner and receiver.
Over the last seven years, Nina has explored Thai Massage with Krishnatakis of the Sunshine House network, Oliver Chammoro, Thai Massage Sangha, Wu Tai and Eva Sion, alongside other teachers and modalities of touch and healing. She weaves these influences together with her background in yoga, movement and body-based practices, continually exploring the relationship between touch, movement, breath and awareness.
Nina also shares simple self-adjustment practices, exploring how we organise, support and hold ourselves, and how this influences the way we meet and hold another. These practices offer a way to develop a deeper understanding of our own bodies and needs. While finding more space, support and ease within ourselves, we develop the capacity to share this experience with another.
Her love of the sea deeply influences the way she experiences movement and touch. The feeling of being held in space by water, without needing to hold oneself, offers a sense of softening, surrender and allowing. This quality informs her approach to bodywork, where massage becomes a practice of deep listening — a meeting point between touch and presence, where opening to what is present creates space for the body’s natural movement to arise, allowing the current to flow through.
Prices
Sliding Scale help us keep the gathering accessible while allowing those who can give a little more to support the space and the people making it happen.
Regular price:
300€
Reduced price, if you are facing financial hardships: 270€
Solidarity price, to make the event accessible for others: 330€
Including:
It includes Accommodation in our dorm, your tent or your van. Delicious, mostly organic vegan food. The meals included are lunch and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast, lunch and dinner on Sunday.
schedule
Saturday
9:00 Registration
10:00-13:00 Being held
13:00-16:00 Lunch break
16:00 – 19:00 The art of doing less
19:00 Dinner and rest
Evening Open Space for Massage Jam
Sunday
10:00-13:00 Rebozo
13:00-16:00 Lunch Break
16:00 – 19:00 Integration Class with the teaching team
19:00 Good by dinner
If you come from far away, it is possible to arrive on Friday evening and sleep in our dorm for 15 euros.
Rebozo
An extension of our hands
With Egle Genova
In this workshop, I will introduce the Rebozo, a traditional Mexican woven cloth that has been used for generations by midwives and doulas to support women throughout pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period.
The proposal is looking at the Rebozo as an extension of our hands, and being attentive and present enough to feel through it. The Rebozo allows us to offer a softer, more spacious form of touch, less direct than the hands, evoking the feeling of being held, supported and gently carried.
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The techniques I will share are based on slow, rhythmic movements, sustained stretching and gentle pressure, inviting the body to soften and release.
The invitation for the giver is to slow down and enter this state of “inner rocking” and suspension, softening our own pace and allowing communication with the other to become more subtle, present and intuitive.
Being HELD
Softening into Being
With Nina Deely
We will explore the head, neck, shoulders and spine through holding, creating space, massage, touch, movement and stillness, with elements inspired by craniosacral therapy.
Rather than focusing on a set sequence of techniques, we will explore the quality of contact — how we meet ourselves, how we meet another, and what becomes possible when we move from doing towards being.
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We will explore how the way we organise and hold ourselves influences the way we meet another.
Fit, form and function offer a simple starting point: finding where we fit within ourselves, noticing how we hold ourselves, and exploring what becomes possible when we stop trying to make something happen. From here, the practice becomes less about getting the right position and more about developing sensitivity — feeling where we are supported, softening without losing connection, and listening before responding.
How we come to know and adjust our own body becomes part of how we adjust and meet another. The practise becomes less about doing and more about being.
Through holding and supporting the head, exploring the neck and shoulders, and sensing the relationship between the head and spine, we explore how touch can create space, ease and a greater sense of freedom.
Elements inspired by craniosacral therapy invite us into stillness, subtle movement and deeper listening.
Inspired by the sea, we explore the feeling of being held in space by water — supported without needing to hold ourselves. There is a softening that comes from surrendering into this support, allowing the current to move through rather than trying to control its direction.
This quality of being held becomes an invitation within our touch: to bring presence, trust what we feel, and allow movement to emerge rather than forcing it.
This workshop is an invitation to slow down, become more present and explore touch as a practice of listening — trusting what is already there and allowing the movement and current to flow through.
the art of doing less
Working with less effort and greater effect
With Eric Gonçalves
Over more than two decades of practicing bodywork, Eric has seen many therapists develop pain, strain and injuries as a result of their work. From early in his own practice, this led him to a question that would become central to the way he works: how can we make bodywork sustainable for the giver without compromising its effectiveness for the receiver?
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That question has guided much of his learning and practice ever since. By using gravity, body weight, positioning and vectors instead of muscular force, hedeveloped a way of working that requires remarkably little effort from the giver while remaining deeply effective for the receiver. Good bodywork should not require us to sacrifice our own bodies in order to help someone else’s.
In this workshop, we explore the principles behind this approach — learning to reduce unnecessary effort, and allow gravity, leverage and positioning to do most of the work. Through proper cultivation of bio mechanics, we learn to relax our body while keeping integrity, creating a practice that feels almost effortless, while remaining precise and deeply impactful.
The venue
We choose SerVivo, a small community in the beautiful Natural Park of Arrábida, around 40 minutes from Lisbon.
We will spend two days together, giving ourselves enough space to connect, practice and fully focus on the practice. The workshops and teachings are an important part of it, but so is everything around them: sharing meals, being in nature, sitting by the fire, resting and simply being together.
