Emilie Conrad

We are saddened by the loss of Emilie Conrad, a special teacher and friend to Omega, who passed away in April 2014.

Emilie Conrad was the much-loved innovator and founder of Continuum movement. A world-renowned self-discovery and movement method, Continuum was based on her insight that we find within our bodies an expression of our profound rapport with our environment, a rapport that is revealed and can be explored through movement. The principles of Conrad’s Continuum movement are incorporated by an international audience of professionals in such fields as Rolfing, physical therapy, psychoneuroimmunology, craniosacral therapy, dance, yoga, therapeutic massage, and physical fitness.

Born and raised in New York City, Emilie grew up studying ballet and primitive dance. Later, she spent five years as a choreographer with a folklore company in Haiti furthering her interest in primitive dance. Emilie's love for primitive movement helped her to discover the essential, primary movements common to all life forms that lie beneath cultural influence. She always had an interested in our biological legacy, not as creatures upright and apart, but as integral to the swell of creation in which all life is in subtle biomorphic “play,” resilient, dissolving, and shaping itself anew.

From 1974 to 1979, Emilie Conrad was the movement specialist in a research study conducted by Dr. Valerie Hunt at UCLA. This groundbreaking study demonstrated that fluid, primary movement is essential in our ability to initiate new neural pathways. This movement has a potential to create a complex intrinsic environment that can affect disease processes as well as mediate aging. In 1974, Emilie began developing a trailblazing protocol for spinal cord injury, and her further innovations in the development of Continuum movement have had profound influence in the fields of somatics, movement education, and physical fitness. She leaves behind a long, lasting, and inspirational legacy.