My name is Pedro Goucha Gomes, and I am living in the Portuguese countryside with my wife, daughter and son. After 32 years living and traveling abroad, in 2021 we have decided to settle in my homecountry.

Most of my life has been dedicated to movement. The studying of classical ballet for ten years, the subsequent professional career in classical and contemporary dance companies (Stuttgart Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater), as well as an intense decade choreographing and teaching has made me realize that the essence of movement is not in the body alone, but in the quality of one’s own mind in motion.

Meditation changed my relationship to dance. It was stillness that taught me the most about moving.

I started meditating in my early twenties after a trip to Japan and my initial contact with meditation was through Zazen. Soon after, I came across the mindfulness practices and works of Thich Nhat Hunh and John Kabat-Zinn. In 2011, I started attending Vipassana meditation retreats taught by S. N. Goenka, which became my dominant practice. As a way to share the benefits of mindfulness with others, I enrolled on an intense eighteen-month Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches in Germany, and am now teaching eight-week MBSR courses.

My passion for movement led me to explore the somatic field. After one year studying Somatic Movement at the Somatic Movement Institute in the Netherlands, I enrolled in a four year program at the Feldenkrais Institute in Madrid. The Feldenkrais Method has been an absolute revelation to me. Its applications are wide ranging and the pure joy of practicing has improved my life and enriched how I experience movement, learning and growth.

Today I am committed to sharing practices that I believe may lead to a greater sense of peace and respect toward ourselves, each other and all life around us. With this in mind, I started studying Permaculture and have initiated Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Center France, a platform offering classes, workshops and retreats to anyone interested in exploring how the awareness that emerges from the fields of Somatics, Meditation, Dance and Permaculture may contribute to the cultivation and embodiment of peace and environmental awareness.

My family and I are also partners of the Loural Ecovillage, a community committed in the creation of a retreat and training centre in Portugal, for integrative therapies, art, permaculture and energy autonomy.