EMT: 2015
Laura Bond is an Estill Master Trainer (EMT) who studied Estill voice work with Kerrie Obert and Julie Fortney, both of whom worked directly with Joe Estill for many years. In addition to her Estill work, Laura is the founder of the Emotional Body® method and is an internationally recognized somatic practitioner and scholar dedicating her career to providing safe and reliable techniques for physical emotion regulation, and the development of emotional expression and somatic resiliency methods. Laura is a full professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville where she teaches physical emotion regulation methods and the performing arts in university classes, including lessons in vocal expression, voice acting, storytelling, voice overs and dialect studies. She also offers private lessons, workshops and courses for national and international attendees using in-person and online delivery methods. She is the author of two books: TEAM for Actors: A Holistic Approach to Embodied Acting, and The Emotional Body: A Method for Physical Self-Regulation, which is the core text used in Emotional Body courses. Learn more about the Emotional Body at www.emotionalbody.co. She is a professional Equity actress, director, singer, and voice-over artist.
In addition to her expertise in acting, directing, and voice production, her primary research centers around the development of a physical emotion regulation method using somatic education philosophies with the science-based emotional effector patterns (EEP). After 20 years of practice, teaching, research and writing in this area she developed new ways to teach the evidence-based emotional effector patterns (EEP), along with lessons on physical emotional regulation and somatic resiliency, called the Emotional Body® method. Her research included collaborating and co-teaching with Feldenkrais® method practitioners since 2007 and an intensive teacher-training sabbatical in Chile in 2006 with neuroscientist and research psychologist Susana Bloch, an original member of the team that discovered the EEP. Laura is a master teacher and practitioner of Alba Emoting™, a method for teaching the EEP developed in the 1970’s by Susana Bloch. As a master trainer of Estill Voice®, her voice expertise compliments her teaching of the Emotional Body method and helps practitioners understand how the voice expresses emotion.
Laura Bond teaches in university courses and in workshops and intensive trainings nationally and internationally. She has presented in international summits, conferences and podcasts. She has also served as a professional consultant and workshop instructor for individuals and specialty groups from such diverse areas as city officials, prison inmates, cancer survivors, scuba divers, therapists/counselors, somatic practitioners, actors, and first-responders. Laura develops specialty lessons to help each learner gain approachable and reliable methods for such needs as expanding expressive capabilities, developing public speaking skills, acquiring physical emotion regulation methods, and providing short and easily accessible somatic resiliency methods.