Brotherflow Workshop #2: Growing Awareness Through Touch with Joost van Veen & Pedro Lechuga-Farias

Kunstinstituut Melly & Brotherflow are proud to present our second season of free workshop series from October to December for men and male-identifying individuals.

This Laboratory for New Masculinities is a four-part somatic workshop series exploring how masculinity can be experienced and expressed differently through the body: by softening, feeling, listening, playing, and connecting. Each session is led by a different practitioner, offering a distinct lens on embodiment and the many ways we can relate to ourselves and others.

THE PROGRAM:

25 October: Sacred Pelvis — The Centre of Groove by Diego Oliveira & Priscilla Verwaaijen.

8 November: Growing Awareness Through Touch by Joost van Veen & Pedro Lechuga-Farias.

22 November: The Wounds That Keep Us From Being Ourselves by Lester David Arias.

13 December: A journey of connection through presence and touch by Luis Bracamontes: Breath, Body & Brotherhood.

Workshop #2: Growing Awareness Through Touch by Joost van Veen & Pedro Lechuga-Farias

This session offers a unique starting point: touch as a way back into the body, guided by presence. Drawing from Shiatsu, other internal arts and the therapeutic practice of Joost Van Veen & Pedro Lechuga-Farias, we are invited into a space where touch is intentional, consensual, and slow enough to actually notice what happens in our bodies.

This starting point is unique because Touch is something most men learn to perform, compete with, or avoid. Through guided practice, we will experience:

- Grounding & Safety — establishing consent, boundaries and group agreements as the foundation for everything that follows. The session is conducted clothed, working mostly with the arms and back.

- Breath Awareness & Self-Touch — reconnecting with sensation through the skin, muscles and breath, before turning toward another person.

- Shiatsu-Informed Touch Practice — guided partner exercises in giving and receiving intentional touch, exploring presence rather than technique.

- Reflection & Sharing — space to share what arises: the cultural narratives around touch, vulnerability and masculinity that surface in the room.

We will move between individual awareness, partner practice and group reflection, always returning to one question:

What happens when touch is no longer something we perform, but something we allow ourselves to feel?

Shiatsu is a Japanese holistic, clothed, therapeutic bodywork therapy that uses finger, thumb, and palm pressure, along with stretching and joint rotation, to balance the body’s energy flow. It is designed to relieve stress, tension, and pain by targeting meridian lines.

This workshop is for people who identify as men, aged 18 and over, and will be held in English.

Register here!