Movement & Artful Wellness

About Sabina Harte

Sabina Harte is a visual artist, community-engaged art practitioner, and certified Pilates educator. Her interdisciplinary work explores the intersection of movement, perception, and creative expression. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she also taught for several years. Her work has been exhibited nationally and is included in private collections across the United States and internationally.

Community & Wellness Practice

Her social art practice, Community-Engaged Art, explores the meditative and healing potential of art. Rooted in the belief that art holds transformative power, it seeks to enrich lives, strengthen human connection, and inspire meaningful, positive change through shared experience. In 2025, she founded the Core Reset Wellness Club™, a platform that integrates mindful movement, gentle body awareness, and creative exploration to support a balanced and inspired life and overall well-being. Through live sessions, on-demand sessions and workshops (special events), participants are invited to discover balance, presence, and inner vitality.

Studio Practice

Working under the name Sabina Sule, her studio practice examines the subtle boundaries between illusion and reality. Her non-representational paintings function as perceptual fields—layered, atmospheric, and open-ended—inviting viewers into focused, sensory-based encounters. Through shifts in color, gesture, and spatial tension, her work explores how meaning emerges through observation, memory, and embodied experience.

Across both her community and studio practices, Harte foregrounds the body and awareness as catalysts for creativity and connection. Whether through movement, participatory art, or contemplative painting, she creates spaces where audiences can engage fully, and immerse themselves in their experiences with clarity and presence.

Sabina Harte, San Francisco, 2004. Photograph: Andrew Weeks.

Core Reset Wellness Club™

The Core Reset Wellness Club™ is a welcoming space for anyone seeking clarity, grounding, and revitalization. At the heart of the practice is the concept of the “core”—connecting with your physical center through movement, aligning with your inner self to cultivate balance, and engaging with your essential being to support holistic well-being.

Through gentle movement, mindful attention, and creative exploration, participants develop presence, awareness, and a renewed sense of possibility. All sessions are accessible—no prior artistic or physical experience is required—and provide an opportunity to slow down, reconnect with the body, and bring creativity into everyday life.

Where movement, mindfulness, and creativity converge, the Core Reset Wellness Club™ offers a space to strengthen your core self, restore balance, and awaken inner vitality.

The following two live sessions and on-demand sessions are offered as part of the Core Reset Wellness Club™, blending movement, mindfulness, and creative practice to support balance and well-being: 

• Move & Create: A Soft Reset™ 
A Fusion of Movement and Drawing

Welcome to a space where gentle Pilates-inspired movement and Flow Lines™ intuitive drawing meet, inviting you to express yourself freely, without pressure or perfection.

Move & Create: A Soft Reset™ is calming session that blend Pilates-inspired movement with intuitive drawing, offering a soulfully guided fusion of body awareness and creative flow. You don’t need any experience with art or movement—just a willingness to show up as you are.

We’ll begin with soft breath and mindful motion to awaken the body, followed by a short, creative, intuitive drawing session.

This space is perfect for anyone in need of a quiet pause from the noise of everyday life.

You will need:

• A chair and a table

• Pens or pencils of any color, and a piece of paper of any size

Let’s move. Let’s feel. Let’s create.

The session is inspired by the concept of integrating body, mind, and soul. 

Through Pilates, the body speaks in movement—
grounded, connected, and alive.

Through intuitive drawing, the mind softens—
letting thoughts flow, then gently pass.

Through presence, the soul remains true—
authentic in feeling, honest in expression.

• Pilates Fundamentals: Art of Connection  
  Inspire. Align. Transform.  

Welcome to an educational Pilates Mat journey, where we learn, move, and grow together.

Each session guides participants through the core principles of Pilates, emphasizing alignment, breath, and mindful movement, while developing neuromuscular connection, body awareness, and control.

Every session is an opportunity to connect with the body, explore movement, and deepen understanding in a shared experience.     

• Intuitive Drawing as Meditation   

Experience peace through easy-flowing, intuitive drawing. Discover the joy of making marks on paper as a form of meditation. Everyone is welcome.

Practice Process:

• Let Your Hand Lead: Begin by drawing any line or mark freely across the paper without a specific plan — like a dance on paper.

• Embrace Spontaneity: Relax your mind and release expectations. Enjoy the process with a childlike sense of wonder.

• Immerse in the Moment: Create without concern for the outcome. Quiet your mind and experience deep relaxation.

You will need: A pen or pencil of any color, and a piece of paper of any size.

About the Workshop:

The Meditative Drawing workshop focuses on fostering community engagement and shared experiences. It encourages mindfulness, creativity, and personal transformation through spontaneous drawing.

Participants are invited to let go of control, embrace peace, and experience calm through the act of mark-making. These workshops create a supportive group environment, nurturing collective energy and connection.

By prioritizing the process over the product, participants deepen their self-connection and explore art’s power to inspire and heal.
No artistic background is needed.

• Observational Drawing as Meditation  

Unlock the art of observation with a life drawing workshop, designed for everyone, regardless of artistic background. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced artist, this workshop offers a structured and inspiring approach to drawing from observation.

Life drawing enhances hand-eye coordination, refines observational skills, and fosters mindfulness and creativity. By studying subjects closely, we move beyond preconceived notions to recognize true shape, form, and proportion. Focusing on these details naturally brings us into a meditative flow state.

The learning journey begins with simple objects to build confidence, then progresses to more complex forms, developing both technical skill and artistic intuition.

Join us in discovering the joy of drawing from life, where each line deepens our connection to the world around us. 

You will need: Pencils 2H, HB, 2B, and drawing paper of any size

The Contemporary Dialogue Foundation

CDF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) art organization that fosters dialogue in contemporary art across a range of disciplines—including visual art, music, film, writing, poetry, science, business, and social relations.

CDF develops and implements educational projects and programs that encourage cross-disciplinary exchange and creative collaboration.

Projects at CDF include:

• Artistic Mind and Body Healing Projects

• International Contemporary Art Discourse

• Projector

• Art Club Discussion Group

For more information, please visit:

cdfsphere.org or 

https://cdfsphereblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/artistic-healing-for-mind-and-body.html

Current Offerings

• Move & Create: A Soft Reset™ 
A Fusion of Movement and Drawing

A restorative workshop blending gentle Pilates-inspired movement with Flow Lines™ intuitive drawing. This unique experience invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect—no experience in art or movement required.

We begin with mindful breath and gentle Pilates-inspired motion to awaken the body, followed by an expressive drawing session designed to quiet the mind and spark creativity. Together, these practices restore balance, reduce stress, and create space for authentic expression.

Benefits

• Release tension and stress

• Enhance focus and creativity

• Cultivate relaxation and emotional well-being

• Enjoy a refreshing reset

• Build community through shared creative practice

Format & Details

• Length: 25–30minutes

• Structure: Guided movement · Intuitive drawing · Closing reset

• Requirements: Mat or chair, pen/pencil, paper

• Delivery: Available onsite or virtually

Move & Create: A Soft Reset™ is an invitation to breathe, move, and create—restoring clarity, calm, and connection.

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• Pilates Fundamentals: Art of Connection  
  Inspire. Align. Transform.  

These sessions develop awareness of the subtleties of movement, focusing on activating the right muscles and refining alignment. By emphasizing quality over quantity, it deepens the neuromuscular connection and brings mindfulness into every motion.

Benefits

• Build conscious muscle activation and awareness

• Refine posture and movement patterns

• Strengthen the mind–body connection

• Cultivate mindful presence beyond pure strength

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Contact & Registration

Instructor: Sabina Harte
Phone: (415) 359-5511
Email: tohartes@gmail.com

Whether you seek restoration or inspiration, these offerings create a space where movement becomes art, and art becomes movement.

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 Additional information   

Essentials of Pilates: Breathing, Co-Contraction, and the Five Starting Positions

Pilates is built on subtle foundations that transform the way you move. Before adding choreography or complexity, we begin with the essentials: how to breathe, how to co-contract the core, and how to align the body in the fundamental starting positions.

These principles may feel simple, but they are the key to strength, control, and fluidity in every exercise.

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Breathing and Co-Contraction

Breath is the foundation of every Pilates movement. It connects the deep core, organizes the spine, and brings focus to the practice. Co-contraction—engaging the pelvic floor and deep abdominals together—works in harmony with the breath to create stability and support.

These principles apply in all positions—whether lying down, seated, side-lying, or on hands and knees.

Breathing Basics

• Lengthen the body: imagine the crown of the head reaching away from the pelvis.

• Inhale into the posterior-lateral ribs (sides and back of the lower ribs). Think of an umbrella opening.

• Exhale by gently scooping the belly in and up, letting the ribs soften and close.

• Keep the sternum softened, sinking gently, with collarbones wide and shoulders relaxed and down.

• Visualization can help:

  • On inhale, the diaphragm drops down toward the pelvic floor.

  • On exhale, the diaphragm floats back up.

  • Maintain a subtle line of support from sternum to sacrum, deepening as you exhale.

Note: If ribs feel tight, direct the breath into the back or sides to release and open.

Refining the Breath

• Directional breathing: focus the inhale into one side of the ribcage to release tension.

• Sniff breathing: quick inhales through the nose, quick belly-driven exhales, like fogging a mirror.

• Neck relaxation: let the air flow from the lower abs, not the throat. Relax the jaw on exhale.

Co-Contraction Basics

• Inhale: ribs expand, belly softens.

• Exhale: pelvic floor lifts gently upward, belly draws in and up.

• This creates a corset-like support around the spine.

• Co-contraction applies everywhere—supine, prone, quadruped, side-lying, and seated.

Universal Reminders

• Keep shoulders, jaw, and neck relaxed.

• Inhale for length and expansion.

• Exhale for support and stability.

• Breath stays low and wide in the body, not high in the chest.

Breathing and co-contraction are the engine of Pilates. Every movement becomes more powerful, safe, and connected when fueled by them.

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The Five Starting Positions

Every Pilates exercise begins with alignment. These starting positions are the anchors for safe, efficient, and effective movement.

Supine Starting Position (lying on your back)

• Anchor points: feet, sacrum, ribs, shoulder blades, back of head.

• Spine: natural curves, ribs aligned with pelvis.

• Core: lower belly gently in and up.

• Breath: inhale wide into ribs, exhale to scoop belly.

• Awareness: crown to tailbone length, jaw soft, shoulders wide.

Prone Starting Position (lying on your stomach)

• Anchor points: forehead (with towel if needed), ribs, pubic bone, thighs, feet, hands.

• Head and neck: neutral, throat lifted slightly.

• Shoulders: collarbones broad, scapulae wide, thumbs down.

• Pelvis: press pubic bone gently, not hip bones; lumbar spine long.

• Breath: inhale ribs wide, exhale lengthen and co-contract.

• Movement: small lifts (sternum, forehead) with abdominal support.

Quadruped Starting Position (hands and knees)

• Hands: wrists under shoulders, fingers spread, elbows soft.

• Legs and pelvis: knees under hips, sacrum level, sit bones reaching back.

• Spine and core: long neutral spine, sternum lifted, abs in and up.

• Head and neck: nod slightly, throat lifted.

• Comfort: towel under ankles if needed.

Side-Lying Starting Position

• Alignment: head, ribs, pelvis in one line.

• Shoulders: lower scapula sliding down, collarbones wide.

• Core and ribs: waist gently lifted, ribs stacked.

• Hips and legs: hips stacked, legs long and reaching.

• Head and neck: neutral, supported by arm, pillow, or mat.

Seated Starting Position

• Pelvis and spine: neutral pelvis, sitting tall on or slightly forward of sitting bones. Spine stacked—head, ribs, pelvis aligned.

• Breath and core: inhale to lengthen, exhale with co-contraction (pelvic floor and lower abs).

• Shoulders and arms: sternum soft, collarbones wide, arms relaxed (resting, crossed, or holding thighs).

• Head and neck: neutral, not jutting forward or collapsing back. Rotation begins with eyes, then cervical spine, then thoracic spine.

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Final Reminder

The essentials of Pilates are simple but profound:

1. Breathing and co-contraction – the engine of support.

2. Starting positions – the anchors of alignment.

Before every exercise, pause and check:

• Am I grounded through my anchor points?

• Are my spine and pelvis neutral?

• Am I breathing with ease?

• Do I feel length and support through my whole body?

Master these essentials, and every movement—from the smallest to the most advanced—becomes safer, stronger, and more effective.