Psychotherapy Networker

8:15 AM Coffee and Danish

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:30:40 +0000

Ambassador Ballroom

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9:00 AM Introduction + Warm-up

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:29:22 +0000

Join Richard Gonzalez in an Introduction and Warm-Up for Symposium.

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101 Discover Your Life Story

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:28:46 +0000

Ann Randolph • Thursday All Day
Everything about you, from the mundane to the extraordinary, is a story living in your body and waiting to be told. In this workshop, we’ll use improvisational theater techniques, writing exercises, humor, and play to explore your life story and the universal themes it expresses. Acknowledging what’s both painful and hilarious about your history, you’ll practice how to stop censoring and fighting yourself, better trust your own body, and find new physical and emotional confidence that will spill over into the rest of your life. Open yourself to the fresh discoveries that come from taking some risks, changing course when necessary, and adapting to whatever comes next in an atmosphere of safety and creative adventure. You’ll be both deeply surprised and delighted at the depths and richness of the self you discover when you give yourself permission to loosen up and act out your life’s themes.

Ann Randolph is an award-winning solo performer and educator. Her solo show and off-Broadway hit Squeeze Box was produced by Mel Brooks. She teaches at Esalen and Kripalu and performs at theaters across the country.

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102 Re-enchantment of Life

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:27:04 +0000

Rubin Naiman • Thursday All Day
While we tend to think of night dreaming and daytime waking states as mutually exclusive, both are expressions of the same consciousness. In fact, dreaming doesn’t just happen during nightly REM periods—it takes place throughout the day. If tapped into, this everyday dream energy offers a wondrous and accessible form of perception that reveals the sacred in all being. In this workshop, we’ll explore the six dimensions of night dreaming, integrating the emerging science of REM sleep with the ancient spiritual tradition of dreamwork. Through journaling, physical movement, and other practical and playful exercises, you’ll experience the continuity between waking and dreaming, and explore different dream states—waking dreams, creative dreaming, lucid dreaming, healing dreams. You’ll leave with an expanded sense of self and the richness of life, as well as new skills for ameliorating depression and anxiety in your clients’ lives.

Rubin Naiman, Ph.D., is the sleep and dream specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine. His books include Healing Night and Healthy Sleep, with Andrew Weil.

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103 The Dancer’s Craft

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:26:22 +0000

Richard Gonzalez • Thursday All Day
We all admire the grace, fluidity, and freedom dancers express on stage, and their ability to step out of ordinary life into the realm of pure, rhythmic movement, but few of us feel we have the ability or the nerve to do much dancing ourselves. In this workshop, you’ll learn about the practical craft of dancing—basic dance movements, different kinds of rhythm, the physical language of symbolic movement, and what dancers know about using their bodies. Then you’ll explore how to cast off self-judgment, step out of your non-dancing self, and open up to the experience of rhythmic movement. By discovering your own inner dancer, you’ll learn how to more joyfully and wholeheartedly throw yourself into the larger dance of life.

Richard Gonzalez is a seasoned teacher, interpreter, choreographer, and performer of Afro-Caribbean folkloric and contemporary dance, who’s shared the stage with some of our most notable artists during his 25-year career. His dance forms exhibit a strong fusion of the African, Spanish, and Taino influences of the Caribbean.

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104 Know Thy Face

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:25:32 +0000

Diane Poole Heller • Thursday All Day
The human face is a marvelously expressive instrument—an elaborate and intricate system of neural networks and small facial muscles, which evolved to communicate a vast range of human emotions and mind states. Yet not only are many of us—therapists included—largely unaware of what our faces are “saying,” but we go through life unconsciously trying to protect ourselves by hiding behind a tight jaw, blank eyes, muscle constrictions, and a frown and misinterpreting others’ expressions. In this workshop, we’ll discuss the neuroscience research on emotion and how it’s reflected in our faces. We’ll then engage in exercises drawn from Somatic Experiencing to become aware of our own habitual facial constrictions and expand our capacity for full facial expression that’s more congruent with what we’re actually feeling. You’ll leave with an enhanced capacity to freely express and convey through your face what’s going on behind your face.

Diane Poole Heller, Ph.D., an expert in Somatic Experiencing, developed the Somatic Attachment training called DARe: Dynamic Attachment Re-Patterning experience. She’s the author of Crash Course: A Self-Healing Guide to Auto Accident Trauma & Recovery.

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105 Improving Your Memory

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:24:49 +0000

John Arden • Thursday All Day
If you’re worried about your memory (and who isn’t), there’s good news: the more we understand about how the brain functions, the more techniques we have to improve and increase our memory. This will be a fun day that brings together principles of brain science with participatory exercises that will keep your memory in tip-top shape for everything from remembering names and faces to keeping on track when speaking in public. You’ll learn (and remember!) how memories are formed, the difference between implicit and explicit memory, how the senses are linked to memory, and how to tweak your diet and exercise routines to strengthen memory. We’ll explore and rehearse a variety of cognitive exercises and techniques (including visualization, use of novelty, and “chunking”) to keep memories from fading, organize them in your mind, and maintain easy access to both the memories of a lifetime and the details of everyday life.

John Arden, Ph.D., Kaiser Permanente’s director of training in the Mental Health Division of the Northern California Region, is the coauthor of the Brain-Based Therapy book series and author of Improving Your Memory for Dummies.

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106 An Invitation to Presence

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:23:05 +0000

Ann Weiser Cornell • Thursday All Day
How often have you heard someone admiringly described as having “presence,” without knowing exactly what it means, much less knowing how to develop that quality yourself? This workshop explores presence as both an internal state of awareness, openness, and sense of ease, and as the external manifestation of that state. You’ll learn exercises that will help you reach that state of mindfulness inside—the first step to projecting these qualities outside—and others that will let you “extend” the internal experience of presence through your body and heart. We’ll explore how presence is felt by others as an open invitation to feel more themselves and use Focusing techniques to help us become more aware of the immediacy of each moment and tap into a creative flow. You’ll learn to enhance your own ability to cultivate presence to enrich your practice and your life and leave with a new understanding of how mindfulness, turned inside out, becomes presence.

Ann Weiser Cornell, Ph.D., an internationally known Focusing instructor, is the author of The Power of Focusing and of the forthcoming Focusing in Clinical Practice.

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107 Five Stages of Creativity

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:22:24 +0000

Lisa Mitchell • Thursday All Day
Spend the day getting lost in the flow of art—and in the art of therapy. This fun, hands-on workshop will immerse you in easily accessible art experiences (including drawing, collage, and mixed media) that emphasize the parallels between therapy and art. You’ll explore and become familiar with the Five Stages of Creativity: Incubation, which requires anxiety tolerance as you search for an entryway; the Initial Idea, that Aha! moment; Diving In, a daily test of courage and faith as you continue to work; Flexible Commitment, as you revise and change, while remaining constant to the work; and Flow, full engagement in the work. You’ll learn why creativity is an essential counseling skill, how burnout is actually a form of artist’s block, and how partnering with your natural creativity can inspire your practice anew.

Lisa Mitchell, M.F.T., A.T.R., a registered art therapist, is the owner and director of The Art Therapy Studio. Her forthcoming book is Bold Bursts of Creative Inspiration: Partner with Your Creativity and Be an Even Better Therapist or Coach.

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108 Renewing Spiritual Growth

cdexter — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:21:36 +0000

Richard Brown & Patricia Gerbarg • Thursday All Day
Even though you may have spent years doing yoga, meditation, and contemplative prayer, it’s common to occasionally feel stalled in your spiritual journey. This session is designed to help you relight the old fire, reactivate your practice, and restore your sense that your inward journey is moving forward. It will draw from neurobiological research showing that the human nervous system, like emotional and spiritual development, shifts in stages. In this workshop, you’ll explore a variety of more advanced meditations and practices—slow and fast breathing, “breathing into nothingness,” visualizations, body-scans, open-focus meditation, “every-minute Zen,” and Qigong, among others. You’ll discover approaches that can help you cross the threshold of your life’s next adventure.

Richard Brown, M.D., an associate clinical professor in psychiatry at Columbia University, is certified to teach Aikido, Qigong, and yoga. He’s coauthored more than 100 articles, chapters, and books, including The Healing Power of Breath.

Patricia Gerbarg, M.D., assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at New York Medical College, coauthored Non-Drug Treatments for ADHD and How to Use Herbs, Nutrients, and Yoga in Mental Health.

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