Embodied approaches to Life and to Therapy

Some wise person said:

"Live as if you would die tomorrow, 

and study as if you would live a hundred years."

Last autumn, as I approached my 80th birthday, I decided to emerge from my retirement intending to  return my focus to my  work for the next five years, and then at 85, consider turning more towards reflection, contemplation and reminiscence.  

 For some years now it has been my wish and stated intention to reach the age of 93 "practising Taiji and wondering about the future."  (At 63 I calculated that this was about 10,000 days away- a big but finite number. Now I am past the halfway mark .)

However: "Man proposes, God disposes."

I feel that my work is to pass on some what I have learned, and am still learning;

• about an embodied way of living; 
• about the unavoidable clash of opposites and their power to generate new, unimagined, creative possibilities; 
• about authenticity, authority and integrity; mutuality, respect, dependence, independence and interdependence; 
• about Self-directed learning and about collaboration; 
• and about the Socratic dictum that "wisdom consists in knowing that one does not know..."

It is a while since I retired as a Supervisor, and even longer since I was in practice as a Somatic Trauma Therapist, or Body Psychotherapist.  I shall not be returning to that kind of regular and relatively intense personal commitment.  I have been enjoying having more space and freedom in my life.

Instead I plan to build a practice offering support and encouragement - mostly in the form of Mentoring and/or Coaching - to people already set on some personal path of helping, creating, exploring.  Using Jungian terminology I want to work with people already engaged in a process of Individuation. The phrase that came to me was: Healers, Creators, and Seekers.   I am thinking of people who have made and want to make a contribution, and at the same time pursue their own personal Growth.

In practice this means a number of projects :

• working one to one with a limited number of people 
• encouraging an embodied approach to therapy through the course: Working with Body in Mind
• promoting Self-Esteem, and beyond that  (mutual) Human Esteem, as a foundation for Peacemaking (so sorely needed just now) through work based on the book Able & Equal; a gentle path to peace by Denton L Roberts: Self-Esteem and Beyond
• creating a programme for the Self-Care of Helping Professionals, from Burnout Recovery to professional fulfilment
• exploring  autonomy, power and authority with, especially leaders and teachers, and working to create and support healthy organisations
• continuing to encourage people to experience how Embodiment, Awareness and Aliveness enrich their lives through the Radix Workshop programme  (when live workshops become possible again.)
• working as a Trustee in the Champernowne Trust on behalf of a Jungian perspective that acknowledges the depth of the Psyche, the power of imagination and creativity, and the scope ( and constraints) of human possibility.
• and continuing to share my Qigong practice for those who are interested.

Michael Gavin