Embodied approaches to Life and to Therapy
encouraging aliveness......healing trauma ......promoting growth.....
workshops and professional training with Michael Gavin
workshops and professional training with Michael Gavin
Michael's message: Spring 2018
As buds are bursting, and blossoms burgeoning, and some real warmth is making itself felt, I have noticed my own energy and indeed my heart lifting, and am moved to write and make a connection with everyone who comes to my site.
So ç
Since you are here, I assume that we share some interests, things like
- healing trauma
- embodied ways of helping
- building resilience and confidence (in oneself and others)
- developing a richer, more vital, creative and expressive life (for oneself and for others)
- a curiosity about the deeper things of the psyche
- building mutual esteem and a more peaceful world for us all to live in.
In this message, a bit more personal than usual, I want to let you know about some of the things that I will be devoting my energy to in the coming year in case any interest you.
Some are familiar ongoing activities, some are new and experimental, and others are revivals – begun in the past and not yet realised.
You can see some of these in the sidebar, and others I explain below.
From May onward, I plan to share, by way of a blog or perhaps even a podcast, two different notions that have been on my mind for some time.
My working title for the first is:
"The Map" or "The Spinning Wave"
Through the trainings I have given in recent years in trauma, and in the EveryBodyKnows series with Brian Stirner, I believe I've discerned a series of steps from simple embodied self-awareness in a calm state, through embodied interaction in a therapeutic setting, to the highly-charged interventions that characterise Radix Bodywork at its most intense.
I should like to guide those interested through those steps, to develop your own self-awareness, and to develop new skill and understanding in an embodied way of working with others.
The second, is the process I named Calm (Joyful) Centre.
Here too there is a series of stages that we can go through together to explore ways of living vitally, in connection, and productively.
This year, one of my personal areas for development, is bringing things to completion.
I feel I've reached an age at which undue procrastination may be a sign of overoptimism, even denial. (See below*)
In August, I shall be participating for the first time in the formal Radix Training Programme, sponsored by the Radix Institute.
Module One is an introduction to the theory and practice of Radix Body Psychotherapy. Module One is an ideal point of transition for therapists
wanting to add somatic skills and understanding to their work.
It will take place in Germany, beside the beautiful Lake Lucerne. (August 24 -29)
There is more:
Professional Self-care is a theme close to my heart. I began, but did not complete, and email series on this topic towards the end of last year. In the autumn, if not before, I am committed to revive this, and put it into a more user-friendly format.
Indeed, my current preoccupation is to overcome the tension between this ambitious programme, all things that I am passionate and care deeply about, and the danger of exhausting my energy without bringing things to fruition. (I have had some new insights into issue this recently,( the tension between excitement and self-care) let me know if you're interested to hear about them.)
I think I have seen a need for a particular kind of one-to-one coaching, and I believe that I'm well-placed to deliver it. I know that I am interested to do so.
i believe there are people in prominent roles, senior practitioners with a reputation, or institutional leaders perhaps, who may find it hard to get the support they need in their work. Complexities of roles can leave them isolated, not able to find a place to tune into their vulnerabilities and disappointments, and nurture their neglected potential.
I have a plan to meet this need. (It involves the beautiful setting we have here beside the sea and on the edge of the New Forest.)
Congratulations on making it all the way to this point.
I hope you are flourishing in the glorious spring weather that we are seeing here in England, or wherever you are.
With every good wish for 2018…
Michael Gavin
PS
Look out for individual emails about each of these topics in the coming days and weeks.
Ongoing Projects
At the moment, I'm working intensively on the promotion for the
Champernowne Summer Course
five days in August (5 -10) of immersion in Jung's world of archetypal imagery, and creative expression, through lectures, arts-based workshops and studios, in a fine setting in Leicestershire, with a rich social program.
The launch is set for next week.
Even if you don't plan to attend the Course, you'll find much of interest in the topics of covered in the launch materials:
Jung and his psychology, the Arts in Psychotherapy, Active Imagination, Professional Self-Care, and the theme of the Course – "Images of Power, and the Power of Images."
Last year, with art therapist Tracey Peisley, I co-led a five day workshop on the Greek island of Lesbos, with the unglamorous title
"Embodied Self-Directed Learning
and Creativity."
It was very well received.
This year, I plan to develop the same theme in two different ways:
1
Another Greek island workshop,
this time
on Thassos (September 7 -14)
2
A coaching programme over seven months. so that you can follow along with the SDL Process, even if you do not choose, or are not able, to join us in Thassos.
June (16-17)
Old Street, EC1
Radix Workshops are designed for personal growth. Many who attend are helping practitioners who also find them immensely useful professionally .
London Radix Workshops
(now in the New Forest)
July (20 -22), October (19 -21) December (7 - 9).
My plan was to deliver a course based on the principles and practice in the book. I did not accomplish that last year.