Workshops: Bordeaux, France

Ruella Frank working with Hedvig in September of 2008 in Oslo, Norway
Infant behaviors and their relation to adult psychotherapy treatment

Institut Français de Gestalt-thérapie is presenting a workshop with Ruella Frank, Ph.D.

January 26 - 28, 2012

Gestalt Therapy: A Developmental and Somatic Approach

Thursday 10h - 18h
Friday 9:30h - 18h
Saturday 9h - 16h

Cost of the 3-day workshop €420

January 29, 2012

Supervision: Kinetic Resonance

Sunday 9:30h - 17:30h

Cost of the supervision day €148

For further information and to register, please contact:
Brigitte Lapeyronnie-Robine
blr-gestalt@orange.fr

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About the workshop:

In any process oriented, present centered therapy such as gestalt, applying developmental theory within session must be firmly grounded in the data of experience, the world of phenomena – what we see, what we hear, what we sense and what we feel. What was then-and-there is an abstraction or cognitive construct and can offer relevant and viable information only if observed in the here-and-now of therapy. It is only by recognizing how early experience arises through a variety of phenomena within the client-therapist relationship that we gain access to them.

During this three-day workshop, participants learn how the first year of life sets a relational foundation that is apparent both in the everyday life of the adult and in psychotherapy. Even though our adult postural attitudes, gestures, gait and breathing patterns have changed over time, the foundations established in our first year remain readily observable and available. Through movement, participants will explore these intrinsic yet unaware primary patterns, which are part of present experience and influence daily life. We then apply this understanding to the client/therapist dyad. Attending to these developmental patterns within psychotherapy is especially powerful

About the supervision:

The beginning of a therapy session:

Carrie and I sit directly facing one another; she on the deep soft couch, and I on my small armchair. Although broad of face and body, Carrie tilts her head downward, narrows her shoulders and hollows her chest making her body appear smaller than it is. As they rest on her lap, the fingers of her right hand grasp onto the wrist of her left. Carrie’s feet, placed directly in front of her, pull backward so that only her toes bear the weight of her legs, while her upper thighs press toward each other. Her breath is almost imperceptible. Moments pass and she does not stir. I feel the impulse to lean forward in my chair, and move toward her. Instead, I yield and sense my back and pelvis supported by the chair, my feet supported by the floor. I notice that my breathing is shallow and slowly I extend each exhalation to enable a fuller inhalation. I wait.

Rhythmic exchanges within therapy spring from a developing kinetic resonance – an experience arising from the present situation, echoing through each of our bodies and most often making its impact felt beyond what is momentarily apparent. It is kinetic resonance that informs our here-and-now by “thickening” our experience of this moment and even informing us as to that which could happen next. That is, our impulse to move either toward or away from the other creates a resonance within this present moment and predicts what has yet to take form or expression.

This one day supervision group will explore, through experiments in sensing and moving, how awareness of a developing kinetic resonance within therapy can inform both therapist and client to their present situation and can serve as the ground for change.

The workshop is open to psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, infant educators, physical therapists, mental health counselors from a variety of backgrounds, as well as movement therapists/educators who wish to better understand the relationship between psychological experience and physical expression.