Dates: Spring series 2024: Sundays, March 17, April 7, May 5
Times: 12 - 3:15 PM Eastern/ 9 - 12:15 PM Pacific/ 1 - 4:15 PM Atlantic
Platform: Online via Zoom
Fee: $300 before March 1; $325 after
CEs: We have applied for 9 CEs for social workers through the MA NASW. LMHCs can apply for CEs at the end of the program.
This course provides an introduction to the techniques and theory of contemporary Bioenergetic Analysis. Each session will include didactic and experiential learning. Taught in a group format, the course offers time for participants to explore their personal responses to the topics and to connect with the group members. Adela Gorodzinsky, RP, M.Ed, CCC, CBT (Central CA) will lead the group at all sessions. The meetings will also feature different bioenergetic therapists/trainers focusing on specific topics.
Session 1: Grounding: Connecting Body and Mind
Led by Leslie Ann Costello, PhD, bioenergetic therapist, trainer, & author of Somatic Tools for Perinatal Therapists (Atlantic Canada).
Bioenergetic Analysis is the first psychotherapy school with a foundational emphasis on physical grounding for healing and trauma recovery. Bioenergetic grounding exercises and theory have evolved with new understandings of attachment theory and trauma. Learn physical and relational grounding skills to connect body and mind for living a vital embodied life.
Session 2: Breathing: Tools to Release Tension and Reduce Anxiety
Led by Carol Melnick, MSW, bioenergetic therapist & EMDR specialist (Atlantic Canada).
Bioenergetic therapy focuses on opening unconscious breathing patterns for increased aliveness and health. Tight muscles block feelings and contribute to anxiety. Freeing up those tensions increases the movement of energy/emotion in the body, allowing the person to breathe more freely, which reduces anxiety. This can be life changing.
Session 3: Boundaries: Skills for Healthy Relationships
Led by Vincentia Schroeter, Ph.D., CBT (Southern CA) & Adela Gorodzinsky, RP, M.Ed, CCC, CBT (Central CA).
We are born to be ourselves and, at the same time, be socialized with other humans, animals and our environment. However, many times we would like to say “No” but fear being rejected or disliked. Bioenergetic therapy focuses on linking verbal and non-verbal boundary communications. In this workshop we will define boundaries, offer an opportunity to practice them physically, and glimpse what honoring our ‘True Self’ feels like in our bodies.
Session 4: Breathing, Moving & Feeling
Led by Terry Hunt, EdD, bioenergetic therapist & trainer (Massachusetts).
For many of us emotions are unpleasant and feared so we suppress them. Emotions can get stuck and manifest into states such as anxiety, frustration and depression. In Bioenergetics we see emotion as the energetic sign post directing us to a deeper knowing of ourselves. We understand that resistance to feeling emotion increases suffering. In this workshop we will explore how to move the energy and experience the benevolence of fluid emotions, increase our emotional repertoire, and ground our knowing of what emotions truly are.
Session 5: A Body/Mind Journey From Depression & Anxiety to Vitality
Led by Laurie Ure, LICSW, bioenergetic therapist, trainer, author of an upcoming book on the bioenergetic approach to treating depression (Massachusetts).
Bioenergetic therapy offers an integrated body/mind/spirit/emotional/relational approach to mental health issues including anxiety and depression. The workshop will describe bioenergetic techniques and methods, along with providing an overview of the bioenergetic perspective on underlying factors contributing to chronic depression and anxiety. In the workshop will explore vitality as an aim of therapy.
Session 6: Character Structure – Reading Developmental Trauma in the Body
Led by Homayoun Shahri, Ph.D., CBT (Southern CA).
Our bodies and behavior reflect our early experiences in a similar manner that a cross section of a tree reflects its age and a lot more. There are over all ways of looking and being that we have from the best and the worst of what we experienced as children. In bioenergetics we call this Character. We will learn about this in an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.
For the 3 session spring series: $300 US/Canadian early registration full payment received by March 1; $325 for payment received after March 1, 2024.
Refund available minus $25 administrative fee before March 10. No refunds after March 10.
