Spring Forest Qigong with Patrick Dougherty, M.A., L.P.

Breathing Life into Psychotherapy

One Day Workshop

and

One Half Day Workshop 

Recently we have gained a better understanding of how the therapeutic process is affected by physiology and neurology. We have learned that when our clients are experiencing stress in therapy, their bodies have reactive physiological responses that send messages to the brain that it is re-experiencing an earlier stress or trauma. This generates negative and rigid thought patterns. Talk therapy frequently misses these subtle reactions.

New insights have led us to look for therapeutic tools that are able to respond to the bodies and brains of our clients as well as the emotions and psychological struggles. A natural place to turn has been the traditions of the East, where they have been working with the mind/body connection for millennia.

CECs: 7 approved for social workers and marriage and family therapists, 6.5 for psychologists.

Cost: $140

Dates/locations:

April 24, 2009   -  Registration for this event can now be done at the door.

Oak Ridge Conference Center, One Oak Ridge Drive, Chaska, MN 55318

Oak Ridge conference center is a beautiful and tranquil conference setting bordering on the MN Landscape Arboretum. It has a good restaurant with outdoor seating (weather permitting), a broad hiking trail for strolling around a small lake, and is located just 20-30 minutes from downtown Minneapolis and the MSP International Airport.

May 1, 2009    -  Registration for this event can now be done at the door.

        Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 835 College St., Duluth

         Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a recently-constructed green building with
         a water garden meeting the participant at the door. The building sits between two
         beautiful college campuses and across the street from a forested park with walking
         trails.       


Time: 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM     
        
   

Note: No discounts are available for these classes.

The Heart in Therapy: The Language of the Heart

A Holistic Approach to Helping Our Clients
Become Fully Engaged in Their Lives and in the World

Our clients come to therapy for a multitude of reasons -- depression and anxiety, family or relationship problems, surviving trauma, bereavement --;the list is endless. While the reasons are varied, from a holistic perspective there are three aspects of our clients you want to be able to address in some measure regardless of the presenting issue: mind, body, and heart/spirit. This combination is often associated with the wisdoms of the East.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, all aspects of the universe, including humans, are comprised of energy. An individual is seen as having energy systems related to the mind, body, and heart. Therefore a goal in Chinese medicine when addressing mental health problems is to help the client quiet the mind, calm the body, and open up the heart energy. This holistic framework is easily adapted to Western psychology.

A Heart Centered Therapy

Teaching simple natural breathing exercises to our clients is an easy way to calm the stressed body and deactivate reactive emotions. Reality-based, client-specific visualizations can help clients focus on concrete, attainable goals. These two simple techniques help attend to the first two aspects of the holistic approach: quieting the mind and calming the body.