Embodiment: Embodied field study

Dates | Thursday 11 June, 6:30pm-8:30pm

Where | Elie, 27 Royal Parade, Parkville

Facilitators | Anna Evans and Awombda Codd

Cost | VAGP members: $45; VAGP non-members: $55

This is the third of a series of three workshops offered under the EEEP banner. These sessions are designed for emerging and practising therapists interested in emerging somatic experience as a resource for the therapeutic dyad.

Based on one of Gestalt’s roots of psychodrama, the embodied field study models a way of working with the phenomenology of the body as it is embedded in the situation. Working as a group, we will be deepening the awareness of the intersubjective experience of the field and how we make contact with each other from various positions.

This showcases how much information can be accessed using the body. By generating more awareness, a new possible experience often becomes evident, emerging from the field. Marguerita Spagnuolo-Lobb says, “As Gestalt psychotherapists, we do not aim to solve individual needs but to co-create a new experience of contact that makes spontaneous movement possible.”

This final EEEP seminar invites participants to engage directly with the living field, trusting embodied awareness as a primary source of meaning, contact, and transformation.

Experiential exercises, discussion, and reflection will develop participants’ abilities to:

• trust the liveliness of contact
• work with multiple positions and perspectives within the intersubjective field
• use bodily awareness as a primary source of clinical information
• build confidence in accessing spontaneous movement
• work phenomenologically with the emergent field conditions.

Accessing the creativity of the right brain

Exploring the somatic underpinnings of reaching and grasping

Anna Evans is a psychologist and psychotherapist working in private practice and on the teaching faculty at GTA. Anna has a keen interest in embodiment and her practices have included creative dance, Alexander technique and contact improvisation. Anna taught yoga for ten years and now follows an approach to yoga developed by Vanda Scaravelli. Anna can be contacted at [email protected].

Awombda Codd is a gestalt psychotherapist and creative arts therapist working in private practice and community health, as well as on teaching faculty at GTA. She supports creative exploration and experiential body work in her clinical practice. Awombda has a background in theatre, film, performance art and performed with an improvisation collective for many years. Awombda was a sessional teacher at MIECAT (Melbourne Institute of Experiential Creative Arts Therapy) and values creating spaces in which curiosity can be manifested and explored. Awombda can be contacted at [email protected].

The Gestalt Centre is the heart of Melbourne’s Gestalt community. We offer a four-year psychotherapy training program through Gestalt Therapy Australia, staying true to the experiential roots of Gestalt while embracing cutting-edge developments in contemporary Gestalt thinking and practice worldwide.

We also operate ConnectGround, a community-based counselling and psychotherapy clinic. ConnectGround serves as both a training facility for psychotherapists and a provider of low-cost individual and group therapy for clients. The clinic emphasises the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist as a key support for building awareness and adaptability. Psychotherapy interns and volunteers gain valuable hands-on experience, enhancing their skills and professionalism through client work.

Refunds are available up to 7 days before the event.

In the unlikely event that this workshop is cancelled or postponed, registration fees will be fully refunded. Please note that the organisers are not responsible for any travel, accommodation, or other costs incurred by participants.

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