XXIII International Congress of Analytical Psychology, Zurich, Switzerland
Our bodies and dreams may be our deepest access to the unconscious, the dark interior where nonverbal, inarticulate forms of understanding exist before emerging through sensation, gesture, image, memory, and the temenos of relationship. In these challenging times, the body/psyche/spirit connection can serve as a vital compass to help navigate non-understandable passages, painful turmoil, and unexpected opportunities as Eros and Logos find a new balance.
Jung referenced bodily movement and dance as forms of active imagination as early as 1916, in “The Transcendent Function.” Current research still points to the importance of the body in working with transgenerational trauma patterns, implicit memories, and family dynamics in analysis. Rather than attempt to make meaning prematurely, Authentic Movement offers a way to contact one’s authentic experience through the senses and emotions, in the body and through art. Inner-directed movement bridges the realms of conscious and unconscious, body and psyche, instinct and spirit, affect and image, memory, and emergence. What was experienced as non-understandable moves toward form and consciousness.
In the process, we may learn to discern and reclaim our unconscious “shadow” projections, which we otherwise tend to attribute to others. Engaging with “unrecognizable” elements in this way requires a level of processing that’s not explicit or articulate. Rather, it calls for a be-ing with that is non-linear and may at first seem non-understandable, though it is at the root of analysis.
Amid deep change, we can discover what is enduring within the Self: the guiding intelligence that serves as a center and a vital source. This is represented in the Stone, a living reality from the Earth and an ancient symbol of enduring ground, stability, and transformation. As we encounter challenges, we engage the process that generates the Philosopher’s Stone, and through friction forms the Pearl of great price. Both ordinary and extraordinary, the stone symbolizes the “non- understandable,” and embodied wisdom.
This day-long pre-conference workshop will continue to explore and develop dance/movement as a form of active imagination – interweaving theoretical, experiential, cultural, ecological and clinical material – with special attention to the living body in analytic practice.
Analysts will gain a practical experience of their moving imagination, and enrich their understanding of its application to verbal analytic practice. This depth integration also supports analysts and their analysands in addressing concerns within the larger socio-political zeitgeist in which we practice. We will link Jung’s early contributions involving multi-sensory images and emotions to recent neurobiological research. Morning and afternoon sessions include lecture, discussion, breathwork, movement, art, and writing.
This presentation is part of a tradition, now in its 22nd year, held by leading voices in the field of Active Imagination in Movement & embodiment in analysis, including Dr. Joan Chodorow, Marion Woodman, Carolyn Grant Fay, Tina Stromsted and others. Joan Chodorow has invited Tina to continue this offering. Co-leaders include Eileen Nemeth (Switzerland), Lisa Malin (Austria), Kate Jobe (Switzerland), and Nancy Gurian (California).
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*Painting by Mara Friedman