The Dreaming Body: Authentic Movement as a Pathway to the Self A Five-Day Retreat for Women & Men

June 25, 2008 - July 1, 2008

Dreams carry treasures that enhance the meaning and depth of our life’s journey. Authentic Movement allows access to these rich inner resources on a cellular level, bringing us back in touch with our natural rhythms, instinctual wisdom, and sense of self. Attending to the body allows us to more fully access the energies expressed through the textures, imagery, and unfolding action of the dream. Gestures emerge that can guide us toward where our life energy is directing us. Here, body and psyche can begin to work together.

From our earliest beginnings, empathic relating by the other is an essential component in the formation of the self. Recent advances in developmental neuroscience point to the right brain’s receptivity to nonverbal elements such as facial expression, voice tone, movement, music, imagery and the play of symbols in dreams and poetry. Authentic Movement provides affective mirroring and embodied presence as a foundation for the development of consciousness in the cells, and a sense of well being and belonging in the world. Sensitivity to the body can allow psychotherapists, educators and health care providers to attend to this language as it arises in our experiences with others, and in ourselves, hearing the soul’s call and working with the obstacles to its fulfillment.

This integrative, depth-oriented Jungian approach will include working with dreams in the body (Dreamdancing), Authentic Movement (active imagination in movement), writing, drawing, communion with nature, and creative methods from Marion Woodman’s BodySoul Rhythms work. Studio sessions will be supplemented by seminars focusing on questions arising from your personal explorations, as well as applications relevant to your creative and professional work. Nearby hillside and coastal villages make for a wonderful holiday, too, if you can take the time following the intensive!

Prerequisites: Experience in Authentic Movement is vital. Some background in dreamwork, expressive arts therapy or other forms of embodied creative exploration that engage conscious attention is necessary, as well as a background in personal analysis/psychotherapy. A working knowledge of English is important in order to understand and participate in the intricacies of the work. (Unfortunately it is not feasible to work with a translator as participants come from many countries and linguistic backgrounds).

Tuition:
$815 US with paid registration by January 15, 2008.
After that date tuition is $875 US

38 CE credits available for MFT’s and LCSWs
($25 admin fee for CEUs)

Accommodation and meals: 55 Euros/night shared occupancy, paid directly to the retreat site upon arrival.

Registration:
Enrollment is by application only. Deadline is April 30, 2008.
Please contact Tina Stromsted at email: [email protected], or
Tel.: (415) 668-7857 USA; www.AuthenticMovement-BodySoul.com/tuscany

Faculty

Tina Stromsted, Ph.D., ADTR, licensed psychotherapist and Registered Dance Therapist, was co-founder and faculty at the Authentic Movement Institute in Berkeley. Currently she serves on the faculty and board of directors of the Marion Woodman Foundation and teaches in the doctoral program at Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, the California Institute of Integral Studies, public programs at the San Francisco Jung Institute, Esalen, and other universities and healing centers internationally. With a background in theatre and dance she has over three decades of clinical experience. She is the author of numerous book chapters and articles in professional journals and an advanced Candidate at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Tina’s passion is in integrating embodied, creative approaches to reclaiming body wisdom, engaging the natural world and living a soulful life. Her private practice is in San Francisco.

Margareta Neuberger will be assisting. With an M.A., in Somatic Psychology, Margareta is a teacher and practitioner of Authentic Movement, somatic educator and massage therapist, who has explored the interconnectedness of healing, spirituality and creativity for the past 30 years. A native of Germany, she moved to San Francisco in 1984, after completing a B.A. in Theology. She has worked in private practice since 1989, offering Authentic Movement to individuals and groups as an embodied meditative and healing discipline. Margareta is the mother of 5 year old Lukas.