Dear Ones, Jack Blackburn here. First I want to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Some of you are receiving this newsletter for the first time. In the last issue I asked that those who were interested in expanding the circulation of Presencing take advantage of the area at the bottom of the page to submit the names of persons whom they think would benefit from the classes we offer and appreciate the articles we publish. If you were already getting the newsletter, you are receiving these class notices again. I’m sorry for that, but we were unable to isolate the new names from the regulars. I also realized that many persons on my own mail site are in touch with me but have never seen copies of the newsletter. If you feel that you have received Presencing in error there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the page. Every month I send out an article about some aspect of bodywork and inner work, and an area of interaction with touch that produces healing. The most recent article about Toshi the young Japanese boy I worked with, has received much wonderful feedback.
Link to Presencing Issue 24: Toshi Article
I also use this newsletter to publicize upcomming classes. Below are two classes that are happening right after the holidays… usually a slow time for bodyworkers. These classes represent the dedication we have at Trillium Institute to bring leading edge material to the professional comunity.
Trillium Institute Presents:
Future of Bodywork Symposium:
Wednesday Evening January 4th at Nalanda West
The Role of the Client in Bodywork
Our Panel: Deane Juhan, Dave Campbell, Diana Thompson, BJ Erkan, Jack Blackburn, Alison Day, with Michael Hamm as Moderator.
Determining Our Future: This special symposium is the third in our series: The Future of Bodywork. We have assembled a panel of bodywork practitioners and educators. You are invited to join in and become more active in determining the future of your profession. Our experiences with clients call for looking deeper at the training it takes to accompany clients in different situations. You can participate in discussion groups based on your concerns and experiences. The theme for this evening is: “What parts do clients play their own therapy?” We will explore different kinds of physical, verbal, and somatic interactions, and client self-care approaches away from the sessions. We will also look at less interactive client responses: sleeping, chatting, and dissociation. Are there ways of improving our therapeutic effectiveness by revising our paradigm of treatment to involve clients in their own healing?
The Client’s Role: At least 50 percent of what is happening during sessions is determined by the client. And 100 percent of what is happening between sessions is determined by the client. We know that many factors in clients’ lives determine how they progress in bodywork sessions. Some clients become very involved in their own process and some clients leave everything up to the practitioner and the insurance company. Many clients do not really know why we do what we do. Many clients assume that we get paid our regular rates by third party payers. Clients do not know how much their attitude about their bodies, their emotional state and their external lives affect their body state and vice versa. How can we work with clients and involve these factors in their process legitimately? Please join us for this extraordinary event!
Wednesday night January 4th 2012 at Nalanda West, 6 to 9:30PM
Nalanda West 3902 Woodland Park Ave No. Seattle WA 98103 (206) 529-8258
3CEUs. ***Earn up to two extra CEUs for case studies from your practice***
Cost $40 for one person. Discount package: $60 for two persons.
To register: https://www.presencingsource.com/workshops-for-body-workers/Future-of-Bodywork.html
   
  
The Second workshop
***Somatic Doors of Perception***
with
Deane Juhan and Jack Blackburn
January 7th and 8th, 2012
It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling of objective presence, a perception of what we may call ‘something there,’ more deep and more general than any of the special and particular ‘senses’ by which the current psychology supposes… William James
The Role of the Client: What is happening inside the client during a session? We know by external signs whether the client is awake and present. We can also tell when the client is sleeping or zoning out. But is there another exchange between practitioner and client: when both are somatically aware of their own bodies. What happens when they both interact from a shared space of somatic awareness? Deane and Jack have known one another since the 1980s. Both have been exploring these questions, each from their own perspective. Recently they have been comparing notes with one another and it would appear that they are witnessing similar surprising results with their clients and students. It seems that many, if not most holding patterns in the body can be released simply by mutual interaction of words and somatic awareness between both persons.
Mutual Touch: The experience of touch: the client from inside and practitioner from outside the body are sharing the same phenomena. The client feels something from the hands of the practitioner; the practitioner feels something from the body of the client. Fundamentally both persons are touching and both persons are being touched. The practitioner is more conscious of giving touch, the client is more conscious of receiving touch… but both are touching. This means that both are participating in a process that only happens… now. Also, both are feeling the effects of the touch.
Deeper Signals: What if both become equal in terms of their ability to touch and feel? Each is aware of the internal sensations in his/her own body that are informing them both about this interaction. Something is shared across skin barriers as the mutual somatic awareness is heightened. The practitioner can heighten the client’s somatic awareness by moving the tissue, tapping the tissue, decompressing the tissue, and using words that elicit the client’s awareness of what is happening. Each of these probes sends various signals to the client’s brain. When the client becomes conscious of these signals the practitioner can feel a response in that part of the body that the practitioner is touching. As this response is felt by the practitioner he/she can then give feedback to the client, which further heightens the client’s involvement.
Perceptual Doors: The surface sensations of touch in both persons are accompanied by external and internal perceptions: vaguely described as proprioception, interoception, exteroception, conscious thought, unconscious thought, felt sense, sense of presence, sense of shared presence, and mutual verbal interaction. We are attempting to understand how these messages back and forth change many factors for both client and practitioner. It’s as if we are discovering that the mind and feeling awareness of the client is much more significant that mechanical manipulation of the tissue. What are the implications of these surprising results?
Changing the Mind: The hidden truths behind these data could profoundly change the way we understand ourselves and our work. Milton Trager used to say: “You are always working on the mind of the client” and “If you want to change the body, you must first change the mind.” Many of us pondered these words as we have worked over the years. It is now clear to Deane and Jack that changing the mind has to do with shifting the client’s mind from thinking to feeling what is happening now. The body is the medium, the mind is the message. You will learn various ways for shifting the client’s mind by discussing and working with examples of exteroception, interoception and proprioception.
Teamwork: We will explore client-practitioner interactive teamwork through the medium of the senses. Specifically we want to focus on: psychophysical mechanisms like brain chemistry and mind-body communication systems (Deane), and sharing of conscious awareness, personal presencing and spiritual development (Jack). This workshop will lay the groundwork for a follow up class in April, which will address in-depth applications of the principles of interactive somatic awareness in your practice. In that class we will be challenging some of the basic paradigms of mechanical bodywork, namely: the need to overcome clients’ bodily resistance, the need to “fix the client,” and the primary focus on symptomatic relief. We are hoping to stimulate many practitioners’ exploration of these inner experiences in their work with their clients.
January 7th & 8th
9am to 6pm
CEUs: 16
Cost: $280
Register
Jack Blackburn, LMP, Master’s in Theological Studies, Certified Spiritual Director, specializes in body centered spiritual growth and healing. He has been a Trager® practitioner since 1986. He has been a Trager tutor since 1993, has taught Trager electives classes since 1996, and teaches a variety of classes to care giving professionals. He is a NCBTMB Approved Continuing Education Provider and AMTA National Presenter. He is a Focusing Trainer and teaches Bodywork Focusing classes for professionals. Jack is also a Reiki Master and teaches levels I, II, III and Advanced Reiki for Bodyworkers.
presencinginfo@gmail.com
www.presencingsource.com
206-527-0908 1-888-755-4558
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