May 20th 2023: The Lightness of Being: Jung, Neuroscience and Self-Regulation

The Guild of Pastoral Psychology Spring Conference

Date: Saturday 20th May 2023 Location: Essex Church, 112 Palace Gardens Terrace, London W8 4RT
Start time: 11:00am 

End time: 4:30pm 

Type: Conference & Webinar 

Refreshments: Lunch (vegetarian) is included for people attending in person

This conference can be attended both in person and online.  Click here for the webinar; click here for tickets to attend in person.

Jung took it for granted that his audience knew what he meant by the body’s capacity for self-regulation, and used this analogy to teach about psyche’s role of Self-regulation in the movement toward wholeness and the journey of individuation of each person.

 

Jung wrote: “Dreams are the reaction to our conscious attitude in the same way that the body reacts when we overeat or do not eat enough or when we ill-treat it in some other way. Dreams are the natural reaction of the self-regulating psychic system.”

 

In this day-long presentation Marian will introduce BodyDreaming, an approach that provides skills to help us to self-regulate, that is, to recognize, get in touch with, and bring about changes in our bodies’ and psyche’s capacity to regulate.  In particular we will  pay attention to our individual nervous system’s responses, and to the images that psyche offers to support us.

 

BodyDreaming offers us a means to become a more embodied and coherent version of ourselves.  It enables us to find regulation in our systems, as good as can be achieved in that moment. From this grounded, coherent place, we are more open to receive ourselves, and to begin to heal the trauma narrative imprinted on our nervous system.  “Trauma is not in the event, trauma is in the nervous system, [and it can therefore never be fully healed] until we also address the essential role played by the body.”

 

We will familiarize ourselves with a practice set to rewire our nervous system responses.  When our nervous systems are regulated we are more attuned inwardly and outwardly. We find ourselves aligned within, with ‘the other’ and in a simple but profound way with the Self. We discover that we co-regulate each other in the shared space, and that Self is also a party to this regulatory process. We find ourselves in a shared universe which offers us the possibility of greater coherence, interconnectedness, and alignment of body and soul.

 

The day will consist of two sessions with an hour’s break for lunch.

Morning (11:00 – 13:30 BST):

Registration (for those attending in person) followed by a talk and a question and answer session.

 

Afternoon (14:30 – 16:30 BST):

Marian will teach a basic practice of orientation that helps regulate the nervous system. There will be time to practice in small breakout groups – both those attending in person and those joining online. This will be followed by a feedback session and Marian will introduce a BodyDreaming approach to working with dreams.

 

Please note that a video recording will be made of both sessions; however, the breakout groups will not be videoed.  The video will be made available to all attendees.