Psychosynthesis on the Move. An occasional newsletter from the Synthesis Center March, 2015

Transcription

1 Psychosynthesis on the Move. An occasional newsletter from the Synthesis Center March, 2015 Renewal Spring comes slowly to New England this year, but it does so with the fullness of life s ever emerging will to grow. We humans are not different. Through obstacles and challenges, with the support of the nourishment we need, and through our very own will, we continue to grow. Sometimes we grow in spurts, like a youngster, big leaps, moving us in the spiral of our life s journey. Sometimes, we move along, feeling just how slow the journey can be. Is there a difference? Is one better? Perhaps not. Perhaps, we are held in the web of life, moving unfailingly, in the unfolding of our own purpose and in a much larger Purpose, whose meaning we may never know. Perhaps it is enough to be just exactly as we are.

2 Early Spring by Paula Sayword I am not thinking about roadside bombs or the death of glaciers and only once did I think of our nations soul growing thin. No, I am simply drinking the warmth of this late March morning, spring newly born like the black and white calf that nods in sleep next to its mother. = The phoebe came back today as the sun climbed a ladder of sky. She calls her name over and over = memorizes who she is, flighty, anxious, yet faithful to place, = she returns year after year to nest, sit on the frayed clothes-line, flicking her tail. = In the Glen wood frogs still sleep, dream deep, their hearts hesitate, start to pump again as they thaw = then stir under duff and leaf. They will make their way to the vernal pool that = shimmers with spring light, where a few days from now = they will croak and bark, swim in the shallow water till exhausted and spent = the frogs will be quite once more. Time leaves the darkness behind. I watch the maple buds, red-swollen, = ready to sing themselves awake. Breath comes back to me, comes back to the sky = where a bluebird dissolves into blue. Paula is on the Board of Directors of the Synthesis Center and is the author of two books of poetry, most recently: Canticle of Light and Dark

3 News and Events from We are pleased to announce that the Center will be offering its Teacher Training Program. The program is offered just once every 5 years, taught by Didi Firman. The purpose of this advanced training is to prepare psychosynthesis practitioners to teach and lead groups in any number of settings. This would include theme groups, educational settings, therapy groups, consulting, workshops, and psychosynthesis training, among other possibilities. The program is open only to those with psychosynthesis training. The program is 40 hours long, held over 3 weekends in the summer & early fall, Saturdays (9-6) & Sundays (9-4): July 18 & 19; September 19 & 20 and October 17 & 18. The program will be held at the Synthesis Center in Amherst, MA. For more information, contact Didi@synthesiscenter.org. Psychosynthesis Training News From the Synthesis Center

4 Fall will move us into our 37th year of psychosynthesis training, with a new in-person Level 1 program, offered for all who can travel to New England, one weekend per month from October through June. The program leads to Psychosynthesis Life Coach Certification, with an option for the nationally certified Board Certified Coach credential. Side by side with our live training will be our second level 1 Psychosynthesis Coach teleconference, as well as an Advanced Psychosynthesis Coach teleconference for those who have already trained in Psychosynthesis. Psychosynthesis Training, as many of us know, is truly a path of personal, professional and spiritual growth. As this newsletter goes into the world, we note with deep appreciation the many people who have worked with psychosynthesis as a means of serving the world. Thank you one and all. Free introductory sessions coming right up! Teleconference and Live in Amherst, MA & Brattleboro, VT Teleconference Free Introductory sessions: Free teleconference introductory sessions will be held on the following dates: The times are EST. Friday, April 17 6:30-8:00PM Friday, May 15 7:00-8:30PM Monday, June 15 7:00-8:30PM Sunday, July 12 5:30-7:00PM Sunday, August 16 5:30-7:00PM To register for one of these sessions admin@psychosynthesiscoach.org with your name and address. Free Introductory In-Person Sessions We will be holding free introductions to psychosynthesis training and psychosynthesis coach training this spring and summer. Live sessions will be held in: Amherst, Massachusetts on Friday April 10, 5:30-7:00PM, May 17, 5:30-7:00PM, June 7, 3:30-5:00PM. For more information or to register contact: Admin@synthesiscenter.org Brattleboro, Vermont on Thursday, July 9th 6:30-8:00PM & Sunday August 23 6:30-8:00PM. For more information or to register contact: Jon@synthesiscenter.org

5 And there is more!!! Summer Intensive Coach Training for people already trained in psychosynthesis! This 60 hour program will be open to anyone who has trained in psychosynthesis and wants to become nationally certified as a life coach ( as well as becoming a certified Psychosynthesis Life Coach. The group will convene, in person and through teleconference, based on the best fit for group members. Visit our coach website and look at our Find a Coach page. All graduates of our PLC training are invited to join us on our website! BEYOND TRAINING! Time to get your body/mind together! The Center is proud to announce its first Health and Wellness Coaching Program. Health and Wellness Individualized Coaching Program with Pru Smith, BCC Pru Smith (a long time Center staff member) is a Board Certified Coach and Psychosynthesis Practitioner specializing in Health and Wellness, Limbic System Re- - - Patterning, and Sustainability. Pru is now offering her health and wellness coaching services as a six- - - week package. Individualized coaching sessions start with creation of a Personalized Wellness Plan, continue with recognition and clarification of step- - - by- - - step goals, and proceed through levels of investigation which enhance and ground new habits and patterns for on- - - going access to your highest well- - - being. The Health and Wellness Program includes personalized support- - - work and feedback via e- - - mail as well as an in- - - person minute phone session each week. For more information, contact Pru at prusmith@yahoo.com. Please put coaching in the subject line. You may also contact Pru at: and visit Pru s website.

6 UPsy c hos y nthes i s C afe G r and (re)op e n ing! U This virtual cafe is hosted by Jon Schottland, psychosynthesis trainer and coach blogger. It happens online, once a month, and is open to all who are interested in psychosynthesis. Pull up a chair, grab your computer, pour your favorite beverage, and join this live and lively conversation via our Campfire site to talk about all things psychosynthesis! Contact Jon@synthesiscenter.org for times and password access. Great place to meet new people, ask big questions, and share thoughts! And visit our ongoing Psychosynthesis Coaching Blog, where Jon is currently devoting his thoughtful wisdom to Roberto Assagioli s Evocative Words. So far he has visited ENERGY; CALM; CONFIDENCE & GRATITUDE (with an excerpt below)! It just keeps getting better! Here s some more good news from the Center: Psychosynthesis Affiliates Returning Soon! If you were trained in psychosynthesis at the Center and are offering your work, in any form, to the public, WE WANT YOU! Our Synthesis Center website will soon have a page for Psychosynthesis Affiliates, listing those who practice and what they do. We want to make psychosynthesis services easily accessible.

7 Send us a picture and a one paragraph listing of your work including contact information. We ll get this up and running as soon as we have a number of folks to put in our listing! Board Certified Coaches! Look for our fall on-line and live CEU workshops. We all need to meet CEU requirements, so why not do it with each other? If you are interested in offering a CEU workshop (and are a BCC coach), let us know! We d love to share the expertise of so many of us, with the coaching world! Workshops will be open to all, as well as meeting BCC CEU requirements. For both of the above, contact didi@synthesiscenter.org and type in affiliates or CEU s in the subject line. FACEBOOK! PLEASE LIKE US ON FB. HONESTLY, I CAN T SAY I UNDERSTAND SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT OUR WISE AND FAITHFUL FACEBOOK EXPERT, KEEPS THE SITE LIVELY, INSPIRATIONAL AND INFORMATIVE. THANK YOU MARJORIE! ( 2016!!!! Just a heads up to look for us on the high seas in Jon and Didi will be taking psychosynthesis into the world on the Zen Cruise to Cozumel on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas! Dates: March 3-7, And Psychosynthesis continues to grow and thrive throughout the world! Come to Montreal this summer for AAP s annual conference. Or visit Norway with Tom Yeomans and don t forget that Sicily will host an international Psychosynthesis Conference in 2016! Psychosynthesis everywhere!

8 - since Summer Institute, 22 th to the 26 th of June 2015, Kristiansand, Norway. Dear Friends and Colleagues! The organizing committee Tom Yeomans, Sasha Badkhen, Vitalija Lepeskiene, Fredrik Lundh and Liv Grendstad Rousseau, are inviting you to the Summer Institute of June In these times when the world is changing quickly and relationships between countries and cultures are put to a strain, we have chosen to work together under the title: "Strengthening the Soul: Healing Lessons in Dark Times" Important themes that we have been working on together in past institutes include: Connection, Suffering, Community, Sharing and Blessing. We will take these up again in these present world circumstances and are looking forward to this opportunity to come together and share our deep interest in working within a spiritual context in learning, growing and enjoying each others company. The Summer Institute is a meeting place for teachers and practitioners in the fields of Gestalt, Psychosynthesis, Spiritual Psychology and related disciplines that honor and include the spiritual dimension. We look forward to welcoming oldtimers as well as new colleagues from many different countries. For more information, visit: senter.no or post@meta- - - senter.no

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10 In Closing! a brief excerpt from Jon s latest blog post GRATITUDE Allow yourself to turn away from the noise of the world, moving from outer space to inner space. Take a few nice, easy breaths and feel the natural rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. Now visualize a cup or vessel see it slowly filling up with GRATITUDE, going from empty to full and let this energy infuse the self. When your cup is full, you will have a reservoir that you can call on throughout the day: grateful for this, grateful for that. Finally, imagine that your cup runneth over and see your gratitude extending out in front of you and behind you, to both sides, above and below. Tune Your Heart to the Day There is a practice in psychosynthesis of waking up twice to start the day. The first awakening is from the unconsciousness of sleep into a state of mental and bodily awareness. Assagioli talked about staying in bed for a short while to intentionally evoke a second awakening, and the purpose of this was to become attuned to the presence of a higher or spiritual self. It is a form of preparation for the day, getting ready to engage life not just as a daily grind, but rather as a fresh opportunity to bring forward

11 your best representation of Self. It is analogous to the musician who tunes her guitar in order to bring forth the most wondrous and beautiful sounds from the instrument. In a similar vein, there is a short verse in the Jewish tradition called Modeh Ani that is recited in the morning before getting out of bed. These simple opening words mean I give thanks and it is an expression of GRATITUDE for being alive, for having the soul restored in our human form for another day. This prayer is recited every day, regardless of whether we feel enthusiastic and ready to greet the world like a tiger springing out of bed, or more like a slug, lethargic and barely able to push ourselves out from under the covers. It is a fundamental affirmation of life, that we are grateful to be alive. All of this takes some internal preparation: we cannot simply say a few words, flip a switch and, voila, gratitude! The theologian John Rayner noted that the preparation is as important as the prayer itself. We set the table, so to speak, by tuning our hearts and minds to the day and giving thanks. May we all know peace, The Synthesis Center Amherst, MA This is perfect. That is perfect. Take perfect from perfect and the remainder is perfect. May peace and peace and peace be everywhere. (from the Upanishads)