08/25/2020
2020 Group: Healing the Divided Self
An acquaintance of mine, Robert Johnson had the honor to be analyzed by the late great psychiatrist, Carl Jung. Robert reported that he once asked Jung if we are going to survive as a species, to which, Jung responded, “If enough people do their inner work.” I believe that this is a critical time to do our inner work as we share our fragile and changing planet.
Each summer for the past 30 years, I have planned ongoing groups and retreats in anticipation of the fall sessions in which together, we explor our lives and delve deeply into our individual and collective psyches. Through dream work, the Enneagram, hypnosis, contemplative practices, and a range of other experiential modalities, we have worked and played together – seeking insight and wisdom on this “journey we call our lives”.
But now, given the nature of this pandemic, the hot sultry summer days here in Florida are slipping by and it has been difficult to anticipate this year’s groups in virtual time rather than our long days and weekends in person. In fact, I have considered foregoing group work this year given the limitations of online work and the heightened requests for intensive individual sessions. However, upon waking this morning, I realized the obvious: community is needed more now than ever, and I can’t NOT create a forum for those who want to continue – or begin, our work together. We are certainly living a paradox in which physical distancing is needed for our survival and staying connected is also needed for our survival.
While the format of decades past in which we met monthly for 8-hour-weekend days and for some, week-long retreats, it Is not an option now. This fall we will be together online for shorter periods and continue to explore and deepen in our respective work together. To avoid screen fatigue, our meetings will be shorter and suggestions for personal reading or reflections greater, in preparation to be present and offer and receive insight, support, and create a safe container to survive – and thrive during this time.
So, if you are interested, read on and email me: drdaniellegreen@gmail.com Also, the information for future reference is posted on my page: The Center for the Study of Consciousness.
The overarching theme for this season is The Divided Soul – an examination of how most of us are cut in two, severed, and separated from our real selves. By the time we access glimpses of the real self, life decisions are typically made – marriages, career, friendships, locations, and homes. These choices may be based on the false or adaptive self that has created an identity that is less than genuine and integrated life – or symptoms that speak to us if we have the ears to listen. But then, as life would have it – something happens…an illness, an affair, a death, retirement, an accident, an unexpected encounter…and for a moment in time, the veil has lifted, and we see that there is more waiting…and the journey has begun.
In this group, we are invited to bring our divided selves and participate in the task of integration and bring together the disparate parts that cry out in dreams and acts of synchronicities, and fateful encounters. Here, we face the cry to heal the shame or fear or disowned spiritual call and heal the breach. Here we learn to “die before we die” so that a truer self can live and be fulfilled in the brief time we share on this wild and gentle planet. This is the rich process of individuation.
The group will be divided into sections over our months together:
We will begin with exploring Hypnosis as a way of relaxing the body and learning self-hypnotic skills to discharge anxiety and depression and create healthier personal habits through self-suggestion.
From there, we will incorporate a wide range of contemplative and meditation practices, along with self-hypnosis to regulate the nervous system and invite the psyche through insight, synchronicities, and dreams to be manifested into consciousness.
From these conversations and practices, we step off into the active world of dream analysis, having invited our unconscious world to reveal her/himself as a gateway to the unified authentic life and destiny. Thus, having used self-hypnosis and contemplative practices to experience transcendent states of consciousness for behavioral change and quieting the mind, there is a deeper availability to listen to the longing of the soul. Together, we will learn to listen and support one another as an active community of co-healers and dreamers.
The group will meet every other Sat and Monday evening for different blocks of time. Except for emergencies, each participant is asked to make a full commitment to the group. This supports the level of investment and trust that we need to work together in an in-depth manner.
Saturday, September 19: 1-4 PM; We will take regular breaks throughout this time; both 5-minute breaks and a longer 20-minute break to avoid screen fatigue.
Monday, September 28: 7-9PM; An agreed upon short break will be negotiated as needed.
Saturday, October 10: 1-4PM
Monday, October 19: 7-9PM
Saturday, October 31, 1-4PM
Monday, November 9, 7-9PM
Saturday, November 21, 1-4PM
Monday, November 30, 7-9PM
Saturday, December 12, 1-4PM
The Saturday sessions are $100, and the Wed. sessions are $50. Because the groups are limited in size and there is more interest than can be accommodated, a full commitment to pay for any groups missed is required, with the exception of health and climate emergencies.
"Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found." Eckhart Tolle