Hakomi Conference 2008
The Essential Connection:
Mindfulness, Brain and Body in Psychotherapy
August 7-10, 2008 in Boulder, Colorado

EVENING EVENT WITH CHRISTINE CALDWELL

Friday, August 8th 8-10:30 p.m.

Pressure, Pleasure, & Inquiry – A Movement Experience
    One of the most compelling questions in the fields of psychotherapy and social systems has to do with the nature of change. Whether it’s changing our minds, our hearts, or our habits, we all struggle with when, how, and whether or not to go a different route. This movement exploration will look at three sources for the motivation to change, and will suggest ways in which we can identify these sources in the body and use them consciously.
     We begin by working with bodily tensions and symptoms in an easy and straightforward manner – stretching, loosening, etc., listening to how the body wants to feel better. Next, we gravitate to simple, natural pleasures – making faces, wiggling, etc., increasing our capacity for fun. And last, we quiet the body and allow it to move from inner impulses, transitioning from moving to being moved by the life inside us.
     Our body knows how to change our lives and in what direction, if we allow it...

Christine Caldwell, Ph.D., ADTR, LPC, ACS, is the founder and former director of the Somatic Counseling Psychology Department at Naropa University in Boulder, where she currently teaches coursework in somatic counseling theory and skills, clinical neuroscience, research, and developmental psychology. Her work began twenty years ago with studies in anthropology, dance therapy, bodywork and Gestalt therapy, and has developed into innovations in the field of body-centered psychotherapy. She calls her work the Moving Cycle. This system goes beyond the limitations of therapy and emphasizes lifelong personal and social evolution through trusting and following body states. The Moving Cycle spotlights natural play, early physical imprinting, the transformational effect of fully sequenced movement processes, the practice of dying, the opportunities in addiction, and a trust in personal essence. She has taught at the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Concordia, Seoul Women’s University, Southwestern College, and Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and trains, teaches and lectures internationally. Her books include Getting Our Bodies Back, and Getting In Touch.