Lecture and Intensive Training Group
This workshop has now been completed.
Please see below for comments by workshop participants
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Due to the success of the previous three Heidelberg workshops
Dr. Vereshack has agreed to give another workshop
in the Spring of 2009.
See comments from participants of past workshops:
Irish Intensive 2005 & 2006
Toronto October 2005
Australian Workshop 2003 & 2004
Heidelberg Germany Workshop 2007, 2008
Website home page - www.paulvereshack.com
What exactly are the underpinnings of a Feeling and Body Oriented Depth Psychotherapy practice? How do we create "The Wide Open Field of Permission" that is so necessary for this work? What exactly do therapists do, why and how do they do it?
Dr. Paul Vereshack, B.A, M.D., D.Psych. is a Canadian Depth Therapy practitioner of forty years experience and the author of the book, "The Psychotherapy of The Deepest Self," which is fully available on his web site as, "Help Me - I'm Tired of Feeling Bad."
This kind of work, sometimes referred to as Primal Therapy, is often misunderstood. Paul suggests that before attending the free evening lecture it would be helpful to read his on line book at, www.paulvereshack.com and this is a prerequisite for attending the intensive teaching group mentioned below.
In the free evening lecture during the first hour he will describe his view of the mind/body processes which lie at the heart of this practice. In the second hour he will talk in detail about what exactly he does in helping clients to achieve very deep work on themselves. The third hour will be fully devoted to demonstrations, questions and discussions about what has been put forward.
Following the lecture there will be an Intensive training course. This will be done in a small group, limited to 12 participants. We will work for six hours a day, using each other as subjects to experience first hand the issues connected with this, or any other very deep psychotherapy.
Complete information about Dr. Vereshack and his teaching methods is available on his web site, mentioned above, as is an entire book of instructions, a brief biography of his life and very much more. Please read the Training section of the website for an understanding of how these workshops are conducted..
This course, because we will use ourselves as subjects for demonstrating depth therapy principles, requires that if necessary, each person be prepared to handle in themselves very high levels of psychological tension. Participants must be able to contain, and where they wish, to process powerful feelings. We make every effort to create a safe environment using modern group and depth therapy principles. No one is ever pressured to take part in processing feelings on the mat although it may be suggested. None the less these groups can cause powerful feelings to arise, and anyone attending is expected to understand that this is a teaching program and not a treatment facility. Previous therapy experience as a client is expected, as is an understanding of very deep therapy methods and procedures as set out in Dr. Vereshack's on line book mentioned above.
All lectures and Intensives will be given in English.
| The Training Group: seven days. Open to anyone who has adequate therapy experience and understands and fits the above criteria. |
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| Lecture: | Tuesday evening 8:00 PM April 7th, 2009 |
| 7 day group: | Wednesday April 8th running up to and Including Tuesday April 14th, 2009. There will be a goodbye dinner on the last evening. |
| Hours: | 9:00 AM till Noon and 2:00 PM till 5:00 PM. |
| Venue: | Heidelberg, Germany. Location to be announced. |
| Cost: | €680 Final payment is due by December 15th 2008. Payment should be made by bank transfer only to: |
| Contact Persons & Administrator: | Carmen Reiss Tele. +49 621 3361 870 info@primal-ma.de http://www.primal-ma.de |
| Dr. Vereshack may be contacted if you need further help. Email: emotionalsupport@paulvereshack.com Phone: Canada 416-606-3117 (office/mobile) |
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* * Comments from Participants * *
V. H. (Male)
For me it was the fourth time that I attended one of Paul's workshops and again I had the experience of feeling really alive, being able to express my feelings in a more intense and more honest way, than I ever can in my every day life.
Again I felt the "wide open field of permission" in Paul's workshops that is not only created by him, but also by the respect of all the other participants for each other. We were all able to show our vulnerability, our weakness, and our "dark" sides.
Usually it is very difficult for me to preserve much openness toward these feelings in the stress of every day life, and even to make deep feeling work a daily practice. This time, although--or because--I am in a particularly stressful time of my life, all this was much more possible when I returned home
Since my return from the workshop and with Paul's help in sessions on the Internet, I have been able to lie down and go into my worst feelings for 30 to 45 minutes about every second day. I can feel what a help this is in dealing with stress, and I am very grateful for that. And yet, I wish there were more opportunities to meet people in workshops like these, or outside workshops in our daily lives, and share and appreciate deep and painful feelings without judgement and rejection.
Being able to emotionally open up in front of other people, without fear, is really what it means to be alive. Thank you, Paul, for making this experience possible.
R.B. (Female)
I took part in this 7-day-training for the second time.
We had a very open, accepting, honest and safe atmosphere among us. Thus very intensive work was possible. With his high competence and experience, Paul supported each of us in finding our deep and hidden feelings, and in teaching us how to to follow this inner path on our own. I found Paul very sensitive and precise in his perception of us, and in how he suggested our next inner steps. It was important for me to know that, if something did not fit in the therapeutic experience, or if there was any discrepancy, it always was possible to voice this openly in the group. What was helpful for me to see was that every feeling was permitted to be present, and was worth being noticed and appreciated. It was not easy for me to learn how to work on only one issue at a time in small steps, and not to have to solve many problems at once.
I am very happy to have been there.
P. R. (Male)
After the 2007 Heidelberg workshop, it took me about 2 months to return to my "normal" state of pain. During those first 2 months, I was under the positive influence of all the things that happened in Heidelberg. For me it was a kind of "illumination".
The 2008 Workshop was a bit different. I went back to my normal social life in Berlin in a very short time without a "high phase", but I can affirm that I simply feel better. I feel that I gained a bit of freedom. I see this for instance in the way my therapy is going in Berlin. Before the workshop I told you (in my history) that I felt like I was "stuck", and was very angry with my therapist and my Berlin group members. Now, that has almost vanished and all my single therapy and group therapy sessions are "positive".
The 2 workshops I have had with you are like 2 points in my life which give me a direction to follow.
D.T. (Male)
I came to the Spring 2009 Heidelberg Group full of fears and expectations. My biggest fear, apart from the usual "it won't work", was fear of working in a group. I mean, how can I share my secrets with complete strangers?
Well, this group, during the 7 day period, raised up everything in me, love, hate, compassion, irritation, fear... I did not know what to make of it at first, but then I realised, that this is exactly how it is in my life! Paul had actually managed to re-create the feelings I have in my life in one closed room full of strangers! Two things struck me about Paul's work: His humanity and genuine compassion is like the father I never had in my life; and he has a humility- humility like I have never encountered with anyone, never mind professional therapists that I have crossed paths with in my recovery life.
I truly hope that I can continue my quest for the truth- and that is exactly what I am doing with Paul. He is helping me to find the ultimate, unspoiled, no-matter-how-horrible-truth!
For me, nothing else matters.
I.P. (male)
After seeing Paul gently and slowly disarming our defenses, and exposing the painful truth that had been hidden behind our words and behavior, I remember feeling like being in the presence of a genuine magician. I do not think I will be able to look at another human in the same way again.
There was time in the Heidelberg 2009 group when I could not speak for one full day because I was overwhelmed by that day's session- I was just crying, remembering, and making sense of things from my past and my present.
There was a time in that group when I felt in every cell of my body, a pain so enormous that I thought I would die. There was another time I felt such rage that I could demolish the primal room.
And then there was a moment when I experienced the most precious awakening moment of my adult life.
Amazing experience! The things I uncovered and the pain I touched have pointed me in the direction that I now know I need to go if I want to find my truth, and hopefully some freedom.
R, C, (Female)
I felt very connected to my feelings a lot of the time, and would sort of move in and out of a connected state. For me, connecting up the different bits of myself was a quiet process and it came from interactions in the moment, with Paul or Carmen or the other group members.
I really appreciated Paul's repeated reminders that no particular behaviours were required and that what was important was to stay congruent and express what was actually happening for us. Some of the ways that Paul tried to help me into my feelings worked for me, some of them didn't, but either way it was a good experience because I really did feel free to just say so if something wasn't helping and Paul was very responsive to that. He was extremely receptive to feedback –asked for it often, in fact – and this was really empowering. It meant that, even if something 'didn't work', there was still something good going on.
He also did his utmost to stay attuned and to give people as much or as little space as they needed. I had never done a workshop like this and had no expectation of anything tremendous happening but, oddly, something really started to happen for me within the first couple of days.
Watching the others do their thing gave me a sense of people really taking risks and gave me a lot of confidence in Paul's ability to stay with it.