Therapy of Integration of parts - we are both part of the universe and the whole universe within

I taught my last workshop of the year last weekend and it was a profoundly wholesome experience.

At the end of 3 intense days I glanced down at the room which provided our container and our liminal space for learning and experiencing and saw 25-bodies splayed across every corner, on the floor the sofas and the chairs in the dark with meditative music drawing their mandalas and I felt truly blessed and in awe.

I brought together many parts of myself in this workshop: my analytical mind that can make sense and digest-synthesize theory in a way that is accessible to myself and others, making connections and arriving at insights.

But also my deep and sensitive intuition, my attunement to and understanding of the body part and the feeling part and the numinous part, my creativity in leading people to deep and exploratory journeys safely, my potency and my flexibility and my courage to try things and if they don’t work to change them.

Integrative psychotherapy is not about eclectic use of theory and technique , it is about integrating theory to the service of the client;

It is first and foremost about using the self and the practice to help clients integrate themselves, bring their parts together in a whole that is greater than the sum.

Connecting to the unconscious, bridging to the archetypal psyche and experiencing a Self that is whole and resilient through owning our shadows, our stories, our anima and animus and our other archetypes so we can live outside Plato’s cave.

Through the process of teaching by process and not slavishly following a plan, I integrate a little bit more and hopefully I bring this integration to the students too so we are all changed.

Time to take stock of the year now and recharge. Grateful for my work and for the rest to come. Namaste.