INTO THE PLENUM
IMAGINAL PRACTICES FOR AN UNRULY PSYCHE
Six Fridays: February 6 - March 13
12-1:30pm PST / 3-4:30pm EST / 8-9:30pm GMT
Virtual / Zoom
$150-250
This is a course to help you come closer to your soul (psyche) by nourishing the imaginal field. Our collective task will be to let our psyches imagine, to breathe life and love into the vast oceanic plenum of our soul’s images, feelings, movements, thoughts, yearnings, dreams and nightmares. We will attempt this alchemic feat (this heroic task) by subtly guiding the emergent energetic flows of our psyches — neither controlling nor surrendering, but through the skillful means of discerning how and when to hold both active and passive temperaments. We will step into our imaginations, inhabiting them more fully, and we will step out, gaining distance. The entire course will be this movement (back and forth, in and out, feeling and distancing) as we move between visualizations, relational meditations, expressive movement exercises, psychodramatic tableaus, and inner parts work. This movement of immersing in psyche to amplify it and then detaching to gain loving distance is perhaps the most fundamental phenomenological spatial metaphor of psychological transformation: a cross-cultural mystico-ecstatic-trantrik truism (a kind of cosmic fucking) that orients one towards earthly transcendence – an integrated spirit and soul. Our task is nothing less than merging the divine and the human through devotion to what is always already here (i.e. whatever our psyche is doing) and the radical belief that even the most tangled inner life can become beautiful, if held with the right kind of attention.
Sessions are virtual, and will be held over Zoom for 1.5 hours on 6 consecutive Fridays. Each session will sprinkle in a tiny bit of theory, a moderate amount of modeling, large group work/play, and a some breakout rooms as well. It is highly recommended that participants be able to join the sessions synchronously in a quiet and private setting. Sessions will be recorded if a participant needs to miss a session or two. At-home exercises will be provided in between our meetings for participants to optionally engage in, and our class will also provide a private group chat for participants to share their soulwork, reflections and feelings.
Techniques will be drawn from: Internal Family Systems, Psychodrama, Process Oriented Psychology, Authentic Relating, Circling, Imaginal Practices, Performance Art, Clowning.
Theory will be drawn from: James Hillman, Depth Psychology, Zen Buddhism, Existential Phenomenology, Medieval Alchemy.
SCHEDULE:
Class 1- Introductions & The Lay of the Land. We will welcome each other, go over agreements, do a theoretical deep dive, bring up some allies, and play some authentic relating game and sociometric warmups.
Class 2- Inner Parts as Psyche’s Gatekeepers: Beginning our Practice We will begin orienting towards our psyches as a landscape of inner parts, and dialogue with some of these parts using practices drawn from Internal Family Systems and other partswork modalities.
Class 3- Visualizations: Collectively Populating our Image Worlds We will play in the visual realm by allowing our psyches to populate images and see where these images lead us.
Class 4- Relationality: Projecting and Introjecting Otherness We will move our play to the relational field as we play with projecting our psyche onto others, and see what comes up in us in the presence of others.
Class 5- Movement & Gesture: Psychodramatic Extensions into Space We will extend our play into the spatio-temporal space around us, using psychodrama to create constellations or tableaus of our psyche within our rooms.
Class 6- The Emergent Field: Processwork & Signal Amplification We will combine the efforts of what we've done in a sweet processwork package providing tools for how to play within the emergent field of signals.
Price: Price is tiered based on an sliding scales of income/subsistence and ranges from $150-250. Please try to reasonably and honestly select the price that reflects your economic situation. Also, we are happy to make this program available to you at a reduced cost if you cannot join otherwise. If you would like to request this option please email The Deep Play Institute [[email protected]] with the following: (1) your name (2) reason for requesting this option (3) the amount you can pay. And then we will send you a modified registration link reflecting this indicated amount. DPI is committed to covering our basic costs, while also making this work/play accessible for everyone who needs it.
Timing: Our classes will be held for 1.5 hours on Fridays from February 6 - March 13. Timing will be: 12-1:30pm PST / 3-4:30pm EST / 8-9:30pm GMT* (For those in Europe, our last class on March 13th will be slightly earlier because of daylight savings time switching, and will be 7-8:30pm GMT)
NOTE ON EMOTIONAL REGULATION: This program will involve the exploration of diverse emotional landscapes that unfold within and among our psyches. Many of the practices we explore are designed to cultivate vulnerability, with its pleasures and hardships, and might be compared to the way one's deepest romantic relationships sometimes surface one's most challenging psychological material. Conflict and hurt may arise that might conventionally be quieted or minimized. It is not uncommon for participants to encounter triggers of psychological wounds within these practices, and this should be considered a possibility. The facilitator will use techniques to contain and care for what arises, but will not be able to provide ongoing care for emotional fallout. We invite you to be watchful of one's own safety and opt out in little and big ways as needed, and to have emotional processing methods in place (such as therapy, meditation, journaling, processing with friends, etc) that can help you learn with and from what happens at the intensive. Additionally, we ask that you have some inner settledness and calm available so we can play deeply together. If at this moment in your life you find you are highly activated by something you cannot set down, it may be best not to participate at this time. We understand that therapy can be very expensive and trusted therapists are hard to find, and there might be some temptation to come to this group for that kind of care, but it is not designed for that kind of individual attention.
About the Deep Play Institute The Deep Play Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to exploring life’s deepest questions through transformative play. DPI’s facilitators – therapists, artists, coaches, and philosophers – aim to use play to bring people into an experiential questioning of what it means to exist. Each program that DPI runs is a unique container, creatively constructed and inspired by practices that include: Gestalt therapy, Process Work, Psychodrama, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Tavistock Group Relations, Relational Psychoanalysis, Authentic Relating, Nonviolent Communication, Circling, coaching, performance art, contact improvisation, experimental theater, LARPs, surrealism, existential games, and various schools of meditation.
Sessions are virtual, and will be held over Zoom for 1.5 hours on 6 consecutive Fridays. Each session will sprinkle in a tiny bit of theory, a moderate amount of modeling, large group work/play, and a some breakout rooms as well. It is highly recommended that participants be able to join the sessions synchronously in a quiet and private setting. Sessions will be recorded if a participant needs to miss a session or two. At-home exercises will be provided in between our meetings for participants to optionally engage in, and our class will also provide a private group chat for participants to share their soulwork, reflections and feelings.
Techniques will be drawn from: Internal Family Systems, Psychodrama, Process Oriented Psychology, Authentic Relating, Circling, Imaginal Practices, Performance Art, Clowning.
Theory will be drawn from: James Hillman, Depth Psychology, Zen Buddhism, Existential Phenomenology, Medieval Alchemy.
SCHEDULE:
Class 1- Introductions & The Lay of the Land. We will welcome each other, go over agreements, do a theoretical deep dive, bring up some allies, and play some authentic relating game and sociometric warmups.
Class 2- Inner Parts as Psyche’s Gatekeepers: Beginning our Practice We will begin orienting towards our psyches as a landscape of inner parts, and dialogue with some of these parts using practices drawn from Internal Family Systems and other partswork modalities.
Class 3- Visualizations: Collectively Populating our Image Worlds We will play in the visual realm by allowing our psyches to populate images and see where these images lead us.
Class 4- Relationality: Projecting and Introjecting Otherness We will move our play to the relational field as we play with projecting our psyche onto others, and see what comes up in us in the presence of others.
Class 5- Movement & Gesture: Psychodramatic Extensions into Space We will extend our play into the spatio-temporal space around us, using psychodrama to create constellations or tableaus of our psyche within our rooms.
Class 6- The Emergent Field: Processwork & Signal Amplification We will combine the efforts of what we've done in a sweet processwork package providing tools for how to play within the emergent field of signals.
Price: Price is tiered based on an sliding scales of income/subsistence and ranges from $150-250. Please try to reasonably and honestly select the price that reflects your economic situation. Also, we are happy to make this program available to you at a reduced cost if you cannot join otherwise. If you would like to request this option please email The Deep Play Institute [[email protected]] with the following: (1) your name (2) reason for requesting this option (3) the amount you can pay. And then we will send you a modified registration link reflecting this indicated amount. DPI is committed to covering our basic costs, while also making this work/play accessible for everyone who needs it.
Timing: Our classes will be held for 1.5 hours on Fridays from February 6 - March 13. Timing will be: 12-1:30pm PST / 3-4:30pm EST / 8-9:30pm GMT* (For those in Europe, our last class on March 13th will be slightly earlier because of daylight savings time switching, and will be 7-8:30pm GMT)
NOTE ON EMOTIONAL REGULATION: This program will involve the exploration of diverse emotional landscapes that unfold within and among our psyches. Many of the practices we explore are designed to cultivate vulnerability, with its pleasures and hardships, and might be compared to the way one's deepest romantic relationships sometimes surface one's most challenging psychological material. Conflict and hurt may arise that might conventionally be quieted or minimized. It is not uncommon for participants to encounter triggers of psychological wounds within these practices, and this should be considered a possibility. The facilitator will use techniques to contain and care for what arises, but will not be able to provide ongoing care for emotional fallout. We invite you to be watchful of one's own safety and opt out in little and big ways as needed, and to have emotional processing methods in place (such as therapy, meditation, journaling, processing with friends, etc) that can help you learn with and from what happens at the intensive. Additionally, we ask that you have some inner settledness and calm available so we can play deeply together. If at this moment in your life you find you are highly activated by something you cannot set down, it may be best not to participate at this time. We understand that therapy can be very expensive and trusted therapists are hard to find, and there might be some temptation to come to this group for that kind of care, but it is not designed for that kind of individual attention.
About the Deep Play Institute The Deep Play Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to exploring life’s deepest questions through transformative play. DPI’s facilitators – therapists, artists, coaches, and philosophers – aim to use play to bring people into an experiential questioning of what it means to exist. Each program that DPI runs is a unique container, creatively constructed and inspired by practices that include: Gestalt therapy, Process Work, Psychodrama, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Tavistock Group Relations, Relational Psychoanalysis, Authentic Relating, Nonviolent Communication, Circling, coaching, performance art, contact improvisation, experimental theater, LARPs, surrealism, existential games, and various schools of meditation.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
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Aaron Finbloom is a philosopher, artist, therapist, and educator whose work aims to expand transformative inquiry through relational games, role play, performance art, and conversation scores. He co-founded The School of Making Thinking (SMT) and is the founder and director of The Deep Play Institute (DPI). His projects have been featured internationally at venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Gallery 151 in New York, Maschinenhaus Kulturbrauerei in Berlin, UNAM in Mexico City, Performance Works Northwest in Portland, and Fonderie Darling in Montreal. He has training in Circling, Psychodrama, Buddhist Meditation, Butoh and Processwork, and has over 20+ years experience as a musician, contact improviser and performance artist. Aaron holds a PhD in relational studies from Concordia University in Montreal's Interdisciplinary Humanities Program, and teaches philosophy at the City College of New York. www.finblooming.com www.aaronfinbloom.com
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