Course format: A one or two-day experiential workshop. The course will include lecture, demonstration and supervised therapeutic practice.

Instructor: Bill Bowen,

Resources are those things, actions, and qualities we can draw upon for aid in times of need. Therapeutically, resources are defined as those actions, awarenesses, and abilities that support a person in maintaining a sense of self and a feeling of competency, regardless of what is occurring in his or her environment. There are many different categories of resources: psychological, emotional, intellectual, relational, artistic, spiritual, somatic, etc. This workshop focuses on the building of somatic resources, and on psycho-physical resourcing; the integration of psychological and somatic resources. When a person has inadequate resources, their ability to function fully and successfully in the demanding situations of life is undermined.

Somatic resources are body based; they emerge from a person's physical experience. These resources are the anatomical and physiological qualities and functions that support a physically felt experience of self and well-being. There are literally thousands of somatic resource possibilities ranging from gross locomotor functions to the fine motor control. They include the ability to process neurological information, to perform important physiological functions, to have a dynamic quality of both stability and mobility, to be physically flexible and adaptive, etc. Somatic resources are primarily associated with different anatomical and physiological functions but are never separate from a person's psychological issues. Movement plays a significant role in somatic resourcing and concepts of biomechanics will be introduced in this workshop.

Since transformation includes both mind and body it is invaluable for psychotherapists to understand how to work with the physical body as an active part of the psychotherapeutic process. Somatic resourcing is one of the primary ways we do this. The workshop will include:

· Introduction to somatic resourcing
· Somatic awareness
· Assessment of existing and missing resources
· Approaches and interventions for developing new somatic resources
· Awareness of postural holding patterns
· Awareness of movement patterns in reference to building somatic resources
· The interface between biomechanics and psychological issues
· Introduction to the Somatic Resource Themes
· Integration of new somatic resources into clients daily life
· Clinical applications of somatic resourcing

This workshop will be valuable for therapists interested in increasing their ability to work somatically, thus deepening the integrative quality of their work. Somatic techniques and the underlying theoretical base for working at the interface between specific patterns of posture/movement and psychological issues will be explored. Students will take away clinically useful techniques and approaches that can be applied in their practice.


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