Events »»» HeartTouch
HeartTouch
Mindfulness & Compassionate Touch Training for Emotional Pain, Trauma and Psychosis
An experiential training for Psychotherapists / Clinicians, Shiatsu / Bodywork therapists, Family Members & Experiencers of Extreme States.
Imperial Wharf, Chelsea Harbour, London, September 4th 2022 10am-5pm
Anthony Fidler
Embodied Mindfulness is a way of being in which you are fully connected with your body and you feel safe.
Your mind is quiet and present to your experience of life happening that moment and you heart feels warm and open to yourself and to those around you.
This is a state of well-being and good feeling.
We will explore together how mindfulness & touch based connection practices can help us to move closer towards this state of well-being whether as an experiencer of extreme states or as someone who cares for people in these situations.
We are not looking for 'cures' or 'fixes'. Whatever our 'role' we are learning to be with ourselves and to be ourselves. Just as important we are learning to be fully present with others.
As we transform the way we relate to ourselves, our experiences and the world, symptoms which distress us may also change.
Along the way everyone involved will enhance their capacity to hold safe space for others.
And this will touch everything we do in life from then on...
HeartTouch is experiential work.
We will make a journey through simple mindfulness based practices drawn from Japanese Hara training and Chinese Qi Gong along with breath and sound work to bring us fully into our bodies.
Anthony teaching HeartTouch
We will then have some time to be with ourselves in stillness without distractions, exploring expression through creative work.
And then we can share something of what it is like to be 'us' and be heard.
Our final practice will be mindfulness and touch based in which we learn to enter into resonance with another human being. This work is inspired by Akinobu Kishi's Sei Ki.
When we share this work together, we learn for a short time what embodied mindfulness truly is and from this state we can grow both as experiencers and carers.
The Vision:
The HeartTouch project is about inspiring and empowering people to facilitate HeartTouch groups with those they resonate with and care about in our society.
I hope people with lived experience can play an equal role alongside specialists with bodywork or psychological training.
When we make compassionate efforts to meet the needs of others, we find our own needs met in the process. Love doesn't know one direction.
About Anthony:
He is British, 51, a graduate of Cambridge University and has been exploring Mindfulness based meditation, Tai Chi and Ki based Therapeutic Bodywork for the past 20 years.
He had his own journey of anxiety and what we can call psychosis between 2001-2010. After a six month period on anti-psychotic medications in 2001, he came off them and developed his own ways to recover and live a full life. He now shares what he learnt both with those seeking to help others in extreme states and those experiencing them.
He is a qualified Mindfulness teacher, Tai Chi teacher and an experienced student of the late Akinobu Kishi , the founder of Sei Ki.
Click here for more on Anthony's background and experience
Details:
The event is being hosted by Anthony Fidler with support by Safely Held Spaces
This workshop is open to anyone caring for people experiencing extreme states: psychotherapists / clinicians, shiatsu / bodywork therapists, family members as well as those at times experiencing extreme anxiety, emotional pain, trauma and what may be considered psychosis.
Nb. Therapists: Please leave your hats at the door! In this work we are all just human beings with our life journeys, difficulties, beauty and pain.
Nb. Experiencers: First preference for places will be given to my existing clients. Sadly we will not be able to support people in an acute state of extreme distress. Please contact me to book a personal appointment.
Workshop size: approx 20 people hopefully with a reasonably equal balance of mental health clinicians, bodywork therapists, family members and experiencers.
Covid: We will request attendees complete a lateral flow test before attending. Everyone please bring a mask. If you wish to wear one it is ok. If someone wishes you to wear one when working closely together, please be tolerant of this.
Pricing:
- Individual Fee: £60
- Concession Fee: £40
Nb. We are happy to offer the concessionary price for those in an unwaged / low waged situation and don't want to turn anyone away because of 'money', but also recognise the need to value the places on the workshop.
Please contact us to discuss this. Again I've been in this situation myself. Anthony.
Registration Process:
The event is by invitation. The application process is as follows:
- We request that people apply by contacting us
- Then complete the application form we send out and return it to us.
- We will then come back to you and may ask to speak briefly on the phone.
- We will send an invoice for the workshop fee which can be paid by bank transfer
- We will then confirm your place on the workshop
Nb. The intention with the application is to get a feel whether applicants are in a good 'space' to benefit from the practices being offered with the support we will have available on the day.
I have been through this myself in the past and am very aware of how it can feel. We are not intending any blanket decisions based on 'diagnosis'. Please don't be put off!
Non-experiencers, please be patient. It feels appropriate to ask all attendees to complete the forms if any do, but answers may be succint as appropriate.
Thank you, Anthony.
So please get in touch if you would like to attend: Contact EasternPeace