120 - Opening the Heart: How to Deepen the Experience of Therapy

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We often use terms like hard-hearted to describe those who can’t seem to feel empathy or connect to their own emotions, forgetting that the roots of open-heartedness grow out of safe and loving relationships early in life. Emotionally disconnected clients often flee from the deepening we try to facilitate in therapy because their bodies simply don’t know how to doempathy. In this workshop, we’ll explore simple, body-oriented ways of helping clients have more open, connected, heartfelt experiences. You’ll discover:

• Specific and simple movement interventions that physically open the heart and allow clients more access to emotion
• Ways to transform fear of emotional vulnerability through the body, including engaging the spine and core
• Which somatic experiences contribute to an open heart by experimenting with movement and tension, and which don’t
• How to use the heart as a resource in treatment by changing heart-rate variability
• Methods to support the heart physically and relax the extremities to relieve stress