“The Sailor cannot see the North, but knows the Needle can.”
Emily Dickinson
A major tenet of analytical psychology is a deep respect for a person’s quest to find his or her individual path. This core value might function as magnetic North on our compass where the road toward individuation is represented in the direction one takes toward or away from that cardinal point, a journey, which typically is far from direct.
When Emily Dickinson was counseled by her literary critic and friend, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, to delay publishing her poems because he judged her pace “spasmodic” and “uncontrolled,” she penned the line we have used to underscore our theme. The path of individuation finding one’s own true North and steering for it, often needing to manage without being in sight of land, struggling to trust in something that may not be easy or even possible to articulate, wandering off course and having to find the way back requires a kind of faith in one’s self, in the psyche, in love and human relationships.
The conference will include lectures, concurrent sessions, and pre-conference workshops and covers a broad range of interests and expression: from the body/mind/soul to classical mythology, from Jung’s play with stones and sand on the shores of the Zurichsee to contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, from abstract theorizing to concrete art forms, from the individual to the collective and the cultural.
We hope you will be moved to join us and that you will find intellectual stimulation, fellow travelers, and food for your own journey at the conference itself and in the hospitable and scenic environment of San Francisco.
The conference is open to all Jungian Analysts, Candidates in analytic training programs, and other Licensed Clinical Professionals.
Pre-Conference Workshop
October 26, 9:00am-12:00pm
“Body as Compass: Dreamdancing as a Pathway toward the Self”
With Tina Stromsted, Ph.D., ADTR
“The symbols of the self arise in the depths of the body.” – C.G. Jung
“In the deepest sense, we all dream not of ourselves, but out of what lies between us and the other.” – C.G. Jung
Our bodies and dreams may be our closest links to the unconscious, expressing the soul’s longing through image, breath, gesture, the rhythm of our step, and the music of our speech. Movement that emerges from a genuine source within us, when made conscious and integrated into lived experience, is by its very nature transformative. Attending to the body allows the individual to more fully access the affects and energies expressed through the textures, imagery and unfolding action of the dream. Here, body and psyche can begin to work together. Like a compass, gestures emerge that can guide us toward true North, where our life energy is directing us.
Recent advances in developmental neuroscience point to the right brain’s receptivity to nonverbal elements such as facial expression, voice tone, movement, affect, music, imagery and the play of symbols in dreams and poetry. From our earliest beginnings, empathic relating by the other is an essential component in the formation of the self. Affective mirroring and embodied presence provide a foundation for the development of consciousness in the cells, and a sense of well being and belonging in the world. Sensitivity to the body can allow analysts to attend to this language as it arises in our analysands, and in ourselves, hearing the soul’s call and working with the obstacles to its fulfillment.
Dreamdancing engages participants in exploring essential elements in the dream through a safe, inner-directed movement process, in the presence of a witness. As the witness watches the mover’s dream unfold, the witness also pays attention to the dream’s impact on his/her own body and feelings (somatic countertransference). It is the attitude and experience of the witness/analyst that invites the body of the mover/client into the room, where potentials held in the dream may touch and awaken both people.
Early shamans and traditional peoples from many cultures respected dreams as oracles. Ancient Greeks made pilgrimages to Aesclepian temples where dreams were incubated to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of physical and soul illnesses. Today, Dreamdancing and body-sensitive analysis can provide a temenos where dreams may be further explored through movement that springs from an inner source.
This didactic and experiential workshop will provide a temenos for attending to gestures that arise from the depths of the body, expressing the soul. Through respectful inner listening, moving, witnessing, drawing and writing we will support the unfolding of a source that informs the self, relationship, and the natural world.
Conference Features:
In addition to the rich content of the preconference and conference program, there are also many opportunities for socializing, informal discussion, and fun. Thursday evening there will be a substantial reception preceding the evening presentation. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings will start with a continental breakfast so you can begin your day with good company and conversation. Saturday evening features a cocktail reception, dinner, and dancing. Concurrent Sessions on Saturday afternoon offer a variety of topics to choose from. A lecture, that will also be open to the public, will be held on Friday evening. Conference participants may attend free of charge. Additional tickets may be purchased in advance from the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco by calling 415.771.8080.
For more information and brochure please contact: Toni D’Anca at [email protected]
Fax (805) 962-1878
Home (805) 965-4837