Beyond Transference and Countertransference

I’d like to bring your attention to a new workshop as part of the 40 Days – Alchemy of Tranquility series. This one, specifically for psychotherapists addresses bringing the perspective of ultimate reality to relativity of the intersubjective field. The main presenter, as always, is Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar, a bona fide Sufi master from an ancient, venerable lineage. He will be joined by a team of therapists and healing professionals, me among them, who have taken on the work of integrating his traditional teachings with contemporary modalities, to offer a secular-spiritual approach to the deeply compassionate work of healing.

This workshop will be offered at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto on the weekend of March 5th & 6th. You can register or find more information here.

There are two new events coming up, both on the same weekend in October:

1. On Sunday, October 24th, I will be presenting, along with Dr. Amineh Pryor and Dr. Arife Hammerle at the Science and Nonduality Conference at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael, CA.  Our panel, entitled The Unity of Ancient Wisdom and Current Research is from 3-4 pm. My talk will be on my favorite subject (and the topic of my doctoral research)  Presence in Psychotherapy.
2. On Saturday and Sunday, October 23rd – 24th, we will have the first 40 Days workshop of this year’s series at Dominican University, also in San Rafael -details to follow.

Both programs are part of  40 Days: The Alchemy of Tranquility® program offered by the Community Healing Centers in collaboration with the International Association of Sufism (IAS).

On Saturday, June 26th there will be a panel presentation The Dignity of Being Human on spirituality and psychology at the 17th Annual Sufism Symposium. In the past, these panels have been really rich explorations of the multiple ways that spirituality and psychology are related. And after all, why shouldn’t they be? Both are about self-knowledge. Presenters have come from a variety of backgrounds, both psychologically and spirituality, and there has always seemed to be a spontaneous synchronicity between the presentations.

This year promises a very exciting program. The presentations, moderated by Dr. Amineh Amelia Pryor will include:

• Mary Toth Granick, LMFT – Sufi Psychology: An Integration of Mind, Heart, Body, and Spirit
• Michelle Ritterman Ph.D. – Stance, Trance, and Transmission: Responding to This Moment
• Robert Walters, Ph.D. – The Deep Spiritual Wisdom Hiding Within Psychoanalytic Texts

The panel is from 3 – 5 pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Rafael. Cost is $30 and there are CEUs available for MFTs.  AND you can register online!

When we have an unpleasant encounter with someone and aren’t able to shake it off, we  are often told that we shouldn’t “take it personally.” But what does this mean? A close look reveals that over-personalizing something implies one or more of several unexamined assumptions:

• this event is about me
• this event reflects something about me
• this event reflects something about my nature
• this event is about something I’ve done
• this other person is aware that their action is having an effect on me
• this other person is aware of what effect their action is having on me
• this other person intends to have the effect on me they are having
• this other person is aware of how I am feeling
• this other person wants me to feel the way I am feeling
• this other person is responding to something they attribute to me
• this other person’s attribution is accurate
• this other person’s action is because of something I’ve done
• this other person’s action is because of something I’ve said
• this other person’s action is because of something about my nature
• this other person knows I exist
• I deserve to be treated the way the other person is treating me
• I should feel the way the other person wants me to feel

These aren’t necessarily inaccurate. However,  if we automatically accept them as true, we set ourselves up to carry an unnecessary burden of responsibility. Simply stepping back and noticing gives us the opportunity to consciously evaluate the situation and determine for ourselves what is so.

40 Days Workshop

The Alchemy of Tranquility

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Dominican University, Guzman Hall, Room 302

9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

This is the fourth in a series of workshops for psychological balance and spiritual development with Sufi Master Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar. The Spring workshop is entitled “Are you ready for practice?”

Call  415 499-1115 or go to www.ias.org/events.html for more information.