Debbie says:
I am unbelievably excited to be co-teaching this series with Lane Arye. The body image message will not be new to readers of this blog, but the process work modality might well be. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time the two have ever come together. Laurie will come to the first class and we’ll show slides and introduce our work.
Here’s Lane’s announcement for the class:
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TOO FAT, TOO THIN, TOO TALL, TOO SHORT:
Transforming Body Image In Ourselves And The World
Almost all of us obsess about our bodies: how we look, how people see us, what we don’t like, and what we think we should or wish we could change. This obsession cuts across the lines of culture, ethnicity, class, and gender, as well as all shapes and sizes. Media presents impossible ideals of beauty, trying to convince us that we can fix our supposed inadequacies by buying more. So much of our individual insecurity, our internalized self-hatred, and society’s messages about what is wrong with us, are centered on our bodies.
It does not have to be this way.
Learning to see each other’s (and our own) unique beauty is a radical act. Learning to be in a generally comfortable and satisfying relationship with our bodies is greatly enhanced by understanding how our social systems work against that relationship, and also by our willingness to fluidly explore the different parts of ourselves, including the qualities we dislike in our bodies.
This class is a special treat, because Lane will be teaming up with Debbie Notkin, an internationally recognized expert on body image. We will combine Debbie’s informative and thought provoking presentations (including lecture, discussion, and slide shows) with deep individual and group work led by Lane. We are both very excited about this collaboration.
This class will use a combination of lectures on Worldwork / Process Work and body image, as well as discussion, group process, demonstration and inner work. We will learn and practice tools that can help us:
* Recognize and explore the ways we separate “ourselves” from “our bodies”
* Discover all parts of our relationships with our bodies
* Use inner work as an essential component to knowing ourselves physically as well as emotionally
* Use body image issues as vehicles for group and world transformation
* Identify deep patterns lurking beneath surface tensions
* Develop our leadership potential.
The tools presented here are useful for personal growth, community building, conflict facilitation, educational systems, families, intentional communities, organizations, businesses, and city/world issues. Many previous participants have found a sense of intimacy and community in Lane’s classes.
DATES: Wednesdays July 26, August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
TIME: 7pm to 10pm
LOCATION: 1452 Cornell Avenue. Berkeley (Parking in church lot across street)
CONTACT: Lane (510) 558-8805 or Debbie (510) 418-0627
COST: $20 per class
All are welcome to the first class. Commitment required after first class.
Process work and its group-oriented offshoot, worldwork, offer powerful and effective tools that can help us work toward wholeness, well-being, social justice, and community. Developed by Arnold Mindell, Ph.D. (author of Sitting in the Fire, The Deep Democracy of Open Forums, etc.) and his colleagues from around the world, worldwork and process work are based on a trust that even the most disturbing experiences – including physical illness, conflicts and world issues – can lead us in the direction of change, growth, and connection.
LANE ARYE, Ph.D. is an internationally known process worker and worldworker. In the Balkans, he co-led a UN funded project working with Serbs, Croats, and Muslims on ethnic tension, war-related trauma, and community building. Lane has also worked with conflicts between high-caste and low-caste Hindus from India, the British and the Irish, anti-Semitism in Germany and Poland, as well as racism, sexism, nationalism, homophobia, and class issues in the US and Europe. Author of Unintentional Music: Releasing Your Deepest Creativity and “Transforming Conflict into Community: Post-war Reconciliation in Croatia†(part of the newly released book, The Politics of Psychotherapy), Lane lives with his wife, Lecia, and their son, Kai, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he works in private practice.
DEBBIE NOTKIN is a writer and facilitator on the subject of body image and health at any size. She wrote the text for Laurie Toby Edison’s books of photography: Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes; and Familiar Men: A Book of Nudes. She has been speaking and leading workshops for over twenty years on these issues, and is published in a wide variety of English and Japanese publications on the topic.