Patterns that Connect and Disconnect

This workshop can be taken as a stand-alone session or as the second workshop in the Regenerative Connections™ series. 

Our emotional habits can connect us or keep us at a distance from ourselves and others. When these habits activate we react to symbolic threats as though they were real – e.g., the fear of abandonment triggers exaggerated fearfulness and thoughts of losing someone. Even if they may not make rational sense, these patterns have an emotional reality; understanding them can yield insights in our own and others’ vulnerabilities and help us respond with empathy, understanding, and caring.

When we believe their skewed messages these habits can shape how we think, feel, act and relate. We can become aware of these learned emotional habits and their expression, such as clinging or avoidance. When they act as invisible lenses, they distort our view rather than letting us see ourselves and each other as we genuinely are.

Reparative interventions from ancient wisdom traditions and modern psychology can allow for insight and connection rather than confusion and reactivity.

Regenerative qualities, including insight, equanimity and a warm and caring heart, can lead us to an inner calm and wiser perspective, even as we sense the signals of these emotional habits. We can embrace underlying unsettling feelings with care, kindness, and a non-judgmental awareness that can help to free our minds and hearts.

In addition to modern and ancient psychologies we will draw on findings from neuroscience, in a combination of lecture, discussion and experiences.

These include mapping these learned emotional habits and ways to sense their activation, calm our reactivity, and repatterning for healthier responses. We will be joined by RJ Sadowski and his horse in a two hour inspiring demonstration on the importance of psychological safety – a ‘joined up’, authentic and attuned connection – in relationships of all kinds.