How Am I Here? Find Out at This Workshop

Thursday, July 31, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Orcas Library

— from Michael Elder —

Michael Elder, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who recently moved to the island with his wife Linda, is presenting a free workshop at the Orcas Island Library titled “How Am I Here?” This presentation introduces the Formative method of self management developed by Stanley Keleman, one of the early bio-energetics pioneers. The purpose of the Formative exercise is described not as therapy (healing a disorder) but as “growing your second adult” defined as learning to consciously affect your physical/mental/emotional habits of behavior in order to live the life of your choosing.

Elder states: “While there is much talk about the mind body connection, no one denies the brain is an organ of the body. Laboratory studies show that thought involves muscles and viscera as well as the brain. Therefore it is fair to say that mind is a body function. Every thought, action, and emotion is an organization of the body involving both body systems subject to conscious control and those that are fully autonomic.

By identifying a pattern associated with a particular thought, emotion, or action, and making small, conscious changes to one part of the pattern, we can learn to enhance or diminish the entire target pattern. ‘How am I here?’ refers to the process of identifying your current pattern of organization at any moment, in preparation for choosing what, if any, changes you want to make.”

This process has been used to manage personal comfort and interpersonal relationships as well as business and professional effectiveness in fields as varied as sports, performing and fine arts, politics, psychotherapy, retail sales, contract negotiation, and public speaking.

Participants are expected to leave with a basic overview of the Formative Process and an understanding of steps they can take to begin altering their experience of themselves and the world.

Formative Psychology was developed by Stanley Keleman and you can read more about him and his work at centerpress.com.

Michael Elder can be contacted at 360-376-3255 or visit his WEBSITE.