Aion psychotherapy

Making Space for Personal Growth

—Dying to what you once were, and becoming something greater—

DATE, COST, TIME, LOCATION

Faciliated by Joanna LaPrade Ph.d., NLC and Holland Breed LMFT

What does death mean psychologically—not literally dying but imaginatively letting go? Exploring mortal death is very different than exploring psychological and symbolic death. The importance of symbolic death in human experience is not a new idea, in fact, we call it initiation—the ritualized act of crossing a threshold, letting go of old aspects of ourself, and making space for new energy. This is about death and rebirth—the great cycle of human transformation.

Today, there is an almost complete lack of interest in the subject of psychological death and rebirth. This disinterest is even more striking, when we compare this situation with ancient and pre-industrial cultures, which allows us to see that their attitude to death and rebirth was quite different. In the past, the cycle of death and rebirth played an extremely critical and central role in their cosmologies, philosophies, spiritual and ritual life, and mythologies, as well as everyday life. With familiarity came acceptance. In the past, death and rebirth were closely related to rites of passages, ceremonies where individuals were recognized by their community as stepping into a new phase of their lives. The most famous of them were the Eleusinian mysteries that were conducted near Athens every five years without interruption for a period of almost 2,000 years.

What does the prevalence of these rites teach us about our own psychological experiences? Do we need collective experiences of letting go in order to become something more, something greater? What our collective histories tell us, is that yes, there is immense value in exploring symbolic death in order to attain the benefits of rebirth.

Death is a symbolic opening that allows us to explore unfamiliar territories of the psyche. It is a process that allows us to see what in our lives needs to be let go of in order to change our attitudes towards life, be reborn. Indeed, death is the most powerful symbol of a transformation and change in our attitudes towards life. This is not mere transition, it is dying, an act of utter destruction and letting go. Sometimes to truly change ourselves and lives we have to completely let go—we can’t hold on to what is poisoning us.

Death is an end to everything we hold familiar. We fear that when death comes we will be plunged into something quite unknown, become lost in an unfamiliar environment, or become someone totally different—unrecognizable and unfamiliar. Of course this is true, however, if we chain ourselves to the notion that death is failure, bad, evil, or something to afraid of or shamed we lose access to the freedom and creative energy that can come with the practice of letting go.

Indeed, every moment offers us a chance to start new and we if practice recognizing what in our lives is holding us back, limiting us, or getting us stuck in repetitive cycles we gift ourselves the potential to expand into something new and greater. 

This is the backbone of our workshop—the opportunity to reflect on and engage with parts of our life—attitudies, behaviors, thoughts and so forth that need to be identified, shared, and truly let go of in order for you to transition into new, positive, unstuck, and different phase of your life. What we let go of will look different on each of us as we all have different histories and are in different life phases. However, what we constantly reinforce is no matter what you are letting go of and what you are welcoming in—we are all experiencing the same shared energy and that shared experience of death and rebirth is the glue that connects us all. Replacing disconnection and isolation with connection, empathy, compassion, authenticity, and vulnerability. We listen and witness each other’s stories because they, on some level, are also our stories.

LEARNING AIMS

1. Participants will begin to recognize what in their lives needs to be let go of and identify what energy can be born from that release.

2. Participants will identity clear images of what they are working towards to help them better relate and understand their goals.

3. Participants will authentically and respectfully share their own experiences and listen to the voices of others.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

Join facilitators Joanna LaPrade Ph.D., NLC and Holland Breed LFMT.

DATE—

PRICE—

TIME—Join us from

LOCATION—Deer Hill Campus located at 7850 Road 41 Mancos, Colorado.

When arriving please park in the left hand side parking lot located right after you cross the creek. Your facilitors will be waiting to escort you.

YOUR FACILITATORS