The 2023 Seminar
The Gubbio Edition
July 24-28, 2023
Gubbio, Italy
The Gubbio Edition
July 24-28, 2023
Gubbio, Italy
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“Evocative and inspirational!"
~ Former Seminar Participant |
The 2023 Seminar -- Gubbio, Italy
The Poetic Movements of the Therapeutic Dance
Re-Imagining a Psychotherapy of Depth
Re-Imagining a Psychotherapy of Depth
Amelio A. D'Onofrio, PhD
opening conversation |
“...Those who understand us enslave something in us."
~Kahlil Gibran
“Some things can only be approached with great reverence,
for it is only then can they disclose themselves to us as they truly are."
~Dietrich von Hildebrand
“There is a listening that works this way: a listening that is responsible for creating what it hears
--a listening...with the power to cause or alleviate the very suffering it hears."
~David Levin
“Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order.”
~Samuel Beckett
“Psychoanalysis would seem to have as its sole goal the calming of guilt."
~Jacques Lacan
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Lost in his great madness, Shakespeare’s King Lear howls at the cosmos: “Who is it that can tell me who I am?” It is this question, perhaps more than any other, that echoes in the human heart as we seek to navigate the chaos and confusion of life. Often uttered faintly and enigmatically through our patients’ symptoms and fragmented stories, this question speaks of lostness—the lostness of a soul wandering in exile, fearing that home may be permanently out of reach.
When we are able to provide a clearing for our patients—perhaps even be the clearing ourselves—we hear the patient’s search for subjectivity: “Who am I?” We hear them ask from their depths, “What does it mean to be human in a world fashioned by surface desire and instrumentality, where I am thrown into a life that’s not my own?” “How do I live out my humanity in a world where meaning seems to veil itself, and where inwardness and depth feel increasingly remote? It is this lostness that shepherds patients to our consulting rooms in the hope of being seen and of having their suffering known. They come to us having forgotten themselves, but bring with them a felt sense and secret hope that, perhaps, we all carry in our hearts: “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free, and my suffering can then be transformed.”
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Join us in Gubbio, Italy this July, for a week of conversation and a restorative journey—one that will enkindle, elevate, and perhaps even transform. Informed by psychoanalytic theory and existential insights, we will seek to deepen our experience of ourselves as therapists. We’ll engage with such questions as: What are the clinical metaphors that inhabit us and shape our therapeutic work? Might the reifying gaze of some of those metaphors lead us to locate problems in the wrong places, thereby providing false solutions that fail to hear the claim of our patients? Might there be a different way of listening and experiencing—one grounded in an epistemological humility—that can open new narrative horizons? And, if so, how do we unbind the poetic gestures of psychotherapy from their institutional fossilization and bring new vitality to the therapeutic encounter? We’ll also ask: How do we allow silence to be as a cradle that holds, unburdens, and shelters; that gives consent for freedom to become a possibility? How might our very disposition be that space that welcomes the human being before us to show itself as it really is? And finally, we’ll examine how our own incompleteness as therapists (and as human beings) fuels desire and guilt and constrains our unfolding presence and therapeutic power.
This seminar is intended for clinicians who appreciate that the psychotherapeutic narrative is not one written in prose, but one that unfolds dynamically through the undulating cadences and shifting tonalities of the poetic verse that patient and therapist together, in relationship, compose. Our venue, a magnificently restored seventeenth century Franciscan monastery—now a hotel & spa—nestled in the idyllic Umbrian countryside, will serve as the clearing for our retreat from the busyness of the everyday world. This most hospitable and grace-filled setting will beckon us to deeper interiority that will liberate our collective therapeutic wisdom. Join us in exploring new possibilities for being-in-the-world with our patients in ever more spacious, generous, and life-affirming ways. You'll be challenged and inspired to broaden your understanding of the therapeutic passage and to deepen your participation in the renewal of your patients’ lives.
When we are able to provide a clearing for our patients—perhaps even be the clearing ourselves—we hear the patient’s search for subjectivity: “Who am I?” We hear them ask from their depths, “What does it mean to be human in a world fashioned by surface desire and instrumentality, where I am thrown into a life that’s not my own?” “How do I live out my humanity in a world where meaning seems to veil itself, and where inwardness and depth feel increasingly remote? It is this lostness that shepherds patients to our consulting rooms in the hope of being seen and of having their suffering known. They come to us having forgotten themselves, but bring with them a felt sense and secret hope that, perhaps, we all carry in our hearts: “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free, and my suffering can then be transformed.”
————--
Join us in Gubbio, Italy this July, for a week of conversation and a restorative journey—one that will enkindle, elevate, and perhaps even transform. Informed by psychoanalytic theory and existential insights, we will seek to deepen our experience of ourselves as therapists. We’ll engage with such questions as: What are the clinical metaphors that inhabit us and shape our therapeutic work? Might the reifying gaze of some of those metaphors lead us to locate problems in the wrong places, thereby providing false solutions that fail to hear the claim of our patients? Might there be a different way of listening and experiencing—one grounded in an epistemological humility—that can open new narrative horizons? And, if so, how do we unbind the poetic gestures of psychotherapy from their institutional fossilization and bring new vitality to the therapeutic encounter? We’ll also ask: How do we allow silence to be as a cradle that holds, unburdens, and shelters; that gives consent for freedom to become a possibility? How might our very disposition be that space that welcomes the human being before us to show itself as it really is? And finally, we’ll examine how our own incompleteness as therapists (and as human beings) fuels desire and guilt and constrains our unfolding presence and therapeutic power.
This seminar is intended for clinicians who appreciate that the psychotherapeutic narrative is not one written in prose, but one that unfolds dynamically through the undulating cadences and shifting tonalities of the poetic verse that patient and therapist together, in relationship, compose. Our venue, a magnificently restored seventeenth century Franciscan monastery—now a hotel & spa—nestled in the idyllic Umbrian countryside, will serve as the clearing for our retreat from the busyness of the everyday world. This most hospitable and grace-filled setting will beckon us to deeper interiority that will liberate our collective therapeutic wisdom. Join us in exploring new possibilities for being-in-the-world with our patients in ever more spacious, generous, and life-affirming ways. You'll be challenged and inspired to broaden your understanding of the therapeutic passage and to deepen your participation in the renewal of your patients’ lives.
For further details about the seminar and the application process, please click here.
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What participants of previous seminars have said:
“I didn't know what to expect honestly, but am profoundly grateful for the depth of this experience and the language
and tools I gained towards better understanding of myself, my relationships, and my movement through life."
“Really great. Part therapy and nourishment for our whole beings. Made life easier and made me feel cared for."
“Instructor was both confident and passionate about the subject. It is clear that this work matters to him
at the microscopic level--and that everything in the work is about holding and then listening."
“Although there isn't a doubt that it was all well thought out ahead of time, the delivery was so
seamless and natural that it seemed as if the instruction was divinely crafted for the week."
“I will always remember your seminar as being the best I attended since completing my PhD."
“I thought I was going into a lecture style seminar. Instead it was an ongoing exploration
with an attentive and responsive facilitator / mentor / guide."
“Thank You for your generosity of knowledge and spirit."
and tools I gained towards better understanding of myself, my relationships, and my movement through life."
“Really great. Part therapy and nourishment for our whole beings. Made life easier and made me feel cared for."
“Instructor was both confident and passionate about the subject. It is clear that this work matters to him
at the microscopic level--and that everything in the work is about holding and then listening."
“Although there isn't a doubt that it was all well thought out ahead of time, the delivery was so
seamless and natural that it seemed as if the instruction was divinely crafted for the week."
“I will always remember your seminar as being the best I attended since completing my PhD."
“I thought I was going into a lecture style seminar. Instead it was an ongoing exploration
with an attentive and responsive facilitator / mentor / guide."
“Thank You for your generosity of knowledge and spirit."
The 2023 Seminar will be held at
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Park Hotel
ai Cappuccini
Gubbio, Italy
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The Mission of Our Seminars
The Florence Seminars are annual week-long symposia held in Italy designed for mental health professionals who desire to expand the scope of their clinical imagination and bring greater sophistication to their practice. The seminars are intended for individuals who are committed to their life-long learning, who pursue excellence in their work, and who welcome the personal and professional transformation that can unfold from that learning. The goal of the seminars is to offer participants more than simply an intellectual exercise. Rather, the environment created offers participants a retreat from our day-to-day responsibilities and opens up a space for encounter—an encounter with ourselves and with how we bring ourselves to the therapeutic process. The authentic conversation that emerges, the mutual learning and support created, and the willingness to play with new ideas, inspire and refresh the soul. The hope is that participants will emerge from the experience with greater self-understanding, a more coherent therapeutic narrative, and greater courage and grace to live out that narrative with their patients.
The authentic calling to help alleviate suffering and cultivate a renewed sense of hope in our patients' lives challenges us to be on our own continuous journey of self-discovery. Join us in Gubbio this summer to continue your journey in refining and unleashing your potential as a more sophisticated, effective, and compassionate healer.