All-day workshop on "Ego, Soul, and the Restorative Function of Emotional Pain".

Leland (Chip) Baggett, M.A., LCMHC will introduce an original approach to psychotherapy based upon the premise that emotional healing is fundamentally a psycho-spiritual event. This approach integrates the values of authentic presence, intentionality, and meaning rooted in the Humanistic-Existential-Phenomenological orientation — with aspects of both Buddhist and Transpersonal Psychology. Its theoretical foundation is the based upon the interweaving of four elemental assertions.

The first assertion is the acknowledgment of the two-fold nature of the human mind, sometimes referred to as duality (or the dualistic mode of consciousness) and non-duality (or non-dual awareness).

The second assertion is that these disparate modes of consciousness are inherently compatible with the more personalized concepts of ego and soul, and can be re-contextualized as such to support a more deeply integrative healing experience.

This leads us to the third assertion, which is that the dynamic relationship between the dual and nondual aspects of the mind (i.e. our ego and our soul) is the unrecognized source of all our emotional experience, ranging from the deepest, most anguished pain to the most rarified states of joyful, loving peace — and all points between.

The fourth assertion has to do with a radical reframing of emotional pain as: a necessary and invaluable resource that not only serves the process of emotional healing, but also provides a direct path for awakening into the experience of our soul. In this sense, emotional pain is both a diagnostic indicator of the state of non-alignment between ego and soul, and a dynamic force that, when lovingly welcomed into our heart, can serve as a powerful agent for healing and transformation.

We will begin with a brief discussion on the four elemental assertions and show how they function synergistically as a seamless process of emotional healing and spiritual awakening. Following this, we will lay out an organic, present-oriented, experiential method for applying this process in clinical practice. There will be opportunities for questions and dialog, along with brief demonstrations and experiential exercises, depending on the needs of the participants.