Core Process Psychotherapy Foundation Course

The Foundation Course is intended to give a firm grounding in the basic theory and practice of Core Process Psychotherapy. It is a pre-requisite to theMA in Core Process Psychotherapeutic Practice Training (4 years) and is a complete basic course in itself. Health professionals and therapists find that this course deepens their insight into their own and their clients’ experiences and helps them feel more comfortable with their clients’ spiritual and emotional lives.

The term “core” points to an inherently open and luminous state at the heart of our being which manifests as a state of presence and awareness at the core of our selfsystem. This state of being has been described in terms of equanimity, loving kindness, compassion and joy. Through connecting with Core the innate ability to see things as they truly are, with a depth of awareness and love, can become a present reality. The term “process” refers here to the stream of immediate experience that we associate with our sense of self. In Core Process work, the client is encouraged to bring a continuity of awareness to their arising self-process while orienting to the inherent health at the depth of their being.

This course invites us to listen at depth to self, other and to the relational field through adapting ancient Buddhist mindfulness practices for working jointly in relationship. Trainees are introduced to the understanding and practice of key contemplative practices and relational skills.

The main focus is a cultivation of qualities of presence, compassionate awareness, and enquiry that we can bring to self and other within relationship, and the extension of this into our everyday lives. During the course we explore what we call the seven themes of the psychotherapeutic encounter. These are: presence, access, process, resonance, reflection, transformation and integration.

Core work is largely about presence in relationship. Presence is understood in terms of our inherent self-luminous awareness, the intelligence at the core of all human experience. It is this that allows us to be fully alive and present to our own arising experience. The therapist's own capacity to meet experience with embodied presence and non-judgmental warmth is a key factor in any therapeutic alliance, as is the client's own growing ability to be present and to enquire into the nature of their arising selfprocess. Access is the ability of the client to touch into their inner experience via different sense-gates. These modes include the energetic, mental, emotional and physical aspects of arising process.

Skilful reflection creates a mirror for the client in which his or her unique process can be more easily perceived. Resonance is an inner felt-sense that is directly connected to another's process and allows a true state of empathy to arise. It is a basic psychotherapeutic skill that relates to the quality and depth of contact we have to both our own process and that of others.

Transformation is that wonderful potential in us all, given the right conditions, to deeply heal what has become segmented, confused and split within us. It is the awareness itself that naturally heals our distress.When we open to the truth of any given moment, there is a natural arising of wisdom which is inherently transformative and always present, even in states of suffering and ignorance. Integration involves grounding that transformative process in everyday life and letting ourselves be as we are moment to moment while opening to heart-connectedness at our Core.

We offer this Foundation Course in several UK locations including London, Scotland and Ireland in addition to Devon.We also offer Foundation Courses abroad. The structure of the Course is mostly non-residential, often comprising five three-day seminars, although this can vary. The Devon Foundation Course is always residential and can also take the form of three five-day seminars, which is the usual structure for the Foundation Courses outside the UK.

"The Foundation Course has provided me with the tools and the space I needed to evaluate the dynamics of my key relationships, and has fired me up with enthusiasm to tackle what needed to be tackled. The fact that this has happened in a beautiful place, with trustworthy, professional tutors, and in an atmosphere of tangible love, has all been hugely beneficial, too."
Dan Bloomfield, Core Process Psychotherapy Foundation Course, 2006

Karuna Institute

International Training and Retreat Centre

Core Process Psychotherapy Foundation Course

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