64th Annual Conference

Friday, March 9

Morning Workshops

10:00 A.M.-1:15 P.M.

Workshop 51

The Promise of Group Om: Integrating Yoga Awareness in Groups

Chair:    

Michelle Collins-Greene, Ph.D., Private Practice, Port Washington, New York

The group “Om” is a mind, body, and spirit experience that harmonizes the self with others. An integration of yoga techniques and group therapy principles will include here-and-now focusing, leadership functioning, group cohesion building and individual awareness and accountability while relating to others. (Wear loose-fitting clothing.) 
experiential, didactic, demonstration, sharing of work experiences

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:
1. Describe ways yogic mind/body awareness can affect group relatedness and cohesion.
2. List ways the group therapist/leader can use mind/body metaphors of language to a.) make the group unconscious conscious, b.) to enhance individual and group functioning.
3. Describe yogic aspects of here-and-now focusing that expand group therapy principles of the therapeutic effects of here-and-now group process.
4. Describe the mind/body and group effects of the “Om.”

Course References:

1. Rybak, C. and Deuskar, M. (2004). The Yoga of Group Work: How a wisdom tradition illuminates current practice. Group, 28(3), 191-209.
2. Weintraub, A. (2004). Yoga for Depression. New York: Broadway Books.
3. Sageman, S. (2004). Breaking Through the Despair: Spiritually Oriented Group Therapy as a Means of Healing Women with Severe Mental Illness. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry.  32, 125-141.