The day runs from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm. All participants undertake to stay for the whole day unless otherwise agreed. The group usually consists of some people who have experienced the method already.
Two Ways to Get Involved
One way to be involved is to have a structure, which is where you get to work on an issue with the support of the group.
The other way is to attend as an observer participant. This means you may get chosen to play a role in someone’s structure. Often people find resonances with the process of the people having the structures which can be deeply impactful and it’s a good way to get a feel for the method.
The Workshop Schedule
We start the day with a short check-in, where strict rules of confidentiality are agreed, usually followed by two group exercises, which are specifically designed to encompass aspects of the method and help the group to form ready for the deeper structure work.
Someone then opts to have the first structure which typically takes between 50 and 75 minutes. There’s time for some brief sharing from the group about your own personal resonances. We have a break and come back together for the next structure. Lunch follows (not provided) and then there are two more structures in the afternoon, concluding with a check out (note: we hold a lottery e.g. flip a coin, if more than one person wants to go next). Throughout the day there are tasty snacks and teas and coffee available.
Starting Points for a Structure
A structure starts in one of two ways, either the client brings a specific issue they want to work on and shares this with the therapist or the client sits with the therapist and sees what their psyche-soma invokes in the moment and reports this to the therapist. From here, the structure unfolds into deeper work with the therapist respectively following the client. Nothing is done without the consent of the client. The work is safe, considered and inspiring.
There is often some mild role play where members of the group take the role of a figure that was needed in the past by the client. No acting experience is required! This can look a bit like psychodrama but there are differences; the role figures do not improvise and are simply given the words by the client or therapist, which spontaneously emerge through the process.
The method helps to access hidden emotional processes and limiting patterns that continue to influence present-day experiences and to provide, symbolically, an emotionally satisfying healing experience, which remedies the deficits from the past. This enables a re-framing of current-day problems or issues and an expansion of awareness and choices going forward.
Stepping up for a structure takes courage. And trust. So it was reassuring to have observed Pete’s gentle and steady hand on the tiller in previous structures.
B. (retired teacher who attended a Manchester group)
When my turn came, I knew I was in safe hands. I felt fully seen and heard. Pete gently and skilfully offered possibilities for moving into embodied experiences. These were just right for me. I was completely aware that I was able to say no and guide the process so that it was just right for me, confident that Pete could hold the process with compassion and tenderness.
I was delighted by the ways in which my structure enabled me to receive, giving me new experiences of having my own needs met in a powerful and potent way. My very personal ‘antidote’ continues to resonate. A real experience of adding in some new circuitry. I feel more resourceful. Which is more than I might have expected from a one hour structure, but exactly what I asked for! I started my structure saying that I feel as if I have been sent out into the world under-resourced… so somehow this process worked through to give me exactly what I needed.
I am immensely appreciative of the Pesso Boyden process and particularly grateful that there are skilled practitioners like Pete doing this work. Truly life affirming and a cause for celebration.
Pricing
If you’re participating to address an issue in a structure, the cost is £90.
Observer participants pay £35.
Payment by bank transfer to secure your place.
Location
The venue is my house in Ashburton, with free parking for attendees.
After the Workshop
The days have an emotional depth and impact, and it’s a good idea to plan some integration time in afterwards. If you have a structure, then there’s a chance to check in with me briefly the following week; this is to help the work to ‘land’ and what we term consolidation.
Healing is getting the freedom to create new meaning out of our lives and to let go of the meanings we created out of those earlier experiences when we had no choice in the matter.
Gabor Mate