This series of five workshops, led by Caroline Brazier, Author of Buddhist Psychology and Other-Centred Therapy, will cover the fundamentals of Buddhist psychology as they inform therapeutic practice. For booking and other details please follow this link to our main website.
workshops in this series:
September 21st Interconnection, Conditions, Networks & Systems
September 28th Craving, Clinging and Attachment
October 5th Impermanence, Change and Flow
October 12th Encounter, Containment and Relational Therapies
October 19th Fundamental Principles of Buddhist psychology
All workshops will run 1.00-4.00pm (UK time) on zoom
September 21st 1.00-4.00pm
Interconnection, Conditions, Networks and Systems
The mind is conditioned by the things to which we give attention. Our lives are conditioned by the circumstances into which we are born and in which we live and grow. All things are conditioned and lack independent existence. These basic principles of Buddhist thought underpin human existence as we know it, and indeed underpin everything that we encounter. They also underpin our psychology. Our psychology is conditioned by experience and the things which we give attention to and that attention is itself conditioned by previous experience, attention and the views which we have built up over time. The fundamental principle of conditioned existence suggests that, far from being the independent beings which we imagine ourselves to be, we are each in fact simply the meeting points of many conditions which come together to create our minds and indeed our beingness as they are at this moment in time.
In this first workshop of the series, we will look at ways in which the Buddhist model of conditioned existence can inform our study of psychology, leading us to look outward at the conditions of a person’s life and see them, not in terms of their separateness, but in terms of the many factors and influences which constantly re-create them. We will look at networks and systems which sustain the mentality: culture, family, past behaviour, and we will explore ideas of interdependence and connection which can support positive mental states. We will look at ways in which these explorations can be brought into therapeutic practice through a shift of focus to the others which support a person’s mentality and through practical exercises and activities.
September 28th 1.00-4.00pm
Craving, Clinging and Attachment
According to Buddhist teachings, we create obstacles to spiritual and mental health through our preoccupation with and attachment to ‘objects’ in our personal worlds. These objects may take many forms, including things, people, ideas or philosophies and can broadly be seen as defensive strategies, developed to fend off our many fears. The clinging and attachment we feel to these objects is not a relationship based in a real engagement with these ‘others’, but is rather a process of distraction, arising in response to the realisation of our fundamental vulnerability as human beings. We develop strategies that focus our attention away from the larger picture of our existence with all its uncertainties and grasp at things which we can believe to be solid and reliable like possessions, ideas and even our sense of self. This creates a level of delusion in which we limit our lives in order to feel secure and build our identities on these habits of distraction. As we become more scared, we become increasingly rigid in our thinking and behaviour and in our relations with others.
The processes of clinging and attachment in Buddhist theory begin with engagement through the senses. We anchor ourselves physically and psychologically (for the mind itself is seen as a sense which perceives ideas and fantasies) in a world of our own making which only roughly corresponds to the world of reality. Thus, viewing is selective and conditioned by our need to cling.
In this workshop we will explore the ways in which the sense of identity is built on processes of grasping: selective view, addictive patterns, material and psychological acquisitiveness. We will look at ways in which we can work with the rigidity which so often arises out of these processes of clinging.
October 5th 1.00-4.00pm
Impermanence, Change and Flow
In the previous workshops, we have seen how Buddhist psychology relates the problematic and ordinary mental states to the common human attempt to create a sense of stability and permanence in a world where nothing is certain. Change is the constant backdrop to our lives and we are never far from losses or death. Existential fear drives the processes which limit our mind-sets to what feel like manageable frameworks. In fact, however, these created mind states also cut us off from many possibilities in life. They form a psychological bubble around us which both protects and imprisons us. Stepping a little out of this protective sphere feels both daunting and potentially exciting. So it is that we live on the cusp between fear and possibility. In as much as we can embrace change and uncertainty, we may discover that life has many more possibilities than we had imagined.
So, in this third workshop of the series, we will look at ways in which we can facilitate fluidity in our lives and those of people whom we work with. We will look at the way that creativity and freshness can emerge from gentle challenges to the world view and habitual thinking. We will look at the way that change happens through our lives, both inwardly in our psychology and outwardly through events and encounters and we will see how, in spite of ourselves, we often discover spontaneity in points of crisis which can transform us in unexpected ways. We will look at ways in which we can hold the space for people to explore difficult themes without feeling overwhelmed. Above all, we will look at how we can develop greater faith in the flow of life and the processes of connection.
October 12th 1.00-4.00pm
Encounter, Containment and Relational Therapies
Buddhist psychology suggests that we are locked into rigidities of thought, view and behaviour. Left to our own devices, we circle through habitual ways of being which can be limiting and even destructive. Other-centred therapy, an approach based on Buddhist principles, places emphasis on the importance of relationship in helping people to move out of the limitations they have built up over time. Relationship can be significant in offering opportunities for real encounter with another person who has different perspectives and different ways of acting. As two people meet and get to know each other, there are possibilities for challenge to the rigidities which each of them has developed because no two people share exactly the same conditioned experience and the differences between them can bring into question assumptions and ways of doing things. On the other hand, in many relationships there is a tendency to look for common ground so that the relationship itself supports already established patterns. In this way, relationships often become collusive in all sorts of ways as the two people grow closer and views converge into mutually supporting systems of belief and life-style, creating a kind of shared culture.
This can happen in therapy and therapists need a level of self-awareness and clarity so as to be able to recognise and work within these processes to bring them to light. In keeping this level of separateness, they are able to offer encounter rather than mirroring the person they are working with. In this way, the role of the therapist is itself significant in offering an experience of real human contact. Equally, in other-centred working, the therapist is often the accompanist to the process, introducing triangularity by encouraging the client to encounter others in a more open and fresh way. This can happen through exploration of relationships with third parties, through engagement with objects and particularly through encounter with the wider environment.
In this workshop we will explore some of the ways in which we can facilitate encounter both in the therapy room and in other contexts. We will look at ways in which other-centred working draws on other therapeutic approaches, but also significant differences which can enhance the therapeutic practice.
October 19th 1.00-4.00pm
Fundamental Principles of Buddhist psychology
Buddhist psychology offers a distinct model of the person and of the causes and conditions of mental health. In this final workshop of the series, we will look at the fundamental Buddhist teachings, common to all traditions of Buddhism, and the ways in which they can be seen to offer a practical model for understanding psychological process. This model creates a framework which is clear and holistic and which can form a basis for the integration of concepts and methods from a number of different sources in Buddhist and Western practice.
As the last session in the series, this session will provide some theoretical underpinnings to the other workshops in the series. It will also provide an opportunity to draw together the different principles which we have been working with. There will be space to review and to discuss practical applications of the theory.
Costs: £135 for the full series or £31.50 per workshop