What happens in the therapeutic or healing setting is more than two (or more) people sharing the same space. Both client and practitioner influence the state of each other’s nervous system and energy field, and co-create a dance of relating. Because we are inherently relational, we are never “not” in relationship with each other or this field. This co-created relational field exists within a wider field that is always present. As physics and science are evidencing, this wider field is comprised of limitless energy that exists around us and in our DNA. Some might call this a field of greater consciousness.

Through our own embodiment, presence and intention, we can attune to this field and generate impactful interventions for our clients. Rather than the practitioner being the holding environment, we become aware that the holding environment is the field itself.

This interactive workshop invites you delve into your own bodily experience and how you approach your therapeutic/healing work. To support your learning, experiential exercises, interventions, and didactic content will explore:

• polyvagal/nervous system regulation
• the heart-brain connection,
• the human biofield and ‘subtle energy’
• the role of embodiment in attunement and resonance
• the mutual impact that we and our clients have on one another
• trauma from an energetic and relational perspective

Course Objectives:

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Learn the role of the vagal system in co-regulation.
• Understand the heart-brain connection and the ‘heart field’.
• Learn and practice 2 interventions for attuning to the wider energy field
• Discuss the impact of trauma on the human energy field.
• Explore the holding environment from an energetic perspective.
• Learn and practice 2 interventions to shift into states of expanded, embodied consciousness.

Time: 9 am – 4 pm EST

Dates: November 12, 2021

Cost: $120

Location: Zoom Video Conference

It’s the dregs of winter and long pandemic. Are you ready for a palpable shift in your energy and a boost in your day-to-day?

Love+Joy Powerup! guides you through effective energy and somatically-based exercises to revitalize your spirts and harmonize your body and mind. You’ll be powering up and settling in with others over the course of four weeks. Access to class recordings will support you between classes and beyond.

Sessions include tapping, gentle movement (seated or standing), breathwork, meditation, and brief readings, all designed to:

• Balance your nervous system
• Cultivate your lifeforce
• Expand your heart-field
• Uplift your mood
• Bring you more fully and comfortably into your body and the present moment
• Co-create a resonant and supportive group energy field

Make a little time for yourself and your beautiful spirit!

Time: Wednesday mornings, 8 – 9 am EST

Dates: 2/24, 3/10, 3/17, 3/24 (no class 3/3)

Cost: $95

Registration and payment required by Monday, Feb. 22. Click the link below to pay the fee via PayPal. You will receive a welcome email after registering.

Location: Zoom Video Conference

Gestalt therapy, as a holistic approach, views physical experience and expression as intrinsic to a person’s being and functioning. This advanced program is designed to refine and extend a practitioner’s skills in working with physical processes beyond those developed in basic Gestalt training.

The program focuses on developing greater awareness of one’s own body experience and its use in relationship, developing a client’s body sensation and awareness, working with breath, body structure, movement, developmental movement, and the energetic system of client/facilitator.

The program is for gestalt clinical, organizational, systems, coaching, and healing arts practitioners who wish to increase their embodied presence and refine their capacity via physical process and body experience. Curriculum includes 52 hours of practicum with in vivo supervision, and approximately 24 hours of body-oriented personal growth group work, didactic lectures, experiential processes, and skill labs.

Continuing Education (CE): 180 contact hours

Prerequisite: Admission requires completion of a Comprehensive Gestalt Training Program. The applicant’s personal and professional readiness to explore this type of work, as well as the compatibility of his/her work setting and field practice with the program’s objectives will be considered.

Additional Dates:

Working with Physical Process (WWPP) – Week 2
Feb 2, 2021 – Feb 7, 2021

Working with Physical Process (WWPP) – Week 3
Apr 6, 2021 – Apr 11, 2021

Working with Physical Process (WWPP) – Week 4
Jun 15, 2021 – Jun 20, 2021

Location: Gestalt Institute of Cleveland

In this time of extensive upheaval and transformation, we can choose to devolve into panic and chaos, or we can choose to locate ourselves deeply within the refuge of our own being and expand our consciousness.

This experiential and guided group/class offers you the opportunity to relax into sacred space and learn/practice essential grounding, nervous system attunement, energy field clearing, and connecting to the wisdom of your Heart. We will also co-create a coherent group field to support and embody these meaningful shifts.

Sessions will take place through Zoom and will include body/energy- based exercises and meditation practices, Holy Fire Reiki, and brief group sharing. Each class will include a prayer and blessing for the healing of all beings.

Five live online sessions: Wednesdays, September 23, 30, and Oct 7, 14, 21 from 6:15 -7:30 pm EDT.

Cost: $105

Location: Zoom Video Conference

As the dynamic locus of all our experience, the body is our lived history. All of our emotional, physical, sensory, spiritual, energetic, and cognitive processes flow through our tissue. Somatic psychotherapy takes a ‘bottom-up’ approach to clinical practice, emphasizing sensation and our felt experience as rich portals into the depth and knowings of the body-mind. In particular, a Gestalt, relational approach to somatic psychotherapy offers us rich possibilities for cell-to-soul transformation. This training gives you the opportunity to explore your own embodiment and experiences of ‘being a body’ in your clinical practice. We will examine the co-created and mutual impact of our and our clients’ embodiment, and the unfolding energetic exchange that emerges in session. Time will be spent exploring the impact of trauma on the body and how to integrate a somatic approach into clinical practice. This will be an experiential workshop with some lecture, large and small group exercises, and opportunities to become a more embodied practitioner.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Understand the role of the body in healing from mental and emotional distress and trauma.
• Learn two somatic approaches to becoming a more embodied practitioner.
• Understand embodiment and the energy field in the therapist-client relationship.
• Learn about ‘bottom-up processing’ and how this applies to body-oriented psychotherapy.

Fee: $120.00

Date: Friday, Oct 2, 2020, 9am to 4pm

Location: Online video conference

In this time of unparalleled transformation, we can choose to experience panic and chaos or we can choose to locate ourselves deeply within the refuge of our own being and expand our consciousness. Please join me for five 75-minute online group classes to support your connection with your own well-being, spaciousness, and wisdom.

This experiential and guided class offers you the opportunity to learn and practice essential grounding, nervous system attunement, clearing your energy field, and connecting deeply with the infinite wisdom of your Heart. We will also co-create a coherent group field to support and anchor these important shifts.

Sessions will take place through Zoom and will include body/energy-based exercises and meditation practices, as well as brief group processing. The conclusion of each class will include a meditation for the healing and transformation of all beings.

Registration and payment due by Monday, April 27th. Upon registering, you’ll receive more details about preparing for the classes and our private Zoom meeting information.

Cost: $95

Wednesdays, 6:15pm – 7:30pm, April 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27

Location: Zoom Video Conference

As therapists and healthcare practitioners, we interact with our clients and patients on intimate and evocative levels. The impact of our relational work with others reaches us emotionally, physically and spiritually – and in ways that can affect us beneath our day-to-day awareness.

Ironically, for as much as we tell our clients and patients about the importance of support and self-care, we are often un- or under-supported by self and others. This process group is an opportunity to explore our internal and external supports in a confidential group of peers. The format for the group will be experiential, focusing on relational, embodied patterns and ‘unfinished business’ that develops and/or becomes more embedded in our work.

As co-facilitators for this group, we hold the intention to create with you a confidential environment that fosters exploring what it means to participate in a transformational process – one that occurs daily, and even hourly. We will emphasize how we carry and embody ourselves in our encounters with clients and in our own bodily energy.

Please note that this is an experiential group for professional practitioners and is not group therapy or supervision/case consultation. This group is designed for practitioners who are interested in exploring their own process.

Date and Time: Mondays 6:30 – 9:00 PM; 2020 Dates: 1/20; 2/3, 2/17; 3/2, 3/16, 3/30; 4/13, 4/27

Fee: $800 (pre-registration of $400 required no later than December 15 to reserve your space; balance of $400 due at first session)

Facilitators: Renee Jennings, LCSW (renee@reneejennings.com) and Michael Clemmens, Ph.D. (michgest@aol.com)

To register: Endorse your check to ELEVATE LLC and mail to:

Renee Jennings/ELEVATE, 1102 S. Braddock Ave., Suite 1, Pittsburgh PA 15218

Location: 312 B Denniston Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

As therapists and healthcare practitioners, we interact with our clients and patients on intimate and evocative levels. The impact of our relational work with others reaches us emotionally, physically and spiritually – and in ways that can affect us beneath our day-to-day awareness.

Ironically, for as much as we tell our clients and patients about the importance of support and self-care, we are often un- or under-supported by self and others. This process weekend is an opportunity to explore our internal and external supports in a confidential group of peers. The format for the weekend will be experiential, focusing on relational, embodied patterns and ‘unfinished business’ that develops and/or becomes more embedded in our work.

Please note that this is an experiential group for professional practitioners and is not group therapy or supervision/case consultation. This group is designed for practitioners who are interested in exploring their own process.

Facilitators: Michael Clemmens, Ph.D. and Renee Jennings, LCSW. As co-facilitators for this weekend, we hold the intention to create with you an environment that fosters exploring what it means to participate in a transformational process – one that occurs daily, and even hourly. We will emphasize how we carry and embody ourselves in our encounters with clients and in our own bodily energy. An ongoing process group for therapists and healthcare professionals will begin in January 2020.

Date and Time: Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27, 9:30am – 5:00pm

Fee: $300

*Space is very limited. Pre-registration and payment in full required to reserve your space.

**Payment must be received no later than Friday, September 20th. No refunds for cancellations after October 10, 2019.

To register, email Renee (renee@reneejennings.com) or click “Register” to contact Renee through her contact form.

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Deep within the heart lies the living energy of transformation. This energy radiates our true essence: a whole and multidimensional self. Individually and collectively, trauma and shame can thwart our best efforts toward wholeness and can have profound effects on the body and relationships. Modalities derived from epigenetics, neurobiology, and attachment and field theory can offer relief; however, emancipating the soul from trauma’s grasp also requires spiritual medicine.

Most of us think of trauma as a one-time devastating experience. However, trauma is also the result of repeated controlling, invasive and manipulative behavior by parents, partners, friends, employers or others. It often goes unrecognized because it is not acute, but the impact is devastating.

Transformative modalities including Gestalt/somatic practices, Energy Psychology, EMDR and subtle energy practices from qigong, shamanism, and Sufism will aide in the transformation of trauma energy into healing energy. Journaling, group processing, practicum and lectures will be integrated throughout the week. This integrative and immersive workshop is for all who are willing to live a courageous and whole life based upon love, understanding and intuitive clarity.

Location: Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA

Patterns of our physical embodiment are revealed and expressed in our thinking, feeling, and lived histories. They are shaped through our interactions with the world, the places and spaces we inhabit, developmental contexts, and relational others. As body or character structure, these patterns become relatively fixed modes of being through which we both express and limit our evolving self and narrative. From a Gestalt perspective, these structures are creative adjustments that can be attended to and explored in the novelty of the present moment. By doing this we can support the expansion of awareness, embodiment, and possibilities for individual and collective growth and change. In this workshop we will explore these structures (including our own) through embodied experiences of place and space, world/other, and energetic and physical heart space.

Participants will develop the following skills:

• Observation and description of somatic and energetic structural patterns
• Relational attending to structure in development and adulthood
• Undoing holding patterns and expanding range of choice and repertoire
• Attunement and relational resonance

The design of the week includes theoretical content, daily practice sessions, group process, and experiential exercises.

Note: This course is designed for practitioners with preliminary Gestalt therapy and body/character structure training. CEUs available.

Dates: May 26-31, 2019

Location: Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA

Gestalt theory and practice, somatically based interventions, and emerging Energy Therapies offer us a wealth of dynamic resources for grounding and supporting ourselves in the therapeutic relationship. As therapists, we often focus on our clients so much that we neglect to tend to our own embodiment and energy during sessions. The embodied, grounded, and attuned therapist is actually the most powerful and essential intervention in therapeutic work. Through our own presence and embodiment, we influence the resonance of the therapy environment and the nervous systems of our clients This workshop is very experiential and structured around Gestalt Theory, neuroscience, Energy Psychology, and Gestalt and somatic psychotherapy. Mini lectures will include these four areas.

We will spend time in large and small group exercises and discussions to help you learn and practice effective and evidence-based grounding and centering exercises, attunement techniques, and body-based self-supports. These will help you maintain and enliven your energy (and energy field), as well as provide clarity and effectiveness with your clients so that you can utilize and actively integrate these skills in sessions with your clients. In this lively workshop, you will learn:

• Gestalt theory and field theory apply to the therapeutic relationship
• To Identify the neurological and relational basis for attunement
• Four Energy Psychology techniques to fine-tuning your and your client’s nervous systems and energy fields
• Practice two embodied approaches to grounding
• A simple “centering” exercise for yourself and your clients
• To Describe the therapeutic basis for using somatic interventions with clients

Faculty: Renee Jennings, MA, MSW, LCSW

Dates: December 7, 2018

Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Fee: $125

CE: 6 hrs (L/LCSW. LPC, LMFT, Psych*)

Location: **UPDATE** University Club, 123 University Place, 3rd Floor Conference Room B.

Presented by Renee Jennings and Sarah Weiss on the beautiful grounds of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.

You may not think of yourself as holding trauma patterns. Most of us think of trauma as a one-time devastating experience. However, trauma can also be the result of chronic and repeated controlling, invasive, dominating, passive-aggressive, and manipulative behavior by your parents, partner, friends or employer. It can be a mismatch where those around you have no idea of your sensitivities and do nothing, out of ignorance, to support the true you.

These attitudes create subtle forms of trauma that are insidious and difficult to identify and name. Over time, you believe that being treated like this is normal and that feeling low self-esteem is normal. You feel dismissed and learn to dismiss your own embodiment and your own true self.

This type of trauma often goes unrecognized because it is not dramatic — but the impact is devastating. It is dramatic enough to throw a huge shadow over your life and drastically limit your potential. Trauma’s heavy energies can also get trapped in your muscles, fascia and organs to the point where your health, vitality, and holistic embodiment are compromised.

The good news is that trauma energy can be transformed into healing energy. The trauma energy held in your body and consciousness can become a huge source of vital energy and healing. You can be freed of the dark veil of self-loathing.

CEUs available.

Dates: October 7-12, 2018

Location: Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA