When we look at the world, we often struggle with a constant beneath the surface sense “that it is not supposed to be like this.” Constant Crisis and War. Climate Change and the Sixth Extinction. Political and Economic Unrest. It is as if the world is caught in a trap – a trap of our own making. Something seems to be missing in our cultural calculations that would help free us. A different way of facing that "beneath the surface" unease. This workshop is about how embodiment is that missing thing. We need to recover the intelligence of our body to face these challenges.

The mainstream cultural story is that thinking will save us. Yet, we know we cannot reason our way in or out of many aspects of a human life. For instance, we cannot reason our way into being present, falling in love, or finding fulfillment. The type of attention and understanding that unites us with others is not thinking but an embodied presence. And the types of problems that we see when we turn to the world, are problems of community and relating. To solve problems of community, we need an embodied response. Our culture, however, struggles in this area. 

All the past cultures in the world had embodied responses to problems. Our culture does not. Somewhere along the way, we lost it. We need to face that challenge. In this two-hour workshop, Kevin Johnson will offer a response to that challenge. 

Kevin Johnson is a university professor and PUPA Focusing Trainee (with Coordinator-in-Training Annette Dubreuil). His work focuses on integrating our ability to reason with embodied presence. To do this, he teaches about a mode of seeing and being that he calls Primal Mind. In this two-hour workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to connect to Primal Mind which is at the very roots of your identity and self-understanding.

In this workshop, we will explore the Primal Mind in a deeper way from a number of perspectives:

• Eugene Gendlin’s philosophy of the implicit found in his Focusing Practice and his book A Process Model as the main reconnecting entry to Primal Mind.
• The philosopher David Abram’s work on animism, language, and perception.
• Indigenous and African wisdom of nature with writers like Robin Wall Kimmerer and Malidoma Patrice Somé.
• Neuroscience: insights of contemporary thinkers in this field like Iain McGilchrist, Jill Bolte Taylor, interpersonal neurobiologists Daniel Siegel and Darcia Narvaez’s work on widening our sense of identity and the practices of being fully human.

The workshop will include an initial centering and two Focusing guided exercises to explore your access to Primal Mind:

1. to experience the place you love and are deeply connected to
2. of recalling a memory of wandering with wonder in a natural setting and recalling the felt sense of your interaction there 

We will end with some take away actions steps on how to focus with nature and with natural places to grow our Primal Minds.

You will receive the felt sense body cards to record your experience during the workshop, and the slides afterwards.

This workshop will be delivered live virtually on Zoom and use breakout rooms for Focusing practice. The workshop will also be recorded and made available later to participants. The recording will also be made available to PUPA Trainees (in the Certification program). Given the workshop format, if you choose, you can remain unseen and unheard for the main session portion, and use video or audio for the breakout room practice. View the full recording policy.

Workshop Details

Date and Time: Monday, December 11, 1-3 pm Eastern Time

Ways to participate:

• Live participation, including asking questions and breakout room practice.
• Recording only (go to recording only registration page).

Who is this workshop for? This workshop is for Focusers of all levels who would like to explore the Primal Mind. It is also for those new to Focusing but who have been working with the polycrisis and are looking for new tools to make their action more effective. Previous Focusing practice in partnership is helpful but not required for the breakout room practice. Instructions will be provided and you will be in groups of three.

Sliding scale pricing:

This workshop has sliding scale pricing, offering multiple price points to make it more accessible and reduce financial barriers for people with different levels of income. Please view the sliding scale fees page for more details and codes.

• Full fee: Live workshop with breakout room practice: US$29 OR Recording only $19
• 25% off: US$21.75/14.25
• 50% off: US$14.50/9.50
• 70% off: US$8.70/5.70
• 80% off: US$5.80/3.80
• 90% off: US$2.90/1.90