Cultivating Self-Compassion through Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) for Self-Care

Time

Monday, September 19, 2022

10:00AM - 11:00AM PDT / 1:00PM - 2:00PM EDT / Click here for your time zone

Event Details

Focusing-Oriented Expressive Arts (FOAT®) is a mindfulness-based, somatic approach to the expressive arts that cultivates self-compassion and enhances resilience. The Focusing Attitude is central to FOAT practice and teaches how to be curious and “friendly” to all of one’s inner experiences– whether uplifting or painful and difficult. This inner attitude brings a safe holding space within– that carries with it a life enhancing energy. Over time and with practice, the Focusing Attitude evolves into greater self-compassion.

This presentation includes an experiential exercise on the “Focusing Attitude”– that also teaches the basic step of FOAT: how to access a felt sense– symbolize it as an image, gesture, sound, word, or phrase– and express it through the arts. This FOAT exercise is a self-care practice for practitioners and can also be applied to working with others.

Speaker

Laury Rappaport, Ph.D, MFT, ATR-BC, REAT is the editor/author of Mindfulness and the Arts Therapies: Theory and Practice, author of Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy: Accessing the Body’s Wisdom and Creative Intelligence.  She is the Founder/Director of the Focusing and Expressive Arts Institute, and a Certifying Coordinator, Focusing-Oriented Therapist, and Trainer with The International Focusing Institute.

Laury has been on the faculty of the Expressive Therapies Division at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA for 40 years, where she was the Academic Coordinator of their International Expressive Arts Therapies program. Laury has also served as Associate Professor at Notre Dame de Namur University and has been on the faculties at other universities.

Laury is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (CA), Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT) with the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association,  Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC) with the American Art Therapy Association, and Certifying Coordinator and Trainer of The Focusing International Institute.