ACEP Conference
2011
Integrating
Ancient Wisdom with Modern Practice
I recently attended the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) 2011 conference in the United States. The conference was held in Reston Virginia, a small town about 25 miles west of Washington. Having never visited Washington I decided to spend one night there to see the sights. I can now say that I have seen the White House, Capitol Hill, the Lincoln Memorial and some parts of DC.
The main conference lasted three days, with other events and trainings before and afterwards. I booked for the three main days to include the main presenters and keynote speakers, and have a little time off at the end. I arrived on the Thursday evening from Washington, made myself comfortable in the conference hotel and had a short walk around Reston. If food and shopping (including an Apple store) are your thing, then Reston serves you well.
Conference days started early, with Yoga and movement classes at 7am , breakfast was provided and I had a chance to look at an onsite exhibition and bookstore. We all wore badges, so I had to get used to “Oh you have come all the way from England”. It did start a lot of conversations.
Friday morning started with a keynote presentation by Candace Pert, something I had been looking forward to. I must confess to feeling disappointed, she did not present anything new, read extracts from The Molecules of Emotion, and then brought another presenter on stage with a very religious leaning. I guess her presentation title, Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d was fairly obvious.
There were a lot of choices for breakout sessions, and for the morning I decided on Heart Assisted Therapy, Merging Energy Psychology with Traditional Psychotherapy Models. America has a more rigid structure for psychology practitioners than the UK, and many presenters were clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, licensed counsellors and psychotherapists. I enjoyed this workshop, which had a lot in common with EFT, but focused on the heart and using hands to cover the heart area. Language patterns were similar to EFT. Heart coherence and heart breathing were also an important element in the model. More information can be found here: http://heartassistedtherapy.net/Home.html
After lunch I attended a workshop entitled Bodymind Healing in Psychotherapy. I found this a very muddled presentation, I think the presenter had something interesting to offer, but tried to pack too much into a short space. I left that one rather confused, but if you would like to know more, visit: http://www.bodymindhealing.com/
The final session of the day was called Self Care is the Heart of all Health Care. This was presented by a very experienced psychiatrist called Jim Gordon, who has developed his own trauma treatment strategy that involves mindfulness, breathing techniques and dance. He was spontaneous and engaging, and decided to do something different from his morning workshop, so we all ended up dancing and moving. Fortunately we all had to keep our eyes closed! He also showed a very moving video of him & colleagues working with trauma victims in Gaza. I managed a brief chat with him afterwards. For more information visit: http://www.cmbm.org/ Training will be available in Holland this Autumn: http://www.cmbm.org/europe/
Still tired and a bit jet lagged, Friday evening was a quiet dinner in town and an early night.
Saturday morning started with keynote speaker Bessel van der Kolk, leading trauma specialist, neurologist, researcher, and a controversial figure. He didn’t disappoint. His talk on Treatment of Trauma in Adults and Children was enlightening, informative, provocative and at times somewhat political. Here are a few of his comments:
“Energy psychology gets you away from the
tyranny of language”
“Trauma is imprinted in deep parts of the brain
that are impervious to language”
“We are foremost animals with a little forebrain
grafted on”
“The way you hold your body determines your
mental state”
“In fight/flight/freeze the frontal lobe
disappears, it is an organic, whole body experience”
Bessel van der Kolk was an inspiring speaker, and I could have listened to him for much longer. Visit: http://www.traumacenter.org/about/about_bessel.php
The morning workshop I chose was “Lasting Weight Loss: New Hope for an Old Problem”. This workshop promoted the use of Tapas Accupressure Technique (TAT) to work with stress and trauma around weight loss, rather than focusing directly on weight loss or target weight. The model was based primarily on group work, plenty of support and good resources. Statistics are grim, 60% of US adults are overweight and 34% obese. There were good handouts and a useful weight questionnaire. Find out more at: http://www.thelifeworkscenter.com/
In the afternoon I chose a workshop presented by Brent Baum, someone I had heard a great deal about. The workshop was entitled Somatic Wisdom: Mapping & Resolving Disease through Memory. Brent is a very intuitive healer, using both verbal and energy techniques. His view is that trauma is not genetic or environmental, it is memory and consciousness based, and he sees the body as the unconscious. His technique is quite complex, using intuition, clearing heart meridians and colour as a healing metaphor. I found his presentation very engaging and professional. He is probably best known for his therapeutic model called Holographic Memory Resolution, and you can find more here: http://www.equilibrium-e3.com/HMR.php
Following the afternoon sessions, a number of mini workshops were available. I decided to do something completely different and attend a Shamanic workshop entitled (deep breath) Helping Clients Find the Energy to Heal by Reintegrating Lost Parts through Soul Retrieval. The workshop was presented by a Licensed Psychologist/Hypnotherapist and EMDR practitioner. She was accompanied by an American Indian who did not say anything, but she certainly had a “presence” that could be felt. The workshop was practical, taking us through a visualisation based on Shamanic principles. I found it a really interesting experience, and I don’t think it matters if you experience it as Shamanic or just a good piece of guided imagery in the hypnotic/metaphor sense.Saturday night was spent eating outside in the town square with an American therapist and her husband, and an English psychologist based in New Zealand who specialises in traumatic brain injury. It was a relaxed and pleasant evening, serenaded by several local young bands performing on a nearby stage.
On Sunday morning I attended a workshop entitled “Research Evidence/Biological Mechanisms in Acupressure Counter-conditioning of Trauma”. The presenter, Jim Lane, is a Licensed Psychologist from Arizona. I hoped this would add to my understanding of the neurobiology of trauma. This was a very well presented workshop, clear and concise, and with good handouts. The talk covered some familiar territory relating to Fight/Flight/Freeze, but looked at the use of various techniques including acupuncture, acupressure, EMDR and EFT. It was suggested that EMDR can initially increase arousal, and that using acupressure points first can be very helpful. One interesting calming procedure that was demonstrated is to sit with arms and legs crossed, holding the tongue against the roof of the mouth, then hold the forehead and back of the head in your hands. This is intended to increase blood flow to the pre frontal cortex (the bit that goes offline when we are highly stressed). Try it! There was a lot more useful information, and here is a link to an article written by the presenter: http://www.stressproject.org/Documents/lane.pdf I really enjoyed this presentation.
The final workshop that I attended was called “Neurobiological and Psychospiritual Treatment of Panic Disorders with Advanced Integrative Therapy”. They really could make theses titles shorter!
This workshop was presented by Glen Sobermann, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and was based on the work of Asha Clinton, best known for the Seemorg Matrix model. This model is based on integrating traditional psychotherapies with energy therapy. This is quite a complex technique that seeks to fully understand the nature of the trauma and then use that information to select from a number of different interventions. To learn more about this model visit: http://www.centerforholistichealing.com/
I have to mention that at one point during the workshop, when the presenter was explaining the neurobiology of trauma, he was interrupted by someone in the audience. As he was explaining a specific aspect of trauma a voice at the back called out “No, you have got that wrong”. Cue a sharp intake of breath and a lot of head turning. Sitting near the back was Bessel van der Kolk, clearly not someone to hold back. I did feel for the presenter, but, to his credit, he kept going. Bessel van der Kolk proceeded to fiddle with his mobile for ten minutes before walking out. It was somewhat distracting, and I found this model very complex and laborious, and the demonstration did not change my view.
Following this was the closing keynote talk given by well known author Lynne McTaggart. The talk was entitled The Bond: Connecting the Space between us. The theme of the talk was to challenge the notion that we are isolated beings competing for survival, instead suggesting that we exist in a dynamic relationship of connection, The Bond.
This was a heartfelt presentation challenging the principles of greed and capitalism, the mechanistic Newtonian worldview, the notion of survival of the fittest and the idea that we simply “end at our skin”. This was a plea for a fairer society, a suggestion that altruism is hard wired and a recognition that energy therapy is the medicine of the future. Many different ideas were covered in this talk, too many for me to mention. If you would like to know more then visit: www.lynnemctaggart.com or www.theintentionexperiment.com
My final evening was spent listening to a really good Beatles tribute band in the town square followed by a relaxing dinner with the lady from New Zealand. It was fascinating to hear about her work with traumatic brain injury patients, she is incredibly caring, creative and client centred in her approach.
In summary, I had a wonderful time at the conference, met some really interesting people and learned a great deal. It was great to see how many psychologists, psychiatrists neurologists and psychotherapists/counsellors are embracing energy therapy. They are bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the field, and giving it much needed credibility. I find it fascinating that cutting edge neuroscience is actually asking us to look back, as well as forwards. It is reminding us that there are many useful things that we have perhaps forgotten that we knew, natural ways of self regulating and healing, and for creating a more balanced life. It is also reminding us that although we are highly evolved in many ways, some parts of the human mind/body/brain have hardly changed at all. It is in this complex dynamic of the old and the more recent that so many exciting discoveries are being made. There are many wonderful people championing this view, many prepared to put their reputations on the line to promote the integration of ancient wisdom and modern practice.
I had an interesting experience of this in my own practice recently. I spent time explaining the neurobiology of trauma to a highly traumatised client, as I find this kind of education for clients really helps them. The following week she came in very excited and said to me “A friend took me to see Deepak Chopra yesterday and he was using exactly the same language as you, the same terminology”. I think when these worlds intersect, it is worth paying attention.
This is a really exciting time to be a therapist.
Richard Mark July 2011