Schedule:

Day 1, June 20th:
10 am - 1 pm:  Prof. Ruth Lanius
2.30 pm- 5.00 pm:  Prof. Thomas Fuchs
5 pm - 5.30 pm: Panel

Day 2, June 21st:
10 am - 1 pm:  Dr. Peter A. Levine
2.30 pm- 5.00 pm: Prof. Ruth Lanius
5 pm - 5.30 pm: Panel

Day 3, June 22nd:
10 am - 1 pm:  Prof. Thomas Fuchs
2.30 pm- 5.00 pm: Dr. Peter A. Levine
5 pm - 5.30 pm: Panel

Friday: 10.15 am - 1 pm
Developmental Trauma as a Burden for Emotions and Embodiment
Prof. Dr. Ruth Lanius (CAN)

Developmental trauma can have a profound effect on how an individual experiences both their inner feelings and the world around them. Traumatized individuals often remain detached and alienated from their internal bodily sensations and experience profound symptoms of emotional numbness for both positive and negative emotions. Moreover, traumatized persons frequently feel out of touch with their surroundings, unsure of where their body is in space, which can make them feel clumsy or uncoordinated, and prevent them from taking purposeful action. In this two-part lecture, we will delve into how we can address the core challenges caused by developmental trauma.

Friday, June 20th, 2.30 pm - 5.30 pm
Embodied Feelings, Embodied Memory
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs (DE)

In his first contribution, the speaker introduces two key dimensions of embodiment: embodied feelings and embodied memory. Research on the embodiment of emotions has shown that bodily sensations, postures and movements strongly influence our emotional reactions to situations or people without our knowledge. Thomas Fuchs presents some of these research results and then outlines a circular model of embodied emotions: It is based on the interaction between the affective qualities of the situation and the bodily resonance of the sentient or “feeling” subject. This resonance is expressed in sensations, expressive movements or action tendencies in which feelings and movements are very closely linked. This model is then transferred to the interpersonal situation in which two embodied emotional circles are resonantly connected with each other, creating an “inter-bodily” resonance – which empathy is based on. 

Embodiment always includes a history of experiences that have become part of our embodied memory or body memory. It comprises all the dispositions, habits and skills that we use as a matter of course without deliberately thinking about them or remembering them. This somatic kind of memory occurs in various forms, which can be described as sensorimotor, situational, emotional, inter-bodily memory, but also as pain and traumatic memory and are presented here in an overview.

Saturday: 2.30 pm - 5.30 pm
The Emotion's Longing to be Heard
Dr. Peter A. Levine (USA)

If only we could listen with our hearts and guts, and not only from our minds, then we would understand that often it's our emotions, not spoken, that are longing to be heard. It is important to understand that emotions arise in the body, reside there, and become embodied. In learning to connect with our emotions, as they arise throughout our lives, in situations and relationships, we become who we really are.

Saturday: 2.30 pm - 5.30 pm
Learning to Sense the Inner World
Prof. Dr. Ruth Lanius (CAN)

In the second part of her presentation Professor Lanius will focus on how to help individuals reconnect with their inner sensations and become active, engaged participants in the world, capable of building meaningful connections and feeling fully alive in the present moment. In addition to her neuroscientific background she will present her huge clinical experience an the successful moves she could observe in many clients.

Sunday:  10 am - 1 pm
Trauma as a Physical Borderline Situation
Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs (DE)

The philosopher Karl Jaspers describes borderline situations as experiences that fundamentally question our previously valid view of the world and ourselves and thus bring us to an abyss of existence. In this sense, trauma is an event that cannot be smoothly assimilated and integrated into a context of meaning in life as it has been lived up to that point - but rather dramatically changes our human existence. The intrusion of something foreign into one's own body, the experience of powerlessness and helplessness can irreversibly shake one's basic trust in the world. Those affected thus remain scarred by the physical borderline experience to which they were exposed and which they were unable to digest. This is why the key question in trauma therapy is about how to eventually integrate such borderline situations into an individual’s life.

Sunday: 2.30 pm - 5.30 pm
Vitality, Vibrancy and Joy
Dr. Peter A. Levine (USA)