All yoga and meditation teachers and practitioners as well as psychotherapists and psychologists in the southern California area will find tremendous insights and inspiration by attending UCLA’s riveting conference on relationships featuring many of my favorite authors and speakers. “Relationships and the Health-Promoting Power of Connection Across the Lifespan” brings together our vibrant community of healers for a three-day immersion, March 16-18th, exploring relationships through the interdisciplinary framework of Interpersonal Neurobiology. Weaving collaborative dialogue and presentations, speakers from across the United States and Europe will present a wide range of effective methods to achieve more intimate and secure relationships as well as ways to enter into partnerships with therapists, friends and co-workers.
This conference is organized by luminaries Dr. Marion Solomon, Dr. Bonnie Goldstein, Dr. Dan Siegel and Dr. Gary Small. Dr. Bonnie Goldstein told me that, “this year’s conference will emphasize collaborative goals of helping attendees learn new ways to hone interactive techniques, promote well-being, and explore new ways of talking and listening, all of which will facilitate connecting and the experience of joyful aliveness.”
With Pat Ogden, Dr. Goldstein will explore “the somatic narrative,” the ongoing process of body-based, implicit, nonverbal behavior - movement patterns, gestures, postures, stance, and other nonverbal cues - to reduce stress, increase communication, enhance self-understanding, and foster wellbeing in relationship.
Helen Hunt & Harville Hendrix will discuss “Safe Conversations: Getting The Love You Want and Keeping The Love You Find” and Rhonda Magee will examine “Mindfulness and Inclusive Compassionate Communication.”
Provocateur Esther Perel will consider how relationships can survive infidelity and renowned neuroscientists Antonio Damasio and Dan Siegel will discuss the most recent research on how relationships affect the brain.
These three days of fascinating academic lectures buttressing the work of all healers will be capped off by break-out discussions, exercises, interventions and a Vocal Immersion Sound Bath by superstar Geeta Novotny, one of the only performers who has created a revolutionary method, practice, and performance based on the art and science of voice and sound to provide experiential healing. Geeta told me, “The voice is the communication conduit between the brain and the heart, and my method harnesses the resonant powers of the voice and sound to create harmony between these energy centers.”
Last year Dr. Gary Small’s work on longevity was particularly engrossing and I am certain that he will be equally captivating this year.
For more information and to register, please visit Lifespanlearn.org or call 310-474-2505
