Bodynamics Registration - The Healing Circle

Bodynamics Foundation Training: The Character Structure Model and Developmental Trauma

Bodynamic is a sophisticated and extensively researched, scientific approach that details how specific muscles are imprinted in childhood development, and how they affect our psychological skills in adult life.

This in-depth model speaks to the complexity of the individual and how individuals develop, in relation to one another.

The training is an experiential journey that combines verbal and somatic work, allowing the practitioner to connect more deeply to the body and its often underlooked presence in an individual’s development and psychological growth.

By working with the body in addressing developmental trauma, a practitioner is able to give clients a felt sense of embodied transformation that carries through into the rest of their lives. This is a block of text. Double-click this text to edit it.

Foundation Training Program

The Foundation training program will be taught in 7 modules, each spanning 3 days, spread out over the course of one year.

Overview

Training Schedule

DATE	TRAINER	MEDIUM
24th - 26th February 2023	Kalliopi Zorzou	In person
21st - 23rd April 2023	Wolfgang Brandt	In person
2nd - 4th June 2023	Wolfgang Brandt	In person
29th September - 1st October 2023	Kalliopi Zorzou	Online
3rd - 5th November 2023	Kalliopi Zorzou	Online
19th - 21st January 2024	Wolfgang Brandt	In person
23rd - 25th February 2024	Kalliopi Zorzou	In person

Topics At A Glance

History and principles of the Bodynamic System

Childhood developmental stages: themes and psychomotor development

Character Structures

Body reading

Group work

Bodynamic model of communication: Bodyknot

Physical exercises and role playing related to each Character Structure

Developing resources: centering, grounding, boundaries and more

Demo sessions on each Character Structures

Understanding The Context

Development of Character Structures

Through a 25-year study, Bodynamic has developed a unique differentiated model of character structures

This model describes the development of a child in 7 phases from the 2nd trimester in utero till the age of 13 (adolescence).

These Character Structures show the psychomotoric development of a child as a resource and defence, formed in relation to the type and timing of nurture and circumstances that children experience.

The training will delve into the nature of these Character Structures and how they shape the developing personality of the child.

Role of Developmental Trauma

Developmental trauma plays a significant role in the shaping of these character structures.

Through the training, you will learn how each developmental stage is vulnerable to trauma, and how character structures evolve in response, in order to help the child survive.

This understanding is paramount to developing compassion for the individual and recognize that behaviours deemed as “problematic” are often symptoms that point to unmet central needs of a developmental phase.

For example, a child experiencing massive and persistent rejection may not develop central aspects of their own self, or may abandon them altogether.

Body Ego

Since infants and young children have limited ways of coping with traumatic experiences and are often unable to communicate their experiences through language, the body and its movements (Body Ego) are of crucial importance in coping with the intensity of their experience.

Every child goes through a series of physical milestones such as crawling, sitting, standing, and walking.

They also must learn a variety of movement patterns that have significant psychological importance, determining how they will interact with others later on in life.

As they move through these phases, specific muscles activate in response to external developmental challenges.

Character types and positions

When there is any trauma experienced in these phases, the muscle activation is interrupted or fails to fully come online. Correspondingly, body and character structures are formed, divided into either a more hypotonic (early) or hypertonic (late) type, with a corresponding body structure, expression, mimics, gestures, belief systems, behaviour, and more.

These structures are powerful resources for the client in dealing with the traumatic experience. For example, a later structure can be of great help in containing a younger structure impacted by developmental trauma.

Through the training, you will learn to recognize and read these structures, allowing you to integrate the respective resources optimally into the healing process.

You will also be trained in a variety of specific body exercises and techniques to engage more precisely, effectively, and efficiently with the traumatization of your clients.

Download Syllabus Content

Meet your Instructors

KALLIOPI ZORZOU – GREECE

Kalliopi is a Bodynamic educational therapist, supervisor and teacher and a can do Full Bodymaps.

She has studied and is certified in Counseling Skills, Personal Coaching Practitioner (PCP), NLP and Gold Counseling. She has also studied in Analytical Cognitive therapy, Gestalt therapy, Hypnotherapy and has a Diploma in Systemic Thinking and Practice.

Kalliopi has been working as an Integrative psychotherapist in a private practice since 2004. She is a member of PESOPS (Greek Association of Body Psychotherapy).

WOLFGANG BRANDT – GERMANY

Wolfgang got in contact, in his first career as a banker, with spirituality, movement arts and body psychotherapy. These became his main interests, which he has followed the last 30 years. In 2000, he became a natural health professional with a state license for psychotherapy (HPG).

After working 7 years in a clinic for Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, he opened his private practice for body psychotherapy in Dresden, Germany and worked as a trainer for body oriented psychotherapy. Beside years of experience in humanistic therapy, he has been trained in NLP, Qigong, Feldenkrais ® and Somatic Experiencing®. Finding Bodynamic in 2012 allowed him to integrate his main interests in a way which had not been possible before. He has been a Bodynamic therapist since 2017.

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