Dramatherapy Workshop FreeMind: February 2009

WELCOME

The Dramatherapy Workshop FreeMind is an open space, so long as it goes on consolidating its thinking and its practice. A blog will allow the extension of the communication: drama widened to ideas and competences. Director, E. Gioacchini

@ Director As mind master of the CDIOT, this gives me the opportunity to open a discussion on the fascinating Mind's Creative Processes and the Theatre. So I invite you to join our community, getting it prestigious, because it will be built with your intuitions and questions, meditation and inner answers. This is the place where you can use the freedom to express your doubts and you ideas, sharing with the others the research of your way. The Mind is a living miracle, available better than we could immagine; the theatre is a powerful tool to get deeply its power! But what beyond our discussions? Prepare for becoming part of a new way to discuss with your right emisphere. Explore the real power of hypnosis, dramatherapy and cinema-dramatherapy and get away its magic and false misconceptions.Work nicely with us to create our friendship and the warmth of our curiosity and mind’s exploration. Learn, enjoy and get excited! Help yourself adapt to altering life-style changes..if there’s one constant in our life today it’s change; from every direction and faster than ever. Let’s make the dream a reality...and much much more! Contact and interface with our staff; psychiatrists and psychologists will help you to get your life better!I’m just looking forward to seeing your messages here!

"It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do" Elbert Hubbard

Friday 20 February 2009

Meery-go-round of galaxies in the fun fair of eternity

@ Maria

“The child stopped, his eyes were sad
They saw things never seen before
Then he said to the old man with a dreamy voice:
‘I like fairy tales, tell me more’”
(F. Guccini "The old man and the child")

Once upon a time, there was a kite who was Scared of Flying. He lived in a place that was cold and hostile, and it was absolutely white, without any colours. To some a glacier might seem like a fascinating place, but he didn’t like it at all.
Funnily enough, he had such a flamboyant livery that in sunny days it made him look like a rainbow that had fallen from the sky. He would observe the sky, he would observe it every day and every night and every time it offered a different sight, an endless palette of colours that would take his breath away…during the day. A merry-go-round of galaxies in the fun fair of eternity…at night. And, damn, that was his world, that’s what he was born for, but he would just seat there, in total inactivity.
Time passed, his colours faded and, as he could stand no longer the overbearing beauty of the sky, he convinced himself he really was a rainbow that had fallen from the sky…denying his very nature, he flew forever in the icy sky of his…madness.

Expressing yourself freely…sets your mind free. It’s the first time I write down my emotions, I’ve never done it before and those few times in which I’ve tried, then they would regularly end in the bucket: the sheets and the emotions. I preferred thinking, imagining, dreaming, in the company of imagination, I traveled more outside than inside myself.
Laziness, fear of the obvious…here I want to take advantage of the parachute and be free to express myself, a bit like that game we played on Sunday of letting yourself fall, which allowed us to experiment the freedom…of letting ourselves go.
And, incredibly, filling in the pages…I empty my mind.

@Director
A fairy tale, this mirror of water that trembles and breaks down the images, if you are not careful. And only children are able to be that careful. They enter that surface and live in it free and easy. Yours is a beautiful fairy tale, Maria. Yesterday, your dance teacher, Lucrezia (my daughter), made this drawing. I had just come back from office, it was late, and she gave it to me. Then I open the blog to find your kite. Life gives freely many of these coincidences; the miracle of conscience that moves on dreaming is giving meaning, beyond appearance. Let it fly freely (with a free mind).

Photo: ‘the kite’, by Lucrezia
Thanks to Emiliana Bianchi for the Translation

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WELCOME

"Þæs ofereode,
þisses swa mæg"*

One day theatre meets you
on the street or in the dim light of a hall.
It strips you of what you used to know
without making you feel naked.
It makes you recognisable behind your masks
and cancels the distance from them.
It gives you back the humility of listening.
Here you are invited to give yourself as you are,
one of the hundred thousand
characters already met.

S I T E S

http://www.dramatherapy.it/
http://www.drammaterapia.com/
http://www.hypnodrama.it/

*by Emiliana Bianchi.
"thaes ofereode; thisses swa maej"

This line is a quote from the Old English poem "Deor" (c.a. 10th century A.D.). The poem is the lament of the scop (i.e. bard) Deor (whose name has been adopted as title of the poem), because his lord has replaced him and he is now an exile. In the 42 allitterative lines, the poet mentions various characters of the Germanic mythology and the dramatic events they faced, and compares their undeserved troubles with his own. Each section of the poem ends with the words 'thaes ofereode; thisses swa maej' (tr. that passed, so may this).
This refrain is a moral. In each case, the 'thaes' refers to the example of outlived misfortune just given, while the 'thisses' has an indefinite reference, the idea being (it would seem) that, as the scop applies it to his own situation, so the reader, or hearer, in search of consolation is to apply it to his own particular misfortune of the moment. It may be described as an attempt to hearten someone (or anyone) who, because of misfortune, has become depressed (references may be drawn with Boetius's Consolatio Philosophiae).
The poet/minstrel seems disposed to look upon the bright side of life and says that life's good and bad moments will pass, and one should just make sure to live through them... truly live them. It is almost an invitation to live in the moment and to appreciate what one has.

The translation of this site into English from the Italian edition is due to courtesy of Emiliana Bianchi (Edimburg, Scotland).

What Comes Next?

Dear guest, friend, associate, colleague,
The Creative Drama In-Out Theatre, sponsorised by S.I.I.S.C.A. and created in 2008 to assist the Dramatherapy Workshop Freemind in divulging concepts, ideas and projects on dramatherapy -as designed by his director E. Gioacchini- is still young, but wishes to extend to all its best wishes for the new year! The staff of the Dramatherapy Workshop will certainly help it to grow, but your help will also be appreciated...
Now the mind demands…So what comes next?
We feel this is a rhetorical and false question. But if i decide to say 'thaes ofereode; thisses swa maej', the following sentence i would say it is just that one! It is not hypocritical, mind you, but merely erroneous, because it does not grasp the full significance of such an event. Perhaps it expresses fascination, fear, hope and curiosity –all comprehensible, normal human emotions– but it is not a strategic or proactive mindset!

How can we promote a new startup?

Some say that, as we’ve entered a new millennium, we shall find ourselves in the Age of Startup. In fact, if you’re not incubating a startup, you’re starting an incubator! But how do you navigate your way through this new era of startups? Whether you’ll be launching an SOS for help or finding the solutions you’ve always dreamed of, are you making the right decisions? Here are three major questions to ask yourself. Should I hold or let go? Find the right partner or go on by myself? Stay as I am or learn to grow?Many of my patients ask me these questions. This is true even during some dramatherapy sessions, in a non-clinical setting. Every therapist knows, however, that it would be a terrible crime to put themselves in the other person’s shoes. Yet each can certainly help the other to grow and find their answers, even, and especially, outside of therapy. Milton H. Erickson (1901-1980), a person you will hear much about in our community, spent his life and career as a psychologist trying to understand what makes people tick, and he knew that people everywhere must make difficult choices throughout their lives. His job was to challenge people to see the complexity of a situation and to encourage them to take an active part in making those difficult decisions. Initially, by breaking down the problem and solving each little piece at a time. He taught generations of therapists that, when the process is successful, people force themselves to think in a new way, and they reach a new level of creativity. They start to work in a problem-solving mindset. They understand why it has been so difficult to find an answer, a solution, yet they realise they can tackle the problem…sometimes alone, sometimes with others. We believe that Erickson’s life, like all great stories, offers examples that people can learn from, and we invite you to read more about him.

Through theatre, can Creativity help us?

Returning to us and the reasons why we’re here in the Dramatherapy Workshop Freemind, it’s clear that our community is concerned mainly with creativity and ways to develop it and use it. If you’ve read something about us and our work, you ‘ll have noticed that our staff is committed to achieving this goal and it hopes to make a small contribution in changing the way people perceive and understand the importance of theatre in their social life, in psychoterapy, and also in a non-clinical setting, to help people change. Of course, I’m not referring to the academic and scientific world, which is well aware of these issues. I’m referring to several popular misconceptions on Art-Therapy that deny research and practical application and many valuable opportunities to help build a “better world” -rhetoric is always lying in wait! On the contrary, we are deeply convinced of the therapeutic power of art in society –healing.
That’s why our Association and Dramatherapy Workshop Freemind, as a particular community and, in a more general sphere, SIISCA, aims to provide information to non-professionals who want a new perspective on the issue. What’s more, we want to give you the tools you need to improve your understanding and knowledge of dramatherapy, since you’re here precisely for this reason.
Needless to say, you’ve come to the right place!

When you’re uninformed and unenlightened, you’re like an empty box in which everyone can deposit their ideas. But from that moment on, merely because you have stored and recalled them, you start adopting these ideas as your own. Thus, you may reach a point in life when you get an odd feeling that something just isn’t right, and a sudden, sick realization that you don’t have the right information you need. This can virtually freeze you dead in your tracks! Fortunately, it isn’t always so dramatic, but, believe me, sometimes not having the right answer to simple questions can cause genuine disasters.

You won’t learn to be a skilled dramatherapist or hypnotist from our conversations because you must have a have scientific qualification and belong to a certain profession to legally practice dramatherapy or hypnosis. But you will learn much about these subjects by sharing and discussing ideas in real time with other people across the globe. You can even reach a good level of knowledge in the utilization of theatre to grow up, if you wish. We also work to give professionals the best possible information by offering clinical courses on hypnosis. Here, however, we are more interested in educating and training non-professionals.

So, to answer the initial question, no matter what happens in the year ahead, we know that we will not only be writing about dramatherapy, but we will also be extremely pleased and gratified to serve as a connection between the scientific community and the public through a strong association that is eager to help everyone who is willing to gather around the virtual table and to ask questions, provide answers, and listen carefully.
A special thank to my staff, students and colleagues, for their precious collaboration in this phase of our blog’s life and to Emiliana Bianchi for the difficult and delicate task of attempting to translate the contents of this blog into English.

So what comes next?
Our answer: community, connections, conversation!
Happy New Year to you and your families from my staff and me.

Ermanno Gioacchini, MD
SIISCA President

CREATIVE DRAMA & IN-OUT THEATRE

Creative Drama & In-Out Theatre -CDIOT-, sponsorised by Dramatherapy Workshop FreeMind, is a form of theatre turned to adult and it is based on a new processed dramatherapic methodology from Gioacchini MD, psychoterapist and trainer in Rome -Italy. This methodology, to comparison of the known forms of dramatherapy, emphasises particularly two aspects: the use of the modified states of conscience- own of dramatic function; and the concept of "centrality" of interpretative action of every partecipant in the relationship with the group, where "the alphabet and syllables, the melodies and movements with which we communicate our inner selves to others" -ritualistic form. Here are some theatrical performances of the actors of Dramatherapy Workshop FreeMind and CDIOT -Rome, Milan.

Let's Share our Community...

Group For Psychology, Art-Therapy, Drama Therapy & Hypnodrama Issues

This Community believes that the interest in these particular topics should not be theoretical, but directly connected to ordinary, clinical, and experimental practice. In fact, what seems difficult, if not impossible, is to reach a definitive conclusion in these fields, which are characterized by the continuous overlapping of contrasting theoretical and pragmatical proposals and models. Moreover, we should take into account the possible role of cultural variables and different environments in modulating the answers in the ordinary social behaviour and hypnotic phenomena. So, what do we need to investigate? We strictly adhere to the belief that, for the future, a better knowledge of the psychologic, psychodinamic, and hypnotic processes is needed. Not only a knowledge of phenomenology, but also of neurophysiological patterns, through a rigorous experimental approach. We need better data for psychophysiologic responsiveness through states of trance and psychodinamic patterns, "dramatic" activities, and the role of stress and trauma. Moreover, cognitive features in trance must be considered. The setting of the enviroment needs to be well examined. We extend our special thanks to everyone who would like to cooperate with our organisation and share research results and investigations -readings.
E. Gioacchini,
-President of SIISCA -Italian Society for Experimental, Clinical and Applied Hypnosis. Founder and Director of Dramatherapy Workshop FreeMind and Founder of Creative Drama & In-Out Theatre, in Rome.