Module 1 - Intellectualization: The Hidden Block to Transformation with Morgan Starr-Riestis
Intellectualization is one of the most subtle and insidious forms of self-sabotage, surfacing when both clients and practitioners use analysis and logic as a protective shield to avoid fully feeling and processing core emotions. This module unpacks the mechanics of intellectualization, exploring why it blocks true transformation and identifying the hidden protective purposes it serves.
Key Concepts Covered
- The Defense of Logic: Understanding how cognitive analysis is used as a somatic defense mechanism to bypass emotional vulnerability.
- Recognizing Warning Signs: Learning how to identify the subtle markers of intellectualization within oneself and within clients during a session.
- Bypassing True Transformation: Examining the psychological and somatic reasons why purely cognitive knowing fails to produce lasting behavioral or emotional breakthroughs.
Learning Objectives & Format
Through structural analysis and practical training, participants will learn how to transition clients out of their heads and into their bodies. This module provides actionable, practical strategies to help clients safely move past cognitive processing and step into genuine somatic healing and lasting results.
Module 2 - Into the Depths: Working Somatically With Unconscious Patterns with Kai Cheng Thom
As somatic healing processes venture deeper into subtle sensations and feelings, practitioners inevitably encounter complex patterns of behavior, memory, and emotion that stem from the unconscious. Led by depth psychology coach and somatic practitioner Kai Cheng Thom, MSc, this module offers simple yet powerful frameworks to bridge the intersection between the body and the unconscious mind. This integration adds layers of depth, beauty, and profound meaning to somatic work while serving as an effective bridge for highly intellectual or cognitive clients who are less sensation-oriented.
Key Concepts Covered
- The Somatic Unconscious: Identifying and navigating the surprising or confusing psychological patterns that surface during deep bodywork.
- Cognitive-Somatic Bridging: Utilizing depth psychology frameworks to translate somatic experiences for clients who lean heavily on intellectual or analytical processing.
- Working with Symbolism: Engaging the unconscious mind safely and effectively through body-centered exploration of dreams, imagery, and archetypes.
Learning Objectives & Format
Through structural theory and practical application, participants will learn how to integrate depth psychology seamlessly into body-based therapy. This module provides professionals with a versatile toolkit for working somatically with images and symbols, embodied metaphors, and dreams—deepening the therapeutic process and accelerating transformation.
Module 3 - Barriers to Somatic Healing with Dr. Russell Kennedy
Even with the best clinical tools, healing can stall—not because a client is executing the practices incorrectly, but because deeply ingrained survival patterns continue to act as a protective shield. In this module, Dr. Russell Kennedy (The Anxiety MD) unpacks the five hidden barriers that block somatic healing, even when individuals are actively "doing the work."
Key Concepts Covered
- The Five Hidden Barriers: Identifying the unconscious obstacles and protective survival structures that cause therapeutic plateaus.
- The MADDS Framework: Utilizing this specialized structural framework to map and understand the somatic defense mechanisms keeping clients stuck.
- The ABC Method: Applying a practical, step-by-step methodology to gently isolate, address, and dissolve chronic protective patterns.
Learning Objectives & Format
Through targeted clinical frameworks and practical intervention strategies, participants will learn how to help clients transition from merely managing systemic anxiety to actively healing it at the somatic root. This module equips practitioners with the diagnostic tools necessary to identify defensive stagnation and restore momentum to the trauma healing process.
