1988 Introduction to Processwork Basics at Esalen Institute
Esalen invited Amy and Arny to be resident teachers after the death of their earlier teacher Dick Price. In this 75 minute video, broken up into 4 parts (originally filmed by Esalen in 1988 and updated by Amy in 2011) you will see Arny introducing processwork in a way that is still relevant to today. Here you will find theory, practice, experiential exercises etc.
Esalen Video Part 1: Arny speaks about his history and background in science and in Jungian psychology. He speaks about the dreambody and stresses the importance of unifying psychology with movement, family, political, and group work. He stresses the cross cultural nature of process work and its various applications as well as how the healing/medical model integrates with the meaningful nature of body symptoms/experiences.
Esalen Video Part 2: Arny leads everyone through an inner work exercise on a body symptom and its connection to dreams. He speaks about the Cartesian split between dreams and the body and why he chose to use information thinking. He gives an example of working with a little girl with a bone tumor and asks, “What is “healing”? He also speaks about coma work.
Esalen Video Part 3: Arny discusses developing abilities in many sensory grounded channels, why we have so many channels, and asks: What is process? He speaks of teleology, and programming versus following. He gives an example of his own childhood dream, talks about positive and negative feedback, and how the best interventions are seen in the expressions people are already making.
Esalen Video Part 4: Arny recommends a dreamwork dyad exercise to train in noticing the kind of dreamwork the “client” is recommending. He describes the concept of the “edge” and leads everyone through an exploration of their own edges. He discusses primary and secondary processes, the way symptoms appear at the edge, and the importance of following the entire process. He concludes by addressing the question, “What if you don’t remember your dreams?”.
1990 “FIELD OF DREAMS: An Interview with Arnold Mindell” by Stephen Bodian of the Yoga Journal, March/April 1990.
Click here for the full interview: FIELD OF DREAMS
2007 IAPOP Introductory Talk
Amy and Arny’s Introductory talk at the April 2007 International Association of Process Oriented Psychology Conference in London, England gives a personal account of a small piece of history behind the birth of processwork. For details, download the article and/or Arny’s talk below. The conference which followed will soon be available to all in book form, from the Research Society for Process Oriented Psychology.
Download Amy and Arny’s IAPOP Talk (7.6MB .pdf file)