Psychodrama Workshop – Rio Retreat Center

THRIVE is an experiential intensive that takes you to the next level of recovery.

Hanging onto old pain keeps us preoccupied with our past and anxious about our future, rather than living in the present. Releasing dysfunctional roles and embracing new ones empowers us to experience our full potential. But before we’re able to release worn out roles, we need to give voice and shape to them. This action oriented process will provide a unique opportunity to engage in an exploration that will lead you to a greater sense of aliveness and purpose: a life changing new experience carved out of time to energize and revitalize —to live your actualized life!

The workshop will emphasize:

• Forgiveness
• Resilience Training
• Post Traumatic Growth
• Consolidating Recovery Gains
  
  

To THRIVE is to……
Engage: More fully and mindfully in your relationships and day-to-day life.
Embrace: A deepened and more purposeful sense of self.
Expand: And revitalize your life roles.
Energize: Forgive the past to live more fully in the present.
Empower: Take ownership of your own healing and attitude towards life.

Workshops run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted. The schedule is flexible, accommodating the group process.

Content Source : Workshops For Self Improvement

Functional Adulthood as a Spiritual Practice

In this Mindful Monday series, we have presented many different ways of being mindful and many different benefits of having a mindfulness practice. We know that mindfulness is a deliberate practice and a deliberate experience of being present in the moment.

Today, I’m excited to talk about a passion of mine, which is working with the core issues and the ego states within mindfulness meditation. Meditation helps us to move away from our wounded child ego state and toward our functional adult ego state.

The Wounded Child Ego State

Rio Retreat Centere At The Meadows, we teach about the ego states as they were laid out by Senior Fellow Pia Mellody in her work on the Model of Developmental Immaturity. She explains that how our thinking and beliefs can be distorted in the wounded child ego state.

Sometimes, when we find ourselves in our wounded child ego state, we feel like we’re not as good as other people and we feel bad about ourselves.

We also tend to feel very vulnerable. We’re not able to protect ourselves when someone is critical or just not being present with us. We take it personally. We tend to have difficulty staying present because we give into our distorted thinking and we feel uncomfortable being in our bodies.

Moderation as a Spiritual Practice

I and my team had the wonderful privilege of spending some time with Pia Mellody recently. She reminded us all that working on our core issues and learning to live moderately is a spiritual practice.

It’s a spiritual practice to love ourselves and feel equal to other people.

Content Source – By Nancy Minister, Workshop Facilitator, Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows

Mutual Respect and The Power of Intimacy

Power is a very interesting phenomenon. I remember having numerous conversations about the complex intersection of power and relationships in graduate school. There was a lot of confusion as to what exactly power even is.
One of the most common misunderstandings about power is that it is a linear phenomenon. In fact, power comes at us from numerous sources all of the time.

The second most common misunderstanding is that power is a zero-sum game— either you have it or I have it. And whatever you have, I can’t have, and vice-versa. This fundamentally flawed way of thinking about power greatly impacts our experiences in relationships.

There are two main ways we experience power in our relationships: power with and power over (you have power over someone else or some else has power over you). The Man Rules say that real men have power and are never weak or powerless. Therefore, from a very early age, young boys are encouraged to find power over – power over others, power over their feelings, and power over themselves.

The Woman Rules say that women should be cooperative, passive, nurturing, selfless, and not too strong. Therefore, from a very early age, young girls are encouraged to find power with. Women are expected to share power with others even if it puts them at a disadvantage; even when it means they have to give up their own power.

And that is the rub in so many heterosexual relationships.

Making Peace with Power

You cannot have a relationship that doesn’t involve a complex interaction with power. What some people don’t often consider is that power can be healthy. In fact, it is an essential part of the day-to-day human experience.

To help us explore the complexity of power in relationships, we can look to the classic Karpman drama triangle which illustrates the shifting, and sometimes destructive, roles of persecutor, rescuer, and victim that people play in relational conflicts. In this “drama triangle” each person involved in a conflict experiences and acts out all of these roles at different times. The role we take on can determine how we perceive our partners, interpret their behavior, and interact with them.

The reason these triangles arise, and often endure, is that each person, regardless of their role, finds that they get their unspoken, and often unconscious, psychological needs met by playing these roles—roles which they most likely originally “perfected” through the power dynamic that played out within their family as a child.

Whether they play the victim or persecutor, or some combination of all three roles, in the end, each person feels justified in acting upon their needs. Feeling satisfied, they often conveniently fail to acknowledge the dysfunctional ways they tend to go about getting their needs met, or the harm that is being done as a result to themselves, their partners, or any third parties (like children) who may be directly or indirectly involved in their conflict.

When there are times of disconnection in the relationship and even if, for whatever reason, there is a loss of respect between partners, intimacy can only be restored in the space of mutuality. We have to move away from the desire to have power over our partners toward the experience of having power with them. When we are able to uncover how our emotional needs arise from our childhood trauma, and release some of that pain, we have the ability to break free from the drama triangle and build an intimate and nurturing environment of mutual respect. Is it easier to let our relationships fall into a series of power plays or to maintain a space of mutual respect? I would suggest the former.

We have to build up our emotional and spiritual muscle in order to truly listen to our partners and maintain respect, especially when they are being their very human and imperfect selves and not doing what we want them to do or being who we want them to be.

Source Link : Mutual Respect

All of the Feels: Accepting the Gifts of Emotion

In our culture, we are taught that certain feelings are off limits. There is a general sense that if you’re not happy most of the time that you’re doing life wrong.

I went into my own therapy and my career of becoming a therapist to rid myself and others of all those inconvenient and unpleasant feelings of fear and pain. Before I began any of my own therapy, I didn’t even have words to describe what my therapist referred to as “feelings”. Why would I want to describe or acknowledge any of these horrible sensations and experiences with words that might allow other humans to understand what I was going through and maybe even see the real me?

After doing my best to avoid feelings in my therapist’s office for as long as he would allow, I acquiesced to his consistent, we’ll call it re-direction: “That’s not a feeling, that’s a thought”. When I started labeling my emotions I discovered something quite shocking—it takes a lot less energy and creates less suffering to just feel them and maybe, if you’re brave enough, to share them with someone else.

Upon deeper investigation, I began to understand that I had neatly tucked away my feelings. I had traded them in for a nicely organized chart of life experiences with lots of explanations and justifications to avoid ever experiencing any of those emotions. I later discovered this was called intellectualization, a distorted thinking pattern, set up by certain parenting missteps from my major caregivers.

The Gift of Emotion

I’ve also learned that each of the eight primary emotions offers us different gifts, and to avoid any of them negates a unique part of the human experience. It turns out that while I was avoiding all that pain and fear, I was actually avoiding a whole lot of joy, love, and passion as well.

Through my work here at The Meadows, I have seen how much damage can be done while trying to avoid feelings. People attempt to avoid feelings through various types of addictions and other unhealthy behaviors. Many times shame is a major contributing factor. Interestingly enough, as we try to medicate our feelings of shame and worthlessness, we are actually creating more shame, which then has to be medicated as well, leaving us in a never ending bind. By looking at our past we are able to identify the messages we received about which feelings are “okay” and which are not, and eventually learn to cope with all of them. By learning to tolerate and accept feelings the way they are, and not the way we want them to be, we allow ourselves to become more authentic. The result is that we are less prone to use those old methods of avoidance and self-protection that landed us in a heap of trouble.

The Eight Basic Feelings

So, you may be thinking, “why would I want to feel my feelings?” The answer is that each one of our emotions offers us a distinctive gift. Even fear, pain, and shame—emotions we are most likely to try to avoid—serve an important purpose.

Healthy fear lets us know that we are in danger and should move to safety, literally keeping us alive.

Pain may be one of the reasons you’re on this particular website; and really, it’s one of the main catalysts for change. Most people do not enter a treatment program or make a major life change without first experiencing some amount of pain. Pain can be a real motivator and—let’s face it—sometimes a good cry feels really healing.

When it comes to our own shame, healthy feelings of shame offer us containment. As Pia Mellody says, we only need enough healthy shame to keep us from running naked down the street. Experiencing our own shame allows us to accept our own mistakes and humanity; and, with those experiences, we are able to accept the mistakes of others without all that self-righteous victim anger or resentment bubbling up.

Most people don’t end up in treatment because of having too much joy, passion, or love; however, maybe you grew up in a family where these feelings were not acknowledged or expressed. Joy, passion, and love are the building blocks of relationships and being able to get in touch with and express these three feelings can be a very powerful experience and improve your mood almost instantly.

Learning to Feel

I’d like to think that I’ve made friends with most of those eight emotions, and have learned that the most uncomfortable feelings offer me the greatest lessons.

If you are struggling to cope with your emotions, join us for one of our Survivors workshops. These workshops are designed to provide you insight into how your past is impacting your present, as well as, reducing reactivity and intensity of your feelings in your current relationships. Call 866-932-2036 for more information.

Source Link:- Trauma Therapy Arizona

Everyone needs a therapy…

When somebody mentions therapist, psychiatrist or mental health care specialist, we assume them to be a mental patient. The person having therapist may not be mental patient but instead just requires a little bit of help. The people who are suffering from emotional trauma just needs emotional support, which in our language we say Healing Trauma. We at Rio Retreat conduct various Healing from trauma workshops in Arizona. There are 5 different types of Trauma Therapy in Arizona provided by Rio Retreat:

1. Survivors I: Healing Childhood Trauma

We provide safe and supportive environment, in which victim faces his defeating behaviors such as addictions, trauma, mood disorders, and troubling relationships. The primary focus of this workshop is releasing the negative messages and emotions to embody your authentic self.

2. Survivors II: Continue the Healing Journey

Survivors II is an advanced intensive customized to meet the needs of the participants of Survivor I. It is structured for those suffering from unresolved childhood and adult trauma who are struggling with self-defeating behaviors they wish completion of its previous healing work.

3. Healing Intimate Treason: For Partners of Sex Addiction

Here we teach participants about the biology and the behavior of sex and love addiction. This is a workshop that assists partners in moving through their grief and loss, breaking free from the attachment to fantasy, and enhancing emotional self-regulation. The motto of this workshop is to create a safe and compassionate environment, which provides a path to healing as they travel on their own journey in recovery.

4. Healing Heartache: A Grief And Loss Workshop

Here participants are offered hope for the future. We believe that feelings and words that are left unsaid needs to be released through experiential exercises. Issues pertaining to relational problems are addressed, with an emphasis on recognizing emotional reactions to loss, trauma, and broken dreams.

Finding Real Joy This Christmas

Source Link: Retreat Center Arizon

By Laura Parrot Perry

Note: The following post originally appeared on the blog In Others’ Words. The author, Laura Parrott Perry, is a mother, an art teacher, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and an advocate for fellow survivors. It is reposted here with her permission.

We careen through a season built for stillness and reverence.

We have a tendency to judge those people who manage eschew the madness. I mean, most good holiday movies have a character like that, right? We tend to chalk it up to being a grouch, or miserly, or having lost the meaning of Christmas.

I don’t know… I’ve always had a soft spot for His Grinchiness. I do love a curmudgeon. I think in many ways, the Green One was onto something. Listen closely to what he says- he’s not ranting about Christmas at all. He expresses dismay over “packages, boxes, and bags” and extravagant feasts. He rails against the “noise, noise, noise, noise.” None of that is Christmas. All of that is hustle.

‘Tis the season, all right. The season of HUSTLE.

These few months are when I hear more, “I have to” and “I need to” about things that are completely voluntary than any other time of year. This time of year, when we could be focused on faith and family, miracles and peace, we engage in the Hardship Olympics like it’s our job. Like it’s our calling. Like it’s the point.

I really began thinking about this a few weeks ago, in the lead up to Thanksgiving. This season is a particularly challenging time for survivors of childhood trauma. So much of our abuse happens within the family, and holidays often mean going home to the scene of the crime. Literally.

You’re going to have the holiday you choose, one way or another. You can keep hustling. That’s an option. Or you can slow down. You can say no to hustle in order to say yes to joy. You can move through this season with intention and wonder. You can come out of the season filled up rather than running on empty. You really can.

Eating Disorders Workshop Arizona

Food – everyone’s first love. Nobody could survive without food as we talk, but can you imagine food harming us? Scientifically, food pumps blood, produces energy and keeps our body healthy but it has flipside too like everything else. It could ruin us physically and mentally if it is abused. Just ask following questions to yourself based on your body type:

Do you feel you are getting fatter even if you are eating less – anorexia?

Or do you feel you are not getting fat even if your food intake is sufficient – obesity?

Or you think you have a problem of binge eating disorder?

  Thus, Rio Retreat Centre brings you Eating Disorder Workshop. Suffering from eating disorder, this Workshop for Eating Disorders is open to men and women at Remuda Ranch. Here, we provide workshop therapy for every kind of disorder. Be it overeating, under eating, fluctuate back and forth, or do both at the same time. This workshop helps you see your current struggles with food through the lens of your personal history. By participating in together meals, you learn to identify and separate your emotions and thoughts.

There are three types of eating disorder one could pass through:

1. Anorexia: Anorexia is avoiding food because of fear of becoming fat. It is a psychiatric disorder that could be life threatening. It could start at the early age of 8 and could last till mid 50’s. It cannot be cured easily without care.
2. Bulimia: Bulimia is eating disorder also known as an emotional eating disorder. A person eats more and more because of emotional stress. It a psychiatric disorder that revolves around food. A person with this disorder could gain up to 1000 calories in a very short period of time with his or her habits.
3. Binge: It is different from bulimia. It could be called as obesity. When a person eats even after his or her hunger has been quenched is called binge eating disorder. Similar to Anorexia and Bulimia, it cannot be cured without the help of other doctors.

Thus, Rio Retreat and Remuda Ranch brings you Eating Disorder Workshop to cure every kind of disorder and to be free from it for life.

Six workshops for Personal growth…

Personal Growth workshop Arizona

Growth and development are two strong words as they can be in a life of an individual. Many of you must be still unaware about your own mental, physical, social and emotional health. It is very necessary for you to have knowledge about your own needs, wants, desires and places for improvement. Rio Retreat Centre at The Meadows brings you six different types of Self-Improvement Workshops and Personal Growth workshop to know your inner self. They are:

1. Men’s Sexual Recovery
   

   Men suffering from sexual addiction are often ashamed and embarrassed. Thus, we help them overcome their embarrassment and help them heal. This workshop is for active people who want their recovery faster and prevent relapse. Positivity is instigated in them such that they are taught to have productive experiences as well as to maintain positive relationships.

2. Spirit: A Somatic Equine Workshop

This workshop is held in rustic ranch near Wickenburg, Arizona. This program is very interesting as it consist of experiential activities with horses, and focusing on self-esteem, needs, desires, emotional regulation, and spontaneity.

3. Mind & Heart: A mindful path to wholehearted living

This workshop helps you maintain balance between mind and heart. We often get confused what to do and what not to do because of rationality of mind and correctness of heart. Thus, this workshop at Rio Retreat Centre helps in improving decisions and continues taking them correctly.

4. A Man’s Way™ Retreat

It is said that a man cannot be taught HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN? Here, at Rio Retreat we teach them to be. We assist men to recover from trauma, with the help of curriculum by Dan Griffin. This five day intensive workshop is based upon books A Man’s Way through the Twelve Steps and A Man’s Way through Relationships by Dan Griffin.

5. Freedom From Emotional Eating:

   Taking The Next Steps

Generally when girls are nervous or in trauma, they tend to eat more, thus, resulting into body damage and reputation damage and lack of self-confidence. Once you recover from that, this workshop will help you overcome past experiences of eating disorder at Remuda Ranch.

6. Living in Abundance:

   Balancing Work, Money, and Relationships
   As mentioned in the title, living in Abundance is five days’ workshop that helps you balance work life, money as well as relationships.

Attend workshops at Rio Retreat once and you will return with few more comrades.

The Meadows Alumni Rio Retreat

The Meadows Alumni Retreat is your opportunity to reconnect, reunite, recharge, and reignite.

This retreat is only for those who have participated in one of our 5-day intensive workshops, an intensive outpatient program at The Meadows Outpatient Center, or family week or inpatient treatment at The Meadows, Claudia Black Young Adult Center, Gentle Path at The Meadows, Dawn at The Meadows, Dakota House, or Mellody House. We look forward to creating an unforgettable weekend and reuniting you with your peers!

Early bird registration fee: $250 (prior to November 19, 2016)
Regular registration fee: $300 (November 19, 2016 and after)
The registration fee includes meals and program activities.

Please contact us for any dietary or special needs at alumni@themeadows.org.

Address : 1245 Jack Burden Road,
City : Wickenburg
State : Arizona
Zipcode : 85390
Country : United States
Phone: +1 800-244-4949

Referral Link : Grief Counseling Arizona

Tending the Garden of Our Souls

The girl was anxious, wanting to get back to the rose bush and save it from being ravaged by the beetle that was just doing what a beetle does. Already the pattern of codependence was set up. There I was at such a young age trying to stop the destruction that seemed an inevitable pattern of my family. As though the hunger of my fearful unhappy parents were just doing what they did to survive and the child was the rose. The analogy was daunting.

Tending to the garden of our soul is not something we think about often. But Spirit, in it’s divine wisdom, set up a situation for me to heal the foundation of my roots as well as protect how I bloom.

 

A few months ago I was getting ready to set course with a production company on a project when Spirit told me, “We want you to heal some of your history.” Hum, well, of course I wondered how that would happen, but our agendas or what we think about how such a thing can transpire is often contrary to what we WANT to have happen. I like to have things be loving and copacetic so that communication can be resolved in a harmonious way. But this time I could not make that happen because Spirit had a different idea.

Source Link : Relationship Therapy Workshop