Workshop “Flow Lab”, 26th-27th June 2021
Dear colleagues, we invite you to participate in the online Flow Lab, a two-day workshop that we call a laboratory, where we will go into how it is possible to reach the state of Flow.
On the first day you will have through an activity, the opportunity to explore and tune in to your individual access to flow. On the second day, there will be a group exploration, reinforcement and expansion of individual- and group experiences.

 Flow, or the optimal experience, is a concept developed by the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the seventies, even if the roots are much more distant and comparable to some aspects of Eastern philosophy. A state of consciousness in which a person is completely immersed in an activity, a condition of total involvement.
Some aspects of the state are:
— Balance between challenge and ability: the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult for the subject (between anxiety and boredom).
— Sense of control: the perception of having everything under control and being able to dominate the situation.
— Inherent pleasure: action gives intrinsic pleasure.
— Integration between action and awareness: concentration and commitment are at the top. The person is so absorbed in the action that the action appears natural, full of joy and energizing.

Models and approaches that will be used during workshop

WAVES is a tool regarding general activities or tasks. The use can concern any activity because it focuses on personal satisfaction. The model is designed to help people identify areas for improvement, "ups and downs" related to the execution of a specific task. These "ups and downs" are illustratedFlow Laboratory
 in the form of waves, which can be reproduced in different ways, depending on the intuition of those who fill out the diagram.
 The model helps us understand how well we feel in a given activity; if we feel like we are in a smooth and satisfying flow, or if we instead perceive that there could be room for improvement. Using the model, it also emerges if there are any real mental or emotional blocks connected to the activity analyzed.

"WAVES" is an acronym for:
W. Will
A. Awareness
V. Variation
E. Energy
S. Satisfaction
 
Example of WAVES:

 
In the workshop we will exercise the use of the model both for individual activity and group-activity. We will see how the model can be useful both in our personal life and in our work as health care professionals.
 Brainspotting (BSP) is a new psychotherapy approach that hypothesizes that the field of vision can be used to locate eye positions that correlate with relevance to inner neural and emotional experience. After these eye positions, or Brainspots, are located, they may by maintaining eye fixation, lead to a healing and resolution of issues that are held deeply in the non-verbal, non-cognitive areas of the neurophysiology. BSP utilizes both focused activation and focused mindfulness as its mechanisms of operation. It aims at a full, comprehensive discharge of activation held in the brain and body. 
In Transactional Analysis we aim at assisting and helping people to achieve autonomy; spontaneity, intimacy and awareness. Understanding the concept of Flow is leading us closer to the understanding of what it really means to be aware of the present moment, of “Hic et Nunc ”, the “Here and Now”.

Audio Psycho–Phonology, is a discipline born from the research of Alfred A. Tomatis, a French physician specialized in otolaryngology, intended to educate or re-educate the listening function and therefore the quality of communication. In the 1960s, Tomatis discovered that the voice uses only the frequencies it can perceive and that any change in the auditory pattern involves a change in the voice.This process applies to communication in a broad sense with all its emotional and relational components. Motor and psychomotor faculties are also involved in the process, and the discipline helps to communicate and move more appropriately, richly and precisely, towards more balanced and fulfilling behaviors.
What will we do in the two days workshop:
Learn and put into practice the WAVES model of Ulrika Widen.
Margreet will introduce some exercises in which you will feel your breathing in a new way and be more in contact with yourself, increasing your awareness, to better control your internal flow.
With Katya we will search for obstacles that are blocking the free flow and comprehend and face them. Each participant will explore and learn how or transform their own blocks using Brainspotting.

Trainers
Ulrika
Psychologist, PTSTA-C, Art- therapist. Developer of the Model WAVES 
… 
Katya 
Psychologist,  CTA-P in contract, Brainspotting (BSP) therapist
… 
Margreet
….
Born in Holland, graduated in dramatic arts at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and studied Dance at the Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Diplomated Organist from the Conservatory of Amsterdam, researcher in the field of Psychokinetics, with Marta Egri De Bosio and Giovanna Bruno and Prof Jean LeBoulch i. Audio Psycho–Phonology, developed by Professor Alfred Tomatis of Paris, has further enriched her training, enabling her to integrate the previous experiences, applying her musical knowledge to her current professional activity. Margreet has been the head of a project on the global application of the Tomatis Method at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale of Saluzzo (School for Advanced Musical Studies – European Project) from 1989 to 1991, and together with Roberto Vaccani, from 1990 to 2008, she conducted several seminars for trainers and teachers of S.D.A., for the Commercial University Luigi Bocconi of Milan. After further training, based on Breath and Voice, graduating in the method, which bears the name of its creator, the Belgian singer Serge Wilfart, Margreet has developed a personal approach to voice, integrating various disciplines and experiences, through intensive workshops, group and individual lessons.