PRIMAL PLAY
A Somatic Play Therapy Group Process
-Single workshop
-Day Immersion
-Retreat
"Engaging in play allows us to access our unconscious truths, using interactions with others as mirrors of our internal worlds and ultimately guiding us to expand our capacity to navigate this internal world with our external world—all while enjoying the process."
Primal Play 2 hour Workshop: Nervous System Attunement
Primal Play is a trauma-informed, non-verbal somatic play therapy workshop designed to enhance your sensitivity, deepen your connection to your body and expand your capacity to attune with others.
Throughout this session, you'll develop a heightened awareness of your own nervous system and inner truths, empowering you to navigate interactions with others more authentically. This process allows for the experience and expression of both safety and discomfort, fostering a deeper understanding of your own body language and the nervous systems of others within the group.
This movement-based workshop adapts to your body's needs, whether high-energy or gentle. The focus is on exploring your body’s reactions and responses in its most authentic state, where all experiences and expressions are welcome.
Primal Play Expanded: Full Day Immersion
Session 1: is Nervous System Attunement as explained in the section above.
Session 2: Becoming Familiar with Emotions
In this session, we will safely explore our fight, flight, and freeze responses, helping us identify our emotional edges while developing resources for self-regulation. By engaging with fear and anger in a playful and supportive environment, we’ll become familiar with the sensations of nervous system activation.
Through this process, we will learn to recognize emotions as energies with important messages, allowing us to understand, express, and address our needs more effectively. The goal is to become comfortable with discomfort, mastering the ability to respond to emotions thoughtfully, rather than reacting impulsively. By doing so, we gain agency through our emotional experiences, rather than being controlled by them, giving us choice in how we participate in life.
Session 3: Dissolving an Origin - a Psycho-drama Ritual
In this session, we will delve into an overwhelming emotion currently present in our lives, along with the core beliefs associated with it. We will explore these beliefs with curiosity, considering their origins and the influential figures who may have contributed to their development.
Participants will then be invited to create a ritual or playful reenactment that mirrors the original situation or relational dynamic. This exercise provides an opportunity to witness and understand unmet needs from that time. Through this ritual, we can offer our younger selves the validation, nurturing, and love that may have been missing, fostering a deeper connection to a source of unconditional love within ourselves, as well as empowering us to meet ourselves in the ways we truly desire.
Primal Play Deep Dive: A Retreat
The Deep Dive Immersion allows for intensive development of each concept, offering participants the opportunity for deeper exploration and real-time integration. This extended experience provides the flexibility to follow participants' natural inclinations, fostering organic, spontaneous interactions beyond structured timing.
Each day will feature a guided component, with ample space for participants to explore and engage with the material on their own terms, encouraging the emergence of transformative group dynamics. When control is minimized, the potential for collective healing is maximized.
Day One:A non-verbal day focused on human interaction, offering a profound experience that allows participants to connect beyond ego and surface-level communication.
Day Two: An exploration of emotional intelligence, triggers, and shadow work. Participants will explore the language of emotions and will confront unacknowledged aspects of themselves, embody challenging archetypes, and work towards self-acceptance and healing.
Day Three: A full day dedicated to uncovering the roots of personal tension and pain, culminating in psychodrama rituals. These rituals provide space for integration and the opportunity to participate in multiple healing processes.
The group dynamics in these retreats foster a deeply humbling and empowering journey, where participants collectively experience profound personal and relational growth.