CPD: Breathing & Relaxation
A workshop for Counsellors/Therapists
An experiential workshop exploring breathing and relaxation, as well as somatic links, to increase confidence in working with focused breathing as a tool for self-regulation and stress management with clients.
Many counsellors and student counsellors have told me that their training didn't include opportunities to learn and practice the important skills of focused breathing and body-work, or to experience and apply the mind/body/breath connection and the therapeutic value of this.
This means that you and your colleagues or fellow students might feel unsure and de-skilled when faced with a client who is beginning to panic, who is fearful, who feels as if they're losing control...
This in-person workshop helps to fill gaps in your training and experience, and will help you to feel more confident working with clients who feel anxious, fearful, panicky or traumatised.
You can apply what you learn to yourself, too!
When it comes to self-calming, and making focused breathing work for the individual, it's useful if you can quickly and simply explain the point of it, without confusing your clients or yourself, and if you can confidently draw from a variety of approaches, adapting everything to each client's needs as you go (because one size doesn't fit all).
If we, as therapists, can 'practise what we preach', and sit alongside our clients, assisting them to find what works best for them by experimenting and demonstrating using our selves, then our clients might feel more confident in what we're offering or suggesting, and may be more likely to do the things that help them to feel better. It feels more 'human', more holistic, than recommending a one-size-fits-all app.
You might be surprised (and relieved?) to know that you don't need to become an overnight expert in (neuro)science to help your clients with self-regulation via the breath. I will show you a short, practical exercise that gets the point across simply and experientially. I'll explore with you various ways of focusing on the breath, so that you and your clients can experiment together, finding what works best, and your clients can feel confident practising and applying their new skills.
Having completed this workshop, you won't need to refer clients to other sources. You'll be able to confidently and calmly help people to explore and find breathing foci for self-regulation that work for them.
You will be able to fit your therapy to the client, rather than hoping that the client will fit your therapy.
If you work with clients who are anxious, who become distressed, who feel panicky, who are traumatised, who fear feeling and expressing emotions.... who struggle to self-regulate... then this workshop will help you to help them, straight away, in the room.
I will guide you gently, holistically, supportively, throughout this whole-day workshop so that you go home feeling more skilled, confident and nourished.
To read what others have said about this workshop, scroll down the page
Here's some detail so you know what you'll get
The aims of this workshop include:
-
Discovering through 'doing' the benefits of focused breathing and physical relaxation for self and for clients
-
Increased self-confidence regarding when and how to introduce and use focused breathing and/or relaxation in the therapy room
-
Demystifying 'breath-work' so it's as accessible as possible for as many people as possible
-
Exploring the connection between mind, body and breath
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
-
List moments/situations in which the use of focused breathing could be therapeutic
-
Explain and demonstrate the most important part of the breath
-
Demonstrate a variety of foci for breathing, bearing in mind one size doesn't fit all, to individualise the approach for maximum therapeutic value
-
Experiment with and replicate a variety of short exercises to release tension in the body, to increase awareness of the mind/body/breath connection
-
Create an effective guided relaxation script, incorporating breathing, body and visualisation, having first experienced a guided relaxation during the workshop
This workshop is a blend of experiential learning and discussion, with a bit of creativity thrown in.
There's no PowerPoint presentation!
Written notes summarising the whole day will be provided.
A few words about experiential learning versus stunning our clients with science!
There's far less need to inform or 'psycho-educate' clients about the neuroscience behind self-regulation via the breath than you might believe. A little information might be useful for some clients, but broadly speaking, it's thought that most of us only retain about 20% of what we hear. While a client may absorb some of the scientific explanations you have provided, by the following appointment it may well have become a jumble in their mind. If this happens it could feel over-complicated, adding to confusion and anxiety, rather than relieving it.
What does help is the experience, the doing and feeling. The proof is in the pudding, as they say!
In adult learning, we are told that most adults retain roughly 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, but 50-90% of what we do or experience. In this experiential workshop, the explanations are still present, but without the 'special' scientific or medicalised language that has the potential to create a power imbalance.
What people say about Zana's Breathing & Relaxation workshop
"This has been a fab experience, lots of food for thought and I'm going away thinking and feeling like I can start this with my clients."
"Loved the whole day! Led exceptionally well. Experiential exercises so valuable for self and an excellent 'tool box' for clients young and old. Good balance between instruction, practice and open discussion."
"I found it very informative and enjoyable. Practical exercises, clear presentation. Enjoyed day."
[I liked] "everything - particularly breath work. Good group, excellent speaker. Learned so much and the experiments were so helpful to client work."
"The simple core message. Excellent to have a practical exercise just after lunch. Good mix of talking, doing and experiencing."
"Simple language and learning by doing. Really enjoyed the day."
"Experiential made it very accessible and I will definitely use this with my clients."
[I liked] "the experiential part and role play helpful because it gave me confidence and gave me the opportunity to know how I felt. Really enjoyed the day, lovely trainer and good to meet other therapists."
"Interesting, but in particular experimenting with different breathing techniques."
"Time to try out each breathing exercise. Lots of different approaches offered to suit the variety of clients we see. Renewed awareness of my own breathing and the relaxing effect of focused breath-work."
"Practical examples of breathing, stretching, tension - release. Body connection. Zana has an easy way with group work, considerate to people's needs"
"My grateful thanks to Zana for making the workshop very accessible. I really enjoyed it."
"Thoroughly enjoyed."
"You were very engaging and so genuine, which I liked."
"I liked the lack of neuroscience (babble). Day passed very quickly which is always a good sign!"
How to book this workshop for your organisation, colleagues or students
Terms and Conditions
My fee for my workshop is £400.
Maximum group size is 20 participants (with 20 participants, my workshop fee = £20 pp, 10 participants = £40pp)
The workshop runs for 6 hours and will include 2 short breaks and 1 longer break for lunch, so provides a total of 5 hours CPD.
Start time is by negotiation. (EG: 10am to 4pm, noon to 6pm...)
My travel expenses are 45p per mile for journeys above 20 miles each way, door-to-door between my home and your venue.
If the journey from me to you is more than two hours each way (by Googlemaps) I reserve the right to charge for overnight accommodation. If the journey is more than 4 hours each way I reserve the right to charge for two nights' accommodation. (I'm based in South Hampshire, as a guide.) Do talk to me because I am prepared to be flexible!
You provide the venue and any refreshments you wish to offer the workshop participants. Venues will need to be quiet (eg: no children's parties or dog training classes in the next room!) with facilities to make tea/coffee, etc. A large room is best so that small groups within the room don't disturb each other when discussing/practising. If possible, carpet is usually more comfortable (and less echoey) than hard flooring and some of the time participants will be invited to lie down if they wish. We will need chairs that are both reasonably comfortable and light enough to move around into small groups/pairs for discussion and practise. For whole-group work, a circle or horseshoe shape would be ideal. If break-out rooms are available that would be great. No screen/presentation facilities are necessary.
I provide my expertise, facilitation skills, course handouts and contact details in case anyone has questions after the workshop.