Lecture: A New Look at Active Imagination
For Jung, life is paradox, so it is not surprising that he described his most important ideas in paradoxical ways. On the one hand, active imagination is a meditative procedure or expressive technique meant to be used by the patient alone, away from the analyst. On the other hand, by linking active imagination to his symbolic method of dream interpretation and to the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship, Jung seems to be laying the groundwork for a comprehensive method of psychotherapy. In its deepest sense, active imagination is a central, self-reflective psychological attitude drawing from the creative resources of human culture: aesthetic, religious, philosophical, and social.
Workshop: Moving Active Imagination
This one-day workshop will introduce a way to use body to express imagination: it involves a mover, a witness, and the dynamics of their relationship. Sometimes called "authentic movement" or "movement in depth", it is a form of active imagination as well as a way to explore the dynamics of projection and empathy. Participants are invited to bring journals and/or art materials.
Joan Chodorow, Ph.D., is an analyst member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, in private practice. Publications include Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology – The Moving Imagination (Roulege 1981) and C.G. Jung on Active Imagination (Princeton University Press, 1997).
|