Navigation and Regulation: Exploring the nervous system from within

Hello there 😊

Great that you found your way here.

Perhaps you know situations in which you suddenly tense your muscles, your blood rushes to your head and all you really want to do is run away or punch the other person in the face. Or that your thoughts become increasingly sluggish during an argument, you can no longer look the other person in the eye, your body feels numb and a buzzing starts in your ears.

In such situations, your nervous system wanders through different states. This can sometimes be pleasant and helpful, sometimes exhausting and disruptive. But above all, it is one thing – human! 😉

In the first part of our two-part workshop series, we want to experience and get familiar with the different states of our nervous system together with you in around four hours.

You can expect a mixture of interactive, playful practice and relaxed, creative theory, in which we will convey in-depth knowledge about the various reactions of our nervous system and provide you with methods for self-regulation, i.e. for actively changing your own nervous system state.

The content on which the workshop is based is a combination of our own private and professional experiences and aspects of Stephen Porges‘ “Polyvagal Theory”. You can read more about our background at the end of this event description.

It is a deep concern of ours to enable more people to look at life and other people from a loving perspective, to give each other space to process and feel, and to come together step by step into a sensitive relationship with each other – without having to avoid conflicts.

From our point of view, the first step towards this, which we want to support with this workshop, is to establish a nurturing, appreciative contact with your own nervous system.

The next step, for which our second workshop ‘Part 2: Trauma, Trigger, Projection: How can we get back into connection?’ is intended, is about enabling this perspective in contact with other people and better understanding interpersonal dynamics.

For a deeper learning and understanding, we will make the nervous system states tangible and experienceable through a story, group games and movement.

Among other things, we will play some ‘Authentic Relating Games’, which in our experience are both fun and very suitable for getting in touch with yourself and others.

We will also collect experiences from everyday life together, about what helps each of us to regulate ourselves and to stay well – in addition to the self-regulation exercises we will introduce throughout the workshop.

On a more tangible level, our aim during of the workshop is to give you an insight into the reactions of your nervous system and to allow you to experience the states of your nervous system first-hand.
At the end of the workshop, you will be able to take concrete navigation and regulation options with you into your everyday life.

The nervous system states, some of which you may already be familiar with, such as ‘fight/flight’ or ‘freeze’, are an integral part of each and every one of our lives. This also means that by actively immersing ourselves in these states, we can come into contact with our own issues. We want to offer a space in which participants feel safe and accepted and in which their own issues can have a place. If you are unsure whether this experience is something for you, please contact us.

It is important for us to emphasise at this point that this workshop is intended for learning techniques and understanding neurobiological principles (and of course for fun and exchange).
We are not offering a healing or therapy group. We do not do trauma therapy here, nor is it a group for the treatment of mental or physical problems.

If issues come up that are too intense for you, you will of course be given enough space to go home in a regulated and perhaps a little lighter state. However, our goal is healthy regulation, not working through/therapy/healing.

If you come across issues during the workshop that you would like to work on in the long term, you are welcome to arrange a treatment with Ben or receive a recommendation from us as to where you can turn.

We’re looking forward to meeting you! 🙂

Hello there 😊

Nice to have you here.

This is the second part of this workshop series. Booking the 2nd part is only possible if you are also taking part in the 1st workshop or already have comparable knowledge.

Now to the introduction of this workshop, the second part:

‘When someone walks behind me, I tense up inside’, “Why do my relationships always last so short?”, “I often can’t even say what I need”…

It’s often not so easy to put something like this into words. This is because our patterns and strategies resulting from trauma usually run unconsciously and we take them for granted.

In the second part of our two-part workshop series, we want to give you an insight into the topics of ‘trauma’, ‘dynamics’ and ‘co-regulation’, in roundabout four hours.

As in the first part, you can expect a mixture of interactive, playful practice and relaxed, creatively loosened-up theory. In detail, we will build an understanding of the formation of shock and developmental trauma, look at some common interpersonal dynamics and learn techniques to support other people in regulation (‘co-regulation’).

The content on which the workshop is built is a combination of our own personal and professional experiences and backgrounds. The second workshop builds particularly strongly on trauma therapy models and methods, above all NARM (‘Neuro Affective Relational Model’) and Somatic Experiencing. For more information, see below in the ‚Facts and figures’ tab, in the section ‘By whom?’ 🙂

We are deeply committed to giving more people the tools they need to look at life and other people from a loving perspective, to give each other space to process and feel, and to gradually find a sensitive way of dealing with each other – without having to avoid conflict.

The first step towards this, which we will be taking with the first part of this workshop series, ‘Part 1: Fight, Flight, Freeze: How can I return to feeling grounded?’, is to support, from our point of view, establishing a nurturing, appreciative contact with your own nervous system.

The next step, for which this workshop (i.e. the second part) is intended, is to enable this perspective in contact with other people, to better understand interpersonal dynamics and to learn ways to help shape relationships in a healthy way.

For deeper learning and understanding, we will revisit the story about the nervous system states we introduce in the first part and use it to comprehensively explain the principle of the development of trauma.

Once again, we will use games and movement to turn theory into experience, in addition to the bite-sized input. ‘Authentic Relating Games’ are also again part of the process and will help us to better grasp the complex interpersonal dynamics.

After we learnt how to regulate ourselves using various techniques in the first part, this time the focus is on helping other people to regulate themselves.

On a practical level, our aim is for you to gain an insight into trauma and relationship dynamics over the course of the workshop and to further explore the interpersonal space together with the other participants. At the end of the workshop, you will be able to take home some practical ways to support other people in dealing with stressful and overwhelming situations. You will also have a handful of new perspectives to help you better understand and navigate difficult relationships.

This workshop will deal with topics that will resonate and be recognised by most people. This also means that we can get in touch with our own issues by dealing with trauma patterns.

We want to offer a space where participants feel safe and accepted and where their own issues can have a place. If you are unsure whether this experience is something for you, please contact us 🙂

It is important for us to emphasise at this point that this workshop is intended for learning techniques and understanding neurobiological principles (and of course for fun and exchange).
We are not offering a healing or therapy group. We do not do trauma therapy here, nor is it a group for the treatment of mental or physical problems.

If issues come up that are too intense for you, you will of course be given enough space to go home in a regulated and perhaps a little lighter state. However, our goal is healthy regulation, not working through/therapy/healing.

If you come across issues during the workshop that you would like to work on in the long term, you are welcome to arrange a treatment with Ben or receive a recommendation from us as to where you can turn.

What?

Where?

For whom?

Price and registration

By whom?

Foundations of the workshop

You can easily and conveniently register for this workshop here. Please note that for technical reasons, the discount for booking the 1st + 2nd workshop at the same time can only be applied to a single booking. If you would like to book the package for two or more people, please complete the booking process several times.

Of course you can also simply book by e-mail to info@ben-gerull.de. Please state your name, the number of tickets you would like and the dates. You will receive a confirmation with the total price and all the important details within one or two working days.

Payment is possible via PayPal directly at the time of booking, but includes a surcharge due to PayPal’s transaction costs. You are welcome to pay in cash at the workshop or by bank transfer to the bank details provided in your confirmation email.

An invoice is available on request.