CHARLES GABY & JEN LAWSON
Affect Yoga & Meditation
Date of Presentation: Saturday October 16th at 10:15 am
Length of Presentation: 1 hour
Presentation Description: Affect Yoga & Meditation is a special kind of yoga & meditation experience integrating vinyasa (flow) yoga with Affect Psychology to enhance emotional and physical flexibility and balance. The Tantric tradition identifies nine Rasas (basic emotions): Love, Joy, Wonder, Courage, Calmness, Anger, Sadness, Fear, and Disgust. Modulation of these emotions has traditionally been taught through a variety of meditation, dietary and lifestyle practices.
Affect Yoga & Meditation is a unique style of yoga/meditation practice that was designed to reinterpret the ancient practice with modern knowledge based in the observations of Affect Psychology (the work of Silvan Tomkins). This practice is about connecting body, emotion, thought and community. By aligning the physical experiences of yoga practice with meditation centering on the Affect system we can help return balance and flexibility to the body and emotions leading to a greater sense of well-being. When we add the opportunity for interaction with other participants we also discover how to enable positive change in our polarized culture.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Charles Gaby, MA, LPC has 20 years of experience working with couples and individuals in facing marital crisis and his seminars for engaged couples, married couples and divorce have been attended by thousands of people. He directs the Center for Creative Transformation at First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth. He is also the director of the Institute for Restorative Community which introduces ASP and Restorative Practices in schools, churches and the juvenile justice system. Charles serves on the board of the Tomkins Institute.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Jennifer Lawson, Occupational Therapist & Registered Yoga Teacher, is the Occupational Therapy Staff Development Coordinator for THERAPY 2000, a pediatric home health therapy company based in Dallas, Texas. As a Registered Yoga Teacher, Jennifer leads adults and children in yoga & meditation practices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She is the creator of a comprehensive yoga program for the younger generation, Kids in Community: Yoga for Children & Teens. Jennifer is also co-creator of Affect Yoga, a yoga and meditation that integrates familiar vinyasa (flow) yoga with Affect Psychology to enhance emotional balance.
DAVE MCSHANE
Ideology Trumps Theology
Date of Presentation: Saturday October 16th at 11:30 am
Length of Presentation : 1 hour
Presentation Description: The presentation will use Tomkins' early work on The Polarity Scale (later confirmed by script theory) to examine how and why two people claiming the same religion may hold fiercely opposite opinions on personal and social issues. WHAT a person claims to believe is substantially biased by HOW one has learned to believe it. People behave not on the basis of what they have been taught to think. We behave on the basis of how we have learned to feel.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Dave McShane, a semi-retired Presbyterian minister, had served as a campus pastor at colleges in Michigan and Pennsylvania before becoming the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo, MI where he served for nearly 30 years. Dave was an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University and following retirement he taught at McCormick Theological Seminary. He became a close friend of Silvan Tomkins during the last 20 years of Tomkins's life. It was a life transforming friendship for Dr. McShane as he tried to fathom Affect Imagery Consciousness in happy visits to one another's homes. Dr. Tomkins advised Dave on a small research project correlating religious rituals and affect engagement. Aspects of that project will be shared in the conference presentation.
Dave has been married to Beth, a psychiatric social worker, for 57 years. They have four children and six grandchildren. He still regularly plays a respectable game of paddle ball and stays active in community and church affairs.
ABRAMSON & MCSHANE & TOMKINS
Silvan Tomkins, the Man
Date of Presentation: Saturday October 16th at 1:45 pm
Length of Presentation: 1 hour
Presentation Description: Most people's knowledge of Silvan Tomkins begins and ends with thinking of him as a psychologist with a volcano of ideas that variably enlighten, provoke, and confuse.
This panel of three people who knew Silvan personally--his son Mark, his long-time friend, confident and colleague Dave McShane, and a late-life friend and colleague Lauren Abramson--will share stories that will shed light on who Silvan Tomkins was as a man, father, and friend whose own fascinating scripts were a demonstration of the efficacy of his theory. The presentation will be quite informal, inviting questions and conversation with the participants.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Lauren Abramson is a psychologist who has worked with children and families in communities for the past 25 years. She is currently Founder and Executive Director of the Community Conferencing Center in Baltimore, Maryland and is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Lauren has applied Community Conferencing in justice, education, community development and business settings. She is a firm believer that the "Jerry Springer model" of handling conflicts isn't working well, and that we need to learn ways to better manage relationships and conflicts--and understanding affect is vital to doing so. Community Conferencing and Daily Rap provide structures for people to experience and learn affect expression, management, and conflict transformation.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Dave McShane, a semi-retired Presbyterian minister, had served as a campus pastor at colleges in Michigan and Pennsylvania before becoming the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo, MI where he served for nearly 30 years. Dave was an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University and following retirement he taught at McCormick Theological Seminary. He became a close friend of Silvan Tomkins during the last 20 years of Tomkins's life. It was a life transforming friendship for Dr. McShane as he tried to fathom Affect Imagery Consciousness in happy visits to one another's homes. Dr. Tomkins advised Dave on a small research project correlating religious rituals and affect engagement. Aspects of that project will be shared in the conference presentation. Dave has been married to Beth, a psychiatric social worker, for 57 years. They have four children and six grandchildren. He still regularly plays a respectable game of paddle ball and stays active in community and church affairs.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Mark Tomkins is the only child of Silvan Tomkins. He completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology with distinction at Boston University in 1978. His thesis was entitled, "The Effects of Institutionalization." He received a degree in Funeral Science in 1999 from St. Petersburg College. He did additional graduate studies in Psychology at Harvard and in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida. He has founded several successful business in the following industries; computer interconnect, military security, cellular technology, and medical administration. He is currently working in the death care and bereavement industry as the General Manager of a group of eight funeral homes located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
In 1991, Mark approached Dr. Donald Nathanson, shortly before the death of Dr. Tomkins with the idea of forming an institute to study, further develop and clinically apply the foundational work which was his father's legacy. In that same year, he produced the video, "A Tribute to Silvan Tomkins" with funding from Mr. John Upjohn. Mark is married with four grown children. He enjoys breeding and showing Cocker Spaniels, Briards, as well as amateur radio and photography.
CHUCK YOPST
Affects' Choreography
Date of Presentation: Saturday October 16th at 1:45 pm
Length of Presentation : 2 hour
Presentation Description: This seminar begins with a brief reprise on Affect Script Psychology basics. Following is a clear concise presentation of body shaping, of Rudolf Laban and Warren Lamb. Then a close look at probable affinity links between affect and body movements, including neuroscience and spiritual outlook. Affects are the themes of these affinities. The final and larger portion leads members in various body movements tasks from these links that reshape interruptions, body movements of gyroscopic kinesthetic onomatopoeia, such as, pausing, centering, and blending. These assist in assessing and confirming diagnosis of affect scripts. Between each major section above brief body movements tasks aid relaxation. Some of the resources include Donald Nathanson, Michael Franz Basch, Paul Holinger, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Susan Greenfield, Allegra Kent, Albert Mehrabian, J. B. Noss, the Twelve Steps, Toward a Declaration of a Global Ethic, and music.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Chuck Yopst, D.Min., R-DMT., is a twelve year member of the Tomkins Institute and the listserv administrator of Tomkins Talk. He served 50 years as a Presbyterian pastor in suburban New York City, Washington, D.C. and Chicago; 7 1/2 years as a registered Dance Therapist to small groups of all populations at a mental hospital; and 15 years as a medical hospital chaplain. Currently retired, he leads groups in the practice of compassion.
ROBIN DILLEY
The Spiritual Care of the Non-Religious and Religious Disenfranchised Facing Life Threatening Illness
Date of Presentation: Saturday October 16th at 2:45 pm
Length of Presentation : 1 hour
Presentation Description: Research has indicated that spiritual care especially for individuals confronting life threatening illnesses has most often been delegated to clergy or pastoral counselors. Yet psychologists, social workers, and other helping professionals may also need to incorporate spiritual guidance into the therapeutic process when treating these patients. This presentation will explore the role of the helping professional as an avenue for spiritual exploration by the non-religious and religiously disenfranchised seeking mental health treatment. The therapeutic office can become a sanctuary for individuals to explore spirituality when facing life threatening illness. In addition to the distress of facing a life threatening illness, spiritual concerns and end of life questions can be pivotal in adding to or reducing distress for patients; thus, complicating the medical care. This presentation will explore experiential tools including guided imagery, prayer rituals, and labyrinth meditations as spiritual sacraments for the non-religious and disenfranchised facing chronic and/or life threatening illness.
A Brief Bio of the Presenter: Robin B. Dilley, Ph.D. is an Arizona licensed clinical psychologist in private practice. She is an experienced psychologist, workshop facilitator, author and professional speaker. Dr. Dilley offers psychotherapy workshops, such as Live Your Life as an Experiment; Lessons from the Miller's Daughter; Climbing Down from Your Family Tree; and most recently, Getting to Your Yes. Her new book, In a Moment's Notice: A Psychologist's Journey with Breast Cancer, is the telling of her experiential journey as a breast cancer survivor. Her interest in Tomkins's shame and affect psychology has continued to guide her therapeutic decision-making and workshop presentations throughout the last 18 years.
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