What people say
"I have participated in many programs of many descriptions, and the Five Wisdoms rests comfortably at the top of the pyramid as one of richest and most useful both clinically and evocatively."
--Charles W. Styron, Psy. D., Clinical Psychologist.

"I have so much more energy: for my patients, my kids, everything."
-- Arthene Dawe, Pediatric Nurse

"This work is foundational. We develop trust that we can accommodate both sides of the energies and develop appreciation for the feast of our differences. I have never experienced any practice with so immediate a fruition."
-- Melissa Kaufold, Nurse Practitioner

• making ongoing work with oneself the ground for work with others
• aligning oneself with the goodness and sanity in all human beings
• cultivating openness and compassion which allows us to fully appreciate another human being
• willingly entering someone's world as the first step in helping them
• taking action based on clarity and benevolence

Who benefits?
This training provides a range of contemplative skills for the treatment of all aspects of health care: family and individual therapy, geriatric and hospice care, depression, grief management, pain management. As well, health caregivers themselves benefit from techniques designed to release tension, counter burn out, and manage stress. One’s work is reinvigorated and one becomes empowered to continuously meet the challenging situations that arise in working with others.

The five wisdom qualities are at the heart of the contemplative psychology/psychotherapy. By taking specific postures in colored environments, we experience both the sane and neurotic aspects of each quality in ourselves, and so begin to see them in others. In working with others the emphasis is on seeing any state of mind as workable, just as it is—including ordinary suffering and major illness. The goal is not to change people but to see them more fully as they are. In seeing them fully, one sees them as workable..

The training includes:

Personal and interpersonal contemplative practices:

• mindfulness practice integrates body and mind, cultivates the ability to be attentive moment to moment, enhances an open mind that is fresh and spontaneous, and develops insight
• resonance practice opens one's heart and develops a compassionate attitude: it breaks down the barriers between self and other, allowing moments of "exchange" (dissolving the defensive barrier between self and other)
• five energies posture practice allows us to embrace who we are and see others more fully by aligning with our elemental energies

Experiential methods:

• compassionate exchange exercises
• descriptive presentations as a discipline for clear seeing
• process groups for in-depth personal psychological process
• supervision of client work