An Aesthetic and Phenomenological Diagnosis of Contacting

Learn precise phenomenological language for those subverbal interactions that form the foundation of lived-experience. An Aesthetic and Phenomenological Diagnosis of Contacting: The Six Fundamental Movements (IN-PERSON ONLY) Ruella Frank, Ph.D. Two Days: Saturday, October 24, 2026 Sunday, October 25, 2026 *Both days must be taken 10 am – 5 pm (ET) 12 CE hours (for two days) $350 ($300 for current GCPT students. For code email: [email protected]) In this workshop, participants are introduced to a precise phenomenological language for those subverbal interactions that form the foundation of lived-experience: the Six Fundamental Movements. These patterns emerge through ongoing movement dialogues within the first year of the infant-parent dyad, and are seen to have a functional similarity in the making of meaning within the patient-therapist dyad. The analysis of these movements, unfolding within therapy, enables therapists to uncover routine inhibitions in contacting, appreciate their important function in the immediate present, and discover how to restore the lively flow of lived experience. Objectives Day 1: • Understand the forming of contacting through movement. • Learn how contact and support are inseparable. • Learn the relationship between aesthetics and contacting. Objectives Day 2: • Understand how all moving patterns that support contacting are in relation to the other. I do not exist without you. • Understand that, and how, the client and therapist influence each other through ongoing movement dialogues. • Understand how our internal receptivity and kinesthesia, is crucial to aesthetic diagnosis. Ruella Frank, Ph.D. is the founder and director of the Center for Somatic Studies, a Fellow of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, adjunct faculty at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto and the Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training in New York, and teaches throughout the United States, Europe, East Asia, Latin America and Canada. She is the author of Body of Awareness: A Somatic and Developmental Approach to Psychotherapy, co-author of The First Year and The Rest of Your Life: Movement, Development and Psychotherapeutic Change, and The Bodily Roots of Experience in Psychotherapy.