Birth and Rebirth
A self-experience psychotherapy group

Over the three day-long psychotherapeutic group, participants learn basic facts about birth and look at this transformative event from a baby’s point of view. The process offers those attending various opportunities to explore their birth experience with the help of tools like visualization and bodywork. Throughout the process, no suggestive techniques like hypnotization are used to influence participants, so that everybody has the space to discover and understand as much of their related memories and feelings as they are ready to face. Since elaborating past experiences is as important as identifying them, the group’s three days carry many situations that help participants digest and process whatever experience emerged in them – drawing, writing and sharing is used to facilitate this.

Birth is the first major difficulty in life that we must cope with, the first and probably one of the greatest challenges that we face. We must say goodbye to our existence as a fetus, we need more space and a different environment to be able to develop. Our birth is the first major change in life and being so, it becomes a basic pattern of how we solve our problems later on. As we walk through life, the events that we encounter and experience may trigger this pattern – it may often be unconsciously recalled and repeated.

This is why it is important to deal with our birth trauma and heal it with the tools of psychotherapy. Exploring, understanding and digesting this experience may help us develop openness to change and discover a spiritual path of life that lies beyond the intellect. Going through this hard, yet wonderful adventure may lead us to a feeling of rebirth, and enable us to live our life being freer and more accomplished.

Over past years, great contributions have been made to the development of our approach and methodology: Nico Vissel’s holotrop breathing group and András Feldmár, developer of one of the body work exercises must be mentioned here, while many others also contributed by walking before us on the path of exploring the self. The greatest inspiration, however, came from the circle of devoted colleagues and friends who spent the past decade studying the subject of birth with us and experimenting together.

Some introductory thoughts:

Giving birth represents a special experience for the mother, too – women preserve a distinct memory of their labor in one way or another. When, having worked on it, a mother (and father) in labor is at peace with their own birth experience, they may be more available for their baby, not having to deal with their own unconsciously emerging and potentially interfering emotional memories. This way they can concentrate more on their baby’s needs, be more responsive, what gives the baby great support in going through her own birth process and reduces the chances of a trauma.

Surprising as this idea may sound, fathers also go through a similar spiritual experience when their baby is born – that is, their child’s birth may resonate with their own birth experience. This is why young men may also profit a lot from exploring their own birth.

The deep digestion process after the group may take months – it means that a wide range of feelings and memories may emerge, potentially causing some emotional strain. This is natural, yet, it is important to support our process and grant ourselves the necessary time and space to let all this happen.

Perhaps some participants develop more interest in themselves or the spiritual, emotional aspects of life. If it is necessary for the inner process, psychotherapy is recommended.

Birth may grant us the key for our inner spiritual rebirth, too.

Practical information about the workshop

Time: 30 hours, Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday, then a 4 hour-long follow-up session in a month’s time.
Number of participants: 10-12

Applicants are asked to participate in an interview before the workshop.

Please remember to bring along:

  • light, comfortable clothes
  • a notebook, pen or pencil
  • your favorite pillow and blanket
  • some food and drink for the weekend.

Avoid drinking alcohol, taking drugs or other substances, heavy meals and staying up late at night. During the course you are advised to drink more than usual.

Group held by: Katalin Orosz clinical psychologist, transpersonal therapist and six assistants.

For more information please contact us via e-mail: kheiron@kheiron.org