In-person Workshop: Saturday 06, September, 2025

Presented by Barnaby B. Barratt

Sponsored by ‘GRASP’ and the Institute for Rediscovering Psychoanalysis

This workshop is a daylong exploration of what it means to live in a body and is intended for professionals actively involved in any form of healing practice.

In The Dubliners, James Joyce describes the “Painful Case” of Mr. Duffy who “lived a short distance from his body.” Much of the time, many of us ― and most of our patients ― are quite accustomed to life at such a spatiotemporal distance. Overtly or covertly, this disconnection of our lived-experience from the sensuality of our embodiment almost invariably has deleterious consequences.

Both experientially and theoretically, this workshop will explore how, when and where, we become ungrounded, and will review ways in which such disconnectedness can be healed.

Space is limited and registration is by invitation. To attend please contact Info@RediscoveringPsychoanalysis.org if interested.

Duration: 9:00 am to 16:00 pm (South Africa)

Logistics: Please arrive between 8:30 and 8:45 am to ensure a punctual start at 9 am ― Please note that no one will be admitted to the workshop after 8:45 sharp (the reason for this is to establish an energetic container without intrusion or interruption).

There will be three 2-hour sessions: 9 to 11 am; 11:30 am to 1:30 pm; and 2 to 4 pm.

Participants will be asked to observe silence in the breaks between sessions.

Social interaction is welcomed after 4:30 pm.

Requisites: Please bring blanket(s) and a cushion, so that you can lie comfortably (hopefully it will be warm enough to use the lawn); also bring a blindfold. Wear loose clothing, with layers according to weather, and light shoes (or none).

Healthy light snacks and a light lunch will be served. Please refrain from drinking alcohol the night before the workshop, and from caffeine or other stimulants on the morning of the workshop.

Preparatory Reading:
“Free-associating with the Bodymind.” International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 22: 161-175, 2013. DOI:10.1080/0803706X.2012.729860. Available on Pep-Web.

Also recommended: Susan Raffo’s Liberated to the Bone: Histories, Bodies, Futures (2022, AK Press); and The Emergence of Somatic Psychology and Bodymind Therapy (2010, Palgrave Macmillan).

For further recommendations: See www.RediscoveringPsychoanalysis.org/Recommended-Reading/