with | Penny Spawforth | Violeta Winograd | Anthony Kingsley | Merran Poplar |
Other contributors to the panel: Delia Rosenboom | Bonno Lange

The purpose of this panel is to deepen discussion and respectful dialogue about the importance of embracing our emotional and relational self as part of our psychophysical unity; finding fresh ways to include this awareness when we teach our pupils/students.

This panel opens the discussion of how well-equipped we perceive ourselves to be as teachers to be present to our own and our pupil’s emotions as they arise in a lesson situation.

Some questions we might want to consider: How do we understand ‘faulty sensory appreciation’ and can that concept, if misunderstood, unwittingly lead us to not allowing or embracing our emotional experience?   What kind of relationship do we need with our own emotions to feel safe and at ease to talk to our pupils about theirs when they arise? Indeed, do we enquire into or encourage our pupils to talk about their emotions or steer clear of saying anything unless they mention them? 

Can we as AT practitioners embrace a more fully psychophysical understanding of our work? At what point might we decide to refer someone on to a trauma specialist or psychotherapist? In what ways can the AT equip us to meet emotional triggers in our relationships and to make different, non-habitual and more life-serving choices?

Currently the AT community predominantly markets our work towards people with physical pain (eg back, necks, knees) and improving performance (eg singing, acting, horse-riding). Is there an opportunity to also promote the Technique as a way into holistic emotional healing – or would that be going beyond the bounds of what we are trained to do?

The panellists have all explored the emotional realms in their own unique ways alongside their AT teachings – through self-exploration and through learning other modalities that complement our understanding of what it means to be human. We have already discovered that we differ in some of our perspectives – we embrace our differences with open curiosity – we invite you to come along to the panel and join us in that openness.