AN ARTICLE BY CONNIE MILLER, ORIGINATOR OF SOULDRAMA
It is in relationship that we are able to see ourselves, and therefore be able to transform and to grow. Join us March 23 -26, 2017 on the original Moreno Stage, Highland, NY.
It is very magical to work on the Moreno stage. It's a very sacred space. I have seen many miracles happen on the stage and we have often felt Moreno’s presence.
This 18 hour workshop is designed for those who want to learn how to learn experiential exercises, such as psychodrama, sociometry and Souldrama as well as the new seven door way model of Souldrama that aligns the ego and soul! Learn experiential methods how to release the roles that no longer serve you and gain insight into how our histories are impacting our relationships. Create a new road map for the future as you move on to your higher purpose.Learn through action how to develop insight and learn how to do things differently.
Our personality feels the need to be unique and special and so our focus lies on how we are different from others. Differences hold the potential to create conflict. At the same time, our souls live through connection with others. We are challenged to rise above our personal preferences to discover how we and the other are the same. Our overall need lies in balancing these two tendencies. The purpose of relationships is not happiness, but transformation.
A new spirituality requires us to know the presence of Spirit ... the Universal Presence ... in all things and forms.
This Universal Presence has little to do with intelligence, for the universe is not an intellectual process. The intellect is helpful, but our true selves are a reflection of our hearts and they are the wiser part of ourselves. A new wisdom is unfolding in accordance with the demands of our current times.
People everywhere are searching for well-being: for meaning, direction, fulfillment, health, and happiness. To have our needs met, we look to the outside world to feel useful and appreciated. We long for great relationships, to love and to be loved. Little do we realize that the process has to start internally, if we look within we can find all of our answers.
Behind all of these human desires is the creative impulse of our soul; it moves through each of us and through the world we exist in. When we can understand, connect, and respond to soul, we find meaning in all of our experiences, even the most difficult ones. When we resist the soul because we don't understand what's happening; we become ill, have accidents, experience emotional pain, and struggle with money as well as work and interpersonal relationships.
Through taking the steps to spiritual transformation, Souldrama aligns the ego (personality) with the soul so that our rational, emotional and spiritual intelligences are in balance-mind, body and soul!
Action Methods is the term used to describe visual and role-based approaches to individual and group work. These methods are derived from Psychodrama and Sociometry, which were developed originally by JL Moreno and have subsequently been applied to many contexts: organizational, educational, community. They can be used for personal and professional work, for example job and relationship choices, conflict management, strategic planning, team building, review meetings, training and development events and community consultation. Learn more on www.souldrama.com
Souldrama® was developed by Connie Miller, NCC, LPC, TEP.,ACS. in 1997 and trademarked in 1999 as a therapeutic tool created for use as an adjunct to psychodrama and designed to move clients from co-dependency to co-creativity. Connie is the founder of the International Institute of Souldrama and also the owner of the Spring Lake Heights Counseling Center and Center For Codependency in New Jersey. She was employed for years as a career counselor and worked with families with children with cancer. Connie runs a group for professionals in training in action methods and also trains the staff at Seabrook House in southern New Jersey. She is a Trainer, Educator, Practitioner of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy and is recognized as a Fellow for that organization and also received the 2011 Innovators’ Award. She received the Thelma Duffy award from the American counseling Association for cretivity and cutting edge practice for Souldrama. Souldrama is now being used as a new model for the 12 Step program.
Connie has developed a new model to access our spiritual intelligence that incorporates psychodrama, group psychotherapy, the creative arts, energy work and sociometry that she has called Souldrama®. She has had articles on this approach published in our own International Journal of Action Methods (in 2000), more recently also in the Korean Psychodrama Journal, "Souldrama: a psychotherapeutic technique to access spiritual intelligence", the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, and a chapter in the recently published anthology from Routledge Publishers titled "Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice.
Connie has written a book on this approach (it has also been translated into Portugese and published in Brazil and most recently Indonesian), made cd-rom teaching materials, and has been most active in presenting on this method nationally and internationally! She has built bridges to a number of associated fields by presenting at the conferences of the American Counseling Association, the National Board of Certified Counselors as well as to the field of addictions. In addition, Connie has run trainings in Souldrama for the past thirteen years in Mexico, Portugal, Greece and in England, Brazil,Moldova,Romania, and Austria and presently runs her own training group in Souldrama and other action methods.