Blogs

Janet Messer and Ilene Val-Essen: Facing Illness with Consciousness and Grace

How do we accept the unacceptable? How do we find the strength and resilience to move forward? How do we embrace the Higher Self to guide us?

To begin exploring these questions, Janet will read from her chapter, “A Marriage of Strong-Willed Partners” and Ilene will read from hers, “Dawn to Dusk, and Beyond.” Both excerpts come from the recently published book, Willing to Love: The Couple’s Journey as a Path of Transformation.*

“We will reflect on our experiences of how we engaged the principles of Awareness and Will as we faced our partners’ long-term illnesses and, in Ilene’s case, her husband’s passing.”

Reflective meditation, break-out groups, and group insights will be part of this exploration.

Janet Messer is a licensed psychologist in Arizona in private practice, with a focus on transpersonal therapy and trauma. She has served on the steering committee of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis and as co-chair of AAP. She has taught Psychosynthesis classes locally and at conferences for many years. She is an editor of Willing to Love.

Ilene Val-Essen, a psychotherapist since 1975, is an innovator in the field of parent education, publishing two books based on Psychosynthesis, Bring Out the Best in Your Child and Your Self and Parenting with Wisdom and Compassion. She has taught her Quality Parenting program in the USA, Europe, and Asia; it has been translated into Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish.

Courtesy: PsNE

Anne and Tom Yeomans: “Toward a Partnership of Equals”

What is a partnership of equals? What qualities contribute to it? What are the steps by which it comes into being? Why is it important? Together we will explore these questions. Anne will read a few excerpts from her chapter, “Learning to Love: From 1964 to Yesterday Afternoon” in the recently published book Willing to Love, The Couples Journey as a Path of Transformation. Anne and Tom will share learnings and insights from their more than 50-year relationship. Reflective writing and group dialogue will be part of this exploration.  

Anne has been a therapist and group facilitator for many years and is one of the authors and one of the editors of the recently published book, Willing to Love, The Couple’s Journey as a Path of Transformation. She is also the author of the well-known article Self Care During Dark Times.  Anne is one of the founders of the Women’s Well, an educational center dedicated to the re-honoring of the sacred feminine in a world out of balance. She has created and facilitated countless women’s sacred circles, most recently in Russia.

Tom has trained professionals in Psychosynthesis and Spiritual Psychology in North American, Europe and in Russia for fifty years. He has published many articles on Psychosynthesis and Spiritual Psychology, and, most recently Holy Fire, the Process of Soul Awakening, (2020). He is the founder of the Concord Institute and a co-founder of The International School in St Petersburg, Russia. 

Both Anne and Tom studied with Roberto Assagioli, the founder of Psychosynthesis, in the early seventies, a few years before his death in 1974. The principles of Psychosynthesis underlie all their work.