Zen Mindfulness - Sei Ki HeartTouch - Tai Chi Qi Gong

Sei Ki HeartTouch & Zen Mindfulness

Working with Anxiety Disorders, Trauma & Psychosis

Anthony teaching HeartTouch in London March 2023

Sei Ki HeartTouch is rooted in the Shiatsu and Hara traditions of Japan and framed within Western Mindfulness science & Polyvagal Theory.

Zen Mindfulness is a pragmatic daily life Zen with more of an emphasis on embodiment, presence & self-inquiry than conventional Western Mindfulness.

As well as facilitating personal transformation and self learning, this workshop explores the embodied foundations of co-regulation and care suitable for assisting people experiencing any level of distress including serious anxiety based disorders, complex trauma and psychosis.

In this workshop I will also spend some time taking participants on a narrated journey of what it feels like to be in a psychosis. I will share some strategies to help any clients you may meet 'on the edge' or within this human experience whether medicated or not.

Course content

Sei Ki, founded by the late Akinobu Kishi is both a practical Ki Therapy and a Way, a path of spiritual development through compassionately meeting others in resonance, usually, though not exclusively through bodywork.

Our journey together will be one of returning to simplicity, to our original nature. Finding our relationship to the ground, our centre, our heart and opening the raw energy of the Hara.

As we recover our life feeling and resonance with all that is, our capacity to share this with others through our simple presence & touch will come naturally and joyfully, and in doing so whether as a therapist or simply 'life enthusiast', we nourish our deeper selves and celebrate the gift of life.

Alongside the Sei Ki journey, we will follow a four-part Zen Mindfulness journey exploring the themes of embodiment, cultivating a helpful mind, our sensory experience and life navigation along with morning and evening extended Zazen sittings and short sessions through the day.

Zen Mindfulness Stages:

• The Embodied Life - exploring ground, centre, safety & connection.
• Cultivating a Helpful Mind - Monkey Mind to Presence & Stability, Critical Mind to Compassionate, Ruminative / Worrying Mind to Quiet and at Peace.
• Our Sensory Experience - Harmonising our Craving for and Aversion to Life and all that it offers us.
• Navigating our Life - exploring Wisdom, Compassion and healthy Instinct.

Anthony teaching Sei Ki HeartTouch in Piemonte

Course objectives

Participants will enhance their capacity / be able:

• to enter resonance with those they meet
• to rest in empty presence and be there for others
• to feel their own Ki and that of the other
• to take care of themselves while being with others
• to strengthen and harmonise their Ki with daily practice
• to share Sei Ki HeartTouch Treatments with friends and family

Therapist participants will be able to integrate Sei Ki HeartTouch into their professional therapy work in a way sensitive for people experiencing trauma & emotional distress including psychosis.

Non-bodyworkers will be able to integrate the emotional regulation practices into their work with their clients, will enhance their capacity to co-regulate with them and potentially make use of some simple non-intrusive human touch to offer emotional support when it is obviously needed.

Our final goal is simply to come to a good feeling within ourselves, to open our hearts and share this warm feeling with those we meet in our lives.

Nb. This retreat will also serve as a rejuvenation space for therapists needing to replenish their inner batteries and get themselves back on track.

For more information on Sei Ki please see this pdf: What happens in a Sei Ki Session?

Course Language

English with Italian translation as necessary.

Target Group

Shiatsu practitioners and other bodywork therapists are welcome as are mental health practitioners / psychotherapists / health workers seeking to better support their clients or patients, especially one's experiencing trauma and emotional distress including psychosis.

At the same time the workshop is open to anyone interested in exploring themselves in more depth and their relationship with others especially those with lived experience of psychosis.

People presently experiencing distress of their own including reasonably stable 'psychosis' are also very welcome to join us.

About Anthony:

Anthony Fidler

I had my own journey first with anxiety, panic attacks and mild depression while in my final year at Cambridge University in 1991.

This continued during my work as a financial auditor, where I experienced chronic stress and then as a software programmer where I went into a meltdown of physical and mental fatigue. A serious breakdown / burnout.

Despite massive efforts to heal myself, this journey continued in 2001, with me entering non-ordinary states, we can say spiritual psychosis perhaps.

After an 8 month period in the psychiatric system, I came off anti-psychotic medications and took personal responsibility for my own well-being. This journey continued for the next 8 years with me going in an out of challenging non-ordinary states until I stabilised in 2010.

Over time I've become a qualified Mindfulness teacher, Tai Chi & Qi Gong teacher and have been teaching since 2015. I am also an experienced student of the late Akinobu Kishi , the founder of Sei Ki and teach his amazing touch therapy in my own way. I've spent twenty-five years exploring these fields with total dedication.

I found my own ways to recover and live a full life and now share what I learnt with others experiencing extreme states, trauma, broken nervous systems or simply chronic stress situations and misery.

Click here for more on Anthony's background and experience

Details:

The event is being hosted by Anthony Fidler with support from Manuela Perardi.

Venue: Colla di Netro, Biella, Piemonte

Date & Time: 2nd - 6th April 2025

• Wed 2nd 11.30-13.30, 15.30-18.30, 20.30-21.00
• Thu 3rd 6.00-7.00, 9.00-12.00, 14.00-17.00, 20.30-21.30
• Fri 4th 6.00-7.00, 9.00-12.00, 14.00-17.00, 20.30-21.30
• Sat 5th 6.00-7.00, 9.00-12.00, 14.00-17.00, 20.30-21.30
• Sun 6th 6.00-7.00, 9.00-12.00, 13.30-16.00

So about 36 practice hours over the 5 days.

The actual timing may vary slightly on the day, but it gives a feel for the retreat, with early morning and evening zazen around a daily schedule with plenty of space for private time and socialising around meal times.

This will not be a silent retreat. We are aiming for something else which is to learn to switch between silence with ourselves in the moment when practising zazen or other practices and mindful presence and natural aliveness connecting with others at all other times. We need both!

And obviously we will be in Italy so we might as well enjoy it!

Workshop size: Places are limited to 10 so please book early to be confident of attending

Pricing:

• Course Fee: tba Contact Me.
• Accommodation & Food: tba Contact Me

Registration Process:

The event is by invitation. The application process is as follows:

• We request that people apply by contacting us
• Then once we confirm there are places available, complete the application form
• We will then come back to you and may suggest a short online 1-1 session or you can request it if you wish.
• We will then confirm your place on the workshop once you've paid.

Nb. International students will book directly with me as above.

Local Italian students will book via Manuela Perardi (Okami Kumo) on +39 347 313 4466.