Zentensive Workshop and Retreat -- May 2025
Sunday, May 4 through Friday, May 9
Accredited for 30 CEs, including 2 for ethics.
Description posted further down this page.
Reflections on Davanloo’s Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy
By Lawson Sachter, with Sunya Kjolhede
Many have attempted to define ISTDP but this is no easy task. Even if we focus only on Dr. Habib Davanloo’s work itself, it would be difficult to pin down too many specifics, since his teachings evolved over many decades on so many different levels. Not only did he expand his approach to encompass a much broader range of clients, but he also shifted his focus from what was originally more of a pressure and challenge-based approach, to one that incorporated the more nuanced range evident in the various forms of the “head-on-collision.” Later in his career he also incorporated a more collective and collaborative way of working with the intent of helping to train clinicians more thoroughly in the ways of the unconscious.
So while it’s true that the format used by Davanloo in the early days was designed to be short-term—perhaps 10 to 20 sessions and sometimes even less—many of the tapes he regularly presented in Montreal involved excerpts taken from the case of a woman he saw for over 80 sessions. Obviously not short-term. What’s also revealing is that many therapists continued working with him over the course of many decades, and this work evolved on both personal and professional levels. These days what further complicates the idea of “defining” ISTDP is the fact that many other therapists have created their own variations, ones that may remain more or less faithful to Davanloo’s work itself.
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and the Cherry Blossoms of Yoshino
Fundamentally, this viewpoint article is about the mystery and wonder that lie within the hearts of clients, therapists, as well as at the heart of this transformative work. The article speaks of the ways that ISTDP’s insistence on direct experience helps to convert the forces of resistance into those of the therapeutic alliance. Further, the article touches on the ways intensive, non-dual forms of meditation help mobilize the depths of the unconscious, and awaken the profound healing and compassionate forces of the human psyche. This writing also speaks about Windhorse’s Zentensive Workshop and Retreats, APA accredited trainings which blend the technical with the spiritual, the psychodynamic with the transcendent. Personal experiences of the author, and others, are shared to give voice to the transformative nature of this approach to training. These narratives also help shift the nature of this work from the theoretical to the practical, and help dissolve the sometimes vague and arbitrary distinctions made between our personal and professional lives. Finally, this article warns of the potential dangers of assuming an overly-technical approach to our clinical work and training. It looks ahead to how a spiritual therapist might practice, and to the exploration of potentially new paradigms of psychotherapy arising out of a place of Wonder.
Zentensive Workshop and Retreat -- May 2025
Sunday, May 5th through Friday, May 10th
Accredited for 30 CEs, including 2 for ethics
Zentensive workshops have grown out of the understanding of non-dual meditative practices that lead to deeper samadhi-like experiences also mobilize increasingly profound levels of the unconscious. By bringing together ISTDP-informed understanding of these realms, along with the rich intrapsychic fluidity that arises out of intensive meditation, these workshops help foster significant depths of personal change, and reinforce essential therapist skills in unique and powerful ways.
Zentensives give us the opportunity to learn about, and to experience for ourselves, the dynamic nature of the unfolding unconscious. Because of the powerful collective energy that arises in the midst of these retreats, people often report having a range of insights, openings, and even significant unlockings. For some, Zentensives also offer the opportunity of entering into what might be called “a broader therapeutic landscape,” and of touching into more “spiritual” dimensions of the therapeutic world. This work is essentially all of one piece, and in the depths, all threads of the same fabric…
Zentensives weave together formal talks, didactic and interactive group sessions, slide presentations, confidential one-on-one meetings, and extended blocks of guided and unguided meditation. What’s clear is that the things that lead to deeper meditative states are the same things that mobilize repressed feelings. The deeper the practice, the greater the mobilization. Mobilized feelings mobilize the defensive structures linked with those feelings — in effect they arise together. Once meditative practice crosses a certain threshold, the resistances that arise against feelings often have the same flavor and structure as those that obscure the meditative practice.
These structures have depth to them, and are often characterological in nature. As they give way, so does the sense of a separate self. Working in this way, resistances become opportunities, and obstructions become doorways. The more fully the bonds of selfhood weaken, the more profoundly we come to experience the wholeness of existence — and as this unfolds we inevitably discover a greater sense of wonder and gratitude in our lives.
The Spring 2025 Zentensive will be held at Windhorse Zen Community which is located just outside of Asheville, NC. Participants will be required to stay on site, and the pricing is all inclusive – excluding travel, of course. Space is limited.
For those interested, mental health professionals will be eligible to receive 30 CEs, including 2 for ethics. (Unfortunately we are not able to offer CMEs at this time.)
There is a $75 application fee which can be paid on the “donate page” of our WindhorseZen.org site when you apply. If for some reason you’re not accepted, this fee will be refunded.
You can also make your final payment on the same donation page, or mail in a check made out to Windhorse Zen Community. If it makes a difference you should know that no one has been turned away from any of our programs due to financial hardship; if you’d like further information just let us know.
Final decisions will be announced Friday, March 15, 2025, though people should feel free to apply after that date, if places are available. If you need to know if you’ve been accepted before that date because of work or travel related issues, please contact us directly.
In terms of payments, there are a few different options available:
1) Without CEs Before March 1 — $825
2) Without CEs After March 1 — $925
4) With CEs After March 1 — $1025
Zen Practice, Psychotherapy, and the Spiritual Unconscious
Lawson Sachter
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,
but by making the darkness conscious.”
– C.G. Jung
Section I: Introduction
Intensive forms of dharma practice stir up the whole of the psyche – and as this unfolding continues, increasing depths of the unconscious become mobilized. It’s a complicated, paradoxical, and mysterious process. Most practitioners are aware that dharma practice can arouse innate healing and compassionate energies. What is generally less clear is that meditation can also mobilize difficult and destructive forces that may have been buried away since the earliest years of one’s life. As these repressed feelings and impulses become activated, so do the defensive systems that encase them. Taken together, repressed feelings and defenses form complex emotional systems that bind energy, and inevitably exert a powerful influence over us.
What has become clear is that many of these unconscious mechanisms that hold back feelings also function in ways that obstruct deepening dharma practice. Since the dynamics that lead to deeper meditative states are exactly the same ones that mobilize the unconscious, it can be helpful, if not essential, to cultivate a greater understanding of these subterranean realms. What’s more, there are uniquely Western aspects to this process, and this is exactly why Dr. Habib Davanloo’s work is so relevant.
Individual Zentensive Consultation Sessions:
In addition to the longer, individual consultations that are already available, I’m going to start offering shorter sessions on meditation practice itself. These would be brief, 10 or 15 minute sessions, primarily for therapists interested in starting up, or maintaining a meditation practice of their own. These sessions would focus on questions relating directly to the sitting practice itself.
Longer consultations, ones that might include personal, meditation-based, or supervisory issues, are also available. These sessions are professional, Zentensive-based explorations designed to complement other forms of training, and may be helpful in addressing various psychospiritual issues arising in a person’s personal and professional life. If you’re interested in exploring this further, feel free to get in touch with me at LawsonSachter@gmail.com.
As with our Zentensive Workshop and Retreats, these longer consultations could be considered professional trainings, and as such, deductible business expenses. Please note, only your accountant can advise you as to whether such deductions would actually apply to your specific work situation.