Here and Now Workshops

The Mastery of Self Expression
Weekend workshop in Bristol
July 31st, August 1st and 2nd 2009
Led by Adrian Longstaffe and Russell Fleet

What they said about earlier Bristol Masteries

What they said about the Leaders

Booking Form

"The Mastery" now happens regularly in Bristol for the first time since 1989
 Click here for Masteries elsewhere in the UK

It is a practical and effective weekend that will enable you to change the course of your life measurably for the better without having to master a new discipline, or adopt a new religion.

The Details
A note for actors

This is not an acting workshop -- but paradoxically it is very good for actors. It's about coming into relationship with yourself and with an audience at the same time. It is about that slippery word authenticity. And it's about its discovery in relationship.

The Mastery is not about acting technique -- you still have to learn your craft. But it's about a quality of presence -- the ability to risk being authentically who you are in the presence of an audience. It's about taking that fear, putting a bridle on it and riding it -- using the permission of a good relationship with yourself in the presence of others.

I'm passionate about this work -- it seems to reveal the depth and breadth of the human spirit. And it's about emotional intelligence. It's not about getting over the fear -- be terrified! But understand that you are big enough to take all of the power that sits in that terror and ride it -- use it to come into powerful and moving relationship with an audience-- or a group -- or an individual.

What is the Mastery of Self Expression?

Created by Dan Fauci in 1977, this workshop was based originally on the training of actors. It is a workshop which is designed to give you an experience of your own capacity for creative and spontaneous self-expression, to connect you to your passions and to enable you to discover who you really are behind the mask. It is about you as an individual and what becomes possible for you when you release more of yourself into your life.

Life creates us until we start to create our lives - this is a radical, simple and powerful shift in personal experience. If you continue to be who you have always been, you'll continue to do what you always do and thus continue to get what you always get. It starts with who you are being. The Mastery challenges you to be something more, beyond who you know yourself to be, not up mountains or through huge feats of endurance, but in the most significant way possible - in relationship.

Over the course of the weekend you will explore exactly where you are right now in your life, what might be blocking you, what you might be carrying from the past and what you would like to have more of in the future. This can often lead to tremendous breakthroughs for participants and many people describe The Mastery as a truly life changing event.

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Who is the Mastery of Self Expression for?

Thousands of people around the world and from all walks of life have participated in the course, building its reputation as one of the most powerful and effective personal development courses available today.

The workshop is designed for anyone who feels they would like access to more of themselves. It offers a safe and supportive environment for individuals to explore new ways of being, to reinvent and recreate themselves and to discover what already works about them. Wherever you are in your journey and whatever you do for a living, the Mastery can enhance your experience and open up even greater possibilities for your future. Rediscover the joy of expressing yourself fully and rekindle your own creative spark.

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What do people say about it?

"Stalled ambitions take flight... in an atmosphere of friendly encouragement"
Health and Fitness

"For personal development and creativity, I recommend the Mastery to open doors that have remained locked"
Denise Wong, Theatre Director

"Of all the self-awareness programs I have participated in all over the world, this was the one that gave me the key to my freedom"
Sarah Wheater, Personal Assistant

What they said about recent Masteries in Bristol

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Some of the results most frequently reported by participants

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How does the Mastery work psychologically?

As far as I can get, it resolves, in a very deep way, the paradox that we all desperately want to be seen and we are all desperately scared of being seen. We put people in a really scary place in front of an audience and ask them to talk about themselves or express themselves in other ways. Around this we put layers and layers of safety, empathy and compassion which allows them to stay with and express the difficult feelings which come up, moving through these and discovering that vulnerability and truth can be extraordinarily powerful. One of the things I say again and again is that vulnerability is not weakness, it is openness. Scary, yes, but so much closer to our own personal truth than the masks we put on to survive in the outside world.

I think Mastery leaders model good parents but in the expectation that everyone can be their own good parent and take responsibility for leading and supporting themselves.

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Course Leaders for the Bristol Mastery

Adrian Longstaffe
Adrian has worked as a teacher in more than six careers including veterinary medicine, choreography, acting training and educational technology. He graduated as a psychotherapist in 2000 and leads his own personal development workshops.

"The Mastery has been a vital element in my journey. I have sat on the back row of more than 40 masteries in the last 27 years and have spent the last 10 years in leadership training, gaining the Diploma in Leadership of the Institute for Creativity in 2003. I also assist in the training of Mastery leaders.  My experiences across the fields of academia, personal development and theatre have resulted in a fascination with the training of actors -- one of the few groups of people for whom the taking of emotional risk is part of the job description. Responsible acting training has so much to offer in terms of emotional intelligence for the rest of us."

"One of my aims is to enable people to walk their emotional universe with the same confidence that they walk their intellectual universe -- balancing the rational with the non-rational."

Ranjit Krishnamma
Ranjit has been acting professionally for over 20 years in film, theatre, TV, and radio. His recent appearances in theatre have been with the Royal Shakespeare Co. Shared Experience and at The National Theatre.

Recent TV work includes Eastenders, Harley Street, Waking the Dead, Murphy's Law, Casualty and Little Britain. At present he is studying film making with a view to spending time behind the camera as well as in front of it.

Ranjit has led The Mastery for over twelve years. He has also developed intensive workshops of his own including “Feeling What Is,” “Beyond the Method,” (a six week acting course) a short dramatic intensive called “Expresso,” a residential drama/development/holiday in France – “The Heart of Drama,” and an outdoor adventure week in North Wales, ”Into the Wild.”

'I like to lead from a place that acknowledges the one-ness that exists beneath our conditioned minds and I encourage an individual and intense exploration of the inner world and its relationship to our daily lives. I am proud to be a part of what I believe to be some of the most effective and ethical human development work on the planet.'

Olivia Nelson
Originally trained as an actor (BA Hons) and movement teacher, Olivia has undergone numerous courses with the Actors Institute and later with the Institute for Creativity, including the One Year Course in Professional Acting & One Year Leadership Programme.

Olivia teaches a range of movement, drama, acting & self-development techniques privately and in business. Acting experience includes, Of Mice and Men with the Chester Gateway, To Kidnap a Princess and Heart Beat, Granada TV.

Olivia has also hosted the Mastery and associated workshops in Manchester for a number of years and has undergone several years training to lead this work.

"This is not a workshop where you sit around discussing how you could change or explore aspects of your life that seem stale or stunted in growth. You get up and do it! Risk taking, permission and safety abound in this 'one in a million' workshop."

Russell Fleet
Russell has been around the Mastery since 1995 when he trained at the Actors Institute, the originators of the work. Since then he has been a professional actor and moved into health promotion in 2000, training to lead a number of workshops aimed at improving people’s self-efficacy.

He is most proud of his work over the last 8 years as a trainer of Assertiveness, an intensive personal development course which looks at what stops us asking for what we want and is most closely related to the Mastery in approach and outcome.

In November 2008 he attended a training course for Mastery leaders in Vancouver and was accredited by Dan Fauci, the creator of this work as a licensed co-leader.

What they said about the Leaders

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A personal experience of the work -- Adrian Longstaffe

I first participated in this workshop in 1982. At this stage of my life, I knew nothing of personal development but having, through my work in the theatre, met a group of people who seemed to be more alive, more authentic and more trustworthy, I did it because they recommended it -- which is usually the main reason that people undertake this work.

It was enormously challenging. I discovered I had to engage with things called feelings that I had tried to avoid for most of my life up until then. But it put me in the driving seat. It gave me an experience that life was not just something that happened to me but something I could engage with, create, take charge of. The journey that started that weekend has taken me through many exciting developments that eventually led to me becoming a therapist and workshop leader in my own right. My continuing association with the work has provided support, direction and a deep conviction of the essential sacredness of the human spirit.

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Safety

Although it can feel scary at times, this is the sort of scary where another part of you actually knows you are completely safe -- a bit like the emotional equivalent of a roller coaster. I think most people who have been on a real rollercoaster can relate to that feeling you get at the very top when something says "what have I done this for -- I must be mad!" The workshop is bounded by a strict and explicit set of ethics, including confidentiality, which everyone, leaders, support staff and participants must sign up to before taking part in the workshop. This creates a level of safety which is then further enhanced by the workshop ethos of empathic support.

Caveat

Although it operates within an empathic and supportive ethical framework, the Mastery takes place at the level of personal development. It is not a therapy workshop nor a substitute for therapy. I think I can best explain it by saying that it starts from the point of "... yes -- I've got some problems -- but I'm coping -- and I want more out of my life." If your starting point is "I've got this really big problem..." then maybe the Mastery is not for you -- yet.

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Logistics

The Mastery takes place over a Friday evening and weekend, followed by an evening 10 days later. Courses are limited to a maximum of 18 participants to ensure individual attention.

Dates: July 31st, August 1st and 2nd 2009

Times:
Friday 6:30 p.m.-late
Saturday 10 a.m.-late
Sunday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. approx
Follow-up evening Wednesday 10 days afterwards -- 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m. (optional)

Venue:
Circomedia
St Paul's Church
Portland Square
Bristol BS2 8SJ

This is a totally stunning venue -- a church which has been converted into a circus training school using over £2 million of lottery money -- it is a great privilege for us to be able to use this amazing and inspiring performance space.

Cost structure:

Full price £199* ..credit crunch prices - normally £260!
(less £20 if paid before July 3rd)

Unwaged £150*

Deposit £50*
*returnable less a £15 administration fee if cancelled 28 days prior to the workshop - after this, we will still return the deposit/fee if we can fill your place from a waiting list.

Click here for a form to express interest/reserve a place on the next Mastery

Preparation

Prior to the weekend, you will need to learn by heart, a two minute piece (poem, song, dance, monologue, story, piece of music, mime etc) that you will use as a vehicle for your expression. Choose something that chooses you or which you feel passionately about.

Learning it off by heart is important -- it means that you will be freer to experiment.

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Free introductory evenings

There are free get-togethers to enable potential participants to have a glass of wine and talk informally to past participants and learn more about the workshop -- these are absolutely not high-pressure sales -- just an opportunity to speak to the best salespeople of all -- those who have done the workshop and been inspired by it. Please telephone for more details (see below).

Introductory evenings scheduled for summer 2009 are:
Wednesday, 1 July
Venue -- 24 Clifton Wood Road, Bristol, BS8 4TW

Please telephone 0117 926 2456 to check before arriving.

For more information please contact:

Adrian Longstaffe
0117 926 2456
information@interactive-consultancies.co.uk

Credits

Some of this material has been adapted from publicity material developed by Creative Platform and is used with permission and thanks.

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