An experiential workshop to deeper states of Being- Experience the Spiral in action
Being as a decolonial act to constant striving.
The Invitation In a world that is shaped by relentless "doing" ; holding space, analyzing, and intervening; where do we go to simply be ? You are invited to a potent group initiation that bridges the person-centered theory and Carl Rogers flavor of an encounter group with the primordial wisdom of the Ancient Mother Spiral. An evolving body of work.
Using and embodying the three Rogerian core conditions; empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard; as our essential soil, we will navigate a shared descent into the present moment.
Through silence, emergent poetry &/ or art , whilst we collectively tending to group's emergence wisdom, we move past the professional mask to encounter the Flow.
The group oriented process, will combine Rogers' famous Encounter Group ; the practice of being raw and real in the 'here and now'; with the Ancient Mother Spiral. The Rogers method provides the safety and the 'unconditional' atmosphere, while the Spiral guides our descent from our social masks into the silent center of the Great Mother. Moving from the “what if” of Rogers to the “what is”.
Think of this workshop as a collective womb where growth can occur based on spontaneity and the simple effortlessness of life .
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Workshop Aims & Objectives
To provide attendees with an experiential taste for co-emergence, allowing them to explore the intersection of humanistic psychology and archetypal jungian dive in the unconscious hidden in the here and now, with the aim to deepen their capacity for "being" with clients, and why not deepen a sense of being in life.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this 4-hour encounter, participants hopefully will be able to:
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Embody deeper the Core Conditions: Experience the physiological shift that occurs when the core conditions meet the deep ancient unconditional essence in us
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Be introduced, theoretically & experientially to the Ancient Mother Spiral as a group process
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Navigate the "Here-and-Now": Practice the "Encounter" technique of speaking from immediate, unfolding experience to bypass intellectualization and cognitive fatigue.
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Understand a bit deeper Archetypal Scaffolding: Understand how the "Mother Spiral" acts as a containment tool (the temenos), providing a safe structure for deep, unstructured psychological processing.
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Taste or have glimpses of the "Effortless" Silence: Cultivate a tolerance for prolonged shared silence, recognizing it as a "pregnant" space where the group's collective intelligence begins to organize itself.
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Mitigate Compassion Fatigue: Use the "Spiral Return" to practice healthy integration and "shedding" of the group process, essential for maintaining professional longevity.
Why this why now?
For the therapist, the spiral represents the map of the soul. For the facilitator, the encounter represents the breath of life. Join us to reconnect with the actualizing tendency; the innate drive toward growth that exists when the "soil" of the group is perfectly held.
Leave with a renewed nervous system and a deeper map for holding space.
Practicalities
Venue: The Sand & Sound Centre, Digital House, 35 Ridling Lane, Hyde, Tameside, Greater Manchester SK14 1NP
Date/Time: July 26th 2026 - 10:00-14:00- Arrival for 9:30 am
Full fee: £45 ( limited places to 10 people)
Secure your place : Booking your place here
Refreshments/lunch: Abundant refreshments will be available throughout the day. Lunch is not included, you can bring your own or buy lunch in shops nearby.
CPD Certificates will be issued in electronic format.
Maria Kefalogianni
Psychotherapist, Mystical Guide, & Founder of Presence Centered Psychotherapy (PCP)
Maria Kefalogianni is a clinically skilled psychotherapist and the creator of The Ancient Mother Spiral©️, an alchemical framework designed to lead women and MOTHERS ( and everyone else) back to embodied wholeness.
With over 18 years of clinical practice, she has spent more than 15 years leading groups and training both therapists and supervisors, grounding her work in deep professional expertise. She trained in the Person Centred Approach and has been holding groups and training therapists and supervisors in a process oriented way for over 15 years.
As a "soul midwife," Maria supports women navigating profound identity shifts, maternal rage, and burnout. Her approach integrates ancient wisdom with clinical precision, a path forged through her own "Descent Journey" of motherhood. A dedicated advocate for the "Warrior Mama," she views the spiritual path not as a retreat, but as a necessary descent into one's deepest truth through matrescence.
Maria’s work is trauma-informed and soul-rooted, specializing in shifting the nervous system from survival to anchored presence. She utilizes functional somatic tools and the power of sacred imagination and metaphor to transform human suffering and find its inherent wisdom within.
Rooted in her Cretan ancestry, Maria believes our deepest wounds are portals to wisdom, embodying a presence-centered life through the radical surrender of both motherhood and salsa dancing.
