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Welcome to Amy and Arnold Mindell's website.
WELCOME TO
AMY aND ARNY MINDELL's
wEBSITE
Here you will find out about our work and lives, and about Process oriented Psychology, or what is also called Processwork. Our work is based on the science and art of following processes as they appear in individuals, relationships, groups, organizations, governments and nature.
ONLINE TRIBUTE PAGE FOR ARNY:
Dear friends, there is an ONLINE TRIBUTE PAGE for Arny where you can contribute your own memories, tributes, and photos of Arny if you like. All of us will be able to share, look at, and cherish this page for years to come. You can find the page at: https://www.online-tribute.com/ArnoldMindell.
To contribute: Scroll down to "Community Dreaming" to post your memories and scroll down to "Arny in Photographs" to post your photos. Please know it may take a few days for each contribution to be posted.
Many thanks to Susan Kocen for helping me, Amy, create this page and thanks to everyone for your hearts, feelings, and love of Arny, this deeply beautiful, brilliant, and generous man and the innumerable gifts he has brought to each of us and our world.
With love, amy
—OUR DEAR ARNY—
Dear friends visiting our website,
with a huge broken heart and deep sadness, I want to let you know that the love of my life, and awesome friend and teacher to so many, Arny, passed away peacefully on June 10, 2024 due to complications around aging. I’m sure that is a shock for many of you as it is for me.
Arny’s greatest drive in life was to be of help to everyone, and to make the world a better place for all. I witnessed how he spent every single day following that calling. It was his deepest passion and drive, and reason for being. His development of Process Oriented Psychology came from that feeling and to find a way to work with all the different facets of our human experience.
Some time ago, he told me that when he was no longer here in his bodily form, we could connect and talk with him by looking at and communicating with the sea, his beloved sea. And he said that when anyone dies, they are not just dead. We are not just bodies, we are a spirit and the dreaming behind it, so he and all of us are always here. He will continue to live inside the hearts of each of the people he has touched.
A few days before he passed away, I showed him a photo (from the early 80s) that I put into a book of stories about him that I am creating. The publisher placed the photo in such a way as to fill an entire page. I wasn’t sure Arny would like that, since he never wanted to make a big deal out of himself. But he said, “Oh yes, great photo, do it!” So, I’m placing it here.
There was a moving online celebration of Arny’s life on August 22nd and an in-person gathering on August 23rd in Yachats, Oregon to honor Arny and offer some of his ashes to the sea.
With my love, and arny’s deepest love, and of course his Woof and beautiful playful spirit, to everyone.
amy
VIDEO CELEBRATING ARNY
This is a video I, Amy. made and shared during the online honoring and celebration of Arny on August 22nd. It is an assortment of photos, songs, and even a few videos of Arny himself highlighting some aspects of his remarkable and beautiful nature. I created it out of my deep love for Arny and to bring him close to all . With my tears of love and tears of sadness, I hope you enjoy it.
PROCESS = FOLLOW NATURE:
notice Signals, Dreams + Feelings,
in individuals, groups, governments + our planet
for psychology, physics, art, organizations, and the TAO
OUR WORK
Since the 1970's, we, that is Arny, and later Amy in the 1980s, have been studying how to work with process and how to facilitate the challenging, mysterious, wonderful and sometimes agonizing, human and natural world we live in. We work with people in just about all states of mind, alone and in large groups, at peace and in conflict.
We have seen that awareness of the flow of events, attention to signals in the body, the environment and everyday life of individuals, relationships and groups often brings relief, resolution, and sustainable, personal and social change.
Together, by following the “process” in individual and group experiences, we often find unexpected resolutions to personal and collective issues. The basic idea is that the process (that is, deep feelings, dreams, signals, and events) shows the way.
We teach seminars around the world and consult with individuals in private practice, and also work with families, organizations, and governments. Find our Schedule above, more information About Us, and our Books here.
See what Wikipedia says about Arny and Processwork.
Also see Amy’s Facebook page and Arny's Facebook page (on the right side of this page).
WHAT IS PROCESS WORK?
Processwork is the art, science, and the psychology of following the nature of individuals, communities, and eco-systems.
What is this nature exactly? It appears in the descriptions or self-descriptions of nature and people, as well as the subtler often missed signals and deep experiences of everyone and everything involved. Following this nature is often a great help for everyone involved. Following nature often gives meaning and necessary change.
Processwork, also called process oriented psychology, is a multicultural, multi-leveled awareness practice including people and their natural environment. It is an evolving, trans-disciplinary approach supporting individuals, relationships and organizations to discover themselves.
Processwork theories and methods, skills and metaskills are available for anyone to experience and can be tested.
Applications: Processwork can be used to help people in all states of consciousness: that is in so called "normal" awareness states, or in altered states such as "psychotic" or extreme states, comatose and near-death states. It can be applied to psychological problems, body symptoms, groups, organizations, governments, and has been used for very young and very old people.
About us and our Books (see more by clicking the “About Us” and “Books and Articles” tabs above)
Arny is a scientist and the founder of Process Oriented Psychology. His first book Dreambody: The Body’s Role in Revealing the Self (1982) described his findings about how body symptoms can be found in dreams. His 1985 book River’s Way: The process science of the dreambody laid out the principles and concepts of process oriented psychology. Arny’s 2010 book The ProcessMind: A User’s Guide to the The Mind of God describes a subtle force-field body intelligence experience that moves us in a way that mirrors the movements of our dreams. His 2013 book, Dance of the Ancient One, shares a new space-based movement meditation to facilitate personal and international issues. This interdisciplinary method connecting psychology, physics, and spirituality can be used to work with difficult personal situations and organizational issues.
Amy is an artist, singer-songwriter, dancer, and Process Work therapist/facilitator. She created and defined the concept of "Metaskills" (the feeling quality behind our learned skills) in her 1995 book, Metaskills: The Spiritual Art Of Therapy. For a creative introduction to the Processwork approach to therapeutic work, see Amy’s book, Alternative To Therapy: A Creative Lecture Series on Process Work (2002). Her most recent 2019 book, Your Unique Facilitator Style explores the way in which each therapist, coach, or other helper is gifted with special ways of working that make their work unique and effective.
For process oriented approaches to innerwork, mindfulness and meditation see especially Arny’s book Working on Yourself Alone. and Amy’s book, The Dreaming Source of Creativity: 30 simple ways to have fun and work on yourself.
To Learn More:
Find out how dreams manifest in the body see Dreambody and Comawork.
Learn about Deep Democracy and the practice of Worldwork for small and large groups, businesses, government and social issues.
Find about the concept of the Processmind and explore our approach to Creativity and Innerwork.
Explore the physics that inspires us, and the roots and companions of process oriented psychology.
Learn about Phase-Oriented Process Concepts: Since Sept 2014, we, Amy and Arny have been researching and experimenting with a new, and widely applicable phase-oriented process concept. We show how noticing the phases of individual, relationship, and large groups helps facilitators understand and organize their work better. The new work Conflict: Phases, Forums, and Solutions: For our Dreams and Body, Organizations, Governments, and Planet published in 2017, contributes a "meta-view", or overview, to help predict, understand and work with the natural phases people go through.
Processwork is practiced and studied in many centers around the world. (To see those centers, click International Association of Process oriented Psychology for the global community).
**NEW VIDEO** — ARNOLD MINDELL: AUTHOR, TEACHER, PSYCHOLOGIST, DREAMER: A PORTRAIT
This is a lively, intimate, and informal interview with Arny that was filmed in December 2021. It is called “Arnold Mindell: Author, Teacher, Psychologist, Dreamer: A Portrait” and consists of 4 parts. The film is a broad discussion of Arny’s life and work creating “Process-oriented Psychology.” Arny’s interview with Cathy Bernatt was filmed by Jerry Grant with love and support from Amy. (A separate film about Amy and Arny’s relationship will be uploaded in the near future.)
Click the video on the right to see the full film. If you prefer to watch each part separately, you can click on the following links.
Part 1: Why the Rain Falls Down https://youtu.be/Sc1hDCYZWOI
Part 2: Breathing Jung In and On: The Evolution of Process-Oriented Psychology & Processwork https://youtu.be/3IgjIgOUQ5Y
Part 3: The World is My Family https://youtu.be/gZQXgXktS5I
Part 4: Follow the Process Even Beyond life and Death https://youtu.be/lqp7kQqF11s
Deep Democracy and Worldwork: For Individuals, organizations and large group processes:
Worldwork combines ecology’s interest in the environment, psychology’s focus on the individual, and social theory’s comprehension of historical change. Worldwork takes politics beyond mundane problems to creating community, the most sacred and perennial interest of human beings.
Arnold Mindell, Sitting in the Fire (1995), p. 23.
Worldwork is Processwork applied to small and large groups, communities and organizations, business, international events and environmental problems. Deep democracy is the core principle and practice of worldwork. It is the inclusion of not only all viewpoints, but also all levels of our experience including facts, feelings, dreams and the subtle, intangible atmosphere between us.
Deep democracy brings democracy to life in the moment as a living reality. In deep democracy, everyone ‘wins’ in the sense of gaining more meaningful relationships and more sustainable resolutions."
Amy Mindell, ‘Bringing deep democracy to life’ (2008), p. 213.
See Arny’s books Sitting in the Fire, The Deep Democracy of Open Forums and The Leader as Martial Artist.
For Process oriented Ecology see Earth based Psychology and Dance of the Ancient One.
Creativity, Music, and Art
Even within the most lifeless-looking object or experience lies a wealth of potential. The “real” world that seemed so static a moment ago transmutes into a fluid field of possibilities. [With a beginner's mind we can discover] the unfolding and creative force…inherent in materials, our bodies, sounds, the environment, words, images and – perhaps most importantly – in our experiences in daily life.
Amy Mindell, The Dreaming Source of Creativity, (2005) p.5.
We believe and always find that human processes are inherently creative. Amy practices, writes and teaches about developing creativity, music and art using Processwork. See her book The Dreaming Source of Creativity.
Read Amy's adventures in hyperspace and her article on “Process Work and the Art of Animation”
To listen to some of Amy’s music, see some of her art and art books, click on the drop down menu called “AMY’S ART” at the top of any page. And you can see Amy’s imaginary animated figures discuss Worldwork theory and practice in her creative 40-part video series.