For over 15 years, Potential State has facilitated over 150 sessions to audiences all over

the USA, Europe, and Israel. We specialize in delivering activities that combine

psychotherapeutic theories and techniques, action methods, neuro-linguistic

programming (NLP), non-verbal communication, and performance arts. This synergistic

combination creates a safe space to play, grow, and explore. These trainings combine

theory (your head), technique (your hands), and vitalizing, visceral action (your heart)

for a long-lasting effect. Sessions can be tailored to the needs of the specific group and

be facilitated as experiential lectures or as interactive workshops.

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The workshops and lectures we offer are presented in three categories:  Communication Mastery, Group Dynamics and Personal Enrichment. While not exclusive to these categories, the division corresponds roughly to couple and family relations, group interactions, and personal growth.

Sessions marked with an asterisk (*) fit all the categories.

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 Communication Mastery

• Welcome to the Crucible! Conflict as a tool for personal and relational growth – In this activity, we will gain an understanding of couples therapy theories and techniques. We will deepen our familiarity with the complex mechanisms of conflict and anxiety and use these mechanisms to develop our relationships and ourselves.

• The art of intimacy (INTO-ME-SEE) - How to communicate authentically – Many times we present ourselves as shallow or distant from our core values. In this workshop, participants will learn concepts and techniques taken from the world of couples therapy and theater improvisation, which will help create more meaningful moments, deeper rapport, and a grounded sense of self.

• You just don't understand! Inter-gender communication – Through simple and proven exercises derived from the worlds of socio-linguistics and couples therapy, we will learn and practice how to communicate better with women and men.

• Improving relational communication I - What’s the mental map of the other – In this class, we will use NLP techniques to improve personal communication and build relationships to achieve the outcome we want in our communication. We will learn quick cues and preferences that will help us better calibrate, match, and engage the other.

• Improving relational communication II – How to (really) listen and understand the other – In this activity we will learn proven techniques to help us really hear the people around us. We will experiment with blocking and accepting the bids/ideas of others, in order to maximize rapport in our relationships.

• Leaning, following, and leading - a movement exploration of trust – Techniques from movement, contact improvisation and NLP will help us examine and strengthen our trust, empathy, and leadership in this visceral, mostly non-verbal session.

• Body language as a tool to achieve the presence and attention you want – In this workshop, you will learn secrets from NLP and theater to enliven your presentations and enable you to create your desired energy, presence, and discipline. *

• Emotional bids – The meaning behind our words – Based on the world of theater improvisation and couples therapy, we will learn how to better send and receive emotional bids that are the basis of every personal and professional relationship. These tools will help you increase the intimacy and collaboration of our relationships.

• “No, thank you” – Assertiveness training for the 21st century – We will learn why is it difficult for us to be assertive and say no to the people around us. Yet, by saying no to others, we say yes to ourselves. Through creative play and mastery of professional terminology, we will learn to be more congruent, precise, and clear with our boundaries.

• Improvisation as a way of life – In this workshop, based on a 5-year study of the power of improvisation training on the effectiveness of helping professionals, we will learn and practice the basic guidelines of theater improvisation that can help us communicate and co-create with the people around us. *

• Emerging Adults – Understanding and working with 18-35-year-olds – Based on the results of a 3-year study of the psychological development of emerging adults, this lecture will teach the unique characteristics and challenges of this age group. We’ll learn techniques that will enhance communication with this age group and aid their advance into full adulthood.

• Pushing forward when stuck – In this workshop, we will learn how to play with “open cards”, daring to self-expose our experience of the here and now. We will learn about the importance of ruptures and repairs in our lives. We will dare to play and experiment with bold offers that can generate creativity and movement.

• Metaphors in our service – We will practice coaching and theater techniques that will help us maximize, in personal, educational, and business settings, the use of metaphor as a creative force. *

• The gift of dilemmas – We will learn to use dilemmas as a tool in our growth and development in personal, educational, and business settings. *

• Silence and stillness in service of presence and authority – We will employ tools from the world of theater improvisation to help us use moments of quiet to maximize influence, presence, and effectiveness. *

• Stories that shape our lives – How to deeply connect on the archetypal level – In this activity, we will learn to recognize, create, refine and reform our layered stories in order to solidify our sense of self and of our relationships.

• Non-Violent Communication – We will practice constructive communication for times of conflict, whether in personal or professional relationships.

• Couples together - Strengthening communication and partnership in marriage – Every couple can enrich and enhance their relationship regardless of how many years they have been together. In this activity, we will learn simple and proven theories and techniques from the world of couples therapy, which will help solidify our unions.

• Respectful eroticism – This workshop facilitates our ability to connect to the different archetypal erotic energies to allow us, in turn, to broaden our erotic play.

• The family as an organism – Processes and dynamics in family life – We will learn family therapy theories and techniques to better understand our own family dynamics and what steps we can take to increase intimacy, communication, and connection in our home.

• Family scripts – Can the apple fall far from the tree? – In this lecture, we will explore our inter-generational patterns. What do they look like? How are they formed? How do they affect us? Can we and how do we change them?

• Round 2 – the challenge and potential of relationships after divorce – What should we consider when entering a new relationship? What patterns might (re)emerge? What can we do differently? In this lecture, we will learn concepts and processes from the world of couples therapy to equip us in choosing and building anew, an intimate, committed relationship.

 

Enriching Group Dynamics

• Action-oriented group dynamics – What is happening here? – This workshop enables a safe space to explore conscious and unconscious personal and group processes. The exercises are taken from psychodrama, sociometry, and coaching, and tailored to your specific group. The focus of the workshop will be coordinated with the stage of the group’s process and the goal of the program.

• What is your story? Playback Theater toolbox – Playback Theater is a form of improvised theater based on stories from your specific group; it is widely used around the world in therapy, art, and educational settings. In this interactive workshop, we will learn a few simple techniques to tell, hear, reflect, and process our experiences in an inclusive and energizing atmosphere.

• Stages of groups – From strangers to intimates – In this workshop, we will learn and experience a practical model that will help group members process the different stages of the group’s dynamic life. This workshop can also help staff and faculty better lead and navigate the group’s journey to maximize participants’ growth.

• Roles in groups – What's our role in the group dynamic? - Aimed at group facilitators and educators as well as group participants, this workshop will utilize a practical model to understand the different roles people take (and receive) in groups. We will learn to lead group dynamics, improve interactions with specific program participants, recognize our own preferred role, and to challenge ourselves to new roles. We will, thus, expand personal repertoires and increase the group’s capacity for intimacy and change.

• It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday – Maximizing our partings­ – “Every parting is a form of death.”  In this workshop, we will learn the different natural stages and styles of grieving. We first will identify our current pattern of parting. Then, we will experiment with new, more adaptive ways to use unavoidable endings for personal and relational growth.

• Self States – How to transition back to work/reality from the program? – In this experiential workshop, participants will deconstruct what parts of themselves (self-states) they brought to the program, as well as their usual ‘business cards’ they apply in their workplace. They will then have a chance to experiment in integrating and expanding their professional repertoire in a safe space. All this will enable participants to better acclimate with reality and to share their new knowledge after the program ends.

• What type of ninja are you? Typology and terminology for successful teamwork – This lecture is based on an original theory of collaborative group work. We will learn about our default preferences in teamwork and how we can offer better bids to improve cooperation, enjoyment, and effectiveness.

 

Personal Enrichment

• Intuitive thinking - Releasing the genius in us – In this workshop, we will examine the three different types of thinking: intellectual, instinctual, and intuitive. We will learn how to liberate and develop our intuitive thinking and thus, increase creativity, teamwork, cooperation, and vitality in our personal and professional lives.

• Vision, mission, and threshold – This workshop helps participants define and clarify their innate gift to the world, as well as their vision and mission in order to clarify their goals as they move forward in the program/group.

• My echo, my shadow, and me - Connecting to our dark side - In this workshop, we will meet our shadow: the parts of ourselves that we don’t like or that we deny. The shadow holds great potential and energy. Learning to play with our shadow allows us control over our vulnerability and mobilizes new creative energies into our lives.

• The hero's journey – The blueprint to your calling – Using a meta-model, we will experientially map out the different components and stages of our current goal, understand our existing resources, and the challenges we will face. This practice will aid us in advancing toward our calling.

• Inside out – on the different voices in our heads – As the 2015 animated movie depicts, we all have different voices in our heads. This activity will first give us professional language and tools to understand, categorize, and work with these internal voices. We will then realign and rebalance our internal parts through gentle experimental techniques.

• Learning to make mistakes and fail enjoyably – “If you are not failing, you are not learning.” In this activity, we will learn the importance of failing on a visceral level. We will play and experiment with failure in ways that will start to retrain our brain to enjoy and eve