Who Do You Think You Are?
A guide to understanding your character structure and moving from pattern to presence.
From astrology to the Enneagram, people have always looked for ways to understand who they are on a deeper level of meaning. But how many of these ways truly map onto your body structure and reveal your unconscious defense mechanisms? Most of them simply give you a label and a set of limitations and leave it at that, without telling you how to transcend those limitations, bust out of your patterns, and return to being present.
The study of Character Structures originated with Wilhelm Reich. As he looked at his client’s bodies and learned about their wounds, he found that certain ages of wounding produced characteristic patterns that could be seen in body, behavior, and beliefs. Understanding your own patterns will free you from the trap of thinking “That’s just how I am” and give you new strategies for surviving and thriving in the world. Understanding the patterns of your loved ones will help you act with skill and wisdom in your relationships.
My friend and colleague, Steven Kessler, has been working with character structure as a therapist for a decade. He has a unique perspective to share. Read below about Steven Kessler’s six module training that will explore each of these structures in detail and tell you how to work with them.
HOW WILL YOU BENEFIT FROM THIS TRAINING:
- You’ll have a reality-based map to show you where you’re stuck and how to move back toward presence
- You’ll realize that a lot of what you thought was ‘you’ is really just a pattern you adopted to survive, not your essence
- You’ll learn how to cultivate the gifts of your patterns and use them to accomplish what you want in the world
- You’ll discover why people with different character structures see the world so differently and how to interact skillfully with them
- You’ll learn tools to use in working with clients to help them heal their core wounds and move from pattern to presence
- You’ll understand yourself and others on a deeper level
Steven Kessler has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1987 and is the Director of the EFT Therapy Center and a certified EFT Expert & Trainer. He has studied many different healing modalities, including Character Structure, the Enneagram, NLP, energy work, Thought Field Therapy, and EFT.
For over 30 years he has pursued various spiritual and meditation practices, including 16 years in the Diamond Heart meditation school, and taught hundreds of groups and workshops in the US and internationally, helping men and women heal their wounds and grow into their full adult selves. For the last 10 years, he has been studying and teaching character structure and will be publishing a popular book on character structure soon.
5 Personality Patterns: Steven’s new book!
Much of our human suffering is not necessary. It is created by old patterns of feeling and acting that helped us survive the traumas of childhood, but then got stuck in our bodies. These patterns have shaped us so deeply that now we think that’s who we are. But these patterns are not your true self. In fact, they cover up your true self and prevent it from shining out into the world.
This exciting new book lays out that map and shows you the path out of your suffering and back to your true self. Once you know where you’re going, your journey will be easier. Without a map, you may have been walking in circles for years. With a map, you can find your way home.
Purchase your copy now! OR, if you’d prefer a little more discovery material, take advantage of our extra special, limited-time offer below!!
BONUS! Purchase this Character Structure course: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? and receive Steven Kessler’s new book, The 5 Personality Patterns, on us!!
Free Call: Anodea Judith interviews Steven Kessler
Join us in this free interview and learn about your patterns and how to break through to presence.
You’ll learn about:
- 5 different Character Structures and how to identify them
- How and why they formed as survival patterns from childhood
- How each structure produces a vastly different worldview and different behaviors, motivations, fears and desires
- How these patterns hide who we really are
- How they differ from authentic presence
- How to use this identification to move from pattern to presence.
Six module training course
Learn in depth about each Character Structure: how to identify, understand, and work with these patterns in yourself, your relationships, and your clients. Once you understand this map of personality, you’ll find that you can easily figure out how to communicate successfully with others and how to interact with them in a way that works for both of you.
Module 1: The Leaving Pattern (also called Schizoid)
The Leaving Pattern is developmentally the youngest of the patterns. It forms at the time the spirit is just coming into the body, when something prevents the spirit from attaching to the body and orienting itself to the physical world. This makes it hard to be here, but easy to leave.
In module 1 you’ll discover:
- How to know if you’re caught in this pattern
- The real reason some people are ‘highly sensitive’
- What makes the physical world seem so scary to people caught in this pattern
- How they use leaving to protect themselves
- The underlying origins and motives of their behavior
- How to reassure them with a light, playful contact
- The value of a mobile attention
- If you’re caught in this pattern, what you need to finally feel safe here
Module 2: The Merging Pattern (also called Oral)
After coming into the body, the next task is taking in food and love. If there wasn’t enough, a person can get stuck in this stage, still trying to get everything they need from others.
In module 2 you’ll discover:
- How to know if you’re caught in this pattern
- Why people who do this pattern are so focused on talking and being close
- Why they get stuck in “I can’t! You do it for me.”
- When they shift into “I can” and overdo it
- How they cycle between those two states
- How they got to be so good at connecting with people
- How they can be great lovers
- If you’re caught in this pattern, what you need to come back to yourself and build your own capacities
Module 3: The Enduring Pattern (also called Masochist)
Around age 2 a person shifts into putting out, expressing themselves and taking action to get what they want. If they were thwarted and punished for their behavior, they had to pull in and hide themselves to survive.
In module 3 you’ll discover:
- How to know if you’re caught in this pattern
- How people caught in this pattern get stuck and can’t move forward
- Why they talk so little
- Why personal Space is so important to them
- Why they make good mediators
- The power of being the Immovable Object
- How their self-sabotage is really solving a deeper problem
- If you’re caught in this pattern, what you need to do to get out of the hole and get moving again
Module 4:The Aggressive Pattern (also called Psychopath)
As will and strength develop, a child still needs to be lovingly contained and supported. If they had to face the scary times alone and will themselves to survive, they didn’t develop trust in others, but only in being powerful themselves.
In session four, you will discover:
- How to know if you’re caught in this pattern
- Why people caught in this pattern want to be in charge
- Why they think fighting is necessary for survival
- The power of being the Irresistible Force
- Why they’re so focused on being competent
- Their fear of trusting others
- How to get them to listen to you and respect you
- Why they can’t apologize
- If you’re caught in this pattern, what you need to feel safe again
Module 5: The Rigid Pattern
If their parents saw only their performance and no one reflected their feelings and essence, the child thought “I am my performance” and instead of learning to be authentic, they learned to be correct.
In module 5 you’ll discover:
- How to know if you’re caught in this pattern
- Why people who do this pattern always need to be right
- The value of Form and Order
- Why it sounds like their Inner Critic is talking so often
- How they became a believer in the Church of the One Right Way
- Why they work so hard, achieve so much, and look so perfect
- Why they often feel hollow and unsatisfied
- If you’re caught in this pattern, what you need to reconnect with your heart and your inner wisdom
Module 6: Six Ways to Get Yourself Out of Pattern
In module 6 you’ll discover:
- That people have both primary and secondary patterns
- A 5 second re-centering practice
- The basic energy skills everyone needs to be a healthy adult
- 6 different ways to get yourself out of a pattern and back to presence
This is for you if:
- You want to stop blaming yourself for what isn’t working in your life and fix it instead.
- You’re in a relationship and want to treat your lover better.
- You want to interact more skillfully with co-workers, employees, or bosses.
- You’re a therapist and want new tools to rapidly understand the core of your client’s wounding so that you can give them the life-changing shift they’re looking for.
- You teach yoga and want to understand how different people inhabit their bodies.
- You teach anything and want to understand how different people learn.
Extra Bonuses:
- Healing the Mind-Body Split by Anodea Judith (MP3): A discussion by Anodea Judith on the vital energy of Charge: how it enlivens the body, how it’s blockage creates disease and body armor, and how to harness this life force for better understanding and wellbeing.
- Summary of the Developmental Stages and Patterns (PDF)
- Principles behind the map of Survival Patterns (PDF)
- Beautiful Color booklet with call links, handouts for each module, and more