Excavating the Unconscious

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The book is a comprehensive exploration of Ziji's life art and psychological journey intertwined with poetry and reflections on trauma relationships and healing.</span></p><ul><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Author's Background</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: Ziji a writer visual artist and former clinical psychologist.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Artistic and Therapeutic Practice</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: His art and poetry practice initially unintended as therapeutic helps unearth body memories and generational trauma.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Life Drawing Sessions</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: Life drawing sessions with Saskia involve a deep non-verbal connection focusing on authenticity and mutual energy exchange.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Exploring Relationships</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: Ziji and Saskia's relationship is built on mutual understanding complexity and a shared commitment to truth and creativity.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Personal History and Trauma</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: Ziji shares his traumatic family history including his mother's death during his birth and his father's war-induced psychological struggles.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Healing</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: He recounts his experiences of abuse at a boarding school and the long journey towards acknowledgment and healing.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Therapy</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: He discusses his use of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMD*R) and other bodywork techniques to address trauma.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Art as Therapy</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: Ziji views his art practice as a way to process trauma allowing unconscious material to surface and be expressed creatively.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Couple Therapy Insights</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: He integrates his art practice into couple therapy sessions using it to foster deep emotional and spiritual connections.</span></li><li><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Philosophical Reflections</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>: Ziji reflects on the interconnectedness of life the impact of intergenerational trauma and the importance of conscious living.</span></li></ul><p></p><p>There's something revealing about how we disguise our most intimate revelations. When Ziji offers this method what he's really giving us is his body-not the sanitised instructional bullet points of artistic process but the messy contradictory evidence of a life lived in flesh that remembers everything. Like the best memoirs it teaches through vulnerable example rather than directive showing us not just what to do but how one person has survived by doing it. It's a body offered to us in fragments trusting us to assemble the whole. Sharon Stiplegate PhD Jungian Analyst in Private Practice Tübinger Straße Stuttgart.</p><p class=ql-align-justify></p>