Welcome to Castellino Prenatal & Birth Therapy Training

The next Foundation Training

We will begin our next Foundation Training in May 2010. The following dates are firm:

1. May 12-17, 2010
2. October 13-18, 2010
3. Jan 26-31, 2011
4. April 27-May 2, 2011
5. October 26-31, 2011
6. Feb 1-6, 2012
7. May 9-14, 2012
8. Oct 3-8, 2012

We are interested in hearing from anyone who may intend to apply. Please contact Sandra at Sandra@CastellinoTraining.com.

Prior to applying to the Foundation Training, applicants are required to take at least one Process Workshop and a 5-day introduction to biodynamic craniosacral work. If you are interested in applying to the next Foundation Training you may wish to begin completing these prerequisites now.

For logistical information about the upcoming training, please see the here.

Who Benefits from the Training?

Trainees in the Castellino Prenatal and Birth Training come from a wide range of professional backgrounds and skills. They have included bodyworkers, polarity therapists, cranial workers, chiropractors, osteopaths, acupuncturists, nurses, medical doctors, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, infant massage therapists, regular and special education teachers, counselors, and psychologists. Many of these practitioners were already doing some form of prenatal and birth work. Others were very new to this form of work. They all share a profound interest in working with babies, children, families, and/or adults for the purpose of resolving prenatal and birth trauma.

About the Foundation Training

Ray Castellino, DC, RPP, RPE, RCST® and Mary Jackson, RN, LM, RCST® will co-lead the training. In addition, there will be an international team of 7 or 8 assistants to support the training process.

Designed to teach or enhance your skills in:

• Holding therapeutic presence;
• Tracking somatic, energetic and fluid tide rhythms to assess and facilitate the resolution of prenatal and birth stress and trauma;
• Identification of your own prenatal and birth countertransference issues so you can develop the skill of effectively translating the energy of your activations into effective and compassionate therapy;
• Relating the client's present experience, behavior and emotional states to prenatal and birth imprinting in function and structure;
• Recognizing prenatal and birth imprinting in body language, body structure, movement, personality and character structure in babies, children and adults;
• Developing the client's internal resources so they may effectively explore and resolve early traumatic imprinting;
• Recognizing the way prenatal and birth imprinting affects family dynamics, and knowing how to work with infants and children within their family systems;
• Holding clear and effective therapeutic boundaries in the context of prenatal and birth therapy;
• Using therapeutic verbal, energetic and touch skills in the context of prenatal and birth therapy;
• Making contact with others from your own experience, and identifying and working with your own prenatal and birth patterns;
• Facilitating babies, children and their parents in BEBA style family sessions;
• Facilitating adults in small group Womb Surround Process Workshops;

Skills Assessment:

Click here to view a Skills Assessment trainees fill in near the beginning and the end of the training for the purpose of reflecting on their own development.

Trainees begin with a myriad of different skills. Exercises, homework and small and large group discussions are designed to enhance those skills. Some of the craniosacral skills are listed for the benefit of those who have already taken a full c/s training.

Module Details

Each training module covers a specific area of learning. The curriculum is designed to give you an overview of the work and to build specific therapeutic skills in a progressive and layered manner using didactic instruction, facilitation skills and personal experiential exploration. Skills for facilitation of adults in small groups and families in infant/child- centered settings are emphasized throughout the training.

• Module I - The Preconception and Conception Journey

  Including the Polarity Paradigm, shock imprinting and developing the internal reference structure for prenatal and birth therapy are this module's primary subject areas. Dr. Castellino will introduce you to an integration of energetic, somatic, physiologic and psychotherapeutic principles which form a foundation for the prenatal and birth therapist. The skills introduced in this module include therapeutic centering, orienting, tracking autonomic cycling and related fluid tide dynamics, modulating therapeutic pace or tempo, identifying resource behaviors, recognizing the therapeutic leading edge, and differentiating between trauma and shock imprinting.

• Module II - Bonding and Attachment

  Covers the bonding process from early prenatal through post-birth time. The issues of connection and separation are primary themes as are issues of receiving nutrition and emotional nurturing. This module covers:

  • How early imprinting affects future relationship formation, and individual motivation patterns.
  • Prenatal implantation dynamics, the development of the placenta and the umbilical cord.
  • Energetic umbilical dynamics, and related movement imprinting.
  • Birth dynamics, the cutting of the umbilical cord, newborn self-attachment behaviors and the nature of the baby's first contact with her mother and father after birth.
  • The baby's ability to attach to his/her mother emotionally, at the breast and the establishment of healthy nursing patterns.
  • Specific therapeutic protocols for resourcing, resolving and repatterning bonding and attachment trauma and a means for establishing nursing with babies who are unable to nurse or having difficulty with nursing.

• Module III - Birth Imprinting

  Covers the vaginal birth process, birth stages, pelvic types, cranial molding, birth movement patterns and an introduction to infant craniopathy. It introduces tracking fluid tide dynamics and tracking stage specific birth movement patterns. By the end of the workshop, each of you will describe your personal birth passage to a small peer group. Your birth passage session will be videotaped and you will receive a copy for your personal studies.

• Module IV - Chemical Imprinting

  Covers imprinting from anesthesia, nicotine, fetal alcohol and drug syndromes. We will look at the effects of chemical imprinting on prenates and babies' psyches, their movement patterns, their energy patterns and the development of the central nervous system. Specific protocols for resolving and repatterning of chemical imprinting are covered. A new theory is presented explaining the way chemical imprinting affects the function of the cerebral spinal fluid system. Your understanding of the cranial / sacral fluid tide system and the embryonic development of the brain will be enhanced so that you can use your visualization, energetic sensing, fluid tide palpation, and bodywork skills to support the resolution of traumatic chemical imprinting.

• Module V - Surgical Imprinting

  Covers forceps, vacuum extraction, cesarean section, circumcision and prenatal and infant surgery. You will learn how to identify signature cranial molding patterns, movement patterns and psychological impacts of each birthing style. You will learn the cranial impacts of forceps and vacuum extraction as well as specific treatment protocols for each type of surgical intervention. We will explore the effect of these procedures on physical structure and on the expression of the body's energy and fluid tide systems.

• Module VI and VII - Life Death Loss and Double Binds

  Double bind or paradoxical imprints provide the most complicated dynamics in the PPN field. Double binds amplify practitioner counter-transference issues and complications for facilitating groups and families. This subject matter is saved for the sixth and seventh Foundation Training modules because the dynamics of these trauma impacts provide the practitioner with the greatest counter-transference challenges in the prenatal and birth therapy field. The curricula of the first five modules is designed to build the trainees' understanding, perception, presence and therapeutic skills so that they are more prepared to explore the effects of double binds in effective and compassionate ways.

  Having two modules devoted to developing skills for facilitating double binds give plenty of space to explore the depth of these early complicated imprints. Special attention is given to how double bind imprints affects families and group dynamics.

  • Module VI

    Focuses on ancestral influences and twin dynamics and twin loss. Ancestral influences on individuation are explored to differentiate twin and ancestral imprinting. Twin embryonic and placental development are correlated with twin behavior later in life. Lost twin syndrome affects on singleton behavior is covered. You will learn to identify twin psychological imprinting, the counter-transference / transference issues involved and twin dynamic therapeutic protocols. Breech birth presentation is covered in this module because a high percentage of breech presentations have occur during twin births.

  • Module VII

    Focuses on adoption, previous abortion and miscarriage, abortion attempts, traumatic impacts of death in the family during pregnancy, stillbirth and infant sibling loss, A.R.T. (Assisted Reproductive Technology) and NICU experience. The skills for facilitating double bind dynamics are further developed and refined in this module.

• Module VIII - Family and Group Dynamics

  This module is designed to transition the practitioner from foundation skill building into a model for family and small group practice. Module VIII covers:

  • The structural components for a process session both with adults in a Process Workshop setting and with families in infant/child-centered family settings.
  • Organization of BEBA: A Center for Family Healing.
  • Questions about clinical practice.
  • Demonstration session by Dr. Castellino including a complete debriefing which focuses on recognizing the principles utilized.
  • Each trainee will give and receive a supervised process session in a small group setting.

Applications

Prerequisite to Applying:

• Take at least one Womb Surround Process Workshop with Ray or a certified womb surround (process) workshop facilitator. It is recommended that this be within the last 3 years.
• Take at least a five-day introduction to biodynamic / fluid tide craniosacral therapy or the equivalent. *
• We will not accept applications from anyone who uses nicotine or recreational drugs in any amount for any reason. Applicants must have a commitment to themselves and the people they work with that they will be nicotine and drug free from the time of application through completion of the Foundation Training and must have the intention to abstain for the rest of their lives.
• A commitment to abstain from alcohol the day before and during all workshops and training modules including breaks & evenings is required.

* We will accept applications from those who have not completed the c/s portion, from those who have paid for a c/s course with confirmed dates but have not completed it. Ray will be offering a course that meets this requirement in March 2010. Dates will depend partly on requests, so let us know if you are interested.

Application Forms

Applications are available for download in PDF and MS Word formats. Applicants are required to be able to download PDF files for the application and throughout the training. We do not mail hard copies. You may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print these documents.

Student Contract

For those who have received notification of acceptance into the training, please download the Student Contract. Initial and sign it, then return it to us by three weeks after your letter of acceptance is received via email (or postmarked 4 days earlier from within the US, or one week earlier from outside the US).

Logistical Information

Commitment to all days of all modules:

The training is designed so that each module has a distinct beginning, middle and ending. Each part of the training is designed to develop important practitioner skills with relationship to tracking early imprint sequences. The beginning of each module sets the tone. The ending period is designed as an integration time. Ray therefore asks that participants commit to being present for all classes. This means arranging transportation to arrive by Tuesday evening or by 8:30 am Wednesday morning and leaving after 3:00 pm on Monday. We ask those flying that you commit to taking a flight the next day if leaving after 3:00 p.m. will not allow enough time to catch a flight on Monday.

In the event that a participant misses any part of a module for emergencies such as emergency health issues, the make-up process includes viewing DVDs of the lecture/discussion portions of the training (for which there is a charge of $25+tax, shipping for each 1.5 hr or less) and exercises to complete with trainees or assistants prior to returning to the next module. Payment for the module is still due on the dates listed. Missing more than one day of a module may result in also needing to retake the module in a future training in order to graduate.

Components and graduation requirements:

• Training Modules: We ask for a clear commitment to attending all six days of all eight modules. Dates in parentheses are arrival dates for those traveling from a distance, training dates are Wednesday through Monday. Those coming from outside the Americas are suggested to arrive a day earlier to allow for jetlag.

  • 2010: (arrive Tues night, May 11) training Wednesday-Monday May 12-17
  • 2010: (arrive Tues night, Oct 12) training Wednesday-Monday October 13-18
     
  • 2011: (arrive Tues night, Jan 25) training Wednesday-Monday Jan 26-31
  • 2011: (arrive Tues night, Apr 26) training Wednesday-Monday April 27-May 2
  • 2011: (arrive Tues night, Oct 25) training Wednesday-Monday October 26-31
     
  • 2012: (arrive Tues night, Jan 31) training Wednesday-Monday February 1-6
  • 2012: (arrive Tues night, May 8) training Wednesday-Monday May 9-14
  • 2012: (arrive Tues night, Oct 2) training Wednesday-Monday October 3-8
     
• Womb Surround Process Workshops: All trainees must attend a total of four Womb Surround Process Workshops with Ray or a certified Womb Surround Process Workshop Facilitator:
  • At least 1 is required before application to the Foundation Training, preferably during the past 3 years; more are recommended.
  • Two of these Womb Surround Process Workshops must be with Ray. All 4 may be if you chose to.
  • Womb Surround Process Workshops taken before the Foundation Training count.
  • At least one Womb Surround Process Workshop must be taken after Module One.
  • Up to 2 may be taken with a Certified Womb Surround Process Workshop Facilitator.
• Creative Home Projects between the training modules.
• Communicating with other trainees between modules for peer support.

Time of day for all 8 modules

• Tuesday: Rooms on site are available by 4 p.m. Registration until 8 pm for those staying there and, if you want, for those staying elsewhere. Dinner may be available by request for people staying anywhere.
• Wednesday: 8:30 for those who haven't registered; 9:00 am for those who have registered the night before.
• Thursday-Sunday: 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. with a 1.5-hour lunch break.
• Monday: 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. with a 1-hour lunch break.

Location

The eight 6-day modules of the training will be held at Krishnamurti Foundation of America in Ojai, CA. There is residential space on site known as the Pepper Tree Retreat with sleeping space for up to 13 people. The retreat center is surrounded by beautiful gardens, orange groves and lawn. It is a 5-minute drive to downtown Ojai. See their website for directions, more information and pictures.

The site is lacoto-ovo vegetarian. They require that no meat, fish or fowl be brought onto the premises (including none in your car). Dairy and eggs are fine. Lunch will follow these guidelines with options for vegan, lacto-vegetarian and ovo-vegetarian.

Cost

Cost for all 8 modules of the Foundation Training (this includes Tuition, Facilities Use Fee and 6 organic lacto-ovo vegetarian lunches).

Eating lunch together: Our expenses for the upcoming training have increased substantially compared to the last training, which started in 2005. For the past 4 trainings, we have included lunch because we feel it is an important part of the experience to stay in the womb surround, share in the meal and have time to exercise or relax. We have engaged a cook whose meals have been raved about by both Ray and Mary.

Payment plans: The first figure is the non-refundable deposit, due 3 weeks after notification of acceptance by email. There is an approximately 5% break for paying by check, cash, money order or travelers' checks rather than by credit card. We accept Visa and Mastercard.

• Plan A: Deposit of $2075 (cc) / $1975 by other methods of payment due 3 weeks after acceptance + $1235 / $1175 module due 6 weeks before each module. Late fees apply.
• Plan B: Deposit of $2075 (cc) / $1975 (by other methods of payment) due 3 weeks after acceptance + two payments of $4830 if by credit card; $4595 by cash, etc. Late fees apply.

	Plan A Credit Card	Plan A Cash/Check/MO/TC	Plan B Credit Card	Plan B Cash/Check/MO/TC
3 weeks from email acceptance notification	$2075	$1975	$2075	$1975
2010-03-31	$1235	$1175	$4835	$4600
2010-08-30	$1235	$1175
2010-12-31	$1235	$1175
2011-03-16	$1235	$1175	$4835	$4600
2011-09-13	$1235	$1175
2011-12-30	$1235	$1175
2012-03-28	$1235	$1175
2012-08-22	$1235	$1175
Total cost	$11955	$11375	$11745	$11175

Late fees of $5/day up to 5% apply to all late payments. Payments are considered late if they are not received by the due date or postmarked by 4 days before (US) or 1 week before (outside US).

Womb Surround Process Workshops

The cost for these is not included in the tuition for the 8 modules of the Foundation Training. The current charge with discounts for payment by check or cash in advance is $850 in the US, $950 abroad. Priority in Womb Surround (Process) Workshops scheduled just before Modules 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 will be given to those coming from abroad and those flying from areas where Ray does not offer Womb Surround (Process) Workshops.

Accommodations

Participants will make their own accommodations arrangements. We have arranged for discounts at 2 locations: the workshop site and a local motel. Rooms, which are limited in number, are being held at 2 places for us.

1. On site: Pepper Tree Retreat (part of the Krishnamurti Center). There are 7 rooms (10 beds) available on site at a discounted rate. The beautiful, natural site is designed to be a nourishing setting, offering you an opportunity to focus on what you are learning / processing and connecting to yourself and other participants. We have reserved the entire retreat center so only participants in our group will be staying there. Cost includes breakfast and access to a main kitchen for cooking your own dinner. The kitchen is not available at lunchtime. All rooms have their own baths. Two have their own kitchen/dining areas. The prices are guaranteed not to rise more than 5%/year, even if their advertised prices rise higher than that. They are renting to our group for all nights at the weekday price.

   Anyone wishing to stay at Pepper Tree Retreat is asked to contact Sandra Castellino rather than Pepper Tree for this first module. Priority will be given to families with small children and anyone with mobility concerns but that leave plenty of room for others. We do want to encourage you to stay there because we have committed to filling the site, and thus paying for it, so that it will be only our group there. The costs on the Peppertree website for weekday rental is the accurate price for all nights for our group for the following rooms: Lennon, Bohm, Huxley, Salk. The price as of February for the 2 suites and Garbo room on the website is a winter only price and not accurate for our group. The cost for these rooms during our trainingis $130/night for the Besant Suite, $110 a night for the Chaplin suite and $89/night for the Garbo room. This price is the same for all nights. The Stravinsky room is being rented for staff.

   Participants will book rooms directly with a 50% deposit by credit card, balance due upon arrival.

   Pepper Tree Retreat contact: Sandra Castellino now, Elizabeth after Sandra has coordinated requests and notified Elizabeth who will be calling with payment.
   1130 McAndrew Road, Ojai, CA 93023
   Phone: 805 646-2726
   retreat@kfa.org
   www.kfa.org/retreat.php

2. Casa Ojai Inn, a Best Western motel, is giving us discount rates if 10 rooms are rented. It is 7 minutes away from KFA by car (55 minutes walking). There is a shuttle service available for $6/person to anywhere in Ojai that can be used to get to and from the site as well as downtown for dinner. Costs for our group if we fill 10 rooms are $80/night for 1 queen, $90/night for 2 queens. They also have rooms with 1 king, which they will rent at a discounted rate if the queen rooms are already filled. There is an 11% bed tax on top of quoted prices. These prices are guaranteed for the duration of the training.

   Casa Ojai Inn prides itself on being a 'green' motel, has a salt water pool (no chlorine), uses natural cleaning supplies, recycles, etc.

   Casa Ojai Inn (a Best Western) contact: Amanda
   1302 East Ojai Avenue, Ojai, CA 93023
   Phone: 805 646-8175
   www.ojaiinn.com

Transportation

Shuttle service within Ojai is available for $6/person to downtown Ojai for going out to eat/buying groceries, etc. This is available from Pepper Tree, Ojai Inn and other locations. It can be used to get yourself to and from the course.

Directions will be given from LAX and Santa Barbara airport. SBA is about 1 hour north. LAX is about 2-2.5 hours south, depending on traffic and time of day.

There is ample parking on site and participants are also encouraged to ride-share. Once everyone has been accepted, you'll receive a list of participants' contact information from which you can chose roommates, coordinate rides. Anyone wishing to share a room who doesn't have a roommate in mind can contact Sandra who will coordinate this.

Other costs

The only other required expense is for a doll and cloth pelvis used for visualizing the birth process. These will be available to buy at the beginning of module 3 for about $200. Credit cards will be accepted for the same price.

Books, booklets, papers and videos by Dr. Castellino and others are available for sale during the modules. A recommended reading list will be available on the website.

Dinners will be available at the site for an extra charge: lacto-ovo vegetarian.

Important dates

We will begin accepting participants as completed applications are received. We will try to respond within 2 weeks of receipt of application, photo, payment. [+ for only those taking Womb Surround (Process) Workshops with certified facilitators: all reference letters & forms].

• Jan 15: Ray is out of town Jan 5-15 and picking up all completed applications Jan 15 to review with Mary so the first responses will go out to people completing the application process by January 15th.
• February 20: we hope to have all received all applications. We will hold places in the training for those taking their first process workshop with Ray in February 17-21 in Santa Barbara. The workshop is open to others also.
• Applications will be accepted until the training is full.
• A place in the training is confirmed with receipt of the deposit and a signed contract.
• Contracts will be available online to facilitate timely completion.
• 3 weeks after acceptance notification, signed contract and deposits are due. These are non-refundable deposits. Late fees apply. If anyone is accepted less than 3 weeks before the training, contracts, the deposit and the first payment is due before the training starts.
• March 31, 2010 (Plan A: the first of 8 or Plan B: the first of 2 payments). Payment due for everyone for both plans. Dinner requests/payments will be due at that time also.

Testimonials

Trainees Comment...

"Ray's training has brought a deep level of compassion and sensitivity into my life and my work. Ray's ability to teach from a learner's perspective makes the work easy to absorb. A kinesthetic 'knowing' seems to grow spontaneously. His work with babies and families is truly awesome. In accessing the brilliant clear consciousness of the prenate, the birth work gives a powerful resource for resolving early trauma."

-Anna Chitty, R.P.P., RCST®

"My experience of training with Ray Castellino has been both personally transforming and professionally rewarding. Through his remarkable skills as a therapist I have been able to reconnect with my earliest emotional imprints in a way that has been deeply healing and now guides my work with clients. Ray's teaching skill is to blend complex cross-disciplinary information with personal process and integration in a way that is exciting, comprehensive, systematic, hands-on, effective and downright fun. He models for me how to be self-honest, knowledgeable and deeply contactful yet respectful of boundaries. Being with Ray as he works with babies and their families has shown me what remarkable potential there is for understanding what babies have to tell me and how I can support their process of liberating the energies bound up in prenatal and birth trauma."

-Claire Leverant, Childbirth Educator

"The Castellino Prenatal and Birth training is a rare opportunity to be in the vanguard of the exploration of a mysterious and largely uncelebrated frontier of human understanding. There is an exciting sense that one is participating in the birth of a new body of knowledge and practice, one with far reaching consequences for the way we live. For me it has been important that the excitement is not only intellectual: the knowledge and practice are integrated, and the trainee must draw on her or his whole life experience for understanding a survey which offers fresh vistas and unexpected connections. This means the training itself is transformational, yet brimming with multidisciplinary information brought together in a newly coherent form. Ray is both a visionary and an extraordinary teacher who is passionately committed to a single process that encompasses research, healing, and the training of professionals. His attunement and the format he has created ensure that the emphasis is on the process of assimilation rather than content; in practice, I've found that means the knowledge is not something I must remember, but rather a part of my experience that becomes available as needed."

-Jim Thomas, M.A.

Colleagues Write...

"Ray Castellino is at the forefront of a healing movement that is taking us into the next century. In his work with infants and children, Ray extends a sensitivity and grace in healing early trauma that is revolutionary, compassionate and effective. It is a privilege and a gift to study with this man."

-Peter Levine, Ph.D., Author of Waking the Tiger, Developer of Somatic Experiencing

"I have been associated with Dr. Castellino for many years. His warmth and integrity have always touched me deeply. He has become one of the world's leading lights in the field of Prenatal and Birth Psychology. His work in his area of special interest, the healing of prenatal and birth trauma in infants, is elegant and insightful. His training in this is easily the most in-depth and sensitive available. His teaching is done with humor, clarity and the highest standards. I highly recommend his training to anyone interested in healing the foundations of our defended and damaged selves at the very beginning of our journey in this world."

-Franklyn Sills, Craniosacral teacher, author of The Polarity Process, Director of the Karuna Institute