Live workshop

The Path of the Soul

threshold Moments of Incarnation in Early  Embryo Life

with Jaap van der Wal
Saturday, 15 March 2025 at 15h - 19h UK time
Friday, 28 February 2025 at 19h UK time
Can an early embryo with little or no outline of a nervous system or a brain have experiences , as assumed in pre- and perinatal psychology? And if so, how?

This was the fundamental question which lead embryologist Jaap van der Wal to develop an embryology along phenomenological lines which involves the Gestalt language of the body during the processes through which our bodies form in utero. This assumes the human embryo as a full-fledged human being with mind and body and thus a being that lives and experiences.

Pre- and perinatal psychology recognises a number of critical moments in the psychological development of an embryo which seem to correspond with biologically distinguishable phases and threshold moments during gestation.

The aim of this workshop is to familiarise participants with the gestures of psychosomatic development particularly in the first eight weeks and how they can be interpreted as gestures of incarnation of the soul in the body. Considerations will include implantation, the development of a heart (cardiogenesis) and also conception itself.
Jaap van der Wal is a physician who specialised in the research and teaching of anatomy and embryology. He attempts to make a bridge between both medical biology and natural science, and a more spiritual view of man and nature.

In this workshop we will look at:

  • Are mind and body, duality, polarity and/or unity?
  • What do we actually do when we are embryos?
  • The dynamic morphology of human conception
  • The embryo makes the mother pregnant
  • The 'animate phase' of early gestation
  • The organisation of the 'I'

Jaap van der Wal

workshop CONTENT

Both the introduction and the workshop will be recorded.

workshop introduction

friday, 28 February 2025 at 19h UK time

(This event will be recorded.)

The Path of the Soul

Critical Moments of Incarnation in Early  Embryo Life

workshop sequence

Saturday, 15 January 2025 15h - 19h UK time

session 1

mind and body

15h - 16h UK time
(This event will be recorded.)
Mind and body, duality, polarity and/or unity? What do we actually do when we are embryos?

The gestures and actions by which we bring our body into form are expressions of our soul: our mind and consciousness do not come from the body but appear through the body.

Soul, consciousness is not related to certain organs but permeates the whole body and all its functions. It is in this pervasive polarity that human conception takes place: spirit connects (incarnates) with the substance of matter through the sperm AND the egg

session 2

Conception – Nidation -Cardiogenesis

16h30 - 17h30 UK time
A dynamic morphology of human conception makes clear and plausible that conception is a dramatic and crucial moment of incarnation and phenomenologically has nothing to do with "a sperm fertilising an egg".

The first gestational week ends with nidation (implantation) marking another crisis moment in development. Implantation is dramatically dependent on the mother's receptivity towards the embryo: it is the embryo that makes the mother pregnant!

In the third week, a further an even deeper incarnation in the body becomes manifest: the animate phase with the formation of the heart and the development of the so-called middle germinal layer.

session 3

The Centre

18h - 19h UK time
The so-called triune of tripartite body emerges with an outer wall an inner wall and, most importantly, an interiority represented by the development of fascia and blood in that middle, our anatomical and psychological interior.

The body becomes indivisible and individual: from the 'growing out' of the plant, it progresses to the 'growing in' of the animal. Some attention will be paid to the possibility that in humans a third turning point in development can be recognised, namely that the human form starts to distinguish itself from the animal form by creating a centre. An anatomical-morphological but also psychological centre that marks our self-awareness. The organisation of the I (mind).
Why this course?
  • Entry/intermediate level
  • Power Point Presentations
  • Demonstrations
  • Q and A with presenter
  • Three  hours of teaching
  • Life long access to recordings
  • Certificate of Attendance on request

Learning Outcomes

  • Gain an insight into the phenomenological approach to the earliest embryological stages
  • Understand the link between biology and psychology in the context of early life
  • Learn to see how the embryo can be considered a human being incarnating in a number of essential steps

who can this benefit

  • Birth practitioners who would like to gain a deeper understanding of current embryology
  • Anyone who would like to understand the ways in which their own primal beginnings may have shaped who they are today

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