Opening Group®

The first Opening Groups® were organized in the late seventies in Stara Dąbrowa in Puszcza Kampinoska. The name referred to opening a way to work on oneself and not to obligatory opening up in front of others. Opening Group® creates the conditions for experiencing, studying, researching and getting to know our relationship with others and a group. However, the atmosphere of security, intimacy and trust in Opening Group® actually facilitates greater openness.

Opening Group® is an intense group experience of interpersonal character. It was not designed to research unconscious internal conflicts as happens in psychodynamic psychotherapy. However, Opening Group® can help establish whether and what kind of psychotherapy would be advisable to people who are interested in it.

The situation is open – people sit around, take a look at each other, begin an ordinary conversation. Initial talk seems common: attendees speak about themselves and why did they come here. As the ambiance of trust and often great intimacy builds up, the conversation becomes deeper and more important topics are raised. The group conductors inspire the second level of exchange – they encourage attendees to speak about what happens in the present moment between them, the group and its conductors as well.

Some participants decide to attend Opening Group® because of various life difficulties – e.g. shyness, relationship crises, a sense of emptiness, lack of purpose, being stuck in their life, impossibility of self-fulfilment etc. Others want to learn something new about themselves. Opening Groups® are also attended by people whose work is largely focused on contact with others and who therefore want to improve their relationships with a view to professional development. These can be people referred by companies and public institutions – nurses, doctors, teachers, psychologists, directors, coaches, trainers, students.

Opening Group® is a good opportunity to learn about our difficulties in contact with others, understand them and acquire new ways of coping with them. One can also try new behaviors in a safe surrounding, see how we fit in a role different than usual and receive feedback.

There are no expectations or demands regarding personal confessions, no tasks to be accomplished, imperatives or obligatory topics to be discussed. Among attendees there are people who speak about themselves a lot and do it easily and people who stay silent and mainly observe. Every participant decides for him/herself how much he/she wants to speak, when and what about.

Usually group sessions last from 10 am to 1:30 pm and from 4 pm to 6:30 pm with short breaks in the middle. There are also additional evening sessions on the first and penultimate day of the Opening Group® and both last 105 minutes. We also offer exercises for volunteers (although we encourage all attendees to participate in them). The so-called morning block consists of gymnastics – stretching exercises, meditation, i.e. wakefulness training and trance-running – a very specific kind of slow jogging focused on increasing concentration and relaxing the body. In the evenings we offer relaxation for volunteers.

Opening Groups® are available to all people whose psychological condition enables them to participate in an intense (not only cognitively, but also emotionally) five-day group experience. So far, the youngest attendees were 17 (they participated after their parent’s approval) and the oldest were 86 years old.

In each group there should be no people who know each other, especially if they are in a close relationship. It is also not advisable to have two closely related people in separate groups that are conducted in the same building at the same time.

One should inform the group conductor about it as soon as possible – preferably before the first group session. Either two people who know each other conclude that their relationship will not interfere with their work in the same group or two parallel groups (if their relationship is not close or in any matter intense) or one of them decides to resign and attend the Opening Group® at a different time. So far though, such situations are extremely rare.

The Opening Group® is a complete experience over five days, each of which has its own structure and dynamics, from its beginning to the end. Joining Opening Group® in the middle or leaving before the end may severely decrease the benefits that can be drawn from this experience. This is why we consider a decision to participate in the Opening Group® as an agreement to participate in it in its entirety.

A daily commute from home to the place where the Opening Group® is held would strongly impede the benefits that can be drawn from this experience. It would be a return to well-known habitual methods of coping with one’s everyday life. It would also interfere with the process of experiencing and learning something new. Since an attendee can experience various intense emotions during group sessions, it is advisable to try to understand them in the place where they happen and not distract them with an untimely return to our daily life. A kind of isolation and intensity of experience are an integral part of the Opening Group® formula.

Opening Group® is too intense an experience for people who are actively addicted to psychoactive substances, who are in the middle of psychiatric treatment or experience a deep crisis. If you are not sure whether you should participate we suggest a consultation beforehand.