RETaC is the training to solve emotional and relational issues! Anyone who wants to learn how emotions emerge and how you can change them can join.

• (Relationship) counselors/ Family constellation workers. RETaC is new and will change your view on how emotions emerge. A innovative way of working with clients.
• NLPers/ Coaches/ Psychologists/ Mediators/ Hypnotherapists. RETaC will contribute to a deeper understanding of your clients. You will learn hands-on tools that you can use directly in your work.
• Personal development. Do you experience personal or relational issues that seem difficult to solve? Join the Foundation training. You will experience change you hadn’t thought possible.

Emotions are an intrinsic part of our lives. They make us feel fantastic and they can make us feel hopeless. The power of emotion is huge. When we feel something, we can get lost in it. Feelings and emotions determine ‘everything’. The way we feel about something is the heart of our decision making. Think about it. When something ‘feels right’ we want to go for it. When something ‘feels wrong’ we are in doubt about what to do, or we don’t want it.

Healthy emotional regulation

To be able to deal effectively with our emotions we need healthy emotional regulation. If that is not the case, we can feel stuck, experience negative emotions, and have disturbing relationships as they influence how we experience ourselves and respond to others. Healthy emotional regulation enables us to not get stuck in emotions and patterns. It helps to make decisions that are good for us and good for our partners and family. Healthy emotional regulation enables you to feel relief, say sorry, feel free…

RETaC is about individual emotional regulation. With RETaC you learn how to change unwanted behaviors that emerge from how you feel. The impact can be life changing because how we feel, determines our daily choices and decisions.

RETaC is about relational emotional regulation. Relationships are the one area where deep emotions emerge. The more intimate the relationship – be it with lover, friend, children, siblings, close family – the deeper the feelings impact us. With RETaC you will rediscover what you truly feel and how you can be part of a healthy relationship.

RETaC is also a new method of coaching and therapy. The neuroscientific research behind how our emotional brain works has led to RETaC. Relation Emotion Therapy and Coaching, traces and unravels (unconscious) feeling patterns that regulate our emotions and responses and transforms them into new resourceful felt experiences. Once that happens, our reaction patterns immediately change because their source changed. Not only do you learn to react differently with RETaC, but you feel differently which makes you react differently!

The transformations with RETaC are so profound that many therapists and coaches want to learn about how emotional regulation works, and how that is the key to deep and sustainable transformation. RETaC explains why much relationship therapy, emotional work, advice and techniques do not work when it is needed. 

RETaC will change the way you think change works!

The Relation Emotion Therapy and Coaching foundation training takes three days. Below is a brief summary of some of the topics that will be covered.

Day 1: The neuroscience of emotions

• You will learn the latest about how your emotional brain works.
• And you learn a new theory about how emotions emerge.
• You will playfully investigate and practice the foundations of how emotions emerge.
• You will examine your own patterns in relationships.
• You will explore your own feelings and learn where they come from.

Day 2: Mapping relationship problems

• Exploring basic issues that can arise in relationships?
• What are the problems of a blended family?
• Why do we blame each other for our feelings, and how do you change that?
• The secret of crisis in a/your relationship. Can a crisis be a blessing in disguise?
• Learning to feel again.
• You will transform patterns in yourself and patterns in your relationships.
• You will learn how to guide others in transforming deep feelings and patterns.

Day 3: Transform relationship emotions

• You will explore your own relationship issues and practice how to transform them.
• You will learn how to map relation- emotion- prediction loops.
• You will learn how you can change relation- emotion- prediction, in yourself and each other.
• You change patterns in yourself that have been playing for (many) years.
• You will discover how to make new predictions together.

From the moment we were born we have been taught what, for example, intimacy means. How to act intimately, what breaks intimacy, what not to do and so on. Intimacy touches us to our core. In a positive sense when things are going well and in the most negative sense when things are going not so well. We have learned in our life how intimacy works through the most important examples in our lives: our parents.

Concepts and emotions

We have not learned this consciously. We have grown up in the midst of our unique example of intimacy. Because of what was said and done. And what was not said or done. Whether there was touching or not and so on. And not only from our parents but also the larger system. Brothers, sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers, friends and girlfriends.

All those thousands of experiences have formed a conceptual reality. A conceptual reality that unconsciously shapes how we feel. And this unconscious conceptual reality is the basis for possibly the most important aspect of relationship problems. Relationship related emotions!

Recent research shows that emotions may be the most important factor in our decision-making ability. For most of us, the feelings associated with these emotions are largely outside of our consciousness. 

Unconscious feelings play a key role in relationship problems. However we experience the feelings and emotions we have not as ‘our own’. What we feel, we experience as a consequence of the action or inaction of the other person. This is actually a critical (mostly unconscious) mistake. Making them more challenging to change. 

Another aspect of the role of these relationship feelings is that neuroscientific research shows that these emotions are very difficult to overrule with our cognition. That explains why so much relationship therapy, advice and techniques does not work when it is really necessary. When is that necessary? When emotions emerge!

When therapy does not work

Seeing yourself through the perspective of the other. Non-violent Communication. Embracing differences in thinking style. Understanding what “color” your partner is. Communication advice. Family constellations, insight into your attachment style, et cetera. All meaningful things, but when it really comes down to it… relationship emotions overrule what you know and understand. Read more about relationships on the relationship blog.

Relationship Emotion Therapy and Coaching (RETaC) is not the same as EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy). RETaC is based on recent neuroscience research by Dr Lisa Feldman Barret. She explains in great detail how our emotions arise and that is not how we have learned that they arise. The source of our emotions lies in one of the most important functions of our brain: predicting what will happen. These predictions create our emotions.

Predicting what will happen

Predictions arise from unconscious physical feelings. It turns out that a large part of our brain is busy drawing information from a (relatively) unknown sensory system: interocepsis. Subtle heartbeat changes, or tensions around organs such as stomach, intestines, throat. Or restlessness in legs, etc., are carefully monitored by the brain. The brain links these (often) unconscious feelings to memories of these feelings. Why? To be able to predict as accurately as possible what will happen.

Articles

You can read more about RETaC in this excellent article by journalist and coach Aranka van der Pol.

This “prediction mechanism” of our brain is very useful. Because by making predictions we can handle new things and experiences very well. However, feelings can also be linked to experiences that consistently make the “worst” predictions possible. And all we notice about this whole process is the (end) emotion it creates.

Unconscious process

An important aspect of this is that this whole process unconsciously directs us. We do not link the emotions and feelings we experience to the past but to what is happening in the moment. We are also not aware of the origin of the prediction but link our felt experience to the situation or person of that moment.

By accurately modeling how emotions are created in our brain, we have been able to develop methods to work with this neuroscientific knowledge. With RETaC we make the unconscious process aware. And we change the predictions so that the Relationship Emotions also change.

The RETaC practitioner certification is a 7-day training and the follow-up training after the Foundation training.

During the RETaC Practitioner program, participants learn advanced intervention techniques with both individuals and couples (and teams). You will learn to work with individual obstructive patterns and relational patterns. You’ll explore your own obstructions that can occur when working with deep feelings and how you can deal with them effectively. In addition, you will learn to use RETeC in the dynamics of disturbed relationships and relationship crises.

During the training, emphasis is put on individual transformation while being interconnected. This makes RETaC a very suitable method for relational as well as personal issues. When we apply RETaC to relationship problems, we initially use RETaC individually, and not as in the dynamics of classical relationship therapy where both partners are worked with at the same time.

You will benefit from online supervision moments that take place between the training days. The training emphasizes personal development of the participants. You will learn to work with feelings in the broadest sense of the word, not just relationship-related feelings.

The goal

The goal of the RETaC Practitioner is to offer therapists and coaches (or people who want to work on their personal development) insights and resources to help transform deep and persistent patterns. Despite many attempts, some patterns keep returning with considerable impact on our (relational) life and that of the client. During the RETaC Practitioner training, you will investigate the cause and core of the issues and learn how to intervene sustainably and effectively in the individual feelings that cause these issues. RETaC is extremely suitable for both individual guidance and relationship guidance. The training is concluded with a certification.

RETaC practitioner training

Part 2: RETeC Relationship 1

Our emotional brain has largely developed in interaction with our environment. It is therefore not surprising that we can experience issues with our environment (partners, parents, children, family). We all know that issues can drag on for years without a real resolution. During Relationship 1 we’ll explore the fundamental aspects and deep entanglement that we have with our environment.

Relationships and space

You will learn three approaches to investigate and transform the inner landscape of relationships. The approaches we work with are:

Social panorama by Lucas Derks.

Metaphores of Movement by Andrew Austin.

Family constellations (systemic work) by Bert Hellinger.

With the help of RETaC you will learn how to use these methods in a new way (!) which increases their effectiveness.

Decision space

With the help of RETaC we have been able to identify another space: Decision space. Because our feelings determine which choices we make, we unconsciously make decisions all the time. Decision space is therefore an important aspect in personal development and transformation. You will learn what the core aspects of decision space are and how to accelerate decisions and how to remove obstacles.

Inner knowing

Sometimes you know exactly what you should or should not do. For example, you know that eating chips is not good for you, but you eat them anyway. Or you know that you should not react irritated, but you do it anyway. How does this work and what role does the emotional brain play in these processes? Can you strengthen inner knowing so that you actually listen to it and act on it?

Unfulfilled desire

There are relationship issues that are about unfulfilled desires. Your partner just won’t do what you long for: doesn’t clean up, doesn’t listen to you, misunderstands you, etc. How can you work with issues that are about the behavior that someone else doesn’t do what you need? Through RETaC and the neurological logic of the emotional brain, we can now work with issues where the solution to a problem depends on someone else!

Part 3: RETeC Relationship 2

De-blaming

Do you ever accuse others of something? It is my experience that we do this more often than we (dare) admit to ourselves. Thoughts about what someone else is doing wrong, about how someone else is less, how we judge someone else, what annoying or nasty behavior someone else has… Blaming has a very specific neurological prediction loop and you will learn to work with this so that this no longer has to happen.

Mediation and intention versus prediction

You learn how intention and prediction are two different aspects and how you can work with conflict and crisis situations where multiple people are involved. These can be relationship and family issues and conflicts but also work-related problems and divorce situations (mediation).

Very strong emotions

You learn to work with very strong emotions such as hatred and revenge.

Manifesting

In addition, you will learn how to manifest a future in which winning and losing no longer play a role and create a relationship form in which everyone in the system wins! This is a must if you want to improve ties in relationships.

Part 4: RETaC Advanced 2

Manifesting a vision

In the last part of the RETaC practitioner training you will learn how to manifest a vision. Having or developing a vision is one thing, but being able to manifest it is a completely different ‘thing’. With RETaC we can manifest our visions and during these days you will learn how that is possible.

Bodily identity

You will also learn a new concept: bodily identity. We mainly know identity as a concept, an idea that is often worked on with visual methods. With the new knowledge of the emotional brain it has become clear that there is also such a thing as bodily identity. Our bodily identity is crucial for our well-being. During these Advanced days you will learn to work with bodily identity and how this relates to well-being, health and deeper issues such as autism, anxiety disorders and health. You will work on a health goal and transform unhealthy prediction loops.

Online supervision

Between all parts of the training there will be online supervision of 1.5 hours each time. These moments will be determined at the start of the course.

After the Practitioner training you can join the 9-day RETaC Coach certification course.

During the Foundation and Practitioner training you will learn exceptional change methods for individual and relational emotional regulation. During the 9-day RETaC Coach/ Therapy training you will also learn the most important models to achieve exceptional results as a coach, therapist, or psychologist. The training in total (Foundation, Practitioner and Coach/ Therapy certification) consists of 17 days in which you will learn a unique and very effective change method that you will learn it from a highly experienced senior coach, developer and trainer.

During the RETaC Coach certification training we specifically discuss and explore advanced coaching and therapeutical aspects:

Brief overview of the program

• Working models: What are effective coach models (meta models) that help you analyze, target and steer coach interventions?
• Health models and interventions: Which intervention methods can you use for health issues? How do you use them? When?
• RETaC, anchoring and conditioning: A new look at classical conditioning and emotional regulation. Understanding and working with the conditioning of our Interocepsis.
• Conflict models: RETaC and conflict issues.
• Trauma models: RETaC and trauma, phobia, and physical issues.
• NEW – Emotional models: Working with emotions seem clear cut in some instances. However, researching emotional regulation has brought to light ‘new’ very relevant emotions for healthy and prosperous living! We will explore those new emotions and how you could work with them.

The RETaC Foundation training, the RETaC Practitioner training and RETaC for your relationship workshop are accredited by the Dutch Professional Society for Hypnotherapists, NBVH.

We are in the proces of accreditation with the Dutch Professional Organizations of Family Lawyers and Mediators.

In RELIEF, how the predictive brain shapes our relationships, the way we feel about ourselves and even our reality (June 12, 2024), Wassili Zafiris describes how the emotional brain influences our daily choices and decisions. Subconscious predictions influence our reactions to our partners and children and how we feel. In RELIEF, Wassili explains step by step how our emotions are created and how this process shapes our reality.

We are controlled by unconscious feelings from our body that were formed in our youth. Prediction loops that repeat themselves are the basis of fundamental problems we can experience in our relationships and lives. The good news: these prediction loops can now be changed!
You can read more about this on the books page. RELIEF can also be ordered there.