About
Me
Frei
Schuessler
About
Me
Frei Schuessler
About
Me
Frei Schuessler
“If you stay on the coast, you can't discover new oceans.”
- Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator
About Me
Short Version
- Mystery Researcher
- Connection-Enjoyer
- Community-Seeker
- Dance Enthusiast
- Authentic Relating Games Facilitator
- Nonviolent Communication Trainer
- Certified Mediator
- Filmmaker
- Entrepreneur
- People-Friend
- and sometimes also People-Shy…
“Every person creates his*her own reality.”
- Paul Watzlawick
Long Version
I grew up in a family with relatively old parents. Both belonged to the generation of the Second World War. My father was as a very young soldier in action and in captivity, and saw many people die. Influenced by this life in survival mode, in our home feelings and vulnerability were understood as an expression of weakness.
Accordingly, I grew up with little body awareness and emotional competence, but with all the more pronounced analytical skills. Solely my passion for dancing was a way for me to feel my body more deeply.
Naming feelings as a teenager and young adult was a bit like light-hearted career guessing for me.
I had little idea of what was going on inside me. However, I noticed that something was missing and I experienced myself as wandering aimlessly.
So this shortcoming became a big drive in my personal quest for self-connection and contact with my body, my feelings and my needs.
From a very early age, I was interested in many body-related perception trainings as well as in psychology and self-awareness.
Until today meditation is a faithful companion that brings me back into balance again and again.
“I know that I do not know.
By this small difference I am obviously wiser,
that I do not believe to know what I do not know.”
- Sokrates
Although it has not been an easy learning journey, I am grateful for the wealth of self-awareness I have been able to acquire over the years.
It has taught me humility in the face of life, acknowledging that I am a lifelong learner.
And we inspire, support and accompany each other on this path.
As a harmony-seeking person who at the same time has a fundamental need to stand up for his inner truth, emerging conflicts have repeatedly stirred me up a great deal. The need to find more fulfilling ways and manners has driven me. This is how I came into contact with Nonviolent Communication and Mediation. Both forms give me great personal fulfillment. It is a joy for me to support others with this.
In my personal quest for ever deeper authentic contact with myself, with others, and with our mysterious essence, I learned about “Authentic Relating” and “Circling” some years ago.
This form of playful encounter and deep, truthful, vulnerable connection immediately captivated me.
Since then I have been passing this on with joy, and expanding it with my own exercises and games.
Another interest of mine is exploring the range of human forms of living together.
I have been visiting communities for several decades. With some I also linger for a longer period of time. Experiencing the diversity of interests, ways and concepts that connect people inspires me again and again.
“If you want to be happy all the time,
you also have to change often.”
- Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.)
The older (and more mature?) I get, the more my inner motivation and fulfillment moves towards turning back towards our original innocence:
The de-conditioning of acquired beliefs, culturally shaped norms and morals, all of which are subject to perpetual change and ultimately remain short-lived snapshots.
Returning to wondering about the mystery of life, our universe and its many expressions.
With curiosity and without judgment.
I am grateful for the many companions and mentors on my journey of learning and maturing.
The greatest gifts of learning and maturing were often initiated by the people whom I had initially experienced rather as opponents..
And if I had been aware of my choices at all times, I would probably have preferred to avoid some of them.
Understanding crisis as an opportunity and a gift requires constant overcoming and the willingness to change one’s perspective.
It gives me great fulfillment and joy to hear from workshop participants and clients again and again how much they feel enriched:
for their own path, for their life, or for that moment of deep connection.
“Only the one who grows up and remains a child
is a human being.”
- Erich Kästner, German Writer
Formal Information
Here is a selection of education, training, experiences and activities that influence my work, among others:
- Master of Fine Arts (American Film Institute, Hollywood)
- Graduate Social Educator (Catholic University of Applied Sciences Freiburg)
- Mediator (certified according to the German Mediation Act, trained in classical mediation, and mediation based on Nonviolent Communication, Forum Demokratie Düsseldorf)
- Trainer for Nonviolent Communication (training and coaching with Robert Gonzales, Kelly Bryson, Tina Schmitt, Wiltraud Terlinden, Maria Hechenberger, Sabine Geiger, Susanne Kraft)
- Trainer for Career Orientation
- Activity as a Coach
- Authentic Relating Games Facilitator
- New Games Facilitator (Dale N. LeFevre)
- Volunteer with “KoKo – Konstruktive Konfliktbearbeitung e.V.” (Association for Constructive Conflict Management) Freiburg, Germany
- 2-year advanced training in Gestalt Therapy/Consulting (Institute for Integrative Gestalt Therapy Würzburg IGW)
- Gestalt Practitioner Course (Esalen Institute, California)
- NLP Modeling Practitioner (Ralf Stumpf, Institute Landsiedel)
- Scott Peck Community Building (Level 2, Edward Groody, Community Building Institute)
- ManKindProject New Warrior Training Adventure (MKP Hawaii)
- Circling Seminars (Circling Europe)
- Visits to many intentional communities in USA, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, India
- Initiator of Men’s Groups
- Vipassana Meditation according to Goenka
- Zen Meditation according to Shunryū Suzuki
- Breath Therapy according to Middendorf
- Self-employed Director of Photography for television and film
- Filmmaking Entrepreneur (e.g. as producer, director, scriptwriter, production manager, cinematographer, songwriter)
- and much more…
If you want to know more about my film activities:
areuhappyfilms.com
“Everyone teaches, and you do so all the time.
Every lesson you teach, you learn.
As you teach, so will you learn.”
A Course in Miracles
welcome (at) authenticrelatingeurope (dot) com
+49-177-761 6263
© 2021 – 2022 Frei Schuessler