Behind the scenes at The Gottman Relationship Institute’s “Art & Science of Love” Couples Workshop

Remember way back in February, when Tom and I attended the Gottman Relationship Institute’s Couples Workshop the weekend before I started working there?  It was an incredibly positive experience for us as a couple, giving us tools and vocabulary to help us communicate and work through conflict that we both wish we’d had long before this, our 27th year of marriage. 

Amazingly enough, we really haven’t experienced any real conflict since we took that workshop – largely, I’m sure, because of what we learned there and the real-world skills (and they really are skills) we took away from that experience.

This weekend I went back to the workshop, this time as an employee and (of course) without Tom.  Again, I was mesmerized by John and Julie Gottman’s wisdom, their humor, and their very practical advice.

Instead of being a participant at this workshop, though, I was there to work. Because the Gottman’s schedule is so busy, we often use breaks during workshops to catch up on important business – which we did this weekend as well.  Of course I can’t document any of that in photos, nor can I document the couples workshop (due to privacy concerns for the couples), but I can give you a fun little “backstage tour” of KIRO TV’s filming of a short documentary piece on the Gottmans that took place behind the scenes this weekend.  The final piece will air on August 17th at 10 PM and, judging from the footage they got today, it should be great stuff!

I couldn’t take any photos during the filming, of course, but I got a few shots between takes.

 

   

The interviewer is the articulate, intelligent, and adorable Angela Russell, news anchor at KIRO TV in Seattle.  She and I were able to spend some time together which quickly went from focusing on our lives as professionals to our lives as moms.  Women do that.  Give us 10 minutes and we connect.  Hell, give us 3 minutes and we connect! 

And speaking of connections, here’s one of my favorite new connections: