inquiring within
A practice to access deeper levels of inner awareness For guidance, clarity, and healing
insert quote
Two intro paragraphs to this practice I call Inquiring Within.
In this confidential one-on-one practice, you tune into your inner experience and wisdom in a gentle and organic guided process. To do so, I combine two tools: interactive mindfulness meditation and focalizing.
The interactive mindfulness meditation (also known as Vipassana Out Loud), is a practice of recognizing what arises in the present moment, and witnessing the experience with an open and non-judgmental allowing. This creates a spaciousness that makes it possible to process difficult emotions, thoughts, and sensations without the need to fix or react.
Focalizing is a modality of somatic inquiry to access levels of deeper awareness in your body.
In this practice, all parts of you are welcome. And there is no end to seeing - being present for your experience without judgment, and listening to what wants to come into the light of awareness.
“maybe you can even regard your body as your oldest, closest friend." - kate johnson
Description of what happens in the session. Together, we identify your intention for the practice, and I then guide you in working with this intention.
In her book Radical Friendship, teacher Kate Johnson shares a beautiful invitation to consider our bodies as the oldest, closest friend each one of us has. And furthermore: “The language of the body is sensation. It speaks to us through pressure, relaxation, pulses, vibration, beat, coolness, tingles, prickles, and so on.”
In this practice of Inquiring Within, we tune in to this oldest and closest friend, to work with what wants and needs to come into awareness to clear away internal blockages.
Alongside sensations, you may experience emotions and perceive words, images, memories. All of this is welcome. As the session continues, the facilitator supports the client by suggesting specific approaches for moving deeper into these experiences in a safe and supported manner.
“deep, sustainable healing doesn’t necessarily come from re-living the story or brainstorming solutions... Instead, it comes from accessing a part of the mind and body that most people have lost touch with.” -Nick werber
From an observer's perspective, Focalizing looks similar to a guided meditation whereby participants may choose to close their eyes to aid in bringing their conscious attention inward. Once a client is grounded and focusing on the felt senses of their body, a facilitator guides the Focalizer through a step-by-step process that allows the body's innate healing capabilities to turn on and flow into the blocks that are at the heart of the their issue.
A Focalizing session starts with intention. An intention can be freedom from anxiety, wanting better sex, understanding if it's time to leave a job or simply to feel less stress. What's been observed time after time is that when a client sets an intention, connects deeply with their body and watches what unfolds without judgement or labeling, the body naturally surfaces what needs to be acknowledged and worked with in order to move past the barriers that are blocking them.
What comes to light can take the form of memories, images, felt sensations and/or emotions; some of which were long forgotten or suppressed in some manner. As the session continues, the facilitator supports the client by suggesting specific approaches for moving deeper into these experiences in a safe and supported manner.
The lasting power of this process unfolds after a short period of time of deepening the mind-body connection. In as little as 10-15 minutes of watching what surfaces, the body's natural and powerful healing mechanisms are able to come online. Without much conscious effort on behalf of the client, their body begins to release the stored shock of trauma, the tension of years of anxiety and the emotions that once felt hopelessly entangled around the client's past story.
I would love to hear from you! Get in touch with any questions and to book a session with me.
Finally, I invite you to check out the below links - the quotes that enrich this page come from these writers and teachers: