Thursday, November 6, 2008

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Hope & Change

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Today WE ALL RISE



PRAYER

The advice we provide here was originally written for a children's book. However, whether you are a child, young person or an adult, prayer is easier than you might imagine! Millions of people of every age pray every day.

You don't have to know any prayers if you want to pray - in fact, words can often get in the way. Picture Jesus, and then say what is in your heart, what you feel.

Remember!
God hears every prayer - but not all prayers are answered in the way we might expect or desire: we don't always pray for his will to be done!

'Arrow' Prayers
can be offered to God anywhere, at any time.

But thankfully we don't live all our lives in moments of extreme crisis. What about day-to-day praying? We need to come closer to God, to experience His love for us and to try to make sense of where we are in the world. Prayer is the way we do this. Sketch of a hand

How to start?

Use your hand.
Your fingers can be used to bring to mind different things to pray for.

thumb
this is the strongest digit on your hand. Give thanks for all the strong things in your life, like home and family, relationships that support and sustain you.

index finger
this is the pointing finger. Pray for all those people and things in your life who guide and help you. Friends, teachers, doctors, nurses, emergency services and so on.

middle finger
this is the tallest finger. Pray for all the important people who have power in the world, like world leaders and their governments, members of parliament and local councillors, the Royal Family, other world leaders and their governments.

ring finger
this is the weakest finger on your hand. It can not do much by itself. Remember the poor, the weak, the helpless, the hungry, the sick, the ill and the bereaved.

little finger
this is the smallest and the last finger on your hand. Pray for yourself.

When should I pray?

Traditionally, prayer times have been morning and evening, but you can choose a time which is best for you. It helps to be somewhere quiet, where you can have some time for yourself.

Do I have to kneel?

Kneeling is the traditional posture for penitence and standing for praise, but you can pray anywhere - walking, standing, sitting, whatever feels comfortable.

What else do I need to know?

Be creative - use music, a stone, a feather, a flower, or a candle to help you focus - if you are very young, or elderly, be careful with candles!

Prayer activity is a discipline - it can be difficult at times, just like keeping fit, being on a diet, or keeping weeds down in the garden! Little and often is best, but don't give up! No prayer, however inadequate you may feel it to be, is ever wasted or of no value.

What next?

Build up a collection of favourite prayers and sayings -anything that speaks to you. You can find them in greeting cards, cuttings in the press or bookmarks and prayer cards. You could make a scrapbook for them.

Visit your local church bookshop and have a browse. Most cathedrals have shops with good resources.

Here are some books you might find helpful. The first two are designed for children, young people and families, but they contain very powerful material which is ideal for adults who are new to praying.

Pocket Prayers for Children - Christopher Herbert, pub NS/CHP 1993,
When You Pray - Gilling/Evans, pub Darton Longman &Todd (1995)
Praying through Life - Stephen Cottrell, pub NS/CHP 1998
Confirmation Prayer Book - Stephen Lake, pub SPCK 2002

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Stress Hygiene

All of us have been worried about the global economic situation, money, the weather as well as out own more personal issues. So revisiting stress seems appropriate.


on Waking coffee, some carbohydrate, a little conversation,
10:00am-11:00am Buy a bagel, some liquid and a pack of muffins -
Put your hands behind your head and stretch backwards clenching up the whole of your body breathing in to the count of five. Hold for one second and then slowly release while breathing out to the count of five. The re-orientate and go on with your day.

1:00pm: Do the seated exercise above Sit on seat with your hands on the seat of the chair. Pump your feet one at a time. Breathe in and tense up your body and push with your hands up and away from the seat. This can be done at any seat - including taking a break from driving

4:00pm: Eat a bran muffin
breathe as at 10:00am

6:00pm thru 9:00pm: with dinner, conversation, mull over some weekend plans Watch TV go for a walk. Do the seated exercise while you watch TV as well as massage the back of your neck:


Bedtime: Take a shower, look at email/ read a book/ watch TV, then get into bed.
With light on or off put your body at a 45 degree angle. Put your hands behind your head and breathe in to count of five, hold for one and then breathe out to count of five. Repeat five times. Sleep

Think of a picture or event in your life that you can describe to someone you care about - try to do this before you ask any questions .... the idea is to get to talk with you about what has been experienced - to share.
Every other weekend plan a small outing that you could do.

NB Do not ask any question or seek any information that you can't handle. Concentrate on YOU becoming at home with yourself and establishing your own sense of home within.

Pick up on an activity that is just yours. And make a list of three things that you wished you had done before the age of 14yrs. Can be something as simple as back packing ..... don't be too thoughtful. This is about fun.

1. Remember, do some simple stretches several times a day. If you have time, say when watching TV, breathe in to the count of five while tensing muscles from fingers and toes up to shoulders - hold your breath for one second - then exhale, release breath, and let muscles relax for count of five. Let your shoulders slump forward. Slowly uncurl and notice how your body feels.

2. An easy quick exercise program - under twenty minutes a session at home with no equipment, 5BX. Adapt the more elaborate stretches to do under the massaging water of a shower. Start with hot water - stretch - and then gradually cool the temperature to a refreshing level.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Death By Flu Med!!!



Many of us saw the Finale of House, when Amber dies, May 20th 2008. The science behind the show is accurate ~you CAN risk dying ........
Amantadine can result in serious complications, even if an overdose or poisoning was not to take place, the side effects alone are disturbing enough.

Amantadine, an antiviral drug that has been approved by the FDA in fighting influenz a, has many side effects and overdose effects.

So think carefully before you think of short term relief .......

Amantadine (flu medication) for anti-viral therapy blocks the M2 protein which prevent viral uncoating, which in turn inhibits the replication of the virus. Amantadine is a drug that is poorly regulated by the human body and most, approx 90% get excreted in its original form through the kidneys. However in patients with renal problems this can result in increasing circulation of the drug. As the toxicity leave is reached the symptoms include confusion, depression, aggressive, jittery, nausea, hypotension, and congestive heart failure. It is also noted that the patients may have exhibit ataxia, and hallucinations.Amantadine can cause Rhabdomyolysis, which I believe played a part in an earlier episode of House. Rhabdomyolsis is often a complication in crush/traumatic injuries, where muscle tissue breaks down causing an overload of myoglobin at levels that become toxic to the kidneys.

Treatment for Rhabdomyolysis is dialysis. Cut and dried, once diagnosed. The diagnosis is the tricky part.

Treatment for Amantadine poisoning is far more problematic, as it is an anticholinergic in some of its effects. Severe effects on the CNS are the results. Some effectiveness with intravenous physostigmine has been shown, but its dicey at best.

Declining effectiveness of amantadine

Early in the 2005/2006 flu season, the United States' Center for Disease Control [CDC] found rates of amantadine resistance to be much higher than in previous seasons. Looking at samples from 26 states yielded the following findings:

A total of 193 (92.3%) of 209 influenza A(H3N2) and 2 (25%) of 8 influenza A(H1N1) viruses analyzed contained point mutations resulting in a serine-to-asparagine change at amino acid 31 (S31N) of the M2 protein that conferred amantadine resistance.

A resistance rate of 92% for the major flu strain was called "alarmingly high". The CDC issued an alert to doctors not to prescribe amantadine any more for the season. Among some Asian countries, A/H3N2 and A/H1N1 resistance has reached 100%.

~Tamiflu .....

Tamiflu, the anti-viral drug manufactured by the Swiss Roche Holdings, is the only neuraminidase inhibitor approved for the treatment of influenza in the United States. Tamiflu treats influenza by trapping the influenza virus in cells that are already infected. It is approved for use on children over one year and on adults who have had symptoms for less than two days.

The first concerns raised about Tamiflu related to skin reactions. By December 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had received reports of severe, and sometimes fatal, skin reactions and allergic reactions. These included 24 cases of Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a potentially fatal skin condition caused by an allergic reaction to a drug, and 14 cases of erythema multiforme, a similar condition. There were also several cases of anaphylactic reactions, including 17 cases of potentially deadly anaphylactic shock. These reactions caused three deaths in adults. On December 21, 2005, the FDA required an update to the Tamiflu label warning about these reactions.

So think carefully before you think of short term relief .......
Again, with all medical advice - seek professional care and information. Be aware - be safe.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Talk to your OB/GYN ~

A younger woman was talking to us about this ....... if you are suffering then consider it.

NovaSure: No Hormones No Hysterectomy
Say No More with the NovaSure procedure, the quick, safe and simple one-time treatment with No Hormones and No Hysterectomy. NovaSure can treat excessive bleeding so that you can go on with your life.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Breathing again .......


The Four Stages of Breathing in Yoga


  1. Puraka (Inhalation)

  2. A single inhalation is termed Puraka. It is a process of drawing in air and is expected to be smooth and continuous. If a person should pause one or more times during the process of a single inhaling, the process might be spoken of as a broken Puraka rather than as a series of Purakas.

  3. Abhyantara Kumbhaka (Pause After Inhaling) Full Pause

  4. Kumbhaka consists of deliberate stoppage of flow of air and retention of the air in the lungs, without any movement of lungs or muscles or any part of the body and without any incipient movements. A beginner may experiment by using some force to keep such pause motionless. Quite elaborate instructions and techniques have been worked out for this purpose.

  5. Rechaka (Exhalation)

  6. The third stage, Exhalation, is called Rechaka. Like inhalation, it too should be smooth and continuous, though often the speed of exhaling is different from that of inhaling. Normally, muscular energy is used for inhaling whereas exhaling consists merely of relaxing the tensed muscles. Such relaxing forces air from the lungs as they return to a relaxed condition. Muscular effort may also be used for both inhalation and exhalation. You can force air out with muscular effort like when you sit or stand erect with your abdominal muscles under constant control. When you deliberately smoothes the course of your breathing and hold the cycle in regular or definitely irregular patterns, you are also likely to use muscular energy at each stage, including the pauses. However, in a condition of complete relaxation, you should expect to exert some effort for inhalation.

  7. Bahya Kumbhaka (Pause After Exhaling) Empty Pause

  8. The Fourth Stage of Breathing, the pause after exhaling, is also called kumbhaka, especially when the stoppage is deliberate or prolonged. This empty pause completes the cycle which terminates as the pause ends and a new inhalation begins.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Alternatives to serious Self Harm

SING as loud as you can for as long as you need to ....

Doodle .....

Breath and imagine .......


"You may be wondering why someone would intentionally harm themselves. Self-injury can help someone relieve intense feelings such as anger, sadness, loneliness, shame, guilt and emotional pain. Many people who cut themselves, do this in an attempt to try and release all the emotions they are feeling internally. Others may feel so numb, that seeing their own blood when they cut themselves, helps them to feel alive because they usually feel so dead inside. Some people find that dealing with physical pain is easier than dealing with emotional pain. Self-injury is also used as a way to punish oneself. If they were abused, they may feel ashamed, guilty and blame themselves for the abuse, which in turn causes them to feel the need to punish themselves by inflicting pain to their bodies. Some people have such hatred for themselves and their bodies that they will carve demeaning names on their bodies as a way to remind themselves of how terrible they are. Whatever form of self-injury is used, the person is usually left with a peaceful and calm feeling afterwards. Since those feelings are only temporary, the person will probably continue to self-injure until they deal with the underlying issues and finds healthier ways to cope.

If you feel the urge to injure yourself, below is a list of suggestions that might help you to overcome that urge. Please be advised that not all of these suggestions will be helpful to everyone. What is helpful to one person, may not be helpful to someone else. These suggestions have been provided by individuals who self injured and what they found helpful to them. If you feel that a certain suggestion may in fact cause you to want to self injure even more, do NOT use that suggestion. Find ones that are helpful for you. Again, these are only suggestions and may not be helpful to everyone.

  • deep breathing
  • relaxation techniques
  • call a friend, your therapist or a crisis line
  • try not be be alone (visit a friend, go shopping, etc.)
  • take a hot bath
  • listen to music
  • go for a walk
  • write in a journal
  • wear an elastic around wrist and snap it when you have the urge to harm yourself
  • some people find it helpful to draw red lines on themselves with washable markers instead of cutting themselves
  • hold ice cubes in your hands - the cold causes pain in your hands, but it is not dangerous or harmful (some people find it relieves the urge to harm themselves for that moment)
  • punching a bed or a pillow (when nothing but a physical outlet for your anger and frustration will work).
  • scratch draw a picture on a thick piece of wood or use a screw driver and stab at the piece of wood. (can be another physical way to release your emotions without harming yourself.)
  • avoid temptation (i.e. avoiding the area in CVS where the razor blades are kept, etc.)
  • try to find your own creative ways as outlets for emotions.
  • learn to confront others/making your own feelings known instead of keeping them inside
  • go outside and scream and yell
  • take up a sport (a form of exercise can help you release tension, etc.)
  • work with paint, clay, play-doo, etc. (the person who suggested this mentioned that they would make a big sculpture and do whatever they wanted to it. They said it was helpful to calm the urge to self-injure, plus it gave them some idea of what might be underlying the pain.
  • draw a picture of what or who is making you angry
  • instead of harming yourself, try massaging the area you want to harm with massage oils or creams, reminding yourself that you are special and you deserve to treat yourself and your body with love and respect
  • go to church or your place of worship
  • wear a pipe cleaner or something that will fit on the places that you injure. One person did this as a way to remind herself that she could call someone instead of hurting herself and that she had other ways to cope.
  • break the object that you use to self-injure as a way to show that you have control over it.
  • write a letter to the person(s) that have hurt you and express how they made you feel. Theses letters do not have to be in perfect form and you do not have to please anyone but yourself. You do not have to give these letters to the people, but it is a great way to release the feelings that you are carrying within. After you write the letters, you can decide then what to do with them. Some people find destroying the letters help (i.e. tear them up, throw them in a lake, etc.)
  • do some household chores (i.e. cleaning)
  • do some cooking
  • try some sewing, cross stitch, etc.
  • recite a poem, prayer or anything else familiar the comforts you multiple times
  • write down all your positive points and why you do not deserve to be hurt
  • write in your journal why you want to hurt yourself and if you have hurt yourself, write down what caused it to happen so in the future you can prevent it from happenings - or find out what your triggers were
  • Play some kind of musical instrument. Even if you don't really know how to play, picking out tunes is a way to concentrate and help get rid of the urge to harm yourself.
  • yoga
  • allow yourself to cry. Getting the tears out can make you feel better. It allows the inside to release, as opposed to self abuse. Picture your "ickies" pouring out as you cry.
  • Take a shower
  • write down a word best associated with what you are feeling (i.e. horrible, sad, lonely, angry) and continue to write it down, over and over. Sometimes when you do that, the words looks silly etc., and it puts humor or a smile in your life.
  • sing a song on what you are feeling. It's another way to get it outside. Shout if you are made, etc. Let the words just come to you.
  • Scribble on paper. Clutch the pen in your fist. It's a way to diffuse it on to paper. (Get a few sheets so they don't tear.)
  • Take item you are self injurying with and use it against something else. For example, if you are using a razor blade, rip it across a towel. Sometimes seeing what "can" be done to an object can make a person think twice about using it on themselves. Can also give the feeling of "doing it"...the tangible aspect.
  • Make a list of reasons why you are going to stop cutting. Every time you get the urge, read the list to remind yourself why you shouldn't. Also remember to put on that list that you do not deserve to hurt yourself. You are important and special and you do not deserve to be hurt.

If you have any suggestions that have helped you in the past and feel might be helpful to someone else, please email Colleen and I will add it to the list.

It is very difficult for people to admit to someone that they harm themselves because there is usually so much shame and guilt that goes along with it. It's important to try and remind yourself that there is no shame in what you are doing and that it's okay to reach out and ask for help. In order to help yourself overcome this, you need to want to stop the behavior and you need to find a therapist that you like and trust to help you deal with the underlying issues causing you to do this to yourself. Sometimes treatment may also involve the use of medications such as Xanax and Klonopin. Hypnosis and relaxation techniques can also be helpful, and in extreme cases, hospitalization might be required for a short period of time. If there are support groups in your area, you may want to think about joining them for extra support.

Many people who self-injure keep it a secret because they feel like they are crazy, insane and evil. They fear if they tell anyone, they might be locked away forever. The truth is, people who intentionally harm themselves are in fact very normal and sane people, who are in a lot of emotional pain. They self-injure as a way to cope, because they were probably never taught how to deal with intense feelings and emotions in healthy ways. Unfortunately, when people hear about this form of self-harm, they do tend to place labels on these people as being psychotic and crazy, which is why so many people do not come forward and ask for help. Until society dispels all the myths surrounding self-injury and start to educate themselves on this subject, sufferers will continue to keep quiet and this form of abuse will continue to be a secret for a long time to come."

Colleen Thompson
Copyright © 1996 by [Colleen Thompson]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 28 Feb 2008 21:56:28 -0500.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Emmanuel Lévinas


Existential Phenomenology, you asked ..........

"Lévinas derives the primacy of his ethics from the experience of the encounter with the Other. For Lévinas, the irreducible relation, the epiphany, of the face-to-face, the encounter with another, is a privileged phenomenon in which the other person's proximity and distance are both strongly felt. "The Other precisely reveals himself in his alterity not in a shock negating the I, but as the primordial phenomenon of gentleness."[2]. At the same time, the revelation of the face makes a demand, this demand is before one can express, or know one's freedom, to affirm or deny. One instantly recognizes the transcendence and heteronomy of the Other. Even murder fails as an attempt to take hold of this otherness.

In Lévinas' later thought following "Totality and Infinity", he argued that our responsibility for-the-other was already rooted within our subjective constitution. It should be noted that the first line of the preface of this book is "everyone will readily agree that it is of the highest importance to know whether we are not duped by morality."[3] This can be seen most clearly in his later account of recurrence (chapter 4 in "Otherwise Than Being"), where Lévinas maintained that subjectivity was formed in and through our subjected-ness to the other. In this way, his effort was not to move away from traditional attempts to locate the other within subjectivity (this he agrees with), so much as his view was that subjectivity was primordially ethical and not theoretical. That is to say, our responsibility for-the-other was not a derivative feature of our subjectivity; instead, obligation founds our subjective being-in-the-world by giving it a meaningful direction and orientation. Lévinas' thesis "ethics is first philosophy", then, means that the traditional philosophical pursuit of knowledge is but a secondary feature of a more basic ethical duty to-the-other."

Hakomi

With acknowledgment to Wikipedia

Reality Bites!!!

Approach and method

According to the creator, Ron Kurtz, the Hakomi method combines Western psychology, systems theory, and body-centered techniques with the mindfulness and non-violence of Eastern philosophy.[1] Hakomi is grounded in five principles: mindfulness, nonviolence, organicity, unity and body-mind holism.

An Outline of the Method by Ron Kurtz (excerpted from the 2008 Training Handbook, listed below in Further reading)

1. Assisted self discovery

(1) seeing the work as assisted self discovery is one of the major differences between this refined method and the original Hakomi and other psychotherapies.

(2) a second major difference between Hakomi and other psychotherapies, one that is unique to Hakomi at the moment, is simply that we do experiments in mindfulness.

Quote: The unique contribution of the Hakomi method is this: the method contains as a necessary element precise experiments done with a person in a mindful state, the purpose being to evoke emotions, memories and reactions that will reveal or help access those implicit beliefs influencing the client's nonconscious habitual behaviors.

(3) the method of assisted self discovery requires not only the skills of the practitioner, it also requires explicit commitments on the part of the person being assisted

2. Qualities and skills required of a practitioner

(1) practitioners must be able to sustain a compassionate and present-centered state of mind (Loving Presence)

(2) loving presence combines several habits of feeling, attention and mindset. It is an integrated combination of attitude, emotional state and focus of attention.

(3) compassion is the first and most important element, being present is the second.

(4) to be continuously present…

i. is to continuously stay focused on the observable behaviors of the moment, especially the client’s non-verbal activities which modulate communication and regulate the relationship, in particular: ii. the signs of the client’s present experience and the client’s general qualities and habitual behaviors iii. requires overcoming one of our strongest, most common habits, namely gathering information through questions and conversation.

(5) practitioners must become masters of reading the information in nonverbal behaviors

(6) six skill sets necessary used by practitioners are described in the outline that follows this one.

3. Commitments and skills required of the “client”

(1) often still called “the client”, but no longer thought of as the clients in regular psychotherapy are. Clients in the refined method may be thought of as self-studying, that is seeking after the truth of who one has become and how with help one may explore and resolve the issues that trouble and confine one. (2) the client must be capable of entering into a present-centered, experience-focused, non-controlling and vulnerable state of mind (mindfulness) (3) the client must understand that the process includes as a central element, experiments done in mindfulness. The client must be willing to enter into that process even though painful emotions may arise. (4) these are the commitments and skills required of people who are clients in the refined method of Hakomi Note: If the person is very anxious or easily distracted, or is someone who does not understand what the process actually requires, then the work can be difficult or impossible without some prior preparation.

4. Experiments

(1) are done with the client in a mindful state (2) experiments are specifically designed to evoke reactions that will help bring unconscious material (such as foundational memories, underlying emotions and implicit beliefs) into consciousness (3) reactions to experiments are noticed in mindfulness and reported (4) reactions can be thoughts, feelings, images, impulses, memories, tensions or any combination of these

5. Nonverbal Behaviors

(1) there are two kind of nonverbal behaviors that are of primary interest: the external signs of the client’s present experience and observable indicators of core material. (2) noticing the momentary ones is one of the ways we build and maintain our relationship with the client. (3) noticing the habitual ones gives us clues to the memories, emotions and implicit beliefs that organize what the client can and cannot experience and is an important step in setting up and doing experiments (4) habits are often expressions of adaptations to powerful formative events and may point toward important, underlying issues that control the client’s behavior

6. Nonverbal Awareness: Tracking

(1) practitioners gather two kinds of nonverbal information, signs of the client’s present experience called tracking and indicators of core material (2) tracking is noticing what the client is doing and possibly experiencing, moment by moment. It is an essential part of being present. (3) we use the information gain by tracking to connect with and to stay connected with the client, by making contact statements (4) a contact statement names the client’s present experience, quickly and simply (5) tracking and contact are two basic techniques in the original Hakomi method

7. Nonverbal Awareness: Indicators

(1) practitioners train themselves to notice behaviors that could be indicators of core material. These are certain personal qualities and habitual behaviors of clients, such as postures, gestures, facial expressions, tones of voice and speech patterns. (2) A few simple examples of indicators are: habitually shrugging ones shoulders, or tilting ones head, or interrupting ones own speech, or speaking very quickly. The expression left on a relaxed face is a prime indicator. (3) habits like these are designed to operate automatically, without conscious attention. Habits like these allow consciousness to be preserved for the non-routine things that require fresh decisions. (4) indicators are one of the two main sources of experiments. (The second source involves listening to statements for implications and assumptions.) (5) Knowing how to create an experiment using indicators is essential. (6) the practice of searching for and using indicators has become a significant part of teaching and practicing the refined method.

8. Experiments and Their Effects

(1) experiments are done with the client in a mindful state. (2) when a particular indicator has been noticed and chosen, the next step is to get an idea for an experiment. (3) once you have one, you ask the client to become mindful and to signal when ready. (4) when the client signals that he or she is ready, you do the experiment. (5) if you’ve chosen a good indicator, and if you’ve done a good experiment with it, you’re likely to get a reaction that can begin the healing and discovery process for the client. (6) the reaction may also suggest or bring into consciousness the core material associated with it. (7) if the reaction is an emotional one, I do two things that weren’t done in previous versions of the method: I touch the client (More likely, I have an assistant touch the client.) and secondly, I remain silent while the client if the client turns inward and looks like he or she is doing inner work.

9. About Using Touch

(1) touching clients is normally not recommended for psychotherapists. This is primarily due to legal considerations. When I use touch, I first get permission and, since I use assistants and may have several other observers present, I feel quite comfortable using touch. (2) once permission has been established, assistants will generally touch without asking again. (3) for a client who is experiencing sadness as a reaction to an experiment, a gentle touch signals the client that we are aware that he or she is emotional, and that we are sympathetic and paying attention. (4) if there are signs that the client is working internally, (eyes closed, facial movements and nods of the head) we do not interrupt. We waiting patiently for the client to open his or her eyes, look at us and speak. (5) in these moments of silence, the client is integrating something, making sense of the feelings, memories and thoughts that arise in reaction to an experiment. (6) silence, accompanied by gentle touch, helps the client to stay with his or her experience

10. The Natural Course of a Healing Process

Mastery of the world is achieved by letting things take their natural course. — Tao Te Ching

(1) mental-emotion healing processes are often start after an experiment in mindfulness. These are spontaneous processes that will unfold given the right conditions. As best we can, we provide those conditions. Among them are:

i. the process must not be interrupted or interfered with ii. gentle touch or holding and comforting when appropriate iii. attention, silence and patience

(2) as part of the natural course of a healing process, memories and thoughts that make sense of the emotional reaction are drawn into consciousness the that make sense of it. And that’s exactly what we want to have happen! (3) during this process, we track for the external signs that the client is having memories and insights and is integrating the emotional experience, signs of deep concentration on the face and nods of the head, indicating realization or agreement with some idea. (4) during this process, the client is gathering memories and ideas and is making sense of them, making sense of what just happened and what happened long ago that left confusion, that left painful feelings unfinished and unsorted out. (5) after an experiment in mindfulness, clients often start doing this internal work. While doing this, they often have a precise memory that makes sense of their reactions and they may be able to articulate the implicit beliefs it created. (6) the process may cycle through emotions, associations, insights, memories, deeper emotions, more associations, and so forth.

11. Missing Experiences

(1) certain powerful formative experiences required painful but necessary adaptations. (2) for some of these experiences, the elements that might have promoted healing were missing. (Janet says, they couldn’t be made sense of and as a result, they didn’t get integrated. They remained “an irritation” unconsciously affecting feelings and behavior in a negative way.) (3) some aspects of those unintegrated experiences express themselves through habits and implicit beliefs that help manage the difficulties they are still causing. These habits are functions of the adaptive unconscious. (4) there is one fundamental missing experience: the presence of someone calm, sympathetic, patient and understanding to care for the suffering person and support healing process. (5) beyond this fundamental missing experience, there are a great variety of other healing experiences that can be created for the client. (6) during the healing process, the client, often relives an old painful event. Quietly comforting the client is one of the main components of the missing experience.

12. Integration

(1) slowly, resolutions are accomplished. New, more realistic beliefs are formed. Energy is drained away from the long struggle and becomes available for living this very moment. Confusion yields to clarity. A delicious joy is felt and the pleasure of seeing new positive possibilities arises (2) this is the process of integration, the natural course of things.

13. 'All the above elements help make the work simpler, faster, easier and more effective.

Latest Thinking

There is now convincing evidence that much of our behavior happens without conscious awareness. On this subject, I can recommend four books two articles. The words used to describe that part of the mind which carries out these behaviors is the “adaptive unconscious”. My study of and application of this idea is the first of four ideas which are the topics of this outline and the most important additions to my thinking over the last few years. The Adaptive Unconscious.

a. the actions of the AU are generally unnoticed, habitual, and many are indications of early adaptive learning, such as learning the grammar of ones native tongue. b. some characteristics of the operations of the AU, according to Wilson are, it is nonconscious, fast, unintentional, uncontrollable, and effortless. c. the operations of the AU can be observed to some extent when a person is in a mindful state. d. the paper on Cognitive Load by Swiller discusses the limitations of consciousness, as does V. S. Ramachandran in his book, Phantoms in the Brain. e. understanding the importance of the AU and its operations is basic to an understanding of the Refined Hakomi Method.

The Mental-Emotional Healing Process.

a. Healing, in general, is an inner-directed process. Early in the development of Hakomi, I stated this quite clearly, I wrote “The answer is within.” Meaning, within the client. I have also written, “The impulse to heal is real and powerful and lies within the client. Our job is to evoke that healing power, to meet its tests and needs and to support it in its expression and development. We are not the healers. We are the context in which healing is inspired.” b. mental-emotional healing is “coordinated and controlled” by the AU. c. often, our experiments, done with the client in mindfulness, initiate a healing process. This is marked by spontaneous thoughts and memories and/or the sudden experience of an emotion. d. we support the healing process in several ways:

i. when the client becomes sad, we offer a gentle physical contact, like a hand on the back. ii. when the client goes inside and shows external signs of processing—like eyes closed, little nods, quick changes in facial expression—we remain silent. This is because… iii. an emotion will draw associations to it, like memories and thoughts that help explain the presence of the emotion. A good thing to read about this is in a book called, Looking for Spinoza by Antonio Damasio (the key pages are 67-69). iv. all the attributes of loving presence are important during the healing process v. when spontaneous management behaviors arise, we support them if we have permission to do so. (The short term for this is “taking over”.) vi. we pay particular attention to the emergence of spontaneous events, like impulses, memories, thoughts and emotions. These are often clues to the direction the process should take and are signs of the operations of the AU. When such events occur, we try to utilize them in what we do next, like another experiment. This aspect of the process is called Following.

The Six Skill Sets

a. I have begun to see the process as requiring six sets of skills, as follows: i. State of Mind ii. Relational iii. Observational iv. Modeling v. Experimental vi. Support for Healing

b. these skill sets are described in more detail below. c. I also see the process as having three phases, as follows:

i. Preparation ii. Assisted Self-Study iii. Mental-Emotional Healing

d. I have come to believe that learning and practicing these skills is more important than spending a lot of time discussing theory. Although we do discuss theory some, I provide over 750 pages of reading materials to my training groups, which students can read at their own pace outside of class.

The Process as Three Phases and Six Skill Sets in Detail

Here in detail is an outline of the three phases and the six skill sets.

Three Phases

The three phases are: preparation, assisted self-study and mental-emotional healing. All three phases operate within a context characterized by an embodiment within a set of well- defined Principles.

Phase One: Preparation Phase

1. loving presence a. this phase is highly dependent on your own state of mind skills. b. search for inspiration (for compassion, appreciation, love) c. search for signs of the person’s present experience d. make initial observations of the person’s “qualities”.

2. develop a healing relationship

a. this phase requires good relational skills. b. this phase requires relating to the adaptive unconscious c. look for signs of cooperation and non-cooperation d. make adjustments to the person’s unconscious needs e. make contact statements about present experience

3. When the person seems ready for it, proceed to the…

Phase Two: Assisted Self-Study Phase

1. Search for non-verbal indicators as expressed by:

a. posture b. facial expressions c. pace d. qualities that describe the person e. gestures f. tone of voice

2. if possible, develop an hypothesis about the person’s models of self and world, based on the indicators you’ve observed.

3. develop and do an experiment with the indicator you’re chosen to work with.

a. these experiments are done with the person in a state of mindfulness in order to bring the actions of the adaptive unconscious into awareness b. the goals of such experiments are two-fold:

i. bringing the person’s unconscious models into consciousness ii. initiating phase three: mental-emotional healing

c. experiments can be attempts to offer a kind of mental-emotional nourishment that your hypothesis predicts the person will either have difficulty accepting or will experience as very nourishing, or... d. the experiment can be a way of working with an indicator for which you have no hypothesis. e. there is a form for doing experiments that is also described in detail elsewhere in these writings. f. get information about the outcome of your experiment

i. either by observing it, or… ii. by getting a verbal report from the person

4. given the outcome of the experiment:

a. refine or reject your original hypothesis about the person’s models b. do another experiment based on the outcome of the previous one. c. follow up each time with the getting information about the outcome d. keep refining your hypotheses, until…

5. the person’s models of self and world become conscious and clear to him or her, or…

6. the process moves spontaneously into the mental-emotional healing phase.

Phase Three: Mental-Emotional Healing Phase

1. this phase requires support for healing skills 2. this phase is marked by emotional expression, strong beliefs, early memories and… 3. behavior controlled by the adaptive unconscious

a. such behavior is sometimes described as “being hijacked”. it is:

i. “nonconscious, fast, unintentional, uncontrollable, and effortless.” ii. adaptive and usually learned early or under extreme conditions

4. during this phase, the primary tasks for the practitioner are:

a. support the person’s spontaneous management behaviors, such as:

i. changes in posture, such as closing up and/or dropping the head, spontaneous “protective” thoughts ii. tightening certain muscles, such as the shoulders, chest and stomach iii. holding the breath

b. provide signals of safety and caring, such as:

i. gentle touch ii. being calm, softening the voice and having a natural sympathetic facial expression iii. supplying Kleenex for tears iv. providing physical support where needed and accepted

c. contain the unfolding process by taking charge and directing the person’s behavior where necessary

d. follow up on the person’s spontaneous images, memories, impulses, and ideas as if these were signals from the person’s adaptive unconscious as to where the process “wants to go”. e. recognize periods when the person needs you to be silent, by…

i. watching for signs in the face that the person is doing internal work ii. waiting while the person has his or her eyes closed iii. when the person does open his or her eyes, wait until he or she looks directly at you and speaks, before you speak iv. listening to the person’s report about his or her insights, feelings and memories.

f. avoid interrupting the process by encouraging conversation

4. provide physical and verbal comforting and nourishment 5. provide the “missing experience”, that is the experience that was blocked by the person’s adaptations and distorted and/or unrealistic models of self and world. 6. allow the session to come to completion in a natural way when it feels right and/or the person signals that he or she feels complete, perhaps by saying “thank you” or by a few nods of the head or something similar.

The Six Skill Sets

I asked him, Do you know what gyroscopic precession is? He replied, No! So I said, But you can ride a bicycle, right? He said, Yes, of course! Well, I told him, That’s my point.

Riding a bicycle is a skill. One theory that explains certain behaviors of a bicycle in motion is the theory of gyroscopic precession. It tells you about the behavior of gyroscopes and why the wheels of moving bicycles are similar. It explains why a moving bicycle turns when you lean. But, you don’t need to know the theory at all in order to ride well. You only have to know how bikes act, which is very easy to learn from experience. With experience, you build a model that predicts how the world acts. Habits are expressions of these models and they are functions of the adaptive unconscious. To ride you need skills, not theory.

I’ve summarized the skills needed for the Hakomi Method and organized them into six basic skill sets. If you learn and practice these, you have a very good chance of becoming competent in the method. Although each skill is unique and can be learned and practice separately, they function within a session as an integrated whole. Here are the six sets:

1. State of Mind Skills

The main skill in this first set is a combination of two very important habits which set ones state of mind. The state of mind is called loving presence and it is an integrated combination of attitude, emotional state and focus of attention. These skills help a practitioner develop a state of mind and being that is expressed effortlessly through ones demeanor and actions. This state of mind has a profound effect on the development of relationships. a. of all six sets, this is the most important. Reaching and maintaining a present-centered, loving state is the first task of the therapist. Learning to do this is an essential part of the trainings. Some people are already good at this and are naturally drawn to the work. Learning how to look and listen to someone with the intention to find something that inspires and maintains compassion, as well as the habit of staying completely focused on what’s happening in the present, are the basic skills. b. Being present means keeping your mind focused on what is going on for you and the client right now, moment to moment. To train your mind to be present like that, you have to train it away from one of our strongest, most common habits, the habit of gathering information through asking questions and conducting ordinary conversations. Those are bad habits, if you’re trying to be present. So, you have to train your mind not to get drawn away from present experience by getting overly focused on ideas, stories and conversation. c. Other skills in this set are: i. being patient ii. being and staying calm Without these habits of state of being, not much in the way of a connection to a client and his or her adaptive unconscious will be possible. Without that connection, the process goes very slowly, if it moves at all.

2. Relational Skills

These are skills that build and maintain a strong connection with people. The principle ones are all about demonstrating these qualities and attributes:

a. through your behavior and a few short, accurate, non-disruptive contact statements, you show that you are aware of what the other person is presently experiencing. getting and staying in contact is the primary skill for connecting and staying connected. It creates the sense in others that you are with them, aware of their feelings and present experiences. It makes you able to anticipate their needs and work to provide help. b. through your tone of voice, pace, posture and gestures, you show that you are patient, sympathetic and non-judgmental. c. your facial expressions, head movements and gestures show that you understand what the person is saying, thinking and feeling d. you work to gain a general understanding the person’s present situation and history. You build a model in your mind that makes sense of the way they feel, think and organize their life e. you make a habit of keeping silent when the client needs time to think and remember f. ways to intervene to move the process forward are part of this skill set. They are discussed later in a section entitled, When and How to Intervene to Move the Process Forward.

3. Observational Skills

What’s needed most is a good set of attentional and recognition skills. Here’s a few of each:

a. Attentional Skills:

i. keeping your attention focused on present behaviors ii. regularly scanning the face and body for signs of present experience iii. regularly scanning the other’s behavior for possible indicators of unconscious material (Note: A list of indicators appears in this document as Appendix 1.)

b. Emotion and Attitude Recognition Skills:

i. recognizing emotions quickly by subtle changes in tone of voice and/or facial expression ii. recognizing statements implied through tone of voice and gestures. iii. being able to guess at the meaning of postures, gestures, etc. iv. “feeling” the emotions in others, through limbic resonance and mirroring v. recognizing the client’s need for silence vi. recognizing the signs of integration and memory processes

4. Modeling Skills

The bridge between observation and experiment is the ability to create models of the laws governing the behavior you’re observing. We could call these skills, modeling skills.

a. This is the method of science. Richard Feynman, the Nobel physicist, tells us the three steps of science are: make a guess; calculate the implications of your guess; and test your guess on the basis of your calculations. “If my guess is true, then if I do this, this will happen.” That’s the gist of it. b. we use our ability to observe behavior, especially indicators and our knowledge of indicators, to make guesses about the person’s beliefs and models of self and world. c. then we test our guesses by doing experiments. The outcomes of our experiments allow us to evaluate and refine our guesses. d. There is a mathematical theorem that describes how perceptions (sensory models of the world) are continuously updated in the nervous system. It’s called, Bayes Theorem, after the mathematician who discovered it. It describes mathematically how models and beliefs are changed in the face of new evidence. It helps us understand how some models can be believed so strongly. It suggests to me how models (beliefs, e.g.) can become so strong in the face of contradictory evidence or no evidence at all. e. The general idea of modeling this:

i. we need to make guesses about what beliefs (models) are organizing the client’s behavior and we need to do that by observing that behavior. This is a “reverse engineering” problem. ii. we need to be able to sense some general qualities of the client, to get a feel for who the person is and how he or she learned to be in the world. And we need to constantly refine our models by continuing to make new observations and to do new experiments. iii. modeling and experimenting is how we do it.

5. Experimental Skills

These are the skills you will need to create and execute good experiments.

a. creating hypotheses about core material from your observations of the client b. helping the client become mindful when doing experiments c. creating and executing experiments, using this form: describe how you’d like client to participate, get permission, ask for mindfulness and wait for signs or a signal that mindfulness is occurring, do the experiment, and observe its outcome or ask about that d. follow the spontaneous reactions to an experiment and use them to support the unfolding healing process (not as easy as it sounds) e. be able to follow up with another experiment, if that seems useful f. use the outcomes of experiments to think about missing experiences 6. Support for Healing Skills. a. supporting spontaneous management behaviors b. allowing time for the other’s internal processing (silence) c. following the spontaneous behaviors that arise in the person d. providing comfort and holding when needed and you have permission e. create and offer missing experiences

6. Support for Healing Skills.

a. supporting spontaneous management behaviors b. allowing time for the other’s internal processing (silence) c. following the spontaneous behaviors that arise in the person d. providing comfort and holding when needed and you have permission e. create and offer missing experiences

Practitioners of Hakomi look at people as self-organizing systems, organized psychologically around core memories, beliefs, and images; this core material expresses itself through habits and attitudes that make people individuals. Hakomi is a method for helping people transform their way of being in the world through working with core material and changing core beliefs. [3]

Hakomi relies on mindfulness of body sensations, emotions, and memories, and follows this general outline:[3][4]

  1. Create healing relationship: Client and therapist work to build a relationship that maximizes safety and the cooperation of the unconscious.
  2. Establish mindfulness: Therapist helps client focus on and study how she or he organizes experience. Hakomi's viewpoint is that most behavior is habit automatically organized by core material; therefore studying the organization of experience is studying the influence of this core material.
  3. Evoke experience: Client and therapist make direct contact with core feelings, beliefs, and memories.
  4. State specific processing: If the client is ready, the therapist helps the client transition to state-specific processing. Hakomi recognizes three such states:
    • mindfulness
    • strong emotions
    • child-like consciousness
  5. Transformation: Client realizes that new healing experiences are possible and begins to have these experiences.
  6. Integration: Client and therapist work to make connections between the new healing experiences and the rest of the client's experiences.