Body Wisdom

Lion Goodman

A Coaching Process for Clearing Persistent Problems & Issues

www.EverydayAwakening.com
2009 by Lion Goodman.

A process for 1) making contact with any uncomfortable experience, feeling, problem, or concern, 2) discovering its source, and 3) allowing it to complete, clear and disappear.
Note: This exercise is intended to serve as an exploration of human consciousness. It is not intended to treat or cure any physical, mental, or medical condition. If the condition you are exploring does not clear up after using this exercise, see a doctor or obtain medical advice from a licensed medical professional.

Body Wisdom:

Body Wisdom can be used to explore any persistent or unresolved problem or issue. For example:
I have an uncomfortable feeling and dont know what to do about it. I keep having the same negative experience over and over again. I have a persistent pain. Theres something that wont heal. I cant let go of a particular experience. I dont know what Im feeling. I have a problem but I dont know how to resolve it.

Theory:
Every experience moves through a Creation Cycle. It has a beginning (appearance), a middle (experience), and an end (disappearance). When experienced fully, an experience will complete its Creation Cycle and disappear (or change). When an experience is resisted (in any of the ways it can be resisted) it will persist, repeat, or become more energetic. There are many ways to resist an experience: o ignore it, deny it, or pretend it's not important o suppress it, shun it, forget about it, decide not to experience it

o o o o o o o o o

think about it, figure it out, or any other mental process label it and/or talk about it do something about it, or do something else feel another feeling, or go numb and feel nothing remember a similar feeling or experience and compare the two get distracted, put your attention on something else dissociate (disassociate) by separating yourself from your body enter another component of consciousness (identity, voice, sub-personality) etc.

When a person is confronted with a situation in which they do not know what to do, they will do something they do know how to do (e.g., dissociate, resist, suppress, etc.). The key to clearing an unwanted experience is to become willing to experience it. When resistance turns to willingness, the experience is allowed to complete its original intent, completing its Creation Cycle.

Instructions:
One person takes the role of the coach, and the other takes the role of the client. The coach asks a series of questions, directing the clients attention to a specific body sensation in order for the client to experience the sensation fully. When a sensation is experienced fully, it will change or disappear. If it doesnt change or disappear, it either: 1) has not yet been fully experienced, and requires more attention, or 2) it has a message that has not yet been received. To deal with the latter case, a direct dialogue with the sensation enables the message to be received. The coachs attitude should be reverent, respectful, appreciative and honoring of whatever comes up. Answers can sometimes be surprising, so accept every response as if it is perfectly normal (even if the client says the sensation is the shape of an upside-down giraffe.). Treat every answer and sensation as if it is a report from a child you love and want to encourage. Enjoy yourself, the other person, and the exercise. This exercise is intended to help clients get in direct touch with feelings, experiences, memories, and experiences that have been set aside, forgotten, or repressed. Emotional responses to the exercise are expected and are treated as part of the exercise. In extremely rare cases, a client may have an overly strong emotional reaction during the exercise (fear, trauma reaction, big upset, etc.). If this should occur, simply say: Were ending the exercise now. Please open your eyes, and let me know what you experienced. This will bring the person back into normal consciousness. The coach starts by asking, What are you experiencing that you would prefer not to experience? Allow the client to describe it in detail. If the problem, issue, or discomfort is being experienced now, in the present moment, the coach asks the client to place their attention on their body, and feel whatever sensations are present right now in their body, associated with that problem, issue, or discomfort, and to describe the sensations in detail. If the problem, issue, or discomfort is something the client experienced in the past, ask the client to remember what the experience felt like, and to reproduce the feeling by remembering the

experience vividly, as if it were happening right now. Then ask them to describe, in as much detail as possible, what the sensations feel like that are present in the body right now. [What is being experienced in the present may be different than the persons experience in the past. Use whatever comes up in the present moment, not memories of what things felt like in the past.] The coach listens carefully to the client describe the sensations, and takes notes throughout the exercise to help in remembering the details. Note that sensations are often felt or experienced outside the physical limits of the body. [This cloudy feeling goes out ten feet past my body. It weighs ten thousand pounds.] Accept whatever the client says as the facts of their experience. It is important to make a distinction between terms for 1) physical sensations and 2) feelings (or emotions). In this exercise, we are working exclusively with physical sensations such as weight, size, form, temperature, color, movement, and shape. We are not working with feeling or emotion labels such as anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, grief, etc. Labels can be useful, but not for this exercise. Every emotion can be felt as a set of sensations. Sadness, for example, is usually associated with a sensation of heaviness in the upper chest and/or constriction in the throat. Anger is often associated with heat, agitation or rapid movement upward from the belly. Both fear and excitement are terms used for agitation in the chest, throat or belly (butterflies in the stomach). If the client uses an emotion label, say, Okay, that word is a label we use to describe specific sensations. Feel the sensation directly inside your body, and describe what it actually feels like. Next, the coach will ask a series of questions to direct the clients attention toward the sensations. When a client actually focuses attention directly on the sensation, he or she cannot help but experience it fully. The coach uses his or her intuition and empathy, feeling into the clients experience as they describe it. Allow yourself to feel the sensations they are describing, reproducing them in your own body. You will intuitively know what to ask next. Remember to take notes, because you will be repeating their descriptions back to them periodically. Direct the client to identify whatever the sensation feels like right now. Keep his or her attention focused on specific answers the more specific, the better. If the person says, Its big, ask, How many inches across is it? If they report Its hot, ask How many degrees hotter than body temperature is it? This forces the client to place more attention on their experience than they normally would, which is the key to clearing previously un-felt feelings. When you repeat any question, add the word "now," since sensations change when attention is placed on them. The coach says: Feel the sensation, just as it is. How far out does it extend? Add: Feel out to its edges, which may be sharply defined, or they may be fuzzy, or they may fade out slowly. If the edges fade out, look for the places where they end, and they arent there any more. Wait for their answer, and ask for a specific measurement. (If they say, a couple of feet, ask, Is it two, two and a half, or three feet?) Next, ask the following questions. The questions may be asked in any order that serves the process. Pause between each question, giving the client enough time to look, perceive, feel, get an impression, and report back to you: Look at the entire sensations shape and describe it. What shape is it, exactly? How big is the sensation? Specifically in inches, what is its height? Width? Depth? How far into or out of the body does it extend?

Does it have sharp and defined edges, or are they fuzzy, less defined, or diffuse? Is there an energetic center that it seems to emanate from? Are there hot spots of more intensity, or is the sensation the same everywhere? If you put it on a scale, how much would it weigh? [If there is pressure] How many pounds of pressure does it have, and in what direction is it pressing? If it had a color, what color would it be? If it was made of some material, what material would it be made of? Is it still? Or does it have some kind of movement or vibration? Describe it in detail. What is its temperature in relationship to your body temperature? Is it colder? Warmer? If you put a thermometer next to it, what temperature would it read? (Add any other questions that are customized to the type of sensation theyve described.)

Notice that these are all expressions of physicality. If the client attempts to label it (Its anxiety / fear / anger.), gently bring their attention back to the sensation: Okay, thats a label youre applying. Set that aside and feel the sensation directly. What is the size / shape / color) After the person identifies a few of the sensations characteristics, say, Okay, just let that <specific sensation> be there, and make sure youre breathing. (For example: "Just let that six-pound four-inch-long orange hollow metal tube be there, and make sure youre breathing.) Allowing a sensation to be there requires a conscious willingness to experience it. Acceptance, or being willing-to-experience something, is required to release anything thats been resisted. Let the person feel it just as it is for a little while (a few breaths). Then ask, Is it still there, or did it change, or is it gone? If its still there, say, Okay, just allow it to still be there. If it changed, say, Okay, just allow it to change. If its gone, say, Okay, just allow it to be gone.

When a sensation is experienced fully, it will change or disappear. If it changed, the sensation may now feel entirely different, or it might be similar, or it may be a lighter version of the same sensation. Whatever the case, ask the same series of questions about the sensation as it is right now. If the client attempts to compare the current sensation to the previous one (Its much lighter), focus their attention on the current one. Ask each of the questions again (as if for the first time) with this new sensation. If it disappeared, ask, "How do you feel now?" or, "How do you feel without the sensation?" If the sensation is still there and unchanged, it either: 1) has not yet been fully experienced, and requires more direct attention in order to experience it fully, or 2) it has a message that has not yet been received. Use your intuition here. If the client has really experienced the sensation, go on to the Dialogue step. If you suspect that the client has not yet really experienced their experience (for example, if theyve been in their head instead of in their sensing body), go through the questions again. The Dialogue. Say to the client, Okay, now approach the sensation as if it were a person. Extend your attention to it, and ask it, respectfully, What message do you have for me? Listen carefully to the answer, and let me know what the message is. The coach writes down the message as the client reports it. Accept any message that comes through as valid and reasonable, even if it doesnt make any sense to you. Sometimes the messages are surprising.

They are often in the form of beliefs, which can be shifted later in a belief-change process such as The Belief Closet*. Dialogue Theory: Every sensation and experience is an attempt to send a signal to us (to the brain, the self, or consciousness), informing us of something important. Pain is a sensation that sends the message "Something is wrong here. Pay attention! Do something to stop it!" Other messages are beliefs, such as "You didn't protect me!" or "That hurt me!" The Dialogue allows the sensation to complete its "mission," which was to deliver a message. The message may emanate from the incomplete experience itself, or from a part of the psyche (a body part, an Identity, Voice, or Sub-personality) that has something important to say. When the original experience was resisted instead of experienced, the message delivery was interfered with or stopped. The experience continues to attempt to deliver its message to Consciousness. It repeats its message over and over, knocking on the door louder and louder, until the message is received. This is especially true of consistent pains or persisting conditions. When your car makes a strange noise, you can ignore it (at your peril) or get it checked out by a mechanic. When a body sensation is making a noise, you have the same options. For physical sensations, the message might be Theres something wrong here. Get help! For emotional issues, the message is often emotional. That hurt my feelings! Make him go away! [Depending on your coaching or therapeutic relationship to the client, the information can be used later to explore the problem or issue further.] Gleaning more information. There is often more information to glean, so tell the client: Ask the sensation, Do you have any other information or messages for me? Listen to the answer, and let me know what it says. If the information or message is not clear, recommend a clarifying question. [For example: Ask the sensation who it is referring to specifically when it uses the phrase, them.] After you have written down the messages received, say, Thank the sensation for delivering its message. Tell the sensation that you have received its messages, and its job is done. Tell it that it may now go. Wait a few moments, then ask, Is the sensation still there, or is it gone? If a sensation is still there, it is almost always a different sensation. Often, it is a deeper layer of the same problem or issue rising up to the surface now that the first layer has been cleared. Most of the time, the sensation will be gone. This completes the process on this particular sensation. Difficult, sticky and persistent problems are often stacked in layers of experiences and sensations. When the first layer comes off, other layers are exposed and are ready to be experienced. Somewhere down in the stack is the original resisted experience. If you can get the client to fully experience that one, the whole stack often melts away, and the problem disappears along with it. If the sensation is still there, verify first that it is the same sensation, and not a similar one from further down in the stack. In either case, go through the series of questions again, as if for the first time. It is unusual for a sensation to stay the same. Sometimes, sensations will continue to change and morph. This is a tricky avoidance strategy there is some resistance against experiencing the resisted experience! Heres a handy fix: If you suspect that there is strong resistance going on, direct the person to Feel what it feels like to resist this experience. Really feel the resistance. Describe the sensations associated with that resistance. Use the series of questions to dissolve the experience of resistance itself. Once the resistance disappears, go back and re-do the original experience. It will be easily experienced and disappeared.

If the sensation has disappeared and you wish to go deeper in the session, ask, Is there another unwanted sensation or experience youre aware of? (or: associated with that issue?) Repeat the process on that sensation. You may also direct the clients attention to whatever she or he is experiencing right now that is resisted, unwanted, unwelcome, or uncomfortable. Continue the process until the person feels open, free and peaceful, or until there are no undesirable sensations remaining. To end the session, say, Okay, were ending the exercise now. Clients are often in a spacious, blissful state after the exercise. Recommend that they take a walk to integrate their new state of consciousness, especially before driving their car.

Summary:
When a person becomes willing to fully experience a resisted, unpleasant or difficult feeling or experience, identifying it as a set of sensations, the experience or feeling will finally be experienced fully, completing its original Creation Cycle. This allows the experience to disappear. The usual result is relief from pain or suffering, deeper insight, a feeling of freedom, and excitement about new possibilities.

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Use and Distribution of this Process

This is a proprietary work product and is Copyright 2009 by Lion Goodman. All rights reserved. www.EverydayAwakening.com lion@everydayawakening.com 415.472.6500 Do not reproduce or distribute this document in any form without express written permission. You do have permission to provide individual copies of this document to others as long as 1) you do not receive compensation for it and 2) you do not modify this document in any way. This exercise is intended to serve as an exploration of human consciousness. It is not intended to treat or cure any physical, mental, or medical condition. If the condition you are exploring does not clear up after using this exercise, see a doctor or obtain medical advice from a licensed medical professional. If you choose to utilize this exercise yourself or with others, you agree to take full responsibility for its use and for any results and/or consequences. When coaching others, treat each person, sensation, and experience with love, compassion and care. If you are a professional coach, teacher, or therapist and wish to use this process in your practice, additional training and certification is available from Lion Goodman. Please write and tell us about your experiences with this exercise. Email: lion@everydayawakening.com. Additional exercises, trainings, and articles are available on our website.

* The Belief Closet, an exercise developed by Lion Goodman, is a powerful method for discreating (dissolving) old beliefs
and replacing them with new, more useful and productive beliefs. For information, appointments, or training, contact Lion Goodman, lion@everydayawakening.com, 415.472.6500. Visit www.EverydayAwakening.com.