Welcome to the first of three video blogs of a conversation between Kevin and UK Wholebody Focusing trainer Addie van der Kooy. During this converation Addie talks about the importance of several “inner core muscles” which need to be exercised before Focusing can really come into its own.
In this first video blog, Kevin and Addie explore what it takes to strengthen one of these inner muscles, the “Me Here” muscle – a physical experience of being present, aware and alive in the moment. Daily practice periods and “pauses for Presence” are simple, effective ways of tuning this muscle as they create a new habit: stepping out of our thinking and into our body sense of being present and alive in the moment.
In the next two video blogs Kevin and Addie explore a couple of other inner core muscles.
I hope some day an artist is willing to collaborate on an animation of this Audio Guiding Suggestion. Kevin paints a visually-inspired explanation of how one is healed through grounded presence, Me Here and holding the whole and complexity of ourselves with equal regard. What happens is magic and a reflection of how the universe operates to create balance and harmony in its systems.
Take a journey with Kevin through this world of destruction and rebirth of self as a new whole person.
What does it mean to connect to our sense of Me Here? How do we know when we are connected? What is the process of getting there? What might happen when we are connected? What are the challenges and benefits of being connected to the Me Here?
Kevin shares what this process has been like for him to grow this part of himself so that we can develop our own practice and experience of Me Here that is unique to each of us. This is an intunement that we will go back to many times as we grow our own sense of Me Here.
Christel Kraft is one of the original focusers who worked with Gene Gendlin when he first started teaching focusing. She has been a life long focuser and is now in her 80’s. During a recent Monthly Gathering of WBFers sponsored by Focusing Initiatives International, Christel shared with the group how focusing helps her connect to how her life is now.
As I sit listening to Kevin’s voice, I notice a desire to rest my hands on the desk in front of me. There is a wanting for the stability that this gives me beyond the contact of my feet on the ground. I feel a stronger sense of safety with this stability.
I let myself be with this new sense of stability. I notice how my sense of the temperature in the environment has changed as if a cool breeze has swept through the room. When that passes I notice how my feet want my attention. They have problems. The stability of my hands allow my feet to be heard.
When I began to listen to My Wholebody has a Consciousness all it’s own, I noticed a quiet come over me, as I listened to Kevin’s voice. A field opened up. He reminded me, as listener, to “be present to myself.” Then Kevin said something about “plugging in to something bigger than us.” I liked hearing that. I experienced a sense of possibilities coming in many different ways through the spacious satellite-dish that is my WholeBody.
It occurred to me: What really happens is beyond these words—the words that he was using. It feels important to me to underline that. Each of Kevin’s intunements brings a deeper knowing in me. I might even express it this way: They bring me in-tune with myself.
It is important to document events in which the distance between body wisdom and our conscious selves grows smaller.
My Wholebody Focusing practice is mostly silent. I move into grounded presence and give my body permission to lead in the ways it needs. Automatic or spontaneous movements emerge. Words or images might surface, but not necessarily. I eventually settled on this type of practice because it allows me to remain in grounded presence in a deeper and more sustained way. Without the need to search for words or images, I do not get triggered out of grounded presence as easily, and I don’t have to worry about whether I am doing something “right” or if I’m addressing what is needed. My body takes care of that. Whatever emerges from my body is what it needs. I just need to give what emerges in my awareness equal regard and my consent.
Two dominant movements have consistently emerged. The first one is how every session starts. If I stand, my legs shake from the hips to the ankles. This movement first came to me during an automatic movement Qigong session many years ago. If I am sitting, my feet lift off the floor and shake differently. I have a vague sense of what is behind these movements. The leg movements seem to have a cleansing quality. It feels like a release of built-up tension or static that might get in the way of what my body might need.
Possibility and Courage
The second dominant movement usually emerges while my legs are still shaking. My arms shoot up over my head and stay there. My arms can be moving or still. This second movement emerged during a foundational session about an image that has been with me for a long time—an image of a small bird with damaged wings that stubbornly refused to change in any way. This movement emerged during a health crisis.
In a grounded state, I brought my awareness to how this crisis was affecting my body. My arms flew up at the same time, and a Kundalini-like sensation of a tornado arose from my feet and moved toward the top of my head. My understanding of this movement is that it was a moment when this little bird tested its wings and found they actually worked. This was a turning point in this health crisis. This movement emerges each time I am in grounded presence, reminding me that anything is possible and giving me courage. Both of these dominant movements ebb and flow through my sessions in relation to whatever else emerges.
In this intunement, Kevin took me back to the roots of focusing. Using the five senses, I found that place in me that is free of the “to dos,” the “shoulds” and the worries. There was Me There waiting to connect. Revisiting this practice with Kevin’s guiding voice helped me to slow down and easily reconnect to my body. As I heard Kevin’s explanation of how being with ourselves in an authentic way is different from being with the narrative we’ve created, I began to reconnect to a safe and welcoming place in my own body.
