Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Getting Myself Out of The Way


It's funny how life is really. I was at a workshop about 2 months ago by Matrix Energetics. It was fascinating and the work was something I had never heard about before. If you are ever curious about healing using quantum physics then I recommend you check out this company.

Anyway, of the key take-aways I got from that seminar was the idea about taking myself out of the equation. They were saying in order for healing to occur, we must get ourselves out of the way.

So, this last weekend I used this idea.

I was working with a client, and she was mentioning some issues that she wanted to work with; I took note of them by putting them on my "notepad". What I mean by notepad is...you know how every computer has some sort of place you can put stuff, that's random or whatever, it’s in my PC known as a "notepad". I stick stuff on this notepad that I want to use for later. Well, this is the same concept when I am listening to a client. They tell me what is going on and I stick their issues up to this notepad not sure how these issues are going to play out or if they are important for this current session. I have noticed that sometimes the mind just needs to unload before it can start working, so I use my notepad to address the mind stuff the client reports and I don't hold on to it. Then I check in later during the session with the client to see if they want to talk about the notepadable items.

My client mentioned her notepadable items and I imagined myself putting them up there and sort of letting them go from my active thinking and I continued to pay attention to her. (This is one way of getting myself out of the way, I am releasing and not controlling the outcome by putting the information somewhere other than my conscious thinking.) As my client continued to talk, I continued to listen, rephrasing, making statements about her words so she could hear them back and self adjust. The session got deeper because I was really getting a sense of the type of perspective she lives from. I felt like I had stepped into her world and together we were walking around together. It is such a humble place for me when I have the opportunity to do this with someone. Just from my 14 years of being with clients, I have learned that the less I know, the more confused my mind gets with trying to figure things out, I know I am going in the right direction for my client (I can talk about this more in detail later).

Here's the part where I had to keep getting myself out of the way. I found myself consistently wanting to be "brainy" and figure things out for her, or lead the conversation, and I needed to get myself out of the way. In those moments, I needed to keep reminding myself to trust her process and where she was. I temporarily needed to shut my mind off, so that my thinking was not interrupting her process. I "got myself out of the way” and what happened was a lot of space and witnessing for my client. It was beautiful really. I had a sense that she was blooming like a flower, recognizing her own answers.

Healing came in those moments because I trusted her innate system and she knew deep inside what she needed, she was able to listen and be with herself. After a few moments she reflected a large smile that made me smile inside. New vibrant color came to her face that wasn't present before and she reported feeling amazing. It was like the clouds parted and the sun came out.

This concept that I am talking about is getting ourselves out of the way, and it's different from leaving. I stayed during my clients experience. I was present with her. I released all control I needed to have. I trusted she could take care of her needs. I held the space by listening, watching, making validating statements. Her body, and mind did what it needed to do. Real healing happened.

After she was in this place for a bit I reminded her of the notepadable items and they all seemed to clear up. She reported they were not important after all and had a new sense of herself that she longed to have.

I offer this concept to you as something very useful to use. Get yourself out of the way. 1. Set the intention of what you are wanting. My intention for her was to be of highest and best service.
2. Make notepadable items that are issues or things to work with. Let the mind just wonder about these and let them go temporarily.
3. remain present, go where is organic and natural for the client or project or whatever.
4. Allow the client to be in their process and trust, stay present. Get yourself quite inside. (get yourself out of the way)
5. Watch.
6. Report what is happening for all involved.
7. Repeat the process if necessary and check in on the notepadable items.

You can also find yourself a Matrix Energetics book, where it can explain this process in quantum theory detail. Otherwise you can play with the concept as I have described it and report to me your experience. I would love to hear from you.

Happy Healing.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Journey of Embodying My Power

This has been a long and winding road for some time now. I find myself on this path again of deciding how to move forward. The intention of this blog is to speak from my purpose, my heart and allow you to join me with your thoughts and comments in real time. I am open to all.

I am a personal and professional coach. And there are so many other coaches out in the world today that it is difficult to differentiate myself from others. So I am communicating this way. I am inviting you to get to know me and know that the heart of my life work is to serve others.

I have been doing human development work for the last 14 years. I began when I was 17 years old. I had a difficult time in school because I had test anxiety so badly that I couldn't pass a test to save my life. When the teacher gave me something written I would fail because even though I had studied like crazy, I forgot everything out of nervousness. When the test was given to me orally I would pass with flying colors. Anyway, as a last resort to raise my grades before I went to college, my parents sent me to a camp that helped students master all sorts of academic skills. Needless to say it rocked my world. The camp is called SuperCamp, it’s international and it is the beginning of my life adventure.

At Supercamp I found myself standing on top of a pole that extended 30 feet in the air. It was a challenge event – called a “Ropes Course”. I had ropes tied to me and harnesses and for the most part it felt safe. There were about 15 other students down on the ground holding the ropes and supporting me verbally. It was really powerful. To hear everyone shouting my name and saying "you can do it," it was magical. At that moment is was almost like the clouds parted in the sky and the sun came out. I had an inner experience that I was being given a gift.

Something inside of me became really aware of my surroundings and I noticed the students on the ground in a different way. Looking down at them I saw young people who were doing their best to live life and somehow had a belief they just weren't good enough. Someone somewhere as they were growing up said they weren’t good enough in some way and they believed them. I was the same way, I will never forget Mrs. Clark in 4th grade telling me that I would never be good at math and I should stop trying. It happened to be in front of all the other kids.

And from where I stood on this pole, gazing into the other students smiles and eyes, I could see how magnificent each one of them were. I was touched deeply. Tears came to my eyes. At that moment I knew that this was my work in the world. That I was going to affect as many people as possible to help others see how beautiful each one of us really is and how important it is that we are here doing what we are meant to do.

From that day forward, I committed to learning and serving others in ways that supports people to grow and become magnificant.

I ended up working for SuperCamp for the next five years. I recruited kids to go while I attended college, and then was a camp counselor during the summers affecting as many students as possible. I worked at Stanford, Amherst, Eckerd College, and then went to Hong Kong and Thailand. It was amazing.

Then I wanted to use the same concepts that this camp was teaching to the students called "Accelerative Learning" and was curious how it worked for adults since are just big kids with a lot of onion layers.

I ended up working for and eventually purchasing the Boulder Center of Accelerative Learning at the young age of 22. It was a professional education company that used the methodology of Accelerative Learning (like SuperCamp) to teach adults content very quickly and easily. The basis of Accelerative Learning is a perspective that we have unlimited potential and we can create, do, be anything we set our minds to - it's human potential work. It's an amazing way of learning new information really.

Suddenly I had a fully running company with contract trainers available, money in the bank and a list of clients that included Nebraska Public Power, AT&T, Xcel Energy, MD Anderson, John Deere, Sundyne Corp, Remarketing Services of America...and the list goes on. I ran this company, created new curriculum, trained trainers, and gained new clients and continued to grow the work and business.

In 2005 I was asked by the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland to come on board as a trainer using this methodology to teach content on cleaning up landmines as a humanitarian effort globally. I lived and worked in Geneva, learned French, and taught people from 41 different countries how to keep track of landmines in their countries using the Accelerative Learning methodology. In fact that's why they hired me, because Accelerative Learning spans across languages, cultures, and diversity to connect people as people so they can learn.

As this project grew and my skills of living in a foreign country became a little more familiar (it can be very challenging living in a foreign country), I began to reach out and take on other consulting tasks with other organizations. I worked with the International Labor Organization, the World Health Center, and the Red Cross Red Crescent (International Red Cross) developing programs that helped executives, directors, and staff develop personally and professionally. I loved the work. I got to see and work with so many amazing individuals and hear their most confidential stories. I ate dinner in elegant places with high ranking military officials, and other big titled people as well as support and coach the most powerful leaders who affect the decisions in our world. It was an experience I cannot repeat, explain or do-over and it was life changing for me.

What I found was my heart growing. My heart and mind making connections about the way people are that I was seeing over and over again from people spreading countries. I feel I got a strong sense of what makes us all tick. I feel in love with humans, with our struggle, with our human beingness, as well as our magnificent beauty. And that was the gift of the experience.

I came home to continue my journey at the end of 2007.