Blog

Plateaus & Toggling

2/29/2020

Plateaus and toggling both seem to occur fairly commonly in this work and perhaps in any mode of holistic healing. I’ve noticed that a person’s first few sessions can sometimes elicit a dramatic effect on symptoms, but that after a time the effect may no longer appear nearly as dramatic (plateaus) or symptoms may even return periodically (toggling), and a person might then wonder if the work is still effective. I posit that these are our times of greatest healing!

As a practice that arises directly from the natural world, it seems logical to me that this work would mimic nature’s common pattern of leaps forward followed by periods of rest and inner work, and learned in my training that not only is this commonly the case, but that these are the times when we seem to gain the most from sticking to our programs of awareness, alignment, and self-care.

Since the majority of this work seems to function beyond the conscious mind, I’m frankly sometimes amazed that we ever have any awareness of it at all, but like the tree falling in the forest, our perceptions don’t seem to have any bearing at all on the actual work. Please rest assured that integration is 24/7 whether or not it’s readily apparent, and here’s to plateaus and toggling!

Herwig Schön Quotes

1/21/2020

As a tribute to RCT founder and teacher Herwig Schön, who chose to leave his body earlier this month, I'd like to share a few favorite quotes I'd gathered over the years. I hope they might communicate a sense of his wisdom, insight, and spirit.

(Since, in most cases, I’d jotted them down at the time, I’m fairly confident of their accuracy, but please allow for the possibility of misattribution.)

“There's nothing that the body can't heal.”

“All healing is spiritual healing.”

“All disease is disconnection from God.”

"All fear stems from the fundamental fear that we can actually be harmed."

“It's just emotion, nothing more, nothing less.”

“The other side of discipline is freedom.” (I believe he was quoting a friend.)

“Anytime you give away your power someone will be there to take it from you.”

"When you make a commitment to yourself and you keep it, you become stronger, and when you make a commitment and break it, it weakens you."

“We’re working to make ourselves obsolete.”

I might be paraphrasing this one, but I think it's important: "Everyone has impulses both towards healing and away from healing. We get to choose."

If you're ever feeling extra hungry just before or after a session: “RCT burns glucose.”

And my all-time favorite: “Love is irresistible.”

Image courtesy of reconnectivetherapy.com

Emotion, Part Three

7/6/2019

More on the topic of healing emotion consciously...

Emotions are considered physiological phenomena, and that’s the sense in which I use the term. By definition, then, we have no more control over them than we do the function of an organ or the flow of blood. Our reaction to our physiology, however, I posit that we do.

Following a session of this work, I recommend “neither attaching stories [to] nor suppressing” any emotion which might happen to arise. (Important disclaimer: as you know, this recommendation is spoken as a layperson rather than a mental health worker. There may be instances where this advice doesn’t pertain, and, as always, I sincerely urge you to follow your own guidance and that of your healthcare practitioners.)

It’s probably easy for most of us to understand suppression, since we’re all undoubtedly aware of the ways in which we each tend to do it: entertainment and distractions, stimulants and addictions of all sorts, projection onto others, and so on—all of the different ways that we numb ourselves to feelings.

“Attaching stories” may be a less familiar concept. By this I mean the interpretations we make of experiences of emotion. Here’s an example: Someone cuts me off in traffic and I have a flash of anger (emotions themselves are purported to last less than 90 seconds). Option 1: recognize that my anger is entirely my own and that I know nothing of the experiences, needs, and motivations of the other person (who, for all I know, could be racing a passenger to an emergency room, who made an error they already regret, or so on). Option 2: allow the conditioned mind to think unfettered thoughts of having been slighted, persecuted, targeted, unskilled or so on, and thereby “pile on” and perpetuate the feelings.

We seem to have as little control over our mental reactions as we do over the physical ones. However, we can notice our reactions and choose to redirect them. Example: Thoughts like “That inconsiderate jerk just cut me off. Do they think they own the road?” can be replaced by “Wow, that brought up some anger for me, and it’s interesting that I’m also feeling a little unworthy right now, too. OK, that's mine. Who knows what might be going on for the other driver? I know I routinely make mistakes, and have been rude before despite my best intentions. May we all be well and may we all be at peace.” —I don’t believe it’s important to name any given emotional experience, btw; just to observe. I do know it can sometimes be helpful, however, to ask oneself “What am I feeling and what am I thinking right now?” (without necessarily seeking an answer).

There are many things I and others can suggest to help provide ease—so many that I’ve just started an “Integration Tips” mailing list to that end. You can find the archive-to-be here, where you can also subscribe to receive the tips via email.

Let us all stay present for our healing! I delight in your companionship on this journey.

Emotional Fallout

7/6/2019

A better title might be “Emotions, Part Two”, as I suspect this will probably develop into an ongoing topic... The fact that this work seems to have the ability to bring emotion into consciousness for us might be its primary challenge—perhaps its only major challenge-—and therefore, I believe, merits further attention.

Indeed, doesn’t the desire to feel good and not feel bad motivate every single action we ever take?

Consequently, most of us (understandably) tend to veer away from activities which might trigger “negative” emotion (fear, anger, sadness, guilt, shame, et al.). So why then would any self-respecting person choose to do anything which might trigger such an experience? I consider this an important question—and one with an important answer. For the answer, I believe it helps to understand the mechanics at work.

Let’s start with a thumbnail understanding of the philosophy underlying this work, namely, that the reason that we experience anything other than perfect health, happiness, and alignment in any given moment is because our body is storing a past, unprocessed emotion for us. As I understand it, this is a brilliant, self-protective mechanism that allows us to carry on functioning until such time as we’re psychically strong enough to process the event. Hence, when an emotion is triggered the body is essentially setting an emotion free for us to have another crack at it. I understand that every emotion the body is carrying will arise eventually—and just like cleaning out an attic, the task may not always be easy to enjoy, but it sure feels good when it’s done and it can clear a lot of handy space.

Healing work is one of a probably infinite number of things that can trigger emotion for us, and from the perspective of this paradigm, all of them are beneficial since they’re nothing more and nothing less than a priceless opportunity for growth. Regardless of the trigger, said growth seems to be facilitated by our simply staying present, observing, and fully allowing the experience. (I see a “Part Three” percolating already…)

I think it also helps to understand that a great deal of healing is occurring beyond the conscious mind; so while we may have “iceberg tips” arising from time to time, a much greater quantity of “melting” is occurring under the surface. —A certain quantity of emotion seems to want our conscious participation in its healing, and I have a working theory that the experience beneficially strengthens us, like a psychic resistance-training program.

Perhaps also helpful is the realization that, from this perspective, the quantity of emotion we carry is finite. It seems that many of us feel plagued by emotion, like Sisyphus going nowhere unpleasantly, but from this perspective that isn’t the case at all; rather, we're chipping away.

Also uplifting, perhaps, is my own experience that this work tends to amp-up equanimity. That is to say, that I tend to find myself less mentally reactive, but when I am, I feel that I tend to catch it much quicker and more easily.

So why engage in an activity that might facilitate anger or sadness for us? Because it’s an opportunity to heal, and is hence a Very Good Thing indeed.

Louise Hay's List

6/3/2019

I’m occasionally asked if I see the particulars of the emotions that are healed through this work, and generally the answer is either “nope” or “only vaguely”. On the rare occasion when I do, however, they tend to very accurately coincide with Louise Hay’s famous “Heal Your Body” list.

I recall Herwig once mentioning that any organ can hold any emotion for us, but that they tend to have a predilection for certain varieties: lungs for grief, livers for anger, kidneys for relationship issues, and so on. In 1976, after a number of years working as a Religious Science practitioner, Louise Hay (1926-2017) published an alphabetical list of the metaphysical causes of illnesses she’d been encountering. If you’re ever intellectually curious about the backstory of an emotion you healed during a session, chances are Louise has your answer! (“Intellectually curious” because the healing has, of course, already occurred.)

Hay House, the publishing firm Louis founded in 1984, still sells “Heal Your Body”, which has since been updated as “You Can Heal Your Life”, both a book and a film. (A quick google will also bring up a few sites that post the A-Z list.) Thanks, Louise!

Return of Groups

4/1/2019

I’m excited to announce the return of healing groups!

Last Tuesday was the first in six months, and I was reminded of how efficient and expansive the work seems in groups, and how beautiful and touching. The energy felt quite high, and I find the heart-centered nature of the groups increasingly apparent.

Groups will likely continue monthly on fourth Tuesdays, alternating as in past between adult and under-18, and will still be offered by donation. I hope you’ll consider joining!

Post-RCT

3/18/2019

I’ve been asked how the work now differs from ReConnective Therapy and how the shift came about.

I'd first say that the shift itself seemed to come quite suddenly. During my training, RCT practitioners were taught to use the word “treatment” to initiate a session, and, as mentioned elsewhere, I’ve always found this word to be a bit of a misnomer for work that doesn’t do anything to anyone. In November 2016, it suddenly became crystal clear that I would have to find another way to initiate a session and so I began to experiment (with permission, of course) with using “OK, let’s go” instead, which seems to work just fine.

Having heard both of my teachers mention that, since RCT has relatively little 3D structure, to alter the procedure in any way results in work that’s no longer RCT per se, I knew this would likely be the case. Additionally, the strong intuition that was leading me to use the new phrase also carried with it a knowing that the work was going to be something new and more individual to me, which also seems to be the case.

It would probably take someone with a more acute energetic perception than mine to be able to fully differentiate this new work from RCT in detail, particularly as they still feel and appear very similar to me, but I can elucidate a few differences I’ve noticed.

First is that sessions seem to take a little longer. This might mean a difference as minimal as, say, 20 seconds rather than 10, but it’s been a fairly consistent observation—and it's also not uncommon now for a session to last several minutes.

I also more often notice various helpers appearing, and I sometimes feel called to bring in colored light. Also, I seem to be encountering chakra work more frequently, particularly heart chakra.

One additional aspect that seems to have developed since 2016 is a type of session that I’ve been calling a “general tonic”. This work seems to occur most often during a person’s first session and generally only once, but there have been exceptions on both counts. Again I don’t feel able to offer much energetic detail here, other than to say that rather than perceiving a specific location as I usually do, these sessions feel as though the person’s whole being is directly involved.

The most salient point I want to make is to say that this course of events has all stemmed from Guidance rather than any willful creation on my part and that all of these changes seem to have appeared of their own volition. I’m very happy to be doing this new work, but undoubtedly would have been just as happy to have continued practicing RCT had it been my destiny. I suspect the new work might want to have its own name someday, but I have yet to know it!

2022 addendum: I'm still often seeing these "general tonic" sessions, particularly early on, and I've come to consider them a sort of initiation or orientation to these frequencies.

Facebook

3/12/2019

What happened to the Why Not Heal Facebook page, Colin?

Scrapped! For reasons I can't begin to speculate upon, it was repeatedly colonized by robots, and I doubt that robots can do this work.

Skepticism

1/31/2019

Q: What if I’m skeptical about things I can’t perceive with my five senses?

A: Great, me too! I believe that the field of psychology considers such a stance a healthy one, and I do, too. Also healthy, I and legitimate science both believe, is an openness to new ideas, and a willingness to accept the results even when one doesn’t fully understand how they’re realized. How many of us can explain exactly what happens when we flick a light switch, for example? The light is useful nevertheless.

I wouldn’t ever want to encourage anyone to participate in this work if they don’t feel called to it, nor would I ever want to try to talk anyone out of any healthy skepticism, but I’d also hope that no one would let their mind lead their heart.

"One must think with the body and the soul or not think at all." —Hannah Arendt

No Personality

12/17/2018

“I’m worried about sharing energy, particularly when I don’t know you, Colin.”

No problem there! I completely understand this concern, but it doesn’t seem to pertain to this work. My role is just to open energetic doors and I’ve never seen any sharing or exchanging of energy, nor do I direct anything in any way. You could even consider me to be a complete jerk or a total mess (or I could even BE a complete jerk or a total mess) and it would have no bearing whatsoever. Please rest assured that the realm in which this work occurs is far removed from the realm of personality, and that the work that you do is entirely your own.

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