The feedback was glowing. People felt safe, secure and comfortable in the workshop environment. They felt heard and able to contribute and connect. It was almost unanimously positive. Almost. There were a couple of comments which hinted at dissatisfaction or disappointment. Unfortunately, my mind locked onto those fair criticisms and wouldn’t let go. I wanted my work to have been beneficial for all. I had felt energised by every session and felt that everyone was really getting what it was all about. But here I was being told that it wasn’t the case. Some had taken less from the sessions than others.

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I had the distinct feeling that it’s all about using simple movements to learn to relax. Every slight motion reveals imbalances in the body. Standing still, seeking to let go in every instant and allow gravity to carry our weight into the ground, it’s noticeable how the body holds itself together unnecessarily. The Earth supports (and even nourishes) us, our skeletal and muscular system is designed to function to the highest degree, and yet we deem it necessary to introduce extra tension. As if letting go would cause things to collapse.

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Another workshop, another 4 hours spent concentrating on the body. Presence, was the first point on the flip-chart list. Another seven would appear during the course of the afternoon, as the teacher continually emphasised that it is not about the exercises. It’s about the work you do whilst exercising. It’s about alignment, stability and calm. And it’s about letting go. More words on the list – just a handful of many possible points of attention.

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Emergence is the name I was invited to give, to the picture a friend painted, of a transformation she experienced, following a chat we had last week. Up until that video call we had never met or spoken to each other. We connected through a mutual friend, and spent the call exploring how we might facilitate each other’s process. A professional exchange, perhaps? She is a talented, intuitive artist who guides people through a programme of painting and drawing which, in her own words, ‘shows you the art of drawing yourself back to you’. She offered to introduce me to her world and asked what I might be able to do for her.

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At the start of this year, in the middle of Winter, I was committed to the realisation of the True Self – that which lies beyond the conditioned, worldly self. It felt as though, after all the self-development work I had done, I had the finish line in my sights and all I had to do was move deeper and deeper into the richness and beauty of spiritual freedom. Spring and Summer, however, brought inescapable insight, and as we approach the out-breath transformation into Autumn, things look very different.

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We hadn’t spoken for well over 20 years. Not because we’d fallen out. We weren’t close enough for that. We had know each other as kids at school and through football, and we drank in the same pubs growing up. In time, he began travelling the country with work, and eventually I left the country. I hadn’t seen him since. But two years ago he contacted me, having read some of my writing. This was his first message to me:

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Before I come to the event which tipped this whole sequence over the edge, there are a number of loose ends to tie up. They relate to points 3, 7 and 9 from the first post in this series. There’s a Qi Gong workshop, the briefest of conversations, and an acupuncture session. Although decidedly different experiences, they all contribute by confirming and deepening the focus on the body.

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I met a friend for coffee at the beginning of June. A few hours later I left thinking that something about the direction I was taking had changed. I can’t recall much of the detail of what we discussed, except that we exchanged stories about families and our respective work. She told me more about the bodywork she does which helps to release stuck emotions, and recommended the book Grounded Spirituality by Jeff Brown. She even read a couple of passages from it. He seemed to be suggesting the opposite of my current focus. I was intrigued.

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It looked for a while as though the previous post would be the last for some time. The videos we had been working on had come to an abrupt end, and I had resolved to use the time to focus on the discoveries and insights of the last three years. More meditation, more letting go, and more of the emptiness I had touched the previous year. It worked – at least for the time I was focused – but then things started to happen.

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