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BodyWisdomTM

I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to share with you BodyWisdom, created by my friend and colleague Lion Goodman.  BodyWisdom is a coaching process for dealing with uncomfortable experiences, feelings, or problems (including chronic pain).   Using BodyWisdom, a coach can help clients process their experience fully, and discover its source.   This enables the experience to complete its creation cycle, and thus shift or disappear.  You can also use the process to coach yourself in shifting the chronic pain experience.  I’ve been given permission by Lion to reproduce his article here:

BodyWisdom is part of The BeliefCloset Process®, a sophisticated healing methodology that can transform negative and limiting beliefs into positive and empowering beliefs.  For more information about this, go to: www.TransformYourBeliefs.com.. 

BodyWisdom is a process for:

         Making direct contact with any uncomfortable experience, feeling, problem, or concern,
         Discovering its source, and
         Allowing it to complete its creation cycle, and thus change or disappear completely.

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.

BodyWisdom can be used to explore any persistent or unresolved problem or issue.  For example:

         I have an uncomfortable feeling and don’t know what to do about it.
         I keep having the same negative experience over and over again.
         I have a persistent pain.
         There’s something that won’t heal.
         I can’t let go of a particular experience.
         I don’t know what I’m feeling.
         I have a problem but I don’t know how to resolve it.

 

Background 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:

         ignore it, deny it, or pretend it's not important
         suppress it, shun it, forget about it, decide not to experience it
         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 and doesn’t know what to do, he or she will do something he/she does 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.

 

BodyWisdom 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 client’s 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 doesn’t 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 coach’s 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, 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 a very strong emotional reaction during the exercise (fear, trauma reaction, big upset, etc.).  If this should occur, simply say: “We’re 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 his attention on his body, and feel whatever sensations are present right now in his body.  These sensations should be associated with the problem, issue, or discomfort the client wishes to be rid of.  The client needs 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 him 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 person’s 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 as he describes 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 about his 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 are sometimes 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, often extending into 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 client’s attention toward the direct experience of 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 client’s experience as he describes it.  Allow yourself to feel the sensations being described, reproducing them in your own body.  You will intuitively know what to ask next.  Remember to take notes, because you will be repeating the descriptions back to the client 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, “It’s big,” ask, “How many inches across is it?” If he reports: “It’s hot,” ask “How many degrees hotter than body temperature is it?” This forces the client to place more attention on his experience than he 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, from the center of the sensation.   With your awareness, expand outward to its edges.   How far out does it extend?    Add: “Some edges are sharply defined, and some are fuzzy.   They may gray out or fade out.   If the edges fade out, look for the place where it ends, and it doesn’t exist anymore.”  Wait for her answer, and be sure the client provides a specific measurement.  (If she says, “a couple of feet,” ask, “Is it two, two and a half, or three feet?   Hold a measuring tape up against it and see exactly how far it extends.”)

Next, ask the following questions, or similar questions that are relevant to the sensation being described.   Use your natural curiosity to inquire, as if you are interested in exactly what the sensation’s qualities are.   The questions can be asked in any order.   Pause between questions, and give the client enough time to look, perceive, feel, get an impression, and report back to you.

         Look at the entire sensation’s shape.   As you feel the overall shape of the sensation, 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 start, and how far out 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 weight 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 were made of some material, what material would it be made of?
         Is it still?  Or does it have some kind of movement, pulse or vibration?  Describe the movement or vibration 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?
         If the sensation exists in two or more places, then look to see whether the sensations are connected in some way.   If they are, describe the connection.  
         (Add any other questions that are customized to the type of sensation being described.)

Notice that these questions are directed at expressions of physicality.  If the client attempts to label it (“It’s anxiety/fear/anger.”), gently bring his attention back to the sensation: “Okay, that’s a label you’re applying.  Set that aside and feel the sensation directly.  What is its size/shape/color…?”

After the person identifies a few of the sensation’s characteristics, say, “Okay, just allow that <specific sensation> be there, and make sure you’re breathing.” (For example: "Just allow that six-pound four-inch-long orange hollow metal tube to be there, and make sure you’re 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 that’s 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 it’s still there, say, “Okay, just allow it to still be there.”
         If it changed, say, “Okay, just allow it to change.”
         If it’s gone, say, “Okay, just allow it to be gone.”

When a sensation is experienced fully, it will change or disappear.  If it changes, 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 – as if it's a new sensation.  If the client attempts to compare the current sensation to the previous one (“It’s much lighter…”), focus her attention on the current one.   For example, ask, “How much lighter is it?   And how much does this one weigh, exactly?”  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 is 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 the sensation (for example, if he’s been in his head instead of in his sensing body), go through the questions again, encouraging him to actually feel the sensation as-it-is, rather than just observe it or describe it.

 

The Dialogue: Discovering the Message

This step can be done anytime, but it is best used when a sensation will not change dramatically or disappear completely.  

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 doesn’t make any sense to you.  Sometimes the messages are surprising.  

Messages are usually beliefs in some form.   You can also ask the sensation, “What belief are you?”  This provides more information which can be utilized in the BeliefCloset Process.

Dialogue Theory: Every sensation and experience is an attempt to provide a signal to the individual (to the brain, the self, or consciousness), informing him 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 is 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.  That 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 “There’s 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 say to the client: “Ask the sensation, ‘Do you have any other information or message for me?”  Listen to the answer, and let me know what it says.”  If the information or message is not clear, you can ask a clarifying question.   For example: “Ask the sensation: When you referred to ‘them,’ who exactly are you referring to?”]

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 usually 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 often, the sensation will be gone.  This completes the BodyWisdom process on that particular sensation. 

Difficult, sticky and persistent problems are often stacked in layers of experiences and sensations, which we call “belief clusters.”  From the perspective of The BeliefCloset Process, these are beliefs that are sort of glued together in a matrix.  They often operate together, and they reinforce each other.

When the first layer of a sensation or experience gets lifted off, other layers are exposed and are ready to be experienced.   They are often anxious to take their turn at the front of the line!  They may have been waiting for years to deliver their message.   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. 

As each sensation emerges, go through the entire series of questions again, as if for the first time.  Every once in a while, a sensations will continue to change and morph.  This is a tricky avoidance strategy – there is some strong resistance against experiencing the resisted experience!   Here’s a handy fix: If you suspect that there is resistance and avoidance going on, tell the person, “Feel what it feels like to resist this experience.  Really feel the resistance.   Increase the intensity of the resistance.   Now describe the sensations associated with that resistance.”  Use the same series of questions to dissolve the experience of resistance itself.   When the resistance disappears (similar to any sensation), go back and work with the original resisted experience.  It will be much more easily experienced and disappear.

If the sensation has disappeared and you wish to go deeper in the session, ask, “Is there another unwanted sensation or experience you’d prefer not to experience?  (or: …associated with that issue?)”  Repeat the process for that sensation.  You may also direct the client’s 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, we’re 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. 

 

Chapter Summary:

Experiences are part of a Creation Cycle.  When resistance of some kind interrupts the cycle, the experience gets stuck in a loop, called an “incomplete cycle,” and it creates a persisting condition.

When the person becomes willing to fully experience a resisted or unpleasant feeling or experience, the Creation Cycle can be completed.  This allows the experience to disappear.   Often, a deeper experience or sensation will emerge, or a series will emerge that lead to the original resisted experience.   Once the whole stack is released, the usual result is relief from pain or suffering, deeper insight, a feeling of freedom, and/or excitement about new possibilities.

Please write and tell us about your experiences with BodyWisdom.   Email: lion@BeliefCloset.com.

BodyWisdom is a proprietary work product and is © Copyright 2009 by Lion Goodman.  All rights reserved.  

This exercise is intended to serve as an exploration of human consciousness.  It is not intended to treat or cure any physical, mental, emotional, 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 or mental health 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, you may obtain additional training and certification from the author.  

BodyWisdom™ is a part of The BeliefCloset® Process, a method for permanently eliminating negative and limiting beliefs from the core of the psyche.  For information, appointments, or training, contact Lion Goodman: lion@BeliefCloset.com, 415.472.6500.  For a free copy of Lion’s multimedia eBook, Transform Your Beliefs, visit www.TransformYourBeliefs.com