Working With People

Part One

The Art of Being Present - The Embodied State of Objective Perception and Inner Guidance.

Being present indicates an inner state, which is capable of recognizing reality as it is rather than perceiving it through the filters and prejudices of our past conditionings and stories. We need this capacity, along with sensitivity to inner guidance and a connection to our own personal wisdom, to effectively work with people. Presence arises through the capacity of non-reactivity to whatever is occurring in the moment. This capacity arises out of a presence that is grounded in awareness of our body, mind and heart. This awareness is developed through the practice of meditation and by having passionate interest and curiosity to inquire into ourselves and others.

Cultivating the capacity to remain in objective presence in therapeutic situations is to learn to work from the space of clarity and delicate awareness that is not run by preferences, prejudices, identification or personal self-images. Orienting ourselves to the Love of Truth awakens Inner Guidance in a way which reveals many riches on the personal level and in our work with people.

The great awareness comes slowly, piece by piece. The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning. The experience of spiritual power is basically a joyful one. M. Scott Peck

Awareness is the greatest alchemy there is. Just go on becoming more and more aware, and you will find your life changing for the better in every possible dimension. It will bring great fulfillment. Osho

Part Two

Relaxed Confidence – The Psychology and Embodiment of Support.

Support, experienced as an inner quality and as the capacity to appropriately support others is a very important aspect of Working with People. Relaxed confidence is a state of Being that arises when we have a good relation to and understanding of the issues around support. Most of us did not receive support, good mirroring and guidance when we were growing up 
and as a result we often feel tense, ungrounded and unsure of ourselves…..which then can give rise to a pushy, driven personality which efforts rather than trust that the answers and capacities needed to face the challenges of life will arise from within. When we truly see and understand how to evoke inner support we can start to welcome opportunities to face performance anxiety and the lack of grounded solidity….which leads to developed centeredness in our body, heart and mind. This understanding and the capacity to stay present when facing deficiencies brings a radical and profound inner shift from effort to relaxation.

In order to work with people it is necessary to be able to remain relaxed, grounded and centered when clients go through difficult inner work without trying to “fix” them. The safety such presence offers makes it possible for people to trust themselves and reconnect with their own deeper resources while engaging their own intrinsic natural impulses and wisdom for their healing.

This section looks deeply into the issues around support and teaches an approach to invoking relaxed confidence in the midst of life’s most challenging situations.

If your consciousness is clean, pure, innocent, the moment is not far away when you will explode into a luminous splendor. That's what is known as enlightenment, or awakening, or self realization. Osho

Part Three

Embodiment of Courage and Individuality

We all want to embody courage and assertiveness in our work and in our lives. We all want to be able to standalone in this world. In this part of the training we will look at what enables us to develop self-confidence and courage in our work and livelihoods.So much of ourselves is compromised by trying to fulfill others expectations - which causes us to sellout our individual integrity and lose respect for ourselves.

To live a life full of self-confidence, we need courage and strength. This strength arises from our capacity to separate and individuate. This means separation from our ideas, concepts, images, life stories and old identifications. Once we are able to recognize what is not my true Being, we can actually separate from the false and slowly learn to realize our own personal, individual essence. Understanding and experiencing this form of separation, gives us a profound sense of meaning and self-esteem, as well as the strength and the stamina to confront difficult issues. Especially, as a therapist we need this aspect of strength and courage in order to face challenging issues both in our lives and in working with people.

People live and go on missing life. It needs courage. It needs courage to be realistic, it needs courage to move with life wherever it leads, because the paths are uncharted, there exists no map. One has to go into the unknown. Life can be understood only if you are ready to go into the unknown. If you cling to the known, you cling to the mind, and the mind is not life. Life is non mental, non-intellectual, because life is total.Osho

Part Four

Embodiment of Power – Issues, Obstacles and Realization

Power is a natural capacity of the human being. However, most of us are out of alignment with our True Power as we have not faced shadow parts of ourselves we have denied, repressed or split off from. To bring Power into its deepest potential where we are peacefully relaxed with it, we need to look and recognize without judgment the sources and history of our own negativity. Once we become responsibly aware of our negativity and withdraw our projections of it we are capable of having immense power without the danger of abusing it.

True Power is in the service of Truth and Peace and once it is connected to, we are able to be real instruments of transformation in working with people. True Power works to compassionately challenge and remove the false in any situation. This is an essential aspect in working with people.

This part will be powerfully liberating as we gently and compassionately resource ourselves in this essential aspect.

Nobody can stand truth if it is told to him. Truth can be tolerated only if you discover it yourself because then, the pride of discovery makes the truth palatable.Fritz Perls

Part Five

Embodiment of True Compassion and Loving Kindness

Most of us haven't learned how to be compassionate and kind towards ourselves. We often learned to be efficiently perfect or self- sacrificing pleasing, but rarely did we experience true compassion in our childhood. Compassion and patience are the innate qualities to every human being, these qualities when utilized, become the essential embodiment for every therapist.

Especially as therapists, we are often caught in the "helper syndrome", feeling that I only have worth and value when I help others, which can lead to overrunning our boundaries by being endlessly available to the client. True compassion has to start first with self-respect and learning to be kind to our bodies, hearts and minds.

False compassion often gets expressed through a filter of guilt and shame. To be able to embody true compassion we have to overcome collective beliefs and concepts about what it means to really help somebody and what it means to be in service. This can only happen, once we learned how to be kind, not only to ourselves, but also to life's challenges.

Compassion is a very essential tool for every therapist. Only through embodying true compassion towards ourselves can we really be patient and supportive with the client in their growth and transformation.

To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light.Carl Jung

Part Six

Curiosity, Joy and Responsibility - The Natural Consequence of Being Real

It is natural for the human being to want to be happy and joyful. However, Joy cannot be directly created as it is a result or natural consequence of openness related to the heart; if the heart is free to function there is natural celebration, innocence and an innate sense of curiosity.

As a counselor it is profoundly important to be connected to an inner sense of joyful curiosity with both yourself and with clients. This naturally happens when we are curious about the truth, relaxed and confident that presence itself will create the right conditions for the guidance that is needed.

While many qualities are needed to work effectively with clients, without a connection to your own inner light-hearted joy, working with people can become a heavy burden, which becomes draining and exhausting rather than a delightful, nourishing discovery of our Essence.

In this last section of Basic Counseling Skills we will cover:

• How to work with major existential life changes and endings that are a natural part of life
• How to work with discriminating between loyalty to Being versus loyalty to ego
• How to work with identity issues such as attachment to self images, emotional patterns and ego defenses
• Keys for transforming depression, despair and hopelessness into true joy and happiness
• Nourishing yourself during a session
• The responsibility and integrity of a counselor (personal ethics)

So openness is the basis of inquiry, but love expressed as curiosity specifically invites the Diamond Guidance. This active edge of openness is needed for the truth to be revealed. Then there is joy, curiosity, a happy excitement to find out. The not-knowing becomes the beginning of adventure. And because you don’t know, it is more exciting. Joy is in the whole process, and the excitement of life intensifies. The soul is turned on to exploring the mystery, and it is curiosity that engages...