Ground Control to Major Tom: Process Work with Martyn Cook

What do you transmit? Do you nourish and encourage other people, by being yourself? Does your body feel alert, relaxed and in tune with life? Or are you weighed down with difficulties? Process work brings awareness to our blockages and restores our natural radiance.

Human beings are powerful transmitters of energy and information. The human heart, which longs for connection and relationship, radiates powerful waves which can be measured on instruments. But the most delicate receiver is another human being. Subconsciously we exchange subtle vibrations with other beings all the time.

Most of what I transmit is unconscious. If I am sad or upset, then my facial expression, physical gestures, body posture and way of walking will automatically transmit "sadness." I can only stop this with effort - putting on a false mask. But this effort is wearying - and the falseness is obvious to everyone.

Your response to my transmission could be empathy or kindness - or scorn, disgust, annoyance. What is evoked in you depends on what is alive in you in the moment, and your habitual response patterns. If your own heart has become closed because of pain or hurt, then you may not have the inner resources to meet my need for loving attention.

Process work is a way of bringing to consciousness all those unresolved issues from our past - that clog up and distort the clarity of what we transmit. They also affect what we are capable of receiving - if your radio is not tuned exactly to the station then you will not hear the music!

Martyn Cook is a trained process facilitator, and works with clients to identify and release impediments to the free and easy flow of the life force. To learn more, visit his website at www.energyhealing.net.nz.

Get Real - Join a Process Group

From the movie Men's Group (Australia, 2008).

Would you like an accurate reflection of how you come across to others? To sit as an equal in a group that feels supportive, confidential and trustworthy? To find the opportunity to address and resolve personal issues that have become firmly entrenched? Issues around neediness, anxiety, depression, a sense of belonging, anger, shyness, bitterness, lack of potency in the world . . . whatever?

A process group consists of 5 to 10 people and a facilitator, sitting in a circle. The group has a clear intention to "be fully present" to whatever a member chooses to talk about. There are three simple rules of conduct:

- speak briefly
- speak about yourself
- speak from your heart

These rules can be hard to follow in the beginning. Many of us prefer to complain about other people, or blame them for something they have "done to us," or just talk on and on, hoping to get sympathy or good advice. This is all learned behavior, and rarely leads anywhere useful.

Speaking briefly means that you have reflected on what you want to work with, and know exactly how to describe it in just a few seconds. Speaking about yourself means focusing on what happens inside your energy system, without speculating on the cause. And speaking from your heart means letting your authentic heart-felt feelings flow out and be carried by the words that you use.

A group has a different dynamic from one-on-one therapy (or complaining to your best friend). For one thing, most people pick a therapist who will be somewhat sympathetic, or at least won't challenge them too deeply. This goes for friends too. But in a process group it's harder to hide - there will usually be someone who can push your button in a most irritating way. This is part of the magic: you get to discover and bring to light the deepest issues that sabotage your joy in life.

Group process also moves must faster. When facilitated well, the group has a powerful impact on all its members at the same time. Each member is a reflector to all the others, and each member feels the impact of all these reflections. The group can be trusted to reflect what is going on, and to do it with both kindness and firmness.

It's normal for each group member to sooner or later act out their life issues inside the process group, in the same way they act them out in their family or workplace. Because of the agreement that each person makes when he or she joins, the group develops into a safe container for bringing awareness to these issues, and gives opportunity for trying different ways to resolve them - rather than cycling through the same old patterns over and over.

Martyn Cook is a trained energy healer and facilitator of process groups. He hosts groups of 6 to 10 weeks' duration at Healium, including a men-only group. Duration is 90 minutes. For more information or to join a group, email Martyn at martyn@energyhealing.net.nz or phone 021 675 570.

The Process of Process

Today's blog is by Martyn Cook, who offers hands-on energy healing and tension-release massage at Healium.

Someone just asked me, "What on earth is process facilitation, and what does it have to do with self-healing?" Well, process could be understood in contrast to content, which would be your story about what you think is causing all that pain or irritation in your life (or in your body). As an aside, the pain in your life will eventually appear in your body: Traditional Chinese Medicine does not consider psychology separate from physiology, so why do we?

Process is the flow of emotions, ideas and energies through a person's consciousness (and through the body), and goes on all the time. In our culture we tend to disregard this inner landscape, and attend almost entirely to what is going on in "the outside world." Only when depressed, traumatised or injured do we experience the insistent intrusion of this inner world.

In our language we speak of a broken heart, a gut feel, or something causing us a "pain in the neck," and these are useful observations about our own personal process. But, for most of us, our inner processes are automatic and below the surface, and we don't know what is going on, nor how to direct these processes more skillfully - until the pain or disease arrives.

Hence facilitation - which is inviting another person to bring a trained eye to our inner goings-on, and elucidate them for us. For the facilitator, it is about helping clients make changes and get the results they desire in their lives. It is about smoothing or easing the way, and offering guidance in what might be effective ways of working. It is empowering and encouraging.

Facilitation is a bit like working with the energy of a lively river - regulating speed and depth of flow, navigating through turbulence, and confronting areas of stagnation and blockage. It works always with the here and now to improve the way the river flows. In contrast, a story (content) is usually about what I believe happened to me in the past, or what I am afraid will happen to me in the future. Both kinds of story leave me feeling powerless or overwhelmed - and tend to repeat over and over.

The main benefit of process facilitation is being able to disengage from these repeating stories. It brings relief from suffering, enhancing your capacity to live more fully and productively, and to have better relationships with others. It is a process of learning to heal yourself. The capacity arises to dwell in two realms at once - the inner realm and the outer realm - which brings a sense of groundedness, calm and confidence. Plus excitement.

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Martyn is currently at Healium on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. To book a session, click here.