3. Going Within

I have been asked how I work with people to "go within" and I would like to share what I do with my clients.

Going within is certainly a new experience for many. To begin, it is critical for my clients to ask the Part of themselves that generates unwanted responses, "What do you want?"

I also ask my clients to quiet their conscious mind. The conscious mind will want to respond, but it doesn't know the answer. It is important to quiet the internal dialogue and be open to the answers emerging from within, from the place that knows.

I then instruct my clients to take all the time they need to find the answer within. When they have the answer, I ask that they share that with me. 

This works close to 95% of the time. If my client does whatever they can to quiet their conscious mind yet cannot, I never want to create an inner conflict, so I acknowledge that the conscious mind is has a deeper underlying purpose and positive intention. We thank the Part for being there and ask, “Through being here, wanting to understand at the conscious mind level, what do you want?" 

Often, the answer is right there, and the Part wants something like 'control', for instance. We thank the Part for its response and invite it to step into what it is to have control. Either I will continue to work with this Part to get to the Core State of what it has wanted. I help the person recognize that they have a way to get their answers from within.

An important key is to recognize that when we have a behavior and response that we want to change at the logical level, but cannot, this is an indication that it is generated by the unconscious mind, whose job it is to try to generate adaptive/survival mechanisms. We will not have success in trying to force them away. They will only hold on tighter. 

Here is an example from my own life: the first time I tried to meditate. I was in Chicago and went to a Zen teacher who was leading a group to learn meditation. When he asked us to quiet our conscious mind, I felt a sense of terror. The thought came to me: "Who am I if I don't have my thoughts." It took me a while to let go that sense of terror and realize that I was okay and actually felt much more peaceful without my thoughts.

I have since learned the *Core Transformation process, which is the basis for what I have shared today. If I would have known this process when I was learning to meditate, I would have invited the Part of me that was frightened to step into feeling a sense of my identity and I would have gone to the core state from there, helping change happen more gently and deeply.

Core Transformation is just one of the processes I use in therapy. It is extremely useful in helping to discontinue the internal struggles.

*Core Transformation as developed by Connirae and Tamara Andreas