Approaches to Change
What does it mean to truly change? What causes change to sometimes be refreshing and satisfying, and at other times frightening and painful?
One idea we can start with is that change involves working with Patterns - in individuals, in cultures, and in ecosystems. All patterns can either be disrupted or sustained, based on what other forces are acting on them.
For change to be healthy, it must strike a balance between disrupting patterns that are out of balance or no longer serve us, with preserving the patterns that currently play an important role in our lives, or are somehow essential to our identity. Too much pattern disruption, especially of the kind which threatens our core values or self concept, can lead to physical, emotional, or existential crises. Too much of a focus on maintaining patterns can lead to stagnation, apathy, and fear of new experiences.
To be an effective change agent, whether in the field of Coaching, Bodywork, or Creative Exploration, a practitioner must fully accept and appreciate where a client is at, right now. This doesn’t mean condoning any particular behaviors, but it does mean embracing where they’re at, and helping them examine the consequences that accompany their current patterns. Only by fully acknowledging where we are at in our lives and why, can we make space for true change to occur.
A core value of Anima Mundi is to treat each human being’s experience as valid and important, and also to acknowledge their innate capacity for exploring new experiences, postures, and behaviors. Coming back to this intention again and again gives the client direct and satisfying opportunities to move from where they currently are to where they want to be.
Whether these are physical, mental and emotional, or spiritual patterns, this fundamental process is usually the same, it’s only the methods and mediums that differ. Change can be approached both Strategically, and Creatively, and we use both of these approaches to help each client focus all of their inner and outer resources towards their personal evolution.
Of all of our modalities, Craniosacral Therapy, Ericksonian Hypnosis, and Somatic Coaching offer the most equal balance between Strategic and Creative approaches.
Strategic Change
Many organizations, coaches and other change agents approach personal growth and development in a strategic and technical way which helps people move toward their goals. This is an essential part of the work we do, and the science of change and growth is an endlessly fascinating and profound field of work.
In addition to being a rational and methodical process, a key quality of Strategic Change is it's directness - by and large, we’re trying to make something specific happen. From a Bodywork perspective, this might be the intention to lengthen a bicep muscle, work out a shoulder knot, or help balance tilted hip posture. From a Coaching perspective, it might involve learning to communicate more effectively with a loved one, or overcoming procrastination.
In either case, we would work to create change through the following steps:
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Assessment: identifying the current pattern
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Planning: mapping out the change that needs to happen (in what order, what techniques will be most helpful etc)
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Application: Putting the techniques to work with the person and guiding them into a new experience
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Integrating: repeating this process consistently until it becomes their new primary pattern
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Completing: acknowledging when this new pattern is stable enough that we can conclude our formal work together or shift our focus to something different.
While I rely on both Strategic and Creative tools in all of my work, the Strategic approach is most prominent in Structural Massage and Bodywork, Integral Coaching Programs, and Project Development Coaching.
Creative Change
Change as an art is nonlinear, open ended, indirect and often playful. If the Strategic/technical dimension of change is like fitness training - building muscles, flexibility and coordination in support of health goals, then the Art dimension is like a dance - it may strengthen similar capacities, but the beauty and power of the dance cannot be reduced to the movements of the dancer. As with any art form, the technique is a vehicle for discovering and expressing greater depth, insight, freedom and connection. It’s not simply conscious change, because it also taps into the wild and transformative powers of the unconscious.
In Strategic approaches, change often begins with a conscious intention and targeted new behaviors that eventually grow into unconscious habits and experiences.
In Artistic approaches, the change begins as a new unconscious pattern which then emerges into consciousness.
In practice this can look like:
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Inviting spontaneous new sensations, movements, and postures in the body to begin to express themselves (either in manual or movement therapies)
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Entering Creative Trance States which give rise to symbolic images, forgotten memories and dreams which can give birth to new behaviors and experiences.
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Confronting new and challenging life situations - in other words, stepping into the unknown and discovering how one can spontaneously respond.
While I rely on both Creative and Strategic tools in all of my work, the Creative approach is most prominent in Somatic Healing, Reiki, Journeying, and Transpersonal Breathwork.
Domains of Change
Whatever our approach to change, it's important to acknowledge that growth, development, as well as disruption and loss can happen in many different domains of our life as human beings. The areas I'm describing here are not meant to be all encompassing, but point to the areas of a person's experience that we work to deliberately acknowledge support.
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Patterns of Body
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Patterns of Mind
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Patterns of Essence
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Systemic Patterns
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Relational Patterns
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Shadow Patterns
Each of these domains will be explored in depth in future articles and videos on our Resources page.
The key point is that each of these areas overlap and can be worked with simultaneously, but they each require a different approach to address their unique challenges and needs
Massage and Bodywork attends most directly to the Body domain
Coaching focuses heavily on the domains of Mind, Systems, and Relationships
Creativity connects most deeply with Patterns of Essence and Shadow.
Group Work and Training creates opportunities to explore the Relational Domain even more deeply.
It is my hope that working with an awareness of these domains can optimally support clients who want to develop new skills or heal painful patterns in their life do so as efficiently and effectively as possible.