- Other deaths
- Re-education
- Resonance
One participant was a 15 year old girl. She had been vigorously fighting with her parents for a few years. She was small with short cropped hair. She dressed like a boy in a flannel shirt, baggy jeans and tennis shoes. She said her Mom and Dad were on her case all the time. We sat together on the floor. I asked her to move into this anger and we worked with that, finding that a part of her was really sad and missing them. I asked permission to talk to this part. The part consented and I got to know it more, asking about it's age, home, family and such. The part was a boy about 13 years old, living in south Los Angeles, not far from where we were sitting. He was a bystander, shot and killed by gang violence. When he died, he was very confused and hovered above the scene for awhile, trying to figure out what to do. He spotted a girl about his age and joined her. He was really missing his parents but couldn't get back to them in her body, and was sad, confused and angry. I helped him find and reconnect with his parents. They were so glad to see him, and showed their love for him. He took that in, relieved. I asked if he was ready to move on, to leave his girlfriend, his host. He protested that he was on her side, that he was her friend, helping her. I asked the two of them to talk about what they really needed and wanted. They both knew they'd be friends, but it was time for him to go.
The next time I saw her, I barely recognized her. She was dressed like a teenage girl, hair done up, and a little makeup. I asked how things were at home. She thought it was a weird question. They were good, of course. She was doing well in school, too.
Re-Education
I met the Reverend of a church and offered to work with congregants. About a dozen people showed up. We sat in a circle. I asked people to introduce themselves, guiding them successivly into Presence. The fourth person to share was a man in his 50s. I brought his attention to some tightness in his mouth. I asked him to stay with, amplify it. His arms went back, his face forward, his legs straightened. His face and breath tightened and he began to sputter. I moved to help his rigid body onto the floor. His neck tightened even more and he stopped breathing. After awhile he drew a breath and started crying. When the tears subsided he moved back into his chair. I asked if he was complete and he said yes. I moved onto the next person in the circle. When everyone had shared we took a break.
At the break I thanked him for his beautiful work and casually asked him if he knew what it was about. He said yes, he knew exactly what it was. When he was a kid he was in an accident. He was thrown into the windshield, shattering it. His entire life changed in that second. As a teen he studied and worked on it. Later he went to college and became a therapist. He had a practice in the area. He said he'd been working on this for nearly 50 years, and today it happened. He said he knew it was finally done.
Resonance
I reserved a room at the YMCA. About 10 people arrived and we sat in a circle. One guy was upset with his brother and father. He stood in the center and chose people to play his brother and father. I invited him to vent to them. As his anger rose, a seated guy got tense. His right leg went straight and rigid, then his back. This posture ejected him from his chair onto the floor. I guided him to the floor and told the others he was okay. Then I returned to the worker in the center. He struggled with the competing urges to contain and release the anger towards his family. Each movement was reflected in a spasm in the guy on the floor. This scene, the worker and role players standing and the observer twisting on the floor, continued for about 15 minutes. The people in the center returned to their seats. The guy on the floor was gulping air and described rushes of 'electricity' in his legs and hands. Eventually this subsided and he said his whole body was tingling. He was astonished by, and happy about, what had happened. He wanted to know what happened. I said 'good stuff' and offered him water.
We're all connected to each other. When something arises in one person, it can strike a similar chord in another: resonance. When these things are activated, they seek recognition and release. They are stored as 'energy cysts', if you will. When they are released, the tension that went into holding them in place dissolves and a natural flow of energy returns. Here we had a beautiful and powerful sequence of resonance, surfacing, recognition, release and the return of the natural flow of energy to his body.