One To One Processing
One to one processing is about being present with another and supporting that person being present to him/herself. There have been several things written about one to one processing but ultimately it is about being present in much the same way as we as healers are present to someone when we are doing bodywork. Hazrat Inayat Khan says that presence is the most powerful practice that we can do. For when we are present we invoke that other Presence. In One To One processing as in bodywork, it is that Presence which brings forth both the the Healer and the Remedy.
The need for individual processing can occur in any one of the five domains of human experience or the five bodies as Hazrat Inayat Khan calls them. The words that individuals use when they begin to talk are the indicator of which domain is in need for processing is arising. The language of the physical body is often aches and pains, the Emotional body speaks in feelings, ideas and beliefs are in the realm of the mental body and relationship and connection are the expression of the Moral Body. The language of the spirit calls to Essence and to the emptiness and fullness of space. In our work, we support an individual’s exploration and finding their own way and their own conclusions. We don’t analyze, interpret or do reflective listening. We listen with an open heart and the wisdom and vibration of the heart. It is what differentiates what we do from therapy.
It is by listening to their own process that people discover the voice that “constantly cometh from within.” The inner guidance that is the wellspring of every soul.
We are present to another and we help them to focus on what is going on and to allow the inner process to unfold guided by their own Spirit. We might see an avenue for inquiry but the client is the one who decides whether or not to pursue it.
Our stance as Healers is to be present in our hearts without judgement and without giving advice or sharing our opinions or realizations. In doing supervision, I am often asked by people what they should do with what comes through to them while the process is going on. As we progress, we will open to many kinds of inner revelations. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate revelation from projection. Revelation opens as an outgrowth of intuition and is a wonderful support for our work as healers. A client may or may not be ready for what we see. Projection is something from our own unconscious that we attribute to someone else. We hold what comes on the inner and let it inform us. What the person discovers for themselves is of a lot more value to them than anything we can tell them no matter how evolved we are. No one is able to hear what they are not ready to hear. If we hold our inner realizations, we may activate something in the other person. If we tell them that they need to eat more broccoli, they may or may not accept that. More important, we could be wrong even if we feel that what is coming is from a stream of guidance.
The question often arises as to how we can differentiate what we see or our projections from what is happening for the client. I generally start all of my sessions by becoming present in all of my bodies and then my heart. That is my basic practice for distinguishing what is me from what is not me. It then becomes easier to know what is the client’s. Often, I have to let go of my suppositions, concepts and what I think that I know. Guidance has a way of opening in ways I didn’t think of or couldn’t imagine. There is more of a danger of thinking that we “know” as we gain experience and realization. Those of us who have a professional identity in one of the healing arts, especially as therapists often find ourselves blocked by our knowledge and self perception which is in the realm of the ego and not of the Spirit.
Healing work is always geared to supporting people to discover their own process, their own solutions and to be grounded in their own Being. Ultimately we are supporting people learning to trust themselves and the stream of inner healing and guidance that comes from being present to oneself and to the inner process that leads to the wisdom of the Essential Being that lives in all of us.
By Mahdiah Jacobs Kahn