Going places together

Another week of the Mutual Awaking seminar. This week I did the class exercise an additional two times outside of the course. The exercise attempts to bring two people into the same collective space of consciousness. It works like this: There are two people, first one says “I’m experiencing…” finishing that statement with whatever they want, over and over again, for ten minutes, while the other listens in silence. Then the other does the same while the first listens. Then they alternate, saying “We experience…” for ten minutes. Yes, that sounds a bit strange, and I can’t say definitely that anything psychic happens, but it can be a pretty cool exercise.

While you can probably do it in person, I have always done it over the phone, with my eyes closed. I find that I just follow my intuition and say whatever comes into my head. If I’m not the first, I start by feeding off of things the other person says. The first time, the other person started out being very concrete, just talking about what was around them: Sights, sounds, the feel of the sun, and so on. When it was my turn, I started out talking about what I was seeing in my mind’s eye: Bright yellows and greens, among other things. But later on I talked about seeing the other person sitting in shadow. I didn’t think much of that at the time, but later the person mentioned that while I was talking they had moved inside. I thought that was kind of cool.

When we got to the “we” portion, we started to build a shared “imagining.” I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I started with a beach and we both kept adding to it with more details and events. Eventually night fell and the starts came out and we ended up with something glorious!

I did the exercise again, a short while later, with someone else. I noticed, right off the bat, how different the experience was. We both commented afterwards that the “shared space” felt completely different each time we did it. The more times I do it the the cooler it gets. Maybe I’m getting better at it. If nothing else, it’s a really cool way to stimulate shared creativity. If I was a visual artist, I would try and capture some of the images I see in these sessions. As it is, I will just have to remember them.

It doesn’t always work out so well. One time, last week, I was paired with someone who mumbled through their portion, and I couldn’t understand a word they said. Then, when we got to the “we” portion, I said “We are experiencing…” and the response ways “No we’re not.” I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, and the other person had nothing either and we just waited out the rest of the time. I think it’s kind of sad, that person spent a lot of money on the seminar and wasn’t willing try and get any value out of it. On the other hand, I was probably that person ten years ago, so, perhaps they are just beginning their own journey.

On a positive note, I started my hypnotherapy training today. Fun, a little confronting, but I plan to make it all worth it. I fumbled through my practice sessions like a rank beginner, but that’s alright, it’s my first day. And hypnosis is pretty forgiving, especially when you are working with experienced and cooperative people. We are a class of five people, and I expect we will know each other pretty well four months from now. There’s a lot of tricks to get under my belt, but I’m not worried. I have time.