Jenny Devine – Leadership Coach

This post explores the link between inner wisdom and imagination and what is possible for clients who guided to integrate the two.

As well as eliciting answers to specific questions, inner wisdom is also the place where Integrative Coaching clients receive clear images to deepen their insights and sharpen their perception of the reality they wish to create. Through the use of relaxation and breathing skills, the coach is able to capitalize on clients’ imagination to help them “see,” via guided imagery, the image or images that have the potential to create transformation, such as their vision for the life they wish to create.

 Rossman (UPR lecture series) describes human imagination as the most amazing gift we have. “Everything” he observes, “begins with imagination and all planning starts with imagination. From the building of skyscrapers, rockets to the moon and complex technological equipment – it all begins with imagination.”   

 Rossman comments that imagination as a function is every bit as real as our liver, and perhaps more important in some ways. He sees imagery as a two-way medium of communication between the silent, unconscious mind and the verbal conscious mind.

Rossman is highly respected in the field of guided imagery for healing and has used guided imagery with many patients, assisting them to find their own source of healing.

Green and Shellenberger (UPR lecture series) note that we use visualization all our life but don’t stop to ponder the significance of this powerful tool for problem solving, creativity, healing and all aspects of human potential  — to say nothing of getting ourselves around in the world everyday.

 “Imagery and visualization,” explain Shellenberger and Green “Are the forte of the mind. They are primary tools for thinking, remembering, planning ahead and problem solving.” It seems that they are also essential for normal psychological and social development. Schellenberger and Green refer to a Harvard University researcher, Jerome Singer, who found that children with rich fantasy lives are better adjusted and less hyperactive than children who cannot fantasize.

We know that imagery is the language of the body; whether we imagine biting into a juicy lemon, running from a vicious dog, falling off a high cliff, making love or living the life of our dreams, although we do these things in fantasy, the body responds in proportion to the richness of the images and their emotional impact. (Shellenberger and Green, UPR lecture series)

 My experience in Integrative Coaching is that once clients open themselves to inner wisdom, then the imagination begins to be activated and they receive the gifts of creative insight. Responses, whether they are received as a word, a symbol, an image, an emotion, or a “movie preview of life to come,” all invite clients to experience a much deeper “soul-like” reality than they have ever experienced before; a reality of much greater clarity and vividness.

Hollis (1996) observes that we may stand in relationship to soul only through the imaginal world of the psyche, whether conscious or not, comprehensible or not. This is the reality that I experience with clients and have experienced personally. When we are open to possibility the psyche opens itself to us; when we open to that possibility we are drawn in.

As Willis W. Harman, the late president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences commented, “Most people are living in the periphery of consciousness and intuition invites us right into the centre.” (Cited in Emery, 2001, p.3).

References

Emery, Marcia. Powerhunch! Living an Intuitive Life (Oregon, Beyond Words Publishing, 2001)

Hollis, James, Swamplands of the Soul (Toronto. Inner City Books, 1996)

Rossman, Martin. Essentials of Mind-Body Medicine Lecture Series (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research).

Shellenberger, R and Green, J. Self Regulation: The Foundation of Human Potential Lecture Series. (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research)

Psychologist and professor Dr Marcia Emery has been in the business of putting people back in touch with their intuitive powers for some time. In her book Powerhunch: Living an Intuitive Life Emery gives many examples of people in the business arena using what she terms “intuition” to achieve success in their lives. “Intuition” comments Emery, “is your inner advisor and counselor, an oracle-to-go that you can access anywhere, anytime, day or night…” (Emery, 2001, p.21) She believes that intuition is a real force in every human psyche — the inner spark that ignites vision, creativity and inspiration.

 [It is worth noting at his point, that there are many names for what Emery and others refer to as intuition and what Integrative Coaching refers to as inner wisdom. Terms I have heard people use and have read about include: inner consultant, inner colleague, inner friend, inner guide, inner counselor, higher consciousness, greater consciousness, higher Self, essence, illuminator, source, big mind, subconscious, creative mind, right brain… and I’m sure there are many more. It is my belief that we are referring to the same concept; we are accessing a part of the psyche that is beyond everyday ego consciousness and beyond the storehouse of memories within the personal unconscious. I believe that we are accessing what Jung termed the Self.]

 Although Emery believes in the power of intuition, she is a “whole brain” advocate and honors logic and intuition as necessary companions. Logic, she believes, helps us organize and assess the forest of information in which we live, while intuition ignites the visions and insights that inspire and awaken the highest within us.

 This is an interesting point. One does wonder how the intellect and intuition work together. When does one end and the other take over, I often wonder?  Dr Jonas Salk tells us that the intuitive mind will tell the thinking mind where to look next. I find this an apt description for what I’ve observed and experienced in the Integrative Coaching process. The client receives information and processes at an intellectual and perhaps intuitive level, then the intuitive mind will do just as Dr Salk describes and tell the thinking mind where to look or, as I see it, what to do next.

 I particularly enjoy and find useful Emery’s advice regarding accessing intuition. Here are some of her “power keys”: (Adapted from Emery’s UPR Lecture Series)

• Be aware of physical sensations in the body, the intuitive antenna
• Honor flashes and hunches and record them
• Express hunches concisely in a word or two; the intuitive mind is brief and to the point as opposed to the logical mind which is verbal and detailed
• The intuitive mind speaks in symbols, pictures and images
• Freely associate to the imagery you receive- keep making associations until the “a-ha” comes.
• Pay attention to first impressions — our hunches are usually right
• Attend to the faint stirrings as well as loud raps.
• Relaxation enhances receptivity-relax whenever we can

Finally, Emery slices a hefty sword through the idea that accessing internal wisdom is a deeply intense and serious business. “Have fun and be playful courting the intuitive self” she muses. “Let the intuitive prankster march right onto the scene by bringing mirth and hilarity into the situation. It is this levity that opens the intuitive mind.” (UPR lecture series) 

References

Emery, Marcia Intuition in Business  Lecture Series (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research)

 Emery, Marcia. Powerhunch! Living an Intuitive Life (Oregon, Beyond Words Publishing, 2001)

This post continues with an exploration into the tools required to access inner wisdom; these include mastery over one’s breathing and the ability to enter into a relaxed physical and mental state.

In Dr Martin Rossman’s lectures (UPR)  in “Essentials of Mind Body Medicine,” he comments that the combination of breathing and relaxation is one of the most profound medical interventions he’s ever seen in more than 27 years of medical practice and six years of training. “If I was only allowed one technique or prescription,” comments Rossman, “it would be to teach people to get into a relaxed state; to let the body and mind enter into a quiet pleasant state.”  Rossman believes relaxation clears the mind and opens it up to new ideas, possibilities and ways of solving old problems. It allows us to draw on our intuition and creativity to help us move in the direction we want to go.

As a yoga teacher who understands the powerful benefits of the appropriately used breath to influence health and well-being, I spend an extra few minutes in my coaching sessions ensuring that my clients are breathing deeply and fully, using the breath to relax their bodies, and bring them into present moment awareness thus helping them to more profoundly access their place of inner wisdom.

Indian sage, Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras outlined an eight limbed path in yoga for achieving ultimate union with the Divine. The fourth limb of this path is termed prananyama and is known as the path for controlling breath and vital energy. The base word prana in this term means life force, which human beings receive directly into the body through many ways, but particularly via air.

In psychotherapist and yogi Stephen Cope’s book, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self he outlines how yogis discovered an interpenetrating and underlying subtle form of reality in the body replete with thousands of invisible channels or nadis, through which this prana flows, energizing and sustaining all parts of the physical and energy structure. Yogis believe this energy body is deeply intelligent; thus, in prana, inheres the intelligence of life itself.  As yogis learned to experience the energy body directly and to map the flow of its major currents, explains Cope, they made another fascinating discovery: the breath has an immediate impact on the flow of prana through the nadis. More than anything else, it is breathing that builds and regulates the flow of prana in the body.

References

Cope, Stephen. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (New York. Bantam Books, 2000)

Rossman, Martin. Essentials of Mind-Body Medicine Lecture Series (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research).

Continuing with the discussion of the ego-self axis that is accelerated by the process of Integrative Coaching, we are reminded by Jungian psychologist, Lionel Corbett, that Eastern traditions, have always been aware of the transpersonal level of the psyche, long before Jung helped introduce the idea into Western psychology, of the interpenetration at two levels.

Witter Bynner in his introduction to The Way of Life: According to Lao Tzu comments that while most of us, as we use life, try to open the universe to ourselves, the eastern philosopher, LaoTzu, opened himself to the universe. “There is no need to run outside for better seeing, ”said Lao Tzu,“ or to peer from a window. Rather abide at the centre of your being; for the more you leave it, the less you learn. Search your heart and see if he is wise who takes each turn: The way to do is to be.” (Bynner, 1994, p.55)

I am particularly fond of these words by Lao Tzu. “Being” rather than “doing” feels like the eternal challenge for us in this world obsessed with doing and I might add, with having. How can we just “be”? When we access the Self I believe we experience “being,” and at least in that moment of time, we understand that “being” is enough, as we experience the comfort, peace and ease that accompanies the journey into Self.

The Indian sage, Sri Aurobindo (2003) tells us that the transcendent Self in individual man is as complete because (it is) identically the same as the Transcendent Self in the universe “In this way the Absolute which would otherwise be beyond knowledge, becomes knowable; and the man who knows his whole Self knows the whole Universe.”(p.16)

Jung believed it was human’s task to become conscious of the contents that press upwards from the unconscious. “Neither should he persist in his unconsciousness, nor remain identical with the unconscious elements in his being, thus evading his destiny, which is to create more and more consciousness. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. It may even be assumed that just as the unconscious affects us, so the increase in our consciousness affects the unconscious.” (Cited in Edinger, 1984, p.57).

Jung seemed clear that we have an obligation to become conscious of the unconscious; and by doing so our increased consciousness may in turn affect the unconscious. As each Integrative Coaching client connects to internal wisdom, the very act of the connection, of opening to the wider consciousness, may in turn affect the wider consciousness itself; each part affecting the whole, and the whole affecting each part.

References

Bynner, Witter (translator). The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu (New York, Capricorn Books, 1994)

Corbett, Lionel, M.D. A New Myth of God: Religious Function of the Psyche  Lecture Series (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research)

Edinger, Edward.F The Creation of Consciousness: Jung’s Myth for the Modern Man (Toronto, Inner City Books, 1984)

In the previous post I described how one of my clients had observed her ego’s tendency to be negative and disruptive.  However, several weeks later as I coached the same client through Session 14 of the 16 week programme, she commented that she was now aware of and accepting of this potential within her for negative mental chatter. Through observing the “chatter” she had come to the conclusion that it was based on fear of change but  she no longer found that this negativity obstructed or blocked her from moving forward with her action steps as she worked to put her goal into motion.

This illustrates to me that at the same time clients are exploring their relationship with Self, they are able to explore their ego nature, to observe it and come to know it more fully.  As these two structures or archetypes are explored, sometimes separately and sometimes simultaneously, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, a relationship inevitably begins to form between the two.

As the individual is supported and nurtured by the coach, so, in fact, is the ego. As clients take more responsibility for their life and begin to live in integrity, the mask of their persona can be lowered. They become increasingly more courageous at thinking, speaking and acting in ways that are aligned to their own inner values. The structure of the program provides safety and security for this usually fragile ego, assuring it that it is not facing annihilation, although certainly it may experience that it is facing a power shift!

The tangible nature of the action steps that transpire from each internal exercise and which move the client closer towards achieving their goals and living the life that they desire, can be supportive for the ego, providing it with tangible goals to achieve and a necessarily supportive structure. Perhaps it is not such a stretch then, to believe that, eventually the ego may be on track to understanding what my University of Philosophical Research Professor, Michele Papen Daniels, once described as its true role, that it is to be in the service of Self, in the way that the Self wishes to transform. (Papen Daniel, UPR lecture Series)  

As I reviewed Jung’s archetypes  I became increasingly clear that Integrative Coaching begins a dialogic relationship between ego and Self that, for the majority of clients, would not have taken place before. Each time the client explores the wisdom and “being” of the Self, or what we term internal wisdom in each internal exercise, and takes action in the world, the client is also able to explore the ego and in the process, strengthen the resiliency of the ego. It is possible that this sets the client’s ego on a path where it may eventually understand that its true role, ultimately, is to be of service to Self.

References

Papen Daniel, Michele. Alchemy and Psychotherapy Lecture Series,  2006 (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research)