Moving in Sessions Leaves Us More Powerful
I was excited to read Yoni Kallai’s posting asking for people’s experience in consistently using action in sessions.* Yoni says, “I have noticed that most of my sessions do not involve action.” I think this is true for the majority of Co-Counselors.
I have been Co-Counseling for almost thirty-five years. Because of my particular patterns, that has meant many hours of sitting—a factor in my sedentary life. Sitting is not a built-in aspect of RC; it is the way I allowed patterns to slip in. The more I insist on moving and being active in sessions, the more flexible and agile I am. I also have significantly fewer pains and discomfort in my lower body. My body, mind, and emotions are a unit, one affecting the other. Moving my body in sessions brings up the tiredness for discharge, and it needs to be discharged.
A few years ago, because of an injury, I began sitting even in demonstrations. As a result, most people in our Community followed my lead. We became what I refer to as a “lazy” Community. I have been trying to change that.
Coming into sessions and assuming the position and attitude of relaxation and “relief” (“finally I can sit down, finally I don’t have to do anything, finally things are on my terms”) can prevent us from deciding and acting to arrange for more relaxation and free time in the rest of our lives. And moving in sessions (when it doesn’t restimulate exhaustion) seems to put most of us in touch with a sense of power that doesn’t often come in inactive sessions. I’ve noticed that we leave such sessions more alive and more determined to keep our attention on our goals. There is a sense of having recharged our batteries.
Margie Doyle-Papadopoulou
Kantza, Greece
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion
list for RC Community members
1 Family work is the application of Re-evaluation Counseling to the particular situations of young people, and families with young children. It entails young people and adults (both parents and allies) interacting in ways that allow the young people to show and be themselves and not be dominated by the adults.
2 “Special time” is an activity, developed in RC family work, during which an adult puts a young person in full charge of their mutual relationship, as far as the young person can think. For a specific period of time, the adult lets the young person know that he or she is willing to do anything the young person wants to do. The adult focuses his or her entire attention on the young person and follows his or her lead, whether the young person tells, or simply shows, the adult what she or he wants to do. Adults can also give “special time” to each other, following these general guidelines.
3 “Hanging out” means spending relaxed, unstructured time.
4 An “X-Zylo” is a type of flying toy.
5 A “physical session” is a session in which a counselor, who has been trained to do it, provides aware and thoughtful physical resistance for a client to push and fight against.