First SKHM Workshop in Spain - Page
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Pedro: ‘My wife and I didn’t
experience an initiation, we don’t know why, but nevertheless
I would like to make it clear that for me, the feeling of love
and union within the group from the first moment was something
marvellous.’
Pilar: ‘For me this has been a really powerful experience
beyond what I thought possible in 2 days. I would like to deeply
thank everyone who was there, those who supported me and those
that let me support them. And above all, thanks to the Universe
for having given me this opportunity to find myself and reconcile
myself with what is inside me.’
Everyone responds to the SKHM energy differently. For some
people, there is a very peaceful and intense experience of joy.
For others, as the energy comes in, it hits areas of tension
or blockage, where painful emotions or memories are held within
the body. The energy helps these blockages to shift, and the
pain to be released.
Katja: ‘In the workshop, I felt a union with the universe,
and saw a bright, pure, divine light coming down and surrounding
me. My whole body was filled by this brilliant light, and I
felt as if I was floating and flying, being connected to the
earth by my feet and to heaven by my head.
It was a wonderful and peaceful moment, and it was as if the
universe were showing me the path to release the emotional blocks,
how to liberate my body and soul of all the emotions accumulated
in years. The energy was touching deeper and deeper levels,
and I was able to cry, to let go of the tears.’
The act of opening oneself to the energy, and allowing it to
enter, may be enough to enable that pain to be transformed and
healed. More often, though, the person feels a sudden surge
of intensely upsetting or disturbing emotions, and needs help
to be able to express them.
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Silvia: ‘I have to
thank the group of Masters there; Patrick, Michael, Graham
and Teresa who made me feel protected amongst so much fear,
pain, shame and sadness. And of course those others who
helped, giving me their support, and caring.’ |
Various techniques are used in SKHM classes to assist people
in this process of bringing buried painful feelings to the surface.
Expressing pain is just one part of healing. It is the vital
first step. For some people, who have held that pain deep within
for a long time, it can take a lot of effort and work to even
begin to express it. Many of us find it difficult to get in
contact with our emotions. We just don’t know how. Some
have become so used to pushing them out of their conscious awareness
that they have difficulty feeling anything at all; they become
numb, in an attempt to protect themselves from further suffering.
Focussing into the body, allowing oneself to feel what sensations
and tensions exist in particular areas of the body, is an important
technique for becoming more aware of one’s inner reality.
Breathing into that area, sending sound vibrations into it,
and allowing the part of the body to make its own sounds, are
all powerful ways of shifting emotional energy. Once a person
brings his consciousness fully to the area that is holding emotional
pain, s/he can feel what’s truly there.
Silvia: ‘One of the Masters came to me and I am sure
that he knew that there was still something to come out. I began
to feel menaced again, frightened and I hit him, it was only
for a moment, but I felt awful. I have never been aggressive
and have never hit anyone. I tried to run away, to find a corner,
I felt really ashamed. They brought me down to the floor again
and I felt I was shrinking again and crying, but that ended
when Graham hugged me.’
Crying, shouting, or screaming often occurs within a SKHM workshop,
as people are suddenly able to express what exists inside themselves.
Again, this can be disturbing for people who are used to strictly
containing their emotions and upset. But for each individual,
the feelings of others act as a trigger for his or her own feelings.
It can be extremely enlightening to find out why you are affected
in some way by someone else’s emotion – it often
means that somewhere, within yourself, that same emotion is
waiting to be expressed. A kind of knock-on effect can occur,
where various people are each triggering other people’s
unresolved emotional issues. This is one reason why emotional
processing within a group setting can be so powerful.
Likewise, feelings of joy and love that are experienced as the
energy comes in are also magnified many times. The group energy
is far stronger than each individual could experience alone.
As Patrick writes: ‘The energy increases exponentially
with each person present in the group.’
Expressing pain is the first step towards healing
it, but an understanding of the origin of those feelings is
also necessary. Once feelings have been acknowledged and expressed,
they need to be explored. The next stage therefore is to help
the person to find the meaning of that pain, when and how it
first arose, what personal significance it has for the individual.
Graham: ‘I was helping someone, and I suddenly felt
the pain in her heart, and I started to cry, partly for her,
and partly for me. Then I lay on the floor, and started sobbing
and my body started to jerk uncontrollably. I became aware that
I was feeling upset because a close friend of mine was going
back to England, but then I realised that the sense of loss
was also related to the death of my father many years ago. In
both situations, I was feeling that they were about to leave
me and I felt helpless to do anything about it.’
Tracing present emotions back to their origins in the past is
the most difficult part of emotional processing work, and the
one that requires the most skill on the part of the facilitator.
It involves setting up a conscious verbal dialogue with the
felt pain, so that the pain of the present can be followed back
to its roots in the past. As with any body-centred psychotherapeutic
technique, it takes a lot of practice.
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