M Y A P P R O A C H
Psycho-spiritual Integration Sessions.
PLEASE NOTE: These sessions are best suited for those who already have a committed spiritual practice. These are not therapy sessions but are more akin to the work of a Spiritual Friend or Spiritual Director, as I am primarily a committed spiritual practitioner who shares what I’ve learned in my own explorations.
It's not possible to know in advance what anyone’s spiritual and soul practice is meant to be. It’s a discovery — a deep engagement with a process to find out what works. I enter into that discovery process with those I mentor, because it’s only in the doing that we can know what is beneficial. I take the role of a spiritual friend, for I’ve found that it is in friendship that the deepest exchanges can occur, and from my own experience, I’ve discovered how important it is to find the right person to engage with in deep soul work. The only way I know to find this out is to begin. This is how we can know if a relationship feels fruitful. We can’t know just through the mind.
To me, what’s most important is to support others in locating guidance within themselves. I feel fortunate that I discovered this inner guidance after years of searching for outer guidance. I know the story of that for myself, and there are some things I can share about how it works. It’s about how to locate something inside of ourselves that’s not from the mind that provides an inner direction where we don’t need to rely on words, on other people, on dogmas or traditions. We contact our own unique access to guidance — spiritual guidance that we can follow and trust.
This is a specific inner capacity I believe people can develop if they look in the right place, and I can suggest places to look inside. I know about the obstacles to this process, at least a good number of them. I share what I’ve learned about how to search, how to sense when guidance is close, and how to navigate the obstacles. It’s a bit like navigating down a river and dealing with the rapids when they’re turbulent. Knowing where to rest. Knowing about the cycles of things and learning about our own cycles. So there’s quite a bit involved.
There are practices that allow us to rest with not knowing so that we can receive guidance from a place we don’t control. We learn to trust that if we can relax and be open, we can receive, and there are simple meditation practices that help with this. One practice that works well for me is paying attention to how my body feels. The signs my body gives me are more trustworthy than the words that I think. For example, if we feel anxiety in the chest, this can be a doorway to know ourselves better, and this requires that we learn to trust being with our experience, even when it’s unpleasant. This means working with anxiety, working with confusion. These everyday experiences of life can be used as valuable portals to our inner guidance.
Working with our dreams is another powerful and fascinating way to open to deep parts of ourselves. We can learn the language of our own dreams, not someone else’s interpretations. Dreams can be great teachers if we open to them in a fresh way, and over the years, I’ve worked with them extensively. It’s a powerful form of inner guidance.
Engaging with these processes requires trust. It isn’t a casual thing. A deep yearning is needed to explore this, because we are entering into mystery and into not knowing. It’s not fantasy — this work needs discernment. It requires a precision that is heartfelt, where we can learn some fundamental things about ourselves. It's not always easy, and so discouragement often gets in the way. This is where a spiritual friend can be especially valuable, encouraging us to look into the experience of being discouraged, which is a natural response to wanting to go deeper and to grow.
These sessions offer support and encouragement to spend time learning the skills needed to see the nature of our inner life, our inner landscape. Then we develop confidence that we know the landmarks. It’s not imagining landmarks, but directly feeling them to be true in us. We become familiar with them. They don’t evaporate just because we lose our balance. When we come back, we notice the landmarks are still there, and with this we develop faith in them. We come to trust that once we settle down, they will be there.
FREE INTRODUCTORY SESSION.
I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation for us to feel into whether it is a fit for us to work together, or if there is someone I could refer you to who would be a better fit for you. Just send me a brief note about your spirtual practice and what draws you to work with me at this time, along with your time zone, and I will email you with some options for meeting.
It's not possible to know in advance what anyone’s spiritual and soul practice is meant to be. It’s a discovery — a deep engagement with a process to find out what works. I enter into that discovery process with those I mentor, because it’s only in the doing that we can know what is beneficial. I take the role of a spiritual friend, for I’ve found that it is in friendship that the deepest exchanges can occur, and from my own experience, I’ve discovered how important it is to find the right person to engage with in deep soul work. The only way I know to find this out is to begin. This is how we can know if a relationship feels fruitful. We can’t know just through the mind.
To me, what’s most important is to support others in locating guidance within themselves. I feel fortunate that I discovered this inner guidance after years of searching for outer guidance. I know the story of that for myself, and there are some things I can share about how it works. It’s about how to locate something inside of ourselves that’s not from the mind that provides an inner direction where we don’t need to rely on words, on other people, on dogmas or traditions. We contact our own unique access to guidance — spiritual guidance that we can follow and trust.
This is a specific inner capacity I believe people can develop if they look in the right place, and I can suggest places to look inside. I know about the obstacles to this process, at least a good number of them. I share what I’ve learned about how to search, how to sense when guidance is close, and how to navigate the obstacles. It’s a bit like navigating down a river and dealing with the rapids when they’re turbulent. Knowing where to rest. Knowing about the cycles of things and learning about our own cycles. So there’s quite a bit involved.
There are practices that allow us to rest with not knowing so that we can receive guidance from a place we don’t control. We learn to trust that if we can relax and be open, we can receive, and there are simple meditation practices that help with this. One practice that works well for me is paying attention to how my body feels. The signs my body gives me are more trustworthy than the words that I think. For example, if we feel anxiety in the chest, this can be a doorway to know ourselves better, and this requires that we learn to trust being with our experience, even when it’s unpleasant. This means working with anxiety, working with confusion. These everyday experiences of life can be used as valuable portals to our inner guidance.
Working with our dreams is another powerful and fascinating way to open to deep parts of ourselves. We can learn the language of our own dreams, not someone else’s interpretations. Dreams can be great teachers if we open to them in a fresh way, and over the years, I’ve worked with them extensively. It’s a powerful form of inner guidance.
Engaging with these processes requires trust. It isn’t a casual thing. A deep yearning is needed to explore this, because we are entering into mystery and into not knowing. It’s not fantasy — this work needs discernment. It requires a precision that is heartfelt, where we can learn some fundamental things about ourselves. It's not always easy, and so discouragement often gets in the way. This is where a spiritual friend can be especially valuable, encouraging us to look into the experience of being discouraged, which is a natural response to wanting to go deeper and to grow.
These sessions offer support and encouragement to spend time learning the skills needed to see the nature of our inner life, our inner landscape. Then we develop confidence that we know the landmarks. It’s not imagining landmarks, but directly feeling them to be true in us. We become familiar with them. They don’t evaporate just because we lose our balance. When we come back, we notice the landmarks are still there, and with this we develop faith in them. We come to trust that once we settle down, they will be there.
FREE INTRODUCTORY SESSION.
I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation for us to feel into whether it is a fit for us to work together, or if there is someone I could refer you to who would be a better fit for you. Just send me a brief note about your spirtual practice and what draws you to work with me at this time, along with your time zone, and I will email you with some options for meeting.
Free Introductory consultation.
I offer mentoring for anyone serious about the spiritual path.
In addition, I offer mentoring on the development of dissertations or books related to my specialty areas.
In addition, I offer mentoring on the development of dissertations or books related to my specialty areas.
Copyright © 2018 by Frank Echenhofer