My take on Compassionate Inquiry
Inquiring into inquiry...
Compassionate Inquiry is truly an art like tight rope walking, have you tried it? You must strongly desire and intend to arrive at the other side of the rope, while also listening inwardly, receiving for balance here.
Inquiry- to have a question one must be curious, open and listening, which is courageous.
Compassion- to see, allow and be with. I allow you pain while BELIEVING IN you, I'm not worried, this is what Gabor calls fierce compassion.
In the processing of deep seated unreleased emotions, my job is to skillfully help you inquire while holding your findings with fierce compassion. You practice this compassionate inquiry in your day-to-day, and along with a deep relationship with yourself, you get a new experience of the possibilities in life.
It is an honor to be with my clients, to see them, people are art. I watch beauty unfold, like a one-of-a-kind flower, a human, a unique essence becoming free to be.
I help you resolve what's in the way of you being free to fully ENJOY who you are.
When we enjoy who we are, who we are becomes even more of it, we grow. It's like our soul grows, and the joy to be and become is just the best most wonderful thing in the world.
The process
of unfolding
What we find inside may be daunting, perhaps it’s a fire of rage, or a sea of sadness, or maybe even an empty tomb of numbness. I don’t usually have clients coming in and finding oodles of joy right under the surface, hence why they are in my office. But as we practice that tight rope walking, that inquiring compassionately, we allow the floodgates of the seas to slowly open, and the fire to finally burn bright. Things get lighter, more clear.
From the outside it looks about like this:
I offer you a grounding exercise to get present and into your body, and after setting a clear intention for your session I ask you questions, you answer, or you don't, you never have to. Everything is permission based, it’s very important that you are in control of the navigation, everything I come with is an offering of inquiry with fierce compassion. I’m the co-pilot, and you’re the pilot.
Certain principles are maintained during a Compassionate Inquiry session. These are:
- The client is encouraged to bring a specific intention to each session.
- The client determines how much to engage in the session and may request to stop at any time.
- The practitioner/coach may interrupt the client during the session to bring the client into awareness of the present moment and to body sensations and emotions.
- The practitioner/coach follows the subtle cues of the client.
When we get life as a game, as in the game of basketball, we don't seek out the weakest players to whoop over and over, we enjoy when the game brings more from us than has been brought from us before. What a thrill when we are soaring along our new edge of agility and freedom, a new world of possibilities.
Who knew that pain and pleasure could be so intertwined in a process of healing? The deeper one senses, the blurrier the difference becomes, turning into just being, is-ness, truth, presence. Many words point to it, yet none are it, and there you are.
Only when compassion is present will people allow themselves to see the truth.
AH Almaas
Paying attention is the most basic and profound expression of love.
Tara Brach
