Listen to Gayle reading the blog aloud.
Hello dear stunning You,
Twenty years ago, I attended a two-day public workshop on the Seven Stages of Money Maturity with George Kinder.
There were twenty or so of us in the room. I was the only financial professional. When Kinder asked why we were there, I answered:
“I can only go as far with my clients as I have gone with myself.”
With all of my personal development, my intention has always been to embody practices and teachings so that I have a direct experience of everything I might suggest to a client.
Shortly after this, I chose to attend a week-long intensive in California with nine other financial planners.
These gutsy people were my new comrades, all of us ready to change the financial planning world, one idea, one program, one project at a time.
George Kinder was there, once more, this time to train us to teach the Seven Stages workshop. When we’d registered, he’d sent us VHS tapes of material to view and memorize before the intensive. (Yep, VHS. That’s how long ago it was.) He also sent printouts to read and memorize. And instructions to read and memorize.
When this box of tapes and papers arrived, I put it all to the side. I never watched or memorized anything. My intention was not to become a perfectly certified Seven Stages instructor. I didn’t (and don’t) believe that is possible in a two-day workshop.
My intention was to experience and learn, so that I might better serve my clients along their financial journey.
Fast-forward to California… and the best and worst deep training immersion experience of my life.
The best part was meeting beautiful souls who instantly became my most cherished friends in financial planning, teachers and students alike. We were all beginning deeper and different journeys of self-discovery that took various directions, each serving this profession and our clients.
And then there was the training.
I slogged along in survival mode as George impressed upon us the correct way to teach the Seven Stages. I recognize now, from modern trauma theory, that in this dynamic, I was retraumatizing childhood wounds.
In desperation, I repeated my intention for attending this program: To learn for myself because “we can only go as far with our clients as we have gone with ourselves.”
(Back then, I added, “if I didn’t like you people, I would be on the first bus out of here!” Which, if you were there, was hilarious.)
My intention became an oft-repeated saying at trainings with financial professionals. It actually started to take on a life of its own.
And then, one of my immersion friends, Rick Kahler AKA Joe Bob (again, you had to be there), wrote an article, included my intention, and attributed it to George.
Rick is a long time CFP® practitioner, a leader in the profession, and a prolific writer and author. He’s also my friend, so I called him up and shared with him the origin story for the quote.
Fast forward to 2022, Rick is writing a chapter in a new Certified Financial Planner® Book on the subject of money and psychology.
He asked me about the quote again to verify exactly as it was spoken. One email led to another and I asked if he would like to have a live chat about the quote, and a little bit more.
Here’s what transpired. Enjoy…
To tell the truth, I’m amazed that the quote is still relevant.
I wish that by now the potential to others would be evident:
Just because we take a course, for a weekend, an evening, a year, we are NOT necessarily equipped to train or lead others.
We must be our first students, always.
We must be consumers of what we deliver.
We practice to embody the knowledge (content) and the wisdom (living teachings).
We develop new muscles – seen and unseen – strong enough to hold others.
Somatic wisdom comes from intentional practice that eventually gets into our bones, blood and biology. Embodiment means that we breathe alive authentic intelligence with each inhale and we offer wisdom with each exhale.
Our ego takes over to help, fix, support, or teach with a new idea, tool, or program. When our ego leads the way, harm can happen. Just because you understand a concept with your brain, does not mean your body and mind have integrated and digested the depth and breadth of those concepts, and that you can skillfully deliver to others.
I’ve said my peace and part.
You get to choose your developing journey and your expressions.
Choose well my friends.
Oceans of joy, and sufficiency,
Tiny Body Practice
Perceiving Five Senses
Our senses create contact with the world. I’m weirdly fascinated by my hands and touch these days. So, I am playing with this practice to expand my awareness of each of my five senses; I’m seeing how all of our senses come together naturally. Life experiences have become brighter and easier when my perception deepens through my senses.
Eyes. Ears. Nose. Mouth. Hands…the names given to our body parts we are invited to explore somatically.
If you’re curious, come play!
Preparation and Practice
- Begin in a comfortable seated posture and bring your attention to the entire felt sense of your body.
- Take three breaths to settle in your seat.
- Allow your breath to guide you inward.
- Inhale, feel the envelope of your skin.
- Exhale, and feel your eye sockets.
- Inhale, feel the envelope of your skin.
- Exhale, feel your ears.
- Inhale, feel the envelope of your skin.
- Exhale, feel your nose.
- Inhale, feel the envelope of your skin.
- Exhale, feel your mouth.
- Inhale, feel the envelope of your skin.
- Exhale, feel your hands.
Eyes. Ears. Nose. Mouth. Hands.
Let’s explore each sense.
- Sight. Look forward.
- What do you see?
- What colors and shapes are in front of you?
- What name automatically arises in your mind for what you see?
- Sound. Open your ears toward sound.
- What do you hear?
- What sounds fill the space?
- What name automatically arises in your mind for what you hear?
- Smell. Pay attention to your smell.
- What do you smell?
- What aroma moves in your nose?
- What name automatically arises in your mind for what you smell?
- Taste. Pay attention to your mouth.
- What do you taste?
- What flavor or texture fills your mouth?
- What name automatically arises in your mind for what you taste?
- Touch. Feel your hands.
- What do your hands touch?
- What pressure, temperature or movement do your hands feel?
- What name automatically arises in your mind for what you touch?
Now experiment bringing two senses together:
- Clap your hands – notice hands touching and clapping sound.
- Feel breath moving in and out of your nose. – Notice the feel of air and temperature of air moving, along with any aroma.
- Return to just sitting and being aware of your entire felt sense of your body.
What remains the same?
What has changed?
What have your learned about one of your senses?
Deepening Practice
Perceiving Our Senses
by Gayle | Feb 24, 2022
Hello dear friend,
Over ten years ago I created this Tiny Practice from an intentional experiment in the woods. I did not know there was a “real” name to describe perceiving our senses. It’s called Bodying. Bayo Akomolafe coined the term and practice; he uses it to express the wholeness of the sensorial experience of self as body. We could say a form of embodying our body rather than bifurcating body and mind.
Preparing for a Vision Quest for my 50th birthday present to me, I was instructed to go be in nature. I am sure there were more guidelines but I can’t recall them now. At the same time, I was studying Buddhist teachings about our eight consciousnesses senses; the first five are our sense faculties. In preparation for my Quest, I went into the woods and sat still for hours on three different weekend days. Merging spiritual teachings and being in the woods, I practiced Bodying – locating and experiening my senses as body.
Our senses, our body, connect us to the world – the situations, people and places we abide. Deepening our sense perception, we expand our capacity to enjoy the richness of life, and a whole lot more.
Tiny Body Practice
Perceiving Our Senses
Practice Preparation:
The purpose of this practice is to expand our awareness of each of our five senses, perceiving and recognizing how our senses come together. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands are names given to our body parts that sense the world through, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. All senses can only be known somatically.
The Practice:
Let’s begin in a seated posture getting comfortable and bringing our attention to the entire felt sense of our body.
Allow your breath to guide you inward.
Inhale feel the envelope of your skin.
Exhale feel your eye sockets.
Inhale feel the envelope of your skin.
Exhale feel your ears.
Inhale feel the envelope of your skin.
Exhale feel your nose.
Inhale feel the envelope of your skin.
Exhale feel your mouth.
Inhale feel the envelope of your skin.
Exhale feel your hands.
Eyes. Ears. Nose. Mouth. Hands.
Let’s explore each sense.
Sight. Look forward.
What do you see?
What colors and shapes are in front of you?
What name automatically arises in your mind for what you see?
Sound. Open your ears toward sound.
What do you hear?
What sounds fill the space?
What name automatically arises in your mind for what you hear?
Smell. Pay attention to your smell.
What do you smell?
What aroma moves in your nose?
What name automatically arises in your mind for what you smell?
Taste. Pay attention to your mouth.
What do you taste?
What flavor or texture fills your mouth?
What name automatically arises in your mind for what you taste?
Touch. Feel your hands.
What do your hands touch?
What pressure, temperature or movement do your hands feel?
What name automatically arises in your mind for what you touch?
Once we play and recognize these individual senses, and that our mind organizes our experiences with names (concepts), we can expand our awareness to multiple senses arising simultaneously.
Bring two senses together, (hands clapping with touch and sound or nose breathing with aroma and touch) to enjoy your senses and the somatic experiences from each. With consistent practice, we expand our sensory experiences and our perception becomes more reliable to make better choices.
Post Practice:
Grab a notebook and explore answers to these questions:
- Which sense was easiest to perceive? What did you notice and learn about this sense?
- Which sense was the most challenging? What happened to make it so?
- After practicing several times, describe in detail what you notice in your body that is new.