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I have been asked to clarify the principle that the point of power is in the present moment. In basic terms, there is only the present moment even though it would be experienced as an infinite sense of present moments. The critical implication is that reality exists, experientially, moment to moment. It also is experienced sequentially as a sense for what we call time. This creates a sense of a past and a future which then enables us to create a sense of having memories and dreams. Another way to understand the present is to suggest that time is actually a series of places or moments in our many experiences. As such, memories are experienced as a place in time of a moment in prior lived experiences. When we visit these places in time, there is a tendency to energetically, emotionally, physically, and mentally relive the experience as if it were now. When this occurs, our presence is moved to that place in time, fully encapsulated, often, with little awareness of this moment as we are reliving that moment in the past. For example, trauma, when relived, recreates the original experience sufficiently for it to have been described as a trauma trance. Nothing but the original trauma exists while in this trance. In these instances, where we focus all attention, and therefore our sense of presence in the moment to that place in the past, a memory, we do not exist in the here and now. We are locked in that prior lived experience, often retraumatizing ourselves. Examples of this recurrence of trauma trance experiences are triggered either by the sense of energies, emotions, meaning making, or physical incidents that seem to snatch our sense of self, and therefore our presence from this moment. The sense of presence in this moment beyond the trauma recurrence through trance is minimal to none. We are seeing and therefore experiencing through the lens of a prior unfinished incident instead of experiencing the here and now. To release or dissolve the triggering or reflexive energies to leave the present moment and move to the place in time of the prior lived trauma, we need to consider time crystals, moments frozen in a place in time. Time crystals are self-sealed highly charged emotional, physical, mental, and energetic moments in our energy fields, that we are carrying with us…that are frozen. Often, time crystals are the experiential impact of traumas. When time crystals are engaged by a triggering energy, the reflexive act of the time crystal is to release some of the highly charged energies. If a significant amount is released, then the individual is pulled from the present moment into the place and time of the time crystal, potentially triggering a trauma trance. Instead of being pulled into the time crystal, if the individual has developed or is supported by another to stay fully present in this moment, the release of the highly charged time crystal energy does not trigger re-traumatization. Rather, by remaining fully present to the here and now, this moment, the highly charged energy begins to release. In effect, this means that the frozen moment prior lived and unintegrated is magnetically pulled into the present moment, thereby enacting a healing moment and demonstrating that the point of power is in the present moment. This process releases the frozen energy sealing the time crystal and increases the life force often experienced as a sense of aliveness. In our practice, the capacity of the facilitator to remain fully present to the moment and to stay connected energetically to the client is imperative. This is done by constantly engaging the client to focus on their felt sense of their body while making eye contact. Often, a strong sense of anxiety will arise in the client if approaching a time crystal. Staying engaged energetically is critical as it is how the client remains grounded in their body or connected to this present moment.

Hi folks, It is snowing here on the farm with temperatures often below Zero Fahrenheit. It has been nice to sit with the wood burning stove as I watch the snow. It is also a good time to experience the silence of snow by walking in the woods. Both activities nurture one’s spirit. I encourage you to not become lost in the sofa monster and miss the balancing aspects of nature by seeing the beauty of the season and the desire of the soft animal within you to move. Publishing in Journals I decided to publish an article on presence in the Gestalt Journal in Europe. It can be accessed at this open source link that once registered you can access the journal https://www.ceeol.com/search/journal-detail?id=2485 . Because presence is a core aspect of gestalt it seemed like an opportunity to expand the concepts of healing presence to other countries. Podcast I have also begun the process of developing a Podcast that will initially air twice a month starting in February. We are considering the title Living on the Third Side of the Coin or Living on the Edge of Life. The promotional materials will be some variation of the following: In a whimsical ongoing conversation, Sahadeo & Herb will explore the evolving spiritual dynamics of the modern world through asking the obvious questions never asked. The core of the conversations is that life is to be lived and not judged. Therein lively discussions will evolve concerning the power of presence and the ability to be a participating witness to oneself and the rest of the world. Sahadeo is an Indian-American spiritual wanderer that supports honoring human dignity wherever he goes. He lives in New York City working in the health care industry. Known for his insatiable curiosity he has the capacity to ask the most piercing questions often considered undiscussable. Herb is a biracial, multinational semi-sane individual living on an 80 acre horse farm. He is the author of the spiritual series, Thoughts, that reveal the adventures and misadventures of an individual’s spiritual journey. His day job is owner of the Cleveland Consulting Group, Inc. a global coaching and consulting practice. He is the founder of a men’s program celebrating 20 years called Natural Passages for Men and the Healing Den, a program that supports spiritual awakening. The podcast will be listed on all platforms. For those that review my YouTube channel , the videos are being enhanced and will be reposted soon Thoughts I have completed 13 manuscripts for the Thoughts series . Four have been published and 9 are in various stages of editing and formatting for publishing. I anticipate 2 more issues before ending the series at 15. What is significant is that the first book was written 28 years ago and published last Spring. Since then, over 1000 pages have been written. The significance is the saying “yes” to writing the long ago planned series. Might you consider something inside you yearning to hear “YES”. Maintaining Your Sanity Through Presence This is the year of political insanity as more lies, half truths and inane beliefs will be spewed as facts. Such is the State of the USA and many parts of the World. A daily practice of meditation, sitting, standing, lying, or walking, will support staying out of the energetic fray. Your energies will become frenetic , caustic, and eventually feel toxic if you do not maintain your sense of self through being fully present to the moment.  If you remain present and simply witness and not engage in the energies, you will see two powerful thoughtforms evolving to create the tension needed for a transcendental shift in awareness. As it stands, the fear-laden energies suffer from their self-righteousness that they project onto the other side. The awakening of human dignity is creating a sense of determination that will continue to form through the November election in the USA. These energies will create a tension that will be sufficient for a lot of people to become active if through nothing more than voting. Human dignity has been the one missing energy of democracy, and it seems it has a good chance to become a reality in the coming years. Power is presence. Presence overcomes fear as fear only works through force. I trust we will all walk together to create the presence needed to bring harmony and the honoring of human dignity to every part of this world.

Recently I came across information on scalar energy or more often called scalar waves. As a concept, they add a dimension to presence that might be insightful. Scalar Energy is a subtle energy that produces healing energy frequencies that can be harnessed through presence. Conventional methods can’t measure it because they don’t stay in a measurable form. They tend to move out of the third dimension and when given a direction move through the fourth dimension as in distance healing and healing prayers. Scalar Energy can carry information and doesn’t decay over space and time. Scalar Energy doesn’t flow like transverse and normal electromagnetic waves, but instead increases in spatial mass as it occupies space. This space occupied is not a vacuum but alive with balanced and checked energies. Scalar Energy, also, is known as zero point energy and Tesla waves that move through liminal space. When we see the waves are like a pebble in water, the most common perception is the ripple of the waves up and down and not that the original energy is echoing outward in ongoing circles as is surrounding clients with healing presence. Another wave (way) to perceive the scalar waves are in the center of the diagram below where we can see that the waves can be focused and directional, such as through prayers or distance healing.

The chaos of the world continues as the disparate energies are creating more and more tensions, made evident by the events in Israel and that continue in the Ukraine, as well as the immobility for Congress to function as a governing body instead of political factions. It is likely these tensions will continue throughout the next two years as the criminal indictments and elections will raise the tension into a crescendo that leads to an emerging and new reality of how the people want to be governed. The tensions will continue in other aspects as the world experiences climate changes and other natural disasters that will continue to affect our sensibilities. Similarly, the social definitions are clashing over women’s rights and all the various forms of discrimination that will shift the sense of power by increasing the number of voters that are expressing themselves. This form of rising power will begin a true sense of democracy. 

Recently I have been experimenting with active imagination or if you prefer focused intention during meditation. For those of the shamanic interest, this is the same as journeying for a specific purpose. Over the course of many traditions, medication and other forms of spiritual practices have become less focused on the purpose for mediating or journeying. This has often resulted in amazing images, but none that resonate deep within oneself except to be fun or entertaining. I discovered that when we have a specific intention for journeying or meditation, the results tend to be more impactful. For example, the images or insights tend to be more specific and applicable to our intention. In addition, if we are witnessing the images, it tends to provide insights that will be interesting and will not likely change us. However, if we are actively participating in the images or insights, then we are resonating with the energies, like in liminal (sacred) space and literally will shift our internal sense of self. I suggest you consider using more specific intention during meditation, active imagination and journey works as this example reveals. (Note that this example is an application of the dream exercise which you can find on the resources page .)

Hi Folks, If you pay attention to energy, you may have noticed we are in a period of confusing and often unstable energies. It is reflected in the daily interactions regardless of internal to ourselves or external and in the world. Many have increased their meditations in length or frequency. Others have begun to use stones such as galena, hematite, and pyrite. Years ago, I discovered an interesting stone called Cerrusite. Cerussite is a carbonate mineral. It is a widely distributed and common ore of lead. It is formed by the action of carbonated solutions on galena in the upper, oxidized zones of lead veins. Cerussite forms white or tinted tabular, pyramidal, or prismatic crystals (orthorhombic system) and crystal aggregates, as well as compact or granular masses. Luster is adamantine to vitreous. The color of cerussite ranges from: Colorless, yellow, green, brown, red to black The black crystals are filled with inclusions of galena. A green color is is due to inclusions of malachite. Gray is formed by Galena inclusions. The finest Cerussite are the colorless sharp edged ones found at Tsumeb.

Rising Up I’ve noticed an increase in requests from people who have believe they have experienced a spiritual awakening. It comes in meditation or a shamanic journey or while standing in the woods. A common aspect of the experience is complete ungrounding and a desire to stay in the spiritual realms. This desire seems to originate in an ecstatic moment that sparks a movement towards engaging multiple other spiritual practices simultaneously. This might be somatic in nature coupled with psychedelics and shamanic/breathwork journeys or other practices. Interestingly, in some cases, it seems to be as if the people are in a trance-like state, possibly disconnecting from themselves. Occasionally, such events can lead to the discovery and surfacing of a traumatic event that was lost, forgotten, buried, or forbidden. In such cases, the escalated efforts and focus on more spiritual practices seems to lead to a shift toward healing that is focused on some deep belief to get rid of the traumatic event so all will be better. From a healing presence perspective, the goal is to support the person to get grounded in their body through body sensation and direct eye contact. Oddly, it is common for them to say they do not want to feel the sensations of their body or do not want anyone to see into them via eye contact or our preferred response, “I have never felt being in my body”. Recently, I worked with a person who was a self-proclaimed shaman after a few workshops and an ecstatic experience. As I listened to her and encouraged eye contact, it was clear she was waffling between trying to stay out of her body and in the ecstatic energies. I asked her to feel her body, the beautiful life force moving through her, and as best she could remain in eye contact. I handed her hematite anklets and asked if she would wear them. Immediately, upon putting on the anklets her ungroundedness cleared, she maintained eye contact and her story became more vivid. She realized that she felt much better as a presence inside her body. As she described her experience, she realized that her spiritual experiences needed to be grounded inside her instead of taking her out of her body. Frequently, these experiences can occur when the spiritual practice ignites a kundalini rising. When the mind/body are not prepared, this can be a very difficult experience as the body is unable to comfortably enable the energies to flow, become full of burning sensations. What causes a Kundalini awakening? [1] No one knows for sure. For some, a Kundalini awakening can happen after years of cultivating a spiritual practice, doing Kundalini yoga , meditating, etc. But just as well, it can happen spontaneously, with no prior training. The Kundalini rising is an automatic thing that happens—and it can happen under any type of spiritual discipline, any style of yoga." The truth is, there's no one answer to this question. When I have encountered such situations, it feels like the person is caught between energies. The reason for this is the person may have an ecstatic moment, however, if their chakra, energy centers, are blocked with unresolved life issues, it is more likely that the experience becomes quite uncomfortable such as body shaking, heat in the spine or surrounding different energy centers, and unable to sleep due to feeling supercharged. Kundalini awakenings will be different for everyone, and some say it can feel like a bad drug trip or psychosis. Working with Kundalini rising, especially unexpectedly, is difficult for the person as it can feel crazy making and there is no medical diagnosis. Too many spiritual hopefuls suggest kundalini rising is a gift without understanding that this is not a goal or something to be suffered through in hopes to attain enlightenment. My suggestion is to reframe the situation into something that they can understand and can feel they are able to work through in small steps. Step one is to learn how to get grounded and to practice it often every day. Surprisingly wiggling one’s toes often helps this process. Grounding stones like hematite, galena, and pyrite often calms the person and is useful when needing to just sit and breathe. Occasionally, herbal support can be used through different calming teas. Kava Kava calms the nervous systems and can be quite helpful Step two is to focus attention on the difficult sensation with the intent to calm the energies and restore flow. Often, this will feel scary as the block might be due to a traumatic event or an unwillingness to make a life changing decision. The goal is never to get rid of or to blow through but to sit with and see what emerges. It might be emotional however it is often insightful and the block melts away restoring flow. Step three is to support the person to use three principles in any spiritual or healing practice. 1. Slow is fast: Cognitively it seems logical to go fast, however slow allows the person to develop safety within themselves. 2. Less is more: most efforts succeed when the urge to do more or the desire to chase whatever is blocking the energy is negated. No marathon efforts to get rid of something. The key to healing is to integrate 3. Small is big: Often restoring flow is sought with a six inch fire hose. In truth, the blockage might be a series of fragmented moments or a massive trauma that will respond and build confidence by going small. Flow and wholeness often come to those with the mindfulness to respect the blockages and to slowly integrate. As a healing presence, the focus is to support the person by witnessing and support the three principles. Presence begets presence so being with the person will invite them to be more present and enable them to heal themselves in the moment, the only true point of power.

In prior articles, I discussed types of presence. In this one, I discuss the impact of presence through the point of contact or the intimate edge. It is at this edge that presence with the client occurs, and healing can occur. The Intimate Edge Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg coined the phrase “intimate edge” in an article in 1974 and elaborated in her book in 1992. Her focus was on the psychoanalytic interaction between therapist and patient. In other words, it was focused on the interactive edge of the therapeutic relationship. We will draw on her insights to apply a deeper understanding of the intimate edge of presence. The "intimate edge" of being present ideally becomes the point of maximum and acknowledged contact at any given moment in a relationship without fusion, without violation of the separateness and integrity of each other. We are maintaining energetic sovereignty as individuals while connecting to one another. We are focused on creating a healing (therapeutic) presence. Attempting to be present at this point requires ceaseless sensitivity to inner (energetic) changes ( a felt sense) in oneself and in the other, as well as to changes at the interface of the interaction as these occur in the context of the subtle energetic connection with reciprocal impact. This kind of effort, in itself, tends to have existential impact on both participants like an awareness that something shifted energetically, and this in turn influences what then goes on between them dialectically and energetically. When contact is maintained, self-awareness expands within and between each other. When the lack of presence exists, there is an energetic absence to the moment, the person, the situation. There is no felt sense. The "intimate edge" is never static but becomes the trace of a constantly moving experience of energy. The constantly changing moment in time has the potential to create a “moment” of connectivity. This connectivity might be experienced as pleasant or unpleasant depending on the degree of presence to the moment. If comfortable in the presence of self and other, it can be a moment of being “touched” in a pleasant and deep innermost way. When working within the intimate edge, it is never your responsibility to figure things out. You do not have to use your mind to think about how to undo a negative situation. It is the presence of being in the intimate moment that reveals what has been frozen in time. If there is not adequate presence to the moment, the intimate edge can bump into memories of unfinished or incomplete experiences that originally overwhelmed the person, possibly traumatized. Suspended in time and space as an incomplete experience, surrounded by disruptive and painful emotions (energy in motion, it becomes unintegrated. All you need to do is remain present to dissolve the persistent energetic patterns holding everything in place. Energetically, we refer to these as time crystals, moments or unfinished experiences seeking contact and completion. When the underlying energies are freed up (thaw the time crystals), they return to that zero state of oneness, the zero point as noted in most spiritual traditions. Each time the time crystal is touched by the presence of another, it is changed, and as it is touched it either dissolves into an energetic shift of awareness or increases its size and self-sealed protection. The emphasis is on process, on engaging in live experience, and on generating a new kind of live experience by so doing, in an ever expanding way. Energetically, we refer to this as expanding self-awareness and one’s individual presence, as existentially (a felt sense) there is awareness that something shifted into an expanded or greater sense of oneself or disconnects into a form of dissociation. Presence, and therefore self-awareness, expands with acknowledgment and explicitness of the shift in energy. Therefore, the process of acknowledgment increases the moment's dimensions and changes the nature of one's experiences of it. What is achieved is not simply greater insight into what is or was, but a new kind of experience, such as a deeper sense of wholeness. A felt sense of wholeness. Working at the "intimate edge" requires safely sitting on the edge of vulnerability through a clear presence of holding a nonjudgmental energy that creates a unique context of safety and allows for maximum closeness precisely because it protects against the threat of intrusion or violation. Attending to the most elusive interactive subtleties and "opening the moment" actually becomes a way to clear the field for self-awareness. This makes it possible for both participants to engage in aspects of the experience that otherwise might be threatening, even dangerous. In other words, the moment unfolds the felt sense into an healing presence by and between each other. In effect, the "intimate edge" is not simply at the boundary between self and other, the point of developing interpersonal intimacy and awareness of interpersonal possibility in the relationship; it is also at the boundary of self-awareness. In Gestalt, it is referred to as the “point of contact”. It is an energetic point of expanding self-discovery, at which one can become more "intimate" with one's own experience through the evolving relationship with the other, and then more intimate with the other as one becomes more attuned to oneself. Because of this kind of dialectical interplay, the "intimate edge" becomes the "growing edge" or the “healing edge”of the individuals and potentially the relationship. The introduction of intimate edge (presence) to the frozen and neglected moments in time instantly restores peace to any situation, regardless of the underlying conditions. As moment-by-moment shifts in the energetic experience between the individuals are acknowledged, reflected upon, and integrated, self-awareness of individual patterns of reaction and particular sensitivities can be identified and explored. This allows for awareness of newfound choices or release of frozen constructs, often unknown till now, as well as deeper awareness of feeling more whole, as if energy has been released and integrated. Even when the "intimate edge" is missed or bumped into due to inadequate presence in the moment, often experienced as an energetic feeling of danger such as a sense of intrusion, acknowledging the bump begins to restore the necessary presence for the frozen moment in time to return at some other time when the level of presence can support the moment. The "intimate edge" is, therefore, not a given, but an interactive creation. It is always unique to the moment and to the sensibilities of the specific participants in relation to each other and reflects the participants' subjective and unconscious sense of what is safe at that moment. Focusing on the interactive nuances in this way often requires a shift in perspective as to what is figure and what is ground. Forcing on presence or being open to the presence of what is present, can create a safe field for the client to expand their personal energy field. In other words, the focus is to increase the ground of the energetic connection with the client rather than to seek to reveal a hidden figure. This shift in focus creates an energy of safety that invites more presence of the individual. For example, where an individual drifts into a fantasy that energetically takes him or her out of the room (energetically absent), the content and interactive meaning are not as important as the energetic shifts preceding the story telling .The focus becomes to support the re-membering the felt sense of the energetic buildup, often in the form of emotions and bodily sensations, that triggered the release of a story. Exploring what energetically triggered the fantasy by simply acknowledging the emotions as energy in motion, may reveal the subtler patterns of his or her own experience. As Ehrenberg noted, “it can facilitate a shift on the part of the individual from feeling victimized or helpless, stuck without any options, to freshly experiencing his or her own power and responsibility in relation to multiple choices.” Aiming for the "intimate edge" does not support healing presence. It is not our duty to seek the frozen moments or to determine the content. Our presence supports the client to safety experience the release of energy, which ultimately is empowering to the client. We can use our awareness of a shift in energy as a clue that something may need to be acknowledged to support the experience. Hence one’s energetic sensitivity is particularly key where the individual may not be fully in touch with this dimension of his or her own experience. If one locates and relays his or her own experience when the patient cannot, this can help to locate and possibly dissolve the time crystal frozen in time as a significant shift in energy. May Your Day be Filled with Presence.

We are often curious about the healing presence process especially when trying to comprehend and relate to time crystals, moments frozen in time. In basic terms, healing presence is centered in the moment with the client, often experienced as an increased degree of energy(warmth) and a higher vibrational energy. Often the degree of energy begins a grounding process to increase the client’s sense of presence within oneself. This can create a sense of being within oneself, safely. The higher vibrational energy can trigger a sense of wobble internally as the client can experience a wobble or back and forth experience of anxiety and excitement especially if the client has not grounded within oneself (being present to oneself) During the experience of wobbling, often between feeling anxious and excited, unconscious original actions and verbal expression emerge from something "underneath" typical thinking in the form of a deep sense of awareness and bodily felt experiencing, often like a euphoric release of energy. From the healing presence perspective, this is the thawing of the time crystal and when the time crystal encounters adequate awareness and presence, what needs to be discovered occurs first from deep within as the frozen moment in time often experienced in the body is activated and begin to thaw. As the thawing or dissolving of the time crystal occurs, there can be a growing awareness of the shift starting with the body, then the emotional and finally the mental. The mental tends to occur as a deep sense of knowing and not thinking, like a remembrance of the original frozen moment in time no longer separated and inert and now integrated in the person. Hence, presence infiltrates the sense of being to allow the ‘awareness and felt sense’ of something lost or buried to surface. In the diagram, we can see that the time crystal is an inert, moment frozen in time that floats in the auric field of the person. In healing presence, we do not focus exclusively on the cellular energy that holds the felt sense and/or to the unconscious. We see the moment frozen in time having an implicit meaning of felt sense that permeates the auric field as well as the mental, emotional, and cellular energy fields inclusively being within the unconscious. As indicated in the diagram, the moment frozen in time is able to reconnect and be integrated in consciousness through the point of power, the present moment, by remaining fully present within themselves. The Healing presence process supports that presence like a connection to the core self that passes through the various energy fields insulated by the healing presence.