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Working with Sam

 
What is feelingawareness?
Working with Sam
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  Free Initial Meeting
The Work
The Studio
Sessions
Retreats
Time

 

Free Initial Meeting

A free initial meeting allows you to ask questions and share your situation and intentions. If this meeting results in further interest, a questionnaire will need to filled out that includes a short life history. Based on the content of the initial meeting and the questionnaire, an assessment will be made and recommendations offered.

If feelingawareness work is recommended and you are interested, we will decide on fees, length of sessions, frequency of visits, and a general perspective on process.


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The Work

feelingawareness work follows nature, not a pre-structured agenda. It may be helpful, however, to understand the essential components that are part of this integrated process:

• Whole life assessment and development
• Mentorship and coaching
• Feeling-friendly psychotherapy
• Zen mindfulness


Whole life assessment and development

Working to develop a broad understanding of our life—historically and present-day—is extremely helpful. Creating a "map of the territory" allows a new viewpoint that can alleviate confusion and help us focus and take action—on our traumas, our conditioning, and our new path forward.


Mentorship and coaching

It can be very helpful to walk with someone who has has been through this "landscape" many times. Even though this journey is uniquely yours, it is useful to have the shortcuts and pitfalls pointed out. We all have strengths and areas for improvement, and to become our best it is very effective to have these things reflected to us—and to be offered options for growth.


Feeling-friendly psychotherapy

The psychotherapy profession focuses on the emotional tangles and behavioural dysfunctions of life. There are many psychological theories and approaches, from cognitive behavioural management and psychoanalysis to creative therapies and dynamic expression. When we allow nature to be the guide, however, difficult feeling states, like sadness, anxiety and frustration seek expression, like the body expelling infection. The accepting, non-judgmental environment that Sam Turton offers allows for these types of feelings to emerge, be expressed safely, and to be resolved with integrated understanding and insight.


Zen Mindfulness

Zen mindfulness is an ancient, highly effective means of perceiving what is actually happening in the here and now. There is no better method for assessing oneself—from thought patterns and beliefs to behaviours and feelings—than Zen mindfulness. Most of us are immersed from moment to moment in an illusory world of imagery, soundscapes, mental chatter, memories, future plans, judgments, and all-encompassing belief systems. It is in the shadows of this waking "dreamworld" that our emotional pain and dysfunctional behaviours continue, unseen and unchallenged, year after year. To see clearly through this murky state we need a "light," and there is no more powerful light than Zen mindfulness.


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The Studio

The session studio is an independent building in a quiet, tree-covered neighbourhood. The studio has two sections, one for individual sessions and the other for groups and workshops. Both are carpeted and sound-proof with controlled lighting, comfortable chairs and mats. There are no other offices, no waiting room, and no interruptions. It is the safe, quiet, supportive environment that allows your natural process of feelingawareness to awaken and get to work.


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Sessions

Sessions are simply an opportunity to be yourself—something that is very rare in our society. Here you will have the opportunity to express yourself freely. Everything is confidential. All of you is welcome and accepted, so you can explore yourself at your own pace with encouragement and without interference.

You may come in with a specific issue to be solved, a painful event to be confronted, a behaviour pattern to be changed, a conflict to be understood, or a difficult feeling to express. Or you may come in with no plan whatsoever. In any case, sessions begin with whatever is—or is not—happening with you in the here and now.

Sometimes you may begin session by sharing things that are happening and difficulties that are not resolving. Sometimes you may begin by crying and expressing your feelings. Crying is not always just a sign of a problem, it can actually be the solution to the problem, and provide significant relief and clarity. Feelings have a tremendous intelligence if we allow them to be.

Sometimes sessions are about Zen mindfulness, where you will quietly attend to various body states or elusive thought patterns. Sometimes sessions are spent assessing things from a new viewpoint and allowing deeper understanding to emerge. Sometimes ineffective behaviours need to be labelled and new, healthy, efficient actions set in place.

The work does not start and stop with sessions—it continues in every moment if you allow it. This process of reconnecting can continue through the "homework" of journalling, self-reflection, Zen mindfulness, positive action, healthy diet and lifestyle, reading and study, active movement, creative expression, and profound rest.

The work of feelingawareness is as varied and unique as you are.


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Retreats

For thousands of years, people have searched for answers, grappled with crises, and expanded their awareness through various forms of retreat. Lao Tzu, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Black Elk, Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, and all aboriginal shamans have done this. These specialized retreats, from wilderness vision quests to monastic seclusion, are a long and rich tradition in the path to feelingawareness.

If, at some point, you want to focus on your process with greater intensity and more frequency, a retreat may be a healthy option. If your schedule and resources allow, and your system is ready, we can design a type of retreat with sessions every day for a number of days in a row. When the time is right, a retreat can provide the insights and breakthrough you are looking for.


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Time

Whether therapy or self-improvement, we are told that the "cure" can be one pill, a few weekends retreats, 6 sessions, a 6 month program, or years of daily meditation. Nobody knows—only your system does. Some people want a certain pain to stop and others want to feel more joy. Some want one distinct problem solved and others want their entire life rebuilt.

The length of time this process takes is up to you, the degree of disconnection you carry and the amount you want to change. Some people do weekly sessions for a couple months and others for a few years. Others solve a problem, take a break and come back when they need it.

Profound change, such as a total return to feelingawareness, however, is really a way of life that never ends. The process, if allowed, unfolds until it fully absorbs "you." The full experience of life can then continue, moment after moment.

feelingawareness is the natural state of being.


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