Welcome to The Edge, a blog about Processwork in all its applications and manifestations.  As a practice and theory of human experience, those applications are unlimited and as varied as all the individuals and groups who make use of it.  I hope these posts, by Processworkers in different walks of life all over the world, will draw you in and inspire you to discover how Processwork can support growth, creativity and communication in your own life and work. By Elva Redwood, Managing Editor, The Edge History of Processwork Processwork originally grew from Jungian psychology in the 1970s and 80s, when Arnold Mindell practiced at the Jung Institute in Zurich.  Dr. Mindell’s deep curiosity and work with people on body symptoms led

by Agnieszka Olszewska–Kaczmarek The Covid-19 virus is still raging all over the world.  We are waiting for the moment when we can all breathe a sigh of relief and feel safe.  However, there is another virus that most of us will struggle with all our lives. “I can’t.  I’m not that skillful.  I’m too fat.  I screwed up again.  I’m too old.  don’t have enough energy,” etc. This is the inner critic virus (IC) that clips our wings, usurps our energy and deteriorates our quality of life.  The IC may impact our ability to pursue our full potential, or even prevent us meeting everyday obligations. The IC is spread around the world, flooding it with waves of negativity and harmful

by Jon Biemer Ghandi reportedly said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  I wear it on a couple tee-shirts.  I believe in it. My particular focus is environmental action.  How do I put this advice into practice?  How do I motivate others to do likewise? Processwork offers some powerful strategies to consider. Relationships In addition to hearing and seeing, Processwork tells us that relationship is a channel through which we communicate at a deeper level.  Just by openly sharing environmental values, peers influence each other. My local business association values me as a good facilitator who also calls himself an environmentalist.  Because of my involvement, our annual celebration featured the Johnson Creek Watershed Council pitching its

by Jon Biemer The world needs our help.  Glaciers and poles are melting.  Hurricanes line up across the Atlantic to wreak havoc.  Refugees are migrating.  Species are going extinct.  What can we do?  Why don’t we do more? I seek to apply Processwork skills and insights to the challenge of motivating people to take environmental action. In particular, Processwork suggests we have arrived at an edge when we feel stuck.  Something is going on, but we have trouble deciding what to do about it.  The situation may be as seemingly unimportant as choosing a meaningful present for a child, or as threatening as the loss of your home.  When we reflectively “hold ourselves to the edge”, we draw upon inner resources

Collaboration is an alchemical way of growing an idea and ourselves.  It’s kind of magical and difficult to put into words.  Just like a baby, an idea needs a lot of space and time to grow.  It is important not to rush.  In writing our graphic novel “Dreaming Into Community, A Guidebook to Worldwork”, we spent almost a year on the first chapter alone.  As we worked out our process of interacting and working together, the last chapter easily flowed over an intense 2 weeks.  It took us 3 years to complete the book. by Venetia Bouronikou and Lynn Lobo We have often wondered if the idea for the book found us or if the idea came from our relationship. 

By Agnieszka Olszewska–Kaczmarek In everyday life, we often meet people who are in relationships that bring them more suffering than benefits.  One of the parties, despite repeated injuries and a sense of unfulfillment and even unhappiness, remains in the relationship or walks away just to return in a moment. On the other side is a partner who is addicted, notoriously fails to keep promises, and may even commit physical or psychological violence.  This partner may also cheat, mentally humiliate, and rarely if ever appreciate the other partner. Gender Norms can Contribute to Disfunction Gender configurations are changing and the hurtful behaviors themselves can be further strengthened by cultural patterns defining what is okay, acceptable and even desirable in the behavior

by Kalpana Tanwar Shri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) is one of India’s most revered saints.  Near Portland, OR, a shrine is dedicated to him and his followers in Scappoose, along with an ashram in SE Portland.  On NW 23rd Avenue, I saw a portrait of him in a meditation room. As a young girl, I recall reading aloud to my father from “The Mission of Shri Ramakrishna”.  My father was a follower and this was his way of teaching me the precepts.  At the time, I didn’t care for the teachings.  Decades later, I’m reading the same book in a reading circle in Bengaluru. One of Shri Ramakrishna’s instructions is: Live like a maid-servant in a rich man’s house. In today’s world this

by Peter Mascher When the school and kindergarten in our small village was closed on March 13th this year, the practical consequences of the Corona pandemic reached us as well. I have to say that Heckenbeck, a village of 500 inhabitants has not experienced a single illness to date, so I am writing from a very privileged position, with only a partial knowledge of how much other people are actually affected, up to and including an existential and health threat. The Fear Everywhere Feels Like War The news affected me and even more impactful is the fear that was constantly felt everywhere, that is now arising anew with the approach of autumn. The baker in the neighboring village spoke of

(This post was written before the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and the uprisings across the US. So it does not address the pandemic of police killing black people and institutionalized racial violence.) by Lane Arye It is a time of upheaval, uncertainty, financial collapse.  Of fear, sickness, death, grief.  Of isolation, self-protection, selfless service, slowing down, going inside. While COVID-19 is decimating communities of color in the US, highlighting and amplifying systemic oppression, and so many people are losing their jobs, I have the huge privilege to live in a house with my healthy family, see clients on Zoom, and work on myself.  Unfairly, it’s a time of incredible growth for me. Working on Worst

As Black America stands up and refuses to take any more government licensed brutality, joined by other people of color and white allies, all of us are called to assess our values and what we contribute to immanent cultural change.  Over the past four years, I have been pessimistic about the direction of that change.  Now, the abundant energy of the Black Lives Matter protests, fueled by the financial deprivation and confinement of the Covid crisis (which disproportionately hits African and Native Americans) gives me real hope. Racism Racial oppression, beginning with colonialism, genocide and slavery, and continuing with mass incarceration of people of color today, is an integral part of US and global culture.  It shares common roots with