Core Leaders and Subtle Self

Judith Blackstone: Realization Process.  Practicing releasing holding patterns.
In an organization, how do we serve the body of the whole, in places where the light does not penetrate?

Personal work. Sourced in fundamental consciousness, aligned with an intention of wholeness, we seek to enliven the dense areas.  Settled in the clear space, we follow the spiral of the contraction into the source of the tension. Curling inward, we reiterate the trail of the old pattern and find the forgotten memories, feelings, words and images woven through the darkness. With the trusted movement of the breath that does not disturb the stillness, there is enough resource for small amounts of release. This gives rise to a relaxation of the pattern.

In organizations, how can we apply this understanding to patterns of denseness?  We all know these places of chronic tension and lack of joy. For example, perhaps we could use it with a supervisor who treats others with mistrust and controlling micromanagement and has created a thick, non trusting fog in the department.   Perhaps we could use it with a dysfunctional team that has rigidified into cliques of "us and them", experiencing tension at the core, causing everyone pain and feelings of abandonment or exclusion. Could we use these methods to create relaxation and true community within the organizational context?

This teaching suggests that the Organizational Light-bearer; the Core Leader, must first be sourced in fundamental consciousness.  From this sourcing, and in correct timing, arises the movement to heal. The skillful entry point. We direct attention to the source of the organizational contraction.  We ask the person(s) engaged to confirm the experience of tension, to follow the spiral inward and then to report. Periodically, engagement and re-direction to a solid personal sense of self may be needed to stabilize the group conversation.  With relaxed attention, details of the story will emerge.  "I can't trust them to achieve our goals".  "They don't care as much about customers as we do".  If the narrative truly relates to the contraction, says Judith, you can see the result in the release of the tension.  Don't we all know this from those accidental truth-telling moments that create an Ahhh of release at work?

If there is no release, then the light of consciousness needs to continue to be brought into the tension of the situation (as Space, or Heart or grounded Presence) until the Core Leader can successfully facilitate the direction of attention towards release.  As the group practices the move again and again, (e.g. contraction/mistrust, gentle speaking truth, release) they eventually become freed from the negative pattern.

Judith's last instruction is to inhabit the formerly tense or separated area with aliveness and presence. How does a team do this?  The Core Leader must now point the way to the direct experience of alignment with higher intentions, with line of sight and with organizational purposefulness.  This helps team members solidify and integrate the awareness that they are more than just a historical experience of tension, but rather can be a source of joy, connection and true community for one another.