A brief description of a Process Work approach
Dr. Arnold Mindell, founder of Process Oriented Psychology, describes the paradigm as follows:
"Process Oriented Psychology, often called Process Work, is a multicultural, multilevelled awareness practice including people and their natural environment.
"Process Work is an evolving, transdisciplinary approach supporting individuals, relationships and
organizations to discover themselves. Process Work uses awareness to track “real” and “imaginary” psychological and physical processes that illuminate and possibly resolve inner, relationship, team, and world issues. Process Work theories and methods are available for anyone to experience and can be tested.
There are three levels of focus:
Worldwork, London 2008
1. Consensus Reality. Process Work deals with so called “real” events, problems, and issues connected with the development of individuals, couples, businesses and cities. Groups and individuals use feelings and facts, to describe conflicts, issues or problems.
2. At the level of dreamland, Process Work employs dreams, deep feelings, unspoken truths, “double” or unintentional body signals, “ghosts” (unrepresented figures) and ghost roles in the stories and myths of individuals and organizations. History, visions and transgenerational events are important.
3. At the deepest non-dualistic or “essence” level, Process Work deals with tendencies that can be sentiently felt to move us, “dreamlike” tendencies that are not yet easily expressed in words. This area of life can sometimes be felt as a subtle atmosphere around people, events and areas of our planet earth.
"Taoism speaks of the essence level in terms of the 'the Tao which cannot be said'. In quantum physics, Heisenberg spoke of “tendencies” of the quantum wave function. David Bohm
spoke of this area in terms of a system’s quantum waves or “pilot waves”. This level seems to manifest a non-dualistic intelligence, which we call the 'processmind'. It’s analogy in physics might be Bohm’s pilot wave or Hawking’s 'Mind of God'. Spiritual and religious traditions speak of the omnipresence of the gods." (quote from www.aamindell.net)
The following are some of the books by Drs. Arny and Amy Mindell, describing more fully the paradigm of Process Work
| Riding the Horse Backwards. |
| For feelings skills in therapy | Metaskills |
| For ideas about creativity | The Dreaming Source of Creativity |
| For shamanism | The Shaman’s Body |
| For symbolic background to process ideas | Rivers Way |
| For beginning body practice | Working with the Dreaming Body |
| For connections with Jungian Psychology | Dreambody |
| A good beginner in Comawork | Coma, A Healing Journey |
| More connections between psychology to physics | Quantum Mind |
| For Dreamwork | The Dreammaker’s Apprentice |
| For Lucid Dreaming | Dreaming While Awake |
| For Relationship work | The Dreambody in Relationships |
| For Group and Political Work | choose one of the following; The Year I, The Leader as Martial Artist, Sitting in the Fire, and The Deep Democracy of Open Forums. |
| For psychological interventions in psychiatry | City Shadows |
| For connections between Aboriginal Earth-Wisdom, psychology, and physics | Earth Based |