Start · The foundation

Being with yourself

Please note: the workshops are currently held in German only. I plan to offer workshops in English at a later date. If you would like to learn this and organize a workshop in English yourself, you are welcome to send an inquiry to [email protected].

The exercise both workshops are built around. Eyes closed, sensing your whole body as a whole, for a few minutes. Whether it works doesn’t matter.

The foundation · the basic exercise

You sit down, close your eyes and sense yourself as a whole. This exercise asks no more than that.

It is unspectacular, and that is intentional. It comes up again and again in both workshops, and at home a few minutes a day are enough.

1 to 5 minutesat a time, often around two

2 × a dayfor everyday life after the workshop

2 minutesbetween the exercises in pairs

no gradenothing has to succeed

How the exercise works

In the workshop I guide it like this:

Rico’s words
The only thing that matters is that you try to sense your whole body. That means that you try to sense your feet, to sense your legs, and to close your eyes and try to perceive yourselves as a whole.
Rico Brunner, Workshop

Sit downSit comfortably and close your eyes.

Feet and legsFirst sense your feet, then your legs.

As a wholeTry to sense your whole body at once, not individual spots.

Eyes openAfter one to five minutes you open your eyes. That’s all.

What you don’t have to do

Many people miss the most important sentence.

Rico’s words
Whether it goes well or not never matters in the exercise. It’s only about doing the exercise
Rico Brunner, Workshop

You don’t have to feel good while doing it, and you don’t have to feel bad. You don’t have to sense anything in particular or judge anything. Above all, you don’t have to make an effort. The more you want it, the less it works. Whoever wants to reach a particular experience is doing a different exercise from this one.

The same exercise with the breath

In the workshop I show two forms and adapt them to the people who are there.

Sitting

Eyes closed, sensing your whole body, one to five minutes. Then you open your eyes again.

With the breath

As you breathe in, you close your eyes and sense yourself as a whole. As you breathe out, you open them again. One to two minutes.

What both have in common is the attention on yourself. The technique is secondary.

How much is enough

Rico’s words
If you want to keep practicing later after the workshop, twice a day for five minutes is completely enough. It doesn’t take much, but it takes the right thing at the right moment.
Rico Brunner, Workshop

More isn’t better here. If you do the exercise too often or for too long, it becomes artificial, one more project you want to improve at. The more natural it stays, the more it becomes part of you.

If you do it too rarely, your system doesn’t get used to the way to you. In a difficult moment you then find it less easily.

The right measure lies between too little and too much. The third mistake runs across them. Schematic.

How I do it myself

I mostly do the exercise while I’m working. Sometimes it is only thirty seconds, whenever I notice that I need it. The length depends on the need, not on a plan.

For my work, this being with myself was a prerequisite. I had to learn to be so strongly with myself that an energy field doesn’t react to my looking at it.

Where the exercise sits in the workshop

In “Learning to Heal” it is the backbone of the first day. You do it in short blocks; in between, you change places. Laying on hands only comes in during the afternoon. In “Learning to Perceive” it comes between the exercises in pairs. Before you look at the other person again, you are with yourself for two minutes.

In both workshops the basic exercise comes up again and again: in “Learning to Heal” as a block of its own, in “Learning to Perceive” between the exercises in pairs. Schematic.

What you notice from it

Don’t expect a special experience. The exercise is built so that nothing special has to happen. Because it is so unspectacular, some people consider it useless and stop. That is why it is written here, before you begin. What you notice from it and why it is often little is described under Keep practicing at home.

The same exercise in every situation

In a hard time it may be short, even just a few breaths. Whoever wants to hold on to their own ground gives it a fixed place twice a day. Whoever wants to go further, in perception or in working with other people, builds on it. That is why it comes at the beginning of both workshops.

Questions that come up often

How long do I do the exercise at a time?: One to five minutes. In the workshop it is often around two. In between, thirty seconds can also be enough.
What if I don’t sense anything?: Then you have done the exercise. It asks no more than that. More on this under When you don’t perceive anything.
May I do it more often?: More isn’t better. Too much makes the exercise artificial. A few minutes twice a day are enough.
Do I need the workshop for this?: No. You can try the exercise today. In the workshop you practice it with others, with guidance, and can ask your questions.
Is this a breathing exercise?: There is a form with the breath. What matters in both forms is that you sense yourself as a whole.

Where to go next

Why this exercise in particular comes at the beginning is explained in Solid ground instead of a swamp. How you take it into your everyday life after the workshop is described under Keep practicing at home.