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A craft, not a gift

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].

Everyone perceives. What can be learned is telling things apart. Why I call my work a craft, what is practiced, and why I can’t promise anyone a result.

What I mean by a craft

For me, what I do is not a gift. It is a craft. If you bring a natural aptitude, you get further, that’s true. But a craft has to be practiced, learned and developed further, and that applies to everyone, including me.

Rico’s words

And what I can really tell you is that it really has to do with practice. And in my life I have practiced for thousands of hours.

Rico Brunner, Workshop

Today much of it runs automatically for me. That is why my perception looks quick and effortless from the outside. It is so quick because I learned it.

How it began for me

At around sixteen I noticed that other people perceive differently from me. From then on I worked consciously with my perception. When you are young, you interpret quickly and often see things wrongly. It was no different for me: the perception was there before the ability to read it.

So I gave myself a strict rule. For one to two years I spent ninety percent of the time only perceiving and hardly drew any conclusions. At around twenty-two, twenty-four I could rely on my perception enough to recognize in people where something was not right. At twenty-six, twenty-seven I opened my practice.

Later I first understood the simple processes in an energy field. Only then did the more difficult ones become visible at all. I have worked on some connections for over twenty years.

Everyone senses something; the difference lies in telling things apart

Every person perceives the energy of other people, mostly without noticing. In the workshop I put it like this:

Rico’s words

Unconsciously you all do it. There is no one here who doesn’t sense. That’s not possible at all.

Rico Brunner, Workshop

When you look at an energy field, you may notice: this person is happy. In the same place I see thousands of energy fields in different constellations. We see the same thing. I can tell it apart more finely.

I compare this to a picture made of dots. Most people see the whole picture and sense whether someone is stable or not. If you want to work with an energy field, you have to see the individual dots and how they act on one another.

This is learned like any careful looking. If you have practiced long enough in the mountains, you see the chamois on a rock face where others see only rock. For me it is the places in an energy field that are not working.

Why many people think they have no intuition

Many people tell me they don’t have good intuition. Mostly that isn’t true. Their intuition has had too little practice and therefore can’t tell things apart well enough. A wish or a thought then easily lays itself over it.

Intuition is nothing lofty. In my experience it is down-to-earth, a way of interpreting impressions, alongside the intellect. More on this under What intuition is.

What exactly is practiced

What is practiced is not sensing. What is practiced is the question of where something you sense comes from.

Rico’s words

so if you were to ask me now, do I trust my perception? No. I don’t trust my perception, because I check it all the time.

Rico Brunner, Workshop

Every time I perceive something, I check where it comes from. Is it something I wish for? Something I imagine or think? Something I feel? Or something I really perceive? That only works with practice.

If I don’t know, I say so: no idea, it could also be something else. Then I don’t speculate. The greatest danger in working with energy fields is assumptions that nobody checks.

Rico’s words

And the art isn’t the intuition, but asking the questions.

Rico Brunner, Workshop

How telling things apart is practiced is described under Learning to distinguish.

Sensing is not yet understanding

An impression of an energy field comes quickly. It is easily mistaken for understanding, and then something is built on it. Between sensing and understanding lies a long way.

The two workshops go part of this way, from sensing to telling apart.

Why I can’t promise you anything

Rico’s words

Yes, but that gives no assurance, there is no guarantee, because it’s experience and because it’s the strict path, because the easy path doesn’t work in this area.

Rico Brunner, Workshop

How far you get depends on what you bring with you, and even more on how long you practice. There is no shortcut. If you skip steps, you build on something that doesn’t hold.

What this means for you

To begin, you don’t need to be able to do anything. If you are going through a difficult time right now, you first practice only being with yourself. Telling things apart comes later.

If you want to keep your ground, telling things apart helps you in everyday life: is this my feeling, or have I taken it on from someone else?

If you want to go further, perhaps as far as working with other people, you need many hours. How long that might take for one participant is described under If you want to work with people yourself.

Questions that come up often

Do I have to be gifted?

No. Every person perceives. What you bring with you plays a part. How much you practice plays a bigger one.

Do I need training or prior knowledge?

No. In the workshop, people with their own practice sit next to people with no prior training. What matters more is whether you see your own limits. More under Seeing your own limit.

How many hours does it take?

That can’t be said for everyone. I myself have practiced thousands. For yourself, a few minutes twice a day are enough. If you want to work with others, you need much more.

Can I rely on my perception?

I don’t rely blindly on mine either. I check it all the time. That is exactly what is practiced.

Is this esoteric?

No. In my experience, intuition is down-to-earth. It is practiced like any careful looking.

How to continue

What all practice stands on is explained in Solid ground instead of a swamp. The exercise both workshops begin with is described under Being with yourself.