After the workshop · Workshop
When you don’t perceive anything
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].
Not perceiving anything is allowed and not a mistake. What can be behind it, why effort gets in the way, and what you do when you are unsure.
After the workshop · when nothing comes
If you don’t perceive anything in an exercise, you haven’t done anything wrong.
It happens again and again in workshops, and it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you. Often it comes down to expectation, too much effort, or too little calm within you.
What I say about it in the workshop
When nothing comes at first in an exercise in pairs, I say:
Rico’s words
If you can’t perceive anything, that’s fine. Don’t put yourselves under pressure. Don’t strain, relax. Compare it to watching TV.
Rico Brunner, workshop
When you watch TV, you don’t strain. You sit there and look. That is how it is meant here too.
Perceiving always happens, just not always consciously.
Rico’s words
Unconsciously you all do it. There is no one here who doesn’t sense. That’s not even possible.
Rico Brunner, workshop
What can be behind it
Effort
You want it too much
If you strain, you are with the effort and not with yourself. The more you want it, the less it works.
Expectation
You want to see something
Some look for an image and approach the exercise with their mind. I said to one participant: Just close your eyes. It is about how it feels.
Calm
You aren’t with yourself yet
If you first turn your attention to yourself, you can sense better out of relaxation. That is what the basic exercise is for.
Silence is golden
You tell too much
The less you tell about what you have perceived, the more overview you keep. More under When to say what you perceive.
The first two have something in common: your attention goes to where you want to achieve something, and not to where perception arises.
When something is there, but blurry
Often it isn’t nothing that is there, but something unclear. Then a scale helps. Instead of asking yourself whether you sense something, you ask how strongly: on a scale from 1 to 10.
When you are unsure
Sometimes something is there, and you don’t know what it is. Then a simple rule applies.
Rico’s words
If you don’t know yet, then don’t do anything yet.
Rico Brunner, workshop
Waiting and observing is then the better way. If you stay cautious and keep looking, you get further than someone who interprets too early. Why early interpretation leads you astray is described under Why even good perception can be wrong.
Sensing little is not a disadvantage
Sensing a lot is not automatically better. If you sense more than you can process, you are overwhelmed. The skill doesn’t lie in sensing, but in the questions you ask afterwards.
Rico’s words
And that’s why there are people who don’t sense that much who have a much better intuition than people who sense a lot and can’t handle it.
Rico Brunner, workshop
Why a firm footing matters more here than the amount of what comes in is described under Solid ground instead of a swamp.
When you can’t sense anything even after the workshop
Some people tell me at the end of the two days that it didn’t do anything for them and that they didn’t sense anything. Some of them get in touch half a year later and say that now they know what I meant.
This has to do with perception itself. Only a small part of your energy field lies in the range you sense directly. What lies beneath it you often only notice later, or not at all. So the fact that you don’t notice anything after the weekend says little about what you took away with you. How you can still see where you stand is described under Keep practicing at home.
Allowed in every situation
If you are going through a hard time right now, there is often so much going on that little room is left for subtle impressions. Then it is right to just be with yourself first. If you want to hold your ground, you don’t have to prove anything in the exercises; they are not a test. If you want to move on and grow impatient because nothing comes, the scale helps more than any effort.
Questions that come up often
- Does everyone actually sense this?
- Yes. Every person perceives, mostly unconsciously. The difference lies in how well you can distinguish. More under A craft, not a gift.
- Am I unsuited if I sense little?
- No. Some who sense little have a better intuition than others who sense a lot. What matters are the questions you ask.
- Should I try harder?
- No. Effort pulls your attention away from yourself. Relax and look the way you do when watching TV.
- What do I do when I’m unsure?
- Wait and observe. If you don’t know yet, you don’t do anything with it yet.
- Do I have to tell others what I perceive?
- No. The less you tell, the more overview you keep. More under When to say what you perceive.
Where to go next
How you keep practicing after the workshop is described under Keep practicing at home. You will find the exercise everything starts with under Being with yourself.