Method
Wholeness Work
Wholeness Work is a method developed by Connirae Andreas. It doesn’t treat an emotional reaction as a problem you have to understand, but as a sensation with a location, a size, and a shape. Then it looks for the I that perceives this sensation and invites both to open and relax into awareness. You don’t do anything in the process; you notice what happens by itself.
Introduction
Where is it, actually?
Someone interrupts you, and there it is: a pulling, a tightness, a pressure. You know the pattern; you may even know where it comes from. And still it keeps coming back.
Wholeness Work asks an unusual question. Not: why do I react this way? But: where exactly do I feel this, and who is it that feels it?
In depth
What is Wholeness Work?
Wholeness Work was developed by Connirae Andreas, who also created Core Transformation. Her book on it is called Coming to Wholeness (2018). What is worked with is less the issue itself than the way it is experienced.
The starting point is a concrete emotional reaction. Instead of thinking about it, you explore it as a sensation: where in or around your body is it? How big is it, what shape does it have, what does it feel like? Solid, soft, warm, dense, moving?
The second idea is the real core of the method: for every perception, there is an I that perceives. In Wholeness Work, this I is not a concept, but something that can be found. It, too, has a location, a size, a shape, and qualities.
The chain of I’s
The I that perceives the emotional reaction is itself perceived in turn, by another I. This creates a chain that you follow step by step:
- The emotional reaction A sensation with a location, size, and shape that belongs to your issue.
- The first I Where is the I that perceives this? At what distance, from what direction? This I is described as well.
- The second, third I Where is the I that in turn perceives this I? The question repeats.
- The last I The search ends when the I you’ve found no longer has any substance.
One small movement matters here and keeps coming back: feeling into and through. It means exploring a sensation from the inside instead of looking at it from the outside.
Awareness
Before something is integrated, there needs to be an experience of what it can dissolve into. Wholeness Work calls this awareness: the effortless capacity to perceive that is present throughout the body and everywhere around it. Without effort, without boundary, without end.
A short exercise leads there, with examples instead of explanations. You feel into your body and notice that you can perceive it through and through. You hear a sound on one side and one on the other. Even with your eyes closed, you sense the space around you. This exercise belongs in every Wholeness Work format and can also be used on its own.
Integration: in reverse and by itself
Integration happens in reverse order: first the last I, then the I’s before it, and finally the original emotional reaction. Each sensation is invited to open, relax, and dissolve, in and as awareness. You feel into and through it and allow it to happen in its own way.
You don’t do anything. You notice how it happens on its own.
When something relaxes, widens, or blurs, you stay with this experience until the change has settled. If a sensation doesn’t accept the invitation, you look for the I that doesn’t want this, and the work continues with it. At the end comes a simple question: what is it like to be the way you are now?
A possible sequence
The issue: you get irritated when someone interrupts you. The irritation shows up as a tightness in your chest, about the size of a fist, hard. The I that perceives it might sit a little behind your head, small and dense. The I that perceives that one is perhaps higher up, larger, barely graspable, and the next one no longer has any substance. After the awareness exercise, the last I is invited to dissolve first, then the small, dense I, and finally the tightness in the chest.
When something interferes
During the process, comments may come up: “I want to understand this.” “I have to do this right.” “I’m confused.” “I don’t want this.” They are called meta-reactions and are not an obstacle, but more material. Every “I have to …” leads to the same question: where is the I that is saying this? It is found and integrated like any other.
The formats
Several formats for different issues have grown out of the basic form. The awareness exercise belongs in each of them.
- Basic form For an emotional reaction or a behavior pattern that repeats. All other formats build on it.
- Inner authorities When you feel driven, have to measure up, or follow inner rules. You look for the authority a feeling wants to obey, and the next one above it, up to the last.
- What’s missing When you feel incomplete and look for something outside to feel whole: recognition, love, a person.
- Attachment and aversion When you absolutely have to have something or absolutely don’t want it. Both sides belong together and both are integrated.
- Your own presence Where are you really? The place where you are present is found and invited to come back to the body.
- The Me When you feel disadvantaged or hurt: “He’s hurting me.” What is found is the place where you experience yourself as the target of other people’s actions.
- The You “That’s not who I am.” When certain qualities in others trigger strong reactions in you. It follows the Me, using the same situation.
Wholeness Work and The Work
Both methods start with a stressful reaction, but they work at different points:
The Work
Questions the thought. A stressful statement is examined with questions and turned around.
Wholeness Work
Integrates the I that perceives. Instead of the content, the sensation is explored and invited to dissolve.
Common misunderstandings
- “I have to dissolve the feeling.” Quite the opposite. The sensation is invited, and you notice what happens. If an “I have to” comes up, there is an I behind that, too, that can be found.
- “First I have to understand where this comes from.” Wholeness Work doesn’t ask why. It asks where something is and what it feels like.
- “But the I is just a thought.” In Wholeness Work, it is a sensation that can be found and described.
- “If doubts come up, I’m doing it wrong.” Doubts and comments are part of it. They are more material.
Wholeness Work is not a way to get rid of feelings, and not a technique that forces a result. In acute crises or illness, support belongs in the hands of doctors or psychologists.
Key points
- An emotional reaction isn’t analyzed, but explored as a sensation: where is it, how big is it, what shape does it have?
- For every perception, there is an I that perceives. This I, too, can be found as a sensation, and behind it, often another.
- Integration means inviting, not doing. The sensation is allowed to open and relax in its own way, and you notice how it happens.
Further reading
Books
- Connirae Andreas: Coming to Wholeness. How to Awaken and Live with Ease, 2018.