Group Practices
Shared imaginal practice is a group practice that arose from the experiences in my awakening. It opens a doorway into a new way of being that puts embodied imagination front and centre.
The transmission of shared imaginal practice can unlock a brand new part of experience that many people have never experienced before. The soulful realm of experience opens up, as if before people were always looking at the surface of experience, and suddenly they are given the capacity to be able to dive underwater and explore what is present in the imaginal realm from a safe, rational, and connected place. Some people have described it as akin to taking psychedelics or dreaming while you are awake.
In the practice, concepts come to life through your imaginal and felt senses of them. Rather than relating to ideas and words logically and assuming that you already know what they mean, you are opening an explorative investigation into the world of images, associations, energies, and embodied feelings that concepts bring up in you.
In the practice, you are asked questions that open your inner world out into an embodied landscape that can be explored. The practice can be deeply revealing, insightful, evocative, moving, transformative, and fun.
It is simultaneously a contemplative practice, in that it is getting you more in touch with your direct experience; a shadow work practice, in that it is revealing aspects of experience to you that were previously obscure or hidden from view; and a relational practice, in that it is building new connections between yourself, others, and experience.
This is a guide for how to do the practice and there is an example of the practice in action at the bottom of the page.
Practice Introduction
The practice itself is done in groups of three. If you are a larger group, you can start the session by connecting together as a whole group.
You can guide a short introductory meditation to help people relax into their bodies and transition into the imaginal realm together. There is an example guidance below.
This meditation has been designed to help people feel safe, welcomed, and empowered to speak their own truth.
“We share this practice together for the benefit of ourselves and each other.
As we enter the shared imaginal space, we can imagine arriving at a bonfire and gathering around it together.
We are entering a different realm, where we have more space to show up with the whole of ourselves. In this world, there is no such thing as sin or getting it wrong. You are invited to step into experience, take up your space, and embrace every aspect of yourself.
We commit to holding the space together – to create a strong and welcoming container that can handle the full force of our joy, sadness, strength, and vulnerability.
When it is your turn to share in the practice, you can imagine that you are bringing a piece of wood to add to the fire. Take time to consider what feels safe for you to share and what feels meaningful for you to share.
There is no pressure. It can go as fast or as slow as it needs.
May we be present to the process of our inner worlds emerging. May we connect more deeply with ourselves and each other. May we enjoy gathering around this fire. For the benefit of us and all beings.”
Group Set-Up
Split the group into smaller groups; the practice is usually done in threes but can also be done in pairs. There are three roles:
- Explorer
- Guide
- Witness (optional)
In groups of three, rotate around the roles so that you each have a chance to try each role. There are instructions below for the explorer and guide roles.
Most people are a bit nervous about guiding and being guided; the invitation is to lean into a sense of courage and trust that you can navigate the situation.
Being in the witness role is an opportunity to relax into the meditative space and allow yourself to be taken on a journey. You don’t have to do anything while in this role, so you can focus on being in touch with your own experience. It can be deeply insightful to notice how other people’s experiences can be both deeply resonant and wildly different from your own at different moments.
Your presence as the witness will also help support the container, creating a sense of safety and supporting the non-hierarchical nature of the practice. The small group format helps maintain the sense of a shared exploration where the guide doesn’t need to adopt an authoritative position.
Steps of the Exercise
- Assign roles: one person as explorer, one as guide, and one as witness.
- Each round of the exercise will last 15 minutes. It is the guide’s responsibility to hold the time boundary.
- The explorer chooses a concept from the list below that they would like to open up
- The practice is started by everyone closing their eyes. The guide invites people to take some deep breaths and arrive in experience.
- The guide asks the explorer questions about their experience in relation to the concept. They can follow the questions from the list below. If they feel confident and curious, they can augment this with asking their own questions, but the encouragement is to stay with the embodied and imaginal aspects of experience.
- Remember that the explorer can’t get it wrong. The purpose is for them to share whatever is present in their experience. They can also go at whatever pace feels comfortable to them.
- At the end of the 15 minutes, the guide lets everyone know and gives people a bit of time to come back to the room.
- Thank each other.
- Swap roles and start the exercise again.
- Maintain silence and stillness between people’s explorations. This helps people stay connected to the imaginal realm. At the end of all three journeys, you can share any reflections you have as a group.
List of Concepts
The explorer chooses one concept that they would like to open up. They can come up with their own concept or pick one from this list:
- Practice for the benefit of all beings
- Pressure to succeed
- Coming home
- The spiritual path
- Love
- The centre of being
- Objective reality
- Subjective experience
- An ocean of uncertainty
- The present moment
- Letting go
- Flowing with life
- Feeling supported/ seen
- Being brave
- Being a force of nature
- Being a heartful demon
- Taking it to the limit
List of Questions
The guide asks questions that help the explorer relate to their concept and experience through the lens of the embodied imaginal realm.
The questions are designed to facilitate a conversation that connects the explorer to both the body and the imaginal realm at the same time. These questions make it possible for the present moment to be experienced primarily as images, textures, energies, archetypes, and myths.
You can ask questions from the list below. Feel free to repeat questions. You can also rephrase the questions or follow your curiosity.
- We can start by closing our eyes, arriving in the moment, and taking a couple of slow breaths.
- Can you repeat the concept you have chosen out loud?
- Where do you feel it resonating in the body?
- How would you describe the energy of it? Is it moving or is it still? Does it have a texture?
- What emotions does it bring up?
- Does it have a colour? Or a shape?
- Can you see an image of it? What is in the image?
- Are there any characters, beings, or archetypes present in the image?
- What does this mean to you personally?
- Which bit of what you are experiencing feels like the most important part to explore further?
- Would you like anything to happen in the image? Or does it feel like seeing it is enough?
- If the image had its own agency, what would it do?
- What’s the worst possible thing that could happen in this image? What’s the best thing?
- Can you allow the emotion or image more fully into your body? How does that change the experience?
- How would you describe the background of this image? Or the landscape that this is happening in?
- Is there anywhere else in the image or your experience you would like to explore?
- If that energy/emotion/image were to get as big/loud/strong/small as it wanted, what would happen?
- What is something you could do with this image that feels completely counterintuitive or opposite to what you would normally do?
- Can you repeat the concept again? Does it feel different now?
- What would your true self/a future wise version of you/your inner child say about this image?
- If a magical being could come and give you exactly what you needed in this image, what would it be?
- How does your body respond to this?
- What is the overall mood and feeling of your body?
- Is there anything you’d like to share with yourself from this place?
- Is there anything else that feels important or that you would like to recognise?
- Is there a symbol, image, or feeling that you can connect to that will help you remember this experience?
- Would you like to repeat the concept once more before we finish?
Remember
Some key things to remember:
- The explorer can’t get it wrong. The purpose of the practice is for them to connect to their present moment experience, whatever that is
- There is no rush or pressure for either the guide or the explorer to respond
- Hold a space of compassionate presence, openness, and curiosity for the explorer
- If something feels emotionally loaded or charged in some way, feel free to take some time to sit in silence, breathe into it, and come back to a sense of safety. There is plenty of time to feel into what feels safe to share and what feels meaningful to share
- Trust that the process of things emerging and being seen is enough; nothing needs to be fixed or changed
Demo
You can read some descriptions of the practice from people who have tried it here.
Below is a demonstration that Joost and I recorded. He chose the concept of ‘practice for the benefit of all beings’.
Before listening, take a couple of minutes to feel into the concept of what ‘practice for the benefit of all beings’ means to you personally.
Then enjoy being taken on the journey through Joost’s experience of this, noticing how an entire Universe can live within just 7 words.