Like Achilles and his heel, we all have vulnerable spots we work hard to protect. Often, we seek therapy to transform these vulnerabilites into more preferred ways of being.
This month, I was able to spend nine days with an incredibly inspiring teacher, Jon Eisman. This was my second time learning from Jon. He is the creator of The Recreation of the Self model (R-CS), the originator of Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches (M.E.T.A.), and a founding member of the international Hakomi Institute.
What I love about Jon’s R-CS model is it teaches all of us Achilles’ that our most wounded parts are actually states of mind; trances, if you will. R-CS helps us stay awake to our choices and teaches us, like Hakomi, how to mindfully track our experiences and states. We can then ask ourselves: is this experience or state preferred? Any non-preferred states are seen as coming from a trance that can then be consciously shifted out of.
Sounds simple, right? As Jon teaches, shifting is actually not that hard. Staying in the preferred state is what takes practice. In my experience, the wellness that results from ongoing commitment to Self and preference is worth the required effort a hundredfold.
Watching Jon work during demos is fascinating. He deliberately embodies “little pieces of sunshine” or the half-full side of any state and creates expansive space for the client to fully experience more preferred states via “existential absolutes”.
These absolutes describe what our organic, or most “true”, selves know are essential. Included are: truth, rightness, knowing, connectedness, clarity, empowerment, abundance, balance, freedom, wholeness, flow and 6 others. Jon teaches that violation of these absolutes is what creates pain; not getting to live according to these is like “a pebble in your shoe”. We are born somehow knowing these absolutes are our birthright; they are “the castle in which the self lives” and are true for all people.
If you are curious about thriving rather than just surviving or are simply tired of the pebble in your shoe, work with a therapist familiar with this model. If you are a practitioner, study this method. It will transform your practice and your personhood.
