A. Not everybody processes information in the same way. Some people will have vivid mental pictures of their emotional landscape, while others will exerience it more as a sense an array of objects, or even as a soundscape.

You don’t need to “see” a dramatic change to know that your emotional landscape practice is working. The effects of the emotional landscape practice will show up during the day, in how you feel about the things you worked on during the practice. You may also observe changes in the way you act, or in your emotional reactions to other people. It may simply be a lower level of stress, or a new ability to relax and enjoy “down time”.

A. In one sense, it doesn’t matter which you choose, because both are using symbolic language to have a conversation between your two intelligences.

In another sense, this is a deeply personal choice. Some people find that using images of people evokes so much trauma that they can’t work effectively with the Team Meeting or Lost Children processes. Others find landscapes threatening, or have trouble picturing scenery.

But, assuming you find both processes equally accessible, then the Team Meeting practice is ideal for resolving internal conflicts. You may become aware of an internal conflict as resistance during the Pattern Release practice, or as something you directly perceive during the Emotional Pressure Release practice. You may also become aware of it because you are having trouble making  a decision, or you want to do something but you have an emotional resistance to doing it.

The Emotional Landscape is a highly flexible tool, which can be used in many different ways. It is particularly useful for working with issues that don’t want to come fully into the conscious mind.

You will discover through your own experiments which tools work best for you – these are only general principles, and every individual will have their own ways to work with the language of symbols.

A. It’s a good sign when you reach a level of peace that makes you feel there is nothing to say. We encourage you to keep saying whatever arises when it is your turn to speak, even if you end up saying “I don’t want to say anything right now” five times in a row.

In this practice, we are discovering a different kind of speaking, as well as a different kind of listening.

We are accustomed to speaking for a reason, to get something to happen, to get a response from the world. And the expected response shapes what we say and how we say it.

In this practice, we already know that there will be no response. We have complete freedom to simply express what is alive in us in one particular moment. For many of us, this is the first time in our lives we have ever had someone provide the safe listening space that allows that freedom.

Some people can find it confusing, or even scary, to suspend the “rules of engagement” for conversations, and some people may even feel dangerously exposed in speaking their raw truth. Simply notice whatever comes up for you, voice it (if it is your turn to speak), and then let it go.