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The Presence Process - Share Experiences & Ask Questions

Hi Bruce, it's good to hear about your experience with decreased pain and the connected breathing becoming more default.
little attention) while I'm focusing on other things.

I have been playing with your advice to focus on the transition phase between inhale & exhale and vice versa. This has been really helpful because if I am trying to "watch my breath" then I feel like I'm adding tension but if I focus in on the approaching transitions and stay focused on that, the breath starts extending longer in both directions. In fact sometimes it becomes very long and slow and this can be kinda intense to stay present with. I notice that what I thought were "pauses" between in & outbreath is possibly actually me stopping the breath before it's finished – so when I focus on the approaching transition, I realize that there is more exhaling left to go (or inhaling) and then the breath keeps going rather than stopping & holding. In fact I think that often when the breath pauses on the exhale, rather than force myself to inhale again, this awareness you suggest allows the exhale to carry on, then the next inhale starts automatically.

So, this idea is helping the breath stay connected, now I just have to deal with resistance to having such long slow deep breathing!!
 
danielle said:
If I am present enough with the feeling, eventually the breath will change. But to start right away with trying to make the breath different than it is, I experience that as stressful.

So far round 2 is harder than round 1!!!
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Danielle,

Well, it seems like you have two options.

1. Start breathing like TPP says right away and feel he stress. Be with it and accept it unconditionally. Eventually, the stress will integrate if I'm understanding you correctly. Stress is anxiety, more or less, and must be integrated eventually.

2. Start out breathing comfortably, and become as present as possible while doing that until your breathing becomes more like TPP's breathing.

In my opinion, if you immediately feel stress when doing TPP breathing, then you're doing TPP correctly and it's working. You want emotional responses like that to occur when you're breathing and afterward. Those responses mean that it's working. They are opportunities for integration and growth. Imagine if you weren't scared of your stressful feelings anymore, but instead looked forward to them. How cool would that be? I almost never feel stress anymore. But when I do, it's awesome, because I know I'm making progress. I used to get overwhelmed. That just doesn't happen anymore. Life's pretty easy going even when I have tons to do.

The second PP is always a lot tougher according to everyone I talk to. The second one is where we deal with our addictions. Everyone has them, but not everyone can identify them. I have identified all of mine over the years, so I'm very conscious of them. I rarely do any of them anymore. And none consistently. For instance, I ate some candy yesterday. I rarely do that anymore, but I know it used to be a coping mechanism at times. When I'm in a heavy integration period, I cut out most or all of the little addictions I can. I don't do any of the big addictions anymore like porn. That's probably the only big addiction I experienced in the past. The rest are smaller and harder to spot because they're spread thin and people think they're normal behaviors. lol

Keep it up! Sounds like you're making some good progress.
 
Thanks Brian.

Inspiring to hear of how you are doing, and comforting to hear that it's commonly harder 2nd time around.

I definitely have been looking at the little-ish addictions that I use to cover up or avoid feeling. Especially Internet. Been doing a lot less news and Facebook, still have a compulsive email-checking thing going on, and just finding reasons to be online in general. I also have a hair-twirling habit that drives me crazy because my mom does the same thing – especially when we are worrying. It's really obsessive. Another habit is the worrying thinking, but I don't know if that counts as an addiction in itself (though it sure seems like addictive thought patterns). I don't currently have any major addictions that most people would think of as "addictions" but I am totally OCD with lots of little habit patterns all day long. And they add up to lots of avoiding and tensing up.

Would you say that if there is intense stuff coming up in the middle of the day, like fear/shakiness, that it's good to sit down and do a breathing session if I have time (and still doing the evening one later)?
 
Danielle,

Yeah, that's what I do. When any uncomfortable emotion and/or felt resonance arises, if I'm able, I sit with it for a while till it subsides or integrates. Some felt resonances come back over and over again. Some integrate the first time I sit with them. I'm working on two of them right now in the stomach and pelvic area. They're very important ones, and are still persisting past the 3-week intagration period. So I'm doing a bath session, nearly every day, for at least 30 minutes. Before that, I breathe while I'm still in bed. After the bath, I breathe again in my study like I'm doing my 15 minute breathing session, but I go as long as I can before my son wakes up. I think this resonance is my unconscious definition of love, or at least it's part of it.

Everyone has to do things the way they feel they should for them. That's just the way I do it right now. I adjust it to my schedule with zero expectations of myself. Some people don't need all of this stuff I'm doing. Some do. Just depends on the person.

I've noticed that people who've spent a lot of time with reasoning and logic and are very intelligent as a result end up having a harder time integrating, because they've used their mind as a major coping mechanism so they don't have to feel so much. You may fall into that category, but not everyone in that category takes a long time to integrate everything. Some can shift quickly. It takes me a while, which is why I do so much. I hope to cut down that time.

When I worked with people with multiple personality disorder, the really smart ones were the most challenging to help integrate their personalities, because they'd built such complex defenses.

I'd love it if people still facilitated TPP one on one. MB used to do three hour sessions with a person, once a week for ten weeks. They'd do a three hour bath session while breathing, and at some point, MB would reflect back to the person whatever they're putting out energetically. So they're forced to deal with several felt resonances each time while staying present. Lots of things integrate. It's very intense compared to what we do, and much quicker. But no one does that anymore. The book was designed to teach self-facilitation so that no one would need to go to a facilitator anymore.

Good luck with the rest of your PP! Sounds like you're gonna get a lot processed during this one.
 
sorry to hear of your struggle danielle.... would it help to think of it as a re-learning ? just like I am re-learning to respond from the present moment rather than reacting from the emotional past? that does not seem natural to me even tho it is- I have to work at it or do something different that feels unnatural to get there. I would assume you weren't born breathing that way :) & 'learned' it from your imprinting. it is not really natural in that sense & something you may have to initially 'do' before it feels normal again - just like everything else in this process.... maybe it would help if you could let go of MB's actual words & consider the intent. the more you connect your breath, the more it becomes part of you in the present moment:) hang in there -- bruce
 
UPDATE

Well, this is interesting. This anger is carrying over past the three-week integration period. I should've expected this. I've had it repressed since I was a baby. It may take a while to resolve/integrate. But it's not hard to deal with surprisingly. MB said in one talk that a person is crazy if they want to feel angry, because it's so difficult. But I think I'm so fed up with repressed anger that I'm more than happy to feel it and deal with it. lol I'm just glad it's not nearly as difficult to deal with as it used to be. That's extremely encouraging. :)
 
UPDATE

I'm still processing this stuff in my stomach, gut, and pelvic area. I've been doing hot baths nearly ever day or at least every other day. Integrations keep happening. Lots of crying happens, too, which means integration is commencing. I'm finally starting to see what the Reconnective Healing and The Reconnection has done for me. I'll give a quick rundown of how events transpired:

My 4th Presence Process was started with the intent to clearing my money issues and unblock my lower three chakras. So in the middle of it, I accidentally came across Reconnective Healing. The first day I did Reconnective Healing, within 24 hrs, my pay quadrupled, and one of the new clients offered me a $10,000 job with 400 deliveries. Later, I found that the emotions (energy) blocking my lower chakras was related to a fear of not being able to take care of myself from when I was a baby.

I did a second Reconnective Healing session and realized the surfaced anger from TPP was blocking the effects of it. So the next thing I did was The Reconnection. After the first of two total appointments, I cried hard, twice, from my upper solarplexus. Then a few weeks later, that new client (the $10,000 job) said his company may have to use another company because my company doesn't have the right insurance they need. That's a ton of money I'd lose. Also, my other client said he lost a deal that would have netted me about $7,000. I figured I'd lost the one client for good, and it triggered that stuck emotion in my solarplexus. I cried hard for nearly an hour letting that thing work its way out, and I basically got a picture of me hugging this baby version of me to keep it safe. A big chunk of the stuck emotion integrated. At that point, I didn't care if I kept my client or not--I was just happy that there was major integration happening.

For the next couple of days, I kept that picture in my head and did a lot of breathing to help process the emotion. I was in a movie and did deep breathing through the entire thing. It caused major energy to vibrate intensely throughout my body for over two hours. At one point, I could barely move my fingers. I've been told that's the Reconnective Energy, but I don't know for certain. Either way, there was healing going on and stuff working its way out. Whatever processed caused me not to be able to walk quite normally for a little bit because my equalibrium needed to readjust to whatever healing had taken place. My balance has never been really great, so I wonder if it'll get a little better now or if I was just disoriented from the massive amount of energy circulating through my body. So that client calls again Monday and asks about insurance, so I get another sick feeling in my stomach to process (it has to do with letting people down--pleasing people). That one's slowly integrating today.

I'm more present and in the moment now, and I'm breathing consciously and much deeper than normal a lot of the time. So a lot of the stuff has integrated in my lower chakras and I'm still processing some more of it. It's interesting how perfectly orchestrated this all was with the money issues and new client and lower chakras. I did Reconnective Healing to clear my lower chakras and that's what it's done. It jump-started it. And my work with TPP is what lead me to Reconnective Healing by accident. Funny how Presence always seems to work things out perfectly. Can't wait to see what happens when all of these dysfunctional emotions integrate. :)
 
Hi,

I am a Presence Process newbie having just received the book and came across this wonderful forum, but i do need some important guidance If I could take a moment of your time....

I guess im just a little confused as to how to use the book. I just reached page 2194 which states "THIS CONCLUDES WEEK ONE" I want to start my 15 minute breathing exercise tonight or tomorrow morning but my question is:

Do I stop reading for now, for a week, until I have done the two 15 minute breathing sessions for one week from today? I got that impression as the book states that "this concludes week one" Do i put the book down, do the breathing exercises once a day and then move on to week two, in a week? OR do I begin the breathing exercises and continue reading the book, carrying on now from "Week 2"? I hope my question is clear.

Please advise if you have a chance. Many thanks.
 
Basically, you start your breathing on day one of Week 1, and you read a little of Week 1 each day. When Week 1 is done, you're on Week 2. There is no pause between weeks. If you haven't done your Week 1 breathing, then you haven't started the process yet. You do this for 10 weeks. Then you keep the breathing up for about 6 month after you finish. You can do another PP 3 weeks after you complete a PP. Pretty simple. Guidelines. :) Great to have you in the discussion and good luck! Can't wait to hear your experiences!
 
BrianC said:
Basically, you start your breathing on day one of Week 1, and you read a little of Week 1 each day. When Week 1 is done, you're on Week 2. There is no pause between weeks. If you haven't done your Week 1 breathing, then you haven't started the process yet. You do this for 10 weeks. Then you keep the breathing up for about 6 month after you finish. You can do another PP 3 weeks after you complete a PP. Pretty simple. Guidelines. :) Great to have you in the discussion and good luck! Can't wait to hear your experiences!
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Brian thank you so much for getting back to me. It seems i misunderstood the directions in the book. So this means that the breathing exercises twice per day are done in weeks 2, 3, 4 etc? and then all the way through to the tenth week and beyond??? Sorry I am not clear on this for some reason.....I began last night, and found the breathing exercise a little hard but very good, i also read weeks two and three from the book. Was this a mistake? Should I ONLY go ahead and read beyond week one after week one is over? Not sure why im so confused about this, perhaps it is the resistance Michael Brown speaks of in the book, either way....Your advice is appreciated. Many thanks.
 
You'll do the breathing in all 10 weeks, and for 6 months after. So since you started week one yesterday, you'll just read pieces of week one in the book. Once week one is over, you'll be on week two, and you'll only read a little of week two each day. Each week is the same, just different reading material and a different conscious response. That's about it. If you want more to read each day, you can reread the beginning of the book again, or you can reread the week's material until the week is over. That's what I've done in the past. You'll get the routine down in no time. :)
 
BrianC said:
You'll do the breathing in all 10 weeks, and for 6 months after. So since you started week one yesterday, you'll just read pieces of week one in the book. Once week one is over, you'll be on week two, and you'll only read a little of week two each day. Each week is the same, just different reading material and a different conscious response. That's about it. If you want more to read each day, you can reread the beginning of the book again, or you can reread the week's material until the week is over. That's what I've done in the past. You'll get the routine down in no time. :)
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Many thanks Brian,clear now
 
Hello Brian,
I'm new here. I'm wondering if you are familiar with Transformational Breath, and if so.. could you tell me what are the differences between TPP and doing Transformational Breath?
I understand from watching Michael's youtube vid that the two are complimentary, but I'm not entirely clear about, well.... (for lack of a better way to say it..) are the 'aims' different?
Thank you for hosting this forum. Evie
 
Hi, Evie. Good to have you here.

I've only done a little bit of research into Transformational Breath, because Michael Brown mentioned it. In one interview with Michael and the lady who founded Transformational Breath, the founder said that Michael added the missing ingredient to Transformational Breath to bring it all together. She was basically saying that TPP, in general, is the ingredient. How much of TPP, I don't know. They didn't go into detail. And I don't know what Transportation Breath teaches now that's similar to TPP or borrowed from it.

TPP used to have beginner, intermediate, and advanced level breathing speeds. However, at some point, it changed to one single breathing speed on Michael's website. I'm assuming he discovered the optimal breathing speed for TPP. I don't really know for sure. That varied breathing thing could have come from Transformational Breath or some other type of meditation practice.

Also, TPP breathing is always the same inhale length as the exhale length. I don't know if that was influenced by Transformational Breath or not either.

In one interview, I think Michael said that Transformational Breath was very helpful for emotional integration, but that was in conjunction with what he'd already learned about integrating uncomfortable emotions.

I don't know if that's helpful or not. I like Transformational Breath, but it was just way too expensive for me to learn or get trained in. TPP is free, besides the cost of the book, so that worked for me. :) I hope I get to learn Transformational Breath some day.
 
That's one way to put it, but the terminology might be confusing. With TPP, we sit with our uncomfortable emotions when they surface (get triggered) and accept them unconditionally and give them our unconditional attention. That's basically what unconditional love is. As we do that, the emotions eventually shift from uncomfortable to comfortable emotions. A better way to put it would be from dysfunctional to functional. For instance, I might feel anger in my head. But as I sit with it and accept it, if it's ready, it will integrate. When it integrates, I'll feel it move from my head to my chest, usually, and it turns into a happy, pleasant feeling that causes me to laugh and cry (happy tears).

I look at the heart as having hard parts (not functioning...stuck) and soft parts (functioning). When the hard parts are loved unconditionally, they soften and join the rest of the working heart. The heart then works more effectively and efficiently.

TPP teaches us how to properly feel again, something we've forgotten how to do or were just never taught to do. It makes life so much cooler and gets rid of so much fear (all fear, eventually, if one sticks with it a very long time). Maybe that describes it a little better.
 
I am on week 7 of TPP (round 1). I love it so far. I did my first water session today. It did seem to bring up more things to integrate.
Here are some notes I took from the Presence Process (Highlights of it)

1. Our intent is not to feel better but to get better at feeling
2. Acceptance is the doorway to transformation
3. Consciously connected breathing produces an increased sense of well-being and helps you respond instead of react.
4. The presence process is an invitation to step into a pathway that liberates us from the prison of unconscious mental distraction or drama.
5. It activates a way of being that empowers us to respond to life instead of reacting to it. It leads us into an awareness of what we share rather than focusing on the things that cause us to experience separation.
6. The presence process is a journey into ourselves, And equips us to integrate the suppressed fear, anger, and grief that seeps into our daily experience.
7. Living in time, running from yesterday, and frantically chasing tomorrow without rest and stopping to feel peaceful, is what the presence process addresses and Soothes.
8. Entering present moment awareness, you will notice a steady decrease in mental analysis.
9. The presence process specializes in assisting us in gently accessing suppressed emotions.
10. The breathing practice fosters daily accumulation of present moment awareness through integration of the energetic patterns that keep us trapped in a time-based mentality.
11. There is no way to breathe in the past or in the future, we can only breathe in the present. By becoming aware of our breathing, we remain anchored in the moment and not the past or future.
12. And presence process shows us how to prevent drama and instructs us how to integrate blocked emotions.
13. Chronic illness and disease are outer manifestations of an un-integrated charge within the emotional body.
And when charged emotions are sufficiently integrated, there is no longer a foundation for affliction.
14. The more we integrate our charged emotional condition, the less severe our afflictions are.
15. We must feel emotions we have long suppressed.
16. The turbulence we experience with the presence process is beneficial. The way out is through, and we must go inward.
17. We must willingly ride our inner Dragon.
18. OUR DAILY BREATHING PRACTICE IS THE SEED OF A PLANT THAT BEARS THE FRUIT WE SEEK.
PRESENT MOMENT AWARENESS.
19. When we are struggling physically, mentally, and emotionally through this process, it's because we are being impacted by it in a beneficial manner.
 
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Hi, Grateful! Good to have you in the forum. That's a lot of great info for people thinking about doing TPP, and a good reminder to those who've done it already. Thanks!

I really started enjoying my first Presence Process on Week 7. That's when I started to have my first integrations happen. Glad it's going well for you. Some people have some pretty rough stuff come up which makes it a very tough experience. I wish it had brought up some really rough stuff for me, but it didnt. It did bring up a lot of things here and there o needed to integrate, but nothing was really tough, luckily. Makes the first time through pleasant.

Good luck, and I look forward to hearing your experiences with TPP.
 
Hi, Boston. Sorry to hear it didn't work well for you. I'm glad you posted so people understand that TPP doesn't work the same with everyone. Each person is different, and so we never know exactly how much emotional processing a person will accomplish when they go into TPP.

A person definitely has to be in the right place to do it, and even then, it's not easy for some people to allow their emotions to surface--especially men. It's ingrained in us not to be emotional in today's society. That's hard to overcome subconsciously. I know that's part of the reason I have such slow progress with TPP.

Luckily, I was able to have enough useful integrations that it changed the way I act and feel. I no longer get overwhelmed, which is huge for me. Makes life so much easier. I'm more laid back now, taking life as it comes. Dealing with my 4-yr-old son is so much easier now, too, because he almost never triggers me anymore. I treat him with tons more love, as a result, which will have wonderful effects on him as he grows up.

I now look forward to pain a lot of the time instead of trying to get rid of it. And it's even enjoyable, many times. Once it integrates, the emotional cause is taken care of. And we know it's not suppressed anymore, too, which is a relief. To no longer be afraid of many kinds of pain is priceless.

Feeling emotions run through the body is awesome. Makes life all kinds of fun. I have a long way to go, but I love the changes TPP has caused on me.

I will say this--when I went into TPP, I was completely committed, and I knew for certain that it would help me. That makes a big difference on how much of an impact it has on a person. If you ever decide to do it again, try waiting till you're 100% committed and know it will work. I'm not saying you weren't committed the first time you did it. Just saying to make sure you are next time, if you decide to do it again, so it will have a strong effect.

Good luck, man. If you don't do TPP again, I hope you find something that works for you.
 
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