Group facilitation & development through Sounding

tel/fax: 01730 895635 email: russell.stone1@ntlworld.com web: www.russell-stone.co.uk

Since 2000 I have been involved in group work using sound, especially the voice. This led me to engaging on an MA in transpersonal counselling and psychotherapy, asking the question, "What is the transpersonal experience of sounding?" (view article) Sounding is a vocal technique that emerged from the research which allows improvisational sound from within to be expressed that may or may not involve musical structures. Transpersonal is just that, beyond the personal. Beyond ego consciousness there are other states of consciousness that are difficult to describe and in some ways can only be experienced. Engaging with Sounding is one way of beginning to experience this. I have led various groups in this work, both one-off workshops and on-going Human Development groups. Settings have been varied, such as in-service training days for counselling groups and other organisations, and groups individuals who come together in a common desire to explore beyond the known. For example, I worked in Hackney, co-facilitating with Shiuli Sabaya. After 4 hours of Kundalini yoga we moved into 2 hours of sounding. At the end group members spoke of the deep connection with Self that this workshop allowed. On another occasion, I facilitated a two hour workshop with the External Verifiers for CPCAB near Glastonbury. This was after a morning of 'doing' for them as aspects of their work was explored. They found the shift in the afternoon into 'being' that the Sounding allowed to be very moving. For me, there are here three core aspects to group Sounding, namely voice, transformational space, and the Taoist principle of Wu Wei ('non-doing'). If you would like to be part of an ongoing Sounding group, or would like to use this modality within an existing group or organisation, please contact me on 01730 895635 or russell.stone1@@ntlworld.com and we can talk about the next step.