OMG, what a year this has been already!
For my July birthday last year, I had a session with a seer. She said if we talked in a year we would be astounded by how much had happened … she was right.
She also said that she cried upon tapping into my energy prior to our call, as I apparently was the first person she had encountered in her clientele who had ‘made it through to the new world’, that I gave her hope.
Flash forward a year later … I’m reluctant to say “I’ve arrived” when uncertainty looms everywhere, for me as well.
However, all of the turmoil of 2020 has brought clarity about what is most important to me and how I want to spend my time.
Doing Visual Coaching and my emerging Conscious Inquiry work. God/dess willing of course!
The Indian Sabbatical That Never Was:
I’ve been writing ‘2020’ in the center of company and individual visions for decades. So as the big year approached, I arranged my schedule so I could take some time off.
Specifically, I booked March-June off to take a sabbatical to India to work with a recommended kundalini teacher (I’ve been in a kundalini process since 2009 and wanted her help with it).
You know that adage if you want to make God laugh then tell him/her your plans?! Well, I had one of those experiences.
The kundalini teacher, who had been very responsive, suddenly stopped returning my emails. And with nowhere to go, I had to cancel the trip.
At the time, I was frustrated. I was left with a big dent in my schedule. So I filled it with a few new courses, including Shift Into Digital Work (my how divine that timing would turn out to be!).
Then the pandemic swept through North American in March. Same timing as when I would have been in India. Thank goodness I didn’t go (no offense India). Just like when 911 hit New York in 2001, I had been diverted from being somewhere that probably wouldn’t have been in my best interest.
And, I had been placed exactly where I needed to be … able to provide mental and emotional support for my students and beyond.
Process Popups Are Born:
Due to India, I had intended to put my Working Visually eCommunity on hold. However, I had one last webinar to host on March 12th, the week the pandemic hit. And that webinar turned out to be the first of what would become the Process PopUps — a new free series to help folks deal with 2020.
That first PopUp Webinar was an incredible experience. I opened it up beyond my grads to the fuller GR/GF community and we had a big turnout.
Back then we didn’t know what the heck was happening. Meetings and events were shutting down left, right, and center. Each day major announcements were being made. Tensions were high. Fear was palpable.
It felt so good to be able to offer support and processing via my Visual Maps in the midst of such gigantic changes.
Little did I know that four months later I would still be offering Process Popups every 7-10 days and will be for the foreseeable future. Feels important to continue to offer a through-line through our upcoming fall and winter.
We’ve had 17 Pop-Ups so far. Attendance has found its flow as people drop in when their schedules allow and new members find us. All is recorded and shared here and on my YouTube channel.
Drop on by to get in on the community and support. We are meeting this crazy year as it unfolds, step by step.
Free Recorded Sessions:
I’ve also been gifting Sessions For Individuals, for those who are ok being recorded. Building up a good library of 2020 related topics, going on 30+ sessions now.
Has been wonderful to work with old clients and new-to-me folks alike. Interesting how I’m being found and each person’s unique circumstances.
The point of recording them is to provide a public service. Parallel processing occurs as you watch people sort through the things that matter most to them.
And people interested in Working Visually are learning about Visual Process Work with Individuals (a lesser-known cousin in the field).
You can check out the library and book your own session here.
Reduced Pricing on My Private Coaching:
Understandably, not everyone wants their Visual Coaching session shared with the world. I offer Private Sessions too as do my Certified Visual Coaches. I have opted to reduce my regular pricing by 30%. If you have a greater need please let me know.
SHIFT-IT Online Intensive: August 28-30 (all 3 days)
At least once a year I host SHIFT-IT Retreats either in-person or online. I had to cancel Easter’s Mexican Retreat and I’ve held off until now on the online one too.
My guidance is strongly encouraging me to offer a Retreat now at the end of the summer before the fall starts (given all indications are we are in for some turbulence, especially the Americans).
A safe place to do some serious self-reflection to get your ducks in a row.
So on August 28-30, I’m hosting a special SHIFT-IT Online Intensive. Prices are reduced, given all that is going on. I’ve also added an Accessibility Rate for those suffering financial hardship or reduced currencies.
And as always, past SHIFT-IT attendees (course, kit, or private clients) are welcome to attend as Free Repeaters. Just write my assistant Pat at admin@shift-it-coach.com for the code that zeros out the fee.
*** If you have Visual Coach Certification in your sights, this Intensive is a quick way to get one of the two required pre-requisites completed.
Coming Soon: 6 Month Support Groups
I am also receiving guidance to create some Online Private Support Groups through this fall into 2021.
Small intimate groups where we can support one another and how the world changes impact each of our professional and personal lives.
Meditation, central nervous system support, visual processing, and other tools will be woven into these containers. So members have a really supportive and practical place to come to help weather the 2020 shifts.
Visual Coach Certification:
This program is going into its 11th year and I’ve extended the deal from last year’s 10th Anniversary In it I teach other Process Practitioners how to work visually too and train/license you in my suite of 40+ Visual Coaching Tools.
This program is open to all kinds of practitioners who work with or are responsible for individuals (supervisors, HR folks, coaches, counselors, therapists, financial advisors, mediators, lawyers, disability advocates, etc.).
Despite the pandemic (or perhaps because of it) interest in the 2020 cohort is strong. We currently have just one spot left. So act fast if you want to join us!
Pro Bono Opportunities:
There are a few free Visual Coaching opportunities available.
First off, I am in need of two Pro Bono Test Clients, for two of my Visual-Coaches-in Training who had their exams hijacked by the pandemic. I specifically need people who have a goal yet have split energy about their goal. If this sounds like you, please write my assistant Patricia at admin@shift-it-coach.com
Additionally, I want to redo the Case Studies I use in Visual Coach Certification. I need two Pro Bono Clients. The time commitment is 12 hours (spread across several weeks).
My facilitation is free in exchange for the ability to use the recorded sessions as teaching examples. You may use a pseudonym. Ideally, I’m looking for one female and one male client. To be considered please share a bit about yourself and your circumstances to my assistant Patricia at admin@shift-it-coach.com
Conscious Inquiry: My Next Frontier
Finally, I’m going to end on what is emerging as the next frontier of my work and life. A funny thing has happened over these last months … in a way, India has come to me. Or at least what I wanted to accomplish in India has.
As mentioned, I’m in a kundalini process (I’m not special, we all are ultimately in a kundalini process as we return home to source).
Since 2009 I’ve had to deal with increased prana/chi and intuition running through my system. It’s been a journey full of learning, phenomenon, and changes.
My soul put the cart before the horse. The energetics happened without a lot of knowledge about them. So I’ve sought out different kinds of instruction to help. More recently non-dual or oneness teachings have been very helpful.
Balancing of polarities is showing up regularly now in both me and my clients (light/dark, good/evil, do/be, fast/slow, together/alone, fear/courage, doubt/certainty, anger/peace, guilt/innocence, worthlessness/worthy, victim/victimizer, etc.).
So is witnessing and meeting the flow of consciousness through each of us as unique yet related forms … given we are all connected (ultimately are one).
Even though my moniker is SHIFT-IT Coach, I’m being taught that the greatest shifts come from meeting what is exactly here, in the moment. When we really do that, consciousness naturally shifts and unfolds itself.
Using visuals with this kind of esoteric work is really an interesting thing. It is a great tool for seeing into oneself and letting consciousness (your greatest ally) guide you to your own answers.
More times than not in the Process Groups and in my coaching of individuals, I’m defaulting to Polarity Work and Conscious Inquiry with my clients. Or to their Future Selves (another way to tap into that higher perspective). Rather than to little ol’ me attempting to give answers. As one’s own Consciousness is the best Coach ever.
The unfoldment of this newer work has been grace. It’s where I’ve wanted to get to for a long time. Funny how it took a worldwide pandemic to get here.
Or perhaps that’s not funny at all. It’s often darkest before the dawn as the saying goes. Humanity is going through some tough stuff. However, lots of help is coming through to us if pay attention. It’s all around us And within us. We just need to be vulnerable and humble enough to look …
Thanks for reading and being connected via this long-delayed eZine. I appreciate you. What a journey we are all on!
Wishing you and yours the very best during these heightened times. Take good care. Be well. xoxo
© 2020 Christina L. Merkley
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Christina Merkley is a Process Practitioner with extensive experience in Organizational Development, Strategic Planning, Graphic Facilitation, Coaching, and Consciousness. Through her online SHIFT-IT School, she supports the professional and personal development of innovative leaders, managers, consultants, facilitators, teachers, trainers, coaches, therapists, and other agents of change from across the globe. She lives in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. www.shift-it-coach.com
