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The term “metaskills”, then, refers not only to the feelings that occur while we are working, but to becoming aware of these feelings as they arise inside of us. Further, the term "metaskills" implies that, in addition to noticing these attitudes we pick them up and cull their energy, using our feelings and attitudes in the service of the client — Amy Mindell, Metaskills
If this is to begin as a journey of discovery, what clues are we looking for? Our first stop comes in the domain of process-oriented psychology. Arnold Mindell (1985), developer of what he calls process or dreambody work, had noted a consistent connection between dreams and body symptoms. A central theme of his work is a naturalistic following and amplifying of these signals from the client's unconscious mind until conscious understanding occurs. Such work can be very nonlinear, requiring great awareness and flexibility from the therapist. Arnold Mindell underscores these requirements by saying,
At the core of dreambody work lie the fascinating phenomena which I call channel switching. Processes can switch suddenly from hearing to feeling, from feeling to visualization, or from seeing to moving, like lightning. If you can follow processes as they move in and out of the body, you are then able to move with the flow of life, and sometimes witness surprising things.
Mindell looks at this as much more than curing individual ailments. Often what is uncovered can include elements of Jungian archetypes and mythology. He writes,
I've discovered that the body's symptoms are not necessarily pathological, that is, they are not just sicknesses which must be healed, repressed or cured. Symptoms are potentially meaningful and purposeful conditions. They could be the beginning of fantastic phases of life, or they could bring one amazingly close to the center of existence. They can also be a trip into another world, as well as a royal road into the development of the personality.
It is within this framework, that Amy Mindell (1995), Arnold Mindell's wife, has looked for the metaskill basis underlying the process work done by her and her husband. In setting a context of distinguishing techniques from the attitudes behind them she gives us a start. She writes,
Techniques can never really fully describe what we do. They are empty vessels which can be applied neutrally. Students in the middle of their studies sometimes look quite mechanical because they attempt to apply techniques in a neutral fashion. It is as though they have picked the flower out of the earth and used it without reference to its roots and origin.
Even beyond the development of facility, she believes that metaskills set the tone of the work as much as does technique. She notes,
A particular body worker or a massage therapist whose mental altitude is one of openness toward nature and the unique process of any client, may feel closely allied with a process worker, even though her techniques are quite different. Another body worker from the same school and who uses the same techniques may have a totally different feeling approach. She may feel that the client's body needs changing and reforming because of old negative patterns. Her attitudes toward her client reflect this belief. She may not feel allied with the process worker or even her own colleague. Both methods are important, yet we must question the assumption that these two body work practitioners have the same fundamental beliefs or belong to the same school of thought.
Nor is the idea that approach and attitude determine effectiveness more than technique unique to the Mindells and their process-oriented approach. In Beyond Technique Lawrence LeShan (1996) notes:
Not only our methods but also the basic models we use vary widely. … All methods and models seem to get about the same results. When there are results, there is one thing that all methods and models have in common. We have been modeling. We listen to the patient and thus, by example, teach him to listen to himself. We care for the patient and thus teach him to care for himself. We have hopes for the patient and thereby teach him to have hopes for himself, We respect the patient and thereby teach him to respect himself.
From the Mindells and LeShan, we glean a greater appreciation of the unconscious messages contained in what we kinesthetically present to others and in turn encounter. We also gain the perspective, common to martial arts, that there is an underlying essence of awareness, attitude, and understanding which transcends and transforms technique into something greater and more fluid. There must be a focus and artistry we can tap into that helps us to be congruent with the particular client and moment. This prompts us to ask further, “What are the elements of this awareness and how do we develop them”? To begin to answer these questions, we make our next stop at the forefront of educational psychology.
© Keith Eric Grant — The RamblemuseSM, November 1999. All rights reserved.
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