From Chaos to Coherence:

The Power of Mindful Intent in Shaping and Expanding a Sense of Possibility in Clinical

Practice

Lynne Harford, MSW, RSW

Angela Croft, MSW, RSW

Our Inspiration & Inquiry

• Holding a space of POSSIBILITY.

• A desire and a passion to make a difference

• A dance between DESPAIR & HOPE

Our Inspiration & Inquiry

• Within each of us is a light

• How do we create a healing space that sustains that light?

• Chaos to Coherence

Our Intention

• To share aspects of our own experience and inquiry

• To touch on relevant theory and research

• To start a conversation that we hope you will continue

Chaos

• cha·os ˈkāˌäs

• Noun

• complete disorder and confusion

Coherence

• co·her·ence ˌkōˈhirəns

• The quality of forming a unified whole.

What is Healing?

• Heal, hēl/ a : to make sound or whole

• Healing is to make whole which is different from curing

• Curing means you have no more symptoms and everything is fixed.

• The process of healing is finding wholeness

• Wholeness expands what we feel is possible

The Field

• We are all ENERGY

• Quantum Science and String theory

• Particles respond to environmental stimulus, including all of our thoughts and emotions

The Field Continued..

• We are all creating, responding and reacting to the energetic environment that we are in

• Research has shown that our internal world of thought and emotions affect the external world through this Field

Healing Space-Creating an Atmosphere That Supports Coherence

• For the purpose of this presentation, we are going to focus on two key aspects of what creates a healing space and expands possibility:

1. Intent to create coherent presence through mindful attention

2. Intent to create coherent synchronization of the HEART and MIND

Coherent Presence- the Power of Mindful Attention

• Mindful moment to moment awareness reduces internal chaos and increases a sense of wholeness and coherence

• This helps us to hold a healing space for ourselves and others

Holding Space

Mindfulness Exercise

Coherence is Contagious

• Mindful attention helps us to set the tone and create an experience of coherent presence

Limbic Resonance • The physical body changes

in response not only to one’s own emotions but also in direct response to the emotions of other people.

• Changes in respiration,

heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and hormones consistent with other people’s emotional states occur when interacting with other humans, particularly when looking into their eyes. (Lewis, Amini & Lannon, 2001)

Coherent Synchronization of Heart & Mind

• When we talk about being mindful, there has traditionally been an emphasis on the “mind”.

• Research also shows the powerful effect of the human heart on both The Field and the Mind.

Heart & Mind Synergy

What can we take from this?

• When our minds and hearts work together in synergy it helps us to establish coherence

• This is not an idle state.

Incoherence Vs. Coherence

Guided Gratitude Meditation

Your State of Being Matters

• You can always connect with this inner light and sense of coherence. • Healing and the process of making whole for yourself and others can happen in

this kind of a coherent space. • Our thoughts and state of being have more influence on self and others than we

have been aware of. • Old paradigm is that we are separate, that our thoughts and our state of being

don’t influence others.

• New paradigm. Our thoughts and state of being …how we feel in this moment can extend beyond ourselves and can be influential in the healing of ourselves and others.

• How we cultivate our field of energy can have a powerful healing influence on

those around us….often more powerful than any technique or strategy to ‘fix’ things

• Take steps to begin to develop a practice!

The Social Work Consulting Group www.swcg.ca lynneharford@swcg.ca angelacroft@swcg.ca

http://www.swcg.ca/mailto:lynneharford@swcg.camailto:angelacroft@swcg.ca