Process groups can be very helpful in solving our problems. There are many different kinds to choose from.

Some process groups are based in a particular person’s method or style of counseling. You can go to process groups based on the Unconditional Positive Regard of Carl Rogers or the wisdom of Marshal Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication techniques. There are Jungian process groups where archetypal patterns and relationships are the basis for insights. Family constellation groups have methods of recreating your family and acting it out with other people in such a way that everyone involved gains insights into their own process.

BreathWork groups are another type of process group. This is not traditional talk therapy. In a BreathWork group, people lie comfortably on a floor or mat and breathe in certain patterns to bring awareness to places where we would normally withdraw our awareness. By paying attention, things seem to shift, almost on their own. Do a Google search for BreathWork or Vivation and you’ll find some of these groups to try.

Some groups gather to do Inquiry in the form of The Work of Byron Katie. Through asking four simple questions and turning around our original thought, we gain experiential shifts in how we perceive things. Simply put, we learn what is true. Check www.thework.org for more information.

Patterns of relating that we have been experiencing our whole lives show up in process groups. It’s a function of that old saying about “wherever you go, there you are.” In process group, we communicate the way we normally do, with one big exception: we have at least one trained listener who is helping us to notice the patterns. Gently bringing our awareness (or not so gently in some techniques) allows us to make a shift in our habits of relating. After practicing these new habits in the process group, we can take our new habits and skills back to our relationships.

Process groups are a microcosm of our lives. In a dedicated time and space with others who are committed to learning and growing, we are supported through things that we might never have been aware of or able to change on our own. Any local counseling center will be able to put you in touch with process groups in your area. If we were meant to do this alone, we’d be on a planet all by ourselves and not here with 6 billion other people. Go see what you can get out of a process group. You may hate parts of it. Change is sometimes no picnic, but in the long run, you will find it quite rewarding!