We are born, we live, we die – it’s the natural cycle of things. The same phenomenon confronts us all around, from plants to animals to planets, we come into being, we endure, then we expire. I’m deeply interested in every stage of the process and want to share Dr. Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s perspective on this dynamic, something he calls the Rhythm of Energy (also known as the Rhythm of Excitement). It was one of the highlights of my somatic coach training with Strozzi Institute, staying with me ever since.
The broad sweep of the rhythm of energy is easy to grasp. We begin with awakening, followed by increasing then containment and finally completion.
I’m looking at a plant on my windowsill. It began as a bulb, dormant in the soil over the winter, resuming an active life with the dawn of spring (awakening). Roots gather sustenance, the sun provides the means for photosynthesis, and fresh green shoots appear (increasing). I can anticipate flowers budding then blooming (containment), and I know come the end of summer it will die back, ready to begin again the following year (completion). The natural cycle of things.
Let me give you an example beyond the birth / life / death model, let’s look at a project. It begins with brainstorming all the potentials, where there are no stupid questions or suggestions, just pure unadulterated generative possibilities. This is awakening. Then it’s time to make a decision about which one of the strands will be developed into something substantial. There’s still excitement and life forward energy in this stage (increasing) yet with more focus and intention. Once the project is underway there comes the containment phase, likely the most fruitful time, where systems are put in place to maintain the flow, people take ownership and responsibility for their part in the projects’s development and things tick along. Finally, as the project’s goals have been achieved, there’s time for review in the completion stage. We sit back to reflect and consider what went well, what didn’t, and take time (ideally) before moving on to what’s next.
When I meet a client I’m interested to know in which of the four stages they are strongest, and weakest. Most people are stronger in two, which may or may not be consecutive. For example, some have natural ability to awaken and increase, but falter at containment and completion. Others are strong in containment and completion (that’s me by the way). Yet others may be strong in awakening, skip over increasing and move straight to containment, missing a key developmental stage along the way. Why is this valuable? A balanced team will be made up of people with different strengths – a mixture of awakeners, increasers, containers and completers. I acknowledge this is hugely reductive with much greater nuance than I can offer in a brief blog post, so I’ll close with this: we naturally tend towards each rhythm as a result of our early shaping – a child encouraged to be exuberant may become naturally strong in awakening and increasing, while a child told to sit still and be serious may become naturally contained. (Or over contained, and that’s another conversation for another day). In the interests of self-awareness, it’s tremendously useful to know where we have capacity and where we might want to develop further capability.
If you’d like to know more, I highly recommend reviewing Dr. Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s original text in The Anatomy of Change (1993) and The Art of Somatic Coaching (2014).
[My private practice has an opening at the moment, so you’re welcome to reach out and enquire if it’s still available].