Global Social Witnessing
"Global Social Witnessing begins with each individual. It is the ability to relate to processes, incidents and situations that happen in our culture. But in order to relate to myself, I need to have the ability to adequately map my outside into my inside. This creates resonance – based on resonance ability, which is a natural function of the nervous system when it is open and mature."
-- Thomas Hübl
-- Thomas Hübl
Global Social Witnessing is about welcoming more of life home in us, and welcoming ourselves home into life.
The term Global Social Witnessing (GSW) was first introduced by Thomas Hübl in 2017. I first heard this term when Thomas spoke of it in some interviews during the 2020 Collective Trauma Summit. I was immediately fascinated as some of what I was understanding was familiar. As a yoga and meditation practitioner in the Himalayan tradition of Sri Vidya in the early 2000's, I was steeped in consciousness practices to develop various states of awareness, awakening, discernment, inner knowing, and witnessing. I dedicated daily practice for years to develop capacities to access stillness, unbound awareness, and many related subtle competencies. And yet the context Thomas was speaking to felt new somehow, emergent. I was reminded of a quote:
"It is possible the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation." -- Thich Nhat Hanh, October 1993.
I was deeply touched by his clarity and excited about the potential power of group practices with the shared intention of relating with world events to awaken the space that connects our inner world space with the outer world, especially around challenging world situations where polarization exists and connecting can be difficult.
As I currently understand it, there are many ways to practice Global Social Witnessing, including individually. One example is beinging awareness to what happens internally (physically/emotionally/ mentally) while taking in the news of the day: noticing when we feel connected with what we are observing about the world, and when we disconnect emotionally or mentally, when we're overwhelmed, etc. It's important not to judge any disconnecting as "wrong." A fundamental tenet of trauma healing is that there is intelligence in our nervous system responses to attempt to regulate by shutting down or becoming reactive. In addition to physiological fear responses to trauma, humans also adapt shame and pride-based identities in relation to difficulties and traumas in our environments, especially as we are developing. Trauma healing involves restoring our compassionate witness capacity, usually through therapeutic relation, to become aware of these reactions, whether they are originating in the moment or we are recreating them from our past. Due to the many traumas in our world today, especially ancestral and systemic, none of us will likely be able to relate to news events with full presence. We need each other. Something new becomes possible when we turn toward world events together.
In 2017, Christine Gerike initiated a community Global Social Witnessing practice group, which included Manda Johnson, and Robert Buxbaum. The three of them founded World Witnessing, an emerging organization offering webinars, practice groups, and training. I met them in 2020, and joined a practice group that summer. In 2021, along with some others who are also passionate about GSW, I began to co-facilitate some sessions in the practice group.
My experience is that the practice and the results of practice are difficult to describe. Each time I have practiced in a GSW group as a participant or facilitator, touching the felt truth of how the topic lives through me and the others present brings me into closer contact with earth, with my own heart, and with the the most beautiful aspects of humanity which we share. The power and mysterious beauty of GSW practice is that turning toward what's painful and forgotten can lead to this state of connection, gratitude, and even awe.
Online group sessions are often organized around a specific, difficult topic in the world. Whatever arises through each of us is a representation of both our individual selves and the collective field, and is important to the process. Sharing in the group allows us to weave together a group field of intention, embodied presence, and love, which also welcomes each of our subjective experiences.
In GSW practice we are expanding our capacity to include more unintegrated history at the various levels – personal, ancestral, collective – into our group field of loving presence, so that history can become available in and us through as as wisdom, energy, presence. Witnessing is a practice of relating on many levels. As we witness ourselves, we connect through our bodies, emotions, and minds, noticing where we connect with ourselves and perhaps where we are absent, or disconnected, without making that wrong. Our practice includes listening, sensing, feeling, noticing, witnessing subtle movements, and how we relate with ourselves, the topic, and each other – including when we turn away, as well as our nervous system responses which are intelligent and provide an important function. We include our human hearts, and we notice and cultivate spacious witnessing consciousness, bringing intentionality to the qualities of our relating. For example, compassion, a soft touch, etc.
I offer occasional GSW group practice series, sometimes to pre-existing community groups who want support and facilitation related to a particular world event, and sometimes bringing individuals together to form a practice group series.
I have a particular interest in connecting people from different paths and communities, adapting GSW to people's existing practice for awakening, spiritual development, connection, and/or subtle activism. Feel free to contact me to have a conversation about your interest, as GSW is a huge joy for me to speak about and share!
You can learn more about Global Social Witnessing through the Pocket Project, the nonprofit arm of Thomas Hübl's work, and which offers free monthly GSW practice groups.
The term Global Social Witnessing (GSW) was first introduced by Thomas Hübl in 2017. I first heard this term when Thomas spoke of it in some interviews during the 2020 Collective Trauma Summit. I was immediately fascinated as some of what I was understanding was familiar. As a yoga and meditation practitioner in the Himalayan tradition of Sri Vidya in the early 2000's, I was steeped in consciousness practices to develop various states of awareness, awakening, discernment, inner knowing, and witnessing. I dedicated daily practice for years to develop capacities to access stillness, unbound awareness, and many related subtle competencies. And yet the context Thomas was speaking to felt new somehow, emergent. I was reminded of a quote:
"It is possible the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation." -- Thich Nhat Hanh, October 1993.
I was deeply touched by his clarity and excited about the potential power of group practices with the shared intention of relating with world events to awaken the space that connects our inner world space with the outer world, especially around challenging world situations where polarization exists and connecting can be difficult.
As I currently understand it, there are many ways to practice Global Social Witnessing, including individually. One example is beinging awareness to what happens internally (physically/emotionally/ mentally) while taking in the news of the day: noticing when we feel connected with what we are observing about the world, and when we disconnect emotionally or mentally, when we're overwhelmed, etc. It's important not to judge any disconnecting as "wrong." A fundamental tenet of trauma healing is that there is intelligence in our nervous system responses to attempt to regulate by shutting down or becoming reactive. In addition to physiological fear responses to trauma, humans also adapt shame and pride-based identities in relation to difficulties and traumas in our environments, especially as we are developing. Trauma healing involves restoring our compassionate witness capacity, usually through therapeutic relation, to become aware of these reactions, whether they are originating in the moment or we are recreating them from our past. Due to the many traumas in our world today, especially ancestral and systemic, none of us will likely be able to relate to news events with full presence. We need each other. Something new becomes possible when we turn toward world events together.
In 2017, Christine Gerike initiated a community Global Social Witnessing practice group, which included Manda Johnson, and Robert Buxbaum. The three of them founded World Witnessing, an emerging organization offering webinars, practice groups, and training. I met them in 2020, and joined a practice group that summer. In 2021, along with some others who are also passionate about GSW, I began to co-facilitate some sessions in the practice group.
My experience is that the practice and the results of practice are difficult to describe. Each time I have practiced in a GSW group as a participant or facilitator, touching the felt truth of how the topic lives through me and the others present brings me into closer contact with earth, with my own heart, and with the the most beautiful aspects of humanity which we share. The power and mysterious beauty of GSW practice is that turning toward what's painful and forgotten can lead to this state of connection, gratitude, and even awe.
Online group sessions are often organized around a specific, difficult topic in the world. Whatever arises through each of us is a representation of both our individual selves and the collective field, and is important to the process. Sharing in the group allows us to weave together a group field of intention, embodied presence, and love, which also welcomes each of our subjective experiences.
In GSW practice we are expanding our capacity to include more unintegrated history at the various levels – personal, ancestral, collective – into our group field of loving presence, so that history can become available in and us through as as wisdom, energy, presence. Witnessing is a practice of relating on many levels. As we witness ourselves, we connect through our bodies, emotions, and minds, noticing where we connect with ourselves and perhaps where we are absent, or disconnected, without making that wrong. Our practice includes listening, sensing, feeling, noticing, witnessing subtle movements, and how we relate with ourselves, the topic, and each other – including when we turn away, as well as our nervous system responses which are intelligent and provide an important function. We include our human hearts, and we notice and cultivate spacious witnessing consciousness, bringing intentionality to the qualities of our relating. For example, compassion, a soft touch, etc.
I offer occasional GSW group practice series, sometimes to pre-existing community groups who want support and facilitation related to a particular world event, and sometimes bringing individuals together to form a practice group series.
I have a particular interest in connecting people from different paths and communities, adapting GSW to people's existing practice for awakening, spiritual development, connection, and/or subtle activism. Feel free to contact me to have a conversation about your interest, as GSW is a huge joy for me to speak about and share!
You can learn more about Global Social Witnessing through the Pocket Project, the nonprofit arm of Thomas Hübl's work, and which offers free monthly GSW practice groups.
"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
-- Mahatma Gandhi
