In the early days of developing this work I stumbled upon a perplexing discovery.

I asked one of my clients to focus on the felt sense of her “witness,” the part of her that was consistently present as she turned her attention to mapping one feeling state after another. She mapped this witness just as easily as an ordinary feeling state, with a distinct location, size and shape, texture and weight, color and temperature. She said it felt like “me.” Interesting.

Curious, I asked her to go a step further. I had her focus on the feeling she held when mapping the witness. I arbitrarily called it the “watcher.” I was surprised when she easily mapped this second level as well. OK, I wondered, how far could she go with this?

She hit the limit with the third level. When I asked her to describe the feeling she held when mapping the watcher, she went blank and took on a profoundly serene visage. When I prompted her to describe her sensation, she just shook her head.

“It’s like god or something,” she said, “there’s no way to describe it.”

Whoa, I wasn’t expecting that! And to be honest, I wasn’t ready to turn this work in the direction of spirituality. There was too much more to be done in studying ordinary feeling states.

So I stopped asking people to map these witness states for the next decade. But the question always lurked. What was that? And was it important?

Recently I’ve come back to the question and begun mapping witness states again. And with all the hard work I’ve done in the meantime, I can now understand their central importance. Here is what I am finding.

• The First Witness is our front-row seat on life. It allows us to observe our full experience in perspective and avoid getting pulled into one emotion or another. It enables us to choose where to focus our attention and feed the positive rather than be ruled by the negative.
• The Second Witness is our source of guidance and holds the wisdom of our highest good. It can not only see what is, but it can envision what wants to be because it can connect to our ideal self. When we have access to a strong Second Witness, we become proactive creators of our lives instead of passive victims at the mercy of circumstance.
• The Third Witness is our connection to universal consciousness. This is the awareness sought by all spiritual and meditation practices, and grants the felt experience of oneness with all of life.

All three of these Witness states are easily accessible through the Tangible Mapping process. For those of you who haven’t experienced it yet, Tangible Mapping is a way of asking questions about the inner sensations of your feeling mind. Questions about location, size and shape, color and temperature, texture and weight, sound and movement call to mind very concrete, tangible images representing even the most nebulous feeling state.

The tangibility these questions bring to your feelings allow you to interact more easily with them, freeing you from old patterns and accellerating your learning and growth. Mapping the actual, felt experience of these Witness selves is a particular focus of the work which can enhance and strengthen any personal growth work you might already be doing.

For my clients, applying the Tangible Mapping process to the Witness states has been the single most life-changing event in their work with me. Their capacity for reflection and self-direction leaps forward. They gain a detachment from their ongoing emotions-in-the-moment. And they take on a fascination with their own growth as well as a strong sense of empowerment.

The Tangible Witness work can be a great foundation for any practice. This is true whether your path involves meditation, creative or performing arts, martial arts, devotional prayer, ecstatic dance, athletic competition, wilderness contemplation, parenting, tantra, or psychotherapy. Having direct access to the three witness selves bumps your practice up to the next level of satisfaction and performance.

Being able to willingly access the objectivity of the First Witness, the vision of the Second Witness, and the transcendence of the Third Witness means you’ll be able to apply everything else you’ve learned in your practice with far greater mastery. And if you’re just starting, no matter what path you are choosing, Tangible Witness work will put you far ahead of your novice peers.

Even if you aren’t pursuing any particular practice, Tangible Witness work makes everyday life easier to navigate. As one of my clients put it, when you recognize and have access to the single source for all that is good in your life, it puts everything else in perspective.

• You’ll stop biting the hooks other people put out, and keep yourself from getting all worked up over other people’s issues.
• You’ll avoid falling into old traps of frustrating interaction. Instead, you’ll notice the pattern and make different choices about how to engage.
• You’ll catch yourself in negative self-talk, and be able to turn your attention to what you’re grateful for and aspiring to.
• There are many more ways you’ll find benefit, depending on your unique challenges.

There are so many ways to apply this work, and I am excited to share it with all of you. So I’ve cooked up a class series that anyone can afford, and will be offering it at several different times to accommodate any schedule.