Spatial Relations Changework (SRC) and Fanning

Kathleen Radebaugh’s Spatial Relations Changework (SRC) is a way to finally get your Conscious and Unconscious Minds talking… and sometimes even collaborating.

First, some background. In NLP, we talk about the Conscious and Unconscious Minds. The Conscious Mind is in charge of setting conscious goals and thinking through problems, issues, memories, etc. The Unconscious Mind (or other-than-conscious mind) is in charge of interpreting the myriad details that your Conscious Mind can’t process, and focusing the attention of the Conscious Mind on what’s important. The Unconscious Mind seems to have its own goals and also processes problems, issues, memories, etc.

Many people have had the experience of setting a goal (Conscious Mind) but not being able to get started for some reason, often for an unknown, seemingly unsolvable, or indefinable reason (Unconscious Mind). Many different modalities, hypnosis and NLP included, aim to help the Conscious and Unconscious Minds to work together. SRC does this in a unique way, and I’ll describe my experience of it in a moment.

Second, some information about a recent class on SRC and Fanning that Kathleen facilitated and I attended. There were 11 attendees. SRC is the set of tools that Kathleen uses to help people create new worlds for themselves, and it includes her own renderings of David Grove’s Clean Space, Clean Language, and Emergent Knowledge work, along with some NLP and some of Stephen Gilligan's Self Relations work. Fanning is a shamanic breathing practice that helps to disconnect inappropriate connections you have with a person, place, or thing. Fanning is very much like an NLP technique, and you do not have to believe in shamanic principles (or NLP, for that matter) for it to produce results for you.

First, Kathleen guided us to represent what we wanted to work on. I used a piece of paper, some glitter pens, and some crayons to make a drawing. Then, we started interacting with the paper with Kathleen guiding us through a series of Clean Space questions, reviewing it from 6 different places. Throughout the entire process, we never reported any content to Kathleen nor did we tell her our responses to her questions. We wrote down notes and insights. Then, she asked us to take what we knew from that series of interactions and use it to “fan” something. We repeated this process several times.

What’s happening on the inside for each individual is magnificent. My experience was that SRC is, over and over, requesting that the Unconscious Mind deliver information to the Conscious Mind about what’s going on. The Conscious Mind makes meaning and takes note of this, and the process is repeated. When you add Fanning into the picture, it gives the Conscious Mind the chance to practice taking a small, meaningful action right away (by Fanning) to provide for and honor the Unconscious Mind. For me, the process solidified into an interaction like this:

Conscious Mind: What do you want? What is going on for you? (Clean Space and Clean Language questions from facilitator.)
Unconscious Mind: I want a pony! (Participant’s response to questions.)
Conscious Mind: OK, here’s a pony. (Participant using Fanning based on response to questions.)

Conscious Mind: What do you want? What is going on for you?
Unconscious Mind: I want less traffic in my life
Conscious Mind: OK, here’s less traffic in my life.

Conscious Mind: What do you want? What is going on for you?
Unconscious Mind: I want perfect attendance in 3rd grade.
Conscious Mind: OK, here’s perfect attendance in 3rd grade.

It’s quite wonderful to practice listening to and responding to the Unconscious Mind. Kathleen closed the session by having us write down a series of Action Steps that we could complete soon to further this process.

I left with a lot of insights.

Fanning continues to surprise me because it is such an effortless process that only requires that I do it. Things shift if I do it, and they often shift in unanticipated, unexpected ways that are more ecological and immediate that other solutions I was considering. I also like SRC because it’s so personal, and in a group session, that content mostly stays with each individual. I was in a room full of people doing deep work on their most personal issues, and it was very private. Finally, Kathleen brings her work with Steven Gilligan and his notion of the Field into how she conducts sessions. That means that she “holds the space” for the group and acts to make sure that whatever comes up is given full permissions to express and explore. That makes for a very accepting environment in which to do deep, personal change work.