'Process work' is a very unique body of knowledge and practice that uses group 'laboratories' in facilitated setting to enable self exploration and personal growth. The only real way to understand the power and beauty of this work is to actually experience it. This body of work is not at all easy to describe in words - but this beautiful essay by Steve Correa is closest anyone I have seen coming to capturing it's truest core essence.
Introduction
Process Work, particularly as practised in the Sumedhian
tradition, is not merely a set of techniques or frameworks — it is a profound
journey into the human psyche, a philosophical and experiential inquiry into
identity, system, and transformation. It integrates Indian psychosocial wisdom,
experiential methodologies, and contemporary group dynamics. This paper aims to
elaborate on the ethos, structure, and transformative potential of Process
Work, particularly in its Sumedhian expression, using foundational tenets, key
stages, and rich metaphors derived from lived experience and practice.
Origins and Ethos
Process Work in India has its roots in the pioneering work
of figures such as Professor Pulin Garg and Dharani P. Sinha, among others, who
adapted Western methodologies from NTL, Tavistock, and Gestalt to Indian
contexts. Institutions like ISABS, ISISD, and eventually Sumedhas have evolved
this body of work to resonate with Indian sensibilities — placing emphasis on
identity, community, context (kāla–time, deśa–space, and pātra–self), and the
dynamic interplay between individual and system.
Sumedhian Process Work is built upon the understanding that
transformation is not merely behavioural but ontological. It is anchored in
simultaneity — holding the apparent opposites of self and other, thought and
feeling, individual and collective, adaptation and impact — in dynamic tension.
The process is less about offering a worldview and more about creating the
conditions for each participant to discover their own.
The Tenets of Process Work
At its core, Sumedhian Process Work rests on a few key
principles:
- Holistic
Alignment — It seeks alignment between thought, feeling, and
action, transcending behaviour modification to evoke deeper coherence.
- Multiplicity
of Identity — Recognising that people hold multiple, often
conflicting identities (e.g., healer, warrior, strategist), the work
involves bringing these to awareness and integrating them, including those
in shadow.
- Here-and-Now
Work — Process Work unfolds in real-time, through live
interactions in the group. It is not discussed as past or future but
experienced as immediate and emergent.
- Four
Aphorisms:
- Make
the invisible visible — surfacing unconscious dynamics.
- Articulate
the inarticulate — giving voice to suppressed truths.
- Act
the withheld — enabling expression of what is otherwise
restrained.
- Own
the disowned — embracing shadow parts of the self.
These tenets are brought to life through group dynamics,
role-taking, role-making, metaphorical play, and psychodrama — tools that allow
individuals to move beyond words into a felt experience.
Stages of Transformation in Process Work
Process Work is not linear but rhythmic. Yet, a general arc
of transformation is observable:
- Entrenchment
in the Lens — Participants arrive with fixed worldviews, skeptical
or resistant. Their perceptual lens — formed by past trauma, belief
systems, and identity conditioning — filters how they engage.
- Tipping
Point — Through a catalytic encounter, metaphor, or psychodrama
enactment, something ruptures. A moment of resonance — a glimpse of
vulnerability — creates a crack in the lens. Reflexivity is seeded.
- The
Borrowed Lens — The participant begins resonating with
facilitators or co-participants. Emotional sharing and openness increase,
though there is a risk of adopting others’ insights rather than internalizing
one’s own.
- Integration
and Reflexivity — Reflexivity emerges. The participant starts
examining their own lens, questioning habitual meanings, reclaiming
agency, and making new choices.
- Lived
Reflexivity — Finally, the insights gained are not left in the
“lab.” The reflexive stance becomes a way of life, applied to work,
family, leadership, relationships, and personal dilemmas.
Identity as a Dynamic Configuration
A central concern of Process Work is identity, not as a
fixed entity, but a constellation of self-concept, worldview, inner responses,
and behavioral patterns. Identity is like a riverbed through which the flow of
life moves. While it offers structure, it is also shaped and reshaped by that
flow. Participants come to see their identities as historically shaped
“choices” that they may not have consciously made, such as being the “rescuer,”
the “orphan,” or the “outsider.” These roles may have once served survival, but
now they constrain growth.
The work invites participants to meet and integrate parts of
the self they have disowned, bypassed, or vilified. Identity evolves as
individuals learn to hold inner contradictions (e.g., the desire for safety
versus the longing for freedom), question their emotional reflexes, and
incorporate shadow elements.
The Role of Reflexivity
Reflexivity — the ability to examine the lens through which
one perceives — is a cornerstone of Process Work. It is not about “correcting”
a distorted view but about realizing that all views are partial. Reflexivity
asks:
- Why do
I respond this way?
- What
am I not seeing?
- What
meanings do I ascribe automatically?
In this act of inquiry, freedom is born. One need not be
bound by old patterns or defensive narratives. Reflexivity expands
possibility — it allows identity to breathe, and the self to reconfigure its
meaning-making systems.
Group as Mirror and Co-creator
The group is not just a context; it is an active mirror.
Individual narratives are seen as both personal and systemic. The facilitators
do not position themselves as experts, but rather as co-travelers who model
vulnerability, speak from their journeys, and catch each other’s blind spots.
A key principle is “non-collusive empathy” — to be present
and resonant without fixing, rescuing, or judging. Another is “holding
multiplicity” — welcoming paradox rather than seeking resolution. The result
is a sacred space where silence can speak, and unspoken pain finds voice.
Applications and Impact
Process Work’s influence goes beyond the personal. It helps
participants engage with their contexts — family, organisation, society — in
new ways. Participants are not armchair critics. They are seekers who wish to
make a positive impact on their world. They come from diverse backgrounds — HR,
education, social work, entrepreneurship — not necessarily to become
facilitators, but to deepen their own awareness and effectiveness.
Some use the work in coaching, others in leadership
development, while others apply it in healing, teaching, or community building.
The transformation is not skill-based alone — it is ontological. Participants
emerge more vibrant, more resilient, and more responsive — not because they
were trained, but because they were transformed.
Simultaneity and Sankhya Resonance
A unique contribution of the Sumedhian Process Work is the
principle of simultaneity — holding seemingly opposing states
together. This is not just a philosophical stance but a lived methodology. For
example, the facilitators hold the simultaneity of being insiders and outsiders
in the system. Participants hold the simultaneity of adapting to the world
while also imagining and shaping it.
Sankhya philosophy, especially the triad of Gati (movement), Niyati (order),
and Sanghatana (emergent coherence), resonates deeply with
this ethos. The self is seen not as static but as always in process, shaped by
interpenetrating forces of past conditioning, present choice, and systemic
flow.
Process Work is a radical invitation — to stop
performing, to start becoming. It beckons individuals to step into sacred
conversation with themselves and others, not through doctrine or instruction,
but through lived experience. It is as much spiritual as it is psychological,
as much collective as it is personal.
In a world hungry for authenticity and fractured by
division, Process Work offers a methodology of wholeness. It does not fix
people — it helps them see. It does not offer solutions — it opens inquiries.
And in doing so, it transforms lives — quietly, profoundly, and forever.
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