Treasure Maps to the Soul

Do you ever wonder how to get beyond your toughest life issues? You know, the ones you think will never change – even though they are directly in the way of living the life you want to live?

That's what Treasure Maps to the Soul is all about.

We developed Treasure Maps to the Soul because we had to – we each had huge life issues sitting in our way. For Ann Weiser Cornell, it was drinking addictively, secretly, even while being a respected Focusing teacher. For Barbara McGavin, it was depression and low self-worth so severe that thoughts of suicide occurred – even though she was a successful graphic artist and Focusing teacher. We both had action blocks all over the place – things we didn't do even though we needed to do them. And for both of us there were longings, unfulfilled desires, that haunted our lives.

The precipitating event was Ann's realizing she had to quit drinking – on September 15, 1994. The shock of that self-revelation, just as we were about to teach three workshops together, threw us into a series of intensive Focusing sessions, taking notes furiously after every one.

The Focusing process as we had known it until then wasn't enough to handle the depth and complexity of the issues we were dealing with. But rather than going to some other method, we reached into the roots of Focusing, and into what we could carry forward from those roots.

The result: Treasure Maps to the Soul, a powerful way of transforming any stuck area of your life, any inner struggle, any place where your energy is bound up in fear, shame, confusion , self-criticism , and despair.

More than just techniques, Treasure Maps embodies a philosophy of the radical importance of every part of you: how even the most critical “critics” and rebellious “rebels” hold vitally important aspects of your essence. We are talking about real change here. Not just being how you are now, but without your problems, but actually bringing forth the vital aspects of your energy that have been bound up and exiled by the struggles. Imagine: Living life as your whole self!

Treasure Maps to the Soul Retreats

We haven't written a book. (But we have written an article.) We don't teach it by phone. The only way to get Treasure Maps to the Soul is to take our six-day retreats, which we've been offering an average of three times a year since 1995. The retreat is designed so you get the process for yourself, to take home with you, to keep deepening the transformation.

Just one thing: because we work at an advanced level, everyone who comes needs to be experienced already in Focusing and Focusing partnership. That means a minimum of Level Two (and the more Levels the better – this work has been called "grad school for Focusing"!). Participant numbers range from 15-26, and numbers are limited to provide the most facilitative experience to participants.

The six-day retreat is structured as a journey into deeper and deeper contact with yourself. We build up the process step by step, with safety and support for your inner work. We will demonstrate, and then you will be working in pairs, using our protocols to support your process. After each paired session you’ll return to the whole group to share what you learned and ask questions. As one recent participant put it, it's nearly as exciting to see the change in other people as it is to feel it in yourself!

You will receive detailed handouts of more than 50 pages, which are not available any other way. Included in these handouts are “protocols,” which are specific guided processes for working with each difficult area, with yourself or with others. More than just theory, this workshop shows you, step by step, how to build the practical skills we call the Powers. Expect to be deeply changed, both by the workshop itself and by the resources you take home.