WeSpace Group Meeting Process
The Basics of What Goes on in a WeSpace Group
A WeSpace group in Unity is a small group of people who want
to move from “me” to “we” and practice mystical Christianity together. They meet
locally or online, every week or evwry other week for an hour and a half to two hours.
After the initial orientation and introduction sessions, the rotating facilitator(s) from the
group for each meeting are responsible for guiding the group through the process.
However, it greatly helps if every person in the group considers themselves responsible
for how the group goes.
A WeSpace Group meeting has four main segments:
1. Connection
All groups start with a time to connect with one another. We can share
with one another however we like, but here are three suggestions:
1. Check-in. This is the opportunity to share what significant things have
been going on in your life lately. It’s important to engage in the
everyday details—this is the relational field we most commonly
operate in with others, and we should not discount it even in the
pursuit of deeper connections.
2. Spiritual Learning. Many participants also choose to share about
something they are learning spiritually, or experiences they’ve been having lately in their own Whole-Body
Mystical Awakening prayer/meditation process.
3. Ask a Question. This group is the perfect space for talking with one another about questions we may have
related to the spiritual journey, our life situations, and evolving in our local contexts.
It’s important to see this as the beginning of the practice, not a precursor. Like the rest of the time, we want to
approach this time primarily from our heart space. This segment can go anywhere from fifteen minutes to an
hour. Though please be mindful to respect the time so everyone is able to share somewhat equally.
The facilitator then transitions the group (perhaps after a short personal break) to the next part.
2. WeSpace Whole-Body Mystical Awakening Meditation
While many are familiar with mind practices of meditation, or scanning their
body from the mind, in WBMA we enter into awareness from the four centers
of spiritual knowing in our bodies. Including our heart moves us into the
relational, energetic space of love and bliss. Including our feet and legs
embodies us as we are grounded and rooted to earth energy. Including our gut
or spiritual womb allows us to be centered in our core, divine identity and
fertilely intuitive and creative. We then find that our mind is cleared and ready
to receive from the visionary realm.
Including the “We” in the practice brings us into a shared experience of a loving
energy field, deep connection, and mystical interbeing.
For the first few group practices, Paul Smith and Luke Healy lead a guided
meditation to introduce and familiarize everyone with the practice. After which,
facilitators can use recorded guided meditations available on our website, or follow simple prompts. The Whole
Body Mystical Awakening practice description can be found at these links: Individual and WeSpace.
3. Integral Prayer
Toward the end of the meditation, the group begins to shift into what we
call Integral prayer. This is a movement into praying for one another from
a whole-body awakened knowing state of consciousness, which looks quite
different than traditional prayer.
Integral Prayer, just like all prayer, can look lots of different ways.
Primarily, we are practicing sensing mystical knowing from an awakened
state of consciousness. As this is usually a new experience for most people,
it can take a little getting used to—with practice, experimentation, and plenty of grace.
When we sense from Whole-Body Awakened awareness, we are welcome to silently engage in the flow of love
and healing from our hearts toward one another. As we are ready and feel comfortable, we can begin to grow in
“speaking forth,” sharing the impressions and arisings for each other as we learn how to sense from this state of
awareness.
These can arise in our head as images, pictures, words, smells, and more. We
can experience the energy of love and bliss in our hearts, sometimes also felt in
our arms and hands. From our womb we find the wellspring of divine identity,
our source of creativity and courage, and we might sense intuitions or deep
knowing. Our feet connect us to the energy of material reality, moving us into a
somatic, felt sense of incarnated entanglement.
We may also hear from our spiritual guides, which we might experience as God’s motherly/fatherly presence,
Jesus, Mary, and others.
This is being in spirit, participating in awakened mystical consciousness much like the early church did. This
time in our WeSpace groups is for practicing and learning, offering to one another humbly and within loving
space for the purpose of “comforting, encouraging, and strengthening” (1 Cor. 14:3).
We are listening not
for what we already
know, but for what
we are about to know.
Integral Prayer can be oriented in three different directions:
1. For an Individual
We begin by going around the group and spending time focusing on each
person. Everyone attunes love, spiritual energy, and healing to him or her. This
can happen in comfortable silence or in spoken words—sharing what arises
within us from awakened consciousness/spirit. The person being focused on
can take a posture of receiving and might offer feedback about what is shared,
such as, “that really fits” or “Hmm I’ll have to think more about that” or more.
2. For the Group
We often also sense not just for one person, but something for the whole
group. These sensations can be shared at any time, but especially after the
individual time has concluded.
During the practice, it is also quite common to have a palpable sense of the
group energy field. Many people, if they put their hands up, can feel a
pressure against their palms. This is the physical perception of the spiritual
energy present. We can interact with this energy of the group by sending
more of our own heart love into the virtual circle. We may put our hands out “toward” a member, or perhaps
hold the entire group. We can be creative in how we transmit and engage with the group energy. We can also
simply rest in the “we” and be held by the group in love.
3. For the World
We end the time sending our love and healing by raising our hands up into
the air and directing our energy and love out into the world. This practice
that we have shared and the love generated from it is sent up and out like a
geyser. Participants can name individuals, groups, or locations, or they can
just silently send their loving intention however they see fit.
You can learn more about Integral Prayer in a WeSpace group here.
4. Reflection
If there is time afterwards, participants can share more about
their experience, give feedback, ask questions, or reflect further
on words or images shared. Sometimes people feel more
comfortable sharing something in this time that they weren’t
sure about in the practice.
When those that want to share have done so, the group confirms the date of the next meeting. Then someone in
the group volunteers to be the facilitator for the next meeting, if needed.
This is not praying to God
to touch another. This is
praying from God to
touch one another and
the world. It is the divine
center in you that is doing
the touching!