Diving Deeper
- Friday March 16, 2007
By Catherine Ketch

For Sandra Jensen, writing is not about being published but rather is a healing process of shared inner dialogue, says Catherine Ketch.

FOR most of Sandra Jensen´s life she wanted `to be a writer´. However, once she started to commit to the process of writing, she realised there was something much deeper going on, and writing was about the process, not an outcome of being published.

Sandra now teaches writing in her Diving Deeper workshops, or retreats, as she prefers to call them. Participants are supported to by-pass their critical mind, to access their experiences and imagination in a way that is completely present and flowing.

"We are taught, all our lives, to think before we act, to judge ourselves and our actions, to be `nice´ or `quiet´ or `reasonable´, to not say certain things or be a certain way. The writing process I teach is `presence´ work. We wait, something arises, and we write that down. It´s very simple, but not so easy," Sandra says.

Writing stories in this way, she says, is both cathartic and healing. "When we listen to the voice inside us, the voice which asks to be expressed, it brings strength, energy and a deep sense of fulfillment to all areas of our lives. Our identification with `what happened´ softens, and it is easier to let go. And, the beauty is that as we let go, something new is created, a work of art," she says.

Sandra draws on approaches such as the Freefall writing principles of Barbara Turner Vesselago, the deep listening of David Hykes´ Harmonic Chant and Paul Lowe´s "sharing inner dialogue".

"Freefall is a method which supports the writer to write what comes up at the moment, to keep coming back to this `not-knowing´ place and away from thinking about what to write," she says.

One of the precepts is to go `fearward´. In a safe environment, participants are free to delve into parts of themselves they would not otherwise feel safe to do.

"It is actually like treating yourself and your life like a treasure chest, a chest that has been hidden and now can be opened," she says.

This is what Sandra calls `presence´ work, and is similar to meditation techniques. It uses the same principle as the deep listening of David Hykes´ Harmonic Chant. "You sit and bring your whole attention, your whole body to listening. From this place, the sound you make is not really `made´, it arises. All it requires is to be heard. It is the same with our stories, they are there, and all they need is for us to be there for them so they can be written," Sandra explains.

Sharing inner dialogue is something Sandra discovered with spiritual teacher Paul Lowe. "He noticed how we have thoughts, all the time, that we do not share with others. Mostly these are critical, judgmental or self-limiting thoughts. We edit what we say, all the time. We are more or less dishonest with everyone," Sandra says.

Lowe encourages people to take the risk, to share this `inner dialogue´ with others.The result re-connects us to the joy and spontaneous nature of young children, Sandra says.

From an early age, Sandra was encouraged to be self-motivating, to experiment with what life had to offer.

At age 13, she decided not to go to school any more and taught herself. She has led an eclectic career and personal life.

Sandra believes we come into this life `knowing´ everything we need to know, in order to be who we are in the most expanded sense, and yet this knowing is often unconscious. "In our lives, we have the opportunity to say yes to situations and people who help us to uncover that knowing, bringing it to consciousness," she says.

Most of her work these days consists of giving Diving Deeper writing retreats, writing, offering personal guidance, via email and in person, leading sound meditations and acting as an ambassador for Zaadz, which is an online community with a mission to `change the world´.

Rosemary and Alan Taylor, who host the Inchigeelagh weekend, found the Diving Deeper approach very stimulating and it started them writing creatively, for the first time in over 20 years. Both found the techniques "intrinsic to the process of creative writing", helping them "break through `blocks´ and the malady of over-zealous self criticism".

A key part of the retreat is anonymous reading to the group of some of the writing. This way the writer does not have to engage with the comments made afterward, which, in any case, are guided to be supportive. The participant is encouraged to be far less self critical and to appreciate the `story´ they wrote as something outside of themselves.

Catherine Ketch