The Work of Byron Katie

The Work of Byron Katie, as facilitated by Jim Frank

The work of Byron Katie has become my principle method of self-examination. I have found Katie to be right on when she says that when she is suffering it is because she is attached to a not-true thought. And what I have found is that when I can work with someone in 3 to 5 two hour sessions, they can get a good start of using this work as a practice. What happens is that as we examine the thoughts that cause suffering today, over time we undo the old not-true thoughts that go unnoticed by us but continue to influence us.

I was first introduced to the Work by a friend in January 2002, just when I needed it. I was having a tough time with life events and I immediately saw the truth of this method. It is a perfect fit on the Medicine Wheel as taught to me by Joseph Rael. And I have trained and worked as a psychotherapist and I saw how the Work of Byron Katie can get anyone where they want to be. I included the Work in my daily spiritual practice and by April I was like a new man. I had found peace with my life. In 2003 I attended the nine day school of the work and staffed that school in 2004. I have given retreats and workshops here using the work and have trained the Work to the staff of a local drug and alcohol rehab. I also have presented the work to church groups. I love teaching this work. It is so empowering. People can get to their core issues and it is all in their hands, they are the ones who do it, not me. I just teach the tool.

I love teaching the Work to individuals. What seems to work best is teaching it a 2 hour sessions, followed by a second two hour session a week later. Then a third two or three weeks later. And then maybe a fourth session a month out from there. I have a couple of people come for five sessions but generally four gets them well on the way. In a couple of cases I also have included some shamanic work when that seemed appropriate.

ON-GOING GROUP: the purpose of this group is to support the members in incorporating the Work in their regular spiritual practice. At this time, there is a small but dedicated group who meet more or less regularly on Thursday evenings.If you are already familiar with the Work and would like to join us, write to me at jim@malvernsweatlodge.com. We put out a basket for donations.

My fee is one hundred and fifty dollars per two hour session and my terms are open. It’s like this, I have enough money right now and sometimes the people who need help the most don't have the money right now. So I tell them, sometime in the future you'll have some money, send it to me then. For me that works fine. I would rather forgive a debt then cheapen what is already a bargain rate. So I charge, people pay if they can, and if not, I don't worry about collecting. One caution, it seems to me that people that put a very high value on their money may not feel good about a service they don't pay a lot for. If you are one of those then you really should consider not cheapening your experience by bargaining down the price of what you pay for.