The Presence Process by Michael Brown - Notes and overall guidelines and tips for the 10 week process

I first discovered "The Presence Process" probably about 15 years ago around the 2011 time, when I was deeply looking into direct nondual teachings, and at that time more interested in the 'instant' direct paths, neo-advaita, and other such contemporary pointers to nondual awareness.

This probably WASN'T the time to discover The Presence Process (TPP), and it was also the first version of the process/book that I purchased, a paper copy from Amazon. 

As a result, I was quite underwhelmed and non-enthused about the work, even though it had a large number of 5 star and rave reviews at that time. I may have discovered it by trawling through Amazon reviews, or perhaps it was just suggested for me due to my previous purchases. In any case, I went through the book, tried the process for a short time, possibly 2 weeks, and then discarded it.. thinking it was a typical 'progressive path', and too touchy-feely for my liking. I also couldn't get into the style of writing which I found verbose and attempting to say what could be summed up in 1/4 of the book. I probably rated it 3 stars at most.

Fast forward 15 years or so.. and I saw random references to the process on various discussions on Reddit, nondual forums and the like. One random poster, who I recalled, as an answer to the question about which teachings they found the most helpful, replied that all they actually needed (presumably to awaken) was 1. The Presence Process 2. Michael Langford's Bliss book 3. Peter Fenner's Radiant Mind book.

Since this suggestion had come about a few times over the course of the last year or so, I decided to really give The Presence Process a serious look again.

To my delight, there was a new version, a revised edition. I watched a few videos on YT with Michael Brown speaking and giving small seminars. I immediately liked the guy. He was unassuming, had no following, didn't want to be a teacher, and seemed to experience what he was talking about and delivering.

I purchased a kindle copy of 'The Presence Process', and went through slowly over a week or so. There was much in there that I REALLY LIKED, in terms of approaching awakening as an EMBODIED experience, dealing with trauma and emotions, and also acknowledging the higher role of present moment awareness, presence, and what would normally be called "Self" in advaita. Michael Brown attempts to use very neutral and ordinary terms for these things in the book, however, and the book is written from a purely secural, non-religious standpoint, so as to appeal to a wide variety of people-- although this sort of course or approach would only interest a small amount of people due to the level of commitment and desire to deep dive into one's emotional triggers, traumas, 'inner child' aspect and other areas that spiritual teachings generally shy away from or leave to 'psychology' and therapy.

Things I loved about the process on first glace:

• The idea of embodied awakening, using the body and working with the body and "felt-perception" as a means to transcend obstancles to awakening
• The idea that the primary task or work involved is that of integrating charged emotions and emotionally trapped resonances from earlier times. Getting to know the body, felt perception, emotionally related sensations, and becoming ever more present, is a totally do-able approach and bypasses the need for complex conceptual models, beliefs to theories
• Acknowledgement of presence, awareness, and all the good parts generally included in awareness teachings
• The use and exploration of breathwork- in the form of connected breathing as a primary practice to be used each day (twice a day) for 15 minutes or more
• A 'conscious response' phrase to be used throughout each week
• A very structured and well thought out program (process) that would last over 10 weeks with specific aims and a focus for each week
• The emphasis on the process being self-guided, and without the need for facilitators, courses, 'certifications', and group involvement
• The promise and visible means for real change in one's behaviour, beliefs and emotional responses as a result of sticking out the 10 weeks, along with a better understanding of presence, and present moment awareness. An actually WAY to practice being 'Now' or present, rather than endlessly listening to satsang type teachings talk for hours, days, years about the possibility but never actually delivering on the means and effective ways to achieve it.

All of these things further motivated me to commit to the course, and I then purchased a paper copy of the book, which I decided to commit to for 10 weeks (and only that process, laying aside any other practices that I was doing). This was around May 2024.

I'll detail the 10 weeks in another post, as yeah week has some very specific aims and focal points for working and understanding. I'll also detail some of the aims and focal points along the way, pitfalls and things to watch for, and some of my own experiences.

General Tips

• Besides the 2x daily Consciously Connected Breathing (meditation) practice that needs to be done over the course, I found it to be highly beneficial to set aside brief times to sit (in meditation or inner focus) and go over the Conscious Response for the week. Contemplate how the response fits in with experiences that have happened today (especially triggering events or underlying emotions that are just below the surface but waiting to be acknowledged).

• As above, spend time often during the day just feeling and being with what emotions are present at the time. Especially the 3 core 'negative' emotions of fear, anger and grief. See how often these arise and lie just below the surface of our every day thinking and operating and how they are exerting pressure on our experience without being obvious.

• At times it can feel that the text or instructions for "felt-perception" or feeling of sensations related to emotions and the emotional body aren't very precise. I'm comparing to approaches such as somatic therapy, or body based mindfulness practices, vipassana etc. , which are extremely precise and clear. At first I was put out by this and questioned the approach that the text takes in advising just to "be" with emotions, or use "felt-perception". But after going through the course itself, over 10 weeks, I can see now that the skilling up with feeling into emotions and sensations DOES happen, but on a much slower timeframe than it does with hardcore mindfulness practices. The Presence Process really does play out over a 10 week period, and works perfectly, but it works on a different timescale than other approaches, such as body-based mindfulness or other emotional energy integration techniques. After 10 weeks, the participant really does understand and know how to be with emotions, feelings and their counterpart bodily sensations. It just takes a longer timeframe (10 weeks) and a consistent practice and repitition of the "integration procedure" over that time. There's also the added help with TPP with likening the emotional body with that of the inner child, and treating emotions and the emotional body as such- with patience, love and attention.

• Try to perform the daily meditation (CCB) as soon as possible in the morning and as a priority. If it can't be done earlier on, schedule time mid-morning at least to do it.

• If doing the CCB meditation in the evening is too energising, do this in the afternoon. For many people, myself included, the connected breathing practice or any breathwork practice can be too activating (esp of the SNS) which will leave you in a hightened state or awareness or readiness. Not something you want before bed. Try box breathing or something more relaxing before bed.

• Do remeber to return to connected breathing at random times throughout the day, even for a minute or so. Michael mentions this reminder, along with remebering the Conscious Response phrase at that time as well, as a sort of dual reminder.

• Make use of the Connected Breathing practice when you notice yourself lost in thought or during a distraction loop or addictive behavioural loop for example. The CCB has the power to snap one's mind/thought/behaviour out of such loops and back into the satisfying nature of present moment awareness and the breath itself.

• Note that some people have energetic issues with the CCB consciously connected breathing practice. This is usually because they're trying to follow a breathwork approach (such as Connected Breathing) as per textbook rules and the instructions given by authorities WITHOUT paying attention to what their body and mind are telling them. IF you have issues with the breathwork practice, you will need to adapt it to your personally settings. For instance, I've had to use a lot LESS effort with the breathing practice than the instructions indiciate. The instructions indicate a decent amount of effort (and noise) on the in-breath, while for me personally, a minimal amount of effort work better so as to not trigger flight/fight response or over-stimulate the sympathetic nervous system. You need to carefully adapt the breathing practice to your particular situation.

If I had to sum up the pros and cons of the course as a whole, then I would say the pros vastly outweigh the negatives and relate to learning how to understand emotions, bodily sensations and our own projections that have been up until this point playing out unconsciously in our life and wreaking havoc. Some of the cons relate more to personal issues that can sabotage the process, and some of the more vague instructions related to connected breathing and how to enter into present moment awareness. Although must is spoken about in the text re: presence and present moment awareness, this isn't an area that is directly tackled by the course, but more of a by product of the process. To seriously experience and understand awareness itself, and present moment awareness, another side module may be required, preferable AFTER the 10 weeks of the course has been completed and during the pause time (weeks, months etc) before another iteration.

It's a great little 10 week course to complete annually in order to clear out accumulated emotional resonances and refresh one's understanding of how to integrate charged historically related emotions, trauma, and triggers. It really works well with other spiritual disciplines too (provided these aren't practiced during the 10 weeks of The Presence Process).

After completing the 10 week course, I would thoroughly recommend committing and taking up the course and related work for anyone interested in learning to integrate emotional charges, triggers, shadow aspects and undoing false perceptions based on projection. It's also a great way to introduce a solid daily meditation practice into one's routine and make this a habit.