“It is my belief that active imagination is one method of attaining union with God and that it is one of the best methods for modern individuals pursuing this unitive quest.”
—Jeffrey Raff, Dissertation, 1978

The practice of ally work was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Raff as a way to connect with the ally — known across contemplative traditions as the inner guide and teacher. In this group session we’ll follow a structure developed by Barnaby Willett to support people in establishing and developing their practice. The structure follows a series of reflection and sharing prompts to help us orient to the ally, while feeling supported by community.

We’ll begin with a few minutes of silence. The host, Barnaby Willett, will then guide us through the structure of the session. The four pillars of the structure are intention, connection, learning, and integration. We’ll reflect on a question for each pillar — for example, ‘What is your intention with the practice of ally work?’ — by journaling for several minutes, then sharing our individual reflections with the group, followed by open group dialogue on the reflections. We’ll close the session with each person briefly sharing a reflection on gratitude in relation to the exploration in community.

The intention for this structure is to 1) support us in developing our practice 2) experiencing community in relation to the practice 3) creating a felt-sense of the practice dimension of ally work.

The nested reflective structure is in part inspired by Irving Yalom’s insight that meaningful group explorations happen through recursive reflective processes.

A fruit, if not a guarantee, of the practice structure is for us to experience the complementarity of both our uniqueness and our shared being.

Prerequisites: The prequisites for participating in The Practice of Ally Work session are 1) attending either An Introduction to Ally Work or Ally Work Questions session and 2) contacting us to schedule a 30-minute Zoom orientation with Barnaby Willett.

Limited Spaces: Limited to five participants.

Sessions do not have a monetary cost, but ask each person for their attention, contribution to discussion, and presence on camera.