Sallie Smithwick

For a few years before I found The Work I had a Rumi quote on my refrigerator:

“Out beyond ideas of right and wrong there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

I’ve always wanted to be in that field. I’m delighted that The Work brings me there over and over again.

My background is in healthcare, both western and eastern. My personal focus has been on nature and spirituality. Shortly after my mother died in 2002 I came upon the book Loving What Is. It was a year later, about six months into the relationship of my dreams, I found myself in the wee hours of the night with pen, paper and book, pouring out distressing thoughts I was believing about this man, this man who is now my beloved husband. After I did The Work on these thoughts, I noticed something shifted inside of me. It was a new and curious experience. I felt kinder.

After a few years of sporadically doing The Work alone, I found out that there were people all around the world doing The Work. I jumped into partnering with others in a monthly Round Robin. I noticed that doing The Work offered me and my partners an intimate and fearlessly honest exploration of our internal world, the mind that we live out of. By getting still and waiting for our own answers, we could see what we had not been able to see before, and insights appeared as if by magic. An inner harmony and balancing often followed. I came to trust that questioning my thoughts was full of gifts.

I attended my first School for The Work in Germany in 2007. Shortly after staffing a second school, I began to offer The Work in my private practice in Holistic Oriental Medicine. The first tenant in Oriental Medicine is Meditation: “Know Thyself”. The Work fulfills this tenant beautifully. Many of my clients found The Work helpful, and some found it deeply healing. It became apparent to me that The Work is a powerful mind-body practice and self-care tool.

I enrolled in the certification program so that I could offer more experience as a facilitator to my clients. It turns out that the program was all for me, and doing The Work with my clients is all for me too. I continue to experience sitting in this meditative process as the kindest and most loving thing I can offer myself and others.

I invite myself and my clients to do The Work on any situation that causes a little or a lot of stress; any issue where there is a feeling of stuckness; any beliefs that cause stressful emotions be they of worry, annoyance, disappointment to all out panic, rage, or despair.

Frequent situations I and my clients have worked involve:

primary relationships
family, friends, acquaintances
workplace issues, reputation, competition
self-image, identity
body image, illness, limitations, aging
cancer, death of self or loved ones
financial concerns
time pressures, overwhelm
stressful emails, phone calls
fears about the future, regrets about the past
creative blocks
And simply any concepts that get in the way of being present.

I welcome anyone to contact me who is interested in experiencing what happens when we question what we believe about the world, what happens internally and what happens to our world. For me it is always a surprise, moving into a place of discovery and stillness, a simpler, kinder and more beautiful place.

I offer private sessions at my office, by phone, or Skype, weekdays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. I offer classes, workshops, a bi-monthly group, as well as a group for healthcare practitioners. Telecourses are available to anyone in the world who has access to Skype or a phone.