What is The Realization Process, and How Can It Help Me?
We’ve had a lot of inquires about mindfulness offerings at GWTC, so we were thrilled to be able to introduce our new Certified Realization Process Teacher, Thomas Lai, who is offering a specialized type of mindfulness called The Realization Process. He’s one of the only full certified teachers in Toronto, so we sat down with him to learn more about the modality for those interested in starting work with him.
What is the Realization Process?
The Realization Process is a series of gentle, body-oriented meditations that help you integrate your body-mind while supporting spiritual growth. It’s about learning to fully inhabit the space within your body, which can help you discover a sense of wholeness and stillness that’s always there, even in challenging moments. This inner stillness creates room to hold all your thoughts, feelings, and sensations in a more grounded way. Through the practice, you can discover a dimension of yourself that feels fundamentally whole and undamaged.
What do you like about this approach?
What I appreciate most about the Realization Process is how it honours the fullness of our human experience. Some meditation practices can lead us to detach from parts of ourselves or seek to transcend difficult emotions. But that’s not what the Realization Process is about. Instead, these practices guide us to cultivate the richness of our abilities—our capacity to understand, express ourselves, love, find our strength, and connect with the vitality in our everyday lives. I’ve found that these practices can also extend into how we express ourselves through art and creativity. It’s deeply life-affirming.
Who can benefit from Realization Process sessions?
These sessions are especially helpful for people who spend a lot of time in their heads or feel disconnected from their bodies. In our society, there’s often an emphasis on living top-down, which can make us feel like our bodies are separate from us—almost as if they’re just objects. This sense of separation extends not only to ourselves but also to others and the world around us. That’s why I believe embodiment practices like the Realization Process are so valuable.
People who are highly sensitive are also drawn to this work because they may find it challenging to feel grounded and resilient. They can feel deeply connected to the pain of others and the world around them, and they may struggle to stay true to themselves and fully accept who they are. The Realization Process can support them in feeling more connected, grounded, and aligned with themselves.
What does an individual Realization Process session look like?
In an individual session, I like to start by asking what you’d like to explore. Some people come in wanting to feel more grounded, others want to feel more connected to their bodies, or maybe they’re looking for some inner peace. Based on what you’re interested in, I’ll guide you through specific meditations from the Realization Process. Afterward, we’ll talk about your experience and try a few things to make the practices work better for you. If it's appropriate, I might bring in other practices like body mapping or bilateral drawing to support your embodiment and help uncover new possibilities.
Sometimes clients just want to learn the basics of meditation. In those cases, we might start with foundational mindfulness practices before diving into the Realization Process.
What do you cover in the Realization Process group program?
I created this group program as a guided introduction to the Realization Process for those new to the practice. It’s designed to be experiential, where we learn through sensing, feeling, and attuning to our experience through sitting, standing, and moving meditations.
Each week, we’ll dive into a different aspect of the Realization Process. In week 1, we’ll focus on cultivating a felt sense of wholeness. Week 2 is about finding steadiness in stillness. In week 3, we’ll explore the sense of spatial depth both inside and outside the body. And in week 4, we’ll look at fluidity—allowing our thoughts, feelings and perceptions to flow without obstruction.
Are there any risks to engaging in the Realization Process?
Like any meditation practice, the Realization Process can have its challenges, especially for people with a history of trauma or if it’s practiced too intensely. These practices invite us to connect deeply with ourselves, which can sometimes bring up difficult emotions or memories stored in the body. That’s why it’s important to have a good sense of where you are mentally and emotionally before diving in. Meditation may not be suitable for someone dealing with intense mental health struggles like psychosis or severe depression.
If you're unsure whether these practices are right for you, it’s a good idea to check in with a mental health professional first. It can also be helpful to have a therapist you can reach out to for support if anything arises.
How did you come to learn about this approach?
I started meditating ten years ago when I was going through a quarter-life crisis. I began with practices such as Vipassana, which gave me a good foundation for exploring mindfulness. A few years into my journey, I was introduced to Dr. Judith Blackstone’s work on the Realization Process through a community of meditators. I was immediately drawn to how gentle, subtle, stabilizing and holistic these embodied meditations felt compared to other practices I had experience with.
Is there anything else you'd like people to know about the Realization Process?
We live in a world where many of us feel divided, both within ourselves and in our relationships with others. The Realization Process offers a powerful way to cultivate deeper connection and uncover a sense of innate happiness. If you’re drawn to personal and relational healing, somatic work, and spirituality, these practices beautifully weave all of these elements into a profound path of self-realization. For me, this work has been a way to truly come home to myself. My wish is to offer others that same sense of belonging within.
If you’re interested in connecting with Thomas for an individual or group mindfulness offering, we encourage you to book yourself a free consult through our booking system, or reach out to our office for more information or for support in scheduling an appointment.