If stress is getting out of control in your life, you’ve come to the right place. In this course, you’ll learn an effective means of dealing with stress. You’ll also learn how to prevent stress from building up in the first place using the same process. For those who are interested, it can even become a path of spiritual development.
Think about it. When were you the happiest in your life? When were you the least happy?
Notice the absence of stress during your best times, and look how much stress was there during your worst times. It’s not the stressors themselves that were the problem though. Stressors are usually there in both good times and bad. It’s your ability to deal with those stressors that makes the difference between happy and unhappy.
When you can’t deal with stress, you get tired, depressed, angry, sad, or afraid. Stress robs your happiness and joy and can make any experience become dark, heavy, and unpleasant. This is the trap that all human beings fall into as stress takes over and gains momentum. If you don’t learn how to break the vicious cycle of stress, it will only get worse with time as stress accumulates.
Life shouldn’t have to be a struggle. When you learn how to deal with stress effectively, you’ll have the energy and freedom to pursue your dreams again. You’ll get to show up for yourself and for the ones you love again. This is what this course can open up for you.
Learn how to banish stress to the far corners of the universe and gain:
I understand how frustrating it can be to want enlightenment, freedom, an open heart, and not be able to experience it. I’ve wanted that more than anything since I was very young. Moving towards inner freedom is a process, and I’ve learned to be patient with it. Stress does not fall away all at once but gradually and steadily, one layer at a time.
I have been practicing meditation daily since I was six years old. I lived in a meditation ashram for years. Today, I use a simple, reliable way to remove stress and all its symptoms by questioning my thinking. The result has been a steady growth of peace and fulfillment in my life. I’ve been using this process myself and sharing it with thousands of clients since 2007.
Coping with stress is not enough, managing it isn’t enough either. To be effective, you have to get to the root of stress and eliminate it there. When this happens, you literally become immune to similar stressful situations in the future. A powerful way to deal with stress in this way is called The Work of Byron Katie and it will be the entire focus of this course.
You will learn to:
1. Identify a particular stress.
2. Learn how to work through it.
3. Sidestep the same trap next time.
With practice, you will be sidestepping more and more stress traps in your life. The process is cumulative and soon you may find enough confidence in navigating stressful situations that you may lose your fear of stress completely. That happened to me around 2013 when I realized that I could handle any stress that showed up for me by applying this process.
Learning this process, or deepening your practice of it if you’re already familiar with it, can change your experience of stress completely.
If you do nothing:
Go from being overwhelmed by stress to seeing your way through.
If this sounds interesting to you, I invite you to read further to learn how this program works.
The Work 101 is my custom stress management course that I’ve developed over the last 10 years. It is a 9-week, 45-lesson course, that takes place in a unique, password-protected, online community. This community setting has been optimized for you to experience as much change as possible in a short amount of time.
Our community, called Inquiry Circle, will be an essential part of your support system during the course. Working in a group can greatly accelerate your learning. You’ll see how others do The Work, and you’ll get encouragement as you do yours.
It’s hard to do inner work alone and it’s much more fun traveling with a group of seasoned inner explorers. That’s why I have built this course into the very fabric of our community. All of us in Inquiry Circle have taken The Work 101, or are currently taking it, and we will be working alongside you as your equals.
The kindness and respectful support from our members will be what makes The Work come alive for you. You will be able to read the inner work and vulnerable discoveries every day that group members and myself are posting. This will inspire your own insights as you work through the course and will help you see how similar we all are.
You are not alone. We go the distance together. Becoming a master of your own stress reduction goes faster and further within this supportive community.
This group has been dedicated to the ongoing practice of The Work since 2013 and you are welcome to continue as an ongoing member with us after the course.
You will also have a personal trainer, and access to myself, throughout the course. This is designed to help you get what you came for.
Doing inner work effectively takes discipline and learning. Your dedicated trainer will read every piece of work that you write. He or she will leave you comments of encouragement and tips for going deeper in your work. He or she will mark your progress through the course on the attendance sheet. Your trainer will be the backbone of your support system.
You can also ask your trainer questions about anything. Your trainer will be there for you as you grow in your ability to deal with stress and as you begin to experience the freedom that can come from that. He or she will also be there for you if you get stuck in the process at any time.
You will do most of the assignments in writing on the community forum, so most of your interactions with your trainer will be in written form. I also read, and comment, and answer questions on the forum for everyone, so from time to time you may find a comment from me on your work as well.
In addition, I provide a 30-min Zoom call every Monday. You are welcome to join these calls to ask your questions or to have me facilitate you to do The Work. Once a month, I also host a seminar where we go deeply into one topic together as a community. You are welcome to join us.
There is a lot of enthusiasm in our community for the ability we are gaining to deal with stress effectively and we hope our enthusiasm will be contagious.
The Work 101 has 45 lessons. Each one should take you about an hour to complete. You will complete it on your own time. Each lesson will include the following:
This course is for you if you are ready to explore new perspectives and find new freedom in your life. It is for you if you are willing to put in the time about an hour a day for nine weeks. It is for you if you have an open mind and are willing to question what you believe.
This course is for you if you would like a supportive community, enjoy sharing in a safe environment, want encouragement and support from others to keep you on track. It is also for you if you want to join our community after the course, or want to take The Work 102 (taking this course is the prerequisite).
This course is for you if you like writing and journaling as most exercises will be written. And most importantly, this course is for you if you have stress (big or small) and want to learn how to work through it to experience peace again.
As a participant, you will get:
This is a tough course. There is a steep learning curve: learning the technology of the forum and learning The Work itself. Please be prepared to work hard for about an hour on each assignment (45 assignments), sometimes longer if you need it. The course must be completed in 9 weeks to avoid further charges.
If you put in the time consistently during the course, you may find a growing sense of peace inside and more confidence in your ability to deal with stress of any kind.
Before I discovered The Work 101 I was having issues in my relationship, my career, my family, and generally with my self-esteem.
When trying to resolve problems with the people I was having issues with, I couldn’t get real feedback and kept bumping up against walls and misunderstandings. I was looking to them for answers they couldn’t provide, and I just couldn’t make sense to myself the nature of the problem. I didn’t know where to start and was constantly frustrated over the same issues. I ended up feeling alone and helpless.
I enjoyed doing The Work 101 because there’s a different approach than I was used to. It allowed me to slow everything down and kind of watch my reactions and my responses in depth. It is a step-by-step experience that breaks things down and each piece of the process of The Work, and is thoroughly explained and clarified. The Work also 101 answered many questions that I had about the process of The Work. Because of this, I was able to really take a closer look and go deeper to reexamine challenging situations and see for myself what was really going on there. I was able to get really close to my emotions and see how what I felt impacted my life. I was given feedback and help when I felt stuck and I felt supported in revisiting some of these tough situations. Even when not doing the assignments, I found myself being more mindful about my triggers and emotional responses.
I started to notice a shift after the very first assignment. During the course, I had many epiphanies and enlightening personal “ah-ha” moments throughout. I experienced this not just when doing my own work, but in reading through other people’s work as well.
Working with other people and seeing that we all have similar if not the same thoughts was incredibly helpful in so many ways. It provided a greater sense of support.
I am still a work in progress but I am a lot more hopeful now than I was before I started this course because I have learned some great tools to help support myself when I become overwhelmed. I no longer need to fear negative emotions or to feel stuck, because I know there’s a process that I can go to and a community of people that are available to me as well.
Now, rather than struggling with the stressful things that happen in day-to-day life, I revisit those moments, and that usually changes the whole experience for me.
This has become practice and one that I look forward to and enjoy because, it’s part of my mindfulness practice and I am discovering so much about myself that I wasn’t able to see before.
This program is the best I have experienced. Todd is such an excellent, kind, thorough, present and loving teacher, and you really get to learn and experience all nuances of The Work.
I am new to the work. When I first read Bryon Katie’s book (I need your love – is that true?) recommended by a friend, in all honesty, I find it hard to stomach what she was advocating and find it even more fascinating that so many people around the world are following her method. When I finished reading the book, I thought okay, sort of makes sense in principle, but I wonder how it works in practice. The very same friend who recommended the book told me about Todd’s creation of the work for busy people and so I joined. Seriously, one of the best courses I have done in my entire life. Of course, what you get out of the course is based on the effort you put in. So, if you are prepared to do the work, to do The Work facilitated by Todd, I assure you, it will be one of the best decisions you make in your life. His delivery of the course material is soothing, detailed and clear. The workload for each assignment is achievable and you feel supported throughout this course. I strongly recommend this course!
There is no need to worry about time zones. I have designed the course so that you can do it in any time zone. We normally have as many people from Europe as from North America, as well some from Australia and New Zealand and other countries.
To deal with the issue of time zones, all assignments come in this format: a PDF to read, a video to watch, a piece of The Work to do in written form. The written work is completed on a password-protected online forum. That means that you can do your work at any time of day or night. And others, including myself, other participants, or your personal trainer, will read your work when we log on. This allows us to work together even with very different time zones.
You can also have optional spoken work partners from around the world. We have Drop-in Sessions or you can coordinate with other Inquiry Circle members to meet for an hour whenever works for both of you. I will show you how to use a time zone conversion tool for this.
The Monday Zoom Calls with me on Zoom are purely optional and will be recorded for anyone who can’t attend.
Typically, each assignment consists of 10 min video, 10 min reading, 10 min technical exercise, 30 min doing The Work. It all depends on how you work. If I were taking the course, I would probably need about 50 min each day, but some people say they need two hours. Maybe they work more methodically, or are perfectionistic, or very meditative. I say this so that you understand the range. There is value in going slowly too. If your English is not strong, you may need more time. Most people take about 1 hour per assignment.
There is one exception: you’ll have the option to do The Work in spoken form with a partner as often as once every five assignments. This can replace one of your written pieces of work (so subtract about 30 min writing time). The spoken work will take about an hour (30 min each for you and your partner). In total this will add about 30 min to your week (-30 writing time + 60 min spoken time = +30). You will also post a one or two sentence synopsis of your spoken work session on the forum (so + 5 min).
I offer this course as the first step in joining my Inquiry Circle community. It gives all the basics of doing The Work for new people, as well as to give some extra depth to those who are experienced in The Work. The Work 101 is a way for us all to start on the same page. It was designed to be a way to begin an ongoing practice of The Work.
The School for The Work, a nine-day in-residence workshop with Byron Katie, is a great way to gain in-depth training in The Work of Bryon Katie. It is run by Byron Katie’s own organization, Byron Katie International, Inc., a completely separate company. The Work 101 offered here is an online course for learning and practicing The Work with Todd. It can be a great compliment to The School.
The course is available anytime you want to start.
No, I don’t offer credit for the course in Byron Katie’s Institute for The Work at this time.
In theory, you can learn in any setting, but I have found over the past 10 years that learning this process is greatly accelerated when you do it in a group. You learn by seeing what others are doing, and you remain inspired to keep going with a group.
The Work is work and, as with anything challenging, the mind looks for ways to avoid the real work that needs to be done. Being a part of a group helps keep the momentum going where you might fizzle out on your own.
However, if you are a very self-disciplined person and just want to do the exercises on your own, I do offer a do-it-yourself version of the course. It does not fulfill the requirements to join Inquiry Circle or to take The Work 102.
A key feature of the forum does not work so well on the iPad or iPhone, or other touch devices. I recommend that you use a computer for forum homework (doing written work), not an iPad.
You can work around this limitation but it will be MUCH easier if you use a computer rather than a tablet.
NOTE: This issue should be resolved by August 2023.
There is a momentum to the course and if you lose it it can be hard to pick up again. I suggest waiting to do this course until you can dedicate the time to complete it.
Compared to private sessions with me, this course is a very affordable solution. For $740, you get about 40 hours compared to only 3 hours 1-on-1 with me.
However, don’t forget that The Work of Byron Katie is free and belongs to everyone. All you need are the free forms to download and start doing your work.
If you can’t afford the course, you could also take the do-it-yourself version. You will get all of the same training materials but no community or personal trainer. You can also upgrade to the community version by simply paying the difference at any time in the future.
The do-it-yourself version does not fulfill the prerequisite requirements for joining Inquiry Circle or taking The Work 102.
The number one advantage for me is the ability to jump in and do The Work anytime 24/7/365.
Participants also report that the anonymity of an online community gives them complete freedom to be honest. We use first names only or pseudonyms, and your email is protected. Partner meetings are on Zoom which does not require exchanging contact info. Any contact info that you exchange is up to you. We also use a profile photo (avatar). Most people upload a head shot photo, but some choose to upload an illustration instead.
We all agree to a confidentiality handshake. The respect for privacy among those who participate is very high. We are all here for one reason, to do The Work. I think you will find it a very safe environment for doing your personal work. In addition, when you leave Inquiry Circle, your account is deleted including all posts and messages that you wrote.
Yes, The Work 101 is not for everyone. If you’re not self-motivated to keep up with the work over the weeks, then it’s not for you. If you are handicapped with computer technology, this course is not for you (unless you’re really motivated to learn). If you prefer in-person events, this course is not for you. If you are to shy to share your inner work in our community, then the course is not for you.
We do The Work primarily in written form. That means, you will have a template to follow and blanks spaces for leaving your responses to the questions that prompt your inner work. Your work will then be posted on our password-protected forum where others doing their work will stop by to read yours and lend encouragement.
If you have never done The Work in written form, this will add a new dimension to your practice. The advantages of written work are:
Each day, you’ll come to the forum to do another lesson at your own pace. You will be working closely with your trainer who will read all of your work and leave comments each day.
Other members of Inquiry Circle will also be reading your work and leaving supportive comments. Your trainer will be doing his or her own work regularly as a member of Inquiry Circle and you’ll be reading their work as a reference for doing your own.
Your trainer will read all of your homework, give feedback, and mark complete each assignment you do.
The most powerful way to experience this course is with our Inquiry Circle community and a personal trainer. This has been optimized for your success in learning the subtle art of unraveling your stress.
The Work is not always intuitive at first, and having a community to support you can be a big help. But if you prefer to take the course completely on your own, I also have a do-it-yourself version of the course.
The course was designed to be completed in 9 weeks. The exercises build on each other and the pacing is designed for one assignment per day. This helps build a daily habit of doing The Work.
If you need to take longer to complete the course, you can purchase additional time at $140 per week after the 9 weeks are up.
Pausing the course is not an option. Please look closely at your schedule before committing.
There are five assignments per week (approximately 5 hours per week). This gives you two days per week to catch up if you get behind.
All assignments must be completed within 9 weeks (unless you choose to purchase additional weeks).
Yes. If you need to apply for a scholarship, please use my contact page to send us a message. Scholarships are limited and there is an application form to fill out.
If you want to donate to our scholarship fund, please do so here.
You will be a temporary member of my Inquiry Circle community for 9 weeks. You can purchase additional weeks at $140/week. Once you complete the course, you can continue in Inquiry Circle with an annual membership where the course materials will continue to be available as long as you are a part of the group.
If you do not continue as a part of our community, you will have lifetime access to the course materials including all videos, PDFs, and exercises through the do-it-yourself version of the course (included in with this course).
Full attendance and completion of all homework is required to get credit for taking the course, which is required before you can continue in Inquiry Circle longterm. Completion of The Work 101 is also required before taking The Work 102.
You must stay up to date with assignments to finish in 9 weeks. This course is for people who have the desire and the time to participate. If you cannot commit to this, please do not sign up at this time.
If you have taken The Work 101 before, please contact us for a special repeater price of $560.
If you are not satisfied with the course, you can easily get your money back. If you have even a little interest in trying this approach to stress management, or in beginning a deeper practice of it, I encourage you to give this course a try.
If you cannot afford the course fee, please contact us about a possible scholarship or special payment plan.
Purchase the The Work 101 and start moving from overwhelmed to stress-free today.
Or take advantage of my convenient payment plan and access the course for only $250 per month for three months.
We are not meant to live stressed lives. Learn how to address the root cause of your stress and find your freedom again. Otherwise, stress will keep accumulating. Learn how to break the cycle of stress here.
