February 2nd online TMS events

General Info

There will be two events next Saturday. The first event, from 2:20-3:00 PM, EST, is a voice-based TMS discussion group that you can call in to using your phone or your computer. The second event, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM, EST, is a text based TMS drop-in chat.

The two events have slightly different "feels" to them and are organized by different people. The voice-based TMS discussion group, from 2:20-3:00 PM, EST, is the first event. People can call in via their regular phones or via their computers (like with Skype). Several of us in the group are very slowly reading a pair of books, The Great Pain Deception, by Steven Ray Ozanich, and When the Body Says No, by Gabor Mate. However, others in the group aren't reading along and anyone in the group is welcome to join, whether they have read the chapters or not. Anyone is welcome to dial in and just listen. The nice thing about this event is that there is something powerful about hearing someone's voice who has been through what you are going through. Several of us turn our webcams on, so if you connect via your computer, you can even see us, which adds another layer to it.

The text-based drop-in chat, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM, EST, is the second event. Whereas the voice-based discussion group is relatively new, we have been holding the drop-in chat for almost a year and a half now. Over time, it has just gotten better and better, with a group of regulars showing up every week. The text chat works very well because there can be multiple conversational threads simultaneously and you don't have to worry about interrupting each other. We just upgraded our software and it is incredibly responsive and easy to connect to.

If you decide to go to the voice-based TMS discussion group from 2:20-3:00 EST, please take a moment, now, to think about how you will connect. (If you are only coming to the text based TMS drop-in chat from 3:00-4:00 PM EST, this paragraph doesn't apply to you.) You can connect either using your phone or via your computer. For your first time connecting, you may just want to call in using your phone, as doing so is quite simple. However, if you end up joining regularly, you probably want to get a computer headset (like for Skype) and connect via your computer. Doing this is comfortable, cheap, and sounds great. However, because it takes time to figure out how to connect, and because you may want help, you are strongly encouraged to connect up to the teleconference 10-20 minutes before it begins so that you can work out any technical difficulties. Therefore, I will generally log into the software at 2:00 PM, to help people who have difficulties connecting via computer, so that we can start the discussion promptly at 2:20.

Agenda for February 2nd, 2013

Agenda:
2:00-2:20 PM EST: connect up to the audio teleconference
2:20-3:00 PM EST: voice-based discussion group (organized by Forest)
3:00-4:00 PM EST: text-based drop in chat rooom (organized by MatthewNJ).
All times are in New York City time, aka EST or Eastern Sarno Time. The current New York times is:

So far, some members of the voice-based discussion group have read chapters 6-9 of the Great Pain Deception by Steven Ray Ozanich and chapters 1-4 of When the Body Says No, by Gabor Mate. (Most of us have also already read chapter 1-5 of GPD during an earlier incarnation of this book group, but this group hasn't read those chapters as a group and may return to discussing them later as a group.) During the last call, we didn't have a chance to discuss reading additional chapters for next week, but may add them during the week. See below for details.

However, if you haven't done the reading or even bought the books, feel free to show up anyway! 80% of the time, the conversation strays and we simply discuss other topics related to TMS and psychology that we find interesting. The books are just a way to start a good discussion and we will be happy to have you along even if you just listen in.

 

So, we didn't have a chance to discuss whether we wanted to add additional chapters for next week's call. To be honest, I haven't read all of the chapters myself, and my inclination would be to not add any additional chapters to give people a chance to catch up. How does that sound?

 

Excellent! Let's call it a plan, then.

 

I'm looking forward to chatting with everyone today!

 

Oops. I forgot to provide the link to connect. Here it is:
http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/book-group-teleconference-this-saturday-at-2-est.1375/

I'm in there already and ready to help people get connected. The discussion starts in 12 minutes, at 2:20 PM EST.