Reference: Grassroots Scientology
TR0 is simply a version of the ancient exercise of meditation. It is the very first exercise in Scientology. It is the first exercise in Subject Clearing too but with mindfulness.
“TR” stands for training routine. “0” stands for a reference point on a scale. Thus, TR0 serves as the fundamental reference point for all other training, exercises and processes in Scientology, and also in Subject Clearing.
People get wonderful results on TR0, when they naturally Be There and Confront. The purpose of mindfulness is, “To be there with total attention so you can see things as they are.”
In the context of assisting another person, one should be able to see exactly what is going on with the other person. This requires that the person learn to totally be comfortable in the presence of another person. But before he can do that, he should learn to be comfortable with himself.
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Confronting Oneself
The first part of TR0 is “OT TR0, Operating Thetan Confronting.” The missing gradient in Scientology TR0 has been that the student needs to learn to confront his ideas of relationships with others before he can learn to confront others. Before you start this exercise, make sure you have read and understood the document Be There and Confront.
Here the student is not really confronting the other person because his eyes are closed. But he could be confronting his thoughts about relationships with others. This exercise may be done quite gainfully with thoughts that you are sensitive to, or with ideas that make you feel uncomfortable. You simply look at those thoughts and ideas more closely until you gain greater clarity.
So, you do the following exercise with the following purpose:
“To be there comfortably with your thoughts about relationships with others.”
You don’t try to avoid your thoughts or suppress them. You just be there with your thoughts without flinching away.
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Confronting Another Person
You actually confront another person on the second part of TR0 called “TR 0 Confronting.” This is a powerful exercise that promotes mindfulness if practiced with the following purpose:
“To be there comfortably observing another person as that person observes you.”
Do not try to suppress any thoughts, feelings of embarrassment, or pressure to do something. You just be there without avoiding such reactions, or flinching away.
This is not a simple exercise. It makes the student confront his social machinery, which is not easy to do. The social machinery is activated in close presence of another person, especially when there is not enough prior familiarity with that person. This exercise may be done with different people in an organized TR0 course. Alternatively, one may sit leisurely in a cafe and confront different people unobtrusively from a larger distance.
Everybody has skeletons in their closet. These are the things the person does not want others to find out about him, even when they are trivial. The student needs to confront all such things about himself that make him flinch and withdraw. He must be comfortable with himself before he can be comfortable with another person.
If ‘TR0 Confronting’ becomes a bit overwhelming, one may go back to ‘OT TR0’, until one can do both parts of TR0 comfortably.
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Please Note
In the Subject Clearing version, the TR0 exercises require two students who are practicing TR0. There is no coaching other than supporting each other by simply being present. The two students may not be the same each time. The pairing can keep on changing.
The longer is the TR0 session (uninterrupted), the more beneficial it is. You can start with a 20 minute session and build it up to a session that lasts for 2 hours or more. Do it daily until you can do both parts comfortably. After that you may extend this exercise by one week at a time, depending on its merit.
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