Billy is a psychologist conducting a therapy session. He notices that Giovanni is having difficulty responding to questions, and is generally unresponsive. He continues trying to make conversation, but can see that Giovanni is becoming more and more uncomfortable. In that moment, Billy recognizes that the session Map has been lost and needs to be rebuilt. He starts asking general questions, and making notes on his demeanor and perspective. He sees Giovanni looking down, fidgeting with his hands, and otherwise disengaging. Using the mapping process Billy starts to note the physical orientation of Giovanni’s hands. He asks, “what is something that your hands could use to fidget more effectively?” and provides a couple stress squeeze toys to play with. As he accepts them, Giovanni’s legs move to allow a more grounded stance. He starts to resume eye contact, engage more, and his speech becomes easier and more natural around small-talk topics. Billy has learned that physical positioning was indicating a blockage, and by disrupting that system, Giovanni is able to achieve freedom. This begins a new mapping process for Billy to determine what somatic sensations might be influencing the process.

JoAnn is a woodwind teacher who has been working through a musical passage repeatedly but her student Chris is getting stuck playing notes in a transition from one section to another. JoAnn can see that on her own Chris is able to play all the notes in the passage accurately, and that it’s specifically the transition between measures 20 and 21 that always causes the problem. JoAnn recognizes that she could Make something new out of the passage, to see what Chris notices. She notes some of the harmonies and asks Chris if they remind her of anything else. Chris points out that measure 20 sounds like the theme from Harry Potter and measure 21 sounds like a Coldplay song. JoAnn decides to make something new with those harmonies, and empowers Chris to improvise over them. When they are done, they’ve had fun, they’ve created a new song they can continue building on, and the original passage seems much easier to master.

Dante is a creative coach working with a group of seven 15- to 17-year-olds that are struggling to focus on the process and do not want to pay attention. He understands their frustration, and can see that they are becoming distracted. Dante thinks of the concept of Modulate and introduces a new activity to the process, hoping it might bring the group back into focus for achieving the goals they want to meet. He has the teens each trade papers so that everyone writes one sentence for the others and their story. At the end of the session, the group reads the stories.  They are nonsensical and silly, but each one has its own voice. From here, the group becomes more cohesive, the interactions are more dynamic and introspective, and people regain a sense of purpose and camaraderie. When the group concludes everyone is connecting more with their own work, and the work of others, having found empathy and resonance with each other’s creativity.