Opening Community Note:

From Relaunch to Relationship

Dear TSM Community,

Last month, we began small on purpose.

We invited the TSM community to help us notice what the field is seeing, learning, and practicing. The responses reminded us that TSM can look very different depending on where someone stands in the learning circle. To newcomers, the work may sometimes appear intense, mysterious, powerful, or hard to understand at first. To experienced trainers and practitioners, there is often a careful structure underneath what may look intense from the outside.

That is where we want to continue the conversation this month.

Rather than asking for long written responses, we are making participation simpler. This month’s invitation is a one-click field pulse:

What do you most wish newcomers understood about TSM?

This question matters because part of our shared responsibility is translation. We are not watering down the work. We are helping people see the safety, role structure, group wisdom, spontaneity, and care that make the work possible.

In this edition, Steven Durost offers a featured reflection on what becomes visible before a group or protagonist is ready for deeper TSM work. His response points toward the living signs of readiness: less anxiety, more authenticity, stronger connection, interpersonal spontaneity, and the emergence of a group field that can help hold transformation.

We are also pleased to share Mario Cossa’s new role as Director of Applied TSM. His work will help gather and catalogue the many ways practitioners are applying TSM across settings, cultures, and communities.

Together, these pieces mark the next step in the newsletter’s relaunch. We are moving from announcement space toward community conversation. From information-sharing toward field-listening. From relaunch toward relationship.

Please take a moment to respond to this month’s 1-click field pulse.

What do you most wish newcomers understood about TSM?

With Appreciation,

Joshua + Newsletter Committee

Featured Reflection

Steven Durost:

What Becomes Possible Before Deeper Work Begins

In this month’s featured reflection, Steven Durost explores what he notices before a group or protagonist becomes ready for deeper TSM work.

Steven reminds us that profound healing does not begin simply because someone starts talking about trauma. It begins when the environment becomes safe enough for the nervous system, the individual, and the group to trust what is about to unfold.

He describes this readiness through two key ideas: immersive tele and interpersonal spontaneity. As anxiety decreases and authenticity increases, group members become less focused on how they are being perceived and more able to respond from their true selves. Role-playing becomes more natural. Support becomes more spontaneous. The protagonist feels held rather than exposed.

In Steven’s words, the group begins to function like a self-healing organism.

This reflection helps us answer an important question for newcomers: TSM may look intense from the outside, but the deeper work is not entered casually. It emerges through safety, connection, spontaneity, and trust in the group field.

Read Steven's Full Reflection

Steven’s reflection gives us a broader conceptual frame for readiness: immersive tele, interpersonal spontaneity, and the group becoming a self-healing organism. A shorter field reflection from two TSM trainers in the Netherlands echoes this same movement from inside the room: the energy shifts, tele increases, strengths emerge, and the group becomes more spontaneous. 

Field Note from the Netherlands

When Energy, Tele, and Spontaneity Begin to Move

Two TSM trainers from the Netherlands reflected together on the question:

What becomes visible before a group or protagonist is ready for deeper TSM work?

Their shared response pointed to something that is often felt before it can be fully explained: a change in the energy of the room.

They described noticing when the protagonist or group becomes more connected to the material, when the energy begins to shift, and when there is more tele in the group. There may not be one single answer, because readiness depends on the situation, but something becomes palpable in the room.

They also named the importance of TSM structures already being in place. Once the drama has begun, the body double has been installed, strengths are present, and new strengths begin to emerge, the group may become more spontaneous. People from the audience may begin to step in without hesitation. As a director, this can sometimes feel surprising, as if many new things are suddenly “popping up.”

Rather than being a sign of chaos, this can be a sign of safety, tele-connection, and openness to vulnerability.

From this perspective, readiness for deeper work becomes visible when the group field begins to show more energy, more connection, more spontaneity, and more willingness to support what is emerging.

A New Role for an Old Timer

Mario Cossa, Director of Applied TSM  

Mario Cossa has been part of TSI since its earliest days, including serving on the original board of directors. His role has continued to evolve alongside the organization and the global development of TSM.

Mario’s new title is Director of Applied TSM.

In this role, Mario will help catalogue the many ways practitioners who have studied TSM are applying the model in their work. This includes therapeutic, educational, organizational, community-based, and other creative applications of the model.

This is an important step in making the living practice of TSM more visible. Around the world, practitioners are adapting and applying TSM-informed principles in many settings. Mario’s role will help us begin gathering those stories.

After you complete this month’s 1-click field pulse, you will have the option to share a brief note about how you are using TSM or to tell us about an upcoming TSM-informed workshop.

1-Click Field Pulse

What do you most wish newcomers understood about TSM?

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