About Beyond Resilience
Beyond Resilience is the brainchild of Liz Williams, who hit a wall during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, the healthcare executives she was coaching were asking her, “What have you got to make people more resilient?” They seemed to expect the same level of productivity during a global catastrophe, and to think it could be found in an afternoon workshop or PowerPoint.
Liz found she could not respond. Surely there was something beyond asking individuals to do even more when the systems that support them were breaking down?
So Liz pulled back from coaching and started looking for practices that were Beyond Resilience – simple practices that built a foundation, connected her to others, and healed the effects of stress and chronic pain she was experiencing.
After discovering Open Focus several years ago, she reengaged with the practice and trained with Susan Shor Fehmi to achieve certification as an Open Focus coach.
She also resumed lessons with four-time Grammy winner Glen Velez, studying the trance-inducing frame drum techniques he created.
Beyond Resilience practices are essentially a user manual for the brain – for living life as it is without accumulating the harmful effects of stress, and for healing the harm that has already been done.
You can choose Open Focus, drumming, or both! You don’t need any musical skill or years of meditation. You can practice with others or on your own. These practices will benefit you right away, and the benefits will build the more you practice.
Welcome to Beyond Resilience.
Watch an Intro to Open Focus
Learn How to Practice Open Focus
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few answers to commonly asked questions. Have a question that isn’t listed here? Contact Liz.
What is Open Focus?
Open Focus is a simple, easy-to-use method for changing how we pay attention, rather than what we pay attention to.
We are trained from birth to narrow our attention and we overuse this attention style, causing stress, tension and pain in the body.
Open Focus breaks this habit, repairs the effects of stress, and restores the attentional flexibility that is our birthright.
How is Open Focus different from meditation?
Meditation and Open Focus work with thoughts and attention differently, but are deeply compatible.
Long-time meditators who bring the hallmarks of Open Focus (effortlessness, space, and embodiment) report that their meditation practice has finally become all they hoped it to be.
How is Open Focus different from mindfulness?
Mindfulness is being fully present in your experience, and Open Focus enriches and deepens that experience.
A brain in the alpha state is automatically mindful and present, relaxed and alert.
About Liz Williams
Eternally dissatisfied, Liz can’t stop looking for better ways to deal with life’s vexing problems.
She gets especially excited by overlooked, undervalued and humble approaches that work like magic, and is delighted when they refuse to stay in their corner and behave.
Beginning her career as a Board-Certified Music Therapist, Liz has consulted in Organizational Development and Executive Coaching for over 30 years. Most of her clients have been in healthcare — from pharmacy logistics to information technology, from nurses to the C-suite — and has helped her clients in the following ways:
- led large organizational change projects at hospitals
- designed and run workshops in effective team meetings (AKA let’s meet less and get more done), and consulting skills (AKA how to be yourself at work and make a difference)
- coached executives and their teams
- given speeches at conferences and meetings
- helped countless clients switch careers or progress to the C-suite
As someone who has suffered from chronic pain all of her life, Liz realized that long hours at work was keeping her stuck!
The COVID-19 pandemic inspired her to reevaluate both how she was contributing and what she was contributing to. It gave her the opportunity to assess the cost to herself of the work that she was doing, and to find better ways of caring for her own well-being.
Beyond Resilience is how she’s getting unstick — and she hopes her experiences will be useful for you!
About Kat Oak
For the past twenty-five years, Kat has helped people and organizations create, remix, and share the unique stories that connect them with their communities.
A skilled researcher who is adept in a wide range of storytelling techniques — written, visual, aural, interactive, and more — Kat collaborates with Liz to produce the Beyond Resilience podcast.