tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71434552200835111452024-02-08T06:36:22.977+01:00GROUNDED SPIRITUALITYAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-10928136405256583372015-09-03T14:23:00.000+02:002016-12-16T13:30:55.783+01:00New Blog location.Everything I write from now on will be integrated into the blog <a href="http://www.benralston.org/" target="_blank">on my main website</a>.<br />
If you're searching for my old stuff, it's either here somewhere or on <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/ben-ralston/" target="_blank">Elephant Journal</a>.<br />
Thank you for reading, with love, BenAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-34287415009030793572014-06-03T22:27:00.003+02:002014-06-06T00:13:33.048+02:00Resurrection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtAhvG6SZ_o1PfU2YLoRKuqca_8asDVDFtLQjNRTceI7MU6NLzwY_-o7XOfW2FsRQDbR0DOo03iI0gzzgw7zzeDIV0Z0zCVPEhZXwPHWYfGSBx9c27VPSH7t6_pRKvuv0gQXJEIQPo14/s1600/IMG_1816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtAhvG6SZ_o1PfU2YLoRKuqca_8asDVDFtLQjNRTceI7MU6NLzwY_-o7XOfW2FsRQDbR0DOo03iI0gzzgw7zzeDIV0Z0zCVPEhZXwPHWYfGSBx9c27VPSH7t6_pRKvuv0gQXJEIQPo14/s1600/IMG_1816.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She is alive,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Right here inside<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Next to the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Garbage that I didn’t throw out yet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And the uncut grass in the garden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Alongside last year's tax receipts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And all of the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Broken relationships,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Forgotten friendships,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Neglected plants that withered and died<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Long ago,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And my guilt for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My guilt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Who knew?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Here she lives<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Right here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Alongside the homeless addict<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Who plagues me daily to numb<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And avoid my pain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Begging for spare change<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>“Can you spare some change mate”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As if that’s all he deserves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Spare<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My love doesn’t mind!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She doesn’t judge all those<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Problems the way I d(id).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She simply opens Her arms and waits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">For me to fall into them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-US">So patiently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-63406508925021161052012-12-13T12:59:00.000+01:002013-01-17T16:50:41.699+01:00The Best Piece of Advice I Ever Was Given<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5lNkU1H5lhhZOUpGKafgyvAiX3aDp_1M3-un5YnY5DfyJUHGVrK3jX6L3sskAYeZhB0Zq-ZrPE1Fdzn_LqxNPe69diU1OZ3Psdg15DtNhRJOU3luuVrfmF3jn40L4CL5YfPQL6kYtlg/s1600/Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw5lNkU1H5lhhZOUpGKafgyvAiX3aDp_1M3-un5YnY5DfyJUHGVrK3jX6L3sskAYeZhB0Zq-ZrPE1Fdzn_LqxNPe69diU1OZ3Psdg15DtNhRJOU3luuVrfmF3jn40L4CL5YfPQL6kYtlg/s640/Image.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photography by <a href="http://paulprescott.com/">PaulPrescott.com</a></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I was in an Ashram*. Having my hedonistic,
narcissistic, capitalist-conditioned mind blown open by a small group of people
who dedicate their lives – completely – to the benefit of the world around them.
A small group of Swamis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Before I left, I asked my favorite Swami for a piece
of advice. Here’s what he said...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 19px;"><i>(you can read the rest <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/12/the-best-piece-of-advice-i-ever-was-given-ben-ralston/" target="_blank">here on Elephant Journal</a>)</i></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-66073431879389487132012-12-11T12:49:00.003+01:002012-12-11T12:49:29.505+01:00Why Life is So Difficult in the World Today (and Mankind in Such a Mess).<b id="internal-source-marker_0.538813591003418" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi354y10gxP4aTZ29yq92Ltk9EEiXajeRgJq3qceq76qT6FtCpb4PAnIw_UPd7EomozgjYrDRGqFVyjZuyxVuBwfdCFu3Po5dNiUcGMrhmrsjE1_xc8sxhyphenhyphenqCQ_M0kdSPiJ5Z1RO_4ldKU/s1600/old-woman-nepal-tear-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi354y10gxP4aTZ29yq92Ltk9EEiXajeRgJq3qceq76qT6FtCpb4PAnIw_UPd7EomozgjYrDRGqFVyjZuyxVuBwfdCFu3Po5dNiUcGMrhmrsjE1_xc8sxhyphenhyphenqCQ_M0kdSPiJ5Z1RO_4ldKU/s400/old-woman-nepal-tear-1.jpg" width="385" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: start;">Photograph: ‘Eight-Tear-Year-Old Woman’ – </span><a href="http://www.paulprescott.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">www.paulprescott.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></b><br />
<h4>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.538813591003418" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.538813591003418" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><h4 style="display: inline !important;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.538813591003418" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><h3 style="display: inline !important;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.538813591003418" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are pure consciousness. Perfect, sacred, divine. This is the essence of your being and it is the essence of all being.</span></b></h3>
</span></b></h4>
</span></b></span></b></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether the being of a stone, stream, star, or an animal, all is consciousness. The universe itself is built with building blocks of consciousness but no microscope will ever be strong enough to see it.</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><h3>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It can only be felt.</span></span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></b></h3>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our ancient ancestors felt it. That is why they said that stones and streams and stars had their own spirits. They felt the spirits of the stars through the core of their own being, their own spirit, and they gave the stars names.</span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have become separated from our own spirit.. And so we no longer feel the spirit of the world around us, even though that is why we are here – in this body, on this earth, at this time. We are here to experience </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">relationship</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. To know the spirit of the world around us through our own sense of being. That is the purpose of this life, truly. To Be, but to Be in relationship to the world around.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few choose the path of renunciation (renouncing worldly pleasure in favor of the search for enlightenment) – as did I, until I met my beautiful wife. Some choose a life partner while others have many partners along the way. For most of us choices include children, friendships, and professional relationships. We also have relationships with the Earth, our animal neighbors, the stars above.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ultimately this is the true test of our skill in life: are we able to truly be ourselves even whilst in relationship to others and the world around us?</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s quite a test. Let’s be honest - most of us are failing miserably! Most of us barely manage the first part – to know </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ourselves</span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> deeply.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is this? Why is it that we feel so alone, disconnected, and lost? Why have we been making the same mistakes – history repeating itself – again and again, generation after generation? Why is the divorce rate higher than ever; more war than ever; more fear and stress and crisis?</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The answer is very simple: trauma. Mankind experienced a very specific trauma, the trauma of separation (this is what the biblical story of the Garden of Eden is about), and since then has been stuck in the belief that we are indeed each of us separate beings. As long as we believe ourselves to be essentially alone, we have to fend for ourselves - and then fear, greed, and corruption are born.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How and when we first experienced this trauma of separation is almost impossible to say. Perhaps it coincided with the development of our highly advanced neo-cortex brain (the tree of knowledge): the part of us that is unique amongst all these species here on Earth. As we became more ‘intelligent’, so we lost touch with our essential selves and our sacred relationship with nature. Our Egos were born in all their terrible, petty, controlling glory. We then – using our newfound intelligence - began to birth our children in unnatural ways and our sense of separation was confirmed and compounded.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But the real question is not why this happened, but what are we going to do about it?</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Positive thinking, when you have a deep subconscious fear, does nothing. Energy healing can be a temporary ‘band-aid’, but without removing the cause, the problem persists. The psychological approach is highly inefficient because the problem is not ‘in our heads’ – it’s in our bodies. It’s felt as a concrete, very real, physical sense of separation. We sense that we are deeply disconnected – not only from the world around us, but – more importantly – from our own spirit.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What can we do about it?</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, first of all, the fact that you have read this far into this article is encouraging: you are interested in your own Self. You want to know true love and be done with fear. You want to do more than just survive; you want to thrive. And you want to experience the whole of your being, not just a limited perception of it.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So please, keep reading. Keep investigating yourself. Continue to search.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But know that ultimately what separates you from the truth and freedom and love that you yearn for is just like a shadow – insubstantial. And just as easily as you walk through your shadow, so too can you let go of subconscious blockages. In my next article here on Naturala I’ll explain how.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Subconscious blockages have no substance. They are not permanent, and therefore not real. They are like emotions, thoughts, feelings – they can be experienced, but they do not define you. They are not you. They seem real – but they are not.</span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is real, what is permanent, is consciousness. And it’s the same consciousness that is in every living being, and every corner of the universe. You are not alone or separate. That illusion could not be further from the truth.</span></span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-29087808094980163502012-08-08T20:59:00.001+02:002012-08-09T20:48:00.498+02:00Croatian Island retreat 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">August 4th - 18th, 2012.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rudnjak Island, 10 minutes by boat from Iž.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Staying at <a href="http://www.odmorzadusu.hr/vacation.for.the.soul/" target="_blank">Hotel Korinjak / Odmor za dusu</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Retreat wonderful - on a private island with a Fantastic Group from Australia, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Kosovo, Slovenia, Croatia, L.A., London...</span></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-20310168667013351562012-08-04T18:28:00.000+02:002012-08-04T18:28:27.316+02:00In-depth Interview about Healing.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a long (45m) interview about RPT and healing / personal development.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With thanks to the lovely Kara-Leah Grant of <a href="http://theyogalunchbox.co.nz/2012/06/09/is-reference-point-therapy-a-healing-modality-that-truly-works/" target="_blank">The Yoga Lunchbox</a>.</span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-48279126145059424362012-07-06T14:32:00.000+02:002012-07-06T14:33:09.504+02:00Power.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-91286277578420401102012-07-02T11:49:00.001+02:002012-07-02T11:53:26.129+02:00What Your Body Needs (Once a Year). ~ Ben Ralston<div class="textwidget" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Want more Magic?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">January 2001 I went to India and trained as a Yoga teacher. The hardest, roughest, toughest, most grueling, painful, and downright </span><a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2010/08/yoga-teachers-training-how-i-stopped.html" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">miserable month of my life</span></a><span style="color: #222222;"> also marked a turning point – when I began to take responsibility for myself, find my path, and really </span><em style="border: 0px; color: #222222; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">live</em><span style="color: #222222;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since then, I’ve taken and led many retreats. I can’t imagine going more than a year or two without one now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My body needs it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So does yours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Modern life is fast and super-stressful. We get sucked into the mundane before we can say ‘<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">must-be-mindful’</em>. Spat out again on the other side of a lost year, all those unresolved resolutions shored up in our subconscious, we end up waging war with ourselves, not realizing that the real enemy is the system that we allow ourselves to get caught up in – thinking that <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">we</em> need <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">it</em>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We don’t need it – it needs us. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We</em> don’t need anything. And that’s what you realize – deeply – when you go on a retreat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">You realize that you’re fine just as you are.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No WiFi, no cell phones, no media blare – nothing but nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And of course, there’s the Yoga (or Tai Chi), the fresh, healthy food, the conscious relaxation, the sense of being surrounded by like-minded people (you know, <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">community</em>), the deep breathing, and the space and time to simply <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">enjoy.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are things that human beings need daily, and that most people are starved of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The moment it hit me that retreats are actually <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">important </em>– was when I finished leading my first one. It was mid-Summer, on a Croatian Island, and we’d started the week (35 of us) holding hands standing in a circle, as I chanted a sacred mantra for auspicious beginnings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At the end of the week we stood in a circle holding hands and I chanted a sacred mantra for auspicious endings, and then we walked out from under the canopy that covered us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Everyone outside was standing looking up at the sky, open mouthed, pointing, in awe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was a perfect circular rainbow halo around the sun:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/?attachment_id=359274" rel="attachment wp-att-359274" style="border: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-359274 aligncenter" height="375" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Sun-Halo.jpeg" style="border: none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="500" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pretty auspicious huh?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">I’d never seen anything like it before in my life – and it felt like (accuse me of having a God-complex if you will!) a </span><a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/09/3-impossible-true-stories-and-1-way-to.html" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">divine omen</span></a><span style="color: #222222;">, an (almost) neon flashing sign stating loud and clear:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Yes, you’re on the right path, keep up the good work”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I keep on taking and leading retreats. I believe that we need to break out of the system occasionally, remind ourselves of what’s important and what’s not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And in the same way that we all know we need a weekend once a week, I hope that one day we’ll all retreat once a year (just like we get our cars serviced routinely). To step out of the mundane and remind ourselves that life is sacred, magical and mysterious, and to actively <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">celebrate</em> and participate in that awareness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">I’m running a retreat in August this year, on the Croatian island of Iž. Have a look at the beautiful video of Iž below, and if you’d like more information, go </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/424063964284469/" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">here</span></a><span style="color: #222222;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And if not this year, then next. And if not one of my retreats, then someone else’s – you owe it to yourself and to the world around you to stay connected to the joy and wonder and magic deep inside of yourself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don’t get caught up in life. Live it – fully, heartedly, meaningfully. And if you’re not sure how, find out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Our time here is precious, and all too fleeting.</span></h3>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spread the love now – share this with the world.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Resource: </span><a href="http://www.sivananda.org/vacations/yoga-vacation.html" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: orange;">The Sivananda Yoga Organization</span></a><span style="color: #222222;"> offers year-round retreats in all of it’s nine Ashrams around the world. They’re cheap, the teaching is of a routinely high standard, and food is excellent. It’s not for everyone – it’s a ‘no-frills’ experience. But if you really want to retreat – in the true sense of the word – then I thoroughly recommend it.</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-37619949724172950932012-04-24T12:29:00.001+02:002012-04-24T12:31:04.645+02:00Take responsibility - don't hand over your power to others.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Somebody told me about a friend who is obsessed with the world ending in 2012.</div>
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Guess what - the world won't end this year in 2012. It probably won't end for a very, very long time.</div>
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Until it does, please don't give away your power to anyone that would have you relinquish your responsibility. Whether they be conspiracy theorists, psychics, healers, spiritual teachers, yoga 'guru's... anyone.</div>
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Right now, there is important work to be done - for yourself, for those around you, for the planet, for future generations.</div>
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Let's do that work, and stop worrying about an uncertain future. Focus on the present - be real, stay grounded, and do what you need to do to cultivate more joy.</div>
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Be more free.</div>
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Spread more love.</div>
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Thanks for listening - if it's of value, please <b>share</b>.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-56974127223830712242012-03-22T08:10:00.000+01:002012-03-22T08:10:24.310+01:00Understanding Being.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In answer to Facebook friend George's question:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /><i>"Life-long issue: intellectualizing "spiritual" or "mystical" experiences. My desire to understand everything makes it difficult to rest in the intuitive knowing of "God" or "truth" or "the universe" or "consciousness" --- whatever you want to call it. That which cannot be named. I've experienced it so profoundly but always return to the quest to define and comprehend it, then I end up with a lot of concepts about what I experienced, a poor substitute for simply BEING it."</i><br /><br />Thumb it up, share it up, spread the love.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And send me your questions, in a comment or a message. I'm happy to help.</span></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-8154498134040950702012-03-09T22:04:00.001+01:002012-03-09T22:04:38.948+01:00How to let go or release buried emotions and suppressed feelings?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">A talk about healing and personal development. What causes our emotional problems, and how can we solve them?<br />Answer - trauma is what causes almost all our problems, and healing trauma solves them. And healing trauma can be fast, easy, and fun!<br /><br />Hope you didn't get too seasick watching it! I'll try to keep future videos a little more 'stable :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-85753469994820375732012-02-22T11:15:00.000+01:002012-02-22T11:15:53.958+01:00My first video! About social media, and the new (spiritual) business paradigm...<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="vvqbox vvqyoutube" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 344px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 425px;"><object data="http://www.youtube.com/v/pRkjb3UfQ8A&rel=0&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=0" height="344" id="vvq-288148-youtube-1" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"></object></span></span><br />
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Got a stinking cold, -10 degrees outside, seminars to teach tomorrow, sleep deprived for the last 15 months, and <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/02/yogic-philosophy-breaks-barriers-at-world-famous-sxsw-interative-festival/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Diane Ferraro</a> goes and tempts me with her PJ’s. What’s a guy to do… </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-67536395792894087082012-02-22T11:12:00.000+01:002012-02-22T11:12:31.294+01:00The latest Yoga scandal? Or prefer to read about Truth?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/02/the-latest-yoga-scandal-or-you-prefer-to-read-about-truth--ben-ralston/truth-4/" rel="attachment wp-att-279949" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-279949" height="150" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Truth.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="150" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">30 or so years ago I lied to my Father and he caught me out. I remember being afraid, and tensing up in anticipation of a whack or a stern rebuke. But there was just a very long pause, a pause that felt like falling, falling through space – no roots, nothing to ground me. Then he warmly and simply said:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“There’s nothing I despise more than a lie”.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He looked at me kindly and left it at that.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He wasn’t always such a magnificent teacher, but that day, he nailed it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’ve spent my whole life since searching for Truth.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At school I sat in countless classrooms watching the parade of old men whose life-blood slipped away while they bullshitted themselves (and each other, and my parents) that they were teaching anything worthwhile. There was no truth to be found there.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the television endless advertisements, people with too-white teeth and too-wide smiles, trying to persuade me that they were honest and good and that I needed what they were selling. No truth there.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the streets and in the shops and buses and trains I saw everyone trying to convince themselves that they were alright, happy, safe. But I saw through their deception. No truth.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Churches and in Synagogues I listened to readings from dusty old books and I felt the disconnect between what was being read, and the person reading it. There was no truth there, no true Faith, only blind, wishful-thinking, and the wise child that I was wasn’t fooled.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(When I finally realized that my parents weren’t superheroes) I saw my Father struggling to balance his dignity with the daily grind of trying to become – what? A millionaire? A billionaire? And I failed to see the truth in that.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I saw my Mother’s sense of unfulfilled, unrealized potential, and the emptiness inside that she occasionally tried to fill with wine, chewing gum, or television, and I knew that she hadn’t found the truth that I was looking for.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I spent many years knowing only what I didn’t want. I didn’t want my life to be a lie. I knew that with all my heart. I yearned for a not-lie. But I had no idea what that was. I had no idea what the truth looked like, or how it felt, or even if I would recognize it if it were right in front of me, with a big flashing neon sign:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: cyan; font-size: 21px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Herein lies TRUTH.</span></span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Actually, I would have turned away. When you are so conditioned by delusion and hypocrisy… when all you have ever known is deception… when the fabric of your society is woven with pretense… then the truth is something to be feared!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have another, earlier memory. Mr Morton may have been <a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-education-lesson-in-abuse-was-yours.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a rare example in my life of a good school teacher</a>. He seemed very old to me then, with grey whiskers and a stooped gait, and when he sat at the front of the class he would interlock his fingers, rotating one thumb around the other in what seemed like a frantic attempt to slow down time… I had the sense that there was a great energy about to bubble up in him, about to boil over… and if he didn’t keep on twiddling his thumbs like that he wouldn’t be able to stop it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of my peers must have lied to him one day, because he exploded, whiskers shaking, mouth foaming, eyes bulging. When he’d finished there were some nervous sniggers, but we all – each and every one of us in that room that day knew that we’d seen and heard Truth directly:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“When you start to tell lies you enter a very dangerous arena, a grey world where black and white blur into one, and right and wrong lose their meaning. And one day you will find yourself an altogether grey person, <strong style="font-weight: bold;">because you will have started to believe your own lies</strong>.”</em></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We live in a grey world. Our society is very, very grey – phone hacking, money-makes-money banking, countries invaded under the guise of WMD that were never there. Soap operas and adverts and MTV and internet-filters and rigged elections and Arms Fairs and Oil dependency and Global Warming and… on and on. <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/02/rumors-and-accusations--why-they-have-no-place-in-our-community/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One scandal, one controversy after another</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/02/why-i-do-not-train-yoga-teachers-and-yoga-dangerous--ben-ralston/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is what happens when spiritual practice is used as a vehicle for fame and fortune, when personal gain trumps respect for lineage, when the student proclaims himself teacher of teachers.</a> <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(The link is to a post I wrote the other day about the corruption of Eastern spirituality by Western materialism, specifically – yoga teachers training more yoga teachers).</em></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Does our society support a quest for freedom and truth, or does it encourage us to rejoice in the illusion of gossip and malicious rumor like pigs rolling in mud?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is only one solution to the problem, and that is to stop relying on that society. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be part of it. You can still play the game – but by your own rules.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be aware that Truth is the gateway to freedom. And don’t compromise in your search for, and expression of, that truth.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not long ago a student asked me the secret to happiness. I answered:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Never compromise”.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She was somewhat surprised, because let’s face it, most of us grew up being taught the opposite – that compromise is an integral part of happiness!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How many times were you told:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“’You can’t have it all’… ‘choose one or the other’… ‘dreams don’t come true’… ‘better the devil you know’…”</em></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or variations of the above?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I’m here to tell you differently: by all means, compromise with your partner over which movie you watch, or what you have for dinner; compromise with a colleague over how you go about completing a task. Compromise on the little things. <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Compromise your desires.</em></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But when it comes to something big – love, work, your aspirations and <strong style="font-weight: bold;">dreams</strong>: don’t compromise – not one iota. Don’t take a single step off the path of meaningful, intentional life. Know what you want, and go for it, with 110% of your energy. And when something gets in the way, either jump over, or go around, or wait patiently until it moves away again, because it will move if your intention is strong.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don’t lose sight of what is important to you – your values – and don’t compromise on them. If you do, the day will come when you look back on your life and see only a lies. I can’t imagine anything worse.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mr Morton was right.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One lie leads to another. What starts out as a simple excuse for why you stay with <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the partner who doesn’t totally rock your world </em>leads to a whole world-wide-web of self-deceit. That’s just the beginning, because next you have to convince the rest of the world about it too!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before you know it, life is grey and foggy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It takes a great deal of courage to be really honest with yourself. The very reason we deceive ourselves is because we’re afraid. So to be honest means to be doubly courageous – you have to have the <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">cojones</em>to confront your fears, and to then carry on in spite of them. You have to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That might mean leaving a partner, or a job, or a home, or a college. It might mean coming out about your sexuality, or travelling the world, or learning a language, or whatever. These are big, scary things. But they are gateways – you can either go through that gateway to freedom, or you can stay hiding behind the door.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hide behind that door and remain in a dark, shadowy, grey world where the search for love, peace, and freedom is utterly pointless. Death will come for you full of regrets.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But step through that door and be dazzled by full-spectrum multi-chromatic rainbow-colored Glory.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The choice is ours to make, and we are all making that choice, every moment of every day.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you choose?</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you’re feeling it, share it. ‘Like’ it up on FB, and leave a comment, please.</em></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-38334690899880617972012-02-22T11:07:00.003+01:002012-02-22T11:09:54.182+01:00Why I don't train Yoga teachers.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/02/why-i-do-not-train-yoga-teachers-and-yoga-dangerous--ben-ralston/swami-vishnu/" rel="attachment wp-att-277579" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ffb911; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-277579 " height="194" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Swami-Vishnu.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-width: initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="259" /></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Swami Vishnu - he flew over war zones in this plane throwing flowers out the window. A true hero.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a child my heroes were the khaki-clad men and women who gave their lives in WW2 (for a cause greater than themselves). I was completely in awe of anyone who put their own comfort and safety aside in order to ‘fight the good fight’. I believed there was no greater life to be lived.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Many years later I travelled to India for an intensive Yoga Teachers Training course. It was the most challenging thing I’d ever done – physically, emotionally, mentally, and above all, spiritually. I wrote about it <a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2010/08/yoga-teachers-training-how-i-stopped.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On that course, I found new heroes.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ochre-clad men and women who gave their lives, day after day, for a cause greater than themselves.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Swamis are the people we may thank for the access that we now enjoy to the ancient wisdom of Yoga. For thousands of years they have taken vows of brahmacharya – mastery of the senses, and renunciation of the fruits of the senses – as they put their personal comfort and ego safety to one side in order to transform the world. There is no greater sacrifice.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Towards the end of my time in India I resolved that I would one day be a Swami. 5 years later I did indeed give away all my ‘stuff’: my old man got my ipod. My brother got my Raybans. A recent TTC graduate got my small yoga business including 20 yoga mats, my classes, students and mailing list… and with just a small bag of clothes I entered an Ashram and began training. Why am I not there today? The fist person I met in the Ashram that day was the beautiful Goddess who is now my wife. But that’s another story…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Altogether I taught Yoga full time for almost a decade.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I taught Yoga in exclusive hotels and gyms, hostels, schools, and festivals, to Hollywood celebrities and millionaires and old age pensioners. I once taught a guy who’d (to coin the wonderful Ram Dass expression) ‘<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">been stroked</em>’. The whole left side of his body was paralyzed. So in Sun Salutations he would grab his left leg with his right hand, and put it into position. It took a long time, but he did them, and he loved every minute of it. I’ve never met a more smiley and determined person in my life, and it was a great privilege teaching him. The classes he was in were some of the most memorable I’ve ever taught.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I must have taught many thousands of people during those 10 years.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I never had a single student get injured. Not one.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And my style of Asana teaching is dynamic and physical! So how is it that some people believe Yoga to be ‘dangerous’?! Many times over the years I’ve been asked this question:</span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Why don’t you run your own Yoga Teacher Training Course?”</span></em></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In our materialistic society it seems to be a real no-brainer! After all, that’s where the money is in Yoga! We all know that. So why not do it? I’ll tell you why:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I won’t pee in the well.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The well of pristine ancient wisdom kept by countless generations of Swamis.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/02/why-i-do-not-train-yoga-teachers-and-yoga-dangerous--ben-ralston/swami-sivananda-big/" rel="attachment wp-att-277647" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-277647" height="234" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Swami-Sivananda-big.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="215" /></span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Swami Sivananda - a Hero</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Swami Vishnu-Devananda had a vision in meditation of the world in flames. It was that vision that led him to create the Sivananda Yoga Teachers Training Course (the oldest TTC in the West – around 15,000 graduates over 40 years). His main intention was not so much to create yoga teachers – rather, he intended to create world leaders with integrity. He wanted to create a generation of yogis who would be able to steer the world away from its current crisis with integrity, compassion, and service.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In India, before I realized I wanted to one day be a Swami, I knew without a doubt that I would try to honor Swami Vishnu’s intention – I would do my best to repay the debt I owed him.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So when I’m asked why I don’t run TTC’s what I say is this: there are places I can send my Yoga students to become Yoga teachers. Places run by people who are completely dedicated to doing just that. People who haven’t got kids, aren’t in relationships, and don’t go on vacation. They just train Yoga teachers. Day in, day out, all year round. Total heroes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So how could I take it upon myself to train other people to be yoga teachers, when I know that I would be depriving them of the best training available? I would feel that I was cheating my students, and betraying the lineage that I am honored to be a tiny part of.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That lineage comes from a land whose entire culture is founded on spirituality.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our entire culture is founded upon materialism.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Different worlds.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I understand completely what has gone wrong – people who lack a profound understanding of the spiritual essence of Yoga are running TTC’s.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So the graduates of those TTC’s are even further removed from the lineage. The pond is polluted further and further.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No wonder there is endless controversy in the Yoga ‘blogosphere’. No wonder there are articles suggesting that Yoga may be dangerous. No wonder people really are injuring themselves!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’ve seen many suggestions that the reason yoga has become dangerous is that not enough attention is paid to anatomy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That’s a side issue. It’s also something that householder Yoga teachers who run TTC’s will say to justify what they do (<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I teach good anatomy so that my student teachers are safe”</em>). But in reality, to teach Yoga properly only a basic understanding of anatomy is required. You don’t need a degree in anatomy to teach yoga, because</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yoga is not gymnastics.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yogasana is intended primarily to prepare the body to be comfortable sitting for meditation. If it’s taught as such, with emphasis on breath and inner awareness rather than physical ‘shape’ and external competition then it’s totally, 100% ‘safe’. Actually, it’s more than safe, it’s <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">healing</em>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is also, of course, a wonderful physical exercise – but that is a secondary benefit.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yoga is a spiritual practice.</span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are true heroes on this planet.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Find them.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Because the world needs one more.</span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you feel it, share it. Please leave a comment. Spread the love!</span></em></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-31275932251473570822012-01-23T15:42:00.000+01:002012-07-14T02:02:22.607+02:00Low Self-esteem (and what to do about it)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">own being”</span></em></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ~ Hafiz</span></em></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/01/low-self-esteem-and-what-to-do-about-it/self-esteem-mirror/" rel="attachment wp-att-269309" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></a></em><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-269309" height="376" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/self-esteem-mirror.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="320" /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You may suspect that you have low self-esteem,</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but you probably have no idea what to do about it!</span></div>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Most articles about self-esteem talk about thinking positively, making affirmations, smiling a lot, etc. These things are just band-aids – they will only serve to suppress the truth about how you feel about yourself for a short time. I am not interested in band-aids. I am interested in prevention and cure…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this post I’m going to tell you what self-esteem is really all about; how it is negatively affected; why I think it’s hugely important that we <strong style="font-weight: bold;">do</strong> do something about it – and <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">what</em> to do.</span></div>
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<span style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is self-esteem?</span></strong></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(other than a term that is much used and little understood)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My definition of self-esteem is 5 words:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>~ ‘how deeply you love yourself’ ~</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, how deeply do you love yourself?!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Don’t worry, I’ll help you answer that question quite accurately in just a moment)…</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I believe this is perhaps one of the most important questions you will ever ask, and here’s why: the extent to which you love yourself dictates how successful you are in every area of your life – relationships, work, and health (emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual health).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have a nice way of answering the above question. It is called The Mirror Exercise*, and there are 3 simple steps:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Look yourself in the eye in a mirror.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Tell yourself sincerely: <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I love you”</em>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. See how it feels, and measure the feeling out of 10 (<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">see below</em>).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If your self-esteem is intact (if you do indeed love yourself deeply) then the exercise should be fun!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, for most people there is at least some difficulty – as they say the words there is a feeling of<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">stress</em>. This is because human beings are hardwired <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">not</em> <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to lie</em>. So if you have low self-esteem (you don’t love yourself), telling yourself <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I love you”</em> feels like a lie – it feels stressful.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lie detector machines (polygraph machines) work by detecting the biological symptoms of stress. But you don’t need a polygraph machine – you <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">know</em> when you are lying, because you <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">feel </em>the stress. That’s why this exercise is really quite an accurate (although not scientific) indication of how high your self-esteem is.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So the mirror exercise is to do the above 3 steps. The final step, <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">measuring the feeling of stress on a scale of 0 – 10</em>, works like this:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">10/10</strong> stress: as you say the words you probably feel quite uncomfortable, and you just don’t believe it at all. This means that you have very low self-esteem.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">0/10</strong> stress: no stress, therefore high self esteem.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Go ahead and do it now..</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, if you just did the exercise, you probably felt at least a little discomfort or stress as you said those 3 words. Here’s why:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We should love ourselves completely. Human beings are Loving beings. The essence of the human experience is love itself. <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Your essence is love</em>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Yogic terms this is known as Satchitananda: pure existence, pure consciousness, pure bliss. In a word – <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">love</em>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But almost all of us suffer the consequences of unresolved trauma – usually much more than we realize.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Childhood trauma…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Birth trauma…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Trauma experienced by our Mother whilst we were ‘in utero’…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not to mention ancestral trauma: the emerging branch of science called Epigenetics has demonstrated conclusively that trauma from the lives of our ancestors – especially trauma from the time when our egg was created in the ovary of our Mother (when she was a fetus in the uterus of <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">her</em> Mother*) – directly impacts on our life, even our genetic predispositions and biological constitution!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The kind of trauma that affects self-esteem the most is abuse trauma. And if you think that abuse is probably something that happens to a minority of those ‘other’ people, think again! There are perhaps as many as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">99 different kinds of abuse</a>, ranging from the more obvious (<a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2010/05/healing-trauma-of-sexual-abuse.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">sexual</a>) to the very subtle (<a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/07/emptiness-and-feeling-empty-two-very.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">emotional neglect</a>). And abuse (defined here as a violation of one’s boundaries) is entirely subjective…</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some of the consequences of abuse are that we feel guilty, ashamed, and responsible for what happened. Essentially, we feel that there is something wrong with us – and if there is something wrong with us, we have a very good reason to love ourselves less, right?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our self-esteem suffers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My theory is that abuse trauma is the cause of most of mankind’s problems. Not long after establishing this theory, something happened that blew my mind. I was sitting at my desk, thinking and writing about this theory when someone sent me a link to a book:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Origins of War in Child Abuse</em><strong style="font-weight: bold;">” </strong>by Lloyd Demause.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I realized that other people were also coming to the very same conclusions as I was. And <a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/09/3-impossible-true-stories-and-1-way-to.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">I don’t believe in ‘co-incidence’</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The purpose of this post is not to explain the mechanism of trauma and abuse in detail. If you’re interested to know more about that check back later, because I’ll be posting articles about it soon. Right now though I want to stay focused on self-esteem. And what I want to communicate is this:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Most people don’t love themselves nearly enough.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. This low self-esteem causes many, many problems, both on the personal level, and globally (think war, corruption, and environmental destruction).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. It’s not so hard to fix the problem on the personal level (thus directly and <a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/09/3-steps-to-profound-healing-broken.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">powerfully influencing the global</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When is your self-esteem determined?</span></strong></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance” ~ Oscar Wilde</span></em></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you go through a painful divorce after 20 years of marriage, can that affect your self-esteem? I don’t think so: I think that the experience will simply expose your underlying low self-esteem (that was always there even while you were married). I believe that our self-esteem is set in childhood, perhaps up until the age of around 21 years old. Early trauma (at birth and pre-school) is probably the most impactful on how much we love ourselves.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, another theory (which does not necessarily negate the childhood theory, but may just be another perspective on it) is that we <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">inherit</em> our self-esteem. After all, the trauma that we experience in our lifetime is usually an echo of similar trauma that our ancestors experienced. So it could be that we inherit poor self-esteem, and then attract experiences that reinforce it (such as divorce), and perpetuate the pattern.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Either way, it does not really matter. Two things are important in this – being able to recognize the effect of the trauma (as opposed to the actual trauma itself, which is far less relevant), and being able to heal those consequences.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With modern healing techniques like Reference Point Therapy, which are simple, fast, and highly effective, we are able to pinpoint the exact consequence of the trauma (which is usually a subconscious association between one of our survival instincts, and safety), and heal it (release the subconscious association).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The effect of this kind of healing is a subtle change in all aspects of one’s life. Relationships, feelings, emotional reactions, and even the physical structure of the body (posture, lung capacity, etc) are transformed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And the beautiful thing is that the change is not a particular change, but a wave of change – it is an ongoing process, namely, of us coming back to our true selves: love.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The analogy I use is this: if you have walked for a long time with a stone in your shoe, it will eventually affect every area of your life – your posture, your emotions, your deeper feelings, your sense of self-identity (ego), even the expression on your face!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But when you remove the stone, all of these changes do not instantly disappear – it takes time for each aspect of you to settle back to normal, and even the expression on your face will gradually, over time, relax.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Similarly, when releasing subconscious blockages, the effects may be felt instantly, but are always ongoing…</span></div>
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<span style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How do you raise your self-esteem?</span></strong></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“You can’t build joy on a feeling of self-loathing.” ~ Ram Dass</span></em></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As with anything else, you solve a problem permanently only by changing what caused the problem.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this case, low self-esteem is caused by the consequences of unresolved trauma. When you heal the trauma, you instantly begin to love yourself more.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I wish I could tell you in a short blog post how to heal trauma yourself, but it’s not quite as simple as that – it takes a number of days of intensive training to be able to safely find the blockages, identify their roots, and heal them. It’s quite simple really – you don’t need a degree, but you do need proper training.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I hope though that this post sheds some light on something that I believe to be the key to a more sustainable, compassionate, and peaceful human society: how much we love ourselves as individuals.</span></div>
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<span style="border-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Participate in a simple social experiment?</span></strong></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” ~ Joseph Campbell</span></em></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I would like to propose what could be a useful social experiment: when you do the mirror exercise post the ‘score’ (out of 10) as a comment below (along with the feelings that came up too, if you like). It only takes a moment to do this, and may be done anonymously, and if this article gets 1000 reads, and 5% of people participate that’s 50 people – a reasonable number of results to compare and analyze . The results will either support or undermine my theory that most of us suffer from low self-esteem, and either way, it’ll be interesting! If you also write a little about what feelings came up as you did the exercise, I will do my best to answer your comment in a helpful way.</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And share it up folks – spread the love, as always. Thank you!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">* Biology lesson:</strong> a woman’s eggs are all produced long before she is born. They are formed in the ovaries at around the time of 3 months gestation in the womb of her own mother.</span></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Bonus:</strong> <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1128045835761675934" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #ff3300; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">click here</a> for a fascinating and entertaining documentary about epigenetics.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I believe I first discovered The Mirror Exercise in a book, but I have no recollection of which book. So please, if you have ever come across this technique before, let me know so that I can properly give credit to it’s creator? Thank you! (edit: I've been told that it may have been Louise L. Hay)</span></em></div>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-52121247534485710602012-01-17T11:38:00.002+01:002012-01-17T11:46:35.082+01:00Newspaper interview re: RPTI was interviewed recently about Reference Point Therapy for a national newspaper. The journalist asked some excellent questions, so I decided to write up the transcript of the interview for a blog post.<br />
Here it is:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">RPT is the fastest and most
efficient method in the world for healing trauma. On what is it based?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>It is based on two things – the science of
epigenetics (which has proven that ancestral trauma directly affects our own
life), and the ancient wisdom of many spiritual traditions, which assert that
the essence of the human being is pure consciousness.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">What kind of traumas can be
healed in this way? Is this specific traumas – like car accidents or death – or
can there also be subconscious traumas that block the individuals development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Well, so far it seems that any kind of
trauma may be healed with this method. The only kind of trauma that we have no
experience trying to heal yet is the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of soldiers
returning from combat (we simply didn’t have the opportunity to work on this
yet). But car accidents, grief, serious abuse trauma (sexual, physical,
emotional, etc), childhood abandonment and neglect… I have not come across any
kind of trauma yet that was not healed with this method. And yes, subconscious
traumas do block our development, and it is the very purpose of RPT to unblock
our development!</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Do you perhaps know the answer
to the question “ why some people are more prone to accidents / bad things
happening to them”. Is this perhaps to do with subconscious blockages, energy
which attracts these things?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>As a matter of fact, I do! The human being
is made up of energy (consciousness). When we experience our highest potential
(pure consciousness), we vibrate energetically in ‘tune’ with the world around
us. But when our experience is blocked by the effects of unresolved trauma, we
vibrate at a much lower level – and there is no ‘flow’. Being ‘in the zone’ is
a well known expression – some people live in the zone. Others experience is fleetingly,
but we all understand that it is possible. Ultimately, the extent to which we
are able to live in the zone is the extent to which we have resolved our
trauma. So yes, it is very much to do with subconscious blockages that attract
‘negative’ experiences. Although life is messy, and there will always be
experiences that we would choose not to have – but a person who has a high
level of consciousness will cope much better than someone who has many
unresolved issues.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">How does the session look? How
long is it on average? How is it different from other therapies, which are
recommendable for eliminating traumatic events, (for example classical
psychotherapy).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>The session is entirely talk-based. On
average it is 90 minutes, but this depends on the therapist. It is most notably
different from other types of trauma therapy in that the actual trauma (what
happened) is not ‘relived’. The therapist only needs to know that something
happened (trauma). The nature of the trauma is irrelevant – because actually, we
cannot heal the trauma itself (we cannot make it go away – because it happened,
and we can’t change that!). What we can change is how it makes us feel now (the consequences of the trauma). Another
notable difference is that unlike many other methods that take a long time to
heal trauma (for example classical psychotherapy), RPT is very fast. Trauma can
often be healed permanently in just one session – this is because we get right
to the cause of the problem. And the cause of the problem, in case you are wondering,
is survival instincts.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">People often are not aware how
traumas from the past define us. And they can’t even put them into words. In
what way does the therapist pull out trauma from a client which he isn’t even
aware of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>First of all, part of the training of an
RPT therapist is in the development of intuition. So in the rare case that a
client really has no idea what causes their problem, I am always able to tell
them! However, I find that almost every client knows just as much as they need
to know in order to heal themselves (with my help). If something is forgotten,
it is because it is no longer needed. And RPT gives us the precise tools to be
able to access exactly what we need to access in order to heal our problems and
raise our consciousness.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Can you perhaps give an example
of the positive effects of the therapy (of course without names) or maybe in
general. How does the person who came to the session with deep trauma feel when
it’s no longer there. How perhaps does his thinking change, and his behavior?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>One client had a 20-year history of
clinical depression, and had attempted suicide. When she came to me she had
tried countless different types of medical and alternative healing / therapy,
including pharmaceutical drugs. Nothing helped. After one session she was
healed (the cause had been childhood abuse trauma), and when I saw her again 18
months later (recently) she remains free of depression. I also found out that
she had been diagnosed (18 months ago) with a serious thyroid problem that required
surgery. After our session, her thyroid was also healed, and remains so to this
day, as evidenced by regular medical check-ups. This is just one example of
many such ‘miraculous’ cases. It seems miraculous on the surface, but actually,
when you understand that trauma is responsible for most of our problems, it is
no miracle at all! </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>How does the person feel after healing –
lighter, less burdened. The feeling is usually subtle (no fireworks or
hysteria!), but there is a definite transformation. They will notice that the
change is apparent in every area of their life: relationships, self-esteem,
clarity of thought, emotional reactions… because what has changed is the person
themself. They are more themself now. So everything changes, in a subtle, but
powerful and positive way – and most importantly, the change is permanent.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Some people, on certain points
of their lives, can no longer go on. They are controlled by fears, for which
they don’t have a reasonable explanation. Can these blockages have as their source,
unconscious trauma.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Almost
all</i></span><span lang="EN-US"><i> subconscious blockages are caused by the
effects of unresolved trauma.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">The therapy is based on the
science of consciousness. Does it work in spite of the fact that the client
does not believe in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>It is not necessary to believe anything for
RPT to work! Any therapy that requires belief
on the part of the client in order to be successful relies on the placebo
effect. RPT recognizes the placebo effect, and is far more successful than
placebo based therapies. One of the reasons for this is that with RPT we also
recognize that a person can only heal a problem when they take responsibility
for it – in fact, taking responsibility is the first step (and the hardest). So
taking responsibility is what is necessary, and actually, it is the opposite of
belief!</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Can we help ourselves with this
therapy also with physical problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Yes, because the physical body is also an
expression (albeit, a material expression) of consciousness. Problems that
manifest in the body are almost always first experienced on the mental and
emotional level, but we suppress them. The body then has no choice but to show
symptoms on the physical level. All aspects of us are made up of consciousness,
and when we heal the subconscious blockage, all aspects of us are healed –
mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">In what way can we use the
method in our profession and maybe also in general in more positive way of
living or acting?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>This is a very good question. Really, you
are asking whether this technique is only for people with ‘problems’, and the
answer is emphatically ‘no’! Despite enjoying wonderful physical, emotional,
and mental health, I continue to practice this method on myself. Why? Because
as we raise our consciousness by becoming more aware, and by releasing our
fears, we enjoy greater levels of joy, inner peace, and abundance. For me, RPT
is much more than a therapy. It is a unique method of personal development and
spiritual growth.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-63589625543346293872011-12-02T09:47:00.001+01:002011-12-02T09:53:57.961+01:00Funny '2 Cows' thing.<br />
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2}" style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 3px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This popped up in my Facebook 'newsfeed'. It's from the page of one K.C.Locke, who got it from a Matt McNeil. Neither of whom are my 'Facebook friends'. So I have no idea how or why it came to my attention...</span></div>
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2}" style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 3px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have no idea how Facebook works, and I'm very happy for that. Social Media is insidious and dangerous, and yes, I know, it's also great in many ways too, but I'm happy I'm not a Social Media expert. Or maybe it would be better if I was. I. don't. know.</span></div>
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2}" style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 3px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2}" style="line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 3px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyway, this is hilarious, and I hope it makes you laugh out loud (LOL) as I did.</span></div>
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2}" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 3px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="actorDescription actorName" data-ft="{"type":2}" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding-bottom: 3px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">SOCIALISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />You give one to your neighbor.<br />COMMUNISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both and gives you some milk.<br />FASCISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both and sells you some milk.<br />NAZISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both and shoots you.<br />BUREAUCRATISM<br />You have 2 cows.<br />The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk<br />away.<br />TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM<br />You have two cows.<br />You sell one and buy a bull.<br />Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.<br />You sell them and retire on the income.<br />SURREALISM<br />You have two giraffes.<br />The government requires you to take harmonica lessons<br />AN AMERICAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.<br />Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.<br />VENTURE CAPITALISM<br />You have two cows.<br />You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of<br />credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity<br />swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back,<br />with a tax exemption for five cows.<br />The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a<br />Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells<br />The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one<br />more.<br />You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you<br />with nine cows.<br />No balance sheet provided with the release.<br />The public then buys your bull.<br />A FRENCH CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads because you want<br />three cows.<br />A JAPANESE CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and<br />produce twenty times the milk.<br />You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.<br />A GERMAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.<br />AN ITALIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.<br />You decide to have lunch.<br />A RUSSIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You count them and learn you have five cows.<br />You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.<br />You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.<br />You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.<br />A SWISS CORPORATION<br />You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you.<br />You charge the owners for storing them.<br />AN INDIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You worship them.<br />A BRITISH CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />Both are mad.<br />AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />Business seems pretty good.<br />You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.<br />AN IRAQI CORPORATION<br />Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.<br />You tell them that you have none.<br />No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your<br />country.<br />You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a democracy.<br />A CHINESE CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />You have 300 people milking them.<br />You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.<br />You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.<br />A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION<br />You have two cows.<br />The one on the left looks very attractive.</span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-87676176246630821052011-11-25T09:30:00.000+01:002011-11-25T09:27:01.258+01:00Profound healing: transformation of physical and emotional problems in 1 session. But what about 18 months later?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last night I gave
a presentation near Ljubljana.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Nata</span><span lang="SL">š</span><span lang="EN-US">a came.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I barely
recognized her, but as soon as she said her name I knew which Nata</span><span lang="SL">ša it was</span><span lang="EN-US">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’d met her 18 months
ago, just the once. She came to me for a single healing session. The email she
sent me afterwards has been on my website as a testimonial ever since.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She’d been
suffering from depression and (to put it mildly) ‘dark thoughts’ for most of
her life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite seeking
help from multiple doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, and healers, nothing and
no one had been able to help her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When she came to
me she had also been having serious problems with her thyroid and was due
surgery to have it removed. That was actually the catalyst that led her to me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The result of that
single session: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">total transformation</i>...</span></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No more
depression, and no need for surgery – normal thyroid function.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The email she sent
me after the session said this:<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #535353;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“My son never
wanted to cuddle me before… now he’s constantly cuddling up next to me, and the
light in his eyes when he looks at me says it all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #535353;">Thank you.”</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">18 months later
her thyroid is still fine, and she is still free of depression.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One. Single.
Session.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes people
accuse me of narcissistic self-promotion, self-aggrandizement, and writing that
reads like advertising.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I get that, really
I do. Everywhere we look people are trying to sell us something.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And as the son of
an advertising executive I’m particularly sensitive to it – the very, very last
thing I want to do is come across like that, believe me!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But the thing is,
it’s just not about me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s about this
wonderful, miraculous therapy: profound healing that actually works (on the
causal level), permanently.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-8571633654809037802011-11-18T14:57:00.001+01:002011-11-18T15:41:27.397+01:00Strong feelings of Anger, Suspicion, and Anxiety - cleared in one session.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yrlSNOwd-X8" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Great client (thank you Becky!), great results, great testimonial. Unfortunately my technical skills are not so great so it's a poor quality video, but I think you can see enough to know what worked and what didn't!<br />
<br />
To summarize: I did one session a little over a month ago with Becky, and a week later we did a short follow up session (included in price of the first session: part of the deal when you book a session with me).<br />
<br />
So all in all a little over 2 hours of work together.<br />
<br />
3 separate big problems: feelings of anger (measured a month ago as 9/10), anxiety (8/10) and suspicion / distrust (10/10) cleared in one session. If that isn't a good result I don't know what is!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-48829484804677692842011-10-20T13:29:00.000+02:002011-10-20T13:29:10.935+02:00Why healing, personal development and spirituality are really the same thing.<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0C_f7ezV0lxjxKvtH4TcsgrtZK43KseawaoFRp_lxHfaKmn3jwSpP-QunGAoQBdwcBovCgYEeWOEBoxshwF-9OH3EHwIQ1IcraIYc1JN3BKDX-7n0NyK3FHqn_XNZTbb1cGZ9qXGNSHA/s1600/IMG_0135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0C_f7ezV0lxjxKvtH4TcsgrtZK43KseawaoFRp_lxHfaKmn3jwSpP-QunGAoQBdwcBovCgYEeWOEBoxshwF-9OH3EHwIQ1IcraIYc1JN3BKDX-7n0NyK3FHqn_XNZTbb1cGZ9qXGNSHA/s320/IMG_0135.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kiwan and Jai. Masters of Simplicity.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes, life seems so damn complicated, doesn’t
it?! I have an intimate relationship with my wife to maintain and nourish; my
child to educate, support, and nurture; my work to soak up my passion and
creativity… and all the while the whole world seems to be trying to sell me
something!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But lately, more and more, I’m feeling like everything
is actually incredibly simple. Because the root of all these various and
complex problems is the same – me!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I get myself in order, everything else falls into
place. Life becomes, once again, very joyful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I used to think that I had to do lots of different
things in order to get myself into that joyful space: Yoga; meditation; eat
just right; get a balance between work and play; personal development work so
that my relationships would work (as long as my partner also did personal
development work!)… God, when I look back at what I was doing I cringe...</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now I realize that there is only one thing I need to
do, and all the labels I used to apply really boil down, in essence, to this
one thing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Healing is this one thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Personal development is the same as this one thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spiritual growth comes about as a result of this one
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Healing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m not talking about the word ‘healing’ as it’s come
to be used so much – as a kind of band-aid. This healer and that healer who do
this and that, and eventually, after a while, you realize that actually,
nothing has been healed!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m talking about profound, permanent transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The reason why healing, personal development, and
spirituality are the same thing: because we are already perfect.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is nothing to do, to achieve, to get. It’s all
there already, right there, inside you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All we have to do, is let go of what’s blocking it
form coming out!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When Buddha said: “Be a light unto thyself”, I’m
pretty sure that’s what he meant: ‘just look at yourself, you’re perfect!’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When Jesus said “All these things, and greater, you
shall do too”, he was saying that he was nothing special – just an ordinary
human being like you and I, who had realized his perfection, and through it,
was able to achieve miracles. And that we all can do that too!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We’re all so beautiful, amazing, and perfect. But we
don’t love ourselves enough. And that’s the crux of the matter. We simply have
to let go of the blockages that stop us from loving ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That’s healing (and it’s really very simple).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s also personal development and spiritual growth.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-18314230733200779112011-10-14T10:08:00.000+02:002011-10-14T10:08:23.219+02:00Mark Ruffalo Occupies Wall Street with passion, compassion, intelligence, charisma<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
I was an actor once. A terrible actor. I made audiences cringe. I myself cringed inwardly on stage. I had no confidence. I was in a play at the National Theatre once (just the once) and my parents got in the elevator with Neil Kinnock (head of the opposition party at the time). That's my claim to acting fame. That's how bad I was. Thank God I don't have to act anymore; I found my real purpose in life.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Then there's Mark Ruffalo. He's a great actor. I could watch him all day. There's an openness and an integrity about him that is very attractive. I've seen a few of his movies and I always felt like he's the kind of guy I'd like to get to know. A good guy.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Then there's Occupy (Wall Street). I love that movement. I put the brackets around the Wall Street part because I don't feel it's really about Wall Street any more. It's about... no, wait.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
Occupy has become a global movement and it's only going to get bigger. It's going to get bigger and bigger because more and more people are awakening to the simple truth of <strong>who they really are</strong>. More and more people are becoming conscious of their own innate power. We are not sheep. We are not here to be herded around like cattle, victims of a system that is based on greed and fear, so that 1% can prosper and be free while 99% live without dignity...</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
We are human beings: perfect, beautiful, powerful expressions of pure consciouness. We are free already, and as more and more people awaken to that simple truth by letting go of survival based fears, the system in which we live is changing. Occupy is a sign of that change - and I for one am overjoyed to see it happening.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
So what's Occupy about? I'll let Mark Ruffalo explain it much better than I can:</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/qbSye1jTwL8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
And an equally intelligent, even more eloquent 'call to arms':</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdP1ogg33-XliZBvz_CJl5IsRhgLae2Xr_cYaXPBRGXbgcbtGgivV7CKI-CfJaLDE1AF3cGz_fmh4JZ0h6D0S-Mc6gmm_yCDXnsa9WvYH63BERIoQAo_fm4JWSf0MEZi98ybFauAce8M/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-14+at+9.47.29+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdP1ogg33-XliZBvz_CJl5IsRhgLae2Xr_cYaXPBRGXbgcbtGgivV7CKI-CfJaLDE1AF3cGz_fmh4JZ0h6D0S-Mc6gmm_yCDXnsa9WvYH63BERIoQAo_fm4JWSf0MEZi98ybFauAce8M/s640/Screen+shot+2011-10-14+at+9.47.29+AM.png" width="542" /></a></div>
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<a data-mce-href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/?attachment_id=229639" href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/?attachment_id=229639" rel="attachment wp-att-229639"></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-34661365864582363422011-10-08T02:00:00.001+02:002011-10-08T03:07:57.811+02:00Somebody can be. And it’s my pleasure.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I just did a
presentation in Zagreb. I presented Reference Point Therapy (my healing work), and I did a very
public demonstration of it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The 3<sup>rd</sup>
level course of RPT is called Mastering the Miraculous.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since I took that
course in November 2009 I’ve been able to master miracles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And tonight was a
beautiful example of that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First of all – who
has ever heard of a ‘healer’ claiming to have the “fastest, most efficient
healing technique in the world”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Secondly, who ever had the balls to <i>prove that claim </i></span><span lang="EN-US">with a public demonstration?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well actually,
there are a bunch of us RPT teachers doing just that – I’m not the only one...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So tonight, I
asked for a show of hands in the audience: who wants to heal something, right
now?..</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5/6 people put
their hands up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I asked each of
them what the problem that they wanted to heal was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then I intuitively
chose the one I thought most suited a public demo. (Not too complex, easy to
‘measure’ a change).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The woman I chose
had a ‘calcified’ shoulder. Medical diagnosis, long-term (2 year) problem.
Chronic pain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before the session
– pain was fairly low: 2 /10 whilst standing; 3/10 moving the arm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mobility in the
shoulder was clearly impaired.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The woman said
that sometimes the pain was so bad it made her cry.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I asked her a few
questions:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When did the pain
start?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What else was
happening in her life around that time?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We ‘felt into’ the
pain. A childhood memory came up to do with being abandoned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I healed the
feelings, the subconscious associations, and the ancestral trauma that caused
it all. I also healed it for all of us that were present, and humanity as a
whole, because it was an issue that I know is very real for many people today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Afterwards, when I
asked her to move her arm, there was no pain. Full mobility. She cried with gratitude and gave
me one of the sweetest hugs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was a
medical doctor in the audience who was utterly gobsmacked. She signed up for
both RPT courses Level 1 and 2 on the spot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And when I came
home I had an email that read (I’ll paraphrase, because the sender’s English
was hard to understand):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">“<i>Dear Ben</i></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><i>I was on
presentation of Reference point therapy in</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> (Zagreb).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><i>Not sure if
somebody can</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> (be healed) <i>just by
being<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">there at the
demonstration healing<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but I feel
relief (like somebody understand me)<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It feels like
silence and you can't describe it with words.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thank you very
much”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Somebody can be.
And it’s my pleasure.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 20pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Spread. The. Love.</b> Share (using the green button below) the good news: healing is easy, fast, fun. Because we're meant to be healthy, happy, and free - it's our birthright.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-71918375822159502002011-10-01T11:02:00.000+02:002011-10-01T20:25:51.587+02:00Live life like...<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many thanks to the wonderful artist </span><a href="http://jellyvampire.deviantart.com/" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">JellyVampire</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> for this beautiful, inspiring, and uplifting artwork:</span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img class="smshadow fullview dev-c-diff" collect_rid="1:197147822" gmi-animation_marker="1" gmindex="33" height="9833" id="gmi-ResViewSizer_fullimg" name="gmi-ResViewSizer_fullimg" rs_src="" src="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/147/1/5/1306481740_like_an_artist_by_jellyvampire-d39dk8e.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #959b95; background-image: url(http://sh.deviantart.net/shadow/E1EBE2-000000/0-0.35/150/150/logo3.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px !important; border-color: initial !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-style: initial !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline; height: 9833px; margin-top: auto; width: 600px;" width="600" /></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Get off the page, out of your box.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Be creative and bold and dance the dance of your life with wild abandon...</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Like you've got nothing to lose.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Paint the canvas of your life liberally, generously,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">With a flourish or whilst poring over every detail, but do it:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;"><i>Like you've got nothing to lose.</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Sing the song of your life with all the emotional color you can muster,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Every shade and nuance at your disposal.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Spare nothing and no-one, like</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">You've got nothing to lose.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">Because really,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #4c1130;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16pt;">You have nothing to lose.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-80252424578035662942011-09-27T23:26:00.003+02:002011-09-27T23:29:21.286+02:00Pure beauty (A poem by Ben Ralston)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczXK3F_nkbhZ-0ZlRA3iOar2XNBJX-11Lj3sPMaFDn4ldtFn27ajPh-QlZ4ULBBPT0DIw32Q9cuObeRgqz7uh35XjRxFckdGusLVoeleHCLrc4XH7D4i_gV-rtj22obIyyFUL3zZ02eE/s1600/Kiwan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczXK3F_nkbhZ-0ZlRA3iOar2XNBJX-11Lj3sPMaFDn4ldtFn27ajPh-QlZ4ULBBPT0DIw32Q9cuObeRgqz7uh35XjRxFckdGusLVoeleHCLrc4XH7D4i_gV-rtj22obIyyFUL3zZ02eE/s320/Kiwan.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty is not something you buy in the aisles of drug stores,</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or (cosmetic) surgeries,</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or anywhere,</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In fact.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty is a feeling, deep within;</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An overflowing, slow-flowing surge</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that lifts and burns and Devours</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With subtlety.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pure beauty is the essence of life itself:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Show me a living being, and I’ll show you Beautiful.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Because when you feel that surge within</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of without is moved by it.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty is the light that guides your eyes,</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The waves that open your ears,</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The nerves that soften your skin.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Is</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That which feels.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We all want beauty.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But it’s in our desire to own it</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That we lose sight</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of the only place it can really be found...</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 19px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7143455220083511145.post-47288116164245414592011-09-25T08:25:00.004+02:002011-09-25T08:31:36.645+02:003 steps to profound healing (broken heart, bones, spirit)<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I bleed. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My heart bleeds out into the lonely
night, and only the yearning for daylight; only the memory of a better day
gives me hope...</span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you know what I mean? I know you do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At least on some level, you do.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">I’m a healer. I work as a therapist, I counsel people,
and I heal their wounds (mostly emotional, but also physical). I didn’t ever <i>desire</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> to do this. I wanted to do many things,
but never this…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When it came on me though, I knew it was my calling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Healing is the simplest, most natural thing in the
world. There are just 3 simple steps that you have to take to heal almost
anything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Of course, not everything <i>can</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> be healed. But even most things that are
thought incurable can be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And these are the 3 steps:</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><b>1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></b></span><span lang="EN-US"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Take
responsibility for it.</span><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Whatever the problem, it’s <i>your</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> problem. Own it. It’s yours. Not anyone
else’s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Even though you may have thought in the past that it
was someone else’s <i>fault</i></span><span lang="EN-US">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Even if you <i>wanted</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> it to be someone else’s problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It isn’t. It wasn’t. It’s yours, and yours alone.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Own
it.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Face it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Imagine
that this problem is (literally) in your hands. Hold it up before your eyes and
look into it deeply. This belongs to you alone. You alone can let it go.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But
first, you must own it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">When you have taken responsibility you no longer <i>blame</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> others; and you no longer look for outside of yourself for the answers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You know that you are responsible for your own change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Quite often people call me and ask if I can help their
partner / parent / friend. I have learnt to say <i>‘no’</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> in those situations. If that person had
taken responsibility, they would be calling me themselves. If they haven’t
taken responsibility, I can’t help them. Neither can you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-we-are-all-nothing-more-than-ants.html#more">You
cannot make people change.</a></span></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><b>2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></b></span><span lang="EN-US"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Find
the cause of the problem.</span><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This is not so hard as it may seem, but it’s not as
easy as step 3. It’s not as hard as step 1 though. Most people don’t make it
past step 1. You should know that. If someone comes to me having taken step 1
(having taken responsibility for their problem) then I can almost <i>always</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> help them. And when they do come, I have
the utmost respect – because I know what it takes to come to that point. It
takes humility, and dignity, and courage. It takes <i>being real.</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> Most people don’t have that courage, and
that’s why the world is in the state it is in…but more of that in a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">To find the cause of the problem, there is a very
simple formula. Trace the problem (to use the analogy of a tree) to its roots.
The topmost branches of the problem are in the head. The outermost symptoms are
in the head (thoughts, beliefs, idea). The trunk of the problem is in the heart
(emotions). The roots are in the <a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2010/11/key-to-personal-development.html">gut</a>
(deeper feelings of trauma)… and the cause is in a <i>reaction</i></span><span lang="EN-US"> to those deep feelings of trauma. The
reaction is a <i>survival instinct.</i></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Ask the question “how does this problem make me feel?”
And then keep on asking that question until you come to the deepest feeling.
Then ask yourself: <i>“When I feel that deepest feeling, what do I want to <b>do</b></i></span><span lang="EN-US"><i>?”</i></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The answer will be a <i>survival instinct </i></span><span lang="EN-US">– almost all of our problems are rooted in
our survival instincts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are exceptions to this rule – <a href="http://benralston.blogspot.com/2011/08/reason-why-most-alternative-healing.html">secondary
gain</a> is the most common one.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But if you clear the secondary gain (the process is
almost identical to the one outlined above) then very often the problem falls
away immediately.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Step 3: Heal the cause.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is so easy as to be almost ridiculous.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, that’s right. Healing is easy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Taking responsibility is hard. Finding the cause is a
little tricky, but when you know how, it’s pretty easy too. But healing the
root cause of almost all our problems (gut-based survival instincts) is a
doddle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The cause of the problem is a subconscious blockage.
To be specific, the blockage is a subconscious association between safety /
survival and an instinct (fight, flight, and freeze – and their many
variations: for example, fight may translate into feelings of wanting to run,
hide, escape, etc.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So if the nature of the problem is that it is
subconscious, we heal it by simply making it conscious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You see, our essence is pure consciousness. Light.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The blockage is like a shadow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the same way that you can remove a shadow by simply
throwing light on it, you heal the subconscious blockage by bringing the light
of your awareness to it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is mindfulness, and the power of it cannot be
overstated.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">When I heal a client’s blockage, I bring us both into
a state of presence (here and now), and we <i>acknowledge </i></span><span lang="EN-US">the blockage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our combined awareness (the light) bearing down on the
blockage (shadow) makes it simply disappear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The blockage is like an uninvited guest. When he is
discovered, he leaves promptly. He is in fact waiting to be discovered, and
wants to leave. He has a guilty conscience. He doesn’t belong there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What belongs there is pure consciousness. When the
blockage is removed, pure consciousness flows through the space again
naturally, spontaneously and joyfully.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is the most important thing in the world! There
is no issue more urgent. Nothing is more worthy of your attention, time, and
energy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The world is in the state it’s in because so many of
us are motivated unconsciously by survival instincts. In one word: fear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We behave the way we do as a species (war, abuse,
greed, hypocrisy, corruption) not because we are innately bad. On the contrary,
we are innately good – our essence is goodness, or God-ness ("made in the image
of God").<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">However, our innate goodness has been tainted by the
very thing that makes us so intelligent. Our higher thinking. Somewhere along
the line human beings forgot how to quickly and easily release trauma (wild animals do it naturally). We
instead learnt to hold on to our trauma. And those instincts that
helped us to <i>survive</i></span><span lang="EN-US">
the trauma stayed locked in place – permanently switched on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">So that our lives become ruled by subconscious tendencies towards fighting (conquer, destroy, kill, argue, conflict, win, etc); flight (hide, run away, escape, remain passive, etc); and freezing (numbness, paralysis, stiffness, lock-down, tightening up, etc).</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is why you may be a highly evolved, spiritual
person, but have health, emotional, or psychological problems. Because there is something
in your subconscious that trips you up and interferes with your essential
nature from expressing itself naturally.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It all comes down to survival instincts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When enough of us heal these blockages, I am sure
there will be peace on earth, because peacefulness is the natural inclination
of life. War is an aberration, like murder.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Death, killing, sickness - these are not aberrations –
they are natural and necessary aspects of life. But war, murder, corruption and
abuse are the consequence of un-released and un-healed traumas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s so, so simple. We have the tools to forge a new
society, a new earth, a new humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Healing ourselves is the ultimate environmental activism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It is a political act.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It is an expression of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satya
(truthfulness) and compassion.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let us heal ourselves and each other.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let us heal the
global heart that is bleeding and crying out for us to stop abusing ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“He who saves one man saves mankind”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Save yourself. Save mankind.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265527983913325411noreply@blogger.com4