This blog topic is a response to a few questions from several people. Yes, I am still completing my book writing project, but I have placed it on hold temporarily.
You can visit our new website ... it is still under construction ... www.souhlcenter.com
I may not post for a while ... so as I have said before ... go over the existing entries... see if you can learn new things....
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| Are there ripples in your life ... feeling chaos and stress? How can you experience peace and calm amidst this? |
Even in nature things are never exactly the same - every moment there is newness and subtle shifts in everything we can experience ... light and dark ... rest and motion ... growth and decay. How does that apply to you and me?
If we experience things as shifts and changes in energy then we can apply this to ourselves: our physical bodies, our mind and its fluctuations, our emotions in motion and various other inner and outer states we can be aware of. Here, at Souhl Center, this is a key for you to work with ... but first, let's look at stress and change a bit more.
I view the inevitable stresses we experience along our journey in life, in its many arenas, as shifts in energy which - depending on how we respond - corresponds to subsequent changes in the physical manifestations all around us in our world and within our own lives. Energy first ... then shifts in the denser manifestations; our bodies for example.
Things around us change all the time and often many of us are not able to manage these changes and shifts in our lives with balance, harmony or grace - neither can we influence these changes if they are the result of things outside our control or influence. Many times, our lifestyles change dramatically due to external forces we have no control over on an individual level: war, natural disasters, closing of companies we work for, spouses leaving, family dramas, people around us or close to us dying or very ill and so on. We experience change as a stressor sometimes.
Other times we are the ones engaging with hectic work schedules, social 'obligations' and other external demands that we allow to exert pressures on ourselves - unnecessarily; people often fail to understand how they are personally responsible for creating their own unmanageable stressful life situations ... imagining that things are happening to them instead of seeing the direct connection between their own choices and the results of these choices.
One of the things we need to clarify is whether our stressors are completely out of our control (in this case we can work with our own inner reactions, attachments, identifications and coping tools), or whether our stressors are of our own making (in which case we can work to make new choices over time).
Many of us attempt to exert more force or effort into changing things around us ... we do this because we view things externally and feel safer when we think we are in control of things around us. We can see, however, that this illusion or addiction of control over external things often leads to disaster ... think of this in the environmental sense ... or ponder the political, religious and economic disasters over history. In our attempts to control things we have often had to deal with our own unintended consequences: poisoning of our water and air; brutal dictatorships leading to death and chaos; wars over natural resources and religious beliefs; inequity of the sexes in our societies; unnecessary health risks due to bad practices in the food and health industries and so on. We also attempt to exert control over our own personal lives via trying to control other people in our lives ... how they behave or respond to us ... what they do, how they think, what they wear, what they believe and the choices they make. This too, leads to unintended consequences!
How can you learn to cope effectively with the inevitable stresses in life ... the changes in your lifestyle that you are finding difficult to move through and the various stresses and fears you may experience as a result of changes in your life cycles: moving through adolescence with its various pressures and stresses ... the shift into adulthood with various changes in responsibilities, growing older and many things in between.
The biggest step to take is to look within first ... most of us look out and try to control or make changes on the outside.
When the inside truly alters ... much will appear to alter ... and will also indeed alter on the outside.
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| Embrace the opportunity to discover your True Essence ... to do so, you must go inwards ... this also involves some work ... both personally and spiritually. |
So how can we find a peacefulness amidst the various chaotic energies surrounding us at different times in our lives? Engage with personal work. Doing your personal work and personal growth will assist you with finding peacefulness amidst chaos and stresses in your life.
Things we can learn to do and apply:
Personally ... when you get started:
-- As simple as this sounds, it is often challenging for most people to apply these basic balancing points: Proper exercise on a regular basis (the Moving Arts we teach are whole-body movements which take care of exercise while offering other benefits as well) ... proper breathing ... a diet right for you ... enough pure clean water ... clean air (many people do not air out their homes effectively and even work in environments where the air flow is poor and not fresh) ...
-- Find and apply a natural rhythm to your life ... listen to your body and mind when you need rest or play or proper nutrition ... or support and personal connection with others.
-- Seek out counselling and guidance ... as needed. Address any traumas you may have experienced ... look at recurrent dysfunctional patterns in your life. Use counselling to assist you when you feel stuck or find something difficult to work through. Learn more about yourself. Over time, this Work can assist you with becoming more integrated and transformed as a person ... more aligned with your Self ... more functional in the world ... more satisfied with your relationships ... more balanced in your mind and emotions ... more in touch with who you really are in essence and so on.
-- Learn how to effectively cope with your inner reactions to people, places and things. Learn how to respond to various people, places, and things with more balance, control and harmony. This can also be addressed in counselling.
-- Engage with and experience various body therapies and energy work ... examine your lifestyle habits ... diet ... relationships ... etc. Looking at all the aspects of your life and experiencing various body work and energy therapies can be a door opener to moving in deeper with your personal work. You can learn things like how deeply connected the body is to mental and emotional processes ... and so on.
-- learn relaxation and meditation ... then do it regularly
-- Learn more about your body, mind and emotions ... your patterns ... your specific breathing patterns and holding patterns in your musculature (the ways you hold tension) ... then engage with methods and tools which can assist you with creating more balance in these areas. APPLY ... APPLY .... APPLY ... many people know all these things intellectually but their bodies, minds and emotions demonstrate they are not engaging with their own work nor APPLYING what they seem to know... I always stress this as it is a great illusion I have come across ... most people know far more than they actually apply ... then they act as though they are doing something or are growing personally or spiritually ... knowing is not doing... your own level of being will clearly show exactly where you are at ... be willing to look at yourself honestly.
If you desire something deeper, you may feel also feel called to engage with a deeper Spiritual Path or Work.
Spiritually ... when you desire to work and are ready to move deeper ...
-- Working to evolve Spiritually is different from personal work ... though personal work is vital to begin with.
-- Engaging with personal work is different from fully immersing yourself in a School, as engaging fully in a School is a deeper commitment ... will involve more consistent work ... and will offer you more tools ... When you want to take things to a deeper level, seek out a School.
-- Study at a Spiritual School ... learn its tools ... apply them with enthusiasm, persistence and consistency. A true Spiritual School offers you the tools you can apply to walk in life ... you have an opportunity to learn how not to get caught up in things around you to the point where you experience high levels of stress, imbalance, illness etc.. It also works with you in a deeper way ... can assist you with aligning and Knowing your own True Essence...
-- Working to Know One's Self and developing or evolving Spiritually... A Spiritual School can assist you with this ... this will be individual as it depends on many things you need to also bring to the Work: the right attitude; diligence in doing the practical tools presented; your own level of being ... you can learn to understand many things on a deeper level and evolve from where you are at.
-- Spiritual Work, at Souhl Center, also involves things that some people might call mystical teachings ... and includes things that people may call spiritual or peak experiences ... enlightenment ... or connecting with the Divine ... there are so many words and phrases.... I view many things people consider para-normal abilities or psychic abilities or mystical or peak experiences etc. as nothing more than the unlocking of normal human potential ... we can and do have the opportunity to evolve. I do not place my focus on these things - nor do I discount them... I find they naturally unfold when engaging with a true Spiritual Path ... in ones own unique time and way.
Energy
Earlier in this blog I said that I view stresses and changes inside and around us as various forms of and shifts in energies.
You experience stress around a certain person ... what is the energy they are engaged with .. what energies are you engaged with ...
There is a particular form of energy within the minds and bodies and emotions of the people who start wars ... who do not care about the environment etc. etc. ... and then there is the energy of your particular responses to these things...
Energies are shifting and changing within you when you are an adolescent ... an adult ... a senior ... you can learn how to manage these energies from within
There is a lot we can learn from the approach of understanding and working with energy ... but first we must begin with ourselves... energy first ... then the impact of this energy on manifestations.
I have often said that at the root of many things is fear. Many of us have heard this over and over. People judge, condemn, ridicule, hate, destroy and so on ... things which they fear ... out of a lack of understanding. So fear is also related to things like misunderstanding... and to stress - how can we not be experiencing the negative effects of chronic stress in our bodies, minds and emotional states when fear runs rampant within us...
We fear change ... the changes in our lives during the many various cycles in life. Fear freezes our movement .. our energies ... restricts us in Life ... in truly living.
Come to know fear and how it relates to you personally ... what are you afraid of ... how does it operate in your life ... step up to it and look at it directly ... and take the necessary steps to alter its hold on your life and your energies ... do your personal work ...
-- Learn how to effectively cope with your inner reactions to people, places and things. Learn how to respond to various people, places, and things with more balance, control and harmony. This can also be addressed in counselling.
-- Engage with and experience various body therapies and energy work ... examine your lifestyle habits ... diet ... relationships ... etc. Looking at all the aspects of your life and experiencing various body work and energy therapies can be a door opener to moving in deeper with your personal work. You can learn things like how deeply connected the body is to mental and emotional processes ... and so on.
-- learn relaxation and meditation ... then do it regularly
-- Learn more about your body, mind and emotions ... your patterns ... your specific breathing patterns and holding patterns in your musculature (the ways you hold tension) ... then engage with methods and tools which can assist you with creating more balance in these areas. APPLY ... APPLY .... APPLY ... many people know all these things intellectually but their bodies, minds and emotions demonstrate they are not engaging with their own work nor APPLYING what they seem to know... I always stress this as it is a great illusion I have come across ... most people know far more than they actually apply ... then they act as though they are doing something or are growing personally or spiritually ... knowing is not doing... your own level of being will clearly show exactly where you are at ... be willing to look at yourself honestly.
If you desire something deeper, you may feel also feel called to engage with a deeper Spiritual Path or Work.
 |
| Personal work comes first: Here we begin by examining our rippled reflections in the realm of our mental/emotional patterns, stresses and dramas. Like the butterfly, we can experience real transformation... growth into something new ... our true Essence reflected clearly. |
Spiritually ... when you desire to work and are ready to move deeper ...
-- Working to evolve Spiritually is different from personal work ... though personal work is vital to begin with.
-- Engaging with personal work is different from fully immersing yourself in a School, as engaging fully in a School is a deeper commitment ... will involve more consistent work ... and will offer you more tools ... When you want to take things to a deeper level, seek out a School.
-- Study at a Spiritual School ... learn its tools ... apply them with enthusiasm, persistence and consistency. A true Spiritual School offers you the tools you can apply to walk in life ... you have an opportunity to learn how not to get caught up in things around you to the point where you experience high levels of stress, imbalance, illness etc.. It also works with you in a deeper way ... can assist you with aligning and Knowing your own True Essence...
-- Working to Know One's Self and developing or evolving Spiritually... A Spiritual School can assist you with this ... this will be individual as it depends on many things you need to also bring to the Work: the right attitude; diligence in doing the practical tools presented; your own level of being ... you can learn to understand many things on a deeper level and evolve from where you are at.
-- Spiritual Work, at Souhl Center, also involves things that some people might call mystical teachings ... and includes things that people may call spiritual or peak experiences ... enlightenment ... or connecting with the Divine ... there are so many words and phrases.... I view many things people consider para-normal abilities or psychic abilities or mystical or peak experiences etc. as nothing more than the unlocking of normal human potential ... we can and do have the opportunity to evolve. I do not place my focus on these things - nor do I discount them... I find they naturally unfold when engaging with a true Spiritual Path ... in ones own unique time and way.
Energy
Earlier in this blog I said that I view stresses and changes inside and around us as various forms of and shifts in energies.
You experience stress around a certain person ... what is the energy they are engaged with .. what energies are you engaged with ...
There is a particular form of energy within the minds and bodies and emotions of the people who start wars ... who do not care about the environment etc. etc. ... and then there is the energy of your particular responses to these things...
Energies are shifting and changing within you when you are an adolescent ... an adult ... a senior ... you can learn how to manage these energies from within
There is a lot we can learn from the approach of understanding and working with energy ... but first we must begin with ourselves... energy first ... then the impact of this energy on manifestations.
A last note on Fear..
I have often said that at the root of many things is fear. Many of us have heard this over and over. People judge, condemn, ridicule, hate, destroy and so on ... things which they fear ... out of a lack of understanding. So fear is also related to things like misunderstanding... and to stress - how can we not be experiencing the negative effects of chronic stress in our bodies, minds and emotional states when fear runs rampant within us...
We fear change ... the changes in our lives during the many various cycles in life. Fear freezes our movement .. our energies ... restricts us in Life ... in truly living.
Come to know fear and how it relates to you personally ... what are you afraid of ... how does it operate in your life ... step up to it and look at it directly ... and take the necessary steps to alter its hold on your life and your energies ... do your personal work ...
