Tana's Blog

Reiki: The Best Loved Healing Art

2011-11-27T19:38:00.001-08:00

It caught like wild fire in the world, and it’s stillspreading. In just a few decades, this particular type of energy balancing hasbecome the number one healing art in the West.

The fast-paced, goal-oriented lifestyle of Westerners hasshaped the way Eastern practices have been integrated in everyday life of popularculture. Spiritual practices have been adapted to fit busy schedules andadjusted to bring maximum results in minimum time and effort. Yoga has foundits way in fitness centers; completely stripped of its contemplative side, andof its awareness of Prana, or energy, a flatland version of yoga has turnedinto the fitness of biology, completely ignoring the deeper aspects of thehuman being. That which in India means “Unity”, seeking to integrate body, mindand spirit in one harmonious posture, in the West became YogaFit: an intenseone-hour of repetitive postures of the bodies, where minds are blasted withhigh-power music, and breath is rarely mentioned.

The Western flatlanders borrowed psycho-active plants,traditionally ingested under the supervision of experienced shamans with the intentionof finding answers from within the depths of one’s psyche, and turned those plants into hollow entertainment.Deprived of the deeper meaning to existence that traditional wisdom offers, themodern human is hungry for more than what the identification with the grossbody can offer. Unaware of an inner light that creates, heals, inspires andguides one’s soul, mind and body, the meaning-deprived human desperately seeksexternal sources of distraction and gratification. And they better act fast, too.

So when Reiki arrived to North American land, it offeredsomething new: a transmission of inner light that took no more than two days oftraining. In just one short weekend, an individual would access their innerlight for their own well-being, as well as for sharing it with others. With noneed for props or substances, the Reiki student would be now enabled to accessan inner light so new to the modern mind, so glowing, healing and transforming,that it enchanted their soul and captivated their heart.

Reiki – meaning SpirituallyGuided Life Force Energy – is taught in the same spirit as the Buddhisttransmission ceremonies: a master transmits spiritual Presence to the student,enabling the student to experience expanded states of consciousness, which areuseful in the process of awakening and self-realization. The ultimate goal of JapaneseBuddhist practice is attaining Satori –enlightenment-, which is the realization of the true nature of Being. In theprocess of Reiki transmission, known as attunement,the Reiki Teaching Master attunes the student’s energy to the vibrations ofthis healing energy, opening the student’s Kundalinichakras, and activating the energy centers in their hands.

The Reiki attunement, often referred to as empowerment, has lasting effects in thestudent’s energy field, opening channels of creativity and intuition, oftenactivating the student’s impulse to evolve. States of consciousness are glimpsesinto stages; often, the Reiki student experiences such peak states, that theythen embark on a spiritual quest of turning those blissful glimpses intopermanent stages of being. From aimless living and suffering, the Reiki studentis often graced with the most valuable gift imaginable for humans: a life thathas meaning and purpose.

This is my own personal story, which began when two days ofReiki transformed me beyond recognition, to the wonder of those who knew mewell. And this is the story of many others I know, and I know of, and it iseasy to understand why the Reiki healing art has conquered the world, and stillcontinues to do so.

Shining Light on Darkness: How to Identify Shadow Elements of the Psyche

2011-11-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Traits, qualities, emotions, urges, impulses, and other aspects of the psyche are disowned when they are too much for the self to take in, process, or accept. Most of the repressing and suppressing takes place during childhood, when the child is too small, vulnerable, and unprepared to deal with the intensity of emotions or events it faces. In face of trauma, or any event that the child registered as traumatic (regardless of an objective gravity of events, since the psyche’s interpretation of events is entirely subjective) – the mind defends itself by encapsulating the memory or record of the occasion, and storing it below the radar of conscious mind. The self still has that trait, memory, quality, emotion etc, but it doesn’t know that it has it. The split-off part of the psyche gets a life of its own, outside of the cognition and the volition of the self.

And the self still is that, but now it doesn’t know it. Even the most aware, well-read, disciplined meditator will find it difficult to identify the Shadow parts in order to integrate them: you just don’t know what you don’t know; the self may have an emotional difficulty in accepting that they are that, which is why it disowned that to begin with; and this is something that self-inquiry simply won’t reveal.

So it takes some creativity and skill to zero in on the Shadow elements, and re-own them, but it can be done. Here are some clues that can help with identifying shadow elements. It is good to remember that these are voices of the mind, or parts of the ego; and ego in itself is not something bad, in spite of the reputation it received; a healthy ego, meaning a healthy sense of self, with clear boundaries, is important and necessary for fully functional living as a human being; and the human being must build and integrate a healthy ego before he or she transcends (and includes) it. In this light, no parts of the self are “bad”, and there is value in each trait, quality, emotion, impulse, urge etc. These parts “go bad” when they “go dark”, inside the Shadow.

To illustrate with an example, think of the critical mind: the inner Critic is that faculty of the mind that helps the self discern good from bad and right from wrong, rank value, make healthy and wholesome choices and so forth. The Critic places the ripe tomatoes in the shopping cart, instead of the green ones; and the Critic chooses kind, intelligent and reliable people for your friends, keeping the others away; the Critic corrects your letters before you send them and reviews your performance, pointing areas of growth, and hires your staff, and elects your leaders (hopefully.) There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Critic, unless it is disowned, and becomes Dark. Inside the Shadow, the Critic becomes destructive, deconstructing the self and others’ ideas and choices not for betterment, but in a dark, spiteful, or resentful way. Repressed, the Critic turns against the self, and becomes the harsh, self-destructive voice that can literally destroy the self. And the Critic stays that way until the moment when the self re-owns and integrates it. The difference is between the conscious Critic: valuable and useful, showing up when and as appropriate; and kindly, and between the unconscious Critic: dark, shadowy, destructive. The same is true with the Controller, the Protector, the Child, the Victim, the Skeptic and all the other voices of the mind, as well as with emotions, sexuality, and all impulses and urges.

So let us look at a few ways to identify Shadow elements:

· The self’s language describes self’s actions in third person “it”: “Something [other than me] makes me want to eat late at night, or smoke or get drunk”; “I can’t stop these addictions [different than I am addicted].”

· Functions and movements of the body occur outside of the self’s volition: incontinence, flatulence, involuntary shaking, twitching, shrugging, winking. Again: if it occurs outside of the self’s conscious volition, we’re looking at split-off parts of the self, suppressed emotions, repressed urges and impulses, etc.

· The split-off parts of the self show up in second person “You” and third “it / he / she / they” person, and they trigger the self emotionally, with either aversion or craving: “I hate the way she is” or “I so admire her, I wish I were like her”.

· The Shadow’s language is: “I am not like that” (You are like that, and he is like that, and the whole world is like that, but not me.) Anything that the self passionately deems itself not to be, it is; but he or she doesn’t know it. The more convincingly the self denies being like that, the clearer the pointing towards the Shadow is.

· Intense emotional reaction to someone’s comment is a clear indicator of the Shadow, otherwise the comment would be received simply as a piece of information. If the self is scared of it, upset with it, or outraged by it, this fear, upset or outrage are fingers pointing at the Shadow elements. For example, if fear arises in the self triggered by the appearance of anger in a third person, then fear is an inauthentic emotion which points towards the authentic emotion, which is anger.

· Dream characters are shadow elements, if their actions create an emotional response in the self. The self is the subject in the dream, while the characters are split-off parts of the self appearing as third person objects.

· Physical and psychological symptoms are often expressions of the shadow elements. Approaches such as Focusing (Eugene Gendlin) and voice dialogue can reveal the split-off elements appearing as the symptom. Dialogue therapy is especially valuable in uncovering the Shadow behind pain, anxiety, extraneous body weight and other symptoms.

Allergies and Addictions

2011-11-01T19:38:00.001-07:00

Ideally, every child, individual and society evolves through structural stages of development easily, smoothly, without any problem. If we use the chakra system to look at the evolution of consciousness, the movement occurs from the 1^st chakra, the Root, to the 2^nd, the Sacral, then to the 3^rd, the Solar Plexus, and so on.

Structure stages can be looked at as rungs on a ladder. Evolution occurs through enfoldment (transcendence and inclusion) of the junior stages. No stage can be skipped. You cannot evolve, say, from the food and survival focused Root chakra directly to the self and Power focused Solar Plexus, without evolving through the emotional sex focused Sacral chakra first. You can’t skip rungs. As consciousness evolves, it embraces the structure levels of the lower chakras. As the Self climbs the ladder, it keeps all the rungs below; what constantly changes at each rung, is the view. For example, even if someone has evolved to the Third Eye stage - the higher mind, vision-logic stage- they still eat, have the ability to have sex, connect with community, etc.

The process of evolving from one structure level (or stage: we use stages and levels interchangeably) to the next, consists of a healthy differentiation from the lower level, identification with the next level, and integration of the elements of the next level.

Let’s look at the Root chakra: food and survival. This is the stage of looking at the world and seeing it as food, made of things you can, or cannot eat. Identification with this stage finds expression through 1^st person statements: “I am hungry”. Evolution to the next stage involves a differentiation between the subject, “I”, and the object, “it”. The individual dis-identifies with the lower level, which becomes the object, “it” (I am aware of hunger – “I” being the subject, and “hunger” being the object). The new, higher, level of development becomes the subject.

Because we don’t live in an ideal world (did you notice?), things don’t really unfold all that smoothly during the developmental processes: at each level of development something can go wrong. There are three ways in which problems can occur:

1 – Failure to fully differentiate from the previous stage, expressed as addictions

2 – Repression of elements from the previous stage, in other words, developing allergies to those elements, and

3 – The inability or unwillingness to move on to the next level, and becoming stuck at the present level, causing fixations on the current level.

The pathologies occurring at each level of development can appear as neurosis or psychosis. The material which is repressed, suppressed, or not fully integrated into the psyche of the Self, is disowned by the Self, stored in the shadow in the unconscious mind, and gets a life of its own. This means that the shadow elements are still part of the psyche, but they are banned from expressing themselves through the Self’s awareness. The Self ceases to access the disowned traits, emotions and impulses in 1^st person I and it first projects it upon the 2^nd person you, then further estranges itself from them by objectifying the disowned parts into the 3^rd person: it. The self becomes fragmented, and problems start arising. It takes a vast amount of energy to maintain parts of the Self in the Shadow, under the radar of the conscious mind. A part of the Self’s energy is hijacked away from creative self-expression, and is engaged instead in maintaining the shadow…well, in the shadow.

Disowned parts of the psyche, now banned from the awareness of Conscious Mind, develop a life and a mind of their own, and find alternative ways of expression: through symptoms of illness, through relationships, and finances. The cure is simple, and not always easy: the Self must re-own, embrace and integrate all the disowned parts of the psyche. Therapeutic intervention consists in facing the shadow elements, talking to it, and then become it.

Not all Shadow is dark: some traits, emotions, impulses and qualities are rated as unacceptable, and when disowned, they are referred to as The Dark Shadow. Other traits and qualities are admirable, but they haven’t been expressed yet by the Self. However, the Self is capable of recognizing these positive traits as they appear in 2^nd (you) and 3^rd person (that great person over there, her, him, it or them.) This is referred to as the Golden Shadow, since it contains all your unfulfilled potential and possibilities.

Briefly put, everything that upsets you or attracts you in another, is yours as well, but you have disowned it. You can’t identify anger in another, if you don’t know what anger is within yourself. You cannot admire integrity in another, if you don’t have integrity, at least imminently (in potential), in yourself. The shadow elements are either imminent, or eminent. But the Self doesn’t see those elements in herself. Everybody else can see the disowned parts in the person, except the person herself.

Everything that the Self deems as “I am not like that, but others are” is part of your Shadow. Language such as: “I used to be like that, but not anymore”; “I could never do this or be that, like he does”; or “Such a pity I am not more like she is”, is fingers pointing towards the Shadow.

For example: the Self moves from an ego-centric, narcissistic, pre-conventional, self-absorbed stage of development, to an ethnocentric, conventional stage. At the conventional stage, the Self learns to adopt and follow societal conventions of right and wrong, and identifies itself with the group she or he is part of. If the Self has developed an allergy to elements from the pre-conventional stages, let’s say- personal care habits, he will become highly irritable with people who go to the Spa every week. A person at conventional level, who has an allergy to pre-conventional elements, could neglect, for example, taking care of their body in favor of taking care for their family. Or, a person who has not completely differentiated from the self-absorbed, narcissistic stage of development, might take an obsessive attitude towards self care, and, let’s say, sneak away from the family to the gym every single night of the week. Both examples show pathology: an unhealthy relationship with personal self-care, and they pose problems for the Self as well as for their relationships and environment.

The challenge is to accurately identify the shadow elements, and to successfully re-own them in healthy re-association, using appropriate therapy according to what went wrong and how, and at what level of development.

Resources: Ken Wilber: “Integral Spirituality”; “Integral Psychology”; (with Terry Patten, Adam Leonard and Marco Morelli) “Integral Life Practice”

Also, visit www.integrallife.com for further reading and listening. Or join us in Ottawa at www.ottawaintegrallife.com

Genuine Transformation

2011-10-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

Transformation is more than just changing form. Mere changing of biology or psychology is not necessarily transformative. You can de-form something – changing an object’s natural form – but this does not bring that object to their next level of development.

To transform means to sequentially increase the complexity levels of, say, an object, in a unidirectional way. For example, matter transforms from atoms to molecules to cells to organisms in a unidirectional way. Cells never regress to become molecules again. But cells contain molecules, which contain atoms, and cells themselves are contained by the organism. Genuine transformation means the evolution of matter, biology, psychology and consciousness in general, in an enfolding (transcend and include) way, each time to a higher level of complexity, or if you will, depth.

A common mistake is to confuse the pre- and trans- of a developing object. “Let’s go back to be innocent like children or animals” or “Let’s return to the good old ways of living, when we rode horses and didn’t pollute the air with cars”. A two-year old child is pre-conscious. At this age, the child hasn’t yet developed a sense of self, let alone adopted mature moral values. He or she hasn’t yet learned conventions or learned to use reasoning for problem solving. You must first go through a rational stage of development, in order to access trans-rational information. You must first learn and enact social conventions before you question them, and become post- or trans-conventional. Just because a person isn’t at the conventional stage of moral development doesn’t make them post-conventional. The word ‘unconventional’ is greatly misleading in that it doesn’t tell you where in their evolution a person’s ethics are: the pre-conventional, self-absorbed stage of a child, or the post-conventional stage of someone who has transcended (and included!) social norms, rules and conventions. Returning to childhood consciousness is a regression, just as returning to an agrarian society is a regression from an industrial, or informational society. Regression, or stagnation makes an adult or a society childish, or immature, not to be confounded with a child-like healthy playfulness and curiosity.

Psychological development occurs with the ability and willingness to take on more and more perspectives, from the self-absorbed, egocentric “I”, to an ethno-centric or socio-centric “we” (which is necessarily embracing a “you”), to a world-centric “all of us”. The transformation occurs with the sustained practice of putting yourself in other people’s shoes. The more perspectives you take, the more depth your psyche has. This is not mere theory, but it’s the theory of a life practice that fuels the motives behind your actions. How many perspectives you are able and willing to take today dictates how many people, or sentient beings, you will care for through your actions today.

Remember, transformation is “transcend and include” – so caring for others more, doesn’t mean caring less for yourself. It’s adding more, not reducing. You care for yourself, and for more than your self.

Translative versus Transformative

2011-10-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Translative Vs. Transformative

Two major distinctions in therapy

One major way to cope with adversity is translative practice: giving a new and different meaning to what’s happening to you. This practice has value to the extent that it helps see things in a sweeter light. When someone is ill, or there is loss of life or love or major devastation, part of the human suffering is not making sense of it all. Re-framing the story around the pain and suffering makes it easier to swallow.

But it doesn’t really change your worldviews. Genuine change stems from transformative practices. Transformation means transcendence, or evolving beyond who you are now, to the next level. You know you have been evolving when you have expanded in your capacity to care for more beings than before, or when any of your lines of intelligence (cognitive, emotional, social, moral, spiritual, aesthetic, psycho-sexual, kinesthetic, artistic etc) is at a higher level than before. You also evolve with the skills you acquire.

Translative therapies or practices do not require that you change. You can stay the same as you are, but change the story you are telling yourself about events. Genuine transformation requires taking some kind of action, like, for instance, the practice of taking more and more perspectives.

The good news is that transcending the self to the next level is there to stay, and no-one can take it away from you. Stages, or levels of development are like structure floors in a building: they build on each other, and once you’re there, you’ve earned it, and it’s yours.

Integral Prayer

2011-08-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

Dear God,

Dear Divine Father and Mother: don’t let me sink into despair and depression. Don’t let me live aimlessly, hopelessly, like that. Let there be purpose and meaning to this life. Let there be healing to this soul and heart so that Light, joy, exuberance and meaning can exist.

Dear sweet, beloved Divine Father and Mother, You are a merciful, kind God. You are infinite, eternal Wisdom and Love. Please, listen to my prayer. Dear God, please, let my soul heal, so I can live with joy. Please dear God, liberate me from the prisons of the unhealthy ego. With your infinite and eternal wisdom and loving kindness, dear beloved God, grant me Freedom – the freedom to live fully, to be fully human!

Please, dear, sweet, beloved, awesome Creator, Mother-Father-All-That-IS, let the walls of resistance and pain around my heart melt down and away, and let this heart open wide, so I can experience more and more of your infinite, eternal loving kindness. So that I can express more and more love in the world. Let all that pain, all that old pain, transform and transmute into something good and useful for myself and others.

May this structure, this body, allow for growth and awakening. May this body-mind be a clear, pure, resilient, strong vessel for the Divine Light – for your Wisdom and Love, dear God. Please, dear God, let this body-mind and Soul heal, so that I can experience more and more your magnificence, and express it more and more in the world.

Sweet, beloved, God: you are Infinite and Eternal, Always Already. Your Wisdom and Love are infinite and eternal. You Are Omnipresent and Omniscient. You are Omnipotent. No job or task or request is too small or too big for You. With your Infinite Wisdom and Loving Kindness, Dear God, please, may my living conditions transform, to allow for healthy growth, for awakening and enlightenment, for prosperity and for thriving, and for living freely, fully and joyfully. Let all the structures in my existence support health, thriving, freedom and fullness. Let me live joyfully, dear God. Let me live, love, work, play and serve You and Your World joyfully. Let me thrive.

Dear sweet Beloved God, don’t let me contract into ego. Let me build a healthy ego, and transcend – and include it. Don’t let me contract and separate from you and from All. Let me expand and awaken to the Truth – and the Beauty and the Goodness. Let me express Beauty, Goodness and Truth in this and every moment.

May all the thoughts that I allow or harbour, may all the words that I utter or write, and may all my choices and actions be auspicious- beautiful, good and true. Don’t let me fall into the temptations of the unhealthy ego, or stay trapped within the walls of past conditioning. Please, dear Divine Father and Mother, listen to me, to my prayer, have mercy on me, hear my prayer: let me overcome all past conditioning, heal all the wounds of this body-mind and Soul, and of past lives and of generations, and let me grow. Let me evolve healthily, integrally, and let me awaken.

May I be blessed with your brightest Blessings, dear Divine Mother and Father. And may I thrive and prosper joyfully within the healthy structures of body-mind, home, workplace and relationships. And may I share my blessings with others. May I share my joy, freedom, fullness, prosperity, wisdom and love with others. May I share my merits with others.

Dear beloved God, let me be a pure, clear, strong and resilient vessel for your blessings in the world. Let me embody your qualities of wisdom, loving kindness, playful creativity and joy in the world – and let me do this with skill, and generously. Let me bring your infinite, eternal Light everywhere I go. Let me touch all people, all beings, with your Divine Presence. Let me be a transparent vessel for your Divine Presence, dear God.

Shine your Light on my path, dear beloved Divine Mother-Father-All-That-Is, and take me by the hand, step-by-step, in this, and every moment. Guide me, protect me, nourish me, inspire me. Don’t let me stray, contract or forget. Don’t let me indulge in self-pity or blame. Walk with me and let me walk with you, as You, as the ultimate truth that I Am.

May it be so now and always, here and everywhere, for myself, for the World that I am part of, and for All.

I thank you. I love you. Amen.

Creative Visualization, EFT and Money

2011-07-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

What is it like for you to have financial debts? Is it scary? Is it sad and discouraging?

Maybe the debts and bills are not so big a problem. Or maybe they are a problem that seems so unsurmountable that it feels like a knot in your stomach or a sharp back pain.

What are the words you are telling yourself about money? "I'll never get out of debt"; "There's no luck for me" or maybe "It's so hard for me to make money!"

Think of all your financial problems - debts,bills, unmet expenses, as filling a large bucket. Looking at the bucket is scary and discouraging. There's so much tension in the mind and body where...when you look at it, the bucket seems bigger than you. It seems like the bills are falling down, filling the bucket, coming down from big, dark, grey clouds above you.

The money seems to never be enough to pay them: Too little money, too many debts, too many bills...

But wait! What is that light above the clouds? All of a sudden, you realize the sun is shining - and the sun was always there, above the clouds. It was just hidden by the clouds, so you didn't see it. The sun has always been there.

The instant that you realize that the sun has always been there, behind the clouds, the dark grey clouds turn bright gold, light in color, fluffy, like good weather clouds.

It's now starting to rain banknotes...it's raining money, it's raining banknotes and coins of gold, and riches...It's pouring into your bucket.

The first banknotes are melting as they touch the bills. One banknote lands on a bill, it cancells the bill, it clears it. The bucket is emptied by the banknotes which cancel the bills.

But it continutes to rain, and it's raining, and it's raining some more! Now the bucket is being filled with money - filled with banknotes and with gold coins.

And look! It continues to rain! Its' raining money! The bucket is full, It's overflowing with money.

You have enough of it. You have enough to live the kind of lifestyle you've always dreamed of. Enough for you to play! Enough for you to choose whether you want to work or not. There's enough money to continue educating yourself; enough money to save for the future, and enough money to give away!

The video above is a 4 minutes clip I made with a talented artist animator, Scott Fiander - see www.vsfanimation.com It has the same creative visualization I used some twelve years ago to get out of debt against all odds.

My relationship with money has always been an area of growth. Who knows what the roots are? Past lives? Maybe. Generations? Definitely - there has been poverty on my mother's side of the family. My maternal grandmother had ten children, and she remained a widow fairly young. Food was never enough, and clothes were handed down from child to child.

My father's family had a better position: my paternal grandfather was an obstretician, and his wife, my father's mother, worked with him in his home clinic. They had a nice house, which was later lost when communists came to power in Romania and all private property was nationalized.

I grew up hearing "We don't have" and "We can't afford", and made these words mine. For much of the time, I lived by them.

I was a banker back in Israel when I first became aware of the power of the mind over matter. I had a considerable amount of financial debt. I started using affirmations, Feng-Shui and creative visualization. I ended up clearing all debts and even having enough money to travel through Europe for a month.

I hoped that getting married would solve this, and other problems. Instead, I found out that marriage merely mirrored problems rather than solving them (often with magnifying glass, just in case I'd miss out on details!). I do have a lifestyle significantly better than I could have dreamt in my early years as a child in Romania: I live in a spacious, beautiful home with a nice garden, I drive a Toyota, and I walk an Akita. There's good food on my table, exquisite music on the stereo, an iPhone in my purse and fancy earrings hanging down my ear lobes. I can go on and on about the riches of my experience, and I am so deeply grateful for all the miraculous life improvements I am being graced with.

As far as my relationship with money goes, I am still working at it. I am developing 'muscles' - the skills of money management, and using EFT - Emotional Freedom Techniques - and PSYCH-K to clear and reprogram all the various aspects related to it. Did you know that my formal education is in Commerce? I graduated university in Bucharest, Romania, as an economist, and I had a diploma on my wall, but didn't know how to write a checque. At that time, payday came twice a month, and everyone from blue collar to white collar received their salary in cash. There was no stock market, no investments, no financial planning. We learned about it in university, I learned the concepts by heart, and forgot them the next day, after the exams. Learning money planning and management feels to me like learning to use a fork and a knife for the first time. It takes time, I look and feel clumsy, I stab my fingers here and there, but all in all, I am making progress.

One aspect of relating to money was reflected to me by a client, a dentist, who always recommended the cheapest possible alternative work to her patients. She would see clients who needed work done. She could have told them: "Look, there are three ways you can go at it: bridge, implant, or you-name-it. The one I recommend is the implant, because of this and that reason." Instead, this dentist would only name the cheapest version of work.

As I pointed to her, she was assuming her client's inability to pay (and guess what - I have done much of the same as well!). So we worked with PSYCH-K and EFT to change that pattern.

Another aspect to money became clear to me when I found myself anxious when my wallet is full. I would get paid in cash, and then my stomach would tighten up in panic before even getting to manage the money I have earned. So I sat in meditation and asked my subconscious to show me the root of that anxiety. Images came to mind when I was a teen, walking home after a party in the wee hours of the night. There were no night buses in Bucharest, and I had no money for taxi. I walked for an hour or two, depending where I was coming from, and was at peace with it, because that's all I knew.

I was at peace with an empty wallet, because that's all I knew! Think about it! I then saw myself throughout my adult life, and I realized that I always took care to have an empty, or close to empty wallet. Having money made me feel antsy, because it was unfamiliar. So I sat, did EFT, and tapped: "Even though I feel uncomfortable with having money, I deeply and completely love and accept myself" My new goal is to carry at least $ 500.- cash in my purse every day, on a regular basis, for a year, and feel at ease with it. Even thinking about it makes me take a deep breath. It makes me feel a bit dizzy as I adjust to the increased energy (money IS energy). It's like having clogged sinuses and shallow breathing for a long time, then healing and clearing the passageways, and feeling dizzy with all this air entering the lungs so deeply and freely.

If you have turned things around financially, what worked for you? What do you think about this video? Please leave your comments!

Thoughts of a Jewish Buddhist

2011-07-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Or a Jewdhist!

I received this in the mail today - and found it funny. Maybe you'll like it too!

Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health, or a life
without problems. What would you talk about?

Be aware of your body. Be aware of your perceptions. Keep in mind that not
every physical sensation is a symptom of a terminal illness.

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?

Be patient and achieve all things. Be impatient and achieve all things
faster.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Forget this and attaining
Enlightenment will be the least of your problems.

Drink tea and nourish life. With the first sip, joy. With the second,
satisfaction. With the third, Danish.

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

Let your mind be as a floating cloud. Let your stillness be as the wooded
glen. And sit up straight. You'll never meet the Buddha with posture like
that.

The Buddha taught that one should practice loving kindness to all sentient
beings. Still, would it kill you to find a nice sentient being who happens
to be Jewish?

The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single "Oy."

The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others. The Tao does
not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao is
not Jewish.

The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself. The Buddha says maybe there
is no self. So maybe we're off the hook.

There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never
wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

To Find the Buddha, look within. Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers.
Each flower blossoms ten thousand times. Each blossom has ten thousand
petals. You might want to see a specialist.

To know the Buddha is the highest attainment. Second highest is to go to the
same doctor as the Buddha.

To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle maintenance, do the
following: get rid of the motorcycle. What were you thinking?

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you
have? Bupkes.

Unconventional: Not All Rule-Breakers are Equal

2011-06-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

The Pre / Trans Fallacy in Moral Development

Why people do what they do matters at least as much as what they do. Two people may take the same kind of action, and yet their action may be motivated by completely different reasons.

A most common mistake in referring to human behavior is the Pre / Trans fallacy. Just because someone's behavior disregards rules and conventions, it is called 'unconventional', the assumption being made that the unconventional behavior is superior to the conventional one.

The reality is that the human moral intelligence evolves, moving through developmental stages, transcending and including each previous stage. Largely, the stages are pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional.

The pre-conventional stage of development is the self-absorbed, ego-centric narcissist. This is the stage in the child's development when ego and boundaries are formed. The pre-conventional child or adult is ignorant of social rules and conventions. He or she is not able to take on another perspective besides her own. Actions are motivated by ego-centric impulses: "I do what I do because it's good for me" Or "Apres moi, le deluge" - what Louis XV of France declared "After me, the flood!", possibly meaning "After my reign, let the floods come; it does not matter to me".

Teens learn the value of societal convention. They learn to take another's perspective: "You" - or "Us". The conventional stage of moral development is where the teens and most adults are at in the world. "I do what I do for my family, or my country, or my people." This is an ethno-centric stage of moral development, where the individual lives by the rules of his culture.

The next stage is when the person starts questioning the rules she has been living by. "Is this how things should be? Could it be in any way different?"

If you ask the following question to three different people at different stages of moral development, you may hear the same answer but fueled by different reason:

"If your spouse suffered of a life-threatening illness which can be cured by an expensive drug that you can't afford, would you steal the money to buy the drug for her / him?

Two people will say "yes", one person will answer "no".

The conventional person will say "No, because it's wrong to steal. The law / the Ten Commandments, say you shouldn't steal, so I won't."

The other two people will answer: "Yes, I'll steal the money for the drug" - but they do so for different reasons.

The pre-conventional person will say: "Yes, of course I'll steal the money, because rules don't apply to me. If I need that drug, I'll get it." This is the "I want it, I get it" ego-centric thinking. The trans-conventional person will answer: "Yes, I'll steal the money, because saving a person's life is more valuable than $ 200.-" They both answer "Yes", but for different reasons.

In conclusion, referring to a person's attitude or behaviour as "Unconventional" will not reveal anything about this person's ethics. Looking into the motives to their action will.

Quiet Stillness

2011-05-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

I went to see Joah Bates for an ostehopathic biodynamic session.

I returned home, and, in spite of the long 'to do' list waiting for me, I decided to listen to a kind and wise voice inside me, and instead of rushing to busy-ness, I took a nap to help the brain integrate the healing work done.

I woke up feeling light, just like a child without a care in the world. The day is warm and sunny, with a cool May breeze that insinuates itself through the open windows and the dancing curtains. Soft piano music is raising in the air, swirling around the house on invisible waves. Even though I can hear the street noises outside, inside the house there is a sense of quiet stillness.

Inside my skin there is a sense of quiet stillness.

I walk around softly, as if on cat's paws, minding my breath, to keep this fragile state of quiet stillness safe.

I breathe in and out softley. This quiet stillness is a delicate, precious flower whose petals I do not wish to disturb.

My breath is at one with the dancing curtains and the soft piano music.

It's quiet, soft, and free.

And I am grateful.

Clearing Space with the Elements

2011-05-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

When I first learned about subtle energies, I learned the importance of clearing the living, work and play space energetically, not only physically.

When Chi becomes stagnant, it gets sticky, and it feels as if you are trying to move through taffy. Your cleaning efforts are directed at dispersing the stagnant Chi and allowing for free flow. Chi gets stagnant in any room or area of your home that you don't use; around crammed objects in small spaces, such as books on shelves or collections of any kind (unless they are contained behind doors / glass); nooks and crannies.

To disperse the stagnant Chi and create free flow, use any of the elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air.

Earth:

Use gemstones, crystals, shells and of course, potted plants, to raise the vibrations of the space.

Water:

Have a small decorative fountain in a corner of the living room. Or, pour a few drops of essential oil (lavander or orange and cinnamon, or bergamot) in a spray bottle of water. Shake well and spray around the room, home or office.

Fire:

Candles are the easiest way to burn cleansing fire. Unless, of course, you have a fireplace!

Air:

Smoke represents air. Create smoke from burning sacred plants (sage, sweetgrass or cedar), or from burning incense sticks, or Papier D'Armenie, or from burning Frankincense and Mhyrr resins on a hot charcoal.

Sound: you can use sound to disperse energy: a crystalline sound bell; drums; or clapping hands. Or you can play music in any corner of your home.

Photographs, books, sacred objects: As a golden rule, if it energizes you to look at it, it energizes the space.

Further reading: Karen Kingston 'Creating Sacred Spaces with Feng-Shui'

Eight Reiki Distant Healing Ideas

2011-04-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

Across Time and Space

If you are a Reiki practitioner of the 2^nd level, you have the ability to send Reiki healing across time and space.

In the world of duality and the time space continuum, you perceive reality through distance and linear time. If an event took place long time ago, such as childhood trauma, or surgery, or a heart-breaking separation from a loved one, you think that what’s done is done, and there is nothing you can do about it now. You can’t change the past. And in the same time, you can’t foresee the future either.

As Eckhart Tolle, the author of ‘The Power of Now’ and ‘New Earth’ tells us, all you have is the ‘now’ moment. All that is real is what you see, hear, touch, smell and taste now. Everything else is mental images. The past is but memories, images in your mind. You can’t see, hear, touch, smell and taste the past – nor the future, for that matter.

But those memories of past events or mentally constructed images of an envisioned future are often attached to emotional charges in the unconscious mind. Present events often evoke emotionally charged thoughts and mental images either of the past (unresolved traumas) or the future (worry). Let me explain:

Let’s say you are driving on the highway, and listening to music on the car’s radio. You are in a cheerful mood. Then a song is being played, which used to be your favourite song during a romantic relationship that ended with a difficult breakup. In the split of a second, your mood changes, and you feel this deep sadness. There is no-one else but you in the car, so the memories of the ex-partner are just mental images. He or she is not really there. But the sadness is here and now, and very real.

A few years ago, a woman with a ‘bad case of worry’ came to see me for a series of Reiki and energy psychology sessions. She was a young mother, just about to travel to an exotic place with her baby girl and her husband for a few months. She was sick with worry, and couldn’t sleep a wink at night, thinking ‘what if’ – you’re probably familiar with it, aren’t you? She was ‘whatiffing’ herself to insomnia: “What if her daughter will catch germs in this new place, and get ill?” This was not prudence: prudence makes you plan for all possibilities, pleasant or not, out of reason, not emotion. This was worry, which is nothing but fear with a story about the future. Fear is an emotion that arises now. The story has little or nothing to do with reality. Prudence doesn’t keep you up at night; fear does.

Emotionally charged mental images impact you here and now because the emotions arising are here and now. Clearing the past and the future with the help of Reiki and other energy therapies neutralizes that emotional charge attached to the thoughts and mental images. The result, in the very least, is that past memories become as neutral as stories read or seen at the movies while future envisioning allows you to peek into possibilities. The best that can happen is learning wisely from the past and planning confidently for the future, while feeling grateful for all experiences.

The most used form of distant healing is across space, such as sending Reiki to a friend, relative or client in another city. I invite you to consider the possibilities opened by sending Reiki healing to past and future events, not only to those who are afar.

Here are eight ideas to work with, be inspired from, and built upon in your private or professional Reiki practice, to benefit you, your loved ones, your clients and anyone else:

1 1. Send Reiki to your future holiday. Send the Reiki Light to the entire event, which includes the time from booking and packing to the travel itself, to the return home.

2 . Heal any event that is unfolding, but you don’t know the result yet. When my father was in the hospital a few years ago, after open-heart surgery, there was a period of time of a few days when his health was unstable. The doctors weren’t sure which way my Dad was going to go. It was a very tense time for all of us, and my father and I were separated by a sea and 2 ½ hours by plane. I sent him Reiki, and enlisted the help of my own Reiki Master and a few healer friends to help him out. Eventually, my Dad gratefully recovered and was released home.

3. Send Reiki to the moment of birth. You can send distant Reiki healing to your own birth, or to the birth of your children. Birthing can be traumatic for both mother and baby: pain, anesthetic, emotions – can leave an unconscious imprint on the psyche. Use the Emotional Symbol to clear any trauma, and the Power symbol to bless the moment of your arrival into this world.

4. Send Reiki to each of the important events that have marked your life. Doing so, you alchemize the relationship your psyche has with these events.

· Your first day of school

· Your graduation

· Your first kiss

· Your wedding

· Any major separation from a loved one

· That special skill you learned

· Any accident you or someone in your family had

· The day you moved into your new home

· The day you adopted your pet

· … (fill in the blank)

5. Send Reiki to a project you are working on right now. You can send Reiki to the project itself; you can also send Reiki to the future, to the best possible outcome upon the completion of the project.

6. Send Reiki to your upcoming job or promotion interview. You can do this in the morning of, or time ahead. The very least that can happen is that you step in with calm and confidence.

7. Give Reiki to anything you have, are or will be creating: your book, music, dance, food, any piece of art or craft. Let anything that comes out of your hands be encrypted with the Wisdom and Love codes of the Reiki healing!

8. Treat relationships with Reiki. A relationship is a living entity in its own right: it has a beginning and an end; it can be dysfunctional or healthy, it can evolve or die, and you can neglect it or nurture it. There are many ways you can breathe Life into a relationship; sending Reiki healing is one!

A few tips for your Reiki distant healing session:

· You can send Reiki to one moment in time (the moment you were born), or to a period of time (the two weeks your uncle was in the hospital)

· Send group distant Reiki when focusing on collective events, for greater energy influence.

· Always end the Reiki distant healing session with a positive envisioning of the person, place, event or situation you focus on. Go ahead and imagine a different scenario for your past. After all, your past influences your thoughts and emotions; allow Reiki to influence your thoughts and emotions in a new, inspired way.

· After your distant healing session, release the outcome to the Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Love, or Spirit. Your intellect may know or not what the best possible outcome is; but Spirit always knows!

Touched by Kindness

2011-04-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

How I saved the world’s economy by eating chocolate, and how I spread compassion by learning how to make hummus

Love starts with self-love – food, rest, exercise, self-expression; then it spirals outwards to those you love, then those you know, then those you don’t know, then those you have difficulty with, then to all beings in all worlds.

Loving kindness cannot stop at yourself: if it does, it keeps you stuck at the egocentric, narcissistic stage of development. It also cannot be self-effacing, giving to others while denying yourself, because what you give to others is tainted by hidden agendas of the unconscious, seeking approval or advantage or reciprocity, without really being conscious of it.

Love flows following the order of evolution, transcending and including each level: ego-centric (“It’s all about me”) to ethno-centric (“It’s all about our folks”) to world-centric (“It’s all about all of us”) And with the expansion of awakening to the identity of I AMness, loving kindness returns right back to you.

A couple of weeks ago, an email announced me of a boycott against Israel. As a good Israeli, I decided to respond by buying something Israeli. I ran to the store, and stocked on Israeli imported chocolate, snack foods – Bamba; tea with Nana (the Mediterranean spearmint) and spicy crushed green olives. Israel, don’t worry, I’m behind you! I may have just saved your economy!

Together with it, I may have just saved Swiss economy as well, just in case it was in any danger: the chocolate was made under Swiss license. And by paying Canadian duties and taxes, I am sure I saved Canada’s economy. Here I am, evolving from ethno-centric to world-centric under your very eyes. Saving the world has never been easier!

Why does people’s kindness always make me cry? Actually, human cruelty makes me cry too. Maybe it’s just me, crying at the drop of a needle. But the tears that stream down my face when I witness an act of human loving kindness have a different quality about them than tears of pain: I feel my heart opening in a warm glow, and a wave of deep affection takes over me, wanting me to open my arms wide and embrace everyone in the story: the givers, the receivers and the watchers of the kindness act. If I could have it my way, I’d be hugging and kissing everyone in sight, tears of affection drizzling everywhere over their clothes.

That’s how I feel when I watch the TV show ‘Extreme Home Makeover’, at the moment when the family returns back to a home they hadn’t dare have, and they burst into tears of gratitude. And that’s how I felt tonight when I watched the movie “Precious Life”, which showed the efforts of Israeli Jews to save the life of one small Palestinian boy whose life depended on a marrow bone operation.

This is how I feel when I do something kind, especially when it’s not easy for me, when acting requires me to sacrifice the agendas of the small ego and do that which is inconvenient but loving: like taking down an Alex Grey poster from the wall to hang my husband’s favorite painting, which I dislike.

It’s like speaking someone else’s language instead of expecting them to speak yours. Did you ever notice how faces lit up when you greet someone in their mother tongue? Or show an appreciation and knowledge of their ethnic food?

Recently I visited a couple of schools, in my quality as a speaker for Passages to Canada, to offer the students presentations on my immigration experience. One group of nine and ten graders, had quite a few immigrants among them. In my presentation I listed a few of the ethnic foods and habits I became familiar with when I moved to Israel from Romania: Moroccans drink tea with sprigs of spearmint, in transparent glasses; they cook their rice with saffron and dried fruit and blanched almonds. Iranians eat bunches of herbs ‘sabzi’ with their food, together with raw onions and radishes. They drink their tea sucking on caramelized sugar wafers called ‘pulaki’. Their rice is burned on the bottom, and the kids in the Persian family fights for the crunchy layer of rice.

When the projector showed the paragraph on Iranians, a slim, tall boy happily smiled, revealing sparkling braces, and said: “I’m Iranian”! He was overjoyed to hear someone who wasn’t from his country, speaking about his culture’s food.

When I spoke of Indian chai, curry and pickles, the two Indian girls in the class smiled happily, and added to my listing. “How do you make falooda?” I asked. “You put milk, vermicelli, cumin…” they replied.

Then I spoke about the Arabic hummus, and how my own hummus has the wrong texture when I make it. A Lebanese boy asked: “Too much liquid?”

“No, too grainy” I complained.

“You must add more oil” he advised. He was visibly thrilled to have this conversation. Immigrant kids probably lead a double life: they’re Iranian, Indian, Lebanese and everything else at home; and they’re Canadian in school. What if these worlds could be bridged?

I have a theory: when people eat each other’s food, they get to know each other intimately. Sharing food builds community. Friendships are born around food. When food is exchanged, like in a potluck party, energy is being exchanged as well. Distances between people diminish, and bridges are formed. Learn someone’s language and food, and you know them better; you know them better means you are closer to them; you are closer to them means, Love can flow. Fear needs distance in order to exist; it’s in reverse proportion to closeness.

"Sharing food builds community. Friendships are born around food. "

After the presentation, one of the teachers approached me: “I have decided” he announced me with a smile and a spark in his eyes: “I’m going to organize a lunchtime international potluck for the students!”

I go home happy and grateful for lending my hand at building a bridge between cultures. I further my diligent efforts to saving the world by sinking my teeth in a luscious bar of Canadian-bought Israeli made Swiss milk chocolate with caramel filling.

Ah, the sweet rewards of doing good!

Masaru Emoto's Water Prayer for Fukushima, Japan

2011-03-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

To All People Around the World

I am posting this on my blog to share it with you, and encourage you to join in with your loving, kind thoughts and prayers together with me.

Thank you,
Tana

Please send your prayers of love and gratitude to water at the nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan!

By the massive earthquakes of Magnitude 9 and surreal massive tsunamis, more than 10,000 people are still missing…even now… It has been 16 days already since the disaster happened. What makes it worse is that water at the reactors of Fukushima Nuclear Plants started to leak, and it’s contaminating the ocean, air and water molecule of surrounding areas.

Human wisdom has not been able to do much to solve the problem, but we are only trying to cool down the anger of radioactive materials in the reactors by discharging water to them.

Is there really nothing else to do?

I think there is. During over twenty year research of hado measuring and water crystal photographic technology, I have been witnessing that water can turn positive when it receives pure vibration of human prayer no matter how far away it is.

Energy formula of Albert Einstein, E=MC2 really means that Energy = number of people and the square of people’s consciousness.

Now is the time to understand the true meaning. Let us all join the prayer ceremony as fellow citizens of the planet earth. I would like to ask all people, not just in Japan, but all around the world to please help us to find a way out the crisis of this planet!!

The prayer procedure is as follows.

Name of ceremony:

“Let’s send our thoughts of love and gratitude to all water in the nuclear plants in Fukushima”

Day and Time:

March 31st, 2011 (Thursday)

12:00 noon in each time zone

Please say the following phrase:

“The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you.”

Please say it aloud or in your mind. Repeat it three times as you put your hands together in a prayer position.

Please offer your sincere prayer.

Thank you very much from my heart.

With love and gratitude,

Masaru Emoto

Messenger of Water

http://www.youtube.com/user/WATERLOVEANDTHANKS

Energy as Information

2011-03-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Developing Instinct, Reason and Intuition

Does your stomach ever ties in knots, or your mouth ever gets dry? Great! You are being informed.

Organisms are like radio devices, transmitting and receiving signals from and into the environment.

Think of your perception as one perception with five physical, and several non-physical channels.

Each channel of perception is specialized in retrieving a certain range of vibrations from the environment. The vibration is then sent to the brain, which interprets it in familiar terms for you to use in your daily experience: sound, color, texture, smell, taste. You know that the channels of perceptions are specialized: you can’t smell music, or listen to rose scent, or touch yellow.

The chakras – energy centers, are your non-physical channels of perception; each one processes information in a specialized way, just like the physical channels. Just as you can watch a movie, smell a flower or listen to a friend’s story, your chakras allow you to perceive your and other people’s thoughts, emotions and states of consciousness. Your perception can be conscious or not. Just like subliminal messages, information that reaches you without your awareness, influences you without you knowing it. When you are aware, you know how to act in response to your ‘gut feelings’ or instincts and intuition.

Think of your perception as one perception with five physical, and several non-physical channels.

According to a human’s stage of development, the information is processed pre-rationally, rationally, or post-rationally.

The pre-rational stage of processing information is what we share with animals: the instincts. The lower chakras are open like antennas, warning you about possible trouble, keeping you safe. When you listen to gut feelings telling you to stay away from a certain person or location or event, you process information in a pre-rational way. It’s not a conscious process: this is how animals keep safe too.

The rational stage of processing information is using the intellectual knowledge to make choices and decisions. You use reason to choose friends or activities, based on intellectually acquired information, your values and your intelligence. Reason may or may not agree with instinct, as your values as a human being may not always agree with your animalic urges.

The post-rational stage of processing information is the intuition. This is higher spiritual guidance reaching you through the higher chakras, taking you to people and places beyond your rational or instinctual motives. The intuition has less to do with keeping you safe, or making you a reasonably behaved human being, and more to do with spiritual awakening and growth.

All information enters your system as signals from the environment (from the skin out or from the skin in) received through the physical and non-physical channels of perception; according to how your brain is wired, your level of development, your values, belief system and state of consciousness, the information is translated into meaning. The translation occurs mostly kinesthetically, through felt sensations; visually, through mental images; and auditory, through sounds and words.

Here is an example of how information is processed: you look outside the window, and see the rain falling. If you live in Ottawa, Canada, and are about to walk to work, you may have a mental image of walking and getting drenched; your forehead might contract in a frown, and you might think ‘It’s bad weather today.’ Of course, if you live in one of the drought-ridden places in the world, like a countruy in Africa or Asia, and you see rain, you might have a mental image of crops growing; sensations of warmth and tingling in your chest and hands, and you might think ‘It’s such a blessing.’

Energy as information has the purpose of prompting you to take appropriate action towards anything from survival to thriving to awakening to growing. The mouth dryness referred to as ‘thirst’ is your body informing you that you are overdue to hydrate it. The heavy and itchy eyelids, together with yawning, are sensations informing you it’s time for rest. Emotions are information too. Primal emotions, such as primal fear, are designed to keep you safe and alive. Secondary emotions are indicating towards repressed material in the shadow of your subconscious. More about this later.

When one of the channels of perception is impaired, as in the case of blind people, for example, often other channels take over, and the person keeps informed relying more on the healthy channels. Optimum functioning as a human being requires full functioning of all channels of perception. Evolutionary, human beings expand their ability to perceive. This is equally true for the physical senses and the chakras. It’s easier to walk around with clear sight, perfect hearing, aware of sensations as well as having the chakras open, clear and balanced.

The Reiki attunement, which is the initiation into this Japanese healing art, opens, clears, balances and expands the chakras. Very often Reiki students have clairvoyant experiences immediately after the class attunement. Many students experience increased clarity of mind, greater awareness in the body, and easy, clear access to intuition. The class offers guidance and training in learning how to perceive the subtle energies. The student’s perception expands and evolves.

Evolution occurs by transcending and including all stages of development. The Reiki class helps you access and expand all the stages of perception, from instinct to reason to intuition. Closer connection to your gut feelings helps you make safer and healthier choices naturally; greater mental clarity helps you reason your way to increased success and self-expression, and enables you to learn and acquire life skills with greater ease. Activating and expanding your intuition awakens you to the beauty, goodness and truth of your Divine Nature.

EFT - Are You Tapping on the Wrong Emotion?

2011-03-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

The Emotional Freedom Techniques – or EFT – are spreading like wild fire within the personal growth community, and, slowly but surely, even within the medical world. If you’ve had your try with EFT, you are probably one of the many impressed with how fast, gentle and effective this method is for creating lasting emotional change. Fear of water: gone in ten minutes. Fear of flight: gone in five minutes (on the plane, before takeoff!); feelings of betrayal by an old flame: gone in seven minutes. Nothing is easier than tapping on an unresolved emotion to clear it.

Or is it?

EFT works wonders clearing authentic emotions. But when the emotion you are tapping on is not authentic, but a secondary emotion, EFT tapping won’t clear it. I’ll explain.

Let’s say a child named Sara has some unmet need, to which she responds with anger. She quickly learns from the adults that her response is unacceptable, and she represses the emotion. Anger becomes hidden in the ‘Shadow’ of Sara’s subconscious mind. The emotion of anger is disowned, becoming a split-off part of the child’s psyche. Sara grows up unable to access her anger; she sees anger as something that other have, but not her: ‘I am not like that’. Anger shows up in her boss, or perhaps her partner, and the other people’s anger triggers fears in her. Sara is terrified by her spouse’s or her boss’s expressions of anger.

So she decides to try EFT to eliminate the fear: ‘Even though I have this fear of my partner’s / my boss’s anger, I deeply and completely love and accept myself’. She taps every day on this fear, but the fear does not subside.

This is because the fear is the secondary emotion, and tapping on ‘fear’ is really like barking up the wrong tree.

Fear is the sign post which points towards the authentic emotion buried in the Shadow: Anger. To integrate the split-off part of her psyche, Sara goes through a process of owning her anger by facing it, talking to it, and ultimately becoming it. Then she uses EFT and other approaches to address the anger. Once owned and integrated, the anger ceases to scare her when others express it.

The Shadow Work is an important piece in identifying the EFT ‘problem’, and a crucial part in one’s psychological and spiritual development. Stay tuned for more…

Past Lives (Book Excerpt)

2010-11-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hi,
This is Tana. Today I would like to introduce you to an excerpt from my book "Mystic Lover", which I am writing as part of NaNoWriMo contest (National Novel Writer's Month). The novel is based on my own experience, and turned into fiction. The excerpt is my own journey with Past Lives and Reincarnation therapy. Enjoy!

Past Lives

"Mystic Lover - There's More to Touch than Meets the Eye"

“What do you want to work on next?” Orna sat at the end of the therapy table, her hands holding each other as she seriously looked at Tammy’s face. Tammy sat on the table, not having a specific intention on her mind other than heal and grow.

“You solved the depression and anxiety; your menses are now regular and completely free of pain, and your digestion works like clockwork.”

Tammy nodded in agreement.

“What else would you like to address?”

“My appearance, Orna. I want to address the weight issue.”

“What exactly is it that you want to achieve? Do you want to loose weight, or to love and accept yourself the way your body is right now?”

“That’s a tough question. I want both.”

Orna looked intently for a silent minute, and declared: “I think you are now ready for reincarnation therapy”

Tammy was startled. She had mixed feelings about it, apprehension and curious anticipation in the same time. But she agreed.

The session started with an interview. Orna recorded all the facts: date and place of birth. Were there siblings? Was she a planned pregnancy, or an accident? Was the father present at the time of the birth? What were the earliest memories she could recall? Were any memories Tammy had from the time prior to her birth? What does she know of her mother’s experience of the pregnancy? What was the relationship between her parents like?

The next week, Tammy came to the session in tears.

“What’s going on?” inquired Orna.

“I’ve got enough of working at the Bank!” Tamar blurted.

“What happened?”

“It’s the work pressure, the office politics, and the worse, I just don’t belong there. I am asked to use strengths that I don’t have, to do things I don’t believe in, like selling life insurance and credit cards. The best of my qualities are useless at work. I feel trapped, like a slave, like a hostage in there”

“Let’s work with this feeling” said Orna, standing up. “Lie down” she invited Tammy, standing to the left side of the therapy table, near her head.

“Where in your body do you have this feeling of being trapped, like a slave, like a hostage? Connect with the feeling and tell me where it is.”

“It’s right here, in my chest and my stomach”

“What does it feel like?” asked Orna. “Describe it to me”

“It’s …heavy, like a pressure…it’s weighing me down. I can’t breathe…It’s like a block of steel, hard and heavy…”

“When was a significant time in your life when you had the same kind of feeling, of being trapped?” asked Orna. “Ask your subconscious mind to take you there. And trust it, the memory is there.”

“It’s when I was a child, in my parents’ home.”

“How old are you?”

“Twelve”

“Where are you?”

“In my room.”

“What are you wearing?”

“My pyjama”

“Are you sitting, or standing?”

“I’m sitting on the edge of my bed”

“Who else is there with you?”

“No-one else is in the room. My mom and dad are in the other room. They are fighting again. Mom is cursing Dad. Dad is calling her crazy.”

“What are the words coming to your mind when you hear them?”

“Someone please help me! I’m trapped in here. I want to go away…but there’s no-where to go…nothing I can do…”

Orna echoed Tammy’s words and asked her to repeat them again.

“Someone please help me! I’m trapped in here…no-where to go…nothing I can do”

“And again” Orna prompted her.

Tammy repeated the words, her feeling intensifying. She frowned and closed her fists, her shoulders lifting up close to the ears, and she rolled on the side in a fetal position. As instructed by Orna, she was consciously breathing in and out through her mouth. She was feeling the pain, without identifying with it. She was hurting, and pain was hers; but she was not identical with the pain. She was hurting, but not suffering.

Orna continued: “Now go even further back in time, to the first time you felt trapped, like a slave, like a hostage.”

Images started forming in Tammy’s mind, of places not from this life. She silently nodded to signal Orna that she had a memory show up.

“Where are you?” asked Orna

“In a prison cell.”

“Are you a man or a woman?”

“I’m a man”.

“How old are you?”

“Thirty six.”

“Who else is there with you?”

Tammy cringed and shuddered. “No-one…a rat…cockroaches…yuck!” She groaned in disgust.

Orna asked her to describe the prison cell with minute details.

“It’s dark. There’s only a tiny window with bars, high, close to the ceiling. I can’t reach it, I just see the blue sky through it. Not enough light. The floor is bare cement. I am sitting crouched, in a ball. I am wearing a dirty striped prison pyjama, and I am barefoot.”

“Do you see yourself from your own eyes, or from a side?”

“I look at myself from above. I can see myself sitting, embracing my bent legs, forehead resting on my knees.”

“I want you to merge with yourself, and look through your own eyes” prompted Orna.

Tammy groaned in pain. “I hate it. I…can’t…I feel cornered, trapped. I want out.!” Her head shook, as if to say “no” and her body rocked from side to side in visible discomfort.

“Tammy, you can come back here any time you want. You are safe. What do you want to do? Do you want to come back, or are you willing to go further and explore?”

“I’ll go back” replied Tammy, in pain but with determination.

Tell me what’s going on.

“The door never opens. There is an iron door with a window. The door never opens. Someone brings food through the window once a day.” A pause, and then Tammy relaxed: “My spirit is lifting towards the window. I am flying to the sky…”

“You are avoiding the feeling, Tammy. Are you willing to go back to your body?”

“Yes” Tammy replied reluctantly.

“Then go back.”

“I’m back. I can’t breathe. It feels like the walls are closing on me. The cell is so small…”

Orna repeated the words: “The walls are closing on me. The cell is so small!”

Tammy was breathing the mouth breath.

“That’s it, Tammy, bring this experience to its end. Feel it to its peak.”

Tammy groaned.

“What’s going on?”

“The rat…it bit me…on my throat. I’m dying…”

“Stay with it, and feel everything consciously, Tammy. Stay in your body, and breathe! Go all the way through the moment of death”

A last groan of pain, and Tammy’s contorted body suddenly relaxed.

“What is happening?”

“That’s it. I’m dead. I can see my lifeless body lying down, with blood all around the throat.”

“This was not a life worth living” proposed Orna. “What do you want to do with the body?”

“What do you mean?”

“Tammy, you are energy. You can do with the body as you please. It’s yours.”

“I want to take it out of there, outside, in the nature”

“Then go ahead and do it. And tell me what you are doing.”

Tammy’s voice became calm: “I am taking the body outside, away from the prison walls. There is an orchard by the river. I am taking the body to the water…wash it…cover it with a white cloth. I dig a grave in the grass, under a tree. It’s beautiful here. So beautiful…”

“How do you feel now, Tammy?”

“Free. At peace, and free.”

Sunny Weather

2010-11-08T16:39:00.000-08:00

I wrote this short story for 'The Wrap' section of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper; I am told it will be published sometime in the New Year.

Sunny Weather

Back home, Irene’s mother was busy preparing her favourite dishes: stuffed cabbage leaves, egg plant salad and roasted peppers in garlic vinaigrette.

“What else would you like, Sweetie?” asked Mom over the phone. She sounded excited: it’s been six years since Irene moved away. Six years since they’ve only seen each other in emailed pictures and Internet video calls.

“Apple pie, Mom!” replied Irene. “With walnuts and cinnamon” she added. She was looking forward taking a break from being the responsible, serious adult, and becoming a child again for two weeks.

“What about you? What would you like from Canada?”

“Maple candies, of course” Mom and Dad replied in unison.

September in Eastern Europe can be rainy or sunny. You never know. When she arrived at the airport, the weather was cool, crisp, with a bright golden sun against a spotless blue sky. The trees were starting to loose their leaves, and the remaining ones were rusting fast. Irene was a tall, statuesque woman, and the way she wore her hair, clothes and jewellery – long, brown wavy hair; long, draped tunics and cardigans; large necklaces and earrings – she resembled a Greek goddess. She looked and sounded, like her friend Lee once said, “larger than life”. Irene’s eyes were moist, honey-brown, and very expressive – betraying her mood at all times, making it impossible for her to lie.

“It rained until yesterday” announced Mom. “This is the first sunny day we are having in ten days” added Dad.

Three days in the city, catching up with old friends and places, were followed by a week in the mountains. Hiking with her parents was a slow-paced adventure; their walk was filled with chit-chat and the occasional snack stop, sitting on a fallen pine-tree trunk. The sunlight was lazily filtering through treetops, playing with light and shadows on the grass. Moments of silence in conversation brought up into awareness the soft hum of a stream and the sound of cow bells from a distance. The air was filled with the fragrance of fir and pine resin.

The rain returned the day Irene was leaving, with the first shy drops washing the car’s windshield on the way to the airport. It was the same as a few years ago, when visiting Vancouver: one sunny week in April, with showers before her arrival and after her departure.

Up in the air, Irene was watching from her window seat as the land shrunk and disappeared behind a layer of white, fluffy clouds. She mused over this weather thing, wondering whether this was a coincidence or serendipity. Whenever she had been camping or traveling for holidays, the weather was always sunny. At other times, it would be pouring rain or slushy or muddy, like the times when she traveled often for work. A few years back, Irene had been miserably in her work: too much office politics and too much pressure; too little autonomy and too little meaning to her tasks. What is it, she wondered, that consistently brings sunny weather during vacation, and rain during work-related travel that I dislike?

……......................................X……………………..........

“Irene, you must meet this man” decided Josie with a serious look in her steel-blue eyes. Josie was Irene’s friend, a tall, thin woman with short dirty-blonde hair and thin, pale, almost white hands. “I already spoke with him and gave him your phone number. Larry works with my sister. He has a senior position in the company. He is divorced, his kids are over eighteen, and he is financially secure. He works hard, long hours at the office, and doesn’t have time to socialize much.”

“What makes you think we are a good match?” asked Irene. Somehow Josie’s description of Larry resonated with something inside Irene. Her stomach was tight, as if clenched in an ice-cold claw, and for a brief moment there was pain in her heart, sharp like a knife.

“He is a serious man, Irene” replied Josie, with enough seriousness of her own to illustrate her description of the man. “Larry is not playing games or breaking hearts. He is a family man, with values, and a good provider.” Josie took a sip of her coffee, her eyes not leaving the sight of Irene’s face.

………..............................……X……………….................….

It took no more than three minutes for Irene to walk from her car to the restaurant where she was meeting Larry; but it was long enough for the wind to turn her umbrella upside down, and for her shoes and socks to get soaking wet. Her eyeglasses were wet, and as soon as she stepped inside the warm diner, the lenses were covered with steam, rendering her awkwardly blind. Larry, a short, stocky man with an old-fashioned hair cut and an old-fashioned brown suit, was already eating soup. When he noticed Irene he stood up, shook her hand and excused himself for having already ordered food. “I have to eat often…” he explained; “it’s for the blood sugar”.

It rained all week, and Irene bought a new umbrella. On Saturday morning she went to her yoga class, where, for most of the time, she managed to not think of the week that passed, and the week that was coming. “Here and now” she kept thinking as she caught her thoughts wandering. After the class, as she was stepping out of the gym hall into the hallway, a hand touched her shoulder.

“Hey! You forgot this!”. Irene looked over her shoulder to see a man dangling a water bottle in his hand. “I know it’s yours”, the man said; “I used it as my focal point during the Tree Pose”.

“Did it work?” asked Irene, humorously, taking the bottle from the man’s hand.

“No” he replied, also with humour and a playful half-smile. “You kicked it once and I lost my balance”

They both laughed and walked very, very slowly down the long hallway of the fitness center. The man’s name was Steve, and he was a head taller than Irene, with olive skin complexion and dark, sparkly, kind eyes. His body was medium built – not quite athletic, but firm and with good posture. He had a receding hairline; his salt-and-pepper hair was cut short. When speaking to Irene, he leaned forward, and when he listened to her, he nodded often, looking in her eyes. Irene became witty talking with him, as if her best of humour and intelligence came forth all of a sudden.

“Listen” said Steve, keeping the exit door open for Irene; “When you run out of the water in your bottle, why don’t I buy you another one to replace it, and maybe some dinner to go with it…say, tonight, or tomorrow night?”

Irene laughed, and both her voice and eyes said “Yes”. She felt a flow of warm energy running through her body, up her spine, down her arms and legs; she felt tall, and breathed deeply, her chest soft, open and light. Her hands and feet tingled as she gave Steve her phone number.

Outside, in the open air, the autumn day shimmered in gold and burgundy: the heavy rain clouds had dissipated, leaving behind them a clear, bright blue sky with golden, warm and luminous sunny weather.

What Women Want from Men – More than Anything Else!

2010-10-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

… as well as what they do not want…

When it comes to men, I have a soft spot for the sensitive type. I know that not all women share my preferences. While I am always moved when receiving flowers, I sometimes hear other women say “If he shows up with a bouquet, I’ll hit him in the head with it”.

Women like men to be older, younger, muscular, academic, the construction worker hunk or the extravagant millionaire; lean or cuddly; Viking looking blonde with blue eyes, or dark Middle Eastern, or Indian, or African, with eyes of black fire – the possibilities go to infinity. Women’s tastes and preferences in attraction are determined by their own personality, personal history and culture.

But when it comes to what the essentially feminine women want to experience in love relationships, they all share a common field of needs and wants. The feminine energy wants the masculine energy, to attract her, and make her complete. The more feminine energy a woman carries, the more she is attracted to masculine men. She doesn’t long for someone “just like her” – she longs for her opposite.

Women value relationships. The quality of a woman’s relationships colours and flavours all the other areas of her life. You can easily tell by a woman’s looks and health the extent to which she is sexually and emotionally fulfilled.

So what is it that most women want in men?

1. Presence and Attention: A man who sees, hears and feels his woman here and now

Women want to be loved. Love is paying attention. Women want the undivided man's attention.

“Look at me. See me. Don’t try to fix me, or solve my problems. When I change my hair style, don’t give me a value judgement of the style (It’s a good style, Hun!). Just remark: ‘Oh! You changed your hair style!’”

“When I am emotional - which, as a woman, I may be often – don’t invalidate my emotions (‘You shouldn’t be feeling what you feel’) and don’t rationalize them either (‘And so you should feel, Honey, because how dare they…[fill in the blank]) The best you can do for me is say: “I can tell how frustrating / upsetting / maddening this is for you, Honey” or “This must be so difficult” or ask me how I feel and just listen.”

“You notice me and my world. When something matters to me, you study it. You learn to say at least ‘Hello’ in my mother tongue. You learn my world, my culture, my friends. You know me, which to me means, you love me. Ah, how irresistible to me!”

What women don’t want: An absent-minded man, distant, arrogant, and emotionally volatile and unavailable. A man who is self-absorbed. The proverbial stereotype of the man who watches TV, or reads the paper, completely ignoring his woman – someone who literally is not there for his woman.

2. Wisdom and Wit: A man who thinks, reflects and laughs

“I admire you and am proud of you. Your brilliant mind combined with your sharp wit is a powerful aphrodisiac for me. Intelligent humour sweeps me off my feet! Make love to my mind, and the body will follow!”

What women don’t want: boring, monotonous, dull activities and conversation.

3. Uncompromising Love: A man whose love for his woman is unmovable

“I can feel your love for me. At times I am scared to loose it, so I test you and probe you with emotional dramas. Those moments, I look ugly to you; and still, your unmovable love pierces through the ugliness of fear and you embrace me with your strong arms, kiss me with passion, and show up in love strong and noble as a diamond.”

What women don’t want: A man who’ll take off at the first gust of wind; one who allows adversity, peer pressure or other women to sacrifice his love for his woman.

4. Character: A man of integrity, authentic and responsible

“When you say it, you mean it. You only promise that which you know you can keep, and you live by your word. If I heard it from you, I know I can count on it.”

“You honestly and openly express your feelings and intentions, even when it’s difficult for you to do so. Your words are true to your interiors, and I can trust you, and soften up some more around you.”

“You don’t seek what’s easy and convenient; you seek what’s right, and wise, and compassionate. You pursue it undeterred by obstacles or hardships – such is your character. I admire you – your character is so sexy!”

What women don’t want – is a cheater, a coward, a man with no values, a perpetual liar who puts up a face; one who plays the blame game, either blaming self or others for his misfortunes. A man with a defeatist attitude; a whiner; a gossiper.

5. Initiative and Direction: A man who initiates and directs with love

“When I ask you which earrings to wear, you tell me: ‘The blue ones, definitely’. I may or may not wear the ones you say; but I secretly enjoy getting direction from you.”

“When we go out, it’s often your initiative. You surprise me with tickets or reservations and you take care of all the arrangements. Although I know how to initiate and lead, as I do often during my work, it’s such a relief for me to be able to relax in my feminine essence, let go of the lead, and follow you. It makes me feel woman, and very, very sexy!”

What women don’t want: A man who says: “I don’t know where I want to go tonight. Wherever you want, Honey.” Or he says: “You can wear any earrings you like, Honey. They all look good on you…” Or a man who says: “Mary, you do all the planning and phone calls. I’ll just do as you say.”

6. Protector: The dragon slayer

“You keep me safe from other’s injuries or insults; and you keep me safe from dangers big and small, from financial disasters to a cold evening.”

“When you give me your jacket on a cool day, and endure the bitter wind so I feel warm and comfortable, tell me, dear man: how can I not fall in love with you?”

What women don’t want: A man like the groom in the story, where the groom and the bride are riding the horse-driven carriage. Robin Hood stops them and yells: “Your money or your life!” “Take her!” the groom replies, pointing towards his bride. “She is my life!” A man who, when given a choice between his comfort and his woman’s, chooses his own.

7. Generous Provider: A man to build her home, provide for her

“I can earn my own money. I can build my own home, buy my own clothes and jewellery, even my own flowers. I am an independent woman. But when you gift me those as your gifts of love, I feel loved, pampered and woman.”

“You give generously of your time, money and skills to others. Awww… this is so attractive…”

What women don’t want: To pick up the bill, or support her man until ‘he finds himself’. Often, those women who continuously provide for their man, fall out of love’s spell, if the supported man doesn’t fall out of love before that.

8. Purpose: A man with a plan

“Nothing is sexier to me than a man who is living his life’s purpose and passion. When I hear you tell me that you live for me, and I am your reason for living, I feel flattered…and turned off. I want to be your number 2; I trust you, admire you and fall head over heels for you when you have a vision for the world you are part of, and a passion you express as your contribution to your own vision. “

What women don’t want: A man whose days are spent in front of TV or Facebook, switching channels or browser tabs, blank stare at the glowing screen, having nothing better to do with their time and energy. Nothing turns a woman off faster than the depressed, lost soul of a man who feels sorry for himself and wallows in self-pity.

9. Kindness and Compassion: A man who cares about more than just himself

“You live for more than just yourself; you care about your family, your community and the greater world you are part of. As part of your world, I can trust to be loved by you, let go of my defenses, and open up to your kindness, body, mind and heart.”

What women don’t want: A cruel man, or a self-centered narcissist who is stingy with his attention, time, money and expression of love. A small mind and a contracted heart.

Ladies, did I miss anything? Please comment!

Gentlemen, please let me know how helpful this is!

Ten Steps to Love a Man in a Sexy Way

2010-10-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

Men and women are wired differently. The Yin and the Yang – Masculine and Feminine types – express and experience life differently. If you are a woman, or know women who would like to see more sizzle in their love life, take a look at how you express your care towards the man in your life.

Do you treat him like you were his male buddy, wearing his clothes and cheering for his favourite team? Do you see him as your best friend, sharing with him all the minute details of your life’s ups and downs? Do you act as a protective mother, warning him of the dangers out there when he’s heading out? Or do you speak to him in a child’s voice, asking for candy?

There are many ways to relate and express love. But only a few ways are ‘sexy’, adding to eroticism and passion. Here is how you can be a lover to the man you love, in ten steps:

1. Act and look feminine. Maybe your career calls for power suits and fast, purposeful walking. This scores you career points, but in love it makes you look, sound and feel like “one of the boys”. Dresses, jewellery, long hair, moist lips and smiles are feminine, thus sexy. Tantra teacher and author
David Deida elaborates on this topic in his book “Intimate Communion”.

2. Accept his gifts with gratitude. The masculine man takes pride in being Protector and Provider. Did you receive a gift from your hubby? Don’t run to the store to buy him something to reciprocate. Chances are your man is happier seeing you thrilled with his gift than getting something else in return for it.

3. Express emotions. Contrary to the guys’ complaints about women’s dramas, men are attracted to women who express emotions openly, and turned off by women who give directions instead. “I like watching you fixing things around the house” is sexy. “Go repair our pantry door” is not.

4. Give him freedom. Your first priority, as a feminine woman, is to connect. Men are wired to value freedom. “Of course I want you to go mountain climbing with your buddies, Honey!” is music to a man’s ears. He’ll brag about you to his friends. Saying “What about us? I want to spend our holidays together” might get you more time with him, but not more heartbeats in his chest around you.

5. Admire him. How many men do you know who passionately obsess about their overcritical girlfriends and wives? Me neither. But mention his achievements in front of your friends, and watch the flames of passion go high! Focus on the things he is good at, and sing him the old James Bond song: “Nobody Does it Better”.

6. Follow his initiative. This is unthinkable in this equalitarian age. But the Initiator is a masculine trait. If all your outings and lovemaking sessions are your call, you are acting from your masculine side, which triggers a passive, feminine response in your sweetheart. Risk eating at a restaurant you don’t favour, if he proposes it. Even if you are both comfortable taking turns in initiating things, makes sure to encourage his initiative by following (happily!) and allow him occasions to take the lead.

7. Challenge him. Men like to conquer and win their prizes. They are naturally wired to be the pursuer. While a man feels flattered when a woman pursues him, and offers her body, mind, soul and time to him readily, he will not find her sexy. Don’t be the Ice Queen, but neither the always available for you gal. If you give a man a chance to work a bit for his prize (you), he’ll appreciate it even better!

8. Touch him. The feminine principle is the nurturing Mother, like Mother Earth, touching, holding, and embracing. When you talk to your man, place your soft, warm hand on his shoulder, arm, or back – and smile. The most thought-absorbed man cannot resist the warm touch of a woman. Men find a woman’s touch sexier than her words!

9. Dance. Watching your body move will bring the farthest, distant masculine mind, to the earthly here and now. Dance with him and dance for him.

10. Play! A playful, flirtatious woman is irresistible to any man, regardless of how she looks, and regardless of even social and academic differences. In the TV sitcom ‘Dharma and Gregg’, a couple is depicted as coming from immensely different backgrounds and views of the world. In spite of all the differences, the couple’s marriage is thriving. Why? The woman is playful, innovative, creative, ‘cool’, and they have a fabulous sex life!

Extra-Sensory Perception: Born with, or Cultivated?

2010-09-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

Like any other talent, some people have it more, and some less. Like any other talent, perception can be cultivated. For me, ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) has been something I had to cultivate.

What is ESP?

You ‘perceive’ signals from the environment, process them, and give them a meaning which helps you take action. You look at the clock, see little lines that you interpret as numbers, and based on it, you decide to wake up.

You have one perception, with five physical channels of perception and several non-physical channels. Each channel of perception specializes in inputting a certain range of vibration. The eyes perceive what is referred to as ‘color’, the ears perceive what is called ‘sound’, the skin perceives texture and temperature. Sound, color, temperature – are all energy, each with its own frequency, amplitude and wavelength. You can’t smell a song, hear the scent of a rose or feel the color blue between your fingertips.

For subtle energies, you have non-physical channels of perception. The chakras, your energy centers, specialize in retrieving information from the environment, which, when properly perceived and interpreted (such as the ‘gut feelings’ of your sacral chakra) allow you to take appropriate action. Sensing subtle energies has been referred to as ‘ESP’ – Extra-Sensory Perception.

Why do I Need ESP?

You need ESP for the same reason you need at least one of your physical senses: for orientation in your surroundings, for safety and well-being, for making better informed choices and, if you work in service of others, to better help them.

When your physical senses are in a fog, you navigate differently than when your senses are healthy, sharp and clear. Sensing levels of Chi (Life Force energy), emotions and thoughts make your navigation easier, more elegant.

Your personal vibration creates either harmony or discord with the energy of other people, places, foods, medicine etc. Your relationships, health, work and living environments have more chances for making music rather than noise, when you are aware of subtle vibration.

ESP requirements

There are several requirements for the expansion of your perception.

1. Attention. Paying attention to your environment (from the skin out as well as from the skin in!) is the first step in developing ESP. First notice the red light, the new car in the neighbour’s driveway, your spouse’s new hairstyle and such other obvious items. You start with the obvious, then move on practicing with the subtle!

2. Clarity. Just like a foggy mind can prevent a driver from seeing the Stop sign, it can also prevent someone from reading the subtle energies of emotion coming from others. To have clarity of perception, clarity of body and mind are required.

3. Awareness. You swim in an ocean of energy, much of it filled with invisible, but real, thoughts of others. In his book ‘Virus of the Mind’, Richard Brodie describes how ‘memes’ or mind viruses can travel and contaminate other minds, just like biological viruses do. The antidote to the virus? Awareness! When you are tuned in into the space of thoughts, and you are able to discern which thought is yours and which is ‘borrowed’, you have the freedom to choose.

4. Practice. Anything you don’t use, risks atrophy. Practice sensing, reading and interpreting subtle energies for the sake of your own literacy, or ‘psychic fitness’.

ESP Busters

1. Energy blocks. Pathology of your senses, physical or non-physical, means impaired function. Illness starts in the subtle energy field before manifesting in the gross body. Disruption in the flow of Chi (Life Force Energy) means diminished perception.

2. Toxins. A grain of sand in your eyes can make you blind. Toxins of various kinds can shut the energy centers down. Information is transmitted through the nervous system; any substance which interferes with the nervous system, interferes with your perception in general, beginning with your ESP in particular. Some of the ESP toxic busters are: alcohol, processed foods (sugar, fructose), drugs (pain killers, steroids, anti-depressants), chemicals in cigarettes, cleaning products, furniture; EMF (Electro-Magnetic Fields).

3. Beliefs. If someone faces a Stop sign, and doesn’t believe Stop signs exist, he or she won’t see it. Disbelief can cancel perception.

ESP Boosters

1. Cleanse! There are many ways to cleanse your body. You can try Dr. Natura’s Colonix, or the Master Cleanser, or homeopathic cleanses. I noticed incredible energy flow and sensitivity during my juice fasting days.

2. Emotional cleansing. Unresolved emotions can cloud both the thinking and the ability to perceive. Regular emotional cleansing is the natural complement to body cleansing. My favourite approaches are EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), Ho’oponopono (a Hawaiian shamanic approach) and Shadow Integration Work.

3. Meditation. There are various types of meditation. Mindfulness meditation gets you in the habit of noticing what is without reacting. It sensitizes you and refines your mind to ‘see’ with your full presence.

4. Working with energy. Qi Gong means just that: working with Chi. Taking on a regular practice of Qi Gong, Tai Chi or healing arts such as Reiki, does for your ESP what resistance training does for your muscles. Moreover, learning Reiki is a powerful ESP booster because the attunement (the ceremony in which your Reiki Teaching Master initiates you into this healing art) opens and activates your chakras.

ESP versus Intuition

Your psychology evolves from pre-rational to rational to trans-rational, each level of development transcending and including the previous one.

At the pre-rational level, people and animals share the ‘instincts’, or gut-feelings. Both human and beast can naturally sense when the air pressure is changing before a storm; they both have the ability to empathize and feel what others feel, or pick up mental images.

Intuition occurs only after you have evolved to the rational level, and then transcended and included it. How you process and interpret the information perceived depends on the level you are at.

Can You do it?

If you read this far, absolutely yes! Your interest in the topic is enough to open door of possibility for you to deepen and expand your perception. Whether you are born with the talent or not, your interest is the ignition of your journey to being one who reads subtle energies.

Feel your energy now!

Sit or lie down with your eyes closed. Bring your attention inward, to your body. Imagine your body as being fluid, like a river. Play ‘as if’, and noticing the sensations inside, try to figure what kind of river it is: is it a slow river in the fields, or a rapid river in the mountains? Notice various parts of your body, and ask yourself how freely the river flows in each part. You may notice that some parts flow slower, as if there are dams, and they feel like pain or tension; other parts flow freely, and they literally feel like currents. Congratulations! You have just read your body’s energy!

Health, Illness, and the Myth of the Superwoman

2010-07-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Superwoman is a spiritual woman, successful, always healthy and happy, with impeccable thoughts and conduit and life circumstances to model. Her name is Tana Saler from www.tanasaler.com , a Reiki Master who has all the answers, always.

Superwoman disappeared last Thursday, never to be seen since. Pouf, up in the air she went, with that first big bubble appearing on the right leg.

The bubble became bubbles, and they spread up the legs and arms, itching like hell, and reminding scenes from low budget horror movies. I almost expected alien life forms to pop out of the bubbles. Instead, the bubbles burst, revealing a yellowish liquid that went on and made more bubbles.

What? Where? What happened? I panicked. I started backtracking to see what I have done that might have caused it. Let me see. I got acupuncture. Then Chinese herbs. Then I saw the osteopath yesterday, and he worked on the right leg. He cleared something that I was holding, apparently, and compensating for. Bubbles?

Two weekends ago I worked in the garden, cutting dead cedar branches and pulling weeds. A few scratches here and there; and now there were those two scratches on the right calf: they wouldn’t heal as fast as the cedar branch scratches usually do. Now, this past Thursday, those scratches are turning into the Alien IV movie. And holly-Molly, do they ever itch! By the end of the day, I am covered in a rash, scratching furiously and panting like a running wolf. I reach out helpful people SOS by email and phone. I stop taking the Chinese herbs. ‘You’re detoxing’ tells my acupuncture friend.’ Congratulations!’

But with the spreading of the rash on my skin, dark hypochondriac scenarios spread out too. I start surfing the Internet, looking at worst-case scenario images: syphilis. I scan my memory for times in my life when I practiced unprotected sex, wondering what the incubation time of the bug is. I email my energy healer, describing him the itch and skin; he replies, dropping yet another bomb: “It sounds like scabies”. I write my naturopath; no reply from her.

Scabies. I cringe. Brian writes back, matter-of-factish: ‘It’s a common skin parasite; go see a doctor for a test’

For the past eighteen years I have only seen allopathic doctors socially. No drugs or surgery, and I am even outliving my mother, bless her soul, who passed away of leukemia when she was 45. I am almost 50, and it’s all from vitamins, network chiropractic, Reiki, zumba and a regular meditation practice. Which is exactly what makes me the Superwoman!

As a student of the Integral Theory and Ken Wilber’s work, I quickly remember how illness and health have four different lenses to look at (four quadrants), individual and collective, interior and exterior. The individual interior lens shows: ‘Ouch, it’s itchy!’; the individual exterior lens displays 37.4 Celsius on the thermometer. As I learn from my tightening stomach, there is also a cultural meaning to illness. Syphillis and scabies have a very particular connotation to them. The former is attached to images of promiscuity and low moral behaviour in general. The latter is associated with poverty and poor hygiene habits. They are both shameful. I sit in my computer chair, horrified, galleries of gore photos and youtube video clips marching in front of my wide-opened eyes. Now it’s not only about how I feel (aaargh, this impossible, irritating, infuriating itch!); now it’s also about ‘What will people say?’

I run to the doctor, preparing for the worst (is there an even worse?). ‘Contact dermatitis and Urticaria’ - the prompt diagnosis arrives. ‘You are developing an allergic reaction to something you came in contact with’.

‘But what if it’s syphilis?’ I sob into the Kleenex. ‘Are you sexually active’ asks the doctor, defiantly. ‘Not right now’ – I answer. Talking about when and how with the Woman in a White Coat makes me feel embarrassed, but more than anything, it makes me feel preventatively guilty for maybe having slipped less than fully protected sex activities somewhere in my passionate past. ‘Can you get syphilis from fingers and tongues?’ I inquire sheepishly. The doctor replies with half a smile; ‘There aren’t many chances’.

Then it hits me: Poison Ivy!

It must be poison ivy. But where? Back on the Internet, the images of Poison Ivy rashes are as if photographs of my own skin. I remember my gardening two weekends ago. I run outside, to the front yard, and take iPhone photos of a whole bunch of plants that look like the youtube pictures of Poison Ivy: three leaves! What would you feel if you discovered that you had Poison Ivy near your home?

I was HAPPY! Why? Because it’s neither syphilis nor scabies. Such is the power of cultural, shared meaning of illness: I am home, feverish, itchy like hell, with an unsightly skin, and relieved. I feel like Mr. Bean who goes out to brag to everyone with something menial he accomplished (like bringing LOTS of pens at his exam). I go out there and tell everyone I know I have a Poison Ivy rash! Yey for me!

By the time I figured this one out, I already tried home-made scabies remedies that did little besides further irritating my skin. I have the drugs at home: antibiotics, antihistamine, and Prednisone (steroids). Now Superwoman doesn’t do drugs. Just like other superheroes like Dr. Mercola and Mike Adams, Superwoman is all healthy and radiant all year-round with zero pharmaceuticals. No drugs since the early nineties!

The humorous doctor barks and growls at me for not taking her prescription. There is infection on the skin and it spread, she informs me. The information is delivered in lecture format, parent-to-child style while I study my shoes teary-eyed.

I check with the healer: ‘Go with what the doctor says’ he says; ‘we’ll clear toxins after’. I run to the naturopath, who looks at my legs, nods, and says, ‘Yeah, antibiotics’.

So I break my ‘No-drugs’ oath and take antibiotics. The fever goes down. The naturopath puts me on mega-doses of vitamin C and Quercitin, powerful antioxidants which together, in these high doses, also act as antihistamines.

Itchiness slowly turns into burning, prickling sensations. I can’t stand clothes on, and even when I wear the softest cotton I own, it feels as if I am wearing the old Romanian itchy wool I hated as a child. Or wearing porcupines – lots of them. My skin burns and I feel chilly. I shiver. When in the bathtub (I must soak twice a day, says the doctor, or else) or under shower, it’s itchy. Before the antioxidants enter my diet, I sit in water and howl, scratching. Or trying not to scratch. A variety of emotions arise, ranging from anger, fury, irritation, rage and frustration. Snapshots of life circumstances fly in front of my mind’s eye. The rash has a biological cause. But it also has a psycho-spiritual one, which I look into. I quickly proceed to clear old emotional charges surfacing now, with Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) It helps, and there is some relief…for a while. Holy Mackerel, how much material have I repressed, and for how long? I am pissed off at myself (what better occasion to do more EFT tapping?) for repressing all that. No more of it!

I dutifully proceed at barking and cursing to express the bottled emotions, and I swear, you could kill a small animal with the molecules of emotion that are coming out. How on earth can I be expected to add steroids to all these foul fumes? How am I going to show myself in the world? Wear a sign ‘Bitch on drugs’?

I also scan my brains for spiritual lessons learned. That gardening weekend was a hot weather one; the perfect time for a trip to my favourite spot in the woods, the Meech Lake. Instead of swimming in cool waters, I cut poisonous plants. And what are you learning from this, Miss Tana Master Within? How about having more fun on weekends? Less ‘shoulds’ and more joy? Delegate gardening to professionals?

I call the City Hall to let them know of the Poison Ivy. Someone will come take a look tomorrow.

I speak with Karen Cowen. She is such a sweetheart. She is a registered holistic nutritionist, and after our chat, she emails me this long list of foods to add reduce inflammation and detox. Artichokes sounds good. I love artichokes. Orange-coloured foods. Lots of greens. I have those. Drink water, tea, nettle tea.

My right forearm still looks like cheap sci-fi, and now is swollen. I eat soup with my non-dominant hand. At least this whole deal serves developing my creativity. My right hand is puffy. I can’t really make a fist; with so much anger coming up, it’s safer that way. My sense of humour is back though, courtesy of the drugs; combined with anger, my humour it makes for a pure hybrid of sarcasm.

I’m not out of the woods yet, and I look at the Prednisone on the table with mixed feelings. I left work and play aside, focusing on healing. I miss the social part. I write this blog so I can connect with people. I sheepishly confess to the world that Superwoman is Human Woman.

I sip water with my peniciline, and, as a true student of the Integral Theory and applicant of Integral Health, I now make peace with and embrace a long disowned part of my world that had gone into the Shadow: Western Medicine.

Stop the Network Chiropractic Entrainments!

2010-06-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Stop them now, if you want to know how they really work for you.

I did. I stopped them two months ago, and I was shocked at what I discovered.

I had been a client of Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) for many years. For the past four years I have been seeing Dr. Paul Newton every week for Network entrainments. Even when I traveled to Israel to see my family and friends, I made sure to find a Network chiropractor and ensure continuity of my care while traveling.

As a healing arts and energy therapist for over ten years, I have access to many modalities and practitioners. I noticed huge differences in terms of their transformational abilities. While many healing arts and energy therapies are relaxing and pleasant, only some of them are truly transformative. I found NSA to be one of them.

In four years of Network chiropractic care, I noticed my posture improving, my response to less-than-ideal life circumstances, stress and distress improving; I have grown to breathe deeper than I could remember in this life; I’ve accessed a range of movement that I may have had as a child; but it’s so long ago, I don’t remember! I have learned that advancing in age does not have to equal deterioration, because thanks to my Integral Life Practices that include meditation, yoga, energy work, nutrition, and NSA – I can see signs of age reversal.

I dislike being dependent on external factors, and I prefer any approach that comes without props or long term commitments. So I was thrilled to find that after a time in Dr. Paul’s care, my body started adjusting itself at various times of the day and night, when exercising, or simply stretching in bed or sitting at my desk. A lot of the tension gone, this body had become softer, more flexible, and self-adjusting! My sensitivity increases; so with a clear nervous system, and more neural pathways created, my perception and self-awareness have been expanding.

And I could swear, the NSA makes me more intelligent! Once ‘allergic’ to technology, I now found myself buying and learning to use a laptop, an iPhone, webinar software and in general, things that I thought I’d have to hire a teen to teach me!

Two months ago, however, I felt I reached a plateau. I have an arsenal of helpers which include a life coach and mastermind buddy; a healer, a nutritionist, and more recently I added an osteopath and – after a break of a few years – a naturopathic doctor who works with classical homeopathy. All require an investment of time and money, and I decided to manage my resources by placing my NSA membership on hold. I was also curious to see how I would do without the weekly entrainments. I announced Dr.Paul and his assistant that I am doing an experiment.

Soon after my last entrainment, I experienced an occasion that triggered me emotionally. I felt tension building around my head, like a dense and heavy cloud. I used Reiki, Qi-Gong and prayer to remove that cloud. It only helped partially. The cloud descended from the head to around the neck and shoulders, and then to the upper back. After a while, the tension sank from my energy field deep into my body, gradually turning into stiff joints and muscles, and such rigidity that it made it difficult for me to walk. I could feel the tension linger, and none of the practices I attempted really cleared that tension. I tried stretching and exercising, but my body would simply not let go of that tension. It would take lots of kryiayoga activities to feel some improvement, but nothing really softened the body the way I remembered possible since being introduced to NSA. Weighed down by the accumulated tension, my posture was deteriorating and I found myself hunching, unable to stand tall and lift my chest up. The emotional states associated with a hunched posture are no good news: sadness, anger and aggression.

So a few days ago I showed up for ‘a double’ (two entrainments with a fifteen minute break in-between). Dr. Paul wasn’t in, and Dr. Amanda Chan, who works in Dr. Paul’s office (The Bodymind Wellness Studio) treated me. At some point on the therapy table, I burst into tears of release. I actually connected with the repressed emotions inside, and released them. Such a relief! I returned home with a much softer body, and after all these weeks, a greater degree of comfort and pleasure being in my skin. My body took its time letting go of the tension during my first entrainment; but by the next day, when I returned for more with Dr. Paul, the memory of what it is like to release with ease started to kick in. Paul’s words: “Let’s get you some flow going in your Chi and in your Life” were music to my ears.

My experiment had succeeded! I learned that getting used to high levels of wellness erases the memory of suffering. It’s easy and tempting to take wellness for granted. I also learned that in time, the body-mind adopts new strategies that it then applies independently.

“What if I move to Africa” I asked Dr. Amanda, “and there is no Network chiropractor there? How do I deal with this dependence on the Network care?”

“Same as you deal with your dependence on taking supplements, meditating and exercising” she replied, smiling.

Great. Now I’m hooked on Pycnogenol, Zumba, Buddhist meditation, wild blueberries, and Network Chiropractic. Better watch out: it spreads too!

For Dr. Paul Newton’s office click here.

To read more on Network Spinal Analysis, click here.

Spiritual Healing, Subtle Energy Healing

2010-04-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

How does spiritual healing work, and how is it different from subtle energy healing? Are some methods better than others? Are all healers equally effective? Here is what I discovered as both a healer and a healing client:

First of all, to understand how healing works, you need to understand that part of you which gets the healing: your body. Or, more correctly, your bodies.
Image source: here

The Gross body is the vehicle for expressing your awake state; it is what you experience as Body.

The Subtle body is the vehicle for expressing your dream state, whether during your sleep, or daydreaming. This is what you experience as Mind. This is where thought creates matter.

The Causal body is the vehicle for expressing the dreamless deep sleep. It is what you experience as Spirit. This is where thought is formed.

Some healing arts, such as Qi Gong, Shiatsu, Therapeutic Touch, or Quantum Touch, work with the subtle energies for healing purposes. The methods can be learned from teachers and written or multimedia materials. The student learns how to move subtle energy using movement of their own body, their breath, and through visualization.

Healing arts such as Reiki, are referred to as spiritual healing, as their origin is in the causal body, beyond the organizational field of the mind. Since the healing flow transmitted through the healer to the healee is not originated in the mind, but beyond, it cannot be learned from written or multimedia materials. Such healing arts are transmitted from teacher to student during an initiation. Such initiation is called, in the case of Reiki, ‘attunement’.

The mind acts as a bridge between body and spirit, carrying the information from one to the other. In the case of subtle energy healing arts, the cognition is actively engaged in the healing process, assessing the situation, solving problems, visualizing the energy moving where necessary. In the case of spiritual healing, the cognition’s task is to ‘stay out of the way’, not to interfere with the healing process, but to allow it to happen.

While all healing energy is originated from the One Source, they are stepped down, filtered and translated by the consciousness of the healer. Consciousness evolves, and each healer is a human being with a unique mapping of lines and levels of development. Differences vary in terms of intelligence, integrity, state of consciousness, stage of consciousness development, belief system etc.

Results are a variable determined by a multitude of factors including the method, the healer, the healing client’s structure and psychological makeup and the extent of trust and rapport between healer and client.

To read more on healing and Reiki, and to learn Reiki, click here.

The Many Faces of Love

2010-04-19T12:09:00.001-07:00

Why is it that so much of the human mind is busy searching for love, finding love, grieving lost love, praising love? Humanity is writing about love, composing music and lyrics on love, movies on love; love holidays, colors, feasts, stores, letters.

And the thirst is barely ever quenched.

Ten years ago, I got married, looking for love. Then I discovered he was looking too. Hoping to satisfy our hunger for love in each other's company, we ended up feeling even more starving.

Last week, my husband said to me: "It must have been quite the experience for you, moving from Romania to Israel, and finding all the new, exotic smells and tastes." I was blown away. In a rare and precious moment, my husband actually took my perspective. He empathised with me. He could actually place himself in my shoes and for a brief moment, he saw the world through my eyes. He saw what I saw. And I felt loved.

Why is it so mind blowing to have another put himself in your own shoes? Why is it that every time you hurt, you run to someone
else to say 'ouch', and every time you accomplish, or discover something joyful, you run again to someone else to say 'wow'? And when they look at you, and tell you: 'I can see, hear and feel your pain or joy', you feel loved. And when they fail to see it, and reject it, you feel lonely, disconnected, disappointed, and let down. It goes the other way round too: when you manage to deeply see into another's mind and feelings, it makes you feel closer to them, and loving; when you fail seeing, hearing, and feeling another, it makes you disconnect, estranged.

Love seeks communion. Love, this awesome, tremendous Kosmic force, plays the game of…well, Love. The game is: Love, as a force, needs an object, an 'other'. It needs a separate other it can commune with. It's the Primal Creator splitting parts of itself, through which it can see itself as itself; parts that go their separate ways until they find each other, commune with each other in and because of Love. Love makes atoms bind together in molecules; it makes molecules commune with each other and form cells; Love causes cells to commune with each other and form organisms, which commune with each other to form communities and so forth.

Sharing one's deepest feelings, concerns, values and ideas with others is a form of communion. Erotic embrace is a form of communion. Taking active part in fulfilling the dreams and goals of another human, or of a group of people, is a form of communion. And so are potluck meals – 'breaking bread' together. Affectionate touch – and any other expression that diminishes distance between beings, are forms of communion, therefore, expressions of Love.

Maybe this is why driving in Montreal and Israel is such a unique experience: everybody's tailgating everybody else, in a vibrant, hard-to miss expression of traffic communion!

I grew up in Romania, where sadly, to this day, the cities are filled with stray dogs. Travelling around I noticed that I could tell something about the people of a place, by the looks and friendliness of the place's stray dogs. In some places dogs are fearful and aggressive, shying away from humans, at times even attacking. These are the places where dogs grow up from puppyhood learning to fear man's angry boots and bats.

In other places, stray dogs look well-fed and socialized, trusting of people, and at times even affectionate. I've seen neighbourhoods 'adopting' such dogs, letting them sleep in the lobby of buildings, feeding them, taking them to the vet when needed; and the semi-adopted stray dogs look beautiful.

I think that any being that is loved and cared for is beautiful. My mother-in-law talks to her plants. She has beautiful, thriving plants. I think that merely declaring love is seldom a truthful expression of love; but deeply listening and seeing another; caring; speaking truthfully; actively engaging in other people's lives – all these are true expressions of love.

What is Beauty, if none other than looking at self and others through the eyes of Love? We may or may not agree about that which is beautiful – because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But there is something common among all things universally agreed upon as beautiful, such as Japanese gardens with cherry blossoms, or Mozart's music, or a bright, clear sky sunset in the sea, or the deep green of a luscious forest in the summer. What do you think makes these beautiful in the eyes of so many? Maybe it's harmony, a certain order that is a high-grade form of love. Maybe you can see Love in the industrial buildings of the city – and I know one talented painter who paints them with gusto – and maybe you can find Love in a bountiful, state-of-the art shopping mall.

And yet, when asked to relax and imagine a safe, sacred spot of beauty, nobody imagines himself or herself at the mall, or with machinery. Most people imagine a garden, or a beach, or a meadow in the forest.

Love thrives on closeness, on knowing each other; it thrives on harmony and order and on beauty. And when your arms and heart are open to all Love's expressions, you become as beautiful as a Japanese garden with cherry trees in blossom.

Conversations: Food or Poison?

2010-03-25T17:35:00.001-07:00

Did you ever feel tired and drained of energy without an apparent reason (like building a brick house or cutting wood)? Out of clear blue sky, after being your merriest self, something happens and – bang! - your mood takes a nose dive. Now you're happy, now you're not. You know what I mean?

Think of the times your mood has turned around just after a conversation. One word, and the whole atmosphere changed. During my banking years, a manager in my branch confessed to me about the power he had to turn around the entire meaning of a worker's performance review. "If I write that this person has excellent work efficiency", he explained, "it sounds different than when I write that the person is efficient most of the time". "Most of the time" means "not all of the time" and that doesn't look good on the review.

Why is it that a word, or a look, or a gesture, can make such a difference?

Look at intentionality – that place where behaviour stems from. It's not just what people say or do, but why they say or do it.

"Words can kill and words can heal". Or, maybe not the words themselves, but the message they carry. And, just like substance, the energy that fuel words and conversations can be either nourishing, or toxic. What is the difference between a toxin and a nourishing substance? Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of "Biology of Belief", mentions a lab experiment: they put a cell in a Petri dish. Then they add a toxin in the dish. As a result, the cell moves away from the toxin. Then they add nourishment in the Petri dish. The cell moves towards the nourishment.

Nourishment is what supports life. It adds to it. It strengthens the system. Toxins inhibit life. They take away from it. They weaken the system. This is true with gross matter. This is also true with subtle energies, with emotions, with thoughts, with words.

I have been pondering on conversations I have participated in, and how it affected me and the interlocutors. And, unlike the lab conditions, life, relationships and conversations are not Petri dishes. More often than ever, nourishment is delivered together with toxins. Just like in the kitchen. How many foods do you know that are 100% digestible, pure, uncontaminated?

That's why you have detox Meisters in your system, like your kidneys and your liver. You eat the food, filter out the toxins, keep the nutrients, and thrive. Life goes on because life goes strong.

What is your gastronomic ideal, then? Is it to always ingest foods that are as high in nutrients as possible, with little or no toxins in them? Or is it to have such a strong and functional immune system, that, just like some Chinese Qi Gong Masters, you can eat broken glass and still be okay? Or a bit of both?

Let's face it, living in lab conditions do not foster a strong immune system. A bit of exposure to the bad stuff makes you strong. The mythical Rasputin was said to drink poison (poison is what you call a deadly toxin) in order to build immunity to it, which he did.

So going back to conversations: a little bit of bitching, complaining and sarcasm may not kill you. It may, in fact, make you stronger. That is, if you have a good filtering system. Otherwise, you get contaminated with the bitching bug and start spreading it yourself.

Now it's really up to you to decide if you want to 'go Rasputin' and participate in conversations that would kill a small lab mouse. Or, start your filtering at the oral level, and keep your conversations supportive, inspiring, uplifting, energizing, life enriching. In other words, nourishing.

Shopping List:

Toxins

Nourishment

Gossiping

Complaining

Demanding

Insults

Disencouraging

Negative value judgments

Sarcasm and Irony

Contempt

Acknowledging

Appreciating

Requesting

Compliments

Encouraging

Positive inquiry

Authentic self-disclosure

Respect

Reiki Beyond Belief

2010-02-18T10:20:00.001-08:00

Sara took Reiki to help her 8 year old anorexic son. Dana learned because I was her close friend. Dad and step-Mom learned because I was their daughter. Magda learned because her daughter Liora took the class as well. Others learned out of curiosity, or to address health or life issues. And for many of these people, myself included, life became 'before and after Reiki'.
During the Reiki I class, Magda couldn't list three positive traits about herself. She could list thirty about Liora, her daughter, but not about herself. Within a year from the class, Magda was taking general interest courses and joining her husband cruising on their yacht. Within a year from surgery, having being diagnosed with cancer, Dad was declared free of it. For the entire year, he was using Reiki, meditation and journaling as his daily routine.
A woman, who was struggling to make it with Multi-Level Marketing, changed her career to a passion so long lost but so dear to her, that she had teary eyes when mentioning it during the Reiki class: photography. My friend Liora, Magda's daughter, quit a boring job and opened her home-based healing clinic. Reiki was the launching pad for her to learn other modalities, and she is so talented that I will get on her therapy table with any chance I have!
And me, I quit a stressful, meaningless banking career to be a Reiki healer and teaching Master. Oh, and I started writing and painting again, and reading and growing, and achieving dreams I had not dared dream of. I stopped smoking cold turkey; and stopped drinking coffee, and ingesting alcohol. I took up physical activities, and then I took up helping others for the sheer joy of it. I crossed an ocean to relocate; changed my marital status from S to M; learned how to drive at 40; initiated and led people to ventures from a retreat to a business show with speakers and vendors and the whole shebang. Wrote a book in less than thirty days and last weekend I drove myself alone to Montreal and back to Ottawa! Oh, and I delivered my first workshop, a 'Love Workshop', in French.
And I'm still going.
I witness significant growth and transformation within the people who, myself included, have been initiated into the healing art of Reiki. They, we, evolved to a greater degree of integrity and freedom; greater capacity to access and express wisdom; greater expressions of love and care; better life skills, and more.
I have taught Reiki classes since 1999. Like all Reiki teaching Masters, the classes reflected my levels, states and stages of development, in each moment. In the beginning, I talked about the angels. Then I talked about science and energy. Then about language and verbal communication.
Today, it's the Integral Theory, as presented by Ken Wilber.
When you drive from A to B, you need two things: to pay attention to the road (presence), and a good map to navigate with. Maybe you could drive without a map, but it would take you longer to get there and there are no guarantees about where you'll end up! The Integral Theory is the most comprehensive map for life, consciousness, you and God existing in the world at this time. And I am a student of it.
Prior to the Reiki I initiation, I usually lead the students through a guided meditation where they get to meet a 'friendly being'. Interestingly, Christian students often see Jesus Christ; Jewish students often see their deceased grandmother or some other living or deceased member of the family; Hindu students see Hindu deities; here and there someone will see Angels, a pet, or a sage. This caused me to ask myself questions about the nature of reality.
Is Reiki a way to connect with Angels? Jesus? Lost pets, Spirit Guides? And who, specifically? What is the truth?
In each person's internal landscape there are levels of development, states, and stages of consciousness.
Example of Levels: how high are your various intelligences are (cognitive, psycho-sexual, moral, social etc)?
States of consciousness are temporary ways of being. For example, you have an awake state (the one you are in now, as you read this); a dream-state; and a deep sleep, dreamless state. Or, you can have a peak experience, such as when listening to beautiful music, watching a spectacular sunset or making love. You can also have altered states of consciousness induced by spiritual practices or substances, or intense pain. States of consciousness are available at all levels of development and stages of consciousness. They are freebies you get, not something you 'order'.
Stages of consciousness are something you achieve through growth. You act purposefully in order to achieve a stage; and once you're there, it's yours, you have earned it. A stage of consciousness is like a language: once you have it, you can't lose it. Examples of stages of consciousness are: egocentric (it's all about me); ethno-centric (it's all about us but not the others); worldcentric (it's all about all of us), and it goes on.
During the Reiki initiations and the preceding guided meditation, many Reiki students have peak experiences. The way they interpret these peak experiences depends on their developmental level, their stage of consciousness and the corresponding belief system.
When I realized this, I had to change the way I teach Reiki. If I hiccup when watching cartoons, I can't teach people that cartoons make you hiccup. The only authentic and liberating way for passing on Reiki to others is the evolutionary way, which takes the mind beyond any prescribed beliefs, and opens a space for growth.
The Integral Theory has become the framework for my living and working. It became the framework for the Reiki class. This way the student can locate the Reiki healing art on the integral map for each of the levels, from Reiki I to the Reiki Master. Reiki is acquired as the powerful tool it is for healing, without the limitations of a belief system to buy into, but rather as a tool for self exploration and advancement.
Reading the integral map reveals to the student where she or he is at, highlighting strengths and areas of growth. Reiki brings a spiritual and energetic support to evolve.
Reiki is a powerful force, and it is neutral. It is as neutral as water. The force of water can either flood cities or light them up. The fact that the Life Force Energy 'Ki' is spiritually guided, makes it powerful, but not biased. Spirit is not biased. Human mind is. The good vs. bad values are of the mental, not spiritual domain. Those who practice martial arts know this. The martial art practitioner sees a force directed at him or her as neutral, potentially either an adversary or a resource. It is how this force is put to use that makes it foe or friend. Another example is atomic power: in the wrong hands, it is a threat to the safety of many; in the right hands, it is a rich resource.
When you are locked in a single perspective, such as a belief system, or a consciousness structure, Reiki will strengthen you in that perspective. When you are willing and able to take multiple perspectives, Reiki will support your liberation and integrity.
Consciousness structures move from magical/archaic to mythical to rational to integral (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Gebser) So for example, a student whose consciousness is at the level of magical / archaic structure, will translate his or her peak experiences as seeing totem animals or faeries. A student whose consciousness is at the mythical structure, will be reinforced in the belief of his or her myth. For example, someone who beliefs in the mythical Jesus (who walked on water), will see more of Jesus!
The problem with mythical structures is that they are ethnocentric and so they exclude those who don't believe in one particular myth. Read the news and the history books, and you will learn about the wars started by the mythical structures.
If you wouldn't want atomic power in the hands of ethnocentric people, who care about 'us but not them', then you want to make sure that those who have it care about 'all of us' (which include all people, all sentient beings, all beings).
As a student of the Integral Theory and as one who has a daily Life Integral Practice, the Reiki classes I offer today are in this integral context and designed to advance the students to their next levels and stages of evolution. This is true particularly with Reiki Masters, who, as they will teach this further, are now required to read Ken Wilber's "Integral Vision" before their training.
This way, Reiki becomes a tool of liberation, beyond belief (pun intended!) and towards greater integrity.
To your freedom and fullness!
Tana
http://www.tanasaler.com/
Reiki classes schedule: www.tanasaler.com/calendar

A Meaningful Life

2010-01-13T09:36:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I fantasize about what I would do if I had millions of dollars coming to me out of clear blue sky, and if I didn't have to work. What would I do?

Yes, yes, I would take some time to travel, take a couple of cruises and visit some exotic places I have never seen; swim with dolphins in Hawaii. I would rent the 'Stalbet al ha Maiym' funky spa at the Dolphin Reef on the Coral Beach in Eilat, Israel, for the whole day, for my family and friends. Then buy the houses and the cars, the trinkets and then what?

Clear the debts; help my loved ones, family and friends. Give to charity and support my favourite causes. Then invest so my money will make even more money. Then what?

I wake up in the morning, and I have my dream life. I don't have to lift a finger, and it all comes to me easily. I can spend the day on the beach, and in the beauty salon. Then what?

Then I would get bored to tears.

Even when I travel, I feel compelled to do something significant for others. There is an alarm system inside my head that goes off every time I hear someone encountering a psychological, life or spiritual challenge. The fixer in me has a pop-up feature. It pops-up and makes me want to fix. I do this at the parties, in the bus, and on the plane. I do this all the time.

Two years and a half ago, I was visiting Israel and Romania. On my way back from visiting my parents in Bucharest, Romania, on the plane, I was sitting behind to elderly ladies who seemed unusually anxious. "Is there a buzzer we can ring for someone to come in case anything happens?" one of them asked a male flight-attendant. "In case anything happens" rang a bell in my ears, as I recognized fear in this woman's voice. The flight attendant gave the ladies a reassuring instruction which didn't seem to lift the anxiety I was reading on their face and in their voice.

I tapped the ladies on their shoulders. They turned back. The plane was still waiting to take off. "Excuse me, I overheard your conversation; have you flown before?"

"No", they replied in one voice, confirming my suspicions. "This is our first time we fly."

"May I offer you a tool, something to put you at ease with the flight?"

"Oh, yes, please!" replied the two ladies, hopeful for relief.

I did a round of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) with them, addressing the fear of flight, and the whole web of related fears they had around flying. The worst one was the fear of an air crash, of dying. We tapped on acupuncture points and cleared that too. Then the plane took off, and I proceeded to do my favourite thing while in the air: snoozing.

Two hours and a bit later, at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, the two ladies fastened their pace to catch up with me, as I was heading to retrieve my suitcases. "Hello! Hello!" they called. I turned around and they came all over me, hugging me and kissing me, profusely thanking me for what I did with them. Apparently they had a peaceful and enjoyable flight. They were grateful. They were hoping I would look them up when I traveled to their town. I had made their day. And they made mine.

I cannot compare the joy of contributing to other people's life with anything else joyful that I know. Being able to touch people's lives in way that transforms them is priceless and makes my heart sing.

Sometimes, in cold Canadian winter days and nights, another fantasy pops up in my mind. You see, I have no dependents, apart from my dog. I could live anywhere I want in the world. And so, at times, I dream about going somewhere warm, stay in a hotel, eat in the hotel's restaurant, and open a "Tana's Healing Hut" business on the beach. Have a massage table, a rustic little hut around it, and give hands-on healing to the tourists the whole day. Go for a swim in my lunch hour. Go dance after hours. No worries. No digging in the people's subconscious to find deep, dark demons to take by the horns. Just nicey-nicey feel-good therapy. Tourists are there to have fun. They don't want transformation. They want to feel good. I can give them soothing, feel-good hands-on 'pootzileh-mootzileh' therapy.

Oh, dear Heavens, how soon before I'd get bored to tears again?

I am not so sure my purpose in life is to just 'feel good'. I don't think my purpose in life is to feel any specific way. I think I am here to live authentically and express my true nature, which is mine to realize. And I think I am here to grow, to evolve, and in the same time, to contribute to the growth, to the evolution of others, of the world that I am part of. How do I know? Because I feel this pull. Because even the thought of living without growth and contribution bores me to tears.

Because what makes me thrive and radiate with joy, more than dancing or a day on the beach, is enriching Life, and meaningfully contributing to Life: mine, yours, others'.

Don't get me wrong: I still would like to cruise and visit Hawaii. But don't be surprised if you find me on the beach, getting someone to tap on acupuncture points for an hour or two!

2009: My Year in a Nutshell

2009-12-29T20:23:00.001-08:00

Today is one of the coldest days of the year. Which is exactly what Kinook, my ten year-old Akita-Chow dog likes.

This morning we took a long walk in the woods, at just a seven minutes drive up my street. The sky was pure, clear azure, and the sun was shining in all its glory, filtering down golden light through trees' branches. A couple of days ago we had freezing rain, and every tree and tree branch is still covered with a glossy film of ice. Kinook and I walked, having the whole space to ourselves to explore. We split the tasks: she explored the ground, and I, the treetops. While her wet nose was reading the snow and tree roots, my eyes stayed lifted up to the sky. The branches were glistening in the sun, looking, and in the perfect quiet stillness of the morning, sounding, like crystal chandeliers clinkering in the wind. It was a spectacular Light and Sound show.

I feel fortunate to have the time, the eyes and mind and heart and all that it takes to appreciate such beauty. December has provided me with a slow pace of contemplation.

The year, however, has started with a high-paced array of renewed activities. In January, I started exercising again, after a long break. I found my way in the fitness room, but after toying with machines for a while, I steered towards fitness classes. I discovered Zumba, the Latin fitness, and I LOVE it! With the right instructor, this is the most playful and sexy fitness I know of. I always laugh during the class, and have too much fun to realize what hard work it is.

A year ago I joined a social group, and this changed completely my Ottawa social life. Now I have one! So this year I have been partying and making up for all the years I hadn't. I have been singing karaoke, taking Cuban Salsa classes, bowling, mini golfing, camping, going to pool parties, home parties, picnic parties, you-name-it-parties. In June I went to my first camping trip in Canada. Raised my tent on my own for the first time ever! Tasted wilderness without showers. Noticed that the Sano Dai Israeli mosquito repellent does a great job repelling Canadian mosquitoes, but does nothing to deter the Great Canadian Black Fly from sinking its teeth in my flesh!

For the first four months of the year, I ran a pilot project called "The Love Workshops". The workshops were offered weekly in my Network Chiropractor's office downtown, and they covered all Love aspects from erotic love to spiritual love, passion, flirting, the masculine and feminine energies, communication skills and more. They were extremely successful, with groups size around eighteen, twenty something, sometimes thirty people. Most of the participants were members of my social group, where I advertised. My reputation went ahead of me, and they decided to nickname me the "Love Guru". I had a wonderful time with the Love workshops, and I am now working on taking them from experiment to lucrative. Stay tuned!

After half a year of having the time of my life, the ceiling fell. Seriously, and literally. In July we had some heavy rains, and an old roof leak caused part of the living room ceiling to collapse, revealing mold. Mold can be toxic, and neuro-toxic (affecting the nervous system). The bad news is that I went crazy inhaling the thing. The good news is, this was an old problem that got revealed – 'the bubble burst!- so I could solve it.

It had been quite some time that I was sensing a funny odor in the house. With a hole in the ceiling, I recognized the smell, and now it was strong and pungent. This was just what I needed to get me off my ass, and even get Jeff off his, and clean the house, and change everything I wanted to change and never did. I tore away all the carpeting in the house, and I gratefully found real hardwood floor underneath! Then, we called the Mice-Busters because we had mice infestation, and when we cleaned the basement, and disturbed them, they looked for new nests upstairs. We hired the "Humane Wildlife Control" guys, who block the entrances and install one-way exits for the little buggers. So the house becomes mice-free, and nobody gets hurt.

Mold, mice, dirt, cobwebs, you-name-it, it was there. I faced my worst nightmares. I was cleaning the house, and crying. Crying and cleaning. I felt like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom. I had some help with the work, but still did a lot of ripping, tearing, lifting, carrying, moving, sweeping, mopping and painting. Reorganized the house too! Jeff's toy soldiers moved downstairs. His room is in the Marriage area of the house according to Feng-Shui. One day, after dreaming that I was violently killing Jeff, he agreed to remove the soldiers. I could feel the hostility tension leaving with every batch that returned to its box; and felt increasing affection inside. Even Jeff, who 'doesn't believe in these things' can tell the difference. Jeff has now the downstairs, where I used to teach my classes. He turned the rec (recreation) room into his den, He decorated it with his Northern art, and of course, battle scenes; the toy soldiers are doing a good job keeping us safe from basement demons J I got my upstairs office back, all mine now, and made it cozy, with a lazy-boy chair, candy dish, exotic décor, candles and incense. It's just the best place for creativity. The office is in the 'children and creativity' area of the house (Feng-Shui stuff).

The living room was the last to get fixed. In the meantime, we have a new roof (I think of the metaphor of having a new roof over my head), new ceiling and walls in the living room, new feel about the house, and even a new car (a Toyota Yaris 2008). It has certainly been a year of renewal (and renovation).

The living room has been already tested: it has amazingly pure and clear energy for my Reiki classes, and for meditation and yoga. The energy in the entire house feels light, bright and clear. I enjoy being at home, and now that the hardest work is behind me, and I recovered from the mold and stress induced craziness, I am basking in the fruit of all this work. I am very, very grateful.

In September I spent ten days in a retreat with Swami Satyam, my Kryiayoga guru from India. Ate vegan, did my practice, and I must confess that keeping up with my practice makes a difference. Kryiayoga is very powerful stuff, and I am fortunate to have found it. One of the Kryiayoga tricks is the direction of the eye gazing: up, looking ahead to a space in front of my forehead. I have noticed that when I put myself in a negative self-talk trance (in plain English, when I think bad thoughts), my eyes point down. The moment I catch myself doing it, I lift the eyes, and I snap right out of the trance. Changing the eye gazing direction changes my internal state.

November was an exhilarating month for me. On October 31^st, I found out about the NaNoWriMo or "National Novel Writing Month" contest, which was starting the next day, on November 1^st. I had thirty days to write a novel of at least 50,000 words – no revising or editing, just right-brain writing. Quantity, not quality. I had wanted all my life to write, and every time something seemed to be in the way. Too much of this, too little of that. Well, it is amazing what I can do when presented with a deadline. I wrote my book and had a draft of 55,000 words in 27 days! I won! Now I have a draft to complete, revise, edit and publish, plus ideas for the next books! I noticed that the more I write, the easier it gets. I 'flush' the creativity channel. I also have the feeling that writing books is like giving birth to children. The first one is the hardest, and then the next ones just pop out. I can't wait to find out!

December has been a sweet, easy month, sprinkled with snow, Hanukah candles, more parties, and shopping. I love the first snows, the virgin fluffs that crunch under my steps. It's Kinook's favourite time of the year. If in the summer she refuses to get out of the car because it's either raining, or too hot, or too scary because of fireworks and fire crackers, well, in the winter she refuses to return to the car after our walk. I call her, keep the door open for her like a valet, and this little stubborn monkey-face goes towards the opposite direction, 'cause there's yet another paw-print or pee-print she has to sniff.

In the middle of the month, I received a humongous package from Israel, filled with funky, adorable clothes. My friend Dana sent it to me, and I was in the Ninth Heaven unpacking and trying them on. Ottawa's fashion carries both a Victorian and North-American capital flavour in its signature, rendering it too austere for my taste. The Israeli fashion is nonchalant, feminine and playful; it made me both homesick and uplifted to wear clothes with 'a taste from home'.

All throughout the year I have been in touch with friends, local and overseas, thanks to technology. In November I bought a Bezek (Israeli phone company) service that gives me a local Tel Aviv phone number, so now anyone in Israel can call me at no cost! Is this good, or good? I am a people person, and I need people like I need air. Which is why I am writing this, so I can feel you closer to me, to my heart, by sharing my 2009 adventures with you.

And I wish you a New Year filled with blessings and joy of all kinds; a luminous, prosperous year for you and yours. May you grow in your human and spiritual capacity, integrally, and in the flow; and may you always know greater freedom and greater happiness. May your life be full and meaningful. I am glad you are in my life, and caring to read this. I am grateful.

Happy New Year! With lots of Love,

Tana

Passion

2009-12-03T21:20:00.001-08:00

Excerpt from my book: "Finding Passion: a Woman's Journey from Ouch and Blah to WOW!"

"Looking back at events in my life, even as memories are filtered through time, I notice how some events are remembered as good and others as bad. Things are far from being black and white. Yet, whenever I dream of myself working at the bank, it's a nightmare. Whenever I think of a certain lover, it's a pleasure. If any sadness arises, it stems from not having his love and presence in my experience right now.

Oh, eroticism is madness, it is the madness of the ego amplified and magnified, and projected upon another. And yet this bittersweet addiction is luring and tantalizing, and giving shape and color to all that it means to be human. How hollow a walking and talking a carcass of a human is without the passion. Bitter, hardened, righteously resentful minds are clouding the skies of life on frowned faces and pursed lips. Repressed and disowned sexuality and sensuality turns us humans into walking zombies: here but not quite here. Repression and denial is eating away at our bodies' health from within, either covering us in layers of blubber that wrap us like hideous sacks, or sucking us dry like raisins; unable to feel, constipated and dry.

But the greatest poetry and the most magnificent symphonies have been created from the madness of being fully alive, shamelessly exuberant, fully incarnated and anchored in this world, celebrating life and humanity with all its ups and downs and light and dark and dramas and comedies.

Take away the passion, and we cease to exist. I am not saying it's bad to cease to exist. Most enlightened minds have pursued cessation of incarnation, stopping this cycle of samsara and 'graduating' from humanity into other expressions of the eternal. All I am saying is that through this passion, our humanity is shaped.

I choose passion because I choose to be alive: alive, juicy, sultry, cheeky, and very, very human.

Clairsentience

2009-11-11T09:12:00.001-08:00

Ten years ago, when reading my first Reiki book, the corners of my mouth went down, eyebrows up, and my head was nodding. They authors were talking about scanning energy with the hands.

Feeling anything with my hands was an 'interesting concept' for me at the time. I told myself 'not in a million years'. But the fact of the matter is, with non-physical channels of perceptions such as the ones in the center of the palms, reading energy is as easy as opening your eyes and looking around.

Your perception has five physical channels of perception – sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste – and several non-physical ones. You live in an ocean of pulsating energy, moving at various frequencies and wavelengths. Of all the information around you, you become aware of that which you pay attention to, when you tune in. If you look at it, you see it. Listen to it, and you'll hear it. Touch it, and you'll feel it. Tune in with your non-physical channels of perception and you'll read it.

Which is exactly what students of Reiki learn during their first level of training.

Each channel of perception, physical or non, specializes in a particular range of vibration. You are likely aware that sound, color and scent are energy. And you are certainly aware that you can't smell Mozart or listen to purple or see sour. That's because from the ocean of energy out there, the eyes tune in a particular range, send the signal to the brain, and the brain interprets it as color, or image. Same with sound: the ears receive a vibration which moves parts of your inner ear, which send information to the brain, and the brain interprets it as Mozart, or a motorbike, or a bell, or whatever you are tuning in.

This is exactly what happens with the non-physical channels of your perception, if you know how to use them and how to interpret the information.

Clairvoyance, clairaudience and clairsentience are terms that describe people who have cultivating the ability to tune in, read and interpret subtle energies, those vibrations that are not obvious to your senses. Since much of the subtle energies are thoughts and emotions, reading them informs you of the mental and emotional quality of other people, objects, spaces, and even books! As you navigate through life, learning, growing and contributing, this can mean for your choices the same as opening your eyes when you drive your car.

This is why you would benefit from taking the Reiki training. After only one day of class, you are able to identify subtle energies and discern which of them are supportive of your goals, and which are less. Which people are in harmony with you, and which are less. Which foods agree with you, and which agree less. What living and working spaces are like in your life.

Reading energy is the first step before moving it. If you like a physically clean home and office, you will LOVE an energetically clean space for you to live, work, and love in.

Learn more on how you can learn Reiki now by clicking the links below:

http://www.tanasaler.com/reiki_classes_&_training.htm

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2mk6m709c7876b1

Brightest blessings,

Tana

Clear Ways

2009-10-22T15:00:00.001-07:00

Who would have thought that home improvements can be so distressful and exhilarating in the same time?

It started with the heavy rains in July. When a part of the ceiling fell, something switched inside me, and I found myself cleaning and scrubbing and changing everything I wanted changed in the house, but had postponed for a long time. If you think facing an angry boss or distant husband is difficult enough, try facing mold, mice, cobwebs, a leaking roof, and a husband who would rather play computer games than clean house. I literally faced my worst nightmares, cleaning and changing and upgrading the house with my own hands. Yes, I had some extra – very able! – hands helping me. The whole process was extremely demanding physically and mentally. It kept me awake at night, away from my beloved social life, away from my beloved practice.

The whole menagerie of inner demons awoke: frustration, fears, anger, discouragement and sheer fatigue. I visited Dr. Paul Newton, my Network chiropractor, more often than usual. I took antioxidants and took some time away at a kryiayoga retreat. All this helped. But I don't know where I'd be without EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), Reiki, the Shadow Work and all the other tools I have used every day during this time. Looking out through my (crystal clear) window, I ask myself how do people cope with intense emotions without these tools.

Beginning with this Fall, Clear Ways workshops are offered to learn, practice and clarify EFT, Shadow Work and more. The workshops are offered to my clients and students, who, having seen progress in their life with our work in sessions together, would like to speed up the pace of growth by applying the tools at home, autonomously. They are also perfect for those who wish to sample the effectiveness of personal growth methods. During the Clear Ways workshops, there will be explanations on how the tools work, time for practice and for questions and answers. The workshops take place in the evenings, 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Participation fee is $ 15.- and you are welcome to bring guests.

For the Clear Ways workshop schedule, visit www.tanasaler.com/calendar

Raw-cipes for Love

2009-06-09T07:03:00.001-07:00

Raw food is the nutrition craze that is spreading like wildfire. In a nutrition world of mixed messages (some tell you to only eat cooked food, others – only raw) – I've been experimenting, carefully monitoring my levels of energy, mental clarity, sexual energy, creative flow and emotional stability.

I am impressed how much higher I score in all departments when I eat mostly raw food. Pleasuring my taste buds and emotions used to be my primary goal when eating. For the past few years, food has become primarily fuel and medicine; but since I still like my food to be appealing to the senses, I have been playing with easy to make, delicious recipes. Here are two of them:

Raw Ciorba

(Pronounced tchor-buh)

Ciorba is the Romanian sour thick soup of my childhood, usually made with root vegetables, chicken, meat or fish, and rice.

Mix in a blender:

1-2 leaves of either kale, collard or chard
Juice from ½ lemon
Optional: 1 tbsp Ume-Su (Umeboshi Vinegar)
2 large tomatoes
1-2 small (Lebanese) cucumbers or 1 English cuke
Fresh herbs: parsley, dill, etc. For an authentic Romanian flavour, chop and add a handful of Lovage. Lovage seems to be more popular in Quebec, but I found mine at the Wheat Berry health food store on Main Street. Lovage (in Romanian: Leushtean) is said to be an aphrodisiac, hence the name!
½ red, orange or yellow pepper
½ small onion
1 garlic clove
½ cup walnuts (they will give the texture of 'as if' rice
2-4 cups water to taste, making your ciorba as thick as you like
Pepper to taste. My favourite spice is Mrs. Dash

Pour in soup bowls, garnish with parsley et voila!

Berry Pop'O'Tana

My usual natural pop is a mix of orange juice with Perrier, plus cranberry juice and a splash of lemon juice. But the other day I ran out of orange juice, and decided that if I don't have bread, I'll eat cake. So I took some berries out of the freezer, and made myself the most delicious smoothie-pop ever!

Blend together:

Two cups of frozen berries. Costco has huge bags of mixed blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
Splash of lemon juice
¼ cup cranberry juice. My favourite is the not-from-concentrate "Just Juice" brand I buy at Loblaws, in the health food section
After blending well, add ½l Perrier or other fizzy mineral water, and blend with a quick pulse on your blender

Pour in tall glasses, decorate with slices of lemon, lime and mint leaves, and enjoy!

Energy of Language

2009-06-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

We were all seated at the same table at Adela's wedding: my ex-boyfriend, Vince, his new girlfriend Suzie, a few other common friends, and myself.

The music started, and I almost flipped over when Vince invited Suzie to dance.

He never wanted to dance with me. Neither did Adrian, a few years back – but then I bumped into him later, as he was escorting a young woman home from a dance!

It took me years to figure out the puzzle: why were these men willing to do for other women something they never cared doing for me? When I understood myself better, and the verbal and non-verbal communication cues I was sending out, I did the one-hand clap (slapping my forehead) and groaned.

Then I learned to ask for what I wanted in a specific way – different than I was used to. As a result, not only did the people in my life agree to meet my needs, but they also felt great about it too. It turned out that people enjoyed greatly contributing to my happiness – and they still do. The world hasn't changed. My communication has.

Here is what I discovered: when I ask someone to do something for me, my attitude will cause them to either say 'yes' or 'no'. Attitude reflects the inner state one is, and communication is simply and expression of one's energy. I'll show you what I mean:

Think of one thing you have recently asked a loved one, family member or friend to do for you. Was it a request, with 'no' as an acceptable option? Or was it a demand – which means 'You do it or else!'? And what was your mental expectation as you were asking for what you wanted? Did you expect your needs to be met? Or did you think the other would say 'no' to you, and you'd end up – again – frustrated? Either way, your words and body language gave away your mind.

Think about it the other way: someone asks you for a favour. They are stressed, irritated, and say something like 'Are you ever going to do that for me, like I've been asking you for the past two weeks?' How will you respond? But if they say to you instead: 'Do you know how happy I'd be if you did that for me?' – wouldn't you at least consider it? I know I would!

I share my language discoveries and secrets at the Energy of Language workshop. If you would like to get people to please you and feel great about it too, visit the calendar at www.tanasaler.com for the date of the next Energy of Language workshop!

In the meantime, when you ask people for favours, make sure that:

Yours is a request and not a demand; make peace with either a 'yes' or a 'no'
You only ask if you think they might say yes
You share with the other what need of yours their positive response is fulfilling
You show sincere appreciation for their effort

I am so excited at the thought of seeing you at the workshop because I love contributing to the quality of your life!

Lovingly Yours,

Tana

Eros to Agape

2009-05-29T13:11:00.001-07:00

Since I remember myself, I had this unquenchable longing for a kind of love that was a 'je ne sais quoi', that – I thought – the right man or the right circumstances could fulfill. I made any single relationship mistake possible (I'm so glad I had them all covered by now) and tried everything short of sitting on my head to find true, fulfilling love.

I always found something – a spark of care, a friendship, or sizzling hot passion – but there was always something else missing. Adrian was caring, but he didn't like dancing. Cesar danced but he was secretive and emotionally distant. Benny was affectionate and emotionally available, and a creative, generous lover, but culturally and intellectually, we were worlds apart. Then came T. T was intellectually and culturally on the same page as me, but we could not light the fire of passion between us, if our lives depended on it. I was still hungry and longing for something deeply fulfilling, wondering how to get to it. Been there?

This quest for fulfilling love and belonging had me search and research, reflect and question, and do a lot of growing as a person, and as a lover. I stopped looking for perfection, but instead, I have been simply looking for fulfilling my potential.

If the human potential to love another is 100%, then that's what I want to experience and express, and maybe even expand that potential too. If my ability to relate to a man is like a piano keyboard, then I want to play a symphony of love, playing all the keys. My quest is a symphony of love, or a full-spectrum love, vibrant, colorful and alive.

Loving Adrian was half an octave or two colors. Cesar: half an octave. Green and blue. Benny: one octave an a half, red, blue, yellow. One-night stands: index fingers playing two notes ad nauseam, on grey.

So here is what I found: Love is a flow that permeates all that is. Just like ice, fluid and vapor are all different forms of water, love too can take different forms. At one end of the spectrum there is Eros, at the other: Agape.

Erotic love is to Love what Ice is to Water. Erotic love is the hot, sizzling passion that lures the Masculine Yang and the Feminine Yin energies in the embrace that possesses, haunts, takes over one's nights and one's appetite, consumes and creates.

Agape – Greek for 'spiritual love' (Metta in Sanskrit) is the all embracing love, love that uplifts, liberates, relinquishes. Agape can be found in your own heart, through meditation and other spiritual practices, through parenting and community work, through selfless, generous giving. I found Agape through Reiki, after my first ever Reiki training and attunement.

Eros identifies and possesses; Agape relinquishes and embraces; and the hunger is for both, because one without the other is as incomplete as Earth without Sky, form without Spirit, human without Soul.

Connecting through Eros, then letting go into Agape, then holding on again in erotic passion is how we grow; and how many teachers are there to show us the way? The Buddha of compassion, the Dalai Lama teaches us spiritual love, but he can't tell you and I the first thing about sex. Ruth Westheimer and Sue Johanson, on the other hand, are masters of sexual function and they can tell you exactly what to insert where, but all that stays skin deep.

This is how the Love Workshops on Monday nights were born. I decided to create a venue to share all that I have learned and discovered. In this blog I intend to share with you my experiences and insights, and I look forward hearing from you with your own wisdom, observations, experiences and questions on Love.

To find out the topic for the next Love Workshop, visit the calendar at www.tanasaler.com

With Agape :-)

Tana