Pain as a Path to Insight

Anyone who has ever suffered knows the challenge of finding meaning in the pain. Initially we seek a cause - we blame others - we blame ourselves - we blame inanimate objects or God. It must be someone's fault. Ow!! Once we get tired of that, we resign, man up, bear with it, or get going trying to alleviate the pain without ever recognizing the gift of it's presence - and there is a gift...always a gift underneath.

There is a way to relate to the energy of pain that is far more effective - one that increases our abilities and gives clear meaning to our experience. This interactive workshop will explore the yogic path of the nature of pain as a path to insight.

“Once one has committed to wholeness, all that is not that will step forward to be healed” says the Mystic.

Whether your own experience is with physical, emotional or psychic pain, you can learn new skills and open to insights that offer a clear framework for transformation. If that sounds too esoteric, just think of an ice cube melting into a puddle of water. It is not a mystery because we can observe and understand it.

All energy that is frozen in time and space can be refreshed with the warmth of new light, and that includes pain.

The gift of pain is insight, and we will shift the paradigm of mindless pain relief to one of keeping the baby while throwing out the bath water. You will come away with new and powerful insights for yourself and the world around you.

This is the essence of trauma therapy no matter how big or how small the event. No one is left out of the grace of relief - it's built into the framework as part of your energetic anatomy.

Welcome!

For more information and to register for the day at Yoga Polarity Center in Malverne Long Island, contact Lizzie Ferrara at mzliz@aol.com or call 917-288-6162.

Author and Yoga Therapist Gael Chiarella Alba ERYT is founder of The Yokibics Way and blogs on the topic throughout these posts and at www.yokibics.com.

Please tell your New York friends about this opportunity...Give yourself or a friend this gift of freedom and join us.
 
Namaste with love...
Gael

Occupy Your Heart in Times of Change

I'm in the process of planning a Flow with the Yoga of Emotional Freedom workshop for this Saturday (can you meet me in NY for some fun stuff? :)  The content is specific to folks who want to connect their yoga mat work to the bigger picture of their feelings and the emotional flows that go with them.

Even as I plan something local, I've been avidly observing the global experience of the Occupy movement starting with Wall Street.  I got to recognizing how many of us are starting to pop out of the numbness that our social - economic - political situation has engendered, and we're finding a voice for what ails us.

Whether you're active with the Occupy movement in person, sharing news posts, considering issues that will be coming to a vote, or taking private new steps with life challenges, it is truly empowering to  consider current events - as with all events - through the lens of the energetic body system.

Principle centered and practical, one of the first tenets we work with is "as within, so too without."

So let's start with what's going on within.

Have you read the statistics about depression lately??

At least 1 in 10 adults in the US suffers from it says the Centers for Disease Control in their 2011 report - and another 1 in 10 from anxiety.  Meanwhile 54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness.  That just makes it worse, don't you think? 

And check this out - as far back at 2002, the economic burden of mental illness (defined as sustained abnormal alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and impaired functioning) in the United States was substantial—about $300 billion in 2002, with a prediction that nearly 50% of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime.

As for the rest of us, according to the World Health Organization, mental illness results in more disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. 

Yikes!
 
The destructive effects of mental illnesses include disruptions of daily function, incapacitating personal, social, and occupational impairment, and premature death. The most common mental illnesses in adults are anxiety and mood disorders.

Well that's sobering, isn't it?

Does that add up to a healthy situation for any of us?


Movement is happening though, and I see the possibility of tremendously positive outcomes.  Energy anatomy follows a specific pathway. Watch for yourself and see if you start to notice more and more people changing from the 2nd chakra frame of reference so many have been in (one in which we have gotten sooo tired of caring about things we feel powerless to change that we sink into a general state of apathy) into 5th chakra territory where we collectively learn to find our voice. 

The voice itself can be an angry one, but by no means does it need to be.  The movement of lifeforce energy expresses through a systematic framework that is predictable if it is allowed to flow. With conscious attention to the 5th chakra of the voice, and to the emotion of anger itself, we can translates that impulse into strong boundaries and the knowledge that "where there's a will there's a way."

This is exactly how, and why, peaceful demonstration works - the kind that was intended by Occupy Wall Street from the start. The more we demonstrate our will to find a way - whatever the way might be - the more energy we are able to access for movement and change.

More energy = more life force and less depression.

The list of nuts and bolts and details of what that looks like isn't here yet. The fact is, there is no specific need to know - nor should there be.  That will result from the experience itself and will be discerned as time goes on.

This is good news for everybody, no matter which side of the issue you're on at the moment.


Finding a voice requires upward movement in the energy body, from becoming conscious of having a choice in the first place at the first chakra level, to discovering the power of oneness at the seventh. Onward we go through chakras 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 - ideally arriving at the sacred gift of the seventh as we grapple with the issues each represents along the way.

No matter who we are and what the issue, the flow that moves through the emotions is a sequence that goes something like this ...

Chakra 1 - Belief. What do I believe? Am I strong? Helpless? Supported? Do I feel capable? Do I have a choice?

Chakra 2 - Relating. How can I care properly for myself and those I love? Does my caring matter? Am I burned out from relating to situations with no hope of an honest return and therefore succumb to apathy?

Chakra 3 - Self Knowledge. What do I need to let go of?

(You'll notice with the Occupy Movement that one of the things we hear about is the need to let go of is shame -  shame of failure - shame at being one of the 99% - shame in the feeling that there is nothing you can do against the Goliath of corporate greed.)  This is classic 3rd chakra territory, and the antidote is nothing less than self-empowerment.

Chakra 4 - Faith. Exploring the heart of the matter. We move from fear to a faith in something different.

Chakra 5 - Will. Finding our voice, creating stronger boundaries, accessing our willpower, and aligning our will to a higher purpose.

(I believe this is where the general movement of the group consciousness is at the moment.  We aren't sure yet what that looks like exactly. The time for specifics - for knowledge and  thought comes after a strong heart and a willingness to act in the direction of something greater.)

Chakra 6 - Insight, plain and simple.  Where are we going? What new processes are being created? What's our guiding light?  Now is the time that successful plans are made, after the inspirations of heart and voice and action...

Last - and by no means least -

Chakra 7 - Grace. We are open to the inspiration of light and love in whatever way is "the best possible result for all concerned." 

Just to note - no matter what your preference is on the different variations of the American Pledge of Allegiance (see Wikipedia) they do each end with the words "with liberty, and justice for all." 

all concerned.

all.

Apparently there's been a bit of a disagreement on what that looks like....

So what have we here?

Nothing short of the impulse to move - not just our own consciousness, but the consciousness of an entire culture from disenfranchised to hopeful, active and connected, with the 7th chakra's "best possible result for all concerned" as the guiding light running the show - if we allow it, for it needs our permission in order to succeed. 

The process of life engagement that moves through this built in mechanism called energy anatomy is a natural consequence of living, and noone is exempt. One can simply allow, or disallow, the flow. We each have the ability to move through our very own specific energetic system, and somehow, without even having to understand, when the energy is moving freely it will feel right.

As far as Occupiers are concerned, although many are calling to them for a coherent statement of purpose, seeing through the vantage point of the energetic body we can answer the question "what do they want" very clearly.

It is not just a thing, or an idea, or dollars and cents, which is a bit like putting the cart before the horse.

What "they want" - what we all want - is a way of being that exudes new possibilities.

What is wanted is an experience.

Now depending on your circumstances and where your thoughts about Occupy are concerned, this is either good news or bad news :)

If things have been looking honkey-dory for you and you didn't see that strife was happening all around you, then this kind of movement might not be such good news.  But if you have noticed - if you've seen that change was needed - was required - then this is your lucky day.

Either way, just keep the highest principles of the best result for all concerned in the forefront of your mind while we get there.

Now I offer to you my own heartfelt best - If you are a leader, a mover, a shaker, a teacher, an influencer of others and you want to experience the practical and powerful framework of Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom in person with me, I invite you to look into the 6-month Yokibics Deep Dive Program in both New York and Pennsylvania beginning this November. These are exciting times and this is incredibly inspiring work.

Until then -


Blessings and namaste,
Gael

The Language of Emotional Freedom

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I came across this wonderful pledge on facebook through the razzlesdazzles page.  Do check out the site for more of the same!  All those shares he gets are "not for nothin'"

Not only is this a great message for it's powerful content - take a long quiet breath on that one - in addition it's a literal primer in the use of conscious language.  

When I teach the topic of emotional genius, I draw from an innovative series of principles including conscious language - a skill that anyone can pick up once the ears are attuned.  I notice words and the way we use them, and the way they hook into our emotional body - the very seat of our powers and passions.

Can words key us into issues of health and disease? You bet!

The words "I choose" are critical to the health of First Chakra territory - physically, emotionally, spiritually - the works.  The physical landscape is the base of the body, hips, pelvis, feet, and the legs upon which we stand.  

The emotions we invoke through the words "I choose" give us a solid place to make a stand - to plant our flag with consciousness and choice.  

Therefore the gift of power we receive through the words "I choose" is the power of consciousness.

To become conscious of oneself - to recognize one's own guiding beliefs - to bring them forward to be newly regarded and committed to OR to be thrown aside, reformed and renewed - this is what makes a human being a being in alignment with his source information...

...and THIS is the basis of health.

When we spend any part of our life in reactivity rather than in choice, we are leaking energy like a sieve. Stop the leaks and you will have more useful lifeforce at your command than all the 5-hour energy drinks you can stand.  (Ditto the coffee my loves :)

Just for today, use the words "I choose" in any situation you encounter.  See what comes up and notice if you are in alignment with what that is.

Then take a walk or do some yoga, all the while being aware of your choices and conscious of their effects.  Get active with your thoughts, words and actions - then get going with all of your parts heading in the same direction and you'll be well on your way to better health all around.

Let me know how it goes.

PS - For more information see Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom, join us in New York for a Workshop on October 22, or consider joining an online Spiritual Warrior group coming soon.  I love this work! You will too.

Blessings to all,

Gael 

 

Are you dealing with negativity much?

Do you have many joy killers in your life? You know, the kind of folks who just can't get with the program that life IS a gift even when they have to make up the fun parts?

What emotion do you think runs their circuits so that in the end these people wind up moaning that every solution has a problem...that happiness looks bleak...that your helpful insight is faulty, or that your parade is headed in the wrong direction? What maddening energy makes them tick?

They might routinely reflect the pain of living. Perhaps they have a perplexing need to focus on the shadow side of everything.  Maybe "whateva" is their old favorite catchphrase.  Perhaps it's worse than that, and you have become sick and tired of putting up with them.

Some say they are sad - others apathetic, but to me rather than blaming pain, grief, fear or apathy, negativity occurs in the anger band of emotion. 

Here we have a variation on a theme:
"I'm pissed and I'm gonna show it by acting out or not-acting...."

"The world is unfair. I have a right to be negative." 

"I'm so done here but I have to stay...and that's why I'm so miserable."
"The world is full of donutholes."

Same difference. 

It is all ANGER causing a person to create a boundary against the "unfairness" or whatever other term they like to use, and it is the best they know how to be, with little emotional recourse to be otherwise. Anger can either cause boundaries against the flow of life, or get you to make a change - and you get to choose which it will be when you become conscious of what is needed.

What Would a Mystic Do??

Each emotion is stimulated in a different area of the human bodymind.  Although all emotion can seem to be a mystery that arises from within, each is quite distinct and quite systematic in the way it stimulates a whole series of very specific energetic responses. You can pinpoint areas of the body, internal functions, descriptive words and phrases we use, and balancing strategies when addressing each one. The energetic anatomy of anger tells us that strategies are to be found in the fifth chakra territory of the throat. 

The energetic challenge embraces willpower, boundaries, truth, and voice.

Aside from what you can do for yourself to transform your own negativity, here are a few pointers on how to handle your pesky friends, co-workers and relatives, wherever they may be. They are energy sappers and they will wear you out unless you create some clear boundaries of your own.

Use the color blue, physically in your surroundings, mentally in your visualizations of them, and energetically to protect yourself, then try several of the following techniques:

o   Stop trying to fix them. Stop.

o   Make super strong boundaries around this situation and yourself.

o   Create sacred space away from this person - even a crystal or flower on your desk.

o   Separate your mental space from them with a clear distinction of what is yours and what belongs to them.

o   Do not engage the negativity.

o   Be true to your own word with this person.

o   Be crystal clear with this person.

o   No backsies with this person - if you say you are going to do something, do it.

o   Keep kindness in your tone, with a slight edge of boredom. This will help diffuse the emotional energy itself by eliminating additional emotional fuel.

o   Do not try to change this person - the focus is on changing YOU in relation to the person. They will perk up - or they won't.

o   Keep communications short and sweet.

o   Document communication as much as possible.

o   "No" is a complete sentence.

o   Clear your throat.

o   Open your breath.

o   Yawn.

o   Hum. 

Keep the love - sometimes folks will see the light and get with the program. They will choose to open up, get help, or re-educate their own perspective about the usefulness of negativity. If not, and you cannot control yourself with all of the above, tough love is in order. It is time to leave and make a new plan with people who will not make you sick.  

I know that sounds strong - it is.  

You are the one who is entrapped if you are saying how miserable something is and you can't get out.  Keep your heart open but your choices clear - you can care for negative people from afar. Plan your work and work your plan as you move toward a better tomorrow.

Chin up! Let me know how it goes.

Namaste,

Gael