|
|
The effects of global warming were
surely
palpable this holiday season. As I saw pictures in
the Wall St Journal of children in India riding an
elephant donned in red and white Santa Claus
outfits without a trace of snow, I felt that short
of the elephants, those pictures might have been
taken here in the Northeast! On December 24, people
were leaving my gym dressed only in shorts and a
sweatshirt!
I hope your new year if off to a
wonderful start and
that 2007 is a year of good things for you and those
you love.
I appreciate all the wonderful
e-letters I received
upon publication of my first e-newsletter. Thank
you. I am glad my venture into this
foreign-to-me-cyber-world is actually serving the
purpose of nurturing connections.
In this issue, I have included two
articles: one on
"The Law of Attraction and the Power of the Heart,"
and another on "Intergenerational Threads." I have
also featured a colleague of mine, executive coach
Richard Tosti, who masterfully helps people
achieve their very best.
And, there's also information about
the January
21 Healing the Traumatized Heart workshop here
in Newton, the
Healing the Traumatized Heart retreat
at Kripalu
March 16 - 18, and on-going groups and programs.
As the www.heartspacecafe.com website
remains
underconstruction, I welcome your thoughts,
feedback, resources and ideas to share with others. It's always good to
hear from you, whatever the reason!
Heartfully,
Linda
 |
|
|
The Law of Attraction and the Power of the Heart
 There is a movie that is circulating in many of my
circles these days. Perhaps you have heard of it or
seen it. It is called "The Secret," and it is about
the Law of Attraction. Because so many people I
know recommended it, I got a copy and watched it.
Much of what the movie put forth was very familiar
to me. It reminds me of why I wrote my first book,
LIVING WITH VISION: RECLAIMING THE POWER OF THE
HEART. And it is always good to be reminded about
the essence of our creative capacity as human beings
and how to use it in our lives.
A key point is that what we focus our attention on
is what we create in our lives. If we are focusing
on what we DON'T want, we will manifest just that,
what we don't want. If we are focusing our
attention on what we DO want, in time, with the help
of right action, we will mainfest what what we
really do want. This notion is not only about the
power of the mind, but also the power of the heart. A point made
repeatedly by some of the experts in
the film is that it is not enough just to visualize
what we want in our minds. We also need to FEEL it
in our hearts.
This makes total sense from an EKP point of view. After all,
the heart has the strongest
electromagnetic force field in the body. When we
feel something in our hearts, we can direct our full
power towards what we really care about. There is
also an EKP principal which says, "what calls our
attention, needs our attention." This is true both
in terms of physical sensations and feelings in the
body, and practical issues in our lives.
In the film "Eragon," which I saw recently with my
10 year-old-son and his best friend, the metaphor of
harnessing the power of the heart is presented
beautifully. In the movie, a boy is chosen to be a
dragon rider. He finds a large blue oval object,
which turns out to be a dragon egg. When the dragon
hatches, the boy nurtures the baby dragon, and
begins to build a soul deep bond with his special
friend.
One morning, after waking up with the dragon curled
beside him, he discovers a spiral mark burned into
his hand. It is the mark of a dragon rider, given
to him by his dragon. As the boy matures, he
discovers he has been given the gift of magic. And
one quality of this magic is the power of the heart. He can use his
love to heal, if he directs his
whole being's energy on the healing he wishes to
support. He uses this power to save his dragon when
she is wounded in a battle.
That movie passage reminded me of what EKP is about:
embracing the power of the heart, and using that
power to help others, to bring empowerment and
healing. And yet, a very important part of applying
the heart power is also non-attachment--turning our
will over to the divine, and asking for whatever is
highest to come through. Our creative power comes
to life when we work in concert with the universal
forces, and we become conduits for spiritual energy
to become manifest.
"The Secret" helps illustrate the creative power we
can channel when we look deep into our hearts to see
what is truly right for us, and those around us, and
when we commit to bringing this truth into our daily
lives.
For
more on EKP (Emotional-Kinesthetic Psychotherapy)
|
|
|
|
|
Intergenerational Threads
I have often felt the impact of intergenerational
energy both in my own life and in work with my
clients. I think the most blatant example for me
occurred when my first marriage ended. My then
husband and I were good friends, good partners,
communicated well and even wanted the same goals. The kinds of problems
that plague many relationships
were not what challenged us.
Instead, in the safety of our marriage, my then
husband started to open to his own sexual-spiritual
journey and a pull towards defining a more authentic
sense of himself. And what it revealed were deep
questions he needed to answer about his sense of
identity, that did not lend themselves to being
explored in the structure of a marriage with a woman
in her early 30's who was ready to have kids.
Realizing my parents would never understand why we
were divorcing, I asked them to come to therapy with
me for one session. By the grace of God, they said, "Yes." And this was
the only time they ever were
willing to sit with me in a therapist's office.
As I was revealing the deeper truths of why the
marriage could not go on, to my utter surprise, my
father spoke up and said, "I understand. I actually
have some of the very same issues your husband has." I suddenly
discovered these very issues were at the
core of my father's own personal struggle and led to
much pain and disconnection in my parents' own
relationship. Only, my father never faced it head
on. It remained in the shadows, passed on to me
unconsciously and unintentionally, to have to face
and work out in my own life! Wow!
Over many years, again I have found myself in
challenging situations where the influence of my
ancestors seemed more at the root of what was
unfolding than what I could change or improve
through my own committed and meticulous self-work
and healing. And I began to recognize this pattern
in my clients as well.
So, you can imagine how intrigued I became when EKP
apprentice Larry Cotton made me aware of a link to a
BBC video about intergenerational influence at a
genetic and biological level. The video describes
"epigenetics,", which according to Wikipedia is
defined as:
"The study of epigenetic
inheritance, a set of
reversible heritable changes in gene function or
other cell phenotype that occur without a change in
DNA sequence (genotype). These changes may be
induced spontaneously, in response to environmental
factors, or in response to the presence of a
particular allele, even if it is absent from
subsequent generations."
In this video, researchers found that experiences
the occurred in one generation actually had a
genetic impact on future generations. One example
was a study of the intergenerational impact of a
famine in Sweden. It turned out, that threads of
that crisis were traceable in not only the children
of the adults who lived through the famine, but also
their children as well.
This information does not surprise me. Just as our
heartwaves literally touch the people around us, and
can be measured in the brainwaves of another, our
inner state has biochemical and neurological impact
on others. I remember taking a class on Pre and
Perinatal Psychology with Thomas Verny many years ago.
In the class, in order to illustrate the impact of
ones inner state on a developing fetus, he showed a
video of a woman who truly did not want to be
pregnant. The video showed a meeting with the woman
and her doctor, discussing her feelings about the
pregnancy and her trepidations and resentment about
having to become a mother to a child.
During this conversation, the woman's belly was
hooked up to an ultrasound, which monitored and
revealed the fetus' response to her feelings and
comments. Whenever the mother would talk about her
resentment towards her unborn child, the fetus would
cringe and curl up tightly in as distant a corner of
the uterus as he could find.
Even before birth, he was aware that this was a
hostile environment, he was not safe, and he was
pulling his energy inside to try to survive the
negative energy being directed towards him.
It may come as no surprise that when it was time for
this baby to be born, he would not come out
vaginally. The mother ended up needing a C-section,
and when the doctors went in to get him, they found
him curled up tight in a far corner of the uterus,
holding on for dear life. He did NOT want to be
born into what most likely he expected to be an ever
more hostile world than the one he had experienced
in-utero.
Sadly, this baby failed to thrive once delivered,
and died within a week of his birth.
I look forward to what emerges in further research
about intergenerational patterns--both physical and
psychological.
If you are interested in exploring the energetics of
intergenerational patterns, a body of work that you
might find interesting is Family
Constellations work, developed by German
therapist Bert Hellinger. Dan Cohen at
www.hiddensolution.com is a Boston area resource for
this work.
For those of you who are familiar with Psychodrama,
you will find Family Constellations a related
technique. A major difference between Psychodrama
and Family Constellations, is that Family
Constellations focuses on the energy field of the
family system and the members of the "drama," rather
than externalizing and exploring internal parts
within ones own psyche.
Find
out more....
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Workshops, On-going Groups and Apprenticing
This month marks the beginning of the second year of
work of my current group of EKP apprentices. The
Institute for EKP offered a 3-year, 1000 hour
apprenticeship training
program from 1990 - 2001. With the birth of my son
in 1996, and then becoming a single mom in 1998, I
realized, most regretfully, I could not continue running my
school.
While people continued to ask me to train them, I
felt I had to say no, because I could not both give
my young son the attention he needed and deserved
and take on students with the intensity they needed
and deserved. As 2006 approached, enough people
approached me with sufficient intensity that I
realized it was time to reconsider apprenticing
people once again.
I realized that if we went about the apprenticeship
process more slowly--meeting one weekend a month,
and extending the learning process over more than 3
years, I could indeed commit to apprenticing a new
crop of EKP therapists. And so began 2006, with an
EKP apprenticeship group.
I am really glad that both this group of apprentices
and I made a co-commitment to this learning journey. I love watching my
apprentices grow and evolve in
the spirit of EKP, and also apply their own unique
gifts, background and interests to the EKP process.
At some point, I will take on another group of
apprentices. I don't yet know when. If you are
interested in studying EKP, please let me know. I
am gathering a list of interested folks. And, I
trust the right time to begin a second
apprenticeship group will become clear.
For those of you who would like an intensive,
retreat EKP experience, I will be returning to Kripalu in Lenox,
MA to
lead a Healing the Traumatized Heart retreat March
16 - 18. For more information, go to www.kripalu.org.
If you would like to participate in an on-going EKP
group, I lave two on-going EKP Body Psychotherapy
Groups. They are both mixed gender, long-term
committed groups. Both groups have openings for
male and female members. An interview and one EKP
session are required to apply.
- On-going Tuesday night EKP
Body Psychotherapy
Group
- On-going Thursday night EKP
Body Psychotherapy
Group
For more information contact LSMHEART@aol.com.
- 1/21 Healing the Traumatized Heart
Workshop
1 - 4 pm in Newton, MA
The heart is the most powerful generator of
electromagnetic energy in the body. Through our
cardiac field, we can literally "reach out and
touch" one another. Sadly, trauma, deprivation,
neglect and the stress of modern day life traumatize
our hearts, leading to emotional and physical pain
and illness. Discover the healing power of our
individual and collective hearts. In this workshop,
we will have the opportunity to become "healing
hands" to one another in a safe, sacred community
space.
To enroll, contact LSMHEART@aol.com or call
(617)965-7846.
For more information on the 1/21 workshop or the
on-going EKP therapy groups, see www.healingheartpower.com.
Find
out more....
|
|
In closing, I'd like to share
something my best
friend Brenda sent me on Christmas Day. She read it
in Dr. Andrew Weil's Christmas Day column. It is a
piece on celebrating friends and family, and I
really love what he has put forth!
"When it comes down to it, friends,
family, loved
ones and acquaintances who make you feel more alive,
happy, and optimistic are some of the most important
treasures in life. All the money and power you can
imagine are not likely to be as satisfying as good
conversation, trust, dependability and laughter. Today, take a moment
to think about the special
people in your life, and ways you can keep those
relationships strong. Make it a priority to spend
some time each week with at least one of
them--whether by phone, e-mail, in person, or
through a letter. Human connectedness is a powerful
healer, one we should all embrace."
You may also want to visit
www.sexspirit.net to see the wonderful programs the Boston Area
Sexuality and
Spirituality Network has put together for 2007!
Heartfully,
|
|
