Ho’oponopono Zero Limits workshop in Maui, Hawaii

A Ho’oponopono Zero workshop was conducted by Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Hew Len, the authors of Zero Limits, at Maui, Hawaii in December 2007. Here are some testimonials from the participants of that workshop. Hear what their experiences are and what they think of the workshop:

This entire 2-days workshop was videotaped and you can purchase it here  at: http://mindscience101.com/zerolimits/

Now you can get the benefits from the workshop for a fraction of the actual cost.

The Work of Byron Katie

Recently I had the good fortune to attend a self discovery workshop conducted by a monk, Bhante Kumara of the Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary in Taiping. The most impressive part of the workshop was the last portion of the workshop, which was based on the Work of Byron Katie.

Katie’s work is focused on eliminating sufferings by understanding and seeing the true cause of our sufferings. The work is revealing as it shows us the error of our thinking, beliefs and perceptions, which is the root cause of our sufferings.

Katie has come up with a structured tool that makes it very easy for us to recognize these errors within us using this Judge Your Neighbor worksheet [right-click to download]. You can also download this worksheet from http://thework.com

To see the Work in Action, go to http://thework.com where there are short video clips of Byron Katie in action.

Befriending Yourself

A life worth living is a life that needs constant re-examinations. Pause every once in a while to see where life is taking you. Are you in the driver’s seat or are you just tagging along with the flow of life? Are you being gentle and fair to yourself or are you sabotaging your own success without being aware of it? Are you your own best friend or are you your own worst enemy?

How do you befriend yourself?

1. Serve your own physical needs

Our first needs as physical human beings are our physical needs. That means taking in good nutritious food, clean water and air, exercise regularly and have enough sleep and recreations.

2. Be authentic with your feelings

Next, frequently examine your feelings, especially the negative ones, such as fear, anger, irritations, anxieties and worries. Identify the thoughts that lead to these feelings. Examine them and you’ll see that most of our fears are born from our own imaginations. They are self created, not real and due to a certain belief or assumption that we are falsely holding on to.

Learn to be honest and recognize your feelings, acknowledge them and embrace them. Take responsibility for your own feelings and not blame them on others or outside circumstances. You’ll find that you do have a choice to choose what you want to feel. When you are not
aware of your feelings and how they come about, then you forfeit that choice. Your feelings just come on autopilot.

3. Learn and improve your living skills

We are here to learn, so learn! There is nothing wrong in making mistakes. Everyone does. The important thing is to learn from our mistakes. It is said that a fool continues to make the same mistakes, the common man learns from his mistakes, and the wise learn from the mistakes of others. Choose which category you want to be in.

To improve our life, there are certain living skills worth learning. Learn to communicate well with others. Be a good listener. Learn to empathize with others. Social skills are essentials not just for success but also for a sense of happiness, belonging and self worth.

4. Be at peace with God

Finally, do not focus your life entirely on material possessions and accumulation. As you near the end of your life, you will start to ponder on your own mortality and spirituality. You will reflect on what you have done for others and what you have contributed to the people around you.

So, do not leave your relationship with God, or whatever you understand God to be, in neglect until the end. Start to cultivate a friendship with God or your spirituality now. Be a blessing to others. Be such a man and live such a life that if every man is such as you, and every life a life like yours, this world would be a paradise.

Big Mind Big Heart of Genpo Roshi

Introduction to Big Mind

1. Facilitation of the Controller

2. Facilitation of the Skeptic

3. Facilitation of the Vulnerable Child & the Protector

4. Facilitation of the Damaged Self and Fixer

5. Facilitation of the Seeking Mind (Desires)

6. Facilitation of the Non-Seeking Mind

7. Facilitation of the Big Mind

8. Facilitation of Drop Off Body-Mind & Big Heart

9. Facilitation of Yin-Yang Big Heart

10. One Heart Mind & Integrated Free Functioning Self

Symptoms of Inner Peace

Some of us have had the good fortune of meeting up with highly accomplished spiritual masters who are always serene and happy. Most time, we can also find one or two ordinary-looking people among our midst who always seem to glow with peace and serenity. These are usually people who have lived a simple life based on universal spiritual values of love and compassion.

They all have something in common – symptoms of inner peace. Below are some of these symptoms.

Symptoms of Inner Peace

1. Tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experiences.

2. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

3. Loss of interest in judging self.

4. Loss of interest in judging other people.

5. Loss of interest in conflicts.

6. Loss of interest in interpreting actions of others.

7. Loss of ability to worry (this is a very serious symptom).

8. Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

9. Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

10. Frequent attacks of smiling through the eyes of the heart.

11. Increasing susceptibility to love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

12. Increasing tendency to let things happen rather than to make them happen.

To the lay people, some of these symptoms may even seem alarming, but when one takes a deeper look at them, one will eventually see the wisdom arising from them.

How to Stay Well (or Get Better, If You’re Not So Well To Begin With)

If these symptoms appeal to you, here are what you can do to achieve your own inner peace.

1. Do things that bring you a sense of fulfillment, joy and purpose, that validate your worth as a human being. See your life as your own creation, and strive to make it a positive one.

2. Pay close and loving attention to yourself, tuning in to your needs on all levels. Take care of yourself, nourishing, supporting, and encouraging yourself.

3. Release all negative emotions – resentment, envy, fear, sadness, anger. Express your feelings appropriately; don’t hold on to them. Forgive yourself. Forgive others too.

4. Hold positive images and goals in your mind, pictures of what you truly want in your life. When fearful images arise, re-focus on images that evoke feelings of peace and joy.

5. Love yourself, and love everyone else. Make loving the purpose and primary expression in your life.

6. Create love, loving, honest relationships, allowing for the expression and fulfillment of needs for intimacy and security. Try to heal any wounds in past relationships, as with old lovers, mother, father and siblings.

7. Make a positive contribution to your community, through some form of work or service that you value and enjoy.

8. Make a commitment to health and well-being, and develop a healing programme, drawing on the support and advice of experts without becoming enslaved to them.

9. Accept yourself and everything in your life as an opportunity for growth and learning. Be grateful. When you mess up your life, forgive yourself, learn what you can from the experience, and then move on.

10. Keep a sense of humour.

The Release Technique

The Release Technique was introduced by Lester Levenson.

Lester was a physicist who was told by his doctor that he has only a few months to live due to a terminal heart disease. In his desperation, he searched everywhere for a cure and eventually discovered this simple technique which he named “The Release Technique”.

With this technique, which Lester used on himself, he was able to cure his own illness and lived on for another 40 years or more.

This technique is based on the premise that all our sufferings arose out of our desires for good things and aversions for bad things. These desires and aversions give rise to unfulfilled emotions which are often bottled up within us and not allowed full expression. Emotions that are not allowed full expression ended up damaging our health emotionally and physically.

The Release Technique is a very simple technique that can be used anywhere and anytime by anyone.

The Steps:

1. Tilt your head downward, with your eyes focusing at the area around your heart. This is a symbolic switching off of the logical left brain and activation of the emotional right brain. You can now focus entirely on your heart and emotion.

2. Think of an unresolved issue that is troubling you, and allow the emotions associated with it to surface. Notice how the emotions well up around the heart and lungs areas.

3. Acknowledge the emotion and allow it to be there.

4. Next, ask yourself 3 questions:

a. Could I let it go?

b. Would I let it go?

c. When?

All emotions, no matter how painful or bad they may be, can be released. There is no exception. The only real issue is whether we would give ourselves the permission to let them go. So we need to make a conscious decision to let them go and decide to do so NOW!

5. Once we’ve decided to let the emotion go, picture or visualize the negative or unwanted emotion welling up like a geyser or lava from a volcano spewing out of its mouth. See in your mind’s eyes the negative energy associated with the emotion being released and dispersed.

6. Then, feel the liberation from the release of the negative emotion.

7. Repeat step 1 to 6 as many times as you wish.

Remember, the negative emotion within is not likely to be completely released just by doing it once or twice. It’s very much like pulling out a piece of tissue from a tissue box. As you pull out one, the next piece will come out to the surface. To empty the box, you’ll have to keep pulling one piece after another until the box is entirely out of tissue paper.

Likewise, you’ll have to repeat the release technique as often as it takes to completely release all the negative emotions within you.

Emotion and Health

The word emotion is made up of two latin words – “e” meaning “out” and “movere” meaning “move”. Thus hidden within the word “emotion” is the inherent nature of emotion, that is, it must be allowed to be expressed or flow freely.

Emotion, when bottled up inside, is like a river that is dammed up. Sooner or later, the river will overflow or the dam will burst, creating havoc and chaos in our well being. In fact, some scientists suspected that bottled up negative emotions are one of the causes of diseases like cancer.

We tend to bottle up emotions we don’t like to feel. These negative emotions are either too unpleasant or too painful for us to face up to. Two ways in which we relegate emotion into the abyss of our inner psyche are through suppression and repression.

Emotions that we are aware of but do not like are consciously suppressed; to be kept out of sight. However, at times, we automatically or instinctively repress negative emotions without even giving them a chance to surface into our conscious awareness. Repressed emotions therefore can be difficult to deal with because we tend to deny having them.

There are many ways to heal negative emotions but all require that we first recognize their existence within ourselves and acknowledge them. Denying our negative emotions effectively blocked any effort or attempt to heal them.

Here are some ways to heal your negative emotions:

1. The Release Technique of Lester Levenson

2. Violet Flame Meditation

3. Ho’oponopono

Regardless of what types of negative emotions you may have – fear, anger, anxiety, worries, depression, or even mental conflicts – any one of these three methods can be of tremendous help to you. I’ve used them on my own and shared them with participants of workshops that I’ve conducted with great results.

I’ll write more about them later.

Ho’oponopono – The Secret Hawaiian System for Healing

A good friend of mine recommended the book “Zero Limits” by Joe Vitale and Dr. Hew Len to me recently. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down.

Dr. Hew Len, a psychologist and the practitioner of this amazing Hawaiian system of healing, and his eager student Joe Vitale, presented a way of healing and cleansing all the unwanted programs in our mind that is simple yet effective. So effective, in fact, that the good doctor – using this method – was able to heal a whole ward of criminally insane patients without the need to even hold a one-on-one consultation with them.

The book is easy to read, and can be very challenging for some people as it challenges many of our strongly held beliefs about life, the universe and how things work. It is a system that held us 100% responsible for everything that we experience, and I mean everything – no exception.

I highly recommend this book.

Cultivate a Spiritual Relationship

What is a spiritual relationship?

A relationship is how we relate to other. A spiritual relationship is a relationship that aims for the highest good for those in the relationship. It is one that facilitates our spiritual growth.

Here are some tips on how to cultivate a spiritual relationship with another.

1. A Spiritual Being in Physical Experience

Most people believe they are physical human beings, with perhaps some tendency or inclination to seek a spiritual experience. Living with this belief automatically limits our spiritual experience for it puts our spirituality in the backseat.

Instead, choose to believe that we are spiritual beings in physical manifestation. This choice automatically brings your spiritual experience into center stage, and you will begin to see every relationship as an opportunity for spiritual growth.

Remember, whatever you choose to believe in, you’re right, for a belief is merely a perception of reality.

2. Free Will

As a spiritual being, we have free will and complete control over our life. However, this is only true IF we have full control over our mind. The more mindful or conscious we are, the more free will we have.

Therefore, in every situation in a relationship, we have a choice as to how we choose to respond. We have the freedom to respond positively or negatively. Responding positively not only helps us to grow spiritually but also offer the other person an opportunity to do so as well. When we respond negatively, we miss an opportunity for growth.

It is also important to remember that the other person in the relationship too has free will. Bearing this in mind, we should not be seen to be making decisions and choices that encroach on his or her free will. That is why it is essential to have an open and frank communication.

3. Do not judge

To judge implies that we are superior to another. It implies that we know better or are more evolved. This is the working of the egoic mind. Every time we judge, we validate and strengthen our egoic mind.

Our egoic mind is the proverbial devil in disguise. If it cannot win by force, it will try to win through cunning and trickery. It is so good and subtle at this that we are often fooled by it.

To judge also implies that we are forcing our own beliefs, concepts, desires and expectations on another. In other words, we are not honoring their free will.

Each time we judge another, we are doing ourselves and the other person a disservice. We are perpetuating a negative tendency that continues to validate our egoic mind. At the same time, we encroach on the other person’s space and choice, and are more likely to create a resistance in him or her, rather than a positive respond.

4. Do not blame

To blame also implies superiority over another. To blame another also means we do not take responsibility for our share in the relationship.

A relationship is a two-way thing. It takes two to tango. You cannot clap with one hand. This means that in a relationship, both are equally responsible for the outcome.

When we blame another, we are actually saying, “It is your fault, not mine.”

However, we should also remember not to blame ourselves. Since every relationship is an opportunity for spiritual growth, take every situation as an opportunity to learn and evolve. There is no need to blame oneself or others.

5. Acceptance

Learn to accept ourselves and the other person, together with all the strengths and weaknesses. We are here to evolve into a spiritual being with full consciousness in our physical manifestation. Each of us are here for certain unique lessons.

Through acceptance, we help each other to grow. Through acceptance, we let go of our tendency to judge, blame and control.

In cultivating a spiritual relationship, we are BE-ing unconditional love.