How to Change the Way you Think (with PSYCH K®)
Everything is energy. I know I’ve said it before and I’m sure it won’t be the last time I refer back to this fact. Why? Because when we view everything as energy, it makes healing, especially energy healing, so much easier to understand. Greater understanding leads to greater awareness and greater awareness leads to greater healing and abundance.
So everything is energy including our thoughts and beliefs. Negative thoughts and beliefs vibrate at a low frequency and are toxic to our bodies. Positive thoughts, on the other hand, are high vibrating and, by the law of attraction (“Like attracts Like”) attract more positive energy to you in the form of people, experiences, desires etc
Sometimes we are aware of our negative thinking, especially when we’re beating ourselves up with negative self talk. However, much of the time we are not aware of our deep rooted beliefs. These are the beliefs we take for granted and have never questioned and these are the beliefs we were programmed with at an early age by parents/teachers/society etc. These are the sub-conscious beliefs.
Psychological Kinesiology (PSYCH-K®) is the simplest and easiest way to reprogram your subconscious mind in order to change the negative beliefs and habits that are not serving you and thus creating positive beliefs and opportunities to improve every area of your life.
Our beliefs are the foundation of who we are. These beliefs are the result of lifelong “programming,” and represent a powerful influence on human behaviour. It is from our beliefs that we form attitudes about the world and ourselves, and from these attitudes we develop behaviours and habits.
Beliefs have far-reaching consequences, both positive and negative, in every area of our life. They affect our mood, relationships, job performance, self-esteem and even physical health. It is so important that we learn how to identify beliefs that are limiting us and how to change them into beliefs that support us.
Our beliefs (or attitudes, values, etc.) are drawn from past experiences and stored in the subconscious mind. While we may be mostly unaware of their influence on us, they “direct” our actions and behaviours. These subconscious beliefs create a perceptual filter through which we respond to life’s challenges. They form the basis for our actions and reactions to each new situation in our lives.
The ability to perform effectively, both personally and professionally is profoundly affected by such beliefs as “I am good enough”, “I am safe”, “I am worthy and deserving” or “I am prosperous”. Beliefs establish the limits of what we can achieve. As Henry Ford famously once said, “If you think you can or if you think you can’t…you’re right!” This is especially true when the beliefs are subconscious.
“If you think you can or if you think you can’t…you’re right!”
Henry Ford
Why are beliefs so important?
Because our beliefs establish the limits of what we can get!
Gandhi said …
- Your beliefs become Your Thoughts
- Your thoughts become Your Words
- Your words become Your Actions
- Your actions become your habits
- Your habits become your values
- Your values become your Destiny
Most of us agree, and behavioural scientists confirm, that our behaviours are a direct reflection of our beliefs, perceptions and values, generated from past experiences. Scientific research has also found that the human cell actually stores memory and is capable of being reprogrammed. This is where the PSYCH-K® process does change lives.
Developed by Robert M. Williams, M.A in 1988, it was tested extensively for 10 years before being offered to the public. Using Kinesiology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Acupressure, and various healing systems, PSYCH-K® is a safe, non-invasive, effective way to dissolve resistance to change at the subconscious level.
How does Psych-K® work?
Basically, PSYCH-K® increases the “cross-talk” between the two brain hemispheres, thus achieving a more “whole-brained” state. This is ideal for changing subconscious beliefs and facilitates communication with both the conscious and the subconscious minds to change old sabotaging belief patterns into supportive ones. The subconscious mind accumulates and records information at over 40 million bits per second, storing memories in a timeless manner while the conscious part of our brain processes data at only 2000 bits per second and has a limited, 20-second memory capacity.
So if you have a subconscious belief that “you’re not good enough” or “you’re not worthy of the best that love and life has to offer,” it’s generating at 40 million bits per second. The conscious mind, running at 2000 bits per second, usually cannot compete. It then creates conflict between the conscious and subconscious minds resulting in stress in the cells. This stress compromises the immune system and creates dis-ease in the body. Through a series of specific balances, strategic body positioning, affirmations, and visualizations designed to bridge the right and left hemispheres of the brain, the self-limiting belief is re-scripted at the level of the subconscious until reprogramming is complete.
This process is rooted in biological mechanics. If you want to read more about this and the science behind PSYCH K®, Dr Bruce Lipton, PhD, in his book The Biology of Belief, has scientific data linking the biology of beliefs and the psychology of change.
Using Muscle Testing (Kinesiology), we can identify which positive beliefs are not in alignment with the subconscious mind. People don’t always know which negative beliefs they are hanging onto that are most sabotaging their success in life. Being able to identify these is key. Obviously, as they are subconscious beliefs, people are not aware of them. The first step of identifying the most limiting negative beliefs is, in itself, a major eye opener for some.
I have seen first hand at our Heal yourself to Happiness Retreats, on a number of occasions, the power of installing positive beliefs with this method. It can be quite emotional because at every stage of the process you are, quite literally, releasing the energy of the negative belief that has been denying the counter positive belief.
This is especially healing and life changing when installing the beliefs “I am worthy” and “I love and accept myself completely.”
Message me to book your appointment now and change your life through the power of self-love and PSYCH K®
Deborah Jane Sutton
deborah@deborahjanesutton.com
¿Qué es PSYCH K®?
La kinesiología psicológica (PSYCH-K®) es la forma más simple de reprogramar la mente subconsciente para poder cambiar las creencias y lo hábitos negativos que no nos están ayudando, y crear en vez, creencias y oportunidades positivas para mejorar todas la áreas de la vida.
Nuestras creencias son la base de quienes somos. Estas creencias son el resultado de la programación de toda una vida, y representan una potente influencia sobre el comportamiento humano. Son nuestras creencias las que crean nuestra actitud ante la vida, y ante nosotros mismo, y de esta actitud desarrollamos nuestro comportamiento y nuestros hábitos. Las creencias tienen consecuencias a largo plazo, tanto positivas como negativas, en todas las áreas de la vida. Afectan a nuestro humor, a nuestras relaciones, al rendimiento profesional, a la auto estima e incluso a la salud física. Es muy importante que aprendamos a identificar las creencias que nos limitan, y a cómo transformarlas en creencias que nos apoyan.
Nuestras creencias (actitud, valores, etc.), son extraídas de experiencias del pasado que han sido almacenadas en la mente subconsciente. Aunque no seamos conscientes de su influencia sobre nosotros, dirigen nuestras acciones y nuestro comportamiento. Estas creencias subconscientes crean un filtro a través del cual respondemos a los retos que nos encontramos en la vida. Ellas forman la base de nuestras acciones y reacciones a cada nueva situación de la vida. La habilidad para actuar de forma efectiva, tanto personal como profesionalmente, está en gran medida afectada por creencias como “soy suficiente”, “Estoy seguro”, “Soy valioso y merecedor de cosas buenas” o “Soy próspero”. Las creencias establecen los límites de lo que podemos conseguir. Como decía la famosa frase de Henry Ford, “Tanto si crees que puedes, como si crees que no puedes… tienes razón” Esto es especialmente cierto cuando las creencias son subconscientes.
De acuerdo con Bruce Lipton PhD, biólogo celular y reconocido autor de, “La Biología de la Creencia.” Y “El Efecto Luna de Miel”, el mayor obstáculo para obtener el éxito es la programación subconsciente de creencias que nos limitan.
¿Por qué son las creencias tan importantes.
¡Porque nuestras creencias establecen los límites de lo que podemos conseguir!
Gandhi dijo …
- Tus creencias se convierten en Tus Pensamientos.
- Tus pensamientos se convierten en Tus Palabras.
- Tus palabras se convierten en Tus Acciones.
- Tus acciones se convierten en Tus Hábitos.
- Tus hábitos se convierten en Tus Valores.
- Tus valores se convierten en Tu Destino.
La mayoría de nosotros estamos de acuerdo, y los científicos que estudian el comportamiento están lo afirman, que nuestro comportamiento es un reflejo directo de nuestras creencias, percepciones y valores, generados por experiencias pasadas. Los estudios científicos también han demostrado que las células humanas tienen capacidad para almacenar información y también tienen la capacidad de ser programadas. Aquí es donde entra el PSYCH-K® y su capacidad para cambiar vidas. Fue desarrollado por Robert M. Williams, M.A en 1988, y lo probó durante 10 años antes de hacerlo público. Usando la kinesiología, la Programación Neurolingüística (NLP), Digitopuntura, y otros sistemas de sanación, el PSYCH-K® se convierte en una forma segura, no invasiva y efectiva de disolver la resistencia al cambio a nivel subconsciente.
¿Cómo funciona Psych-K®?
Fundamentalmente, el PSYCH-K® incrementa la comunicación entre ambos hemisferios del cerebro, consiguiendo así un estado más “integrado-mental”. Esto es idóneo para cambiar creencias subconscientes y facilitar la comunicación entre la mente subconsciente y la consciente para cambiar viejos patrones de creencias perjudiciales, y convertirlas en creencias que apoyan a la persona. La mente subconsciente acumula y guarda información a una velocidad de 40 millones de bits por segundo, y almacena esta información de forma permanente, mientras que la parte consciente de nuestro cerebro que procesa la información va a 2000 bits por segundo y tiene una capacidad de memoria de 20 segundos.
Así que si tienes una creencia subconsciente que dice: “No eres lo bastante bueno.” O “No te mereces lo mejor que el amor y la vida te pueden ofrecer”, se está generando a 40 millones de bits por segundo. La mente consciente, que va a 2000 bits por segundo, no puede hacerle frente. Entonces crea un conflicto entre la mente consciente y la subconsciente lo que produce estrés a nivel celular. Este estrés pone en peligro el buen funcionamiento del sistema inmunológico y crea enfermedad en el cuerpo. A través de una serie de equilibrios específicos, posiciones estratégicas corporales, afirmaciones, y visualizaciones diseñadas para crear un puente entre los dos hemisferios cerebrales, las creencias limitantes se pueden re-escribir a nivel subconsciente hasta reprogramarlas por completo.
La kinesiología puede ser muy precisa a la hora de detectar verdades subconscientes, como también para detectar estrés en el cuerpo. Ya que la mente subconsciente controla el sistema motriz del cuerpo, como el movimiento de los músculos, este mecanismo “integrado” nos proporciona información muy acertada sobre si el subconsciente está o no de acuerdo con una afirmación sobre una creencia concreta. Este proceso nace de la biología mecánica. Dr. Bruce Lipton, PhD, posee información científica que une a la biología de las creencias con el cambio psicológico. El PSYCH-K® permite y proporciona la capacidad de tomar control sobre la vida. Cambiando la programación, creas la vida que deseas, de forma rápida, sin esfuerzo y sin la necesidad de tomar medicamentos o psicoterapia.
Cuando Bruce Lipton conoció a Rob Williams
How The Emotion Code Changed my Life
Physically:
The first of my “physical” issues to be healed by The Emotion Code (Energy Healing System) was my underactive Thyroid Gland. I had been told 8 years previously that I would need to take medication for the rest of my life to raise my level of Thyroxine. With one session of The Emotion Code and with the release of 5 trapped emotions* my Thyroid Gland was balanced and from that day on produced “normal levels” of thyroxine.
Personally I found it a real relief to be drug free – it has saved me a lot of time visiting doctors, repeat prescriptions and going to the Pharmacy! We should all strive to avoid pharmaceutical drugs if we can, don’t you think?
(*For further information on “What is a Trapped Emotion” and “inherited trapped emotions” click here.)
The second “physical” issue was eczema. I have written the word “physical” in inverted commas because as we can see, these “physical” ailments actually had an “emotional” cause. Anyway, the eczema would flare up when I was overtired or stressed and would appear in little patches on the back of my neck.
Well, while using the Emotion Code to release the underlying cause of the eczema a few trapped emotions came up as well as an inherited trapped emotion* from my maternal gene line which is no surprise really because both my mother and grandmother suffered from the same eczema patch when they were stressed.
Another “physical” issue healed with the Emotion Code was one of weight. We can use The Emotion Code to release the underlying causes of weight too. I should point out that there are many ways to release trapped emotions but in my opinion The Emotion Code is the fastest, most thorough and most effective. A session of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), however, helped me release some intense emotions which kick started my weight loss and further sessions using The Emotion Code enabled the weight loss to continue – 20 kilos in total!
It’s not so much weight loss that occurs but rather I lost the need to eat so much – I became very aware of when I had eaten enough and was physically full whereas before I had been trying to satisfy my emotional hunger not just my physical hunger and I couldn’t tell the difference. Now, if I find myself overeating I realise it’s an emotional issue and can use The Emotion Code to release the relevant trapped emotions.
Emotionally:
Sometimes we are aware that we have trapped emotions, for example, of grief when someone we love dies. We have all seen (and some of us felt) the process when grief takes its course but when we think we may not have processed it all completely The Emotion Code is ideal for releasing emotions still trapped and lodged in our bodies long after our loss. Also, from any traumatic experiences we know we’ve been scarred from eg divorce, war (PTSD), violent scenes, bullying.
I have used The Emotion Code to release unprocessed emotions from traumas in my life including grief when my father died. Sometimes we don’t know we’ve trapped emotions from certain events in our life and often I find people deny they have trapped emotions, almost as if it’s some kind of weakness to have them. EVERYBODY has trapped emotions – you can trap an emotion after losing your favourite toy as an infant, from anxiety on your first day at school, from a parent or teacher raising their voice at you – everybody has them! And once we’ve trapped one, other emotions of the same vibrational frequency will be attracted so causing a blockage to the natural healing energy of the body. This is how mal-function and illness occur.
I used to experience panic attacks whenever I got on a plane or found myself in places where I couldn’t get out. This issue took a few sessions to heal completely and was finally resolved after releasing trapped emotions of Panic and Shock from previous lives. (Weird but true!)
I’m going to include The Heart Wall here – under “Emotionally”. Once bitten twice shy. We all protect ourselves by building a Wall around our Hearts. They can be very effective at keeping pain and heartbreak out but unfortunately they work both ways and keep us from feeling TRUE love and joy and this, by the Law of Attraction, prevents us from attracting TRUE love and joy into our hearts.
Once I had released my Heart Wall using The Emotion Code I learned how to love myself (this is a BIG one for anyone who wants to Heal anything and move forward with their life) and with this new raised vibration of love and joy I attracted my, now, husband into my life! I have seen this happen for so many of my clients too, when their Heart Walls have been removed. I love it!
Releasing blocks to moving forward in life:
When using the Emotion Code we can ask simply if there are any blocks to receiving, having, earning, keeping money or any blocks to moving forward, fulfilling our purpose, realising our dreams etc Sometimes we may need to refer to The Body Code as these can often be limiting subconscious beliefs that we picked up in childhood eg I’m not worthy, money is the root of all evil, I can’t………………….etc But very often it is FEAR which holds us back and this can be released with The Emotion Code. Fear of the unknown, fear of trusting in the process of life, fear of failure – there are many kinds of fear holding us back.
When I wanted to give up my day job to concentrate on my passion, my calling which is to Heal and teach Healing techniques I was overwhelmed with “fear”. How will I make ends meet? What if I fail? I used The Emotion Code to release this inevitable fear and other trapped emotions when I took my “Leap of Faith”. It was exciting, challenging and I felt the need to stay focussed but I wasn’t fearful and I have certainly NEVER regretted it!
The Emotion Code really has changed all areas of my life for the better. I often turn to it to raise my vibrations or in times of need and not just for me. My family members have also improved their health with Emotion Code sessions. Even the dog is no longer scared of the vet!
for more information on The Emotion Code and how it can help you, please get in touch deborah@deborahjanesutton.com
Love and Blessings
xx
3 Steps to Releasing Emotional Energy (and not trapping it)
As an Energy Healer who specialises in Emotional Healing with The Emotion Code, I talk a lot about trapped emotions: in particular, what they are, how they get trapped and how to release them.
However, I have also been asked by many clients, who have cleared a load of trapped emotions, how they can prevent trapping more emotions in the future especially when “life just happens”. This is an interesting and practical concept and one that I have found a need for myself recently so here is my simple but essential 3 step guide to avoiding the energy of negative emotions from lodging in your body somewhere, causing you blockages, mal-function and illness.
1. Acknowledgment
We’re here to express ourselves at Soul level through our humanity and that involves embracing life and all it has to offer. You can read extensively about how we can prevent a lot of negative energy and emotions in the first place by choosing our friends carefully, learning to meditate to maintain more peace within and by generally avoiding negative situations and drama etc.
This is all very well but sometimes negative emotions still creep in and you know what, sometimes, even, they are meant to. Life is not about avoiding negative emotions all together – some, eg: grief, go hand in hand with positive emotions – so they cannot be avoided. It’s about knowing how to deal with them when they arise so their energy can pass through you and not get stuck.
Like all energy (including us) emotional energy wants to be acknowledged. It wants to be noticed, appreciated, maybe learned from, maybe acted upon but whatever else you do with it, it wants to be acknowledged.
Too often in our culture we are encouraged to hide our emotions – big boys don’t cry, stiff upper lip and pull yourself together etc. This is exactly how we stop negative energy from passing through our fields and causing it to lodge somewhere within us – only to cause us issues later in life.
Maybe we feel we shouldn’t feel a certain way because other people have it worse or maybe we judge ourselves too harshly by believing we shouldn’t feel a certain way.
But you know what – it doesn’t matter what other people are feeling or not feeling – comparing ourselves to others is never a good thing. And judging ourselves is just another form of self criticism, is it not? Another form of self-abuse and beating ourselves up. Definitely to be avoided at all costs.
Sometimes we just don’t want to admit to feeling a certain way eg: jealousy. Or maybe we just don’t like the feeling negative emotions give us and we choose to bury them so as not to feel them. But that’s the whole point of negative emotions – they have come to us to be felt. They have come to us for us to process. They have come to us as a message from our bodies, from our hearts – a message we need to heed in order to grow.
“Denying yourself the experience of pain is denying yourself the
experience of growth.”
So allow yourself to feel the emotion. Don’t pretend for whatever reason that you’re not feeling them – they are part of your humanity. Give yourself permission to feel the sadness, the grief, the heartache, the jealousy, the pain whatever it is. Be kind to yourself.
Self-love here – always important. Give yourself the time, the solitude and the situation in which you can just sit and be so you can feel and acknowledge the sensations within. Verbalise it. Use an affirmation to focus your intention.
I allow myself to feel this pain.
I give myself permission to truly feel this pain.
I am ready and willing to feel this pain.
I am ready and willing to listen to my body now.
Please note that I am not suggesting a prolonged state of “wallowing” in one’s negative emotions here but a healthy amount of acknowledgement before moving onto the next step.
2. Process it.
Like all energy – our emotional energy wants to move, it wants to flow. Like water it will go stagnant and bad if it is prevented from flowing. This is why it’s best to be on your own for this part. Most good friends, however well meaning they are, will encourage you to stop crying and it’s exactly this stopping of crying that is suppressing the emotional energy.
I often see my clients and guests crying – and, to be honest, I think of it as something to be celebrated – after all, the negative energy is coming out – it’s the most healing practice our bodies have – having a good cry. It’s literally energy in motion and that’s what we want. The energy moving out – passing through our energy fields.
So crying is the number one way to process the pain. Encourage the tears as you visualise the negative emotions moving through your body and releasing. There are a number of other ways we can process our negative emotions.
Writing in a journal is a favourite for many. Just find yourself a pen and paper and start writing. Write how you feel. Describe the emotions. Vent any feelings around the situation onto the paper. You can do it in the form of a letter to a specific person or even a letter to the Universe. Keep going, writing anything – whatever comes to mind. As you feel a wave of emotion, write it all down. As you feel the emotions begin to subside you can turn your writing into a gratitude list and start focusing on the positive.
In addition to writing your emotions out of you, you can also sing them out! Or dance them out – or in my case, Yoga them out! If you set your intention (sankalpa) before your yoga practice of processing these negative emotions you will find that, firstly, you may feel the need to cry during your practice and, secondly, that you will feel heaps better afterwards. Very cathartic.
Of course, all sports and physical activity can be cathartic as is painting, drawing etc So find your preferred outlet to process your negative emotions and you’ll even find it enjoyable to do so.
3. Release it.
Releasing your negative emotions is pretty much dealt with during the processing stage but you can use affirmations and gratitude to confirm the release of certain emotions.
I release all negative energy from past experiences and let go of any toxic conclusions made.
I release all feelings of fear, sadness, grief, heartache, anxiety, despair…….now and set myself free.
I am grateful for the release of “this” emotional energy
Gratitude is a powerful energy. And as “time” is just a wibbly wobbly line in reality, we can use Gratitude in Advance which is super powerful.
Thank you for the release of this emotional energy. Thank you for the lessons and growth from this pain. I am grateful for its release now. All is well in my world.
And so it is.
Let me know how you get on. Please share your comments below and get in touch if you’d like help with releasing trapped emotions or coaching in how to do it for yourself.
Love and Blessings
Why we need to love unkind people – The Bigger Picture
I had this quote (Be kind to unkind people, they need it the most) on the wall of my classroom for years in my primary school teaching days. When focusing on the school playground and its bullies, this quote was very effective. When faced with an unkind comment, I encouraged the children to turn to the unkind speaker and give them a hug! I think it was the embarrassment of the situation that stopped the young bullies in the end rather than seeing the error of their ways but either way, it was effective!
People realise now that most bullies are unhappy and inside they are hurting. They lack self love, love for the world around them and lack self-respect too. Most of us can take all this on board and let their comments go over our heads choosing to believe and understand that their comments are not really personal to us and that they say more about them than they do about us.
But where is the line here? How bad does the bullying have to be before we stop being so understanding? Is it when the bullying gets physical? Or does it depend on the reaction of the person being bullied? Whether they are affected by it and to what extent?
In the clip below, Prince Ea takes this concept to the extreme with his comments and title on Why I Love Terrorists. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so easy to apply this “Be Kind to Unkind People” idea, eh? although terrorists are surely just the playground bullies all grown up, no?
Prince Ea
What I’d like to do, though, is to explain how all this loving unkind people really works – it might help you react more lovingly to challenging situations in the future.
If you haven’t come across it before, I’d like to introduce you to Dr David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness.
The number relates to the frequency at which that particular emotion vibrates. So basically, negative emotions vibrate at lower frequencies than positive emotions, which is why releasing low vibrating trapped emotions is key to raising your vibrations. Obviously, we can feel a range of emotions but this relates to our overriding emotional state (or rather it’s the overall average of our emotions that determines our consciousness level). So which emotion on this chart best describes your feelings the majority of the time? It gives us a good indication of what frequency your body is vibrating at (we can actually measure this with our muscle testing skills)
As we know, like attracts like. So, we attract experiences, people, situations and emotions that resonate with the same frequency as us. If we radiate anger energy we will attract anger energy. Again, that’s why we want to literally raise our vibrations as much as we can so we naturally attract a better quality of life in all areas. Keep in mind that every moment of our day we are either moving towards health or sickness depending on the emotion we are feeling and that explains why it is so crucial to think – and feel – positively.
Right, here’s the really interesting bit – which I also found in Dr David Hawkins’ book Power vs Force.
In 1994, when the book was first published, the overall average level of human consciousness stood at 207. I’d like to think it’s slightly higher than this by now. Human consciousness was dangling at below the 200 level (190) for many centuries before it suddenly rose up to 207 some time in the mid 1980s. For the world to stay at levels below 200 over a prolonged period of time would cause a great imbalance that would undoubtedly lead to the destruction of all humanity. The power of the few individuals at the top of the chart (ie: those with a higher frequency) counterbalances the weakness of the masses.
And here are the most interesting facts.
- 85% of the human race calibrates below the critical level of 200 where their overriding emotion is negative. If you look at the world today, you can see this. Even a lot of do-gooders are angry, right?
- 1 individual at level 300 counterbalances 90,000 individuals below level 200
- 1 individual at level 400 counterbalances 400,000 individuals below level 200
- 1 individual at level 500 counterbalances 750,000 individuals below level 200
- 1 individual at level 600 counterbalances 10 million individuals below level 200
- 1 individual at level 700 counterbalances 70 million individuals below level 200
- When one’s consciousness falls below 200 at any given moment they start to lose power and thus grow weaker and more prone to being manipulated by one’s surroundings.
- Everything calibrates at certain levels from weak to high including books, food, water, clothes, people, animals, buildings, cars, movies, sports, music etc.
- A lot of music today calibrates at levels below 200. Hence it leads to behaviour associated with lower energy levels of consciousness.
- Most films will weaken people who watch them by bringing their energy levels down below the 200 level of consciousness.
So, you can see now, how looking after yourself and raising your vibrations will raise your consciousness level and therefore counterbalance more people with a lower level frequency. This in turn will help raise the overall level of consciousness of the planet creating more world stability and peace. So this is how you owe it to world peace to do whatever you can to raise your own vibrations and make yourself feel as good as you can. Self- care not only feels good, but IS good for you, those around you and the whole planet.
This also explains why I refuse to watch cruelty to animal videos. It’s not because I am a hypocrite and want to pretend it isn’t happening – that’s not the case at all. But watching a heart breaking clip will only result in lowering my vibrations, filling my head with negative images and thoughts and how will that help the animals? Whatever I choose to do about animal cruelty will be more effective and helpful to them with my vibrations and consciousness level as high as it can be.
In addition to this, responding to bullies and other violent perpetrators with anger and revenge will not only result in lowering your vibrations but also result in lowering those of the planet as a whole. Sending love, however, will help raise both the offenders frequencies and those of the whole planet. See? After all, we are all connected, right?
This does not mean we are accepting, condoning or approving of violent behaviour – of course not – but love really is the answer here and sharing it with everyone, especially those who need it the most, really is the way forward. This becomes clear when you can see the bigger picture.
If you’d like to find out how you can actively raise your vibrations – get in touch to arrange your free 30 min consultation with me.
deborah@deborahjanesutton.com
Where does Happiness come from?
Where would you say happiness comes from? Are you happy? If so, where does your happiness come from? Many would say money played an important role in the creation of happiness. Although we often see images of poor children in poor countries playing happily in the streets. We also see, unfortunately too many times, wealthy children from wealthy countries unhappy, distracted by trivia and sometimes even suicidal. So we can count money out as a factor causing or creating happiness.
I’m sure it’s got more to do with the poor kids playing outside in the fresh air, concerned with genuine and worthy tasks like collecting water for the family compared to the western world’s teenager stuck in their bedroom in a closed flat, in a polluted city playing violent games on their device……..etc. Extreme scenarios, I admit, but you get the picture.
Health will also be seen as a happiness generating factor for many of you and, yes, it is hard to feel happiness while in severe pain, I understand. However, pain aside, we can see from examples such as Nick Vujicic (https://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/) with his tag line “no arms, no legs, no worries” that physical health is certainly not the overriding factor to finding true happiness.
Some would cite Love as being relevant as to where happiness comes from and to some extent I have to agree. The love of others is important as is loving others. But these are not as important as loving the self. Where does that come from? Loving the self? If you run an inner dialogue of self loathing with yourself then you clearly do not love yourself and are clearly not truly happy. Changing these negative thoughts about yourself into positive ones will help but many will say that’s easier said than done. Thoughts are, therefore, an interesting topic.
So, before we explore the subject of happiness further, I would like to discuss thoughts. After all, happiness can be subjective, right? We may think we’re happy. Or we may think we’re not happy. We may compare ourselves to others. But who can ever measure happiness anyway? How do you even know if you’re happy or not? Is there a scale of happiness? How do we know how far up the scale we are or, more importantly, how high does the scale go and how can we get to the top of it?
Thinking is important, right? We all know we have to think positively. So let’s start there. Our thoughts. Where do they come from? Where do your thoughts come from? Think about it.
Our thoughts are such a massive part of who we are (and what we create) and they are so personal to us – so where do they come from? The obvious knee jerk answer is that they come from our mind. So, where is our mind? Think about it. Where is your mind? We can lose it, we can change it, we can speak it and it can wander – but where is it? Some may say in our brains. We know where our brains are. Our brains are physical. Within our skulls. Our heads. Our craniums.
So, does a dead man (woman, human..) have a brain? Yes, of course. Does he have a mind? Does he have thoughts? I think not.
Let’s take this dead man and compare him with a live body and ask a few more questions.
How does the live body see? Through his eyes I hear you say. But the dead body also has eyes but he cannot see.
How does the live body hear? For the dead body has ears but cannot hear. He has a mouth and tongue but cannot speak.
If I asked you to raise your hand in the air and then asked you how you managed to do that, you’ll probably say with the use of your muscles and yes, you’d be partially correct but what about the dead body. He has muscles too but cannot lift his arm. He also has a heart, but cannot feel.
If I asked you where you get your energy from you’ll probably say “food” which, I guess, to a certain extent is true but the dead man has the remains of his last meal in his stomach yet he has no energy.
The dead man also has no intuition, inspiration, creativity, personality or dreams. He cannot make any decisions – negative or positive.
So what is the overriding difference between the live body and the dead body?
Physically, the only difference between the two bodies is that one is still breathing and the other one isn’t. One is inhaling and exhaling and the other one isn’t. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? Because one is still thinking, dreaming, inspiring, digesting, feeling, seeing, hearing, deciding, caring, loving……….being.
So, although the only difference between these two bodies is that one is breathing and the other one isn’t, with that breath comes all the other differences: health, ideas, thoughts, intuition, dreams, love, joy, awareness, visions, consciousness, happiness, personality and oxygen. That’s why Yoga teachers, Energy Healers, Energy Psychologists and the like call it our Life Force energy and not just breath.
If our thoughts come to us through our breath, then so do our ideas, our decisions, our intuition, our visions, our positivity and our creativity. And from these come our choices, direction and subsequent success, right? All from the breath. This is our guidance. We follow the guidance we receive with each breath. We follow the ideas and answers we get from our thoughts which come via the breath. When we want to clear our minds we go outside and breath more deeply. We go to the sea to feel healthier. We all feel better having spent time in nature and fresh air. We know all this but most of us never really acknowledge that the Native American Indians and Bob Dylan had it so sussed. “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind!” This is how our life force energy comes to us: through the energy we breath (and the energy we take in through our chakras but that’s another story!) So our energy is ultimately coming from the Universe – consciousness itself. It creates our connection with Source Energy. The Divine. The Creator. Whatever you want to call it. This is where we get our guidance. Following our guidance in the form of ideas and intuition (and for some in the form of more direct communication from their guides) leads us to being better able to creatively fulfil our life purpose. Our gifts and life purpose are usually things we feel passionate about. Using our gifts and fulfilling our life purpose, therefore, makes us feel good. It raises our vibrations. Brings us success. And makes us happy!
The Life Force Energy is also (full of) love. It is this energy of love that heals the body. It detoxifies our cells. We have seen this with Dr Masaru Emoto’s work on Water Crystals (http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html) His work shows how the energy of love and gratitude, among other positive energies, can cleanse, purify and detoxify water molecules. Let’s not forget that we are 70% water and everything is energy, right? So we can also use the energy of love, gratitude, appreciation etc to heal ourselves. The Life Force Energy is full of love. Visualising this love entering our bodies with every inhale is so simple yet so powerful. The sub conscious mind cannot differentiate between reality and imagination so if you imagine the healing, it will become your reality. After all, images in a horror film can make us scared. Images of a sexual content can make people feel sexy. So images of your life force energy healing you with love can, quite literally, heal you with love!
We also use the breath to help us meditate. Focusing on our breath helps us clear the mind, relax the body and go within where we can find any amount of peace and joy.
The breath also brings oxygen to areas that need it. It is well documented that cancer cells thrive in deoxygenated environments and they do not multiply in well oxygenated environments. Why is this? I am not a doctor and don’t claim to be. I am not qualified in conventional medicine and don’t purport to be. I’m just making the point that our breath needs our respect. More than we give it. Our breath is so much more important than we realise. Our breath brings with it our healing.
This also explains why Pranayama (Breathing Techniques) is such a major part of Yoga and one of the 8 limbs of Yoga according to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Pranayama uses the breath to control the body – it’s relaxation, health, fitness, balance and ability to meditate. Powerful stuff!
Everyday we see sports people using their breath to strengthen, not only their physical bodies, but also their resolve. We see divers using the breath to maximise their diving experience. Stage performers and speakers will intuitively take a deep breath before entering the stage. Likewise, fear and panic are associated with drawing in quick, short, shallow breaths – that lack love and life force.
Ultimately, it is so simple and so easy to change so much of what we perceive as wrong in our lives. Most people think their feelings and emotions affect their breathing but we can turn this around and see that our breathing can affect our feelings and emotions. That’s a better concept, don’t you think? More empowering. It gives us more control over our feelings and emotions. We can breathe ourselves to happiness!
We should point out here too, I guess, that we, as humans, can go weeks without food, we can go days without water but we can go only a few minutes without breathing. Our breath is more than just our oxygen. And it does more than just keep us alive. As we have seen, it is our whole life and the basis for everything in it. Our breath is our Soul and, as such, it is the basis of who we are and who we want to be. Who we can be. Most importantly, our breath provides us with everything we need: our health, our guidance and our happiness.
So go on and breathe yourself to Happiness!
4 Ways you Can Practice and Benefit from Yoga without Getting Up!
In my attempts to encourage people to take up Yoga, I hear so many crazy excuses as to why they (think they) can’t, from “I can’t sit on the floor” to “I haven’t got time” to “My shoulder/knee/back/foot hurts” to simply and, more honestly, “I can’t be bothered.” Well, today, I’m here to tell you that you can STILL practice Yoga despite all of the above excuses! And, of course, these 4 ways are ideal for anyone chair bound to still enjoy some benefits of Yoga.
According to the Sacred Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there are 8 limbs to Yoga and the physical postures, known as “Asanas” are only one of the 8 limbs. So, I’ve picked (or adapted) some of the other 7 limbs for you to try. Can I point out too, please, that they can all be done anywhere and everywhere – so no excuses!
As Yoga is essentially a preparation for meditation, the “limbs” begin with preparing ourselves in some way and then our surroundings and then they focus on the physical body (asanas) and later moving into the breath (pranayama) and then the last few limbs relate to the different stages of meditation and connection. For any experienced Yogis out there, I apologise for the simplification I am about to provide but my aim here is to show those new to the practice how we can easily benefit from other aspects of Yoga practice.
1. Yama
Yama is the first limb and is broken down into 5 smaller sections, which basically relate to being a good person. So the first way is, in fact, 5 ways! The first being Ahimsa which is the practicing of non-violence. Sounds easy, eh? I’m sure you are not physically violent in nature but it also refers to our thoughts and not just our deeds – and beating yourself up with your inner talk is definitely not Ahimsa. So back to those positive affirmations about self love here – to help you avoid any negative thoughts about yourself or others.
Other Yamas include Satya which is about being honest with yourself and others and Asteya which translates as non-stealing. When we think of stealing we easily relate the word to possessions and money but it can mean so much more than that. Bullies steal the confidence and self esteem of their victims, chronic complainers steal energy from their listeners, manipulators take what is not readily given to them.
If you take something which is not willingly given to you, then you are not practicing Asteya.
Brahmacharya is usually translated as continence meaning to “hold in” and relates to conserving your energy (in all its forms) and only directing it where it is needed to go. It includes self-control and also not wasting time and effort. The last Yama is Aparigraha which translates as non-covetness and relates to not being greedy and taking only what you need at that time.
On reflection, to fully live by these Yamas is not as easy as it initially sounds but just making progress in these 5 areas of life can make a huge difference to our health and happiness. After all, it’s all about the energy – and everything is energy, right?
2. Niyama
This is the second limb of Yoga and also breaks down into 5 sections but, don’t worry, we’re not going to go through all of them. I am only focusing on the areas of Yoga you can practice when it’s too hot to do anything else or you are feeling too lazy to do anything else! So I am just picking the fourth Niyama today which is Svadhyaya. Svadhyaya refers to studying scriptures and self study but can be related to everyday life as reading/listening to inspiring words and writing some sort of journal or gratitude list. There’s plenty on the internet these days to inspire us so just set the intention to be inspired and start surfing!
Writing freely is also a great way to release “stuff” and gratitude lists are an excellent way to help us see what we have and what we desire and basically where we’re at (self-study). Reading back over these journals is a great way to acknowledge your progress especially on those days when you need a little extra encouragement.
3. Pranayama
This is the breathing limb! Prana is often translated simply as “breath” but it is SO much more than that so I prefer to use the term “life force energy”. The word yama translates as control or technique so together pranayama relates to the control and techniques used in breathing in the life force energy. There are so many different techniques to help us focus on inhaling prana (breathing) but, don’t worry, I’ll just include my favourites here.
Ujjayi
This is the deep breath, often accompanied by a raspy sound from the back of the throat, which concentrates on taking the breath all the way down to the belly and allowing the belly to comfortably expand with the inhale and relax with the exhale.
Most people when taking a deep breath sub consciously hold their bellies in and extend their chests. Try it and see if you do the same. This subconscious act deprives the lower abdomen of receiving its full quota of vital life force energy. By allowing the breath to come all the way down and by not worrying about the belly expanding as far as it naturally wants to you can really nourish this lower abdominal area (sacral chakra). This is particularly healing for any digestive or gynaecological problems. Try it and see – let me know how you get on with it.
Nadi-Shodhana
This is one of my favourites and works with balancing the right and left sides of the body by balancing the prana flow through the right and then left nostrils in turn. Block one nostril and inhale slowly (allowing the belly to expand), hold for a second or two, and then block that nostril, unblock the other nostril and exhale slowly. Inhale again through the same nostril that you just exhaled from and hold for a second or two before exhaling out of the other nostril. Repeat for as long as is comfortable for you.
This balances our feminine and masculine energies, our ida and pingala, our yin and yang – whatever language you prefer! By the way, this practice is excellent for easing menstrual and menopausal symptoms!
Kapalabhati – often called fire breath.
This technique takes some practice but is so worth it. We focus on our exhale and almost force the breath out using our abdominal muscles to ensure we have exhaled completely. Allow the inhalation to happen naturally before focusing on the next exhale. With practice you can get faster with this breathing pattern and it’s super energising!
4. Meditation
As stated earlier, the last 4 “limbs” of Yoga all relate to Meditation or the preparation of meditation. Pratyahara refers to the withdrawal of our senses as we begin to focus within. This is the aspect of Yoga that allows monks to meditate for days on end without moving, eating or drinking. It focuses on detaching from the physical body and therefore the physical senses. Needless to say it would take a life time or two to master this one.
On our Yoga teacher training course, we practiced Yoga a few times in the park with an army of flies that were determined to distract us – they gave us the perfect opportunity to practice our pratyahara. The deeper into meditation we went the less these flies could bother us!
Dharana refers to the concentraion stage of the process and Dhyana is the actual meditation before you get to Samadhi which Google translates as “a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation. In yoga this is regarded as the final stage, at which union with the divine is reached (before or at death).” This is where most of us struggle with our Yoga practice so let’s bring it back to a level we can all relate to.
For those of you who read my first book Heal yourself to Happiness, you will know I dedicated a whole section to the topic of meditation. Meditation simplified, in my opinion, just means putting your conscious mind to one side for a while and letting the subconscious come to the fore. We do this naturally without thinking so many times during the day yet we don’t realise this is the beginning of meditating.
Do you ever “drift off” in thought while driving a familiar route alone? Or while doing the dishes? It’s like day dreaming. That moment just before you fall asleep or that moment you awaken. We often experience this relaxation of the conscious mind during exercise, painting, doing crafts, puzzles, gardening, cooking……….in fact, usually when we’re doing something we love that we find relaxing. That is the feeling we want to create which is why it’s so important to spend time relaxing and doing the things you love.
If you can nurture this feeling and deepen it then you’re well on your way to meditating. This is when you get all your bright ideas, creativity, inspiration, intuition and guidance for this is when your spirit guides can communicate with you more clearly. This is why meditating is so healing because it gives you the answers you need through your own intuition. Your own inner guidance system. Perfect!
So there you have it. Four ways you can practice Yoga without even getting up! Let me know how you get on.
Love and Blessings
xx
How regular Yoga practice actually improves your life OFF the Yoga mat
I am often telling my Yoga students and people in general (anyone that will listen really!) that regular Yoga practice creates progress in your life OFF the mat as much as it improves your practice ON the mat. People who already practice Yoga regularly know this fact, even if they can’t explain it. And those who can explain it will probably give you a load of scientific information about the biological and physiological benefits of the different postures and other aspects of the practice. These, of course, are truths not to be ignored and here is the link to an excellent short video about The Science of Yoga which, in my opinion, is a must watch for anyone practicing or thinking about taking up Yoga.
From an Energy Healing Point of View
However, we are not all scientifically minded. I am not. I view Yoga as a form of Energy Healing because, quite frankly, it is! Everything is energy so anything that helps you heal must be energy healing of a sort. But Yoga is energy healing in every sense of the word. As an Energy Healer I work very much with the release of negative trapped emotions, limiting subconscious beliefs and releasing blocks and restrictions at Soul level and I really want to explain how all this can be achieved through Yoga.
One of the many reasons I love Yoga so much is because, from my Energy Healing perspective, it really is the icing on the cake.
I use The Emotion Code and The Body Code for emotional healing, PSYCH K and The Body Code for mental belief healing and Soul Realignment for Soul level healing (with lots of overlapping and intuition!). I now see Yoga as an umbrella that embodies them all.
So, getting to the point, how does Yoga improve your life off the mat?
When you practice Yoga, you are stretching each body part to its limit. It’s important to go to your limit – no further, no less – to your body’s natural limit. Where your body naturally says “stop”. If you go further than this your body won’t thank you and if you go less than this you will take longer to transform to a new place and a new you. If you go to your natural limit regularly, it’s like a gentle tapping on your limit. As you hold each pose use the breath to inhale love and healing and exhale tension and stiffness and with each breath your body will naturally move a little further into the pose. Sometimes slowly and sometimes more quickly your limit will move and your body gently and naturally wants to go that little bit further enabling you to deepen the pose and experience something new. This is when we transform the most.
Visualisation
Time for a little side note here on visualisation. Visualisation is the most powerful (and easy) self healing tool we have in our power. By constantly visualising tension, negative emotions, other negative energy and limitations actively releasing from our bodies on our exhale while visualising the healing love, light and vitality of our life force energy entering our bodies – through the crown chakra, heart chakra, root chakra, with our breath and through every pore – we can totally maximise the healing benefits of our Yoga practice.
Our subconscious cannot differentiate between reality and our imagination. If you watch a horror film, you will still feel the fear and anxiety even though you know it’s not real and when you see someone being hit and hurt you can feel it in your own energy, right? In the same way, whatever you choose to run through your own mind will have an effect on your own system. Choose to imagine powerfully healing scenarios and they will be just that, powerfully healing. But back to the topic in hand…………………how does regular Yoga practice help you transform your life OFF the Yoga mat?
What is actually limiting your body when you practice Yoga? You will, no doubt, say your inflexibility and, of course, you’re right but it’s more than that. It’s actually our trapped emotions and inflexible negative beliefs that cause this limitation. Yes – even the physical limitation of the body during Yoga is caused by your trapped emotions and inflexible negative beliefs.
Trapped Emotions
Let me explain what I mean by a “trapped emotion” for those of you who have not come across this term before. A trapped emotion is basically a ball of energy (everything is energy including our emotions/thoughts/beliefs) that, having not been processed completely, gets lodged in our body somewhere and causes a blockage to the natural healing life force energy that is constantly flowing through us.
When we feel a negative emotion such as fear, panic, heartache, grief, anger, anxiety, jealousy, shock, rejection, guilt etc we often don’t process the feeling and the energy of the emotion doesn’t pass through our energy field. There are many reasons why we may not process the energy of the emotion at the time. Usually we just don’t want to feel it so we suppress the feeling. Shock and grief can make us “go numb” and also sometimes because the western culture is one of holding emotions in. Compare a European funeral with one from the middle east where you will see mothers openly and loudly expressing the energy of the emotion they are feeling. Sometimes we don’t want to admit we are feeling a particular emotion such as jealousy or we may have been brought up to believe that crying isn’t good. Whatever the reason, we all trap negative emotions within our bodies. They can be caused by major traumatic events in our lives or just by simple comments by others or lost toys even. They can often lodge in organs and parts of the body relevant to the emotion, for example, fear in the kidneys, anger in the liver, sorrow in the lungs and so on.
For more information about trapped emotions you can read my whole article on the topic here on the Blog page of my website.
Limiting Beliefs
Negative beliefs come from the subconscious programming that we have received at certain stages of our lives primarily in our early childhood. Often parents and teachers have no idea how easily and readily a young mind will take on a belief especially when it’s about themselves. It is very common, and I see it every day in my line of work, for people to have beliefs of low self worth due to criticism in their early years. Our views on money, relationships, love, security and, as I said before, self worth, all come from the early programming we received as infants. Unless, of course, we have taken measures to look into this and change such limiting beliefs.
You may well wonder how this causes us limitations in our Yoga practice but you need to keep in mind (always!) that everything is energy, including our thoughts and beliefs. And we are energy – our energy field and our so called physical bodies are just energy vibrating at differing frequencies. The negative, unhealthy energy vibrating at lower frequencies and the positive, healthy energy vibrating at higher frequencies. All this energy is either flowing around or lodged and stuck in our bodies. I have already mentioned that trapped emotions get stuck and block organs and other parts of the body that relate to them but beliefs can too. For example, fears about the future and fears about finances can cause blockages in the lymphatic system. Perceived burdens in our lives tend to locate themselves energetically on and in our shoulders. I could go on but you get the gist. To learn more about this particular topic of where our emotions and beliefs manifest in our bodies check out the end of Louise Hay’s classic book You Can Heal your Life here.
You Can Heal your Life by Louise Hay
For more information on changing limiting beliefs you can read the article on my Blog page below about PSYCH K.
So now you can see what exactly is limiting your body when you practice Yoga – it may feel like your muscles are what is causing you to stop your stretch and, of course, this is true to a certain extent but, energetically, it is so much more than that.
You have also seen now how gentle and regular “nudging” at your limit, using your breath to deepen each pose whilst remaining relaxed is one of the ways to release such limitation by releasing the energy that is lodged there. This process happens very naturally in Yoga. You may not have even been aware of it. Have you ever just felt like crying during your Yoga practice? Without really knowing why? Have you found that random feelings and memories come to you during your Yoga practice that you can’t account for? Well, now you know. It is the thoughts and events that caused the emotional blockage or belief running through your energy field and subconscious mind as they are being released. Tears are always a good indication that emotional release is going on so never stop them. Acknowledge them. Give thanks for them. Let them go. Give blessings for the natural energetic cleansing that you are receiving.
A side note here too on the possible effects of such energy releasing. The first one being tears of absolute joy! Warning: Yoga practice can cause absolute joy! That high feeling you get during and after a Yoga session is clearly evidence of your greater connection to Source energy. The great ideas that pop into your head during and after a session of Yoga is further evidence of the life force energy doing its thing. Yoga practice, by releasing energy blocks, increases this channel with Source, and gives you greater creativity, health, clarity, intuition, love, light, purpose, meaning, do I need to continue?
Processing Emotions
However, there can also be perceived negative effects of this energy release in the form of various illnesses and pain. If you again think energetically, it’s all very logical. As the energy of these emotions release from your body you can feel them. You may experience vivid dreams and recall certain memories as these emotions fully release from your energy field. When I studied for my Holistic Diploma, we called this effect a healing crisis. In The Emotion Code world we refer to it as a period of processing. At Soul level, we refer to such releases as shifting.
Personally, I prefer the word processing. These trapped emotions have been stuck in our bodies because we didn’t, for whatever reason, fully process them at the time we originally felt them. So, in my opinion, it’s really important to acknowledge these feelings and actively visualise and nurture their release from your body so you don’t inadvertently, suppress them again. Your attitude at this time can make all the difference between healing and transforming somewhere exciting and new or remaining stuck.
Taking pain killers only silences the message your body is trying to give you. In extreme cases, you may need them to help you function or sleep but the truth is, you don’t want to ignore this pain. You want to understand it. Acknowledge it and release the underlying cause of it.
You may not immediately connect the illness or pain you are feeling with this emotional release. What illness or pain you experience will depend on the location of the block being released and the nature of the belief being released. The emotions you feel while processing will also depend on the emotions being released. This is why I have to warn clients that symptoms can often worsen before they improve. So if you feel unusually grumpy, sad or angry be aware that you may have released this from your body during Yoga and embrace the new you that is emerging!
As I said, your attitude here is crucial for healing. If you complain and curse your body and the pain you are experiencing, you are just sending greater negativity towards your body. Illness and pain is simply your body’s way of telling you it has something to release. By being grateful for this and embracing the opportunity to release and grow and by sending love to your body and its parts you will find greater, and quicker, healing. Food for thought for the next time you are sick, eh?
Here is a link to an article I wrote about pain being your friend last year after experiencing awful back ache.
Here is the Abraham Hicks link which is included in the article which provided me with the necessary Ah ha! moment on this topic.
and another one which you may find interesting.
One of the ways to really know that your illness was actually caused by your Yoga practice is by seeing how far you can go the next time you practice Yoga.
During my bad back episode, I was concerned that so long without practicing Yoga would result in my being stiff and unfit. I was concerned that my practice and my reach would go backwards, however, completely the opposite occurred. Despite not practicing for a couple of weeks, when I did, I found my body naturally went even further than ever before. I found myself doing poses I’d never been able to do before. I felt stronger, more flexible and more balanced – and needless to say, more joy! The more flexible you are on the mat the more flexible your thinking will be off the mat. The more balanced you are on the mat, the more balanced you will feel in life in general. So now, when I don’t feel 100%, I retreat, love myself a little bit more and look forward to the spiritual growth that is coming my way.
Remember, arrows can only be shot forward after being pulled back first. Next time you feel poorly or that life is dragging you backwards, just think how far you’re going to fly!
Releasing low vibrating negative energy from your body causes the overall frequency of your body’s vibrations to rise. This is key. It is this rise in our vibrations that is causing our life to improve off the mat. By the Law of Attraction, we will attract “like” energy into our field. The more positive our vibrations, the more positive energy will come to us. This can be in the form of people, experiences, food preferences, opportunities, thoughts, beliefs, intuition, creativity, love, romantic partners – shall I continue?
This is how your progress ON the Yoga mat, creates progress, and spiritual growth, in your life OFF the Yoga mat.
(from an energetic point of view!)
With love, light and blessings,
Top Ten Steps to Self-Love – How many do you do?
Self Love is such an integral part of our health and happiness and we should take every opportunity to focus upon our Self Love care. What do you do to nurture love for yourself?
Check out my Top Ten Steps to Self Love – how many do you do regularly?
1. Repeat Self Love affirmations.
If the classic “I love and accept myself completely” doesn’t resonate with you yet then why not try “I’m willing to love and accept myself” or “I am lovable” or “I deserve to be loved”. Find one that feels comfortable for you. Repeat it morning, noon and night and in no time you’ll be more comfortable with “I love and accept myself completely”. If you can muscle test yourself, muscle test each affirmation to see how much your subconscious really believes it…………….and keep going. Seriously the most healing thing you could do for yourself.
2. Give gratitude
Give gratitude for all the things in your life that you love. Write a list of all the things you love about your life, your job, your friends, your family, your home, your pets, your health etc! Keep this going until you feel “fluent” in pouring out your love. Then progress to writing a list of all the things you love about yourself. No one is going to read it so just go with it – even if the things you are writing are not strictly true about yourself – maybe they are your desires – but write them anyway, as if you really loved those aspects of yourself already – as if they were fact – keep it going…..you’ll soon see a difference.
3. Do the Thing that Makes your Heart Sing
It always makes us feel good – about life and about ourselves. That sense of excitement in whatever our passionate activity is, is a display of our connection to Source. This is where you can tap into the most LOVE.
“Excitement is the physical translation of the vibrational resonance that is your true core, natural being.”
Abraham Hicks
4. Have a good cry!
Crying is one of the best ways to release negative trapped emotions that could be blocking you from loving yourself. Subconscious (or conscious) feelings of unworthiness can often sabotage our Self Love. Sometimes we can’t put our finger on exactly how we feel or why we want to cry but no worries – better out than in! I always think it’s better not to hold tears in – rather stay mindful of releasing the resistance to your greatness and celebrate it. Sometimes we can get the urge to cry when we’re on our own, walking in nature or exercising – don’t you find? It’s your body’s way of letting you know you have something to release – so let it out!
5. Abhyanga
Abhyanga is a nurturing Ayurvedic massage with warm oils. It can be done by another or by yourself. It’s this self massage infused with love that really works wonders on building one’s Self Love. Using your favourite aromas and essential oils (not necessarily warm as that would make it an even longer process that you’ll find even easier to avoid – true, eh?) massage your body slowly and lovingly remembering to give gratitude and love to each body part as you go. Just allowing yourself the time to do such acts of Self Love sends a signal to your subconscious that you are worthy and deserving which is healing in itself.
6. Get a Pet.
Obviously only if you are in a position to take responsibility for one. Otherwise I’m sure you could “borrow” one occasionally. See how loyal pets are – especially dogs. They will loveyou unconditionally. They are always so pleased and excited to see you. They readily forgive you for any mistakes you make. They don’t judge you. They are not as held back by negative emotions as we are. They love and accept you exactly as you are. If a dog can do all of this – then surely you can too?
7. Yoga – of course!
Ask anyone who practices Yoga regularly how it has helped their self love and you’ll hear an inspirational transformation story for sure! Yoga gives us health AND happiness and it’s always easier to love ourselves when we’re healthy and happy.
8. Compliment yourself.
Say lovely things to and about yourself – even if the compliments are half-hearted in the beginning it will get you in the energy flow of appreciating different aspects of yourself. It’s all about that energy flow!
9. Love your Inner Child.
Inner Child Work is where we find that little child from our past who is still within us, and give him/her all the love they need. We pick up so many blocks to Self Love when those we expect and hope to get love from let us down or for whatever reason, we don’t feel the love they are trying to give us. Parents can only do what they are capable of doing at the time and they, too, have their own issues going on. Maybe just turning up late to pick you up from school made you feel “unloved” – these things can be so innocent.
We are all made of pure love energy underneath which is why we seek to attract pure love energy. We go looking for love from other people. But the secret is not to look for love from others but to provide it for ourselves. If we can provide ourselves with the love our subconscious so desperately craves then we can enjoy love from others as an added bonus!
Close your eyes (in meditation) and visualise yourself at a time in your life when you felt unloved and then visualise yourself going up to your younger self and wrapping your arms around them and telling them how special they are and how much they are loved. If done seriously, it can be quite emotional, but it is so, so powerful and very, very healing. And, of course, it isn’t always the little child within us that needs a hug. The teenager, young adult and grown adult within you will also appreciate a squeeze and hug of pure love, no doubt.
10. Forgiveness.
There is no greater act of Self Love than Forgiving yourself and others. Easier said than done I know and if you are having problems with this healing concept, I suggest you start with repeating and writing affirmations such as,
“I am willing to forgive myself and others. I set the past free.”
Have I missed any? What are your Self Love tips – as always, I would love to hear from you.
Need help getting started on all of this? For Self Healing Coaching and/or Energy Healing get in touch deborah@deborahjanesutton.com or come and visit one of our Heal yourself to Happiness Retreats
Love and Blessings
xx
How to get Affirmations to work for you
You can’t start a piece on Affirmations without first mentioning the lovely Louise Hay who is undoubtedly the Queen of Affirmations and certainly her book, You Can Heal Your Life, was the beginning of my conscious journey to inner love, peace, acceptance and joy. This, by it’s pure nature, led to my improved health, abundance, vision and happiness. For this reason, not only am I a big fan of Affirmations, but I also love helping others understand How and Why they are so important to Self Healing and Happiness.
However, I have had a number of clients who have complained that they don’t feel comfortable with saying Affirmations because they feel empty or the sentences get stuck in their throats for the simple reason that they perceive them as “lies”.
Let’s take the example,
“I love myself so I lovingly feed myself nourishing foods and beverages.”
You may not have learned to love yourself yet and indeed it may just bring to your mind the fact (and guilt and shame) that you regularly eat junk food and drink fizzy drinks. (I was going to write “alcohol” there but I honestly believe that fizzy drinks are more poisonous to our bodies than alcohol but that’s another story!)
If this is your reflex response thought to this Affirmation then you can either focus on the love you do have for yourself and the aspects of your diet that ARE nourishing – even if this is small – at least it’s TRUE and by repeating it morning, noon and night you will find that you will slowly love yourself more each day AND slowly increase the amount of your diet that is “nourishing”. But you do have to do it – believe me it works!
If this still does not resonate with you and it just makes you feel worse (we can’t have that) then you can downsize the Affirmation.
For example, by using the words ” I am changing” or “I am Willing”
“I am changing the way I think about food.”
“I am willing to let LOVE into my heart.”
“I am willing to improve my diet.”
We can do the same for Abundance Affirmations too. When trying to manifest more money into their lives many people get stuck because they are focusing on what they DON’T HAVE rather than what they HAVE. If you focus on “lack” then the Universe will give you MORE “lack”. This is where there is an overlap with manifesting through Gratitude and The Law of Attraction. It’s all the same concept. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will say it again! Everything is Energy. We emit a vibrational frequency and by the pure nature of Science (yes, Science!) the Universe will bring back to us that SAME frequency. So if you emit energies of Gratitude it will bring you MORE things to be Grateful for. If you emit LOVE, it will send you MORE LOVE. It’s SO simple! Some people refer to it as “The Secret” (Rhonda Byrne’s famous book and film) but I prefer the word “Concept” because, to me, it’s such a logical CONCEPT.
So as you focus every morning, noon and night on the nourishing aspects of your diet, the good things about your body, the things you DO have and are grateful for and the abundance you actually already have, the Universe will match it and bring you MORE. Now that’s ABUNDANCE!
How to Boost the Power of Your Affirmations
To help you raise your vibrations try visualising as you say your Affirmations – visualise the body you want to have (make sure it’s YOUR body you visualise and not anyone else’s – you have no idea what’s inside other people’s bodies), visualise your bills paid, visualise driving the car you want, visualise a soul mate, visualise the activity you want to be doing ………………I mean REALLY imagine you already have it. SEE it – what does it look like? SMELL it – what does it smell like? HEAR and TASTE it. FEEL it – what does it feel like? SENSE the whole thing. Now THIS will raise your vibrations to receiving whatever it may be. If a negative or contradictory thought enters your head – just let it go – and keep going.
Some people find Affirmations are more powerful and effective said while doing yoga, for example. Personally, I find repeating them while swimming is powerful but then you have to find YOUR “thing”. The thing that makes your Heart Sing – and say them then!
How Often Do I Need to Repeat my Affirmations?
I have said repeat them morning, noon and night but really I mean much MORE than that! When you first wake up, while cleaning your teeth, while in the shower, while doing your hair, while driving to work, if you’re busy all day at work say them when you got to the loo – just keep saying them. Try and say them with total BELIEF. Even if none of this is resonating with you and you still don’t believe they can work STILL just SAY them. I had no idea how powerful Affirmations could be – I just repeated the first set of Affirmations from Louise Hay’s book – and said them without knowing or believing any of this – it was only later on that I realised all my Affirmations had come true! Honestly – it was like OMG! I have and I am everything that I’m saying – Wow! Whether it was physical manifestations or my perception of things that had changed is an interesting point to explore but that is another story! They had ALL become, indeed, TRUE for me.
So I quickly wrote out 8 more Affirmations to fit my new desires. I also took these from Louise Hay’s film “You Can Heal Your Life” because they were all encompassing and relevant to me (to everyone I don’t doubt) but you can make your own up or find the best ones for you from the exercise at the end of this piece.
How Can I Word my Affirmations?
Affirmations always need to be in the present tense – if you say, for example, ” I will have a beautiful body”, “I will have an increased income” then the Universe will match that vibration of NOT having it NOW. So keep your Affirmations in the present. Also, keep them more general in nature – the word Abundance is great – it covers so much.
Try not to be too specific – the Universe works in mysterious ways and it’s not up to us to ask “How” something will be manifested – this, in fact, can hinder manifestations. Trust that the energy will do its thing if YOU do your bit. Very often the Universe manifests things in a way we could never have imagined so by focussing on the “hows” you are limiting your desire from coming to fruition.
Focus on what it is you want rather than what you don’t want and don’t use negatives in your Affirmations. For example, the statement “I don’t have debts” will not work because it gives its attention to the idea of debt and guess what? yes – the Universe will match it with more debt. If you say “I have more money ” – this is better but you are still focussing on the idea that you don’t have much NOW or not as much as you want – there is still a sense of LACK. Compare it to,
“I welcome money into my life.” “I am prosperous.” “I welcome prosperity into my life.” “I welcome Abundance.” You can progress to “I can easily pay my bills.” “I am a magnet for money.” etc
Why Should We Repeat Affirmations so many times?
What we’re actually doing here is reprogramming our subconscious minds which brings us onto the overlap between Affirmations and PSYCH K which is the amazing belief changing modality based on integrating the brain to accept new, positive beliefs and so releasing the existing, limiting and self sabotaging belief. We program our minds from a very young age usually from our parents, teachers and other significant adults in our lives at the time. We are totally unaware that we do it and for this reason we are often unaware that we are limiting ourselves with such beliefs. Thought and therefore belief, is energy and, as always, the Universe will match it. If you were told as a small child, for example, that you didn’t deserve to have something or you weren’t worthy of having something and you BELIEVED this – by continuing to believe this, your beliefs will make it true and the Universe will bring you more situations where you feel unworthy. By installing statements (Affirmations) of “I am Worthy” and “I deserve…” “I am loved..” etc the Universe will match this and give you situations whereby you can feel your worth and loved. This can, and does, change people’s lives around as we build so much of our lives on our BELIEFS especially the beliefs we have about OURSELVES.
Installing new beliefs is quicker with PSYCH K but we still encourage clients to repeat their new beliefs as often as possible to reinforce them. We can’t spend our whole day practicing PSYCH K (a few sessions would be a good idea though!) but we can (and do) run thoughts through our heads all day………….it’s up to you to make them positive,
“Thoughts Become Things – Choose good ones” – Mike Dooley.
Which Affirmations Should I Use? EXERCISE
So here’s the Exercise. I have a long list of Affirmations here and I want you to slowly read them and acknowledge your FIRST thought response to each one. If you can read it comfortably then there’s a chance you believe it and you can move on. If your mind jumps to one or two things that contradict the statement then you could be nearly there but with some issues to clear up making this statement a good option for you to adopt.
Now if you repeat one and it gets really stuck in your throat – then that’s the one (or ones) you need to focus on the most. They are the ones you NEED. If they don’t resonate with you – then why not? Do you want them to be TRUE? If so write it down and start saying it – morning, noon and night 🙂
For those of you who can Self Muscle Test – repeat each statement and muscle test yourself – a positive response indicates that your sub conscious mind already believes the statement. You can muscle test on each statement until you find one that tests negative. That’s the one to work on.
The most powerful of all Affirmations
I love and accept myself completely
Health/Body
I am free to be happy and healthy
My body heals itself naturally and quickly
I choose to live a vibrant and healthy life
My mind, body and spirit are harmoniously balanced now
I lovingly nourish my physical body
I see beauty in all parts of my body
I love and accept my body as it is and as it changes
I now allow the healing energy of love to flow through me
Prosperity
Money is a wonderful tool that I use to create possibilities for me and for others
The universe is a friendly place and willingly gives me everything I need
I deserve to have all the money I need
I am proud of my results and I deserve my reward
It is ok to have more money than I need
It is ok to want to have money
I receive and accept money with love and gratitude
I allow myself to earn good money
Personal
I am ready, willing and able to be the best me that I can be
I allow my visions and dreams to become reality
I have the ability to create my life as I want it to be
I love, appreciate and accept myself completely
It is easy for me to give love to others
It is easy for me to receive love from others
I am worthy of having an intimate and passionate relationship
I am able to maintain my individuality in my relationships
My Favourite Affirmations – enjoy them and see the change!
All my relationships are harmonious
I am deeply fulfilled by all that I do
Every experience is a success
I deserve the best and accept it now
I lovingly listen to my body’s messages
I am happy, healthy, whole, complete and secure
I express gratitude for all that is good in my life
Each day brings wonderful new surprises
Everything I need to know is revealed to me
Everything I need comes to me in the perfect time space sequence
Life is a Joy and full of Love
I am healthy and full of energy
I am loving, lovable and loved
I prosper wherever I turn
I am changing and growing
I am an unlimited being, receiving unlimited abundance from an unlimited Source in unlimited ways.
For more information on Affirmations and other forms of Self Healing and Energy Healing please contact deborah@deborahjanesutton.com