The Artist’s Way — unlock your creativity

I recommend The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron to my reiki students as she has helped millions to unlock their creativity, usually in surprising and unexpected ways. It’s laid out as a 12 week course with each chapter ending in a number of exercises. These exercises are not necessarily about ‘writing’ or any particular art form. They are designed to help you lead a richer, more interesting life. They also help you overcome the negativity that may be stopping you from trying new things.

The most important ‘tools’ are ‘The Morning Pages’ and ‘the Artist Date’. I like both these concepts. Each morning you splurge onto the page, 3 full pages of all the rants, rubbish and repetition in your life and then stop. Don’t re-read or worry if someone will find the pages. Keep them in a safe place and get on with your day. After a few weeks, your world feels lighter and you let go of some of the unwanted baggage, leaving you clearer to be more creative.

The Artist Date is all about having fun! On your own, you plan a special treat for yourself, experimenting with something new. It could be a visit to the zoo, a museum, a gallery. It could be a riding lesson or a one-off dance class. It could just be allowing yourself to browse in a bookshop or art shop. This stuff sounds simple, but when did you last push yourself to go and try something new, something you’ve always wanted to have a go at? ON YOUR OWN!?

I’ve done the Artist’s Way three times. The first time it led me to learn Reiki. This is because of the spiritual aspect to the book. Everyone of us has the potential to be creative: whether it’s through the outfits we wear, how we experiment with making food,  or with our poems, songs or paintings. The second time I read the book, I started painting, years after being told by my art teacher I wasn’t good enough. I did a few different  art courses at Phoenix, the City College and at Sussex Uni.  I now use my artwork to decorate my walls at home, on my website and in all my manuals.

The third time I read the Artist’s Way, I started learning the sitar, with a local teacher and later took a course in London with a world-class sitar player, Purbayan Chatterjee. It gave me a wonderful sense of achievement to take part in the final concert and did wonders for my confidence. Learning an instrument helps you to understand music better, to hear more clearly and also helps you to think with more clarity.

Julia Cameron has taught the Artist Way for 25 years but this weekend was the first time she has ever run a workshop in the UK. It was incredible for a group of creative people to do the intense exercises together and then to share the results. Strangers giving each other positive feedback and encouragement is incredibly powerful. The most personal details of what was holding them back — their worries, their fears and their resentments — were challenged and transformed into positive plans and inspiring ideas.

I have already begun to feel the effects of the workshop, just a few days after the event, I am experimenting with new art forms and moving into a new phase of learning. Throughout the weekend, Julia was asked by the audience: … is this right? should I..? could I..? am I allowed..?? And her answer was always: “I teach Adults.”

Sometimes we should just DO instead of worrying if it’s RIGHT. What’s wrong with giving yourself permission to make a mess or to be a bit wrong and to make up your own rules? Maybe, just maybe, a little gem comes out of all the mess and makes you smile.

The Body, The Soul and The Earth

This week I went to see Deepak Chopra speak about his forthcoming book ‘Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul’, at the Friends Meeting House in Euston. It was an enjoyable evening, mainly because the audience was made up of excitable Chopra fans and he is a likeable kind of guy. No wonder he hangs out with pop stars and tycoons. His talk included amusing stories about arriving in America from India in the 1960’s, with nothing in his pocket except his Medical qualifications.

He later bamboozled most of the audience with his theories of quantum physics. Essentially Chopra explains that because we are all just made up of tiny cells of pure light, and the whole universe is made up of pure light, pure energy — then we are all connected on a deep level.

This means that our physical bodies and physical environment can only be affected by our consciousness, by our individual perception. So if we all start thinking more positively and treating ourselves and each other with more compassion, we can have a quantum effect on the whole world. We could change everything from world poverty (just 4% of the US budget spent on Defence could end poverty in Africa) to climate change. We need a global shift in consciousness to change the world. Deepak is the President and Founder of the Alliance For A New Humanity, you can pledge to take a vow against non-violence.

I bought Deepak’s book on Ayurvedic healing techniques Perfect Health and he very kindly signed it for me, and we had a short chat. You can follow Deepak on Twitter.

The same week I found myself in the Brighton Friends Meeting House, to hear Alistair McIntosh, author of Soil and Soul speak about climate change and the collapse of society as we know it.

We still need to continue to make efforts to contain climate change but we can not reverse it, according to Alistair. This means the world will inevitably change out of all recognition.

The only way to survive is to return to a sense of community and reconnect with our neighbours and with the land. We are already seeing enormous changes, economically, culturally and to the environment. Clearly the old ways are dying and we can take this opportunity to reevaluate our values and embrace the changes by adapting to a more authentic way of living.

Both speakers were basically giving the same message, the message of a universal way of thinking, a message of hope and enlightenment if we are up to the challenge.

Learning through experiences

In the business book How to Lead, there’s lots of helpful advice about working in organisations. I was struck by one simple exercise, that seemed a little ‘new-age’ for this particular book. But as I continually say to my reiki students, the Divine is in everything and you can find Universal Truth in the most unexpected places.

All you have to do is think over the last 5 years (or 10 years if you can think that far back) and consider the single most memorable event of that year. You’ll see a definite pattern emerging. Apart from moving to Brighton and getting married, the most memorable experiences have been visiting other countries and experiencing other cultures, most significantly going to Nepal, and also living in an Indian ashram to become a yoga teacher.

Experiences are the only things worth remembering: Nobody lays on their deathbed wishing they had spent more time in the office.

A more frugal way of ‘travelling’ is to go on courses or attend events, with teachers or speakers you feel drawn to. You can never regret learning something and you never know how you will use that information in the future. This year, I’ve let the teachers come to me. I’m very impressed at the quality of the speakers in the current programme at Alternatives in London. I’m going to see Deepak Chopra speak, I like his books as he explains ancient Indian healing techniques and philosophy, in an accessible style. This makes applying these methods to a modern way of life easier.

Doreen Virtue is doing one of her one day workshops in October, after we’d all given up on her returning to Europe. If you haven’t seen her in action, I’d recommend it as spending all day in a room full of angels can be extremely be beneficial and the healing effects will stay with you for months.

The Artist’s Way fans will be delighted to know Julia Cameron is doing a two-day workshop in London on creativity and unlocking your potential. It will definitely be an experience to see these teachers, you just don’t know where it will lead but mainly it’s worth going now, because who knows when they’ll return to the UK. Catch them while you can.

Racism — Challenge yourself

I went to see comedian Richard Herring recently. He’s doing a controversial show about reclaiming the ‘toothbrush’ mustache for comedy: Charlie Chaplin used it first before it became known as ‘Hitler’s mustache’. It’s a very sophisticated show in which he tackles race and racism head-on.

I found parts of the show challenging but completely necessary. Recently I find myself being told by ‘white middle-class English’ people “race isn’t an issue anymore”. Well it may never have been an issue if you are white. I live in the most liberal city in the country, but I recently worked in small town in Sussex, where I got called a ‘n*gger’ in the street, a colleague referred to Obama as ‘coloured’ and I was asked ‘why did your parents come to this country?’. This is a town that despises Catholics, so I’ve got no chance.

Racism is subtle. It’s about having a preconception of someone based on their race or religion. It’s about stereotypes: hardworking Poles, shoplifting black girls, Asian drama queens. Is a black man ‘trouble’? Herring gives an example of how the Police restrained the wrong man when he called for assistance after his iPhone was stolen. If I tell this story by saying ‘a man’ you might assume he is white. If I say a ‘black man’ all sorts of connotations run through your head.

I remember in primary school, I was never touched by the white teachers and not allowed to bake cakes with the other kids as the teachers thought there was something unclean about me. I was 4. (Don’t worry, I’ve got over the trauma of this now). I know that Asian kids, a generation younger than me have had a completely different experience growing up in England. Racist words and stereotypes may affect them differently. They don’t remember in the 1970’s and early 1980’s when there were hardly any black people on the TV, when we’d get over excited when an Asian family was introduced on Eastenders. I remember when MTV and commercial radio refused to play black music, when hip-hop, soul and even Michael Jackson was considered unsuitable for mainstream audiences.

Herring has a whole debate with himself onstage about the word ‘Paki’. For me listening in the audience, it was like scratching on a blackboard. I am a bright person. I know he is making a point that to a racist we are all ‘pakis’ if you have brown skin. A racist doesn’t care about whether you are from South America or the Middle East, India or Pakistan — we all look the same so we are all treated the same — with contempt. But of course, these feelings I have about the word, that maybe doesn’t affect my 16-year old cousin or my 50-something mum — make me and my (white, middle-class) friends uncomfortable watching it. Especially as Herring is a big white man, saying it with such venom (If I was up there, doing the same act, no-one would care).

These issues should not be brushed under the carpet. Herring rightly says people should have voted in the European election, it was by not voting that England sent 2 fascist BNP representatives to the European parliament. Racism should be laughed at, talked about and challenged. Herring is a brave man to get up on stage and clobber us over the head with it. Wake up Britain!

Shamanism and the Environment

Last weekend I attended a 2 day Shamanism workshop with Leo Rutherford. He’s in his 70’s now, he’s written loads of books on shamanism and he runs the Eagle’s Wing centre in Forest Row. He studied in San Francisco — all good signs. I went on a shaman weekend about 4 years ago with Howard G Charing, also a member of Eagle’s Wing and despite my scepticism I had some very powerful experiences. I’d been waiting for some time to go on a course with Leo and the time was obviously right last week.

Shamanism is a term used to describe the rites and rituals of ancient cultures around the world, usually referring to Native North and South American Indians. The Shaman serves the community as healer, priest and adviser. Common elements may include rites of passage, ceremonies and festivals, use of herbs and crystals, use of dance, drumming and chanting. There are meditative practices, which involve releasing the mind to ‘travel’ or ‘journey’, meeting spirit guides, deities and accessing other realms. There is always a strong connection to Mother Earth and the cycles of Nature and the elements.

All ancient cultures share these elements: Australian Aborigines, the Maoris and Polynesians, the Tibetan people, native cultures in Siberia, as well as Wiccan and Pagan practices. As shown on a recent BBC documentary the Incredible Human Journey — all of these practices have their roots in ancient Indian and African cultures. All of these cultures also use symbols and healing practices as a way of life — which is why Reiki (universal energy) is so strongly linked to shamanism.

The aspect I enjoyed most on the workshop was ‘journeying’. It’s similar to a guided meditation but instead of someone talking to you, it’s the rhythmic drumming that sends you into a semi-hypnotic state. You ‘dream’ an alternate reality which represents your authentic self. You ‘meet’ various guides or animals who can give you answers or guidance. I dreamed of a 3-headed dragon which represented the 3 negative qualities I would like to get rid of (or at least dampen down!): anger, greed and envy. I also dreamed of my various power animals, which I have met on other journeys, such as Dolphin, Owl and Peacock. This time I merged with all of the animals and became a huge being, rather like the Nightwalker in Princess Mononoke. I whizzed off into space and looked back at the world and gave it a big hug.

The message was loud and clear: You are called upon to help with environmentalism. What more can I do? I don’t have a car, a dishwasher or a tumble dryer. I use Ecover cleaning products and I rarely eat meat. I try to conserve fuel and water at home — no ordinary lightbulbs in my house. I have cut down on the amount of flights I take and the amount of stuff I buy. I am also making a move to using better toiletries, usually found in holistic clinics and health food shops such as Infinity. I recycle and donate clothes, books and CDs to friends, Freecycle and local charity shops. (Traid in Brighton sell good quality recycled clothes, and Magpie collect unwanted furniture). I am planting bee-friendly plants in my little city garden. And every day I send distant healing to the whole Earth. Any more tips on how I can help the environment are gratefully received, add a comment below.

San Francisco and Oregon trip

On the spur of the moment, I booked a flight to San Francisco and spent 12 days with very good friends. It was an amazing trip, where everything fell into place. Sometimes logistics can be a nightmare, but I’ve learned that if you go with flow, things usually work out for the best, for all concerned. This is by working with not against the flow of energy. For example, my friends were already planning a break to Oregon, the beautiful state above California with magnificent beaches and stunning countryside. Instead of thinking this was a problem, I changed my flight and tagged along with them on their camping trip — taking in a stop at spiritual town Mount Shasta and a overnight stay in trendy Portland. It was obviously ‘meant to be’ as we also met up with another couple from Brighton, now living in Vancouver: celebrating a milestone birthday by a open fire on a Pacific beach can’t get much better.

In the past 6 months, I have tried to stay positive and open to opportunities, despite being affected by the recession: not as many people coming for treatments and workshops and not as much freelance project management work. As it’s been quieter, I have spent the time seeing more of my close friends and family, going on courses for self-improvement and to improve my professional skills. I have been fitting in some volunteer work and getting back into networking for business. But I still felt as if I was scrimping: not spending money sometimes creates a stagnant energy and a feeling of resentment. So the trip to the US felt like an opportunity I had to grasp with both hands.

The lovely couple I stayed with, represent the two aspects of my life: the digital/creative world and the complementary/spiritual life. Sometimes it’s not a course or a book that can be inspiring but the good friends that are around you. I felt so nurtured by the good healthy home-cooked food, I loved watching how they work as a team, and we also debated new digital developments. I gave them both Reiki treatments and also completed their Reiki training.

I came back with my head, heart and suitcase crammed full of gifts and ideas. There were so many great places I visited, but among the most memorable was the vegan raw food Café Gratitude. ‘What are you grateful for?’ we were asked by the waitress. I am so grateful to my good friends and I appreciated every moment of my trip.

Highlights:
De Young Museum
Nightlife at California Academy of Sciences
Mount Shasta
Ace Hotel
Powells book store
Cannon Beach
Bandon Beach
Alloro Restaurant
The Redwood Groves
City Lights book store
Chinatown
Spectrum Festival
SF Pride
SF Museum of Modern Art
Café Gratitude

Celestial Speed up

Have you been getting the feeling that we are running out of time, that we are moving fast towards something, and that time seems to be speeding up? We’re halfway through the year and already global, local and personal changes are making us feel unsettled. These changes are getting us set for a whole new way of working, being more authentic and learning to collaborate not compete with others. Chuck Spezzano of the Psychology of Vision says:

The Celestial Speed-Up is the evolution of consciousness at a much faster speed than before. We are in a window of time where a quickening is occurring. The Celestial Speed-Up presents us with wonderful opportunities at both personal and global levels. It opens the door to higher consciousness. It makes even greater amounts of grace available to us, so that even a small amount of willingness has greater success than before. It quickens our learning curve. It allows vast amounts of karma, soul injuries, and hidden bad attitude to be healed. It transforms these into the soul-level gifts that are necessary for our happiness.

The ego fears this loss of control, and uses conspiracies to contain the situation. Ultimately, if we do not want to be held back by our fear, then we will not be stopped. Your awareness and acceptance of the Celestial Speed-Up can make all the difference. The Celestial Speed-Up accelerates change and healing. What would have taken months, years, or even a lifetime to learn, can now be done in a relatively short time. Your quickening helps everyone else. As you become free and shine your light, the darkness fades quickly away. If you let yourself be blinded by your fear, you will miss the auspicious chance presented by the increasing velocity of change. The ego’s hold is lessening, along with the mistaken choices that lead to attachment, illusion, and suffering.

There is reason to hope where before there was despair. There is a reason to be grateful and celebrate, because the slowdown of the ego has become celerity of the higher mind. You are blessed; receive it. Happy opportunities present themselves for blessed change, as more of what has been stopping you is revealed.

Spiritual Food

This week I was mainly obsessing about cakes and worrying about my blood sugar after reading The Sugar Addict’s Total Recovery Programme. I love rituals and ceremonies, especially those involving cake — I even started collecting photos I’ve taken around the world, put it on my Facebook in an album — World Cakes I have Eaten and their Significance.
I’m going to justify this need to comfort eat and get satisfaction from sweet things by sharing this extract from the Yoga Cookbook:

At the end of any satsang prasad (blessed food) is distributed. No spiritual event is considered to be complete unless physical food is offered and consumed. The concept of prasad is like taking communion in a church. Food, the carrier of love, is first offered to God to be blessed by God and, after this symbolic gesture, is consumed by the participants. Prasad is food that has been prepared with love by a person who is practicing Karma Yoga (selfless service). It is prepared fresh using the best ingredients. It is kept covered and NEVER tasted before offering. Even a person who is fasting should accept a small piece as God’s grace should never be refused.

All food holds energy, so any meal cooked with love will taste amazing. I usually draw a few power symbols when I’m cooking the food and always draw at least one reiki symbol over food I have not prepared, in a restaurant for example. Notice the food doesn’t taste so good if you’re upset or having an argument when preparing a meal. I actively avoid going to a cafe or restaurant if they are advertising for a new chef on the door — if the kitchen staff or the waitresses aren’t happy, the food won’t be particularly nice either. Serving food brings the most blessings whether it’s in your local coffee shop or in the most elegant restaurant, always be kind to waiting staff.

Breaking patterns with dignity

When you find yourself in a rut, repeating the same patterns in your work or relationships, it means you haven’t yet learned the underlying emotional lesson. We all will keep repeating the same problems. Until we respond differently we won’t be able to heal the past to move on.

If you find yourself having the same kinds of problems with your boss, or attracting the same kind of relationship, maybe the underlying problem stems back to your first relationships — with your parents, siblings or even your first teachers.

With reiki healing, we don’t have to do a lot of verbal soul-searching. When you come for a reiki treatment, we allow the universal energy to come and heal the situation, transcending and transforming all guilt, shame, worry, and strengthening us from within. The healing comes from making the emotional connections yourself. This might come in the days after your treatment, in the form of some kind of insight. You could read an article, or receive an email. You might read about a similar situation in a book or see a film and it triggers something for you. It could happen that a friend comes to you with a similar problem and you end up healing yourself by giving advice. Seemingly out of nowhere you have received the knowledge you need to heal yourself.

For example, I came across these tips on integrity and the power of dignity from Julian Short, author of A Model for Living. This guide is particularly useful for the workplace, where sometimes “being nice” can be seen as a weakness, but keeping your cool when times are stressful can be the key to being a good leader:You are what you do, not what you think or feel says Julian Short:

— Even if you feel under threat, act towards others as if you believe they like you. They probably do, so you will get the best from them. If they don’t like you, you will boost your self-esteem by acting well.

- Remember that an angry response is always underpinned by fear. This will help you feel sorry for the irate person and act well.

- If you are angry, state your point of view but never attack the self-esteem of the other person by trying to belittle them.

- When you are hurt, act as an equal not a victim; never try to make someone feel guilty, or that they should be looking after you.

- Be as kind as possible as often as possible. You don’t have to be perfect: a general trend in your behaviour is enough to garner respect.

- In tough times, people generally want to connect. Now is the time to form allegiances.

Rejuvination and abundance

It is too tempting to write a blog about eggs today so instead let’s talk about rebirth and rejuvenation. This Easter break is the ideal time to clear out clutter, spring clean and generally sort your life out. Relationships will feel better now that Venus is coming out of retrograde, and it’s a good time to clear the air and connect with family. I’ve decided to book myself onto a 3 week intensive Ayurvedic Nutrition course in Vrindavan, one of the most spiritual places in India. It is a certified course so once completed I will be able to nurture myself with food, and help others to heal through diet and Ayurvedic Nutrition techniques. The ancient Yogis claimed that the proper diet can give us all long life and radiant beauty, well into old age.

The Brighton Festival is worth a look this year as cutting-edge artist Anish Kapoor is curating. His amazing works will be on display in public spaces around the city in May. As well as the usual free street performances, artist open houses, there’s comedy, theatre and music to choose from. I am heading to Brighton Natural Health Centre to take full advantage of their £7 for 7 days of yoga throughout the festival. The Centre offers Ashtanga, Iyengar and Hatha yoga as well as Dance/Body work classes.

Those of you who have attended one of my workshops, will know I am a fan of the Orin/Daben books (Creating Money, Soul Love, Opening to Channel and Spiritual Growth). I have been listening to a brand new meditation on Abundance which is very powerful. You can download it for free from their website. At 5pm UK time on April 19 join me and Orin and Daben, wherever you are in the world for a global meditation on Abundance. Working together in this way will have a profound effect on you, those close to you, your community and the world.

I am delighted to let you know that my Radio Show — Rehab — is back on the air this month, on Brighton’s Radio Reverb. I will be playing new music as well as talking about spiritual matters. You can listen online or on 97.2FM in the Brighton area. I’ll let you know nearer the time when I am on air…join the Rehab Radio Show on Myspace. And for those of you interested in my new Brighton Reiki CD of music to self-heal and give reiki to.…this will be available in June 2009.