TRANSFORMATION ISSUE Indulge yourself in Living
Living Lifestyles
A LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER We invite you to continue to be inspired to create your own reality by the stories, interviews and reviews that you discover in this months issue. This issue is takes you on a deep dive into the world of Transformations. We have interviewed some amazing people as to what transformations have taken place in their lives. This month we delve into consciousness, mental health, physical transformations, yoga, food, choices, musicians, artists and goat farming. So grab yourself a quiet space and your computer to take some time to read our beautiful issue this month. Kind Gratitude, Sarah Andrew
IMPRESSUM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / FOUNDER Sarah Andrew
PHOTOGRAPHY cover photo: Alejandro Gonzalez
SUB-EDITOR Zoe Coleman
CONTRIBUTORS John West Lauren Polly Adriana Popescu Sarah Be Frank Fradella Kate Di Luigi Corina Pelichowski Kevin Wong Julia Contrucci
ASSISTANT EDITOR Heonji Kim LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER Brianna Lee ASSISTANT GRAPHIC DESIGNER Beau Bidwell
GET IN TOUCH www.livinglifestyles.com
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CONTENTS
12 4 5 6 7 11 12 14 16 18
Choice Creates A Transformation in Progress An Interview with Frank Lauren Polly Prue Blannerhassett James Johnston Engineering Artworks Karen Lindsay Sarah Be
20 22 23 24 26 28 29
Mental Clarity Yu & On Sushi Social Media Transformation A Camera and a Connection Reviews The Kleshas Tools for Transformation
Choice Creates
AN INTERVIEW WITH ZA HARRICHARAN
What stops us from having the life we want to be living? “Our own limitations.” Za Harricharan, an inspired entrepreneur from New South Wales, is in the business of ‘accessing consciousness’. Access consciousness is a set of pragmatic tools that can help you change the areas in your life that aren’t working. It helps you free yourself from limitations, and have the confidence to trust your ‘knowing’. Za developed Create Magic in 2004 with the aim of helping people transform their lives from the inside out. In her online weekly workshop, “Let’s Create Magic,” Za teaches her clients how to release their energy blockages and be aware of the opportunities and possibilities around them— “The Bars are 32 points on your head that contain thoughts, ideas, beliefs, emotions and considerations. When lightly touched, they open areas of your life that you have not been willing to receive from.” In addition to being the founder of Create Magic, Za is also the worldwide coordinator of the No Judgement Diet since 2017. Instead of pushing strict eating and exercise plans, No Judgment Diet is revolutionises the approach to the way we live our lives. “Judgment cannot exist in the same place as gratitude,” says
Za, “waking up and being grateful for little things—our house, job, car, family, even the weather—alone promotes an atmosphere of change.” Feminine Power Za’s most recent business, Billionaire Empress, teaches women how to use Access Consciousness to empower women and enrich their lives. “People can often be uncomfortable with the success of others because it makes us look at ourselves and what we have accomplished. It’s much easier to make others wrong than to accept that we might need to work on something,” she says. Society has come a long way in how it perceives women. Being a strong woman isn’t wrong. As multi-faceted individuals, we have to learn to work to our personal strengths and capacities. Whoever we are and whatever we do, Za reminds us our choices impact us and those around us. Written By Corina Pelichowski See more at www.createmagic.today/lets-create-magic
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A Transformation in Progress SHORT STORY
Many years ago I had lots of friends, plenty of things to learn, a new love, and an innocent and excited outlook on life. I just finished high school and got accepted into my university of choice. I took a gap year and struggled to find work for a while, but I got there in the end. That is when things started taking a turn for the worse. My family was breaking apart, and my new love was raising red flags that I was blind to. I was still good, though. The next three years I attended university; it was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was disappointed by people very early on. The first year I was betrayed, hurt, and I discovered that my assertiveness was seriously under par. That year I got too thin, and gained it back. I drank way too much when I was depressed, and way too much when I was better. My partner moved in at the end of the year, and I had a friend in that needed help as well. I paid everything until they could. Drugs weren’t an issue, until they moved in. I stopped wanting to be in that relationship, but I felt I was in too deep now that a lease had been signed. The second year I took on a higher rent so as to help out my partner and roommate. The gratitude didn’t last long. The house was always filthy, and it got me down, but I refused to clean up after them. Another friend needed help, and I let them move in, too. The financial strain of everyone weighed me down further. Alcohol and drugs were an everyday occurrence now. I went to a doctor and got a bad diagnosis; which was belittled by my partner. My friends didn’t really care either. If anything good came out of this year, it would be the overseas holiday with a friend. I tried to exercise my assertiveness, and stated that I was going to do things my way for this holiday; they didn’t like that. Regardless, it was a really good time. The third year my partner and I broke up. He initiated it, but I was so relieved since I had wanted to end it and couldn’t. I moved away and stopped taking drugs, but I still drank. I ignored them so I could work towards heal-
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ing. I both missed and hated them. After a few months, I decided to start looking again, with no luck, not that I was truly trying. I moved back to the city and started talking to more people, but wasn’t sure on any of them. But it didn’t matter, because I had finally finished uni and I was feeling great. The ceremony was amazing and left me feeling inspired and wanting more of what life had to offer. The next few days, though, I hardly left my bed; I had lost my purpose. The next year, I spent almost the whole time alone and trying to find work. However, I was ready to find love again, and I met someone. We spent a lot of time together, but I found out I wasn’t ready, and started ignoring them too. Then an incident happened, something I still cannot talk about, and I grieved for months. I ended up couch surfing around that time, because I couldn’t find somewhere that would accept unemployed people. After a week I found a place, but I felt like an intruder again. Later that year, I finished grieving and cut off all my toxic friends. I was getting stronger. This year I’m still unemployed, but I met someone, and it feels right. I was scared but I didn’t need to be; they have genuinely supported me the whole year. My diagnosis is still acting up, but I’m seeing a psychologist now, which is lifting up some of the residual weight. This is my story so far; being someone too scared to fight back, who has decided to change. I have learned a lot through my experiences, and I’m in the process of developing myself whilst trying to get out of my comfort zone and challenge my skills. Relearning to comfortably engage with people is my biggest challenge yet, but just like the past few years, I refuse to give up. I’m not as broken as I was, but I’m not done; it is a transformation of a better me in progress. Written By Anonymous
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Frank How did you come up with this program concept?
camera team and said, “I don’t know who you people are, but I want to run away with you and join your circus.”
The Geek’s Guide to Empowerment came after a particularly potent facilitation I had with Dr Dain Heer, the co-creator of Access Consciousness. He helped me clear a block that had been with me for 25 years by showing me that this thing I’ve always hated had actually contributed to my life in amazing ways. I immediately connected this to a scene in the film, “Conan the Barbarian,” where Thulsa Doom gives Conan a speech about how all the terrible things he did to Conan in his youth made him the man he is today.
How has your life changed by implementing these tools? How hasn’t it changed? Seriously, I’m not even the same person anymore. Nothing is the same. I feel like a fraud when I accept a friend request from someone who knew me in high school or college because I am SO not that guy anymore. What caused you to want to share this knowledge with others?
For me, the connection to geek culture is always there. It’s my mental shortcut to places where I’ve heard these lessons before but didn’t internalise them into tools. So now when I hear a tool, or teach the tools to others, I always connect it to something in geek culture — be it comics or movies or games — and it makes it so much easier for myself and my fellow geeks to absorb those lessons. We make them our own because we’ve heard this stuff before.
There’s a saying that “a rising tide raises all boats”. For me, I recognised that everything in your life — from the first car you drove to the last person you kissed — has you as the common denominator. You are the common thread. Yet we go to the gym to improve our bodies, and we go to school to improve our minds, but very few of us take the time to improve our “self” and I mean the “self” as in that inimitable piece inside you that is uniquely you.
Tell me about your love for superheroes?
If you improve that, if you raise that tide, then all your other boats rise with it. Your work, your relationships, your health... everything.
I’m an OG geek! I was running around on suburban lawns with a towel around my neck waaaay back in the day. I cut my teeth on Super Friends, Adam West’s Batman, Space Ghost, Herculoids... you name it! I’ve written and illustrated for comics, and for years I ran a superhero entertainment company called iHero, where we produced a magazine that told superhero stories in a prose format. How did you accidentally discover the tools to reshape your life? I was actually working as a video producer and I got hired to fly out to San Diego to shoot a 3.5 day class called “Being You Changing the World” with Dr Dain Heer. I was a last-minute replacement for the original person, so I didn’t know what I was getting into here. I just thought that I’d show up and do what I do. Shoot, interview, light the sets, shoot b-roll... the usual. Well, five minutes into the first day and I got my mind blown. Dain was dropping truth bombs on stuff that I’d always known, but few had acknowledged. By the end of the first day, I walked over to their in-house 6
What is your number one tip for someone wanting to transform their life?
As a geek, I realised that we didn’t have a seat at the table. Self-development coaches talk to CEOs and entrepreneurs, but not to us. So, I wanted to be the invitation for people like me, who love the same things I do because they already have the tools. They just don’t know it yet!
Invest in your SELF. The gym and the school will only get you so far. The most essential part of you has been overlooked and ignored. Take some time to get present with who you are and what you really want in life. Get to know yourself and be honest about where growth needs to happen. Then do the work. Get assistance.
What has been the biggest challenge in your life and how did you overcome it? It’s honestly difficult to narrow this down to just one thing. When I found the tools, my life kind of looked the way I believed it was supposed to look. I had a good video business, I was married, had three kids, a house, a car. But I wasn’t really happy. I wasn’t exactly unhappy, either, I just had this kind of low-grade, persistent malaise.
Though, if I had to narrow it down to just one tip? Surround yourself with better people. If you are the product of the six people you spend the most time with, don’t surround yourself with negative people who cut you down and judge you. Is this program just for “Geeks” or can anyone participate?
In a way, I think that kind of life is the worst kind of prison because you never quite reach a pain point where you’re willing to do something about it.
At this point, so much of geek culture is just pop culture. Everything in geek culture, from Buffy to Star Wars to superheroes to The Big Bang Theory... it’s all mainstream now. I would say this program is for anyone who has ever loved something unreasonably... because that’s what being a geek is all about!
I stumbled on these tools (I like to say “I was bitten by a radioactive badass!”) and it allowed me to out create my prior life in every conceivable way. I have better, deeper relationships. I tripled my income. My health improved. Knowing that another life was possible for me was a huge contribution.
Do you need to know a lot about superheroes to be able to understand the book and the program? Not at all. Almost all of the stuff I reference is common knowledge. I mean, if you don’t know who Superman and Batman are by now, you’re just not paying attention. Haha. What has been the response to the program so far? Honestly, it’s exceeded my expectations. It’s changing people’s lives. I’m watching people cut loose of problems that have plagued them for decades. They’re aware of new possibilities, they’re making bigger choices. It’s a helluva time to be a geek!
Written by Frank Fradella See more at www.frankfradella.com
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Lauren Polly So, tell us a bit about yourself . . . I’m an adventure, dreamer, seeker, life-en- body, what was required to change it and thusiast and trailblazer. what was ultimately right about it. I truly believe that our choices guide our life path. And that when we develop our unique awareness and choose to follow it our lives can unfold in unexpected and magical ways.
After years of being led in a very “I know best” kind of way by a myriad of doctors and therapists I was finally given permission and the tools to become my own expert on me.
I’m a multi-award-winning and best-selling author, podcaster, corporate speaker, medical speech-language pathologist, registered yoga teacher and CFMW with Access Consciousness.
The tools she shared were from Access Consciousness. Lit up with a sense of freedom and empowerment I dove into the system deeply and continue to explore its vast resources.
The joy of my life comes from assisting others in seeing their brilliance in areas that may have been overlooked, judged or dismissed. I discover their unique “how” to use that brilliance to create a living that lights them up every day.
What inspired you to write you book “The Other Side of Bi-Polar”?
I wrote my book to open a different conversation around mental illness. To shine a light to de-stigmatise and demystify it. To How did you get into access consciousness? showcase the brilliance hidden in the darkness and to offer hope, encouragement and I was working with a chiropractor who men- ways forward for us all. tioned that some of my misalignments may have an emotional component to them. She So many people struggle silently – unwillsuggested I see an Energy Psychologist to ing or unable to ask for help. assist. Those that do speak up are given lacklustre I was very reluctant to go back to thera- treatment plans where the best hope is for py; after my history with mental illness with maintenance and equilibrium. eleven-plus years of therapy behind me I wasn’t interested in traveling down the nev- I lived in that middle space for years, giving er-ending rabbit holes again. up on bigger dreams, backing away from growth opportunities and hiding the “crazy I went anyway and was delighted to find parts” of myself from the world. this therapist to be different then any other I had been to before. She wasn’t interest- Eventually, I took a long path that lead me ed in giving me answers or putting me in out of maintenance into success; a space a box or having me talk about my issues where I feel at home in myself, have a sense incessantly. of peace and purpose and feel free to shine my unique light into the world. Instead, our work together centred on teaching me how to tap into my own aware- There is more available to us all and change ness of what was occurring for me and my is possible – even in the most “unchange8
able” parts in your life. I’m living proof of it and my book offers the chance to journey with me on that quest for yourself as well.
less moments. Stop reacting to the stimuli around you – take a beat, a breath, some space and then choose how you want to react.
When you are life coaching, what are some of the common issues people have?
Get your swings in check. Where are you reacting to others? Where have you bought that you don’t have a choice in how you act? What are you aware of that you aren’t acknowledging? Start to look beyond the surface and see what is actually occurring.
My life coaching sessions vary widely. I work a lot with creatives and heart-focused entrepreneurs looking for a power boost and support in going after their dreams. I also work with people who feel overwhelmed by life and are looking for more personal strength and resiliency and also others who desire to discover how to use their “hidden” gifts for creating a more unique and satisfying life.
There are many methods for all of the above. Do and use whatever works for you. Have an Access Bars session, walk barefoot, meditate, do yoga, develop creative outlets for self-expression, finds ways to release the pressure as it builds in your body, form healthier relationships with people who bring a sense of peace and space to your life.
Regardless of what people come in the door with – aka their complaint – the conversation quickly turns into acknowledging their bigger aspirations in life (even if they aren’t known or fully formed yet) and we get to work on actualising them.
Tell me about your podcast and your inspiration behind it. The Lighten Up Podcast is a delight to create!
Can you share a piece of advice for someone with bi-polar?
I chose the 14-minute format to be digestible, actionable and inspirational. I wanted it to feel like pillow talk – sweet and intimate. Like two lovers or best-friends cosily curled up for a deep but playful heart-ofthe-matter conversation.
So much of the struggle – the ups and downs of life, the trauma/drama, the intensity – are born from our awareness, our openness and our ability to deeply tune into others and the environment.
I don’t enjoy playing on the surface – minimal change is created from the shallows. But you also don’t have to get mired in heaviness or headiness.
I know first hand how this feel more like a curse then a gift but a gift it is. You just need to take up the discovery work on how to use it in a way that works for you. Start to become more present with yourself – don’t allow the dial of your awareness to always be on others.
It’s through bringing lightness, clarity and depth to our lives that we can shake off the cobwebs, lift the weight off our shoulders and truly expand into light, free and unencumbered living.
Do whatever it takes to break your choice9
This is my offering with my podcast. I’m in love with it!
Can you explain what happens during an energy pull?
What is your favourite plant and why?
An energy pull is a tool from Access Consciousness. It is a less effortful way to create – and quite frankly a truer way to create if you take the universe into account.
Oh – good question! I have so many… My current fascination is with a fern plant here in California that grows out of the stalk in a curly-cue. The curl grows in both an outward direction and an unfurling action. It spreads itself slowly growing both long and wide.
As you get clear on the energies that you would like to include in your life – not the pictures but the energies – you begin to pull them towards you. You become the moon pulling in the tides of possibilities. From there, you keep your awareness eyes open and choose in line with your requests. Everything that has a similar energy to what you have been pulling in, say yes to.
For me it speaks to the unique and unconventional growth we go through in life. We don’t often grow linearly or in a clear-cut cause and effect, push button kind of way.
In this way your future moves towards you and you choose towards it.
We take our time spreading our wings. Sometimes moving sideways, not straight. Sometimes moving so slowly that it’s hard to acknowledge change at all. Sometimes getting caught on obstacles until we free ourselves by growing around or pushing through.
It’s a wonderful way to play with ask and you shall receive and frequently leads to possibilities beyond what your cognitive mind imagines for you.
There is no one way to grow and evolve – this fern reminds me of that every time I visit it!
Questions by Kate Di Luigi Written by Lauren Polly See more at www.laurenpolly.com
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Prue Blennerhassett
Turning point Remember that life-changing conference? Well, in 2008, accompanying her mother one of her business travels, Prue stayed at the castle Devi Garh, in Aravalli Hills, India.
Nothing in life is ever quite that simple, complicated, mysterious or obvious, except for the present. Graduated in Finance and International Trade, Prue Blennerhassett had a high-paying job in the self-care industry. Based in Melbourne, she travelled the world closing deals and contracts. “Work hard, play hard”, she sums it up.
“One evening, one of the young Indian men working at the hotel said that Mum and I had been travelling together for aeons. I knew he meant lifetimes”, reveals Prue. As she describes her awakening, she ponders “so what exactly was I doing with this one? I went back to Melbourne a changed person. I couldn’t cope with the greyness of the city, commuting for nearly an hour, stressed, overworked, exhausted. I couldn’t distract myself from my journey anymore,” she says.
A dream come true for some, a cry for help for her. “It came up to a point where I needed to make time - No, I wanted to make time to find out who I was and what I wanted to do,” she reflects. The answers, however, were not all that far away. “My mom has been an entrepreneur all her life. She was a part of the International Women’s in Business Group in Melbourne and participating in conferences and workshops around the world was quite common,” she says. Little did she know that one of those conferences would be the life-changing event she longed for, but we’ll get to that later.
Destiny struck again. In the midst of that reality shock, Prue found out that a few of her friends were moving to Byron Bay, and that instantaneously seemed like a brilliant idea for her as well. Off she went to design the life she ought to be living.
Another sparkle of evidence of the path she would later walk occurred in university. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to study - often my choices were conflicting. I always loved social work, but at the same time was interested in business. Finance and International Trade just sort of happened,” says Prue.
“At first, I founded a company which helped other people’s business, especially online,” she mentions and continues “this was rewarding for me, at the same time a lot of truths started coming to during meditation. Not necessarily hidden or unknown facts, just my mission,” she says.
“My favourite subject was Microfinance, created by Muhammad Yunus. He studied the local economies of villages in Bangladesh, in which there where this shark-loaners that lend money to locals with interests so high that it was a never-ending debt”. In this scenario, Yunus also compared the return investments of loans made to men and women. “Women would frequently reinvest in their community, empowering and helping others,” she tells.
Through stillness of mind, Prue found and reached her true purpose, being an Inner Calm Coach. “Even though listening to ourselves can be hard and scary, it’s far too rewarding to be put on hold”, she concludes and gives a piece of advice: “we are taught to be the cups halffull, but how do we do this when the source has dried? Be your own source.” Written by Julia Contrucci See more at www.prueblennerhassett.com 11
James Johnston ARTICLE
Aussie Musician Heading to Nashville for the Opportunity of a Lifetime.
eight-piece funk band. Despite travelling a lot during his career and singing many musical styles, it wasn’t until a trip to America 5 years ago that James found his true calling. Passing through Nashville, James felt his passion for country music re-ignite and was so inspired by the phenomenal song-writing that came from the city. “The first day I was there I wrote a song, it was called Welcome to Nashville, and the whole thing was just about how I finally found my place, my home and - I don’t know what it is about that city or anything like that but it just feels like the place I should be,” James says. “I’d been touring Australia at that point and I’d been releasing new music but nothing that I was really excited about,” he says. James has now written hundreds of new songs and is excited to be releasing his new music soon. “I finally have a list of new songs that I’m really excited about,” he says.
Australian musician James Johnston is ready to make a splash in the American country music scene. About to release his first EP in the next month or two, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter will be heading to Nashville early next year to chase his dream as a country music artist. The road to this dream has been a long and winding one. James’ life began on a farm in Wingham, NSW. Growing up with the sounds of country music, he began performing at the tender age of four. “I don’t really know where it came from,” he says, “but I just remember that I always wanted to sing and it’s kind of always been linked to who I am.” As a kid, James remembers filling his weekends with busking and sometimes entering talent contests. At the age of 15, James began heading in a different direction. He started writing his own music, leaning into a more acoustic style, which he continued for about 10 years. During this time, James entered some of the biggest talent shows in the country. In 2009, he entered Australian Idol finishing in third place and then in 2014 entered the-X Factor, making it to the top 24. He has also toured Australia in a bus and played all sorts of music genres at private events and functions. The ever-talented musician has most recently been playing in an
About half the songs James has composed were written on his own, which has been an eye-opening journey for the young musician. “I find that often [the] songs that I write that really connect. I write by myself because they are completely honest and then often I don’t understand why some of those songs work [when] you have the others that look good on paper, they have the right hooks and they’ve got all the rest of it but they don’t really connect,” he 12
says. “Writing with others can be good too.” This is especially when he has a good connection with that person, but he has found that it can be difficult in some ways because it can be harder to open up around them. “You have to write with [someone] ten times for you to be completely vulnerable, to be really honest and I think something I’ve been noticing more and more is that you can understand what makes a good song and you can tick all the boxes but there’s this like extra 10 per cent that’s like kind of a bit… that just connects, you know? and that’s the thing about music, it’s connecting with people,” he says.
better songwriter, how to be a better songwriter or, you know, understand how to be a better guitarist and how to be a better performer and I really have been working hard to look at all aspects of being a performer and how to improve,” he says. He is inspired by artists such as Garth Brooks, Zac Brown Band and Thomas Rhett and loves artists who are pushing the boundaries of what country music is and reaching broader audiences. “The thing that’s kind of cool about country these days is that it’s becoming a lot more mainstream you know, like last year there were two number one songs on pop radio that were country songs … I kind of want to tap into that… I love that traditional country of Garth Brooks and everything like that but I want to you know, I kind of want to break down those walls.” he says.
James is also a deeply empathic person. While he loves writing about his own experiences and travels, he also loves to find inspiration in other people’s stories. “I tend to write a lot of songs about good friends of mine that may be going through something and I kind of put myself in their shoes and then write from their perspective,” he says. His favourite song that he has written is called “See You Soon” and was written about a friend of his who was working in the mines but was deeply missing his family and looking forward to coming home to them.
James will be heading back to Nashville early next year and hopes to be able to reach and connect with a larger audience than he can in Australia. “I think just the opportunities over there to be able to play you know … all year round … to thousands and thousands of people that come and listen to original country music … I think that’s a big part of why I want to go over there and what I want to achieve is just to connect with as many people as I can.”
Working and surrounding himself with talented musicians over the past years has really helped James grow as a musician. “I’ve been trying to grow as a musician. Not just go and play songs but like really understand what makes you a
Written by Kate Di Luigi 13
Engineering Artworks
AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN DAVIS
Sometimes people view change as scary. Other times people view it as necessary or even exciting. Sometimes changes in life involve a complete severance with the past, forsaking what was once familiar for the chance at an entirely new life. However, life teaches us that it doesn’t always have to be this way, as “accidental” artist and engineer John Davis has discovered.
out shapes and putting them together. My first attempt looked a little bit like where I was trying to go and I just kept making the pieces smaller and smaller and ended up making quite intricate pieces that are quite realistic,” he says. However, the switch to the art world was not all cut and dry. Mr Davis still takes on engineering and science work but said his foray into the art world has added to the engineering side of things because it allows him to appreciate the creative side to everything. “I still don’t see it as a complete transformation, I see it as having added something different because I still do some science type work every now and then and so it was just something that was added,” he says. “Just after I started creating these pieces, I started my own business and I had a very intense period where I was doing a lot of work … maybe 60 hours a week … but doing sort of 10 or 20 hours of art on top of that just made 60 hours much easier,” he said. “I realise that I got a lot out of adding something new to my life.”
John Davis was born in London, England in the late 1950s. He lived in a town in Sussex as a boy but moved to Elizabeth, South Australia in the 1960s as his father found work as an engineer. Living in a town with many other immigrants Mr Davis, strangely enough, recalls not having met another Australian child until four or five years after he moved there. “There were just immigrants everywhere and so it was an interesting sort of world-away-from-another-world type upbringing because no one really knew quite what it was like to be an Australian so all the kids would sort of say ‘ah, we’ve heard the Aussies do this’ so we would all try it. It was really quite [a] funny, bizarre way to grow up in lots of ways but it was a lot of fun in lots of ways as well,” he says.
His advice to those seeking a change in their lives is to simply look for something different that they can add to their lives. “You don’t have to get rid of anything else,” he said. Mr Davis said he was surprised by the fact that adding more to his life via art, even though it took up a bit of extra time, made it seem as though he had more time available to him. “It got easier and easier the more I added so I would say to someone that’s looking for something new, just try it. If you don’t like it don’t do that, try something else, try something else, try something else until you find something that you do like and, especially if it’s a little bit different, do it and have fun with it.”
Since growing up, Mr Davis has spent 25 years working in the engineering and science industry which included a significant amount of work in the energy efficiency field. Art was never something that interested him and he claims to have never been good at it at school. His journey into the art world began when Access Consciousness founder Gary Douglas sparked his thinking. “I realised that the most fun that I had when I was doing engineering and science type work … was the creative projects” Mr Davis says. “I was doing something called access consciousness … and I spoke to the founder Gary Douglas who said ‘you know something about creation, why don’t you try art?’ At the time I thought ‘that’s ridiculous I was so bad at art at school’… I didn’t know anything about how pictures were put together and he said ‘what if you know something that’s different about the way you can do art?’”
Getting to know John Davis as an artist… In many ways, Mr Davis considers himself an “accidental artist” who was looking for something new in his life and found it in art. “I can’t say that there was an artist that inspired me to be an artist because in lots of ways I’m an accidental artist. It was just something I was looking for that expressed what I was looking for,” he said.
Mr Davis began by collecting pieces of wood from the forest that reminded him of features of a face and began to collate them. “I put together what I thought was the face and it looked nothing like a face so I thought I need to work out how a picture is put together,” Mr Davis said. “So I walked into an art store and I got four shades of cardboard and a scalpel and started cutting
Mr Davis said the way he creates art is a little different to the way other people might create art. He said that when he looks at things he sees shapes rather than shades and transitions and
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this sets the tone for how he continues with the process. Often starting with a photograph and a conversation, Mr Davis looks for a beauty and distinctiveness in his subjects that is shaped by his unique view of them. “[I] usually find that when they smile or when their face lights up a little bit, I can see shapes in their face that creates the look that gives me some idea of who they’d be as a person or how I see them as a person,” he said. “And once I’ve got the photograph I then start. I’ll hang it up on the wall in my house and … when I walk past I’ll just look at it for maybe a couple of months and just see all the shapes that I’d like to bring into the project. And when I’ve got to the stage where I’m thinking ‘yep that’s how I’m going to start it’, then I’ll start cutting the shapes and keep adding shapes until its finished,” he said.
just saying ‘look here I am’. And if you can get an expression which is part of the greatness of them, it might be a kindness or an impishness or a joy or something like that, if you can bring that out in the face, that produces something that says … ‘when you look at someone what do you see in them?’ And maybe it’s something that they don’t see in themselves, so that’s what I like to bring out in my artwork.” His favourite artwork is Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party which he remembers seeing from a distance of 30 metres at a large gallery once. He describes viewing the painting and being captivated by the shape of the brilliant white light that is reflecting from one of the glass stems in the scene that he says “leaps out of the canvas”. “I just love that it’s just a scene of people sort of chatting and talking around a table but this glass stem just reaches out and grabs you and just makes the whole thing,” he said. Talking of his own artwork he said his favourite piece is always the last that he has done because he is always trying something new and, even if the piece doesn’t turn out the way he imagined, there is still always something in it that he likes.
His favourite things to create are portraits and images. “I think portraits really light me up because there’s something about - a lot of people like to put on this face that they project to the world that [says] ‘look this is who I am’, but it’s not really who they are, you know? Some people will get Botox to take the lines out of their face and they’ll put lots of makeup on and they’ll pretend, if you want to see pretence look at a politician’s face, they are trying to project something that they’re not - but there’s something amazingly beautiful about a person that’s
Written by Kate Di Luigi See more at www.beingjohndavis.com
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AN ARTICLE FEATURING
Karen Lindsay
Nestled on a 200-acre banana farm in Wamuran west of Caboolture, Karen Lindsay, 56, starts her day early with a quick breakfast before going out to milk her beloved goats. After around two hours, lots of cuddles and hand feeding a few of the most vulnerable kids, she comes back to the house, taking the milk to the cheese kitchen where she sets about pasteurising the milk and making cheese.
psoriasis, acne and eczema. You can also use it as a shampoo.” Her main business, however, is making goat’s cheese. Little White Goat Cheese has been going strong for three years now and even supplies its cheese to Ocean View Estates Winery & Restaurant with excellent feedback. She says her customers are always pleasantly surprised by the mild flavour the cheese has. “A lot of people say they don’t like goat’s cheese because of the after-taste but I say [to them] try it and if you don’t like it then, oh well. They are very surprised. Only one person in three years has not liked it.” Her secret to the beautiful mild flavour, she said, is that she keeps her boys separate from the girls so that the cheese doesn’t develop a strong goat flavour.
It all started back when Karen and her daughter Georgia Lindsay, then 9 years old, decided to buy a couple of goats to make soap from the milk. Fast forward fifteen years later and that small endeavour has turned into a successful business with a flock of 90 goats. Karen now sells a line of specialty soaps made from goat’s milk called Nannie Goat Soap as well as goat’s milk cheeses.
Karen’s cheese also has the tick of approval from celebrity chef Paul West, whom she recently met at the Moreton Bay Food and Wine Festival. “I gave him some cheese to try and he opened the jar and put his fingers in and ate it,” she laughs. “He said ‘this is great’ as he shoved it into his mouth. I think he said ‘delicious.’” At the moment, she is working with a business in Stafford to make a new line of small cheeses called Tommes which she says are like little cheddars made from goat milk.
Her soaps are beautifully coloured and patterned, often resembling sweet confectionary treats. They come in a range of exotic fragrances including Spearmint and Lemon Myrtle, Bergamot and Lavender and many more. Karen says she loves playing with fragrances and essential oils until she finds out what people like and what they don’t. “I do make a Gumby-Gumby soap which is [made from] an Aboriginal herb,” she says. “The smell is very earthy. It is very good for problem skin like 16
It’s not always fun and games though. Recently, Karen found a carpet snake trying to take a goat kid. “We got down there just in time to unwrap it,” she said. “I don’t mind snakes but don’t touch my goats! When it is kidding season, I go down there to check on them and I see [the carpet snakes] wrapped around the posts waiting for the kids. I catch them and put them in a bag and relocate them. My husband opens the bag and I have to catch them,” she said. “They grabbed a dachshund once too”.
on her own, including looking after the health of the goats, milking them and making the cheese. “Mum sometimes helps with the stickers and things but it’s mostly me,” she says. “It’s a huge job. I like to be around when the goats kid. Sometimes you have to pull the kid out or help the mum or give it a teat after it is born. So, it is good to be around most of the time if you can.” In spite of the hard times, Karen is completely in love with her goats. Each one of them has a name and they all come when they’re calledexcept when it rains! She has naughty ones and quiet ones and says the babies become loving when you feed them. “I just love them as an animal. They are naughty, they’re smart, they’re kind, they’re loving, they give good milk. They are just lovely.”
Growing the business has been frustrating at times because the goats don’t milk all year around. There were times when Karen had to turn customers away because she didn’t have enough milk when the goats were in kid. However, customers shouldn’t be deterred as she now intends to keep milking for two years straight without kidding, leaving plenty of milk for further production. “I have about 30 [goats] that I am milking and I want to get it up to 50 or 60 milkers,” she said. When she runs out of goat milk, Karen said she uses buffalo milk from Margaret Thompson’s buffalo farm in Witta, Maleny. She uses it in seasonal creations such as marinated buffalo fetta or buffalo fetta in brine.
If you’d like to see more of Karen’s products, you can visit the Nannie Goat Soap Facebook page or follow the link at littlewhitegoatcheese. com to see her range of cheeses. She is always looking for business opportunities and hopes to sell her products in shops one day.
In terms of the business, Karen said her biggest achievement is running the goat farm all
Written by Kate Di Luigi
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“
AN INTERVIEW WITH
Sarah Be Can you tell me a little about yourself?
When co-creating the energy of supe is an energy of lim
the limitation. This can be a point of view or an experience that the person is holding on to, as more real and true for them than the new possibility. I then ask them if they would like to unlock the energetic configuration of the limitation and If they say yes I unlock it!
At 19, I knew I didn’t want to live a scarcity existence as my life. So, I asked the universe to assist me in creating a million dollars by the age of 30, and I got it. I moved from the UK to New Zealand where my late husband and I built a dream beach front home and gave birth to twins (a beautiful girl and boy!) Today we live in Australia and I run an amazing business called Sarah Be Energetic Transformations, where I enjoy assisting others in unlocking their often unknown limitations, using the creative energies of the universe.
What is Access Consciousness? Access Consciousness is a set of tools and questions that are designed to empower everyone to know that you know! For me they create a sense of ease and space within myself so I don’t have to buy what some else is telling me, as greater than my own knowing. As I ask myself these questions clarity occurs, enabling me to create a life way greater than I ever knew was possible. To know that you know, in the unknown, is a gift! It enables you to choose anything and know you will be successful with it. This is not just another modality telling you what to do, this is about how to create your own reality!
What does transformation mean to you? Transformation for me is the capacity to change anything that is not working for you in your life. Usually, when someone comes to me, they are trying to create a new possibility and their limitations are preventing them from doing so. Transformation is about knowing the energetic configuration of the limitation that someone has created and knowing how to change it on a molecular level .
How did you get into Access Consciousness? I was looking for a massive change in my life and I almost didn’t care what it looked like. My husband had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had developed secondaries in the lungs and brain. I had twins aged 3 and knew I was going to become a single mother in a country I had only
So when I’m talking to someone, and asking questions, I get a sense of the energy of the situation and I can interpret it into the (often unknown) subtext that the person is functioning from. This then provides clarity and the reference point of
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... eriority mitation. recently moved to, with no family support around me. I knew I needed to find something extraordinary to get my life on track and the way I desired it to be. Access Consciousness was consistently able to give me the tools I required to keep creating my life, including the difficult situation I was handling.
I don’t actually separate my work and home life. I run my business, take care of the family home, manage my now teenage twins, facilitate access consciousness classes, run a Business Network, create my relationships with friends and with my boyfriend…spend time in nature, get my Bars run, eat and drink, it’s an all-encompassing fulfilling creation called my life!
What advice do you have for someone locked into their old patterns and habits?
What do you think about when you are alone in your car?
Get curious! Ask questions! Seek new awareness on how to change the limitations, and be in allowance of everything you have created so far, knowing that it is possible to change anything that is no longer working for you. You really do need to be willing to change it, for it to change!
What am I going to create. next? Or Who would be fun to talk to while I am driving? I love chatting to my girlfriends while I am in the car. We all know when each other is in the car! If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
How do you encourage people to take a leap of faith?
Probably a dolphin! They have so much fun with each other and live life in a community as well. They play together and seem to contribute to each other and their energy is amazing.
When you know, it is possible to change anything, there is no leap of faith, you just choose the new possibility and keep creating towards it until it comes into existence. I am a fan of never give in, never give up or quit!
Written by Sarah Be Questions by Corina Pelichowski
What inspires you?
See more at www.sarahbe.com
Nature…. as it is the magical synchronicity of life. What do you do in your spare time?
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Mental Clarity Only a barbell away? ARTICLE FEATURING TEANNA BORN
With mental health conversations coming to the forefront in society, we talk to body building champion Teanna Born about how body building helped her turn the tables on her mental health and self-esteem.
world title in South Africa only added to this realisation. Her greatest achievement so far, however, is winning the Universe Pro show in Singapore this year. “It was pretty crazy,” she said. “After not winning the universe show two years prior it was good to come back and win the title. It’s a win I’ve wanted since I first started.” She also claimed first place in the Commonwealth Classic in April this year.
Toowoomba resident and campion body builder Teanna Born, 24, said she was “kind of always intrigued by the whole fitness and muscles thing from a young age” but it wasn’t until she started dating a guy who was into body building shows that she herself gave it a try. While the relationship didn’t work out, the body building truly had a positive impact on her life, most importantly, on her mental health and self-esteem.
Ms Born has now started a business where she trains young girls. Her advice for those wanting to pursue a career in professional body building is that if you want it bad enough there is no one out there who is going to do it except for you. “It hard but it’s worth it,” she said. “And it’s a challenge like no other. It’s a big personal development journey more than anything. You realise what you’re made of.”
“It’s probably changed me mentally more than anything,” Ms Born says. “I never really had any sort of drive or self-belief and when you begin to challenge yourself physically it branches out into all aspects of your life. It all ties in, competing and training- you have to have a strong mindset for completing those things. It has given me a lot more confidence in myself.”
She said the hardest part of professional body building is being able to achieve the right mindset to push through the discomforts of dieting and training, especially when you are tired or hungry but she also says that exercise can be a better anti-depressant than what you might get at the doctor’s office. “It helps with your mental state and helps boost confidence,” she said. “It’s something to constantly progress at and get better at. I think it helps to beat depression and anxiety when you are constantly bettering yourself.”
The remarkable young woman has competed in numerous shows as an amateur before turning pro in South Africa in 2015. “So I had won the WFF Queensland title, three weeks later I competed at WFF Nationals and then three weeks later I went over to South Africa at the WFF World Championships and I won my pro card and the Pro show,” she says. From here she competed in the WFF Universe show in Orlando in 2016, gaining an amazing second place in the competition.
Her advice to young women who may find themselves dealing with mental health or self-esteem issues is to work on self-development and their mindset. “I guess like I would tell them that you are more capable than what you think you are. Getting professional help is good but getting active is better.”
Her realisation that fitness and body building could become a career for her came after her first show where she received feedback from many people telling her that she did very well and showed a lot of potential. Winning the
Written by Kate Di Luigi 20
Yu& On Sushi
ARTICLE FEATURING YU
Yu is a classic example of a migrant who has been successful in building himself up from ground-level. Originally from Shanghai, the father of two gave up his job in IT to seek better and brighter horizons in Australia, with a dream of creating a better life for his family. After an eight year stint working for Suncorp which resulted in a redundancy, Yu looked towards the future and accepted help from a friend in the form of a Sushi shop.
loved member of the community and is a large contributor to the success of the business.
“I want to prove to everyone I can do this well,” he says. Yu’s shop, “On Sushi” in Milton is known for serving fresh and tasty sushi along with a wide range of hot and cold foods to choose from and enjoy in either the inside or outside areas. Yu is always looking at the inner working of his business, and asking himself how he can improve and what else he can put in place.
Despite the cliche, Yu had never worked in a kitchen before let alone ran one for a business. It took him months to learn everything from the bottom up, with his philosophy being to know the business and all of its levels to be an effective manager.
As a now permanent resident in Australia, Yu is a prime example of how migrants can be a gift to the Australian economy by bringing their strong work ethic and enthusiasm to their community.
However, the challenges didn’t only come from learning and running a new business, but also from the often daunting customer service side of running a shop. In Yu’s previous role in IT, computers replaced people when it came to interaction. Yet Yu’s positive approach, determination and enthusiasm has made him a much
Written by Zoe Coleman 22
Social Media Transformation ARTICLE BY KEVIN
If we were to jump back in time In Doc Brown’s time machine to a little over 10 years ago to the early 2000s… Facebook went public in 2006, Twitter arrived in 2007… early versions of social media platforms like Friendster were still around… no-one could have predicted that 12 years on, social media would be such a dominating and influential force capable of instigating change.
each other. Two years later in 1999, Live Journal came into existence where users could blog as a form of communicating between friends about their daily lives (a format that Facebook uses for their status). 2002 saw a challenger in Friendster, one of the first social media sites. 2003 saw the creation of LinkedIn, 2004 saw Google create Gmail, then in 2004 Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg where worldwide membership in the coming years saw the platform reach 2.2 billion in 14 years… there are 8 billion people in the world… just think about that. 2005 saw the birth of YouTube, MySpace was booming in 2006, in 2010 there was 65 million Tweets a day were being sent out, 2011 saw the launch of Snapchat, 2013 saw rise of short videos, 2014 saw Instagram bring out sponsored ads much to the dismay of some people and finally to now in 2018 where VR and fake news has become prominent in our society.
The rampant rise in the use of social media in our daily lives and the continuous changing landscape from informative to engaging and interactive has been meteoric. Today there are thousands of platforms each with its own use; whether its sharing ideas, communicating news, reviewing products or services or watching the latest football game… it would be incomprehensible to think that the way we live, our culture and our society has changed so dramatically in the last decade or so thanks to use of social media. But let’s go back in time again - this time to 1844. Back to the beginning, when Samuel Morse made a small step for social media and a big step for mankind, when he sent a telegram from Washington DC to Baltimore reading “What have God Wrought”. In 1969 the US military’s first attempt at sending a message worked great… if sending two letters was the target.
It is unclear what the future of social media will entail, its implications both now and tomorrow has seen progressive change in almost every industry. We wonder what the next advancement social media has installed for us... will VR content become the norm? How out of control will fake news become before we do something about it? It is a challenging and unclear road ahead not just for social media users but for creators too.
Let’s fast forward to 1997 where the first social site went online “Six Degrees”- from 1997 to 2001 they reached a peak of 1 million members where users could create a profile and “friend”
Written by Kevin Wong
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aC
Kelly Ryan, 36, is a busy mum of one as well as a qualified yoga instructor. She is amazing with a camera and has the ability to capture the magic in seemingly mundane moments of life. She reminds us that the pieces of life can fall into place and that magic is everywhere if only you would stop to notice it.
came along that Kelly really found the passion to begin photography again. “I was living by myself at the time, after I came out of a difficult relationship,” she said. “I would walk along the beach with my dog and I loved how the filters could make the image look the way it felt.” From Wollongong, Kelly moved to the small town of Aberdeen, NSW in August 2015. After the birth of her first son, Kelly bought a new SLR camera and her creativity blossomed. “I was alone in a small country town and that’s when [my photography] really started to flourish again,” she said. She would take on small photography projects which had a way of helping her to connect with the people around her in Aberdeen, a stark contrast from a teenager hiding behind a camera in front of her friends. One such project she recalls is a photograph of an 80-year-old man named Maurie Gray from the nearby town of Muswellbrook. “I took a photo of him and I wrote an article for the ABC. The aim was to take a photo of a person who was over 80 and do a story about the way things had changed for them from when they were young,” she said. She became very close to Mr Gray and his wife Katherine and attended Mr Gray’s funeral when he passed. “I was able to connect deeper with them because of my camera which is nice in a small town,” she said. “I made friends with more people because we were able to do shoots … it became a good excuse to go out and connect with people.”
As a teenager you could always count on Kelly Ryan to be behind the camera. The shy, self-conscious girl loved photography from a young age and often found herself as the “photographer” in her group of friends. In this place she felt safe as she felt she could hide herself behind the camera without having to worry about fitting in or what to say or whether anyone else liked her or not. This was fine for a while, but it would eventually wear thin. Kelly loved the solitude of the darkroom where she could hide away and develop photos with the help of some of her grandfather’s instruments. However, in this isolation she realised that the photography was something that allowed her to stand back without being truly involved in the lives and experiences she was photographing. Over time, Kelly gave up photography and instead vested her creative energy into other forms such as street art, which were less expensive than photography. Travelling overseas, Kelly would still take some photos with her camera but it wasn’t really until Instagram 24
Camera and
a Connection
PICTURES ALONG A LIFE’S JOURNEY ARTICLE FEATURING KELLY RYAN However, her photography was not the sole contributor to her ability to connect more authentically with others. Prior to moving to Aberdeen, Kelly was a qualified yoga instructor in Wollongong. “I guess it’s not so much the photography that helped me learn how to connect with people,” she admitted. “I think in lots of ways it was the yoga that did that.” Being someone who was always worried about the way people perceived her and what they thought of her, Kelly found that being a yoga instructor in front of a group of people helped her to overcome those anxieties.
back in,” she said. “Everything just aligned … we came back within four days … I said I wasn’t going to start teaching yoga again but I found a place and started my business straight away.” Even though Kelly doesn’t practice photography as much as she used to, due to her yoga business, she has found a happiness in her current stage of life. “I think I found what I was looking for in a small country town in the town of Port Kembla,” Kelly said. “It’s a beautiful supportive community where everyone knows your name. Everyone knows who you are when you walk down the street. Everyone knows who my son is.”
Although Kelly was able to forge some beautiful connections with some of the people in Aberdeen she admits living in the small country town was also very isolating. She said it was what she needed at the time but her partner worked 12-hour days at a dairy farm and her family’s farm was 40 minutes away in Dry Creek, so fun and entertainment were a rarity. “If I am honest with myself I had postnatal depression due to how isolating it was and how overwhelming it was being a first-time mum,” she said.
As for the way photography has positively impacted her life she said it helps her to see the pockets of magic in the everyday. “It’s about noticing when the light looks a little bit magic,” she said. “And noticing when the light was catching on my son’s hair in a really beautiful way or when the sun’s light was catching on a dewdrop. And you notice them because they are beautiful. It teaches you to slow down and notice the little corners of the everyday and to notice the magic. As a mother of a toddler, it’s really important to do that.”
Moving back to Wollongong in late 2016, Kelly felt her life falling into place. Initially intending to come back for a visit first, the span of four days saw her husband find a job and a new home as well as a place to start up her yoga business again. “When we moved back to Wollongong, I didn’t want to come straight
Written by Kate Di Luigi See more at www.kellyryancreative.com 25
Little Greek Taverna Unlike their neighbouring Greek restaurants, the Little Greek does away with the traditional and instead focuses on comfort and a homecooked experience. As a family business, they aim to treat each guest as if they were coming into their own home. Situated on Browning Street in West End, the open layout and prime position makes it a great destination after a stroll through the West End main street.
After almost ten years of being in business, they have perfected their menu to a tee and can almost guarantee you will be back to experience more of their amazing Greek cuisine. We can recommend the slow-cooked Florain lamb for an affordable $22, that will not leave you disappointed. Written by Anonymous Image by Little Greek Taverna
Carina Leagues Club From humble beginnings in October 1970, the Carina Leagues Club has proved to be an indelible part of the community. As a place for family and friends, the club boasts a variety of different functions and facilities such as live entertainment, bars and cafes and an affordable monthly membership. Unlike many busy community hubs, parking here is abundant and the facilities are large enough to let the kids run around. For parents that might need a break, the kids room can provide much needed “me’ time. For sports fanatics, the club has a sports bar area which provides plenty of screen space to watch your favourite teams while escaping the noise outside.
However, if the noise is what you are looking for, there’s rarely a day goes by where you can’t find live music at the club. Another notable event is their Trivia night every Tuesday which is a great way to spend time with friends and work some brain cells. Whether you are visiting for a quick drink with friends or for a dinner with family, the Carina Leagues Club has something for everyone. Written by Anonymous Image by Carina Leagues Club
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Sukin Super Greens Facial Recovery Serum Sukin, our favourite natural, vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand has an exciting daily facial serum. Touting a blend of super powered ingredients such as kale, spirulina and parsley, as well as moisturising cocoa butter, avocado, grape and carrot seed oils; the Super Greens Facial Recovery Serum claims to be an all-natural pickme-up for tired skin. It’s light, creamy formulation and pump-bottle design, make it an effortless addition to your beauty routine.
By simply massaging in a small pump after cleansing, you’ll soothe and gently rehydrate your skin, giving it the protection and radiant glow you need. It’s especially fantastic as the weather warms up, as we notice more the effects of dehydration. The serum gives you targeted relief, reaching deep into the pores for visible results, plumping and tightening dull skin. Written by Anonymous Image by onelittlevice.blogspot.com
Sukin Moisture Restoring Night Cream I know what you’re thinking and I swear this is not a plug. We just highly praise Sukin products. In particular, Sukin’s moisturising restoring night cream. A moisturiser and magical skin potion in one made from rosehip oil, borage oil, avocado oil and Vitamin E - it’s no wonder why the paraben free cream proves a skin miracle performer. As a person with a combination skin type, finding a moisturiser that sat in between being too oily or dry was challenging. This moisturiser claims to add moisture, and it does exactly so without making your skin feel heavy
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or tacky, but leaving you with a soft healthy finish. Before Sukin, my skin was combination / dry and a bit irritated, but since using this product I started seeing results within days. After applying the cream at night and waking up in the morning, my skin has never felt better. I wake up with a smooth and glowing texture and I recommend anyone wanting to feel the same to do so too. Written by Anonymous Image by GYPSYBUS28.com
The
Kleshas
BY JOHN WEST
Yoga is so much more than moving yourself into various asanas (postures). Varied movement of any sort delivers benefits for daily living and is an essential strategy to prevent body malfunctions and the chronic pain that can follow. Yoga asana can deliver in that regard.
classes, or on a much grander scale, “I can dig a bigger hole in the earths crust than others” or “I can cut down this forest because doing so will make me ridiculously wealthy”. These are some of the negative connotations of ego but let’s be clear, ego can be used for good as well as evil or greed.
If we dig just below the surface of asana, there is a “whole of life” philosophy waiting to be explored. One aspect of that philosophy that is not often talked about are the Kleshas (Kl-esh-as) or afflictions of life. These can be referenced in one of the best known and respected Yoga works, the circa 2000-year-old Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Sutra 2.12. I should point out that the Sutras are written in Sanskrit and have been translated to English by many. The translations can vary and subsequently the details may differ. Be aware that my explanation below is a broad overview only and that should you wish to know more you could pick up a copy of T.K.V. Desikachar’s book “The heart of Yoga” or simply Google “Kleshas” and a mountain of information will appear.
Attachment can be to objects, people or anything that gives us satisfaction or pleasure. The pursuit of pleasure for instance, can lead to poor decisions for our self and others. On top of that, pleasure is usually short lived. We become trapped in an endless cycle of seeking more. Aversion is the avoidance of things we don’t like, things that cause unpleasant experiences for us. Being unable to avoid unpleasant experiences causes suffering. The suggestion that Yoga makes here is to be neutral to all experiences so that they are neither good or bad, they just are. Fear is generally referred to as fear of death. Deep in our subconscious most humans have this fear. It doesn’t matter how hard you train, eventually the body crumbles and gives up, finishing the process referred to as dissolution. Back to the earth.
There are 5 different Kleshas, each intertwined with the other – ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion and fear. Ignorance is not referring to lack of knowledge of the world but rather spiritual ignorance or understanding of the inner self. Knowledge about who we really are and what is real and lasting compared to the fleetingness of physical life.
The journey of Yoga is about preparing for the end of the physical life. While you can still breathe and meditate, you can do Yoga. In the meantime, look for joy and wonder in everything you do, each and every day.
Ego is who we identify ourselves as being. The “I am” of life. Of course, ego can be useful in navigating our way through modern society but it can also lead to great hardship, both personally and on a broader scale – “I am bigger, faster and stronger than others” can often be seen in Yoga
Written by John West Images by Kelly Ryan See more at www.trueblueyoga.com
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Tools for
Transformation
WITH DR. ADRIANA POPESCU
In this monthly column, we are going to be exploring tools for transformation.
be attached to outcome. Ask for what you desire, and keep asking questions. Is now the time to take action? What action do I need to take here? Will this choice or that choice bring me closer to what I’m asking for? etc. Then follow your knowing! Your intuition will steer you in the right direction and asking questions will help you access that deep inner knowing.
What exactly is transformation? Dictionary. com defines to transform as “to change in form, appearance, or structure; metamorphose; to change in condition, nature, or character; to transmute.” What I do as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Transformational Life Coach is to help people transform their lives – to figure out what’s stopping them from creating the life they desire and to employ specific tools to create change. Some of the most powerful tools for transformation that I have discovered are the tools of Energy Psychology and Access Consciousness®, and I plan to share some of those with you here.
Some other questions you can ask: What choices do I available here? What else is possible here that I haven’t even considered? How does it get any better than this? I love “how does it get any better than this?” and “what else is possible?” because you can use them when things are badp to invite a different possibility, as in “This sucks. Universe, what else is possible here? How does it get any better than this?” And when things are great, it’s an acknowledgment of that and an ask for the momentum to continue. “Wow, this is exactly what I was asking for! How does it get even better than this? What else is possible now?”
Transformation has to start with a question. It might be something along the lines of, “things aren’t working the way I’d like – what needs to change? What can I be or do that’s different here?” In Access Consciousness, we talk about how a question empowers and an answer disempowers. Asking a question isn’t about getting an answer, it’s about opening up to a different possibility and obtaining more awareness. It’s like cracking a window open in a stuffy room to allow fresh air in. An answer is coming to a conclusion and it stops the flow of energy. It cuts off possibilities and creates limitation.
Try playing with questions and see what happens. What are the infinite possibilities available for you to transform your life?
The other important thing to know about asking questions is that “ask and you shall receive” really does work! You and the Universe/Spirit/ Higher Power (whatever you choose to call it) are collaborators. Your job is to put in your request, the Universe’s job is to deliver that. You won’t know what it’s going to look like or when it’s going to show up, which is why you can’t
For more info on these tools, please check out my website at adrianapopescu.org. See you next month! Written by Adriana Popescu See more at www.adrianapopescu.org 29
hite lio W N publishing
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