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Approaching Spiritual Opening
Our times are calling us to step into our powerful, spiritual selves in a way that has never been possible in recorded time. We are being urged by our own souls to shed the fears and limitations of our pasts and step into the radiant beings that are our expansive way of being.
Many of you may be feeling yourselves at a crossroad. You may recognize that the life you have been living is no longer as fulfilling. You may notice that the resources you have for dealing with life's challenges are simply no longer working. Our own souls are calling us to evolve into a fuller and more magnificent self.
With the all the pressures all of us are feeling to evolve, it is important to gather the resources that will allow you to make this transitions in a healthy and joyful manner.
It is essential to have support when one is engaged in spiritual transformation. Formal training programs are invaluable in providing support and guidance for individuals who are embarking upon this journey.
Not only do trainings provide a clear, step-by-step path to spiritual growth, the regular interactions which are a part of these groups provide opportunities to share one's experiences and insights. This can be of great help in integrating the spiritual transformation into daily life.
Successful completion and integration of the various exercises in a spiritual training program can support a person to move to a higher level of consciousness evolution. A strong spiritual foundation provides us with a force that nourishes, empowers, and gives meaning to human existence. This nourished self expresses itself with feelings of renewed vitality, balance, joy and peace. This is not only valuable to the individual, but to the larger human community.
Pioneer Stanislav Grof, Ph.D. - a psychiatrist with more than fifty years experience researching the healing and transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness - suggests that when people do not have a strong connection to a personal spiritual center they feel an, "impoverished, alienated, and unfulfilling way of life and [experience] an increase of emotional and psychosomatic disorders."
On the other hand, an expanded spiritual experience of the self supports a person to feel powerful, secure and truly alive.
In my experience, a shamanic training program offers a person opportunities to expand their awareness of themselves with ancient, and modern "technologies of the sacred." That is, consciousness-expanding techniques that can mediate a safe and profound spiritual opening. As facilitators of shamanic training programs, my partner and I believe that it is vital to support our students spiritual progress in a way that both encourages forward movement but also allows for the entire container - the body and mind as well as the spirit--to be kept well, healthy and whole.
It is my belief that a good program balances spiritual expansion with physical nourishment, time in nature, sleep and a mixture of solitude and community. We also believe that it is important to encourage balance by seasoning the learning atmosphere with plenty of relaxing and healing laughter.
In choosing a training, ask about the details of the program and the expectations of the instructor/facilitator. Find out the person's credentials and ask how many programs like the one you are interested in they have facilitated. You may even want to ask if you can contact some of their previous student for information about the teacher as well as the training.
Whether you chose a shamanic path, or some other direction for your spiritual growth, look for a good supportive container so that you can safely experience yourself in new, glorious and healthy ways!
© 2009 Evelyn C. Rysdyk
For more information about the author's training programs that begin in May, you can check out this brochure or her web site: www.spiritpassages.org. - Editors.
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Evelyn C. Rysdyk, author of Modern Shamanic Living is a nationally recognized presenter. Included in the book Traveling Between the Worlds she is among the world’s most influential writers and teachers of shamanism.
Originally trained in core shamanism, she has integrated practices taught to her by elders from North and South America, Central Asia, Nepal and Siberia. She is also a Medicine for the Earth Teacher--teaching ways that transfigured human energy can heal our planet.
With her partner C. Allie Knowlton, MSW, LCSW, DCSW she presents
eco-spiritually focused training programs--which include advanced shamanism and shamanic healing---across the USA and Canada. In addition, as a founding member of True North, a unique, integrated medical center in Falmouth, Maine--she collaborates with physicians, nurses, a psychiatrist, a naturopath and several other complementary healthcare practitioners to provide a new model of health care that includes Spirit.
www.spiritpassages.org
www.spiritliving.org
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