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Quotes
"It all depends on how we look at things and not on how they are in themselves." -- C.G. Jung
"In truth, to attain to interior peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the Sages."
-- Swami Brahmanada
“The things which hurt, instruct.”
-- Benjamin Franklin
"Peace comes not from the absence of conflict, but from the ability to cope with it."
-- Unknown Source
May 2007
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Dear Friends,
Welcome to the May issue of Higher Vibrations, do not miss this month's tip Letting Go of Painful Emotions.
Listen to one of my previous appearances on the Seeing Beyond radio show click here.
Please join me at the MindBodyZone’s 1st Anniversary celebration Saturday May 5th from 9:00am to 3:00pm.
Mindbodyzone is a sacred space for growth, sharing and community designed to inspire you towards personal growth and perfect health. Step foot into our oasis where our celebration begins. Experience free yoga and pilates classes, spiral release sessions, candlelit meditation and More!
Community Events to Choose From...
9.00a yoga with Candee
10.30a Kundalini Yoga with Anna
10.30a Spiral Release Sessions with Tim Custis
11.30a Nutrition Workshop
1.00p Healing Facilitation Workshop with Tim Custis
2.00p Candlelit Meditation with Paul Miller
Reformer Demos all day!
Raffles...
For each class/workshop you attend you will receive a raffle ticket to be entered into the drawing to include:
Reformer classes
One Spiral Release Session
Private Pilates
One Reiki Session
Private Yoga
Monthly Unlimited Mat Classes
New Pricing, New Classes, raffles and enjoy healthy organic refreshments and appetizers.
MindBodyZone
327 Seldon Court Unit#1
Fremont, CA 94539
510-813-4700
Special Announcement
I am thrilled about a new workshop co-created with my friend Michelle Robinson owner of the MindBodyZone called:
Spiral Release Yoga Therapy
An Immersion Experience
Find out the exciting details below under events.
As always, I send you love and blessings.
Namaste,
Tim
Please help me by forwarding this e-newsletter to your friends and family if you find the information helpful.
Thank you for your support,
Tim Custis
Spiral Release Bodywork
Practitioner, Teacher, Founder
Higher Vibrations article collection can be viewed by clicking here.
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
What Goes Up...: Letting Go of Emotions
I awoke to the sound of the neighbor’s car starting at 5:38am, a little earlier than I like to get up; nevertheless, this new neighbor has an older car with loud mufflers and likes to warm it up with a heavy foot on the gas before driving off. As I lay there, I thought I would connect with source, divine creator, god or whatever term you like. I have begun to do this consciously in my work by visualizing a cord going up to the heavens from the crown of my head and grounding down into the earth from my tailbone. Since I was lying on my back at the time, this funny thought came ... Continue Reading
This article was written by Tim Custis and edited by Elaine Baskin
Letting Go of Painful Emotions
This section provides some techniques for letting go of emotional suffering. The best way to get rid of painful and negative emotions is to let them go. Letting go of emotional suffering associated with negative emotions is not the same thing as letting go of the emotions themselves. Letting go of the suffering is a process that we can learn.
We do not mean pushing away or sitting on the emotions. The emotions are valid, and represent experiences and interactions that were or are painful. What we are talking about is dealing with these emotions in a new way that will relieve some of the suffering that goes with them.
In learning to let go of our emotional suffering we learn to get some distance from our emotions, to stand back and observe them. If we can get distance, we can see them more clearly.
To get some distance from a painful emotion that you have: Put it over there and look at it, maybe as if it were on a screen or a stage. Describe in words what the experience of that emotion is like. This also helps to give you perspective.
By looking at your emotions, you are exposing yourself to them, looking and describing, not necessarily acting on them. It will help you not be swallowed up or overwhelmed by them.
When we learn to accept our negative emotions, we begin to let go of the hold they have on us and the suffering that they cause us. Accepting our emotions, letting ourselves realize that we have these emotions and that they are real and valid, is NOT approving of our suffering, or approving of the events that preceded these emotions. We DON'T have to approve of our negative emotions as we learn to accept them.
We can look at two different ideas, principles, interpretations, points of view, to balance and measure them against each other. Then we are in a position to choose one or the other, or decide to live with both or some mixture of both.
Some examples are:
changing.......................not changing
good...........................bad
wise mind......................emotion mind
talking........................being silent
acceptance.....................approval
Can you think of other examples?
You can choose acceptance without choosing approval.
This was probably the hardest thing for me. I felt that accepting that I had these terrible, painful feelings meant that it was okay that I felt so much pain. That made me angry and despairing.
But when I understood that I did NOT have to approve, that I only had to let the feelings in and acknowledge that they were there, accepting them in that way, it was not such an impossible process.
How do you think accepting your emotions might affect your suffering?
Steps for Letting Go of Painful Emotions
Sometimes accepting the painful emotions can reduce our suffering, because we are no longer running from them or pushing them away. At times this acceptance can reduce our pain. Notice the difference between pain and suffering. Suffering is the pain plus frantic efforts to push the pain away, and feelings about the injustice of our suffering and the pain of having our pain.
Following are Marsha Linehan's steps for letting go of our suffering.
Observe your emotion. Acknowledge that the emotion exists. Stand back from it in order to get yourself unstuck from it.
Try to experience your emotion as a wave, coming and going. You may find it helpful to concentrate on some part of the emotion, like how your body is feeling, or some image about it.
I try to imagine an ocean wave flowing through me, but not so big that it knocks me over.
Don't try to push the emotion away. This makes it bigger, and increases our suffering. Don't reject the emotion.
Don't judge your emotion. It is not good or bad. It is just there. There are no bad emotions, just emotions. Anger, fear, sadness are all painful emotions, but they are not bad. Everyone has them, and they are just as valid as the happy emotions.
At the same time, do not hang onto your emotion. Don't rehearse it over and over to yourself. Don't escalate it or make it bigger. Sometimes when we feel a very painful emotion, like anger or a deep grief, we hold onto it, or we intensify it, making it stronger or bigger, in our efforts to deal with it or to give it our full attention. Try not to do this. Just let it be however it is. This can result in a lessening of the pain.
You are not your emotion. Your emotion is part of you, but it is not all of you. You are more than your emotion.
Do not necessarily act on the emotion. Having the emotion does not mean you have to act. You may just need to sit with the emotion. Often acting can intensify and prolong the emotion.
Practice LOVING your emotions. This can be a difficult concept. Why would we want to love painful emotions?
We can learn to love our emotions just the way we can learn to love (accept) anything else about ourselves or our experience that we cannot change - our age, our height, freckles, the birds that sing early in the morning and wake us up, the cars that rev early in the morning and wake us up, the weather, the size of our feet, allergies, etc.
Remember that acceptance (love) and approval are two different things. You don't have to like your freckles, but they are there and you can't change that, so if you just accept or love them, you will feel a lot better than if you keep fighting the idea that they are there.
Reprinted with edits from the Dialectal Behavior Therapy website. For more information go to http://www.dbtselfhelp.com
Events
MindBodyZone presents:
Spiral Release® Yoga Therapy
An Immersion Experience
Spiritual teachers Michelle Robinson, owner of MBZ a yoga/pilates teacher and Tim Custis founder of Spiral Release combine their knowledge and experience to bring you a unique workshop that will deepen your body awareness.
This multi-sensory experience will engage your mind, body and spirit on every level. Using a combination of breathe, asana and Spiral Release, you will begin a journey of self-discovery and letting go.
This powerful combination will help you begin the process of releasing physical/emotional pain; create more flexibility as you begin to develop a new relationship with your body. Join Michelle and Tim for insightful concepts to inspire you through visualization, silence, spirituality and much more!
Michelle Robinson
Michelle is the Founder and Yoga Director of MindBodyZone, she teaches group led and private one-on-one classes that are rich in philosophy, empowerment, alignment, and breath with soothing music and heat to allow the body to open up. Over the last 5 years, she has studied Viniyoga, Restorative and Vinyasa and has had the opportunity to study with Baron Baptiste, Kofi Busia, Sean Corne, Judith Lasater and many more. Yoga for her is an entire lifestyle that is driven by a constant journey for self-improvement and balance. Yoga truly changed her outlook on life and she encourages her students to find more peace and balance within themselves. Her students leave her class with a peaceful sense of self.
Tim Custis
Tim Custis founder of Spiral Release® suffered with emotional pain, alcoholism and a severe back injury for over fifteen years. Told he would live in pain the rest of his life he used his pain and fear to begin healing. Tim has been doing healing work since 1987. In addition he has studied Matrix Energetics, Reconnective Healing®, Quantum Touch® and is a Master Practitioner and Teacher of BioSync®. His passion is to work with people who want to change on a physical, emotional and spiritual level by facilitating their intentions into reality. He can be heard on the Seeing Beyond radio show, gives public talks/workshops and writes a monthly newsletter on personal and spiritual growth.
Spiral Release
Spiral Release Bodywork consists of deep tissue bodywork and neuromuscular therapy. While most massage therapists can incorporate deep pressure during a massage, SRB is a special therapy that encourages the permanent release of physical/emotional pain, trauma and stiffness. This unique bodywork allows the recipient to change not only on a physical level but allows the release of energetic patterns that affect their emotional and spiritual well-being.
Workshop Details:
Time: 1.00-4.00pm
Date: Saturday, June 2
Cost: $80
Sign up before May 19 and receive a $10 discount.
This class will fill up quickly so please register today by calling 510-813-4700 or Click here to sign-up online. You will need to register first at the top of the page for a login before signing up for the class.
MindBodyZone
327 Seldon Court Unit#1
Fremont, CA 94539
http://www.mindbody-zone.com
Spiral Release®
tim@spiralrelease.com
888-546-9496 • 408-736-5136 • Sunnyvale, CA
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