What is it to be fully human?

We are not just human beings, we are also human doings and human feelings. These three aspects of being human relate to our physical, emotional and mental zones, or our body, heart and mind. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s three aspects are out of balance.

As Dorothy walks the path of her life, the yellow brick road, the fact she is out of balance is represented by the lion who has no courage. The tin man who has no heart, representing his ability to relate, being shut down, while the scarecrow who has no brain represents an inability to function. As Dorothy faces up to her demons, the witches, she becomes more balanced – more connected. Exactly what the dog has to do with it, I haven’t quite figured out, but ‘dog’ is ‘God’ backwards, and the wizard himself turns out to be a bit of a sham!

Certainly, by working through experiences that generated fear, anger and sadness, we, like Dorothy, can become freer from the past and more connected. My Power of Connection Workshop is about just this. By activating these three aspects of who we are, and by examining limiting beliefs and releasing emotional blocks that keep us ‘bound’ to a limited view of our life, we become freer.

The most effective way I know of doing this is the Hoffman Process (a one week long intensive and life-changing experience) and transformational or holotropic breathing. There is a specific kind of breathwork, accompanied by sounds, that has the power to access and release deep emotional patterns. It’s quite magical and, in my workshop, Rebbecca Dennis from BreathingTree and Lola Ulalume, a gong master from PsycheSounds are combining forces to help you ‘heal’ at a deep level. Nikki Slade will also be leading us into a heart-filled space with chanting and explore how sounds connect us to these zones of experience, and the elements that exist in us all – fire, earth, air and water.

The Hoffman Process have also given me an exercise for ‘recycling’ negative emotional patterns which, backed up with the Negative Transference Exercise, give a really good taster of how to identify and get some freedom from those negative emotional beliefs/patterns that get in the way of a good life and healthy relationships.

Those who attended my Five Keys to Connection seminar will have had a taste of ‘awakening’ the three zones of body, heart and mind but, in the Power of Connection Workshop we go much deeper to achieve a further ‘spiritual’ awakening. I realize the word ‘spiritual’ is very loaded and means different things for each of us. Many have turned away from ‘spiritual’ either having been disillusioned with religions or just through a lack of experience.

Malcolm Stewart, whom I interviewed in my first Radio Show on HayHouse Radio made a key point. He was, several times, in the deepest level of coma called level 3 on the Glasgow Coma scale that occurs just before death. That means one could stick pins in him, or shine lights in his eye, with absolutely no response. ‘He’ was, however, fully alive but completely out of his body. He asked ‘what is keeping me alive?’

It is spirit, and it is true for all of us. No atheist has come up with a meaningful explanation for ‘life’. Sci-fi movies explore turning robots into conscious beings but this remains a fantasy. The existence of atoms (which, in any event are just energy) does not explain animation. We are born conscious and alive. We don’t know where it came from. This is the ‘spirit’ I am referring to. It exists in all of us and there are ways of connecting to that, which gives a deeper meaning to existence. It is the existence of this ‘spirit’ or ‘consciousness’ that we recognize in another and experience it as love. Love is the recognition of that which is the same in another, that is consciousness or spirit. It is not a belief. It is an experience.

The Greeks traced all desires as, ultimately, a search for love, beauty or truth. A fully human being experiences these three. They experience the world as a paradise, and strive to make it a better paradise. They are not fooled by illusory concepts. They experience love. In Sufism, Hu is the name of the ultimate state of union between the creator and creation. It is also the word for the first breath, the first word or sound, in Egyptian mythology. Even if you do not believe in a ‘creator’ one has to wonder where all the laws that govern the universe came from and, indeed, what is this consciousness that we all have. Where did that come from? Identifying with that pure consciousness, which is the deepest level of ‘you’, puts a lot into perspective.

I will be sharing some exercises, and meditations that facilitate this level of connection. I hope you will join me on this adventure! It is going to be a great day!

PS If you’d like to learn how to nourish your mind for good mood, sharp thinking and memory, and increased mental energy, also come to the Optimum Nutrition for the Mind Workshop the day before.