Quantum Wellness

Quantum Wellness Quantum Wellness

by Kathy Freston

From the rear cover:

A step-by-step guide to complete well-being that will change your life.

In this inspirational and practical book, New york Times best-selling author Kathy Freston teaches the principles of 'quantum wellness' - a significant increase in the health of mind, body and spirit, which can be reached with small steps that yield extraordinary change in our lives. By achieving a little more one day a week, then two, then more you can gradually build up to a complete program. This will incorporate all or some of the eight pillars of wellness: meditation, visualisation, fun activities, a diet of whole foods, exercise, helping others, considering yourself and spiritual practice.

'Kathy elegantly describes how health is a multi-dimensional experience of body, mind and spirit and should be thought of as an ever-evolving process. As you try to make small shifts and incremental changes she suggests, you will start to feel more conscious, more plugged in, more alive and find yourself getting better and better at life.'

Mehmet C. Oz, co-author of You: The Owner's Manual

Page 166 -

Ask Spirit to come into the situation and take over. Saying a prayer will help you to remember that you are not in this alone, that in fact there is a benevolent force that is always available to us when we call on it. The prayer might sound something like this: Dear Spirit, I ask that you make your presence known here and now, for I am very frightened and don't know what to do or how to handle things. Please infuse my being with your light, surround me with your love, that I may be lifted up and carried by your grace. Whisper into my thinking the inspirations that will help me through this. Help me to be clear and calm. Embolden my heart with the courage to stay present and connected, for I know that in that presence lies my healing. I ask you to guide me - and everyone involved in this situation - every step of the way. Lift my spirit into a higher vibration that I might grow from this experience and become my greatest potential. Let there be a miracle. I am open and willing to have a miracle to occur. Let the healer within me rise and take charge. I thank you in advance as I know that it is already so.

The more you can sincerely reach out annd ask for help - not only from Spirit but also in spiritual fellowship from friends or a support system - the more you will relax knowing that, on a very real level, everything is being taken care of. Go to places where you feel most in touch with your spiritual nature. Sit in a chuch or temple; walk through a meadow or wade into the gentle current of a river. Hang out with your animal companions. Visit a guru or spiritual teacher whom you respect. Soak up all the positive energy you can find and let it carry you through this difficult time.

... may type more of this section later ... if I can be bothered :)

Page 187 -

Again, I strongly recommend the twelve-step program and other fellowship support groups. There is no replacement for the kind of wisdom and fellowship you will find in those rooms. But in addition to attending regular group meetings, there are all kinds of nourishing, life-giving experiences that can help to fill the time that the old addictive habits used to take up. For starters:

* prayer and meditation

* nature walks

* journaling

* gardening

* a good book or movie

* church, temple or any other house of worship

* breathing exercises

* dancing, singing or any kind of artwork

* study with a spiritual teacher or mentor

* going on a study retreat

* talking with a friend over coffee or tea

* playing with or walking an animal companion

Page 210 -

Ask yourself these questions more than just once:

* Who am I really?

* What am I all about?

* What do I need to understand?

Then move onto:

* Why am I here?

* What do I have to offer?

* What do I want to do?

A vision quest is not a once-in-a-lifetime event. You can take a brief one whenever you feel the need to get some deep clarity about your life. In fact, the more often you're able to go into nature and rediscover yourself, the better. Amazingly, you will find that every time you take that time for yourself and put yourself through the questions, your experience of yourself will be different. This is a wonderful sign that you are growing and evolving. You will find stories that you are ready to complete and leave behind, aspects of yourself that have died, aspects that have been newly born and adventures that you are ready to begin.

By entering into the quiet magic of nature, you lend yourself to the process of being cleansed and renewed, thus energising yourself to move forward as a truer, more empowered version of yourself.

Exercise: Your vision quest

1. Choose your location in nature. If you live in the countryside, perhaps you have a favourite spot that you feel especially connected to. If you live in a more urban or suburban environment, consider planning a day trip to a less-populated area; the peace that you will experience is worth the travel time.

2. As you enter into your chosen place, expereince your senses as completely as you can. Notice the sounds, scents and visuals. listen with every particle of your being.

3. As you experience the world around you, be open for signs and metaphors that may speak to you personally.

4. Now tell your story. You can write, talk or even sing it. I do not recommend simply thinking about it, however. Internalising your story could lead to almost endless contemplation. You want to somehow get it out through outward expression.

5. Begin your self-inquiry. Ask yourself: Who am I? Who am I really? Keep in mind that this is an exercise aimed at uncovering your true essence.

6. Move onto questions about your purpose: Why am I here?What is my life's mission? What do I need to do to get on track or to move more surely in the direction of my highest potential? Don't push for answers; just gently raise the questions and then rest into the awareness of your surroundings.

7. Listen to what comes up, without judgement. Remain open and receptive to your own inner voice and to what you notice around you. Be willing to carry this new knowledge back out into your worldso that you can act on it apporpriately.

Find out what makes you tick - both in the personal and worldly arena - and become the person you would be if you were doing and being everything to fulfill your potential. This is your life's work

Keep doing the exercises in this chapter and you will come to a deeper and deeper understanding of yourself and your true calling in this world. If you've tried them just once, you have no doubt discovered many new things about yourself and touched places in your heart that were previously concealed by false beliefs and unhealthy traditions subconsciously picked up from parents, peers and other outside influences. You are more focused on who you are and why you are here at this particular time in history; you have a greater sense of how you are to "be" in relation to the world. You have new goals, visions and aspirations that will serve not only your sense of wellness but also the well-being of the world.

Now it is time to begin ushering these new goals and visions into reality. Once you've taken a close look at the false beliefs you might be dragging around with you, decide that you're ready to let go of everything that isn't essentially, truly you. Put yourself on a schedule if that if that feels right to you; do things in a way that is comfortable and sensible, and in a loving manner. In other words, you need not walk out of your job or marriage tomorrow. Rather, begin to act in ways that move you closer to your goals in a way that is integral and kind to everyone involved. By doing this, you will feel lighter; you will have a sense of yourself as being on track and moving swiftly along your continuum of conscious evolution and wellness. With this new-found lightness, you might want to add some new beliefs and affirmations, some "thought seeds" to your bag of tricks that will help bring your goals and visions into reality.

Here are a few examples:

1. I see the magnificence of who I am and what my purpose is; I am manifesting great things because of this.

2. I am committed to happiness and peace.

3. Abundance is mine when i live in a truthful way.

4. All of the good I want for myself I also want for everyone else.

5. As I lift myself up, I uplift my community and the world.

6. I have rich resources within and all around me.

7. I have acccess to unlimited willpower, endurance and focus within myself.

8. I am connected to Spirit, and am therefore capable of anything.

9. Eveything that I do adds to the momentum of healing and wellness.

10. I embody the perfect balance of surrender and action.

These are just a few examples of new ideas. You can plant and begin to integrate these ideas into your own belief system. Invent some of your own and practice giving them expression.

Page 56 -

"Whoa! I can't let myself feel that rage. It threatens my identity as a good and nice person. Good and nice people do not have rage; it is unseemly and out of control. I will send a signal to the tendons and muscles in a certain section of my lower back to so that it seizes up with pain and then I will completely forget about that nasty emotion because I will be too busy focusing on how much my back hurts and what I can do to make it stop."

Page 59 -

Exercise: Owning your full range of feelings:

Here are a few questions to ask yourself should you be experiencing pain or discomfort, physically or emotionally:

* If I get very quiet and listen, is there a hidden or disowned feeling(s) that is trying to become known?

* When did I first experience this feeling? Did I have this feeling in childhood? What brought it on?

* How does this feel historical? In other words, does this situation fit a pattern?

* Why do I not allow myself just to have this feeling? What am I afraid of?

* Could I simply allow myself to have the feeling without acting it out in a destructive manner?

* What could I do to process this feeling without hurting anyone, including myself?

* After processing it reponsibly, could I let it go?

May tap out more of the book but reading off a computer screen can't compare with having a copy in your hot, little hands and reading it in a nice comfy chair :)

A few links:

Kathy's site

Some reviews by happy customers

Meditation gets a mention early in the book - and why not! :)

Info about having a vision quest

Continuing the theme

Creative visualisation is another useful tool

Sometimes it is called guided imagery - add happiness 2 the search if you feel so inclined :)

Spiritual Practice is another key ingredient

We are also advised to clear mental chatter :)

Along a similar theme - search 4 the word thought! Especially 'edit your thoughts' but the others are god as well

Meditation is a word that scares a lot of people