Resolution is an interesting word. I like to get to the roots of things, as my clients know (!) and so I am going to focus on the word RESOLVE! Here’s the deal, any new resolution you make for any new year can not happen unless you resolve obstacles!

Perhaps you have resolved to make more money, find deeper friendships, discover love, overcome depression, be more healthy! Whatever your resolution may be, you are taking a wonderful leap of faith, the kind that has the power to change your life!

The process of change starts with the seed thought, “I want more friends, this year, I will make this happen.” Just with this though you are starting the process. Thoughts are energy! You impact the way  you act with your thoughts. When you put this seed thought into words, you also are naturally bringing up all the issues connected with it. You might bring up “I am afraid to meet new people!”  You might unearth, “I have never had the kind of friend I want.” Or,”I the people I want to be friends with won’t like me!” Anything can pop up, we are human and have stockpiles of emotion and thoughts! These thoughts are old and they are actually just trying to help. They were likely useful once, but clearly can’t help much this year! So it is time to Resolve these old issues so you can fully, confidently find the friendship you so fully deserve!

After planting that seed thought, and feeling those obstacles pop up, is where you need to put your attention. This is why resolutions so frequently don’t work. The obstacles just don’t get the attention they require, so they continue to do their job. But you can unemploy them. You are their boss!

Doing energetic and awareness work, leading yourself gently into the new thoughts that the resolution requires, is the next step. The resolution, “I will find new friends” needs a new thought, something like, “I am a good friend.” Words which reinforce the desire for new friends and help the old thoughts change their tune. “I deserve new friends.”  “I see myself laughing with new friends.”

Seems a bit too simple? Well, it is. And, it isn’t. This kind of ground work requires some stamina and does best with support. Think of a resolution as a window to a new perspective. Once you realize there is this opening, you are fully empowered to open it up and let old stuff out and new stuff in!

Changing old beliefs is how we create new action! If you want jump into this work, try my workshops, Feb. 20 OR  March20. The workshops  start as a small group, then follow up with check-ins, individual sessions and workshop gatherings to keep the changes flowing and get you where you want to be, with the people you want in your life! Follow up Workshops in April, July and October! Final meeting and celebration in December!

A New Year is an invitation to be a New You!

Andrea Marie Stark is a Pasadena Psychic, Intuitive Counselor, Reiki Master, Energy Healer, Tarot Reader, Bach Flower Consultant, and Psychic who studies Mystic Shamanism and offers Chakra Balancing, Aura Clearing, Aura Reading, Reiki Training, Reiki Atunements, Shamanic Healings, Psychic Phone Readings, and Healing Workshops in and around Pasadena, CA. Andrea also studies Animal Communication.

      Everyone breathes. Everyone takes air in and lets it out! If  breathing is a an avenue to openness, enlightenment and clarity, why are we not all sitting under the Bodhi Tree flexing our enlightened muscles, sipping green tea and solving world hunger?

      There’s an incredibly high percentage of the population that has what is called interrupted breathing patterns created by stress and tension. So, no, everyone doesn’t breathe the way their bodies are designed to. (Dru Pilmer, Voice Professor at IU Southeast)

      For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth. This advice, also considered a proverb, short on words yet long on wisdom comes translated from Sanskrit, regarded as a ‘high’ language used mainly for religious and scientific discourse.

 There is for us a great matter of interest here, the idea that a language considered what you might term “holy” is used for the purpose of reminding us to breathe, a language reserved for both “high” arts of religion and science.

 Chris Tickner, a Somatic Psychologist in Pasadena California uses breathing and body awareness as treatment for stress and other life interrupting issues. When he presents his seminar on stress and trauma he reminds participants that, “There is one body process that you can easily control, one body process that connects you back to our reasoning mind, your neocortex, the part of your brain that can immediately bring you out of the stress response, and that body process is the simple act of breathing.”

When your mother, father or whomever it was said to your red-faced cookie-denied child self, “Take a deep breath and count to TEN!” They were then tapping directly into the place where the modern scientific and spiritual worlds of study have now found common ground. The purpose of those ten breaths was to get you out of your immediate response and into a place of perspective, so your neocortex could click in and help you reason your way through the difficulty of the moment.

 Breathing will put you in the moment. All the difficulty you experience in that moment is due to expectation, which is not about the moment. Expectation is not about being present. When we expect we put ourselves into the future, the unknown future. We are simply trying to make the future known, very specifically, to us.

 Now there is great power in being expectant, in positive visualization. If you follow any of Ester and Jerry Hicks works you know the power of the Law of Attraction and how expectation is a large part of that, but the kind of expectation your child self had when wanting a cookie for breakfast, which actually seems like a pretty good idea to me, is still a child’s idea. No thought about the reality which is, cookies come after you eat something better; the adult rule created to help spare your little body the impact of sugar at 8AM (not a pretty sight).

When you are expecting a cookie NOW, you are not able to hear the offer of a cookie for later. The promise of a cookie in a later moment did not override your emotional reaction; all you heard was “NO.” You were incapable letting go of the thought of that cookie, you could not understand the compromise, the reasoning, and you might even have lost that future cookie because of your inability to hear!

If you were able to do even three of those ten breaths, you probably got that cookie, later. Your neocortex, this of course depending on your age at the time, was able to click on and respond. That part of your brain starts developing at the age of two, and never stops by the way. You can understand the “terrible twos” a bit more when you realize that autonomy begins at that same age. With your neocortex on line you understand a future cookie can bargain for it, you can reason that a cookie later is better than none at all.

When we are looking for the moment, we let go of any expectation. ALL expectation. We simply understand that there is a moment in which we exist. And one of the most gentle and easy ways to click into that moment is to develop awareness of our breathing.

 If you are holding your breath, I guarantee you that you are holding a thought. And I guarantee you it is connected with some, however minor, stress.

You get stopped at a red light, you hold your breath. Why? Because you wanted to keep going, to be gainfully on your way, to be on time, to keep up appearances, to keep your job, to feed yourself, to stay alive. That’s quite a journey to take in the length of a stoplight!

 If you took every stoplight as an opportunity to breathe instead of think of possible future consequences, text or check a message, you’d be engaging in the direct pathway to enlightenment.

When you shop for food and pick up a can of tuna you are likely not thinking, I need this tuna so I can live my best life, be happy, care for my family, pursue my dreams, stay healthy and alive. I LOVE THIS TUNA CAN! (If more people did think this way about buying food, the United States would lose the honor of being home to the largest people on the planet.)

 So why, when we find ourselves at a stop light don’t we engage in something similar? Why instead do we frequently go through a negative thought process?

 The future tuna sandwich is helpful, the future late to work or wherever is not helpful. And we buck against the non-helpful things like a fish on a hook. We have a drive to survive.

 Yet, it is still not helpful to get stuck in a negative thought at that red light. It will not make the light go any faster, it will not create a pathway to better thinking, and it will not sustain you. In fact, it will tighten your muscles, raise your blood pressure, cause your heart to race, make your hands and feet cold, give you tunnel vision so you won’t see the late pedestrian and you’ll hit the gas hard and then where will you be? All because you had one negative thought and held your breath.

 What is WRONG with us? We get so tied up in our thoughts we actually stop ourselves from breathing, and wreak havoc at a stop lights. 

The sorcerers of antiquity…viewed breathing as a magical, life-giving act and used it, accordingly, as a magical vehicle… (Carlos Casteneda, The Art Of Dreaming)

 It is a magical vehicle. Breathing allows us to continue living. When breath stops for 3-5 minutes, a brain can die. We have not figured out how to keep on living here without our brains. Well, some people may seem to be doing so, but that’s another matter!

 The thing that we can do for ourselves, which means we do it for everyone around us, like late pedestrians at crosswalks, is to give ourselves the gift of using that magic. Let ourselves loose from the tight thoughts that cause us to hold our breaths, to hold negative thoughts.

 Here is an experiment! Try it and tell me what happens!

 STEP ONE: Think of something negative, and hold your breath. Really get into that negative thought. Expand it! Here’s mine:

 I hate rude people who cut in line, I hate rude thoughtless people who cut in line and ignore that everyone else knows how to behave in public. Who do they think they are to act like that? They think they are better than EVERYONE else here? OOoo this reminds me that time I was pushed on the ground when I was waiting in line for a drink at October Fest, some huge jerk pushed through the line and totally pushed me down!!!…..#$%&@*^!

Notice where you hold tension! Are your shoulders higher, held tight, is your stomach tight? Are you hands and fingers tight? Your face? Are you able to hold that breath for a good long time? I bet you are! I sure can!

STEP TWO: Think of something positive! You can use someone you love like crazy and they love you back! Hold your breath

Here’s my thought:

 I love my tiger cat. OH MY GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH. I wake up and she is sleeping in the crook of my arm, I didn’t even know she had gotten in bed, and she is purring and purring. When she stretches out in the window her stripey legs full out she is such a lover muffin kitty girl fatty pumpkin I HOVE HER!! AHHH!!

 What is your body doing?!?!? Was there tension? Where? How did your body feel? Did you feel the urge to breathe?!

My personal experience, using exactly that thought above, is that I have such an overwhelming desire to take in more air, that I can’t hold my breath. And when I do take more air in, it feels awesome. I get goosebumps because of the thought I am letting in with that air.

When you engage in the positive thought process, and when you fill your self with air, you are not just helping yourself. But you are the first concern you should have. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then assist others. (Southwest Airlines)

So, when you hit that next stoplight. You know what to do.

Smile, breathe and go slowly.  (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Andrea Marie Stark is a Pasadena Psychic, Intuitive Counselor, Reiki Master, Energy Healer, Tarot Reader, Bach Flower Consultant, and Psychic who studies Mystic Shamanism and offers Chakra Balancing, Aura Clearing, Aura Reading, Reiki Training, Reiki Atunements, Shamanic Healings, Psychic Phone Readings, and Healing Workshops in and around Pasadena, CA. Andrea also studies Animal Communication.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Human

Have you ever felt full of light?

Happiness strikes us like lightning sometimes. Lightness of our bodies and lightness of our thoughts; we are both illuminated of emotional darkness and lightened of physical heaviness!

When we are in this state of being, we feel more open, more compassionate and accepting of others, more able to navigate our own negativity than otherwise. We linger in the feeling of the moment! We are IN-THE-MOMENT!  And there is nothing unbearable about it!It is a darn good moment so we have plenty of reason to stay in it! Suddenly we experience confidence! We feel more relaxed, powerful, accomplished. But for most of us, this experience lasts for a limited time. We lose this feeling, we get “high-jacked” by another experience, or we fall back into our habitual pattern. Why is this experience literally unbearable? We can not seem to carry it forth for long periods of time.

Why not?  Why do we sacrifice ourselves and lose this wonderful feeling, why do we seem to have some sort of default?

Primarily, we default back to some “normal” state, or even into a lesser state of happiness than our default because we did not ignite this lightness ourselves.  This lightness is due to an external reason. We are surprised at how happy we feel, how open, how great we feel. Someone complimented us on our performance or our physical appearance or on the behavior of someone we are attached to, a child, student, co-worker, or even our pet!

But why on earth should feeling great have to come to us externally and as a surprise?

Why are we sometimes subject to this co-dependant state? What can we do to understand our own power and use internal referencing to create happy emotional states?

 “Do These Pants Make Me Look Fat?”

First, let’s look at our culture! We are generally enculturated to respond to external references for self-esteem, self-confidence and self-approval.

What do we need to notice about all those hyphenated words? They start with SELF! There is nothing external about this word. Your SELF is yours alone and you empower or dis-empower yourself.  Brightness, lightness, is a choice.

Let’s consider this choice. What can we do to be the light bearer for ourselves?

Turn the light on to this term: Self-awareness. Try this short exercise!

Side A:  Light Self Patterns !           Side B:  Dark self Patterns !

Consider your answers about CONTROL!

You are at step one of identifying your default pattern!

I am in control!

Most of us will say so about positive feelings. And, that’s great! You are owning your power. You are getting the idea of internally referencing. If you can take control of the issues on the bright (left) side….can’t you also be in control of the issues on the dark (right) side?

OR

 Another is in control!

Most of us will say so about negative feelings! When we externally reference we allow others to throw us out of our natural alignment and we give our power away. We give our energy away. We feel tired because we ARE tired! We let our light be drained out of us! We default to the DARK SIDE!

 NOW! Enlightenment!

This is the moment of realization. The true answer to all those last questions is…

YOU ARE IN CONTROL!

You have decidedto default, you have decided to give power away, you have chosen that dark reaction over the light one. This may not be a conscious choice! But it is a CHOICE! This is hard to digest. Why on earth would we choose to make ourselves unhappy? So many reasons! Life is full of reasons! But the powerful realization is : you can change this external referencing pattern that steals your light. Simply your awareness that both lightness and darkness are choices is a powerful place to stand.

Unconscious choosing means low self-awareness

Consider this conversation:

Minnie: “Why are you so mad?”

Mickey: “You make me so mad!”

ME: “No, Minnie, YOU made YOU mad! Mickey didn’t jump into your body, take control of your brain and muscle and force a drug labeled BE MAD, into your blood stream.”

The next time you stride into a one of your dark powerless emotional places. Own it as yours! Realize it. Register it as a choice you’ve made. Find internally where that choice is made, it is in there and it is yours to change. Yes, others inspired you to make your choice, sure, you reacted, perhaps you even obeyed, but only you can empower yourself. The others won’t be the ones to start the exploration of why! This is the most powerful step you can take. Be in-that-moment as you settle into default. Be curious about it. Look at it! Bear your own light into your own darkness!

Andrea Marie Stark is a Pasadena Psychic, Intuitive Counselor, Reiki Master, Energy Healer, Tarot Reader, Bach Flower Consultant, and Psychic who studies Mystic Shamanism and offers Chakra Balancing, Aura Clearing, Aura Reading, Reiki Training, Reiki Atunements, Shamanic Healings, Psychic Phone Readings, and Healing Workshops in and around Pasadena, CA. Andrea also studies Animal Communication.

Website www.andreamariestark.com

What is Alignment?

Alignment is a word found in many holistic, medical and spiritual vocabularies. Yoga practice, the Alexander Technique for Actors, and Chiropractic treatments train alignment physically.  Teachers such as Thich Nhat Hahn and the Dali Lama speak to a spiritual alignment, holistic and traditional therapies assist with internal alignment, and all work with similar intent, a pathway for health and joyful living.

Imagine yourself aligned with your work,  your family, your friends, your health and your outlook on life. You do work you love, you have harmonious and loving interactions with people, you enjoy perfect health and you create the life you want. Your internal is aligned with the external. You inner creates and supports your outer life.

I’m pretty certain this is why we are here, to discover and foster alignment in ourselves, and in others.

The Alignment Workshop at Tree of Life  introduces you to the idea and provides you with a healing session, intuitive advice and tools to take home. We work with the energy system of the body called the Chakra System, our blueprint for alignment! We discover where the energy is blocked or where it has dissipated and we re-align and renew the energy. There is never a shortage of energy, just sometimes a misunderstanding of how it works and places where it gets blocked or stuck. You can learn how to keep it open and healthy and…aligned!

Visualize or meditate anywhere!

Here is an alignment exercise that you can do right now! You can focus on each spot for five breaths or five hundred! This is a great exercise you can do at your desk, while parked in your car, or even better, fully relaxed at home or on vacation!

Try this from a seated position or laying down. There is no special way you need to position your body, comfort is the goal, but having yourself aligned physically can help you visualize the energy flow, so support your back!

Visualize or meditate at your desk

Imagine a red ball of light at the base of your spine. Take a deep breath and imagine that ball of light getting larger. With each breath you take imagine it growing from marble to basket ball and even bigger! It can expand past your physical body and sit like a big red exercise ball at the base of your spine. Let it surround your legs and feet! BREATHE DEEPLY and visualize this great red shining glowing ball at the base of your body!

Now focus on the area just below your belly button and do the same exercise with the color Orange! Just breathe deeply and imagine that orange ball growing bigger and bigger!

Next focus just above your belly button and use the color Yellow! Breathing in the same way as before, get that yellow ball growing and growing, glowing and glowing!

Fill yourself with color!

You are getting energy flowing and opening and balancing your first three chakras, you will feel energy, you might even see color, it is a very powerful thing to do!

If you want to continue….

Focus on GREEN and place it in a ball your chest, imagine that green ball growing larger and larger, fill yourself with Green! Breathe it in. If you have difficulty holding on to the color, imagine green leaves, limes, grassy fields, emeralds, forests of green!

Now move up to your throat imagine a lovely light Blue ! Blue topaz, a tropical sea, a wonderful clear blue summer sky, the amazing blue of the eyes of husky dog. With each breath you take the ball grows larger and larger!

Blue!

Next, move up to your forehead and in the middle imagine a lovely dark blue or purple, a night sky, a midnight ocean. Create that ball and with each breath, it grows and grows filling you with color and energy.

Last stop is right on top of your head. Imagine a White or if you prefer a Violet glowing ball. It grows with each breath and expands out filling you with bright white light. Breathe deeply and feel the energy, let it sink into your muscles!

You have activated your chakra system! You have begun a process of alignment and you have energized your body.

Peace!

Feelin good?! Stay tuned for more! email for workshop or private sessions!

Andrea Marie Stark is a Pasadena Psychic, Intuitive Counselor, Reiki Master, Energy Healer, Tarot Reader, Bach Flower Consultant, and Psychic who studies Mystic Shamanism and offers Chakra Balancing, Aura Clearing, Aura Reading, Reiki Training, Reiki Atunements, Shamanic Healings, Psychic Phone Readings, and Healing Workshops in and around Pasadena, CA. Andrea also studies Animal Communication.