Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse: ECSTATIC BREATHWORK This Sun 6/27 4:30-6pm @Liberation Yoga

Sunday, June 27th ~ 4:30pm-6pm ~ Liberation Yoga (Hancock Park/Weho) 

Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse ~ How To Thrive Amidst Big Energies

It’s a big month astrologically.  Whether you subscribe to that “stuff” or not, our bodies are 90% water and like the tides of the oceans, we are affected vastly by the pulls between the Sun, Moon, and gravitational field of the Earth.  When you’re able to be clear, grounded, and open, big events like Full Moons, Eclipses, and the Solstices (the Summer Solstice is peaking now) can be rocket fuel for your intentions.  But how do you get clear quickly?  Can you stay clear?  A big energy is a big energy, whether it’s a Full Moon, an upset friend or lover, a huge promotion, or your own emotions.  Learning to surf these energy flows, CREATE, and have FUN along the way are big keys to OPENING and THRIVING. 

DATE:            Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Time:             4:30pm - 6pm (come early to avoid being late)
Exchange:              $40
Bring:            Yoga mat and/or blanket-we'll be sitting on the floor at first then lying down
                       for the breathwork.
Location:       Liberation Yoga
                      124 S. La Brea (btw 1st and 2nd)
                      Los Angeles, CA 90036
RSVP:           You can reserve your spot through Liberation Yoga  (323) 964-5222.
These ECSTATIC BREATHWORKSHOPS are nothing less than a journey deeper into the experience and expression of who and what you are, a journey into the Heart of Freedom within.  Through a simple and powerful breathing meditation, you gain and deepen the tools for seeing past your former limitations, gain muscle for being your own best ally, teacher, and healer, and deeply taste a place free of insecurity, full of self-love.
LOVE,
SCOTT
http://trustthebreath.com
http://scottschwenk.blogspot.com
http://huffingtonpost.com/scott-schwenk    

(Huff Post) Harvesting Confidence

Why does confidence seem so easy for some and yet so completely elusive for others?

Are the people we see as confident truly standing deep and firm in their own boots? 

How do the seeds of confidence get planted, nurtured, and radically expanded?

First off, let’s dispel the tidy illusion that so many of the people you see walking tall are actually steeped in deep abiding confidence.  A majority of what you think you see are the images people are projecting and wanting for you to see.  These visions are largely smoke and mirrors.  What passes for confidence on the street is usually some form of arrogance, otherwise known as insecurity dressed up in its Sunday clothes.

In the moments when you yourself are not confident, you can be easily fooled by imagery.   Your own insecurity will be the lens through which you view life and people.  If this is your case, you may not fully recognize the distortion until you experience points of view free from this energy-draining filter. 

Abiding confidence arises through the visceral knowledge of who and what you are.  Achievements and honors from the external world only build long-term confidence when they stimulate this inner recognition of your true nature. 

If you don’t regularly taste this well-spring of confidence, you’re likely to be missing discipline around some form of meditative practice that actually reveals this true nature to you on a consistent basis.  Consistency is the key. 

One of the best practices I know of for getting a meal of Truth is meditation.  Some form of daily (ideally twice daily) meditation.  The most transformative forms of meditation I’ve come across are ones that encourage letting go of control and release the meditator from the rollercoaster ride of thoughts.

For this reason, I’m a big fan of active breathwork.  It so quickly engages the sympathetic nervous system and alkalizes the body that the thinking mind lets go, relaxation runs deep, and the heart opens.  Imprinting the mind and body to trust this opening is the biggest part of my work in revealing Truth within.

Without this constant contact, you’re lost.  All that’s left is to negotiate and barter with the external world for temporary energy spikes, brief moments of respite through food, sex, shopping, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and other stimulants.

If happiness and confidence are dependent on another person, place, or object, they’re not yet abiding.  They’re temporary, and like all temporary things, can instantly be taken away along with your sense of self.  What follows is some form of drop in energy that will likely have the hallmarks of depression. 

The challenge in all of this is in cultivating enough belief in what’s possible to take actions, and take them consistently enough to have experiences of growth in confidence.  Which comes back to practices that bring what’s possible right into the foreground of your direct experience.

There are plenty of people working to grow confidence.  So why isn’t the work proliferating?  One reason is gossip.

Gossip is an investment in other people’s energy and opinions at the expense of your own rooted sense of Self.  And it can also appear as listening to and believing those niggling thoughts in your own mind about yourself or another.

Gossip is like kudzu in the South.  It will spread and spread and choke out anything not like it self, sucking up the water and nutrients for miles and miles.

If you listen to gossip and engage with it (internally or conversationally), your confidence can only go so deep, your sense of Truth will be distorted, and your capacity for intimacy nowhere near what it could be.  This is simply because gossip creates separation between people, and when you sow separation, you yourself experience separation.

A Course In Miracles states that “All minds are joined,” so what you do to one you do to All.

My friend and mentor David Elliott spreads a well-known magnifying glass in other words, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Gossip is rooted in a hidden fear of intimacy, a fear of repeating past hurts.  The irony is that gossip sows the seeds deeply for future suffering. 

Every seed must bear its fruit.  Which ones will you plant and nurture?

Miracles Are Seen In Light ~ ECSTATIC BREATHWORK This Friday~ 6/11, 8-9:30pm @The Hub

Friday, June 11th ~ 8:00pm-9:30pm ~ The Hub (West LA)

“Miracles Are Seen In Light”
 ~A Course In Miracles

“It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together.  The miracle is always there.  Its presence is not caused by your vision; it’s absence is not the result of your failure to see.  It is only your AWARENESS of miracles that is affected.  You will them in the light; you will not see them in the dark.”

This Friday night, we’ll continue working with attention, focus, and awareness.  The light you carry will never be more or less, it is what you are.  If you want to see it, you need to remove what’s covering it up.  This clearing process is a daily practice.  You become what you meditate on, you merge with the object of your focus.  This breathwork is a tool for “un-sticking” your awareness from illusions, and giving you the space and power to place your focus on Truth, Love, and Joy.  The Awareness of Truth, Love, and Joy as your True Nature IS the miracle.   

When:       FRIDAY night 6/11/10  8-9:30pm   
                    ((Arrive early to avoid being late))
Exchange:       $35
Where:      The Hub (http://thehub-la.com)
                    2001 S Barrington Ave, Suite 150, Los Angeles, CA 90025-5363 US
                    { S Barrington Ave between LaGrange and Mississippi }
                    Entrance for the Hub is located on street level at the ground floor of the
                    parking structure located on South Barrington Avenue.
Bring:          Yoga mat and/or blanket-we'll be sitting on the floor at first then lying down
                     for the breathwork.
RSVP:        You can reserve your spot through The Hub  310-575-4200


These ECSTATIC BREATHWORKSHOPS are nothing less than a journey deeper into the experience and expression of who and what you are, a journey into the Heart of Freedom within.  Through a simple and powerful breathing meditation, you gain and deepen the tools for seeing past your former limitations, gain muscle for being your own best ally, teacher, and healer, and deeply taste a place free of insecurity, full of self-love.

LOVE,
SCOTT
http://trustthebreath.com
http://scottschwenk.blogspot.com
http://huffingtonpost.com/scott-schwenk   

Light of a Thousand Suns ~ ECSTATIC BREATHWORK This Sunday~ 6/6 @The Hub

Sunday, June 6th ~ 5:30pm-7:00pm ~ The Hub (West LA) 

“If a thousand Suns should rise all at once in the sky, such splendor would resemble the splendor of that great Being”
 ~Bhagavad Gita

This great Being is nothing less than your very own Self.  You become what you meditate (focus) on.  What are you meditating on?  What are you giving your life-force to?  Are you willing to let the light of these “thousand Suns” rise within you and become the whole of your experience?  We’ll work with the power of this ancient and yet immediate process to point your Awareness, and anchor more of your attention on this Light that is You.  When you know what you Are, nothing is missing.

When:       SUNDAY night 6/6/10  5:30-7pm  
                    ((Arrive early to avoid being late))
Exchange:       $35
Where:      The Hub (http://thehub-la.com)
                    2001 S Barrington Ave, Suite 150, Los Angeles, CA 90025-5363 US
                    { S Barrington Ave between LaGrange and Mississippi }
                    Entrance for the Hub is located on street level at the ground floor of the
                    parking structure located on South Barrington Avenue.
Bring:          Yoga mat and/or blanket-we'll be sitting on the floor at first then lying down
                     for the breathwork.
RSVP:        You can reserve your spot through The Hub  310-575-4200


These ECSTATIC BREATHWORKSHOPS are nothing less than a journey deeper into the experience and expression of who and what you are, a journey into the Heart of Freedom within.  Through a simple and powerful breathing meditation, you gain and deepen the tools for seeing past your former limitations, gain muscle for being your own best ally, teacher, and healer, and deeply taste a place free of insecurity, full of self-love.

LOVE,
SCOTT
http://trustthebreath.com
http://scottschwenk.blogspot.com
http://huffingtonpost.com/scott-schwenk