Beverley

As I mentioned before (and will again and again as repetition is the mother of all understanding!) you have both a human self and a Cosmic Self. The majority of people are only aware of their human self.  This lower self is the culprit of us experiencing anything problematical in our bodies and in our lives in fact!  The human self mainly feeds and functions on fear and doubt and as such does not stay harmonious enough to let the true you come through.  If you listen to anyone’s conversation, if it is not joyous, I can guarantee the underlying feeling is either fear or doubt or both, as in fact in the bigger picture they are one and the same thing!

I have had a life of amazing experiences (not always pleasant I have to admit!) but I have always been a searcher for the truth of who we are.  I think that possibly starting yoga at such a young age of 16 alone in my room, definitely catapulted me in that direction.  I inherently knew that life as it seemed to be was simply “not enough”.  Now I don’t mean materially but I knew that there had to be more.  There is a saying that when the student is ready the teacher will appear and I have had literally hundreds if not many more of those experiences.   Those times that really seem to have an effect are so called random meetings and conversations (often just one sentence does it) that you never forget no matter what.  Once in Sydney, Australia I met an amazing girl who was also a Bikram Yoga Teacher who said to me in all earnestness “There is only fear or love.  If it is not love it is fear!’’   At that time I did not understand what she meant but I do now. I remember those words so deeply to this day and apply them to myself many many times when I slip into a feeling of fear or doubt.

Of course now I understand that only too well, another way of putting it, is that the human self comes mainly from fear (and doubt) and the Cosmic Self or The Presence functions purely from love and experiences nothing else but that.  

Pain, disease, lack, and unhappiness are actually all forms of doubt or fear and the only way to get out of that that is to turn to and acknowledge your Presence.   This may sound like a tall order but I have found it the most enjoyable compared to the many, many therapies that I have tried as I searched along the way.  BB’s aim is to bring that awareness to whoever is ready to acknowledge it.

Barefoot Bodeez does not claim to fix anything but what it tries to do is to invite a shift in a person’s consciousness so that change can take place at the point where the problem started and that is in the consciousness of the individual.  In that regard, the following statement changed my world:

If you want freedom in the body then take your attention OFF the body!   

Wow – when I heard that for the first time, as a yoga teacher for decades that really blew my mind.  However they say that when the student is ready the teacher will appear and in this case I found out that this is the truth. My whole life has been a fascination with the body so I was constantly studying everything I could about it.  However when I started studying more about consciousness I realised that everything we experience in our bodies is a direct result of our consciousness ( ie what we think, believe or even project).  When that changes, the body experience becomes a whole different ball game!  Not one to take anything I learn or read at face value, I have to put everything to the test, not once or twice but hundreds of times until I am convinced.  And so I started experimenting with this and I was amazed at the results.  

I mentioned before that the Higher Self of us (called The Presence) is actually the creator of the body.  I was told to take the attention off the body and put it on the creator of the body instead.  So I did – in a Bikram Yoga class – wow wow wow what a difference!  Now I am totally convinced this is the way to go and I now include this in my teaching as it made such a difference to me.

I love all things Summer and I’m currently in Sliema, Malta sitting on a boat about to embark on a cruise around the harbour. My feet are burning hot mainly from the last couple of days pounding the pavements of Valletta and the neighboring areas but as I love sun, sea and history I’m loving it!  Taking a break from normal everyday life is a wonderful way to get new perspective and therefore new ideas.  It goes without saying that I’m experimenting with new workout ideas and I think I have a great Cosmic Body Sculpt Express Version that hits all the spots in a minimum amount of time.  I’m not one for using equipment.  As long as I have my body and a bit of floor space I’m good to go!  

Barefoot Bodeez aims to introduce you to creating your ideal body but not in the way you may have tried in the past. BB invites you to discover the Truth of you which is way more than you are probably aware of.  I have mentioned before that everything is linked – you are connected to everything in the cosmos – you would not be alive if you were not! In fact your heart would not beat if this were not so. 

You actually have a Cosmic Self and once you start to truly realise that and apply different “rules” you will see your body and your fitness in a whole different light.  In spiritual circles you will often hear the Higher Self being talked about, however in my opinion there seems to be a very much more connected experience if you call it your Presence or your I AM Presence or your Mighty I AM Presence – as it is very powerful.  Your human self is extremely limited and therefore if you are only aware of your limited self you will only experience limitation and that includes results in your body.  

More in this on other blog posts!

I once went to an investment seminar whilst living in Australia and although the content was all about being financially free, I came away with a great confirmation about what happens or doesn’t happen with our bodies!   Because my main focus in my life has always been working out what makes us tick and particularly why some people get results with physical exercise and some don’t, my ears are always pinned back for any information that I can glean to add to what I have been learning or experiencing myself.

The speaker was young and full of life. He was talking about trading forex and obviously trying to convince people to take responsibility for their financial situation.  He had found success with trading for himself and was sharing his experience when he came out with an absolute gem.  Without doubt I knew I could interpret that the same concept applied to the physical body.  He said:

“If you don’t choose your life, someone else will choose it for you”.

Wow – ding ding I realised instantly that there was another message to me on how to explain my own teaching and bodily experiences.  The mass consciousness appears to be that at a certain age this happens, and then this and then that, and it’s all downhill from here! This is actually an example of someone choosing your body for you if you buy that as true!  It’s subtle but it’s there all the same!

Having been a teacher of yoga and body classes for many years the first thing I notice is that almost everyone I have ever met believes they and their lives are the effect of their body.  What if that was not true, what if your thoughts and feelings could be the cause?  

So is that part of the secret of creating your ideal body for you?  What if the first thing you should do is actually choose to have it?  What a concept!  

Future blog posts will explain how you have more choice than you may be aware of and how to access it.

In my experience your body is like a bellwether.  It can tell you all sorts about what is happening with you if you are aware enough to get the message. In this blog post I will explain something about the throat area.  

I used to teach a certain type of yoga to large classes and I shared everything I had learnt either with snippets during class or through workshops every two weeks.  My students loved it as I didn’t just talk about the physical, I explained what I knew about the emotional and even the spiritual.  Everything is connected whether we realise it yet or not.  I never held back and people just kept coming for more.  

My life moved on, I went to live in another country and I stopped teaching for a while.  In that period of my life I concentrated on studying the subject of consciousness and had such a huge shift in my own that when I went back to teaching for other studios my voice would not be strong and I would have to cough and clear my throat again and again.  Very embarrassing!  One of the students who was also a friend asked me why I had to keep doing that and I realised what was possibly the cause.  I felt that it may be because they were not my students, I was stopping myself from sharing my newer experiences that I not only was having with my own body but I was witnessing with clients in other body classes I had been teaching.  In other words I wasn’t being the real me, I wasn’t teaching from my heart anymore – I was teaching someone else’s truth and not what was now true for me. 

To put it simply, the throat area is directly in the middle of the head and the heart.  My head was telling me to continue teaching in the way I was “supposed” to but my heart wanted to share the bigger picture and was telling me to do something quite different.  I wasn’t listening to the truth of me, my heart – hence the voice was weak and my throat choking on my words.  There is so much more that affects the body than simply diet and exercise and what you “should and shouldn’t” do.  I hope to impart some of that in Barefoot Bodeez.  It may give you insight to your own body and its messages to you.