Author: Aerin Alexander

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Stories of Power

Meeting My Teacher Carlos Castaneda

Twenty three years ago, during my first lunch with Carlos Castaneda at a local Cuban restaurant in Los Angeles, he introduced me to a warrior’s premise that is one of the most important: Freedom of Perception. I learned that my interpretations and beliefs are not unalterable, but the product of unquestioned repetition. Castaneda urged me to question my thoughts, to take a deep look at my beliefs. He then said that my beliefs were stored in my body, and by questioning them I could not only free my perception, but also boost healing from any ailment and restore my vitality.

I could perceive the world as mysterious, unfathomable, filled with possibilities. I could dream myself anew. I would be free.

It was a lovely sunny day in Los Angeles! My friends Cecilia and Rosa and I arrived at the restaurant at around noon. Castaneda was already there, sitting at the head of a large table with several people. He greeted us and, pulling a chair from a nearby table, indicated for me to sit between him and Florinda Donner-Grau, a writer and Castaneda’s close colleague.

The restaurant was packed and the customers loud, as loud as lively Latino families like mine can be. I squeezed in between Florinda and Castaneda. My hands were sweating and I held a tight smile between my teeth. I was hungry. As usual, I was running on empty. Raised in Argentina, my breakfast habits consisted of a cappuccino and a croissant. Following Castaneda’s suggestions, I’d been avoiding both things—caffeine and sugar—because, according to him, stimulants deplete the energy systems. At the hotel where I stayed the night before, it was hard to find anything but sugar and caffeine in the morning, so I opted for skipping breakfast.

I had flown from Argentina to the U.S. for the first time to assist at a workshop that Castaneda was leading in Culver City on the Arts of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico. I had read his books for years, and practiced the movements his teacher taught him with a small group of friends in Buenos Aires. I was passionate about and admired his work. However, there I was sitting next to him, at a greatly desired lunch, paralyzed, with an empty stomach, feeling crappy and like a loser. I wanted to hide under the table.

Yet I was looking at the table with hungry bear eyes, searching for bread, seeking the waiter. “Oh darling, you are hungry. Wait here,” Florinda said and left the table. Florinda was energetic and alert!

Castaneda, seemingly aware of my moods, out of the blue said: “The thoughts running in your head are not your creation: They are the product of your socialization,” he said with a large smile, showing all his teeth. “Repetitive thinking leads to fixation. For example, señorita, if in the background of your head you keep telling yourself that you are not good enough, guess what?” he waited for my answer.

“I won’t feel good enough?” I guessed trying to please him.

“Yes. And, you will suffer from low blood sugar,” he affirmed as if reading my thoughts. I did suffer from hypoglycemia and I thought it was weird for him to immediately see that in me.

“We have been conditioned to believe that our thoughts are real and that they define us, but is that so? ‘Question your thoughts,’ Don Juan told me 30 years ago. And still today it is great advice…Eat something,” he said to all, pointing with his chin to the table as the waiter started serving dishes with fish, rice and beans to everyone. “You need energy for your assemblage point to shift.”

I heard him mention the assemblage point quite a lot during that weekend. According to sorcerers in his lineage, the assemblage point is an area within our energy field, the size of a tennis ball, located between the shoulder blades at an arm’s length away from the physical body. The big deal about the assemblage point is that it is where we translate the pure energy as it exists in the universe into something perceivable, and then we interpret what we are perceiving. Awareness or perception takes place by means of alignment between the energy inside of us and the energy outside of us; the point where this alignment takes place is our assemblage point.

Scientists, shamans, spiritual seekers and others have spent hundreds of years trying to find how this process takes place. According to the tradition of shamans of ancient Mexico, the assemblage point answers the question. If the assemblage point is loose and flexible, our perception and ability to interpret the world around us is being enhanced and changes fluidly, as it is stimulated by new filaments of energy passing though it. If the assemblage point, on the other hand, becomes fixed or solid, our perception and interpretations become limited and static.

“You can question your thoughts and free yourself from the heavy ones you don’t want to have,” Castaneda continued with lovely Spanish intonation. “Once you start being more flexible in your thinking, and in your joints, the assemblage point is no longer fixed. You are free to change your thoughts and perceive yourself and others in more uplifting ways.”

I had witnessed him the day before teaching movements with ease, as if dancing on the stage. He was strong and flexible, and encouraged us all to be so.

“Direct your attention to what really matters to you. Don’t be a babosa. Use your energy and time to manifest whatever you intend,” he added. Then, almost whispering, he said, “My time is clicking: for me it is five to twelve. What is interesting to me now is to know what you are going to do with what I am going to teach you.”

That was the very first day of my formal apprenticeship, which continues to this day. Even thought Castaneda is no longer in his physical form, he still teaches me through the legacy he left behind. He introduced me to the ancient seers’ world in the traditional ways in which he was introduced to that world, and I became aware both of myself and of the world around me as a source of endless creativity, improvisation and growth.

Today I am still growing and teaching through the organization I founded with Dr. Miles Reid called Being Energy. I learned how to release old beliefs stored in my body and heal myself from hypoglycemia and diabetes. I regained my joy for life, my enthusiasm for movement, and my thirst for learning. Today, I nourish my body with nutritious healthy foods. Today I know I am enough.

Castaneda inspired me to live my life as a path with heart, not only shifting my assemblage point and living my life from the heart, but also accessing a state of heightened awareness he described as “seeing energy as it flows in the Universe,” granting me the freedom to follow the flow of life and growth that is open to us all.

WHAT HE TAUGHT ME IS WHAT I SHARE WITH YOU IN THE ONLINE CLASS SERIES: Path with Heart.

Join these classes to:

  • Learn how to release unhealthy beliefs and free your body’s healing response
  • Break the chain between self judgments and your biology
  • Give birth to your own definition of freedom
  • Free your joints and connective tissue by bringing light to unconscious patterns of moving and thinking
  • Achieve wellbeing through movement, visualization, and something we call recapitulation (reframing your experiences)
  • Join a worldwide community to support you from wherever you are

Being Energy’s online Path with Heart classes can make the difference in freeing you to experience the health and enhanced awareness that you have wanted for so long.

Categories
Community

The Magical Cocoon – How I Recovered my Relationship With My Daughter

One night I got into a taxi in Mexico City with my daughter and a friend.  We were taking my daughter to see a famous healer in the city.  There was a soft rain outside and the city lights were reflected in the wet streets.  The traffic was calm for Mexico City and we proceeded toward the Coyoacán neighborhood.  I was excited and, at the same time, nervous–this thing of going to see a healer, especially with my daughter, was unknown territory for me.  She was confiding in me but I really didn’t understand anything about what we were doing.  The only thing that sustained me was a sense of magic all around us, the feeling of being in a protective cocoon as we traveled to the appointment. The story began three months earlier. My whole family thought that my mother was close to dying and we all traveled to her city on the west coast of the United States.

It was the first time I had seen my daughter in six months; she had just graduated from her university and was working far away from where I lived in Mexico.  The emotional link between us remained damaged after the divorce five years earlier.

The story began three months earlier. My whole family thought that my mother was close to dying and we all traveled to her city on the west coast of the United States.  It was the first time I had seen my daughter in six months; she had just graduated from her university and was working far away from where I lived in Mexico.  The emotional link between us remained damaged after the divorce five years earlier.  

We would see each other and talk, but there was a barrier–we were not able to be really honest and present with each other like before.  Nevertheless, when I learned of her health problems and after my mother recovered, I decided to risk feeling foolish and proposed that she goes with me to see the healer in Mexico.  I was almost certain that she would reject the idea.

I probably never would have even mentioned the idea if some unusual things had not occurred pointing me in this direction.  One day I was eating with a group of people in San Luis Potosí.  A woman from Mexico City began to talk about the autobiography of Alejandro Jodorowsky.  I was fascinated by her comments and decided that I would like to read the book if I could find a copy. 

 That same night I returned to my apartment in Guanajuato and the young man who shared the apartment and who knew nothing about my conversation earlier that day in San Luis, came into my bedroom and, without any preliminaries, offered to loan me that very book by Jodorowsky.  He had not even read it himself but thought that it might interest me.  I was amazed at the coincidence and read the entire book within a few days.  I enjoyed it immensely, especially the stories about Jodorowsky’s experiences with Doña Pachita, a very well-known healer or curandera in Mexico City. 

 Years before, I had read about this same healer in the books of Carlos Castaneda.  Jodorowsky wrote that Pachita had died but that her son continued her healing practice in Paris. A week later I was talking with a close friend in Guanajuato about something else and she mentioned out of the blue that she had been treated by Pachita’s son, who wasn’t in Paris but in Mexico City.  She offered to accompany my daughter to see “El Hermano” (as the being who communicated through the healer was known). She also offered us lodging at her family’s home in Mexico City.

One week after proposing a visit to the healer to my daughter she called me and agreed.  The most surprising thing was that even her mother was also supportive.  I felt that things were arranging themselves and flowing so easily and naturally that the only way to proceed was just to accept it all and let go of my habit of trying to control everything.  

That night in the taxi, I was traveling in a dream–the world was new, almost unknown.  I was amazed at my daughter’s calmness and her courage and, I was so grateful to my friend for having facilitated everything.  She formed an emotional connection with my daughter immediately after meeting her and offered her unconditional maternal support.

The healer recommended that my daughter have a psychic “operation”. Afterwards she had to stay in bed for five days, without getting up except to go to the bathroom.  He prescribed a special diet and some herbal teas.  During those days I looked after my daughter with all my attention and care as if she were a newborn baby.  I made the teas, went to the local market to buy the necessary food and ingredients and I kept her company in her bedroom when she was not sleeping.

With time my daughter’s physical condition improved, but I believe what was even more important was what happened between us.  For the first time since my separation from her mother, we found again the confidence, honesty and love between us that had been lost. After returning to her home, my daughter wrote to Lilia, our host in Mexico City.  She expressed her gratitude for Lilia’s help in recovering her father.  I also thanked Lilia and her lovely family for having helped me get my daughter back.  Even beyond my thanks to Lilia, her family and the curandero, my gratitude extended to and still touches something more abstract but so real: the energetic soul of this enchanting city, that sent me a messenger to San Luis Potosí and the perfect host for my daughter, and that wrapped us in a healing cocoon, a shared dream that I will never forget. 

Categories
Community

Cuicuilco, Where I Reconnect to My Legacy

The Mexico Valley has movement and stillness at the same time.

What if when exploring the city, we suddenly find ourselves in this inert space between kaos and stillness? We could enter and leave the city’s labyrinth with a single blink, and thus find our own voice, purpose and legacy; accepting our duality as the flow of light and life that we are and of the stillness, darkness and death that we also are.

In the attempt to live my life with awareness, whenever I can, I take a break from work and I take a moment to sort out my thoughts.

I walk towards Cuicuilco, the Mesoamerican archaeological zone of the Preclassic period located in the south-east of the Valley of Mexico. Cuicuilco is translated as the place where songs and dances are made. This city existed long ago in apparent linear time, and at the same time it feels so alive and present. I feel it in full connection with our ancestral spirit. It has been a refuge of ideas, a silent refuge of calm seas. And it is in the middle of the city, near my work!

When arriving to Cuicuilco, I take a deep breath and a collection of old memories send me into that isolated space and stopped in time. I feel that Cuicuilco is calling me, and that it wants to share its secrets with me. I like to feel protected by its lava fields. The volcanic eruptions of Xitle buried and destroyed Cuicuilco. This disaster caused the dispersion of the Cuicuilca culture towards Toluca and Teotihuacán; its inhabitants had to be reborn and strengthened again.

Perhaps it is the energy of all that space covered in lava, the thousands of vessels and bones that were trapped in the volcanic rock, in containment; Maybe those secrets are covered and trapped in those eruptions of the Xitle where the lava eternalized the moment. As when I’m here standing time is suspended and my thoughts get clear. 

Cuicuilco opens up to my eyes like a vigorous core of restorative energy.

Its circular pyramid brings me the memory of the wind that flows without barriers and cleanses my dual being, awakens it. 

I sit down with Ernesto Sábato’s book, “Sobre Heroes y Tumbas” and this sentence calls my attention:

“A mysterious event is proceeding in these moments: dusk.”

What would happen if we really saw the days go by, wrapped in mystery? …

What would our lives be like if we were surprised by the complexity of the night?

If we really put all our attention in a single terrestrial rotation, and at the end of the day we found other answers about our species or about our being?

What do I feel about seeing me here, at this moment, in this space of time? “

I have been asking myself these questions since I was very small: I always thought about the duality of life and death. When I felt fear, from one moment to another, the wind would come to calm my spirit … the wind of a night full of mystery.

In Cuicuilco, the wind flows and whistles a music for me inside, and sometimes meets the edges of my thoughts. Its circular pyramid feels flowing, embracing and reconstructing each idea, each thought until its liberation; the roundness of its main pyramid makes it possible.

This is how the song and dance of the place are received, without any obstacle; it just flows and takes flight to new perceptions. My daily worries fade and I dance in silence. My heart opens even more and an impetus to recognize me as part of this mystery that surrounds me.

The wind touches my cheek while reminding me “I’m here, I celebrate my time, my steps, my darkness and my own singing. I am the way where times converge.” My heart grows. 

“I am life.”

Categories
Community Tools and Tips

How to Prepare for New Year’s Eve

“The world is unfathomable. And so are we. And so is every being that exists in this world” ~ Carlos Castaneda

What a powerful moment this is: we are crossing to a new year cycle filled with gratitude and awe for our lives. What lessons did you experience in 2017? What triumphs? What failures? 

We have been recapitulating and reflecting upon our 2017 experiences and we just had a wonderful FREE ONLINE CELEBRATION last Saturday.

Also, we are sending you below the NEW YEAR’s RITUAL our teacher Carlos Castaneda taught us many years ago. It is a ceremony that starts during the last days of December, and finishes when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st. Castaneda would tell us that, at midnight, the light of the Spirit or Universe comes and “watches us”—a force descends upon us, and this is a very powerful moment to be present and aware—to feel it and become acquainted with it.

Practicing this ritual without failure for the last 22 years has brought a sense of direction, purpose and inspiration to unfold our goals and intentions for the New Year, as well as a sense of connection with the planetarian phenomena. We hope that the benefits ripple out through your life, your relationships, your community and the world. 

The steps are these:

1. Clear out the old before the New Year.  From December 27 onwards and even throughout the day on December 31, clear up some space in your home. Remove clutter, donate clothing that you aren’t using anymore, clean out and organize cabinets and drawers, and vacuum your floors; clean your windows and water your plants—all with a feeling of openness and readiness. The aim is to clean your home physically and energetically. There are four essential ways to do this:

Throw things away that are not needed or that are not bringing you joy

Give things away to charity, with the intention of benefit others while freeing you of any energetic bondings to the objects

Pay your bills, including utilities, credit cards, etc. Do you best to cross to the New Cycle without pending debts

Dust off, wipe and wash your home, or at least a selected part of it, such as your kitchen, your bedroom and desk area

Rearrange things; change the placement of furniture, artwork and/or other objects to revitalize the energy flow of your space(s)

2. On December 31, before midnight, attend to your desk or writing space. Organize books and papers, and clear space so that you can comfortably sit to write a list of Intentions, projects and dreams you want to manifest in 2018.

3. Next, take a pen or pencil and piece of paper, and get ready to make a list.

  • Mentally review what dreams and projects you were able to accomplish in 2017. What things stood out? What new relationships have you established? What came to a close? What new things have you learned, or insights have you gained with respect to your:
  1. Health
  2. Emotions
  3. Thoughts
  4. Your work or job
  5. Family and community

6. Larger global community of planet Earth

Now list all of these on a piece of paper labeled 2017. The idea is to review and distill what 2017 brought to you, and write it down so that you can be consciously aware of these experiences going into the New Year. Notice as you write if new insights or ideas come to you.

4. Take a second piece of paper to start a new list. Name the list 2018, and write down what you want to accomplish or see unfold in this New Year. It might help to think of the categories of:

Personal development: What new things do I want to learn, what do I want to accept about myself, what do I want to heal in myself at the physical, mental, emotional and energetic levels?

Family and friends: What relationships do I want to commit to, what relationships do I need to let go of, what relationships do I need to heal?

Work: Am I loving what I do? What can I change in 2018 to thrive?

Health: How do I plan to take better care of myself in 2018, what specific actions will I take to restore my energy?

My legacy and contribution to the larger world: What ONE action can I do to help others in need.

5. Take a pause. You’ve cleared space, reviewed the year that’s passing and set forth dreams and goals for the year ahead. Now that you have your lists, take a little break to attend to any responsibilities or other commitments. You may want to add music to the atmosphere or dance for a while.

6. At around 11:30 p.m., return to your writing space (it’s almost midnight!) Sit in silence for a moment and put your attention on the things on your 2018 list—those things that you want to see unfold in the New Year. You may even want to write an outline of what you would like to do, or draw a picture of yourself getting the job of your dreams, etc. Sit with it as long as you like, making sure you feel connected with it all, with your personal life path, and with the Universe by the time the clock strikes midnight.

7. At midnight, on this first moment of the New Year, let the wave of your dreams wash over you.

As we set our collective intentions, we hold best wishes for you all—for your joy and growth; for your freedom; for your daring, for your creation of new, inspiring projects; and for your kindness to all those around you. We celebrate together your becoming!

May the Spirit light and love radiate out to your friends, families, communities, and to the whole world.

Categories
Community

TEACHER’S EXPERIENCES: Transforming Fear into Real Power

I was so moved when Tom, Ari and Erika, our Being Energy® teachers called me last week to tell me about their successful event in Guanajuato, Mexico! They have been dreaming about guiding a Being Energy event in Mexico for several years but, they felt didn’t feel ready.

However, this year they decided to go for it! They said the Path with Heart classes on overcoming fear gave them the final push to make the decision and jump. They overcame the fear of failure, the fear of making mistakes, of being vulnerable, and of loosing face. They not only led a successful event, but they also loved and supported each other through the process unconditionally!

Tom, Ari and Erika’s victory reminded me of Carlos Castaneda. He supported me and others, encouraging us to learn, to explore and to experience moving from fear to real power.

Together, these three created a wonderful event for healing and energy restoration called “Bienestar Energético” – “Energetic Well-being” – a two-day Workshop in Guanajuato, Mexico. Guanajuato is a historic and picturesque city northwest of Mexico City.

BRAVO Tom, Ari and Erika! Thank you for inspiring us to keep overcoming fear and accessing the power within!

We love you!

Aerin and Miles

Here is a look at what they said about the event and some pictures they shared:

“For me, the fear that I am turning into power feels more like a kind of inertia, but one that has fear at the bottom. To explain: this cycle of classes has coincided almost exactly with the conceiving, promoting, arranging and carrying out of a live all-weekend Being Energy seminar, together with Erika and Ariadna, in my city of Guanajuato, Mexico. After my initial enthusiasm for the project, I begin to fear that it would not be successful, that people wouldn’t sign up, that I might disappoint them or my co-leaders. And my mind said, why bother? I’m fine just as I am, taking classes, giving occasional small classes. No risk, no big effort. So the resistance was a kind of inertia, that how I am now is good enough, but beneath was the fear that if I really reach for something more, it might not turn out well.

The first seminar day went from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. That night I returned home in a very peculiar state. I was relaxed, communicative with my wife, tired and at the same time very alert. Above all I was quiet. I had given my very best, without any self-concern (or as little as I have so far experienced), I was totally stimulated and at the same time totally at peace. There was nothing I could add. I believe this is power, though very different from how I had conceptualized power before. This feeling continued through the end of the seminar. I am not don Juan or Carlos Castaneda or Aerin or Miles. I am just me, but if I can get out of the way by suspending my personal history and ego, my being can be a conduit for the spirit. In a sense, this disappearing becomes real power.

Hugs to all of you, my traveling companions!

Tom

“Our seminar in Guanajuato was wonderful, a dream where from the beginning we were collaborating and working without expectations, finding the best of our time and ourselves to share it, joining our differences in something that we welcomed with amazement .

A medieval hallway led to our living room, with a stave floor, large windows with a colorful view of the city.This room was filled with a large group of people who came to share and co-create this dream with us. The present spirit felt, everything flowed, we were happy, engaged in the common attempt to experience true well-being, that of the energetic body. There were new and experienced practitioners and all opened themselves to investigate within themselves to have new views of their daily lives, to be transformed little by little. It filled my heart with their feedback and the interest they showed. I am proud to have delivered from my heart something of myself so that this could be possible, every time I become more aware of how much we all need moments and spaces like that!

Our walk to Cerro de la Bufa on Sunday reminded me how powerful the mountains are around the city, full of minerals and silence. A strong wind was blowing towards us that helped us to take us on the wings of Tom’s guided meditation. I felt the sun and the warmth of others around me, I felt so much strength and happiness at that moment after two days of practice, sitting on top of the hill! It was the best time to be aware that the group is very powerful and that we are in a wonderful time and place together on this planet … Thank you for the support!”

Erika

“I ENJOYED EVERY MOMENT! And so it was … From the preparation, having the weekly meetings with Erika and Tom, I was opening my heart to this new adventure. It felt very harmonious at all times.

In my case I had only taught the Being Energy daily classes online, and I was a bit afraid to do it in person. Although I think teaching online for two years gave me the experience and confidence and once we started, I felt happy and connected with everyone.

At the time I accepted this challenge, I knew I had bought a ticket with no return. I felt connected with Tom and Erika, I was inspired by them too. We got along very well, planning the logistics for the event as well as what each of us wanted to teach and share. The process suddenly opened parts of my brain that re previously closed.

I also learned to appreciate my friends and learn about who they are. Tom cleans his car of dry leaves before driving it. While I waited inside the car to go to the seminar the first day, I observed him with his soft duster, cleaning the windshield sheets with elegance, great delicacy and love.

That image helped me breathe and connect to myself. With the same delicated attention and care that he put on removing each leaf from the windshield of his car, I would like to put on each of the seminar participants, I thought, and on my own breathing.

So it was. This is how it vibrated. Erika’s voice guiding movements is beautiful and I’m sure, everyone felt connected to her.

The power of his thoughts towards us (Miles and Aerin) helped us find our best way to teach and pay attention to everything. Thank you!”

Ari

Categories
Community Events

Schweibenalp Retreat Highlights: We Had A Great Time!

Dear Community,

What a dream-like and wonderful experience we had last weekend in Schweibenalp!

We stayed at an incredibly unique center, located in the midst of the beautiful Swiss Alps, 4,000 feet high! It was the perfect place to restore our energies and get in touch with our dreaming body, our energy body.

We practiced standing sequences of movements, emphasizing breathing and the opening the chest area. Then, we practiced movement sequences while laying on a mat, focusing on lengthening our connective tissue and recalibrating our nervous system.

We also meditated and spent time connecting to our breath, to our source of consciousness, and to our hearts. Another highlight from the retreat was the food! We shared delicious homemade organic foods that included vegetables from the Center’s Permaculture Garden. 

We were blessed to experience different temperatures and  weather changes throughout the weekend. We arrived to light rain. The next day was sunny and warm. We just had to take a  walk through the forest to a magical green lake!

Fog moved in the next day and we spent the day inside a cloud. Literally!

Some participants experienced “Lucid Dreaming” for the first time, a state of being conscious and aware in one’s dreams.
Other participants mentioned that in the past, they weren’t able to remember their dreams. But,  after the first night at the workshop they were able to remember their dreams clearly.

At the end of our weekend, we were moved by listening to feedback from our participants, including Michael who said the experience has been “life-transforming” for him.

After taking so many workshops in the past, I finally feel that I do belong here. In the past I felt isolated. I used to be loyal to others, but never to myself. Now, I’ve set a new intention for myself: to be loyal to myself and to my heart always. I can feel the change within me already and it feels great.

It’s truly amazing to be a part of our wonderful community. For those of you who missed our Schweibenalp retreat and those who joined us, we’ve got something special planned for you next year!

Save the date for July 27th- 30th! We will be hosting a four day workshop in Worcester, U.K. to explore our legacies.

What kind of legacy do you want to leave? What legacy has been left before you? These are the kinds of questions we will explore.

Together, we will  acknowledge the gifts of our ancestry, unleash wisdom buried at the core of our life experiences, deepen our knowledge and connect to our higher power.