Today, October 11th marks exactly 1 year since my arrival in Mallorca. Unlike a year ago, when I landed to sunny skies, vibrant flowers and an ache of deep grief in my heart that gave this island a chromatic dullness… today it is pouring down with the first proper rains of the season, vibrant flowers and a renewed sense of joy and possibility in my heart that provide this island life with an animated delight.
What a difference a year makes. What a journey this has been. How much I’ve had to move through. And you, probably too.
I want to write about the hypnotherapy sessions I’ve been doing, but I’m still in the midst of them, so I will save them for when I feel more complete and all the pieces have settled. But alongside that, with the craniosacral sessions, and all the practices I teach in RENEW, I’ve been able to cultivate and curate a whole new perspective and experience of the world. One that is more honest than ever before, while also being more playful and light.
I don’t want to be one of those people who keeps going on about how challenging life has been the past couple of years. But there are two reasons why I do want to keep speaking about it.
1. I know I’m not the only one, in fact, I’m one of the lucky ones. And the more we admit and share and speak to the fact that life has been filled with provocation and collapse lately, the less isolated and ashamed we all feel in our journeys. Surely, this is all for our highest good, I have no doubt. And also: it’s been HARD.
2. I see people who aren’t equipped to face and feel their own emotions all the way through bypass just how difficult these times have been for all. I see how stuck they are. In their growth as a human, in their emotional maturity, in their ability to relate and communicate their own feelings and experiences, as well as hold space for, and having compassion for others.
We have to talk about things. We have to admit our vulnerability. We have to learn to surrender and hold each other through the challenges that grow us.
Earlier this year I taught RENEW. A 5-week live-led prescriptive journey to move through the chaos of reinvention.
It was an incredible expedition for all of us and the connections and revelations made among the 40 students remain close to my heart. The past couple of months I have reflected more on the renewal cycle.
We don’t live life in a straight line. Life is a spiral: a series of cycles through which we are moving and, hopefully, growing.
There are 5 phases to the renewal cycle.
1. FLOW
2. SPACE
3. EDIT
4. AWAKEN
5. EXPAND
It is a process of teasing out what is most important for you. Across 5 phases:
Phase 1: FLOW
This is where you expect to find yourself most of the time: positive, goal-oriented, and committed to living the life you have set your trajectory on. This is the phase that most of us find the most comfortable… until it isn’t. FLOW is the place where your skills and the challenge of performing are in agreement. Too big of a challenge and we become stressed; too small, we become bored. But at some point, old challenges become smaller, routines get stale. Subsequently, opportunities for flow decrease. We feel dissatisfied.
Phase 2: SPACE
In phase 2 we might feel trapped by everything in our lives, and have this strong sense of wanting to burn it all down. This may be experienced as ennui and a feeling of being “out of synch” with other people and with life in general. You feel “stuck” and are unsure of how to free yourself.
Sometimes people get stuck in Phase 2 longer than anywhere else in the cycle because they feel . . . immobilized by forces beyond themselves.” In reality, the person in phase 2 is not trapped at all. What they really need is to create space from everything to be able to redefine their lives and begin the renewal cycle again. This is has more to do with the regeneration of positive feelings of self-regard and spiritual trust beyond yourself than with ‘doing’ anything
Phase 3: EDIT
In phase 3, a person turns inward. This is a time to heal, to reflect, and to begin to consider new possibilities. People in this phase are “quiet, withdrawn, often emotional, and unsure of themselves”. A person doesn’t have to withdraw from work or life entirely to EDIT, but instead withdraw some of the energy you put into your old life to edit out anything that is no longer in alignment with who you are becoming.. Editing leads to a profound renewal of energy, purpose, and hope.
Phase 4: AWAKEN
The person in phase 4 begins to explore possibilities, to network, and to train for the next chapter of her life. It is a time of learning new skills and of thinking in new ways. It is an exciting time, a time for dreaming and for creating and for testing out new possibilities. This is where you tap into core values and finally awaken – like a butterfly leaving the chrysalis. You begin to disengage from the previous life that no longer satisfies you.
In phase 4, you get to try on new roles but without committing yourself to any. Eventually, one path will feel “right” at which point you will you write the script for the next chapter of your life and plunge into it, leaving your transition with gratitude.
Phase 5: EXPAND
The Outer Journey always reflects the Inner Journey. Although we don’t always realize it, the cycles repeat periodically throughout our lives. To experience the fruits of our inner journey we have to expand beyond our previous horizons and integrate this expansion into our daily lives. The inner journey is focused on inner work, with renewal and rejuvenation, with feelings and introspection. The outward journey is concerned with work in the world, with achievement and results, with thinking and doing.
RENEW is going to take you through these 5 phases in this order.
One phase is not better than another and all are necessary. Where ever you are, whatever phase you are in, there is work for you to do to learn and to grow. And I want you to trust your process and do each section in your own time as feels right to you without losing the thread. Come back to it at least once per week and pick up where you left off… until you reach completion.
In response to emphatic demand, I have added this new perspective and freshly filmed each section of the course, added journaling prompts to each of the five sections, some more guided meditations and audios, plus an integration sleep hypnosis at the end and turned it into self-study program.
To do in your own time, on your own timeline.
Because renewal is timeless and cyclical. PLUS, you get lifetime access.
Learn more and register for RENEW here.