A Taste of Bali

It's Monday morning, but you have no meetings to attend, no family members to care for; today all you must do is find your center. You start by attending the daily morning yoga class, with a warm sea breeze passing through the open walls. After a breakfast of fresh organic foods grown on site, you gather with your newfound community and settle in for the playful work of transforming your life. 

By the time the afternoon rolls around, you've had a breakthrough or two and you're ready to explore the town of Sukawati, cruise the expansive beaches moments from the resort, or fully unwind with a spa treatment. Having met your own unique desires for the day, you reunite with the kind faces of your new friends and enjoy a sharing circle, a delicious meal of local flavor, and an evening meditation. As you rest your head on the soft pillow that night, you feel more connected to you, the real you, than you have in a long time. 

This is a little taster of some of what is in store for you should you feel the inner calling to join me on my upcoming Art of Transformation Retreat in Bali, Indonesia 28 January to 5th February 2016. I've teamed up with Clear Retreats to offer this amazing opportunity, check it out at http://www.clearretreats.com/bali/#bali-is-calling

There's possibly no better place to transform spiritually and we have teamed up with Floating Leaf Eco Luxury Retreat spa center, a 5 star resort, to provide the best in luxurious accommodation and amazing cuisine during your stay. You will experience a Water Purification Ceremony at one of the Sacred Temples and have an oppportunity to have a private healing session with one of Bali's best healers! 

Transform your life, let Bali help.

Do you feel unfulfilled, stuck, or could just do with an infusion of more joy and happiness? This retreat will help you master the ability to transform any area of your life, whether it be personal relationships, career, health and fitness, or simply fulfilling a wish for more inner peace and harmony.

For seven amazing days at the end of January, we'll combine rest and relaxation with deep self-inquiry, spiritual Balinese ceremony, meditation, Family Constellations, journaling, and group work and play to create lasting change in your life.

Why is this going to be great for you?

Well, for one thing, it's in BALI! In a village beside the sea, with a deeply spiritual culture, kind locals, and a thriving artisan community. Luxurious accommodations, sunshine, fresh air, and tasty organic food, these are all great things too. 

Beyond the obvious draw of Bali, this retreat is going to rock your world because of it's unique combination of pampering and transformational coaching done in a group setting. 

You will leave this retreat in Bali
  - feeling inspired and spiritually awakened
  - with tools to transform your life consciously
  - a greater sense of inner clarity and wisdom
  - having busted through negative beliefs, block, and limitations

This location is top notch.

We've teamed up with Floating Leaf Eco-Luxury Retreat Centre for this retreat. Located in Sukawati, Floating Leaf is moments from the beach, just 20 minutes from the incredible city of Ubud, and less than an hour from the international airport, Bali Ngurah Rai (DPS).

The retreat center combines ancient Balinese wisdom with modern luxury, and in so doing provides a safe place for relaxation, personal transformation, and a return to balanced wellness. The center has a Balinese spa, a healing pool, and an open-air Yoga Sanctuary with views of the Indian Ocean and Mount Agung Volcano. The organic permaculture garden supplies and inspires a private chef, who prepares flavorful and nutritious meals, juices, and snacks in the open kitchen. 

This is what's included......

• Luxury accommodations for seven restful nights (double occupancy with two beds)*
• Seven delicious breakfasts at Floating Leaf
• Seven beautiful dinners, either at Floating Leaf or in town
• Balinese cooking class, in preparation for one of our dinners
• Six healthy nourishing lunches, either at Floating Leaf or out
• Six morning yoga sessions
• Five morning Art of Transformation group sessions
• Four evening meditations followed by sacred sharing circles
• One spa treatment or massage at Floating Leaf
• One full day Family Constellation group experience
• Purification ceremony at Tirta Empul Holy Water Temple
• Visit to Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud
• Traditional dance performance
• Transportation to and from airport
• Transportation for our day trips

Got you tempted yet? More blogs to come soon on my experiences in Bali in 1999 when I studied sacred space clearing there with Karen Kingston and discovered all sorts of amazing aspects of their culture which is steeped in spiritual practice ritual and ceremony. 

If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true.........happy, happy talking, talk about things you like to do............ (lyrics from some song growing up as a kid! anyone know who sang them?)

Phoenix Rising!

There’s a quote from a favorite little book of mine that has been coming to mind for me lots lately……it’s from Illusions by Richard Bach……

“You teach best what you most need to learn”

This truth really is what has inspired the whole of my life’s work, especially my coaching work and is the inspiration behind my Art of Transformation Course. I brought to it all the learning, wisdom and self-help tools that have helped me on my path in life. My first big learning came from the kids with emotional and behavioral problems I used to work with back in the 90’s. My role was teacher to them but really they were the ones who taught me well……..taught me about how each and every one of us no matter how ‘dysfunctional’, no matter how much we act out in life due to our inner chaos and struggles, is worthy of being positively regarded, of being unconditionally loved. They inspired me beyond words these youngsters who had the balls to be angry, to dare to act out their hurt and pain, to go joy ride and glue sniff to get their highs and escape their pain ~ for a short while. They were surviving as best they knew how.

And really who was it who had emotional and behavioral problems? Them or society’s judgment of them? Weren’t they simply trying to let everyone know of their inner pain in the only way they knew how? I believe so.

I didn’t realize why I admired them so much til recently when on my own inner path of transformation (yes, I walk my talk and my head gets held in the fires of transformation more than any of you who are brave enough to engage with me! How else would I have earned the right for you to put your faith and trust in me as so many of you have, and continue to do.  There’s nothing I haven’t first fully tested out on myself that I won’t guide you through holding your hand. If it doesn’t work on me then it’s chucked out! Fast! And when I am not on my game I take time out to re find my balance….as I have done recently. My integrity is vital to my work……..you pay me to show up and be fully present with open heart to your pain and my guarantee to you is to do so )

These young warriors had the courage to let their pain, and trauma, come out. Albeit destructive at times, but at least it was being given expression which is healthy! I have become aware lately of the true extent to which my early childhood was completely and utterly suppressive of my innate organic nature. To survive I literally had to stuff my fear, my anger my sadness……..each and every feeling except the ones acceptable to my parents and teacher, and well, everyone really! I was conditioned to be a ‘good girl’ to please others and gain their approval. I am only now beginning to contact those places within my body where these suppressed feelings have been stored for 48 years! And it’s been intense. I get now why the solar plexus chakra is where we hold our power, our self-esteem. Those old Indian gurus who named the chakras did know a thing or two. I have been discovering the ‘fizzy explosion feeling’ in my tummy is actually my anger, my stuffed suppressed power and in all honesty it scares the shit out of me still. But I know my work is to befriend it, to listen to what story it wants to tell me about how terrifying childhood was a lot of the time. And how it’s safe now to let it have expression. 

This past year has seen me walk a path of purification I had no idea was possible to walk…..and this time my prayer had been a fierce one! What happens when your deepest prayer is for freedom, inner liberation and enlightened realization? First and foremost all your prior ego strategies of survival must be stripped away, so the illusion of the personality and psyche gets shattered into a million little pieces. It’s not pretty to stare head on into the shadow and reflect fully on the destruction and pain its caused to self and others. Then all attachment to everything dear and clung to is also stripped away, leaving you……in the dark night of the soul and with no idea of who you really are! In the times of surrender into this void of feeling a nothing and a nobody I have amidst the terror, experienced small glimpses of the peace that I imagine those enlightened masters reside in all the time. Then all too soon its gone again! Leaving me with the realization that a mediation practice is called just that for a reason…..because it takes practice and dedication! And coming back to the meditation cushion over and over again, practicing mindfulness, watching my thoughts race and holding onto the knowledge that I am not my thoughts is the thread I hold onto that is pulling me out of this trap of the mind.

So……..in case any of you are wondering if I am on my game still, despite my own life disintegrating and being transformed into something new, then yes…….depends on what your perspective is on growth and transformation and what you are looking for in a guide!

Yes I am back on my game in that I am able again to be fully present to others pain and sit with open hearted compassion whilst they find their own healing movements. And yes, the shifts just keep on getting deeper for people……maybe because I have more depth of compassion from my own inner journeys of transformation of late? Who knows……it’s a mystery to me how all this works. Because in truth, what I offer to people comes through me, is not of me. I simply show up with a desire to be of service in some way.

If you just want fluffy nice happy transformation then this maybe isn’t the place for you to come seek support……the path I offer is one that at times is ruthless in its pursuit of freedom, and there are no guarantees as to where you’ll find yourself. But one thing is for sure……I’ll hold you in a container of trust, deep respect and love. And I’ll bring every ounce of compassion and honoring to your courage to dare to dive in with me. To see what is on the other side of pain and suffering when all resistance to what is is let go of.

Maybe it will birth you into bliss, freedom, peace…..enlightenment! It’s my prayer for you as it is my prayer for me.

Anyone brave enough out there to sign up for The Art of Transformation this fall? I have….signed up that is! Been doing the art of transformation all my life really!

Hope you may feel the inner calling to join me in the fires too…….that phoenix awaits you!

Art of T Dates for Autumn 2015

This autumn I'll be offering two rounds of the popular 10 week course, The Art of Transformation. Join me for some powerful work in Golden or Invermere, and finish off 2015 with a bang.

October 2 through December 4, 2015 in Invermere, BC
TIME : Weekly on Fridays, 7-9:30pm
LOCATION : Do Nothing Floatation Centre, 1036 7th Ave
COST : $385

October 5 through December 7, 2015 in Golden, BC
TIME : Weekly on Mondays, 7-9:30pm
LOCATION : Munay Holistics, 605 Golden Donald Upper Road
COST : $325 Early Bird, $385 after September 15

“I would absolutely recommend this course....Best 'me' time anyone can give themselves. Liza builds instant trust in the group and she is the most gentle guide. I felt so supported in my journey and i feel healed.”

— Isabelle Simard

Emotions - The Gateway to Healing

Many of us view our emotions as a hassle, an obstacle to be wrestled with, to go into battle with. But what if they offer a greater possibility? What if emotions provide the gateway into our very own essence; a doorway into enlightenment even? Now that's a new perspective that’s worth exploring, right?

What if our emotions are actually our own essence crying out to us, inviting us to come back home to ourselves? What if they are the vehicle to carry us back into the love and wisdom that is the best part of ourselves? What if the enlightenment you are seeking is right here, right now, in the very core of your worst emotions?

Brandon Bays talks about a life changing experience she had in the early 1990's whilst with one of her enlightened teachers. It went on to form the basis of the mind-body therapeutic healing work for which The Journey™ has become renowned worldwide. I’d like to share it with you here.

On answering a question from a woman about what to do with unwanted emotions the enlightened teacher simply advised her "do not move, stay completely still" if you stay still and open right into the core of any emotion you are feeling, there you will find the peace you are seeking. Peace is waiting right in the very heart of your torment. Stay still and discover what remains when all anguish and torment has been welcomed”. Brandon watched the woman drop through layers of emotion and hit what looked like complete and utter fear of annihilation, which she eventually surrendered to and then the most extraordinary unexpected thing happened. Brandon watched as peace swept over the woman’s face and she began to weep. She'd found the peace that exists right in the heart of everything. Brandon was baffled! After all, hadn't we been conditioned to run away from emotions, to overcome them, and control them ~ but never to go directly into the heart of them? She decided to give it a go herself and discovered that in the very core of any contractive emotion is indeed the very liberation and peace we seek. We just need to be fully present to it and to let go of the story. When we let emotions just pass through us, we find ourselves opening into a peace, a grace that is omnipresent and always there beneath our emotions, our story, waiting to welcome us home.

Is it time to befriend your emotions? Is it time to come home? Would you like the key to unlock the infinite within you?

The role of a Journey™ Practitioner is to skillfully guide you through and past any fear, struggle or resistance that naturally comes up when we step beyond the ego and go into those scary emotions. The ego, or monkey mind, loves to have something to struggle with and likes to create a story, which we can get attached to like our life depends upon it. As practitioner, my role is to encourage you to drop the story and dive right into the heart of whatever emotion is here and to relax and surrender to it fully. If it’s peace you seek; are you ready to dive in?

Learn more about working with me through Journey™ here.

Stone Circles and Ancestors

I'm back in the land of my roots, England....in springtime. Daffodils abound as I enjoy hiking some of my favorite old haunts in the Lake District where I lived for 8 years before emigrating to Canada. The little baby lambs are hoping about the fields and a beautiful white swan came and joined me by the edge of ullswater lake yesterday at Howtown. 

It actually stopped raining too and the sun came out for long enough for me to enjoy Castlerigg stone circle, near Keswick and the incredible views from it over the lakeland fells. As I stood marvelling at how ancient these stone circles are and wondering about how many ceremonies took place on that spot over hundreds of years it struck me as to how the legacy of our ancestors leaves the same imprints for generations to come, only in what may seem invisible ways to those with untrained eyes. 

Science is now backing up with genetics the fact that we contain within our DNA the memories of our ancestors, the impact of all they endured in their lifetime, passed down to us often in quite mysterious unknown ways. How many of us have any idea how much we are being influenced by the unfulfilled desires of our Grandfathers and Grandmothers? Are the inherited diseases we have running in families really just a fate we have to endure, or could it be untangled as easily as discovering the origins of heart problems in a family being tracked back 3 generations? Could the unbearable grief of a Great Grandmother loosing her child to diptheria or TB be the reason for this legacy of heart ache that continues to this day? Family Constellation work would seem to say so.

It never ceases to amaze me as to how powerful the "knowing field", as we call it in the Constellation world, is in revealing what is going on in a family system. It is as if our ancestors are just waiting for an opportunity for us to be open to listen, to see, to hear, to be shown what is out of harmony. And just as effortlessly healing of many generations can take place through this incredible work. We all want to heal, we all know how to come back into balance, however sometimes we get ourselves stuck, something happens and we freeze, and the event becomes crystalized in our bodies and we need a gentle nudge from outside to help us recalibrate.

I am 2 sessions into 10 weeks of Rolfing with a wonderfluly intuitive practitioner Darren Harris (www.darrenharris.info) who's been helping me unravel stuck trauma in my body while I am back in the UK and I was marvelling at the similarity in our work. He comes in via the body and helps unravel the messages hidden in the miofacia, and my approach is via the family soul. I listen to the hidden messages stored in the stories you and your ancestors have to say and help you unravel their secrets. So you can live life free of entanglements with 'stuff' that sometimes wasn't even yours. 

Rolfing session one was all about breathing........session two about grounding and feeling my feet firmly on the ground. Already Darren's spotted my tendency to be tight all along my right side....is this from my own childhood trauma (induced forceps delivery set me up for being cautious in life!) or could I also have been influenced as a child growing up with anxious parents who lived through the Blitz in London during world war 2? Mum rememembered the pattern of the lace table cloth from underneath the shelter of the dinning room table, before her and Nana were evacuated to Dorset to stay with friends. And what about the story of my Dad who had to jump over a wall for cover when a bomb hit a neighbours house on his way home from school. I have no idea of the terror this would have evoked, but maybe my body remembers?

On my constellation training with Francesca Mason Boring a fellow student from Germany set up her constellation with her Grandparents who suffered greatly in WW2 and whom she was deeply entangled with (i.e. a part of her was still trying as a 50 year old woman to soak up their pain and suffering) and my body reacted in ways completely beyond my intellectual comprehension. I couldn't move from my seat, I was internally shaking with a fear I had never felt before and deep in my bones I felt my life was at stake. I've never been more relieved when a constellation ended! Tt was all the proof I needed to know I wasn't someone wandering lonely as a cloud, but a part of a family system that remembered..........

And what, you may ask is the healing balm for transgenerational trauma passed down the generations?..........LOVE! Pure and simple. Love Conquers All and returns everything to harmony.

I hope if you are reading this that you will explore the potential of family constellation work to help heal any disharmony you may be experiencing, and besides that, constellation work will change your perception of 'reality' after experiencing and witnessing some of the other worldy phenomena that can happen spontaneously through this amazing work. Just as effortlessly as my muscles releasing during a Rolfing session and my posture returning to its original perfect blueprint!

Gotta love it - the mystery of life!

What Is Holistic Coaching?

A holistic approach to life coaching differs from other forms of coaching in that its’ main focus is in looking at how the emotional & mental, physical and spiritual aspects of an individual all come together to influence and make a whole. At Munay Holistics Liza’s approach is to find integrative solutions that address issues that are detrimentally affecting your mind, body and spirit ~ to find your path to wholeness. Holistic coaching recognizes how powerfully one aspect of our being affects the other and that so often solutions will only work when a problem is addressed on all three levels. We all know that when our spirits are low and our emotions are all awry, our physical energy levels are down and our thinking is muddled. A Holistic coaching approach focuses on finding integrative solutions that address issues that are detrimentally affecting your mind, body and spirit. 

Take Beth for example, despite her taking medication from her doctor, her migraines weren’t easing and it wasn’t helping her to cope with the big decisions she was facing about how unhappy she was in her relationship. A simple symptomatic approach to Beth’s physical problems doesn’t take into consideration what is going on in her emotional and spiritual life. Prescribing medications for her migraines in isolation may give Beth some temporary relief however it doesn’t get to the cause of the problem. An integrative approach to Beth’s migraines takes into consideration all that is going on for her in her life. The root of her migraines is quite likely linked to stress over her inner dilemma and unhappiness around her relationship and what she should do. Inner frustration and anger puts a stress on her liver, causing her migraines to flare up.

A more holistic approach helps Beth explore the root of her unhappiness, helps her look at and clear out any old scripts and beliefs that may be impacting on her relationship and preventing her from finding the right solution. Methods to help her deal with stress result in her feeling less overwhelmed and natural remedies to support her liver start to reduce her stress levels resulting in less migraine attacks. From this place she can explore her next step having made the inner connections between her mind, body and spirit - she can now follow her heart. Through Journeywork and EFT Beth discovers old beliefs she took on about her being unlovable when her Dad left home when she was 6 years old. She realizes she has been subconsciously pushing her boyfriend away, expecting that he too will abandon her at some point. With this old pain from childhood flushed out Beth now can let in and recognize the love that her boyfriend has had for her all along and her relationship transforms into one of happiness. Her migraines vanish completely. What began as a confusing mess is transmuted into an enriching life experience.

A holistic approach to life coaching can provide you with the tools and assistance to deal with challenging life issues to create a more fulfilling, rewarding and enriching life.

• Feel free and liberated from stuck emotions
• Improve relationships with self and others
• Get past old limitations and blocks
• Get to the root of an issue for once and for all
• Take the step towards manifesting your lifelong dreams
• Bathe in joy, freedom, and the truth of who you really are
• Gain a set of tools you can use for life
• Experience increased energy and vitality
• Discover your very own unique mind-body communication system and learn how to listen to it
• Learn to love yourself and overcome emotional struggles
• Nurture and heal your body
• Experience lasting shifts fast
• Return to radiant health
• Learn effective, simple ways to reprogram your mind, body & spirit for health and wellness
• Increase self-awareness and enhance spiritual development

Science of Cellular Healing

Did you know the lining of our stomach completely renews itself every 2-3 days. Our eye cells take only 2 days to regenerate completely so every two days we are literally seeing with brand new eyes! And our liver cells renew completely every 6-7 weeks!

And it’s all to do with cell replication! It’s also the reason why a suntan fades in 2-3 weeks, the time it takes for our skin cells to divide, for the old cells to fade away and the new cells to take over. The fascinating thing about cell replication is that as the cell divides the new cell takes all the memory, or information of the old cell with it.

So, why then do we not regenerate new healthy cells and free ourselves of conditions such as liver cancer and other degenerative diseases? If after all, the liver completely renews itself after 6-7 weeks, and our eye cells in just 2 days. M.D. Deepak Chopra author of Quantum Healing and many other amazing cutting edge books explains why in his groundbreaking work. He explains that the ‘cell memory’ whether it is healthy or diseased is carried and passed onto each new generation of cells. For example in the case of cancer the new cells pass on the degenerative cancer message through cell memory. Once this cell memory is released, however, the cell is given the message to return to its normal healthy state and this actually explains how physical conditions often spontaneously heal, sometimes overnight.

So why is it that our cells get diseased in the first place? Dr Candace Pert a well-known molecular biologist and author of the best selling book “Molecules of Emotion” discovered unequivocally the answer to this mystery. She studied the direct effect that repressed emotions have on our cells. Our cells have what are called ‘cell receptor sites’ which, in simplified terms, you can imagine are a bit like little keyholes in each cell that allow the brain to communicate with each cell instructing it on how to stay healthy and synchronized. The brain produces chemical messengers called neuropeptides which travel through the body and are the keys that fit into these cell receptor keyholes ~ thus unlocking communication. This is how mind-body communication takes place.

In this way the body-mind takes care of itself, as long as what is happening to us isn’t too much to handle. When we experience intense & overwhelmingly powerful emotions however, the body can become flooded with chemical neuropeptides and these can jam the cell receptor sites, effectively blocking the cells from communicating with other cells in our body. Usually once the alarm, stress or fight and flight response has passed we calm down and our brain can send messages to the cells that the danger has passed and we can return to a healthy harmonious calm state of being. If however, these cell receptors remain blocked over a long period of time (from chronic states of stress, fear, anxiety, depression, anger, grief etc) there is an ever-increasing likelihood of disease manifesting in the part of the body where the cell receptors are chronically blocked.

In this way suppressed emotions literally get locked into our bodies on a cellular level and as science has discovered there is a direct correlation between our emotions, how easily we express them and how healthy our body is. Science now knows what happens, but as yet doesn’t have any repeatable effective method to unblock cell receptor sites that are jammed up and creating disease. New Energy Medicine techniques do however!

As Brandon Bays discovered on her remarkable healing journey the key to cellular healing lies within our emotions - they are the gateway to re-opening jammed up cell receptor sites so as the correct healthy messages can once again be communicated to the cells and the body-mind can return to wholeness, harmony and health and the emotions can return to peace, joy and love, our natural state of being.

As suppressed emotions start to flow again, cell receptor sites are unblocked and cellular memory is released. As outlined by Don Caldbear in his book ‘Deadly Emotions” our emotions can literally heal or destroy us. He has discovered that on a level of mind-body connection for example anger and hostility leads to hypertension and coronary heart disease; resentment and bitterness creates cancers; unforgiveness and self hatred leads to auto immune problems such as MS, Lupus & rheumatism; and anxiety creates IBS and panic attacks. Adding to this, Bruce Lipton in “Biology of Belief” discusses the effects our emotions, thoughts and the beliefs we hold have in creating our reality. If we think angry thoughts what are we going to meet in life? Angry people getting in our way! If we believe life is hard - guess what we meet in life? Hardship and struggle! These (often hidden) beliefs, old suppressed memories and traumas act like silent saboteurs and are responsible for stopping you achieving all you want to in life. The Journey and EFT both get access to these silent saboteurs, these old buried emotions and cell memories and clear them out so that your mind body and spirit can return to harmony organically and your health is no longer compromised.