Jude Levy, Rachel Elnaugh and Katharine Dever (Imago founders)

www.imagopeople.tv

I loved it!  The theatre was full of sparkling, inspired, genuine friends and collaborators, gathered for this special occasion – the launch of Imago’s first book publication having recently signed Barefoot as Imago’s first ‘star’.

After his talk, Barefoot signed books and then we were transported to a Soho nightclub by a fleet of people-carriers where we had a trance-dance after party.  The cocktails were flowing and Barefoot and his DJ friend led a pumping set.  A brilliant way to end the night!

I began reading my copy of The Message this morning.  Having heard Barefoot speak just a few days ago, the pages are alive with his voice and presence.  I was taken right back to watching him on stage – yes with bare feet - talking from the heart without notes and SO eloquently.

And it’s juicy stuff – captivating and satisfying at such a deep level.  It reminded me of when I first heard Buddhism taught so excellently by the funky, fresh, bright young guys at the Glasgow Buddhist Centre in the 1980s.

At the tender age of 19, I was awestruck at the meaning and magic being revealed to me.  I was being given the ways and means to live a very blessed life – and although I no longer consider myself to be a Buddhist (prefering to be open to all forms of spiritual wisdom) – those early teachings have nourished me for decades.

And The Message – deeply infused with the Taoist wisdom that Barefoot draws from – describes the same universal principles of freedom, self-mastery and interconnectedness that is the essence of all untainted spiritual teaching.

This morning I am sitting in my conservatory back home in the beautiful Devon countryside, listening to the birds and the sound of our village church bells, watching the trees and shrubs bounce in the gentle wind.  It is so peaceful after the hurly-burly of London…

Even although I lived in London for 16 formative years, I rarely strayed beyond the ‘urban village’ created by the Buddhist community I belonged to.  And these days, I am very much a country bumpkin – an innocent – unused to the wiley ways of London living.

So when I realised that I’d got lost walking from my city hotel to the Barefoot event at Sadlers Wells Theatre, I had an attack of anxiety.  I was lost and alone in the backstreets of Shoreditch, the opposite direction to where I should have been going ( must have been a homing instinct as I used to live in the east end).

Asking directions at a film studio, I was advised to retrace my steps all the way to the main road and catch a cab.  It was going to take ages and I was already late!  Arghh!  Panic!  But the bigger, wiser part of me was cool.  “Don’t worry”, she said, “it’ll be okay.  Just put out a prayer.”

“Please I’d like a taxi to show up for me now”, I thought , and sure enough, a black cab immediately appeared from around the corner to drop someone off right in front of me.  I told the cabbie he was my angel and gave him a big tip.  We made it to the theatre in time.

It was the second ’kind assistance from strangers’ experience of my London trip.  The first had come in the form of two incredibly sweet receptionists at the hotel who couldn’t do enough to help when I requested a change  to a quieter room.

I had considered just putting up with the roaring traffic, but then thought, “Well why not just ask?”  In the end my room was much nicer and twice the size of the first - and very quiet.  “Hmmm, it’s good practice to simply ask for better things”, I reflected.

The next experience of the kindliness of strangers came a few hours later at the book launch.  I pulled out my purse to pay for drinks and my payment cards were nowhere to be seen.  For a few moments, panic swept through me “They’ve been stolen!  How had that happened?  How was I going to pay for my hotel? What do I need to do to cancel them and stop them being used?”

But somehow, even in the swirl of panic, part of me was chilled, loving, peaceful.  Time slowed down.  Although the bar was busy, the bar tender was patient and smiled sympathetically.  A complete stranger standing next to me offered to pay my bill.  In a few moments, all was well when I discovered my cards had simply fallen out of my purse into my bag. Phew!  But how nice to have been held in my moment of anxiety by the care of others I didn’t even know.

However, the biggest ’angelic intervention’ via strangers happened the following day when I was on my way to a client’s home for a day of coaching.  In the night, I had knocked a glass of water over my Blackberry (Instant manifestation there too.  In my half-sleep I thought, “Wouldn’t it be awful if I knocked my water on my Blackberry”, and it promptly happened!  Be careful what you think about Srimati!).  In the morning, my Blackberry wouldn’t work.

The dreadful realisation that I didn’t actually have my client’s full address or phone number written down anywhere soon overwhelmed me.  I was relying on my Blackberry for all that information!  Once again, complete panic!  And then, once again, the bigger part of me was reassuring, amused, loving, and enjoying the adventure of it all.  Something would work out.  “Just be open to having some help, as with the taxi”, my inner wisdom said.

I set off.  At least I knew the name and whereabouts of the apartment block.  Maybe there would only be a few flats to choose from and I’d find her.  But when I arrived at the address, I was gazing up at a huge tower block – with at least a hundred apartments!  How was I going to track her down?

I asked a few residents but no-one seemed to know my client.  I chatted with a friendly cleaner who was mopping the floor.  He was sorry but he didn’t know her either.  With me still feeling strangely peaceful despite the impasse, he melted into the moment with me and suddenly remembered that there was a concierge office for the estate just a short walk away.  Maybe they could help.

They did and I was on time for my client.  More importantly, with the backing of my calm, loving bigger self, I had navigated the problem without getting flustered and was still in great nick to conduct my coaching day.

To me these events are such a striking example of our ability to respond creatively even when something challenging is happening to us.  If we are aware enough of that bigger, calmer, wiser loving self (even when another part of us is panicking) there is always a positive choice to make – even if its just to be open to the help of strangers when we are feeling alone and vulnerable.

I read somewhere recently, “Nothing happens by accident.  It merely has a purpose that is not yet understood.”.  I like that.  I like the idea that whatever happens is for a purpose, even if it’s not what we want, and even if we are not consciously aware of it’s deeper purpose yet.

On reflection, I recognised that I had unconsciously created these circumstances during my London trip for a purpose.  The purpose was to graphically demonstrate to myself that I deserve help, support and the best of things; that I am not alone and don’t have to struggle the hard way and that if I am stuck, even random strangers will help me if I only ask.  That’s good stuff for an independent person like me to realise.

In this video, I am talking about the freedom of choice that comes from being able to tune in to our inner wisdom – our bigger, wiser self.  Being awake to this allows us to calm down, take our time, make the right decisions, be open to the positive options available to us.

Its just as Barefoot describes in The Message -

“Because as soon as you can see all aspects of the manifest world – this world of people and machines, this world of nature, this world of planets, stars and galaxies, this world of infinite space, and this world of you - as an expression of the ineffable background presence, as the Tao throwing shapes on the dance floor of the universe, you are no longer fooled or perturbed by appearances.”

“So that no matter how thrilling or scary your circumstances in any given moment, no matter how scintillating or distracting the current configuration of details, you remain centered, referenced to and identified with the prime cause informing it all and are thus able to maintain equilibrium and perspective at all times.  You are able to receive and process the endless incoming stream of information as an expression of absolute love, life and consciousness, as an expression of God or the Tao talking to you.”

So thank you Barefoot Doctor for inspiring me to write this blog this morning.  It was a pleasure to meet you and to participate in your beautiful transmission of The Message.

Love has to be my favourite topic and I have written articles, scoped out books, given talks, recorded videos, led workshops and guided meditations on love many, many times. So what shall I share with you about love this Valentine’s Day?

Whilst thinking about this this morning, I watched a video of Adele singing her amazing song ‘Someone Like You’.  As I listened, I marvelled at why it is so powerful.  It’s a love song written from her own experience and she is so utterly real and unguarded and vulnerable in her honesty that you are right there in her heart along with her.  I love and admire Adele so much for it.  And it’s a beautiful song.

Then, just a few minutes ago, looking for something on love to share with you, I happened upon a piece of writing from last summer about my husband, Pat.  I wrote it at the time because I just wanted to capture a moment of our life together while it was so vivid.   It’s very intimate, so I hadn’t planned to publish it, but…

What the heck, it’s nearly Valentine’s Day and I’m inspired by Adele.  So here’s a bit of ‘reality documentary’ about my love life for you.  Maybe it’ll touch you a bit more deeply than the usual level of stuff I share with you.  And if it does, it’ll be worth it…

June 2011.

“He’s there waiting at the train station to pick me up.  I light up and dance inside when I see him.  It’s only been 24 hours, but I feel like I’ve been in another universe (London) and I’ve missed him.

Pat cuts a striking figure standing beside his hunky American Jeep. With his longish hair and wild-west good looks, he’s not like most regular guys but even in his casual wear – cream linen trousers and Weird Fish sweater – he oozes quality and looks cool.  That’s something I love about him.

I can tell he is appreciating me too as he watches me walk from the platform.  I’m wearing my new dress and he likes me in it. (Last night on the phone, he was making me giggle with his flirtatious comments about it.)  I’m not feeling my most attractive at the moment as I’ve put on a bit of weight, but I know it makes no difference to him.

And I have to admit that it’s really important to me that my man fancies me so much.  Pat tells me this and that I’m beautiful frequently and I can feel his pride in me when we are out in public – like he’s the luckiest man in the room because he’s with the most attractive woman!  I can tangibly feel his love and approval surrounding me all the time and it is the most amazing source of invisible, buoyant support. Quite honestly, I have been longing to feel this adored for most of my life.

Getting into the Jeep, he is calm enough despite the fact that my train has arrived late.  Pat’s quick-moving impatience is typical of a red-headed, Aries Cornishman, so I appreciate him managing to keep it together when my 16 year old son Jamie (who is also being picked up from town) keeps us waiting a bit longer still.  And off we set for home – a cottage and caravan on the edge of a country village in Devon.

Pat encouraged me to take the impromptu trip to London to meet up with friends and colleagues.  He immediately recognised that it was just what the doctor ordered.   I’d been putting a lot of energy into home and family recently and had then come down with a strange virus which made me dizzy.  After resting up in our caravan ‘garden apartment’ for a week or so I’d become restless and was feeling Cinderella-ish.  I was in need of stimulation to feed my vocation.

In the last couple of years we’ve made friends with Rachel Elnaugh, former TV Dragon on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, now co-founder of www.imagopeople.tv .  Rachel was having a filming event in London and had invited us to go. Despite Pat’s fondness of Rachel, London’s not for him at the moment and he was perfectly content to stay in seclusion while I went without him.  It is satisfying enough for him to know that I’m out there having a good time, getting the input I need.

As we arrive home, I realise I really want to land at the house rather than the caravan (which is a short stroll away in a field).  It means I can unpack, have a bath, cook more easily, watch a better choice of TV and, more importantly, be around Jamie as well as Pat for the evening. We hadn’t planned this – and I know it would be Pat’s choice to be at the caravan – but he instantly agrees and nips out to close up the van for the night.

I’m full of energy and stories from my whirlwind trip to London.  As I peel potatoes for homemade chips (another perk of being at the house rather than the caravan) I can’t wait to tell Pat all about EVERTHING and EVERYONE.  Pat’s a good talker himself, but for now he is receptive.  He mutes the TV and listens avidly.

This man is my best friend and confidant and telling him all about who I met, how they seemed, what I observed, how I felt and what I thought is so satisfying.  It completes the experiences for me – enlivens and fills out and deepens my comprehension of what matters in my life.

Pat ‘gets me’ – he understands me, enjoys me, affirms me. One of the first things he said to me when we met was “I see you” (yes, years before the film Avatar came out!).  He is deeply interested in me and the things I find significant and valuable. We resonate so strongly and share so much in common that talking to Pat is like communing with another part of myself.  More than this, it tunes me into the true source of our connnection – Infinite Love itself.

After dinner, Pat leaves me watching TV soap East Enders (my therapy!) and washes the dishes.  I stretch out on the sofa, feeling the tiredness and tension of my trip aching in my body.  I must have walked 10 miles in London Underground tunnels and escalators!

It’s late now and Pat is feeling suddenly tired when he sits down again. None-the-less, I haven’t quite wound down enough for sleep so he stays up with me companionably.  I stretch out my feet into his lap and he massages them lovingly (something he does most nights). Within minutes my whole body has completely relaxed and I drop into a slumber.  Time for bed!

Our bodies belong together at night.  It is instinctual – like two wolves mated for life. We go to bed at the same time despite our very different sleeping patterns.  Our bedtime ritual ensures I conk out instantly even if Pat is reading – and I’m letting you into an intimate secret here – Pat strokes my bottom tenderly for a while and I’m gone!

Last night I was nearly asleep when I turned to nuzzle him, feel him, relish him a bit longer before seccumbing to sleep. Bliss upon blisss, this prompted Pat to stroke my neck and face, and inadvertently, completed the massage from my feet to my bottom to my head. 

Surrendering into kisses and our breathing into amorous embraces, we were soon making love. I kept my eyes shut, yielding to every delicious nuance of sensation.  For once, every part of me was completely present in the spontaneous dance of love – no running commentary in my head keeping me subtley separate. Just melting, melting, melting into ecstatic union with my beloved man.”

So how do you find your ideal partner?

It took me a while to find the true love relationship I always wanted.  I was 38 and Pat was 50 before we met and we’d both had our ups and downs in relationship before finding each other.  However, we’d both done our ‘relationship homework’ and finally become ready to meet our match.  

So here’s the story of how we readied ourselves for a really good relationship:

http://srimati.com/2010/06/22/meeting-my-match-my-revealing-true-love-story/

Pat and I at our wedding in 2003 – making offerings to the river

Eventually, Pat and I were running Get Ready for Love courses as part of our work together with Thrivecraft Coaching.  This is an article from the Daily Express that shares some of our tips:

http://www.thrivecraft.co.uk/lovecoaching/lovearticles/ready4love/ready4love.html

In this video I’m reminding us of the golden rules that enable us to attract what we really want into our lives - including a great partner:

And finally, an article exploring what is so special about being with someone like Pat, ending with a video from the man himself  commenting on what it’s like to be with me:

http://srimati.com/2010/10/18/rawreal-from-the-wild-field-episode-8-my-wonderful-husband-the-holy-cornishman/

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.  Please do share your own true love stories with us here in the comments box.  It’s a wonderful thing to share…

We all have the capacity to dip in to this pot of gold to find answers, solutions and direction at every step.  But some of you have yet to find out how to visit this inner world – or know what to do once you get there!

Actually, it’s very simple.  You can soon learn how to pause and tune in to your ‘inner wisdom frequency’.  And how to tell it apart from the fretful noise in your head which can lead you astray!

In recent years, I have created a guided audio experience (okay, yes, meditation if you like!) that shortcuts you to your inner wisdom.

I’ve discovered that even those of you who are ‘not the meditating type’ find it easy and enjoyable.  So give it a try!

And many of you seasoned meditators have reported how refreshing and useful it is to be guided straight to wise answers with this unique audio journey.

As a festive season give-away, I am making the MP3 download of my guided audio available to you absolutely free!

As an added bonus, you can also download the recording of my recent webinar on Inner Wisdom hosted by mother-entrepreneur magazine, Tunza Spirit.  www.tunzaspirit.com

In the webinar I describe how just 10 minutes of quiet time a day can prepare you to ‘hear’ your inner wisdom – and how to create this precious you-time in your day so that it becomes second nature.

To whet your inner wisdom appetite, check out this short video where I’m talking about inner wisdom, my guided meditation and forthcoming book.

The gold within you awaits!

Just click the link below for FREE access to the MP3 download of Answers: Finding Wisdom from Within.

Plus bonus access to my recent Tunza Spirit magazine webinar packed with tips and insights on finding and using Inner Widom.

https://srimati.sharefile.com/d/s8fb11b5427a41d48

Remember, this free give-away ends on the 7th January 2012.  Get your downloads now!

Seasons greetings everyone!

8TH JAN UPDATE – THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED.

However, you can still download the guided audio and webinar for only £1 each.

Click here http://www.srimati.com/shop

As the ’old ways’ of greed and exploitation continue to falter and fall, we are digging deeper than ever to find alternatives.  How can we create fair societies, healthy economies and sustainable lifestyles?

Even the government has commissioned a study on how to foster happiness, finally acknowledging how important this personal level of well being is.

I am relieved to say I have heard on a reliable grapevine that the government are genuinely taking heed of the findings.

And thank goodness some attention is being placed where it is due.  After all, when we are happy we are healthier, more productive and cause less trouble!  All governments should take heed!

Here’s the link to newly launched Action for Happiness whose work I follow and admire – www.actionforhappiness.org

Being a true Aquarian, I’ve been ahead of the curve on this theme.  A couple of years ago, I spoke at a conference about our experience of setting up a community run shop in our village.

One of the things I mentioned was that giving and contributing to other people (in this case by volunteering in the community shop) was creating increased happiness and that Gross National Happiness was as important as Gross National Product.

But perhaps it’s true that charity begins even closer - at home i.e. within ourselves.  Are we happy, in balance and being kind to ourselves?

When I spoke to former TV Dragon, Rachel Elnaugh, about this she admitted that she felt she had to get ‘tough’ in her early days of business.  This left her out of balance and in need of reclaiming her feminine side.

Nowadays Rachel is actively engaged in supporting a new era of feminine wisdom in business.  She is in the process of setting up her new project www.imagopeople.tv – a TV channel dedicated to promoting ‘heart-centred thought leaders’.

It is so inspiring to witness the growing strength of this wave of conscious and creative entrepreneurs and mentors.  I had a very enjoyable couple of days supporting Rachel and Imago People TV at the Business Start Up Show in London recently.

Thank you to all you amazing people who I met at the Imago People TV stand.  The bounce in your step and the sparkle in your eyes is the only proof I need that a time of  happiness, life balance and feminine wisdom is nearly here!

I was just scrolling through my Facebook page when an article by Happiness author and coach, Robert Holden, caught my eye.

www.robertholden.org

Robert’s work has always intrigued me and I’ve heard great things about him from colleagues and friends.  Reading his article, I remembered that Robert is a good friend of Nick Williams – another warm and inspiring UK coach who I connected with a couple of years ago.

www.inspired-entrepreneur.com

And so, that led me onto reviewing the video chats Nick and I had recorded together.  Up popped this one – Nick asking me what steps I advise people to take if they are starting out with a new business idea.

It’s called Tips for Inspired Entrepreneurs and I give three or four really good practical steps that are helpful if you are formulating or wanting to develop a new business – however big or small.

One of the points we discuss is how PERSONAL it is running your own business and how business success goes hand in hand with our own development as a person.

After all, our business is our creation and an expression of who we are. So to make the best of our business, we need to understand and manage how our personal strengths and weaknesses play out in our work .

And it works the other way too – running a business is one of the most character building endeavours we may ever find ourselves involved in.  It can be enormously challenging and by the same token, enormously growthful.

So how does it all begin?  How do you formulate and launch a new business idea?  Have a look…

As it happens, starting new business is a topical for me as I’m planning to attend the Business Start Up Show in London next month.

www.bstartup.com

My friend and colleague Rachel Elnaugh (former dragon from BBC TV Dragons’ Den) will be there to speak on ’Metaphysical Marketing’ and ‘The Future is Feminine’ – two topics that are close to both our hearts.

www.RachelElnaugh.com

Rachel will also be there ‘womaning’ her stall in support of her exciting new TV channel – Imago People TV.  If you want to know more about it, have a look at Imago’s new website:-

www.imagopeople.tv

But to give you a taste, here are Rachel and I having a video chat about telepathic marketing.

And you are welcome to track down our other videos including our discussion on the emerging Feminine Wisdom in business on my You Tube channel, Thrivecraft.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Thrivecraft?feature=mhee

So, I hope some of these links are of interest to you and I wish you all the best with your new business idea!

Wayne first became a source of inspiration for me after my husband Pat introduced his work to me eight or nine years ago.  During the 1990s, Wayne taught the Ah meditation - a manifestation practice that he’d learned from one of his Indian Gurus – and Pat and I have been passing it on to friends, colleagues and clients ever since our Thrivecraft days.

Last year, I explored the practice in depth at my Entrepreneurs Find Inner Wisdom event, held here in Totnes, Devon.  This was filmed, but apart from posting the videos on my blog soon afterwards, I have not really made a point of publishing them.  Despite this, I have noticed that often people find the videos searching for information on the Ah meditation, so perhaps it’s about time that I made them more available…

Having plucked Wayne’s book off my bookshelf recently (and realised it was gifted to me by my special guest at Entrepreneurs Find Inner Wisdom – former BBC TV Dragon and business mentor, Rachel Elnaugh) I took this as a sign that it was time to run the Ah meditation video series here on my blog.

So here you are, a series of six short videos on the Ah meditation to dip into.  Do let me know what you think – and what results you get!  Enjoy!

1. Manfestation – You are a magician!

2. Introducing the Ah Meditation – Background and How to

3. Questions on the Ah Meditation – Do You Have to Believe for it to Work?

4. Preparing to do the Ah Meditation – Guided Relaxation / Opening the Chakras

5. Practising the Ah Meditation – Guided Practice

6. Concluding the Ah Meditation – Guided Om Chanting

Like most of us I have a very strong work ethic – if only I work harder, put in more effort, I will EARN my right to have or be this or that.  Except that pure mental exhertion is not the whole story and it is not sustainable. Sooner or later it becomes counter-productive.  By narrowing down our focus to a solitary slog of the intellect we shut out the natural supply of support and energy all around us in other dimensions.  It’s like a plant squeezing closed its roots and refusing the sustenance of the soil.

A year ago, whilst living in the Wild Field, I was contemplating my relationship to money, wealth and prosperity.  Despite months of thinking, planning and action around making a better living, something was compromising the flow of abundance into my life.  I decided to undertake a 40 day spiritual programme – The Abundance Programme by John Randolph-Price – to explore what unconscious attitudes might be holding me back.

Soon into the programme, I uncovered my main ‘vanity’ – an attachment to the idea that I was soley responsible for coming up with all the answers.  My pride meant that I was shutting off receptivity to support from elsewhere and it was only when I finally admitted that I’d run out of ideas that any of that was available to me.

Almost as soon as I saw this, things began to change (and indeed, a year on, are very different)…

Here are a couple of videos I recorded at the time – very much in the spirit of Raw and Real in the Wild Field (a no frills spontaneous video diary).  I knew one day I’d be brave enough to show some of them to you!

This first one is my basic ‘Aha’ moment about where I’d been going wrong….

And a few days later into the Abundance Programme, this is my video report on how I had already started to attract money from surprising places.

Nick is a lovely guy and we found we had very resonant interests and approaches to spirituality, work and inner life.  He is author of several books including his signature work – Discover the Work You Were Born to Do and runs www.inspired-entrepreneur.com – a vibrant community of heart and soul centered entrepreneurs.

You can download Nick’s free guide to discovering the work you were born to do on his website and find out about all the activities and resources on offer.

Here is our video chat where Nick is asking me about inner wisdom and how I use it in my coaching work to shortcut to the real ‘gold’ within us.

As an award winning entrepreneur (for her multi-million first business, Red Letter Days); former Dragon from BBC TV Dragons’ Den; and author of Business Nightmares and forthcoming Business Magic, Rachel is a formidable business mentor.

From the autumn, however, Rachel is winding up her mentoring programme to make way for an exciting new project – see ‘message from Rachel’ on her website www.rachelelnaugh.com   Before she does this, she wanted to capture some business mentoring on film in order to create a DVD programme.

And so, at the atmospheric Magic Circle (and on the night of a full moon and lunar eclipse!) we all gathered to hear Rachel reveal her business magic live on stage.

Fantastic!  So inspiring!

Coming home, I remembered that I was fortunate to have some live mentoring from Rachel myself last year.  And that we filmed it!  And that I’ve not shared it with you yet!

So here it is – Rachel digging in to my inner story to help me define my name, brand and the title of a book I was writing.

I kept my contemplations private at the time – something that is recommended in the book in order to maintain the potency of the programme – but I took some video footage of the realisations I was experiencing for future publication.  Over the last few days, I’ve come across this wonderful material and have edited it into a dozen or so short videos. What a treasure trove! 

The time is now ripe to pass on some of these uplifting and encouraging teachings on attracting and allowing abundance into your life.  I feel fundamentally transformed by the spiritual / inner work I dedicated to this important topic and my fortunes have indeed changed for the better.  I can’t wait to share it with you..

Here’s the first video for starters – me waking up to the TRUE source of all abundance and prosperity.  It might pleasantly surprise you!