10/7/2019 1 Comment Goddess Gathering CollabGoddess Gathering The 3rd Goddess Gathering is coming up. An idea where women can come together, share, support and collaborate with each other, the way we used to do in our Communities. Something that has got lost as we went back to work, juggling a hundred balls in the air and finding just enough energy to get through the day with none left for extra carricular activities. Women need other women. Traditionally we would work together bringing up the kids, looking after each other through sickness and old age. We would cook together and before the egos got strong and we felt any need to compete, this worked really well for our emotional, physical and spiritual health. Everything was shared. My mum did so many things that now make sense to me now. Sharing Sheila. She made us share, over and over, there were 6 of us but we were not allowed to have even a biscuit if there were not enough to go around the whole scheme. She would bake and make soup and take it to all the neighbours, that is the way she was raised, thats how she saw it, thats what she drummed into us. We had some strange neighbours, well thats how it looked through a kids eyes, but she treated them all the same, no matter how weird. During the 12 week Community it was obvious we have got out the way of sharing. We have a mindset thats been encouraged to look after ourcellves. Boundaries, space, needs, ours come first before anyone elses, we need to find a better balance for our hearts and the collective. Lynne McTaggarts research clearly states, get over yourcellf and you will heal. Heart Math shows us that we have a stronger field when we GIVE rather than get. There is a balance that must be reached. When we have a strong sense of connection, overview of our collective, social nature then we have to make compromises for the greater good of all. The entitled beings will not like this. We are here to be of service, not to be served, its a very different paradigm. Being brought up to believe you can have and take anything and everything you want and desire is not the message that brings purpose and Community. The Goddess Gathering brings women together, in the stunning setting of Portavadie. Where you can switch off from your environment, meet new women, share ideas, or just take a full blown break and learn powerful ways to feel better. Listen to inspirational stories of women who have been through tough times and turned it round. Get inspired, learn new things, try out classes you have always wondered about. Women who want to share and give back. Kicking off on the Thursday we are doing Qigong, breathwork and letting go. Thursday night we have a witch ceremony, keep connected for more info. Friday we engage the vocal chords for helping us to heal with the Singing heart Sue Kali. Friday night a heart opening ceremony, prepare to change your vibration. Saturday, Sunday we have full workshops, speakers and evening entertainment along with Spa time. We have an open mike night on the Saturday, plus a book swap going on all weekend. Whether you are fully into cellf development or have never tried anything before, this 4 day Retreat is guaranteed to help you feel a greater sense of peace, connection and love. Who would love some of that? Day tickets and full passes available ticket.global-events.org/e/1806/goddessgathering https://www.portavadie.com/
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Can food be seen in the same light as any other addictive substance? If we think about the chemicals released from our brain and the physiological changes to our body which can be created, then probably yes. I have felt intoxicated, numbed, ready to sleep. I have used food to numb me and had the fear of lost control around food. The rush of sugar, followed by the crash of energy levels as the body tries to process and digest the overload. Sugar is one aspect but the feelings of numb can similarly be created with carb overload, or for that matter any kind of overindulgence in food stuffs.
So whilst not designed as a mind altering substance, the ability to self medicate, numb and block out feelings, thoughts and emotions using food is very real. This alongside the feelings of failure for succumbing are all part of the mental and physical self harm. Very similar to any other addiction and part of the lock in process, which keeps you coming back through that virtual cycle of numbing self harm, shame and self loathing. So like any addiction it’s about learning self love and not being heavily self critical when you fall off the wagon. It’s about learning to care for and not judge yourself. Take each day as it comes. Yet unlike other addictions it’s not so easy to follow the path of abstinence and in fact the abstinence element has in its own ability to create chemical and physiological effects. With anorexia and bulimia being closely linked and the whole body image distortion that plays out in your mind. I still struggle with feeling full and over indulgence - hence I can be quite particular about the kind of foods I eat and act a bit weird around food choices at times. But I’ve learned to cope and I’ve been able to eat mostly 3 meals a day for a couple of years now which after 30 years is quite an Achievement. I’ve had some blips (which highlight just how easy it is to fall off the wagon), but I think I’ve learned the damage caused by the self loathing that used to always follow when I’d ‘failed’. I think this is the biggest weapon in my self defense - the knowledge that I might have had a wobble, but I don’t need to fall in to that cycle of self loathing for failing, leading me to fail again, leading to further self loathing. I think like any addiction you have to be kind to yourself in order to allow yourself to have a healthy relationship with whatever the trigger is. I guess at the end of the day it’s all about mental health and well-being. I sometimes miss my ability to numb out the world. I used to be pretty Titanium in my ability to take things on my shoulders, my ability to hide away and block out fears or worries because I would be more focussed on food with the feelings of failure meaning that none of the other stuff really affected me. I think this may have meant I was pretty resilient to whatever life would throw at me. Like a suit if armour through bulimia, ready to take on and deal with the world and all it could throw my way. To the outside world always upbeat, positive, energetic, etc... making the feelings of shame even greater in holding the public face against the backdrop of chaos and inner turmoil. Learning to feel rather than numb has been hard, especially with dark feelings. Support to recognise that we often create feelings through our own thoughts has been hugely helpful. I have a huge propensity to ruminate, over think and stress. I sometimes feel like I’m having some kind of panic attack. The feeling of heat rising in my chest and my quickening heart beat. This can happen for work issues or when I’m stressed about being late for the kids or something that isn’t really the end of the world but can sometimes feel like it is... Mindfulness, meditation, laughter and self love is I think the best medicine. Took me 30 years to find a semblance of peace around food. Getting to a place where three meals a day was ok, where I wasn’t tempted to just lose control at each and every meal, snack, bite... in the past I had days, where I could spend from breakfast till sleep in a cycle of eating myself to a feeling of numbness followed by ridding myself of as much and then repeating the cycle. Exhausting and I’m sure physically tortuous (with acid indigestion the norm) and mentally feeling like a prisoner to bulimia. The new found freedom over the last couple of years has been much welcomed. I think I feel more now than I have for all of my adult life and life feels pretty hard sometimes. But it also feels amazing sometimes. I am learning to remember that I am worthy of love, self love, self care and kindness. I still have much work to do, I know I can bury myself in work or busyness to avoid feeling. I know I need to practice patience with the kids more. I know I have way more issues of lack of self confidence in relationships (I think the ice maiden didn’t really ever allow true emotional connection because she was so disconnected from her own emotions). It’s a bit scary, but it’s all learning and learning is good. And Everyday is magical in whatever way we want to make it to be. xx Amelia 10/3/2018 1 Comment women standing in their powercreating an eventWhere do ideas come from?
Sometimes I wonder. I had the idea to bring women together at Portavadie. So many of us are tired, a bit overworked (not me obviously) and looking for ways to keep ourcellves healthy and happy. To create our independent income, to express, dance, sing, learn new things and meet like minded souls. Last year my friend Sabrina died 6 days before so I was grieving and a bit stressed at everything I had to do. Plus my eyesight is failing and I did not have glasses or a torch to read important things I had to say, but all that aside it was an incredible few days, way more powerful than I could have hoped and appreciated by so many women who found people to talk to and make new friends with. Plus we had such a laugh. There was and is a serious side, but mostly it is inspirational, educational, motivational and just great fun in surely one of Scotlands most stunning Marina Spa venues. This year I was thinking who to invite as I wanted the main speakers to be different along with new innovate workshops and entertainment. Like last year people just came to me. Women from all over the World literally who wanted to take part or knew someone who did. That part is easy, then its a case of encouraging people to commit to the time and money and to join the party. There are so many ways to spend your time and money these days that it is really important to make your thing stand out, be special and to give something to everyone who gives your their precious time to you. This is a time in history and evolution where women are taking back their power. We no longer need men to help us survive. This allows us to have a freedom unprecedented to our sisters all over the World. Women telling their stories to other women, sharing their experiences, collaborating on every level and feeling the enormous benefit of being part of this awesome Community. They are taking control of their health, wealth and happiness. Altruistic entrepreneurs and appearing everywhere and you will meet a lot of them at the Gathering. Its time ladies, no one wants a World without good men, we love our men, but not from a place of neediness, from a place of mutual respect, love and harmony. This is where we are going, and it cannot be done by one single person, the healing is coming from the collective, together we are one. I look so forward to seeing you there. Let this be the spark that gives you the light you may need in your life as it was for countless Goddesses last year. www.goddessgatheringportavadie.com See you there. As someone has had three abdominal surgeries, the last being extremely invasive I’ve wondered for a while if these could be related to why I ended up with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The following article and my own practice realy drums home to me that , yes – its 100% possible!
I happened across this extremely fascinating blog this morning during a very rainy Saturday lie in with a cuppa and my kindle and it totally blew my mind… http://www.doctorschierling.com/blog/fascia-as-a-proprioceptive-organ-and-its-relationship-to-chronic-pain As an exercise and fitness instructor I’m constantly looking for to improve what I teach, how I teach, and what I can bring to class that will help my clients. I’d been following a lady on Facebook for a couple of years called Lydia Campbell. Lydia has created a course called Trigger Point Pilates. Using soft pricke balls (I know stay with me) which you lie on and practice movements, which in turn realease the deep Fascial layers within the body. Thus hydrating the Fascia allowing for better gliding of joint movements, reduced pain, more energy… the list goes on. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it. Well it is this simple. Ok, there’s a bit more anatomy and science stuff to it, but yes indeedy it works. This practice has been my saviour. I was two years to eventually meeting Lydia, and booking on her teacher training course. After just one class I could totally feel that this was a direction I needed to go in. I felt such a release, both physically and mentally it was destiny… I took a class each day for a week. Oh, I forgot mention I was in Ibiza while at a YogaFit retreat – well, why not, haha. I’ve now been teaching regular Trigger Point Pilates classes for seven months. It’s not like a class you’ve experienced before, this class is some special. I have participants who are super fit, train for events and want to recover quicker, release old injury tensions, reduce the chance of new injury and stay active. Some come because they just love the way this class makes them feel. And then there are those who haven’t moved much in years, or who have been inactive due to illness, chronic conditions etc. I can totally say I’ve been flabbergasted by some of the results my clients and participants have had from this class. Alongside teaching regular classes I’ve been actively working with Trigger Point release myself. During my own practice, or studying for my own body I can total relate my CFS to a Chronic Fascial disfunction due to previous surgeries. Why? Because after only a few months practice working on the Fascia I have had such huge success personally. To the point I have no more pain. The muscle cramps and joint pains are gone, and if I do have a small relapse it’s not nearly as often, loads less pain than I used to feel, I can remove it within less than five minutes of Fascia releasing. I also have so much more energy since working on myself Fascialy. I have a few clients with Fibromyalgia or other Chronic conditions who have reported great relief from coming to class or working one-to-one with me. The results speak for themselves! 7/16/2018 0 Comments multicultural, confident childrenTALK AND DISCUSSION ON HOW TO RAISE CONFIDENT MULTICULTURAL CHILDRENIf we look into the science of things, it has been proven that between conception and age three, a child’s brain undergoes an impressive amount of change. It doubles in size in the first year, and by age three it has reached 80% of its adult volume. By age 5, the foundation that shapes a child's future health, happiness and growth has been laid. A child will never learn throghout her life as quickly as she does now. With love, affection, encouragement and mental stimulation, nutritious meals and good health care, any child will most certainly thrive. These pillars form a solid foundation to develop a sense of trust and security, that turns into confidence as they grow. When it comes to our family unity, people often comment on the 'amazing' skills of our son speaking many languages at such a young age, failing to realize that bilingualism, and often multilingualism since birth, is actually the norm in many countries. In Malta for instance, where Erik was born, people are at the bare minimum bilingual while most are trilingual. The difference for us is that our children are not 'local' anywhere. Erik was born in Malta, Nelly in Norway where we have our home base now, we spend the winters in Thailand, a lot of time in Greece plus travelling. By being immersed in many different cultures and never really owning one, my main concern for them is to make sure they grow up emotionally healthy and confident without feeling lost and rootless. I felt we are on the right track when an aunt of mine asked Erik this June in which country does he like it the most. He turned to her looking a bit confused, as if what he was about to say was obvious, and simply answered 'I like it everywhere'. At about 3 1/2 years of age, Erik started asking questions about the different countries and places we've been too. He even started mentioning a bunch of other countries and places that he had never visited, like Spain, insisting at the time he was a Spanish doctor and that he had been there on holidays with his grandparents. Inevitably we started talking about where he is from. And the answer was too complicated for him to grasp it. As a writer and as a mother, I had to come up with a story which would help a young multicultural child make sense of his world. 'Where am I from?' is a story that embraces diversity and points to the concept of our oneness. I am proud to say this will be the first picture book ever to be fully illustrated with street art and we're kicking it off right now via crowdfunding on Kickstarter. I also took things a bit further, and complimented this book story by reaching out to experts and creating the essential guide 'How to Raise Confident Multicultural Children' written with full chapter contributions by Dr. Ute Limacher-Riebold, Dr. Brigitte Vittrup, Vivian Chiona, Psychologist & Counsellor, B.Sc, M.Sc. This one is available to download for FREE, and you can go through it before we meet in November, simply by clicking here www.kickstarter.com/projects/2033117588/where-am-i-from-worlds-1st-street-art-illustrated?ref=489899&token=a8d58368 and share about or book on social media. You will also be able to download two short stories I 've written. During the Goddesses Gathering 2018, we will start the discussion with an account of my experience raising multicultural kids in different countries, our struggles, how we tackled the development of the different languages and what did when our eldest dropped English and also regressed in Greek a few months after we had moved to Norway. We will also discuss how we maintain stability in our family (which is possible, think of the nomad tribes :) ), what do we do about healthcare and how do we tackle education. After that, there is going to be plenty of time for more questions. If there's something you already know you'd like to discuss, you can connect with me on Facebook (Elisavet Arkolaki or Maltamum) or send me an email on [email protected] . Looking forward to meet you all and bring my family for the first time in Scotland. Daddy will be in charge of the kids ;) Love and Light, Liza. Get your free stories here www.kickstarter.com/projects/2033117588/where-am-i-from-worlds-1st-street-art-illustrated?ref=489899&token=a8d58368 5/11/2018 0 Comments Whats the story morning gloryWe are not our storyWe are living in hugely turbulent and changing times. Never has our narrative been more important. Whats happening in the US is a clear indication of that. When I learned the Sedona Method many moons ago, I first fully realised about our stories. One of the main things about Letting go is releasing any old stories that no longer serve you and to rewrite your future, and it turns out rewire your brain. I will be teaching the Sedona Method at this years gathering on the Friday, prepare for bliss. For years I have been big into female rights and working with women in times when our changing roles, often single parenthood, juggling a millions balls can have a massive impact on our health and happiness. One of our problems can be the massive disappointment we feel and betrayal when life just does not turn out the way we thought and hoped it would. We are faced with a huge workload but also an opportunity to prove to ourcellves how incredibly strong we are. How we can somehow claw back like that flower coming through concrete. Huge suffering can crack us open to higher perspectives if we allow it, and I have spent years looking at ways for us to get the balance, peace and stability we all crave. The marriage story is getting seriously challenged. The personal story of who we are as women, parents, daughters and so on, what are our responsibilities and how do we fit into them. The story of women in our culture, what we are supposed to do, look like, feel and thiak. The story of what we should do in work play and relationships. The story of how we see ourcellves in the World and how we allows ourcellves to be treated by men, other women and our families. The story of how children should be brought up including the education story, the discipline story, the what constitutes a good child story. I am observing the story of the women here, and realise how lucky we are in the West, we still have ways to go, but we have financial, educational, emotional and behavioural options, unlike a lot of our sisters here whose lives are still in the hands of men. Their story needs updated. And then there is the Planets story. That is the story that has been turned on its head for me this trip and what has really made me think about what we believe and the impact that has on our health and happiness, how we treat each others and how we treat our PachaMama, Mother Earth. Discussions I have been having here with other travellers, very young ones too, agree. If we had been told that our Planet is a live sentient being, providing us with an opportunity to experience 3d life here, would we treat her differently? Does it even matter if it is true? This is one of the debates we have been having, does it matter if the story is true as long as it empowers us and gives us hope and faith? If it means we behave in a way that supports every sentient being on the Mother Earth? If we had that reverence for the miracle of life, would we treat each other differently? Would we be more mindful of how we live on this Planet, about consumerism, our nutrition, our relationships, our faith? The story that came from newtonian physics which we now clearly know is false, has done us a huge disfavour. Taken the Magic and Mystery away from this incredible experience we could all be having here, instead of living like robots, wondering what the hell it is all about. Believing like Trumpet that healthy beings can live on a Planet that has been poisoned, polluted and raped. If you want to learn about the Kogi tribe in Colombia and their story, you can watch this Documentary below. I had the honour of meeting a man who spent 7 years with this tribe and their story is very different from ours, and they have powers we are only beginning to understand we have. What is the use in being Supernatural if you dont know it. A bit like Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I have great news guys! As someone who teaches people to let go of limiting beliefs, beliefs that no longer serve, to change the story, I think we need to address the stories we mindlessly accepted as true. Religion is a classic case of this, we need to stop taking others words for it, move with the times in this magnificent, energetic Universe. Are we multi dimensional beings in a multi dimensional Universe? At the Gathering this year, the Friday is dedicated to raising our vibration, lifting our spirits, moving our energy to become lighter and freer. The entire weekend will inspire and help you to realise what we can overcome and how we can collaborate and create the Planet we want for ourcellves and future generations. The early bird for 4 days is £99 and for a day it is £69. See the links here www.goddessgatheringportavadie.com/ We are experiencing a massive shift in consciousness. Lets join forces and bring the Love Revolution to Portavadie once again. Lets change the story. 4/5/2018 2 Comments April 05th, 2018tHE RETURN OF THE GODDESSESDue to the phenomenal success of last years Goddess Gathering, we are set to go again this year with double the time to learn, chill, laugh, spa, dance, share and a lot more. 2-5th November we kick off first thing on the Friday morning, with a day devoted to raising our Vibration and eliminating all pain and trauma from the past. Using meditation, breathing, yoga, dance, we will be releasing past hurts, traumas and bringing up the energy from the lower centres and focussing on the fascinating and exciting Pineal gland. When we change the frequency of our brains, put our hearts into coherence, connect to the Unified field, we can literally tune in to different information streams that can lead us to higher realms. The Rise of the Divine Feminine is on. We can change our electro magnetic field and in doing so we can allow more of the good energy to flow. With practise we can learn to change how we feel and raise our vibration at will. To detach from all the pain and suffering and be in a place of trust and surrender. This takes away all resistance to what is. This allows us to save precious, precious energy for the things we can change. This allows us to feel and believe that inside each one of us is a power we did not realise we had, an innate ability for healing, happiness and unconditional love. At 4pm in the afternoon we have the incredible Kelly Turner PhD, author of Radical Remissions, beaming in live to talk to us and answer questions on defying the odds. After Kelly we will have a general discussion on how we can bring the latest information to our brothers and sisters who need it. The progamme is nearly complete, you can check out the line up here www.goddessgatheringportavadie.com/speakers.html Below you can see the video from last years promo. Hope to see you there, early bird tickets available here. 4 amazing days! Only £99 for all events and speakers. NB. Accommodation is separate, see the packages below. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/goddess-gathering-2018-tickets-43079806862
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