Angela Deutschmann Newsletter
April 2010
Hi everyone
We’re just back from an extraordinary
Embody – the first one to be done in the freezing cold! It really
taught me to trust the process instead of my own experience or
knowledge, and to allow that the unfoldment of things will never happen
exactly as I think it should – often it is much better. Much of the
reason I could let this Embody go in a new direction is because of a
very powerful teaching on Surrender that I recently channelled.
I always felt pulled between two (apparently contradictory) approaches
to making things happen in life: one the one hand, the idea that we have
to focus, visualise, intend and affirm ourselves silly in order to
create the future we want and, on the other hand, that what happens
doesn’t really matter (it’s our response that matters) and so we should
just ‘let go and let God’.
I loved this simple method of combining these two approaches, especially
in situations that involve other people too:
1. Make your real desires known to yourself, and to the others involved.
If you don’t voice your desires, or intentions, you are not respecting
them and neither can the universe.
2. Hear the desires of any other stakeholders and see these as equally
legitimate to yours (tough!)
3. See what life brings and withholds in the situation i.e. look
carefully to see where life seems to want this situation to go - what
doors open, what doors close
4. Choose to create joy from whatever occurs
This seems to me to be a good balance between making life go where you
say it should, and allowing for the deep intelligence of life to also
have a say. There’s more about Surrender in the April Insights From the
Edge, which you can subscribe to or buy on a once-off basis from our
online store.
I also learnt this month that cognitively ‘working on oneself’ is not
the only way to make shifts (what?! ;). More about this idea in the
Bull’s Eye below – Two Paths and a Paradox.
One new Spiritual Growth Club starts in Jo’burg in in July 2010 for
anyone wanting to fully open up their lives to a small group of people
and take many new leaps together for a period of 12 months. Please
contact Garrick before 30 June if you are interested. You can also
contact him to book for the Shadow Workshops I am running in June or to
do a one-day Inspirational Breathing Workshop with Joost Maijvis on 29
or 30 May. We will certainly be there!
In September 2010 I will be offering my Jump workshop to the public for
the first time. Normally the privilege of Growth Club members only, Jump
is a weekend workshop based on the idea that ‘the opposite of joy is
containment’. At this intimate workshop, run from the magnificent
Boondocks lodge, we will identify what you are allowing to contain you
and give you active, personalised processes then and there to Jump off
it. Breakthroughs inevitable! As there is only one public Jump this year
with a maximum of eight participants, please book soon to secure your
place.
I’ll be in Cape Town from 7 – 12 May and still have some space available
for readings and coaching sessions. I’m bringing back 5 sets of the Jane
Toerien Bird Cards that I and many of my clients and friends use with
such beautiful results. Let us know if you would to reserve one of these
for R250.00 as they are not always easy to find and make wonderful
gifts.
My annual price increase is on 1 July. It will affect readings and
coaching sessions but not workshops. Any sessions paid for before 1 July
will be at old prices.
Much love
Angela
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Insights from the Edge – NEW
Each month Angela makes available a full-length reading on whatever
is most pertinent to humanity at the time. The topics cover a range of
aspects about the human condition from health, money and parenting to
personal and collective evolution. The insights are radical, yet gentle;
profound yet surprisingly practical, and attract interested readers from
all over the world.
Insights from the Edge will inspire you, challenge you and equip you to
live in the middle of the risky, new and wild place that is Joy.
To subscribe to Option 1 for 12 months costs R 1000.00. Once a month you
will receive a link to a brand new reading and transcription.
To subscribe to Option 2 costs R 1 400.00. Once a month you will receive
a link to a brand new reading, transcription PLUS some notes on how to
apply the reading to your life.
You can also purchase the products above on a once-off basis for R200
and R250.00 respectively from our online store. All of the above can be
paid for by credit card from our store.
Click here for a free sample or to sign up.
The April 2010 Insights From the Edge is called ‘The Art
of Surrender’. It explains clearly what surrender is and isn’t, lists
the Four Steps to Surrender as well as its magnificent
effects: stillness, grace and being in the middle of the flow of love.
Upcoming Events
Shadow Work
All of us have internalised the idea, to greater or lesser extents,
that there are qualities, emotions and experiences that are wrong –
envy, cruelty, certain desires, laziness etc. This has resulted in most
of us suppressing or controlling these feelings to such an extent that
we swallow instead of express them and, in so doing, push them into the
shadow. After a while of pushing parts of ourselves away from our
conscious recognition, we begin to be very fragmented resulting (most
commonly) in fatigue, confusion or irrational self-sabotage.
It’s impossible to know your passion, for example, if you have not
really known your anger because anger and passion are two sides of the
same coin. By the same token, if you are repressing your pain you are
undoubtedly also repressing your joy. For those of you who are
courageous enough to begin seeing what parts you have pushed into
shadow, I will be offering an introductory Shadow Workshop where you
will be introduced to the concepts and do some exercises on your own.
After that you can take it further at the Advanced Shadow Workshop where
you will work interactively in a group. You can expect those processes
to be uncomfortable, and you can also expect to leave the workshop
deeply relieved and released.
For personal stories on my own shadow work you can read the articles
“Vampires and Vultures’ and ‘From Holy to Wholly’ on
http://angeladeutschmann.wordpress.com.
Introductory Shadow Workshop
Date: Thursday 10 June 2010
Time: 7pm to 10pm
Venue: My Office (42 Tyrone Avenue, Parkview)
Cost: R250.00
To bring: Journal and Pen
To book: Contact Garrick at +27844608667 or
admin@angeladeutschmann.com
Advanced Shadow Workshop (this is a six hour workshop split into two evenings)
Date: Tuesday 22 AND Wednesday 23 June 2010
Time: 7pm to 10pm
Venue: My Office (42 Tyrone Avenue, Parkview)
Cost: R700.00 in total
To bring: Journal and Pen
To book: Contact Garrick at +27844608667 or
admin@angeladeutschmann.com
The Advanced Shadow Workshop is limited to ten people all of whom must have completed the Introductory workshop.
Spiritual Growth Clubs
An increasing number of people are committing themselves to
conscious, responsible and empowered living. The number and variety of
spiritual workshops and therapies attest to this. Yet, more is required
to manifest awareness in action than just a once-off intervention.
Personal transformation is a dynamic and ongoing process and requires
consistent integration and support, whether that is in the form of
honest feedback, access to new knowledge or motivation. Often we
attempt, or feel we are forced, to pursue our spiritual development in
isolation. Besides the fact that this reinforces a consciousness of
separation, it can also leave us blinkered to our own stumbling blocks
or gifts or next steps.
My popular Spiritual Growth Clubs provide a rare opportunity to walk
your personal path in fellowship with like-minded people who are open to
learning, sharing and growing as much as you are. They also come with
expert facilitation and access to all the new insight with which I work.
The groups require courage and exposure and will reward you with deep
support and stretching.
‘It has been very difficult to put into words how best to describe my experience in a Growth Club. The Growth Club provided me with a safe and respectful space to express my deepest pain and emotions - a place to be real, raw and authentic. Through this year long process I was able to grow, to shift, to gain such huge awareness about myself, learning to trust myself, to respect and honour my intuition and to fully experience the rawest of emotions that I would ordinarily never have had the space to do so. Angela’s exceptionally respectful and honouring approach is hugely appreciated and her gentleness and beauty permeates in everything. I thank her for giving me the cushion to "land safely" through the year and my Jump process and to gain inner strength and depth. I value the privilege of having been given this blessing to learn and grow with her. A very privileged Club to be in. Thank you’ Ilana, owner Magical Moments
Jump - NEW
Since 2008 I have closed off yearly Spiritual Growth Clubs by
offering the group an intense ‘letting go’ weekend at Boondocks Mountain
Lodge and Labyrinth just outside Barberton in Mpumalanga. In September
2010 Jump will available to anyone who is willing to look honestly at
what they allow to contain them (relationships, fear, attachment to a
role, guilt about others and low self esteem amongst others) and break a
pattern. The processes are intimate and completely customized to the
needs of the particular group.
Using the magnificent stone labyrinth, outdoor and indoor experiences,
large and small group work, and a great deal of intuitive guidance,
Garrick and I will create for you a context in which to look at your
fears and Jump off your own personal edge into joy. We love it!
Next Jump:
Date: Friday 24 – Sunday 26 September 2010. Please book soon
Venue: Boondocks Mountain Lodge, between Nelspruit and Barberton
Cost: R 5 800.00 includes full accommodation, delicious meals, 30 hours
of personalised input from two expert facilitators and exclusive use of
this magnificent lodge and labyrinth for a maximum of 8 participants.
25% secures your place, payment plans available.
To book: Contact Garrick at +27844608667 or
admin@angeladeutschmann.com
Embody
You can download a free talk about
Embody from our website, which speaks of the origin and philosophy
of the process, and answers lots of questions.
The Embody workshop is the result of my personal pain about my body. For
years I was so confident, sure and present in my mind and spirituality
and at the same time, so ashamed, disconnected and undeveloped in my
body. I opened up all this pain and transformed it into an exceptionally
powerful and unique workshop that puts you back in touch, in
conversation and in love with your body even if you haven’t been there
for years.
Our bodies, like everything else, are communicators to us. They
communicate our divinity, in an immediate, uncomplicated manner. Our
bodies are as profound a source of wisdom to us as our minds and
spirits. They are faithfully attuned to our highest path, even though we
are ashamed of them, hate them and, more often that not, attempt to
control their expression.
It is not us who are meant to shape our bodies, it is our bodies which
are meant to shape us
If you are brave enough to fully see and own your own body,
compassionate enough to accept the bodies of others and wild enough to
fall unconditionally in love with your body – forever - then I invite
you to Embody.
Two recent graduates’ experiences:
Embody allowed me to release and let go of past anger, shame and blame;
issues which I didn’t even know I was holding onto. My life post-embody
has been a shedding of protective walls and defences...intense, real yet
exciting. Getting in touch with my body had allowed me to let go of the
safety of my mind and intellect; and reconnect with my emotion, passion
and creativity. Deirdre
Not in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated the powerful results
of the Embody workshop. This unique experience has helped me to finally
shift the years of self-loathing and body issues I have had and believe
me I have tried on many occasions to shift them!
In her usual gentle, compassionate yet firm way, Angela encourages one
to delve deep into the self with a series of powerful processes and she
creates an amazing, safe space in which to do this. The best thing about
Embody is that the changes literally happen overnight!!! This is without
a doubt the most phenomenal workshop I have ever done in terms of
personal self-growth. I feel more alive and more free than I have ever
done before and I do not hesitate to recommend it. If you are drawn to
Embody - go for it!!
You will not be sorry. Di
You can also read more about this pioneering process, including stories
from graduates, at Embody Workshop
Next Embody:
Date: Friday 12 - Sunday 14 November 2010. Please book soon to
make sure you get your place
Venue: Boondocks Mountain Lodge, between Nelspruit and Barberton
Cost: R 5 800.00 includes full accommodation, delicious meals, 30 hours
of personalised input from two expert facilitators and exclusive use of
this magnificent lodge and labyrinth
Payment plans available
To book: Contact Garrick at +27844608667 or
admin@angeladeutschmann.com
Personal Readings and Spiritual Coaching Sessions
A personal, or couple’s, reading is a session where I channel insight from your higher self about what is most dominant in your ‘field’ at that time. This can include patterns you are holding, some of your life themes, blockages in your body, the particular cycle you are in at the time or what thought patterns may be holding you back from feeling free. Usually there is an opportunity to ask specific questions if you wish to, but the reading will take on a particular direction or set of themes right from the start. The energy of these conversations is gentle, incredibly loving yet also full of humour and practical suggestions.
Time required: 1 to 1.5 hours
Cost: R600.00 in office hours. R650 after-hours
A spiritual coaching session does not involve direct channelling. It is an opportunity for you to bring specific issues to the session, perhaps those that came up in a previous reading but not necessarily, and to work with my questions and ideas on these. I don’t follow a specific coaching methodology and will work with what comes up in the moment using discussion or physical movement or conscious dreaming or anything else that can move you forward. A warning: I’ve been heard to say ‘I couldn’t give a damn about your success…I’m only interested in your Joy’!
Time required: 50 minutes
Cost: R450.00 R500 after-hours
A baby blessing, which can be done at a baby shower or as a regular reading, is a conversation with an unborn child. They are normally shorter than an hour, though this depends very much on the chattiness of the child. Best time to have one is between 20 and 35 weeks pregnant.
Time required: 1 hour
Cost: R600.00 in office hours. R650 after-hours
Please contact Garrick if you are interested in booking a distance
reading or a one-on-one session in Johannesburg, Cape Town,
Bloemfontein or White River.
As of January 2010 it will be available to have a coaching session over
Skype.
Bird Cards
For those interested in joining my fascination and work with Jane Toerien’s Bird Cards (www.birdcards.net) I am now stocking these myself and you’re welcome to contact Garrick to purchase them at R250.00 per box set (Exclusive Books sells them for over R300.00 when you can get them and they are R931.00 on Kalahari).
Bull’s Eye
April 2010
Two Paths and a Paradox
One of the readings that touched me most this month was done for someone who is a healer and writer as well as the partner of an experienced transformation teacher. For decades this strong and highly aware woman has been nurturing her own growth and the growth of many others. As often happens, her reading jumped right over her circumstantial challenges and straight into the heart of the matter: in this case, the two paths of growth, or self-actualisation.
Most of us reading this are aware of and engaged in the first path: The Path of Self- Work
This path can be full of therapy, self-help books, transformation workshops, life coaches, personal trainers, journaling, storytelling, medication, inner child healing, sharing conversations, dream analysis, card readings, personality tests, support groups, inspirational information and many other self-work tools.
The characteristics of this path are:
• It is cognitive or mind-based (awareness and logic are tools)
• Therefore it is relatively controlled – there is a desired outcome and
a process by which to get there
• It is aspirational (i.e. there is somewhere better you are trying to
get to or something you are trying to reach: awareness, closure,
healing, release etc)
• It utilises information, techniques or teachers outside of you
Most of us can attest to the value of self-work, especially if we compare who we were ten years ago and the higher levels of joy, peace and self-awareness that we enjoy today. There is no doubt that workshops, books, teachers and processes have contributed significantly to my journey. I can hardly imagine who I would have been without them and, of course, it’s the very stuff of my daily work. Yet this reading reminded me that the Path of Self-Work is just one of the ways into peace, wholeness and a deep experience of truth.
The other path is The Path of Grace.
Grace is difficult to describe precisely because its meaning lies
somewhat outside of the logical and linear realm. We don’t know exactly
what grace is, and we certainly can’t list the ten steps to get there,
but we do all know what grace feels like. In biblical terms it is the
‘peace that transcends all understanding’. Grace is the stillness, the
softness, the elegance of being that we sometimes experience in the
midst of menial, everyday life or even in the midst of chaos or broken-ness.
Grace does not require things, or us, to be healed. It transcends the
imperfections we would see in ourselves and the moment and opens up the
world beyond duality and separation. Grace is not the path to
perfection; it is the path beyond perfection.
When we sit still enough to ‘drop’ into the bliss of silence, or get
moved to tears by a blade of grass or a wave of gratitude, when we do
nothing because there’s nothing to be done and know in the depths of our
heart that everything here is perfect and that already we’re complete,
that is grace. The characteristics of this path are:
• It is beyond the mind – logic, structure and knowing are of no value
• There is no defined or even desired outcome and no clear way to get
there
• There are no aspirations because there is already completion, no lack
• It will not utilise anything at all that is outside of you (including
teachers)
This reading made it clear that BOTH these paths have a place on our
journey. Trying to grow through self-work only will become exhausting
and disillusioning and at some stage you will subconsciously have to
sabotage your relationship with any teacher to whom you have been giving
the power to heal you. You’ll run out of steam, get tired of trying to
fix yourself and resent anyone who has been part of that approach.
If this sounds like you, it’s time to balance your self-work with what I
call ‘space for grace’. You can’t go out and ‘do’ anything to ‘get’
grace. You can’t turn it into homework, buy a book or try really hard
because grace requires un-knowing, softness and surrender. But you can
make space for grace by devoting time to silence, or pottering, or
nature, or joyful activities like painting, cooking or gardening as long
as you have no required outcome (not even personal growth or direction).
This path has no teachers, remember, so it will be uniquely yours and
you will have to explore and trust as you go along.
Grace sounds so yummy that it is tempting to try and exist only in a
world where everything is perfect and should be unconditionally accepted
because ‘that’s the way it’s meant to be’. I’ve seen this approach turn
into denial many times and become the reason why people stay with
abusive partners or bosses and refuse to tackle lacklustre relationships
or their own addictions, prejudices and emotional habits.
As always, the trick to mastering human life is to sit in the middle of
the paradox. To hold both approaches as true: there are things I can
learn and un-learn in my journey to uncovering my wholeness AND I am
already complete as I am and neither I nor the world needs fixing. Those
of you who have played The Transformation Game may have noticed these
two paths woven into the structure of the game: to move onto the next
level you need either to gather sufficient awareness and give enough
service, or, you just need some angels…
If you can devote space and time to both those paths, depending on
what the moment allows, you will find yourself balanced and at rest.
Personally, I find that joy is the best navigational tool with which to
do so – if you follow your joy you will naturally move between working
on yourself and sitting in your own perfection simply because neither of
them will feel good after too long of being there.
Thank you to the gorgeous woman who helped me see this.
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