Angela Deutschmann Newsletter
May 2011
Hi everyone
As I write this, I am coming to the end of five days of being at home alone while Garrick and the boys have (freezing) fun and ride horses in Lesotho. I presume that for most people with young children and a busy household, time alone seems more blissful than chocolate, shopping sprees or a holiday in Bali. It certainly does to me and I envisioned doing all the things I never do: more walking, more writing, hours of silent reflection, sorting out the photographs – you know, The List. As I reflect honestly on my luxurious solitude, I must confess that while I did do a little more walking and writing than usual, my regular resistances to these and other things remained right here and did not travel out the country as I hoped they would.
The reasons I don’t allow myself to get fully immersed in what is my greatest joy lie squarely within me. It really is possible for me to do what I love inside my own life as it is now though it may take a bit more commitment, risk and ‘selfishness’ than my ego is comfortable with. I remember a line from someone’s reading that went something like this: ‘everything, everything, you require for your one next step you already have’. What stories do you tell yourself about why you’re not moving closer to being and doing what you love? You can alert yourself to these by finishing this sentence: If only………..then I’d be……..
Whatever you are desiring to create (the second part of that
sentence) is available to you in some form right away if you will only
claim it and avoid being disempowered by the first part of that
sentence. For me, this means inter alia arranging my workday around a
long walk and asking my boys to play their own games while I read and
write. What could it be for you?
I am running an Advanced Shadow Workshop on Saturday 28 May
(please note new date) for those who have done the Introductory work
with me and would like to delve more deeply and intimately into their
own, and their culture’s, shadows. A powerful day. There is also a new
cycle of Spiritual Growth Clubs
starting at the end of May if you’d like to devote the next 12 months of
your life to exploring and expanding in a small group. Please contact
Garrick if you’re interested in either of these. Those who come for
coaching or readings in the next few weeks can look forward to a cosy
room and a cup of hot chocolate to accompany them in this chilly
weather.
I’m also delighted to announce a new workshop which I will be running
once or twice a year called
Soul Poetry – from
the magic of words to the centre of silence. This combines two of my
deepest joys: poetry and spiritual growth and I invite you to join me in
exploring how poetry can become a doorway into the truth of yourself and
what may be beyond yourself. The poets of our world have always
expressed revolutionary, rich, dangerous and ecstatic ideas, using the
discipline and music of language to peel back illusion and speak what is
real. Yet much of this delicious knowledge and experience remains
outside of the everyday life of most of us, either because we simply
don’t know how to find it or because we presume it is boring,
inaccessible, irrelevant or hard work.
In the Soul Poetry workshop we will:
Expose you to eight extraordinary, transcendent, life-changing poets
both modern and ancient
Release you from intellectualising or grasping the poems, and instead
simply be vulnerable to them
Uncover what the poems reveal about your own truth
Inspire - and assist - you to see and write the poetry of your own life
Please see below for more details.
If you are more in the mood for self reflection and self-teaching, I
cannot recommend Jane Toerien’s Bird Cards highly enough – we have both
sets in stock - and you are also welcome to subscribe to our monthly
Insights From the Edge teachings:
an audio reading and transcription delivered to you each month with
cutting-edge new teachings and practices. This month’s reading, called
The Philosophy of Embrace, really blew my mind!
I am regularly posting notes, pics and snippets from my readings on my
Angela Deutschmann Facebook Page (not the same as my personal
account). Please visit if you’re interested so we can turn this into a
useful resource and fun community.
There is a Bull’s Eye at the end of this newsletter which I hope
straightens out some notions about personal growth and allows you to
continue the journey with less jargon, more ownership and more fun!
Much love
Angela
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Upcoming Events
Soul Poetry Workshop
Date: Saturday 11 June 2011. Thereafter four more Saturday
mornings to be agreed upon by the group
Time: 9am to 11am
Venue: Angela’s practice, 50 Athlone Avenue, Parkview
Cost: R250 per session of R1100.00 if paid upfront
RSVP: Garrick:
admin@angeladeutschmann.com
Advanced Shadow Work
This is a full-day, intimate workshop for those who have completed the Introductory Shadow Workshop and already have a grasp of the concept and its value. We will explore your family and cultural shadow, confront your judgments and shame and have some fun with your resistances and infatuations! Please book soon as the workshop is restricted to a small number of people
Date: Saturday 28 May 2011
Time: 10am to 5pm
Venue: 50 Athlone Avenue, Parkview
Cost: R700.00 per person payable in advance.
To book: Contact Garrick at 0844608667 or
admin@angeladeutschmann.com
For more information and personal stories on my own shadow work you can read the articles “Vampires and Vultures’ and ‘From Holy to Wholly’ on my blog http://angeladeutschmann.wordpress.com or on my Public Facebook Page
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.
One participant’s experience:
‘My Embody experience is best described when I think of the story of
Beauty and the Beast! How the beast needed to find the love for who he
was before he physically transformed into the gorgeous prince. I can
truly appreciate what Embody puts on the table in terms of concepts and
processes. Having my life structured in such a way where I am required
to be constantly intellectual in all that I do and how I approach left
me disconnected from my body and my basic right to FEEL as God / My Soul
/ Higher Power intended.
Looking back my journey at Embody, I realise how I needed to shave the
layers away to start feeling again. How I needed to cut away the
restraints and allow for all that was great within me to naturally
surface to the light to be experienced and integrate into my
consciousness. No amount of positive thinking, visualisation or any
intellectual approach could have leaped me forward as Embody allowed me
to be. FEELING, being PRESENT in my own skin and AWARE of my body's
voice was all I needed. I had to learn to step into pain, shame and at
some points even hatred! But that is the beauty of life as I realised on
Embody. You feel that pain / shame / fear / hatred and then transmute
and so you make space for greatness and all that is good! Amen!
I am reminded what it feels like to be safe, vulnerable and loved
through my eyes! Reminded how playing big, taking risks and plunging in
enables the sweet bliss of freedom and lightness to find a sweet spot in
my life. Because after all, when we working with the soul and our
bodies, the people that really matter will see my beauty. Thank you to
Angela, Shaun and my Fellow Embody Graduates! I have been gifted with
love and a new level of "being" to operate from. Amazed when one is not
weighed down with the intellectual clutter picked up along the way in
life, how perspective, inspired action, focus and just feeling with
every cell makes one BURN with ALIVENESS and BLISS. I am grateful that I
was able to step into my "beast" and found my "beauty" that I can now go
forward and strengthen’. Brynmore, Management Consultant
You can also read more about this pioneering process, including stories
from graduates, at Embody Workshop
Next Embody:
Date: Friday 18 - Sunday 20 November 2011. 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
Spiritual Growth Clubs
‘Having worked with Angela this past year has been an amazing
experience. I use the word experience as through her processes and
methodology I have been able to move from the intellectualising and the
cognitive awareness that I used to deal with life and actually start to
feel, emote and engage totally differently and live the aspect of
“Experience trumps Awareness”. It has been an amazing journey for me to
get to this place, it is through her brilliant application of Ontology
that has made this possible. Getting to this point has added huge value
to not only my life but has taken my coaching to a whole new level.
Spending time with the group each month and ending off with our own
tailor-made Jump workshop has been invaluable to me on so many levels
and has given me a lucid indication of where my Joy lies. I have had a
profound shift based directly on the workshop and know that choices that
I have made in the days, weeks and month following the workshop have
been done with clarity and certainty that they not only add my Joy but I
am liberated to follow and commit to it.’ Gavin, Ontological Coach
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.
Contact Garrick before 20 May to register for a 2011 group (Johannesburg only) or to learn more.
‘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
Insights From the Edge
Each month I make available a full-length teaching on a topic 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 1 000.00. 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.
Insights From the Edge in 2011
January 2011: ‘The Power of With’ is a daring invitation into living a ‘with’ life instead of a ‘without life’. This reading makes it clear that the only way to do this is to stop, turn around and face whatever you have been running from, what it is you most fear. The illusionary nature of a fear can only be seen and be dissolved when you are intimately close with it. In that moment, you choose a ‘with path’ (instead of flight or fight) and Divinity is experienced profoundly.
February 2011: ‘The Experiencer and The Observer’ explains our two minds: the Experiencer mind and the Observer mind. It teaches the difference between the two and stresses how both are valuable and necessary for full life. There is a list of symptoms to look for if you suspect you give more time to observing than experiencing and four steps to correcting this imbalance. A very useful distinction, especially for the cerebral among us!
March 2011: This Insights From the Edge gives us an invaluable distinction: are you a Giver or are you a Blesser? One comes from a wound, involves trying and creates heaviness. The other comes from joy, has no attachment to outcomes and creates empowerment. Liberating stuff!
April 2011: ‘The Philosophy of Embrace’
suggests an approach to life that is beyond coping and even learning.
This amazing teaching asks us if we are holding ourselves ‘at arm’s
length from our reality’ and shows the four most common defenses we use
to that end. It’s an invitation to embrace what is, as a doorway into
wholeness and divine peace.
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: R650.00 in office hours. R700.00 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: R500.00 in office hours. R550.00 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: R650.00 in office hours. R700.00 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.
It is also available to have a coaching session over
Skype.
Parenting Lightly
I’m delighted to have made available my first ebook: ‘Parenting Lightly – the Five Pillars of Raising Children with Joy’, which can be purchased for R55 by emailing admin@angeladeutschmann.com. This book does not examine parenting techniques but, more importantly, a fundamental parenting philosophy. It invites you to be truly available to your child rather than internally enslaved to an idea of who they are supposed to become or what kind of parent you’re supposed to be. I have also turned this approach into a talk if any of you / your networks would be interested.
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 R300.00 per box set
Bull’s Eye
May 2011
Personal Growth – let’s get some things straight
I’m in my eighth year of being a personal growth teacher, speaker and writer. Not only is this my job, it’s also what I read most, talk incessantly about with my husband and friends and it’s significantly informed the approach I take to raising our children. Personal growth is even what I do for fun, for heaven’s sake, sad as that may understandably seem to some. Along the way – thanks to my channelling, hours spent with clients and personal experience (read: mistakes!) - I’ve begun to distill what the essence of this journey is for me and to distinguish it from the huge industry of self-improvement available to us in bookshops, workshop venues and therapy rooms these days. Here are a few things I want to set straight. I hope they help you interrogate the jargon, own the journey and have more fun.
• Personal growth is a process of emergence, not improvement. It is
not about miraculous manifestation or turning you into what you aren’t
but letting go of the layers of defense you have inevitably put up
between you and reality, including between you and yourself
• Your role in this journey and in this universe is creator – not
puppet, not seeker, not student. You are giving meaning to life, not
finding it
• The goal of personal - or spiritual - growth is wholeness, not
goodness. We go on a journey of self-discovery in order to be more real,
not to try and be perfect (whatever that is)
• As such, being on a spiritual journey should result in being more
vulnerable, honest and able to face painful truths – not more superior,
withdrawn and sure of our rightness. It should allow us to sit fully
awake inside our lives and relationships rather than encourage us to
float above them
• There are as many ways to experience and express our full selves as
there are people. My preferred way to navigate is through joy and being
in close contact with divinity, but there can be equal value in choosing
religion, suffering or nature as your path. Do yourself and others a
favour by not expecting them to grow in exactly the same way as you have
• Personal growth is not about making an impressive or successful life,
much as that is how it often gets sold. There will always be parts of
your life that contrast your preferences and no amount of affirmation or
enlightenment is going to change that because contrast is the currency
of creation. The masterpiece you are creating is you, not your life
• Transcendent experiences, yummy as they are, are not enough for true
change. Without facing yourself and your past squarely, owning and
feeling all of your experience and pain, no amount of meditation, peak
spiritual experience or positive thinking for that matter is going to
truly move you forward in an authentic way
• That said, personal growth is not a linear, structured process of
ticking off certain boxes and then arriving at the finish line. Much as
we westerners like to be goal-oriented about everything, including our
spirituality, the evolution process has its own rhythm, its own grace
and its own timing which must also be noticed and honoured
• The most graceful way to grow (whether at any moment that means it’s
time to forgive or take new action or strengthen your intuition) is to
clearly and regularly demonstrate permission for this - in whichever way
you can with whatever is available to you - and then listen to life’s
response
• There is a time and place for teachers (whether those are therapists,
facilitators, friends or writers) and there is also a time and place for
the conversation to purely be between you and yourself, or your
divinity, with no third parties involved
• Judge workshops, therapies, books and teachers by the effect they
actually have on you not by who or what they happen to be: is this
empowering, energising, loving? Do I feel inspired, real, truthful,
respected here?
• Most importantly, does the teacher / writer / facilitator consider me
an equal and consider that I actually know my own way better than he or
she does?
• Nothing specific is needed, required or obligatory on a personal
growth path, and there is no urgency or rush. Think twice before
trusting teachers who tell you so
• Likewise, there is nothing on earth that you are obliged to do in
order to have lived a full, conscious, joyful, purposeful life. Your
purpose lies in who you become, not the job you do, successes you attain
or good deeds you undertake
• Every athlete knows there is as much value in resting muscles you wish
to strengthen as there is in using them. Personal growth is the same. If
you’re in a cycle of workshops, therapy or self-help literature or
feeling what I call ‘improvement fatigue’, take a break. Focus on
walking or poetry as a tool for joy, or painting your toenails for that
matter. Nothing is spiritual and nothing is unspiritual unless you make
it so (see second bullet!)
• Have fun with your spirituality! Play with it rather than labour at
it. Be light about your faults, your issues, even your purpose. You
cannot create light in the world by being heavy, no matter how noble or
spiritual that may appear
Does personal growth ever end? I don’t know. Many of us have
experienced being at the point where there is no more drama, where we
take absolute responsibility for how we feel and respond and where the
undercurrent of everyday life really is joy. But is that the end of
challenge, risk, stretch? Oh no! It may well be the beginning.
J
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