Newsletter

The Transformer

Inspiration and News from the Center for Transformational Presence 

February 2012

Feature Article: The Power of the Heart—How Simple Shifts in Awareness Can Transform Your Life and Heal Our World

Manifestation Profile: Mark Vandenijnde—Getting to the Heart of Business

Video of the Month: Sarah Kay: If I Should Have a Daughter

The Power of the Heart— How Simple Shifts in Awareness Can Transform Your Life and Heal Our World

Photo - Jos Rovers

From the creation of the Center for Transformational Presence, it was clear that part of our purpose was to be a bridge between higher awareness and everyday life, relationships, business, and society. I am constantly intuitively seeking simple, practical, and immediately applicable tools that can facilitate significant shifts in awareness for anyone with an open mind. Lately, I have been thinking about the power of the heart for personal transformation and global healing. When we tap into the energy of the heart, we can experience shifts in perception and awareness that open doors to possibilities that we might not have otherwise imagined.

Research from the Institute of HeartMath tells us that the electromagnetic field of the heart is 5,000 times greater than the electromagnetic field of the brain. While many people associate great intellectual intelligence with the brain, it is the heart intelligence that actually invites us into a more expanded field of awareness. If we go to the heart intelligence first instead of going straight to the intellect for answers and insights, we can often make quantum leaps in our understanding and awareness. Tapping into that heart intelligence is as simple as taking a breath. Let’s start with a simple exercise to find out how this works.

Exercise: Experiencing the Wisdom of the Heart

Begin by choosing an issue that is grabbing your attention these days. It might be personal, or it may be a family, organizational, or societal issue. It can be anything.

As you focus on that issue, imagine that you are breathing in through your head, your intellect. Let the breath activate your intellect. What does your intellect tell you about this issue? What insights or understanding do you have about this issue from your head? What do you notice as your relationship to the issue when you approach it through your intellect? Stay with this focus for a few moments to experience how it feels to focus on something only from your intellect and head. Notice also how deep or shallow your breath is when you breathe in through your intellect.

After a few moments, shift your breath to your heart center. Continue to focus on the same issue, but notice what is different when you breathe in through your heart—when your breath activates your heart energy. What insights, awareness, or understanding come to you when you breathe through your heart? Stay with this heart breath and your issue long enough to notice how it is different from breathing in through your intellect. Notice again the depth and quality of your breath when you breathe in through your heart.

Having gathered some information and awareness from your heart, let’s take one more step. Still focusing on your issue, imagine your heart energy expanding to encompass your head and even your whole body, so that all of you, including your intellect, is held in the embrace of your heart. What shifts in your awareness and understanding when heart embraces intellect and you have the gift of both? What new insights, understanding, and awareness are available to you now? Heart and intellect in partnership. How does the quality and depth of your breath shift?

Just for comparison, you might even experiment with another variation. Focus again on breathing in through your intellect, and then imagine intellect expanding to embrace heart. Most people find that when intellect leads the way, there can still be awareness and understanding, but that the greater perspective of the heart is not as strong. By breathing into your heart first and then stretching heart awareness to encompass intellect, you may get a more expanded perspective and understanding of the issue or situation. Don’t just take my word for it. Experiment for yourself and discover the power of the heart’s perspective and insight.

It is easy to become overwhelmed by the complexity of today’s world. When we get overwhelmed, too often our first reaction is to give up or just walk away thinking there is nothing we can do.

Yet there is something that every single one of us can do. We can breathe through the heart. We can think with our hearts and begin to see another possibility. Of course, it takes discipline and focused intention to change our thinking and perceptual habits, but it really is pretty simple. All you have to do is remember and focus. The shift really is as simple as where you focus your breath. I won’t pretend that shifting to heart breath and heart thinking alone will create a world that works, but it is a great place to start.

Poet Wendell Berry wrote, “What we do not love, we will not save.” Thinking through the intellect may help us solve problems and understand the mechanics of things, but it is not likely to put us in touch with our love for something. Breathing and thinking through the heart immediately connects us with an awareness of what is important to us. We begin to touch love within and a love for life itself. By expanding that open-heart connection to encompass and embrace intellect, we can then tap into the organizing ability of intellect to create new structures and systems, philosophical and material, that can become the foundation of a world that works. We give energy to what we love, to what feeds our souls, and to what nurtures and sustains a greater good. It all begins with a simple shift of perspective and breath.

Imagine the shifts that could occur in the mass consciousness during this “heart” month of February if enough of us practiced heart breathing and heart thinking to the point that it became our habit. Imagine what could happen if heart breathing and thinking became the accepted norm in our culture.

I’m making a commitment to this practice for the 29 days of February. Will you join me? Will you commit to focusing at least a few minutes every day on breathing and thinking through your heart? There are many ways that you could do this. Here’s just one example:

• Week 1—Spend a few minutes every day focused on a particular issue through your heart and simply notice what shifts in your awareness.
• Week 2—Every morning before getting out of bed, take a few moments to consider your day from your heart. Then every couple of hours throughout the day, pause to check in with your heart for what it is feeling and thinking. Once again, notice what is shifting in your awareness through the week.
• Week 3—Continue consciously breathing and approaching life from your heart and expand your heart energy to embrace your intellect as in the exercise above. Bring the two together in partnership, and continue to notice what shifts in your awareness through the week.
• Week 4—Practice heart-head partnership throughout your day in all situations, choices, decisions, and actions so that living in greatly expanded heart awareness becomes how you live.

I have posted this exercise on my blog under the title, “Experiencing the Wisdom of the Heart.” I’d love to hear from you about your experiences with heart breathing and thinking, and to hear how your life and world begins to shift as the heart-head partnership becomes your habitual approach to life. Post a comment there or on our Facebook Fan Page. Post it on your own Facebook page! Let’s get the heart energy moving! I look forward to hearing from you.

All blessings,
Alan

Copyright © 2012 Alan Seale

Manifestation Profile: Mark Vandenijnde — Getting to the Heart of Business

by Johnathon Pape

In these days of precarious economies, corporate greed, and conflict over income inequality, “heart” is not a term that we readily associate with business. But as Mark Vandeneijnde explains, that is changing. “There is a great deal of evidence, and a growing awareness among business leaders, that the status quo is no longer sustainable. Old beliefs, such as ‘more is better,’ ‘data is king,’ and ‘the harder you push the more likely you will succeed,’ feel outdated and are preventing businesses from growing into their full potential. In this ever changing environment it is so important for business leaders, at all levels of an organization, to become more comfortable with uncertainty and learn to trust the guidance of their inner knowing. This is a new skill, and therefore can feel very uncomfortable in the beginning, but with practice we start to see, at a much deeper level, why things are happening and the role we can play in turning them into tremendous opportunity.”

Mark was still working for a large multinational corporation at the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2008. He remembers the company management urging everyone to ‘buckle down and weather the storm’ as a way to ‘safely steer the ship back to port.’ By the end of 2009 when business was starting to pick up again, the company quickly went back to its old ways. This came as no surprise to Mark, however it did leave him with a lot of questions: “Was this a lost opportunity? Was the pain not great enough to trigger the change that was needed? What if we had opened up to the storm instead of just hunkering down? What if we had listened to it and partnered with the experience rather than being in a defensive space? Would we have seen the gifts and taken a different course of action? Despite all my questions, one thing was certain: many of the ‘hands on deck’ that were riding out the storm would have been inspired and motivated to respond so much more to that approach.”

After a 10 year career in Market Research, Mark received his Coach certification and felt well equipped to bring his passion for uncovering deep insights to the next level. But rather than applying his skills to help define the next Marketing strategy, he wanted to help businesses discover the heart of their organization and guide them in the process of bringing its greatest potential to life. “I knew this was going to be a long journey with many ups and downs. I also knew that by letting go of my ‘old life’ many new doors and opportunities would open up. I had no idea though how it was going to happen, and that was very exciting! It was at this time that I attended Alan’s Manifestation Wheel workshop, and of course the timing could not have been better!”

Johnathon Pape: Thank you for sharing your manifestation journey with us, Mark. In a relatively short time you’ve completely changed your life. How does that feel?

Mark Vandeneijnde: Great! It feels like I’m living my business from the Heart. It’s such a different way of operating than when I was working for a large corporation. In that world, everything was planned out; you knew where you were and where you’d be in 2-3 years. It’s a very different way of life now. I have to be so much more in the “now” and comfortable with uncertainty. My life purpose and core values have really been an anchor for me throughout this whole process. Those are two things that I can hold onto. All the rest is really about being open to the guidance that I’m getting, and following the energy when it is flowing. This also means I need to be aware when it stops flowing and see it as a sign that something needs to shift inside of me, which is, of course, easier said than done.

JP: What do you think the barriers are to the business world’s heart?

MV: Probably the main barrier is that people aren’t given enough space to know themselves at a deep level. And even if they have an awareness of this personally, rarely are they given the space to bring their uniqueness and passions to life at work. Big companies have very strong cultures and set ways of doing things with the implication that you must conform to be successful. This might work when the objective is to increase productivity, but it’s a killer if you want to harness creativity. Corporate cultures will need to evolve and find ways to harness our unique talents and passion for businesses to really thrive in the 21^st century. A lot of companies are aware of the need for this on a rational level. Lots of money is spent each year on internal HR surveys that constantly reveal employees’ desire for “bringing my best self to work,” “having a manger respect who I am,” and so on. Some short-term action may be taken but it’s not nearly enough to truly create more authentic and inspirational work places.

JP: Tell us more about your own journey as you left the corporate world and how the Manifestation Wheel helped you along the way.

MV: When I first started on this journey 2 years ago I had big dreams and lots of ideas to help businesses lead from a deeper, more heart-centered place. I developed a number of programs, launched a website, and within a couple of months I had my first coaching clients. Something good was happening but somehow the work was not fully aligned with the vision I had set. I was struggling to engage people on the benefits of more heart in business and felt that I lacked credibility/expertise to gain the trust of organizational leaders. By the end of the first year, I had reached a barrier and I felt blocked. My first impulse was to push on and try harder but this was very draining and stressful. Working with the Manifestation Wheel helped me step back and ask the all important questions: “What wants to happen here? What is the opportunity hidden beneath the surface? What needs to shift inside of me”? I was amazed how liberating it was to ask these questions (the stress of having to push on disappeared) and how quickly the answers became clear to me.

The big insight was that to move forward I first had to take a couple of steps back. The opportunity was to forget what I thought I knew and go back into discovery to explore what it truly means to bring more heart into business and how it benefits organizations. This then opened the door to the documentary film project that I have been working on for the past 12 months. I stepped into this journey with many unknowns but also with a deep conviction that this was my work to do and that it would help build credibility and attract the right kind of coaching projects for my business.

Since then I have discovered a natural rhythm for the project. There are times when I have bursts of inspiration and get things done very efficiently. Then there are moments of doubt and confusion where the project seems to slow down or even come to a halt. Working with the Manifestation Wheel has helped me realize that both are critical ingredients in bringing the full potential of a project to life. The more I work in this way, the more I am able to move beyond the “drama” of the challenge or obstacle I am facing. Choosing to look for the gift and invite the opportunity in usually opens the door to a fresh new wave of inspiration. It doesn’t always come right away and often it will present itself in unexpected ways but when I pay attention it will always show me the way forward and lead to a new wave of efficient action.

JP: You also took Alan’s Transformational Presence Coach Training about this time. How did that work complement the process?

MV: It was an amazing synchronicity. I participated in the teleclass series that began in September of 2010. It really came at the right time and deepened my understanding of the manifestation process and how the quality of our presence is so critical to creating the personal breakthroughs along the way.

JP: Tell us more about your film and what you learned as you were making it.

MV: When I first had the idea, exactly a year ago, I felt very strongly about going out and exploring the concept of heart in business through a documentary film. Not surprisingly I mainly got confused looks when sharing this grand idea. It sounded like one of those big dreams that would go away when I came back to reality like so many of them do. But somehow this one was different. I was building on my experience as a researcher and I knew it was the key to start building credibility for my business. Sure enough the energy started to flow. Soon after setting the intention I received an e-mail from a documentary film maker (Lia Jaspers) who I had met some years ago while doing research for my previous employer. We had enjoyed each other’s company and shared e-mail addresses but after a few initial exchanges we lost contact. So when I heard from her again three years later I knew I was on the right track. Together we defined the scope of the project and last summer she and another film maker (Andrea Thiele) joined me on a roadtrip through the US as I interviewed different people on the topic of Heart in Business. As you know, our last stop was Boston where we met you and Alan.

JP: Yes, you came to our home to film Alan, not long after we moved to Boston. It was a very exciting day.

MV: When we came back to Europe, I went through all the footage to find the story, the thread that linked it all together. We’re in the final stages of editing now, but just six months ago I couldn’t have imagined doing the things that I am able to do now. It really became my story through the hands on work, like writing and editing. Originally I went out to learn about heart in business by talking to various thought leaders. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this journey was about so much more. It was the opportunity for me to live out Heart in Business, put it to the test, and see what happens. I can now see that this is where the power of the story lies. This is what will give me the credibility to help others in their Heart journey.

JP: That’s quite an achievement on many levels. Congratulations! When will the film be released and how can our readers see it?

MV: Lia and I are working towards having a 20 minute film ready by the end of March. I would love to have the opportunity to share it then. In the meantime there is already a lot of material available on line. I have summarized the different interviews which can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/user/heartinbusiness

JP: You mentioned your travels in conjunction with the film, and the picture at the beginning of the article is of you on the Oregon Coast during your filmmaking journey. From our conversations, it’s my impression that part of your gift for accessing the heart of business comes from your ability to fluidly move across borders—geographic as well as emotional. You have a very global upbringing, can you tell our readers a little about that?

MV: I never thought about it in that way but you are probably right. My international upbringing has made me more open as a person and definitely more comfortable with change (I attended 9 different schools in 12 years). Part of that was a consequence of moving but other times it was simply a desire for to experience something new. I think my international background has definitely influenced my sense of “one-ness”, but it’s also about who I am and what is important to me. There was a time in my life when I was seeking some kind of traditional roots—like being able to say, “I’m from Canada” or “I’m from Belgium.” But at some point I let go of that concept and understood that I am part of something bigger. I enjoy reaching out across boundaries, learning from others and deeply connecting with people from different backgrounds. I find that uniting in this way brings out our humanity and desire to create a much more loving and interdependent world.

JP: How has working with the Manifestation Wheel changed how you think about making things happen in your life and in the world?

MV: The biggest change has been the way in which I define a project and the role I play in bringing it to life. I used to think of a project as something worth pursuing because it was very important to me. The more effort I put into it, the more likely it would come true. In other words success was dependent on me and on my ability to overcome obstacles and persevere until I got the result I wanted.

Since working with the Manifestation Wheel, and in general being more aware of who I am and how I can best be of service to the world, I have started to think of a project as something bigger that wants to happen through me. My role is to listen to this and create the conditions for it to unfold. When obstacles come up I try not to push through them anymore. Instead, I look for the gift/opportunity that lies within them. I try not to define success too narrowly so I can stay open to the possibility of it evolving into something even greater. I have come to love this way of “making things happen.” It’s full of mystery and synchronicities. It’s such a powerful way to be of service.

JP: Taking a project around the Manifestation Wheel can make the path of manifesting something much clearer, but it can also bring up challenges and doubts. What do you do to work through these obstacles when they arise?

MV: Each time a challenge arises (whether it be a door that closes, feedback that is difficult to accept, or pressure to demonstrate results) I’ve noticed a very clear pattern in terms of how I respond to these obstacles. Initially, I feel like a victim. Whatever is happening feels unfair and the impulse is to ignore it, to “fight back” or to “fix it.” This response is normal and I believe it is healthy to acknowledge the frustration. However, I usually realize that this energy is not very productive and just amplifies the negative emotions. Everything changes once I am able to step back and realize that there is an alternative to victimhood. No matter the situation I am in, I always have the choice to open my heart and respond in a more loving way. In this moment I see tough feedback as a true gift and an opportunity for self reflection. I see a door that closes as a way to keep me from going down the wrong path, and I see the pressure to demonstrate results as an opportunity to be grateful for all the amazing things that have happened so far. This transformation in the way I perceive the challenge will often instantaneously unblock the energy and reveal the amazing opportunities that lie beneath the obstacles I was facing.

JP: Although it may vary from project to project, do you have a particular house in the Manifestation Wheel that is your favorite to work in?

MV: I love the fourth House, Guidance, as this is the moment when we start to see beyond the initial scope of the project and get glimpses of the bigger potential that is trying to emerge. In my case, I started to see that, in addition to gaining credibility and opening doors for coaching projects, my research was also very much a personal journey of discovering for myself what the heart of my business looks like. I realized that this personal journey I was on was perhaps the bigger story that wanted to be told. I wondered if the documentary/film making medium I was using to capture my message would open the door to more such projects. If I was enjoying the story telling/film making process so much perhaps this is what the heart of my future business will be about. Perhaps I was becoming a documentary film maker without originally intending to. I love how I can play with these ideas without having to make any decisions or drop something else. At this point I just have to hold the potential for this to emerge, if indeed this is the guidance I continue to receive.

JP: In the Manifestation Wheel you don’t make an Action Plan until the 6th house. What do you see as the benefit in doing so much preliminary work before you put a plan into action?

MV: I believe it helps set the stage and build commitment/momentum for the project. I find that when the intentions are clearly formulated and the energy we bring to the project is fully aligned, the action that we need to take becomes super clear and gets done with so much more ease. In my case, I remember that when I finally reached out to the different people I was hoping to interview for my research project (including a professional documentary film maker) the positive response and support that I got was almost overwhelming. When we left on our road trip through the U.S. to meet these people I was amazed how perfectly it all came together. The interviews unfolded in such a natural way and throughout the journey it slowly became clear how all the insights were building up into a story for the film.

JP: What is the most important thing you’ve learned about yourself since you’ve been working with the Manifestation Wheel?

MV: The more I work with the Manifestation Wheel and the more evidence I have that this way of creating really works, the easier it is for me to trust the process and live all aspects of my life in this way. I have learned to be more patient and accept that things will unfold when I am ready for them to and not necessarily when I want them to. This keeps me wondering what needs to evolve inside of me, how my perspective of the situation needs to change, and what the next personal breakthrough looks like.

JP: What would you say to someone who is considering working with the Manifestation Wheel—either through reading the book, individual coaching, or taking a workshop?

MV: Learning about this alternative way of making things happen has been such an amazing gift. It has enabled me to bring projects to life in much bigger ways and with so much more ease. I have also realized that because the approach is based on listening to “what wants to happen” rather than what “I want to happen” it really is the only way to be of service to the greater consciousness. So for anyone who is committed to serving a greater purpose and believes they are working in partnership with a greater force, I would highly recommend reading The Manifestation Wheel book and participating in the workshop. The benefits of this approach are truly extraordinary!

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Alan and The Center for Transformational Presence for making this work available. It has benefitted me in so many ways. I am also very moved by the personal help I got from Alan in manifesting the Heart in Business project. He trusted me when I first reached out with my big dreams, provided valuable insight during the interview, hosted us at his new house, and is now helping me build awareness for this work. This means the world to me.

For more information about Mark’s coaching practice and the Heart in Business project, visit www.innervoicecalling.com

Video of the Month:  Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter...

At TED 2011, spoken word poet Sarah Kay gave one of the most dynamic performances we've ever seen. Opening with her poem, "If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B ..." and closing with an amazing poem called "Hiroshima," Sarah Kay shares the story of her metamorphosis from naïve teenager to teaching spoken word poetry around the world through Project V.O.I.C.E. In essence, she challenges us to say yes to life, face the fear, and do what we know we have to do. Alan says, "When watching this video, her breathless and incredibly compelling delivery brought tears to my eyes and a cry of YES! from my soul." We hope you enjoy it.