Unlearning Classroom – Page 61 – A Course in Miracles with Amy Torres

Is Thanksgiving Necessary?

Posted on November 20, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Unlearning Classroom

Yes, thanksgiving is necessary–but not as a national holiday!

Use this practice from A Course in Miracles and experience the Peace, Joy and Love of true thanksgiving every day.

Be in my mind, my Father, when I wake, and shine on me throughout the day today. Let every minute be a time in which I dwell with You. And let me not forget my hourly thanksgiving that You have remained with me, and always will be there to hear my call to You and answer me. As evening comes, let all my thoughts be still of You and of Your Love. And let me sleep sure of my safety, certain of Your care, and happily aware I am Your Son.

This is as every day should be. Today, practice the end of fear. Have faith in Him Who is your Father. Trust all things to Him. Let Him reveal all things to you, and be you undismayed because you are His Son. ~Lesson 232: Be in my mind, Father, through the day.

Practice means just that. Repeat Lesson 232 over and over again. Let everything that bothers you be a reminder to practice Lesson 232. Be relentless. See what happens.

Many years ago, when I thought I had come a long way and shouldn’t be in pain anymore, I reluctantly picked up Louise Hay’s classic book, You Can Heal Your Life, and read a section called, “My Daily Work”. It turned out that even Louise Hay did daily maintenance. One line from her routine stuck with me, and I’ve used it ever since, “This is one of the best days of my life.”

I was intrigued at the idea that every day, no matter what occurred, could be one of the best days of my life. In fact, I took it one step further and revised it to, “This is the best day of my life”. How liberating! How mind-opening! As a Course student, I knew that I cannot judge anything because I truly do not know what anything is for. So no matter what seemingly happened, I could still see it as the best day of my life. What a reversal! What a shift in perception!

This is true thanksgiving. Every day is the best day of your life, because every day is a day you can use to dwell with your Father. Feel free to enjoy the holiday if that suits you. Or not. But whatever you do, remember:

12 Signs of Your Awakening Divinity

Posted on November 10, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy

by Amy Torres

by Geoffrey Hoppe and Tobias

1. Body aches and pains, especially in the neck, shoulder and back. This is the result of intense changes at your DNA level as the “Christ seed” awakens within. This too shall pass.

2. Feeling of deep inner sadness for no apparent reason. You are releasing your past (this lifetime and others) and this causes the feeling of sadness. This is similar to the experience of moving from a house you lived in for many, many years into a new house. As much as you want to move into the new one, there is a sadness of leaving behind the memories, energy and experiences of the old house. This too shall pass.

3. Crying for no apparent reason. Similar to #2 above. It’s good and healthy to let the tears flow. It helps to release the old energy within. This too shall pass.

4. Sudden change in job or career. A very common symptom. As you change, things around you will change as well. Don’t worry about finding the “perfect” job or career right now. This too shall pass. You’re in transition and you may make several job changes before you settle into one that fits your passion.

5. Withdrawal from family relationships. You are connected to your biological family via old karma. When you get off the karmic cycle, the bonds of the old relationships are released. It will appear as though you are drifting away from your family and friends. This too shall pass. After a period of time, you may develop a new relationship with them if it is appropriate. However, the relationship will be based in the new energy without the karmic attachments.

6. Unusual sleep patterns. It’s likely that you’ll awaken many nights between 2:00 and 4:00 AM. There’s a lot of work going on within you, and it often causes you to wake up for a “breather.” Not to worry. If you can’t go back to sleep, get up and do something rather than lie in bed and worry about human things. This too shall pass.

7. Intense dreams. These might include war and battle dreams, chase dreams or monster dreams. You are literally releasing the old energy within, and these energies of the past are often symbolized as wars, running to escape and boogiemen. This too shall pass.

8. Physical disorientation. At times you’ll feel very ungrounded. You’ll be “spatially challenged” with the feeling like you can’t put two feet on the ground, or that you’re walking between two worlds. As your consciousness transitions into the new energy, your body sometimes lags behind. Spend more time in nature to help ground the new energy within. This too shall pass.

9. Increased “self talk.” You’ll find yourself talking to your Self more often. You’ll suddenly realize you’ve been chattering away with yourself for the past 30 minutes. There is a new level of communication taking place within your being, and you’re experiencing the tip of the iceberg with the self talk. The conversations will increase, and they will become more fluid, more coherent and more insightful. You’re not going crazy, you’re just Shaumbra* moving into the new energy.

10. Feelings of loneliness, even when in the company of others. You may feel alone and removed from others. You may feel the desire to “flee” groups and crowds. As Shaumbra, you are walking a sacred and lonely path. As much as the feelings of loneliness may cause you anxiety, it is difficult to relate to others at this time. The feelings of loneliness are also associated with the fact that your Guides have departed. They have been with you on all of your journeys in all of your lifetimes. It was time for them to back away so you could fill your space with your own divinity. This too shall pass. The void within will be filled with the love and energy of your own Christ consciousness.

11. Loss of passion. You may feel totally disimpassioned, with little or no desire to do anything. That’s OK, and it’s just part of the process. Take this time to “do no-thing.” Don’t fight yourself on this, because this too shall pass. It’s similar to rebooting a computer. You need to shut down for a brief period of time in order to load the sophisticated new software, or in this case, the new Christ-seed energy.

12. A deep longing to go Home. This is perhaps the most difficult and challenging of any of the conditions. You may experience a deep and overwhelming desire to leave the planet and return to Home. This is not a “suicidal” feeling. It is not based in anger or frustration. You don’t want to make a big deal of it or cause drama for yourself or others. There is simply a quiet part of you that wants to go Home. The root cause for this is quite simple. You have completed your karmic cycles. You have completed your contract for this lifetime. You are ready to begin a new lifetime while still in this physical body. During this transition process, you have an inner remembrance of what it is like to be on the other side. Are you ready to enlist for another tour of duty here on Earth? Are you ready to take on the challenges of moving into the New Energy? Yes, indeed you could go Home right now. But you’ve come this far, and after many, many lifetimes it would be a shame to leave before the end of the movie. Besides, Spirit needs you here to help others transition into the new energy. They will need a human guide, just like you, who has taken the journey from the old energy into the new. The path you’re walking right now provides the experiences to enable you to become a Teacher of the New Divine Human. As lonely and dark as your journey can be at times, remember that you are never alone.

* Shaumbra explanation: http://www.shaumbra-in-hd.ro/en/shaumbra.html

Thank you Geoffrey Hoppe and Tobias! Your list is informative, comforting, and validating 🙂

Congratulations, President Obama! An Auspicious Beginning …

Posted on November 7, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles

by Amy Torres

Four years ago today,* I was sitting on a high wall in Egypt with about 40 other people, the Temple of Isis at our backs. We were concluding an initiation ceremony which had begun in the sanctuary of the temple. Forty pairs of feet dangled over the goddess river, the Nile, sensual with power, nurturing, abundant and kind, as we sat in silence, awaiting the dawn sun to activate our third eye.

We were on a spiritual sojourn with shamaness, Nicki Scully. We had risen at 4:30 am to arrive here by dawn. The silence was alive with nature sounds and rich with Spirit. We sat in the stillness and breathed, our legs dangling high above the river.

There was an unexpected call in the distance behind us, then brief whispering. The whisper took a shape, and flowed in gentle waves to our ears: “Obama won!”

I had mailed in my ballot before I left, and forgotten all about it. Politics didn’t interest me. It is not my calling to be a social or political activist. My work is helping individuals to awaken one by one. A Course in Miracles says, “Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world.” But, sometimes, that takes the form of voting 🙂

I had voted for Obama. I didn’t see him as a savior, but he was multiracial and broke the American political mold. Yes, he was a truer representative of the American people–and that, I felt, was better for the whole world. I also felt his integrity, his honest desire to do good for the people. A psychic healer I worked with in 1988 had told me that we would have a Black president in about 20 years. And so it was!

A beautiful emotion moved through me, blossoming upwards, and tears of quiet joy seeped out of my eyes. Without looking at each other, all 40 of us reached out and linked hands. We quietly laughed and cried together. Our sacred silence pulsed with happy relief and a great sense of promise as we sat in the timelessness of the island of Philae.

And now, here it is, 2012! This time I submitted an early ballot in the state of Florida.** I wept again this morning, listening to the results of this presidential election and Obama’s speech. For me, Obama deserved to see through what he started in 2008. My heart is glad that he is America’s leader at the start of the Aquarian Age.

*Technically, it was tomorrow, due to the time difference between Egypt and the USA 🙂

**What a surprise that I live in Florida now, and not in New York City. How strange that I moved to a hurricane state only a year before my hometown was struck hard by a hurricane!

How many times have you promised yourself to do the ACIM Workbook? Now’s your chance.

Posted on October 31, 2012

in ACIM with Amy, Class Description, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, What is A Course in Miracles?

by Amy Torres

Workin’ the Workbook, a 365-day ACIM with Amy online class, is my first cyber-workshop.

In 1998, the Workbook of A Course in Miracles changed my life forever. After finishing all 365 lessons in 365 days, I literally felt reborn. An iceberg of sin, guilt and fear fell away and I was more fearless and free than I had ever been! Every year since then my state of mind has been excellent (and the circumstances of my life have consistently improved as well).

This year I feel inspired to support you in your Workbook practice. So many students of the Course tell me that they would like to complete the Workbook but are stuck somewhere along the way. Whether you are a newbie, an ACIM veteran, or somewhere in between, this class can be truly helpful.

Believe or not, doing the workbook practice can be a lot of fun! Yes, there are painful problems and patterns to undo, but there is also the tremendous relief of unburdening yourself, and then the gift of uncovering Who You Really Are.

In Workin’ the Workbook, I do the lessons alongside you, clarifying their meaning and helping you more fully experience the exercises. My background as a psychotherapist and yoga instructor makes me uniquely qualified to understand the process of ego-undoing on psychological, emotional and physical levels.

Let Workin’ the Workbook give you the structure, support, and inspiration to sustain your ACIM practice in 2013. Give yourself the gift of a spiritual awakening.

Click here for details. And … HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Remembering to Laugh

Posted on October 17, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles

by Amy Torres

Laughing is the application of ACIM principles. It’s right there in Chapter 27: “Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh. In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea, and possible of both accomplishment and real effects. Together, we can laugh them both away, and understand that time cannot intrude upon eternity. It is a joke to think that time can come to circumvent eternity, which means there is no time.” T-27.VIII.6:2-5

Dr. Bernie Siegel, the author of Love, Medicine and Miracles, has many stories to tell about the power of laughter. There’s a whole school of yoga devoted to laughter. Comedian John Cleese says, “Laughter is a force for democracy.” Cancer thriver, as Kris Carr calls herself, has laughed in the face of terminal disease. Vice president Joe Biden shines light when he shares the tragic death of his wife and child. How do we laugh when we’re least likely to feel like laughing?

Biden considered suicide but came to find, “There will come a day, I promise you, and your parents, as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye.” He was speaking to the families of military veterans, but it goes for the rest of us as well. It applies to anyone who has contemplated suicide or hurt inside in any way, for any reason.

“This is the great wake-up call, this is the great spiritual practice. What am I going to do now? Am I going to fold?,” asked Carr, author of Crazy, Sexy Cancer, who was given a death sentence but instead chose to keep smiling and become a peace revolutionary through a plant-based diet.

There is a saying, “Time heals all wounds.” A Course in Miracles promises to save us time. It teaches that miracles literally collapse time. The miracle of laughter uses time for healing rather than brooding, simmering, panicking, collapsing, or seeking vengeance.

“The Holy Spirit uses time as He thinks best, and He is never wrong. Psychotherapy under His direction is one of the means He uses to save time …” P-1.5:5-6

Laughter is psychotherapy. Laughter is good medicine. And when we just can’t bring ourselves to laugh, a wry comment, some dry humor, a small smile are better than nothing. They are the equivalent of raising our eyes up from the ground and looking out towards the horizon. There is some scientific evidence which shows that laughter, even when we force it, or fake it, stimulates chemical changes in the brain and body which are powerfully healing.

Of course, ACIM students learn that the only illness is mental illness and when we’re willing to change our minds, we find an inner peace that removes the wrinkles from our brow and puts a smile on our lips. Remembering to laugh is choosing to forgive. Lesson 121 is, “Forgiveness is the key to happiness,” and Lesson 122 follows with, “[Forgiveness] sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day.”

At the root of physical and emotional pain is always psychological pain. Whether our situation is dramatic or mundane, we deserve to exercise our option to choose light and laughter. Remembering to laugh is an undoing process that takes us from our personal problems all the way back to the one problem the Course says is the only real problem: believing the tiny, mad idea that we are separate from God. All we have to do to establish inner peace is choose again, choose to recognize the cosmic joke is on us, and forgive, forgive, forgive!

TIP: Paradoxically, sometimes the only way to laugh is to stop laughing. When I was going through a “dark night of the soul,” it was healing for me to stop laughing and smiling, because I blocked people from helping me with my constant good cheer. They just assumed I was okay. So if it seems to you that your smile is a defense, relax into your pain and allow that energy to move through you. This is easier said than done, because becoming vulnerable when we’re frozen with self-protection takes time. And certain emotions feel dangerous. But if you sincerely want to heal, the Holy Spirit will show you how, and will help you find a healer with whom to do release work. You will laugh again. And each time you do, time will melt into timelessness until you remember Who you already are.

Read previous, related issues of The Unlearning Classroom:

God Is In My Smile
Forgiveness is Fear-Removal
What Is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness is Understanding

How to Take Yourself Less Personally

Posted on October 11, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles

by Amy Torres

It was wonderful seeing those of you who made it to the Five Keys to Forgiveness workshop in New York City. We looked at forgiveness from many different perspectives, deepened our understanding of what forgiveness means, how it works, and used exercises to practice and experience forgiveness.

Today, let’s continue our forgiveness work by looking at how the ego thinks. The ego is a fear-based thought system which relies on us taking everything personally. The ego loves for us to feel insulted, outraged, taken advantage of, walked all over, judgmental and self-righteous. These attitudes are automatic and we have to bring them into awareness in order to become free of them.

One way of looking at forgiveness is that it teaches us detachment. Unlike dissociation or denial, detachment is a healthy way of observing the ego, free of emotional involvement. Detachment helps us take ourself and others less personally. It takes practice to allow detachment, and can only be done with the help of the Holy Spirit, because it is a process of dis-identifying with the ego (personal sense of self) and re-identifying with God.

All the ego boils down to is a thought of separation, a “tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh” ~T-27.VIII.6:2. We get to “choose again” in any given moment whether we want to take this idea of separation seriously, or find it humorous. This is a potent turning point. When we are willing to stop taking ourselves personally, we are willing to undo the projection that there is a self. This is the moment when we choose to laugh! And this willingness to laugh reveals that all tragedy is really tragicomedy (tragedy with a happy ending).

So how do we take ourselves less personally?

One, be willing to ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Two, give your thoughts to the Holy Spirit all day long. Good ones, bad ones, just give everything to Spirit as often as you can remember. This willingness to develop a relationship with God’s Holy Spirit naturally leads to Love. This is the forgiveness practice ACIM offers us to help us recognize that what we thought our brother did to us has not occurred.

And three, choose again–allow a shift in perception to take place in your mind that permits any circumstance to be transformed into something laugh-worthy. Then you will know that you are not the person you thought you were–you really are God’s beautiful child. “How beautiful indeed are the Thoughts of God who live in His Light.” ~T-3.V.10:5

The undoing process will seem to take time and effort while we use this dream as an unlearning classroom, but in the moment of awakening all sense of suffering will simply evaporate. Everybody is defending and attacking all the time, even if they don’t realize it (and especially if they don’t realize it) until that holy instant when we choose to “Be still and know that I am God.” ~T-4.Intro.2:2.

Tip: Sometimes the way to take ourselves less personally is to allow ourselves to take whatever is bothering us very personally. Paradoxically, it can really help to fully embrace and even exaggerate the upset feelings and thoughts we have, in order to bring them into consciousness. This permits a full release. Remember, you have to do this with the Holy Spirit as your guide, because the ego will never help free you from its thought system. Next time, we’ll look more deeply into how to remember to laugh, especially if you’re in pain.

Can you think of an event in your life that seemed terribly important and/or incredibly painful at the time it occurred, that you see differently now? Take a few minutes to appreciate this shift in your perception. If you would like to share your miracle, please email me at [email protected]

If you liked “How to Take Yourself Less Personally,” you may enjoy other essays in my ongoing series, How to Use the Body While You Think It’s You, including, “The Purpose of the Body,” “Body Health Is Not a Measurement of Spiritual Unfolding,” “Death Is Just a Belief,” “Flossing and Feldenkrais” and “Coming Apart at the ‘Seems’.” Be sure to watch Webinar #10: The Purpose of the Body on YouTube 🙂 And check out my Facebook page devoted to body issues: http://facebook.com/acimbodyimage

Spiritual Translation

Posted on August 29, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles

by Amy Torres

~ Amy’s Unlearning Classroom Blog ~

SPIRITUAL TRANSLATION

When I first started studying A Course in Miracles in 1997, I grappled with the new definition of “forgiveness”* that Jesus offers us. One day, the old English usage of “for to give” popped into my head.

For to give fear to Love
For to give guilt to Innocence
For to give pain to Peace
Then I remembered a lyric from the song, A Horse with No Name by America (not Neil Young :)):

In the desert you can remember your name
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
This pop song, which I had mindlessly sung countless times when it was a hit in 1972, was suddenly offering me a spiritual solution to the riddle of forgiveness.

Didn’t Jesus spent forty days in the desert remembering his Name, that is, his true identity? And once his true identity was remembered, so was his Oneness with all his brothers and every living thing, be it animal, vegetable or mineral. In fact, there ain’t no one for to give you no pain once you awaken to the Truth that we are all One.

The lyric from A Horse with No Name was biblical, mystical–an ancient nomadic sojourn of a twentieth century cowboy using an awkward yet mesmerizing grammatical construction, for to give, that spontaneously inspired me to translate everything.

For to give dreams to Reality
For to give illusions to Truth
For to give separation to Unity
One of the nicknames ACIM uses for the Holy Spirit is the Translator. Once the Holy Spirit became my Spiritual Psychotherapist and Guide, I embarked on a whole new level of translation! Up until then, as a psychotherapist, one potent tool in my healing kit was the idea of translating emotional language from its surface meaning down into the underlying messages.

Psychotherapy is an art, because it is customized to each person’s deep psychological needs and beliefs. I already loved the creativity involved in unraveling dysfunctional behavior through a process of emotional translation. How exciting to discover that A Course in Miracles offered a translation process that frees us from the ego entirely!

For to give my Amy-identity to the Holy Spirit, Who,
in turn, gives me Love and reveals my God-Identity
This internal translation process kept working inside my head all day, every day, to this very day. And my inner conviction about the Course’s Message keeps growing.

For to give sleep to Awakening
For to give ignorance to Knowledge
For to give nightmares to Happy Dreams
For to give time to Eternity
For to give space to Infinity
For to give fragmentation to Wholeness
For to give death to Life
Homework
Make your own “for to give” list. Feel free to borrow from mine. Let me know if you come up with some good ones. And if this “technique” illuminates the ACIM forgiveness practice for you in a new way, please share. Email me at [email protected]

* Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. ~ACIM Workbook, 1. What Is Forgiveness?

The Mythology of A Course in Miracles

Posted on July 4, 2012

in Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, What is A Course in Miracles?

by Amy Torres

For those of you who didn’t make it to the “Who Are You Really?” ACIM Conference in Cleveland, and for those of you who did and requested a copy of my slide show, the first part, “The Mythology of A Course in Miracles” is now posted on YouTube–just search for “Amy Torres Mythology” and it should pop up.

Stay tuned for “The Metaphysics of A Course in Miracles”, coming soon 🙂 Enjoy!

Aftermath of Cleveland ACIM Conference 2012

Posted on June 15, 2012

in Thoughts on A Course in Miracles

by Amy Torres

Walter Davis and Rev Tony Senf did a tremendous job with the “Who Are You Really?” conference. Love was overflowing from start to finish. If you were there, you know what I mean. If you were not, I’d like to wash some Love over you right now with a little description. My fellow Course teachers were so sincere and so much fun! What a pleasure to hang out with people who walk the walk. And the students and volunteers were so engaged, warm, friendly, sweet, inquiring, and good-looking! I love good-looking people, wink. Plus, it’s always a treat to have Facebook friends show up in person and morph from cyber-friends into friends! Thank you, everyOne–it was a joy being with You. Oh, and one more thing–several people have asked for a copy of the slide show I presented. I’m working on making a YouTube video so it will be available for all.

The Temple Within

Posted on May 2, 2012

in Spiritual Psychotherapy, Thoughts on A Course in Miracles, Undoing the Ego

by Amy Torres

Darling Beloved,

It has been three months since I have written here, and though I thought of you often, those three months were much needed and well spent. I have been settling into my new home in Florida and working on some health issues that needed to be addressed. I am feeling much better now! I have organized my home and provided myself with a meditation hall/yoga studio. The house is uncluttered, spacious, and filled with the face of Christ.

For a long time I have wanted to maintain better eating habits and in April something called Cleanse America appeared in my email box. Because of how easy and inspiring they made this 10-day raw food cleanse for all of us who participated, and because Scott joined with me for the 10 days, I finally kickstarted a way of eating that has me feeling healthier and freer in my body than ever before. It’s not just the good eating habits. It’s my spiritual practice increasing in me day by day. String together over 20 years of undoing one day at a time and 20 years feels like a holy instant of priceless transformation.

As a result, I would like to share a beautiful vision I keep having with you. The inside of my body keeps appearing to me as levels of an inner temple. It reminds me of Damanhur in Northern Italy. A spiritual center built underground filled with the most beautiful mosaics, meditation alcoves, stained glass and sacred nooks and crannies filled with color, light and sound. Within me, the experience is of one room stacked above another–just as if my chakras were rooms of gorgeous reflective light in jeweled tones of ruby, citrine, emerald, sapphire and diamonds. Rooms revealed through a practice of spring cleaning my internal physiology by using food as medicine.

As the documentary, Forks Over Knives demonstrates, food can be more powerfully healing than medication. Used well, food cleanses the colon, helps the liver and kidneys do their job of detoxification, nourishes us, builds strong bones and muscles, sharpens brain function and removes the sludge and blockages that the ego relies on to keep us in a state of forgetfulness of our God nature.

The vivid clarity with which I’m experiencing my insides being gorgeous rooms filled with kaleidoscopic Light led me to design a new Course in Miracles workshop called, “How to Use the Body While You Think It’s You.” I’ll be presenting this material for the first time at the Who Are You Really? ACIM Conference coming up in June.

Song of Vajra by Nicholas Roerich

The difference between intellectual comprehension and personal experience is the difference between gazing at the beauty of the ocean from the shore and immersing your body in the water. As the Course says, “The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete things.” As we learn to use the body for the Holy Spirit’s purpose we experience a Godly state of Mind–we uncover the Love, Peace and Joy within us: The Temple Within. If you would like to go there with me, I would love to share with you in person at the upcoming ACIM conference. Cleveland never looked so good 😉 It should be a lot of fun!

Namaste~
Amy