This is THE Blog for you if you’re a Woman who desires to live a life of  Everyday Bliss. Though that necessarily requires a bit of work on yourself, Bliss also BEGINS with accepting you for WHO YOU ARE.  Your thighs are thin enough. Trust me, my thighs are bigger than yours and it doesn’t keep me up nights. Bliss is knowing that things are okay as they are, you’re just fine, you are living a Guided life, and what needs to change will take care of itself.

TODAY my friend the renowned "Comfort Queen", Jennifer Louden, has declared an international holiday:

May 15, 2007:  Freedom From Self Improvement Day

Self-improvement is a one-way ticket to misery, Jen says. She endorses a path to happiness and fulfillment that starts with acceptance of who and where you are.

As a certified Bliss Booster, I couldn’t agree more.

As we give gratitude for what is good and wonderful in our lives, we need to start with ourselves - WHOMever you are, WHEREever you are and WHATever is going on in your life….is all just fine. 

“Beating ourselves up because our thighs aren’t thin enough, or because we still haven’t perfected the art of ‘positive thinking’ hasn’t made us happier or the world a better place,” says Jen, whose books include The Woman’s Comfort Book and her recently released The Life Organizer: A Woman’s Guide to a Mindful Year.

“Inner peace through endless self-improvement only serves to make us endlessly dissatisfied and disappointed. The biggest paradox in trying to change ourselves is that nothing happens until we embrace who and how we are right now, imperfections, perceived flaws and all.” she says.

I’ll add that it is only then that you can go forward out of what isn’t what you want and engage the Law of Attraction to get what you want. That Gratitude for What Is, is absolutely essential. And it needs to be legitimate gratitude, not merely mouthed insincerely.

My recommendation, if you’re not to the happy place with where you are yet, is to start with the EFT Personal Peace Procedure. Being at peace with yourself is key to Everyday Bliss.

The day will include a number of resources to encourage self-acceptance, ban self-improvement, and have fun while doing it, including a “Declaration of Independence from Self-Improvement,” audio downloads contributed by a host of best-selling authors and spiritual teachers, and suggested activities for celebrating our beautiful, imperfect selves.

To get a comprehensive run-down on what Jen is offering, check her blog out at:

http://freedomfromselfimprovement.com

And drop the shoulda-coulda-woulda’s, don’ts and must-do’s that litter your life and poison personal peace.

Be Kind to You.

Be gentle and compassionate with your dear, precious self. 

To quote Jen: "True change is a result of self-love, not self-hatred.”  You said it, girlfriend.

A Powerful Pointer To Bliss:

Yoga is not simply the science and art of moving your body into a pretzel shape or sweating at high temperatures. The majority of yoga is concerned with "your inner pretzel", or yoga to develop the mind and soul. Inspiration is a powerful motivator and pointer towards enlightenment. The following is a quote by the great Indian sage Patanjali on the subject of inspiration:

When you are inspired by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project,
all of your thoughts break their bonds
Your mind transcends limitations.
Your consciousness expands in every direction.
And you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.
Dormant forces, faculties and talents come alive
and you discover yourself to be a greater person
by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

So if you’re feeling piddly, puny and small, think about why you’re here on the earth - the real reason. Not the laundry list of things you have to do before the next board meeting or team call…or for that matter, your laundry. Focus on what juices you, even though right now you can’t see how it will help you work through your management issue, product distribution troubles, or get a thousand pounds of rice into your charity’s warehouse, or…

Address any thoughts, beliefs and blockages to living fully expressed and in flow with the universe with ZPoint, EFT or your favorite energy therapy. These thoughts and beliefs bind us and keep us from fully expressing as Source. As you lose this bondage, those dormant forces, faculties and talents Patanjali speaks of will pop out of the woodwork with an energy and swiftness and appropriateness that will astonish and delight you. And you will discover yourself to be a greater person that you ever dreamed you could be.

Enjoy the Bliss!!

Tapas Acupressure Technique, or TAT, is the meridian-based therapy that I’ve personally seen in my practice, that tends to be the most favored by women. It is deceptively gentle, thorough, and features a smaller set of acupoints than EFT. TAT involves holding – not tapping – three acupressure points on the front of the head, while covering the back of the head with your other hand and running through a short series of mental steps.

This procedure releases stress, mental friction, physical symptoms in many cases, and other problems that keep you from an experience of Everyday Bliss. 

Tapas is a Sanskrit word that means “transmutation through fire”. The points held create in Chinese medical terms, “heat” in the body and the process is transformative. Though you won’t necessarily overheat if you use this technique, it is suggested that you keep your practice down to 20 minutes a day, rest briefly afterwards, and as with all energy therapies, drink lots of water.

Tapas Fleming, creator of Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT) has announced many changes to the technique in the last year.  Here is a brief summary along with some truly bad cellphone pictures of me in the poses.  For the book, we’ll of course be having  professional models, but you work with what you’ve got .

Enjoy! 

Shortform TAT

This sequence was recently suggested by Sara Arey, TAT Education coordinator.

Tapas notes that identifying with a resonance is elegant and powerful but is still in the testing phases. An eloquent shortening, but as we’re still playing with it, use the original steps below for greater accuracy.

New Steps of TAT

The TAT Protocol has changed many times over the last two years. Here are both the Dedication and updated Steps of the Protocol:

1. Before starting the TAT Pose and general steps, affirm: "I dedicate this work for the benefit of all of my ancestors, all of my family, all parts of me and all points of view I have ever had, and and anyone else who might gain benefit from it."

We do this because we know that some conditions run through many generations of families ( for example: “the women in my family always have nervous spells/breast cancer/marry badly”). It is also important to deal with all aspects of a problem – most of which we may never know consciously. Taking this small extra step has resulted in deep healing for many people and their families.

The TAT Pose

2. Place your hands in the TAT Pose, front hand (either hand will do) with thumb and ring finger on the UB1 (1st point on the Urinary Bladder Meridian) or "Eyes Bright" points, 1/8" above the inner point of the eye. The middle finger lightly rests on the acupuncture point GV24 (24th point on the Governing Meridian) or Yin Tang - the third eye point in the middle of the forehead.

The other hand rests easily cupping the back of the head, with thumb resting on the occiput, or lower skull line. (see picture)

Practice holding this pose. It may seem awkward at first, but you doubtless remember seeing people in stress unconsciously rubbing their forehead between their eyes at these points, or you may have done so yourself. There’s a reason why – it’s a natural stress reliever!

You will take a slight break from the TAT pose when you finish with each Step, a few seconds will do. And given that the pose itself can build up a bit of heat in the body, spend no more than 20 minutes a day actually holding the pose.

3. Place your mind on the Problem and affirm: "Everything that led up to this (name the problem) happened"

4. "This (problem) happened, it’s over and I’m okay now."

5. Place your mind on the opposite of the problem. OR skip this step now, and do the "Choice Step" below

6. "Thank you for healing all the places in my mind, body and life where this has been stored"

Who are you thanking? And why? Good questions. Having gratitude for one’s life, present circumstances and transformations is not only important, but imperative to your healing and is the first of a Triad of powerful Attractor Factors built into the TAT process.

Address your gratitude to whatever your concept of Higher Power is, or simply just "Thank you" to the universe in general without qualifiers.

The Attitude of Gratitude is a powerful motivator and catalyst for the subconscious mind to move the forces of the universe into rearranging your world for you. Use it!

7. "Thank you for healing all of the origins of this now" (same inclusion of Higher Power goes here too)

8. "I apologise to everyone I may have hurt related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace"

9. "I forgive everyone who hurt me related to this, and everyone I blamed for this, including Higher Power (God, Goddess, Spirit, Universe…insert your wording here) and Myself. I wish us all love, happiness and peace"

It is equally important that you forgive others…and yourself. Like Gratitude and Apology, Forgiveness is the Third powerful Attractor Factor, motivator and catalyst that tells the universe that you have full intention to have your healing/emotional clearing be complete. Unconditional Forgiveness of all people, events, self and one’s concept of the Divine opens a nice clean space for you to receive the healing you are requesting.

10.  "All the parts of me that got some benefit from this are healing now"

All behaviors have some positive intent to SOME part of us, no matter how unwanted they might be to us. The positive intent of an unwanted behavior may not be immediately apparent to you, but one is there or the behavior wouldn’t be. There’s a part - perhaps just a wee tiny one, that is getting some positive benefit from your unwanted behavior or situation. You don’t have to know what it is however, to dissolve it with this Step. Just say the statement, hold the TAT Pose and let it go!

12. "Whatever is left about this is healing now"

13. The Choice Step: "I Choose __(whatever positive outcome you want) ____ "

Make your Chosen positive outcome as fully fleshed as possible. See it, hear it, smell and taste how it is, feel it deeply in your body. The more vivid you can make it, the more fully it will be magnetized toward you.

14. The Integration Step: In the TAT pose : "Thank you for completely integrating this healing now". Switch your hands around: "This healing is completely integrated now". Hands now cup ears: "This healing is complete".

Do this last step with the "Integration Three" series of new TAT maneuvers, explained below.

New Maneuvers

Here’s how to do the "Integration Three Series" on the new last step of TAT: "All of this healing is completely integrated now". To do this series, affirm the above statement and spend 20 seconds or so in each of the following positions:

1. The TAT Pose, beginning with right hand in front (you can start with either hand) "Thank you for completely integrating this healing now"

2. The TAT Pose, switching hands, left in front. "This healing is completely integrated now"

:

3. The Final Integration Pose - fingertips surrounding both ears as though you are cupping the ear flap, touching the temporal track crease in back of the ear flap snugly. Yes, it looks a bit silly but who cares, if it works? And it DOES work - very elegantly - by tapping into the entire bodymind.

In the second picture shows the approximate distribution of the fingertips around the ear, with the fingertips slightly off the body for illustration purposes only. Affirm: "This healing is complete".

This series has the remarkable effect of locking in all changes made during the TAT session, utilizing the TAT pose’s hotline to the visual cortex of the brain, linking that with right-left brain cross-stimulation as you switch hands back and forth, and sealing it with temporal track stimulation. This has the effect of embedding commands deeply in both the logical and creative halves of the mind

This last pose not only invokes the "homunculus of the body" in the ear (the main acupoints of all organs and systems in the body are reproduced in miniature on each ear) but also taps into the extreme suggestibility present when the temporal area is stimulated.

Be sure to end all your TAT sessions with this "Integration Three" sequence for greater effectiveness. And be sure to allow some rest and integration time at the end of each and every TAT session. You’ll come to relish it!

Happy Earth Day! Passing Along A Good Tip

Happy Earth Day April 21st! To celebrate, tune into a no-c.ost webcast on just how bad the environmental situation is in the United States and how we can make it better. This just in from enviornmental watchdog group, Care2:

Can you believe that the United States ranks below Armenia for environmental sustainability?

What do measurements like these really mean - and how can we use them to become empowered, active citizens?

Please join the good folks over at Care2 for a free online broadcast on what global justice and equality means for today’s diverse world.

When: April 21, 6 PM Eastern (3 PM Pacific, 18:00 GMT-5)
Where: Your home computer
How: Login details will be sent via email after you RSVP

Add your name to the RSVP list here:
 
http://go.care2.com/e/R76B/G_yD/KJNd

And whatever you’re doing this Earth Day….love each other, pick up after yourself and have a ton of fun!!

Been moving house and don’t have the brains for anything but heavy-duty slacking and yoga sessions. So have been taking quizzes online and generally being an internetiot. Found a nice one through a colleague today that may possibly be of interest to some of you out there…

Here’s my Imagini "Visual DNA" and profile. Interesting system!Check it out by clicking the link at the bottom to take your own test of "DNA".

They’re not fantastic and were taken with my cellphone, but here for you Ms. A, are the latest pics of Ms. M. The first while hiking in the Santa Cruz Redwoods, taking a break around an abandoned campfire ring and restarting the fire with dry wood from the wood cache. At $2.50 in quarters, it was worth every penny, though it was bloody cold and drippity-droppity after a rain, and drips off the redwood branchess kept putting the fire out! Pity there were no marshmallows though…

The second, below, trying to catch the "Om" on my way out of practice at Willow Glen Yoga in San Jose, CA.

There’s no place like Om.

Ye gods, I need a haircut…I have become A Conehead. Or it could be that last Down Dog of the day…

Ok. Ms. A - tag, you’re it!!!

Here is another LimeTV video from Rodney Yee on how to maintain a sense of Calm and let go of irritating incidents from the past. Enjoy!

Hey folks! I wanted to let you know that Tao Of Ka-Ching Adjunct Faculty member Andy Wibbels is giving his most amazing "Easy Bake Weblogs" class starting next week. This is the course that started me and many other coaches out blogging for our businesses and heck, just for fun. I can’t tell you how many business connections I’ve made since EasyBake, so if you’re looking to get started, this would be the class.

Go ahead and click here:  Easy Bake Weblogs to see what this is all about and why you NEED a blog to max your business potential. Or, keep reading to check out what you get:

EasyBake Is…

• A 4 part course with Andy Wibbels with 4 weekly 1-hour calls.
• Includes webcast.
• All calls are recorded. Audio archives from previous runs of the course are also available.
• Library of tutorials and Flash demos.
• Instant,
  anywhere, lifetime access. Archives are available forever from any
  internet connection on any browser. Free registration for future runs
  of the course.
• 60-day money back guarantee.

Main points covered:

• Creating your first blog (on your TypePad blog)
• Customizing your blog to suit your business
• Techniques for maximizing your business blog

Plus which I can tell you that it’s an awful lot of fun. And if you don’t know Andy yet, he’s a hoot! The thing I like is that you can keep on coming back again and again for life if you want. Andy’s always there to answer a question, and the Easy Bake community is really supportive. Easy Bake Weblogs for all your blogging needs!

Now for fans of my Darling Kitty Anoushka, a wee story.

Earlier this week, the day after my surgery, I was trying to eat a jar of Gerber’s 3rd Stage
Turkey and Vegetables baby food. Let me tell you, there’s nothing quite so horrid as cold, gelatinously smooth baby food, though I can now
vouch that the Green Beans and Rice was quite possibly the worst of
all. It had to be cold because I was icing my mouth - no heated foods.
Also as far as Gerber was concerned, no salt, no spices, no seasonings
of any kind for baby’s wee tum. It’s great food to eat when you’ve
stitches in the roof of your mouth and even soft rice or bread would
scratch, but interesting and fulfilling for the gourmand, it was not.

Crappy as it was, Anoushka wanted it for her very own. She sniffed
and pawed at the jar while I was taking a break from the vast blandness
of it, her eyes went all wide and she knocked the partially eaten jar
off of the table. The kitchen door into the garage had been left open
so kitties could play and before I knew it, she had rolled my turkey
dinner all the way to the opposite side of the garage.

When found, she was busy trying to stuff an errant beetle into the
jar. (extra protein and flavor, I’m sure) The beetle, just as
industriously, attempted to flee every time the furry paw was
extracted. Anoushka was using the beetle as a spoon. The beetle ran out
covered with turkey and veg, which kitty licked off before stuffing the
poor beetle back into the jar. I watched incredulously as this
procedure was repeated several times.

In my drooling and not terribly coherent state I yelled “Anoofka!
Annnooffffka! Get you fuwwy buh’ in hya NOW, yun wady!”. They were the
first words I’d uttered since the operation. I’d been a bit reticent to
open my mouth and speak but found that it didn’t hurt, and felt
actually somewhat pleasant after a day of not opening my mouth but to
rinse. Cat dropped jar and beetle escaped utterly under the garage
door, bedraggled, and smelling of dinner. Anoushka looked at me
reproachfully, turned her back and washed a forepaw defiantly.

Had she not made off with what passed for dinner, I might not have
spoken for another few days, by which time it would have been more
difficult. It was a small favor, but one I appreciated. Small blessings are sometimes the best. Anoushka is the kind of kitty who will take up a social cause at the drop of a kibble, and excels at making people and animals believe in themselves again. Bless her…

Moral of the story: Help will come from friends in out of the way places. Be grateful for ALL blessings, however small!

The fantabulous Ron Ball, mastermind behind Freedom At Your Fingertips,
has posted a wonderful interview he did with me at The EFT Zone on the subject of
EFT….as well as just about everything else in my life and
my all-consuming passion of energy coaching and world enlightenment.

Wow! What a cool experience! Ron made it easy and fun, and through his
wizardry of excellent editing, there’s a lot to listen to and learn from, for experienced EFT’ers as well as those new to this wonderful energy therapy method.

Check it out! All seven short segments can further be downloaded to your iPod or other MP3 player to play on the go. All here:

EFT and Energy Coaching With Maryam Webster

I’ll be posting segments to the blog here in the coming week. If you don’t want to wait, go to Ron’s "EFT Zone" at the link above right now to listen. Enjoy!