The Yijing/ I Ching is the Change Classic; its friends often just call it by name, ‘Yi’, ‘Change’.
The word spreads wide ripples of meaning: the cyclic, recurring changes represented in the regular structure and sequence of the hexagrams; the sudden changes captured by the moving lines. Yi represents change and offers ways to negotiate it.
But I think change is also something Yi creates. I was chatting to someone at orchestra last night about what I do, and after the usual initially-bewildering explanations she commented,
“You must change people’s lives.”
Well, no, obviously I don’t. But readings can be the catalyst for people to change their own lives – and I have the joy of seeing and participating in this.
Long relationships with Yi seem to foster subtle but distinct shifts in character – perhaps a ‘mellowing’ effect, as if spending long enough immersed in the Dao river wore down one’s rough edges. Also, people grow tremendously in self-confidence – maybe not confidence in their ability to make things happen, but a certain sureness in their place and trust in their own intuition.
I’ve also learned to expect changes – inner or outer, small scale or large – from individual readings. There are the big, obvious decisions, of course, but also there are the words, images and patterns becoming part of inner conversation, steadily shaping patterns of thought and action. Readings are integrated into life.
Or at least, that’s the ideal. I see it happen very often (and have I mentioned recently that I love my job?), but not every time. And that’s of concern to me… I want to help people experience the whole reading process, from opening to integrating, not just help them understand what the oracle’s saying.
The stumbling block, it seems to me, actually isn’t with understanding (or misunderstanding) what it says. It’s sometimes with finding a more powerful question to ask (that’s for another post), and sometimes just with integrating the answer.
I don’t think I can be the only one to have browsed through past readings and come across something that was a huge revelation at the time… and was still a huge revelation, as I’d forgotten all about it in the years that followed. 😳
To sum up – there is a complete reading process that begins with the inklings of a need to open up and listen, and doesn’t end with that beautiful ‘aha!’ moment. It carries through to real-life integration: moving with change, being changed, making changes. Yuan heng li zhen.
And it’s not at all obvious how to do this.
Yes, Yi will help with the ‘how to’ part; it’s also pretty good with reminders, as long as we remember to ask.
However, you might remember that reading Kevin cast for us at the end of last year:
“How to make personal change real?”
“Communicate with joy.” (Hexagram 58, unchanging)
Communication is vital; it keeps the flow of exchange alive. We need human conversation – and the kind that stimulates and opens, not the kind that blurs, stagnates and sinks back into the same old rut.
Hence the coaching profession: this kind of high-quality, high-energy communication is pretty much their speciality. They’re not only there for help in understanding what to do, or even how to do it, but for actually making the change and getting it done.
Hence my complete and absolute delight that a qualified coach has agreed to give a very generous bonus to participants in Opening Space for Change. Lynne Tolk is kindly including a mini-course on identifying and shifting limiting patterns of belief: Changing Your Thinking in Changing Times. She’s not only providing the course, she’s also offering to help you with each lesson via email. (And since she’s much wiser than I am, I can’t possibly say that she’s completely nuts to do this, can I?)
This is a beautiful complement to an event that begins with the opening phase of the reading – bringing greater depth and space for the reading to resonate – and moves on to response, experiencing the reading as a deep inner shift. Now here’s a way to negotiate those changes mindfully.
You can read about Lynne’s course here – then read from the top of the page to see how it dovetails with the event. (I’d also recommend you have a look at Lynne’s short ‘bio’ page: you’ll see that there’s more to her than just communications skills.)
This is the second major addition to Opening Space for Change since it first became available, so let me recap everything it includes now:
- Live call 1, 1st February: Opening the Space
- Live call 2, 8th February: Attuning and connecting to the response
- Recordings of both calls (no big disaster if you miss one)
- Eliana’s ‘opening music’, recorded in an ancient Well especially for use in divination
- A one-on-one session with either Eliana or myself (only for the first people to sign up)
- Changing Your Thinking in Changing Times course from Lynne.
I sell individual reading sessions for £50 (about $70), while Eliana charges $150/hour for her coaching. Lynne’s course isn’t currently available anywhere else, but when it goes on sale separately after the event it’ll cost $119. And those are ‘just’ the bonuses.
All this is available at present for £52 – just over $70.
But…
As I write this, there are only five certificates remaining for the one-on-one session with Eliana or myself.
And the 20% ‘early bird’ discount ends this Sunday, January 25th.
I’m going for the big red letters here – not my usual style, but I’m painfully aware that I haven’t given you much notice for this, and I don’t want you to miss it. Please read the details now, and if it feels right for you then please reserve your place now, too, while it’s uppermost in your mind.