Find yoUrself - MOVE and have FUN

When a flower stem breaks through the soil in order to find sunlight you observe a movement. It is movement of physical nature that is absolutely essential in changing this Being’s form: from a stem into a flower!

Humans can live this exact situation of growth. 

It is a fact that your Body can act like the stem, it can pierce through all that ground that stands between the stress you are feeling and the quiet you need. 
Your Body will bring you soreness from working out, at the same time it will marvel yoU with the feeling of joy. 
Indeed, joy is the adequate answer when yoU realize deep withIN that yoU are absolutely up for the ride. 
YoU just FEEL that yoU can trust your abilities to liVE, 
                                   regardless of all that happened before, 
                                            no matter how lost and lonely yoU were just a moment ago, 
    even when you face the staggering condition of beings all over the world, 
                                         no matter if other people think that you are a dreamer. 

The fact is: yoU found an inner strength and belief. 
Movement and Physical awareness are absolutely essential in the path towards this Inner Consciousness. 

Come over to Life Mentoring Method® Studio- we'll get you really tired and deeply relaxed while having fUn :-)

Photo by Sofi Naik

Life, Health, Emotion and The Body

Life is Health

Health is grounded on Emotion

Nowadays, it is a known scientific fact that physical pain is a process by which emotion is hidden. 

In the sense that, as a result of a traumatic experience, frequently the human biological structure produces physical pain as a way to run from the emotion and numb it. 

I expect that this idea will bring to mind several people close to each of us. People who underwent personal loss of diverse kind and then developed physical pain. There are many cases where pain is chronic, exists on the muscular level and then starts to diversify.  

There are several crucial points here. Firstly: the individual will engage all of its resources in facing the physical aspect of their suffering. In fact, a new approach is required: one that faces emotion head on, with no doubts as to its importance. Moreover, in such an approach, there is the need to question whether emotion is indeed the trigger, the cause for physical suffering.

The second crucial fact is: to tackle the physical pain, to help the body recover, to unblock that emotion that is hidden too deep ... the key is the BODY. 

Once a person in a situation like this learns to 

          breathe deeply, 

                         to relax, 

                                learns new simple movements with their body, 

                                                     and later acquires new physical abilities

                   that emotion will be addressed, with no need for words to dissect or explain. 

The emotion will be, in a way, digested by the person into their Self, into their Life, into their growth. 

This is, as I said, scientifically established. 

It is also the experience of many people that have decided to work according to Life Mentoring Method®  guidelines. 

I am one of them so don't hesitate to ask. Ask whatever is on your mind and heart. 

Drawing on paper, by Sofia Naik 

The Wonder in Zero

Zero is an object.

An awesome construction of human mind.

I know that I'm I bit odd ... I suppose that you feel that too, by now. Still, I must say firstly that

        zero is indeed beautiful.

Just observe that zero is a line, that is circular, closes within itself and therefore we can imagine that it never closes: it just keeps moving within itself.

This is the first analogy that zero has with every person: we look like something, but so often we are not (just) what others see at first. We all require time, patience, experience in order to actually see other people for real.

If zero is a line that stops exactly where it started, then it is a closed object. Also, we may feel that it is an entity that has little imagination ... as it didn't go beyond its starting point!  We may conclude that zero isn't exactly bold!

On the other hand, if zero results of a line that travels around itself ... there is movement there. Obsessive or repetitive movement? Well, if we travel back and forth from home to work everyday, on the same bus, on the same route it does not follow that the path is the same. We cannot say that the journey is the same everyday and nothing is to be gained or learnt. So: zero can be moving back and forth yet creating. Or not ... we don't know and that is part of the charming character of zero.

There are situations in the human life that relate. If you work with Math, like I have for over 30 years, you know that practice is crucial. Practice means that you have to insist, repeat, go over the same process many times. Your actions are repetitive (at times, they are also obsessive) but there is strength in it, there is will power and determination, there is creativity  and art. There is soul and heart although it isn't apparent.

In Yoga, the  Sūrya Namaskāra (Sanskrit for Sun Salutation) is a sequence of twelve asanas, which owes its name for expressing devotion to Surya, the solar deity in the Hindu pantheon. The term asana denoted the art of sitting still. More recently it describes given postures which are useful for restoring and maintaining a practitioner's well-being and improving the body's flexibility and vitality. The Surya Namaskara can be practiced at varying levels of awareness, ranging from that of physical exercise, to a complete sadhana (a practitioner of sadhana is one who skillfully applies mind and intelligence in practice towards a spiritual goal).

In Yoga, as indeed in Life,

           

is essential. Mindfulness means that you are whole in the moment, with your body, with your heart, your spirit.

My point here is that, in order to achieve your best practice of Surya Namaskara, to relate personally with the asanas, with the breathing, the process of release and relaxation you need to practice on a daily basis. Furthermore, I believe that any form of inner, personal growth and change, on any level of the Individual, occurs when there is commitment. Thus, discipline, work, repetition are expressions of determination and belief ... towards a goal.

In this sense, it makes sense to me that, whilst zero is moving around and around itself, and indeed inside its own 

zero might be doing just so: working to find its better being, towards feeling Mindfulness. 

Other analogies exist between zero and the human being. For instance with respect to the position of zero relating to other numbers. Notice the following (which you all know from an early age).

•    Zero on the left of any number amounts to no change in that number significance. I mean 01 expresses the same as 1 or 0001

•    Zero on the right of any number  other than itself (which is a curious fact) makes quite an impact on the significance of the whole. It obviously occurs to you the following examples: 10 is bigger than 1;  120 represents a reality different from that of 12 and ... the more times zero occurs to the right of another number, the bigger it gets! Consider  for instance 100000, which in Math we call  10 to the power 5 and  we represent by

Does this characterization of zero bring a lot to your mind? Don't people change their behavior, posture, action, opinion, features , emotions, decisions ... when placed in relation to other people? It might not be as clear as with zero: it isn't a matter of right and left, strictly. And we can't describe situations of the human condition as clearly as "person to the power another"

The most human characteristics in zero are its tremendous strength and its absolute neutrality. Zero is so close to us, people, that strength and weakness are simultaneous, they exist in the zero always, at all times. It's just that they manifest in different situations. Ring a bell?

Let's us see: as you recall if you add zero to any other number c, the sum will return c. In math we write

and state  that zero is the identity element with respect to the addition, or the addition's

I place no judgement here. Zero can be seen as weak, having no character or opinion due to its property 0+c=c, for all number c. It can even be seen as an entity with no personality or determination. It can be perceived as soft, not involved, absent, ignorant, or political. But why not consider the possibility that zero is just quite? It can be an entity that possesses inner space that allows others to talk, to shout, to cry, to be themselves as raw as they need to be in that moment. Zero's moment for this exercise is the addition. In the human case it might not be as simple to define, characterize the moment in which we have this ability to step out of our own importance and find immense space to be with others. 

Zero is also dominant, completely so. Remember that when multiplying any number c by zero, we get

In Science, in Math, due to this property of zero we call it the absorbing element  in multiplication

Once again, we often act like this in our life towards others. We absorb them, we think of ourselves alone. But dominance can also be crucial: I always think of a situation where you have to act in a fire, for instance. You need to decide for your loved ones, your people, your children, your pet ... you take the call, the responsibility, the weight.

The personality of zero comes across as it acts dominant towards any number regardless of its characteristics, in the situation of multiplication! As indeed it is neutral with respect to all numbers, in case of the addition. Moreover, observe that zero acts precisely the same way, towards itself: it respects the neutrality and dominance when placed with itself in the corresponding situation (sum, multiplication respectively).

This, to me, is the 

Well, I don't know about you, but I've been lost often in life. The feeling was that I was close to nothing. Nothing springs to my mind zero, probably because I'm a mathematician.  Hence I related, in some way, to zero. 

Then I recalled that zero is weak and strong. Neutral yet dominant. So I felt that I could emulate the zero's ability to rise above and overcome.

Also, I realized that I need to accept failure as much as success. I need to accept my shortcomings as much as my strengths, abilities, skills. This amounts to honesty, to truth. It reflects the ability to be whole and definitely grounds the path to recovery and/or to personal growth.

As a final note, I would like to say that this work is an exercise of imagination, art, logic, which applies very simple mathematical objects to Life Mentoring. It is meant to be fun, cause reflection, to be informative. The point is to see hUman issues under a different light, which could be considered odd as I related people's characteristics, feelings, situations with properties of the number Zero!

Please don't refrain from stating your reactions on this work. I really appreciate it.


Artwork produced on 53,  by Sofi Naik 

---

^[1] See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana

^[2] See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Namaskara

^[3] Iyengar (1993: p. 22) in his English translation of and commentary to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali defines: Sādhanā is a discipline undertaken in the pursuit of a goal. Abhyāsa is repeated practice performed with observation and reflection. Kriyā, or action, also implies perfect execution with study and investigation. Therefore, sādhanā, abhyāsa, and kriyā all mean one and the same thing. A sādhaka, or practitioner, is one who skillfully applies...mind and intelligence in practice towards a spiritual goal.In http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhana

Life Mentoring Method from WithIN

I had been officially ill for over eight years.

Pain was permanent, overwhelming.

It was an entity that resided in every atom of my being.

Pain was so diverse, so creative, so intense that it felt hilarious in a Monty Python kind of way. As if I was living inside a really bad quality movie in which an insane, fluorescent green and evil force enjoyed destroying me, each second.

I started to wonder why my biological support, my body, was rejecting me so forcefully.

It was a long process.

Although I was 40, I felt ancient ... not old.

I was dependent on other people to help me get dressed, to comb my hair, to accompany me outside my place, to assist me in ... everything that is absolutely common like holding a fork to eat.

I was under very strong, diverse, intense medication. It enlarged over the years.

Medication did not work, as it did not tackle pain. It did not return Humanity to my being.

My condition together with the medication, the continuous calls to ER, to hospital, to doctors. They made me feel abused and rendered me unsuitable.

Unsuitable to myself.

To my family.

To my profession.

To my own Life.

Unsuitable to others: how were other people supposed to act while facing someone that is decaying rapidly towards ... a strange unknown that is surely unpleasant, sad, gloomy?

I felt outside of my existence.

I had no control over it. No say whatsoever.

I almost got to identify my person with the pain. In fact, there were many instances when I was just that … the condition, the limitations, the indignity. Most of all I was loss, permanent definite loss.

Although I had no actual life, no activity, no fun, no friends, no contact with others, no ability to create I still felt, deep down, that it made no sense.

I still believed that I was an individual. I felt that I could find my way out of this immense, cold storm. I had no clue as to how to get out … though.

I was diagnosed with a whole bunch of stuff, fibromyalgia included.

Pain prevented me from everything.

If somebody pressed slightly my body, I would feel horror and cry with pain. Despite the fact that I’m not given to drama, at all.

So, I found my Life Mentor: Pedro Proff.

When I started working with Pedro Proff under the Life Mentoring Method® guidelines, I couldn't inhale deeply because it caused severe chest and back pain.

I hardly walked, needed the support of a walking stick.

I was taught by my Life Mentor how to get up from the stretcher by placing my arm on it folded at the elbow and then moving slowly and carefully upwards and to the side.  Why? Because I simply could not get up and out of the stretcher alone, at first.

Life Mentoring Method®  brought me back.

To Life.

To being with Dignity.

To building, creating, moving, breathing, feeling.

Feeling.

Being.

Believing.

It is a process that is very hard work. Very hard indeed.

You need to commit as much as your Life Mentor.

You need to trust that, what is being asked of you, is truly crucial.

The Life Mentor is always there to help you.

To work with you so that you will find the person yoU need to be. That individual yoU want to be.  And, in fact, you will become that being through this process, this movement with your Life Mentor.

I had pain when my Mentor Pedro Proff did acupuncture or massage or assisted movement. I felt pain when we talked about all that hurt in the past, in the present, in the future, within and out ...

A whole universe of difficult memories, experiences, thoughts, feelings, actions was addressed. That universe is faced, now.

Yes, it is hard!

The fact is that one day I was lying on the stretcher and I realized that my Mentor Proff had moved my leg upwards, folded it by the knee towards my abdomen.  I felt no pain. That was the precise moment when I felt, I acknowledged, I knew that I was going to live.

I knew then that Life was real for me.

I have learnt through this time working with Life Mentoring Method®, in particular with Pedro Proff, that BODY IS KEY.

Movement, training, posture, self-knowledge about your body are KEY to Life, to Health. So is nourishment, eating adequately, sleeping, breathing, walking, meditating. It is about an inner discipline that translates care for oneself. Respect for our own Body, for Nature.

Life Mentoring Method®  is a choice that represents the intent to educate ourselves to be hUman with a heArt, with Joy.

The Method involves an approach that is WHOLE. In the sense that the Life Mentor and you are working in this path with whole truth, commitment, trust, belief. Also because you are seen as a whole by your Life Mentor. You are not simply a "patient". You are not just someone with a condition. You are a person who has a background, a present, a future. A person who began in a family, in a society and therefore suffered impact from them. You have skills, abilities. You have difficulties and dislikes.

You are not one sided.

Your Life Mentor is also a person. A person who is whole and is dedicated to helping you, with no preconceived ideas or procedures.

In the Method, the Life Mentor is deeply aware that you can bring about all that seems impossible, unlikely, unreasonable ... because you can. You can work in order to exist as the best person in you. It is a matter of joint work which is thrilling, hard, continued and fun.

I am free from medication.

I train physically.

I am the person that was lost ... stronger in fact.

I am myself.

Life Mentoring Method® permits me to run, practice yoga, work, create when just a year ago my reality was

       "I need to have a glass a water but I can't move. I'll wait for someone to help"

       "I need to make this call but I can't hold the phone"

       "I want to draw but I can't sit and hold the pencil still"

       "I feel like going out but it isn't reasonable ... I don't have balance, I might fall".

In Mathematics the infinity is associated with the universe, with distances that separate stars, planets. The infinity is, in some way, unmeasurable and immense.

Well, the infinity is in yoU. It lies in yoUr ability to educate yourself and move forward.

Life Mentoring Method® is a choice by which you decide to educate your body, your emotions, your heart, your behavior. Education that will remain in yoU as grounds for practice of yoUr Life with quality, joy, peace, integrity, fun.

My experience as a mentee of Pedro Proff is this that I’ve told you about. 

But … we’ll talk further about this journey  :-)

Math - Art for Life

Face reality

Look at it with crudeness

Have no preconceived thoughts

Open your chest flat out to doubt and question

From there, and your work, your gut, from your creativity

A path will arise

Your own path

One which results of all that you are

More: if you are wrong it's fine

Be honest and you'll learn something valuable

About the reality you started with

About yoUrself

This is what Math is all about in the Life Mentoring Method®

BlUe

In a glance I saw it there, its wide blue wings 


I followed its flight 


And plunged into 

My own lost Self


There it was: belief that had been gone

Gone, I once felt, for good




Open Ur heArt

Face Life

Those immense, 

                              deep,   

                                          blUe  wings are right there  ... withIN yoU

Peace

Peace is just like the wind

YoU cannot see it

Yet you can feel its existence

It reflects itself in your Being

Peace grounds your Health

It proves itself in your smile

Observe the wind in the movement of the tree leafs ... 

and Visualize Peace withIn