This blog post is written in gratitude to the 13 individuals that gathered to expand on Self-Love. Thank you for being open, vulnerable, honest, present, loving, light in this space, open-minded, embracing, graceful, and celebratory.
While typing this blog post, I wanted to break down the various ways in which we discussed self-love and the tools gained. However, as I continued to type, I realized it was nearly impossible to grasp all the magical ways we came together during the Self-Love Integration Workshop. Not only because of what each person shared and what people walk away with after gathering plus some guided meditations, but also the essence of compassion that connected us all once we wrapped the day up.
IN THE HEART OF DTLA
This summer, Arcusology hosted it's very first live event in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles at the Urban Jungle Studio off of Hill Street. I am honored to have facilitated such an impactful event where people got to play, create, meditate, and walk away with tools to help further broaden their relationship with themselves.
WHY IS SELF-LOVE IMPORTANT?
Self-love is a conversation we don't have in our everyday life; this is why it is crucial. Self-love is universal and can fulfill us in unlimited ways. Imagine if we were as mindful of our self-talk just as much as we are when we meet someone we want to impress? The dialogue we continuously have in our mind is by far the most important dialogue of all. How we speak to ourselves, how we treat ourselves, how we encourage or discourage ourselves, how we nurture ourselves, and how we see ourselves now and in the future is a great way to check in. This is not to say we'll live perfect lives and forever be kind to oursleves. It simply means we intentionally check in to see how we're really doing.
A GLIMPSE INTO THE WORKSHOP
During the Self-Love Integration Workshop, we opened up the day with a little icebreaker to get people acquainted.
Everyone was given a piece of paper with three categories written on it. The task was to find one person for every category. For example: find someone
who has a birthday in May, find someone who has a dog, find someone who was born in a foreign country, find someone who drove the same distance as you to get here. The game was designed to get a conversation going and as you can imagine the room was filled with giggles and got loud pretty fast. This was the perfect icebreaker as I'm sure you can tell from this photo.
CREATING YOUR FUTURE SELF
Present Self/ Future Self
We then took a moment to assess where we were in the moment and where we would like to be in exactly one year. The date was precisely 7/28/2018 so a year later would be 7/28/2019 (writing the date down is very important). I would encourage you (the reader) to do this exercise as well. Some people call it "present self/ future self" I like to call it Creating Your Future Self. You see, our "future self" already exist it's all about aligning with the person you intend to be. Would he or she be doing the things you're doing today?
How to create your future self: Get a journal, preferably a new one to start fresh, open it to where you have blank pages on both the right and left side. On the right side you're going to write today's date, and on the left, you're going to write the same date but a year later. On the left (present day) draw yourself in the center as you see yourself. Now, all around it write all of the things you're proud of, would like to improve, wish were different, insecurities, securities and all. Don't hold back, be honest with yourself. You can make this as colorful or as dull as you'd like.
Now, on the right (future self), draw yourself as you'd like to be in a year. How do you see yourself? What kinds of clothes are you wearing? What is your hair like? Get detailed. All around it, write all of the things you would have accomplished by this date. It could be self-care routines, travels, job, what kinds of people do you surround yourself with? Again, get detailed and DO NOT HOLD BACK. If something scares you to write down, meaning "omg! what if someone reads this and thinks I'm crazy for having such dreams?" WRITE IT DOWN!
Side note: Creating your Future Self, "present self/ future self," exercise is something I did at the beginning of 2018. It's a perfect way to assess your goals, live intentionally and keep track of time. One thing I do in addition to drawing out who Angie is in a year, is use the same journal to write out my task, my daily to do's, monthly intentions, dreams I've had, epiphanies and even vent during frustrating moments. Try it out! You'll have fun.
THE VISION
I felt it was important for people to ease themselves into the space to get comfortable, so we broke for a light brunch after a short introduction about myself, my history in the spiritual/quantum field, and how this workshop came about.
You see, all events and creations first come to us as a thought, an idea or a vision. The vision of creating a Self-Love Integration Workshop kept coming to me at the most random times. The stream of thoughts that continuously came in were "do a Self-Love workshop" and was as specific as “on July 28th in Downtown Los Angeles.” Little did I know there was going to be a red blood moon and an eclipse around the same time! Since I don't know much about astrology, I have no idea what that meant except the timing could not have been better.
THE URBAN JUNGLE STUDIO
The Space
The vision of where this event was going to be held was exactly what I found at The Urban Jungle Studio. The abundance of plants, many big windows for natural lighting to come in, and the loft-like vibe was IT. So I finally said, “YES!” and the workshop came together in such an organic way.
It was a full four hours of intentionally drawing attention to what self-love meant to the many unique individuals in the room. We all gathered to enjoy snacks such as a coconut yogurt chia parfait with strawberry preserve topped with fresh berries (which was a hit), all organic salad, hummus, and delicious snacks provided by Seva Foods.
Everyone was encouraged to maximize the beauty of this environment and to even do mini-photoshoots. Celebrating who we are in the flesh is crucial to live out this life experience here on Earth.
DIALOGUE ON SELF-LOVE
The space really created this fun vulnerable way for people to open up and share tools they use to practice Self-Love consciously. We did an exercise where we mirrored each other, took turns in complimenting or saying what it is we noticed, liked or admired about the person in front of us. The task was to graciously accept the compliment then notice when any resistance comes up. Usually, when we have resistance come up regarding a compliment it triggers a memory from our childhood of someone saying something negative about us around a similar topic.
As we wrapped up this part of the workshop we had some time for people to open up and share. This was a surprising yet expected outcome. What was obvious to some wasn't obvious to others. For example, someone saying, “I love how comfortable you look in your own skin” yet the person on the receiving end didn't feel 100% comfortable but that is what they were projecting.
Do this at home: One way to do this exercise is to practice complimenting yourself in the mirror. See what resistance you have when you don't believe something you're saying. Try to relive that memory and talk yourself into understanding time has changed. Allow yourself to feel and process what comes up for you maybe even journal about your experience.
THE BODY
The body is a part of ourselves that we have to give particular attention. Continuously thinking that "we don't belong here" or criticizing our bodies can create a contrast until we learn to appreciate it. You see, the body is a separate vehicle, it is the part of us that allows us to experience life on this Earthly plane. You can read more about this perspective on a blog post I wrote called You Are Not Your Body.
Amberly Lago: Motivational Speaker + Author of "True Grit and Grace"
Amberly was attending the workshop as a guest but the day before I had this profound intuitive thought to ask her if she would share a bit about her journey. She has been such an inspiration in my life on so many levels that I knew the people attending the workshop would gain so much from connecting with her.
Her rawness and openness moved people sitting in the room to tears. Amberly talked about the motorcycle accident that left her in the hospital and the 34 surgeries she endured time after time. She now lives with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) also known as the suicide disease because of the level of pain drawn directly to the nerve again and again. It was such an honor to have had Amberly share parts of her life journey with everyone in the room.
The masterpiece: Amberly shared the moment when she realized her leg was someone else's MASTERPIECE. You'll have to connect with her to get all the details + read her book "True Grit and Grace" to learn more. She described the moment a Doctor, the surgeon who saved her leg, looked at her leg as if it were a masterpiece. That's because to him it was! He saved this leg. Up until that point Amberly had thoughts about giving up on the leg because of all the pain it had caused her. She shared the epiphany that brought her, and I'm sure many in the room, the reminder of gratitude for our physical bodies. The energy in the room is something that could not be written about it's one of those that you have had to experience first hand.
Moving energy through the body: One of the ways we can evolve through a trauma even if we don't want to face it head on is to get active. Subconsciously when we exercise such as going for a walk, swimming, dancing even laughing we are moving energy through our body. The body is not the boss of the spirit nor the mind, the light within you is. So the body can easily say "I don't feel like getting up today," but learn to train the mind and the light within you to work together for the greater good of fulfilling your life's purpose. We have to talk to our bodies the way we would a child. Talk to your body in a kind, loving, gentle, understanding, and compassionate way. The words, "Yes, you can" are so powerful and carry so much positive charge behind it. Learn to use them and use them often. Practice this and see how your relationship with your body develops. Always listen to your body and what it's telling you.
COLLAPSING TIME
I led this beautiful meditation where we got to collapse time. During this meditation, everyone experienced an interaction with there child self. They got to meet themselves in a different timeline the one when they were about five years old. Some people shared remembering the innocence of their five-year-old self, another remembered what it was like to be happy without worry, and so on. It varied from person to person.
In the short time, it felt as though there was support happening in both directions. The child self to the present self and the present self to the child self. It was pleasant to observe. I will share this guided meditation with you soon.
A GLIMPSE INTO THE WORKSHOP
As I mentioned earlier this was only a glimpse into the Self-Love Integration Workshop presented by Arcusology. There were a few other things we covered as well as revisiting the exercise on Creating the Future Self. My goal is to bring parts of this workshop to you in various forms. You can stay in touch by subscribing to the newsletter here or following me on social here. I love sharing behind the scenes, inspirational content, and what's in the works as far as workshops go through both avenues.
I hope you all walk away with some tools in your belt. Again, thank you to the 13 people that gathered to experience this heartfelt workshop.
In Gratitude,
Angie Sanchez
