Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Back from the Natural Brilliance Retreat

Well folks as you can see I'm back from my excursion to the US to become an Ultramind ESP instructor and attend the Learning Strategies Natural Brilliance retreat.

The trip was eventful and I have promised Win Wenger that I would write up 3 articles covering some techniques that I've developed. My reason for mentioning this is to remind myself to write them for him.

I don't want to bore you with details of the retreat but let me know if you want me to write something here about it.

Alex

yeah definitely write a little bit about it when you get a chance Alex. I just started the Natural Brilliance course tonight, so I am very interested in your experiences with it. Thanks.

We all missing you
Write these articles when you get a time.

Hi Alex,

Glad your back.
We Americans'--especially here in the South, talk funny, don't we?
I bet you're the only one in your family who sounds American Southern for about two months after your return to Sydney.

I'm letting them call it jet lagged

Considering I was was in both Texas and Minnesota I got a taste of both dialects. It was easy enough to grasp after hearing Paul Say so often... "This is Paul Scheele from Learning Strategies Corporation in Minneapolis. You're listening to..."

Will give a summary of the retreat later right now jet lag summons me to bed

Alex

Alex

Looking forward to your article! Thanks

Alex,

Wow, it is so amazing to see the transformation happeing in your life! I'm so proud of you my friend! I guess my presence at the retreat had some impact on you!

I was hoping to see you at the Qigong retreat in October, this time, it's the Canucks turn to bring the gift.

Oh and since you bought drinks the last time around, if you're there, drinks are on me ... we have to keep it to juice, milk or water ... no alcohol, don't want to be caught meditating under the influence!

So, I'm eagerly awaiting to hear your fantastic story about your Sedona trip and Natural Brilliance retreat experience.

Love and Light,

Michael Saikali

Well it's the wee hours of Saturday morning so I might as well write my report

One thing that is interesting about the thought of attending the Natural Brilliance Retreat is. "I've already done home study course."

I also learned something interesting from Pete. When you attend a lot of seminars or retreats things have a knack of repeating themselves and most people switch off with the I already know this. Pete ask himself How can I use this? It's an interesting idea so I tried it.

I already did the Natural Brilliance course. It was one that didn't seem to do anything for me but I later realised the concept had snuck up on me.

The retreat started with an evening get together and meeting the people who will be particpating.

Paul started the training? the following morning with a visual demonstration. In the afternoon we had our outdoor challenge.

Shawn will be pleased to know his nickname Sneeky has been transferred to my dog. Shaw was responsible for our outdoor adventures.

We had a storm on Monday and our Lava was soaked. The Radisson provided two rooms for our indoor outdoor adventure that afternoon.

We did a lot of integration of what Paul explained to us, using Brain Spa (don't ask me what that is I'm not going into the details). Also Win Wenger had us run a couple of techniques to work on our goals and apply the Natural Brilliance step. I came up with a different way of doing it. We would have loved to test it out but the days were long by the time we said goodnight to each other they were crawling to their beds.

I had the good fortune to run into Win at the airport we were both collecting our bags and decided to share a taxi to the hotel. I mentioned a technique I've developed and he asked me to write an article on it. I also had the opportunity to test out another technique. So by the end of the retreat I had promised Win three articles.

Tuesdays outdoor adventure was a real adventure. I was the mad beaver taking photos for our group running around on a nice warm sunny day in the sun. regularly wiping perspiration from my face and hands. I was the last to do the challenge and when they prepared me I was thinking 'really people I just wanna sit down now'. I'll think twice before I pull the mad beaver stunt again.

Nah it was too inspirattional, watching the emotions through a camera as my team members broke through some personal challenges. We were still talking about it the next day.

We also learned a powerful lesson at the next days ourdoor challenge... Don't trust Shawn.

The close on Thurdsay was not so much a close since for many of us it was another beginning.

In the beginning I mentioned Pete's thought about how to approach stuff you're being told that you think you already know. "How can I use this, right now." At the Natural Brilliance Retreat I had the opportunity to do exactly that. I couple of things I learned is. Just because we know it doesn't mean we are using it or even using it as fully as we can. And 2nd we don't always hear the support that other people are offering us. It's often a silent, 'you can do it. I know you can keep going.' They are often silently said but if you could hear the recording later after you've given it your best shot, you'd know more often than not, family, friends and even strangers are cheering you on like an athlete at the Olympic games. There are more people for you than against you.

Alex

Someone emailed me and asked me about insights I got about the Natural Brilliance model.

Well as we all know it's easy to hear good advise but another to put it to work. Especially if nothing challenges us when we are just sitting around talking. That's where the MotivAiders came in as well as the out door challenges.

Paul had us focus on Releasing on our first day. Our Personal MotivAiders went of at various times that we set. Feng Shui wise they placed the challenge in a spot that did not welcome success. All the more to challenge us. I noticed in one of the challenges I was not sure I could hold the postion for the count when I remembered to release. Funny how releasing even tension in the muscle can give you an extra boost. Most of us had to release on the fact that what we were trying just didn't work and we kept falling over each other. So we some of us laughed others struggled in earnest to solve the challenge.

The next day we worked on Releasing and then noticing. This resulted in changing our approach. We noticed that those who normally were more vocal observed more and took a back seat letting others run the show and those that tended to be more quiet offered more of their insights. Releasing and noticing already changed allowed us to move beyond personal stop signs.

On the third day with our biggest and most personal challenge we were working on doing Release, Notice, Respond of the Natural Brilliance steps. Paul asked us to consider the challenge as a metaphor for the personal life area we were working on. Since I wasn't part of a team Paul coached me. Asked me what area of my life I was working on today, [spiritual Growth] in what way? [I want to be more in the flow]. He said, When you are up there think about how you can be more in the flow and take the next step.

I spent the next 2 and half hours running around taking photos of my group in action. As the group was getting closer to the last person I was getting some fantastic photos of them going through, release, notice, respond and I was going through the process with them. One photo when I saw what I captured in the screen made me think, 'am I mad? Taking photos like this when I'm supposed to go up there? I released, noticed the desire to run away and came back into the flow. I still had pictures to take. The photo in question got a laugh during the slide show on the last day... in fact so did the photo that Paul took of me when I had my turn on the challenge. I had put the cameras down to be wired up for sound by Paul. He said which one should I use. I recommended the one with the telephoto lens.

As I mentioned in the last post I was already worn out from taking photos so getting ready was my first opportunity to release, notice, respond (go with the flow as best I can.) Since I am terrified of heights I promptly screwed my eyes shut and they offered blindfolds to the people who had done that or something similar before and wanted a bit more of a challenge. Paul got a photo of that. Afterwards some of the team members said they NOTICED how much more Paul was running around while I was up there. Because I was too busy looking skyward I never took a photo of Paul lying back on the ground coaching everyone as they were making their assent.

Using Release, Notice and Respond (going into the flow) I reached my personal goal. I had didn't go far beyond that because I was also physically exhausted. I carried the tension of the exercise with me to bed that night.

The following morning during the meditation Paul started introducing witness. Then I connected why I've always had this unnerving physical reaction whenever I looked down from a high vantage point. It always felt as if I fell. When I returned home to Sydney I was moved to tears because for the first time in all the landings of my travels I was able to watch the landing without being nauseated by the physical reaction.

We all had personal experiences. Many of us wanted to be here more rather than fixing things, to enjoy the moment to the fullest. Others learned it was Okay to ask for help. The last days challenge was interesting it really irked those who wanted to learn to ask for help.

As I said we were still buzzing from the Respond challenge the next day.

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited July 03, 2005).]