Journaling and my changing perceptions- Dharma Training

Shivani Singh[MD1]   in her book “ Discover Your Dharma” explored ten different ways to use journaling to unlock our hidden gifts and bring them up for consideration as life choices. 

When I first read her book about six years ago I was fascinated about the number of journaling techniques that she had identified and how neatly she had packaged them into a system that she promised would effectively redefine your life purpose. Her emphasis was on effective journaling. With her engineering mind she wanted to go beyond what some might term “airy fairly” writing leading to no precise goal to a system that would guarantee fast, efficient success.

A few years later Shivani gave a tens minute TEDX talk that further clarified her notion that her Dharma Express system was a clearly set out system that could be replicated to deliver precise answers to major life questions in a short time. I have used her talk in my classes and am impressed by how quickly she communicates to various audiences that she can deliver her system smoothly and easily.

This year I started her Dharma Training course and I am again going through her journaling system. Like some readers of her book six years ago I admired her clever packaging and sporadically did the journaling exercises. Now I am doing the exercises in a systematic way linked to a definite exploration of certain life questions and choices.

So far I have explored Secret 1- Clearing the Junk. I was overwhelmed at how clarifying it was. In addition hearing how effective it was for others in different life situations and circumstances made me aware that it was replicable to others in diverse settings. Doing Secret 2-Knowing your moment of Truth illustrated that these short exercises can have quick, powerful moments of certainty. Despite our logical mind skepticism that certain questions cannot quickly uncover expert answers our intuition can.

Secrets 3 and 6—Go beyond the Line and Be your own Visionaire allowed me to uncover hidden blockages to moving forward linked to beliefs. In our sessions exploring these ideas it was amazing how many limiting beliefs we all had to peel off. Many of these beliefs we were not aware we held. Some of us had hidden denial systems to shunt us away from identifying and dealing properly with these beliefs and the consequent actions in our lives that flowed from our beliefs. I was humbled and impressed by the ways my fellow trainees shared their journey though working with these journaling secrets.

Supoort this project by fellow Dharma Trainee Smita

For me personally the most powerful journaling secret I have explored is Secret 9- Stay Connected Within. I now realize that the entire process –creating a sacred space, invoking our spiritual guides, letting go and allowing the flow, the vibrational impact of the background music and the commitment to the kinetic energy of writing is life changing.

Website of fellow Trainees Tonya and Calvin

Milton Drepaul

Dharma Coaching

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 [MD1]

Dharma Coach Training and The Power of Ritual

As I am doing the Dharma Coach training I am struck by the power of the script. In the training we are advised to use a very structured script in a carefully designed manner. As someone brought up to rely largely on the intellect I am tempted to rewire the script. There is an urge to readjust it to suit circumstances on a day to day basis. This is a reaction from the western world of thinking.

Shivani Singh--Dharma Express.com

In the Eastern world of thinking there is a greater trust in the power of ritual. Teachers recognize that sticking to a time tested outer format has an intangible, vibrational power. All the world’s major religions recognize this. Their major ceremonies follow a precise script. 

When they change these ritual for cerebral reasons as for example the Roman Catholic Church did in the sixties with the change from the Latin mass to a mass in the vernacular something of the mystery and the power of the ritual was lost.

Our human psyche is heavily tuned to the vibrational power of ceremony. Christenings, waddings and funeral for example follow a structured format.  Political ceremonies like the opening of Parliament he swearing in of a leader, the State of Union address are all done in a very precise way. So when we attend or participate in ceremonies our entire being is attuned to a set of intangible frequencies created by the format of the ceremony.

When I practiced my first Dharma training using the script I fell into the intangible vibrational frequency generated by the questions and their sequences. I was able to brush aside the temptation to vary or interfere with the format. With this mindset of acceptance I was able to easily flow with the experience. At the end I recognized the power of the script and the format. I could see why it was going to be successful. I also accepted that it was based on years of coaching experience.

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Discover Your Dharma Soundtrack

Shivani Singh

In 2004 I read a book by Mona Lisa Schultz called “Awakening Intuition”. One idea she posited that applied to me was that analytical people find it difficult to access their intuition. She suggested training oneself to remember to write down dreams and to play around with interpreting them. Dreams tend to be figurative, absurd, nonlinear, full of images and time shifting. I found this advice useful and had a lot of fun working with dreams.

Since I was a literature teacher I found it easy to play with dreams. Images fascinated me and the seeming non sequiturs challenged a creative mind. Soon people were treating me as a “dream expert”. Later I experimented with treating real life experiences as if they were dreams. This allowed me to get more intuitive insights from the experience.

In my opinion Shivani Singh and Radha Singh have locked a powerful vibrational frequency into their Dharma Training format that makes it easy to implement successfully and to replicate efficiently. It is a delightful merging of ancient teaching techniques with modern engineering science.

Milton Drepaul
Dharma Coach Training

Changing beliefs

Happiness is a Choice

This book was a life changer for me.

I read it very closely at a period in my life when I was depressed. My marriage had broken up. I was separated from two daughters to whom I had grown very close. I was fortunate to have spent a lot of time bringing them up and sharing happy experiences.

My last two daughters were born in Jamaica. First we lived in the hills. We were on campus working at a co-educational boarding school. I was able to be present at their births and to have a hands on day to day contact with them. Later we moved to a beautiful campus at Passley Gardens near Port Antonio. Not only did this campus have two beaches but we were twenty minutes away from the world class San San beach.

I had an ideal teaching schedule. I was finished teaching by 11 am every day. We lived in a spacious four bedroom house on the campus. We had a wonderful young woman working for us. I was able to spend valuable hours with my daughters either at home or at the beaches. We did many thing together.

This ideal world suddenly fell apart soon after we moved to Kingston, the capital city. There was a massive hurricane in September 1988. A month later my then wife took my daughters and went to Canada. I was left alone and soon fell into depression. I did not know it then. I just gave in to despair and loss of hope.

There is another story about how I was guided away from this shattering life experience in Jamaica to the beautiful islands of Turks and Caicos. I will write about that at another time. For this piece it is best to know that I found myself on a beautiful island with dark thoughts and beliefs.

I was fortunate to discover both “Happiness is a Choice’ and a joint reader and loving, non-judgmental listener Radha Singh. Today when I hear others talk of her wonderful skills my mind goes back to those days when she rescued me from despair by implementing the loving, non-judgmental Socratic dialogue that we both learned from “Happiness is a Choice.’

Looking back I had to go beyond many limiting beliefs. The first was that I was a failure because my marriage had failed. There were other beliefs that I was not a good parent that I was not understanding and communicate. Above all was the belief that I was not a good person.

There were two major things I learnt then. First I had choices. I could have different responses to my experiences. Most of all I could choose to be happy. Here I was in an idyllic island and I was choosing to be miserable. I was surrounded by loving people. I had a job that I loved. I had peaceful music around me. I had meditative and spiritual experiences I could choose.

The second was that I had someone who could gently walk me away from my negative beliefs and open up for me the expertise within me that she could see but I could not. Knowing that you are your own best expert was the lesson I was learning. Stepping way from self-pity and the common way of not taking responsibility for your thoughts and the experiences they attract was not easy.

Recently I read that a Shaman commented that periods like depression – your darkest hours, can bring you to higher levels of spiritual experience. The “Happiness is a Choice” experience brought me to new levels. I learnt to love strongly at a distance. I drew happy experiences. I deeply and completely loved myself. I began a journey that has made me more balanced. I am grateful to Barry Neil Kauffmann and Radha Singh for their wise, non-directive guidance.