To Walk with Someone - Workshop

Have you wished that you had someone to walk with? Someone who you could talk with that could help explain the strange and unusual events you're experiencing or the spiritual concepts you're struggling to understand? Have you wondered what it's like to have someone who can gently guide you along in your spiritual development? When you walk with someone you consider to be a teacher it is important that you recognize their capability in adapting their knowledge and the foundational materials they share to the unique needs you have. This includes but is not limited to helping you find your spiritual path, master your abilities, and come to a sound understanding of sacred truths in this way. As they walk with you they should be guiding you to learn how to empower yourself through your Self so you can see and walk the path that is right for you.

There is no call to judge the process of development or the time it takes for anyone to 'get it'. There is no call to judge past mistakes, frailties or vulnerabilities nor is there call to dictate what you might find to be your areas of interest. And why is that? It's because the purpose of spiritual development is to help you grow beyond these things at a pace that's right for you. Casting judgment only ends up creating blockages, setbacks and delays for someone, it diverts them from the lessons they need to learn for reasons others may not see. It's more important for you to find a state of inner and outer harmony, and embrace your Self with conviction than it is to follow in the footsteps of someone who is letting their ego rule. Through the sharing of foundational lessons you will naturally establish self-control and self-empowerment as you transmute negative traits into positive ones both inside and out, that's a simple fact. This is a very natural process that comes through the course of enlightenment and understanding. We change of our own free will, not through the will of others.

As we come to new understandings we begin to embrace new ways of 'BE-ing' in the world. We come to see that we are more than simply a body with a spirit inside, and that the true 'us' is the spirit within the body. Everything begins to shift in perspective then, and life takes on new depth as well as expansion as we begin to know what it means to honor the Self. We change through this conceptualization and through the individual spiritual experiences the foundations bring to bear. We change of our own free will because we see where we want to change. Sharing that journey with someone who has knowledge and experience in these areas is a big advantage. It speeds the process and allows you to achieve a more evolved understanding by helping you raise your conscious awareness to new heights-a process that unfolds over time. It is a journey, one in which we all arrive at the same destination, but the path you choose to get there is meant to be up to you, not someone else.

If you're going to walk with someone who will mentor your efforts to grow they should assist you in finding your footing, to stand strong upon your path whatever it may be, and not insist you be a follower-that serves no one. I was taught that by matching someone step for step the individual determines how much of themselves they are willing to invest and how far they will go. I've found that to be true because in this manner no one wastes anyone's time, there is no force feeding; instead there are choices to explore your interests, to meet your needs, and to discover your place in the Great Mystery.

What is it like to discover your gifts and abilities? To discover where your path is taking you? To discover the mission and destiny your spirit came to complete? What is it like to pass through the lessons you need to work through around your unique issues? Such a journey goes beyond foundational teachings to become a customized course of study. It should be important to you to seek someone (or a select few) who will help you empower yourself, not hold power over you or create dependency. In this way you will find spiritual independence and the convictions you need within yourself to follow your path.

It does not matter if someone is seeking for personal growth and understanding or if they are seeking to master shamanic practices and lead a life of service. It doesn't matter if they come for academic reasons and a desire for a professional career based upon their spiritual studies. We are all evolving and we all have our own purpose in life, it is not for someone else to determine that for you. Shamans are not made. Shamans BE-come shamans because that's who they are to begin with, the seed is there, and a good teacher will germinate it until it sprouts. BE-coming is union with the spirit and honoring it as we evolve and the path we walk unfolds as we walk it. Our abilities and gifts determine the things we can do and they take us into the directions we need to follow. We need to follow our interests, not the interests of someone else.

The teachings shared by any mentor or spiritual coach should give you a compass to walk with, and with this compass in hand allow you to employ it and find direction no matter where you go or what traditions you choose to explore. These truths shared are universal and apply to all aspects of life on this side of the Veil or the other. No single tradition or path holds exclusivity. I've been coaching for many, many years and find the greatest rewards are when those 'Ah-ha!' moments come and someone's eyes begin to light up and their spirit rises to rejoice and they shout with excitement "I got it!" "I did it!" "Wow!" And you should find the same thing for yourself, the rewards present in every experience you have. They're there in the learning and assimilation periods, in the honing and usage periods, in the fact that you can see what is gifted to you spiritually is meant to be brought into the world, into your daily life and utilized in a way that befits your nature. It's natural! All you have to do is BE-your-SELF.

Whether you touch others in large or small ways does not matter, it's the touch that is important, it serves a purpose and it makes life so much richer. It is so rewarding to breakthrough challenges and barriers, to connect with guidance and learn the shamanic languages that bring insights you didn't even realize you could tap into. The ways do not have to be kept secret anymore, they are meant to be shared. The Great Mystery holds us all, we are a part of it, it's ours to explore and it is unfolding right now.

Those rewards are going to be present in the explorations of the teachings and the penetrations each person accomplishes within the spirit worlds. There's nothing better than passing on the knowledge to someone who can apply it or receiving that knowledge from someone who knows how to share techniques that work with your rhythms, at your pace, meeting your needs and interests.

SEEKING A TEACHER

When I first began to explore learning from others I sought honesty. I wanted true spiritual knowledge and someone who could help me evolve with my own abilities. So, what was I looking for in a teacher? I thought hard about that, it needed clear definition, I needed to determine what I felt a good teacher would be, what sort of teaching I felt I needed. I made a list of qualities, qualities that began to define me better as well because they were the things I was personally striving for. I wanted integrity, good intention, and impeccability to put it simply and those have become the 3-I's that I walk with and teach because I want to bring those things to others honorably.

On my list was someone who would be honest with me, who could explain foundational knowledge in a way that gave cohesion to what was being taught as well as what I had personally experienced. In tying the two together I knew I wanted someone I could respect who would respect me with all my flaws. The criteria began to form itself and I knew that I wanted someone to help me learn how to walk my path, not theirs, and to help me understand what my path was about.

As the years continued to unfold I found myself walking with many different teachers from a variety of traditions. Some walks were short and some were long and some still continue. Each teacher was imparting wisdom in their shared knowledge and experiences, teachings I could take to heart and relate to. And I walked with a few Shadow Teachers too, those who taught me what I didn't want to be like. We encounter both so it took time but I learned to discern the difference between those who shared wisely what was needed and those who tried to force feed me or create fears to ensnare me in dependency on them.

Why am I sharing this? Because I want you to ask yourself what qualities of character and style you're looking for in your teachers. You will have many teachers and they will range from a profound statement coming from the mouth of a child to the most abstract enlightenment of a Master Teacher and everything in-between. What are YOU looking for? Do you know how to recognize it when you see it? I mentioned I wanted someone with integrity to teach me about self-empowerment, but what did that mean to me? It meant coming to embrace the light within myself, my Inner Spirit, who I truly was, and to learn to let that light shine. I wanted to be walking with it in conviction that it was as bright as I could make it for all the right reasons. I wanted someone who held the integrity I aspired to myself so that I could learn to master myself walking an honorable path. I wanted someone willing to walk with me through things when I needed understanding and who could stand back to let me explore when I needed to experience something without pre-judgment. When I could name what I was looking for those teachers began to appear and I asked them to share with me. What are you looking for? What are you aspiring towards yourself and what type of person is going to be a good role model for you to learn from?

I wanted someone with the ability to respect me and the flaws I would be showing, or the ineptness in my thinking that could gently be transformed to competency with non-judgmental attitudes. I wanted someone to help show me how to honor my gifts, honor my path, to show me what walking in honor meant to them. There were many qualities of character I was looking for: respect, integrity, compassion and honor among them but fundamentally I wanted truth to be present, the kind of truth that could be validated and lived. I sought these and other qualities in those I asked to walk with me. If you see someone you feel you can learn from it's important to ask them if they are willing and have the time to share with you. It's important to accept graciously whatever time that might be-without judgment on your part--and not take it personally if they must turn you away or direct you to someone else, they have busy lives too.

Knowing that you will walk with many teachers and that it's okay to gather a variety of perceptions from all of them will enrich your knowledge. It's okay to synthesize what you learn with the lessons you've already passed through and grow with a more discerning eye. We don't have to keep everything separate or see things just one way, we should be seeing from all the angles we can. I want to help you to learn to discern why you would consider someone your teacher. So I ask: What makes a good teacher? We know good character is part of that, we know that an honorable person is part of that, we know that we need to look for someone who walks their talk. We know that it's important to walk with someone who can teach self-control and self-empowerment rather than manipulate us so they can hold power over us creating a false sense of authority. These are all very important factors, however there is more to discover. How do you recognize good style in teaching?

An Elder once told me that a good teacher doesn't take your steps for you, as you take a step they step with you to make sure you're steady on your feet. They will be certain that you understand the environment you're stepping into and the experiences you're likely to encounter. A good teacher will see that you learn to be discerning in reading energy signatures and more by utilizing your senses. They will see you learn to practice exercises that will open you to expanded growth, exercises that turn into solid tools of the trade so to speak. A good teacher will gently guide you along through a foundational understanding and blend it with your nature until you can stand on your own. Someone who will walk with you, not drag you down a path by the nose or earlobe. This is the advice I continue to walk with and share today.

We all start out looking for a teacher and all too often grab at the first person to come along or dive into seminars and workshops grabbing where we can. While we may sit in class or through workshops and seminars to gather general knowledge we are embracing only theory and the true learning experience follows but it is found elsewhere. A good teacher is someone who can walk with you and customize the lessons to fit your needs, not theirs. It's more like an experienced guide and hiking companion who knows the way through unfamiliar terrain as you explore climbing cliffs, forested pathways or delving deep into valleys.

There are naturally going to be teachings shared with you in stages, first things first and it is important to get your bearings with the fundamentals. But what do you do with them once you have them? When you have the additional advantage through customized lessons you learn how to apply them for your personal needs and later toward the needs of others. This way you come to meet the path well by growing at a much faster pace. The path of learning becomes streamlined as you journey together and your path unfolds. A good mentor will then see, by matching your steps, where you need to go and how to get you there. A good teacher knows where different applications will serve you so they'll pull from their experience to help shape those fundamentals into functional tools you can use. You'll learn to assimilate those teachings and to jiggle things into place so they work well for you, so they function as you function and a comfort zone is achieved.

If you happen across a teacher that pours upon you all that you'll be going through, all that you needed to do, all that is ahead of you, you'd likely be scared to death and run for the hills overwhelmed. You'd never want to take that walk because it would be too intimidating and the blessings along the way would be lost to you. Imagine starting out in grade school only to be handed the list of assignments for the next twelve years! That old saying "You can't eat the whole elephant at once but you can a bite at a time" applies here. Spirituality isn't something you can nutshell, it's too big for that and no one person can hold all the answers. If someone came at you like a freight-train with all the things that spirituality potentially holds it would seem to be too much, too impossible, too improbable, after all how could you possibly transform yourself in such amazing ways and evolve to embrace these spiritual heights? The amount of work ahead of you would seem insurmountable. Looking at things that way it is. We're done before we start.

But. If someone matches your steps, and discusses your interests exploring experiences as you come to them, acceptance becomes a very natural thing because it grows with the shared understanding. If someone demands that you commit yourself to years of study with them they're not doing you any favors, but they are creating an attachment through dependency that their ways are the only ways and that's simply not true. You don't need years with someone thought that may happen by choice, what you do need is years with many teachers though. We never stop learning and there are many ways of walking a spiritual path. You need to discover for yourself what is right for you.

If someone shares knowledge honestly you'll know whether what it is of interest or of use to you. And if they share techniques with you it is in your best interest to explore them. If you have concerns then raise them and be openly honest about yourself expecting honest answers. Through practice we come to validations and if the things shared can't be validated in your experiences then the teachings are worthless to you. Why should you walk with someone beyond the first month or two if you're not getting results when you put effort into learning? There is no reason to continue. If you're not gaining an understanding what are you gaining? Nothing of substance, that's for sure. If you don't feel that you're learning anything other than dependency what good would such a journey together be to you? It doesn't make much sense if you can't grow now does it?

But if you walk together through things and take it a little at a time, a step at a time until you get your bearings the confidence starts to come forward and you feel your own quickening. You walk and talk and assimilate your experiences, your lessons and your challenges that hold those lessons of experience for you. You learn how to work through the blockages you allow to stand in your way and you begin to know progress. Then you will see your abilities growing stronger and your validations present themselves. Your trust grows and in that a friendship begins to weave itself in confidence between you.

It isn't easy for anyone to offer up trust blindly, so anticipate the caution knowing it needs to be earned but that trust goes both ways. As a Medicine Woman I need to see the willingness on someone's part to take the steps, to do the homework, to explore the Self, why? Because I can't do it for them, the only control I have over growth is my own. Know that yours is up to you. You need to learn to take down your own blockages and barriers because you put them there in the first place-you are the only one who can remove them. Can you name them? If not start looking for them until you can. You need to learn the foundations because they are universal truths and you will find them existing everywhere you go because they define the truth. Then you will have learned to recognize where they are present.

Trust must be built over time, respect must be present, integrity must be at the heart of things, intent must be right, and giving the best of oneself is called for-whatever that might be. It works both ways and those qualities must be present on both sides of the relationship or it will fail. As much as the student learns and becomes the teacher the teacher learns and becomes the student. There is always an exchange and in that both individuals grow. We cannot give that we do not also need to receive or we run dry. For example, your experiences may be similar to mine but they will be uniquely your own too and in that I learn from your Medicine Story just as you learn from mine. We learn of other perspectives or pattern placements that can be utilized to accomplish much the same things, or of ways to jiggle things into place. Tricks of the trade so to speak. Even if we don't need to apply them ourselves, understanding they serve a purpose may be something we're called to share with someone else one day. I believe all those exchanges happen for a reason and so the student also becomes the teacher and the teacher the student--we learn from each other.

Walking with someone can help you see how you went at things in the past, help you sort to find your core issues now, help you understand where guidance conveys insight to assist you and in that help you find your way in your own way of handling matters in the future. However, it's up to you to do the work and apply your efforts to your own development. I wish you blessings and many Ah-ha moments along your path. May your enlightenments be profound enough to make your spirit dance and touch you in only the best of ways. Remember too, you are a child of the Great Ones; therefore you are precious and you are deeply loved.

Here at Spirit Lodge .info you are welcome to partake of all resources offered. There is a wide variety of options to satisfy your interests and needs. You are welcome to work at your own pace, in your own style or follow the recommended courses of study. There are options to fit the needs of everyone be that curiosity, a desire to apply effort into personal development and self-empowerment, or a path of spiritual service. Certification to teach the enlightenments offered requires application and acceptance for private coaching sessions along with the successful completion of various courses of study. The options are yours, the investment is yours, and the resources are here to help you. If you are interested in further study please look over the index page to find the links for seminars, workshops and optional resources.