Coping with Global Challenges

Jacqueline // November 21st, 2016

Hold The Light

 

 This post is based on a recent class taught by Scott Robinson

 

So we find ourselves in a time of great change. Perhaps great stress. Great intensity. But you need to know, the effects of the U.S. election do not need to determine how you feel inside. Or how your spiritual path unfolds.

If you choose to be conscious, you are in charge of your reality no matter what is going on around you. You can live in a state of brightness and freedom. But you have to choose it, otherwise you are at the mercy of external forces.

The Buddha lived during a period of intense political unrest and violence in India. Not only did he find his own personal transcendence during this time, but he created a practice that has helped countless others transcend; a practice that is still going strong 2000 years later.

Tibetan monks continued to choose consciousness and spiritual freedom even when Chinese invaders overwhelmed their country, killing untold numbers and destroying 6,000 monasteries.

And consider that Nelson Mandela emerged from 20 years of imprisonment and hard labour, a brighter, freer, more conscious being.

Human beings are powerful. You can create what you want to create. But a bright, conscious existence must be chosen. You won’t fall into it accidentally.

The great news is, the initial steps to taking charge of your reality are simple. As you go about your day-to-day existence, are you bringing light into the world? Or are you participating in darkness?

Participating in darkness can happen so easily. Like being competitive with a colleague at work. Taking out your frustrations on your spouse. Angry annoyance at someone on the bus. Judging someone who has a different view than you. Immersing yourself in news coverage that gets your blood boiling. Posting charged comments on social media.

If you are aware of some of your own dark behaviours right now, don’t freak out. Don’t judge yourself. Just start to make different choices.

Meditation really helps with this. It is a very real, very powerful way to bring lightness and consciousness into your life. It can help you through life’s ups and downs; even your darkest moments.

Now more than ever before, with so many global challenges facing us, it will be important for you – for everyone – to have a way to process stress and live in a state of light.

Whatever your way is, find it. Choose it.

 

 

Scott Robinson

Scott Robinson is the founder and spiritual director of Lightwork Spiritual Development, based on Gambier Island, B.C. For more than 30 years, Scott’s spiritual evolution has been his life focus, along with helping others discover themselves as spiritual beings.

Even in earlier stages of his life Scott lived outside the confines of mainstream society as a hippie kid, musician, video artist, photographer, poet and world traveller. Spiritually aware from childhood, he could see energy, and he knew there was a bigger picture than the material pursuits of life.

His spiritual purpose took shape in his early twenties when he discovered a meditation style that was an immediate fit. He dove deeply into spiritual studies, deepening his clairvoyant abilities and learning the art of self-healing.

Scott is constantly pushing the boundaries of spiritual knowledge. Through teaching, writing and photography, he empowers others to become conscious, bright spiritual beings on the path to freedom.

Scott is also Chair of the Board, chief visionary, and manager of the Lightwork Ecovillage, the Gambier Island sacred site that is home to the Lightwork practice.

Alison Cretney

Alison has been practicing Lightwork meditation since 2007. As a certified Lightwork teacher, she offers classes suitable to first-time meditators or anyone who has practiced other meditation styles. You can attend her classes in beautiful Nelson, BC, or by phone or Skype.

Alison has found Lightwork's clarity, ease and potency to be transformative in all aspects of her life including parenting, work, relationships and stress.

She has a Masters in Strategic Leadership Toward Sustainability which she applies in collaborative projects seeking solutions for climate change.

Julia Watson

Julia offers meditation and consulting services for organizations and individuals.

She started her conscious spiritual journey in her mid-twenties but it wasn’t until she came across Lightwork in 2002 that she found a meditation practice that really worked for her.

Julia completed Lightwork’s seven levels of training in 2010. She has been joyfully teaching meditation classes and offering private energy readings since then.

She was previously the Program Director at Hollyhock (Canada’s leading educational retreat centre) and is now a self-employed bookkeeper.

Julia received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University in 1994. She received a permaculture design certificate in 2000.

Julia Thiessen

Julia started taking Lightwork classes by phone from Winnipeg in 2004. The classes rocked her world so thoroughly she moved to Vancouver to continue her meditation studies, eventually graduating from Lightwork's most advanced program, 'Level 7: The Apprenticeship' in 2012.

Her move to the West Coast allowed her to become involved in the Lightwork Ecovillage, where she continues to deepen her meditation practice and learn life lessons (like...you really can grow kale year round!).

Julia is a certified Lightwork Teacher. She offers Lightwork Level 1 and Level 2 classes for beginners, as well as private energy reading sessions.

She brings creativity to the Lightwork administration team, and manages two annual meditation retreats: the summer '9-Day Dharma Healing', and 'Winter Light Week'.

She has an intuitive and studied understanding of all things green, arising from her work in therapeutic gardening at BC Children's Hospital and other locations around Vancouver.

Cathy Belgrave

When Cathy signed up for her first Lightwork class, she entered brand new territory. Coming from a scientific background, meditation was well outside her normal repertoire but she felt compelled to try it.

Without even being able to describe how, she shifted perceptions in all parts of her life and began making decisions that decreased stress. Encouraged, she thought she would keep meditating until it no longer felt like a fit. That day never came. She’s now a committed Lightwork practitioner and teacher.

Cathy offers Lightwork Level 1, Level 2, private classes and energy reading-healings. She blends her passions for writing, teaching and meditation by offering creative writing workshops for children and adults.

Darci Rosalie

Darci discovered Lightwork meditation in her last month of nursing school. She realized she wanted a totally new way of coping with stress.

So she turned down a fancy job in California with a big signing bonus and season’s tickets to her favourite football team. Instead she registered for Lightwork's beginners class and never looked back.

Throughout her healing journey Darci has witnessed how meditation has the power to shift tough situations and heal what needs healing.

Her favorite thing about being a Lightwork teacher is the simplicity and presence of being in the moment. The big and small of the universe come into focus and make room for significant awareness and healing.

Darci graduated from the Lightwork Apprenticeship program in March 2014. She offers energy reading sessions and meditation classes in a loving, supportive environment.

Tiffany Robinson

Tiffany Robinson has 18 years of experience in the social services sector, a B.A. in psychology, and over 15 years experience developing and facilitating dynamic wellness programs for youth and adults. She is a full-time instructor of Lightwork’s Level 1 – 3 meditation courses and Teacher Training program, and has been studying meditation for over 15 years, completing Lightwork’s two-year meditation teacher training in 2012, and a three-year apprenticeship in 2015. She is also Lightwork's Director of Operations.

As the Wellness Programs Specialist for the Crisis Centre of B.C., Tiffany co-developed and facilitated hundreds of workshops, webinars and wellness programs designed to enhance well-being, resilience and mental health. Over 13 years, she championed the centre’s first mindfulness training programs and was instrumental in establishing key contracts to deliver large-scale mindfulness programs to 1,500+ employee organizations, such as the Vancouver School Board.

Tiffany lives at the Lightwork Ecovillage on Gambier Island, an off-grid permaculture farm-meets-meditation-centre set on 80 acres overlooking Howe Sound.

Jacqueline Voci

Jacqueline first learned to meditate as an antidote to stress and a crazy-busy lifestyle in the tech and PR industries. As she gradually made it part of her daily routine, an entirely new way of experiencing life emerged.

In March 2014, she completed Lightwork’s two-year meditation teacher program and began its most immersive course, a three-year apprenticeship to founder, Scott Robinson.

Jacqueline teaches Lightwork's beginner classes (Levels 1 & 2) and offers meditation workshops for companies and organizations. She has hosted workshops for the Dalai Lama Center for Peace & Education, UBC Faculty of Medicine, BC Cancer Research Centre and BCIT Student Association.

She is also a writer and communications consultant.

Elizabeth Stevenson

Elizabeth decided to give Lightwork a try in 2010, after observing a friend's Lightwork journey. Deciding it was a fit, she took classes from her hometown of Victoria by phone for six years. She then packed up and moved to Vancouver to continue her studies, completing Lightwork's Level 6 Teacher Training Program in 2017.

Meditation has helped Elizabeth let go of fears and embrace all aspects of herself. She's excited that teaching now gives her the chance to offer the Lightwork techniques to other people.

Prior to Lightwork, Elizabeth completed a B.A. in anthropology, and certifications in community counselling and permaculture. Music has always been an important part of her life. She enjoys singing opera and jazz, and offering vocal improv classes.

Leslie Dickout

Leslie took her first Lightwork meditation class by phone in 2012 while living in the busy city of New York. She was awestruck by the simplicity of the tools she learned, and how they helped her let go of old patterns. She knew she wanted to learn more.

Now settled in Vancouver and enjoying a much simpler life, Leslie offers Lightwork Level 1 and Level 2 classes, as well as private energy reading-healings. She completed the Level 7 Apprenticeship program at Lightwork in 2021.

She also works in communications at BC Recreation & Parks Association.

Zhenya Andriyash

Zhenya started taking Lightwork meditation classes in the fall of 2012 while living in New York City and working for a bank. Meditation was his way of dealing with stress-filled workplace and hectic city life.

While taking Lightwork's Next Step program, he moved to Vancouver to lead a quieter, healthier life with a focus on his spiritual development.

Zhenya completed the Apprenticeship program at Lightwork in 2021 and now he offers beginner Lightwork classes (Level 1 and 2), as well as reading-healing sessions.

Having a job in the tech sector, Zhenya finds his meditation practice to be essential for having wellness and balance in his life.

Bogdan Serban

Bogdan Serban is a certified Lightwork teacher and a soccer-playing dad of two boys.

He started studying Lightwork in 2015 after many years of interest in spirituality and energy work. He considers the Lightwork practice to be life-changing, improving his relationships at home and work, and instilling a deeper self-confidence. He uses the Lightwork techniques every day to support his parenting, marriage and work life.

Bogdan originally hails from the picturesque, mountainside city of Brasov, Romania. He’s lived in Vancouver since 2005 and works in the telecom sector. In his down time, you’ll usually find Bogdan hanging out with his family or on a soccer pitch.

Bogdan completed his Lightwork teaching certificate in 2020. He also holds a degree in business management.