EXPANSION OF CONCIOUSNESS AND OPENING OF THE HEART
Why are both of them necessary? What is the base of the work of Inner Evolution?
Binomial: Potency coming as a result of the sum of two parts.
We do not work with Love, Truth or Spirituality. We say this hundreds of times in our Inner Evolution Retreats as well as in the on-going training at the European School of Ayahuasca.
We work with consciousness and its expansion. For it, from it, with it and towards it.
Nevertheless, we state that the expansion of consciousness and the opening of the heart activate healing energy. If we speak with equal importance of love and the opening of the heart, how come we do not work with both of them in the same measure?
You cannot state that the expansion of consciousness implies an opening of the heart, nor that an opening of the heart implies an expansion of consciousness. Both are parts of the same sum, and if we get the two of them together in one single life, we will enhance our comprehension (understanding that happens in the heart instead of the mind, union of forces of thought and feeling which at the same time goes beyond both of them).
The origin: The moment we decided to close our hearts.
At some point of our childhood “something” happened. Something we interpreted as “traumatic” from our child’s point of view; but is not necessarily in our childhood when we actually closed our hearts: it could have happened in our adolescence or in our adult life. Each individual configures their trauma their own way (not in vain it is “his” or “her” trauma, and is and intrinsic part their human development).
At some point we decided it was over; love is not safe, love hurts, love exposes us to being wounded, you cannot trust people and sooner or later, one way or another, people are going to fail us, either rejecting us, abandoning us, betraying us, humiliating us, judging us, ignoring us… We decided we tried enough already (enough to empirically ensure the same result over and over again), so we come to the conclusion that from now on, we must take care or ourselves, protect ourselves and make sure it will not happen again. Decision taken, heart closed.
The development: And now what?
I do not know anyone with a closed heart who does not feel that things are not going well. Either they cannot find a partner, or they have problems with their children, or they do not feel satisfied with their jobs and cannot feel complete, or cannot feel good about themselves, always at the mercy of sudden and unpredictable mood changes. Just a few get to realize that they have closed their hearts, and that decision is affecting every decision they make (or do not make) in their lives, everything they do (or do not do) and everything they think they are (or are not). They arrive to our retreats, maybe to sort out a breakup, and they wonder why they always have the same outcome. They come because they feel trapped in the professional lives and they want ayahuasca (or whichever therapy there is) to show them how to go on, or maybe they have already used up the ways of conventional medicine and want ayahuasca to cure them from some physical disease.
At the moment of temporal expansion of consciousness that ayahuasca produces, all the reasons for which we closed our hearts become neutralized. The heart opens and we gain access to those encysted emotions. They come out, arise, explode, startle, guide, take us to introspection and to “realize” (become aware) – But “to become aware” is not “to be conscious”, but to catch oneself in our unconsciousness. If there had been consciousness, there would not be anything to “become aware of”.
That valuable and precious opening of the heart is of no use at all when not accompanied by an expansion of consciousness.
Without an expansion of consciousness, there is no solid base to comprehend. Without a solid base of comprehension we can practically assure something will happen that will make us take the same old decision to close our hearts, once again.
We can assure that, in life, more things will happen to make us close our hearts than to keep it open. Furthermore; increasingly, more and more things will happen that can be an excuse or a reason to close it.
The expansion of consciousness is what lets us comprehend that everything which happens to us had to happen that way and we have the power to inject one or another perception or interpretation into it.
When the expansion is real, it will lead you to your heart.
Is inevitable that sooner or later, the expansion of consciousness will take you to love. With an authentic expansion of consciousness, all judgements disappear, all conditionings disappear, every guilt disappears, everything disappears which can be an obstacle to love. That love with capital letters we are all looking for, more or less consciously. When everything that is not love disappears the only possible consequence is that true love appears naturally. Without having to make any effort for it to happen.
The key, the secret, the most important thing on the work with the opening of the heart is not to confirm at which points, persons or situations we have our heart open to, but to be able to identify the situations, people or aspects of our lives in which we have it closed and bolted.
Each one of us has configured his or her trauma his or her own way, as we said before. Some can be loving in their intimacy, with their partner or their family; others can be real ogres to their families while being a delight to their friends in their private lives; others can let loose their impatience and petulance with their family and friends while being perfect role models of patience and tolerance in their public life… Maybe some of us are very patient and caring, but we communicate in a rude, impatient or demanding way. Or we can have an exquisite communication while we feel unable to give a hug or to hold someone’s gaze. Somewhere, some more, some less, we all have incoherencies between what we feel and what we show, between what we say and what we do, between what we long for and what we look for. It behoves consciousness to identify incoherence.
That is why we do not work with love, but with consciousness. Because working with love is not necessarily going to lead you to consciousness (see all the “new age” streams of work with love in which people are more and more depressed or more disconnected from reality); but it is inevitable that consciousness leads you to love.
Laura Torrabadella
Ayahuasca International holds Inner Evolution retreats with therapeutic use of Ayahuasca in several countries in Europe. Click the links for specific information on each retreat.
Barcelona, March 22 to 26
Berlin, March 23 to 26
Mallorca, March 23 to 26
Madrid, March 23 to 27
Marbella, March 29 to April 2
Munich, March 30 to April 2
Salzburg, March 30 to April 2
Sweden, March 30 to April 2
Hanover, April 6 to 9
Switzerland, April 6 to 9
Berlin, April 13 to 16
Vienna, April 13 to 16
Marbella, April 20 to 23
Norway, April 20 to 23
Click here for a complete listing of information of all the 2017 Ayahuasca International Retreats Calendar. It includes subsequent links to information, prices and booking procedure for each retreat.
For bookings or to request any further information call to +49 (0) 171 987 6655 (also available by whatsapp) or write to [email protected]