Cultivating higher consciousness

Catharsis: The notion of release through drama – Aristotle’s Poetics.

I was in my 20s looking for purpose. I had recently taken acting classes as part of my teaching degree and performed in some plays, but the only job I could imagine paying the bills with was a teaching job. So, I finished my degree in elementary and TESOL education and applied to jobs all over the U.S.

I got a job offer in Massachusetts, but the closer the school year got, the more dread I felt. Then a few weeks before the start of school, I got a call from a friend who lived in New York City. We had been in a Midsummer Night’s Dream together in Provincetown, MA. He wanted to stay in Provincetown instead of moving back to the city. Would I like to work his part time job and rent his apartment in the West Village while he stayed in Provincetown a while longer?

Embracing New York City

I asked myself what I would regret more: Not teaching 5^th grade or not moving to New York City to pursue acting? I decided to spare the school one mediocre (at best) elementary school teacher and move to the city.

While studying acting, I stumbled upon voice instructors with the Roy Hart Theater. These voice actors were healers. They believed that everyone could have a three or four octave range if they released the emotional and psychological blocks preventing them from hitting different notes. The founder Roy Hart was famous for his four-octave range.

I learned through a series of vocal release exercises how to release emotions and physical pain. I remember discovering this deep tenor voice from working with a teacher at the piano, and one afternoon by using vowel sounds like “ooh” and “ah” and “ee,” my jaw and neck released tension that felt ancient.

The spiritual essence of acting

Acting was a spiritual practice for me because it was about being present. The acting was interesting when the actor was completely present for the character and for the other actors. This challenge was as close to a spiritual pursuit as anything else I could find at the time: how could I stay in the present moment and touch the audience with my heart? It meant switching from self-consciousness and thinking to being in the moment with my senses. I experienced freedom and an expansion of consciousness expressing characters. Having permission to be a manipulative stepmother or a snake handler from Appalachia was exhilarating.

Theater was also a catharsis for me, and had that healing potential for the audience too. I remember one matinee performance in a small theater in Brooklyn with an audience of about 15. I was doing a long monologue of a pained Irish woman who drank whiskey and chain-smoked about her self-destructive husband. Something must have touched these two ladies because they waited outside the stage door to thank me. “It was just what we needed this afternoon” they said and hugged me.

Challenges and realizations

I didn’t make it as a successful actor. Life in New York was difficult in many ways. I couldn’t straddle the toughness needed for inevitable rejections alongside the vulnerability needed on stage. It didn’t feel stable, jumping into different roles.

But there were other negatives. Though it taught me about being present, the potential healing that comes from authentic sound, and connecting with others through story, there was something missing. The real fulfillment in acting was reaching other people’s hearts. Gifting them with a version of my heart through the character and the story. But there was no guarantee that the writing and directing would lead to a heart-to-heart connection or catharsis.

Cultivating healing and higher consciousness today

How can we cultivate that source of healing today? We tap into it when we create a painting, a story, a building, a song. We tap into it when we speak truth. This well of inspiration requires some introspection, but then it needs to be shared with others. For example, being inspired as an actor means little without an audience to share it with. Tapping into love as a teacher means little until we have students.

How do we continue to awaken to this source of empathy today?

Turning on the news can ignite a degree of compassion, but unfortunately, many feel the despair of the situation rather than the ability to transform the situation. Many convince themselves of the helplessness in today’s complex society.

I have come to understand “Faith” as the belief in the power of the love that runs through us to others. Unfortunately, this source of energy within often goes unmined, covered up by shame, unworthiness, fear. And once you trust the love in one moment, it’s easy to fall back into thought or ego. So how do you stay centered in the heart? And what about when others try to interfere with this process of inner connection and inspiration?

Find others who call you out when you fall back into ego.
And find others who make space for your inspiration.
Find a way to do something with your inspiration that uplifts others.

A community of upliftment and higher consciousness

This is what I find at Jenuine Healing: an energy for inspiration, as well as a community of souls who want to uplift humanity and transcend ego. It’s a rare space where emotional and mental titillations are secondary to truth and higher consciousness. And it’s a lot of work.

But I see the vibrations of the world are changing as more and more of us tap into “heart energy,” the energy of higher consciousness. As more people operate in this field of love and truth, the whole playing field of life changes. The vibrations are raised. It becomes easier to speak truth and take creative risks. And in this awakened space of heart energy, those who have taken from others, have less ability to hide their transgressions. When the vibrations are higher, nefarious intentions are easier to see. It’s like the rotten eggs floating to the top in a bucket of pristine water.

There are souls who are consciously working to bring higher vibrations into the world. Jen Ward and Marvin Schneider are two souls raising consciousness on the planet. Jen has been working tirelessly for over 15 years moving what she calls “stagnant energy” through her energy work and the SFT tapping she created. For years, she has sent out SFT taps to people to help them raise consciousness by dissipating nefarious energies. She’s done thousands of healing sessions for individuals to help them remove blockages to their own empowerment. Marvin is the balance to Jen’s healing energy, and through his integrity and genius in his own right, brings structure to their community.

The effect of their work and synergy is like truth serum dropped into society. In other words, higher consciousness has a way of revealing the ugly bits of society. It may look messy in the world right now, but we are seeing what has been hidden for eons. We see people who have acted unfairly being called out on their misdeeds and transgressions.

There is now more room for you, your creativity, your own catharsis, and to safely speak truth.

You can be one of these souls who raises consciousness on the planet too. You can cultivate your empowerment, move the blockages that have been preventing you from deep catharsis or healing. If you are reading this, chances are good you have come to a place in your incarnations when there is nothing else to do except help raise the vibration.