Mark Matousek – Writing To Heal

$275.00$1,497.00 (-82%)

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Throughout the 9-months, you will learn how to use writing to safely unearth and work through the parts of your history (and the present moments) that bring you the most pain – freeing yourself from these inner wounds and allowing yourself to embrace life with greater joy and gratitude.

 

Author: Mark Matousek

 

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Mark Matousek – Writing To Heal

Mark Matousek - Writing To Heal

Check it out: Mark Matousek – Writing To Heal

The wound is the place where the light enters you.
– Rumi
Have you struggled to release or heal some of your darkest corners of shame, pain or grief? Have you felt these areas are holding you back from living life to its fullest?

The good news is that your wounds can become the source of your greatest gifts. Places where you have been broken, faced trauma or loss can become wellsprings of strength, resilience and wisdom – after you have fully integrated them.

With enough awareness, courage, and love, you can find the blessings in your pain and access the power trapped inside your most defended parts. This writing process becomes a curriculum in self-realization. Your wounds can provide the doorway to spiritual awakening, making you a conduit for grace, healing and transformation to enter the world.

In the immortal lyrics of Leonard Cohen, “Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. It’s where the light gets in.”

Most of us have areas of unresolved wounding or closely guarded secrets, partially because it can feel unsafe to air the full messiness of our emotions. This is a prerequisite, though, to awakening and to discovering the blessings within our wounds.

When we choose to stuff our feelings and truths down deep, we can poison the rest of our lives, and act out in unconscious, addictive or sabotaging ways. In the recovery community, there is a saying that “you are only as sick as your secrets.” Bringing your secrets and authentic truths to the surface is a key to well-being and reaching our full potential.

If you haven’t experienced wounding in dramatic ways from devastating loss or pain, you may think that there are those who are wounded, and then there is you. But the truth is we all have wounds. They are part of the the human condition. And they can manifest in many ways – your insecurities, your limiting beliefs, your challenged relationships, or issues with anxiety and depression.

Not only do we all have wounds, but we also have aspects to our identities that are lived out in shadow. And yet, these forbidden parts contain essential elements of our true nature. They hold wisdom, energy, creativity and power – and need to be brought into the light so we can be free and whole. Actors often prefer to play dark, complex or tortured characters because there is more juice, aliveness, and liberation that comes when they give these shadow parts a voice.

But how do you make this journey into your personal wounds, secrets and shadows safe? And how do you not get stuck in old stories or loops but genuinely free yourself?

A practice of deep, transformative writing is one of THE most powerful ways to release and transform your past and find the blessings in what you once saw as burdens.

There is powerful science demonstrating that, for instance, when people write about the loss of a job, they get rehired FAR faster. The same is true of divorces, deaths and many other areas of wounding.

The practice of writing is also very safe. Even safer than sharing with a trusted friend or therapist. It allows you to express in voices that might otherwise be taboo. You can vent. You can rage. You can feel self-pity. You can allow yourself the full spectrum in a space of total confidentiality.

And then, after the raw, naked truth is on the page or screen, you will start to feel freer. Lighter. More whole. More capable of seeing the treasure that was held in the tragedies. More aware of your deeper insights and a higher vantage point on your life.

However, this journey is not simple or easy to take. Defenses and fears come up. Resistance. Distractions. Much of your conscious identity has been created to protect yourself from the broken and hurt places. Thus, it is important to enter into a transformational practice of writing that is guided and supported by a teacher and a community of fellow explorers who can – in their own vulnerability and compassion – give permission for you to do the same.

In Writing to Heal, you have an unprecedented opportunity to enter into a powerful, 9-month journey to birth a more healed and whole version of yourself, one in which you have alchemically transformed your darker places into gold.

It takes 9 months to gestate a baby, so why not give yourself the time, space and community of support to help you with deep healing and self-inquiry? You’ll discover a new and freer you – one who has learned the deepest lessons from challenges and turned your tragedies into triumphs?

During Writing to Heal, you will have the time and space to fully open to your sacred depths and develop a powerful, transformative writing practice that expands your mind, heals your heart, deepens your relationships – and frees your soul.

Writing for Liberation
Exploring your unsanitized emotions, uncensored thoughts and most challenging life experiences in a safe way will be a profoundly liberating experience. You will learn to open to more of yourself, love parts you once found unlovable, heal past hurts – and even access the highest states of consciousness connected to spiritual awakening.

It’s a pathway that leads into deeper and more trusting intimacy, enhanced creativity, and more powerful manifestation in the world.

On the other hand, if you don’t know how to foster a truly transformative approach to writing, you can dredge up your history in a way that leads you to get stuck in emotional ruts, feed negative thinking and cycle through old stories in ways that leave you frustrated.

The difference between that and writing as a path of healing and liberation, lies in treating it as an actual transformational practice – one that is every bit as potent as meditation, prayer or yoga. In fact, writing can help free areas of yourself that most conventional spiritual practices never touch.

When you start to see your writing as a sacred tool for enlightenment, and understand why and how you have held yourself back, that’s when true power is realized.

You can use the Writing to Heal program to embrace your shadows and mine them for their blessings – while expanding the depths of love and compassion.

By the end of the journey, you will be able to access more and more of your unique gifts. This can have profound affects on your public identity and career because people respond more powerfully to someone who is clear, integrated and whole.

When you know yourself fully, you become more heartfelt, insightful, truthful, funny and creative. You’re not imprisoned by the past, but are able to relate from your depths. And others find that truly compelling.

Writing to Heal will take you into the deepest, darkest, and brightest parts of yourself – to experience a kind of liberated wholeness, which is the ultimate goal of a transformational practice.

The Importance of a Master Guide
As with any genuine spiritual inquiry, it is vital to have a master guide – one who knows the territory and the actual sequence of practice – far better than you do. A master guide can keep you on track, and help you avoid the many pitfalls that emerge when healing through writing.

Fortunately, you have such a guide available to you for the 9-month Writing to Heal program. Over the last three decades, Mark Matousek has become one of the world’s foremost chroniclers of the spiritual path – as an author (of the bestselling Sex Death Enlightenment), journalist (for publications, such as The New Yorker and O), collaborator (on seminal books like the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) and editor.

Mark began his practice of writing to metabolize some early losses and traumas in his own life. While it started as his personal survival mechanism, it eventually became clear he could turn it into a gift for others.

He now has a lifetime of experience going into dark places with people, holding their hand, showing them that they will find creative, spiritual dividends from the exploration. You will not find a wiser and more compassionate guide to take you through the painful spots you thought you could never face.

Mark is also a master of language and, more importantly, a genius at marrying the depth of spiritual practice with the practice of writing. He is a dynamic, funny, self-revealing and profound teacher, who will be sharing the practices and disciplines that make for a liberating, life-long practice of writing.

In Writing to Heal, he will take you on a carefully designed journey through nine month-long modules that allow you to explore the unknown depths within you in order to help free you from old limitations, stories, traumas and fears. And not only will you get Mark’s teachings, practices and group guidance, EVERY participant will get his direct, personal input and feedback on something that you write during the process. This level of personalized attention is invaluable.

In addition, Mark has invited nine fellow travelers of this path, who have transformed tragedies of the past through writing – and turned them into real gifts for the world. Each monthly module will include time with one of these inspiring pioneers, learning from their example and insights as well.

We can assure you that you will be in exceptionally compassionate and skillful hands for your path of healing through writing.

How You Will Benefit from Writing to Heal
Throughout the 9-months, you will learn how to use writing to safely unearth and work through the parts of your history (and the present moments) that bring you the most pain – freeing yourself from these inner wounds and allowing yourself to embrace life with greater joy and gratitude.

Each LIVE training session will build harmoniously upon the next, so that you’ll develop a complete, holistic understanding of the practices and principles you’ll need to use writing as a path to healing.

One of Mark’s gifts is his ability to help others use writing to discover the gems within the very part of themselves that have been most shielded by pain or shame. Mark is a brilliant writer, profound teacher and humble heart-friend who delights in sharing this approach to profound healing – and who has practiced it himself successfully for decades.

If you are truly ready to dive into transforming the pain of your inner wounds into blessings that can fill your life with a richness you have until now only imagined, this 9-month odyssey with Mark Matousek is the perfect experiential program for you.

Each of the 9 modules will last 1-month, with 2 teaching classes per month and one “Real Life Inspiration” session – where Mark will have dialogue with a guest on aspects of the healing process through writing.

The main teaching sessions will air live from 5-6:30 PM US Pacific time / 8-9:30 pm Eastern time on Tuesdays. Even if you cannot make the live calls, you can still access the recordings and get the full benefit of this intensive.

You’ll emerge with:

  • Healing from some of your most challenging past circumstances and wounds
  • A connection to the deeper gifts your pain has brought you – and insights on how to use them for transformation
  • Increased resiliency to deal with challenge and struggle
  • More powerful daily connection to your truth and power
  • Enhanced joy and freedom through the deepening of emotional expression
  • A wider angle lens on your “life myth” and a clearer understanding of who you are beyond “story” and limiting beliefs
  • An inner refuge that you can turn to for clarity, wisdom and council
  • Release from shame about your shadow (and understanding of its purpose)
  • Acceptance of your secret passions and fears
  • Increased understanding of your authentic desires – and discernment about where fear is blocking them.
  • A more profound understanding of your personal source of meaning and purpose
  • Greater capacity to access your soul’s power to love
  • Expanded access to your personal and creative genius
  • Enhanced ability to discern the ego’s voice from your soul voice
  • Deepened ability to express your innate gifts in the world

Mark Matousek is a phenomenal teacher. He has found a way to live by listening, by going to the darkest and most beautiful places, and gratefully he takes us with him. His illuminating insights and enduring lessons help to make the impossible, transformational. I love his work!
– Eve Ensler, Renowned Playwright and Author of the Vagina Monologues

Module One: Touching the Wound (Begins April 8)

In this month, you’ll look at the questions: Where do feel the most pain in your life? What is the center of your wound? We’ll begin by creating a safe container, and you’ll learn to locate your most vulnerable parts – becoming acquainted with the landscape of your losses, fears, and limitations. You will learn how to:

Tell the truth about your pain
Isolate the source of suffering and its effects on your life
Free the voice of emotion
Tend to your particular pain
Understand the value of limitations
Module Two: Exposing the Shadow (May)

The wounds are nestled in shadow. Hiding the truth under cover of darkness, the wound wants exposure to the light. This month, you will illuminate your vulnerable parts, bringing more awareness, understanding and acceptance to them. In turn, this releases fresh energy throughout your life. You will learn to:

Overcome shame towards your shadow
Reflect on parts of yourself you deny
Stop hiding behind your pain
Become intimate with your own damage
Cull the shadow’s hidden treasures
Module Three: Realizing the Gift (June)

Your wounds are not burdens, but actual engines of awakening. You may not yet see it, but often, your gifts hide in plain sight. This month, you will be guided to explore and connect with the hidden power latent in your “broken parts,” and emerge with the gift that is yours.

You will learn to:

Use the gift as a tool for self-healing
Enter the “fruitful darkness”
Turn the gift toward self-realization
Grasp the power of paradox
Change your wounding story
Module Four: Facing Resistance (July)

As you’ll discover, your greatest gift is guarded by adversaries. As you move forward on your path – fear, anger and doubt rise up alongside awakening. This is the paradoxical truth that this month will help you hold. Knowing it is the source of healing. In this module, you will learn to:

Confront your adversaries as difficult friends, not strangers
Tap the inverted power of anger
Weaken fear through open awareness
Stop resisting adversity
Practice comfort in moments of discomfort
Module Five: Piercing the Myth (August)

Moving out of the last module, your internal (and external) adversaries force you to face your story. In this month we look at: What is the nature of your life myth? Your memory is unreliable; as research shows, we “remember” things that never happened. And those that did happen are clothed in fiction. This month, you will learn to:

See where your story diverges from reality
Discern in what ways you are blind to yourself
Step outside of the fiction you’re telling
Reinvent this fiction over time
Gain authenticity and well-being
Module Six: Transforming Pain (September)

When you tell the truth, your story changes. As your story changes, pain is transformed – and your life is transformed. This month, we look at the metamorphic, protean nature of personal reality. You will learn to:

Become comfortable with life’s messes
Connect vulnerability with strength
Transform pain from suffering to wisdom
Be tender with your wounded parts
Accept the trauma of everyday life
Module Seven: Seeing With New Eyes (October)

As survivors, we see with new eyes. Having passed through darkness, we’re wide awake. We realize that our lives are always beginning; that untended wounds freeze us in place; awakened wounds enlighten us. That will be our focus this month. You will learn to:

Harvest the gifts of survivorship
Use limitation as a strength
Establish a beginner’s mind practice
Savor the ever expanding view
Dwell in gratitude each day
Module Eight: Stabilizing the View (November)

The powers of habit are deeply conditioned. In order to balance this new way of seeing, mindfulness is necessary. This month, we investigate mindfulness as a tuning fork that harmonizes with the awakened self. You will learn to:

Stabilize emotion using mindfulness
Practice mindfulness off the meditation cushion
Catch ourselves short when old patterns appear
Use the body as a self-tuning instrument
Practice openness to the view
Module Nine: Expanding the Circle (December)

The awakened self wants to pay its gifts forward. The wounded healer wants to share. Every wound yields its own medicine, its own particular kickback of power. This month, we look at the ways that you can use this power to improve your life and the welfare of others. You will learn to:

Use the wound as medicine
Put that medicine to the service of love
Bless the gift of the wound
Use pain as a bridge for connecting to others
Know yourself, finally, as unharmed
The Writing to Heal Bonus Collection
In addition to Mark Matousek’s transformative 9-month program, you’ll also receive these powerful bonus trainings with some of the world’s leading teachers and authors – to complement your journey and deepen your understanding and transformation.

Fear and the Shadow
Audio Dialogue with Mark and Thomas Moore

We cannot harvest the gift of the wound without the courage to face the shadow. Mark will talk to the author of Care of the Soul about how to overcome fear of our dark parts, and why they’re indispensable to the cultivation of soul.

Thomas Moore is the author of the bestselling book Care of the Soul and ?fteen other books on deepening spirituality and cultivating soul in every aspect of life. He has been a monk, a musician, a university professor and a psychotherapist – and today he lectures widely on holistic medicine, spirituality, psychotherapy and the arts. He lectures frequently in Ireland and has a special love of Irish culture. He has a Ph. D. in religion from Syracuse University and has won several awards for his work, including an honorary doctorate from Lesley University and the Humanitarian Award from Einstein Medical School of Yeshiva University. Three of his books have won the prestigious Books for a Better Life awards.

Transforming Pain into Joy
Audio Dialogue with Mark and Tara Brach

Transformation is an alchemical process. The ability to touch the wound and draw on it as medicine is key to this process. Mark will talk to the author of Radical Acceptance about how to transform pain into joy as an everyday spiritual practice.

Tara Brach, Ph. D., is a clinical psychologist, lecturer and popular teacher of Buddhist mindfulness (vipassana) meditation. She is author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha and True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart. Tara is founder and senior teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, and teaches meditation at centers throughout the United States. Bringing together her understanding of Buddhist and western psychology, she has offered keynote speeches and workshops for mental health practitioners at numerous professional conferences.

The Paradox of Memory
Audio Dialogue with Mark and Ellen Bass

While we may feel them in the present moment, our wounds exist mostly in memory. Yet memory is unreliable. Mark will talk to the acclaimed poet and author of The Courage to Heal about how memory conspires with pain to keep us stuck in the past.

Poet and teacher Ellen Bass grew up in New Jersey. She earned an MA in creative writing from Boston University, where she studied with Anne Sexton. Bass’s collections of poetry include Mules of Love, which won the Lambda Literary Award; The Human Line, named a Notable Book by the San Francisco Chronicle; and Like a Beggar. She helped edit the feminist poetry anthology No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women. Bass’s honors and awards include a Pushcart Prize, a Pablo Neruda Prize, a Larry Levis Reading Prize, and a New Letters Literary Prize. She teaches in the MFA program at Pacific University and lives in Santa Cruz, California.

When You’re Falling, Dive
Audiobook, Read by Mark Matousek

Do survivors of life’s greatest trials possess a secret knowledge? Why do some people blossom through adversity while others fall apart? What mysterious power gets us back on our feet after we’ve been knocked down? The answer: viriditas, the power of drawing passion, beauty and wisdom from the unlikeliest places.

In When You’re Falling, Dive, Mark examines this remarkable phenomenon. Seeking advice from well-known survivors such as Joan Didion, Elie Wiesel and Isabel Allende, as well as philosophical experts like Eckhart Tolle, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Sogyal Rinpoche, he brings 25 years of personal experience to the paradoxical question of how disaster can be used to awaken and transform us.

From a Sudanese boy slave kidnapped at the age of seven, to a Tibetan nun imprisoned by Chinese militia, to the heroic women of Calama, Chile, who continued digging for their “disappeared” relatives following Pinochet’s Caravan of Death, Matousek sifts through extraordinary testimonials – as well as recent breakthroughs in neuroscience – to demonstrate that we are, in fact, hardwired to evolve and adapt when faced with the impossible. It is humbling, yet inspiring, to be reminded that in our frailty rests the key to our greatest strength.

Join the Global Community

The Writing to Heal programis not only the most advanced form of online training currently available, it’s also a thriving global community of learning and practice.

Join your fellow students and practitioners from across the world in the live interactive conference calls and in our online Facebook community – to support and learn from each other while you transform your life through writing.

This international community is also at the leading edge of a global movement of people who are committed to manifesting a better world for all beings. This emerging planetary movement is rooted in an open heart and stands for the principles of mutual support, cooperation, harmony and reverence for all of life.

What You Receive

Eighteen 90-Minute LIVE Teaching Sessions with Mark Matousek (2 per Month)

Experience a rare opportunity to be mentored by and learn with one of the world’s most renowned writing teachers from the comfort of your own home. Each live class session helps you create the specific practices and abilities to tap into and transform your inner wounds through writing, as well as question-and-answer time. Live sessions are on Tuesdays at 5:00pm Pacific.

Nine LIVE “Real Life Inspiration” Sessions with Mark and Special Guests (1 per month)

In these sessions, Mark will be joined by a special guest who has healed through writing – and they will discuss the work you are doing, as well as answer your questions about your own journey.

Personal Writing Feedback from Mark Matousek

During the program, Mark will personally read and offer reflection on at least one of your writing pieces. This in-depth connection and feedback will be invaluable on your path and support your deeper healing and growth.

Twenty-Seven 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions

Following each class session, there will be a live 30-minute interactive practice session, where you will be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the conference call – to interact, share and do additional practices to help further integrate the weekly lessons.

Audio Recordings of Each Class Session

After each live class, the audio will be available to you to download in high quality MP3 format. This way, you’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere on your iPod, in your car – and at your convenience.

PDF Transcripts of Each Class Session

In addition to the high quality MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription in PDF format after each session is completed. This way you can review, print and highlight the most important insights and practices that you’ll learn.

Online Community

Our exclusive online Facebook community is the perfect place to continue your learning after each class. Here, you can ask additional questions, interact with your fellow students and get access to additional resources to take your learning experience to an even deeper level.

The Writing to Heal Bonus Collection

Fear and the Shadow
Audio Dialogue with Mark and Thomas Moore
Transforming Pain into Joy
Audio Dialogue with Mark and Tara Brach
The Paradox of Memory
Audio Dialogue with Mark and Ellen Bass
When You’re Falling, Dive
Audiobook, Read by Mark Matousek
An Unprecedented Opportunity for Writing to Heal
We at The Shift Network feel deeply honored that Mark has chosen to partner with us on his first LIVE online 9-month program. As you may know, this is a rare opportunity to learn directly from an award-winning author and teacher – and connect with a global community of like minds and hearts who are doing this important and transformative inner work.

Through this powerful LIVE online format, you’ll not only save time and money on retreat costs (plus travel, accommodations and meals – which would cost thousands of dollars). But you’ll also benefit from Mark’s incredible teachings and transmission from the comfort of your home – at your own pace!

About Mark Matousek…

Mark is a bestselling author, teacher and speaker whose work focuses on personal awakening and creative excellence through self-inquiry and life writing. He is an award-winning author of five books, and worked with Sogyal Rinpoche on The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and collaborated with Andrew Harvey on Dialogues with a Modern Mystic. His first book published in 1996, Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story, became an international bestseller published in 10 countries and was nominated for two Books for a Better Life Awards.

A featured blogger for Psychology Today, Purple Clover, Huffington Post, he has contributed to numerous anthologies and publications including The New Yorker, O: The Oprah Magazine (contributing editor), The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Yoga Journal, Details, The Saturday Evening Post, AARP, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and many others.

Mark is on the faculty of the The Omega Institute and The New York Open Center, teaches transformational writing workshops around the U.S. and in Europe, and is the Creative Director of V-Men (with Eve Ensler), an organization devoted to ending violence against women and girls.

He brings three decades of experience as a memoirist, editor, interviewer, survivor, activist and spiritual seeker to his penetrating and thought provoking work with students. His workshops, classes and mentoring have inspired thousands of people around the world to reach their artistic and personal goals and transform their lives.

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Mark Matousek - Writing To Heal

Mark Matousek - Writing To Heal

$275.00$1,497.00 (-82%)

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