Please print this lifeletter if you can. It is meant to be held in your hand.

Dear friends:
This lifeletter is an introduction to the whole process of evolution and transformation, as I have engaged in it and witnessed it over a lifetime. This lifeletter is a bit longer than usual, even though I’ve made this description quite short and simple. I’ve used ‘aphorisms’ or compressed statements that can be expanded and unfolded by each one of you as you read this. 

I’ve spoken of our evolution in the context of coaching as I have experienced it, and as I practice it, but of course it can also happen quite spontaneously.

There are a multitude of ways to approach this subject. This is one window into a vast realm. Looking through it may be helpful to some of you. I hope so.

‘And the day came when the risk to remain in the bud
became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.’ (Anais Nin)

Introduction

Barefoot Coaching is offered in these areas:
· Personal evolution
· Relationships
· Communication and Expression
· Non-dual spirituality
· Writing

Barefoot Coaching begins with a vision of you standing here with a foot in both worlds: the formless world of spirit, or Being, and the constantly evolving world of your humanity. To grow into the wholeness of your true nature is to learn how to embrace and honor both of these aspects.

I’m a coach who engages you, my client, in a process of deep learning, where all of you gets involved-body, mind, emotions and spirit. I have had over 20 years of experience in supporting your ‘evolutionary impulse’ the natural movement in you toward wholeness, freedom and integrity. I’m interested in helping people evolve, heal and awaken in new and surprising ways right now.

This process carries us beyond problem solving, to a place where we can all participate fully in life, and in creating a future that allows us to take care of each other and our planet.

The power of willingness
It’s amazing how much power there is in just being willing. One of the first questions to ask yourself as you prepare for this coaching journey is “Am I willing to transform?” This is a very important question. You don’t have to know how to transform. There is nothing you need to figure out. All you need is the willingness. One of my clients put it this way:

the no came
when i believed
i’m to blame
for my pain
and the angels said,
“we are, we are,
willing to love”

and the yes
isn’t to happiness
or to bliss
but the power to
hold out my hand
to my wholeness
i am, i am,
willing to love…

Mutuality
From our very first session we meet as equals. I sometimes call this way of being together ‘mutuality.’ It means that I am not standing above you, as some expert who knows more than you. I am also growing, evolving and facing my own challenges. I do not look at you and see someone separate from me who needs my help. When I look at you I see your true nature- whole, complete and free.  I know, deep in my heart, that each being on earth has the resources they need in order to meet whatever life brings them.

Your Identity System
I’m also aware of what obstructs this experience of your true self. This is your ‘identity system’-all the thoughts, fixations, and beliefs that confine you to a limited, narrow identity and way of being.

It is this unexamined identity system that interferes with the wholeness of your natural state, and your ability to function freely and effectively. As we work together, you will learn how to slow down, relax, and take a good look at what is really going on inside you. This is the first thing I offer you as your coach: a wide open space in which you can observe, inquire, and express yourself fully. This way of being together is full of curiosity, discovery and acceptance. In the freedom of this place without judgment, you’ll discover how you have been constructing your own experience, through the thoughts and beliefs of your identity system.

Here is a brief outline of the different aspects of our work together. We may engage in all of them, or just a few, whenever they feel appropriate.

Communication
There is great magic and transformative power in learning how to communicate fully and freely. Authentic expression clears the mind and heart, releases hidden patterns of blame and judgment, and reveals profound wisdom and insight. Most of us withhold our free expression. We are afraid of being judged, blamed, or misunderstood. Sometimes we feel things inside us, but do not know how to express them. 

A great deal of our suffering comes from incomplete communication. As I ask you questions and you respond, your authentic voice begins to emerge. You discover what it is you really want, and what has been holding you back. As patterns of withholding are released, new energy awakens and flows through you.  And you are able to bring many unresolved issues in your life to completion.

You also discover that while it seems as if your language describes your world, your language actually creates your world. It’s quite a radical shift to consider that your language is what brings your world into being.  Moving from a language based on judgments, fixations, and blame opens the heart and awakens a profound ability to accept life as it is and yourself as you are.

“Amazing transformations are happening, working with you. I feel very connected to spirit.”
Val, Nelson, BC

Awareness and Acceptance
Cultivating an open, non-judging, present-centered awareness is at the core of Barefoot Coaching. The more you have access to this kind of awareness, the more you can release your identity system and rest in your true self. You begin to see that what creates suffering and stress is not your experience, but your thoughts and beliefs about your experience. Instead of letting thoughts and beliefs flow through you, your identity system attaches to them, and they are replicated in the body. For every thought that we fixate on, there is an immediate feeling response in the body. And that feeling reinforces each thought, giving it more energy and power. No wonder our thoughts and beliefs seem so real!

As you learn to rest in the natural openness of your awareness, this closed loop of suffering starts to dissolve. The ground of all transformation is the willingness to accept yourself and your experience exactly as it is. Our resistance to ourselves and to life is what holds our conflicts and struggles in place. As you open to and accept each moment as it is, you have tremendous space and clarity in which to question what your mind is telling you.

Clearing the Field of Your Intention
Opening up your awareness, and expressing yourself fully allow you to move into the next stage-clearing the field of your intention. This part of the process helps you embrace all the polarities and ‘competing commitments’ in your mind. It allows you to look at your intention in a much deeper way, and come to terms with the polarized energies that often operate below the level of your conscious awareness.

Much of the time, our conditioned mind has its own agenda. It is looking for approval, security, safety and control. The process of inquiry allows you to investigate the nature of these conditioned needs, and realize that they are based on ideas and beliefs that come from your childhood. Releasing these needs allows you to align with intentions and a living vision that come from your deepest self.

“As our sessions went by, I began to take major steps in my life that are now leading me down a whole new path that I know is true to my soul.”
Trevor Thibodeau, Castlegar, BC

Inquiry
Learning how to truly inquire into your thoughts, beliefs and fixations will liberate you, bit by bit, from the grip of your identity system. You’ll begin to awaken from the trance of your mind into the beauty and power of who you really are- your unconditioned awareness.

Inquiry reveals your evolutionary impulse, that aspect of your being that longs to grow, learn, expand and evolve. The whole universe is evolving, and you are not separate from that evolutionary force. Inquiry lets you discover the questions that are part of your particular journey. You learn to ask these questions from the heart, and live with them as your life reveals the answers.

Asking and Receiving
Once we realize that our little me is not in control of the universe, we are much more adept at asking for help. Learning to ask in a genuine way for help is a huge part of our unfolding. As we learn to ask, from our hearts, without demanding or insisting, we also learn how to receive. Then we begin to touch an experience of unconditional gratitude, a whole new way of relating to life itself. We realize how friendly the universe really is, and that our allies are everywhere.

Body and Energy
All of the work we do together is grounded in the immediate experience of your body and energy. In deep learning, we learn with much more than the intellect- our whole being participates. On one level, this experience is all about coming home to the simplicity and peace of life lived in the body and heart, instead of in the conditioned mind.

Learning to breathe, feel, and awaken the free flow of your life force is an essential part of this process. The skillful means we use include the emotional freedom technique, the Bach flowers, amino acids and supplements, yoga, chi-gung and the full body breath.

“Thank you for today’s session. What you told me today was very powerful, I feel blessed.”
Curtis Lamay, Vancouver, BC

Inner Choice
One way of understanding our evolution is that we are simply learning to grow up, to discover what it means to be fully human. And an integral part of this learning is about taking responsibility. In order to live a dynamic, creative life, we must reach the point where we realize that no circumstance or situation is more powerful than we are. We are not victims, because we always have the power of our inner choice. Becoming aware of our choice points can radically alter our whole experience of life.

Fundamental Choice
This whole process brings you to the point where you realize that you can make a fundamental choice about how you want to live, and who you want to be. Most of the time, when you are struggling with issues of willpower, it’s because you have not yet made a fundamental choice. This choice happens as you discover for yourself what really matters to you- what the most important thing is in your life.

Living in the Heart
Finding out what really matters to you reveals a profound caring and connection with your fellow human beings. It moves you from the isolation and separation of the conditioned mind into a life of courage, compassion and creativity, lived in the heart, the essence of who you are. I call this the experience of your basic sanity, or basic goodness. This is who you are when you are not trying to be anything, just resting in your natural state.

The heart is not what we think it is. It is actually a centre of profound intelligence and power. Learning to trust and follow our heart wisdom opens us to a flow of discriminating wisdom that sustains, nourishes and guides us.

Taking Action
“When you are ready, truly ready to be all that you are, there is no stopping it. Life will offer you every opportunity.” (Adya Shanti)

Most of us wait until we feel ready before we take action, before we respond to what is really calling us.  Barefoot Coaching helps you recognize that the time for waiting is over. You don’t have to wait until you are perfect. Your gifts and abilities are enough; who you are is enough.

We are often called on to do that which we do not know how to do. This is a natural part of our evolution. You don’t have to wait until you know how to take the next step. You just have to be willing to take it.  Your true nature is deeply, inherently, creative. You do not have to wait any longer to participate fully in life.

“Shayla has a multi-level gift.  She brings clarity, spiritual understanding, and with these an absolute ability to work in a grounded way with measurable and intelligent outcomes.”
Bill Moore, Nelson, BC

Barefoot Journeys
Spring 2007

Numerology and Human Design Readings
In person and by phone.
“There are so many times in our lives when we feel at the crossroads, be they dirt trails or major highways...Thank you Shayla for helping me read the road signs.”
Lois Warthe, Nelson BC March 07

The Heart of Communication 6 week course
The transforming power of authentic connection
Tues. April 24-May 29 @ Shayla’s Home Studio, Nelson BC
7-9pm
The Heart of Communication offers you a practice that releases fear, opens the heart and allows you to express yourself with freedom, clarity and integrity.
Register soon-this course is almost full.

The Mind Clearing Heart Opening 6 week coaching program
Mon. April 23-June 4 @ Shayla’s Home Studio, Nelson BC
7-9pm
The program is an integral approach that works on all levels of your being: physical, energetic, mental, emotional and spiritual. It is flexible and adaptable, and is designed according to the specific needs of each person who engages in it. I am offering it right now, because the spring season is an optimal time of year to do this. During the spring, the energies around you and within you move naturally in the direction of clearing, renewing and awakening.

The Alchemy of Writing 6 week course at Oxygen Art Centre, Nelson BC
Thurs. April 19-May 24
7-9:30pm
This course will be an exploration of the connection between creativity and spirituality-inviting the force of creativity into our life and our being. No previous writing experience necessary.
“I had no expectations. But it surpassed my wildest dreams. I have a lifetime of material to work with now.” Jan Formby April 07

The Gift of Presence Evening Retreat
Friday April 27 @ Shayla’s Home Studio
6:30-9:30
“As I was walking home I felt very alive and liberated. I was making eye contact with people on the street and I was aware it was so much more than just that - it was my heart center extending itself through my eyes and connecting with others.” Tim Barber, April 07

For more info, or to register for these courses, visit my website at http://www.barefootjourneys.net Or call me at 250.352.7908, or 866.795.4968. If you would like me to come to your town or city and do a workshop or retreat, give me a call or email me.

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