Hi guys,

I had an amazing experience today which I wanted to share with you. We received our electricity bill for our house a week ago and it came in at £677 for the past 3 months. My flatmate Marina came to me and shared with me that she thinks it would be fair if I’d pay more towards the electricity bill than my two flatmates due to the fact that I work from home and use up more electricity than the others due to my laptop and me having the heater on during work. She didn’t say how much she would think it is fair for me to pay, she said pay what you think is fair and that I should consider paying more not because of her opinion but because of my personal development and being fair.
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A few weekends ago, we did “The Freedom to be Yourself” and  ”The Freedom to Breathe” seminars with Ariel & Shya Kane the Thursday before.  It was simply amazing. It was sweet and soft and fun and flowing and easy.

For a while now, life feels so good and it feels good no matter what the circumstances are. It certainly hasn’t been the case for most of my life. Nothing, including myself, was ever enough or perfect from my point of view, which is very different these days. Now, everything is enough and perfect and impeccable and it includes learning new things, expanding and looking…
I’m more “HERE“ and in this moment I don’t  work on myself, doubt myself or pick on myself when I think I forgot something or made a mistake.  And there’s very little resistance to the way my life is showing up; it doesn’t matter if what shows up is my preference or not. (more…)

Hi Guys,

I have just spent 2 amazing days in London with my work mates who are based up in Scotland and who came down to London for our “team cultural away days”. The trip was paid by our 2 bosses who said it was a reward for the great work we’ve been doing. We stayed at the famous 5 star hotel “The Ritz” and had amazing lunch there, then our company hired a professional choreographer only for us and we learned to dance to Rihanna’s “I’m the only girl in the world” song. In the evening we went to a comedy store and watched stand up comedy. The following day we hired a studio and a private drum instructor who showed us how to drum to samba tunes and we finished our trip by having “traditional afternoon tea” which is very british at the famous Savoy hotel in London. Here’s some videos of our trip and our team from the dancing and the drum sessions:
Dancing at Pineapple Studios
Samba Drumming Session

The reason I’m sharing this is not to show off but just to say that I would have never found this amazing company and job if I wouldn’t have learned from Ariel & Shya Kane, how to be “in the moment” and be a “yes” to life. I still remember that before Costa Rica 2010, I was not happy with the job I was in and thought “this wasn’t it” and a future job will be better! In Costa Rica I learned to be in the moment and to be a “yes” to life and that whereever I am and whatever I do is important. When I landed in NY on my way back to London from the Costa Rica trip in 2010, I had a text from a recruitment agency that was offering me a job for a gift voucher company. My first thought was “no” I don’t really want to work for a gift voucher company, it didn’t fit my agenda and didn’t “sound” good in my ears! However having learned to be in the moment in Costa Rica, I said yes and just showed up to the interview! The moment I met my Manager and I had the interview with her, I knew that this was an inspirational lady with an amazing job to offer and I wanted to work with her! It wasn’t about gift vouchers ie the product, it was all about this person (my manager) and what I could learn from her as she was so inspirational and she’s also into personal development and really cares about us employees and our personal development. I never had such an amazing feeling before where I just knew that this is the right job for me, it was as if my intuition said YES YES YES!!!
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I just took part in my first weekend workshop with the Kanes in Hamburg this past weekend. It was a truly amazing experience that radiated out into different areas of my life, and I’d like to share some of that with you.

I’m a teacher at a secondary school covering grades 5 to 12. I love my job, but I often find it quite exhausting and I’m stressed out a lot. In class, there are usually about a thousand things that you have to keep in mind, so mentally I often juggle several things simultaneously. A lot of the weekend, however, was about listening. Real listening. And on Monday I noticed how little actual listening there is at school. We all talk all day, every day – but listen? Hmmm.

So on Monday morning I listened to what my students had to say. Wow! A completely new experience that is hard to express, but I’ll give it shot: I was so much more relaxed and present in the moment. I didn’t do a thousand things at once, but instead I was there. No more, no less. And it felt like all of a sudden, I could breathe and let go and be there for my students. The atmosphere was much calmer and we ended up having so much fun together. I realized that finally, I get to pay attention to what really matters, i.e. my students. They also blossomed in a way. Up to that point, I had only experienced that effect in reverse, like when I brought my bad mood with me into class because the students in the class right before drove me up the wall and I didn’t manage to get rid of it, so the students of the next class were on the receiving end of something that wasn’t their fault at all. Yet this week it became clear that that’s not the only way it works; my calmness radiates in a way that changes everything. No, not changes – transforms (I still have to get used to the terminology).

This transformation is not limited to my job. Monday night I talked to my sister on the phone. We are very close, even though she lives close to Frankfurt, so we phone a lot. She is a teacher too, and a sizeable chunk of our conversations used to be taken up by a certain dynamic where she vents all the things that are annoying about her school/students/principal and then I join her by supplying examples from my own school (and believe me, there’s plenty of ground to cover – teachers are experts at complaining, after all). So Monday night, she complained about lots of things and I listened and realized that apparently, she needed to vent. And then – I realized that I didn’t have to join her in complaining. There wasn’t anything to complain about. Amazing!

All of this feels sooooo good. Relaxed and exciting at the same time. I’m itching to find out what else is happening in my life if I let it. This is thanks to the Kanes (as everybody who reads this will know and appreciate), but also thanks to the people at the workshop creating such an intense weekend full of profound conversations with wonderful people that still resonates with me in many ways.

Thanks!
A Teacher from Hamburg, Germany

Moin moin,

Ich habe am vergangenen Wochenende meinen ersten Wochenend-workshop mit den Kanes erlebt. Es war eine unglaublich tolle Erfahrung, die in die verschiedensten Bereiche meines Lebens strahlt und da Dinge bewegt, von denen ich einige mit euch teilen möchte.

Ich bin Lehrerin an einem Gymnasium. Ich liebe meinen Beruf, aber ich nehme ihn oft auch als extrem anstrengend wahr und bin meistens ziemlich gestresst. Im Unterricht sind ja oft tausend Dinge gleichzeitig zu regeln und im Blick zu behalten, so dass ich mental oft mehrere Dinge jongliere. Am Wochenende ging es ganz viel um Zuhören. Wirklich zuhören. Und am Montag ist mir aufgefallen, wie wenig wir in der Schule eigentlich zuhören. Wir reden den ganzen Tag, alle, aber zuhören? Hmmm.
Also hab ich am Montag früh mal zugehört, was meine Schüler zu sagen haben. Wahnsinn! Eine völlig neue Erfahrung, die ich schwer in Worte fassen kann, aber ich versuch’s mal: ich war so viel entspannter und einfach in dem Moment präsent und habe nicht mehr tausend Dinge auf einmal gemacht, sondern war da. Mehr nicht. Und es war auf einmal, als könnte ich durchatmen und loslassen und auf meine Schüler eingehen. Die Atmosphäre hat sich so entzerrt und wir hatten so viel Spaß zusammen ­ und ich hatte das Gefühl, dass ich endlich das in den Blick bekomme, was eigentlich wichtig ist: meine Schüler.

Die sind irgendwie auch aufgeblüht. Bisher kannte ich den Effekt so deutlich nur in der anderen Richtung, nämlich wenn ich schlechte Stimmung mit in die Klasse schleppe, weil mich der Kurs direkt vorher auf die Palme getrieben hat und ich das nicht in der Pause ablegen konnte, sondern es dann auch noch die nächste Klasse abgekriegt hat. Aber diese Woche wurde deutlich, dass es auch anders geht ­ dass meine eigene Gelassenheit so ausstrahlt, dass sich alles verändert. Nein, nicht verändert ­ transformiert (ich muss mich an die Begriffe noch gewöhnen).

Das ist auch nicht beschränkt auf den beruflichen Sektor. Am Montagabend habe ich mit meiner Schwester telefoniert. Wir haben sehr engen Kontakt, auch wenn sie bei Frankfurt wohnt, und telefonieren sehr häufig. Sie ist auch Lehrerin, und ein erklecklicher Teil unserer Telefonate bestand aus so einer Dynamik, dass sie sich bei mir auskotzt, was der Schulalltag ihr schon wieder alles an Arbeit beschert hat und wie unmöglich ihre Schulleitung ist, und ich dann beisteuere, was bei mir alles nervig war (und da gibt es im Schulalltag eine ganze Menge, schließlich sind wir Lehrer Weltmeister im Nörgeln). Am Montag hat sie sich also beschwert, über alles Mögliche, und ich habe ihr zugehört. Und gemerkt, dass sie das offensichtlich gerade alles mal loswerden muss. Und dann ­ habe ich gespürt, dass ich aber gar nicht darauf einsteigen muss. Es gab nichts zu nörgeln. Unglaublich!

All das fühlt sich so gut an. Entspannt und spannend gleichzeitig. Es juckt mich total in den Fingern, herauszufinden, was noch alles Magisches in meinem Leben passiert, wenn ich mich dafür öffne. Das verdanke ich den Kanes (wie allen klar ist, die das hier lesen), aber auch den anderen Leuten, die an dem Wochenende dabei waren, denn das intensive Wochenende mit so vielen tiefgehenden Kontakten zu wunderbaren Menschen klingt immer noch nach.

Danke!
Ein Lehrer von Hamburg

“It’s the greatest gift to learn how to take my attention off of myself and take care of others.”

- Andy Schneeflock, Actor/Acting & Creative Writing Teacher

“The License To Live with Ariel and Shya Kane was brilliant! I find that I am no longer lost in my thoughts of fear, worry and complaint. My days have been busier than ever and I am engaged and interested in all that comes my way. How can it be that my students are brilliant before we even finish the lesson? I notice that I’m not fighting with them in my thoughts. Because I am being gentle with myself I am able to be gentle with them. They get to shine and be brilliant and so do I. It feels easy and lovely. The Kanes are master teachers of the art of listening. If one truly listens then there is magic to be experienced everywhere.”

- Susan Finch, Voice and Speech Coach

“The weekend workshop with The Kanes, License to Live, was pure magic. The level of participation and aliveness in my life has become a joyous natural flow. I am, for the first time , experiencing what the Kanes describe as ‘living your life directly’. A foggy haze has been lifted and I am experiencing clarity, creativity, self trust and well being.”

- Ellen Jackson, Artist

Ariel & Shya discuss their upcoming video, “Vitamin See” (for release January 2011), and the powerful & transformational results that are possible when you see things without judging yourself or others for what you see.

Hi,

I have been traveling a lot in the past few weeks and I have a story about transformation. The night before I left for Hong Kong, I took a taxi home as I had several bags.  When I got to my apartment, the doorman helped me out and as I walked to the door, I turned to notice that my briefcase with all my work documents was not there.  I had left it in the taxi.   While this was minutes after I got dropped off, the taxi had already left our block. I was really upset.  I was leaving for Hong Kong and all my paperwork that I needed was gone.

I realized in that moment, I could be upset, really upset; however, I could also just be me.  I heard Ariel and Shya say (I parapharase), “You don’t have to lose your center when things happen that are not in your preference”.  So I walked upstairs, tried unsuccessfully to call the Taxi Commission and started dinner with my husband.  He was upset and wanted to help me find the bag, but I suggested we eat dinner and deal with the missing bag after.  (It was Hanukah and we also lit our menorah!).  As we watched the candles flickering, we were enjoying our dinner and the bell rang.  It was our doorman, the taxi driver found my bag and returned it to me!  It was a  Hanukah miracle!  But the real miracle was that I handled this situation without drama.  I had a very enjoyable evening.

Miss you all very much!

Best regards,
Corinne

Right now I’m in the Bavarian Forest and it’s a cold but crystal clear day outside (autumn is already in the air). I’m here in Lower Bavaria working as 1st Assistant Director for a new German movie. My job includes setting the shooting schedule, tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging all logistics on the set, while maintaining a working environment in which the director, the cameraman, the actors and crew can be focused on their work &  have fun doing it.
Right now I’m in the last preparation stages for this movie – we are starting to shoot in 6 days – and everything is amazingly different than it used to be at the movies during the last years. Though I still have lots of things to do, plan &  organize till next Wednesday, I’m really calm, very structured and get things done in nearly no time. Even the things that are still unclear don’t make me nervous and it really feels like this relaxedness of mine is like a spark jumping over to all my collegues and my director. Though huge obstacles for our movie appear every day out of nothing, we deal with them calmly and without fear and in a couple of hours we have a solution for these new challenges.

Love and thanks again,
Benedict

Dear friends around the world,

I’m wonderfully busy these weeks, with a lot of work and unexpected things coming in and up (I’m freelancing). This afternoon I realized that I was completely rushing through my day, trying to get things done.

I stopped the action and watched this week’s Premium Excellence Club mini video session: It’s about being where you are –  tailor-made for me

When I finished the video I was relaxed and… feeling hungry. Instead of eating while working I sat down and ate an apple, I think I never had such a delicious apple…

Transformation is a wonderful gift! Thank you all!

Much love,
Karin