The rewards of a holistic lifestyle are many and include greater balance and increased fulfillment.
Achieving it is a journey that forces you to release old habits and adopt new ones that move you in a more holistic direction.
On a day-to-day basis this journey may look like a series of small events, or peaks that bring you joy in the present moment followed by four more steps to wholeness.
Every once in a while, though, you get to experience big peaks. These are the ones that grab your attention with enough power to accelerate your journey as well as help you better navigate your small peaks along the way.
Fortunately Synchronicity’s 5-Fold Process can help you understand and flow with both the day to day peaks and the more dramatic ones.
Let’s take a look.
The 5-Fold Process Step 1: The Big Peak
Remember the last time you were at a powerful retreat or program? One that inspired and motivated you to do and be more?
You came away knowing you could be happier, or calmer or more productive than you ever thought possible.
And you couldn’t wait to tell everyone you know about your experience and all the changes you planned to make in order to transform your life.
An empowering event like this creates a peak experience, the first step of the 5-Fold Process.
It also gives you access to what’s possible in all three of your primary dimensions, physical, mental and emotional.
Physically you feel energized, emotionally you're happy and excited. And mentally you start to see potential for accomplishing things you never before thought were options.
You leave the event determined to get up early the next day and go for it.
What you have experienced is an expansion in your holistic awareness and an accelerated frequency of vibration.
It’s similar to what you may have experienced when you meditate.
Unfortunately, when your alarm rings the following morning, you may feel “reality” creeping back and wonder why it seems like nothing has really changed.
You still have to get out of bed, eat breakfast, load your dishwasher and continue with your daily life whether that means going to work, taking children to soccer practice, or researching stats for the new computer you desperately need to buy.
So you get up, pour yourself a cup of coffee and try to figure out what happened. Where did the excitement go? And where is all that energy for change you experienced during your big event?
The 5-Fold Process Step 2: Evolution
It's easy at this point to get discouraged and decide that what seemed like a breakthrough after the big peak was actually an illusion.
Still, if you listen closely, you may hear an inner voice that invites you to take another look, make a few small changes and see what happens.
Maybe you choose to meditate three times a week instead of just once. Or you eat healthier twice a week choosing fresh organic food instead of going to a restaurant or eating day-old leftovers.
You discover that your day is easier when you listen to positive affirmations or uplifting music on your way to work rather than talk shows.
When you commit to holistic diet and lifestyle changes like these, your balance increases along with access to your subtle dimensions, the home of intuition and inner guidance.
Beginning to implement these changes is Step Two in the 5-fold process, called Evolution. You recognize you can experience greater self awareness and a more holistic lifestyle, and are motivated to make the changes that will let you enjoy them.
You also decide to release old habits and values that are out of sync with what you know to be your true potential. And, at the same time, begin to adopt new ones that are more closely aligned with your more holistic self.
This is Evolution.
The 5-Fold Process Step 3: Illumination
Sometime in your life you probably faced a challenge and had to make a big decision but didn’t know quite what to do.
Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, you got an inspiration that shed a whole new light on your situation.
That is an example of Illumination. It can happen spontaneously, but is more likely if you are committed to living a holistic lifestyle.
A commitment like this promotes increased self awareness, and allows space for the emergence of new thoughts, ideas and ways of thinking and being.
Your greater self awareness is brought on by inspiration prompted by Steps 1 and 2, Peak and Evolution. Now you begin to see things in a new light.
While this all feels great at first, you soon feel the tug of old habits and ideas. That’s because your new ideas and ways of being are out of alignment with your previous experience.
Integrating your new knowledge requires time for reflection and introspection.
During this time you will process these happenings on all levels of your multi-dimensional experience: physical, emotional, mental and subtle.
But be aware that during this time, you may suffer discomfort.
The 5-Fold Process Step 4: Processing
Processing (also known as clearing) can happen on all levels of your awareness. It results from the pain you experience as you let go of old habits and ideas and adjust to new, more holistic ones.
On the physical level, this may feel like general or specific pain in any area of your body. This could include sensations such as heat, cold or heaviness; twitching or numbness; headaches; physical discomfort or restlessness; involuntary movements anywhere in the body; congestion or the temporary reappearance of symptoms from old injuries, and many more.
Emotionally, processing may look like seemingly uncaused reactive expressions such as irritation, jealousy, fear, or, on the other hand, bursts of exaggerated happiness or sadness.
On the mental level, it can take the form of exaggerated, undirected, habitual, unconscious or illusory thinking or feelings of overwhelm. Or it might look like “mind chatter,” agitation, dullness or fogginess, daydreams, and “blanking out.”
It can also include any anxiety you may experience about losing old ideas and thoughts and replacing them with new less familiar ones.
Regardless of the symptoms you may experience, you have two choices.
- stay stuck in your process and keep reliving the negative thoughts and emotions, and experiencing the physical symptoms.
- Recognize them for what they are and choose to move through them.
In every case, we suggest the following:
- Remain aware, keep breathing and observe whatever is happening without analyzing or comparing your experience to that of anyone else.
- Request assistance. Find a good mentor to help you understand how processing is a valuable and important aspect of your meditative journey and actually validates its effectiveness.
- If processing happens in a form that is confusing to you, or if you feel you can’t handle the experience, contact a facilitator at Synchronicity Sanctuary for assistance.
The 5-Fold Process Step 5: Integration
Following processing, when all the old out of sync data is cleared away, you will begin to experience the integration of your new frequency of vibration and its amplitude of power throughout all of your dimensions.
Now you can enjoy a new state.
One in which you begin to experience some of the life changes you envisioned during your big peak.
You may also enjoy greater self awareness and increased freedom from the frustration, stress and tension that arose from life challenges you faced in the past.
And since your mind and emotions are calmer and you are more relaxed and energized, you may also sleep better and enjoy improved digestion and fewer episodes of physical pain and dysfunction.
The 5-Fold Process: Your Model for Conscious Living
Once you have worked your way through the 5-Fold Process, you will enjoy the authentic sense of power that comes from knowing that whatever happens all is well and you are not a hapless victim of life events.
And you will also have a greater understanding of and ability to process the small peaks that continue to come and go throughout your day.
When your process is complete, from Peak through Evolution, Illumination, Processing and Integration, you can look forward to enjoying your increased self awareness as the 5-Fold Process begins again.