ConsciousCafe Canterbury hosted a brilliant evening this week on the theme on "Altered States of Consciousness". Host Cora shares her thoughts:
 
"Afternoon meetings do have a different energy and this one felt particularly bright and lively as the sun flooded into the studio and I was delighted to have a brilliant turnout of people, there were 18 of us in all. This was a lovely surprise especially after so many people had said they couldn’t come because it was an afternoon session!
 
It was difficult to give a clear definition of what an altered state of consciousness was. It implies a different way of seeing and feeling reality. Andy Wood described it as dreaming while still awake which is the level that the Shamans work at. Helen felt that we needed to shed layers of trauma and stress to find our true state of consciousness which was a state of peace and stillness. Everyday living created a less desirable altered state when there was too much stimulation.
 
One of our participants recounted how she had reached an altered state of consciousness through holotropic breath work which had been developed by Stanislav Grof. This work sounds fascinating and well worth looking into in more detail.
 
We can reach altered states through drumming, breath work, chanting, yoga, meditation, hypnosis, dreaming and with drugs like ayahuasca. Andy gave us an experience of drumming as we relaxed with the intention of finding our power animal. Julie recounted how she can go spontaneously into an altered state and within this state she can access other people’s reality which she can describe to them with stories, symbols and archetypal characters. She can use these visions to help a person to gain more self understanding and healing.
 
In our summing up of the afternoon we concluded that altered states can help people to heal, to gain self knowledge, to deal with traumas, to access their creativity and to become generally more complete and whole as a human being.
 
Thank you so much to Andy Wood, Helen Porter and Julie Stocker for sharing with us the healing work they are all doing.
 
Someone said as she was leaving that it was the best ConsciousCafe meeting she had been to so far!"
 
ConsciousCafe Canterbury is hosted by Cora Kemball-Cook and meets once a month on a new topic. You can follow the Canterbury page for updates all the latest events.

Join ConsciousCafe Canterbury for a discussion and exploration of different states of consciousness and how we might discover them. We will look at aspects of Shamanism, dreams, visions and other altered states.

£7.00 in advance (ticket purchase at the bottom of this page), £10 on the door

Refreshments provided. 

Venue: Highfield House Yoga Studio, Summer Hill, Harbledown, CT 2 8NH

 Further info: Cora Kemball-Cook – corakc@hotmail.com Tel  07711 830275

 

An Evening with Christa Mackinnon

The Power of Altered States of Consciousness

Expanding our consciousness is key to evolution; humans possess the capacity to expand their perception through altering their mental states, accessing deeper and wider realities. Artists create their best paintings or music in altered states, writers access them to create fiction and poetry, spiritual masters receive their teachings and even scientists utilise these powers.

Christa Mackinnon is joining ConsciousCafe for an interactive talk on these alternative mental states. You will discover:

* how they naturally occur,

* how we can create them intentionally

* how you can use them to tap into your vast creative potential and connect to wider fields.

Christa is a psychologist, family counsellor, hypnotherapist, shamanic teacher and best-selling author. Working internationally as a psychologist, trainer and university lecturer, she specialised in complex trauma, which formed the basis for her expertise in the functioning of the human mind. Her fascination with the capacities of the human mind and consciousness led her to explore spiritual teachings, living in Ashrams in Asia and apprenticing to Shamans in the Americas. Christa now combines her knowledge of the contemporary psychological with ancient shamanic teachings, a subject she speaks, writes, trains and lectures widely about. Christa is the author of  ‘Shamanism: Awaken and Develop the Shamanic Force Within’ (Hay House) and the ground breaking book ‘Shamanism and Spirituality in Therapeutic Practice’ (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). She is also the founder of ‘Bridging the Worlds’ and the co-founder of Women Weaving Change’.

Date: Monday 25 February

Time: 18:30 GMT

Location: Steiner House, 35 Park Road, London NW1 6XT (1 minute from Baker Street station)

Networking

Following our successful November event, we are enhancing this event with a networking opportunity in a café nearby.  We will meet at 4.30 pm and you will have the chance for a networking conversation with ConsciousCafe people. We will also go out together after Christa’s event for a drink or a snack so that we can continue the conversation afterwards. Please email judy@consciouscafe.org if you would like to come to the early networking event and we will let you know where we are meeting.

Cancellation Policy Full refund minus 10% up to 7 days beforehand (Monday 18th Feb) after which we apologise, but cannot offer any refund due to room hire and administration costs.

ConsciousCafe is a not-for-profit organisation, a friendly and welcoming community, a place to live life consciously.

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