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Satvatove Institute

Graduate Newsletter Vol. 1

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April 25th, 2005 - Volume 1

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Dear Satvatove advanced seminar graduates,

Welcome to the first issue of the Satvatove Institute Graduate Newsletter. This newsletter will be published on a bimonthly basis and will contain all kinds of inspiring interviews, testimonies, and articles, as well as news about upcoming events and reports about activities that are happening throughout the international Satvatove network. I hope that it will serve to enthuse you in continuing the personal growth that your are experiencing in your life and to dive even more deeply into the profound life-lessons that we discovered during the seminars.

Sincerely,

Antoine Palmer

Satvatove Institute

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CONTENTS:

1. Satvatove Switzerland, Feb, 2005

2. "True Listening" (An excerpt from our new CD)

3. Life mastery - a lesson in personal empowerment

5. A special multimedia treat

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SATVATOVE SWITZERLAND 2005:

I want to start off this issue with a little treat from the most recent Satvatove seminars in Switzerland. I was very happy to be able to be present for the Swiss courses. It was an amazing experience and and a beautiful group of participants. Also, the seminars were very expertly organized. My thanks to Isabelle and Nayana for putting such positive energy into the program and creating such a nice facility for the course. We were able to take some nice photos of parts of the seminar and I have put a few of them online for your pleasure. You can view them by clicking on the following link:

http://www.satvatove.org/members/impressions

*If the link doesn't work for you, just copy the address and paste it into your web-browser.

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An LMP group in Alachua, Florida has started an innovative project for inspiring others to attend the upcoming Alachua courses. The idea is to produce an inspirational, introductory audio CD which can be offered to persons who are interested in the seminars. As a first step, they all got together with David and Marie in a studio and recorded an informal question and answer session about Satvatove and Satvatove seminars. The CD is still in the production, but I managed to get ahold of a transcription of part of the recording and I am including here a little sneak preview...

( A special thanks to Mahatma for orchestrating this initiative and to Suzanne Jacob for the transcription. )

TRUE LISTENING:

Marie: David, I remember the week before taking the foundational course, I think that was the most horrible week I've had in my life. I was so scared. Everyday I was praying. I knew I had to go through the seminar and at the same time I just wanted to run away. I wasn't ready to take a seminar and open up with all those people, all the people I knew who were registering at the same time as me. And they were all part of my community. And I had so much I wanted to open up about and I was fearful of doing it with those people. So that was real for me, that was really scary. It was so scary. To think that I will take that seminar was so scary, somehow I didn't run away and I took the foundational course. And then what happened is that the Satvatove atmosphere was very conducive for all of us to be with each other and regard each other as human beings. I wasn't with my neighbor anymore, I wasn't with my supervisor anymore, I wasn't with my students or my teacher or the priest, I was just with people. And you David, you really created that atmosphere and I felt comfortable opening up, I felt comfortable sharing myself. I felt the support of others that were there. At the beginning I was thinking they will judge me if I open up and it was the opposite; when I began to open up, the more I was opening up, the more love I was receiving. And it was such a wonderful experience. And I want to have this experience everyday in my life, to not be scared and to not be scared that others will judge me if I'm just who I am. And now I know that, that's how I live my life and I'm really happy. I'm satisfied with that.

David: Thank you for sharing that. In the Satvatove trainings, no one is forced to open up about anything. And I understand that people come in and in many cases people take the course with others in their community, family members, people who they are close to. And naturally they are fearful, there are things they don't want to share with these people; people who either they work with, people who they serve with, their colleagues, their companions. And then again, no one is forced to share or open up about anything and what happens is like, we're reluctant, or we're scared to share with this person because of who this person is. And what we find is that after a day, after two days, this person is not this person anymore. We find that we are looking at, we might say, different facades we put out to the world, different masks we wear. And then, in the course of the seminar, those facades come off and then the way we present ourselves is more genuine. And then by the end of the course it's just like "oh I really… this person who I've been associating with, friends with, maybe even living with for ten years, fifteen years, actually I didn't know this person." After two days, three days, nine days, you're thinking, "wow, I've really gotten to know this person". And then, sharing with this person has a whole new meaning than you thought it would have a week before.

Marie: Yes, and David, I live and I associate with a community, I'm part of a church. And in my church, as you know a lot of them came to the seminar I took and I really was thinking before it will that I didn’t want to reveal my mind, I had no desire to reveal my mind because I was scared of gossip. And because of that atmosphere, the Satvatove atmosphere it became very easy to be there with the people of my community and share very deeply.

David: Yes, sometimes the people in our community are the last persons we want to share our minds with, to reveal confidentially. That's often the case. And then, in the Satvatove community we create real community. Real community means we create a safe space, a safe place for members of a community to share at a deep level of honesty. And then where there is conflict, we don't pretend there is no conflict, we don't sweep it under the rug. If there is conflict we actually work through it, we process through it. We address it honestly. And the result is more closeness, more intimacy. And so, that's the sort of community that people are really hankering for instead of pseudo community where relations are based on facades, shallow relations. So we're creating an atmosphere of real community where people feel safe to actually share their soul, share their heart at a deep level of honesty. Not by force. But because it's such a fundamental human desire, a human need to be understood at the deepest level. And we so much lack that, so many of us lack that in our lives to be understood at the deepest level. So, this is such an attractive principle, an attractive energy of the Satvatove courses, that it's actually a safe place to reveal our mind confidentially, to inquire confidentially and feel safe and trusting, not in an artificial way. This is a real experience because it addresses, it touches in such a basic human need to be understood, to feel understood. Then it's so attractive. The Christian philosopher, Paul Tilleck said: "the first duty of love is to listen". So, we create an atmosphere of true listening. To truly listen means we're not doing something else at the same time. So we create an atmosphere where we become cultured, we become cultivated to actually enter the world of another person. It doesn't mean we have to agree with it. We actually enter the world of another person. And we are trained to hear them, to understand them. And then, just by doing that, sometimes we find that different conflicts, tensions, disappear. They just dissolve.

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LIFE MASTERY PROGRAM:

The Life-Mastery Program is a relatively new service being offered by Satvatove Institute since the fall of 2004. It is a seminar in applied principles of personal growth. LMP groups consist of 6 to 14 advance course graduates who work together over the course of several months. They support each other to systematically integrate the skills and realizations they have gotten from the seminars in their lives, forming new habits and exploring the "un-limits" of their personal potential.

Following is a short article written by an LMP graduate.

A LESSON IN PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT:

When I was first considering joining the LMP, I had many concerns (whether to do it or not) regarding my personal situation in life, the group members, the group project etc’. Most of those concerns came true!

Yet, I’ve noticed that my response to them has changed. Through the processes and the coaching, I’ve learned to see it differently, and take a deeper look at myself, in any given situation. Facing those concerns, as well as issues that came up during that period, with the help of the processes and the coaching, helped me refine and get to the core of what really matters for me in life.

I remember also, when discussing joining the group and even when the Life Mastery Program had already started, one of the first phrases I heard, was, “take responsibility for your experience”.

Of course, I immediately resented it thinking: “great, if they (Satvatove) are good or not, the responsibility is on the participants…” at the same time there was some excitement in it to create something different in my life, a power which later on I could better understand. I’ve realized how perfectly that RESPONSIBILITY was something I really needed to learn in my life. I could see how I lived my life giving the power and responsibility to the way I feel and live, to others, and when not matching my desires, wants, and needs - blaming them, for not having what I want.

The expert and powerful coaching helped me set myself free from that anxiety-filled condition and unyoked myself from the ingrained habit of being reactive. I’ve learned to acknowledge my responsibility for my own thoughts and actions. I’ve learned and experienced that I have the power to create the experience and type of relationships I want.

This LMP program really helped me connect to my power and let empowerment come my way. I’ve received feedback from people who knew me from before, that they can see that I’ve changed. I’m more present, confident, my relationships improved, some of them to a deeper level of intimacy and friendship, I became more assertive, more clear in my communication, peaceful, and happier.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

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*The LMP program is available to all advanced seminar graduates. If you would like to take your Satvatove training in life-skills and personal growth to the next level, I strongly recommend this program.

For more information about the LMP or individual coaching, contact me at a.palmer@satvatove.org.

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Thank you for reading the first Satvatove Institute Graduate Newsletter. The next issue will come at the end of June. In the meantime, I will be very happy to hear your feedback about the newsletter or any of the programs at Satvatove Institute.

Before signing out, I have one last little treat to share with you, a delightful video we put together from the Swiss course.

http://www.satvatove.org/members/impressions/video_ch.php

I hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely,

Antoine Palmer

Satvatove Institute

a.palmer@satvatove.org

www.Satvatove.org

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April 25th, 2005 - Graduate Newsletter - Volume 1

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