Bestselling author, coach and book marketer Lynn Serafinn hosts lifestyle expert, art therapist, author and founder of the Get Happy Zone, Jackie Ruka. Jackie is the queen of self reinvention, having had two major career changes and surviving a literally back-breaking experience that almost caused an accident with Buddha himself. Based on her own life enhanc […]
Bestselling author, coach and book marketer Lynn Serafinn hosts empath, metaphysical teacher and spiritual author Erica Tucci. Erica Tucci was living a very full life. She was a corporate manager, a life coach for women, Reiki master, massage therapist and author. She was also a single mum of two wonderful young men now in college. But it all came to a scree […]
Bestselling author, coach and book marketer Lynn Serafinn hosts Barbara Techel, author, publisher, educator, advocate for dogs with disc disease and therapy dog team volunteer. Barbara Techel began a journey five years ago that she never intended to travel. After her beloved Dachshund, Frankie, was diagnosed with disc disease that caused paralysis, she thoug […]
Bestselling author, coach and book marketer Lynn Serafinn hosts empath coach, metaphysical teacher, spiritual author and host of We Are One in Spirit Podcast, Yvonne Perry. For many years, Yvonne Perry’s empathic abilities caused great distress until she learned how to protect her auric field. Her best-selling book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from […]
Bestselling author, coach and book marketer Lynn Serafinn hosts spiritual author, minister, blessing giver and empowerment coach, Charlene M. Proctor , Ph.D. Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D. is an ordained Minister of Spiritual Peacemaking and a Deeksha facilitator trained by the oneness guides from Fiji and India. She is the bestselling author of Let Your Goddess […]
Bestselling author, coach and book marketer Lynn Serafinn hosts author, spiritual educator, organizational psychologist, leadership development consultant, executive and life coach Sarah Rozenthuler. As a young woman, Sarah has struggled to talk with people, including loved ones, at key moments in her life. Because of this, she was always been interested in […]
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Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Claudia Merydech Location: Claudia Merydech’s Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop 7 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.Check out Claudia’s book review blog and find out what she has to say about the book. Date: 2009-03-16
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Stephanie Bell Location: Stephanie Bell’s Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop 6 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.Check out Stephanie’s blog and what she has to say about the book. Date: 2009-03-15
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Title: Lynn’s interview on “The Passion Project” Location: BlogTalkRadio Link out: Click here Description: “The Passion Project” with Katherine Reschke presents Lynn Serafinn, on finding what Lynn calls “the path of least resistance to the Self”. She will also share principles and excerpts from her book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.She will also share with us her approach to being an authentic entrepreneur and how she helps her clients in this area. Start Time: 16:00 UK, 12 PM Eastern Date: 2009-03-13 End Time: 17:00 UK, 1 PM Eastern
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Show:Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul Episode 7: Growing Up in Your Relationships Date aired: Wed 4 March 2009
Last week on my BlogTalkRadio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul, I interviewed Colorado-based Geoff Laughton, a Transformational Coach and Counsellor who specialises in inner child and relationship healing. Geoff shared his insights on how our childhood and adolescent wounds and beliefs affect our personal and professional relationships, and offered some practical tips to improve communication with your partner in a clear, adult, “Spirited” way, to deepen intimacy.
Geoff shared his own story of the struggles he had earlier in life, where he said he felt emotionally “dead” for many years. He described how he had taken what he thought would be a temporary job right after college, which ended up being a 17-year stint in the field of engineering. This, he said, gave him no intrinsic satisfaction, and left him feel empty, detached and stressed. Eventually in his mid-30s, after climbing the ladder in his career to reach the top of his field, he found himself working up to 80 hours a week, suffering from many chronic illnesses, and 100 pounds overweight. Due to his weight, which was by then about 300 pounds, his back eventually went out and he could not go to work for an entire month, being unable to drive, walk or even stand up. After that painful experience, Geoff used his willpower to lose the weight through diet and exercise over the next year. But although physically better, he was not truly and wholly well yet, for on Christmas day when he was 35 years old, he had a panic attack while standing in a book shop. In a private interview, Geoff described the terror, the racing heart, the fear of death, and the claustrophobia he felt in that attack.
Fortunately, this incident drove Geoff to do much soul-searching. He says, “The message I took from that was that it was time for me to look at what was really going on inside me. I had been overeating for a long time. So, I could see that something was wrong on the inside, but didn’t know what.” And in asking these kinds of questions, Geoff realised that, in spite of having a loving family and a highly successful career, basically he felt trapped and unfulfilled in life. So the question for him was, “What is not being fulfilled?” It was at this point that Geoff reached a turning point where he could clearly see that he had been using his career and work to avoid dealing with important emotions that had been with him since his childhood, but had not been resolved.
Geoff then started doing what he calls “significant work on himself”. He began conventional therapy and also did some group work around Transactional Analysis. All of this was very helpful, but then a good friend invited him to a special programme where he learned about the difference between thoughts and energy and how to work with both. Geoff says the experience was “intense” and that it was here where he “rediscovered and lit the fuse of his passion to help people.” He says, “I started feeling great, in body, mind and heart. I felt vibrant.”
Now back in touch with his innermost desires, Geoff embarked on the hero’s quest to live out that passion. He left the corporate world in 1996 and trained as a coach. He did Love Transformational Work and started volunteering to work with men’s groups. Then, the really big turning point happened when he started Inner Child work. Geoff quickly realised that he had a lot of unresolved and unexpressed pain from childhood and adolescence, including feelings of unworthiness and of not being good enough. He also came back in touch with different unresolved traumas, both physical and emotional, from when he was an infant and a child. He says, “I never got to be a kid while growing up. My spirit was dead, closed. My heart was not available. I felt disconnected in relation to God and spirit.” But the day after he started his Inner Child studies, he woke up with what he calls an “epiphany”. He says, “It might as well as been God standing in the room and handing me a programme telling me what I was supposed to do.” And so began Geoff’s decision to dedicate his life to being a relationship coach specialising in Inner Child work, and soon trained as an Inner Child Facilitator. These days, he helps men and women, both individually and as couples, to get in touch with their unspoken childhood pains, so they can reconnect to their hearts and souls, and develop intimate, loving and more spiritually-based relationships with their partners.
Of himself, Geoff says, “These days, I feel connected to an incredibly loving Universal Co-active Consciousness. I feel blessed to feel this in body, mind and spirit. I feel bliss, peace.”
Much of what I have written here are highlights from a private interview I had with Geoff shortly before the show. In his online broadcast, he shares other things, including different strategies for how to tap into your own inner child so you can find that same bliss, freedom and intimacy in your own personal relationships.
Speaking for myself, my own focus in life is to call out and acknowledge the inner hero that lies in every human being. And those of you who follow my writing know that my definition of a hero is one who hears the “call” of his/her own life and answers it, and brings those answers back to the world to make it a better place. Geoff’s story is an inspiring one of someone who not only hit rock-bottom and bounced back up to make himself a happy person, but also of one who is now actively helping to heal the pains of others and bring more peace, joy and connection to the world at large. So, like so many of my other wonderful guests on “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul”, Geoff is a true hero of his own life.
Transcending Survival: Stretching Towards the Divine, Tele-Class, Begins 11 March 2009
Raising Your Spirit’s Voice Workshops: Boulder, Colorado, March 27-29; Santa Cruz, CA April 3-5; Albuquerque NM April 17-19
Growing Up In Your Relationships Workshops: Los Angeles, CA, April 24-26; Santa Cruz, CA May 8-10
Listen to the show now:
Subscribe to this podcast here:
You can receive a special gift from over 20 other mind-body-spirit professionals when you buy my upcoming book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Find out how to get these fantastic gifts at:
AND… you can meet Geoff personally when you come join my online community, Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul at http://gardenofthesoul.ning.com. I call it “a vibrant place for cultural and spiritual creatives.” Come join Geoff and the dozens of others who are making it a very colourful place to be on the web.
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Show:Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
Episode 6: Grief as a Pathway to Growth: an interview with Dr Louis LaGrand
Date aired: Thursday 26 February 2009
Last week on my BlogTalkRadio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul, I interviewed the very distinguished author, bereavement counsellor and inspirational speaker Dr Louis LaGrand, Ph.D., C.T.. Lou shared his unique survival strategies for coping with loss and change that occur during the bereavement process, and revealed the ‘four gifts’ available to anyone who is mourning the death of a loved one: (1) knowledge of grief and grief work, (2) truth about coping, (3) choices to make (wisdom), and (4) persistence and perseverence.
Lou also shared just a bit about some of the cases he has seen of amazing transformations that have occurred when people encounter what he calls the “extraordinary experience” of receiving messages from loved ones who have passed on to the next plane.
Lou holds multiple degrees and honors including: advanced degrees from Columbia University, the University of Notre Dame, & Florida State University, and has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows throughout the country including “Unsolved Mysteries.” With over 25 years of counseling the bereaved, he is an international speaker who has written eight books including four on topic of the afterlife communications, and the transformations they bring to people:
Lou will be speaking on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 on the topic of “Nine Proven Survival Skills for Coping with Loss and Change” as a guest of St. Francis Hospice, at Borthwick Mortuary, 1330 Maunakea Street, Honolulu, Hawiaii, from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Registration is required by March 24, 2009. You can register via email at fmarquezwong@stfrancishawaii.org or call Felicia Marquez-Wong at 547-8145 for more info.
Lou’s compassion and love for people is truly evident when he speaks. His understanding of death as a natural part of the cycle of life is so genuine, that it is obvious why he has been of such help to so many thousands of people over the years through his lectures, books and counselling. His voice is soothing and relaxed and his approach to the topic of death and dying is not only light and easy, but comforting and poignant. While a 30 minute show is simply not long enough to cover all of Lou’s wisdom and understanding on the topic, you can certainly get a taster from the podcast below). AND… be sure to visit Lou’s websites at www.extraordinarygriefexperiences.com.
Listen to the show now:
Subscribe to/download the podcast for “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul:
Be sure you catch this week’s show: Growing up in Your Relationships
with Transformation Coach Geoff Laughton
Wednesday 4 March 2009, 6.30 PM UK time at www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Wednesday evening was episode 4 of my radio broadcast “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” on BlogTalkRadio. My special guest was John Levine of Alpha music who composes “Alpha” music that is supposed to put you to sleep. Umm… that didn’t come out the way I meant it… what I mean is, John’s music is intended as a cure for insomnia, anxiety, etc., because it is said to induce Alpha waves in the brain, which actually bring one to a relaxed state. I had spoken to John over the phone before setting up the show, and I thought the story of how he came to create this music was so interesting that I simply had to have him on the show. I was really excited that he was going to be on the air, and we made all the arrangements together.
So along comes Wednesday and I log on to my switchboard for the show. John had agreed to call in at least 5 minutes before air time to touch base before we went live. But 5 min before the start of the show, there was still no one on the guest line. I watched the countdown… 4 min, 3, 2, 1… Suddenly I’m live on the air. The theme music plays. Still no guest. Yikes!
When I was trained in Leadership, we learned that a real leader is supposed to be able to throw out “the plan” when needed, and create something from anything… or nothing, as the case may be. Well, all I had was the title of the show, and little old me. No back-up plan whatsoever.
Hmmm… I thought. So what can I create from this?
Ok, so after the theme music died down, I do my usual spiel to start. I talk about last week’s show, and even the week before. Still no guest. Hmm… we are already 3 minutes into the show. So, I go ahead and introduce my guest anyway, but am completely transparent and tell the audience he’s not there, if you can believe that! I tell them I am just going to talk about the topic anyway, trusting he’ll show up.
TALK?? On what? I ask myself …This is supposed to be an INTERVIEW.”
Anyway, I took the topic of the show, “Using Creativity to Heal the Self” and just started “winging it”. I started talking about my own journey of creativity and how it helped heal me (or not). I ended up talking about my own creative process in writing the book (at least part of it). I spoke about how I let go of control of the need to create and allowed things to just evolve, and how this actually opened up not only my creativity, but allowed me to “heal” from many wounds from the past. I spoke about how different characters appeared for my book, how I “allowed” the characters to write the stories, and how this bought me to a deeper understanding of the story I was writing. I spoke about my story “Learning to Breathe” (part of the section on the “Iris” in The Garden of the Soul) where I wrote about my mother’s death. I spoke about my character “Crow”, who was inspired by an actual crow who came to my window one morning about 2 years ago, and prompted the flow and meaning of the story. I spoke about how Crow asked me questions to which I didn’t premeditate the answers, and how I simply allowed the conversation to unfold in the book. I spoke about the wisdom and the healing this kind of organic creative process brought me regarding many pivotal events in my life, such as my mother’s death.
Then, just as I was “sort of” making a point, and with a whole 14 minutes left to the show, my guest John Levine finally shows up. Apparently, he had been trying to call in for half an hour but couldn’t get through to the call (bless him!). But, as fate would have it, he came in right at a moment when I was just completing the idea of “allowing” things to evolve naturally (but where I would have gone after that, don’t ask me!), so I just sort of used the moment to create from whatever showed up and said something like, “We’re going to be creative right now and allow this moment to happen exactly as it is.”
Now, one would think that this is probably a host’s worst nightmare. It’s like all those dreams where you are pushed out on stage without ever having had a rehearsal (ever have those?). But you know what? I felt perfectly calm. I was well aware that I probably babbled my silly head off for 16 minutes. But I didn’t care. I felt connected in some WEIRD way, and simply remained open and fully transparent. Now, I find this a very strange thing to have done, and regardless of how “good” the babble ended up being (hahaha… I haven’t listened to it yet! Maybe YOU could listen to it and let me know!), I still feel pretty proud that I was able to hold the room for 16 minutes solo, and actually stay somehow on the topic of the show.
Even though we only had 16 minutes, we managed to have just enough time for John to briefly tell how he first embarked on his journey to producing Alpha music. He spoke a little bit about how being the witness to his father’s lifetime of stress-related illnesses compelled him to find answers to the mind-body-spirit connection, which ultimately led him to use his musical talents to create music that can alter the alpha waves in the brain to restore health and wellbeing to listeners. He told me about his secret desire to record an album in the Taj Mahal some day. Paul Horn did that in the 70s on his album Inside, but all he had was a flute. Bringing in a grand piano would undoubtedly be a little bit more challenging! Unfortunately, we only had time for a small excerpt of one of John’s track on the air, but if you go to his site at www.silenceofmusic.com, he’s got loads of clips for your to hear. Of course, I will have John on the show again sometime soon. He’s a lovely person with a great story and a MASSIVE repertoire of Alpha wave inducing music. So and I really want to have the chance to present him properly on another show.
By the way, John will be appearing LIVE here in Bedford at our Global Wellness Circle evening this Monday 16 February at the Park Road West Church Hall, just off Roff Avenue. CLICK HEREfor full details, or visit http://www.global-wellness-circle.com and click “events”.
So the question is, I wonder why the Universe wished this to happen? I trust I shall find out eventually.
But I must admit, I now have a real appreciation for the role of a co-host!
Be SURE to check out John’s site athttp://www.silenceofmusic.com.He has a MASSIVE amount of music there, and you can here samples online.
Warm wishes,
Lynn
P.S.: Have a listen to my own creative process while I was creating from chaos:
AND it would be great if you gave it a little heart to mark it as your favourite! It will help me get higher in the ratings.
OR… subscribe the podast HERE:
P.P.S.: Next week’s guest is Royal Amber Rojaswho has an amazing story of survival to tell! Make SURE you all tune in on Wed 18 Feb at 6.30 PM UK time to hear her incredible story on the air. You can listen to the show online at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn, either live OR “on demand”.
P.P.P.S.: Come on over and join Amber, me and lots of other colourful people on my new social network “The Garden of the Soul” at http://gardenofthesoul.ning.com
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Afterthoughts: Interview with Swedish Artist Kristina Berglund Show:Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul Episode 3: Using Creativity to Heal the Self Part 2 Date aired: Wed 4 February 2009
This week on my BlogTalkRadio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul, I interviewed Swedish artist, coach and teacher of Vedic Art, Kristina Berglund. Kristina and I discussed how she used painting, and in particular the Vedic Art method of painting, to restore health to emotional pathways that were blocked inside her, resulting in years of difficulty with poor body image and eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
Those who listened to the show would have to agree that Kristina is a truly brave and beautiful human being. I have the great pleasure of knowing her as a dear friend, and I have also taken her excellent course on the 17 Principles of Vedic Art. On the air, Kristina kick-started the Vedic process by asking listeners to simply put their pen on a piece of paper in front of them, and let their hands go anywhere it wants to go. She warned that if your brain gets in the way and starts to compel you to create patterns, then you should toss away that paper and start again until the hand is really going on its own and there is no thought process involved. This was just a tiny hint of the first of the 17 Principles of Vedic Art-”the line”. It sounds like such a simple thing, but trust me, once you get into Kristina’s course, you realise the depth of it all, and how the Principles are all interwoven in a very deep and spiritual way.
Kristina’s art specialism is painting original mandalas using very large canvases, and highly textured images, mixing different objects directly into her paint, such as sand and gemstones. When I first saw Kristina’s paintings, all I could say is “Wow.” Fortunately for me, when Kristina read a galley print of my upcoming book The Garden of the Soul, she noticed that I described a mandala in my section “Lessons from the Lily”, and she immediately called me and offered to create an original mandala for the cover. I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I will be “unveiling” her finished work here by mid-February, so be sure you check back then.
From so many angles, Kristina is an artist-she is a painter, a teacher and a coach. She is also starting a project in Sweden aimed at helping men and woman with eating disorders to restore their mental, physical and emotional balance through the process of learning the 17 Principles of Vedic Art. Kristina’s approach to art is a true example of one woman’s use of creativity to heal the Self. But she is not merely an artist; soft and flowing deeply like a river, Kristina is herself is a work of art.
Subscribe to this blog to receive weekly radio listings for Garden of the Soul Radio. Tune into the show Wednesdays at http://blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn
Afterthoughts: Interview with UK Author Tom McGreevy
Show:Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
Episode 2: Using Creativity to Heal the Self Part 1
Date aired: Wed 28 Jan 2009
Last week on my BlogTalkRadio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul, I interviewed British poet, Tom McGreevy, author of the books Poems for Paula and the upcoming book ‘I’m a Soldier…get me out of here! Tom and I discussed how he has used his creativity as a writer to heal his own emotional wounds, as how he currently uses it to help heal the wounds of others.
Those who listened to the show would have to agree that Tom is a down-to-earth, home-spun hero of the highest order. Originally from Newcastle in northeast England (for those who might have been able to place his accent), where he wrote poetry as a child, Tom joined the military at an early age to ‘make his father proud’, even though he knew deep down in his heart of hearts that he is ‘a writer, not a fighter’ (as Tom is found of saying). On the show, Tom shared with us his experience with seeing his best friend die in his arms in the war of the Falklands, and discussed the impact that made on him. He also talked about his experience with prostate cancer, and the emotional rollercoaster of the healing process. Tom’s poetry is traditional and direct, and written in an unassuming, natural way that gets right to the heart of the matter without any fluff. Plainly addressing issues surrounding death, dying and saying good bye to loved ones, Tom’s poems are a true example of one man’s use of creativity to heal the Self.
Tom spoke in brief about his work as Head Moderator for a project called ‘Forces Poetry’, which helps military, ex-military and their families overcome the effects of war, including post traumatic stress disorder, by writing. He is helping to coordinate the publishing of their first book entitled ‘ Voices of the Poppies” a collection poems by members of Forces Poetry, which is a part of a greater organisation called ‘Flow for All’ ( Forces Literary Organisation Worldwide for All ).
NEXT SHOW: Wed 4 February 6.30 PM UK time. ‘Creativity to
Heal the Self Part 2′ with special guest Kristina Berglund, Stockholm-based artist, coach and teacher of Vedic Art Principles.
FLOW is a non-profit making organisation set up by ex-forces, to help other
ex-forces and their families Worldwide. They try to encourage those suffering from PTSD ( Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ) to express their fears and feelings through writing poetry, and having it published on their sites. Their sites are free to use for anybody, but they welcome donations to keep the sites running, and help ex-servicemen and women worldwide.
