Achieve Your Goals in 7 Steps
Antonia Boyle of Alpha Waves PDS is a NLP Master Practitioner, Health, Relaxation and Yoga Specialist. She has a private practice in Westerham, Kent and runs a programme of events across the South East and further afield. Antonia has created a dynamic, goal-setting meditation, called 7 Steps to Achieve Your Goals. This innovative audio programme is informed by NLP and inspired by the chakras. Antonia tells us more about how and why, she decided to combine the principles of these two fascinating systems in this unique programme ...
Often, when people want to achieve a goal, they don't realise that they will need to make changes first, in order to achieve that goal. Or if they do realise, they usually generalise, instead of being specific. But when you want to achieve lasting success and make a positive change in your life, the first step is to set a clear ‘outcome’ or goal. Surprisingly, not many of us do this. We might just have a vague wish to change something because we don’t like the status quo. We know that doing things differently would be better for us and our friends, family and colleagues seem to think so too. But often, it's not that easy to identify exactly what your goal is, never mind trying to actually achieve it.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is great for ‘unpacking’ or 'modelling' the way in which something successful actually works - the recipe for success if you like. After studying with some of the best known NLP trainers in the world I have ‘modelled’ what is needed to make changes, so that it is easy to achieve your aspirations. It's known in NLP terms as ‘The Well Formed Outcome’ and I've devised a step-by-step programme for people to follow. It's often one of the first things I do with a private client.
I've also been training yoga teachers for over 20 years now. In this role, it's been essential to delve into every aspect of yoga and to gain clarity around some of the more obscure aspects of Yoga, so that my 'future teachers' could pass on this knowledge in a way that made sense and would be useful in daily life. The seven chakras was one such idea. Once I started to unravel the layers around these ancient beliefs, I discovered that in addition to the association of sounds, colours and energies, each chakra related to a psychological aspect, like self-protection, beliefs and values, a sense of self etc.. This turned out to be my way in to this esoteric subject - it enabled me to explain the chakras in a clear and meaningful way.
So what connects the chakras to NLP? In NLP we look at different levels of our existence, the world we have personally created for ourselves. We look at our environment, our behaviour, capabilities, beliefs, values, sense of self, and our sense of connection with the world and if appropriate, our spirituality. These are known in NLP as the 'Logical Levels'. When I first came across this notion, while training with Robert Dilts, I connected with it so easily, because it resonated with the psychological values of the Chakras.
7 Steps to Achieve Your Goals is a step by step format, which involves walking along an imaginary 'chakra timeline'. This allows the user to fully experience each step in a different place and engage all their senses. This aspect, combined with creative visualisation and the skilled use of NLP suggestion, works on the unconscious mind to embed hopes, dreams and patterns of behaviour. Combining NLP with the focus on the chakras, means you can actually 'feel' them as a part of your body, which helps you to remain relaxed but stay focused and alert. The guiding narration helps people to imagine their goals in real time and 'experience' what it's like to really achieve them.
The seven chakras and their associations are:
Function: This Chakra represents the physical, root, survival, security, your base.
Function: Emotions, sexual energy, creativity.
Function: Personal power, control, freedom, mental energy.
Function: Love, compassion, empathy, healing.
Function: Communication, expression, speech.
Function: Intuition, psychic abilities, clairvoyance.
Function: Consciousness, connection to the Universal Life Energy.
For people to make the changes required to achieve their goals, it's necessary to examine the different levels of their existence where the change is needed, e.g. environment, the way they do things, what they are capable of, their values and beliefs sense of self. It could be that in order to achieve their goal they might need to make changes at the basic level of self-preservation such as changing their environment, eating habits, the way they use their time. This basic level is the foundation on which everything balances - it's just like the base chakra (Muladhara). Without a firm base, the whole goal set will collapse. In this way, 7 Steps to Achieve Your Goals takes the user through a thorough examination of all the different aspects of their world and the way in which they connect with others. Going through the chakras one by one, during the programme, allows people to explore and address beliefs and values and anything that might be holding them back relating to each area associated with that chakra, to ensure that they can really achieve the goal that they've set for themselves. The beauty of this programme is that it pinpoints precisely which part of someone's life is out of balance. Once this is really understood, it's possible to do something about it. The levels are very clearly defined, both in the chakras and the Logical Levels of NLP.
The programme can be repeated over a period of a few days, or weeks, to track progress at each individual level and to plan progressively, what else might be needed.
7 Steps to Achieve Your Goals is available to download for £8. Read More>
