Energy Enhancement Meditation Techniques had a strong effect on Paul

I've decided to write a testimonial in the form of a letter to you, because I feel that personalises it - I guess I just have something against marketing, not because I have a blockage, but because of the damage I feel marketing does in terms of influencing certain modes of thinking, communication and relationships.

In my view marketing speak is the newspeak of 1984, the means by which the ideologies of the corporations and their free market capitalism are perpetuated by the very form which language takes... not only what is said but how it is said. T.S. Eliot once said that poetry is all about finding new ways to say the old things.

Now we want to express ourselves and all sorts of prefabricated market talk can come into our heads, especially about being happy with things, all from the superabundance of advertising we are pummeled with every day. It's worse in England Satchi, believe me. There's a lot of talk in the air about England really going downhill, young people and old people talking about leaving the country.

I think the pollution has got noticeably worse here. If things are to change it will take a great poetic event, whereby language can begin to free itself. So really this is my poetic sensibility getting a bit peeved at the pathological aspect of marketing! I don't want to borrow its phrases or its attitude. So I thought I'd write you a letter!

Well, the longer I spend at home the more I see how tremendously good for me the course was - it was tough, and I think it's important for people to know that it's tough. - it requires work, discipline and an openness and will to learn, and provides the perfect environment for the development of these qualities, which are really wonderful qualities to have.

" Well, most people find it really easy but sometimes, in order to deal with certain personalities we have to give them Tough Love in order to help their Energy Enhancement Course. It couldn't have been that bad, the guy is still speaking to me!! "
Satchidanand

I like how you left me to find out so much on my own and forced me to be strong, but then were different with James and Joseph because you gave them what they needed. There was no molly coddling! Well, Devi molly coddled me a little bit, but you know..

I am experiencing Devi's banana and ginger milkshake withdrawal.

It's funny, since getting back I've been going through an adjustment period, which is a great learning process of integrating all I've learnt in training into everyday life. I've noticed how much I've moved on in the relationships I meditated on during the course. (This is Energy Enhancement Level 3, The Mastery of Relationships - Satchi)

One of the relationships in particular, where the person is very damaged and can be very violent and aggressive, has improved massively. He still has a lot of negative energy about him but I don't feel so affected by it now, and can move my life on without being held back by the relationship.

And when I make a move on I am noticing how generous life is and how it meets me halfway when I take a step in the right direction. One of the strongest things I've noticed is that I identify with my body, mind and emotions a lot less than when I came on the course. I don't get in a rut so easily, and if I do it's never for long. Remembering what I truly am and not identifying with the egoity of mind so much means that I can see that everything and everyone is the same thing - in disguise as different things!

" As we Ground all our Negative Energies, Level 1 Initiation 3, we find that we are grounding the selfish, competitive ego. And it Goes!! E GO! "
Satchidanand

I no longer care as much what people think of 'me' as a result - it doesn't matter. All that matters is that I remain true to my work, why I am here, and that this involves the well being of everyone I know. Some things I know all I can do is meditate on, and working physically or with words is either impossible or not effective unless it has the energy of meditation behind it.. I understand what you said in our chat about language now.

" Karma Yoga comes about naturally when we ground out the Negative Energies. We then have the ability to know that if we do anything, 50% of the people will say that is very bad, and 50% of the people will say that it is very good. Karma Yoga means that we decide what to do and then remain unaffected by criticism, and un egotistical, humble, when praised. "
Satchidanand

" I was saying not to get so hung up about language and that the main thing was the intention behind it, and the energy with which we imbued it. I told the story from Gurdjieff's book, Meetings with Remarkable Men, about the two monks who traveled from Monastery to Monastery giving lectures. The first charmed all the monks and the birds from the trees with his wonderful speech. The second was rough and spoke bluntly. Yet after a month it was the rough monks speech which remained in everyone's mind. The charming monk spoke a wonderful confectionary based on the Mind. The rough Monk spoke from his Essence, from his very Soul. "
Satchidanand

I'm also enjoying using my emotions and strategies properly, rather than them using me! I've been expressing anger in certain situations where previously I would have held back. It's amazing how powerful this natural emotion is when used properly - I can let go, I don't seethe and remain angry or get angry with myself or a nearby wall or the next unfortunate person whom I encounter. In fact, I 've noticed that what happens when I use anger in this way is that the other person is disarmed, the situation is quickly diffused and sometimes even becomes amusing! Keeping a sense of humour about you is definitely 'the business'.

" This is Energy Enhancement Level 2 - working with the Strategies. Here we teach that we all use these strategies, The Poor Me, The Violator, The selfish Competitive Star etc, but we use them unconsciously. Really, the strategies use us or we are afraid of them. Unconscious use of the strategies can really destroy our lives. By grounding all the negative energies in these strategies we gain the power of using them from ourselves, consciously, in order to pursue our Soul Path. "
Satchidanand

Obviously I am constantly learning, making mistakes and getting used to living this new paradigm and feeling it out more fully with my own experience. But I can genuinely say that I am happy - it's not a struggle, and I don't feel buried under a mountain of turd every time something goes wrong. I don't berate myself as I used to. I'm grounded and practical and getting on with stuff!

Laurence (President of the University Buddhist Society) said when he saw me he was immediately struck by how solid and grounded I appeared. Life is very exciting at the moment actually, I'm moving to London next week and have so much going on I can barely catch up. I've got a temp job for the moment as a postman would you believe! So I'm making up a load of poetry flyers to put through people's doors on my rounds, spreading poetry around!

Thank you so much Satchi and Devi!

How are you? Hope everything is well. Feel free to take what you want out of this letter to put in a testimonial, I expect you'll edit it a bit anyhow, because some bits, like this, are no good for testimonial. I hope there's something in it that you think is useful, but this is what I've given and I'm happy with it! So there you go.

Read part 3 of Paul's Testimonial! (He's got a lot to say but it aint all hot air!)