Stèphano Sabetti

Infobox Scientist
name = Dr. Stèphano Sabetti

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Dr. Stèphano Sabetti is a spiritual facilitator/mentor, eclectic writer and speaker on fundamental spiritual, philosophical, and psychological subjects. His subject matter includes such diverse topics as the illusion of time, clinical spirituality, karma, peace, organizational intelligence, psychotherapy: East and West, spirit of sexuality and the future of love and happiness.

Biography

During his early integrative development, Sabetti experienced many different forms of the Western psychological tradition. In developing his own therapeutic style, he integrated these into a comprehensive paradigm.Ultimately, he was drawn to non-linear (systemic) styles that were considered innovative, divergent and controversial for their time. In addition, he began to study Eastern approaches to health and lifestyle, which are based on a complementary system of energy principles, e.g., yin and yang. [See: [http://www.thetao.info/tao/yinyang.htm www.thetao.info] recuperated May 2, 2008.] He found that despite seeming differences, various Western and Eastern alternative approaches shared many commonalities that pointed to a more comprehensive diagnosis of the mind, spirit, and body in which energetic balance was seen as an understanding of overall health. Sabetti’s experiences ultimately led him to a spiritually oriented body psychotherapy – his Life Energy Therapy® (LET). In this radical view, all phenomena may be explained as being either resonant or dissonant with a universal force called "life energy", which is responsible for bringing all objects and processes into movement. [Sabetti, Stèphano, The Wholeness Principle (Los Angeles: Life Energy Media, 1986), Introduction, p.iii.]

He opened the original [http://www.instituteforlifeenergy.com Institute for Life Energy®] in Los Angeles as a base for the worldwide introduction of his seminal innovation in the treatment of splits from wholeness and health of the mind/body/spirit. As of 2008, there are now four other institutes licensed and operating independently in Munich, Copenhagen, Zurich, and Cologne.

Since LET principles apply to all aspects of our lives, Sabetti gradually developed a more generalized Life Energy Process®, [See: Sabetti, Stephano, Life Energy Process: (Munich: Life Energy Media EU, 2001). ] which expanded its reach to include twelve forms and focus that concern energetic expression in human activities as varied as dance, art, music, education, and organizational processes.

Dr. Sabetti has dedicated thirty-five years of his life to the facilitation of wholeness through change with individuals, groups, and organizations. During this time, he has had the benefit of sharing his insights about healing with thousands of individuals in over thirty countries.

In more recent years, he has developed the Path of No Way to focus on broader questions about the nature of spirituality, essentialness, and personal inquiry. He challenges us to examine our traditional views of religion, suggesting that "essential spirituality" has no forms, rituals, and beliefs. Thus the way toward universal peace lies not in the contententious and often violent defense of prescribed religious differences but in the support of a spiritual commonality and a universal message of "consentient love". [See: Sabetti, Stèphano, Ki to Psychology, (Los Angeles: Life Energy Media, 2006) and Path of No Way, ibid, 2007).]

Ultimately, the contribution of Sabetti’s work may be seen as creating new methods to let go of suffering, live spontaneously through spiritual inquiry and enjoy differences as complementary, experiencing what he calls "choiceless freedom" – a natural state of health, happiness, and wholeness. [ibid., Path of No Way, p.387-391.]

Early Life

Raised in the United States, Stèphano Sabetti was educated at the University of Massachusetts (B.S. Psychology) and at Boston University (Masters and Doctorate in Counseling Psychology). He also had a minor in Organizational Development, training under Malcolm Knowles and Warren Bennis. Between these degrees, he served in the Teacher Corps in West Virginia as an elementary school teacher. He began his career as the Assistant Director of Counseling at Graham Junior College while developing a private practice as a psychotherapist in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Professional Development

Integration of Psychotherapy

Sabetti’s thesis work on Attention brought him into contact with many different Western psychoanalytic, psychotherapeutic, and behavioral paradigms. In particular, he was attracted to practitioners who were considered radical change agents because of their alternative interpretations for neurosis and unhappiness. Some of these included: Carl Jung, Joseph Wolpe, Carl Rogers and Kurt Lewin.

Each approach, he felt, had a contribution to make in understanding the psyche of (wo)man. Of particular interest was the great degree of commonality among the paradigms, if seen from a process perspective. Despite their apparent differences, Sabetti viewed his various experiences with psychotherapy as complementary in the whole. He discovered that alternative approaches often used techniques that:

* moved beyond traditional “talk” therapy methods.

* empowered clients to find their own answers instead of reinforcing their helplessness.

* helped clients see their “problems” in relation to collective imbalances.

* encouraged clients to become honest, i.e., let go of the usual excuses and ploys they contrive to avoid real change.

Body Centered Approaches

Based on the initial phase of Sabetti’s experiential research in integration and wholeness, he questioned the practice of isolating the psyche from the rest of the individual. This interest in unification had been pronounced in Sabetti since his early days. [Sabetti, Stèphano, personal communication.]

In viewing the human as a system that receives "information" from all of its senses, Sabetti was convinced that far too much emphasis was placed on the role of the intellect. He began to understand intuitively yet ever more critically the importance of including the body and its energetic expressions in diagnosing health. The bridge from an integration of psychotherapeutic methods to this body-centered incorporation came from Sabetti’s experience with Gestalt Therapy, which a) saw the whole as greater than the sum of the parts and b) focused on what the individual was experiencing in the moment (experiential learning). [For a concise treatment of Gestalt Therapy, see: [http://www.gestalt.org/yontef.htm www.gestalt.org] or [http://www.g-gej.org/4-3/theoryoverview.html www.g-gej.org] recuperated April 29, 2008.]

These principles were critical because they emphasized the relative and relational nature of phenomena as systemic in nature and brought the physical body directly into focus as a medium of emotional response. Through additional experiential research, he found a parallel understanding in Reichian and Bioenergetic theories. They saw emotions as manifest in physical expressions, particularly energetic impulses, reactions and blockages. [For further discussion, see [http://www.bioenergetictherapy.com www.bioenergetictherapy.com] and Wilhelm Reich, recuperated on May 1, 2008.] Dis-ease or distress he understood at its most fundamental level as a split from wholeness (dissonance leading to "disease resonance") in various parts of the body. The way to restore health, then, was to assist the client in freeing this blockage by working directly with the body. Whereas talking about so-called problems was often indirect, off the point, or indicative of a deliberate attempt (on some level) to hold on to ego illusions, neurosis, or control, Sabetti found that the body did not lie. More importantly, he found this approach to be much quicker and more effective; the body held the answers, if one was open to its “messages.” As he began studying Eastern approaches to health, lifestyle and happiness, he became convinced that attempts to separate the psyche or mind from the rest of the person’s physicality were indeed illusory.

Though Sabetti found incorporation of the body to be essential, he began to wonder about the consciousness of the body that allows it to receive, process, and respond to this information. What causes these movements? Does this knowledge exist within a broader worldview? And what of the soul or spirit?

Life Energy Therapy® (L.E.T.)

see Stèphano Sabetti's books [http://www.lifeenergymedia.com/public/webshop/openstore.htm "The Wholeness Principle"] and [http://www.lifeenergymedia.com/public/webshop/openstore.htm "Life Energy Process"] .

In his next phase, Sabetti became fascinated by the idea that Eastern methods of healing and Western psychotherapies might be integrated with theoretical and practical concepts. He saw the need for a comprehensive model of change, healing and lifestyle that integrated various levels of knowledge: psychological processes, new concepts of physics, physical treatments of disease and spiritual growth.

To proceeed, Sabetti felt he needed a common denominator. He discovered he could achieve such a synthesis of therapy modalities by using the concept of “energy,” since all methods can be related, directly or indirectly, to such processes. He began to develop a new therapeutic practice that had its roots in the ancient wisdom of energy but could be used in a practical way in modern therapy. Thus “energy” the research concept became "life energy", the dynamic principle. [Sabetti, Stèphano, The Wholeness Principle, ibid., p.265.]

According to Sabetti, "life energy" may be thought of as a universal force that is responsible for bringing all of the world’s phenomena into movement. Life, he suggests, is a state of animation that is characterized by processes of movement in which everything (even inanimate objects) participates.

As L.E.T. was evolving, several important considerations became clear to Sabetti. First, to be a practical psychotherapy , it had to return to the concept of healing that was implicit in the origin of therapy. The key to health, he felt, was in the energetic resonances of how different levels of energy moved in sympathy with one another. Disease, Sabetti realized, is a unique process for all individuals that can be described as a particular vibration, movement, and rhythm that is dissonant with their essence. [ibid. pp.266-7.]

Secondly, because an important element of therapy is spiritual, L.E.T. had to include this realm while also working on other levels of energy. For example, since traditional therapy concerns itself with the ego and self, L.E.T. had to describe these processes as energetic and spiritual phenomena (see Path of No Way.) In short, Sabetti saw L.E.T. as: [ibid.]

* a form of healing that transcended the accepted limits of psychotherapy

* a system as steeped in the philosophicasl/religious traditions of the past as it was in the latest research in physics, e.g., quantum mechanics

* a method as practical as it was theoretical

* a lifestyle of balance and unity

All of these elements effect therapy’s return to wholeness. L.E.T., then, is the study of energy as a vital medium of life and the practice of its movement as it leads to greater wholeness in spiritual evolution. Since oneness is the natural state of our existence, L.E.T. brings us back to that wholeness by helping us rediscover what we already know on a deeper level. The central element of this basic process is awareness, which is understood as the observation of truth. [ibid., p.270.] This is key, because wholeness depends on the acceptance of the “living” truth, however difficult – but without judgment. Awareness is an expression of watchfulness based on the spontanaiety of the moment. For Sabetti, only change with awareness leads to evolution. [ibid., p.267.] Superficial change circumvents deep change, through an “as if” act or "umvolution". Whatever we become aware of increases energetic flow in the direction of that object, and because "life energy" is boundless, our capacity for awareness is also unlimited. Why then, aren’t we more aware of ourselves and the world around us?

The answer is our fear of wholeness or what Sabetti refers to as "holophobia". He contends that at some level we are aware of this unlimited potential but refuse it because we’d have to confront our disowned parts. Instead, we keep ourselves unaware of the whole by developing a special perceptual neurosis that focuses our attention on those phenomena that fit our level of consciousness. To remedy this “tunnel vision,” L.E.T. supports wholeness by using verbal feedback, physical movements, and vibratory resonation to energize and support what already exists. Working on energy blockages is secondary, so that disease doesn’t inadvertantly get reinforced.

In L.E.T. another important concept is the "trace problem". According to this idea, most of what we consider “problems” are really extensions of energy disturbances of varying depths.The "trace problem" is simply the superficial and latest manifestation of a basic energetic dysfunction, often with spiritual roots. Though trace problems need our attention to survive, we often fixate on them to avoid getting to the “heart of the matter.”

"Trace problems" are often connected at a deeper level to common "energy patterns" with the same energy disturbance. By a process of extension, the original problem of separation from wholeness becomes projected through our contact with the world.We extend this common disturbance through "problem veins" into countless forms which we then call problems. These patterns function as "disease harmonics", in which each unique disturbance is manifest as a replica (fractal) of the original dis-ease, creating a "fractal neurosis".The existence of these energy problems makes it clear that disease, like health, is interwoven into the fabric of our lives, known as the "life energy weave". [ibid.,p.281.]

To the extent that we follow these "problem veins" to identify common patterns, we are often able to dispose of several “problems” at once instead of addressing them one by one. Once the "energy pattern" emerges, the therapy proceeds to experience and release the "dissonant holding". Sabetti realized that patterns of disease and processes of healing emerge as the client is able to cope with them. Patterns of disease, for example, can emerge from any level and time period, i.e., they don’t necessarily occur in reverse order to the disease process. In contrast, "healing veins", which lead back to wholeness, develop systematically but non-linearly. In this sense, we can’t force or direct the healing because that would disturb the organic process. According to Sabetti, "life energy" knows its way back to wholeness; it’s a uiversal path well-worn by many before us. [ibid.,p.280.]

In LET, the dynamics of these influences focus on three areas of study: the "chaos psychology" of spontaneous occurrences, e.g., the outbreak of emotions; "resonance psychology", which examines how similar and dissimilar waves of influence affect us, e.g., the rhythms of communication; and the "psychology of wholeness", which studies how we avoid or support health and healing. Together, these three lines of research constitute "energy psychology", the study of energy influences on our thinking, feeling, and behavior. [Sabetti, Stephano, Life Energy Process, ibid., p.96.]

Life Energy Process® (L.E.P.)

(see Sabetti, Stèphano [http://www.lifeenergymedia.com/public/webshop/openstore.htm "Life Energy Process"] .

Over the years, many other forms of energetic work developed, as Sabetti extended the basic L.E.T. concepts into the expressive arts, organizational consulting, and several areas of healing and learning such as massage, yoga, and pedagogy. Each form has added additional texture to the understanding of the larger whole of energy processes yet has its own concepts, dynamics, and principles that help make its form unique. There are twelve forms:

Acquasus®-Water work

Many individuals come into L.E.P. work with rigid attitudes and stiff bodies.This is often indicative of limited or denied emotional expression. At one summer conference, Sabetti wondered if the nurturing environment of water (related to the womb) might be helpful in releasing emotional holding. [Sabetti, Stephano, personal communication.] It soon became clear that positive effects of the treatment were not simply due to the “melting” effects of the water on the “frozen” body. By moving in and under the water, people felt waves in and outside their body. This action triggered deeper emotional experiences, related to the "energy patterns" and disease described in the L.E.T. section above.

Acquasus provides a large range of possibilities, from desensitizing fear of water to deep emotional work, including regression processes. It also allows transpersonal and existential experiences of pleasure and primeval safety.

Artra®

Sabetti has long encouraged clients to sketch feelings or draw personal interactions as they perceive them, because people often have difficulty describing their true feelings in words. Sabetti was particularly impressed by art’s importance as a cathartic and healing tool. According to Sabetti, how the movement is drawn says more about the underlying process than the topic itself. Similarly, the use of colors and textures adds other dimensions for interpretation.

A great deal of work in L.E.P. is based on body experience, since the body is one of the most fundamental and immediate frames of reference. In Artra, Sabetti uses the concept of the "body field" to assess and describe how clients see and feel their own bodies in relation to their images of themselves. For example, how large do they make themselves in the picture? What proportion are various body parts? Are any left out or disconnected? The "body field" interacts with what Sabetti calls the "relatio", or relationship of the individual’s body to others in the picture.

Sabetti refers to the "objecta" as the true understanding of the quantity, quality, and direction of the client’s relationships in the whole "(life messages)". Artra, then, brings a new dimension of energy dynamics to its general and clinical levels, since it enables the client to combine expression in a personal and integrated way "(self-resonance)".

Dansergia®

As the early ranks of LEP participants grew, an increasing percentage had experience in expressive movements, like dance. Having felt the benefits of this work personally, they showed an interest in integrating L.E.P concepts into their respective fields. Sabetti’s experience showed that movements and music were good media for the expression of feelings, particularly for individuals who were emotionally “held.” Those previously stuck in repetitious feelings were offered a conduit to get beyond this emotional repetition to experience joy and pleasure.

The basic principle in Dansergia is that all life is in motion, and this movement is connected within each person as "life energy" moving in and through them. External waves or "peripheral fluctents" move to our inside, while "core fluctents" radiate from inside out. Each of these movements helps create an "energy field" of influences that affects our lives. In Dansergia, this constant movement, influence, and change "(interference)" invites participants to "self-inquiry", perhaps with the help of a facilitator "(dansergist)", to develop a consciousness of these movements. By exploring spontaneous motion, clients can experience where energy flows and where it has become blocked or diverted. For example: “How integrated is the movement we experience? What direction and form do we tend to express?” Sabetti believes that by observing how different body parts work together, we may better understand energy flow throughout the system, i.e., a small disturbance in one area can affect the entire system "(phole awareness)".

By reestablishing a free flow of energetic movement, clients reconnect with joy, pleasure, and strength, making life more meaningful. Sabetti refers to this process as "con-rolling" (going with the flow) as opposed to con-trolling "(contra-rolling)". A key success comes from this physical contact - going into feelings by "moving from the feelings". This may be particularly helpful for individuals who want to pursue psychotherapy or simply their own personal development.

Energy Pedagogy®

As a contributor to the student initiated Free University at UMass, in the Teacher Corps, and at Marshall University’s Graduate School in Adult Education, Sabetti began to research the nature of learning and its dynamics. He also examined learning in a therapeutic context, observing how quickly it takes place if it is deeply experienced "(core learning)". The results of this finding evolved into Energy Pedagogy (E.P.), and its process is applied to all other L.E.P. forms as a method for adjusting learning needs in a variety of situations.

Although many of us have been forced to “become educated,” we all choose to learn. Physiological studies show that without constant stimulation, we become bored and less receptive to repetitious messages. However, each of us learns at different speeds, rhythms, levels, and in specific contexts, i.e., we have different ways of perceiving the world. A large part of E.P.’s success lies in its ability to find the right “invitation” for individuals, suggesting that learning is most meaningful when relevant to their needs and when it involves as many senses as possible. According to Sabetti, this "multi-leveled learning", when simultaneous, results in deeper and longer-lasting comprehension because we are more completely involved in the experience. The most effective way to facilitate and sustain this "resonance" is to see learning as an ongoing process wherein content or “what” learning cedes to process or “how” learning. Content learning isn’t ignored, but "learning moments" generally have a continuity over time and develop into a "learning thread" that shows what and how learning connects from one instant to another.

By working with individual strengths and limitations, E.P. enhances both the quality "(qualtum learning)" and quantity "(quantum learning)" of learning opportunities. Working through "learning blockages" and "learning wounds" also creates a more effective learning milieu and with it a more life-positive "learning field" of openness, creativity, and new personal and professional possibilities.

Life Energy Therapy®

(see above)

Musicia®

While working with Dansergia and its integration of music and movement, Sabetti saw the possibility of using music directly as a conduit for creativity and therapy. As an inquiry, he invited musicians to play while individuals were moving simultaneously to their inner feelings. He asked the musicians to subtly influence the clients’ feelings to develop, transform, "center" or "ground" these feelings. Similarly, he asked the individuals to improvise music creation using common “street” instruments such as keys, trash, barrels, etc. Experimenting with these different media, music, and sounds evolved into a form of personal inquiry called Musicia.

Musicia is designed to explore the inner sounds and rhythms that move us and through us, what separates us from living these movements, and how we can again come back into "resonance" with them. While daily life is full of sounds, many of them are disharmonious to us. According to Sabetti, what we perceive as “noise” creates dissonace and a "disease resonance" that actually casuses upset, physical distress, and even disease in its worst manifestation. The key to returning clients to healthy resonances over time "(consonance)", the facilitator or "musicist" needs to pay attention to "vibratio", the point of unity when clients are suddenly in "resonance" with the music. In addition, music may be used in a clinical sense to sentize clients (through specific sounds or vibrations) to parts of their lives that may have become hurt or deadened. Similarly, the "musicist" can help densitize clients to unhealthy processes. For example, the hysterical process may be defused by rhythms with an emphasis on centeredness – like a constant drumbeat.

By creating an environment for people to be touched by tones, Musicia allows individuals to become conscious of the sounds that elicit harmony and "noise" that is disharmonious for their particular systems. Once individuals are in tune with these rhythms and sounds, it becomes easier to identify and exchange unhealthy milieus for those that support health.

Organetics®

During Sabetti’s graduate school years, it became clear to him that clinical studies of individuals should be complemented by an understanding of social and organizational processes. He became intrigued by the similarity between individual and organizational psychodynamics "(clinical organization)" pathology, and change possibilities. As he applied L.E.P. processes to organizations "(organizational clinic)", a new perspective on systems, diagnosis, and intervention developed into Organetics, the study of energy dynamics in organizations.

Organetics proposes a unique process to diagnose organizational endeavors and a non-linear organizational structure based on the energetic dynamics of systemic wholeness called the "wholearchy". Each individual is a sample and a symbol of the organization, having a "field" that overlaps with others’ to create an organizational composite. In a well-functioning, life-positive organizational environment, key shared core beliefs create a field of "collective individuality", in which employees retain their individuality "(distinctness)" without creating dissonance, "disease resonance", separation, and a "bifurcation" from organizational wholeness.If there is consistent "organizational resonance", this contributes to a strong "organizational field" that stabilizes the organization in times of change. Sabetti’s investigation of some of the best employers reveals that as they develop a greater awareness of the interaction between their "internal field" and the environment/community fields in which they operate, they develop a consciousness of "organizational karma". When they operate in unwhole ways, e.g. polluting, exploiting child labor, they are visited by recurring and potentially crippling public relations fiascos. Sabetti sees these as unrealized "learning points", because the firm is either oblivious or unwilling to address these "organizational messages". To survive in the future, firms will have to heed these signs, increasingly becoming "virtual organizations" – continuously learning to reorganize and self-adjust based on "self-resonance" by minimizing focus on structure and maximizing focus on processes. This opens its members to maximum creativity and involvement in which so-called chaos is the origin of new order. In this regard, it demands of its members a reciprocal commitment and centeredness.

According to Sabetti, this organizational "wholearchy" is led from the center out. Ideas, strategies, and core beliefs are generally conceived and derive their intensity from the central leaders "(centrists)" of the organization. The core beliefs and ideas are then spread to the periphery of the organization and beyond to the customers, community, etc. in an inside out direction as opposed to the “top down” direction generally associated with hierarchies. This movement allows for easier, two-way but non-linear interaction, because it mimics the organic movement of energy waves. Information circulates back from outside the firm and its internal periphery to the core in a feedback loop (see Three Laws of Wholeness – Recurring Themes, 1. Wholeness). All unwhole, unfinished, and revisited energy processes come back for reconsideration in an attempt to provide an organizational "learning point", e.g., exploitative management practices, product flaws. Firms that are continually confronted by the same or worsening problems are experiencing them because of a failure to confront certain aspects of their core that they’d rather ignore. If viewed from another perspective, these problems may often identify the focal point of attention to the exact place where "healing resonance" may begin to take place. In companies that tend to see things as “black or white,” there is a tendency to cut off problems, as if they were a nuisance rather than including them as important parts of the solution. By "superimposition", bringing polarities together, the organization finds solutions that include both poles. In a "one-pointed organization", there is a focus on the unifying flow of life that includes duality while understanding that solutions to our problems occur through oneness. In these "wholearchies", all see themselves as part of the entirety of the group’s processes and move with what is "con-rolling", rather than "contra-rolling" what should be.

Process Inquiry®

Sabetti’s professional training in Counseling Psychology led him to develop a verbal form of L.E.P. that could be used in tandem with other forms or on a stand-alone basis. Called "Process Inquiry" (P.I.), Sabetti crafted this form over time as he saw the increasing need for an essential method of communication that could be used ubiquitously by professionals, not just therapists. Though it’s based on counseling methods, it emphasizes stronger elements of confrontation and reality orientation. Its focus is on learning processes of individuals, groups, and organizations, and inquiry into the dynamics of their verbal interactions.

The fundamental assumption of P.I. is that individuals have an inner knowledge about wholeness on some level, though they often close their minds to it.This knowledge includes the fact that they have avoided wholeness by distancing themselves from it. This defense mechanism against hurt has consequences; we forego curiosity, laughter, spontaneous joy, etc. From this split, internal and external conflicts develop. Central to refinding our lost "self-resonance" is an inquiry into being present in the moment, without judgment, false pretenses, indulging in fantasies, or presuming. Put simply, it is an honest inquiry into "what is", because according to Sabetti, each system knows what’s good for it and how it can grow. For this to be successful, the honesty of facing facts is needed. Successful inquiry and subsequent solutions also require an internal consistency within the whole system "(systemic integrity)". If individuals have a feeling of "dis-ease" or undue complexity, they can take this "life message" as a signal that a split is occurring and begin the inquiry toward a renewal of health.

P.I. is especially useful because it may be applied to all forms of L.E.P and common situations of everyday life, as well as to many specific fields: business, law, medicine, family behavioral dynamics, etc. P.I.is designed to get to the point. It supports coming to one’s center (becoming emotionally honest) rather than staying confused by our illusions. Also, P.I.’s focus on solutions in lieu of problems supports proactive involvement. Finally, the truth of P.I. implies "wave consequences". Thus it invites clients to to be responsible for themselves and the intended and unintended results of their actions on others. One strategy Sabetti suggests is to “play out the tape,” using "phole referring" to gain an appreciation for possible ramifications of behavior on the larger "field".

Shinkido®

After the development of L.E.P. and L.E.T. as a spiritual body psychotherapy, it became clear to Sabetti that this approach was too intense and demanding for a vast number of individuals. He saw the need to develop another form of L.E.P. that was therapeutic but not necessarily psychotherapeutic. He began developing and refining physical tecniques that work directly with the body to unblock energy flow. Using Western (Swedish) massage and later experience with Eastern techniques of Shiatsu, Amna, Ampaku, and Ki-atsu, he developed a unique therapy that sought a "middle course" between the almost purely physical orientation (stress reduction and relaxation) of Western approaches with an Eastern orientation that works on a deeper level with the causes of muscular and organ “holding” to effect a more permanent release of blocked energy pathways. As a trained acupuncturist, he found Shiatsu an effective way of influencing energy points, flow, and blockage without the use of needles. By exploring different energy rhythms and their effects, he found that sometimes quicker and more superficial movements produced greater energy change while at other times slower and deeper ones were more effective. The reason for this was that each process of growth has its own unique rhythm that fits the movement of that person. This led Sabetti to the same conclusion he had drawn with L.E.T. theory on another energy level — the effects of all change could be described by their wave properties — and Shinkido was born.

According to Sabetti, a key to understanding individual "spirit" lies in the experience that all individuals have a unique energy frequency of waves that distinguishes them from all others. Since health and disease can be seen and explained by these wave properties, the person being massaged shows their resources and needs by the quality of their vibration. In Shinkido, focusing on these wave processes supports health and growth. Healthy wave activity shows ease, pleasure, openness, generosity, and love; disturbed wave movement shows waves of dis-ease: uncompleted wave cycles that result in bound energy. A skilled "shinkidist" (facilitator) can pick up on the most important and appropriate wave at the moment and follow it. In this sense, Shinkido is the art of “surfing” the wave movement, coming into and staying in "resonance" by following the movement of the client. In particular, the "shinkidist" looks for "jitsu" (overcharged) and "kyo" (undercharged) processes as indications of wave disturbances "(neurosis)". These disturbances can build up, creating a diseased "standing wave" and experienced in the body as stiff muscles, pain and deadness. "Neurosis" can also be regarded as a consistent loss of the connection to the continuity of growth "(energy thread)". If this "learning thread" isn’t followed, then the client’s awareness is disturbed and waves cannot build or will collapse. With no change in the body system, no learning is possible.

Unlike most massage styles, Shinkido works on many levels. Depending on condition and willingness to explore physical, emotional, or spiritual issues, individuals can easily find a "resonant" level where relaxation and healing can take place. The impetus from an initial physical treatment, for example, may move to another level, if it’s appropriate. Lastly, clients’ direct and active involvement in the process reinforces a greater sense of responsibility for their own happiness.

Sphurana Yoga®

Sabetti’s experience with various forms of yoga had left him with with a general sense of incompleteness. Ultimately, he saw yoga as a process of wholeness that was seldom apparent as it was being practiced. Sphurana Yoga began as an outgrowth of the application of L.E.P. concepts of energy "confluence" with body positions, and a further melding of Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga and martial arts training gave it its dynamic form. The word "sphurana" in Sanskrit means “inner vibration,” and it corresponds to the unique inner vibrations all individuals possesss that are felt in the body and become focalized as a total experience through a non-linear pathway Sabetti defines as the "healing channel".

Sphurana Yoga is as powerful as it is straightforward; it seeks to aquaint the client with the complete experience of their physical being. Through corrective postures, breathing, and awareness of feelings and lifestyle, it can be used to help clients complete a larger picture of how they can live with wholeness. Since all living systems exhibit movement and form, body movements constitute process while its forms "(asanas)" exhibit content. Movements "(yin)" provide process elements of change necessary for psychological growth, while forms "(yang)" support an order that balances change. Appropriate use of energy allows a Sphurana Yoga professional "(yogist)" to influence its flow up and down. Downward flow is necessary for "involutionary" (grounding) processes, while upward moving energies support "evolutionary" qualities of going beyond personal limits to a higher spiritual plane. Although yoga in general attracts many who would prefer to go around "(umvolution)" instead of through their learning steps, Sphurana Yoga helps them see this as counter-productive to real growth.

In addition to conventional benefits of yoga practice such as improved organ functioning, breathing exchange, and flexibility, Sphurana Yoga opens the entire system to a new vitality. This elan expresses itself in a greater capacity to feel and express these feelings. Since a free flow of feelings also releases muscular tension, body flexibility is developed more rapidly than by physical extension and breath work alone. Also, vibrations increase our capacity to take in and enjoy a new-found liveliness that manifests itself physically (perhaps in the brightness of our eyes) and in our demeanor (an openness to new adventure). Finally, Sphurana Yoga also helps us work with psychological issues by showing us how to translate these themes into physical movements and postures.

Teatro Energetico®

As enthusiasm for L.E.P. grew over time, its interest among individuals from the expressive arts extended dramatically. Having used dance, theater, etc. as a means of making their personal lives more fulfilling, they wished to explore the inquiry of L.E.P. as a means of furthering their professional skills. In response, Sabetti began to design workshops specifically to support this burgeoning interest. His sudy of Jacob L. Moreno’s Psycho-drama and Socio-drama as well as [http://www.pbsp.com Al Pesso’s Psychomotor Therapy] had made him aware of the importance of psychological and sociological influences, and so he used his experiences as a group leader to use the group’s energy to help individuals inquire and express themselves in a larger space. Since L.E.P. works to translate psychological, social, and spiritual issues into energetic movements, in this process the marriage of energy, stage presentation, and inquiry evolved organically into a new form, namely Teatro Energetico.

Most of us have a basic need to feel important in a way that helps us maintain a sense of purpose – that our life matters. Since we are generally unable to get directly either the quality or the quantity of love we require, we begin to play out an ad hoc drama of our own creation, e.g., the inevitable victim, to get the necessary attention in the form of pity or sympathy that we “settle for” as a substitute for genuine love and understanding. Creating and sustaining these dramas, however, draws energy inward toward us in an unwhole and contrived manner, adding energy charge to exaggerate the importance "(theater of ascent)" of these situations. Conversely, we may purposely downplay the importance of events "(theater of descent)" by claiming we are untouched by legitimately hurtful situations. We have become what Sabetti refers to as "wave seducers", because at some level we lead others away from healthy interactions. Unfortunately, these "energy cassettes" repeat ad infinitum, because we are only succeeding in getting others to invest in our own "neurosis". Many of us move from one drama to the next, as the theater of our suffering becomes a continual process of “almost living.” Conversely, Teatro Energetico sees life as a never-ending series of situations and scenes that have the potential to confront us with new awareness. It challenges us to question what Sabetti refers to as the "future past syndrome": a pattern in which future responses develop almost automatically out of past experiences, becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Accepting and going beyond these dramas involves confronting the death of a "neurotic identity" by helping clients to move through this process. If they can ease beyond attachment to the old drama, the "neurotic bind" begins to dissolve and a new consciousness of future possibilities opens.

Teatro Energetico can be extremely useful in bringing out hidden dramas or exploring known problems on a larger scale. According to Sabetti, the" stage of honesty" provides for a strong field of support and confrontation that intensifies the quality of the experience. Work can be accomplished with individuals, couples, and organizations relatively quickly and effectively, thanks to the power of direct experience. The expressive quality of Teatro encourages clients to go beyond the usual mental defenses that use words to avoid direct experiences of feelings. Another benefit is the possibility of adjusting both the intensity and the length of inquiry to accommodate the needs of the client. For some, simply standing in front of a group may be a sufficient first breakthrough.

Vocia®

The application of L.E.P. to expressive arts began with dance then theater, and these forms were eventually followed by those interested in singing and vocal expression. These individuals, too, were interested in professional development through the use of L.E.P. principles. Since voice and breath are integral aspects of L.E.P. as essential movements in wholeness, Vocia evolved as a natural alternative to complement Musicia and Teatro Energetico.

As probably the first instrument, the voice is closely connected to our being in the world. Thus Vocia may be seen as "my voice as self-expression". Often combined with movement, Vocia facilitates energetic processes and intensifies the waves of inner energy flow such that the entire body "resonates". This phenomenon facilitates opportunities to surmount disturbances and blockages as it reconnects, returning us to authentic voice expression. With respect to "phole referring", to be in resonance individuals must find their own "signature frequency" while becoming part of the harmonics of a "sound space" (larger field). If our tones are in "resonance" with others, the frequencies will fit; consistent "resonance" develops a "consonance", which becomes an integrated field. Coversely, if tones are "dissonant", there is considerable friction and resistance. Thus a major inquiry for Vocia becomes: “Am I being touched directly with other individuals and the world around me? Or is my focus on struggle and problems? What is the sound of holding my voice back? How does it feel? Is this a more general pattern in my life?” Seeking constant "harmony" isn’t always advisable in the same way dissonance and "disharmony" aren’t always bad; in our far from harmonious world we’re confronted with "dissonance" daily, which always presents opportunities for learning. Sabetti refers to careful research into alternative learning possibilities as "voice inquiry". According to Sabetti, the voice pattern of each person is as unique as their inner vibration and may be regarded as a "code" that can be used by a skilled "vocist" to identify possible "neurotic patterns" and help the client find their way back to their center, self, and original wholeness.

Vocia offers a spectrum of possibilities for development. It may be used as a first step toward self-inquiry and personal development. It may also be used by those who want more advanced work with a specific voice theme. In either case, working directly with the voice and breath can introduce the voice, body, and entire system to a tremendous opportunity or fundamental healing process in a subtle way by bringing more power, joy, and harmony into daily life.

Recurring Themes

Wholeness

– see Sabetti, Stèphano [http://www.lifeenergymedia.com/public/webshop/openstore.htm "The Wholeness Principle"] .

According to Sabetti, the world is an indivisible dynamic, with all people and processes connected. The medium for this interconnectdness is a universal force called "life energy", which is responsible for bringing all objects, people, and processes into movement. This is based on system of complementary yin/yang energy principles that applies to all aspects of existence. Since everything is in a constant state of change, the universe’s balance is the result of the movement and integration of relative amounts of yin and yang in the whole. Sabetti’s system is governed by three basic Laws of Wholeness: "gathering", where "resonant" energy is drawn together, creating a "field"; "distribution", where the energy is spread from the center out to the periphery and shared with other individuals, processes, etc.; and "circuitry", where two-way communication occurs, though not necessarily in a linear direction. In the process’ movement, this law demonstrates that all parts of a whole and all unfinished or unwhole processes naturally seek completion, presenting themselves in an effort to be made whole or complete. [Sabetti, Stèphano, Life Energy Process, ibid. p.134.]

Sabetti suggests that wholeness involves anything that supports or maintains persons, things, or processes in their entirety. All things by nature seek a state of wholeness, and only our efforts to control or manipulate this natural order leads to dissonance and dis-ease. Wholeness exists when we accept everything about our lives as integral to its totality. Sabetti refers to a state of "systemic integrity" when all parts and processes fit together in a unified way. "Systemic integrity" cannot exist in any meaningful way when we deny any aspect of our lives that splits us away from wholeness. For example, we may eat healthy and increase our superficial physical profile by "armoring" ourselves to mask the internal void we’re attempting to fill.Wholeness is not always easy to accept, but it is truthful, clear, and direct. True wholeness comes from inside us; it must be felt as a lifestyle without any sense of coercion or obligation. According to Sabetti, our wholeness is an "interindependent" phenomenon, having its own rhythm, "resonance", and "field" yet inseparable from the larger universe of successively larger "fields" with which it interacts. [Sabetti, Stèphano, The Wholeness Principle, ibid. p.83.] When this interaction is positive, we speak of positive or "healing resonance" between the "fields". When "resonance" is present, both the content (what) and the process (how) fit together. Thus our existence is part-whole or "phole" related to all other people and processes of the world. As such, the world may be viewed as a collective dynamic consisting of many smaller "fields" that overlap and impact one another. This influence may be direct or indirect, local or non-local, linear or non-linear. Sabetti refers to this overlap of energy fields as the system’s "interference pattern".

Consistent with recent developments in quantum physics, Sabetti applies his "middle course of confluence" to connect the noteworthy parallels between Eastern philosophy and Western science. He observes that systemic wholeness may be maximized through a minimum but necessary amount of structure that is not forced on to the system from the outside or above inorganically, e.g. hierarchy, but results as a natural extension of the energetic fields, processes, and forms that precede it. In this vein, it is better not to quelch so-called “problems” but explore them; they may be the source of important life messages about ourselves, systemic "energy leaks", e.g., inessential rumor or gossip, or more serious "bifurcations" (splits from wholeness resulting in "disease resonance"), and so they may actually be critical as origins of new solutions, if interpreted constructively and with consciousness. [For a more detailed discussion of organizational issues from an energetic perspective, see Sabetti, Stèphano, “Organizational Energy” (booklet): (Munich: Life Energy Media, 1984). Dr Sabetti is currently working on a more extensive treatment of successful organizations, wholeness and energy in a upcoming book.]

Though wholeness is a natural state of life, many of us have little experience with it as a conscious process. In wholeness, we have no more excuses, games, or struggles, and letting go of these entrenched life patterns is equal to losing an old identity with our problems. It signifies the death of familiar strategies. Conversely, wholeness is a new identity based on honesty, and this causes what appears to be an ironic fear of new freedom and possibilities. According to Sabetti, we are consequently frightened of wholeness at a deeper level. It is generally assumed that we want to become more healthy, happy, and complete, and on one level the fact that we are seeking improvement seems to support this view. But the greatest fear of all is that of letting go of our fragmentation. Sabetti refers to this fear of wholeness as "holophobia". [Sabetti, Stephano, The Wholeness Principle, ibid. p. 162.]

The path or return to wholeness is no easy matter; it requires a continuity of investment and a clear purpose of intention. It requires the timing to be right, the context clear, the place appropriate, and the right people present. Accurate energy diagnosis called a "holysis" may be critical to an assessment of the places and extent of energy blockages present. In contrast to analysis, which breaks problems down into individual units, "holysis" requires a relational perspective among the individal elements in the whole. Sabetti uses "pattern recognition", "phole awareness", and "option potential" to arrive at a balanced diagnosis. Finally, a restoration of energy flow must occur if health is to be reinstated, which can only be accomplished through a willingness to change existing patterns of energy.

Change

– see Sabetti, Stèphano [http://www.lifeenergymedia.com/public/webshop/openstore.htm "Waves of Change"] . According to Sabetti, change is the natural process of all dynamic systems. There isn’t any way to avoid or stop the process, though we can disturb its energetic flow by deflection, diffusion, inhibition, and constriction. We can also give the appearance of keeping change peripheral, or fabricate “as if” change "(umvolution)". Thus change continues on, unaffected by our attempts to be powerful, in what Sabetti terms "rheostasis" (the maintenance of change). We can only decide if change will be healthy, serving the whole, or unhealthy, serving dis-ease.

Change occurs because complex, non-linear systems are dynamic, "self-resonant", and "chaotic". Though we generally see chaos as a disruptive, disorderly state, physics tells us that "chaos" is actually fundamental to the processes from which order develops. "Chaos" and order exist and only have meaning in relation to each other. From a "life energy" perspective, they are specific manifestations of wholeness, the way change and stability are necessary for each other. Thus, order equals stability or equilibrium, while chaos is the energetic movement toward the origin of new order, the maximization of variation, new information, and "evolutionary" and "involutionary" growth.

At best, we feel ambiguous about change. On one hand, everything and everyone seem to be involved in a massive and unremitting change process fueled largely by technological progress. On the other hand, we are given precious little support to develop appropriate consciousness to deal with these changes. Though we seek change, we often see new possibilities as threatening to our present comfort level. Consequently, we create a disturbingly large "field" of "disease resonance". [Sabetti, Stèphano, Waves of Change (Los Angeles: Life Energy Media, 1993) p.ii.]

Sabetti’s thesis is this "change paradox" results from the fact that we haven’t learned what change is and how to deal with it. He feels it’s incumbent upon us to stop running from change, discovering how to live with it and enjoy it. When only part of us is fully involved in change, we can’t embrace it, the process is undermined, and meaningful change can’t occur. Sabetti argues that this outcome isn’t accidental, as we’d often like to believe, but instead a form of avoidance stemming from our fear of radical change.

There are many reasons for the fear of change that causes us to try to manipulate or block it. For some, the status quo protects their “small fiefdom” of power. For others, the clarity associated with knowing what’s important to them yields a certain power that they may not have felt or have generally associated with violence. Finally, others don’t understand the nature of change itself. They don’t change due to a lack of clarity about just what change is. According to Sabetti, many people don’t even feel as if they really deserve to be happy. However, by being fully involved with change, we support and reinforce pleasure. In this way, change allows us to get our essential needs met.

One level of change (the familiar) brings superficial alteration to our lives; the deeper kind fosters psychological, social, and spiritual development. By understanding change as a fundamental principle of movement, change enables potentially isolated events to be understood in relation to other situations of both similar and different qualities. This interrelationship between events and situations on all levels provides a continuity and consistency that results in a “flow” of change. The medium of this flow is "life energy" in the service of wholeness. Exactly what changes and how it changes is a function of different degrees of consciousness. The degree of our consciousness, in turn, is the relative state of our wholeness. Therefore, change, energy, and consciousness are closely related, almost interchangeable in the service of wholeness. Change is the process of wholeness, life energy is its medium, and consciousness is the quality of wholeness.

For Sabetti, the power of change comes from moving with it. At its deepest (spiritual) level, Sabetti feels the importance of change lies in its role to awaken our consciousness- about ourselves and our sense of commitment to our "interindependence", i.e., distinctness with interaction. Sabetti believes it’s less the fear of the unknown that inhibits healthy change. Instead, at some level of consciousness, we know exactly what real change means for us and how it’ll affect our lives. We like to deny this knowledge, because deep down we ‘d rather avoid the consequences. By “playing unconscious,” by shrouding a lack of change with some generalized excuses related to anxiety, we continue to be confused or helpless in the face of real confrontation. To admit that we know about change and its relation to wholeness would be to give up our excuses and illusions.

Ultimately, we engage in "change ploys" to avoid facing the fact that we don’t really want to change. This conclusion displeases us, because we have to admit our self-deceit. Sabetti suggests that, at its core, the important inquiry with respect to change is one of consciousness: “Do we want to live and die in dignity?” The renewal of change brings with it an increase in our social, economic, and spiritual awareness of relating to one another through collectively developed channels of exchange. Even if we have no personal interest in change, it happens in spite of us. Therefore, on a larger scale it’s up to each of us to ensure that change is healthy rather than destructive. Ultimately, the survival of the planet depends on it.

For Sabetti, change is an energetic rhythm with up and down fluctuations. He has developed a "change wave" as a diagnostic and teaching tool. It is meant to help guide individuals through sometimes admittedly difficult, yet inexorable moments. Though each change process is unique, Sabetti has observed that almost all change goes through a cycle of similar energetic processes. Each wave has two main energy movements: gathering (yin) and distribution (yang). Gathering movements increase energy charge until an apex is reached, while distribution movements make each phase unique. Each phase also has a unique set of characteristics that are defined in healthy change, while energy flow may also be disturbed in any of the change phases. By understanding what phase of the change process individuals may be in, it can help them focus more essentially on the source of disturbance or split from wholeness. At this point, effective "option awareness" can suggest solutions to correct the "bifurcation" (if the source of "disease resonance") or adjust the process itself (if flawed) to return the "change wave" to a path of wholeness. Specifically, the "change wave" phases may be summarized as follows: [ibid., pp. 161-205.]

* Sein (G: to be) – a state of being or rest before new stimulation emerges; we gather our thoughts before they settle into a new context.

* Influence – a message arises, either from within us or externally, alerting us to the direction and form in which the change process will continue.

* Extension – the natural tendencies to change are supported and protracted, as tendencies either begin to take shape, collapse, or are discarded.

* Boundary – awareness of change is brought to the threshold of form, and so decisions must be made whether to continue change or disrupt the process by avoiding new possibilities.

* Impasse State – an unhealthy position of energy oscillating between boundary and expression phases characteristic of an unwillingness to go beyond and an inability to go backwards.

* Expression – energy gathered during the initial phases reaches an apex and now needs to be released into the world in a realizable form such as a decision or a finished product.

* Dissolution – a melting process that releases energy for new cycles, and so all previously held beliefs and attachments should become no longer relevant to make way for fresh ideas and possibilities for change.

* Impression – relatively short phase in the change process that provides us with meaningful feedback for the change cycle so that we can understand the physical, mental, and spiritual value of life’s situations.

* Reintegration – as we collect our impressions and reconcile our understanding of the change that may have occurred, the change cycle comes together as a whole, becoming stabilized as a finished process.

Spirituality

After many years of personal work and training of others in the various forms of L.E.P., it was both a quantum and "qualtum change" into new dimensions of life as Sabetti began what has become a continuous spiritual journey, sharing his observations in a variety of lectures/inquiries and seminars throughout the world. [Sabetti, Stephano, Path of No Way (Los Angeles: Life Energy Media, 2007), p 244.]

This sojourn has an "energy thread" that extends to Sabetti’s childhood. He developed a yearning in his depth for completeness very early in life, and as an altar boy, he began to experience feelings of this deeper union. Yet he was falsely led to believe that adherence to specific rituals was requisite to spiritual wholeness. [Personal communication with Dr. Sabetti.] Later, Sabetti’s inquiry led him to understand that, despite its good intentions, religious fervor actually obscures the essence of spirituality. These early experiences of attraction to transcendental feelings yet separation from direct experience through rituals began a personal, then transpersonal inquiry into the nature of spirituality.

A great insight concerning spirituality came to Sabetti during what may be considered a “spontaneous emergence.” In his own words, he described the event in the third person as follows: “While perusing some papers, he felt his eyes grow heavy. Despite attempts to control this urge, he was transported deeper and without any effort, as if taken down by an elevator into a deep vault. Images of meaningful life events were presented one by one, a bright light surrounding their images. There was no commentary, and no one to comment. Just the felt message of "one-pointed clarity" – we’re here only to love. His life was changed forever.” [Sabetti, Stèphano, Path of No Way, ibid., Introduction p.xix.]

He began to share an understanding that the spiritual path "(essential spirituality)" is fundamentally a transpersonal experience without rituals or beliefs. [ibid. p.xx.] Any formal path of religion or spiritual practice can only be, at best, a guide, particularly for beginners or those unable to follow an inner movement toward evolution. The key to transcendental experience, Sabetti suggests, lies in "evolutionary resonances" that can be felt in the body and seen in daily life messages. Their processes course through us as an energy flow in a field of consciousness and are expressions that manifest themselves through daily occurrences and interactions. Sabetti refers to his relatively formless approach as the "Path of No Way". It has three main methods:" Essential Inquiry", P"rocess Meditation", and the "Middle Course of Confluence" (see Spiritual Teachings.) Unlike many perspectives, it also focuses on the rediscovery of the ego, self, body, and feelings as resources of a complete path. While identifying with these “personal” aspects can lead to unhealthy attachment, their effective use as resources may convey supportive information about how spiritual processes move through us. Finally, Sabetti challenges individuals to consider that the way towards peace lies not in the defense of religious differences but in the support of spiritual commonality and a universal message – we’re here to love and evolve.

Spiritual Teachings

– see Sabetti, Stèphano. [http://www.amazon.com./s/ref=nb_ss_103-9417130-9135824?url=search-alias&3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Stephano+Sabetti "Path of No Way"]

World

World is a field of interactive polarities that acts both like a natural and created feedback mechanism of information, transmission, and response. We create this world the way we respond to nature and our own creations. The world becomes a general term for the process and effect of our interactions, behaviors, and technological developments, as well as our psycho-social drives, goals, feelings, will, greed, etc. There is no objective world unaffected by our influences. The world is a universe of subjective materiality, a result of our affect on it and its reciprocal reflection on us. The physical world exists for two reasons:

* to teach us about duality with all its dynamics and extensions of interchange and

* to provide a mirror about how we interact with the world in general and ourselves in particular.

Sabetti calls this the "reflective universe". Until we rediscover the unity beneath all duality "(one-twoness)", we are destined to suffer, struggle, and feel separate.

Suffering

According to Sabetti, most of our suffering is self-inflicted. It isn’t unavoidable, as some religions suggest, nor is it due to impermanence, natural “afflictions”,e.g., death or the acceptance of a “self” concept. Rather, it’s the unwillingness to accept the facts of life as we experience them, attachment to ideas,e.g., beliefs, feelings, and harmful life operations.

Our gretest “afflictions” are arrogance, stubbornness, will, desire, and lack of surrender. All others are “curable.” This unwillingness to confront the facts of our lives begins with a "circle of troubles" in which we go around the central issues – avoiding the “heart of the matter” by rejecting immediate or direct experience. The result is a life full of illusions, with its accompanying frustrations, disappointments, and myriad problems. Over time, this lifestyle becomes a "long path" of endless attachment and worry over artificially important dualities with sometimes short excitements and certain permanent suffering.

Happiness

Significant differentiation between Sabetti’s belief and many other spiritual orthodoxies is that the "long path", riddled with suffering "(duhkha)" and generally accepted as a foregone conclusion, is unnecessary. The "short path", by contrast, is blessed with joy (Skt: "ananada") and happiness (Skt: "sukha"). Even when happiness appears to “come and go,” Sabetti suggests that the deeper sense of happiness is always present, though we don’t always see it because we tend to focus on what’s wrong in our lives. Sabetti’s inquiry is : “Can there be a permanent happiness that’s a recognition of our essential nature?” Thus what has been called "duhkha" is actually the suffering we feel when don’t accept our "esential nature" (happiness) and the impermanence of perceptions of happiness that seem to change as we develop over time. For Sabetti, from an energetic standpoint there’s little point in focusing on suffering, since it only reinforces its significance. If happiness is important to us, it should be the focus of our attention – without denying the secondary value in understanding how suffering develops or how to alleviate it. Happiness is a state of complete being, and being is deep acceptance and the enjoyment of space. "Sukha" is also the happiness we feel when we see suffering as a learning moment, not to be pushed aside but seen from above and below as spiritual perspectives on wholeness. Sabetti refers to this insight as a "healing recipe", i.e., principle of success or wholeness that can be applied to other situations.

Thus happiness is a generic term for many aspects of positive feelings – from simple satisfaction through sensual pleasure to "samadhi", the experience of spiritual bliss. Happiness is the spontaneous experience of things fitting in our lives. Sabetti refers to these “happenings” as resonant and joyful “e-merge-ncies.”

Sacred Pleasure

As an expression of pleasure, "sukha" isn’t only an expression of superficial joy but of a deeper pleasure Sabetti calls "sacred pleasure". "Sacred pleasure" is a full-being experience of total immersion in a spiritual path. When qualities of inner and outer experiences merge, a pleasure of inner exploration and outer radiance e-merges, our senses neither excited nor denied but used as “media” for the flow of energy through the system. "Sacred pleasure" can only be experienced when there is no attachment to superficial pleasures. It demands we release ourselves from ego drives and defenses, allowing the fixed idea of the “I” to dissolve into the sea of spontaneity. Thus, The Path of No Way suggests "sacred pleasure" is the profound understanding that all things and processes are fleeting.

Four Truths of Felicity

To emphasize the importance of happiness, Sabetti developed four axioms that summarize its essential elements:

* Sukha exists – our essence is uncomplicated and life is full of happines. We’re able to enjoy all that is impermanent, yet understand that pleasures are ephemeral. Joy, however, will always exist, as long as the heart is open.

* Nature of sukha – happiness is manifest in the natural expression of being. It’s the innate consequence of being mentally/physically alive and spiritually awake – aware of the truths that we perceive and allow to pass through us, i.e., grateful for who we are and what we have.

* Continuation of sukha – happiness proceeds because it’s supported by the acceptance of the facts of our lives.We needn’t like these facts, but spiritual "sukha" demands that we learn to live and grow with these realities. Our task is to find their meaning – why now, and why with us? To support the continuation of happiness for ourselves and others, we must immerse ourselves in being, not playing happy. If we lose the path and fall prey to suffering, we need to quickly examine its attraction, work with these issues, and return to happiness. Thus, life’s so-called difficulties become challenges for more complete happiness.

* Path of No Way – the truth about one path of happiness, not the path. True happinesss doesn’t develop by following prescribed methods of a spiritual discipline alone. Instead, it’s the conscious experience of surrender and subsequent spontaneity that evolves by being one-self completely (see Middle Course of Confluence). In its deepest sense, happiness is a state of ease and peace in which the heart is free and the mind is empty of I-thoughts. We can’t experience it by looking or training for it.Happiness is a state of “roundness,” a feeling of enjoyment about who we are and how we express this in daily life. Happiness is not generally possible without love.

Integrated self

("Ashtanga-atman model")– an eight limbed model used to describe the integration of the psychological, "mediate" (transitional), and spiritual self. Its eight aspects can be grouped into five respective categories:

1. Singular Reality

One-pointed experience with two components, a transcendental aspect called "eka"⁺ (seen as potential of infinite possibilities) and an essential aspect called "eka"^– (innate consciousness, simplicity, and peace). In advanced states of spiritual evolution, the one-pointed mind extends beyond concentration, meditation, and the "body field" (see below) into a complete lifestyle absorbed in the bliss of this "singular reality" (first limb). Sabetti refers to this all-embracing unity as "transential oneness", a composite singularity felt from above (the transcendental) and below (the essential), or at higher and lower frequencies, respectively.

2. Support System

Energy body (second limb) complements physical body (third limb). This system begins with an energy "field" that gathers, distributes, and transforms energy flow in accordance with the "Three Laws of Wholeness" (see Wholeness – General Themes). The physical body is understood as developing from this given energetic "field". When we use but not abuse the body, it becomes a useful medium through which other energy manifestations are possible.The relatively slow frequencies of the physical body provide much needed stability and grounding necessary for spiritual tranquility. Together, the energy and physical bodies create a "one-pointed body field" that provides coherence, stability, and coordinates intrasystemic activities. According to Sabetti, our bodies are vibrating patterns of energy at much lower frequencies than the energy body, and so the entire "support system" may be thought of as a "vibrant body" that acts as a medium for various types of information and an exchange of consciousness.

3. Affect Network

The interactive complex of sensations, breath, feelings (fourth limb), and emotions (fifth limb). Sensations give impulses that fire nerve activity, leading to behavior. Feelings develop from a combination of bodily sensations, charged breathing, influenced responses, and they are understood as internal energy movements with special valences. Feelings also provide a biochemical and energetic basis for exchange with the physical world and our entire system with important feedback about our response to life occurrences.

4. Thought System

Comprehensive process of abstraction that interfacess with bodily states, feelings, and societal influences. From a Buddhist perspective, it includes a connection to perceptions, response patterns, and mental formations,e.g., things that arise by doing, like habits related to intentions, desire, will, and impulse behavior. Thoughts (sixth limb) come in two variations. The first, bound thinking, is fixed and defensive, typically associated with one who is set in their ways. The shift away from direct experience causes ego I-thoughts to emerge, and so over time "bound thought" progressively creates the sense of an I-body, an I-feeling, and an I-world, coming between the body and the spiritual Self. "Bound thinking" is abstact reasoning that takes us away from the "hara", causing us to focus in the head. This shift maybe viewed as a defense mechanism, in which painful, disturbing, or forbidden direct experience is sidelined to be avoided. We “change the channel,” going into thinking modes when experience too intense for the support system gets shifted. Conversely, "free thinking" is open-minded and creative, remains relatively neutral, encourages direct experience, and can be used to contemplate spiritual issues, for example.

5. Person Complex

"Person complex" includes all aspects of the psychological being, such as ego (seventh limb), character, identity, and self (eighth limb). Whereas the ego generally bears the brunt of criticism for all that hinders our spiritual path, Sabetti feels the ego and its processes can help form a bridge between this transient world and with a more permanent one, which is directly accessible for most people. In short, both poles concerning the ego provide learning for e"ssential spirituality".

Ego

Sabetti uses the allegory of the "ego donkey" to address his point. Just as a donkey that helps us across the desert is useful, its limitations beyond that point become apparent. For Sabetti, the ego of the past shouldn’t be treated as an enemy that’s trying to dominate us, but as a friend who doesn’t know how to say goodbye. If instead, we view the ego with humor and "conscentience" (natural, resonant feeling), the past becomes a complete acceptance of our present condition in lieu of a struggle to forget. The ego can be fed into the “"I-mill,"” in a sense becoming transformed as a “"recycled-I".” In this way the ego is allowed to become an "ego resource". And when the usual qualities of the limited “I” are added to the resource of a "recycled-I", a composite of two complementary elements is created, which Sabetti refers to as the "I–Janus". Viewed in this way, the ego attachment is dissolved with "distachment" (letting go gently without discarding or devaluing) to play an important role as organizer, coordinator, and achiever. It’s the daily manager of our affairs if it remains sevice-oriented ("service-I"). It aids us in becoming competent to deal with life’s difficulties, find expression for biological drives, and in new learning. It helps organize our personality into an integrated whole, maintains an identity with the outside world, and even shows concern and helps us to survive.

Nonetheless, it’s also an illusion to believe the ego can ever be a true building block of our personalities. In many ways, the ego is like a flimsy hotel "(ego hotel)" we’ve built to escape our true spiritual home. We tend to create an "ego Frankenstein", a crude likeness of ourselves, as if we needed to feel all-important. When the ego manifests greed, for example, a shift takes place from the "service-I" to a "selfish-I" focus. As a clinical manifestation of narcissism, this "selfish-I" is seen in displays of self-importance, grandiosity, delusional fantasies of achievement, exhibitionism, and attention-seeking behavior. The "selfish-I" “overstands” the world, prefering to be above others, instead of understanding their concerns and becoming part of the collective solution. It tries to concentrate life’s generosity by forming a neat "I-box" to possess and hoard as much as it selfishly can.Thus the ego split in itself is divorced from deeper essence, pretending to solve problems it actually creates. According to Sabetti: “Can individuals caught in an "ego swamp" find the means to help either themselves or humanity out of this quagmire if they neither understand the nature of the mire nor the means for liberation?”

Psychological Self

The psychological self represents who we envision ourselves to be. Similar to the ego, we need to differentiate between two manifestations. The "process self" allows us to establish a sense of consistency over time, a feeling of integrity, wholeness on a personal level, and a sense of limitations and possibilities. From a spiritual realm, it’s manifest in awareness of how we act, observe, or even reflect. These procedures lay the groundwork for further inquiry into our essential nature and so the "process self" becomes the psychological medium for the beginning of transcendence.

When this sense of self becomes a fixated identity, it takes on the markings of having its own reality. Sabetti refers to this as the "reified self", because it’s construed as an enduring and autonomous entity. In reality, this "reified self" is a figment of our imagination, kept in a virtual reality by "bound thoughts" and held emotions. It’s a defense mechanism kept alive to ward off feelings of emptiness developed from feeling unloved.Having something (if illusory) seems better than having no-thing or being no-body. If we become fortunate enough to pursue a spiritual path, we can empty what Sabetti refers to as this "personality sack" and we become free to proceed unencumbered by the “baggage” of the past.

Mediate Self

Many of the positive aspects of the psychological self can be used for personal growth if we understand these processes outside their normally narrow focus. Sabetti proposes a third concept of the "mediate self" as a transitional state on a continuum to spirituality, a processor of information that is neither psychological nor spiritual but has elements of both.The "mediate self" is direct and immediate. Its usefulness lies in its ability to describe the processes seen from a spiritual perspective though not yet essentially spiritual. In short, this "mediate self" becomes the friendly assistant to the "service-I", in which ego resources replace "selfish-I" limitations.

Resonant Synvolution

Resonant synvolution is the simultaneous experience of "evolutionary" and "involutionary resonances" through the expression of free energy flow and "perivolutionary" consciousness of a "one-pointed body field". Put simply, this theory uniquely explains how life and learning continue after death. The constant flux of energy "(circuitry)" is provided by the dynamic influences of "one-pointed being" that has "gathering" (First law of Wholeness) and "distribution" (Second Law of Wholeness) in creating a charged field, leading to a state of "plosion", wherein the natural power of being remains in the intensity of the charged field, neither expressed outward by "ex-ploding" nor holding back by "imploding" (see "Universal Field of Consciousness"). These movements parallel the same movements of inbreath "(gathering)", outbreath "(distribution)", and completion "(circuitry)". Gathering is "involutionary", distribution is "evolutionary", and circuitry is "perivolutionary" (comes around).

When waves between people and processes are of a similar frequency, we refer to them as being in resonance or attunement. With respect to systemic health, these resonances may be manifest as sympathy, harmony, peace, love, or healing, depending on the energy level affected.

General Theory of Synvolution

According to "general theory of synvolution", we are influenced from our essential core to maintain a life of honesty and wholeness while evolving toward greater completion and multi-leveled oneness. Put succinctly, it may be considered a spiritual life. Yet "evolutionary resonances" must be balanced by "involutionary resonances", which from a spiritual perspective means coming to and staying with inner values of our essential Self or the ultimate consciousness on the one hand (centering), and grounding these values through the body and in the practical expression of daily living on the other hand. However, unless this "involutionary" tendency is supported, the evolutionary aspects of the ego would take precedence. A healthy, evolving system will develop concurrently a clear sense of psychological self and a spiritual Self or non-self, depending on one’s perspective. When the "support system" no longer processes important information no longer radiates an evolutionary, i.e., developmental consciousness, there’s little need for its existence. When the work of our energy system has been completed, it collapses unto itself and we die. Death becomes the final expiration and distributive expression before a new phase of inspiration emerges. At the center of this life and death cycle is a one-pointed attractor to which, and from which, all activity procedes. Sabetti refers to this as the "singular reality" of our essential nature.

Specific Theory of Synvolution

According to Sabetti’s "specific theory of resonant synvolution", the death of a person ends a cycle of evolution in which information has been gathered on a path of increasing completeness towards spiritual oneness. Beyond this point, the fulfillment of energy and consciousness cycles dictates what information is passed on to future fields via people.Like energy, information isn’t created or destroyed, only passed along.Who gets what information depends on the needs of the universal fields at the time, in resonance with the needs of individuals when they’re conceived. Resonant information is passed on continuously until an eventual expansion of consciousness develops into a state of absolute Oneness.

Karma Field

Until the "transential" state is experienced, energy, information, and learning issues continue to circulate among us.. From this perspective, karma means that whatever isn’t round needs to be made whole through learning. Whatever isn’t whole is incomplete; whatever is incomplete needs to be finished. When stubbornness about a particular lesson is present, Sabetti refers to this as a "karma knot". According to his theory of "transverse consciousness", our intentions and actions create perpendicular or transverse waves of consequence. We become aware of these consequences as "life messages" through physical symptoms, relatrionship difficulties, or accidents on the “negative” or signals of well-being and happiness on the “positive” side. Thus,“negative” actions create unfinished circuits that need to be “rounded” in present or future lifetimes,e.g., each selfish ego process demands completion.

Qualtum Effects

The Path of No Way suggests a revision of cause and effect is necessary as well. In the "theory of resonant synvolution", karma and its effects are processes of information transmitted, however by "fields". "Fields", however, are influences in space that disturb all in their range by forces acting upon them. If we don’t choose to ascribe events to either the past or future, they don’t exist as objective data. This also means there’s no objective past or future. Thus causation has a "qualtum" element that is relative, non-binding, and impossible to determine. When time is transcended, so is karma and its effects.

Essential Spirituality

Anything critical that leads to deeper acceptance of our true nature. It’s what moves within us to become whole, like the process of becoming more conscious of who we are essentially beyond the person and our familial and societal overlays. It’s also the support, understanding, and maintenance of inner peace, transpersonal love, honesty, integrity of purpose, and essence of being whole, helping us eliminate all illusions of ourselves. Finally, when we consider "essential spirituality" from the perspective of a universal consciousness, we may also say it is any quality, endeavor, feeling, or practice that connects us locally or non-locally with our essential nature as we experience and transcend the physical world and its accompanying attachments.

Unlike "formal spirituality", e.g. religion, essential spirituality has no foundation in rituals, diets, habits, prescribed beliefs, objects of meditation, or secret techniques. It focuses on personal experience, humility, and an openness to learn. However, while "essential spirituality" requires no formalized training or oversight, it recognizes the general need for many prople to have the guidance, support, and confrontation available from an independent facilitator.

Consciousness

Consciousness is the process and state of of incremental sharing of information. Often used interchangeably with awareness, Sabetti distinguishes them in this way: awareness relays as much continuous information as possible ("qualtum" function) , while consciousness selects out and communicates important information only when necessary and appropriate (quantum function). Continual awareness eventually leads to a shift in consciousness that we can feel and describe through the intensity of its movement. Questions of who we are and what makes us deeply happy begin to find answers "(answer continuum)" as we explore the vast landscpe of being spiritual when what Sabetti refers to as a "portal of consciousness" opens.

From a larger perspective, Sabetti contends that all parts of the universe and its phenomena are interrelated. This contention is supported by current physics research, commonly called the Theory of Everything, which suggests that spiritual consciousness and physical energy fields manifest the same reality from a different perspective. His experience shows that energy and consciousness fuse in a quantum/"qualtum" (quantity/quality) unit of vibratory resonance Sabetti refers to as "enerscion" (energy + consciousness). As a result, every part of the universe is conscious and interrelated. Where there is energy, there is consciousness, and so there is no such thing as “unconsciousness” referred to often in psychology. So-called unconsciousness is actually a reserve of coded experiences that haven’t been integrated into healthy ego functioning. This "Universal Field of Consciousness" (U.F.C.) governs all aspects of wholeness, e.g., nature has laws that govern and corresponding processes that keep the world in balance. Its basis is a universal force Sabetti refers to as "life energy", a phenomenon that brings all things, people, and activities into motion (see Recurring themes). All people and things share an awareness of one another. All that transpires is always in relation to this absolute field of wholeness–movements of nature like our spiritual paths.

Conversely, there are many phenomena along a spectrum of multi-realities that have a relative truth, including the manifestations and types of consciousness. Among them are:

* "absorbtive" – related to deep meditation
* "cork" – stable, yet floating attention that can’t be fixed in time and space
* "focal" (ego) – the waking state
* "inductive/distached" – roughly equivalent to Freud’s pre-consciousness, a background consciousness that may be brought into awareness at any given time without resistance when needed, e.g., meditation and hypnosis
* "jungle" – “street” savvy that comes from being grounded in physical reality, able to be aware of impending danger or spontaneous responses. This presence also creates a local state of charge "(plosion)" that is the potential energy accumulated between yin gathering and yang distribution forces, respectively
* "petal" – describes the continuous and balanced processing of all "in-fluences" and "ex-fluences"
* "reservoir" – dream-like state closely related to Freud’s unconsciousness
* "source" – expression of the spiritual Self that can be experienced in deep sleep state, complements the dream-like state of "reservoir consciousness"
* "transcential" – describes a combined state of transcendential essential consciousness
* "transpersonal" – related to a trance-like state
* "visceral" – centering in "hara", the basis of "petal consciousness" and presence. When presence extended into the heart region expresses a caring and generosity of surplus energy that overflows the usual I-needs, Sabetti refers to this quality as "loving presence"
* "visionary" – related to individuation, developing capacities to fullest or seducing us away from our connection to the larger whole of spiritual Oneness

Essential Inquiry

"Essential Inquiry" is a process that brings us to explore questions about who we are from the depth of direct experience (the belly, the heart, or both) as opposed to our intellect (head).Whereas faith and belief lead to followership, inquiry leads to direct experience, honest investigation, personal responsibility, and discovery of essentialness. An emphasis on inquiry also helps individuals who have difficulty accepting their spiritual essentialness, because "essential spirituality" requires a simple acceptance.

"Essential Inquiry" bridges the chasm between the absolute and relative worlds by reducing all things to their fundamental honesty, where no split or confusion exists. It also implies experiencing our spiritual ground through which all feels connected. Being essential helps create a feeling of ease, simplicity, and an eradication of all extraneous minutiae. Essence is a subtle process of being that the "selfish-I" can’t manipulate. We find very few things are essential; none are connected to the ego or psychological self. The few things that are essential are uncovered consequently by following inquiry into the nature of our being. The world of the essential is the absolute, the reality that doesn’t change though its manifestations may.

Process Meditation

"Process Meditation" is a method of spiritual exploration based on the flow of energy and consciousness "(enerscion)" inherent in all our systems. It begins with the premise that all individuals experience a state of oneness. The spiritual challenge is to accept all of who we are at this moment, while moving with awareness through fears and resistances toward more complete involvement. We must be free of all contrived polarities by living with organic “two-ness” until duality ceases to be important.

"Process Meditation" (P.M.) isn’t content or form meditation, which focuses on specific visualization. Instead, it’s a formless meditation that has no goal of one-pointedness. Thus it doesn’t create a duality of subject/object but assists us to experience subject/object unity as a holistic movement through us. By being with the duality, not distracted by it, we remain connected but not attached to where our attention and energy go. We allow inner processes to show what needs a focus and what doesn’t. "Resonant intelligence" becomes "process intelligence". Fundamental understanding of "essential spirituality" provides objects and movements, as needed, to face the fundamental facts of our lives and go beyond them. Since every session of "P.M." is unique, there’s no technique to repeat – only a process of “not repeating.”

The Path of No Way sees meditation as an unfolding adventure – not a disciplined practice. Sabetti has found that specific instructions about meditation limit and often destroy the natural occurrence of spontaneous emergence. As an unstructured and informal event, practitioners don’t fixate on objects but descend in what Sabetti refers to as "involutionary destiny". Individuals need only the openness to learn how this movement takes place and the willingness to comply with its urgings to avail themselves of a natural flow of unique and varying processes Sabetti calls the "course of spontaneous happenings".

Middle Course of Confluence

The "Middle Course of Confluence" is a fundamentally active practice created when the yang qualities of "Essential Inquiry" are combined with yin qualities of "Process Meditation". It’s a conscious experience and appreciation of merging dualities expressed as a dynamic about how "confluence" can be used in daily life when conflict, compromise, or confusion seem inevitable, e.g., the so-called struggle between the psychological ego and spiritual Self.

Differences in qualities, limits, and possibilities needn’t create conflict. Conflicts can only exist if individuals allow themselves to feel “attacked” or let criticisms of them seem “unfair” to their righteous minds. In a larger context, these attacks may be useful as a point of inquiry into our sense of victimization. On a spiritual level, there’s no better challenge than to understand our response to criticism. Do we react defensively, or collapse? Who is attached to the person (ego) being attacked? The less individuals identify with victimhood, the less they feel criticized.

Other avoidances of confluence occur when individuals either attempt half-measure compromises or become confused themselves. But compromise usually finds both parties dissatisfied, indicating a lack of commitment to the outcome, because compromise only minimizes the extreme qualities of each polarity. This has the effect of diminishing the depth and truth of situational meaning, leaving both parties feeling somewhat “flat.” Confusion, on the other hand, has deeper psycho-emotional consequences. Individuals may become unable to differentiate and fuse with awareness. When healthy confluence becomes “confused,” the danger of creating a psychological and spiritual duality rises.

There is another option to conflict, compromise, and confusion. When polarities merge, one into the other as part of a natural movement between them, a state of “mutual flowing” exists that Sabetti refers to as "confluence". "Confluence" is the synergistic merging of these polarities where the combined energy is greater than the sum of the parts. Sabetti refers to this as the "inclusion principle" or informally as the “a+b” approach. This merging only occurs when no attachment is present, because the contractive nature of attachment prevents energy flow, information, and consciousness. In short, conflict is most often a poor substitute for "confluence". Little if anything is accomplished other than a alienation of relationships and a further splitting from wholeness.

The Path of No Way’s "confluence theory" holds that actions need to based on what’s necessary and appropriate at any given time. They can’t be founded on false morality or idealized states but in the service of the whole (greatest harmony). It also suggests that the natural movement of events from centered people is always in the service of wholeness, health, and spirituality – to the degree it’s possible in the given moment.

Path of No Way

The Path of No Way forms the gestalt of Sabetti’s inquiry into "essential spirituality" as a process and practice. It follows a spiritual tradition of a formless journey that emphasizes spontaneity and consciousness while stressing resonant movements as a way to become free of all attachments. Formlessness describes the absence of manifestations of physical reality, the mark of absolute truth. "Essential spirituality" invites us to to go to our experiential roots, therefore learning by studying the underlying process as a whole. When we begin to experience that all forms are contained processes, the world of movement opens up to us. Our steps thus become quantum moments of underlying "qualtum" flux. Everything becomes connected by a universal process of consciousness, and so a comprehensive and dynamic perspective emerges, with endless possibilities.

Therefore the Path of No Way isn’t a fixed “road”; instead, it’s a sojourn of interchangeability. It can’t be otherwise, because every turn we take in our attraction or rejection of the spiritual path has consequences. Consequences lead to possibilities – but also limitations. It has no end, because it has no beginning. Anyplace and everyplace is the “right” spot to begin the journey. The way isn’t the goal, because goals, even well-intentioned spiritual ones, are fraught with illusions.There aren’t building blocks along the way, only movements and processes that indicate where and how the essential is to be experienced. For this reason, the Path of No Way is known as the unprescribed path (Skt: "Avaidha Gati"). Similarly, the Path is like a constantly changing field of consciousness. When we move towards essence or Self, we receive signals of peace, clarity, and stability. When we move away, our lives are filled with “roadblocks and detours” – stress, conflict, tightness, and uncertainty.

The Path of No Way has no prescribed rules or principles of behavior. It has no special diets or other restrictions. So-called “rightness” or “wrongness” must be a felt experience. Individuals must decide the correctness of their actions and their needs to sustain their spiritual paths. The Path of No Way is in many ways a (r)evolution back to personal responsibility and its attendant honesty, meaningful relationships, political engagements, and a clean environment. It’s a return to the wholeness we sense but are often afraid to live. Inquiry demands each of us to explore the roots of the “I” and the depths of "transential oneness". This oneness is below, above, and in the middle of everything we are and do. It’s the "replete void", the complete emptiness from which all things come and go.

In many ways, this is a relief. Conflicts that have plagued us our whole lives find practical resolution. Stress is reduced. Parts of the world that seem disconnected and separate find surprising confluence. Finally, we find ourselves now able to cut through the complexity and extraneous “noise” of our daily lives, allowing ourselves newly found simplicity and joy. The result is a deep experience of peace and oneness.

Notable Quotations

Quotes from Works

“Love is confronting during the day, supporting late at night, and stillness when day and night are unimportant.” [Sabetti, Stèphano, As It Flows. Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 2006., p.9.]

“If enough people were able to experience one-pointedness, then most of the world as we know it would cease to exist.” [Sabetti, Stèphano, Path of No Way, ibid., p.59.]

“Awareness has no short cuts – honesty is its only highway.” [ibid. p. 69.]

“Happiness is the experience of being at home with yourself, in your body, in your feelings, and in the world of meaningful love. We ask: “Is it time to come home?” [ibid. p. 78.]

“Happiness in the deepest sense is a state of ease and peace in which the heart is free and the mind is empty of “I”-thoughts.” [ibid. p. 87.]

“Of religion in general, we might say that belief is practiced where experience is wanting.” [ibid. p. 97.]

“What is spiritual can never be defined but must be personal research. Many are scared by this question and more frightened by an answer that might imply radical life change.” [ibid. p. 99.]

“"Essential Spirituality" is any quality, endeavor, feeling or practice that connects us locally and non-locally with our essential nature as we experience and transcend the physical world and all its attachments.” [ibid. p. 103.]

“In a spiritual sense, staying attached means we haven’t understood that all that we are and everything we have are “loaned” to us to use – nothing can be possessed.” [ibid. p. 151.]

“The only worthy freedom is the liberation from everything – there is no partial freedom.” [ibid. p. 151.]

“Where there is no conceptual discrimination, there is no divisive mind and no ego to disturb spontaneous actions.” [ibid. p. 155.]

“Where there is splitting there is fear; where there is fear there is separation and conflict.” [ibid. p. 157.]

“If "bound thinking" gives birth to the ego, then letting go of this thinking leads to ego death.” [ibid. p. 162.]

“The ego is the know-it-all of an “I” religion.” [ibid. p. 165.]

“Making the ego and its functions a scapegoat for all that hinders our spiritual path is like blaming a glass, with its limited capacity to pour water, because it isn’t a sprinkler system.” [ibid. p. 167.]

“A true spiritual aspirant needs to leave the "ego donkey" at the edge of new territory without forgetting what has been learned from its helpful processes.” [ibid. p. 170.]

“The ego of the past is not to be treated like an enemy who wants to conquer us, but a friend who doesn’t know how to say good-bye.” [ibid. p. 170.]

“(S)he who knows how to survive must also know how to die.” [ibid. p. 175.]

“To be an open-self requires recreating ourselves constantly from meaningfulness, information and the experience of chaos.” [ibid. p. 186.]

“Following correct positions isn’t essential spiritual research but an expression of a religious mind embedded in its dogma.” [ibid. p. 206.]

“If there were no ego or psychological self, we might have to invent words to describe the process of thinking, craving, attachment, etc..” [ibid. p. 213.]

“Essential nature can be understood as the fundamental quality of being.” [ibid. p. 216.]

“What we call rebirth is actually the repetition of our attachment to ego processes.” [ibid. p. 240.]

“When time is transcended, so is karma and its effects.” [ibid. p. 243.]

“According to "resonant synvolution", karma is only applicable to individuals who see themselves as identifying with body, mind, actions, and thoughts.” [ibid. p. 244.]

“In this process (meditation), we remember what our hearts are for – to act wholeheartedly, to laugh heartily, and to surrender ourselves in love.” [ibid. p. 280.]

“Beauty is the emptiness of mind, when all duality ceases and every moment is complete – just as it is.” [ibid. p. 281.]

“Where there is movement there is hope – and all things are in movement.” [ibid. p. 292.]

“Duality is simply complex oneness.” [ibid. p. 301.]

“Oneness acts as a beacon of light and an anchor of gravity that draws us to itself.” [ibid. p. 301.]

“We are caught in an "ego swamp". Our only salvation is to identify with the solution, i.e., the source outside of the “I” – and not the problem.” [ibid. p. 302.]

“We are students and IT (the spirit) is the teacher.” [ibid. p. 304.]

“We need not seek truth; it reveals itself to us, as we are ready for it.” [ibid. p. 314.]

“There are many spiritual seekers yet few spiritual finders.” [ibid. p. 314.]

“The mind that seeks can only find what it already knows.” [ibid. p. 314.]

“The death experience is the “surmise” of the “I” reign.” [ibid. p. 315.]

“The undivided and realized self exists only to serve eternal oneness, which absorbs everything of similar resonance into its completeness.” [ibid. p. 316.]

“As the commitment to surrender on our spiritual path increases, so too is the attraction toward complete selfhood.” [ibid. p. 316.]

“If we don’t kill the ego, it dissolves by itself for lack of attention.” [ibid. p. 320.]

“Oneness is grace.” [ibid. p. 321.]

“The movement towards oneness isn’t as many imagine a complex one. It’s actually a simple one – with a complex mind in the way.” [ibid. p. 322.]

“If oneness is the teacher, and we are its students, where can there be a problem?” [ibid. p. 329.]

“Being spiritual is nothing “special.” It may become so only if we separate it from being simple, honest, heart-filled, or conscious.” [ibid. p. 370.]

“When we are freer of psychological necessities, we have greater capacity to love others, especially when personality differences are great.” [ibid. p. 47.]

“When the heart speaks the mind is silent.When the mind talks, the heart is deafened.” [Source: Wall Hanging – Art by Ellen Eis, 1992.]

Quotes from Lectures and Seminars

“Fear is frozen excitement.” [Lecture: Munich, 1999.]

“Live life as if the first inspiration and the last expiration were the same.” [Seminar: Plön, Germany, 2007.]

“The world is true for those blinded by illusion, yet untrue for those hiding in cowardice.” [Seminar: Spiritual Retreat, 2006.]

“The courage to live consciously is equaled only by the readiness to die in peace.” [Seminar: Spiritual Retreat, 2005.]

“There are a thousand deaths in every moment of conscious living.” [Lecture: Plön, Germany, 2008.]

“Let us do what is to be done – nothing more, nothing less.” [Seminar: Munich, 2005.]

“To know little about much – but claim much about so little – is the arrogance of fools.” [Seminar: Summer Conference, Italy, July, 2006.]

“Beauty cannot be realized by the cognitive mind but only by the heart of love and the soul immersed in completenes.” [ibid. 2007.]

“The pain of the past is the nourishment for the future. The key lies in the digestion.” [ibid. 2003.]

“Only in love do we show our true colors – the rest is a cosmetic of deadness.” [Lecture: Munich, 2004.]

“If we could eliminate problems today, we’d have to reinvent them tomorrow to keep the world as we know it.” [Source: Institute Program, 2004.]

“Only freedom from suffering is the friend of peace.” [ibid. 2003.]

“The wonder of being alive is surpassed only by the effort to be conscious of it.” [ibid. 2002.]

“There is only self, or being untrue – self also being an illusion.” [ibid. 2001.]

“Existing in thoughts is a poor substitute for living in the body. Yet living in the body is a prison compared to experiencing the freedom of a unified spirit.” [Lecture: Munich, 2000.]

Influences

Dr. Sabetti’s professional career has had many influences, due to the breadth of his interests and experience. Of these, several have been particularly meaningful in three areas:

* Integration of Psychotherapy

* Body Centered Therapy

* Spirituality

These phases of influence correspond roughly to his career’s evolution, but they aren’t strictly chronological. His own contributions, Life Energy Therapy®, Life Energy Process® and its various forms, and spiritual teachings were influenced by all three areas of experiential learning and a healthy degree of research in physics, including chaos theory, quantum mechanics, emergence, super-string theory, etc. They represent Sabetti’s considered creative synthesis with respect to all of the above-mentioned criteria, epitomizing his own "Middle Course".

Integration of Psychotherapy

While working for his Masters Degree and Doctorate, Sabetti thesis work on Attention and focus brought him into contact with several influeces of particular note that helped integrate alternative forms of psychoanalytic, psychotherapeutic, and behavioral paradigms. Among the early influences that helped him see commonalities as complementary elements of the whole were Sigmund Freud and some of his students, specifically Wilhelm Reich, who helped introduce the concept of the mind/body connection and energy.

Body Centered Approaches

The seeds for Dr.Sabetti’s evolution into body therapy were sewn during his initial Integration of Psychotherapy period, particularly by Reich. However, the real bridge between the Integration of Psychotherapy phases and Body-centered approaches occurred as a result of Dr. Sabetti’s exposure to Gestalt Therapy and his direct work with co-founders Fritz Perls, Laura Perls, and Isadore Fromm. The reason is that Gestalt Therapy focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment(experiential learning), the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts in which these things take place, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of the overall situation. It also emphasizes personal responsibility for one’s existence, placing the client squarely in the center of energetic movement. [Source: [http://www.gestalt.org/yontef.htm www.gestalt.org] recuperated May 1, 2008.]

Sabetti was influenced greatly during this body-centered phase by Alexander Lowen and John Pierrakos, co-founders of Bioenergetics and students of Reich, as well as George Dillinger, a Gestalt energy integrator. He also studied acupuncture with [http://www.asaom.edu/tao_traditional_accu.php Dr. James So] , who was influential in acupuncture’s promulgation in the U.S.

Sabetti also studied the martial arts of Tae Kwon Do with pioneer [http://www.taekwondopioneers.com/pioneers.html Suk Chung] , Aikido in Japan with [http://ki-aikido.net/KNK/ToheiSensei.html Tohei Sensei] , the pre-eminent teacher of Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba (Sensei), and Hapkido in Korea with Rhee Chong Ming. Sabetti also studied several forms of yoga, including Hatha Yoga with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.K.V_Desikachar T.K.V. Desikacher] , Kundalini Yoga with [http://yogibhajan.com Yogi Bhajan] , and [http://www.experiencefestival.com/oki_yoga Oki Yoga] with Oki Sensei. He also trained in Shiatsu Therapy by [http://www.iokai-shiatsu.de/tradition/masunaga.html Masunaga Sensei] and Kuniku Yamamoto.

Spirituality

By far a most persuasive influence on Dr. Sabetti’s perspectives on spirituality come from Ramana Maharshi. His primary teaching was non-dualism (unification) merging the ego with the only existing reality of an individual’s consciousness, though he approved of any and all methods that helped merge the ego with the essential, conscious self. Sabetti studied Bhakti Yoga and Meditation at Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in Tiruvanamalai, India. [Source: Ramana Maharshi retrieved May 4, 2008.]

A second dominant influence on Sabetti’s sense of spirituality came from Jiddu Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti felt that thought was a destructive force, reinforcing previous beliefs in relationships and engendering fear of both unpleasantry and pleasure (in that it wouldn’t be repeated). He was also critical of practices that sought “conscious achievement,” thus dooming it. [Source: Jiddu Krishnamurti retrieved May 3, 2008.] In addition to these two primary impacts on his spiritual beliefs, Sabetti trained in Tibetan Buddhism with the [http://www.simhas.org/karma16.html sixteenth Karmapa] (Rigpe Dorje) in Sikkim, India.

Major Works

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "Ki to Psychology". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 2006.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "Life Energy Process". Munich, Germany: Life Energy Media, 2001.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "Path of No Way". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 2008.
* Sabetti, Stèphano, "Process Inquiry". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 1991.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "The Wholeness Principle". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 1986.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "The Word, The Form". (with Ellen Eis) Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 1992.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "Waves of Change". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 1993.

Booklets

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "As It Flows". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 2006.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "Struggle for Life". (with Antonia Lüdke). Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 1992.

* Sabetti, Stèphano, "We Are Not Alone". Sherman Oaks, California: Life Energy Media, 2004.

Affiliated Organizations and Program Information

Following websites give an overview about Organizations affiliated with Dr. Sabetti’s work and Program information:

For spiritual programs contact: Marga Society [http://www.margasociety.com www.margasociety.com]

For psychotherapeutic, organizational and expressive programs in Europe contact: [http://www.lifeenergyprocess-eu.com www.lifeenergyprocess-eu.com]

For psychotherapeutic, organizational, and expressive programs in the United States, contact: [http://www.instituteforlifeenergy.com www.instituteforlifeenergy.com]

For publications and other media,e.g., DVD’s and CD’s, contact: LifeEnergyMedia [http://www.lifeenergymedia.com www.lifeenergymedia.com]

For contact with Dr. Stèphano Sabetti: [mailto:[e-mail] [e-mail]]

References

Persondata
NAME= Sabetti, Stèphano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Psychology