Austria

New countries, new playgrounds.

by Rebirth Your Life

Since I returned from a month in Australia in September it’s been a bit of a whirlwind on the passport front. The Canary Islands in December for a break and to catch up with Agustin Hernandez, a prolific Rebirther in Teneriffe, followed by Austria over Christmas to launch Rebirthing groups in the Tyrol, then my first presentation in Morocco in January this year. At the end of  last month I went back to Innsbruck  for 2 more Rebirthing groups, which is building nicely with an opportunity to start Rebirthing in Vienna later in the year.

But the big one is Morocco, I am so excited by the opportunities there, that I have started a blog and information site just for that country and it’s cultural differences, in english and some pages in french. It appears that limited rehab and detox facilities ( if any ) exist in Morocco and no government figures are available for alcohol & drug use, as if no abuse problems exist. I had some reservations when I was invited  to present there, as alcoholism is paramount to the history of codependency and speaking about alcohol in a muslim country I thought would prove difficult. Well it wasn’t. People were eager to talk about it, either privately or in group. Casablanca appears to have noticeable alcohol issues alongside, club drugs and sexual activity via female prostitution. All this creates shame, the word I kept hearing in relation to family secrets.

This makes sense on reflection because Casa is not a tourist destination but the financial and business hub of Morocco breeding all the problems we experience in the West when money, power and addiction come together.

For my first presentation, the free two hour thursday evening introduction was ready with 20 chairs – and 45 people turned up! It was not the amount of interest that held my breath, but the diversity of audience, all ages, from twenties to grannies, from short skirts to covered heads and legs and equal men and women. Locals and expatriates from France, Spain, Belgium and America sat cross legged on the floor hungry for information about a subject that rarely gets spoken in public there : codependency & addictions. So it was wonderful to work with well over 20 people on the One Day Saturday Seminar, including 6 doctors, and twelve people who had never experienced Rebirthing Breathwork before. Well the feedback speaks for itself :

Excellent but too short – come back! . . .  David Parkers relaxed and unpretentious attitude, humour and calm way of speaking . . . Can you come back once a month? . . . My first Rebirthing breathe was sensational! . . . well led, adaptable, complex material . . . Very secure and relaxed atmosphere.

Before I left Casablanca train station at lunchtime the next day, for the Marrakech Express, the wonderful committee of NAFS ( The Moroccan Rebirthers Association ) invited me to a power breakfast beforehand to complete. We discussed the feedback sheets and I agreed that I would return in May for a weekend seminar and a week in Casa for private sessions and to build up support, if only to repeat the laughter we all had. Since then I have been invited to Tangiers to start something there later in the year and other requests have come in from Yoga centres to develop ideas. I have committed in my schedule to return to Morocco 3 times a year, this year and next, to build for the good of all concerned. I so look forward to returning the first 2 weeks of May.

En shallah!

So a BIG THANK YOU to the committee pictured here as I left and to Philippe Raffrey from Rabat who attended my one day and listed my blog and information on his pioneering alternative therapy blogsite, the largest such site in Morocco :  http://marocterredeveil.canalblog.com/

. . . & do check out my NEW Moroccan blog and info pages here : http://urbanlifeclass.wordpress.com/

A Tyrolean Breathe

by Rebirth Your Life

Rebirthing new people is always exciting.

One never knows how they will take to being out of control with controlled conscious connected breathing. I am always surprised how young clubbers are eager to drop a pill from a dealer without question in a club but fear breathing deeply on the floor fully focused without chemical support. If only they knew that the end result of a breathe has been described as coming up on an ‘e’, they would do it more and fear less. Natural highs contain spiritual ecstasy – not chemical con tricks.

Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol has an active snowboarding, skiing and extreme sports day time calendar and at night, bars, clubs, alcohol and other youthful distractions make for messy times. In London my market is music, clubs, fashion & media but when I lead Rebirthing Groups, Seminars and small groups around the globe the demographic is more mixed and good that it is.

I have been asked several times to come to Innsbruck in Austria to start REBIRTHING GROUPS but it never felt right. There is something to be said for not grabbing at every invitation that comes along. South Africa has asked me to come to Johannesburg in 2011, but detail needs to be done, those days of flying across the world because ” the invitation came ” are over. Some practitioners still think that it’s not spiritual to turn away a client away ( because higher energies have delivered them to you ), but experience has taught me that NO is the most satisfying word in the english vernacular. Detail is more important than acknowledgement of work. I haven’t said NO yet to SA because the countries issues interest me : drugs, crime, poverty, HIV/AIDS regarding releasing blocked emotional trauma, but without conscious detail, intuition and breathwork have no bedrock.

Next month January 2011, I begin working with an established Breathwork Centre in Casablanca Morocco, and said YES straight way, when invited, simply because the detail was there from the beginning and working with family dysfunction recovery in North Africa holds my creative attention. 2011 seems to be my year for Africa.

CODEPENDENCY Recovery depends on clearer boundaries and communication and it remains my next task to focus on South Africa and it’s opportunities. In the meantime Innsbruck, Austria is new to REBIRTHING BREATHWORK and a small group gathered for the 1st group on Thursday, with the view above from the patio, a blissful surrounding – we have another on Monday. Without another Rebirther to hand I only work with 6 new participants in a group, this way I can offer full attention to individuals while serving the group as a whole.

. . . and yes breathing new people is exciting.

Set for 3 hours, the group stayed for another few hours to eat and socialise. Most of them expressed tearful emotions during the breathe and felt wonderful, according to phone and facebook messages the next day, so the job was done. How this work will be developed here I don’t know yet, but Innsbruck has localised networking and yoga groups to start the ball rolling. Here is the band of breathing pioneers from the 1st Alpine Breathing Group in Innsbruck.

The next batch of 6 arrive on Monday.

So organising for me may just mean finding 6 people, then another 6 to make the trip financially eloquent. It can be in your home, if suitable. Then a One Day Seminar or a Weekend Training in a chosen venue. But the real essential is detail and clear communication.

This is the only vision I focus on.