Background articles
In Awakening Soulforce, Mansukh Patel offers the reader a 24-step
process to awaken their innermost potential.
Mansukh wrote the book after working with a group of people who
live in a war zone. Engaged in intensive detraumatisation programmes
in their country, they included child psychologists, social workers,
refugee leaders, students and community workers. All shared a common
vision –to heal the extraordinary emotional wounds left after
years of war and violence. Mansukh Patel and colleagues from the
Life Foundation, Savitri MacCuish and Andrew Wells, had travelled
to be with these people in an adjoining country, to train them
in a wide variety of self-help techniques for healing emotional
pain.
In Mansukh’s words, ‘The pulse that surges through
this book is the reawakening of hope and faith inspired by the
plight of people who are living in a war zone. The material in
Awakening Soulforce has arisen from the personal experiences of
forty-five aid workers –people who have dedicated their lives
to helping their countrymen and women resurrect some kind of hope
and stability amidst the turmoil of invasion and the devastation
of war.’
Mansukh Patel and Savitri MacCuish had only days in this particular
training (it was one of a series) to work with these people; Andrew
Wells and a group of other trainers would then continue afterwards
to anchor that training. During that time Mansukh and Savitri were
able to pass on some of Dru’s most effective techniques for
healing emotional pain, and the aid workers responded with extraordinary
heroism.
Traumatised themselves –most had lost at least one loved-one
in the war –the aid workers used the technique outlined in
Awakening Soulforce to achieve a remarkable transformation. Mansukh
Patel describes how in their presence he felt the urgency of their
situation; what it was like to live in a nation that felt completely
lost and forgotten by the world. Yet the transformation they accomplished
was so complete that it left everyone participating completely
aware of their strengths and ability to change even the most desperate
situations.
What was even more poignant for Mansukh, Andrew and Savitri was
that the experience of these brave aid workers highlighted the
dilemma of every human being. Few people do not at some stage feel
lost and alone, and all of us can experience moments of insecurity
or disconnection with our inner strengths. As Awakening Soulforce
shows, we as individuals also can replicate the transformation
experienced by these brave aid workers.
At the core of Awakening Soulforce is one of Dru’s best-loved
techniques, the Golden Eagle Sequence. Mansukh Patel describes
how he has taught this sequence all over the world, in many different
circumstances, and always known it to be a tool of immense power.
But these people brought it alive in a way he had never seen before.
What was the difference? Mansukh believes that they were each one
hundred percent present, giving themselves to the process at every
level –physically, mentally and emotionally with full faith.
He describes how he has seen people’s lives changed before,
but in all his years of experience, he had never before witnessed
such an immediate transformation. Mansukh felt it could only have
been because of the power of their intention and their intense
faith and trust that they could change the future of their country.
Awakening Soulforce
Mansukh Patel thought deeply about how these people could make
a significant difference to their country. What would Gandhi have
done? Mansukh recalled how the Mahatma had always said that the
power of one person’s soulforce is enough to change the world.
He called this power ‘Satyagraha’, and instigated movements
based on it which were so far-reaching that Time Magazine voted
him Man of the Century.
Mansukh realised that nothing less than the power of soulforce
was going to work for these psychologists and counsellors.
Gandhi had his own methods and approaches to implementing soulforce
in society. His power came from his spiritual practice of silence,
meditation and reading the Bhagavad Gita. Mansukh Patel’s
parents, who were Gandhians all their lives, were also custodians
of their own indigenous tradition –that of Dru Yoga. Having
had this knowledge imparted to him, Mansukh searched the wisdom
of that tradition to create a model that would work for these people.
Twenty Four steps
Most readers of Awakening Soulforce do not live in a society
shattered by war. However, what can we do to bring us out of comfort
to the pitch of readiness experienced by these aid workers when
they began to use the Golden Eagle Sequence?
Within hours after returning from the training, Mansukh Patel
began devising a process that would enable us all to benefit in
the same way.
In Awakening Soulforce, Mansukh offers us a twenty-four day process
that uses the Golden Eagle Sequence to sequentially take our awareness
to a more and more profound and effective level. The goal –awakening
the power of your own soulforce. Mansukh Patel has created a carefully
crafted sequence of intentions and visualisations to use with the
Golden Eagle Sequence, as well as a powerful set of methods to
help you clarify and empower your personal aspirations and goals.
Mansukh encourages you primarily to employ this sequence for someone
else, since the nature of soulforce is intrinsically self-less.
If you can discover the benefits your most cherished goals would
bring to the people around you, according to Mansukh Patel, you
are already well on the way to unleasing the power of soulforce
in your life.
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