Last month we reflected on the transition happening as we merged businesses and are reopening as The Vitalist Institute of Psychospiritual Transformation. This week, we will share some of the core principles of the Vitalist Institute and shed light on what makes this work so unique.

We believe that being human doesn’t have to be as difficult as most of you have experienced it. We believe there are lots of ways to make life more meaningful and filled with ease. When you were born, your breath was deep and your hearts curious. You felt your feelings deeply, and were delighted just to be alive. You loved your families, animals, and simply existing on this earth. You experienced life joyfully and profoundly.

A lot happened between then and now.

Life becomes more complicated. It can feel like you have lost your spark. Relationships get more complex and pieces and parts from your past seem to stick in your bodies or your minds. As you take on the weight and responsibility of being an adult, it is easy to lose track of who you are and what is really important to you. At the Vitalist Institute, we don’t believe life has to stay this way yet we recognize a few key barriers that keep people stuck.

After decades of guiding clients on their inner journeys, we’ve seen the following two factors as the most influential blocks to healing:

1. Our culture, as well as many of our helping professions, are focused on external symptoms.

At the Vitalist Institute of Psychospiritual transformation, we aren’t interested in the quick fixes that merely mask the symptoms. Lasting change occurs when we dig deep enough to find the moments of disconnection and pain that have impacted and altered the ways we view life. As we learn to uproot and examine our unexpressed emotions and unmet needs, we begin to cultivate more compassion toward ourselves. By recognizing that many of our adaptive behaviors were formed during our younger developmental years as “safety strategies,” we start to find empathy for, rather than the pathology of, our inner wounds. As we confront outdated beliefs and begin to rewire and reprogram ourselves, transformation arises from the inside out. 

We have seen over the years how easy it is to focus only on outcomes. Clients often show up wanting more happiness or business success. They believe “as soon as… (fill in the blank), then I will be happy.” However it simply isn’t true. Trying to change our external world without addressing the internal disconnect doesn’t produce lasting transformation or the feelings we’d hoped for. We can keep chasing what external things we think will “make us feel better,” but it is essential that we get down to the roots of our wounds and the moments of disconnection from self.  

2. Most modalities work within one or two domains. Very few work within the body, heart, and mind. 

So many people ARE willing to work hard on their growth, but much of what they have experienced in their developmental work is driven by the mind. It is very hard to think our way out of a suffering state. Merely thinking about what we want or how we desire to respond to life does little to create lasting transformation. Lasting change arises when we work below the influence of the mind and can access the body’s innate healing capacity. All modalities at the Vitalist Institute work with the domains of the body, heart, and mind. To be fair, we simply rediscovered how traditional cultures have always healed. As we have brought in the core principles found in these ancient healing traditions, we are amazed to see how quickly transformation and shifts can occur. 

There are three principles fundamental to our institute. They are critical to creating full-bodied, wholehearted, and mind-changing transformations in those who show up to do their work:

1. Awakening your Vital Life Force

2. Embodiment

3. Connection

We will go into detail about each one in our next Blog.