Ludus Enkrateia

What is Shadow Work?
At the simplest level, shadow work is a process that involves becoming aware of the pieces of ourselves that we hide, judge, or feel shame around. It is a process of identifying the parts of ourselves that have been made unconscious, or put in the "shadow", identifying how and where in our lives this denial or repression has impacted our lives. The characteristics that are part of the shadow self come from a place of trauma. Meaning, when we act on these emotions that come from the shadow self, when we "lash out", we act from that place of trauma. And when we think of "trauma", we think of a catastrophic event, but this is not the case. Trauma is defined as a "deeply distressing event", which can mean any experience that has created a profound memory that negatively affected you. It can be a "simple" event as in being embarrassed by a teacher in front of a class, but because this emotion was suppressed, an event like this can lead to a lash of negative emotion down the line (years later even) over something so small, but have profound effects on the present moment. Creating awareness or doing deeper healing processes, can release these deep wounds and reclaim your authentic self. With awareness, we can create understanding. With understanding we can create love. And with love we can create transformation.
We will continue to explore and also give more info in this type of process and most of all tips to become aware! Stay tuned for more!

To close our series on Self-Exploration, here's a lesson on the four obstacles that you will face in the Journey towards your Personal Legend...

1) From childhood and onward, we were told that what we want to do is impossible. As time goes on, our calling is so deeply buried in our soul and becomes invisible. But it never leaves us; in fact, it may be the reason why we feel that there is something "more" or missing in our life. Have the courage to breakthrough and follow your true calling.

2) After mustering the courage, we will face the second obstacle: Love. We are afraid of hurting those around us by "abandoning" everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is an energy used to move forward and that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy. They are prepared to accompany us on our journey.

3) When we realize that love is a stimulus, the third obstacle is fear. Fearing the "defeats" that we will face in our path. The fear that pursuing our dream will not work out, fear that we are suffering more than those who are not pursuing their dream. We must practice patience in difficult times, for it's actually the universe conspiring in our favor, even if we do not understand. Defeats happen to refine us; it's how we learn. Next thing you know, overcoming defeats becomes easier and quicker and we start to enjoy the challenge, for we see that we are growing ourselves.

4) When we start to accept the fact that our defeats will always be a part of our life, we start to get closer to realizing our calling. Hence the 4th obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives. The possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of a person with guilt, looking around to those who have failed to get what they want. We feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget all the obstacles we overcame and all the suffering we endured. This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a saintly aura. But if you believe yourself worthy of what you fought so hard for, you will realize you have become an instrument of God, and that you help the "Soul of the World" and understand why you are here.

In 2021 we're doing something new, with a different focus every month. This month, our focus is the Mind-Body Connection!

The Mind-Body connection may seem elementary for most of us. In reality, however, we tend to stay at a basic understanding of this and is put into the back burner of our everyday life disregarding its importance. The Mind-Body connection is not merely, "the mind sends signals to the body to move, when I make the decision to move". The connection is about understanding that everything we experience (emotions, food, movies, music, social interactions, environment... LIFE) is information, and how we process this information (perceptions, values/beliefs) will lead to physical expression and depending on that expression may manifest to health or disease. The Mind-Body Connection allows us to become "sensitive" to the feedback loop in which our mind and body communicate, allowing us to deeply understand both our body and mind. This increases our awareness and with this allows us to have more control over ourselves for we can now make the conscious decision to change, adjust or manuever allowing us to grow, heal or be resilient. This connection is the process of bringing the subconscious to the conscious mind, which is a form of Self-Mastery.

How is this done? The practice of Mindfulness. Most importantly what you put your mind to as you experience the events in your life.

For us, our programming for this month will focus on developing more sensitivity to how the body communicates to the mind and paying attention to how the mind reacts to such stress. Basically doing more movements that require more brain power will increase our sensitivity to the feedback loop between mind and body, and recognizing our thought process as to how we handle such stresses will give us a look into our true character and perceptions.

We shall share more as we continue to explore this topic, but for now we hope this has enlightened you a bit and may be used in your training or even your life ☺️

Channelling Enkrateia: Enter the ViPR...

Enkrateia (Self-Mastery), like Life, has so many factors to consider. Our training philosophy does the same. In order to tap into all of these modalities, we need a versatile tool.

Enkrateia (Self-Mastery), like Life, has so many factors to consider. Our training philosophy does the same. In order to tap into all these modalities, we need a versatile tool.

This became an instant Ludus classic! Inspired by Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, this FyF embodies "possibilities" in one's journey, and how quickly one can adapt to change instantly. This FyF is also cerebral in the fact this program deals with degrees of randomization which can reveal the thought processes of an individual. Learn more about the creation of this one on this episode!!!