Two months ago I attended Unleash the Power Within, basically a 4-day Tony Robbins ass kicking. (Yes. That’s and accurate description) And one of my major take aways was the experience of setting and resetting and resetting my “state.” That's what Tony calls it. Before this event, I would have called it atmosphere, or even mood.
Using your body, movement, breathing, voice, pounding music, rave lighting and the energy of 10,000 other humans, I reset my atmosphere probably 50 times a day for 4 days straight.
Honestly, at first I was skeptical. More than skeptical. I was resenting past Autumn for signing me up and though it would be a waste of time and money. I didn’t think I had anything new to learn. We talk a lot about choosing our atmosphere in my faith culture. I am a FREAKING THERAPIST. I teach people to change and heal their emotions for a living. I believed that what was being taught was true, I just didn’t think it was anything new for me. I was wrong. I have never experienced anything like this before. Not for this intensity and this duration. I have had lots of intense experiences in my life, where you walk out the door feeling like you can overcome anything. Real, powerful experiences. But that up beat, energetic zone hasn’t lasted more than a few hours, even with overwhelmingly beautiful experiences in the past.
This experience has been different. I have that energetic feeling in my body still. It has stayed with me. The only way I can explain is that I feel like I have been rewired for energy and forward movement (which makes sense given the neuro linguistic programming techniques that make up the basis of Robbin’s work. He literally teaches people to reprogram their neurology). There have been a few weeks since that have been a struggle due to situations involving loss and grief. But as I have processed through the loss, I find I am able to get in touch with that energy even still.
This is the power of a totally immersive experience. You don’t learn something here, you catch it. That is key for someone like me. I have read all the books and listened to half of the podcasts. I have taken information from psychology and spirituality on emotions, atmosphere and energy drip by drip. A chapter here, a teaching there, for all of my adult life. It had been an amazing foundation. But it couldn’t do what an immersive experience did for me in about 50 hours over 4 days.
Here’s what a totally immersive experience did for me:
1- It reset my base line.
I delayed posting this. I wrote most of this post only 2 days after the event but I am only posting it now. I wanted to make sure these things held water 60 days later. They do.
This experience reset my base line. It flew in the face of the cultural lies around motherhood and exhaustion. I took good care of myself during and after the event and I had plenty of energy to get through the long and intense days. It was EASY! Talk about a mindset shift.
2- It made my limiting beliefs LAUGHABLE.
Something about being in such a charged environment gave me a sense of freedom and awareness of how many others in the room are living their lives. The standard of success they hold was way higher than mine, and yet I saw them reaching for more. It was OK here in this setting to say “I WANT MORE!” Not for selfish gain but for the sake of all those I can serve with whatever that more is. Total immersion highlights the false limitations you’ve been owning and gives you a crystal clear vision for a higher standard.
3- It gave me momentum to make decisions.
I have struggled with making decisions in the past (see above, limiting beliefs, LOL). The more I care about something the more I would struggle. This immersive cultural experience gave me the moment to make bold and confident decisions to move my life in the direction I want it to go, even taking some risks. It gave me the chance to ask, what do I really need to do to commit to this dream? Am I willing to do that? What will my life look like if I commit and get the outcome I am going after? What will it cost me to delay this decision and not pursue what is on my heart?
I have had to course correct on a few of the decisions I made at the event, but the ability to keep moving forward and not being stuck by all my options has given me back so much time and been very liberating.
Have you ever had an immersive experience that changed your life? I would love to hear about it in comments below. I would love to do more learning this way, so please recommend things that have brought you true and lasting transformation.