I then started thinking of how blessed my life has been with women who have mothered me. Naturally, there’s my stepmom, Judy, who is graceful and elegant and a real weaver of family ties between those of us who have no blood in common. Aunt Marlene, my dad’s sister, is also a blessing and I’m grateful for every opportunity we have to be together, whether here in Austin or when I go to see her in Houston. And of course, I was thinking today of my Aunt Maria (whom I called Gotha). She’s been gone since 2000 but in the years after my mother died, she was my constant connection to her and helped lessen the loss. Recently I’ve also been thinking about my grandmother who died in childbirth with my father. With her death we lost our link to that entire side of the family. What might it have been like to know Helen Isaacs? Was she a loving mother?

Others have played the role as well…even my friend Gyano who is only a couple years older than me but who cares for me in much the same way a mother does. And recently, when my brother’s mother-in-law Kay came to town, I felt that mother love as well.

I’m fortunate to know what it is to be loved in that way, and to have a son I love with a fierceness that no trial or tribulation can change. So to all of you moms out there, I hope that on this Mother’s Day someone reminds you of just how much you matter. And if for some reason you don’t hear it from them in words, take stock in this quote from George Eliot: “Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.”

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher

Upcoming Akashic Classes
(In Austin unless otherwise noted)
May 1: 5-Week Book Study
May 14-16: Beginning/Certification Class
July 13-15: San Diego Beginning & Foundation Class
Nov 3-4: Healing Through the Akashic Records w/ Linda Howe!

The film is in limited release around the country, so if it’s not playing where you are, you can still watch it online.

The MARLEY film in theatres and on demand:

You can imagine how powerful the score for this film is. To quote a Bob Marley song, “One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain.”

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher
Upcoming Akashic Classes
(In Austin unless otherwise noted)
May 1: 5-Week Book Study
May 14-16: Beginning/Certification Class
July 13-15: San Diego Beginning & Foundation Class
Nov 3-4: Healing Through the Akashic Records w/ Linda Howe!

Because we don’t open up the Records during the book study, I wasn’t sure it would be enough for curious students, but what I’ve found is that there is real value in simply discussing the concepts found in Linda Howe’s first book and relating them to our own personal journey to fully know ourselves.

If you’re regularly working in the Records and would like to share this with others in your community, a book study group is a great way to do that. Included in the back of How to Read the Akashic Records is an outline you can use to develop a weekly discussion group to get readers through the entire book in five or six weeks. I’ve found that even students who have taken my certification classes are benefiting from coming together with newbies to review the basic concepts. It helps them strengthen their abilities, increases their trust in what this actually is, and renews their connection to the Akashic field as a whole.

If you decide to do this, I’d enjoy hearing about your experience.

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher

Upcoming Akashic Classes
(In Austin unless otherwise noted)
May 1: 5-Week Book Study
May 18-19: Beginning/Certification Class
May 20: Foundation Class: Ancestral Clearing
July 13-15: San Diego Beginning & Foundation Class
Nov 3-4: Healing Through the Akashic Records w/ Linda Howe!

Braco is live streaming over the internet today and tomorrow and if you’re interested, you can find out more at: http://www.braco.net/live-streaming. I have no idea what benefit you will receive, but if you’re drawn to do this, there’s a nominal charge of $3.00. If you have a story to share afterward, I’d enjoy hearing it.

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher

Upcoming Akashic Classes
(In Austin unless otherwise noted)
May 1: 5-Week Book Study
May 18-19: Beginning/Certification Class
May 20: Foundation Class: Ancestral Clearing
Nov 3-4: Healing Through the Akashic Records w/ Linda Howe!

I started with one written and two verbal readings and simply asked the Master’s, Teachers and Loved Ones the questions that three of my clients sent to me, in three separate sessions. The written reading flowed fairly easily as I simply typed out what I heard and then emailed that back; but the verbal reading was harder. I seemed to vacillate between having a conversation with the MTLOs about my client’s questions to something more akin to channeling them. I noticed that at some points I simply relayed the information like I do during a regular one-on-one reading, but at other moments it was like I was channeling the group instead. It was a little confusing, frankly.

The response from clients has been very positive, however, and it’s clear they received benefit and were able to engage with the vitality and sense of aliveness of their Records, even without actively participating. So while I’ve discovered that engaging in this way with the Akash definitely works since I can clearly still bring  forth valuable and pertinent information, what’s missing is the back and forth exchange that allows for follow-up questions. It’s that exchange which facilitates the loving dynamic that flows between us when I hear, feel and convey what the MTLOs are saying while I gauge how it’s being received by the client. This triangulation during a reader-to-client session (whether on the phone or in-person) always feels like something palpably solid is connecting us together at the heart center—like an energy field or strong, thick, warm beam that evokes a sense of oneness among the three involved parties (you, me, the MTLOs). That exchange is lacking when I do readings without the client’s back and forth input and I can imagine only rare situations where this type of reading might be the preferred approach.

faithsymbol.org/modalist

Ultimately, healing is the highest outcome of an Akashic Record reading for both client and reader, and that doesn’t seem as profound when doing this on my own with the MTLOs. But I’m grateful to those of you who volunteered to let me play with the methodology.

Edgar Cayce didn’t get to enjoy working with the Records the way we do through the Pathway Prayer Process Linda Howe discovered. In his unconscious trance-like state, he never directly communicated with clients. I really like that interaction and will continue to offer readings in the way I was taught..though this was an edifying exercise!

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher

Upcoming Akashic Classes
(In Austin unless otherwise noted)
May 1: 5-Week Book Study
May 18-19: Beginning/Certification Class
May 20: Foundation Class: Ancestral Clearing
Nov 3-4: Healing Through the Akashic Records w/ Linda Howe!

So clearly a reading works in that way, though it’s not quite as enjoyable as having a back and forth conversation with my client. I very much felt the energy of the Records and it was fairly effortless, but different.

The next thing I’d like to try is to do the same type of reading but instead of writing what the Masters, Teachers and Loved Ones have to say, I’ll speak aloud, record the session, and email it back. I’m looking for two volunteers to help me out (first come, first serve). Please send me one or two questions along with your full legal name and I’ll do the reading without your active participation. You’ll receive an emailed mp3 recording when it’s done. In exchange, I’d appreciate honest feedback about your impressions of the reading.

Save the Date

Linda Howe will come to Austin November 3-4 to present “Healing Through the Akashic Records” based on her second book. This is going to be a fabulous event and a rare treat, so please save the date. Details are being finalized (homing in on the venue) but if you’re already sure you want to join us, send me a note and I’ll put you on the list.

Enjoy your wonderful self…

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher

Upcoming Akashic Classes
(In Austin unless otherwise noted)
May 1: 5-Week Book Study
May 18-19: Beginning/Certification Class
May 20: Foundation Class: Ancestral Healing
Nov. 3-4: Healing Through the Akashic Records w/ Linda Howe!

Thanks Nina, for reminding me of the truth…that we are not these bodies, nor our stories about them. We are so much more.

Shine on…

Zelda and Nina (photo by Ali McGill)

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher

Upcoming Akashic Classes
May 1: 5-Week Book Study (Austin)
May 18-19: Beginning/Certification Class (Austin)
May 20: Foundation Class: Ancestral Healing (Austin)

I’ve come to realize from doing readings for others as well as teaching classes and observing the reactions of my students, that our pain and suffering all boil down to one thing really: we have made up the stories of our lives to reflect the ways in which we think we are separate from God, but which look like separation from others. For Cayce, that is the definition of “sin” (a concept I had a very different relationship to having been raised in the Catholic faith).

Here’s how this book puts it: “For man is a spirit, not a body; sin arises from his forgetfulness of this fact as he identifies himself with his body. It is against this illusion of identity with his body that he must fight…not through the negative process of denial, but through the positive process of identification with spirit.”

Each time we go into the Records (the realm of spirit), we are reminded that contrary to how the twists and turns of our lives appear, healing is not done on the level of form by changing our outer circumstances (though that may eventually be our choice), but at the level of spirit—the level of the Mind where we are one with our Creator. In an Akashic Record exploration, the Masters, Teachers and Loved Ones help us to remember. They reveal our “sins” for the illusion they are and reinterpret our perceived shortcomings through the eyes of forgiveness and perfection, under which no “story” of any lifetime holds any lasting power.

This definition of sin as separation also distills what A Course in Miracles is about, by the way.

The Bible quote (depending on the version) that Cerminara’s book takes its title from refers to Jesus saying to his disciples: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

All of you…each of us…all the same…without exception. Welcome home.

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher
Sliding Scale Sessions $75-150

Upcoming Akashic Classes
February 24-25 (Houston)
April 13-14 (San Antonio)

In BodyTalk, we work “in the zone” with our clients. That’s a metaphor for how our “left and right brain functions infuse one another in a way that allows for lateral or ‘outside the box’ type thinking.” I’ve been reading the revised Fundamentals manual which has added much to the discussion on healing through references to quantum physics, connected consciousness, and the idea that we are all involved in each other’s healing process.

We conduct BodyTalk sessions by paying full attention to what’s happening in the present moment, rather than diagnosing, prescribing or treating a client. Sessions help the body balance itself for better health, but we’re taught not to give thought to outcome. Instead, we bring priorities for balancing to the client’s attention (to their brain) knowing that their innate wisdom is responsible for making any changes in their bodymind. The practitioner’s role is to act as an intermediary and to observe.

That’s what I was able to do yesterday and what evolved was a different quality of session than I’d had with my client previously (because I was “trying” too hard). Instead, I “joined” with her by simply trusting the BodyTalk protocol as I moved from priority to priority, moment to moment, focused only on questioning (through right/left brain integration) and unearthing the links for communication. We both ended the session feeling relaxed and in union.

Intrigued? Learn more about BodyTalk and how it might help you. One way to begin this journey is by watching a video that will teach you an easy balancing technique you can use every day, on you and your family. It’s called “Cortices”.

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher
Sliding Scale Sessions $75-150

Akashic Classes
February 6-8 (Austin)
February 15 (Online Intro)
February 24-25 (Houston)

Sometimes though I get tripped up by whether or not what I’m doing is “against the rules” or particularly effective. My mind starts to question and doubt. Am I channeling when instead I should be listening to the Holy Spirit? Have I really reached the Akashic Records or am I making this up? Is what I’m hearing actual wisdom and does any of it really matter? Is ACIM a bunch of hooey or am I, in fact, making progress toward seeing the Truth? The mind can be relentless.

So here’s the thing: that’s just the nature of the little ego mind. It pulls out all the stops to turn my attention away from relationship with God. Yet none of its wily ways hold any lasting sway. I keep exploring…I keep going within. More and more all the time.

What does it matter how I choose to connect, as long as I do connect? All of these avenues make up my potpourri of gifts. Each has its unique fragrance but the combination infuses my being with its heavenly scent.

What are your ways? How do you combine them into a potpourri that delights and lifts your spirit? As we say in the Akashic Records class: What are your unique talents, gifts and abilities? And how do they serve?

©Maria K. Benning, M.Ed.
Wellness Facilitator & Teacher
Licensed Pastoral Therapist
Sliding Scale Sessions $75-150

Akashic Classes
January 20-21 (Austin)
February 6-8 (Austin)
February 15 (Online Intro)
February 24-25 (Houston)