CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?
“Most people don’t see their beliefs. Instead, their beliefs tell them what to see. That’s the simple difference between clarity and confusion.”
Matt Kahn
WHY DO BELIEF WORK?
Almost all of our beliefs are formed before we’re five years old, so naturally, many of those beliefs no
longer serve us in our current life. In fact, they limit us. And we don’t have a clue what our
beliefs are. They are just programming, quietly running us and our lives, hidden from us unless
we dig into our unconscious to see what’s going on. I’ve been shocked to discover beliefs lying
there, embedded in my energy field, beliefs my conscious mind would swear I did not hold. It’s
worth doing that digging because those unconscious beliefs determine everything unYl we
examine and release them.
MY INTRODUCTION TO BELIEF WORK
Years ago, I had my allergies eliminated by an NAET practitioner in Los Angeles named Gloria
Phillips. The changes I experienced from that process were amazing. I was no longer allergic to
cats, perfume, sugar and all sorts of everyday things that had given me trouble, some since
childhood. We were making good progress, but things kept popping up to be treated. One day,
Gloria told me, “you’re getting rid of the old allergies, but you’re creating new ones. I think you
have an underlying belief that’s causing that.”
I knew the unconscious had a powerful effect on one’s life, but I was surprised by the idea that
unconscious beliefs would create a physical problem. It was a further surprise to hear she could
possibly clear those beliefs with the same acupressure treatment that was eliminating my
allergies. It seemed too easy a process for it to work, but that was the same thing I’d thought about the NAET
- too easy to be real. The NAET worked, so what the hey? I gave the belief work a try.
It turned out that my underlying belief was “the world is a dangerous place.” That made so
much sense. If I’m believing the world is dangerous, my body acts on that belief by reacting to
all and sundry aspects of the world as if they were attacking me. That’s what allergies are –
one’s immune system reacting to benign substances as if they are a threat. My body was just
showing me what I was believing. Lo and behold, when we cleared that belief, I stopped
producing new allergies.
At that time, I suffered a head injury that jangled my energy field. I went to Sheva Carr to get
craniosacral work done. She also did belief clearing and the technique she used eventually
became part of my belief-clearing practice.
A few years after that, I was telling the wonderful Rolfer, Dorothy Hunter, that my dream was to
become unconditionally accepting of everything life brought, to have no judgement or
resistance to whatever happened to me. She recommended the book “Loving What Is” and
that’s how I came to know “The Work” of Byron Katie. Byron Katie’s view is, if you’re suffering,
you’re arguing with Reality, and you’re believing something that isn’t true for you. Her
worksheet focuses on our judgments of other people and inquires into the beliefs underlying
those judgements. I found this a fascinating process. Check out
Byron Katie’s website, thework.com, to see a full description of that.
MY PRACTICES
Identifying the beliefs
An unconscious, limiting belief may well be a thought that your conscious mind would never
allow, a thought you find repugnant. Remember, these beliefs were installed in early childhood
by our society and our parents and our experiences.
1. Think or say the belief and ask yourself, “is that something I believe?”
Feel, listen or look for your intuiYve yes or no. For myself, I notice how my body
responds. If my body feels calm when I ask “is this something I believe?” I know my
energy field resonates with this belief, so the answer is yes. I then ask, “Is it true?” Feel,
listen or look for your intuiYve yes or no. If it’s unclear to you, you might ask, as Byron Katie does,
“Can I know that this is true?” If you get a no (as is most often the case with limiting beliefs), then ask,
“am I willing to release this belief?” If you get a no, even though rationally you can see that the belief
is limiting and not serving you, it may be that you need to reword it. Or, if you’re very resistant to releasing
it, you may have the belief that you’ll be unsafe without this belief. You can then state that underlying
belief, “I’ll be unsafe if I don’t believe x, y, or z.” Or: “It serves me to believe x, y or z.”
“Others will harm me if I release this belief.” See if that’s something you believe. Then
ask if it’s true and then if you’re willing to let it go. If you’re not willing to let it go, keep
looking for the belief that’s locking it into place.
If you’re willing to release the belief, move on to the next process: Releasing the belief.
Releasing the beliefs
I think of this process as a reset for my energy field so that the energetic pattern of that long-
held, unconscious belief can dissipate, freeing me to find out what life is like without that. In my
experience. The release cannot take place on the mental plane. It has to engage the body and
the energy field.
I’m sure there are a million ways to do this, and you can find what works for you. Here’s the
process I use:
1. In my mind’s eye, I picture an energetic version of myself standing behind my physical
self using energetic hands to clear my energy field. You can also do the reverse, i.e.
picture your energetic self standing in front of you as you use your physical hands to
clear the energy field of your energetic self.
2. Looking at your back (imagined or real), wave your hands above and below the head.
3. Move the hands down to the shoulders, brushing across the shoulders and back.
4. Move the hands down the spine, scrubbing across it.
5. Rub across the sacrum, across the lower back.
6. With a hand on either side of the knee, rub the knees,
7. Repeat at the ankles.
8. Turn around to be face to face.
9. Rub into the hollows in the fronts of the shoulders.
10. Rub the front of the elbows.
11. With the thumb and forefinger, rub the webbed area of the hand between the index
finger and the thumb and up into that valley between the two.
12. Move down to brush the sides of the knees
13. Repeat at the ankles.
14. Brush down the tops of the feet
15. Now feel into the energy field. Using your intuitive yes and no to see if your energy field has
released the belief
16. If not, repeat the process or feel where it’s still being held in the body. You may feel drawn
to massage the body in one place or another.
17. Notice your breath. If you give a big sigh or have deep breath, it’s a good sign that you’ve let it go.
Another process I use is a truncated version of Byron KaYe’s.
State the belief. Feel into your energy field and use your yes or no to answer the quesYon, “Is
this something I believe?”
1. Is it true? Can I really know it’s true?
2. Am I willing to release it? If yes,
3. How do I feel in my body if I believe this thought. (For me, thinking a limiting belief
makes my body contract or gives me an uncomfortable feeling.)
4. How do I feel in my body if I never had this thought. (Imagining this creates a feeling of
expansion, a lightness.)
5. Take note of and experience, the difference between the two states. Often this is enough to
release the belief.