Unveiling "Unveiling" - It's Finally Here!

It’s not yet 5AM. But the news is so good that I can’t wait to share it with you.

Yesterday, for the first time (in the history of the universe!), Unveiling: The Inner Journey became available on the web. You can now order it directly from CreateSpace, the production house within Amazon. To do this, go directly to the Unveiling page in the CreateSpace e-store. This is a regular e-store; you can place your order, select your timeframe for delivery (slow = cheap, fast = expensive), and have your own Unveiling as soon as you desire!

And if you have PRE-ORDERED, please bear with me – I’ve ordered my copies to send to you (some will be sent through Cleo’s Closet), and you’ll get them as soon as we can get them into the mail.

But truly and finally, you now have options. You can be one of the first to get your hands on the book that will, ultimately, sweep the world.

Consider how we woman have evolved in our thinking:

• Relationships: Early 1990’s – 2000’s – We all read John Grey’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. (This book sold over 13M copies, worldwide). We were focused on men, and our relationships with them. In addition to Men are from Mars, we read books like Feldhahn’s (2004) For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men.
• Empowerment: Mid-1990’s – Late 2000’s – We read Steve Covey’s Seven Habits (1989, over 15M copies sold), and stayed with the “how to live our lives successfully” theme through Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret (2006, several M copies sold).
• Wisdom: 2010’s onward – We’ve already read Dr. Christiane Northrup’s Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, Suzanne Somers’ books (think The Sexy Years), and even The Female Brain, by Dr. Louann Brizendine. Each of these has sold over 1M copies, and have been working their way steadily higher. By now, we understand men (and relationships). We have become “empowered”; we are living our lives “successfully” and we’ve even mastered the “Secrets.”

What we’re reaching for now is a new level of “wisdom.” We know about our bodies. We know how our hormones change, and even how our lives change. We understand that the transition point, beginning sometime in our mid-to-late 40’s, is not just about menopause and the children leaving home. Instead, it is a time of growing, deepening, and ripening. And, it is a time for accessing a potent new form of energy, our “vital energy” or ch’i. (We may no longer have the bouncy sexiness of youth, but we can and do access something very new and different!)

What we want, what we need in our lives right now, is a sense of inner wisdom and direction. A means for “setting a course” for the next stage of our life-journey.

When we were younger, it was easier to “set course.” We “got our degree.” We married (or not), had children (or not), and followed a fairly typical, well-known path of career and family.

But as a friend said to me, “It’s not ‘What’s next?,’ but rather: 'What now?’"

Really, What NOW?”

Is there a roadmap? Is there guidance? Is there a “path to follow” once we start having enough time in our lives to actually do some inner digging and “follow” something?

It turns out that a “roadmap for wisdom” really exists! And for all that I’m a scientist and inventor (my “day” trade; I have four patents to my credit), I didn’t “invent” this.

In fact, I didn’t even “discover” it.

If anything, I was led to rediscovering the secrets.

And yes, there really ARE secrets.

What I learned, in the course of researching, writing, and (the “big” secrets came late!) even rewriting Unveiling – was that there really was (and still is, I’ve just unearthed it) an ancient pathway for self-knowledge.

My job has simply been to find the pieces and re-assemble them.

It’s been a lot like finding an ancient artifact, or a magnificent statue, that had been broken into bits. My job was discovery: find pieces, see how they fit together.

A segue: The lifetime of work that I’ve had up until now – as a scientist, a researcher and an inventor, and even my personal studies in a wide range of “esoteric” disciplines (from chemistry to alchemy, from T’ai Chi to yoga to Oriental dance; the list goes on), have all formed the “substrate” that let me do this. If I hadn’t spent years of study, in such a wide range of areas, I wouldn’t have recognized the “pieces” when I started to pick them up. It would be like walking through an area with lots of fossils. Only a trained eye can discern that a piece of rock is a fossil, not just a hunk of stone. And only a specially-trained paleontologist would know that she (or he) was looking at a brand new fossil, versus the many expected ones in an area.

Similarly, by the time that I was wrapping up Unveiling, I had enough scientific background (and background in other areas) to know that when I found a new clue, I was on to something interesting. Something very unexpected, and a whole new set of insights. We can say that the initial insights came as hunches, or perhaps a form of “guidance.” However they came about, they took a lot of work to follow up; to trace sources and verify. Writing this book was a lot like doing field archeology – albeit in written form!

This is why Unveiling took fourteen years, just to produce a rough draft. And then two years of nearly full-time work, just to go from raw draft to finished manuscript. (Two years, including some major “re-discoveries.” The extra research, the writing, the “making sense of it all” and putting it into Unveiling; all this took time.)

So, dear one, Unveiling is not about “belly dance.” Rather, it is about who we are as women; our becoming; our emerging into a very new stage of our lives.

And after fourteen years of writing, two more of further research, re-writing, and editing, and after four major proofing rounds, and two rounds of cover art – it’s finally here.

You can order your copy today, and be reading it by this weekend. Go to the Unveiling page in the CreateSpace e-store. And settle in for the best summer read that you've ever had, ever!

Transitioning from "Writing" to "Communicating"

For Introverted Authors - The Transition from Writing to Connecting with People - In Person, and on the Web

To all my friends, business colleague, and even random strangers with whom I strike up conversations - I encourage everyone who has a "knowledge resource" to write, publish, and somehow make their "knowledge resource" available as a "product." There are many reasons for this, and I've discussed them in previous blogposts. (You may want to see some of my postings from both this blog and my other, "scientific/technical/business" world.)

In short, whether you write a book, produce a DVD, or offer any kind of unique knowledge - the one where YOU are the expert - I encourage you (and all others "like" you) - to make a stand-alone product.

With a "product" standing behind you, you become more recognized as an "expert." Also, your "product" becomes a "personal surrogate." It can train many others on your behalf; this means that you can reach many people, much more effectively over time. People all over the world - those who could never make it to your regular classes, private coaching sessions, or even your occasional workshops, can order your product, or download your DVD, and connect directly with you.

You reach more people. And you shorten their learning curve.

These are two huge benefits - for them and for you.

However, there is a huge upfront cost involved. In order to produce a product, of any sort, you have to pull back from connecting with people and doing your "regular business," and focus on product creation. You can get a lot of this done at night, on weekends, during vacations, and during various other "slow times" in your life.

But there comes a time, when in order to guarantee - to yourself more than anyone else - you must pull back from your "regular life" and focus exclusively on product creation. This can be a short timeframe - a few weeks, perhaps. Or it can be months. Or, it can take years.

A "big product" takes a long time for completion.

It's like growing a garden. If you grow a simple "salad garden," you'll have a bumper crop of lettuce, radishes, and baby carrots within 60 days. And it's easy; plant, water, harvest. But healthy though salads are, we do not live on salads alone!

We need heartier fare as well. Even from a farmer's garden, we need things like fruits and nuts.

And fruits and nuts grow on trees.

Trees take a much longer time to grow than lettuces. The time-to-produce (or "product development time") is measured in years, not months or weekends.

So to build a more powerful, more effective product, takes comparably more time.

All logical so far, and no surprise to any of you.

But I'm working my way up to the crucial, main point.

Some of us have the tenacity, the focus, and pure, sheer endurance and will-to-succeed that it takes to produce a major product, such as a book.

But during this time of "product creation," something happens. We become - necessarily, and through an absolute requirement of focusing on getting the product done - very introverted.

We do what we have to do to succeed, and this means pulling back from many social interactions.

The result is that we move into a prolonged introverted state; a state-of-mind that is characterized by intense focus on a single objective. Think of it as becoming "laser-like."

Very, very effective for getting a book written.

And absolutely horrible for getting out, connecting with people, marketing, schmoozing, networking, staying active on Facebook and other social media -- and all the other things associated with promoting (whether you're promoting yourself, or your book).

So -- this is exactly the situation in which I'm finding myself right now.

And a main, MAJOR reason that I write this blog is NOT JUST to share the actual "Unveiling message," but to share with you what it is like to actual DO the process. Not just write a book, but now, to transition from writing to marketing.

And this is a "sea change." It's HUGE.

It's going from introversion to extroversion.

It's going from tight, laser-like, mono-manaical focus to extremely broad spectrum.

But what it is NOT (I'm learning this right now) is going from long-range rifle to "buckshot." Going from product-completion to marketing is NOT going into a "scattershot" mode.

Instead, the NEW approach has to yield maximal results for your time.

There are secrets to this, and I'm devoting much of my time to learning, and implementing them.

And I'll share them with you, from time to time.

And of course, I'll continue to reveal - and discuss with you online - the "secrets of Unveiling"!

To your health, wealth, happiness, and personal fulfillment in every way -
my very best wishes --

yours - Alay'nya

It May Seem Silly, But ...

How to "Reward" Yourself for Task Completion

In my blogposts yesterday, I wrote about using the Unveiling archetypes to help refine our Franklin-Covey Day Planner roles. Using our roles, in the context of a Weekly Compass, is a great way to organize tasks and priorities.

By the end of a multi-hour planning session yesterday, I had July's tasks and priorities laid out, a full column for each of six different roles. (one of them, High Priestess, doesn't require much "doing.") But the total set of tasks was overwhelming!

So I'm reclaiming one of my old little psychological self-motivation tricks. It may sound silly, but: I use stickers.

That's right, stickers.

The kind of stickers that little kids use.

I use little sparkly "stars" (multicolored, or gold) for completing each "task" on my to-do list. I use them on my task lists, so that as I complete the tasks, the total number of little, sparkly stickers mounts up, and I get motivated to get as many as possible. These are a lot more "rewarding" than simply checking off the tasks!

I use different kinds of "heart" stickers on my calendar page for each time I work out. That way, simply by glancing at my calendar page, I know whether I've been keeping up with my workout goals for a month, or if I've been distracted (or simply slacking off).

And I use "rainbows" for major achievements, such as performances or big presentations.

All this may sound juvenile. But we each have a "little kid" inside ourselves, and this "kid" can get overwhelmed by the prospect of a month of hard work. Sometimes, acknowledging that our "kid" needs a "reward" is just what it takes to get our "inner adult" motivated to carry through!

Unveiling "Archetypes" and Franklin-Covey "Roles" - A Useful Synergy and Connection

Using Your Unveiling Archetypes to Clarify and Build Your Franklin-Covey Day Planner (TM) Roles

For years, I've been a fan of the Franklin Covey Day Planner (FCDP) system. I've found it especially useful when I've juggled (as many of us have) multiple roles, competing priorities, and "to-do lists" that simply run off the page.

In particular, I've enjoyed the synergy - within the FCDP system - of using the Day Planner itself, the Monthly Priorities right after each monthly calendar page (it takes me an extra page, front and back, to list all my "priorities" and "tasks" - but at least they're on paper, and not jamming up my mind), and the "Weekly Compass Cards."

It's this last tool that is particularly significant. This is because the "Weekly Compass Cards" ask us to look at each of our "roles" in life (wife, mother, team leader at work, etc.), and identify a few "most significant" tasks supporting that role for the week ahead.

Connecting our "roles" with our "priorities" and "tasks" gives us a lot of clarity and self-definition. It's a way of creating some boundaries - and a bit of focus - for each of the roles which we inhabit.

What I've found particularly useful is to take this one step further.

In Unveiling, I identify six core archetypes. These are the six different "power modes" that we can - and should - access and integrate to achieve maximum personal effectiveness. In fact, identifying, knowing, and cultivating each of these distinct "modes" is the first challenge on our mature adult life-journey. Integrating these roles or modes is something that we do as a personal "capstone project" - the culmination of this stage of adult personal growth. (We generally do this sometime in our mid- to late-forties.)

Here's where it gets interesting. Each of our archetypal roles puts us into a different state. We are in very different states when we are in our Hathor (playful, sensual, fun-loving) role, versus when we are being an Emperor (building and maintaining structures and order). In practical terms, we are in very different states when we are preparing to go out on a fun date, or for an outing with our girlfriends, than when we are doing a monthly progress report at work.

Now, these archetypal roles are not something that I've made up. Rather, they were identified hundreds - and possibly thousands - of years ago, by the seers and sages who developed the ancient Kabbalah, or "Tree of Life." There is a huge mystical underpinning to the Kabbalah, which I won't address here. Suffice to say - these different archetypes are very formally derived; they're not picked at random. And there's a connection between them and the Major Arcana of the Tarot (which I develop substantially in Unveiling) and also with the Jungian Psychological Types, which most of us understand via the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, or MBTI. (So if you think of yourself as an "Introvert" or an "Extrovert," you owe that thought to the MBTI. If you understand yourself to be someone who would rather "Feel" than "Think" your way through a life situtaion, ditto.)

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Male or female, every one of us needs each of the six core archetypes. But we individually and uniquely combine these archetypes in different ways in order to fulfill our life roles.

For example, one of my evolving roles is to be a salonniere. This is a combination of three archetypes; Hathor (pleasure, for myself and others, particularly intellectual stimulation), Isis (nurturing - by bringing people together and providing a warm and convivial environment), and Magician (a "masculine" archetype - creating "magic," or making something from nothing). Organizing Salon involves connecting with people via phone, email, and regular surface mail, as well as a host of organizational tasks. But because the focus is on a particular kind of experience, all the relevant tasks get grouped into supporting a certain role, and I can characterize that role as invoking three different archetypes.

In another role, I am strictly in one of my Amazon modes. And not just any, ordinary Amazon mode, but specifically in my Emperor mode. When we're in our Emperor mode, we are rational, logical, and task-oriented, with a goal of building or maintaining structures and systems. These can be managing a project at work, planning all the children's activities for the summer, organizing a church event, or as simple as balancing our checkbook or making up a grocery shopping list. The key to our Emperor role is: rational, task-focused, and project-completion focused, with an emphasis on building or maintaining structures.

This helps me put all of my "life maintenance" tasks under a single role, whether they are financial, logistic, communications, or even computer-cleanup. They all support building the "structure" of daily life.

The challenge - for each of us - is to identify our seven dominant roles. (More than that and our minds start to wobble.) Then, to figure out which of our core archetypes we are invoking in each role. Then we can do a more complete - and satisfying - job of identifying which priorities and tasks we have within each role.

A year ago, I didn't need to use the FCDP system quite so much. To the exclusion of almost everything else, except the barest level of survival and life-maintenance, I had only one role: I was a writer. My entire life was focused on writing (and re-writing), editing (and re-editing), proofing (and you get the idea ...) Unveiling.

Well, now Unveiling is done. It should be available to you within two weeks. (And you can pre-order now, through Cleo's Closet - the ONLY way that you'll confidently get signed, dated, and numbered copies - I think the numbering is around 130 right now, and growing fast.)

Instead of focusing on just one role (writing), I now have many roles - marketing, teaching, preparing talks, fundraising for various non-profits, organizing and hosting salon - and oh yes, research and writing. And performing. (More on that shortly.)

Transitioning from a "one-role" mindset to a "many roles" mindset is a big job. I've started using the FCDP in earnest once again. But to clarify my different roles, for the first time, I've had access to the Unveiling archetypes, and they're helping me make more sense of which role requires what kind of energy or "modality."

I spent last Sunday morning working through my roles-and-archetypes association. It felt a bit strange at first, but made sense after a while.

This morning, I started filling out my Weekly Compass Card for the this week, as well as the monthly Priorities and Tasks for July. Using the archetypes to help clarify what tasks go with which roles is helping a lot! (And yes, I'm using a bit of white-out as I move things around, but the mental organization is helping me to create more structure, more order, and more sense - being very Emperor about how I'll fit some Hathor (pleasure), Isis (nurturing), and High Priestess (prayer and meditation) time into my life!

It's Almost Here!

First Printing of Unveiling: The Inner Journey

Darlings, this is the most amazing, wonderful, and incredible thing!

I'm holding a glass of wine in one hand, and Unveiling: The Inner Journey, in my other. (And typing with a third hand, of course. Don't we all?)

We broke out a bottle of bubbly yesterday, when it arrived. And we all had a good look; the important things are working. Such as, the text and the cover art point in the same direction. The interior text layout is gorgeous; the print is relatively large-size, there's lots of spacing between the paragraphs and the lines; overall it is very easy on the eyes and easy to read. (That was intentional. And it's worth making the book fatter, if it's easier to read as a result.)

So we can all read this when we come home, tired from work, and want a good, soothing, nurturing "comfort read."

The cover still needs a bit of a go-round. Perhaps another week to get all of this sorted out.

But fabulously, the very first "review copy" has now been printed, and it is a wonderful, lovely feeling to just open it up at random, and feel enveloped and soothed by what is inside.

As soon as I can get this to settle a bit, will post some more content to blogsite, and there's a way that I can put a preview on CreateSpace. Will let you know when that happens!

Just on the Verge ...

Cover artist Katerina Merezhinsky is transforming the cover art from JPG to PDF - once she's got that done, we submit, and behold! A book will be forthcoming.

New Dance Underway - Incorporating "Energy Work"

Level 3 Dances - Integrating Energy Patterns into Choreography

In Chapter 29 of Unveiling, "Pragmatic Esoterics," I write about how we can learn to access, cultivate, and circulate our internal energy, or ch'i. This is something that martial artists do all the time. (Particularly true for "internal martial artists"; those who do T'ai Chi Ch'uan, or similar arts.) So far, elatively few of us do this in dance. (In Unveiling, I mention a few dancers whose work would readily inspire this kind of practice, though. I'll post some links from the Unveiling website a bit later.)

Now, after having pulled back from both teaching and performing over these past few years, I am rebuilding my practice from the ground up. And now, all of my dances are essentially "energy work" dances.

This doesn't mean that anyone can see a visible difference; this is largely a felt-thing. But just as those who have trained their sensitivity to energy work can detect ch'i flow in a martial artist, yogi, or ch'i kung practitioner, we should be able to detect it in a dancer. And not only detect, but observe and emulate, over time.

The piece that I'm working with right now incorporates energy-drawing movements and a basic Microcosmic Orbit (see link to Mantak Chia's book below). I use figure-eights and other moves to access, build and compress the ch'i in my tan tien. (Geographic center point of my body.) I use shimmies to "vibrate" the energy. Other physical movements correspond to distinct "energy" movements and intentions.

This is a little complex, but not much more so than learning to play zills while dancing, or learning to dance with a veil. And it feels juicier! I'm really enjoying the sensation!