CONTRIBUTIONS

“Our greatest experiences are to be found in our quietest moments.”

Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)

I have been learning from The Reach Approach’s resources and Donella Caubo’s expertise on and off since I was in my late teens. In all that time, Donella has been patient, kind, thoughtful, compassionate, caring and non-judgmental, even when there has been plenty to judge. No issue is too trivial or heinous. She has created the safest space for me to share my most uncomfortable truths and in turn grow and learn from them.

Donella has also helped me overcome the most difficult milestones in my life, the hardest being the long sickness and eventual loss of my mother. She handled this period with the utmost care and understanding and made me feel as though there was a light at the end of the tunnel, which I have found to be absolutely true. Donella has been instrumental in helping me navigate various roadblocks, be they external or internal, often the latter.

Through my work with Donella and The Reach Approach, I’m reminded that there is a manual for the mind and I’ve been learning how to use it to harness my emotions and transcend my perceived limitations. My sessions have been truly life changing and I will never be able to adequately express my gratitude to Donella and The Reach Approach for the effect they’ve had and continue to have on my life.

Sarah (London)

“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

Nina and I have been meeting through Skype weekly for over and year and a half now. Our sessions are engaged and sensitive, and we have continued to build a strong relationship. It means that our meetings are flexible and can be experienced in the comfort my home which is really helpful when running a tight schedule. The ‘virtual’ meeting does not detract from our interactions, and we have been able to work intimately together thanks to this platform. We have built a support structure which is particular to my needs, and Reach is really successful in helping you to understand the potential in positive life changes.

When compared to some other experiences with counselling, my relationship with Nina feels more connected, and she often guides me through visualisations and breathing exercises which I partake in on my end of the call. The power that these exercises carry is some proof of the success of our online sessions.

I have met Nina both in person and online and can say that her presence and commitment is the same through Skype as it is in real life. Since I have been engaged with the Reach programme I have developed in all aspects of my life, and with Nina’s help I will continue to nourish and access parts of myself through the wisdom of Reach.

Student

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

The Breath Is Life’s Teacher

Observe me, says the Breath, and learn to live effortlessly in the present moment.
Feel me, says the Breath, and feel the Ebb and Flow of Life.
Allow me, says the Breath, and I’ll sustain and nourish you, filling you with energy and cleansing you of tension and fatigue.

Move with me, says the Breath, and I’ll invite your soul to dance.
Make sounds with me and I shall teach your soul to sing.
Follow me, says the Breath, and I’ll lead you out to the farthest reaches of the Universe, and inward to the deepest parts of your inner world.

Notice, says the Breath, that I am as valuable to you coming or going… that every part of my cycle is as necessary as another… that after I’m released, I return again and again… that even after a long pause – moments when nothing seems to happen – eventually I am there.

Each time I come, says the Breath, I am a gift from Life. And yet you release me without regret… without suffering… without fear.
Notice how you take me in, invites the Breath. Is it with joy… with gratitude…? Do you take me in fully… invite me into all the inner spaces of your home? …Or carefully into just inside the door? What places in you am I not allowed to nourish?

And notice, says the Breath, how you release me. Do you hold me prisoner in closed up places in the body? Is my release resisted… do you let me go reluctantly, or easily?

And are my waves of Breath, of Life, as gentle as a quiet sea, softly smoothing sandy stretches of yourself….? Or anxious, urgent, choppy waves…?
Or the crashing tumult of a stormy sea…?

And can you feel me as the link between your inner and outer worlds… feel me as Life’s exchange between the Universe and You?
The Universe breathes me into You… You send me back to the Universe. I am the flow of life between every single part and the Whole.

Your attitude to me, says the Breath, is your attitude to Life.
Welcome me… embrace me fully. Let me nourish you completely, then set me free.
Move with me, dance with me, sing with me, sigh with me… Love me. Trust me. Don’t try to control me.

I am the Breath.
Life is the Musician.
You are the flute.
And music – creativity – depends on all of us. You are not the Creator… nor the Creation.
We are all a part of the process of Creativity… You, Life, and me: the Breath.

Donna Martin

“To a mind that is still the whole universe surrenders.”

Chuang Tzu (369 – 286 BC)

Dear Easton

I am writing to express my appreciation of your CD ‘the Path of Least Resistance’.

I am 54 years old and I lead a particularly energetic existence. I regularly swim, cycle and dance modern jive. Over recent years I have experienced considerable distress and anxiety due to my neighbours playing thumping baseline music disturbing my sleep and disrupting my lifestyle. Whenever I can I like to sleep in the afternoons and your CD helps me to relax and it has never failed to send me to sleep when I have needed to sleep. Your voice is particularly warm and comforting.

I would like to celebrate all elements of the entire process of this CD but I have never consciously heard it all the way through because I’m usually asleep shortly after it starts! I have many CD’s but this one I have played more than any other.

The Path of Least Resistance is the most useful CD that I have ever heard.

Easton, know that you have my gratitude and my love. If ever I can do anything to help you then I would like to do so. (You have always been so supportive of me).

Keep well my friend

Love from Paul Davenport

“The man who, having abandoned all desires, goes onward without attachments, free from selfishness and vanity attains peace.”

Bhagavad Gita (5th-2nd Century BC)

Where do I start??

I am writing this today, a different woman. I first heard of Reach through someone who had been going for a number of years to see Judith. I didn’t believe that even with Reach’s help that I could get better, as I’d had depression and major anxiety for about a year before hand. I’d had enough of feeling how I did, and knew that this wasn’t the person I once was. A lot had gone on in my life but these feelings had come from the unknown and I didn’t like feeling how I did and thought I had no way of getting out of it.

I stopped going out and became a recluse, hiding from my friends, giving up my hobbies and becoming estranged from my family and myself. I didn’t know who I was anymore. After calling and calling Judith nervously, wondering what Reach was about, I received a voicemail message back saying I was welcome to go along, and after arranging a time and day, my first session was here.

I’ve never looked back! I can honestly say that without Judith’s help, patience, advice and care I probably wouldn’t be the person I am today. I wouldn’t have been able to find myself again! And after many hurdles and set backs I am still here and better than ever! Week by week I felt and realised I was getting better and better and those horrible, anxiety-ridden, life wrecking feelings were subsiding.

I got through self-harming, a bad break up with my ex-partner and coming out as being gay and so many other issues that had piled themselves onto me which had made me feel like this in the first place. Without the work I am doing, perseverance, dedication and enjoyment I wouldn’t feel how I do! HAPPY! I’m my own woman now. I’m still on the path of learning to love myself, though this has MAJORLY improved.

I’m no longer full of sadness and anxiety, I look forward to everyday of my life and I have found so many new things and joys about myself that I cherish! I am a completely different woman who has gone from hating herself and hiding from the world to enjoying my own company and being as flamboyant as I am!!

I’d like to thank Judith from the bottom of my heart for ALWAYS listening, no matter what; for always being a phone call away and for her complete honesty, love and warmth.

xxxxxxx

Lou Halsey

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.”

Aristotle (384BC – 322BC)

My journey with Reach has been like a beautiful romance that has lived up to everything it promised. The idea of falling in love with oneself seemed alien to me – new age nonsense to be frank. I now find myself eating humble pie. I have learned over the last year that to love oneself is not only possible but is absolutely necessary. I now feel I have some of the tools to sustain this romance. Who knows, I might even go on to find some one to share this with. For now I’m just enjoying the ride. Thank you, Easton – for keeping your word.

Steve B from Nottingham

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

Rumi (1207 – 1273)

Standing In The Slipstream of Success

I am standing in the slipstream of success…

Everything I need will come and find me….

I need not worry or panic…

It’s flowing in and around me…

Everything I need is in front of me…

I learn from all my experiences and move forward…

My life is wonderful just as it is…

Every day in every way I’m getting stronger and stronger…