Angeles Arienne, PhD

Indigenous cultures have a wealth of knowledge to help us cope with our work stress and "civilized society". Kirsten Carlisle wrote this article in 1997 after attending Angeles's workshop at RMR. It was published in our practice newsletter.

Primitive man in civilized clothing. Eight Universals that sustain health and well being.

Reviewed by Kirsten Carlisle

This summer at our annual RMR meeting in Keystone, I had the privilege of attending a two-day workshop with Angeles Arienne. Angeles is an anthropologist and Basque folklore specialist who teaches cross-cultural myths, symbols, and rituals. She is core Faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Menlo Park, CA, and at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

She has lectured nationally and internationally and has appeared on radio and television sharing her cross-cultural work on myth and symbol. She has written several books and has a new one coming out in January 1998 called "Signs of Life."

Angeles became curious about common cross- cultural themes regarding maintaining health and promoting well being. She found eight themes present in 94% of the cultures today. Many of the themes are familiar but she had a refreshing outlook and there were additional perspectives that seemed important as well as enlightening for me.

The greatest healers have a sense of humor. Humor opens people up if it is affectionate, spontaneous and warm. Sarcastic humor, on the other hand, can be harmful.

Diet - (Present in 100% of all cultures)

Although the physical diet is important and each society has formulas for healthy eating, Angeles stressed the diet for mental, emotional and spiritual well being. The questions to ask are: Is our self worth as strong as our self-critic? Is the good, true and beautiful as strong as diminished in our thinking? We need emotional first aid and a spiritual diet to keep ourselves healthy. (Some suggestions will follow.)

Music - (Sound and Sonics)

Singing, Dancing, storytelling, and silence are all aspects of this theme in health.

Angeles maintains that we all need to sing and dance. It is an extremely important from of expression and release. (It is also a lot of fun.) We should ignore people who are critical of our voice or style of dancing and go ahead and "Just do it!"

Music is a highly individual matter. We need to respect the difference in musical tastes (even teenagers deserve respect- there is a reason they choose the music they do.) She suggests that we write down our favorite all time pieces of music. We can tell a great deal about the stages of our lives, our values, tastes, etc.

Another important form of expression is story telling. We need to be interested in our own story as well as the story of others. (I really like this one- I became enthralled in stories- the longer the better.)

We also need to be comfortable in silence as this is our time with ourselves and hopefully when we are at ease.

One way to tune into our dis-ease would be to ask the question; "When did I stop singing and dancing? When did I stop enjoying my story and/or the stories of others?

When did I become uncomfortable in silence?"

Humor - (Fun and Play)

Angeles found that the greatest healers have a sense of humor. Humor opens people up if it is affectionate, spontaneous and warm. Sarcastic humor, on the other hand, can be harmful.

The things to ask yourself are: "What is my idea of fun and play? Who makes me laugh? Who can I count on to have fun with?" These people are healing agents in our lives.

She pointed out that where you lose your sense of humor is where you are attached. I do not laugh as loudly as others do in reference to my maternal likeness.

Creativity - (having a creative purpose)

"Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do."

If your creative purpose is not fulfilled in your job, it is good to have a hobby or outside interest that will satisfy this need. If you do not have a hobby, try to recall what totally absorbed you as a child. Often you can rekindle this interest.

(These are all the notes I have on this section- I think it is because this is the area I personally neglect.)

Support Systems -- (The energy of love is gratitude, appreciation, and recognition)

The saddest thing is unexpressed love. The USA has the largest market for pets and stuffed animals - this is deferred love. There are four ways in which we acknowledge one another -- character, appearance, skills and the impact they have on us. The most damaging way we can treat another person is by neutralizing them -- treating someone as an "it".

Take stock of your support systems: We need support from our family, we need spiritual support, emotional support, and professional support. The most healing and rewarding relationships are both/and -- a two-way relationship of giving and taking.

The shadow side of love is fear and indifference.

Environment --

Our environment can sustain us or be a doorway to disease.

Nature -- We need at least an hour a day outdoors -- in the fresh air with natural light. (It does not work to save up six hours for the weekend.) Connecting with nature is a good way to connect with ourselves.

Internal environment -- Ask yourself which room you spend the most time in. This room should reflect your personal tastes, it should have colors that you like, it should have things that are important to you. Each person in the family needs their own space --to decorate, to be private, to reflect their style. Your work space should also be "yours".

Angeles recommends that someone who is recovering from an illness should recuperate in the room they are most active in (not the bedroom). Being in this room helps the person desire activity -- hence a desire to recover.

Deep internal environment -- A good place to check yourself in this area is by asking the question "Is my self worth as strong as my self critic? We need to consciously nurture our self-worth, some people unwittingly nurture the self-critic. Self love, self trust and self-respect are all essentials to our self worth. Being able to confide in ourselves is the true meaning of confidence.

She asked where we have our self-esteem bank -- is it professionally, personally or creatively? We all have areas where we feel more assured and areas that we tend to feel more or less inadequate. It is wise to acknowledge ourselves when it is appropriate and be gentle with the areas that could use improvement. At the end of each day take a nightly review- take note of what is working, do not dwell on the negative.

With ourselves and with others we need to enhance self worth by motivating, empowering and inspiring. Guilt trips and intimidation produce the opposite effect.

Belief in the supernatural --

This theme is associated with faith -- "something unknown can support me". This can be religion, spirituality or the unknown mystery. We commune with the " higher power" by praying. There are three kinds of prayer -- asking, gratitude and worship. We ask for guidance, for things and comfort. Hopefully, we are thankful for answered prayer is worship to the higher power.

Life is simple if we adhere to the four-fold way:

We need to comfortable in both the inner and outer world. Walk the mystical path with practical feet.

Exercise --

The body is designed to move. Finding the appropriate physical exercise can enhance and prolong life. The most important movement however is change. By celebrating and honoring the marker times of life -- Birth, adolescent initiations, marriage and death, we can move through the stages of life with greater ease.

We need to look at how we make room for the new in our lives. Angeles suggested that we do something new on each date of our birthday, 12 times a year. In this way we can practice, learn and give up our resistance to change; because change happens whether we want it or not. The more resilient and adaptable we are, the easier life can be for us.

She suggests that we follow the example of the snake. It takes four or five days to shed the old skin. It is a difficult painstaking process, but once it is out the snake never looks back.

Change is the universal exercise.

This article appeared previously on ISOC.

Angeles Arrien's 'The Four Fold way' is an excellent resource. See "Looking for a good book?" under "Related articles".

Related Articles

·  What can a polar bear teach a dentist about balance? ·  How to avoid dental burnout. ·  Take care of yourself doc! ·  Up against the wall? Stumped? You may be dealing with a predicament instead of a problem. ·  Looking for a good book?