Voice, Breath, Songs

My New York Adventure

I don’t think I have ever written about how the Avatar course changed my life.

I came to New York City to study singing with William Riley, a famous singing teacher, who had Céline Dion, Shakira, Madonna and many others as clients.

I had left a life of stability in Switzerland for a crazy American adventure, and even if I had chosen it, even if I wanted it, I felt confused, I was emotionally uncertain and I did not know how I was going to make my big dreams come true.

My dreams were to have a family and work with famous people.

When I first arrived in New York, the summer of 2000, I spent a few weeks at my high-school friend’s apartment in Astoria until I moved into studio in Queens on 37th street, across the street from my friend. I had a backyard, a place to sit outside and even some blueberries and cucumbers in the summer. The owners were first generation Greek. They saved every penny they could, in order to build a better and easier life for their son.

One morning at the beginning of Summer 2001, in my Astoria studio, I was meditating. I could not quiet my mind. I really did not know what my next step was, my savings were running out, I was teaching a couple of piano classes, but that did not cover my expenses. Emotionally, I was stressed, I did not know what I wanted anymore and was creating dramas and suffering for others. So I picked up the phone and called a wise friend, a minister and coach in Switzerland, he listened and after a moment he said, “Maybe you want to check if there soon will be a ReSurfacing workshop in your area.” He explained shortly that Avatar ReSurfacing was a 2-day workshop the first part of a 9-day course, and that with the exercises you learn there one could make the desired changes in their own consciousness. As a result one could live according their wishes, as opposed to living from their unconsciously held memories, beliefs and emotions. As soon as I hung up, I searched the web. There was an Avatar Master organizing an Avatar ReSurfacing at the end of July. I called her and signed up both me and my boyfriend Mark immediately for the workshop.

The past year had been a rough one, some days I could only cry, then I would write songs, feel pity for myself, be mean to Mark, who had asked me to marry him by leaving him with no clear answer. As I had said I moved to NY to study, write songs, perform and record an album but it was not yet done. Yes I had written some songs, which I was performing at a small club called the Alphabet Lounge, but I was unsure if I even liked my own songs. In fact I was unsure in all areas of my life. I had made the choice to move to another continent, to give myself a chance but I was mostly wasting my time because something in me did not believe I deserved it. I wanted some things, but was going in circles, even refusing opportunities when they happened. That’s called self-sabotage and I was experiencing it more than usual during that year.

I was filled with doubts, was not speaking English correctly yet and did not know how I was going to survive longer in the city. To say the truth, I was almost ready to come back to Switzerland, I needed some rest and I was tired of my inner conflicts.

The thing is that my struggles with myself were not new, I was also unhappy before I left for New York, even if I had all I could dream for: the perfect job at the Conservatory of Geneva, a private music teaching practice that was blooming, a great apartment in the city center, a grand piano, lots of friends and my soul mate boyfriend, Mark. I just was never satisfied I felt depressed and down. I thought moving to New York would solve my unsatisfied mind. To be fair I did fulfill some of my dreams, like studying with the best vocal coach on earth at that time, but my inner unhappiness did not give me a break. From the outside my family and friends might have thought I had it together, let’s face it, the appearances showed someone with lots of luck, courage and success; but my inner world was not at peace.

So in July 2001 in that state of mind, I attended with Mark my first ReSurfacing Workshop (which is the first 2 days of the 9 day Avatar Course). We picked up the books a couple of weeks prior to the workshop as we had to read one of them named “Living Deliberately” (a book from Harry Palmer, author of the Avatar Course) and I must say I did not understand much while reading it the first or second time.

I remember very clearly the gorgeous apartment of our Avatar Master in Midtown East Manhattan. It was a great place with a backyard, decorated with lots of art pieces and it was big enough for the group of 12 students that we were. At lunchtime, I met a New-Yorker girl who was going to become one of my dearest friend and support until this day.

I don’t have many souvenirs of the 2 days processes, except that I thought I knew it all, I was loosing my time and that I was also sometimes bored. What I had not noticed is that I really had made some good progress in my consciousness and a couple of days after the workshop an artist gave me a call, she was looking for a daily vocal coach. I started taking steps towards recording my album, the French Workshop for Children from NY contacted me to write songs for their program and suddenly the opportunities seemed to be flying at me.

On the personal side, I felt better in my relationship with Mark. Subtle changes were taking places. I was no longer lost in the middle of my drama. I was starting to awaken and look at things in a different way.

I could not even say whether I had liked the workshop or not but I noticed the improvements, so when my Master called to invite me to review the workshop for free in October I thought I’ll give it another try. That time I worked more specifically on the topics I wanted to tackle like “career success” and “marriage”.

On Sunday evening, after having done the program for the 2nd time, I felt different, lighter, more at peace with which I really was, so I decided to move on to section 2 & 3 of the program, which was starting the next day. I did not have the money to invest for the training, but we used the exercises and I found a solution.

The experience of doing Avatar changed my life.

Before doing Avatar I was able to create things, but I covered them with suffering and drama. Things may have looked good from the outside, but I felt a misalignment on the inside.

The year that followed my Avatar course, I recorded my album, performed, built a successful singing teaching practice in the city, got married with my soul mate Mark, moved to the Upper West Side in Manhattan, became pregnant with our first daughter… I turned my life around. The way I made things happen became smooth, easy, peaceful, and aligned. It was I living without all the baggage that I had accumulated over the years.

The Avatar Course equips you with tools to manifest your life deliberately. To keep your attention on what you really want to achieve. It’s a training of the mind, done within your values, your choices, and your life. The exercises are easy to use; you can apply them to your everyday life without having to take hours off your schedule.

After having bought our house in Connecticut, Mark was working at Yale, and we had 2 daughters, my best friend suggested to do the Master’s course. Since my course in 2001 I was talking about Avatar to everyone, I was using the tools everyday, creating exactly what I wanted, and I thought it was perfect to do the Master Course so I could help others do the same.

So I flew to Orlando in March 2007 with my family and since then I have been teaching the Avatar Course regularly, holding local workshops in Switzerland and teaching the full course in Orlando, Florida.

As I said in the beginning of this letter I had the dream of creating a family, and I could not be more grateful for the family Mark and I created, we have three smart creative girls. As of my second dream of working with famous people, I have worked with a few celebrities. I added many more goals, dreams and beautiful experiences to the list, and I am not finished….

For those who would like to get a taste of the exercises, I do free info hours on Skype or in person.

The next workshops are 21-22 of May or 4-5 June 2016 in the Zürich Area, Switzerland.

Next full Avatar Course is July 2nd to the 10th 2016 in Orlando, Florida.

“Healthy relationships are priceless. They are what we live for. They reduce the bitterness of suffering and enhance the pleasure of good times.”

Harry Palmer, author of the Avatar Materials

Ariane Leanza Heinz is a singing coach, artist career coach and Avatar Master. She lives with her family in Switzerland. She believes that together we can create a better world for our children by working on ourselves and taking aligned actions. Each person counts.

Avatar® and ReSurfacing® are registered trademarks of Star’s Edge, Inc. All rights reserved.

The postings on this site are my own and do not represent Stars Edge Internationals positions, strategies or opinions.

 

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