Here is what we mean by peak experience, a phrase that the psychologist Abraham Maslow made famous a half-century ago:
It's that super-charged rush you get when every cell in your body aligns with a moment of clarity. Some of us experience these elevated states by literally climbing a peak — like Kilimanjaro — some of us find it deep within, far away from physical forms, by using mediation, prayer or other mind-body techniques. We can also get there on a dance floor, or by immersing ourselves in a creative endeavor, experiencing a lucid dream, or do we even have to mention this one? — melting the boundaries of self through sublime sex.Soul's Code is devoted to advancing self-reinvention and inner evolution, and peak experiences can accelerate both. Anyone reading this would love to hear about yours. Submit a peak experience through the Comment form below, and include an image if you can.
How a spiritual teacher learned to let go of his last desire
Posted by Soul's Code on 01 Jul 2009 | Tagged as:
A man at a crossroads stumbled upon a mind-body technique called the Sedona Method. It spawned leading spiritual teachers — and made him one, too
GUEST COLUMN: NIRMALA — In 1997, I was busy attending naturopathic medical school and, I thought, happily married. And then out of the blue my wife told me she [...]
The end of desire II: Passage to India
Posted by Soul's Code on 30 Jun 2009 | Tagged as:
Inspired by female mystics, Pamela Wilson and Neelam, a medical student drops out, has a peak experience in India, and becomes “Nirmala”
(Read the first part of this two-part series)
GUEST COLUMN: NIRMALA — After being in the presence of Pamela and Neelam, I just couldn’t let this desire for Freedom go. I had the sense [...]
Surgery, radiation, reiki and the mystery of healing
Posted by Soul's Code on 26 Jun 2009 | Tagged as:
“I had thyroid cancer, and a reiki therapy session that changed my life. Call it a peak experience, call it a spirit guide . . . I’m healed and happy”
ANONYMOUS — Throughout my life, I’ve received many messages from the Spirit World and, as a child, had a spontaneous out-of-body experience. But there is [...]
Working the pole to connect with my soul
Posted by Soul's Code on 26 Jun 2009 | Tagged as:
Sexually spiritual: A workout slinks out of the strip clubs and into the mainstream
BY CYNDI INGLE — Can you wrap your mind (as well as your body) around a workout that helps women feel comfortable about their sexuality, encourages female bonding and may even include slipping into a pair of stiletto heels? Oh yes, and [...]
A spiritual pull to travel: Going within in Yelapa
Posted by Soul's Code on 05 Jun 2009 | Tagged as:
A seeker is drawn to a visionary woman and the Mexican sanctuary she created — and discovers her authentic self
GUEST COLUMN: MARLA HUNTER-BELLAVIA — From the moment I read about the space Isabel Jordan had created in Yelapa, Mexico, I knew that I was meant to go there. To visit an open palapa nestled between [...]
How I deal with the pain of separation and saying goodbye
Posted by Soul's Code on 22 May 2009 | Tagged as:
A doctor of life coaching for women discovers the art of letting go
GUEST COLUMN: DR. JEANINE AUSTIN — Part of my job as the Department Head of Social Services when I worked for a skilled nursing facility was to have regular client contact. One morning, I stopped by to see how Mr. and Mrs. Carol [...]
SPIRITUAL SURF: Lisa Rinna’s peak experience while “Dancing with the Stars”; Obama at Notre Dame; Huston Smith on finding God
Posted by Soul's Code on 20 May 2009 | Tagged as:
Lisa Rinna: from Dancing with the Stars to Rinnavation
Lisa Rinna — the Hollywood actress (Entourage; Hannah Montana; Melrose Place, etc.), soap star (Days of our Lives) and Dancing with the Stars hoofer — has a new book out, Rinnavation: Getting Your Best Life Ever. The cute term, “Rinnavation,” is her own euphemism for peak experience [...]
My Mother’s Day journey
Posted by Soul's Code on 10 May 2009 | Tagged as:
How a shamanic teacher overcame her fears of having children
GUEST COLUMN: DAWN DANCING OTTER — Mother’s Day is such a celebration in my family. It brings me to tears every time. I get completely sentimental around the births of my sons because it highlights to me how very much I have been loved, helped, nurtured, [...]
The power of surrender
Posted by Soul's Code on 08 May 2009 | Tagged as:
“I can feel the years of fears, abandonments and hungers. And then, I let it all go in acceptance.”
GUEST COLUMN: JULIA TUCHMAN — I have never been very good at surrendering. I have been the fighter — the hold-on-to-the-side-of-the-cliff, fight-for-your-life, never-give-up and “go down with the ship” kind of soul. It was exhausting work.
Because surrender [...]
Present at the creation: An old soul celebrates its first birthday!
Posted by Soul's Code on 30 Apr 2009 | Tagged as:
The flame on our cake is the light that is shining within you . . .
DAVID RICKEY — Soul’s Code is officially one year old, but, like other beings that have a history of incarnations, Soul’s Code is an Old Soul. The present incarnation draws on a much deeper wisdom than its chronological age would [...]
Crystal clarity
Posted by Soul's Code on 19 Apr 2009 | Tagged as:
A woman’s peak experience in a crystal healing session leads to a career change and a seismic shift in consciousness
GUEST COLUMN: SUSANNA BELLINI — Years ago, I was struggling at the end of a painful relationship, coming to the end of a freelance IT contract, and thinking about whether I should change direction.
My question to [...]
How I used intention to find my ‘ideal’ man
Posted by Soul's Code on 13 Apr 2009 | Tagged as:
A 20-something seeker from South Carolina shares her secrets for finding, and realizing, love in the 21st century
GUEST COLUMN: CHELSEA LANGAN — Imagine remembering only the very best memories, and making only the finest plans for the future. This is all that should be going on when you are fully immersed in the present moment [...]
Serenity in a cup of tea
Posted by Soul's Code on 09 Apr 2009 | Tagged as:
Sharing tea is an ancient sacred ritual. Life-coach Jemitra Hairston updates us on the way it fits into 2009-time
GUEST COLUMN: JEMITRA HAIRSTON — This is not an easy subject for me because I grew up in the South, home of Lipton “sun tea.” On Sundays, my mama would place a big container full of water [...]
Living Life with Intensity
Posted by Soul's Code on 03 Mar 2009 | Tagged as:
Call it a peak experience, meditation or tuning in. To one Aussie teacher, “it” felt like a bliss called love
GUEST COLUMN: NHYS GLOVER — Once while teaching a personal development class in Australia, I asked my students to relate the feeling of one of those moments in their lives when their cup was running over [...]
How life works: Karma and Grace
Posted by Soul's Code on 15 Feb 2009 | Tagged as:
Negative karma happens when we try to store up life’s riches for our own use. Positive grace takes place when lessons happen that an Intelligence wants us to know
DAVID RICKEY — Ever since I was kid, I’ve had an insatiable need to understand how things work. I used to take my toys apart to try and [...]
Heaven Can’t Wait
Posted by Soul's Code on 03 Feb 2009 | Tagged as:
Did the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ make you think of your own mortality? A spiritual teacher recalls her own brush with death on a 757
SPECIAL TO SOUL’S CODE: VAISHALI, author of Wisdom Rising — When you are a spiritual teacher, you know — intellectually — that no one ever dies, so you show up for [...]
Religion and Hope: A New Year’s confidential from David Richo
Posted by Soul's Code on 02 Feb 2009 | Tagged as:
Seeing 2009 as more “doom and gloom” is a collective projection. A new solar year is something sacred that can nurture you.
DAVID RICHO, author of When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships
Annual planting among ancient peoples began with prayer that recalled how the gods performed this same task at [...]
My ‘baby mission’ was accomplished with the help of Reiki
Posted by Soul's Code on 26 Jan 2009 | Tagged as:
A reiki master in her late 30’s describes how she used the body-work technique to help conceive her first child
BY DANA L. YOUNG — Can practicing reiki help you if your goal is to become a mother? I had already been practicing reiki when I became pregnant in 2006. I’m in my late 30’s and [...]
Inauguration special: Barack Obama 1988, the secret Good Samaritan
Posted by Soul's Code on 20 Jan 2009 | Tagged as:
Mary Andersen was flying to Norway to start a new life. She got a helping hand from a stranger: Barack Obama. In her own words . . .
For Barack Obama’s inauguration we call your attention to a little-publicized event in 1988, after the future president left his gig as a community organizer in Chicago and [...]
From sinner to saint: My beginner’s mind
Posted by Soul's Code on 06 Jan 2009 | Tagged as:
“Work was my compulsion; the admiration of others, my addiction. Taking back my life was a labor of love”
DATELINE, British Columbia: DAWN DANCING OTTER — I was raised a Christian. My family, for many generations (so far as I know) has been Christian of one denomination or another. When I was a child, I loved [...]
