Barbara Brewster was born and grew up in California. She
graduated from the University of California with a degree
in Russian, but she considers the most useful preparation
one can have in life is experience and taking risks. In 1967,
at age 22, Barbara immigrated alone to Australia and began
teaching school there with no training whatsoever. Since then,
she has hitchhiked across continents, hosted a restaurant
in Afghanistan, walked on fire, attended a gymnastic school
in Denmark, and at age 50 became a clown touring Russian hospitals
and orphanages with Patch Adams, the American doctor who believes
that laughter is the best medicine. Though currently a citizen
of both Australia and the United States, she feels that wherever
she is on the planet is really her home.
How did you ever wind up in Bali?
I first arrived in 1970 on a police boat from West Timor which
was patrolling the Indonesia’s eastern islands for smugglers.
I slept on the deck with the goats, rain and rats.
Where do you live in Bali?
I am devouring a spiritual teaching called the Way of Mastery.
I attend an ashram in Ubud with other friends of the heart.
It seems perfect that the ashram is here since my experience
of Bali is that the culture and the people in Ubud are deeply
spiritually connected.
When and how did you get into offering self-help workshops?
I first started attending personal growth workshops 25 years
ago. I was sick with multiple sclerosis (MS) and knew I needed
help in recognizing and breaking through the thoughts, beliefs
and fears that limited my ability to heal. My own breakthroughs
and those of other participants inspired me to want to become
a catalyst for other’s personal expansion.
What workshops are you presently involved in?
My primary workshops, The Power of Play (POP!) and Rambunctious
Writing help people access their power to say YES! and to
live their lives creatively and fully.
How can the “power of play” bring about health
and well being?
Most of us can self-observe that changing our thoughts changes
our energy. It’s sometimes difficult for stressed adults,
however, to simply switch from worry to joy thoughts. Play,
like meditation, nature, music, is a tool to help us change
our thoughts/energy. When we are safely playful, we reconnect
with our spontaneity and feel enlivened and relaxed. Then
we can become a beacon of vibrant, relaxed energy that can
attract more of that frequency into our being. By using this
practice, I get feedback like, “I’m relaxed ...
my headache is gone ... I feel free to be me.” We can
begin to heal at many levels when we relax, stimulate joy,
and feel free to be ourselves.
What do you mean when you state that there are gifts in crises?
Crises come. Period. We always choose how we experience them.
We can choose to sift in the debris for gems - life lessons
perfect for us or we can choose to stay in hate, resistance,
grief. Then we have got not only the crises but also the poison
of those draining states of mind. My MS experience, among
others, has taught me that there is always a “gift of
learning” which often becomes the means of popping me
to a new level of personal awareness, effectiveness and possibilities.
What advice can you give people to help them attain inner
peace and harmony?
These qualities cannot depend on outer conditions which always
eventually change. Learn how to listen to your heart, then
have the courage to follow it. Decide to rearrange yourself
so that you can show up as a happy person in the universe,
as it is. Hang out with people who desire for you only the
full flowering of your soul. Anything less is not love but
fear.
What are the greatest causes of unhappiness, frustration and
lack of fulfillment?
I will speak for me: forgetting that the universe is arranging
itself exactly as needed for my soul’s growth, and then
resisting what is. Judging. Comparing. Containing my true
self (in case, for example, someone disapproves). Seeing myself
as limited and then acting that way. Not knowing how to love
myself.
What is the biggest challenge you face in your writing and
teaching?
Being clear that my value as a person is not measured by my
work or by the value others place or don’t place on
it.
What do you like most about your work?
I love transformation! I love seeing people drop out of their
social masks and inner editors into their authentic selves.
I love when we participate equally in bringing forth our (too-often
hidden) creative energy, joy, fun, lightness, profundity.
It’s connective and liberating.
For more info about Barbara’s books and workshops, check
out her website: www.barbarabrewster.com. Barbara’s
publications are available at Bali Spirit in Ubud and at the
new Campuhan College over Toko’s Restaurant, Jl Raya,
Campuhan.
For anyone interested in being considered for Siapa, please
contact : <pakbill2003@yahoo.com>
Copyright@2007 Al Hickey
You can read all past articles of Siapa
at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
