Jillian Maas Backman: BEYOND THE PEWS, Winner of San Francisco Book Fair Award

Jillian Maas Backman,Beyond the Pews

Congratulations to Jillian Maas Backman and Beyond the Pews!

WINNER of San Francisco Book Festival Award, Spirituality Category!

All winners listed here: http://www.sanfranciscobookfestival.com/winners_2012.htm

BEYOND THE PEWS is making a big splash all across the country. Everywhere author, Jillian Maas Backman, presents her “Conversation with Jillian” readers are in awe of her down to earth attitude and humor. Not a book of humor, but an interactive biography, BEYOND THE PEWS takes readers step by step into another dimension of their spiritual path.

Jillian shares the personal account of her journey from spiritual innocence into a religious wilderness where she often hid behind her father’s powerful preacher’s robe.  For many years she hoped her intuitive gifts would simply go away, but they never did.  “I remained reclusive within the untainted spirit world until I became comfortable with my spiritual individuality and emerged from the sacred shadows into the awakened light of day.” Jillian eventually she learned to embrace the duality of her traditional religious upbringing and her connection with uncensored, untainted spirit.

Jillian Maas Backman, Beyond the Pews, ImaginePublicityAfter years of processing these faith-based sensory perceptions, she discovered the soul’s natural intuitive language. Award-winning radio personality and Intuitive Life Coach Jillian Maas Backman offers valuable ways for you to connect with your spiritual intuition. Interactive sections offer soul lessons to help you understand your own faith experiences and natural intuitive talents. Explore ways to Chart your Divine Energy Rhythm, find the difference in Art of Doing versus the Art of Being, and learn how to analyze colors seen. This extraordinary book guides you to a deeper awareness of God’s constant loving presence in our lives, to a rebirth from a religious dogmatic cocoon into an active awakened etheric butterfly.

Jillian Maas Backman is a gifted intuitive, a generous and amazing empath, and a treasured teacher who brings all of those characteristics and qualities into each of our homes with her new autobiography and spiritual guidebook, Beyond the Pews.  Now a new face on the publishing scene, Backman empowers each of us with her hands-on best life blueprint while also showing each of us how to easily but very effectively develop our own innate intuitive abilities.  A fascinating read and a tremendously powerful tool to make dreams come true!—Ellen Whitehurst, bestselling author of Make This Your Lucky Day and CEO of Experience Your Extraordinary Life (www.ellenwhitehurst.com)

Jillian Maas Backman is the host of the weekly radio show, Change Already! Your life, Your choice heard every Thursday at noon central time. Listen each week for insights, fun and warm and fuzzy with an attitude. Jillian takes listeners through the lessons week by week, giving them a way to strengthen their individual spiritual journey.

Change Already Radio Series on the Dalia Lama Public Talk on Non-Violence

Change Already, Pre-Show on Dalai Lama Public Talk on Non-Violence

Change Already, Post-Show on Daila Lama Public Talk on Non-Violence

Upcoming Radio Program: Change Already, Post-Show on Dalia Lama Public Talk on Non-Violence, Live May 3, 2012

Tune in Thursdays at 1pm ET, 12pm CT

Listen LIVE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jillianmaasbackman

Jillian Maas Backman,ImaginePublicity,Change already

It’s not every day you get to meet the Dalai Lama!

Hear about Jillian’s experience!

Father John Moulder, Catholic Priest and Jazz Musician extraordinaire, will be the guest Thursday, May 3, 2012 and engage in a LIVE de-briefing session on the Public Talk on Non-Violence given by his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of six million Tibetan people,  at Loyola University, Chicago Ill on April 26, 2012.

John participated in the opening ceremony and will share his personal thoughts from a back-stage perspective. We will discuss our “take-aways” and honest assessments from this event. John will also chat about his latest CD, The Eleventh Hour: Live at the Green Mill and upcoming concert at the famous Jazz Club in May. http://www.greenmilljazz.com/

The music from my weekly radio program is excerpts from his BiFrost CD. For more information about Father Moulder and his music, please refer to his website:  JohnMoulder.Com

Change Already, Pre-Show on Dalai Lama Public Talk on Non-Violence

Change Already, Pre-Show on Dalai Lama Public Talk on Non-Violence Radio Program, April 24, 2012

Intuitive Messages Aren’t Always About Good Things



Change Already, Trayvon Martin Radio Program, 4-19-12

Over the years I have taught myself to trust and cherish my spiritual intuitive nature. It has allowed me the ability to open doors to indescribable experiences that have enriched my journey three fold. This great abundance didn’t happen overnight. I had to invest dozens of years fine tuning this craft by studying the internal connection between myself and the universe at large.

My intuitive sense is a blessing and an innate tool I use to formulate consistent success. However, once I adapted this artful living, struggles began to pop up. I was learning first- hand the flip-side to living this awakened lifestyle choice.

I make a concerted effort in my life to stay positive as much as possible. Surround myself with people who love to grow, manifest change and avoid negativity. This includes people and circumstances in my intuitive world as well. When I first began embracing this talent I naively thought at some level I could control all the messages coming my way. I was in charge of picking and choosing the intuitive information being received from the universe. Act on the ones I liked and simply discard the rest that required hard work. The kind of choices that cause discomfort upfront but have enormous rewards in the end.

How naive and intuitive youthful I was back in those days. Thinking I could avoid any negative messages that might complicate my decisions. Talking myself into believing certain messages did not pertain to me and pretend they never existed. I have since come to understand the error of my own ways. Planet earth works on well-defined polarities, night and day, good and evil, light follows darkness. Why in the world did I ever entertain the idea that the universe could hold back half the story is beyond me? A movie script without a plot, no friction or challenge to overcome and no heroes to save the day. How can problems be resolved if I only chose to grab hold of the “fluffy intuitive stuff” and not accept an intuitive message in its entirety. I had to surrender to the fact one needs to receive all intuitive insights, the good and the ugly in order to create sound solutions.

My work is based on self-improvement of the individual. I am a firm believer in the trickle-down theory of wellness. Healing oneself will ultimately help heal the planet. There have been times in the past when I receive intuitive insights meant for a larger audience other than just my clientele. When this occurs there are several criteria that must be met before I share with the world. The messages must contain work that can be done by all individuals and possibly create lasting changes on a global scale. When the answers to these questions are a resounding YES! I jump in. For example, the blog piece I wrote last year on the bully crisis happening throughout our local communities. There were intuitive insights that needed to be shared and could lend a helping hand in eradicating such indignant behavior toward our fellow human beings.

As in the sad loss of the child I wrote about in that blog post, I must once again reference the latest loss of a child I cannot intuitively ignore. The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida several weeks ago. The minute I heard about it my gut went crazy, doubling over with grief and pain. Stopped me in my tracks and demanded my full awareness. Kicking my senses into overdrive with internal raw truthful messages from all directions. The kind of messages I have painstaking avoided in the past because they lay heavy on my heart and hard to receive. To a certain extent, completely out of my control. My knee jerk reaction was to retreat and spiritually shut everything down pronto. Turn an intuitive blind eye to my internal body cues-But my gut won’t let me!

Intuitive warning signs are evident everywhere I turn. Red flags flying sky high signaling more drastic events to come if we refuse to pay attention to this event in front of us right now. As much as I would love to tell each and every one of you to avoid this situation and turn a blind eye with me to the story, I cannot do that without a guilty conscious. I have to fulfill my part of a spiritual intuitive bargain set forth long ago.

The episode unfolding in Florida is pulling us all back in time and forcing us to take an unobstructed view of unresolved issues. This is completely normal and understandable. We revert back to what we know best, our past. Past experiences, past knowledge and in this case, past open wounds. We do have centuries of unfinished lessons and energetic residual relationship pains that haunt us today. Lessons we must re-visit before officially closing this historic chapter. Asking and invoking energetic forgiveness to ancestors on all sides and honor the great strides they endured. Hard lessons assimilated through bouts of horrific human generational experiences. All leading up to a crescendo of celebrating differences and catapulting that energy into communal strengths. We must always hold heavenly reverence those individuals who stood proudly in front to guide us through the first phase of cooperative relations. We stand in the midst of the next elevated phase of cooperative relationships with new lessons to be learned. Lessons most of us are willing, able and ready to examine again if need be to secure our hopes towards a peaceful existence.

Hateful words are being thrown around from both sides and stirring up my intuitive nervousness. Each one of us has the right to our opinions, but collectively it can be distorted. There is great passion on both sides of this sad sad event. My fear at this point is we may all be sitting on top of a ticking time bomb ready to explode any minute. Someone is going to say something inappropriate and trigger an unnecessary unstoppable tidal wave of hate crimes across this country.

Please, I implore each one of you to attempt to keep the physical actions in check. Watch the verbiage that comes out of your mouth. As we know from past experiences words cut just as deep into human flesh as a knife itself. I am not asking anyone to turn away from this issue. I am only asking that we stand strong and unite on keeping our senses in line with what is appropriate. Sure, there are some among the crowds that want us to lose our tempers and reacted violently. They want us to go down the sick road we have already traversed. We do not have to repeat our historic lessons in the same way as before. We are better than that. Many of us hold within our hearts the Utopian vision of a new world order. What better time than now with this situation to foster those thoughts.

This vision begins with restoring trust. Another child has lost his life over our mistrust for each other. We have lost our forefathers trust for one another. When trust is lost in any relationship it takes time to re-build from the bottom up. It is not going to be easy and we cannot revert backwards. It is simply unacceptable if we what to thrive futuristically. We must keep our sights looking forward during this awkward time of vulnerability we sense from another and repair our lost sense of trust among groups different than ourselves.

I am optimistic about learning our social relationship lessons. America looks more diverse than it did back in the day, but the souls remained the same. It may not show on the surface but we have been growing expectationally in this area. In the past there were no books or “how to” therapies on connecting with our “authentic selves.” Moving away from notions of personal victimization into the realm of individual empowerment by asking the powerful question of who am I? Not afraid to claim personal strengths and weaknesses and welcome revolutionary new thoughts and actions. Denounce violence and believe whole-heartily in using honest communication to restore harmony. What hidden messages are we missing from the past that might shed light on solutions for the future? What lessons are we overlooking that need to be addressed now? What new and innovative relationship therapies can we apply here that can shift all of us to a more positive healing outcome.

We all want to see justice come for this family and the memory of this child. But, I implore each one of you this time to push beyond physical closure. Ask this in the name of all families in similar tragedies. Pray that we stay on target with the lessons and resolve our differences. Grant each one of us the courage to enact these lessons in our own homes, communities so the next generation can be proud of work we accomplished together.

Bring forth leaders that can speak of healing rather than separating the masses. Deliver rhetoric of hope that fuels our intuitive eternal optimism. Let these words embody the energy of love and carry them deep within souls and dissolve the most impenetrable shields of bigotry like never before and close this lesson forever.

In intuitive justice,

Jillian Maas Backman


April 13, 2012, LIVE Book Tour Event,

Jillian Maas Backman April 13 Author Event: Barnes and Noble, Davenport, Iowa

POSTED BY  ⋅ 03/28/2012 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

“A Conversation With Jillian”

Friday April 13, 2012 6:30 PM

Barnes and Noble, Davenport, Iowa

One of the most popular books on the shelves this year is Beyond the Pews: Breaking with Tradition and Letting Go of Religious Lockdown, written as an “interactive biography” of author Jillian Maas Backman, but also offering worksheets and lessons for the reader to follow along and improve their personal relationship with God.

Jillian Maas Backman and Beyond the Pews has been to Kansas City, San Antonio, Milwaukee and beyond holding personal“Conversations with Jillian” events to very diverse audiences. Her unique book and her intuitive abilities have given her work a reflection on the deepest questions of life. Readers not only learn about the author and her abilities, but go beyond to fulfill their own soulful actions.

“Conversations with Jillian” allows attendees to ask questions of the author in an informal, casual, enlightened atmosphere  which tends to bring about a flow of energy, and the opportunity to have the author sign a book with a personalized message.

Change Already! Your Future, Your Choice is Maas Backman’s latest series of interactive lessons for her audience. Patterns evolve that are universal to most of us exploring options for change.  She has designed a radio program that gets this knowledge out to anyone interested in inward/outward growth that is accessible from the comfort of your own home.  Visit her website for all the latest details: jillianmaasbackman.com

Barnes and Noble details:

Author Discussion
Beyond the Pews is a wonderful blend of spiritual growth workbook, relationship with God guidebook, and autobiography. Jillian has not only shared her personal journey … but she has also shared how we can grow in our spiritual relationship with God.

Friday April 13, 2012 6:30 PM

North Park Mall
320 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA 52806, 563-445-8760

http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3240050

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One Ant Can’t Do That!

One Ant Can’t Do That

If we all took one giant step and examine the overall success of our journey so far, the majority would be pleasantly surprised.  By doing this simple exercise, one may discover a life sprinkled with more subtle “victories” than ever imagined.

Somewhere in our distorted perceptions of what we think we should act like, be like or achieve like, we have lost sight of our subtle accomplishments.  Insignificant daily “wins” we automatically carry out without thought and very little fan fare.  Like taking our kids to school on time or picking up an extra task at work to assist a co-worker meet a deadline.  Menial duties that seem to the outside world as trivial, but necessary to grow and spark quiet self- talk when no one is around.  Synchronized internal  homework designed to keep one in a state of constant change and  build personal character, motivation, courage and discipline which  leads to self-esteem, self image….fill in the blank…..self…….?  Subtle victorious changes that hold the potential to produce a big “WOW” in the end.

To demonstrate how subtle self-work leads to grand results, I turn to my pets I had as a child, ants.  That’s right, ants.  Many of you may remember the small see-through double pane window constructed ant farms made of plastic that stood upright.  Mine held a prominent place next to the jewelry box on my pink and white dresser.  Filled with fine granular sand and live ants in a vial delivered through regular mail, I would watch as dozens feverously constructed their colony for days on end.  At times, a singular ant would break away from the pack and build a personal tunnel and nesting hole for themselves.  I can remember thinking to myself one ant can’t do that.  How could one little insect move that much sand one grain at a time and survive.  One rogue ant digging an entire new crawlspace, adding to their ever- changing colony of pass-throughs.  A job that should have taken weeks to finish would take instead hours of intense goal driven labor.  Labor that always yielded a spectacular result every time, the WOW the little ant was toiling for, a new home.  What could make an ant do that?  A fascinating feat to behold at any age.

Like my pet ants, each one of us has to see our quiet accomplishments as big victories.  Celebrations of change and trust there are pristine untouched landscape waiting to blaze a subtle path leading to the big WOW at the end.

My big WOW right now is the return to radio in a program entitled Change Already, Your Future, Your Choice on blogtalk radio.  A bi-weekly interactive program designed to help each one of us change, grow and find the big WOW in the end.  I share my intuitive spin on social, spiritual, and cultural reality through array of personal and universal topics important to all of us for several weeks in a row.  To enhance the program I incorporate well-known expert interviews and original systematic e-lessons to double the success.  All this from the comfort of your own home!

Before you jump to conclusions and assume you are one of those people that believe life is filled with more losses than victories, take a giant step back with me and claim your subtle accomplishments.  You too may be pleasantly surprised to find your big WOW is waiting just around the corner.

I invite each one of you to join in on the series Power in the Quiet Moments on blogtalk radio, every Tuesday and Thursday, high noon (CST) when we discuss life’s grand subtleness and the lessons learned from these silent influential push forward.

In subtle celebration,

Jillian Maas Backman

Year 2012:  “The Year of  “Buoyancy”

We are inching closer to  the well-publicized Year of 2012. According to ancient text, this will be a year of fulfilling dramatic prophetic predictions, bringing significant planetary shifts and gift the earth with a one-of a kind mystic energy affecting all humankind. I am not interested in dissecting the validity of all the hoopla associated with this forthcoming year or discounting any other intuitive predictions. Time itself will prove or disprove this enormous feat of nature. I prefer to take a less aggressive approach and review the energetic accomplishments of year 2011 and the energetic potential for the year ahead.

In last year’s Time’s Up blog post (2011: The Year of Expansion, Prepare Now!) I predicted 2011 was going to be a year of expansion and completions. What a year of expansion it has been. Filled with hopeful examples of unlocking global oppression from archaic dictators. Human beings uniting to bring about long-term political sovereignty just from the soulful will of the people. Completing a cycle of violence that has been in place for centuries. A time when brave souls stepped forth to fight against injustices of all kinds.

Public forums have allowed us to finally start taking an honest assessment of the unjust associated with certain social issues and the intrinsic divides it creates for ourselves and generations to come. We still have a ways to go in this area, but the energy of 2012 will carry the courageous warriors for change to a larger audience. One of those battles at the moment is Janice Smolinski (Mother of missing Billy Smolinski) and her court case. We cannot recue her or her family from the conflict before them. We can only honor and support from afar. There is no way of understanding why this family has taken on this challenge for the rest of us. Only time will unlock this cruel mystery of fate. This is only one example of thousands who have been doing the human groundwork to prepare for the creative constructive energy of Year 2012.

Year 2012 is the year I am labeling “Buoyancy.” The word buoyancy derives from the word buoy. Buoys are floatation devices used to keep people safe in any sport activity involving bodies of water. Such as lakes, oceans, and any other open water where there are potential water hazards. They are securely fastened to the bottom surface with some kind of large rock or any other heavy immoveable object. Their main objective is to signal people of possible safety dangers ahead and direct them to calmer waters. They rarely move from their position year after year. They simply bob and weave in place as they are overtaken by the water’s wake. In time, after the wave has passed, pop to the surface and right themselves once again. This is how I see year 2012. The last couple of years has held termousious times for many and had to learn the lesson of survival the hard way. We had to learn to bob and weave just to keep our heads above water. Focusing our thoughts ahead towards calmer water and creating inner core strength to build upon for the future. We have reached a channel of calmer waters. A place where we can take a breath, re-group and start anew.

If in fact year 2012 holds some kind of mystical energy one would be silly not to snag a piece of the euphoric volts for themselves. I see this year ahead as new beginnings. The societal buoy is righting itself once again. Glimmers of hope are returning to homes all around this country. Our spirits are starting to show their light once again. However, I gave fore-warning last year about the pretentious veil shearing away one layer at a time. Exposing those around us who are not living a truthful life. Watch for that to intensify in the year ahead. The gap is growing larger between those who are here to abuse the system and those who lovingly sustaining it. This will continue as long as needed. The turn-around consequences for acts of violence towards others is starting to shirk in time. People are starting to get involved with their neighbor’s wellness. We are starting to see the vision of love thy neighbor as ourselves once again. This will become stronger as we confront our differences head-on and make our way towards amiable solutions we can live with.

Year 2012 will bring about conversations between people we thought could never happen. Expect one big surprise in the area of politics as we move closer to election times. This will bring about an interesting twist of fate to the entire process. Set in motion a new way of compromise we so desperately need. The financial outlook will be brighter than last year for many and bring about some temporary relief from worry.

Last year I told everyone to keep their head down and persevere through the mucky waters ahead. This year I am telling everyone to hold your head up high and shoot for the horizon line. Are we there yet? Not quite, but our collective efforts have brought us one-step closer to the ever evolving finish line of peace.

This coming year is not a year to settle for status quo. It is time to buckle up and reach for the stars, so to speak. We cannot let our collective good work go to waste. Take full advantage of this shift and initiate projects you have thought about but never had the courage to act upon. This is the year that will energetically support creative endeavors. Trust in your own inner buoyancy. It will always “right itself” and never let you drown in dangerous waters of fear surrounding you. Seize this energetic time in our history to create your own 2012 personal humanistic accomplishments. Take full advantage of this muse and re-write your future with soulful excitement.

I have no fancy assignments with this post. This one is strictly dedicated to the potential and hope I have for each one of you as we enter the “Mystic Zone” of Year 2012. Who cares if you personally believe in the ancient foresights in the year to come. It has served as a catalysis to awaken many who have been spiritually asleep to believe in something bigger than themselves again. Engaged the entire world in an interactive conversation of why we are here and finally care about our future before us. Thank- you Year 2012 for giving back our ancient mystic hope for better tomorrows.

Sending holiday grace,

Jillian Maas Backman

Jillian Maas Backman, Author, Beyond The Pews, Breaking With Traditions and Letting Go Religious Lockdown. www.jillianmaasbackman.com

2011: The Year of Expansion, Prepare Now

(Re-post from November 2010)

We are quickly approaching upon the last 30 days of year’s end, 2010.  This should be signaling your inner self to prepare for some good old fashion reflective moments.  Unfortunately, that time arrives spontaneously around midnight on New Year’s Eve.  Only then, it becomes a peer- pressured hurried task of index, file, and by default, repeat.  We jot down the first “opportunities” that comes to our heads on what we want to create differently in 2011.  With no sincere intentions of following through on our so-called “New Year’s Resolutions.”  Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we all decided to break from this habit and do something out of the ordinary?  For instance, start the process RIGHT NOW!

The greatest holiday gift you could give yourself this year is the gift of Proactive Contemplation.  Literally, force yourself to detach from the barrage of holiday hustle and bustle. Seize the next 30 days to become selfishly insightful.  Annex yourself from the culture- imposed expectations of gifting only to others.  The cost for such a worthy present to yourself is minimal compared to the trade-offs if you do not.  Potentially losing you in the expectations of pleasing others.  It is so easy to push our needs to the bottom of the shopping list.  However, there are eventual consequences from this type of personal neglect.  Over time, our gifts become tainted by hidden negative attitudes.  If you throw a sliver of self-honored gratitude in the basket for yourself among the gift buying, your entire way of thinking will shift immediately.

True proactive contemplation is about taking an intuitive stock of the last year and applying that same intuitive sensibility into the next.  The way to figure out what that entails is by examining two energetic influences that affect all human beings.  The first is always your own intuitive soul searching.  The second is a bit more subjective from the outside world.  It is the soulful energy of the year in passing and the year forthcoming.  For our purpose, only two years in particular 2010 and 2011.

Every year contains its own energetic theme.  It is widely understood there is some kind of energy surrounding all living creatures.  Many refer to this as an energetic sphere.  We have all felt some kind of strange sensation when intersecting with someone’s energy circle.  This kind of energy is not exclusive to living objects.  It applies to other items as well, and in this case, years.  A good example of this right now is the enormous discussions about 2012.  It is just a year like any other, but great conversations are being discussed all over the planet about the “energy” that goes along with this year in particular.  In actuality, this kind of energetic essence applies to all years.

Year 2010 is a time of substantial transitions.  A year filled with modifications, alterations, and changeovers of all proportions.  Transitional years bring exaggerated highs, lows and leave behind a wake of uncertainty.  There is a tendency to lose sight of accomplishments quickly because the awards are not immediately apparent.  Thus, creating a life in “continuous limbo.”  Social challenges remain unsettled and relationships evolve with undefined closures.  The most obvious transitional unpredictability was the way in which the economic hard times hit many Americans personally.  Even global indicators are signaling the identical patterns of an energetic shakeup.  There was a cohesive political voice screaming for economic revisions.  We were soulfully smitten by the engagement announcement of two significant world figures, Prince William and his lovely bride to wed next year.  A subtle nudge from the universe to awaken our dormant romantic heart center within each one of us.  All of these experiences designed to channel our energies towards achievements in 2011.

Do not be deceived by this transitional energy.  If you were one that seized the last months to do the grit work, you will thrive with the energy associated with 2011.  Keeping your head down, following the destined path with un-coached perseverance, you have insured success in laying the groundwork for the coming months.  You will be very pleased that you vesting the time it took to lay this tedious track wisely. Your endeavors will expand three fold.  On the other side, if you are one of those who stood back and watched your destiny track pass, there will be a few more challenges in the coming year.

I believe 2011 will be a year of expansion.  A year jammed packed with intriguing contradictions.  Expansion years pick up where they left off the year before.  In other word, any personal, professional, or spiritual seeds sown this year will root and prosper in the next.  If you are one of those people who dedicated efforts towards sincere goals, expect the process to open up.  On the counter side, if you are in the group that decided not to partake in significant transitional work, expect expansion of a different kind.  As the old adage goes:  What you reap is what you sow.  You can be the true judge of this in your heart for the coming year.  Expansive years are known for bringing with it buckets of hopefulness.  There will be barrels of new beginnings and healthy quarreless closures.  Optimism will be available to enjoy and global confidence will begin to re-inflate slowly throughout the year.  Personal soul work will continue to be at the forefront leading the pack ONLY if we choose it.  Our pretentious veils will continue to shear away.  Lovingly exposing the uncovered truth of who you are for everyone to witness.  Take the moments we all have left in this year to prepare for the dawning of next.

This is not the year for categorizing everything into a strength or weakness.

For the most part, you will end up more frustrated with the progress than you originally thought.  Many times people have a tendency to hastily miss- labeled both strengths and weaknesses.  This is especially true for energies during transitional times.  There is no way of gauging genuine success until enough time pass to compose a qualified assessment.

I want you to look over the past months as if you were playing a rousing game of chess on a chessboard.  This game requires well thought out strategic moves for the sole purpose of winning the game.  Apply this same logic here.

What transitional strategic moves did you open this year?

Break them down into three categories.  Personal, professional, and most importantly soulfully.  Rank all three in order by which you transitioned the most.  From there, take each individual category and describe in one- line sentences the most significant experiences you consider unfinished business.  I suggest no more than four or five key moves in each category.  After you have completed that task, place the punctuation of a semi colon (;) at the tail end to every item listed.  This symbolic punctuation represents in the literary world a continuation of the prior phase.  Here we are using it to represent the continuation from the transitional year into the expansive year.  How are you going to expand your individual efforts into the future?  Go back to your original written list and add the 2011 expansion statement to every sentence after the semi colon.  After you complete this task, you will feel energized about the work in progress.  See the pattern develop before your eyes and an authentic plan of action for 2011.

My personal request for all of you.

While penning your list for the coming year please include one significant selfless expansive task you will in act for the good the universe.

“One can only achieve their greatest dreams with the assistance of others.”

Here is the good news;

You have been fore- advised on the pending year ahead.  Those of you in despair and feel you need to adjust your visions accordingly to capture the essence of expansion you still have thirty day in which to do it.  Those of you, who feel this year was filled with useless idleness, fear not.  You might have simply over looked your transitional achievements.

In holiday grace, Jillian Maas Backman


Not All Meditations are Created Equally

Life coaching and counselors alike emphasized the importance of devoting a portion of your day to quiet time. These insightful reflective moments are a way to release stress and help maintain a stable mental equilibrium. The practice of meditation is a perfect way to start.

Meditation dates back thousands of years and has ties to eastern philosophical thought. Spiritual processes that transcend cultural diversity and encourage all human beings to explore focused detachment and obtain lasting inner peace.

I am thrilled this ancient art has hit a mainstream cord with thousands of individuals who are seeking out how-to classes and attending group mediations with sincere passion. However, with every new trend comes a significant nuance that skews original translations and water-down the overall effects. This does not necessary qualify this trend as bad. It does however; create deviations from its original teachings, meant to create a calm inward environment for the mind, body and spirit to flourish.

There are some who cast a discouraging net over this holistic practice with an over active imagination and implied implications who suggest that one can escape into a world of trances without personal consent and render a person incoherent and powerless over his or her own human choices. Suggesting that delving into an esoteric altered state of consciousness where one looses all control is somewhat nonsensical. To assume a person can become that incoherent from sitting in quiet reflection is rather naive. Do not get me wrong here. There are times when you can experience a sense of boundlessness and escape to a world of quiet nothingness. However, I can honestly report from years of meditating I have never experienced anything the naysayers have to offer as a reasonable reason to refrain from this powerful exercise. In fact, I attribute much of my soul expansion to this daily practice.

I have been meditating on a daily basis for many years. Way before it was the “in- thing” to do. I consider meditation as one of my spiritual tools for sustaining my own wellness. As my life filled with beautiful gifts of family and career, I found myself being irritated by circumstances. Letting go of the little stuff was difficult and I waited until they were blown way out of proportion and became big stuff. It was becoming more difficult to separate my issues from everyone else’s and found myself heading down a road littered with human negativity and disappointment. This set me on a search for something that would create wholeness again.

We are bombarded with constant stimuli from the moment we wake to the moment we retire for the evening. It is virtually impossible to accidently create downtime with this action packed reality. Like exercise, one has to commit and schedule contemplative sessions every day.

Meditation can assist those who live in or with stressful situations and partners. It is a gentle way of tutoring yourself to detach mentally and emotionally from the worries around you. Like unraveling a tightly wound ball of twine one session at a time, it can help separate out issues you could not sense before and provide linear clarity to what is truly in front of you. It may not provide the exact answers one is searching to find. It can help isolate truths you need to examine by eliminating “background noise” from others, de-clutter the mind and regain control for the future. A clear head will prevail affording you the ability to connect with your own inner knowing and sense the right answers for yourself.

The Art of Meditation

When we think of meditating, the first mental picture that comes to mind is a thin structured person, legs crossed in front of them in the lotus position with palms together over the heart area. This image is synonymimous with what people perceive as the proper way of achieving Zen. Although this exercise is suitable for some, it is not necessarily suitable for everyone. There are dozens of ways people can achieve the same quiet results.

Are you an extrovert or an introvert?

Not all meditative practices are done in the same manner. The ultimate goal is to be able to sit in comfortable position for extended periods relaxing and letting go of all the cares in the world. This is proven the most effective way the body, mind and soul can reach a state of complete energetic calm and tranquility. However, if you are an extrovert and attempt to begin your practice with this form of meditation in particular you may be setting yourself up for possible failure.

Extroverts, those of you that have to be in constant motion will be fighting a mind-chatter battle if you start with the common sitting position mentioned above. These kind of people love to exercise and be active most of the day. Calming down and sleeping at night can sometimes be a challenge. The traditional sitting position will leave you unfulfilled and you will probably give- up from boredom.

It would be to your best interest if you started with a “walking meditation” instead. When I say walking, I mean walking, not running. Walking infers a slow and methodical rhythm. This kind of rhythm will take you into a more serene tempo and begin to bring the energy level in your mind and body to a more subdued state.

Your next step is to eliminate the internal mind- chatter with the use of predetermined power words. Begin this process by asking yourself this internal question every time you prepare to walk. What power words or statements best describe the state for which I aspire to achieve? Spiritual clarity, calm, or patience. It may or may not change with each walk. I will share an example of my own power statement I have been using for several years now. “I am safe and at peace with who and what I am. I relinquish my ego to the highest truth.”

Once you have your power statement focused in your mind, it is time to start walking. Time your words with your steps. By doing this action in cadence, the mind noise will naturally fade away and emptiness will set it. You will be amazed how simple this happens without struggles. Walk as far as you need until you feel an inner sense of balance making its way back into your mind, body, and soul.

The more you repeat this exercise, the quicker you will hop into the meditative zone without effort. It will be entirely up to you if you want to move into the next stage of training yourself to sit or stay with walking. Either way you will succeed on finding that quiet universe within.

Introverts, those of you who prefer a less vigorous way of life and relish in a more cerebral existence. This kind of person can go to sleep easy and have some command over turning off the inner mind- chatter at will. Lucky!

You would be an awesome candidate for a more traditional way of meditating as I described above. Sit quietly undisturbed in an environment conducive for releasing stress after a busy day. Expect the mind chatter to peak when you first begin. This is your first clue that you are doing something correct! It is simple brain activity reacting to internal cues signaling it is time for conscious rest. Like any little child when you put them down to sleep, their first reaction is to resist. Let this spike run its natural course. If you attempt to fight against the word-filled stream of consciousness, it will only intensify. It will settle down after a few moments. Most people give up right at this point with frustration. Believe me, once you get through this common stage the world inside will open up in ways you cannot predict. The struggle is worth the pay-offs. There are years of experiential baggage built up and ready to be released. Relax and take it in stages.

Position yourself in a place where you can feel both emotional and physically safe. Close your eyes slowly. Make this action very deliberate to signal to yourself “I am going to mediate now.” Place your hands at your side or in a prayer position. After you master this casual method of meditating, you can search out more formal training on the proper way of practice. Leave those techniques for later when you become proficient and ready to step up your level of meditation. For now, do what feels right in the moment.

Again, have a power word, phrase or even sound prepared. Internally say the word to yourself with each inhale of your breath and exhale the energy that comes up from inside. Repeat this process until you feel yourself letting go of stress from the inside out. This will send out signals to the body’s internal mechanism to settle down. Sit as long as you can stand it. The first couple of attempts may be nothing more than mind purging. This is still incredible progress. If you are willing to stick with either meditative method over time you will reach spiritual bliss.

Lastly, the breath. This probably is the most crucial part of meditation, but not necessarily, in the way you think. The breath does bring down all body systems simultaneously. For most beginners, anxiety sets in the minute they sit down to do this exercise. The anticipation of doing it right overtakes their need for relaxation. Expect your heart to race with the excitement of your anticipated meditative experience. Deep breathing will force you through this initial reaction and into the meditative zone. It is exciting once you figure out how to get into that zone with a few simple breaths.

Try the breathing technique I have taught many. When you take a breath inward, the inhale, aim the breath towards the back of your head. Like a diagonal line beginning at the roof of your mouth and extending to the crown of your skull upward. On the exhale, imagine the breath releasing from the highest point on your head into the body downward covering the entire body with oxygen. Some of you may experience light-headedness. That is ok! I Repeat and let the energy move in and out with each breath. Eventually, nothingness will replace your conscious attempts at breathing. The more you can teach yourself this breathing technique the quicker you will enter into the quiet zone. Stay as long as you want. Your mind and body will signal you when it is time to come back into the real world. P.S. No need to hurry back.

There will always be a fine line between living in the world and living of the world. Living in the world is a life too consumed with minute dramas and no daily meditation. Thus, risking the chance of missing opportunities for growth. Living of the world is a life with meditation and being somewhat detached from the dramas around us. Granting one the possibility to see all options clearly from a neutral point of view.

Meditate with no expectations; it is the only way to see clearly the chosen way.

In loving gratitude,

Jillian Maas Backman, Author, Beyond The Pews, Breaking With Traditions and Letting Go Religious Lockdown. www.jillianmaasbackman.com

Labels: Beyond the Pews, Breathing, Calming, Extrovert, Healing, Introvert, Jillian Maas Backman, Meditation, Relaxation, Spiritual exercise


I had a delightful time at the in-house book reading/signing at Boswell Books in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Book stores are such an electrifying source to re-generate the mind, body and the most importantly, the soul.