james twyman - self-care revolution web viewhe took an ancient form of kabbalah, a form of...

James Twyman

Month 6, Week 1

Author, Film producer/director

Transmute and Release Trauma

[These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information on this audiocast is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.]

[Theme song playing]

Robyn: Hello everyone, and welcome to month six of the Self-Care Revolution where we’re exploring relationships, relationships to self, others, and money; just everything relationships. How’s that sound, Kevin?

Kevin: That sounds great.

Robyn: So, my name is Robyn Benson. I’m a doctor of Oriental Medicine, and I’m also the founder of Santa Fe Soul Health and Healing Center.

Kevin: And I’m Kevin Snow, and I’m an intuitive counselor here at Santa Fe Soul and the Dessert Shaman.

Robyn: Well, we’re excited to be in our sixth month. We’re kind of like in shock, because when you think about when this all got started, really last maybe August/September. The two of us, too. We’ll share that story once again, how this all really came about.

Kevin: This movement.

Robyn: This movement. This Self-Care Revolution. We’ve been planning this month, too, this relationship month, for quite some time, and we’re very excited about our two speakers today. James Twyman who’s here with us today, fortunately back from France, of all places. Welcome Jimmy, James, whatever. What shall we call you? What would you lovingly like to be called throughout this conversation?

James: You know, it’s a good question. I’m not really sure, but I’m getting clearer. When I was in France, I was bringing a group of people around what’s called the Camino of Mary Magdalene – walking through all the different Mary Magdalene places there in Southern France – and I asked them to call me Jimmy James. I was trying that on for a couple of weeks. It didn’t fit well. It didn’t quite fit, though. So we’ll just stick with James for now.

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Robyn: Okay. Wow, I didn’t really know the nature of this trip. That is, oh my gosh. I was there in spirit. All I can say is, I totally love the Mary Magdalene and everything she represents and any places I’ve been and the Black Madonna. That is really cool.

James: It was great. As I said, we had about 26 people, and we walked about 12 days through the countryside and along these ancient paths. We ended high above the plain at this beautiful cave where Mary Magdalene lived as a hermit for many, many years. It was just a very blessed trip for us.

Robyn: Wow. Sounds great. Just for everyone who’s listening, I’m going to give a short bio here:

James Twyman is the New York Times bestselling author of 15 books, including, Emissary of Light, The Moses Code, and The Barn Dance. In 1994, he put the peace prayers for the 12 major religions to music and began traveling the world as the Peace Troubadour, often being invited by world leaders and peace organizations to perform the concert for countries at war. He’s performed in Bosnia, Iraq, Serbia, South Africa, Israel, Northern Ireland, and many other places.

James has also produced seven music CDs and is the producer/director of 5 films, including the award-winning Indigo and The Camino of St. Francis. He’s also the founder of the Beloved Community, a network of spiritual peace ministers around the world, as well as the Seminary of Spiritual Peacemaking, which has graduated and ordained over 500 ministers. At present, James lives in a cabin near Ashland, Oregon, where he leads an eremitic lifestyle.

James: Which I’ll change by the way. I need to upgrade my bio. I just moved to Portland. So, I’m back in Portland, but I’m still in Oregon.

Robyn: How nice. So, since we’ve started talking about your most recent trip, you just got back from France: can you share a little bit more about your journey with these 26 pilgrims?

James: Well, it’s something that I love to do at least once a year, and that is to take people on sacred site journeys. I’ve brought people to Israel many times, to Italy, and in the last few years, I’ve been focusing more on walking. Because when you get a chance to really connect with the land you really get a feel for the energy or the history – things that have happened there.

For example, in the case of this Southern France trip, the idea was to reconnect with the energy of Mary Magdalene and the Divine Feminine. Most people believe that 2,000 years ago after the resurrection of Jesus, that she went to Southern France and lived there for the rest of her life, teaching and living as a hermit. But she visited very many places, so there’s rich history of the Black Madonna, the Cathars, and so many things.

So we walked from castle to castle, from landmark to landmark, and I think everyone had a real sense that every step we were taking was a prayer. We were like literally beating our prayers into the earth with every step. It was quite an extraordinary trip. It’s the first time I’ve done this particular one. I’ve brought many groups through Italy, walking, but this is the first time in Southern France.

Kevin: That’s really inspiring to hear you say that every step is a prayer. We just finished up a month about earthing and helping people connect with the earth in that kind of way.






Robyn: Especially being. Earth is earth, but being in sacred places. I was sharing being in Kenya. Supposedly, they create a little civilization. The power of being on that land was so awesome to me. But me, I would love to do this pilgrimage if you do this again sometime. Kevin, are you in?

Kevin: I’m in.

James: Okay. I’ll keep you guys alerted.

Robyn: So who was your audience? I’m just curious, I mean the 26 people, were they from all over the world?

James: They were. Usually, most of the trips are filled with women. We had, in addition to me, two men. I’d love to see more men take journeys like this, but you’re right, journeys like these attract women most. I don’t really know why. I think that this movement seems to spark the feminine faster than the masculine, but I think more men are catching on. More men are realizing that they don’t have to let go of their masculinity to be balanced and to be more effective, that we just have to embrace both and every side of ourselves. I think these are the men that I am attracting, but it does seem to be something that is dominated by women. Maybe we’ll see that change.

Kevin: Yes, I totally agree. I have been in the healing arts for many years, and I always notice that there’s this 80/20 rule. But it’s great for me.

James: I don’t mind. I do have to say, I have a soft part of my heart for the feminine.

Robyn: So you’ve gone to sacred places all over the world now, how did this impact you individually as a minister, as the Peace Troubadour, as a speaker/author/writer?

James: Well, as you said in your introduction, it all started almost 20 years ago when a friend of mine gave me a sheet of paper that had the peace prayers from the 12 major religions of the world. Just a backup scene where those came from: back in 1986, there was an event in Assisi, Italy – by the way it’s my favorite town in the whole world. It’s the home of St. Francis, of course. So, in Assisi, Pope John Paul II called the leaders of the 12 major religions of the world together, not to talk or discuss but to simply pray the peace prayers from their traditions. The Dalai Lama, for example, represented Buddhism and all the other leaders from the different traditions. They came together and they prayed. It was, I think, a major, major moment.

So when a friend of mine gave me those prayers, I had been a musician all my life and was literally just playing my guitar. I began to read them, and one by one, the music presented itself almost out of nowhere. Within one hour, I had put all 12 of these prayers to music. I knew that this was a gift, and I knew that this was a gift I was meant to share. People began calling me the Peace Troubadour, and I started just traveling around - first the U.S. - to share these prayers of peace.

Something magical happens, I find, when we sing. Actually, it was St. Augustine that said that when we sing, we pray twice, and I’ve always loved that quote. When we sing these prayers or share these prayers to music, it dives so much deeper into our souls. I have that experience so many times, especially as I’ve traveled to many war-torn areas throughout the years. Beginning first back in 1995






when I was invited to Croatia and Bosnia. Then, many other places like you mentioned, while wars were happening.

And if I could just give one example, in 1998, I was invited by Saddam Hussein to come to Iraq. This was at a time when we were getting ready to bomb Iraq again because of their suspected weapons of mass destruction. Bill Clinton was in the White House still. It didn’t look good. It looked like it was definitely going to happen, and I was in London, actually, on a book tour. I just happened to be on this radio show that was listened by millions of people there in Britain. This guy was kind of giving me a hard time, and he said, “Okay Mr. Peace Troubadour, how does this stuff hit the ground and become real, or is it just a bunch of airy-fairy new-age stuff?”

He challenged me so I said, “Well, what I’d love to do would be to go to Iraq and to simply sing the Muslim prayer to Saddam Hussein. Maybe if we just pray together, something magical will happen.” Well, suffice to say, the next day I was on an airplane, because the Iraqi ambassador to Great Brittan heard that interview. I was invited. I went to Baghdad. I did a major concert there. The interesting thing about that event - it was the first time.

Back then, in 1998, there wasn’t really the internet presence that we have now. People may have had email addresses, but it wasn’t like it is now. My agent at that time had about 300 people on her email list, and she sent out an email to all of them asking them to simply be praying or focusing their prayers of peace on Iraq while I was doing the concert. That email went out and it began to spread like wildfire. People were passing it on to their list and their friends. Before long, millions of people knew about it and stopped and prayed at that time. I could literally feel it when I was there.

I could give example after example of this. At the time, there didn’t seem to be any possibility of a peaceful conclusion, and yet, something shifted that day. Three days later, a peace accord was signed, and no one died, no bombs fell. I began to realize that there’s power in us coming together in this way, in this prayerful way.

So I began traveling to many other countries to do the same thing and to sponsor these worldwide prayer vigils. It has just been a remarkable experience to share the music in that way and to feel it myself. Of course, the real teaching is that the more we give the more we receive. We have to be the source of this peace. As I’ve had this chance to travel around the world sharing this, of course, it’s all come back to me.

Kevin: It’s very inspiring, because we’re talking about relationships this month. I really believe that those words, “the source of this peace,” is the critical component of being in a relationship. Can you talk a little bit about that, maybe even in your own life?

James: Well yes, you’re absolutely right this is the key. I have to say, being a part of this so-called movement, call it the Esoteric Spiritual Movement. We used to call it the New Age Movement. It doesn’t really matter what we call it, but I remember back in the ‘80s, about ’84 I guess, is when I first came into it. I just graduated from university and was dating this amazing woman who opened up a whole new world to me. Back then, in the early ‘90s, I’m sure you remember it was really exciting, because people were discovering these spiritual openings that they had never really known about. It was a very exciting time to be part of this movement.






Then, something changed. You talk about relationships, and I think what changed was that we began to see this movement – this spirituality – as being something more about me and my needs and what I don’t have and what I should have and what I could get if I could just simply focus this spiritual energy in the right way and became less about being the source and being the change, being something that allows this energy to come into the world and be shared with humanity. It became much more about what I don’t have that I deserve.

Of course, what that means, what that shows - which I think is something very important for us all to realize - is that that egoic part of us will latch on to anything we give it; in particular, spirituality. I say in particular, because in my mind/in my experience, it’s like the ego, it relishes spiritual stuff, because it’s like, “Oh, thank you.” It’s like sugar. It can get in there and it can subvert and it can shift and before you know it, this beautiful spiritual teaching has turned in on itself and in doing so has lost its potency.

This movement, I believe in many ways has lost its potency. When you guys use words like “revolution” or when you hear words like “renaissance,” that really resonates with me, because this does need to be a revolution. But it needs to be a revolution first and foremost about me, not receiving good, but me allowing goodness to come through me into this world; not being so much focused on what I can get, but what I can give. Because, as was all know, the more we do give, the more automatically comes into our life.

This is, for me, what the relationship is all about. How can I be the source of this, knowing that as I do this everything I need will be given to me? I don’t need to focus on getting a new car. There’s certainly nothing wrong with having a new car or financial security, but to make that be the focus, I really have to say, and I believe that it has taken this movement on a nose dive.

I remember back in the early days, in the ‘80s, if you wanted to buy books and things you had to go into one of these weird little shops. Every town had one or two, but it was not mainstream. You had to find these little shops. Then after a while, the change began to catch on. Pretty soon, Barnes & Noble and the other chains would have a section of New Age books. Then, before long, there’d be a whole shelf or maybe even two shelves. Well, if you notice, everything has been going backwards. The two shelves became one shelf; one shelf became a half a shelf.

Now, part of that is because we have new ways of buying books through the internet and such. But the other part is that, especially since this little movie called The Secret came out, where so many people were sold a completely false idea that spirituality is about something that I have and what I get, rather than what I give.

There’s a lot of good information in that movie, but on the other hand, it was only the first step. And if you think that the first step is the last step, you’re in big trouble. When that movie came out, I thought, “Well this is great. This is a good movie and people are going to get this, but if they don’t get that this is the first step, this is going to really wreak havoc.” How this happened is that the mainstream audience has said, “Well look at this. This is no different than anything else.”






What we need is a revolution. What we need is a renaissance. I mentioned St. Francis earlier. St. Francis lived 800 years ago at the very end of what we would call the dark ages. He did something and he lived a life that was revolutionary, because he decided to take this seriously, to really be the source. In doing so, he inspired millions of people in Europe, including all the artists and the poets who initiated the Renaissance. So it’s people like St. Francis saying, “There has got to be a more consistent way of living this, and it’s the living of this that creates the renaissance or the revolution.” So that’s why what you guys are doing is so important, because when the community comes together to support that vision, that’s when it begins takes hold and that’s when the revolution really happens.

Robyn: Exactly.

Kevin: We’re excited about it.

Robyn: I love this whole take that you’re sharing about this revolution. The revolution certainly, but also this relationship piece – the give and take. That’s the yin and yang of life and the flow. The Secret, too, I also thought it was great, and this is really that continuation that we’re talking about. The first step that this is living it day to day.

Kevin: Absolutely. We had one of our first speakers who was Bob Doyle, and he really did delve much deeper into it, as you’re saying, as far as the good information that was in that movie and taking it to the next level. I think that’s definitely such an important thing. Like you said, the consumers consumed that.

Robyn: It’s really interesting, Bob coming to this. He has been a big advocate of the Self-Care Revolution. He’s helping with reinvention of all that’s going on in the world: How can we all be the continuation of relationship with self and others? How do we keep reinventing ourselves as we keep the awakening process going, of coming more and more to living our truth? The true relationship.

James: Well, let me tell you a funny story about relationships as related to what we’re discussing here, because we’re talking about The Secret and all of that information. When I first saw that movie and I said that I really wanted it to go deeper, I decided to write a book. I started that day. For me, took the Law of Attraction and brought it back to the soul rather than just letting it be in the realm of the ego. So I wrote a book called The Moses Code.

When The Moses Code was getting ready to come out, we decided to make a movie as well. I spent about a year working on that movie. We had amazing interviews, amazing information on this subject. When the movie was done, I showed it to a few people: Debbie Ford, who was part of it, and a couple other people; one was a filmmaker. They all, after watching it, said, “it’s okay,” which was not what I wanted to hear after spending a year on it. I wanted it to be great, and I was a little distraught.

This one guy who was the filmmaker said, “I haven’t had two weeks off in a couple of years, but I have the next two weeks off. You’ve got everything here that you need. It just needs to be [this and that]. If we could spend two weeks, just you and me, working day and night on this thing, I think we could have something great and would really get this message about the law of attraction being brought back to the soul.”






So I said yes, and we spent the next two weeks working together day and night. In the end, talk about accomplishing the impossible, within two weeks we have reshot 70% of the film, we reedited 100%, rescored 100% - it was almost a different movie. When it was finished, I really felt we had achieved our goal. It really brought the message out and was a beautiful film. The interesting thing is; the person who did that with me was Drew Harriet, who directed The Secret.

Robyn: Oh my God, I love it.

James: So it goes from this relationship of it triggering me in a creative way and made me write this book and make this movie, and then, it was that guy who made the movie that triggered me that came and saved me. I love that.

Robyn: I don’t know if you know this, James, but that’s how I first got to know you, was through The Moses Code. I know you came to Santa Fe. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see you live, but I saw the movie soon after and I loved it. Can you explain the gist of that movie, and of course I don’t know how it was prior to the two week makeover, but the fact that it was filmed in different places of the world. I thought it was awesome and the ultimate message, so if you could share that with our listeners.

James: Sure. The central teaching remained the same. It starts with the story of Moses 3,500 years ago when he was at that burning bush, and he has this conversation with God. He’s being asked to do what seems impossible, which is to go to the Pharaoh and demand a release of all the Israelite slaves.

Basically, God does something in that conversation that has never been done before, at least in a recorded sense or a Judaic sense, which is, God gives Moses his name – the sacred name which in Hebrew is Eheyeh Asher Eheyeh, which we usually translates to I am that I am. I remember being told that as a kid and I was always confused, like what does that mean, I am that I am? I sometimes say that I used to think that God’s name was Howard. You know, our Father who art in heaven, Howard be thy name? I hope the audience is laughing right now. I can’t tell if they are or not.

Robyn: We’re seeing flashing lights. That’s a good sign.

James: Eheyeh Asher Eheyeh. I was meditating with that one day, when suddenly it was like this lightening flash happened inside me, and I realized that the source of power that was given to Moses and Jesus and all the other great prophets and saints was in that name. It’s in claiming the power of the Divine through the I Am Presence. It really isn’t just I am that I am. What it really is; is us saying, “I am that.” Then, hearing the response of the Divine saying, “I am.” In other words, if there’s something that I want to achieve in my life, the ego says, “I want that.” The soul says, “I am that. That which I am cannot be withheld from me.”

So if I want to be the source of peace in the world, I am that peace. I don’t want something it’s the essences of who I am. When Moses went to the Pharaoh, this is what he embodied: I am freedom. I am the release. There’s no power on earth that can stop that. Jesus said the words, “I am” almost more times than he uses any phrase in the gospel. “I am the bread of life,” so many times.

The essence of that power is the creative force, but when we use it for the reasons or the objectives of the ego, which is just me getting stuff, the power is so very, very limited. However, if I use this to






manifest the desires of the soul, which is to be the source of goodness not just goods, then that power increases and we become revolutionaries. So I think this is really what The Moses Code was about: How do we live the I Am Presence?

I’ll tell you one more interesting story. I went to my friend, Jonathan Goldman, who many of you will know as a beautiful sound therapist and musician. I was talking to Jonathan about this and because he’s a sound therapist and he is Jewish, I figured he knew more about this. I asked him if there were any sound frequencies that went along with the name of God - Eheyeh Asher Eheyeh. He didn’t know of anything, but he decided to do some research.

He took an ancient form of Kabbalah, a form of numerology in Kabbalah called gematria, which assigns different letters to every Hebrew letter. To make a long story very short, he was using gematria. He came up with a sacred sequence of numbers that represented the frequencies of the name of God. We made a recording of that and put out a meditation which we did with The Moses Code. It was so, so powerful. Still, I use it almost every day.

Someone else who uses it every day is Wayne Dyer. I knew that, because every time Wayne would give a talk in front of thousands of people, people would start texting me saying, “Oh my god, Wayne Dyer is talking about you right now.” He would talk about how he was using this frequency. Finally, we decided, because we had the same publisher, Hay House, which decided to re-release that music with Wayne’s book Wishes Fulfilled, and put out a CD together called The I Am Wishes Fulfilled. Suddenly, it just took off, because of course, Wayne is so massively popular.

People are just beginning to rediscover the frequency of the I Am meditation. It just goes to show that there’s something in the soul that is longing and yearning for this to be the source, to enter into relationships that are holy, not just what can I get: how can I use spirituality for my own purposes? If we can continue this trend, then I believe this movement is going to gain momentum. If we don’t, this movement is going to continue its spiral downward, and we’re going to miss one of the most amazing and important possibilities in the history of mankind.

Robyn: You know, this is so amazing, this conversation. I’m thinking about the Self-Care Revolution. The Revolution, you know there’re a lot of different interpretations of what this revolution means, but in our case, a fundamental change in thought. So the “I am that, I am…” That’s a whole new way of that soul connection, living from soul and there’s no separation. When people say, “How did you come up with that name?” we see all kinds of revolutions out there, but we’re like, “This is really about self-care.”

When you think about your whole entire life, so much of it has to do with relationship with self, every single day, how you’re making good choices. There’s a lot of unnecessary suffering. That’s that kind of revolutionary message, that meme, that mind virus, that healthy message we’re trying to get out there with this movement, with this revolution. Our conversation has been rather enlightening. We don’t even know the power that we’ve created. Do you see what I’m saying?

James: Absolutely. I’m so glad you’re bringing that up, because one might think that the Self-Care Revolution is just the same old thing about me taking care of myself. I know that your work is much, much more than that. Of course, giving and receiving are the same. “What I give to thee is received by






me.” So part of the Self-Care Revolution is about taking care of myself by being the source of love, energy, and peace to others. They go hand in hand, in other words. That’s why I really love the work that you guys are doing.

Kevin: One of the things with the “I am that I am,” that I got when you came to Phoenix, was this idea that it was a statement and an answer, which really is a relationship, right?

James: Oh yeah. I only touched on that a slight bit. Let me talk about that a bit more. I’m glad you brought that up, because the name “I Am that I Am” kind of takes a conversation or a relationship. We say, “I am that,” and the Divine’s answer is, “I am.” God doesn’t say, “Yes, you are,” because you are one with God and God is in that full experience of that oneness. So when you claim something with the power of that name, the answer of divinity is always “I Am.” So, once again, there’s that relationship. “I am that something that is all present, every moment. It is within my makeup.” It says, “Ah yes, I am.” That is the relationship that is really I think what creation is all about.

Kevin: Absolutely, and I appreciate you reiterating that. I get the chills just when you’re [talking about it].

Robyn: Me too. We’ve got so many questions. Where do we go next?

Kevin: Indeed.

James: We should maybe talk about the movie.

Robyn: I know. We have to talk about the movie, because a lot of people want to know what your inspiration for creating Redwood Highway was.

James: Well, the movie Redwood Highway is something I’m really, really excited about. So thrilled to be doing the big New Mexico premiere there at the conference. The movie started with me realizing how few films are made for a senior or more of a mature audience. You know, we’ve seen films in the last few years like Exotic Marigold Hotel. I saw another movie the other day called Song for Miriam. There are a few here and there, but one of the interesting things that I realized was almost all the films that are being made for that audience are British.

There are hardly any of them being made here. Last year, France made a beautiful film called Amore, yet this audience represents 45% of the U.S. population. They usually have 4 times more disposable income, and if a film comes out that they relate to, more likely to go to the theatre than to watch it on Netflix or that kind of thing. Yet this audience is being completely neglected.

Realizing that, I thought, “Well, someone needs to begin focusing on making inspiring movies for an inspired generation.” That’s why we decided to make Redwood Highway. I connected with a great director who lives in Oregon, named Gary Lungren, who is just so talented. He and I wrote the script.

One of the interesting is that we started writing the script in July of last year, and the film debuted at the Ashland Film Festival in April of this year. So that was about 8 or 9 months that it took us to write the script, shoot the film, and do all the post production. I think of the reasons it went so fast was because it was a blessed project. We were able to secure the talents of Shirley Knight, who is a two- 9

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time Academy Award nominee. She’s been in the business for longer than I’ve been alive. She’s just an incredible talent. Also, Tom Skerritt, who everyone will know, of course. They loved this idea of making movies and promoting films for this audience. So we have this beautiful film now that I’m very, very happy with.

We’re just trying to find some exciting ways to get it out. For example, we’re going to be showing it in September. Before it comes out in theatres, we’re going to release it in 6,000 senior communities first. It’s going to be probably a million people who are going to be able to see this movie before anyone else gets to see it in the theatres, because this is who we made it for. So we’re trying to get corporate sponsorship, for example, to make that happen. If anyone out there has any ideas of how we can achieve this goal… We already have the 6,000 communities picked who are waiting for the movie we just need to put the final pieces together.

I’m very excited about this. This is something that my own mother, well I should say, first of all, my grandmother was part of the inspiration. We put her into a senior community about a year ago. She tried to escape several times. The movie, by the way, is about this character named Marie who decides to leave this community where she’s at and go on this life-changing, 80-mile journey where she walks the Redwood Highway and heal her relationship with her family and to heal something within herself that has been keeping her from love and happiness. So my grandmother tried to escape from this community several times, and she was caught each time she did. So I decided I’d make a movie where Marie escapes.

Unfortunately, in December before she even got to see the film, my grandmother passed away. The other person that the character, at least in personality, was based on was my own mother. She just has so much of this amazing personality that Shirley brought to the screen. Then, my own mother passed away in January. So, neither of these amazing women in my life were able to see the film, so it makes it more poignant for me to get this film out and to serve this audience. I’m really excited to show it there at the Revolution and let you guys judge for yourselves. …

We’re partnering with Age Nation to get the word out.

Kevin: And this is part of what you’re calling the Senior Cinema Circle? Can you share a little about the first film that you’re releasing in that process?

James: My intention is to make a movie every year to release in this way. We’ve actually started a documentary that we’ll release next year which is called Seniors in Love. I won’t tell you much about it yet, but that’s going to be a wonderful project. Not only that, but we’re going to be encouraging people to help spread the word through the Hollywood system.

I’ve launched a project called A Million Senior Voices. The goal is to get a million seniors to sign a petition and to take a survey that we’re going to take the results of to every Hollywood producer and studio to show them just how important this audience is and to encourage them to begin developing more energy and more money to get films made that inspiring and that are made for this generation – the Baby Boomers.






Robyn: The aging actors and actresses are going to be happy about this too.

James: Oh yeah. That’s really true.

Robyn: A boom to their career.

James: So people can actually, those who are listening now, we haven’t really begun promoting the survey, but it is available. They just go to SeniorCinema.com. You’ll see the survey right there. I encourage people to go there and take the survey; help us reach the million person mark, because if we can take this to Hollywood and say, look, we’ve had a million people who’ve signed this petition saying, please make films that we can relate to and we’ll go see them. So, it’s financially viable. Then Hollywood is going to be taking notice.

Robyn: You’ve definitely got the support of the Self-Care Revolution along with Age Nation. Our 10 th

month is going to be all about aging gracefully and the whole process and how exciting it is to age.

James: I’m having a good time doing it.

Robyn: To switch gears just a little bit and bring it back to you, James. We ask all of our speakers, what is your way - I mean, you’re out in the world a lot creating these films and you write - how do you take care of yourself?

James: The most important thing is my spiritual practice. For me, it’s very, very simple. It’s about just aligning with and connecting with that divine force and to simply be in adoration. The most ancient and powerful spiritual path is love and connecting with the source of love and to wanting that above all things. When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment is, he said to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole soul.

To me, this is how I care from myself, because something is awakened in me when I focus on that love. That’s what spurs me on. If I don’t do it, if I neglect that practice I get pulled down and I lose focus. Next thing you know, I’m in a bit of a funk. But if I can remember that this is what’s important and let everything else will flow from that. Then, in taking care of myself, I become a source of so much more for others.

Robyn: I saw that you live close to nature. Is that part of your everyday life?

James: Well, at the moment I don’t. At the moment, I’m living in Portland. As I said, I just moved here about two months ago. So, I’m living in this beautiful city, but I still do have my retreat center outside of Ashland where I have a little cabin in the woods. I do need to connect to nature so that’s something that’s still very important.

Robyn: Are you working on a new book at the same time as you’re working on your other movies?

James: No, I’m not. The most important thing is that I’m focused on getting this movie out. Making the movie is only the first step. This is a beautiful but small film, so we don’t have very much money behind it. So we need to be very creative and find exciting, out-of-the-box ways to get it out. That’s where I’m



http://www.seniorcinema.com/




focused right now to get this so that people can see it and we can continue to make these movies. I’m sure there’ll be other books in the works, but now I’m pretty focused on the film.

Kevin: I see in your bio here that you released seven CDs. Can you talk a little bit about your musical career? Can you share a little more about how that started for you, how you got into being musician?

James: Well, I’ve always been a musician. From the time I was 12, I was playing guitar. I was a songwriter from the very beginning. I think I wrote my first song two weeks after I started playing guitar, because I knew four or five cords. That was it for me. So the music has always been pivotal, and still is. Whether I’m out there doing concerts or not, I always have my guitar. I always play.

The beautiful thing about music is that it has a way of going in the back door, as I like to say. It slides around the intellect, which has all of its barriers and all of its filters, and it slides around all of that and sneaks in the back door and enters into the heart fully intact. That’s why I always integrate music into my talks, because when you’re talking to people there comes a point where the intellect shuts down, but if you can shift the gear and bring it back to the heart – and music does that – then it can absorb so much more.

Kevin: Just reiterating what you had said earlier, that when we sing we pray twice. That’s such a powerful……

James: I think that’s the way to do it. I know in my own life, if I’m doing a talk or whatever it might be, if I plan it, it’s me trying to make something. When I just allow it to happen, then it’s that divine flow that comes through me. One of the songs that I’m sure of that I’ll sing when I’m there, it comes from a Mother Teresa quote that I love where she said, “What would God say through you?” I think it expresses your thought beautifully.

Usually we think of the idea of what God would say to you, but the real question is what would God say through your life? If you were to surrender so completely that it’s that divine impulse that is constantly moving through you, as you. What would that bring? Knowing that if I continue to open my heart that way what will come to me automatically and easily. That’s, I think, the key today, is what can God do through each one of us if we allow that energy to move? That usually happens by being spontaneous and in the moment and not over-planning, but to realize that whatever needs to happen will come about if we just allow that divine grace to flow through us.

Robyn: Love it. Are you still working with the Seminary of Spiritual Peace Making?

James: Indirectly. Someone else runs that program now, but we do still have that program going on for people who would feel called to be a minister and go through a ministerial program. Yes, they can get more information if you just go to emissaryoflight.com, or go to JamesTwyman.com. There are link right there that will lead you to the Beloved Community website.

Robyn: So, this whole lifestyle. I know how you take care of yourself, but you see that we’re living in a very stressed world. I’m sure you see that all around like we do. What do you feel about the times that we’re living in, in this 21st century? What’s the antidote? It seems like it’s for our children, for just






people in general. We’re getting more stressed out, we’re not sleeping, there’s so much anxiety and depression – more than ever. We’re doing our work with the Self-Care Revolution to bring awareness. What are your thoughts about the world we’re living in right now?

James: This is a very challenging time, clearly. There are so many distractions and important things as well that are drawing us outside ourselves and putting our focus on the outer. In order to remain balanced, I think we need to continue to remember it’s the inner truth and the inner life that is going to allow us to keep our hold on our sanity. That’s why people really should be meditating, finding whatever works for you.

What works for me isn’t what’s going to work for you necessarily. But if you can have some sort of spiritual practice, some sort of a meditative practice or prayerful practice that allows you just to relax and remember why you’re really here and to not get caught up in all these outer struggles and dramas. Remember that the important work is done on the inside. Then, all of the other things achieve a harmony and a balance that we couldn’t find otherwise. If we’re just caught up in the everyday stress of our lives and we’re not going within, then it’s so easy to lose that balance.

That’s what I would encourage people today: taking care of yourself means going within. It means nurturing your heart and your soul and connecting with the Divine in whatever way makes sense to you. If you can do that, then there’s a benefit that humanity would be so much greater.

Kevin: Totally agree. I wonder if you could go back a little ways in your career. We started earlier about some earlier projects you had done, one of them being called Indigo. That still comes up, and it comes up in my practice too. People ask me what that is and if they are one.

James: Right. You know, it’s funny how we want to give labels to everything. The Indigo Children Phenomena is a great way of doing that. In some ways, it’s a great way of putting our focus on someone else: “Oh, it’s about the children. The children are the ones.” The fact, really, is that the Indigo evolution – I like to call it that because it really is evolution – it’s for and through each one of us.

I also made a documentary called Indigo Revolution, because when we made the feature film Indigo, which was hugely received, a lot of people said, “Well, it’s a nice movie, but we need more about who the children are.” So we made this documentary, and the focus of the documentary was: it’s not that they are special children out there, which means that there also must be unspecial children or ordinary children. It’s not that at all. It’s that we’re all called to awaken, and yes, maybe our evolutionary track had brought about this new generation of children who simply don’t have to make the effort. They simply are in a different place when they come in.

I believe that’s true, but it doesn’t take away the fact that each one of us is called to be the same. It’s not about putting the focus or hope on a bunch of special children, because then we miss what their real message is which is that you must be the change that you want to see in the world. You must be the source of this. When we made the movie Indigo, there was a good friend of mine named Steven Simon who was a great Hollywood producer. He had moved to Oregon, and one of my other dear friends, Neale Donald Walsch, wrote all the Conversations with God books. The three of us got together and he said, “Well let’s make a movie about this and have some fun.” And it was, I think, the fun that allowed us to do something special.






We had a great time, and we brought in a bunch of really cool people. It was my first film, so I didn’t have any idea of what I was doing, but luckily I had Steve in there to help me learn. I wouldn’t call it a great movie, but I would call it a very nice movie. I think it starts a conversation like many of these things. For me, now that I’ve made a few other films I’ve learned so much more. Hopefully that’s all come about through Redwood Highway now.

Making that movie Indigo - even just talking about it - it brings back the sweetness of that time, the innocence of saying, “Hey, let’s just go out and make a movie!” It’s not quite like writing a book, where with a book to sit down at my computer by myself and write; when you make a movie, you’ve got anywhere from 50-100 people that you’ve got to manage and a lot of money that you need to work with. Even though, say with Redwood Highway for example, we shot that whole film with only a half million dollars, which is nothing for a film like this, I think people are going to be surprised. The same thing with Indigo.

To answer your question, I think this in an important topic, but the most important part of it is for each and every one of us to realize that it’s about you and me and all of us, not just a bunch of special people who we think are going to do it for us.

Kevin: I think that’s very helpful to hear. Again, it continues to reiterate your point, your message of going in knowing that the key is connecting to source. You have this amazing ability to create large movements, to create huge awareness in the community and following. I think you’ve touched on this a little bit, but what do you think is your secret?

Robyn: Good question.

James: I don’t really know, you know? I think part of it is that what a lot of people tend to do is they’ll have some inspiration. Then they think they have to begin planning and arranging and working hard before they can move into manifestation. What I do is, I have inspiration and move into manifestation immediately, because no matter how hard we work at it, we’re never going to be able to figure out all the details. We’re going to have to change as we go anyway so you may as well start going; get some momentum. Get some steam behind you. If you feel like you have an idea or something’s happening through you that you want to bring into the world, my advice is get going.

Right now with the Senior Cinema, I could’ve sat around for a year and tried to plan something. Instead, we just said, “Let’s do this. Let’s make a great movie, and let’s get this out and let’s get this in front of people and get this going.” Nine months later, we had an actually movie to show. Now we’re coming to Santa Fe to show it. I think people are going to get really excited.

I did a project quite a few years ago called The Cloth of Many Colors. We invited people to send in a piece of cloth that they would hold and pray with, and they would all be sewn together in this mile-long quilt. We had hundreds of thousands of people send us a piece of cloth that we had sewn into this quilt. It was a mile in length and it was wrapped around the U.S. Capitol building. It was brought throughout the United Nations and in New York, the Pentagon, and traveled all over the world. It just began with an idea of me saying, “Wouldn’t this be great?” But I didn’t try and plan anything, I just said, “Let’s do it.” It caught on fire and people got excited about it.






I think that’s the key: don’t try and figure it out. Let it figure you out. Just get out there, get momentum, get some steam, get going, and if it doesn’t have any merit, it won’t go anywhere. That’s okay too, because I’ve done a lot of things that didn’t go anywhere, but the things that I did start that have had real effect were the ones that intended by Spirit to be in the world and happened just because I said, Yes.

Kevin: That’s an excellent point, because I think that’s the other, like we talk about Preventers. There’s a lot of things that don’t quite launch, and it’s not a problem.

Robyn: I can so relate to your life experience with these inspirations. I think when the creation of Santa Fe Soul was happening, it was an idea and it was just so much bigger than me and all the co-creators that came together to really make it happen. One of the things that we did in that creation was to honor the land. We wanted to create a 21st century healthcare model. We just really followed it.

Even with the Revolution, when this was happening through some talks that I was giving, Kevin really caught on. He said, “Oh my God, there’s something in that title, Robyn.” I didn’t even really get it until he said it, and boom, we were all flying. We had no idea, back then, where this Self-Care Revolution would be going. It’s so exciting, because we’re just kind of beginning.

Kevin: It’s really awesome. Of course, we’ve run into some naysayers or people who said exactly what you’re saying, “You need to plan more. You need to put more into the energy of the detail.” Which of course, details are important. What do you do with the naysayers?

James: I have several things going through my head that I shouldn’t say out loud. Whoever we bring into our life has a message for us. We need to listen, and we need to process through whatever we hear. On the other hand though, we need to be true to our own vision. Just because somebody says you need to plan more, well I’m sure there’s something there for me, but that doesn’t mean that they have the answer, that they should be hijacking my inspiration.

I still need to follow my own heart, but maybe I do need to plan a bit more. I’m just bad at planning so that’s how it is with me. I’ve just been lucky that Spirit has supported me in a number of these projects, but it may be different for you. I think we need to listen to the people in our life, but be true to the inspiration that’s coming to you.

Robyn: Exactly. Especially when you don’t see the end. It’s nice when you can see the end in sight, but you don’t always see it. You’ve got to keep following it, that inspiration, day to day. That’s what we’ve seen in our journey here at the Self-Care Revolution. Honestly, to create this event, all the speakers that have said yes. It’s really quite extraordinary how this all came together. As we end our hour here very shortly, how quickly was this? Oh my gosh. Every minute of it was wonderful with you, James.

James: Thank you so much for inviting me. I hope everyone will come see the movie and share with us. Let’s get all these movements moving, whether it be the Self-Care Revolution or Senior Cinema. Let’s band together and let this new energy, this new renaissance take shape so we can change the world. Robyn: Sounds fantastic. Any one last comment you’d like to make to our audience and all the people that are going to hear this in the next several hours and days?






James: Just say yes. Whatever that looks like, just say yes. Nothing happens until you say yes.

Robyn: Great.

Kevin: Well, I’m going to say yes.

James: The most powerful word in the whole world is yes.

Robyn: Ah, I love it.

Kevin: I am yes.

Robyn: You take care, and again, thank you so much for showing up within 24 hours of getting off a plane.






james twyman - self-care revolution web viewhe took an ancient form of kabbalah, a form of...

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