To truly live a fulfilling and authentic life requires taking a holistic approach—where we sufficiently address the mind, the body and the spirit.

It doesn’t matter what belief system we adhere to because creating shifts in our life starts incrementally through awareness. Awareness recognizes that life is always changing and something one can never quite pin-down.  Here are three practices that can help us find greater fulfillment and authenticity:

Identify and deprogram not-self beliefs and behaviors

Not-self relates to everything that is not inherently connected to our deepest nature. The first way to begin to live a more fulfilling and authentic life is to start to identify and deprogram these thoughts, feelings and behaviors. All of the beliefs and actions that are not in alignment with who and what we really are take us away from our true nature.

This is important because when we are fully expressing our true-self and honoring who we are, we are more in harmony with the cosmos. Then, we start to experience more of what we could call a flow state, where things in our life happen much more easily and effortlessly—we seem to be at the right place at the right time.

However, we’ve all been raised in this modern world and we’ve all been taught conflicting and confusing belief systems, which encourage us to forego or suppress who we really are. For that reason, it’s important to begin to identify and deprogram these not-self behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and actions.

This is what it means to be a master of our own destiny rather than a victim of circumstances. All circumstances that present with obstacles are illusions interfering with our fullest experience life.

Release fascial adhesions

Fascia is what makes up the form and structure of our body. It is a sheath of fibrous tissue that plays a major role in the support and function of our body—it attaches to and surrounds all of our structures. In our normal, healthy state, our fascia is relaxed in awavy configuration that allows it to be stretchy, enabling us to move without restriction.

However, when we experience some kind of trauma—whether it be physical, emotional, or some kind of chronic inflammation—our fascia becomes stuck and loses its pliability. It becomes tight and restricted and thus, a source of tension and disease for the rest of the body.

Things such as a car accident, surgery, habitually poor posture, and repetitive stress can have cumulative negative effects on the fascia. These things can create restriction and  cause us to not feel free or comfortable in our own body.

To have a fulfilling and authentic life would imply the need to feel comfortable and at ease in our own body. For that reason, starting to release fascial adhesions is an important factor to consider.

Release tension from the organs

The third way to live a more fulfilling and authentic life is to begin to release tension directly from our organs. This is something most people don’t ever think about. We could ask, “What keeps us healthy, alive, digests our food, and produces our energy?”

It’s our organs! So then, maybe it is a good idea to ask, “How can I keep my organs healthy?” Our organs are soft tissues surrounded by fascia, so they can easily become tight, dehydrated, or misaligned. As a result, we don’t feel as good, we don’t have as much energy, and our organs function at a much lower level.

It’s much harder for us to feel fulfilled and authentic if our organs are chronically tense and out of alignment. For that reason, it’s also to learn ways to release tension directly from the organs.

So what is the bigger picture?

We’ve learned three ways to start to live a more fulfilling and authentic life, but each piece is worthy of deeper conversation and exploration. Just one of these pieces alone can completely reshape our lives. And, doing all three together can create massive transformation and remove the restriction and limitation that holds us back.

This process can allow us to begin to experience more of what we really want—things like fulfillment, freedom, ease and comfort.

Even more important, we can start living a life that is right for us, so that we can more abundantly bring our gifts into the world. Once we start to feel better and feel more authentic and fulfilled, then we have more authenticity to share with the people around us.

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Apprentice Editor: Melissa Horton/ Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Brian Snelson, Flickr Creative Commons