Teaching Tuesday

Thank you for joining me on my Teaching Tuesday Blog.

 Over the past 16 years Though the Self Empowerment Workshop(SEW) I have been successful in empowering many people and profoundly changing their lives . Here is a a testimonial from one of the graduates of this process. I was given permission to use it as a tool to  encourage you also to go on this wonderful journey know as SELF EMPOWERMENT WORKSHOP….Beginning June 15 th 2012 for 7 days!!!!!!!

Classes for this amazing event will be available on skype or in person beginin Jan 28th…Please post here on my blog for further information

“The  Self Empowerment Workshop (SEW),  created and developed by Iyalode Yeyefini Efunbolade, Director of the International Institude of African Studies and Knowledge (IIASK), and President of Yeyefini.com/Balanced Living has had a profound impact on my life.

Moveover, in examining its benefits after eleven years, I have discovered the advantages of going through thhis process prior too initiation to the Yoruba Priesthood. Prior to my going through SEW in the year 2000, my life felt stagnate and incomplete. Although it had been twenty years since my initiation to the Yoruba Priesthood, I did not feel that I was fulfillling my purpose spiritually. I was therefore ready to begin the journey to  me  with the SEW Process.

There was sixteen weeks of class and excercises in preparation to the six day ritual.  During the six days, there were activities that put me in touch with the spirit of my ancestors and that enabled me to go within and examine my dual self (inner/outward self).  The process forced me to pass the intellectual mind to spirit and discover, not only the  real  me but old emotional wounds that needed healing; wounds such as feelings of abandonment, internalization of negative challenges and lack of confidence in self. I was also compelled to acknowledge the shadow, dark hidden side of myself.  In accepting the truth of my self-discovery, I was able to begin to cleanse the wounds with self-forgiveness and heal them with unconditional self-love.

It has been seven years since I went through Rites of Passage.  In retrospect, I find the (SEW) process to be an invaluable precursor to the priesthood initiation for three reasons. Firstly, SEW Forces one to trust  spirit  and allow oneself to risk and experience the mysterious abyss. For only then can the Spirit of God work through you.  Secondly, the process allows one to get in touch with ancestral pain and heal their energy. They (ancestors) therefore become a valuable aid in the praying and healing of others.  Finally, the third benefit of the this process, prior to initiation, is that the process enables one to discover and empower one’s  sacred  place with, where one meets and feels connected to God on a regular basis and at any time. This ensures a means to refresh spiritual power. Although, the SEW process represents to me a major life changing process, it is only a seed for self-empowerment.  With the continual care and nurturing of ritual, discipline, and self-love is armed to deal with challenges of life.”
Ashira Toshiwe, SEW Student