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My first experience of waking up, was when I did the isa Experience. I’d read two books in tenth grade by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. They were part of a reading list the teacher gave me and I remember seeing them in the library thinking, these are very thick. And I loved them. They were great! They were about having a standard.

The first one, The Fountainhead told of an architect who does everything to perfection. He is impeccable. If you were to buy one of his houses, everything would be exactly right and, even more, you would have to let him build it his way. There was no compromise—it was the first time I’d heard that.

Atlas Shrugged was about people who rebelled against the social system and felt everyone should get paid fairly for what they do. It was very interesting to me and I thought wow here is something about standards and taking a stand. Still, although these books inspired me to look at my own standards; the first time I began to wake up was when I did the Experience.

I was 26 and in college. It was so amazing because although I thought it may improve my life a little bit, or help me feel better about myself’ I never had the thought that I could wake up in a weekend. It just never occurred to me!

At first I resisted a lot, and then by Sunday of the Experience I popped! I got it that I am in charge. And that, to me was the waking up process when I realized, I am in charge of the way I feel. It is not the event. It is not what happened to me in the past. It is that I have the choice. That realization was the beginning that changed my whole life.

Ending the Trance

And the isa Experience is not about changing you or fixing you because there’s nothing wrong with you! The purpose of isa is to wake up—to transcend—to end the trance. What happens as we go through life is that we fall asleep and even though we look awake because our eyes are open, we are asleep, living in our head, talking to ourselves and worrying all the time.

Before I did the isa Experience I woke up every morning and hit the snooze button—once, twice, maybe four times and I hated that about myself. Every night I thought, tomorrow morning, I am not going to hit the snooze button and even though I really meant it, every morning, I would hit the snooze button!

Our Personalities

I never understood why that happened until I discovered we have all these people inside our mind with lots of different personalities and agendas. Most of them don’t even know each other, yet they all want to be in charge.

So for example, let’s say I’m driving home from work when suddenly the exercise personality takes over and says, let’s go exercise!

It seems like a good idea, so I say, I’m running as soon as I get home. I drive up to my house, get out of my car, run upstairs and put on my running outfit. Then as I’m running down stairs, suddenly a different personality takes over, the one that likes to watch TV, and it gives the command, let’s watch TV. So instead of heading out the door to go running, I make a little U-turn in the hallway, and end up in the living room watching TV in my running outfit!

Then, suddenly the eating personality takes over and gives the command, let’s have cookies NOW! So I go to the kitchen and get some cookies. Now I am watching TV in my running outfit, eating cookies!

Then, all of a sudden a fourth personality takes over—the one that loves sleeping and says, hey, let’s take a nap! So I fall asleep. Then maybe, a few minutes, hours or even days later the exercise personality comes back and says, hey what happened to our exercise? We didn’t do it! Now, most people have no idea this is going on, because the personalities are disconnected and not in communication with each other. And the big problem is this: We have personalities that are very irresponsible. And when the irresponsible one takes over—everybody pays. So if the one that eats a lot takes over, we start getting really fat: I go to the beach—I can’t fit into my bathing suit and I feel miserable. Now ALL the personalities pay for the one that wants to eat a lot.

It’s like the price I paid when I used to hit the snooze button. When I set the alarm, the disciplined personality was telling me to wake up with the alarm, get out of bed and be happy. What happened was that I woke up with the lazy one in charge. Instead of getting out of bed happy, and alive, I hit the snooze button and ended up feeling bad about myself.

Taking Charge

When I did the Experience I woke up and began to understand, aha! The game is to create somebody to take charge of all these personalities. You know, people have created terrible things in their lives because they are not in charge. There is an angry personality in there that whenever it takes over, does a lot of damage and even puts holes in walls. Or we may have this really irresponsible personality who likes to drink. Then the racecar driver takes over and says, let’s drive really fast!

Now the problem is this: all the personalities pay the price for that one irresponsible personality, including maybe ending up in jail having killed somebody. So I feel a lot of the suffering, problems and upsets we create are because nobody is in charge of these personalities.

I once heard somebody talk about it in a way that made so much sense to me: Imagine a country being run by a president who gets elected every five minutes. So for five minutes one president decides, we’re driving on the left side. We’re doing it the English way. Five minutes later, a new president takes over and says, cancel that, we’re using horses. Five minutes later another president says, no, wait a second we’re walking.

Can you imagine? We couldn’t do anything. And that’s what happens to us. We can’t move because all these personalities take over. So for five minutes we have a really good idea, except we don’t execute it because another personality takes over, and then another one.

So the waking up process is about creating a manager—a person who oversees all these personalities—someone who is bigger and fully aware of all these little personalities—someone who is in charge.

This is what the isa Experience is all about.

By Luis F. Cordoba and Val Gee

Waking Up

“Good Evening! Welcome to the isa Experience.”

Ole P. Larsen, founder of the Institute for Self Actualization (isa), spoke these words in February, 1977 when he facilitated the first isa Experience to forty-nine people in Pensacola, Florida. Since then, thousands of people world wide, from all walks of life, young and old have graduated from the Institute. And while many have worked at being Facilitator in Training, Ole has passed the torch to just one: his student of twenty-seven years, Luis Cordoba.

This book is dedicated to Ole and the discipline, training and commitment of the student/teacher relationship. It is about the process of waking up and the laws of life that create health, wealth, happiness, and the fulfillment of purpose.

The Student/Teacher Relationship

When asked recently about the student/teacher relationship Ole said, “I don’t know about being a teacher—a student, yes. As I see it, it’s about surrendering—to do whatever the teacher says, yet use common sense. The “voice” as Don Miguel Ruiz describes it in his wonderful book; The Voice of Knowledge says it all and the “voice” can be the enemy. So a student in my world is someone who is willing to listen to the “voice” of the teacher and surrender to that voice. Now, to be a teacher takes courage: I found a teacher, Willem A. Nyland, who had the courage to be the “voice” for me. Bless him and a few others I listened to who assisted me in creating the necessary distance from the “voice.” Luis has done pretty well. Yes, many a time, things went astray and when he does listen to the teacher’s “voice”, life works, works much better.”

Asked about the first time Luis recognized Ole as his teacher Luis says, “When I saw Ole facilitate the Experience; he was so good at it. He was clear and made so much sense, and I had no idea I was choosing Ole as my teacher. I did the Experience because I wanted to wake up and feel good about myself. Working with Ole I began to let go of all the garbage that was polluting my life.

When I told him I wanted to be a facilitator, he thought that was the funniest thing and started laughing so loud and hard he almost fell off his chair. He was very patient and hung in there with me and my not so pleasant personality for a long time. It wasn’t until thirteen years later, with Ole’s support and encouragement, that I finally facilitated my first Experience. That’s when I realized I was just beginning my journey and that Ole had been teaching me all along. I think if I had called him my teacher he would have killed me, because he kept saying, “At the rate you’re going Luis I will have to live three life times to see any changes in you.” I think he was looking for a more on purpose, willing student.

There is a part of me that is doing so well and at the same time there is a part of me that hasn’t started yet. When I think about somebody like the Dalai Lama, for example, or Gandhi, when I think about people like that I think I am nowhere. I am in diapers, pre-diapers. I think I have so far to go—I have so much to learn and right now I am going to keep doing the Experience. I had a talk with Ole about that and he said, “How long do you see yourself doing the Experience?”

And I said, “I don’t know Ole, I love doing the Experience.”

And he said, “When you don’t want to do the Experience anymore you cannot do it because then you would be a phony.” So right now I could see myself as an old man being pushed in a wheelchair up to the front of the room and saying, “Good Evening! Welcome to the isa Experience.” I mean why not?”

In a combination of personal interviews with Luis and excerpts from Experiences he’s facilitated in Sydney, Stockholm, Bradford, England and Chicago, you will learn the main compelling forces upon which Ole founded the isa Experience. You will read about how Luis has used them to create a magical life in which he describes himself as the happiest, healthiest and wealthiest he has ever been. As Luis tells it:I first heard about the Experience at college when I had to choose between a literature and speech class. I asked about the speech class and was told I had to get up in front of everyone and give speeches throughout the semester. I got so nervous because that was my worst fear, to talk in front of people—so I decided to take the literature class! Life is so amazing! When I went to class that first day, the professor got up in front of the room, looked at us and said, “good morning everybody. Thank you for signing up for my class.” And he kept thanking us for signing up for his class!

He was so happy that I turned to the person next to me and said, “Do you think he’s on drugs? Why is he so happy?” So I kept going to class and every day he stayed happy. Then I began to put check marks on my notebook to see how many days it would be before he crashed and became normal like the rest of my not so happy professors. He never did! A few weeks into class, he told us he’d attended a seminar called the isa Experience that changed his whole life. That he became happy and started feeling really good about himself. And that’s how I first heard about Ole and the isa Experience.

Being Scared and Doing it Anyway

So now what do I do? I stand in front of people all the time and I love it. I am so happy to have the opportunity and be part of waking people up. I ended up doing what I was so afraid to do. And you know what? I’m still scared! I’m thinking, what if people don’t like it! What if they don’t get it? What if I make a mistake? What if I look like a fool? So all those things go on in my mind and I do it anyway.

On Thursday, the first night of the isa Experience, I ask people, “How many of you are a little bit nervous about being here?” Very few admit it, and so I encourage them to participate by saying, “Put your hands up and take a look around.” One by one, people raise their hands and are very surprised when they realize they are not alone.

Some people think that to work on themselves they have to stop what they are doing and move into a monastery or find a cave to lock themselves into. Some people think they can’t work or have a family to be able to work on themselves, so they postpone doing it, until they get too old to think or too feeble to move.

Working on myself, is me, creating myself becoming the person I really want to be. The key word here is “creating”. It is not that one day, by accident or fortune, you are going to find yourself being and living your ideal self.

This is the mistake lots of people make. They think, “One of these days, when I have the money, or when I find the right relationship, or when my children move out, then I am going to start working on myself and become my ideal self.”

What is so beautiful and exciting about working on myself is that I can do it right here and now with every good or bad event I am “creating” in my life. If I am having a problem with my boss at work, it is a great “problem/opportunity” to work on myself. If I am being my ideal self how would I be with my boss? Would I get angry and upset? No! Would I get frustrated and have bad thought about her? No! If I was working on myself, I would use it as opportunity to practice being my ideal self. I would not get plugged in, I would be kind and I might even elevate myself so high I would be appreciative of my boss giving me the great opportunity to work on myself through her without having to pay her any money. By the way, this is very difficult to do and very worthwhile. It will change your life.

This is one of the things we talk about at the Experience, remember?

You not wanting to get out of bed is a great opportunity to work on yourself. You start getting angry with you wife or kids — another great opportunity to work on yourself. Somebody pulling in front of your car without looking and you want to kill them is a great opportunity to work on yourself. Not feeling like exercising today is a great opportunity to work on yourself. Do it.
It will not happen over night. This is a life’s journey. We need more enlightened and responsible human beings on the planet.

May the force be with you!

In love and respect,
Luis

To make your business work in the difficult business environment most people are experiencing now days, you have to change your point of view. You have to reinvent yourself and the way you do it to make it work.

A few months ago I was in Nashville getting ready to do a talk for a group of realtors and mortgage loan officers who, as a group, are going through a difficult period selling houses. I met a woman as people were coming into the room. She was a Real Estate Broker and she sells houses. I asked her, “How are you doing selling houses during this difficult period?” She replied, “Great, I am selling more houses now than ever before.” She proceeded to tell me, “ As you know, the price of houses have fallen. What I have been telling my clients, who want to sell their house and buy another one, is that that is not a problem. Yes, their house they are selling has gone down in price, and the new house they want to buy has also gone down in price. So you are going to be able to get a better new house for a lower price.” This Real Estate Broker changed her point of view.

Most people’s point of view is that the real estate market is down, nobody wants to buy or sell houses. Remember in the isa Experience we talk about that whatever point of view you have, you create that movie. So those people who do not sell houses or assist other people in buying houses, their movie is that nobody wants to sell or buy a house.

By changing her point of view, the lovely lady I met began to change the movie of her life.

It is very easy to get stuck running down a tunnel that has no cheese. Even though there is no cheese at the end of that tunnel, we keep running down that same tunnel because it has become a habit.

Have a look, without a judgment, at how many things you still do that you know, “Whenever I do that, I am not going to feel good and I keep running down that same old tunnel over and over again.”

Put the information from isa to work. Change your point of view and reinvent yourself and your movie.

Luis

We do so many things in our lives to compensate for the barriers we come up against. We may get angry (fight) or shut down (flight) or pursue a whole host of other reactions. When we do not face our obstacles we can never get beyond them and since the programme loves a drama we will continue to reproduce them again and again. That’s why the word “programme” which we use in the Experience is so accurate and insightful. We do become, in truth, a programme running.

If for instance, you are shy (and it’s OK to be shy!) then each time you approach a social or business situation that requires you to come forward, you will remind yourself that you are shy and because you think that you are shy, that is exactly what you will reproduce. This happens so fast you are not even aware of it. If you are shy, it is not a matter of genetic inheritance; it is an attitude of mind, part of your own perception of yourself.

Or it may be that you are single and want to be in a relationship. So you go Speed Dating. Have you noticed how difficult it is to be “different” with each of the contenders when you speed date? When you go out on your first date are you aware of the Act that you put on? There’s a universe of difference between putting on “your act” and being aware that you put on your “first date” act! When you are on a date with someone you fancy, the likelihood is that you will put on an act that you think your intended will react favourably to. What is also happening is that they are doing the same! So you end up with 2 acts relating to each other. And you know how it is with acts. Sooner or later, the act has to drop and then there you both are, revealed in all your glory!

So dating is another great opportunity for you to uncover another aspect of who you really are. This is what we talk about in the Experience. You have a “point of view” about yourself and your actions follow on from that which, in turn create the results in your life. We can only do what we know to do (our past). The decisions and choices we make in the present determine the results we create (our future). So if you want to know your future, have a look at your Point of View because it inevitably leads to it.

The isa Experience gives you and the people you enrol the opportunity to be otherwise – for example to be open and even funny! You suddenly discover a whole realm of talents that you weren’t in touch with before because of the way you thought. The way that we think and feel can be transformed – even to the opposite of what we believed we were bound or destined to be.

Dearest isa Graduate

We hope your 2011 is off to a flying start.

In December, we held isa Outdoors for our 10 year celebration of isa Australia.

We thought you would like to see what we got up to! This a great, short and sweet message from Luis with music and images.

It shows us grown ups and a lot of very willing young people being together, having fun, and being reminded about the juicy stuff, like, getting out of our comfort zones, adventure style!

It was so much fun. Everyone looked like they got a lot of value from being there and the feedback was hugely positive.

We will do it again one of these days!

In the meantime, did you know the next Experience is 24 February? If you would like to come and review the fee is $220 (and you can call Janine Beck on 0418 197234), or if you have a new person you’d like to bring along, the early bird discount ends tomorrow.

Here’s to expanding our comfort zones, and being together in this weird and wonderful journey.

Love
The Assistants

ps it really would be great to see you at the next Experience!! 24 February 2011……
www.isaexperience.com

By the time you read this, Christmas and New Years will have passed. I hope you had a marvellous Holiday Season full of joy, love and happiness with your friends and family.

A new year is beginning and a whole new set of possibilities is about to unfold. This is what is so wonderful to me about life. We have an infinite number of choices to make and through these choices we guide our life. It is so interesting that even though we have so many choices, so many times, we choose to do the thing we know are not good for us and will not create the life we want. Why do I do it? Why do I keep repeating that same pattern over and over again?

I remember a story about a rat which might help explain. There is a rat in a maze with six tunnels and a piece of cheese has been placed at the end of the third tunnel. They put the rat in the maze and the rat runs down the first tunnel, no cheese. The rat runs down the second tunnel, no cheese. The rat runs down the third tunnel gets to the end and eats the cheese.

Next day, same experiment. The rat is placed in the maze with the cheese at the end of the third tunnel. The rat runs down the first tunnel, no cheese. The rat runs down the second tunnel, no cheese. The rat runs down the third tunnel and gets the cheese.

Everyday they place the cheese at the end of the third tunnel until one day the rat stops running down the first and second tunnels and runs straight for the third tunnel and eats the cheese. The rat has learned were the cheese is and goes for it.

After many days they change the experiment. They put the rat in the maze with no cheese at the end of the third tunnel. The rat runs down the third tunnel, no cheese. The rat runs back to the beginning and then runs down the third tunnel, no cheese. The rat then runs back to the beginning and then runs down the third tunnel again, no cheese. The rat then does this run back and forth back and forth many times, no cheese. Now here is the amazing thing that happens, that makes rats different from humans. After running down the third tunnel a few times and there is no cheese, the rat stops running down the third tunnel. The rat has learned. Humans don’t, have you noticed? We keep running down that same old tunnel time after time, no cheese and we don’t stop. We keep running down that same tunnel for the rest of our life.

May this year you stop running down those tunnels that bring you no joy, happiness, love, health and wealth. Don’t forget, change is tough and it is easier and more doable with support.

Thank you all for making my life so incredible. You are my guiding light and inspiration. Thank you for continuing to work on yourselves and staying on this amazing path of enlightenment and love. I see more and more that when we stay awake and remember we are the source of our life, each one of us will make a difference, in our lives, our families, our friends and our planet.

Keep sharing the Experience with your friends and families. If they knew what isa was, they would come instantly. It will support them in stopping running down those tunnels that don’t have cheese.

Love you all,

Luis

13 November, 2009
isa facilitator Cordoba connects the dots

Our difficulties and habits are foundations for working on ourselves, says Luis Cordoba, facilitator for the Institute for Self Actualization and driving force of the isa organization. The organization was founded by Ole Larsen in 1977 who, Cordoba says, connected all the dots for him and everything became clear. Examiner caught up with him in Nashville, Tennessee….Click here to read full article Examiner Article.

8 September, 2009
Luis interviewed by The Examiner

The purpose of the experience is to get people to wake up, says Luis Cordoba, the isa facilitator. We live a lot of our lives from an unconscious state which makes us feel like victims of our circumstances. The isa Experience helps people explore…Click here to read full article Examiner Article – The isa Experience Comes to Nashville.