The Craft of Awakening

THE CRAFT OF AWAKENING

A 20-Week Course in the Skills of Awareness and Self-Regulation

with Robert Goldstein and Mark Kalina, M.D.

What is the practical purpose of self-awareness? What becomes possible when we can
regulate ourselves in conflict—not by suppressing our reactions, but by seeing and
understanding what is creating them?

Most of us experience conflict at its surface. A difficult interaction occurs at work, with a
friend, a partner, or our child—and we react. We feel pain without recognizing it as
such. We may become angry and recoil, withdraw, become silent, or feel unseen and
misunderstood.

Because our reaction immediately follows the hurt, we naturally assume that the present person or circumstance is the source of it. We talk about what happened with family and
friends. 

We explain how it made us feel. Our attention remains fixed on the conflict.

What I am describing is “normal” living—but it is also unconscious living.

This is not a criticism. It means that the forces shaping our reactions remain outside our awareness.

Because they are invisible, they rarely enter our consciousness or conversations.

We recognize the conflict, but we do not see the belief system organizing our experience of it. We do not understand why it affects us so deeply, so disproportionately, or why similar conflicts recur across years and decades. 

The people and circumstances always change, but our underlying experience remains remarkably consistent, frustrating, and painful.


If the present conflict is only a trigger—the thing that sets off something else—what is
the true source of our reaction?
This question can only be answered through true inner work.

Beneath our reactions lies
an internal structure formed early in life that must be uncovered.

It includes our
Childhood Hurts, Unmet Emotional Needs, fears of disapproval, rejection, and
abandonment, and the Masking Behaviors we developed to protect ourselves.

Together, these form our Story—the internal belief system through which we interpret
ourselves, other people, and life itself.

From this belief system, we make our decisions
and take our actions.

Understanding our Story offers profound self-awareness and
access to lost personal power because it determines how we respond.

The course will also help you explore the relationship between your current illness and
your childhood Story.

The Craft of Awakening teaches us to perceive the entire internal chain that connects the past to our reactions in the present.

You may already understand these concepts intellectually.

But that is not the same as
seeing your own Story as it unfolds in real time.

This course is the next step: learning to apply The Craft of Awakening as a lived practice.

A present conflict always activates an earlier hurt. That hurt awakens an Unmet
Emotional Need and the fear that it will once again be denied. We then reflexively enact
a Masking Behavior to hide that need, protect ourselves, and avoid further pain from
disapproval.

When this chain remains invisible, our response is automatic and unavoidable. When we learn to see it, we create the possibility of a pause. Within that pause, we can begin
separating what belongs to the past from what is actually happening now.

Our lives no longer appear to be a series of random events. We begin to understand
what within us is reacting—and why.

What You Will Learn
Over twenty weeks, through teaching, exercises, personal reflection, group exploration,
and individual sessions, you will be guided in a structured and supportive setting as you
learn to:
 Identify your Childhood Hurts and Unmet Emotional Needs.
 Understand your fears of disapproval, rejection, and abandonment.
 Identify the Masking Behaviors you adapted to protect yourself.
 Explore the relationship between your current illness and your childhood Story.
 Recognize the internal chain that unfolds when you are emotionally triggered.
 Pause, remain present, and distinguish the past from the present.
 Bring all these elements together and apply them as a practical craft through carefully designed exercises refined through years of personal practice and work
with clients.

Each participant will also receive one private session with Robbie and one with Dr.
Kalina.

The twenty-week structure provides the time needed to move beyond intellectual
understanding and introduces you to the practice of recognizing your recurring patterns
as they unfold in real time.

This is not a passive course or a promise of a quick solution. The work requires curiosity, honesty, courage, and, above all else, practice. In return, it offers the
possibility of understanding yourself and your life at a profound level.

Self-awareness is more than knowing what you feel. It is seeing the hidden structure
that gives the feeling its force.

Self-regulation is not suppression. It is the ability to remain present long enough for
another response to become possible.

It is within that intentionally chosen response that inner healing and freedom become
possible.