I write in relation to ’The Livingness Workshop – Stage 1’ facilitated by Serge Benhayon of Universal Medicine on 15 February 2015. This was my first experience seeing Serge live, albeit from a webcast to Sydney. Having undertaken some of my own research prior to attending, I was reasonably certain that this was going to be a special day.
Serge Benhayon opened the Livingness Workshop with an introduction and made a simple statement that this was our workshop – not his – and this was the theme throughout. The workshop had a base structure to it, however this organically evolved through the contributions of the students.
I was pleasantly surprised by the willingness of so many people to freely and openly contribute to the group discussions. There was a significant commonality among the group demonstrating a collective need to challenge the way we are living.
Serge noted that our lives are being restrained and often defined by our personal hurts and experiences. Serge at this time spoke about a way of living continuum; in one direction there was pure evil, in the opposite direction pure love, in the middle was ‘normal’ – with many incremental steps along the pathway. As we have all been hurt we typically develop protection mechanisms to try and prevent this from happening again, however this so-called protection or barrier prevents us from moving forward, and we get trapped around the so-called ‘normal’.
Have we, or are we, creating a self-perpetuating life cycle? Do we feel that we are less exposed, less vulnerable – more comfortable with being ‘normal’?
Serge noted that if five, ten or twenty people have hurt you there is no direct linkage to suggest that the remaining seven billion people in the world will. This really resonated with me as I realised that I am defining or projecting myself more by what others have done (or may do) to me and not by who I am or who I can be.
If I choose to move more to the pure love side with a resultant lowering of the barriers, accepting and releasing the hurts, this then will attract more love, more openness, and I will establish a better connection with myself and ultimately define a new life cycle – or will I in effect, simply be returning to the life that I should be living?
Time to take the first step …
In the week after The Livingness Workshop, I had several people share personal issues with me and I was able to use the example above. I could see a realisation in their eyes and a natural connection with this message.
Throughout the session Serge encouraged an open discussion. He took all questions, respectfully challenged assumptions and, threaded through his comments there was a deep wisdom that seemed innately familiar.
Upon reflection, Serge Benhayon’s message is not based on some ‘out there’ radical concepts, but on common sense – a commodity that appears none too common in the way we live our lives today.
I would like to thank Serge Benhayon of Universal Medicine for his part in delivering this enlightening experience, my fellow Universal Medicine students for their most generous contributions and openness, and my Universal Medicine practitioner, Donna Gianniotis who is such an inspiration.
By Matt Nolan
Further Reading:
The Livingness Workshops
We Are Not Our Hurts
Loving Daily Choices and Healing Hurts
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
We need truth in this world, big time!
What is presented at these workshops feels normal when we are prepared to understand that we are returning to what our bodies already know. Therefore it is extremely simple for us to re-connect to, as you have shared Matt. It is then up to all of us to set a standard or quality to live with, as our being-ness loves to be obedient to our most divine aspect or essence.
It is incredible that the simplest truths are often the deepest. We are so brainwashed to think that we have to come up with a complex answer to our complex way of life, that when the simplest truth rings truth we are left astonished by the grandness of it.
Astonishing indeed is the simplicity of Truth, and being obedient to Truth rings True in us all when we set a standard or quality of being or living True to our Essences, or as Matt has shared our “natural connection”.
“a deep wisdom that seemed innately familiar.” The presentations by Serge Benhayon reconnect to a truth we can feel within and then it is our choice to deepen our living of the truth we feel.
Thank you Matt. Like you, it makes absolute sense to me that the more we let go of and resolve our hurts, the more space we have for love.
I love that too Matt Nolan, the generous contributions from attendees in workshops. I love listening to how Serge responds to each so differently but all equally in their development. Serge Benhayon is such an amazing man .. I could listen to him all day .. in fact ever since I found him I do with any opportunity.
Very beautiful Matt and a true depiction on what goes on in workshops led by Serge Benhayon. Presentations that provoke further questioning as to the choices we make, very supportive discussions with people who are ready and willing to take a deeper look at life and how we are in it.
Seeing people’s eyes light up with realisation in the week after the workshop, shows that what is presented is something common sense and relevant to everyone. Serge Benhayon simply puts to words what we have felt but learnt to bury so we can get on with life as it is. It is an extraordinary ordinary moment to have these feelings confirmed and normalised.
Serge Benhayon does put words to what we have all felt but buried as you say Fiona, what he shares does make such sense.
Universal Medicine courses and workshops remind us that we are a student of life, and how powerful it is for us to accept being such a student.
When we carry our hurts and live in protection we have no idea of how much we are missing out on.
Letting go of our hurts opens space for love.
I love the way you shared the wisdom of Serge’s workshop with others. As we evolve, it is our responsibility to support others to do the same.
I can relate to what you have shared here Matt about defining ourselves based on how others have treated us, instead of simply being who we are.
Living who we innately are in full keeps it simple.
The Livingness is actually a very ‘normal’ way for us to be living, what is not ‘normal’ is making choices that harm and abuse our bodies on a daily basis.
We sit on a normalized understanding of life and of ourselves and on a way of living it we consider normal. We are already trapped there since what we call normal is not and is constructed around hurts we carry. And these hurts conditions our way forth big time.
Each Serge Benhayon workshop is all encompassing, nothing held back. We too are invited to be the same in life.
Serge Benhayon inspires us to be more, not for ourselves alone, but for humanity.
The way of living continuum as presented by Serge Benhayon raises awareness of polarities and where we choose to sit. Offered in this way we can feel how far from pure love, normal is. And contrary to what most people think, normal is not it, not a place to settle or feel comfortable in. There is so much more on offer.
This is beautifully written – a great testament to the absolute integrity of Serge Benhayon.
I always find the Livingness 1 workshop very powerful, it reconnects me to a new level of experiencing my essence, and the workshopping activities with other students are also very enlightening. For me it’s a foundational course to live who I truly am and understand how the systems of life have affected my ability to do this.
Every workshop I have attended presented by Serge Benahyon thus far have never been the same, they’re forever evolving and that’s what I love about them.
Yes Shushila, they are very responsive to where the group is at and to what’s needed. They are a joy to receive and participate in.
The workshops presented by Serge Benhayon do support us to evolve, they are absolutely amazing.
The workshops and presentations by Serge Benhayon are a reintroduction to the truth that resonates with our inner knowing.
This is very true. In all the workshops and presentations I have attended what is presented is a reflection of us, essentially what we come in with. There is so much beauty and magic clearly indicating there is no agenda set but the absolute love for all.
Matt I love your straight forward and very clear approach to describing what is as you say pure common sense, despite it not being so common in our society today. But, we feel the truth in it, even if we can’t see it being played out in our everyday lives, we know for sure that life was not always this destructive. We know there were simpler times where people acted on feeling more than the so called intellect of the mind.
The middle of the bell curve that is ‘normal’ is probably harder to defeat than pure evil, for it holds us in a comfort we cannot (or don’t want to) see past and through. Although – like many who find their way to Universal Medicine – I had a knowing that there was so much more to life, I didn’t have the wherewithal to break out of the web of comfort I, and all of us, had collectively spun. It’s taken the gentle sledge-hammer that is Serge Benhayon to smash the illusion I was in. Today, it’s up to me, with the on-going support of the Universal Medicine presentations and modalities I choose to access, to break free of the last vestiges of comfort that hold me back from being a living expression of pure love.
Yes Victoria, I get an image of a fly trapped on sticky paper. We die in the position of ‘normal’ not realising we’re living dead unable to move because it feels comfortable and familiar. This is, as you say, an illusion and takes great commitment and dedication to move ourselves out and to be a ‘living expression of pure love’
An excellent summary Matt of a Serge Benhayon presentation, thank you. Every workshop, retreat, lecture or course I have attended live or online has been delivered in the same way, with a beautiful professionalism, openness, respectful challenge and ease. I’m so glad you loved your first experience as much as I did (and continue to do). Having searched for a ‘common sense philosophy’ for so long, Universal Medicine is the ‘global tonic’ presenting true answers to all our ills I’d been looking for!
Thank you Victoria for all you have beautifully expressed here, I have also found the Universal Medicine workshops and presentations having common sense, they are a combination of all that is divine yet the practicality of living it. Very different to New Age spirituality which took me away from the practicalities of life, and away from self care and self love.
I agree Matt; everything Serge presents makes complete sense and if something doesn’t make sense test it out for yourself and use your own experiences as a true marker for you – this builds our livingness and a deeper connection with ourselves.
It is amazing to finally have the truth presented and shared with us, it all makes so much sense.
Thank you Matt, for bringing the day to us in this gorgeous blog, which we can revisit again and again. It does seem that we as a society have settled for a ‘normal’ that we think is comfortable, we now even think is who we are. Yet if we are honest, deep within we still are not at ease with ourselves, with life and each other. Does this normality that we have settled for reflect just how amazing, powerful, vital and joyful we are and inspire us to be more of who we are? Why not? We may have moments of experiencing this but why are we not living this amazingness every day? Our connection to who we are is where our true normal is. For our love within, who we are, can never be altered, hurt or harmed, and it is this quality that when connected to, defines what true fulfillment is.
Yes it is great Matt the way Serge Benhayon opens up the workshops to us and says ‘This is your workshop’. In a way that can at first be a bit daunting as one feel a level of responsibility being called upon – we are so used to sitting back and letting the presenter do all the work while we ourselves contribute very little. But knowing all about energy and committed to live in a a true way, this amazing teacher knows he can only respond to what we are calling for – his job is not to impose knowledge upon us but inspire us to find that we ourselves have the font of all wisdom within.
It is truly amazing the extent to which a four-five-hour workshop can change your life. Welcome to Universal Medicine.
And what I am observing is that pure evil can present itself in places and situations where I once thought to be the least expected which I was a part of, but thank God I am gently coming out of by learning through the reflection in others and the observation in my livingness.
I have heard Serge Banhyon saying ‘This is your workshop, not mine’ many times. When I was at school, I was a ‘good’ student, never late, always attentive and able to answer questions correctly – but I am really realising now is how this stance is pretty much useless when it comes to livingness; it only works with memorizing and accumulating knowledge. Being at Universal Medicine presentations challenges this familiar posture that has for so long allowed me to hide behind being good, uncommitted, and I often find it very uncomfortable.
Thanks Matt, first I have to take the time to appreciate the fact that you experienced something great and then you went ahead a wrote a blog about it, I find that very inspiring in itself. I love the concept that Serge Benhayon presented about us living in this spot between evil and love. It’s almost like we have just settled for it and we have been in that spot for so long that anything outside that spot feels scary or unfamiliar. We cling to familiar as humans, even when it’s not that good; if we know it, we feel safe. I remember hearing this terrible song over and over on the radio when I was a teenager, I commented the first few times about how much I didn’t like the song and then a month later it played at a party and before the lyrics came on I screamed out, I love this song?! I later realised I just got tricked because it was familiar. It’s time we make a new norm and one part of that is expression; good on you for getting out to the world what you experienced in the Workshop!
It’s an interesting concept that by living what’s normal we are not challenged because it’s neither the extreme of evil nor is it the truth of love, yet so many of us are settling for this.
It is so true that we often hold onto our hurts more and then measure how we will be with others based on this. This is a pattern I can relate too. I had never considered it in this way until I heard Serge Benhayon speak on it, but it showed me how when we all do this we continue to circulate abuse because we all stay protected however when someone loves openly it sets a new way.
This has stood out for me too Matt since hearing Serge Benhayon present Livingness 1, “Serge noted that if five, ten or twenty people have hurt you there is no direct linkage to suggest that the remaining seven billion people in the world will.” This is huge and breaks down many dogged thoughts that keep us suppressed in protection for years or eons. 9 times out of 10 what we ‘think’ is going to happen if we open up again and trust… doesn’t.
I loved reading this Matt. What is so beautiful to me is that everything is presented in Livingness 1. It’s not like so many other courses or workshops I’ve attended where it’s an introduction and you need to do more in order to get the complete picture. One could never do another Universal Medicine workshop again in their lives and yet still have the access to everything those who attend many have. The clue is in the name – if we make it our Livingness, then we heal our hurts, let go of protection and accelerate our movement back to Love.
Thanks Matt, there is a simplicity to all that Serge Benhayon shares and it’s very relatable. I often start discussions with door knockers, people at the shops, etc, related to what I have learned at Universal Medicine workshops and everyone always sparks up and can also relate – Serge gets to the heart of the common human experience and it’s something we do all innately know.
When we get hurt and don’t heal that hurt and let it go we can tend to form a protective barrier around ourselves to prevent us getting hurt again. And then we get hurt again, and again don’t heal it and let it go so another layer of protection is added on top of the previous one. This goes on and on with more layers getting added over the passing years until one day we realise we are the equivalent of a ‘sumo’ of protection and realise how awkward and heavy these hurts are to carry which then gives us the opportunity to heal them. Then one by one with the grace of the lessons we learn every day from our own and others imperfections we peel them back, let them go and lighten up.
This reminds me of a cartoon I once saw of a person in the darkest, saddest, most protected and miserable struggle of life you can imagine, and yet underneath it all was pure light and Love, untainted and untarnished by any of the hurts and layers of protection we might cake ourselves in. Beneath it all we are pure and innocent and always will be, no matter what.
‘Upon reflection, Serge Benhayon’s message is not based on some ‘out there’ radical concepts, but on common sense – a commodity that appears none too common in the way we live our lives today.’ Beautifully said Matt.The simplicity and common sense of the Ageless Wisdom is an affront to the arrogant spirit but it is the pure medicine of the Soul.
We have indeed a natural connection with all what Serge Benhayon is presenting. Whether we choose to live in this connection is another thing and related to the question do we want to stay ‘normal’, not stand out and living a comfortable life or choose love as a standard for our every day.
“I realised that I am defining or projecting myself more by what others have done (or may do) to me and not by who I am or who I can be.” Goodness. This is such a powerful revelation. It completely changes one’s outlook on life from one of, ‘Life doing me’ to, ‘Me doing life’.
I came back to this article as it popped up in front of me this morning. Living the ‘norm’ these days isn’t such a great thing. This is no to judge those that do but more question the direction we are headed in support of any norm. When you do things year after year or even week after week it’s always great to keep your head up and look at the possibilities.
As was presented at the course in the article, “Serge noted that if five, ten or twenty people have hurt you there is no direct linkage to suggest that the remaining seven billion people in the world will.” Yet we carry on as though everything will repeat itself not realising what we are carrying will attract the very thing we are trying to avoid. It’s an interesting one to see, in that something happens and we feel hurt, embarrassed, judged, not trusted etc by it. When we record this and look for that to not repeat itself in that way again so we change the way we act, share, move, or speak.
Everything around us senses the change and we see it as us being a better person or protecting ourselves or just not letting something bad happen again. Everyone and everything else sees it as something unnatural, something that doesn’t belong to how you naturally are and so by support and to heal, everything constellates for you to let go of whatever it is. You think it’s the repeat of the same thing again and so go through the same process of changing how you are and so the cycle continues; you think here we go again hang on and everything else is saying here is another opportunity for you to let go. Never do the two meet because it’s “normal” for people to change and be a better person and it’s not normal to see the world like this. It’s not to challenge the ‘norm’ but to consistently ask questions of why you do what feels like the same things are certain points, and be open for the world to reflect the answer to you.
I love how Universal Medicine presentations don’t have boundaries, and how the participants are allowed to explore and examine what is being presented, through open and honest questions, experiences and a willingness to go there no matter how uncomfortable it may be. If schools were like this we would have a very different kind of society than we have today.
There is no doubt that great change can come through our lives when we choose to be in connection to love, however the change is far greater when we work together to live in union with the oneness of the love that we naturally belong to. For love in fact is our true ‘normal’, a normal that is out of this world in contrast the normal we currently have settled for today.