My name is Paul, I am 45 years old. I am a father and have been a postie for the last 11 years. I own my home in Northern NSW and currently I still like a beer, pizza, watching sport on TV, coffee etc. In the last 3 months I started dating an esoteric student who invited me to do the 2017 Universal Medicine Retreat in Lennox Head with her.
Prior to the retreat I was nervous, unsure what was ahead. I had been to a couple of Universal Medicine events and heard stories of people’s transformation – especially my girlfriend Rosie’s past to where she is at now – but wasn’t really sure what the retreat would be like.
On arrival I felt the love between the people that knew each other, big warm hugs going down everywhere I looked. I felt comfortable and I sat down and was open to learning more.
To be honest I struggled for the first two days . . . no caffeine, chocolate, dairy or gluten to keep me going. A bit of a challenge from my normal ways of living. Sitting in the seat my eyes kept closing on me. I definitely struggled but I loved what was presented: all related to why I was struggling in the first place!
I loved what Serge Benhayon shared, especially about the stars and the universe and energy. I became aware of how all of what I have been eating and drinking was suppressing me and making me check out from life and from being the true essence of who I really am.
On the third day I really didn’t want to get up. I needed that coffee hit. I just wanted to stay in bed and be comfortable but I didn’t give up. I started seeing chocolate on all the tables around me, even though there was no chocolate! My mind was playing tricks on me but during the day I managed a beach walk and sleep to recharge, and by the end of it I was feeling clearer and loved opening up more to what was on offer.
The Esoteric Yoga complemented the work so well. I could get back into my body; such a simple exercise but so powerful that anyone, any size can do it. I felt so connected and clear afterwards.
It was lovely to meet some new people, and be supported with the right foods to keep me on track for the week.
Serge Benhayon and Natalie Benhayon are truly inspirational people and I am glad I made the decision to do the Universal Medicine Retreat and I know that this is really just the beginning.
I realise this journey comes from within and feel grateful I have been given the proper tools to be the true divine person I was at birth.
By Paul
Further Reading:
Universal Medicine Retreat…. and Advance!
Before and After My Self Love Program – Forever Unfolding the Real Me
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Amazing transformation Paul, and this simple story can be possible for everyone when we let go as you have done and accept what our bodies are Truly sharing about life.
Hi Paul, I always enjoy reading this, and had a giggle about you seeing chocolate everywhere! Universal Medicine retreats are very simple, they are life changing and the environment is one of love and brotherhood (to the best of our ability) amongst the students. I’ve been attending Universal Medicine retreats annually since 2013 and I find they provide a wonderful new foundation each year for me to live from, they bring such a richness and depth to life that I never want to miss one.
That openness to hearing or being present within something that is not currently the mainstream is a great start to questioning and changing life. Especially when that ‘not mainstream’ is a completely different energetic stream.
A Universal Medicine 5 day Retreat can be quite challenging but I love that you stuck with it, going cold turkey on caffeine gluten, dairy, and chocolate is not easy but as you have shown it is well worth it for you get to feel what it is like to have a clear mind and body and the lightness and joy that this brings.
It was quite amazing that you went cold turkey on coffee, chocolate, dairy and gluten all at the same time, well done.
The retreats and courses from Universal Medicine are profound in terms of what takes place… understanding of life is quadrupled and deepened with each event, not to mention how my physical body feels in terms of being open, vital and joyful.
The struggle you felt Paul going without gluten, dairy and caffeine on the retreat, is something many will relate to. In daily living we’re presented with the same energetic choices – ones that hold and support us and those that do not. This is a constant, each movement builds on the next for expansion or stagnation.
Paul what a pleasure to read about your experience of the Lennox Head retreat, in particular that you were seeing chocolates everywhere and the mind playing tricks. You discerned this and tuned into your body which was just awesome as we constantly ignore those or any signals it communicates.
So true about the important role that the food plays in supporting us during the retreat. We are not completely without our own responsibility to discern what to eat and how much to eat, but still it gives us a great blueprint on how we could support ourselves if the energy/vibration we get presented in is what we would like to have as our everyday life and not just reserved for the retreat.
Love your shared experience of your first Universal Medicine retreat Paul. In reading this I could feel how in our openness to being honest with ourselves and to exploring the truth we have greater awareness to a quality within that allows us to feel the truth of who we are and how to support ourselves to live who we naturally are.
Very gorgeous to feel you express from the honesty of your body Paul. It is very refreshing to feel someone talk this way. Just you sharing this alone in they way you did allows another the space to feel and be in the honesty of their body also.
I can appreciate how you say that it’s a journey that unfolds from within us and at the same time also be assisted by truly supportive tools on offer, helping us reconnect more with that inner compass.
Great blog Paul, I can relate to what you’ve shared. I remember my first Universal Medicine retreat, I loved every part of it except I struggled for the first three days with Esoteric Yoga in the mornings. My body felt restless and uncomfortable, and the sessions seemed so long but by day 4 and 5, I really got to appreciate how powerful Esoteric Yoga is, and it supported me to feel how tired and restless my body was due to the way I had been living.
I love this blog – it is so simple and to the point and very inspiring.
The Universal Medicine Retreats offer us so much wisdom, love and greater truth, they are simply life-changing if we embrace and begin to live what is presented.
A great sharing Paul on your first Universal Medicine Retreat, life changing events in many ways.
The Universal Medicine retreat has offered me huge benefits. With the tools given I am able to handle all things in life.
There is always this moment when we stop eating a food we were addicted to that we feel horrible and want to sleep, be moody or anything really. What I love knowing though is that once we are through that there is greater clarity and awareness in the body and I support myself going through it by knowing that.
It was great that Paul felt clearer a few days after cutting out certain foods, and attending the Retreat, ‘I was feeling clearer and loved opening up more to what was on offer.’
I could not agree with you more how Esoteric Yoga complements the retreat. Whether it is at the retreat or whether it is a separate program, it is a powerful modality and like no other exercise I have ever performed before. It brings you back to your body and helps you recognise when you’ve gone into drive or hardness – I simply love the simplicity of it.
I love Esoteric Yoga, and find it particularly supportive having it before the retreat in the am, and at the end of the day, in the pm.
Hi Paul, I loved what you have shared, love the honesty and the willingness to show that we are addicted to things, and don’t realise how dependent/reliant we are on these foods or drink until we don’t have them for several days, yet we still made it and survived without them too. From this something to appreciate that underneath all of this, the true essence is and will always be there.
I love how much you loved what was being presented. So much so that you kept going back each day and continued to appreciate each moment, even when it was struggle – you could see the value in re-connecting with yourself. This to me shows the great love that you already are, just waking up again.
There are hundreds and hundreds of stories like this, and it doesn’t mean people become feverent students who attend each and every event but their lives are changed forever and given amazing tools to live. You can’t statistically quantify this positive impact Universal Medicine has had.
Many students have turned their lives around in amazing ways, Universal Medicine is like a God-send for supporting us to return to who we truly are
“and was open to learning more” – this really is the key to life, to be open to learning more. When you are open, it is not saying that what is going to be presented is going to be true (or not), it just means you are open to hearing it, seeing it, and experiencing it. Then YOU decide what feels true to you or not. But if we are not open, we cut off that opportunity at the knees.
We are forever students, always learning more, and letting go of what is not true.
Such a beautifully honest and open blog about your experience Paul, thank you for sharing.
I love your honesty here Paul, it is so refreshing as you tell your first retreat experience exactly like it was. I am sure many in your situation would have not lasted the five days, but chocolate hallucinations and all you were there until the end and I get the feeling you are very pleased that you did.
I read your blog again Paul because it feels so honest and true what you are expressing to the world. That there is another way to live we don’t have to crush ourselves with all the distractions we have come up with to keep ourselves away from feeling true love. True love is very powerful and if humanity were to embrace their own love we would all be leading such different lives. A colleague of mine after many years of driving long distance to and from work has semi-retired and doesn’t have the drive any more in stopping they were able to connect to the stress they were constantly under just because of the drive on the motorway and was honest enough to admit that the stress has contributed to their health problems. At the time they were so caught up with making sure they had a secure job to go to that their focus was not on their body. How many of us live like this? And what effect is this having on our bodies?
This is a great example Mary of how we prioritise, very often to our own detriment. We get caught up in what we think we ought to do, or what is expected of us. This impacts on our mental, emotional and then of course physical lives. By letting go of the hold these beliefs or ideals have on us, we can begin to open to a more spacious and enjoyable way of being that nurtures, rather than slowly destroying us.
Letting go of the false beliefs, ideals, and pictures is very freeing, and can allow us to move away from behaviours that are not loving, or evolving.
The struggle with life gets revealed in full in an Unimed event. The possibility of the future is also there in your face.
“The Esoteric Yoga complemented the work so well. I could get back into my body; such a simple exercise but so powerful that anyone, any size can do it. I felt so connected and clear afterwards.”
I agree wholeheartedly with you Paul – Esoteric Yoga is a simple and powerful tool that is a living way, far beyond just attending a session.
I love the realisations you share here Paul – when we feel the end result of our choices from the body, we have more awareness of what we have been suppressing through those ill-choices.
“I became aware of how all of what I have been eating and drinking was suppressing me and making me check out from life and from being the true essence of who I really am”.
I have just completed a Universal Medicine retreat too and it was amazing to feel the love and support on offer to everyone there and also to allow myself to be more of me.
It is only when we become more aware, that we realise the extent that we have been living unaware and how much we have used a certain from of comfort and numbness to not feel the truth of all that is happening around us. Although this can feel uncomfortable at first, as we begin to adjust to our new level of awareness and fine tune our way of living to support this, we establish a new norm that becomes very hard to trade for anything less.
Yes it is such a gift to be offered the space to be clear of the usual auto-pilot patterns and behaviours and to actually feel underneath them a quality that feels much clearer and then suddenly we view the old ways of living for what they really are.
Wow, good on you for sticking with it. It can be really challenging to step out of our comfort zones into something so powerful but it only goes to show that when our heart truly wants something anything is possible.
The Universal Medicine retreats are extraordinarily simple, yet powerful reflections of another way to live and be, bringing out the truer and clearer versions of ourselves.
I love that you have done this blog Paul, it’s real and honest. It’s not so easy to chose the path of fiery truth, the temptation of comfort is forever on our tails. So good to read the ups and down and the gold that comes from it.
I love how you describe it as just the start, I’ve done a number of Universal Medicine retreats and they’ve been INCREDIBLE, but then you get to take what you’ve experienced into the world and explore that – and you are right – it’s very much just the start – but the start of something amazing.
Connecting with the body and being in the moment presents lots of new info and questioning regarding how this experience had gone un-noticed for so long. We are amazing and divine beings and your experience of claiming this Paul sounds like an unfolding you have not had before. I really appreciate your honesty and sharing.
New attendees at the Universal Medicine retreats are not the only ones to feel they are struggling for the first day or two. Serge Benhayon delivers the truth to us, something we know irrefutably but live in denial of this truth. This has to cause an initial tension when the two meet.
I love that you have shared this Paul, no bell and whistles just straight talk of how it is.
That’s all there is, to be attentive to the body each and every step—not judging whatever it wants—foods, drinks, sleep, just respect what it is telling us and give it the care it needs.
Gosh, if we would be all open to learning, to love and taking responsibility as you describe here, Paul, the world would be a different place.
Paul thank you for sharing your first experience of a Universal Medicine Retreat, it is a great reminder that when we connect to our essence we are aware of so much more.