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In this article, John describes how he originated his system for releasing feelings, and what benefits may be realized. First published in Positive Health, London, England

It's 1988. For some reason, I'm at a point in my life of reassessment - of looking at where I am and wondering why I'm there. I've been earnestly "on the path" since the late sixties, so an important part of my self-evaluation concerns what we loosely call the "spiritual." Have I really achieved anything in the way of growth? Am I succeeding in my efforts of self-realization? As I look honestly at myself, I see areas that call out in distress.

I see that I am often angry. I see that I experience much pain in my intimate relationships. I see that I am still isolated, lonely, and living in anxiety if not downright fear. All this even though I'm trying my best to keep up a dedicated meditation and yoga practice, trying to be conscious of the karma I am generating, trying to be a "loving and spiritual" person. One of the few consoling realizations is that I am certainly not alone. As I look at others, I see the same if not exaggerated condition.

What I see is that we are all in emotional turmoil. If we could resolve our feelings, we would be doing something very important. With regard to my personal path, I see that resolving feelings is primary. I was taught to aim for higher consciousness, to become a loving and blissful person, but I was never taught how to handle the negative feelings inside. I finally had to admit that there is work to do on the emotional level, and that my growth will be limited until I do it. From a more detached viewpoint, I now see how this so. The emotional planes come before the spiritual planes. In our journey of consciousness, we must clear the planes in ascending order: physical, emotional, mental, intellectual and spiritual. If we aim for the "spiritual" with no attention to feelings, we are bound to be unstable in our growth, and are likely to end up suppressing our feelings in the name of spirituality.

In our New Age and self-help literature, another important realization about feelings has been emerging strongly over the last six or eight years. More and more, we hear of the connection between suppressed feelings and chronic poor health. Healing professionals are venturing the idea that in order to resolve health issues, we must resolve the emotional issues behind them. The awareness is growing that the unreleased and trapped negative emotional energy keeps building inside and eventually manifests in the physical.

However, when I would read these statements in the past, I would always be confused and disappointed. It was now clear to me that working on the emotional level was something I had neglected and must do, but none of these spokespersons really had anything to offer in the way of actually how this might be accomplished, aside from a vague suggestion that feelings should be expressed. I felt that I was on my own. What did express mean? Should I be more emotional? Should I lash out, should I hurt people who hurt me, should I be always out front with everybody and discuss all my feelings, or should I just get into therapy? And if so, what kind of therapy? Many of these possible alternatives clashed with the spiritual principles that were now a part of my life.

Although emotional healing has always been an important part of Western psychological therapy, this did not seem like an answer for me. While I was sure that therapy could be helpful to people at certain times, my situation did not seem urgent enough to warrant a therapist - actually, I felt better than normal. Therapy was also expensive and could only be undertaken for limited periods. What I wanted was an approach that I could use all the time, on my own. It was also important for me to integrate my emotional work with my previous consciousness work and I could not see how to do this in therapy at this time. Seeing no clear direction, I decided that I was breaking new ground.

It's still 1988. I'm searching. I come into contact with a teacher - Gurudev Amrit Desai of the Kripalu Center in Lenox, Massachussetts - who seems to be presenting Eastern philosophy in a new way. I already know much about Eastern philosophy, so much that I hadn't read any for years, but all of what I had read was the old school, if I may use that term. The old school never really recognized negative feelings - just be spiritual, it said. If you felt angry, be loving. In other words, suppress your anger. This new teacher had things to say that I had never heard. Maybe I was just never ready to hear before now, but the revolution was beginning within me.

I started having tremendous insights. I realized that a large part of how I saw the world and how I experienced my interactions with others was based on projection. In projection, I would think that someone or something else was responsible for my reaction to them. In other words, I believed that someone or something else was making me angry, lonely, afraid, hateful and so on. What I realized was that these feelings were actually coming from my suppressed emotional subconscious and just attaching to people and circumstances outside myself. Taking it a step further, I could see how I attracted difficult people and circumstances to myself that corresponded to the feelings. Why would I do this, I asked? The answer came that it was in order to bring up the suppressed feelings for clearing.

A large light went on. You mean I attract these difficult people and situations to myself in order to bring up those suppressed, negative feelings from my subconscious for clearing? Yes, the answer came. And if I don't take advantage of this opportunity to clear the feelings, I might continue to attract this same type of person and circumstance to myself? Yes, the answer came. This is starting to sound something like karma. Yes, the answer came. I was stunned.

For the first time, I saw the connection between the karma of the East and the suppressed emotional subconscious of the West. For the first time, I saw the complete implication and importance of taking responsibility for my emotional experience. And at the same time how I never took responsibility! How I would blame, blame, blame, and unconsciously blame more.

As I evolved the system and kept working on myself and with friends for a few years, I continued to see the effectiveness. I was encouraged to publish my findings in 1993 in a book called Emotional Clearing, which goes into much greater depth than I have been able to here. At this point, readers from all over the world have written me and told me of the importance the book has had for them - many of them with breakthrough and turning-point stories. It's always amazing to see not only how our emotional experience changes after we have released feelings, but also how things change in our experience of the world. We no longer attract negative people; we no longer attract situations that compel us to fail because we no longer have the need to attract negativity to ourselves.

I now counsel clients from all parts of the country by telephone, and I have found that there is an important role that a therapist can fulfill. Besides clarifying the approach and leading a client through it, the additional energy from myself as therapist aids in the clearing. For example, clients are able to more easily get into an alpha healing mode through the resonance that occurs between myself and them. Working with clients has led to a certification program for other therapists, and a three-day workshop that I lead around the country, which provides a powerful jump-start in emotional processing. The strong group energy that builds in the workshop can also be instrumental in helping individuals break through blocks that may have been resistant to solo work.

As you work on yourself, remember to be patient. Once you begin doing the work seriously and effectively, you start to clear the residue of centuries. For me, emotional clearing work has become central to my path. I now see that this work is most important to my personal evolution as well as that of the world, because we are all ultimately connected - as you heal yourself, you heal the world. Be well and be kind.