Book Review: The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

The Untethered Soul Book Cover

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer gained in notoriety when the author became a favourite of Oprah Winfrey, appearing on her Super Soul Sunday segment. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and was not let down. This book is so profound and wise that what you are reading resonates deeply within you and I really can see it changing lives. The best part is that it is written so simply and that’s kind of the beauty of it.

What’s it about?

This book is about transcendence; transcending all negative emotions and fears so that you can live without any event in life disturbing your peace. It explains what true spirituality is and how to reach it.

The first bulk of the book opens your eyes as to how we are all slaves to the voice in our head and Michael A. Singer tells us how to silence this voice.

Next, the book effectively teaches you to face your fears and overcome them.

Then comes enlightenment. The Untethered Soul gives you all the encouragement and direction you need to live from your heart and live in absolute peace/enlightenment/bliss/nirvana.

The way that each stage is explained and set out with examples leaves you positive that reaching this state is entirely possible and not just an unattainable claim.

Concepts

1) Be aware of the voice

Take a few moments and listen to yourself think. Notice how that voice in your head goes on and on? Don’t try to stop it, instead just listen and be aware of it. That voice is not you. You are the one who hears the voice talking. The real you is actually silent.

Singer trains you to see the voice in your head as separate from yourself, even nicknaming it your roommate. Once you get to grips with this, and follow the exercises outlined you will understand that focusing on mindless chatter is wasted energy! 

Be aware of your surroundings. Look around you at things without forming a running commentary in your mind. You can still take it in without expending energy and forming commentary in your head. This will make you feel quite naked and unprotected to begin with because your brain usually runs its own commentary to normalise everything around you and make you feel protected. To be free however you must start to simply be aware by just watching the world around you.

By constantly remembering that you are not the voice in your head that is talking and that you are the silent one, you are becoming spiritually awakened. As you remind yourself of this you will feel less threatened as you stop relying on the mental chatter to normalise your surroundings and become okay with just taking it all in. This is such a deep experience that you are transcending – this is a major part of what is called enlightenment. By the end of the book Singer will have given you a good idea as to what bliss/nirvana feels like and how to know when you are close to experiencing true freedom.

2) Seat of Consciousness

When you experience problems such as people saying hurtful things and causing arguments, stop and notice who is feeling hurt. It’s not you. It’s the voice. Let yourself feel the emotions of jealousy, anger, hurt but do not try to fix these so called problems. How can it be a real problem if you have come to realise it is not the real you experiencing such feelings. Instead sit in what Singer calls the Seat of Consciousness. Feel the hurt, relax, take deep breaths and let the negative energy pass through you., Stay relaxed until you no longer feel the emotion. Most of all, be aware that your roommate is feeling the jealousy but just be aware and watch the ‘voice’, don’t reason with it or analyse anything, and it will quieten as you keep breathing and let the emotion leave your body.

3) The Heart

Heart is an energy channel. Past memories of bad experiences are stored in your heart because something uncomfortable happens so you shut down to protect yourself and not feel. Your heart remembers what happened so when similar situations arise you feel those same feelings.

Singer says you can release these stored memories by allowing the emotions to pass through the next time they arise. Let them pass by relaxing and not closing your heart and you will be free of that hurt. Whenever something scares your just go through the pain, don’t close off. Feel it, learn to love it, be brave let it pass and relax your shoulders as you keep breathing deeply and eventually it wont hurt you again. The book has details on how to make this process successful but that is the crunch of it. The author explains how to rid yourself of a lifetimes worth of negative energy in the quickest way possible.

It is all about letting energy go. Emotions are energy. You may feel tired, lethargic and too run down to make a proper dinner after breaking up with your ex. Then he will ring asking to meet and you suddenly have the energy to wash, clothe and leave the house. What happened? You didn't change what you ate or gain an extra few hours of sleep. Your heart is an energy channel. Your heart sends vibrations into the atmosphere around you. That is where this sudden energy rushed in from. It wasn't anything you ate. This is why it is important not to waste such energy by indulging in negative thought. This love energy is always inside of you. Get rid of bad energy like fear and phobias by going through the pain and fear and letting it leave your body. Eventually you will transcend and no event in life will be able to hurt you.

The Law of Attraction Link

Being that the law of attraction is all about positive thinking and raising your vibration, the Untethered Soul really fits in nicely as an aid to those living 'The Secret'.

This book teaches you a way of life not just a quick fix. If you follow what's advised you will effectively train yourself to think positively and rid yourself of negative thoughts without having let negative experiences and events affect you emotions in the first place.

Singer teaches you how to listen to your heart so that you eventually feel the uncomfortable sensation in your heart BEFORE your mind even has a chance to process it. This means that you can enact the emotion releasing techniques straight away before your mind gets a chance to weigh in and bring you down further.

Letting negative thoughts pass through you swiftly will eventually become the norm and even if you feel like you are failing you will be surprised at how much more positive energy vibrations you will be radiating as a pose to having not made yourself aware of your thoughts. This of course should attract to you what you have been trying to manifest a lot quicker when in this vibration.

Final Thoughts

The book is beautifully written as it is so simple and without much elaborate language. Instead, the content of what is written is so eye opening that you will want to devour every chapter. Although it is simple, you do have to focus and maybe re read certain parts as your mind makes sense of notions being described. 

The examples used are those of our everyday habits and experiences which we have all gone through. Other imaginative examples really hammer in the point being made.

For me personally there were one too many examples because you get so pumped up reading an explanation for the way you are feeling that you are so desperate to get to the solution part so I felt the book could have been a tad shorter. However these examples may help others really identify with why it’s so important to not let your mind control you. If you are like me however, just persevere because the descriptions of how to manage fears and release stress are well worth it.

Experience
Reading about how it is possible to overcome your fears was really exciting for me because I took it to include not just handling feelings of being  nervous in situations but also overcoming phobias. I am uneasy in confided claustrophobic spaces. I practiced breathing deeply and being aware that my mind was feeling fearful whilst in a confined space and I can say that I do think it helped me face that phobia. I was quite pleased with how much stronger my state of mind seemed to be as I experienced that claustrophobic atmosphere and do feel positive about being in those situations in the future and eventually being totally at ease although I am not saying it will be a walk in the park as I did feel fear but being able to handle it slightly better has made be more optimistic. I recommend those of you suffering from phobias to read this book and give it a try!

It's also important to stay aware of your thoughts in the long term after a long period of time has passed and you lapse into lazy habits and let negative thoughts back in. Don't be dismayed, just start the habit of watching your thoughts again and again until it becomes second nature and reap the benefits.

Photo sources
1st image - http://thespiritscience.net/tags/freedom/ 2nd image - http://www.nextnature.net/2010/06/our-heart-as-a-power-plant/ 3rd image - www.pinterest.com 4th image - http://www.lawofattraction-resourceguide.com/vibration-and-law-of-attraction/