us much lengthier accounts than we were able to include.

The
demonstrations were edited to make them easier to understand and use in
written form. Complete, unedited demonstrations are available on audiotape
and videotape.
You may notice as you read the demonstrations that we use unique
language patterns, and have very specific ways of wording things. In these
demonstrations we indicate a pause with three periods (...). This indicates
that we are allowing time for the person we are working with to process
information and integrate changes unconsciously. These pauses usually last
a few seconds, but can last as long as a few minutes. We are guided in
knowing when to go on by watching facial expressions and color, breathing
patterns, gestures, and by being deeply “tuned in” to the client’s state.
Knowing these verbal and nonverbal subtleties is part of the art of what
we do to facilitate others in this process, but is not necessary to get
profound benefits from the Core Transformation Process. We have had
hundreds of people do the process on their own, through our tapes and
videos, and report back that they got the results they wanted. However, to
get the best results when you do the exercises yourself, it is important that
you use the specific language we give you in the exercises, and follow the
directions carefully. When you have done the Core Transformation Process
many times, you will find you have intuitively created your own pace and
patterns.
If you would like to find out more about these language patterns, and
how and why we use them, check the resource section in the back of the
book. We have a wide variety of other books, audio and video tapes, and we
regularly offer seminars, workshops and trainings around the world.
As you do these exercises, be gentle and patient with yourself. Most of
us have spent years developing our unwanted behaviors, feelings and
responses, for very good reasons, and we want to respect that. Welcome the
parts of yourself that you want to change-they are about to become your
strongest and most helpful allies.
Connirae Andreas
 SECTION I
MAPPING OUT THE TERRITORY
Keys to Core Transformation
 Chapter 1
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
How Do We Get There From Here?
Don't say such changes cannot happen. A vast freedom could live
inside you. A loaf of bread wrapped in a cloth for the table is just an
object, but inside the human body, it becomes a gladness for being
alive!
-Rumi
If you want to get somewhere, a good map can make the difference
between arriving at your destination with ease and getting hopelessly lost.
Let's say a friend raves about a restaurant with wonderful food, friendly
people and reasonable prices, and you decide to go eat there. You ask your
friend where the restaurant is.
Your friend says, “Just visualize the restaurant clearly. Post a sign on
your refrigerator door that says, ‘I can easily and joyfully find any
restaurant I want!’ That’s all you need to do.”
This idea may seem silly but what if my destination is “self-
acceptance?” What if I want to reach a state of inner wholeness that I have
never experienced before? Like the restaurant in the above example, I have
heard wonderful things about it but haven’t been there and don’t know how
to get there. Many of us have been told, “Just do it. Just accept yourself.”
This is a little like being told to ‘Just go to the restaurant,” without being
given any directions.
Or what if you ask how to get to the restaurant and your friend says,
“Before you can find this restaurant you need to spend several months, or
even years, thinking about how bad your own cooking is. You need to
explore the reasons why you aren’t happy with your own cooking and why
you have this need to go to the restaurant. You also have to really
understand how you became such a bad cook.” This seems even sillier than
the previous example. All you need is directions to the restaurant!
In a similar vein, many self-help approaches have asked us to spend
years striving to thoroughly understand our problems. A common belief is
that if we only understand the problem well enough, it will simply
disappear. Yet, all too often, we understand a problem and still have it. The
goal of Core Transformation is not to understand our problems, it is to go to
the place within where our problems will transform. This is a “how-to”
book that gives you the “how,” in accessible, easy-to-use steps.
Core Transformation is not about affirmations or positive thinking.
Many of us have tried to overcome our limitations by sheer willpower-
simply trying to feel or act differently, or telling ourselves over and over
that we will be different. That is approaching ourselves from the outside in-
it's trying to change on the surface without dealing with the core of the
problem. That's like taking an aspirin when we have a broken bone. We
may feel better for a while, but unless we do something to help the bone
heal properly, the good feeling isn't going to last.
In contrast, the Core Transformation Process works from the inside out.
It is a series of simple, step-by-step exercises that allow us to change
unwanted behaviors, feelings and responses easily and rapidly, and to have
an ongoing sense of wellbeing that occurs naturally when we experience
Core Transformation.

Discovering the Wellspring

Wouldn't it be nice to have an underlying sense of wholeness and well

being whether or not things are going well in our lives in the moment? Most
of us feel good when our lives are going well. Is it possible to feel
resourceful even when things seem to be falling apart? Yes. We know it is
possible because we have had the experience, and hundreds of our clients
and workshop participants have reported back to us that they're having more
and more of these experiences. This book is about developing and
maintaining an inner sense of self, wellbeing, wholeness, and perhaps even
a connection with something beyond ourselves, that sustains us in difficulty
as well as in times of ease. This inner sense of fullness and integrity, and a