I have always jokingly referred to Marléne as my “guru”. Even my wife, when I am leaving for a
session of some sort has sometimes said: “enjoy the time with your guru!”
The reason though, is actually quite simple. I have always been the kind of person that has problems
following the path that my feelings or emotions take. I may feel a particular way, but am usually quite
unable to track it backwards to a source, or forwards to a solution.
The value that Marléne has for me is her innate ability to ask the right questions.
So when I was – at the tail end of 2020 – invited to a try out a Life Alignment session, I jumped at
the opportunity. 2020 being what it was my mind was fuzzier than usual. Conflicting information and
insights were muddying up the waters, adding to the general angst that the year had brought. I was at a
point where everything was blocked up and I was simply riding the wave of whatever came, just reacting
to everything. The result was that I stood still atop that wave. I couldn’t turn left nor right, and I couldn’t
move forwards. I could just hold on and hope that it would break at some stage and with luck I would
be deposited on the soft sand and not sucked under.
I didn’t know what Life Alignment was. Sure, I looked it up ahead of time but didn’t delve too
much. I didn’t really want to know. The best thing I find – when visiting with Marléne – is to take along
no preconceived ideas. So when she asked what my intentions for the session were, I had no idea. I’m
not great at processing my own feelings, remember?
So we climbed into it. I won’t go into the process. That is something you discover for yourself. But
I chose to trust the process – and Marléne – as I always have and let things fall where they may. We
started with some baseline questions and then she began her work.
Marléne’s ability to ask the right questions and come right to the heart of the matter is, like I said,
the reason I go. And this was no exception. The combination of the Life Alignment program with
Marléne’s ability to…what is the word…her intuition, very quickly started to target in on exactly what I
was feeling. We chatted through a few of those emotions, constantly testing them, until we zeroed in on
the root. Once we knew that, we could work towards releasing those emotions and changing my focus,
re-framing the situations I found myself in.
My problem with psychotherapy is that it is so abstract. Not so with this process. There is no
messing around on the fringes. We got right to the heart of it and the realisations of how I was actually
feeling – which was quite different to what I THOUGHT I was feeling – were quite profound. I shifted
from being stuck in that emotion to a point where I could see my way down off the wave.
And taking the plunge wasn’t difficult. Moving forward, off that wave and getting started again,
getting out of that stagnant place, was easier than I thought it might be. In the days following the Life
Alignment session I found myself doing things that I had been putting off. I hadn’t consciously planned
to do those things; I just found myself doing them. And when I stopped to think about it I realised: some
shift has taken place. I am standing up again. Some abandoned projects were restarted; some that I had
been putting off were completed. I found my relationships – and my thoughts towards them – taking on
new importance.
The biggest change, though? Clarity. I felt clearer in my mind, not as fuzzy. I started to filter the
information coming in better and forming opinions that resonated with me. At one stage during the two
sessions I had I was compelled to look back into my past, at certain events that I had kept caged up.
While I am not 100% on going there, not yet, I am at least not fearful of doing so, and perhaps
even a little curious, to see what would happen if I went into those moments fully and gave myself
permission to release them, along with the emotions that they throw up.
So yes: if there is something Marléne does well, it is asking the right questions, and getting right
into the marrow. That is the value that she has for me.