“A spiritual mentor is a person who guides and accompanies others to look within and find their own essence, truth and fundamental nature. It teaches you to manage negative emotions and thoughts and to understand how the mind works”, thus begins our conversation with the mentor and leader of the Soy Satya movement, Adela Pastor.
“In this way, one lives in the present moment and peace and mental calm lead you to connect with your own wisdom of the heart, no matter what happens outside. It ensures that there is always a tranquility, as well as a natural state of bliss.”
According to Pastor, a mentor differs from a coach because of the bond that is generated between the parties. “The relationship with a mentor is closer and more personalized, since he shares his own experiences, as well as the tools that have been useful in his own path of spiritual awakening. In this case, it is a person who seeks self-knowledge and has achieved the transcendence of the mind.
Meanwhile, she explains that a coach accompanies you to achieve your goals through questions and techniques that serve your purpose, without involving his own life and experience in the process. In addition, a mentor must be, for Pastor, someone who has first traveled a path of self-inquiry and has become a perpetual student of life.
“Usually, a spiritual mentor has deeply researched and imbibed from different philosophies and spiritual traditions, internally connecting with one or more of them, such as Buddhism or Zen.” In addition, you can count on complementary formations to enrich the approach of the spiritual guide in different topics.
“On a personal level, my training has been oriented in three areas: the well-being of the human being through yoga, conscious eating and meditation; to the accompaniment and facilitation of work teams to bring awareness, efficiency and results to companies; and to the spiritual accompaniment of people in their last stage of life”.
A spontaneous awakening
Adela Pastor did not have a defined intention to start this path in her life, but in 2016 she had “a spontaneous awakening”. At that moment she stopped feeling suffering and emptiness that accompanied her from a very young age, increased by the sudden death of her father in a traffic accident and the fatal run over of his brother two years later.
To this she added that she lived depressed, stressed and obsessed with growing her business, a jewelry and watch firm. She believed that earning money and professional relevance would earn her the promise of a golden ticket to happiness.
“Feeling the greatest peace, the complete silence of the mind and the inner understanding that we are all one and the same led me to rethink my own life and existence. For years I began an intense research in the East and the West, studying myself and learning the tools that would allow me to feel that indescribable happiness again.”
A conscious life
Thus began her spiritual journey who today is the leader of Soy Satya. Satya is “the conscious lifestyle movement for those who want to be happy and live in peace with themselves and the world. From Soy Satya we organize online training, spiritual mentoring, workshops, retreats, talks in companies and support for teams”. Templo Satya is the physical space where they offer face-to-face workshops, training for yoga and meditation teachers, yoga classes and holistic therapies.
Pastor explains that living a conscious life involves looking inward and taking charge of your inner world, that is, your emotions and thoughts to learn to manage negativity and guide your life towards peace and love.
“In such a way that we stop seeing the source of happiness in how life treats us or based on good or bad luck, recognition that we are the only ones responsible for our internal state.”
She comments that at the beginning, leading a conscious life or beginning the process of spiritual awakening itself can be painful “because we are going to take all those repressed and unmanaged emotions out of the closet over the years. Healing the wounds of the soul requires inner commitment and dedication, knowing that the reward of peace is well worth the process.”
In this sense, she explains that for her, the key to living a full and happy life is in the disposition. “If you are not willing to change certain points of view in the form of beliefs and thoughts, no matter how many enlightened spiritual teachers come from the Himalayas to teach you, nothing will change.”
At the same time, according to the mentor there are certain basic principles that can help us:
- Stop fighting and resist what happens in life, even if it seems unfair.
- Cooperate unconditionally with the inevitable: flow, adapt and make your mind flexible.
- Choose not to see differences between human beings and love everyone equally, including your enemies.
- Take responsibility for negative emotions and thoughts, as these determine your reality.
Make the unconscious conscious
Today, we live on autopilot, the inertia of day to day, worries and obligations anesthetize us, making us unaware of the life we really want to lead. Many times, we get caught up in unconscious patterns and habits that we can’t let go of and want out of our lives.
For this reason, Pastor has launched the ‘Conscious Life’ project. It is a group spiritual accompaniment program for people “whose mental rush does not allow them to enjoy the little things in life and at the same time they want to improve their relationship with themselves and the people around them.”
“In short, live a life in harmony and well-being, making the unconscious conscious, because as the psychiatrist Carl Jung said: ‘As long as you don’t make the unconscious conscious, the unconscious will direct your life and you will call it destiny”.
During the twelve weeks of the program, they deal with the key aspects that lead us to transform our way of perceiving reality in a simple and clear way through what they call ‘practical spirituality’. A type of spirituality that is easy to understand and can be applied to any area of life.
The mentor explains to us that what makes people unhappy is their own mind, not what happens in their lives or the symptoms they present. Therefore, spiritual work consists in the transcendence of the mind or ego. Something like removing layers that obscure the beauty of the essence of who we really are.
The scenarios and impediments presented by people are varied: chronic dissatisfaction, deteriorated personal relationships, low self-esteem, lack of clarity, low energy, fear of death, insomnia, stress or anxiety.
Choose love
“Fear or ego will make you try to gain recognition, material gain, be right or control to be safe. Regardless of the price you have to pay: lying, mistaking, manipulating, creating separation, destroying or even life itself. However, there is a solution that above all brings peace and calm to anyone’s life: choose love.
Wishing the greatest good and happiness to all the people involved in a problem or event, even when it implies “losing out” on an individual level. “Interestingly, when one chooses love above all else, problems are solved more easily, people are more open and willing to collaborate, union and respect are generated and this brings peace and inner well-being.”As my meditation master Zopa used to say: ‘Your heart will always protect you.'”
Manage stress
Finally, we state some keys facts so that stress does not take control of our lives. “Stress is a magnificent opportunity to look inside ourselves and get to know ourselves better. It invites us to observe what thought patterns are in the mind and what I am not accepting and allowing in my life.
Realizing this and making modifications allows us to close a solid interior architecture for future events. “Because the important thing is not what happens to you, but how you manage what happens to you.”
She gives us an example. “When I have things to do and I see that I am not going to have time, I get stressed. The underlying unconscious beliefs silently tell me that I am not good enough if I don’t finish all the tasks, therefore, I will feel a certain degree of guilt that will generate internal pressure and discomfort. Being the beginning of the whiting that bites its tail, passing to a vicious circle of demand – guilt – stress”.
Stopping and allowing yourself not to go all the way, acknowledging that it is okay not to do so will relieve stress to remove the pressure that makes you feel bad. “In this way, by taking the pressure off, we will feel freer and more comfortable to carry out the tasks.”
Pastor points out that paradoxically, when I accept not to get to take away the urgency, I free myself from the pressure and then everything becomes easier and more efficient.
Finally, the mentor gives us some keys so that stress does not lead our lives:
- Plan and then let go of attachment to results.
- Let go of control and become bamboo, flexible and resistant.
- Learn about emotional management to let go of everything that limits you.
- Sanitize your mind and spend at least fifteen minutes every day meditating or breathing consciously.
For those who have experienced shifts in consciousness and know that more peace, joy, and love awaits in a better living environment. A bold shared vision. A living community and hub for innovation. A sustainable ecosystem for living and working. A model for the new future.