Lina Feuerstein shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Lina, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Busy! Meditation and yoga in the morning; teaching a full day as a high school world history instructor; workout (I love to run!); walk my pup; and Words We Live By clients in the evening.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Sure! My name is Lina Feuerstein, and I am a world traveler with an insatiable love of learning. I particularly love to learn about overlaps between religious practices and healing practices around the world. I spent quite a few years after I attended Harvard Divinity School studying energy healing — what that means; how it works — and I bring it to my work as an educator. My company, Words We Live By, combines the philosophies and principles of energy healing with academic assistance. “Energy Healing” is a Western term for the simple belief that our bodies have energy flowing through them, and this energy must be in proper balance in order for our bodies, minds, and spirits to operate optimally. The practice of energy healing has been around for centuries in cultures all over the world, and I have had the privilege of studying an array of energy healing practices in many different places – Tibet, India, Peru, China, Puerto Rico, just to name a few! – for the past seven years.
Today, I am bringing these studies to my work as an educator. When I was a boarding school teacher, I came across many students who had trouble with anxiety, depression, bullying, and various forms of addiction, even though many of them were “high functioning” and able to perform well in school. Many of these students sought help through traditional protocols, and while these protocols were beneficial for some, for others a different type of support was needed – and missing. I also came across students with amazing intuitive capabilities who often felt marginalized by an educational system that prioritized a particular way of demonstrating aptitude. Support for these types of students was also needed – and missing.
What alternative methodologies might there be for educators to support students like these, who need particular sets of tools in order to cultivate a sense of flourishing in themselves? How do we help students connect to their higher senses of Self and Universe, so that they can thrive in any circumstance and create optimal learning environments within themselves?
Words We Live By aims to address these needs through the use of 1) energy healing techniques and modalities from around the globe, and 2) epistemological frameworks that allow for the possibilities of many worlds.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I’ve spent weeks meditating in the Peruvian Amazon jungle with just one tree. One of the most profound moments I experienced was during a meditation session with this tree. The tree spoke to me. I know: people in the West don’t believe trees can speak! But they do. I guess if you have read Victor Frankl’s Man Search for Meaning you will understand the beauty of way in trees say to you: “I am here — I am here: I am life, eternal life.”
Anyway, in that meditation session I understood that human beings often cling to other things — relationships, career, success, family, money, stuff — in order to make them feel seen, heard, and valued. But the truth is: the happiness and joy and peace and sense of freedom they seek is always within themselves. Experience is always generated from within. If you can put yourself in “right relation” with the way things are, your life will always be joy-filled and lucky and peaceful, no matter the circumstances. Human beings spend a lot of time wrapped up in the drama of their own creation, but if they can understand how to access the eternal river of Source — which is love — behind the drama, and if they can build their lives upon the foundation of that instead of stuff, we will live in a much more loving, healthy, and joyful world.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
What a question! I have definitely had my fair share of suffering. I think suffering is the gateway to the true understanding of love and peace. Suffering teaches you, if you are willing, how to love beyond yourself: how to be all inclusive in your love; how to willingly and joyfully take on the rock of Sisyphus or the cross of Christ. It’s easy to say: “God is good” when you are successful — when you get the things you want out of life. It is easy to craft life philosophies if you have had success — even after failure. But if you have suffered? For no reason other than the fact that you were dealt certain cards in life? That’s when you start to build the true foundation of wisdom. That’s when you learn how to live in right relation with the universe — how to live joyfully and openly and as full-heartedly as possible, no matter the circumstances. Those muscles are only exercised during moments of suffering; it is sort of like learning how to dance. You learn the dance that Spirit teaches you in those moments. And, I think, ironically, those moments of suffering teach you, if you are willing, to see how so much of your suffering is of your creation. Because you already know how to dance. It’s in your blood.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
…that thriving in our contemporary educational system is essential to living a fulfilled, successful life (I said it!). There are a lot of times when education actually gets in the way of living a fulfilled life, mostly because the industry is not often aligned with the highest Good for children. We train them to care about grades and rank, so they grow into adults who measure their senses of self-worth by their performance. Good for capitalism, but not so good for kids. Their anxiety levels are through the roof. And then, if they want or have to change things in order to find happiness, they spend years in therapy trying to find themselves — is this the really the type of educational system we want? What if it were different? What if we trained kids to understand how to separate themselves from what they do or accomplish? I am not saying that competition isn’t important. What I am saying is: let’s really think about what kids have to know in order to thrive as themselves in this world. And let’s really think about the scaffolding we can provide in order to teach them how to be unattached to the outcome of their efforts, but — nevertheless — strive for what they want with all the devotion and intention and focus they can muster.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Love is not an action or something you receive from another person. It is a state of being — the way you are in the world. Sure, it can be validated and heightened by others, but freedom only truly exists in one’s ability to understand that all experience, including the experience of love, is generated from within. So, ultimately, it is your choice whether your daily experience is one of love or one of fear or one of hopelessness — you have the ability to control that. Life can be a loving dance or a fear-filled fight. It is your choice. And, I think I created my business so that I could help kids keep in tact their innate capacities to dance with the things that life throws at them by helping them achieve, and maintain, their connection to the frequency of unconditional love on a daily basis.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wordsweliveby.com/
- Instagram: words_weliveby
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lina-feuerstein-b92b4a25b/
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