Roy W. Dean Grant Awarded to “La Recua” and “Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria”

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Richard Kaufman

Roy W. Dean Grant for Fall 2020 Goes to First Ever Co-Winners of Roy W. Dean Grant – Will Share $30,000 Cash and Production Services

The selection of the recipient of the final Roy W. Dean Grant of 2020 ends with a first. It is the first time in the grant’s 29 year history that the grant is split between two films. Awarded by From the Heart Productions to an independent film that is unique and that makes a contribution to society, the Roy W. Dean Grant for Fall 2020 goes to the documentaries “La Recua” and “Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria.”

“These are two very different and excellent films created by filmmakers who both have given their heart, their soul, and the last few years of their lives to bring this incredible stories to the public,” said Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions. “We honor films told with passion and are thrilled to have these films as co-winners.”

Dario Higuera Meza – “La Recua”

In “La Recua”, the first feaure length documentary from filmmaker Trudi Angell, an old desert-grown Vaquero, Dario Higuera Meza, wants to share his dream.

A traditional saddle maker in Baja California, Sur, Mexico, who turned 70 in 2018, Dario is a campfire philosopher; he’s a mule-riding poet; he’s a keeper of Old California traditions. He fears that the old traditions might be lost forever.

In March, he gathers a herd of mules and donkeys, builds saddles and traditional gear for his outfit, and plans an historic re-enactment of the old-time merchant pack-trains that once traveled through that rugged mountain country over 100 years ago. His 8-year-old grandson becomes his right-hand man along the two-hundred-mile fading mission trail by mule-back herding a pack train of donkeys from an oasis in the heart of the Sierra de la Giganta, all the way to La Paz.

He and his family packed a load of Goat Cheese, Dates, Sugar-cane Candy, and 10 gallons of famous Comondú Wine… just for the sake of history! He overcame hardships of health, rattlesnakes, and hot days on dusty, forgotten trails in order to honor the memory of Lower California’s “long-haul” equine merchants – Los Arrieros – the muleteers of Baja’s donkey pack-trains.

Roy W. Dean Grant Winner Fall 2020 From filmmaker Joseph R. Castel, “Nelly Queen: the Life and Times of Jose Sarria” examines Jose Sarria who,in 1961, is the first openly gay man to run for public office in the United States – and he runs in heels!

As a drag performer at a San Francisco beatnik bar, The Black Cat Café, the former World War II veteran, decides to run for City Supervisor after local officials threaten to shut down all the gay bars. Jose’s opera parodies bring in hundreds of gay clientele every weekend, and he exploits that fame to inspire the fractured community to unite. Jose’s cabaret platform serves as a podium to teach his closeted customers to not only believe in his slogan, ‘Gay is Good,’ he rallies them to support his political campaign.

Jose inspires oppressed men and women to stand up for themselves. He fights for their right to love who they choose to love. The tragedy is that his activism pushes his lover, Jimmy, away, and in the end he can’t save the one he loves the most from a self-destructive path.

In addition to the $3,000 cash prize, the filmmakers will divide $15,000 in in original music written by well-known composer David Raiklen, $6,000 in animation services from Emmy winner Charlie Canfield, $700 one week DSLR camera package rental from Birns & Sawyer, and more from many other heartfelt film industry donors.

About the Filmmaker – “Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria”

Joseph R. Castel (Director/Producer/Writer/Editor) – Joe Castel is a journalist, producer, screenwriter and playwright whose work has explored Latino history and identity for over 20 years. Castel’s producing credits include RECORDAR, a documentary about his family’s immigration from Mexico to Illinois, currently in the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection. He also co-wrote and produced the play THE BLVD, critical recognition in its premiere run at West Hollywood’s Macha Theatre.

Castel, along with his co-writer, was awarded a Corporation for Public Broadcasting development grant to HERO STREET, a feature-length screenplay that relates the true story of eight Mexican American war heroes who hail from the same street in suburban Illinois. As a writer, Castel has worked as a public relations consultant/reporter for numerous entertainment magazines and holds a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa.

About the Filmmaker – “La Recua”

Trudi Angell (Producer / Director) is an award-winning organizer of rural, sustainable tours in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Since 1986 she has organized mule-pack trips to renowned World Heritage Rock Art sites and famous road-less ranches, missions and villages in the heart of the peninsula. She was an Associate Producer in 2007 for Corazón Vaquero, a timely documentary portrait of Old California ranch lifestyle.

Thirteen years later, at age 65, this is her first full-length documentary, having worn many sombreros for the past 4 years as Producer/Director/Head of Logistics/Translator and more!

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

Now entering its 30^th year, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and that make a contribution to society. It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

Past winners of the grant include the Emmy winning Mia: A Dancer’s Journey, 2019 Sundance Film Festival selection Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and the acclaimed documentary Kusama-Infinity which is now in distribution showing in theaters around the US and world.

About From The Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible. From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $10 million through it’s fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of The Art of Film Funding: 2^nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts.

For More Information and interview requests, please contact:

Richard Kaufman

richard@fromtheheartproductions.com

www.fromtheheartproductions.com

Manifesting: Releasing a Potential That Already Exists

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Richard Kaufman

A journey of discovery to find that the future we desire and the means to achieve it are waiting for us in the Quantum Field.

by Carole Dean

I met Caroline Myss at the Monroe Institute of Applied Science in the rolling hills of Virginia. I went there to find out why I was unexpectedly popping out of my body.

No, this was not a physical injury. I wasn’t throwing my back out. Founded in the 70’s by Robert Monroe, the Monroe Institute is the world leader in human consciousness exploration. I was there because I was finding myself thrown into a different area of awareness and not sure why.

You began an outline. From the outline you write a script. From the script you hire people and make a film. Therefore, you have manifested your idea.

Caroline had begun to do health readings for people she did not know and had never met. This was before she became a five-time New York Times bestselling author and internationally renowned speaker in the fields of human consciousness.
She was there to investigate Robert and experience the institute’s meditation chambers.

I thought she was one of the smartest people I had ever met, and we became good friends. We both loved Robert and his research. We teamed up to create a newsletter that we could send to the Monroe Institute mailing list as well as other people who were interested in unusual events.

I became the publisher and she became the writer/editor of Expansion. Which is a perfect name for something written and published by two women with strong Sagittarius traits!

Somehow one of these publications made its way to England and Caroline was asked to go to there and speak. That was the beginning of her career.

A Magical Place in Scotland

Fast forward a few years and she is teaching at Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. Findhorn is an unusual place that came into being using the laws of manifestation. It was a sandy area and the creators of Findhorn began to grow a garden. Through prayer and meditation, the garden produced some incredibly large vegetables. They gave the credit to the Angels who they said helped grow their vegetables.

From this meager beginning, a major source of information and education was created. As their web site explains:

The Findhorn Foundation is a dynamic experiment where everyday life is guided by the inner voice of spirit, where we work in co-creation with the intelligence of nature and take inspired action towards our vision of a better world. We share our learning and way of life in experiential workshops, conferences and events that take place within a thriving community and ecovillage.

For me to go to Caroline’s workshop, I had to donate a week’s labor to Findhorn. I chose to work in the dining room and clean it after the breakfast meal. At this time in my life, I was running a business with a NYC and LA office and close to 100 employees.

This one week vacuuming the dining room was better than a year with the best psychologist. It was a week of self-discovery and well worth the time and money.

After my week of servitude, it was a joy to begin a week of classes with Caroline on remote healing. Everyone in the class had no experience in such events. We were all very normal people. We’d meet and study about 5 hours a day. She is a wonderful teacher.

The shocking thing was that the last night we all put our names into a hat and then drew a name of someone in the group. Then we were told to “read” for that person. Each of us got some important insight about our chosen name. We were all shocked at our accuracy.

In Search of the Sacred

This incredible experience set me on a life path of understanding how it is possible to communicate with and get information from people at a distance. That’s one reason why I love Lynn McTaggart’s book, The Field, in which she investigates and demonstrates that everyone is connected through a quantum field.

While at Findhorn, I discovered The Laws of Manifestation by David Spangler. David says that manifestation is not magic. It is a process of working with natural principles and laws to transfer energy from one level of reality to another. An example he offers of this process are authors who have an idea and write the idea down as a movie or a play. It then now exists in physical form.

He talks about a writer who “has a concept which is mental. Through his speech to people, he is able to fire their emotions in response to that concept.” This person has translated mental energy into emotional energy.

He gives an example of a piece of coal. By itself it is cold, a black rock, yet it can burn; It contains the potential of heat. When ignited that heat is released. Physical energy is translated into radiant heat energy.

These examples show that manifestation is a change of form or condition of being. It is not the creation of something out of nothing.

What Does Manifesting Mean?

David says, “The dictionary defines it as making clear to sight or mind, making visible.” He wants us to realize that the thing that was manifested was already there, but it was not clear it was in a different state of being.

I like this description because it’s true and easy to understand. You get an idea for a film, it’s in your head you see it, you feel it, you know it. It lives but in another dimension for lack of a better word. Your job as a filmmaker is to bring it into this dimension.

You began an outline. From the outline you write a script. From the script you hire people and make a film. Therefore, you have manifested your idea.

The idea was there but it was up to you to bring it into this dimension. That’s why lots of people can come up with the same idea at the same time. The idea was in the quantum field and discovered by those who were the most open to receive. Those would be the ones who meditate and who give themselves private, quiet thinking time. They were able to pull down this information in its full form as if it already existed.

As president of non-profit From the Heart Productions, this is something I hear this all the time. Filmmakers say to me, “I woke up in the middle of the night I had an idea for a film. I started writing down the essence. The next thing I knew I was at my computer the next day and every day for the next month and the entire script came to me.”

They say it was as if they had a guide or someone on the other side helping them. Perhaps they got their ideas from the quantum field, brought them into this third dimension, and used it for their film. However, it works, this is manifesting; taking an existing idea, and moving it into this dimension.

The Universal Laws for Manifesting

There are laws around manifestation and that’s what we want to consider. “That faith, which is an abstract and somewhat frightening word to many people,” David suggests, “is the most important part of manifesting.” He quotes Hebrews 11:1, “faith is the substance of all things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. By their faith you shall know them.” (The New English Bible phrases it in modern English, “faith gives substance to our hopes and makes us certain of realities we do not see.”)

David says “that when you ask to draw something to yourself, that something already exists. It could be an idea or a picture. Artists sometimes see a picture in nature or in their head and they must draw it, put it on paper or canvas, it to bring it into this dimension.

To conjure something up from nothing is magic but manifestation is not magic. It is a natural principle or process where something is changed from one state of being to another.”

I see this all the time when an idea or concept is changed into a film script. A vision is changed into a piece of art.

Sometimes I will ask people what is your logline? Please give me the film in one sentence. “I don’t have it yet” they say or “I’m working on that” because they are in the middle of manifesting. This is taking it from one dimension into another dimension.

“The movement of an idea within a person’s consciousness,” David concludes, “from a vague ambiguous state to one of clarity and understanding is the process of manifestation. Manifestation deals with a lot more than finance. You can manifest ideas, states of being, health, as well as tangible objects.”

Alright, we agree with you David because this has been our experience too. Authors Wallace D. Wattles and Stuart Wilde, who we study in our Film Funding Guidance Classes, also have said that faith is required, that you must see it to believe it, and that your ideas have to be clearly defined. You must pretend that you already have that which you want. It is a matter of bringing it into this dimension through your faith.

The Possibilities are Endless

Remember that what you want already exists on another dimension. Noble prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrodinger says that anything is possible. That in quantum physics there are millions of possibilities for everything.

This means that there are millions of possibilities for our future. It is up to us to choose the future we want and see it created using the laws of manifestation. It is our job to be very clear on what we want.

I know this is hard to do when you may be sitting with a bank balance of $100 and you would rather it was $100,000. So how do you get from one place to another? That is why it’s important to study manifesting, the laws of attraction, and the principles of creating a future that we want. The more we know about the people who have already achieved this, the easier it will be for us to use.

If Scorsese can do it, Spielberg can do it, Spike Lee can do it, then you can do it.

Igniting the Energy Inside You

In my relationships with filmmakers, I’m witness to so much creativity and so many possibilities. It’s easy for me to see. But you as filmmakers need to see it. You need to know you are special. You need to know that you have amazing gifts.

All of you are so lucky. You were born with immense potential. I am here to say to you that you need to daily thank the universe for your gifts. Recognized them, be proud of them. Embellish them.

It is up to you to see your full potential. It is up to you to see your future clearly. To create your vision for the future, bring your chosen future into being on a daily basis using the laws of manifesting as well as whatever else you find that empowers you to realize that you are gifted, you can make this film, you are supported by the universe.

Ask for what you want. Expect a miracle.

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-profit that offers the Roy W. Dean Film Grants and fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film production. Her new class “How to Fund Your Film” is available on Vimeo on Demand. She is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts. See IMDB for producing credits.

Section 181 Reinstated: Good News for Filmmakers!

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Richard Kaufman

Tax Law Extension Provides Major Tax Benefits for Investors of Film and Television Productions

by Carole Dean

In my recent interview with entertainment lawyer Corky Kessler, he was excited to tell us that he helped reinstate IRS Revenue Code Section 181 for five more years. The reinstated Section 181 offers tax benefits for digital media producers. This tax law is most beneficial for features and documentaries with budgets up to 15 million or 20 million. It will greatly help producers of those projects attract financing.

Section 181

Expense Production Costs

The reinstated Section 181 is straightforward. It’s the same law that was created for the Jobs Act of 2004. It’s been extended and approved for five years until 2025. It allows investors in a media production to expense all production costs when it is paid. This creates a loss for the production which creates an immediate tax benefit.

The rules are that 75% of the costs of the film or television project must be spent and performed in the United States. The balance of 25%, can be shot anywhere. This means you can take advantage of other countries tax deductions like Canada or Germany. Many countries have good tax incentives for you to shoot in their country.

US Tax law 168 is still in effect so you have a choice of using the reinstated section 181 or the 168. The 168 has no limit on the size of the budget and you must “Put the film in service” to get the write off. Those are two main differences and you can only use one of these, 168 or 181.

Cover Your Investor’s Money

“The good thing about the 181 is that I can cover the investor’s money.” Corky explained. “I can tell the investor that I can cover almost every dollar that the investor puts in. I can cover 70 to 76 cents on every dollar, which is amazing. There’s no other business that you can cover their investment, 70 to 76 on the balance.”

The 181 law allows up to a $15 million loss. Or you can go up to a $20 million loss if you spend a significant amount in a low-income or depressed area. For the person who has a 15 or $20 million dollar movie or even lower, the 181 is still better and you can grandfather your films.

Need Just One Day of Photography to Get Grandfathered In

“So, as soon as you have a screenplay, “ Corky says, “ and you have a summary budget, you are ready. You do one day of photography with some dialogue that doesn’t have to remain in the project. And you need your investment documents, which I can prepare, but you don’t need investors. Once you have these things, you can get grandfathered into 181 forever. That will never expire.

“Now when your film is grandfathered, you can change your screenplay or teleplay. If it’s television, that’s acceptable. You want one day of photography with some dialogue. You can shoot it on your iPhone. It doesn’t matter, and you don’t have to use it in the project. Also, the investor documents that I prepare, those can change. Once you have these set up, you are grandfathered forever. There’s no end date.”

How to Learn More and Take Advantage of Reinstated Section 181 for Your Film

Filmmakers that want to know more about Section 168 or the 181 benefits and how to grandfather their films, can contact Corky via email at Corkykessler@aol.com or on his cell phone at 312-925-2110.

For more information on both the 168 and 181 see this blog: https://fromtheheartproductions.com/how-to-get-your-film-funded-with-new-tax-law

How Feeling Successful Can Manifest Your Success

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

Lessons in Neville Goddard’s book “Feeling is the Secret” Teach Us That Your Emotions Can Create Your Future

By Carole Dean

In our bi-monthly Film Funding Guidance Class, we study books by brilliant authors that teach us how to use our mind to improve our lives and fund our films.

Recently, the focus of the class was on the work of writer Neville Goddard and his book, Feeling is the Secret. I chose this because “feelings” are powerful manifestors. Learning how to use our feelings in a proper way can help us create the future we want.

The subconscious does not originate ideas but accepts as true those which the conscious mind “feels” to be true. Our emotions are creating our reality.

The law of consciousness

Neville opens his book stating, “The world, and all within it, is man’s conditioned consciousness objectified. Consciousness is the cause as well as the substance of the entire world so it is to consciousness that we must turn if we would discover the secret of creation.

“Knowledge of the law of consciousness and the method of operating this law will enable you to accomplish all you desire in life. Armed with a working knowledge of this law, you can build and maintain an ideal world. Consciousness is the one and only reality.”

As a class, we learned this from studying the works of Amit Goswami and Dean Radin. They both said, “Consciousness is the one and only reality.”

“This reality may, for the sake of clarity,” Neville continues, “be likened unto a stream which is divided into two parts, the conscious and the subconscious. In order to intelligently operate the law of consciousness, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the conscious and subconscious.”

The subconscious believes that which the conscious impress on it

Neville believes the conscious impresses the subconscious while the subconscious expresses all that it impresses upon it.

“The subconscious does not originate ideas but accepts as true those which the conscious mind feels to be true and in a way known only to itself, it objectifies the accepted ideas. Therefore, through his power to imagine and feel and his freedom to choose the ideas he will entertain, man has control over creation.”

This information gives us so much knowledge to use to improve our lives.

We need to know that the subconscious does not originate ideas but accepts as true those which the conscious mind “feels” to be true. The important word here is “feels,” what feels to be true. Meaning, our emotions are creating our reality.

Feeling successful can create your success

Neville goes on to say, “control of the subconscious is accomplished through control of your ideas and feelings. The mechanism of creation is hidden in the very depth of the subconscious. The subconscious transcends reason and is independent of induction.”

As Neville says, it does not have to be true. It needs to be what you want your life to be, what you want to “feel” daily. Perhaps that feeling is success or confidence or joy. All these wonderful emotions are there for you to choose from. Please take some time to find the emotion you need to bring your future into being. Using your subconscious to create the “feelings” you want in your everyday world.

Neville says, “the subconsciousness contemplates a feeling as a fact existing within itself and on this assumption proceeds to give expression to it.”

He says that ideas “are impressed on the subconscious through the medium of feeling. No idea can be impressed on the subconscious until it is felt, but once felt, be it good or bad or indifferent, it must be expressed. Feeling is the one and only medium through which ideas are conveyed to the subconscious. Therefore, man who does not control his feeling may easily impress the subconscious with undesirable states. You need the discipline to entertain only such feelings as contribute to your happiness.”

Controlling your feelings can lead to a happy life

That controlling your feeling is the most important thing you can do for a happy life. Neville instructs us to “Try not to entertain an undesirable feeling or think sympathetically about wrong in any shape or form. Do not dwell on the imperfection of yourself or others. When you do this, you impress the subconscious with limitations. This is the whole law of a full and happy life. Every feeling makes a subconscious impression. He says, “do not dwell on the imperfection of yourself or others.”

The author gives an example: “’I am healthy’ is a stronger feeling than ‘I will be healthy.’”

Remember, it is what you feel you are that dominates. Feelings are creators and what you feel is what you can achieve.

A change of feeling is a change of destiny

We need to be careful of our moods and feelings because there is a direct connection between feelings and your visible world. Neville instructs us that our body is “an emotional filter and bears the unmistakable marks of your prevalent emotions.”

He says that, “you should be able to feel the state that you want to be living in. You should be able to feel joy or happiness or success or achievement. Living and acting on that conviction is the way to achieve it. He says all changes are brought about through a change in feelings. A change of feeling is a change of destiny. All creation occurs in the domain of the subconscious.”

So you need to get control of the operation of the subconscious and realize that control is needed with your ideas and feelings. You have to be controlling your feelings to send it to the subconscious to a create the life you want to live.

To create through feelings a happy life, a successful life, a creative life, Neville says that the subconscious doesn’t care if what you are thinking is truth or false. “It will accept as true that what you feel to be true.”

This sounds easy to do but you need to pay attention. I have been paying attention to my “feelings” and it’s easy to slip into fear or uncertainty in today’s world. So, I had to catch myself and keep turning things around so that I am saying I am happy. I am prosperous. I am inspired.

Getting the feelings, you want to create in your life are important. You may want to think of what feelings make you happy so you can send these feelings with your thoughts directly to the subconscious.

The subconscious receives ideas from the feelings we send it

“We should not be dwelling on difficulties or delays,” Neville writes, “or what possible barriers might come to our lives. When we start having very strong feelings of any kind, we must remember that these are being impressed on the subconscious.

“It’s important to recognize that the subconscious is the place of creation. It receives the idea from the feelings we send it. It doesn’t change the idea, but it gives it form so “the subconscious out-picture is the idea and the likeness is received.”

The subconscious serves us by giving form to our feelings, and it does not like compulsive thoughts. Neville says “it responds better to persuasion than to command.”

And one of the most important things he notes is “your desires are not subconsciously accepted until you assume the feeling of their reality; for only through feeling an idea subconsciously accepted, and only through this subconscious acceptance is it ever expressed.”

Stay away from “what ifs”

Getting your desired outcome connected to the feelings is what produces your desires. Stay away from the “What if’s?” What if I can’t raise the funds? What if the new director is not the right person? These both would bring up the feeling of fear and that’s not what you want in your life.

You want to feel success. I suggest you get that “feeling of success” implanted in your body so you can activate it on request. Neville says that all things come from within from this subconscious. He says we can’t see anything else except what is contained in our subconscious. That “your world in its every detail is your consciousness objectified.”

We need to remember, “The subconscious accepts as true that which you feel is true, and because creation is the result of subconscious impressions, you, by your feeling, determine creation. You are already that which you want to be and your refusal to believe this is the only reason you do not see it.”

That is a shocking statement. In other words, we all contain the possibilities of the success with the future we want. We just need to stop feeling emotions that we do not want to bring into our life.

Your subconscious accepts your feelings as reality

We need to recognize those feelings of anger, guilt, fear, unhappiness and loss and replace them with success. Success seems to be the key. We need to learn how to keep feeling successful and confident and keep imprinting these feelings on our subconscious.

We want to remember is that the most important thing to recognize today is that the subconscious plays a major part in our consciousness, in our reality.

What we feed into the subconscious is what we see and experience in our consciousness. Getting control over our feelings is the number one key and recognizing the power of the subconscious is the second key to achieving a successful and rewarding life.

Using Your Imagination to Create Your Future

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

Using Your Imagination to Create Your Future

Did the imagination you used as a child vanish when you became an adult? Time to rediscover it because if you can imagine it, you can have it.

by Carole Dean

One purpose of our Film Funding Guidance Class for our fiscally sponsored filmmakers is to show how powerful our minds are and how to use that power to fund your film.

In this current class, we were studying Neville Goddard and his book, The Secret of Imagining.

Neville tells us that the child inside of us, that child who can imagine and believe anything; is the creative power and the wisdom of God.

If you can imagine it, you can have it.

Imagination is the key to creating your future. That’s what all of the masters of these techniques teach us. So, since imagination unlocks a wonderful life, Neville wants us to realize how powerful our imagination is for forming material objects.

Look around your room and everything you see was once an idea. Someone imagined your chair, your desk, your lamp.

Your inner child is your greatest creative power.

Neville starts his teaching by telling us that the child inside of us, that child who can imagine and believe anything; is the creative power and the wisdom of God.

Neville says, “look into the world and name one thing that wasn’t first imagined. You name one thing that does not now exist in your imagination just name it. And, to make sure we get it, he repeats “all things exist in the human imaginations.”

When we were children, most of us created and played games that sprang from our imagination. We became our favorite movie star. (My favorite who I loved to quote was Bette Davis.) We imagined ourselves all over the world. Shopping in Paris for Yves St. Laurent, combing through NYC Saks Fifth Avenue looking for the latest summer apparel.

Then, somehow, once we got into the real world, stopped exercising our imagination. We started working for a living and took on the responsibilities required to maintain a home and family. At that point, must of us lost that innocence of believing the possibilities open to us.

“I remembered my father was an emperor of China.”

Think back to the film of the great, classic love story Wuthering Heights and see if you can remember the scene where Heathcliff has returned a wealthy man. His childhood sweetheart, Catherine, asks him how did you become so wealthy? And he said, referring to the games they played as children, “I remembered that my father was an emperor of China and my mother was an Indian queen”

I take this to mean that he began to believe (imagine for real like he did when he was a child) that he was from great wealth and knowledge. That he could do anything. He used this belief to give him the courage and confidence to take chances, be bold and get that fortune that was rightfully waiting for him.

Making something that is only a thought into something that is real.

The The Secrets of Imagining came from a lecture Neville was giving. He asked the people in the room to note how intimately they felt with this room. He said that they’re as comfortable here as they are in their home. Why is this, he asked?

“Because we are in it and to us it’s real. You may have the capacity to sit here and draw your own home but in your mind’s eye you have a description of it but it’s not as real now as this room is. This room is real because we are in it.”

“Now this is what I mean by making something that is only a thought into something that is real. How do I do it? I single out, out of my own wonderful human imagination, that which I want to make real. It’s all in you. Then I must enter into it as I have entered into this room.”

Entering Your Imagination.

On this, Neville quotes William Blake from Visions of the Last Judgement “If the spectator would enter into any of these images in his imagination, approaching it on the fiery chariot of his own contemplated thought,” then Neville says it would become just as real to him as this room.”

“You may ask, what would that do to me?” Neville asks. “Will it become real in the not distant future? I know from my own experience it will. You can sit here and enter into a state. It may not take on quite the reality of this room, but it will if you persist in it: it will become just like this.

“When you open your eyes, it vanishes. But, does that mean that I tasted that and that’s all? No. Having gone into it, may I tell you, it will follow you. It will not recede into the past as memory; it will advance into the future and you will confront it. This is a secret of imagining, which is finding out the secret of God.”

How imagination created my future.

In an interview with physicist Fred Alan Wolf about his book, The Dreaming Universe, I asked him how powerful is our imagination? He said that “imagining is like a handshake across time.” You can imagine it and it will happen. That is exactly what I have experienced many times in my life.

As a young teenager in Dallas, Texas, my evenings after dinner would be spent on a slanted roof watching the planes take off from Love Field. I would imagine I was on that plane. In first class of course, chatting with people, excited over my trip to NYC to visit Saks to watch the runway models and shop for top fashion designers. Sometimes I imagined I was en route to Africa to go on a safari.

I can honestly tell you that I often found later in life that I remembered or felt de ja vu when I was in Paris shopping or at Saks watching their runway models, in fact I became a runway model in Dallas while imagining all this future.

I know imagining your future works because I did it. As a child I used my imagination to take me out of the boredom of poverty and out of the belief that women should be home raising children. I wanted to be a Mildred Pierce and own my own business.

If you believed in the reality of the time you would know that was impossible to do. Yet I did create my own business. I did it because I believed that I could do it. I was good at imagining and I believed what I imagined. This is what Neville wants to teach us. Believing in your imagination can bring your thoughts into this reality.

“Your imagination animates the world you live in.”

Back to Neville, he says, “You cannot die. The body, yes, this will fade; but I am not the garment that I’m wearing. I am the wearer of the garment, and the wearer of this garment is all imagination.”

Neville says “I am telling you from my own experience. I am not speculating. I am not theorizing. The power of which I speak is a power within you. That power is not something on the outside; Its your own wonderful human imagination, and you will learn to control it. Your imagination animates the world in which you live. You change your imagination and you change the world.”

Learn how to control your own imaginal activity as this is creating your world.

Neville tells us not to try to change the world outside before you are able to own and control your own imaginal activity. Your own imaginal activity is animating your world. If you believe that you are injured or that others are against you, then you have conjured them into your world, and they have to be against you.

By the same token if you believe they are working towards the fulfillment of your good, they have to work towards the fulfillment of your good. You don’t have to ask them you don’t have to compel them.

Neville says “I simply do it only within myself, and the whole vast world exists within me.”

Wow, what a statement, Do it within yourself because the whole vast world exists within you. This is a powerful thought.

If the world exists inside us, then we can just imagine anything we want and expect to get it. We must believe how powerful each of us are. For example, with COVID-19 raging we can believe that we are healthy and see ourselves as the picture of health and not getting COVID-19.

Imagine money in your bank account.

That’s a great thing to imagine. You can begin to imagine money in your bank account. Take a bank statement and add more zeros to the total. Put that in front of you for your daily belief system where you have tons of money in your account. Then focus on your “to do” list where you are applying for grants and having Zoom house funding parties. Focus on this list and imagine the money in your account.

Remember, if you believe that you are injured or that others are against you, then you have conjured them into your world, and they have to be against you. By the same token if you believe they are working towards the fulfillment of your good, they have to work towards the fulfillment of your good.

You don’t have to ask them you don’t have to compel them. I simply do it within myself as “the whole vast worlds resides in me.”

Change your thoughts first then you can change another person.

Neville says, “therefore it’s myself pushed out. It’s objectified. I don’t have to change affairs; I only change it within myself and then everyone, though I know him or not by name it doesn’t really matter, it’s myself pushed out.”

He believed that each of us is connected, When he refers to “pushed out” he means that you are connected to him and so when his mind tells you to change your thoughts, he is changing his thoughts and the other person is connected so he can change that person’s thoughts too.

“All I have to do is to concern myself with that which I want in this world, and try to keep it within the frame of the Golden rule: doing unto others only that which I would want done unto me, nothing more than that; hurting no one, doing not a thing to anyone other than that which I would want done unto me. If you want only lovely things done, do only the lovely things and do it all in your own wonderful human imagination. Then you will realize this tremendous secret of imagining. It is the greatest of all secrets, to the solution of which everyone in the world should aspire.”

“Fight Like a Lady: The Rusty Kanokogi Story” Wins Roy W. Dean Grant for Summer 2020

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

Grant Will Help Filmmakers Continue Production on Feature Documentary on Trailblazing Women’s Judo Champion

Awarded to a film that is unique and that makes a contribution to society, the Roy W. Dean Grant for Summer 2020 goes to “Fight Like a Lady: The Rusty Kanokogi Story.”

Sponsored by the non-profit From the Heart Productions , the Roy W. Dean Grant is awarded 3 times each year, Spring, Summer, and Fall. This is the second Roy W. Dean Grant win for director Heather Lenz, having won previously for her award winning film “Kusama-Infinity”. She and her production team will receive $3,500 cash and thousands more in donated production services and products to help them work continue work on this great project.

“We are honored to support this unique, incredible story of one woman’s personal triumph in what was considered a man’s sport.” commented Carole Dean, President of From the Heart Productions. “Heather Lenz is a talented director/producer, and we know this will be an award-winning, historical documentary.”

“Fight Like a Lady: The Rusty Kanokogi Story” is a feature documentary about a trailblazer in women’s judo. In 1959, “Rusty” (née Glickman) Kanokogi disguised herself as a man to compete in judo and won a medal that was taken away as punishment. Afterward, she spent the rest of her life fighting for gender equality and eventually succeeded at getting women’s judo into the Olympics.

Jean Kanokogi, PhD, Rusty’s daughter and the co-author of the soon to be released book, “Get Up & Fight: the Memoir of Rusty Kanokogi,” has stated, “I’m thrilled that a documentary will be made to celebrate Rusty’s life and help share her story with a larger audience.” Lenz Filmz CEO Heather Lenz and Bronson Park CEO, Art Horan are in pre-production on the film, based on Rusty’s life rights and the forthcoming book. Lenz and Horan will produce and Lenz will direct.

“As with my last documentary, about the artist Yayoi Kusama, From the Heart Productions is the first grantor/funder to come on board” said Heather. “It takes vision for a funder to provide early support. I would like to thank them for believing in me and for helping to support independent films and filmmakers.”

In addition to the $3,500 cash prize, Heather will receive a LaCie Rugged RAID Shuttle 8TB Portable Hard Drive from Lacie , $1,295.00 Scholarship to Writers Boot Camp , free color correction for fundraising trailers; free workflow consultation and camera tests. A 20% discount on final color correction services from Sam Dlugach , and more from many other heartfelt film industry donors.

About the Filmmaker

Heather Lenz – Director/Producer – Heather Lenz is an award-winning filmmaker who is particularly drawn to telling true stories of trailblazers, underdogs, and people who have not walked the beaten path. Lenz is best known for KUSAMA-INFINITY, a feature length documentary about Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist who overcame sexism, racism, and mental illness on her path to becoming the top selling living female artist in the world.

Winner of a Roy W. Dean Grant, KUSAMA-INFINITY premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received international distribution. Lenz was a 2018 Critics’ Choice Award nominee for best first-time director. In 2019, she was awarded The Women’s International Film and Television Showcase Foundation International Visionary Award in Documentary Film.

Lenz is a Film Independent Fellow who is currently participating in the Women in Film Documentary Mentorship Program. She earned her MFA at the University of Southern California in Film and Television Production. The first documentary short film that Lenz directed, Back to Back, was nominated for a Student Academy Award and screened in film festivals world-wide.

Heather has just built and launched social media sites in support of the Rusty film. To learn more and to follow the progress, you can visit the film’s official website at http://rustymovie.com/. The film’s handle on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is @therustymovie. Heather’s personal website is https://heatherlenz.com/.

About the Roy W. Dean Grant

From it’s inception in 1992, the Roy W. Dean Grant has awarded over $2,000,000 in cash and donated film services to independent films. The grant is awarded to films budgeted under $500,000 that are unique and make a contribution to society. It has been an important lifeline for independent filmmakers that help to get their projects started or finished. Without assistance from the grant, many excellent and important films may never have been made.

Past winners of the grant include the Emmy winning “Mia: A Dancer’s Journey”, 2019 Sundance Film Festival selection “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins”, and the acclaimed documentary “Belly of the Beast” which is now in distribution showing in theaters around the US and premieres on PBS November 23rd.

About From the Heart Productions

From The Heart Productions is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 1993 that dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects funded and made. Besides providing funding through the grant, they offer film fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers. This allows donations made to films they sponsor to be tax deductible.

From The Heart has helped independent filmmakers raise over $30 million through it’s fiscal sponsorship program. President Carole Dean is the best-selling author of “The Art of Film Funding: 2nd Edition, Alternative Financing Concepts” and the new online class “How to Fund Your Film”.

How Slowing Down Produces More

Posted on October 24, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

Why Connecting to the Quantum Field Can Help You Make Quantum Leaps in Your Filmmaking and Film Project

by Carole Dean

“My brain is only a receiver. In the universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”

Having trouble finding and identifying your audience? Use the quantum field to connect with them and share your story

Who do you think said this? He was alive 100 years ago. He was a physicist. Who do you think knew there was a quantum field, a shared consciousness of energy and knowledge from which we are all connected, and that his brain was a receiver decades ahead of anyone else?

He’s one of the many great minds whose knowledge and insight I share with our fiscally sponsored filmmakers to help them reach their full potential. Keep thinking on the answer to this mystery man and I will tell you.

Saturday morning has become my favorite time of the week. This is when we meet with our fiscally sponsored filmmakers in our Saturday Film Funding Guidance Class. Over the last two years, we have expanded our knowledge of who we are, how gifted we are, and how to unleash our creativity. We have read and studied how to use information on the power of our minds from books like The Field by Lynn McTaggart, Real Magic and The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin.

Currently we are enjoying Quantum Spirituality by Amit Goswami, a brilliant physicist. Let me share some of this insightful book along with examples of how to use his teachings to help make your film and your filmmaking career a success.

The Human Condition and How to Get Out of It

“Some ways to get out of the human condition”, Amit Goswami writes, “are non-locality, discontinuity and tangled hierarchy.

“For us to Internalize information is the signature of a quantum experience. The external world of our experience, by the necessity of manifesting is approximately Newtonian and deterministic, detached from the casual world of choice. We want to look to our internal experiences, the subtle world, to find our way back from the physical machine aspect which is our running our lives to the casual creative aspect of ourselves.

“It is important to know that Non-locality is signal-less instant communication. Instant communication means communicating with yourself, it is oneness. The quantum world view says we human beings have the potential of being one with everybody else using this non-local communication. Naturally cultivating non-locality will help shift your me-centeredness towards the Universal quantum self.”

Finding and Using Your Universal Quantum Self

When you’re making a film that has a worldwide aspect you will want to learn how to use this universal quantum self. This is necessary if your film has an essence for a worldview that you want to share with other people. You’ll want then to connect with them (your audience) using this universal quantum self.

Perhaps your film is an exposure of something that society needs to know about or it is a biography of a loving kind human. These films you may want to share internationally. If your film has an essence that fits a worldview then you might be able to use this idea of the interconnectedness to reach your audience.

How? By taking the essence of your film into your meditation and asking to connect with your world audience. Take that energy of your film, the feeling of the film, with you and ask for the universe to connect you emotionally to your audience.

Begin to resonate and feel that energy of your audience. Ask daily for the universe to connect you with your audience. Perhaps by saying:

I am my audience
I am connected to my audience or
I am expanding my audience daily

One of these could be your daily mantra.

Attaching Your Audience to Your Film

Follow that up with posting online information of one or two lines about the essence of your film.

Post something about the purpose for the film.
Post the benefits of the film.
Ask friends, family, and fans to re tweet for you.

Perhaps even take some of your interviews or any footage you have shot on your film and make short one-and-two-minute videos. Post those on a new YouTube account and drive people to your website where they can join your community to help support you and your film. On your website, gave them a gift for joining.

Now more than ever we need to get connected and these are ways you can get your audience connected to you. People want to hear about your film and your job is to tell them.

Raise Your Energy from your Navel Chakra to your Heart Chakra

“In the brain”, Amit says, “your me-centeredness expresses itself as activities in the brain areas that neuroscientists identify as belonging to the self-agency. The reinforced memories of ego-persona that feed your ‘me’ are stored in these areas.

“In the body your self-centeredness expresses yourself as vitality tied up to the navel chakra-the welfare of you and you alone. Narcissism. Or for women, in the heart chakra. Too much neediness, needing another to attach to.

“Practices like giving, giving unconditionally, obviously take you away from the thoughts of the Me-personas. This is recommended and it also raises the energy from your navel chakra to your heart chakra. Giving is just one practice; another practice you can do is the practice of not taking yourself so seriously – humility. Still another one is forgiveness. All of these practices can also help when getting self-respect instead of self-indulgence.

“In the quantum world view, moment can be continuous which is familiar to you, right? Like moving cars, moving ants all move continuously in your experience. The physicist Niels Bohr discovered in 1913 that when electrons jump from one atomic orbit to another, they jump discontinuously without going through the intermediate space. Such a quantum leap is allowed in the quantum worldview. It is via these quantum leaps of thoughts and feelings that you learn to make positive emotional brain circuits to balance negativity.”

Making Quantum Leaps

Let’s talk about these quantum leaps. I see them all the time from people who go to college, graduate and make a quantum leap into a very good job as an acquisition person or a producer for Netflix. These things are possible. It happens to some people but not all. The question is how do you make it happen to you?

Let’s think about how you create your vision for yourself or for your film. For your film, you create a platform, that is your deck for a feature and a proposal and trailer for your documentary. You outline how you will take this idea that is now only a vision to a completed film.

How can you use Amit’s information to improve this process?

The majority of documentary films take six years to make and two years more to distribute. How can you break that record? Feature films sometimes take five to ten years. How can you finish faster?

The idea is to make a quantum leap from concept to completion. Some of this can be done with:

The power of your mind
Meditation
Connecting to the right people
Finding your audience
Attaching yourself to money and people and information that will move you forward

I know this is hard work, and it takes unrelenting determination. Most importantly you cannot lose faith. If something doesn’t work, you must be prepared to back up and try it again. Or try something new or different because you know your future is waiting for you.

You know it’s up to you to find out how to get through these obstacles by going over them or around them. Or by finding new ways and often, going outside of the box is the best solution.

Sometimes the Funding Comes from Your Audience

In my experience, the way people get money for their films is they connect with others of like mind who love the concept of their film. People who love the subject matter and who want to see the film made.

Finding people with money is the most important thing to do and sometimes you need join organizations or groups. Sometimes you need to donate time to a charity to get in the same room with wealthy people before you can begin to share your ideas with them.

How can you meet them? Consider how you might meet them on common ground. Perhaps that is taking care of animals at a rescue shelter. Perhaps that is a wildlife reserve, perhaps that is an organization to save and protect the oceans.

Consider finding a nonprofit you can donate time to, something that is either in line with your film or something that is in line with your heart. Then consider donating some of your precious time to a charity that will allow you to meet wealthy people. You will be doing what Amit says is important to raise your energy by giving unconditionally.

Focus on the “Be” in Do-Be-Do-Be-Do

Amit says that “the creative process is do-be-do-be-do”. “Do” is when you go out of your way to help someone. The “be” which is like in “being” is hard for us. Our tendency is to do-do-do. To make room for ‘be’ you need to engage with concentrated meditation focusing on an object. This slows you down.

Then between your thoughts you will have gaps. I always get a kick on the London metro whenever the train comes to a stop the loudspeaker warns, “mind the gap.” That’s what you do, you mind the gap between the thoughts. The more you mind the gap, the more extended the gap gets.

Where do you go when there is a gap in thought? In the unconscious of course. Giving your much-needed unconscious processing. The unconscious is much better at sorting out the new from all the potentialities that you have created through your conscious processing, especially when they get a chance of expanding using your ‘be’ time.”

I truly agree with Amit. I find that my daily meditation in the morning and in the afternoon helps me slow down enough so that I do hear the information that comes in the gap between thoughts, it’s meditation that helps me “get it.”

“It” can be the slightest hint of something, or it may be an answer to a question you ask. It may be a flash of the future; it may be a message from someone. It is always an important piece of information.

And the more often you catch it, the more you stop what you are doing, I mean when you literally stop and pay attention to it and take the time to process it, and take the time to honor it and accept that it is real and important, that’s when you can incorporate this information in your life. The more you stop and recognize and respond to these messages from the gap, the more you will get.

I highly recommend you pay attention to the little thoughts that are between the brain chatter…trust me, that is your quantum self talking to you.

Who Said That?

So, did you decide who that was who made the statement, “My brain is only a receiver. In the universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength, inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”

This is from our beloved Nicola Tesla. He knew how to reach the quantum field and make those quantum leaps. I think you go into the quantum field often in filmmaking. This is where you get your knowledge, strength and inspiration.

Connecting to Your Higher Self

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

How to Find and Listen to That Little Voice Inside You to Eliminate Negativity, Stress, and Allow Your Creativity to Flourish

by Carole Dean

Every other Saturday at 10 am we have Film Funding Class for our fiscally sponsored filmmakers. These are some of the kindest people in the world, intent on educating themselves and moving their films forward. They allow me to share books with them on the power of our minds.

Some days I get on a roll and I don’t want to stop. I work too hard and end up exhausted. After reading Amit’s work, I intend to recognize when my energy is getting depleted. I will immediately stop, meditate and take my vitamin C.

This week we are studying Quantum Spirituality by Amit Goswami. There is a wealth of information in it aimed at moving you to a higher consciousness and improving your ability as a filmmaker.

From the massive amount of exercises and information Amit has in this book, you might want to read only one chapter a week and integrate that into your life. Perhaps you could take a year of reading and integrating. With this approach, you could become a much more enlightened being with a better understanding of your incredible human potential.

I highly recommend Quantum Spirituality. Here are some of the highlights that will help you thrive in life and your filmmaking career.

Realizing a Transformational Journey

Amit tells us about setting the stage for a transformational journey. He talks about the chakras and their importance. He shows us where, via a map, they are located on our body.

“The brow chakra: the initial vital function is rational thinking for which the organ is the prefrontal cortex, right at the back of the forehead. The associated feelings are clarity of understanding when the energy moves in, and confusion with depletion of energy.”

This is very important for filmmakers to know. Filmmakers work long hard hours and often hit this depletion of energy. One thing that can help you is to find a quiet spot to meditate for 20 minutes and get back on track.

They say 20 minutes of meditating is like one hour of sleep for the rest it gives your body. Dr. Linus Pauling said Vitamin C is a healer and that it helps clear your mind you when you get tired. It has been proven that people do better with tests and under stress after taking vitamin C.

Amit goes on to say, “With further opening, this brow chakra is the one that funnels the intuitive energy associated with the archetypes that are attracted to you. This is why this chakra is called the third eye or the eye of intuition. The associated feelings of archetypical exploration are satisfaction, when energy is gained, and despair when energy is depleted.”

Communicating with Your Audience

Amit teaches us how to recognize signs from our body and how to restore our balance.

“This brow chakra is an important chakra for all of us because we need to be connected to our intuition.”

We are all blessed with psychic abilities, we learned that from Dean Radin in his books, and using those abilities is very important for each of us because we are connected to the universe and to each other.

For filmmakers this is important because you need to tap into people to know what they want.

You want to tap into what your audience likes and learn how to communicate with them. What better way to get in contact with your market and your audience then through your own intuition?

Always trust that little voice.

Building Positive Emotional Brain Circuits

Amit proposes that we need to loosen the structure of the ego by developing more authenticity as to who we are and what we’re doing. We need to understand the chakras in the body where we experience emotion and the mental thought that accompanies this. We want to pay attention to what we feel.

He believes the science of the chakras is also very important. When doing yoga, he suggests that you need to focus on the chakra for each yoga position. Yoga will benefit you even more when you add this newly learned behavior to your life.

All of the practices he talks about are effective to building positive emotional brain circuits. These are good to help balance our negativity in general situations of emotional management. (Here, I think he means so that we don’t lose our cool and are able to handle a lot of stress.)

This is perfect for filmmakers who are learning to shoot with COVID-19 rules.

Imagination and Preparation

“Creativity begins,” Amit tells us, “with the stage of preparation according to creativity researchers, three “I” words play a huge role even before that: inspiration, intention and intuition. Inspiration is what we experience when, with or even without reason, the quantum self touches us, and we feel expanded.”

Amit calls this — A beginning of curiosity.

“As we make an intention for such visits more often, it is then that we become aware of our intuitive faculty and the law of attraction: the archetypes are attracted to us. And now the word begins in the form of the four stages of creativity. As “I” words they are imagination, aka preparation, incubation, insight, and implementation aka manifestation.”

An Academy Award winning producer I know uses this “I” word, imagination, before each shoot day. At night, she imagines the next morning. She goes through everything from hearing her wind-up alarm clock along with the call from the front desk to wake her up. Then she imagines everything that should happen until she is on the set and the first shot is made.

It is in the imagination phase that she discovers anything she may have forgotten to do or say to someone. She catches her mistakes before they happen using her imagination.

Grist for the Unconscious Mill of Your Mind

“Focused imagination and preparation: preparation firstly consists of catching up on existing knowledge and extending it through imagination.”

For filmmakers, this would be doing your research using your creativity and your imagination to extend your idea and expand it to be fully creative.

He recommends that you read voraciously. Read the good books, read current materials on archetypes, read whatever you can get your hands on, and imagine, imagine, imagine. The idea is to generate new and divergent thinking, ideas that will act as fodder for the second stage of incubation which is unconscious processing.

Amit also suggests that you “listen to lectures by people of transformation, go to workshops, talk to like-minded people. Always to generate new grist for the unconscious mill of our mind.”

Clean up the Thoughts in your Mind

He wants you to watch your mental preoccupations; if your mind is preoccupied with old stuff, clean it up.

“Clean up your unconscious,” he advises. “I am putting on a new persona to feel good about myself. So, we need to clean up our persona and eliminate inauthenticity as far as we can in our present state.”

And he recommends that we meditate.

“Many people believe that meditation is a complicated technique to be done for hours on end, but this needn’t be the case. If you’re new to meditation start off easy, 10 to 15 minutes a day of a simple technique is enough in the beginning.”

Here is his sample meditation:

“Sit comfortably wearing comfortable clothing. Close your eyes and relax your body. Start off by paying attention to your jaw. Like almost everyone you’re likely to hold tension in this area so place your attention on relaxing your jaw.

“Then relax your belly, your shoulders, the muscles around your eyes, and allow your shoulders to drop. Take a deep breath or two and the muscles all over your body will start to relax. Now place your attention on the following mantra, you can coordinate the mantra with your breathing, say AUM as you breathe out and focus on staying present.

“This meditation is called concentration-meditation. It is focusing on an object. You can use your breath and focus simply on the breath or focus on a lighted candle.”

Amit states, “The mind needs discipline while the heart needs freedom in order to explore the new. Usually we’re in the opposite situation, our mind runs freely around without control, but our heart is locked away closed to any contact with new reality.

“To change this status, we have to train the mind and bring it under control by means of practice on concentration and to learn to let the heart express freely without the mind interfering. The best way to strengthen the heart is via the exploration of love.”

Think of some of Clint Eastwood’s films like his Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby. That was full of love. You left that theatre with love in your heart. Love is contagious.

Slow Down the Mind to Hear the Thoughts in the Gap

“It is said in these spiritual traditions,” Amit writes, “that meditation appears spontaneously in the mirror of a mind that reflects a heart full of love. The practice of concentration is relatively easy to build into a success when we love what we’re doing. If the exercises are done in a flat and boring way, without putting heart into them, success will not come easy.

“In this way the daily practice of mental concentration is very important for your health. Even if you practice a little each day the constant practice is a very important aspect of the mental training, first because the nature of the mine is to change, and this consistency in practice is helping to regain control over the mind.”

He provides a Zen story that describes the lesson of it all.

“A student went to his meditation teacher and said, my meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, my legs ache, or I’m constantly falling asleep. It’s just horrible.

“It will pass, the teacher said matter of factly.

“A week later the student came back to his teacher. My meditation is wonderful I feel so aware so peaceful so alive is just wonderful.

“It will pass the teacher said matter of factly.

“And indeed, although my day-to-day experience would differ as described above with time, I found that there was more space between my thoughts, my mind was slowing down. “

This is exactly what you want because, “slowing down the mind allows the information from your extrasensory perception to make itself heard.” Deepak Chopra has always said, “listen to the voice in the gap between your thoughts.”

However, when your thoughts are moving rapidly it’s hard to hear your little voice. When you slow down your thinking, the little voice becomes easier to hear and that enhances your intuition.

I have found that the more I use my intuition the stronger it becomes and the more information I get.

It’s as if they know I use it and then they give me more information. I always feel like I am being guided,

I know that I am never alone.

Why Creativity Thrives on Relaxation and Meditation

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

How meditation removes barriers, fears, and can take you on the trip of your lifetime

by Carole Dean

I have been meditating daily since the ‘70s. This was the only way that I could run and manage my film company offices in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. I found quiet places in each office to meditate. In New York, it was our air conditioner room. In Los Angeles it was the office supply room.

A good meditation is amazing. It’s like being in this magic library full of ideas and thoughts.

I used to say I was taking inventory, but they knew I was meditating. So, I just put a sign on the door saying “meditating” and they were as quiet as church mice. They knew I needed peaceful time alone. They knew this was good for me because I always came out of those rooms much happier than I went into them.

Connecting to the Quantum Field

Sages have been telling us for centuries that it’s in the quiet that we connect to our higher self. I think it’s more than that. I think we’re connecting to the quantum field, that incredible field physics tells us is invisible and yet it surrounds us and fills the air with heightened energy from here throughout our entire universe.

This quantum field is said to be the record keeper of all time. It remembers everything, it hears everything, it sees everything. It’s an archival storage unit for all of us to tap into.

It’s like finding your favorite radio station. When you find it you normally remember how to tune back into it. Once your body finds this magic spot it will remember, your body remembers and creates a pathway back to the field so you can go there again and again.

Becoming Part of the Conscious Universe

When you get into a completely relaxed state, magic happens! Your whole body seems to dissolve into nothingness. You are just this little particle; your true self, and you realize you are part of a vast supporting and caring universe. You realize this is a conscious universe we live in. There is so much knowledge and information available to you in this place that you need to find your way in and experience for yourself what I’m talking about.

A good meditation is amazing. It’s like being in this magic library full of ideas and thoughts. All you have to do is tune in to this place where you’re totally relaxed. You’ll forget you have a body and the next thing you know 20 minutes is gone and you’re sitting there thinking, “Gee that was easy.”

You now have an answer for what seemed like a perplexing problem in the beginning. If you don’t have an answer or any ideas immediately, you will get them soon.

Releasing Your Creativity

You will notice daily how your creativity is improving. Somehow you have less blocks. Your creativity soars and grows more confident daily. It is directly tied to meditation. The more you meditate the more creative you become. Somehow this removes any barriers or fears and opens you to your normal creative self.

In meetings you can better express yourself. You become a much better problem solver and are the first one to focus on the problem and a solution. You seem to be very clear on identifying problems and finding solutions and you use your creativity in doing these things.

Sometimes I go into a meditation presenting a problem and then offering a solution or two. Normally another option pops into my head that is much better than anything I offered. I thank the quantum field; I thank our Conscious universe and I give gratitude for the incredible support they give me. All of this is available for you too.

The Benefits of Slowing Everything Down

So, what’s so important about relaxation and meditation Carole? We’re living in a world that is fueled by caffeine. We love our daily espressos and lattes and cold flats and anything to get us revved up. So why slow down?

It’s in the stillness that you heard the little voice.

Getting quiet allows you to relax your entire body and the benefits to the organs of your body are incredible. A 20-minute meditation for the body can be the same as almost two hours of rest according to the Transcendental Meditation people have done a lot of research on meditation. Many of our actors and filmmakers us TM to relax and learn to meditate. This is a great option for you.

You don’t get into the quantum field driving a Ferrari. You get there by totally relaxing, chilling out and getting into your true self, which is that tiny bit of you that came into this body and that will leave this body, that eternal you.

Taking The Trip of a Lifetime

Finding that true self and going on journeys with it into the quantum field are the greatest treat in life. If you’ve not tried this, I guarantee you there’s nothing more exciting and more fulfilling then to sit in a quiet place totally relax and then through your meditation, have the trip of a lifetime.

You come back from your meditation totally relaxed and with knowledge, confidence and realizing that you are supported. Your mind is lazar focused. You know what your priority is and how to do it. You’ll feel very confident. Believe me, it’s empowering to meditate and get centered and focused.

You will know there is a place for you to go to tap into the akashic records. This place where all information is stored, it’s a library of thoughts and knowledge. There are solutions to problems with abundant knowledge; it is all there to empower you. It has been accumulating information for you since the beginning of time.

Scheduling Your Meditations

Relaxation and meditation are things that the more you do them the better they get. In the beginning you need to put meditation in your calendar but before long, your body and your mind will remind you because they love it. Your body has 20 minutes to rest and regroup. Your mind gets to clear out the “stuff” and then can help you clearly focus on what you need to do.

Giving this time to yourself is a wonderful gift. It will return you many beneficial rewards. Getting started is the hard part. You need to have consistency with meditation.

Meditation advances with each sitting and soon it makes what Chopra calls “quantum leaps.” That’s when you really know you are hitting the motherload. The more you do it the better it gets.

Getting Help Winding Down and Relaxing

I want to recommend a person who has relaxation and meditation videos that you pay for once and they are yours forever.

For years I have worked weekly with Sevina Altanova. Sevina helps me relax and gives me Reiki sessions on a weekly basis. I use her yoga exercise video in the morning to keep my body in shape and, sometimes I use her meditation tapes in the daytime to take me on a wonderful guided tour.

Sevina is an actress who immigrated from Bulgaria with her director/writer husband and two lovely boys. Please check out her website. https://stressmanagementresources.com/ Look under “Meditation” for her 11 Science-based reasons for meditation. Check out her “Relaxation” information and be sure to take advantage of the free meditation.

The Art of Manifesting: Creating Your Future – Part 2

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Richard Kaufman

By only asking for things for your highest good, you will raise your energy and increase your happiness.

It’s exciting that science is now looking into Eastern spiritual information and practices to understand quantum physics. It’s a wonderful time to be alive and get to understand the power of our minds.

The physicists say that you have an electric body. Your mind is electric, your thoughts electric and they are energy.

Many things Carole Dean wrote ten years ago are now proven and understood by physicists. She wrote “The Art of Manifesting: Creating Your Future” to explain the law of manifestation and outline how to use the law of attraction to accelerate your manifestations. You can turn dreams into reality and this book shows you how.

On The Art of Film Funding Podcast, she discussed with host Claire Papin how filmmakers and others can use the lessons in the book to create their own success.

Are we manifesting daily with our thoughts and if so, just how powerful are they?

The physicists say that you have an electric body. Your mind is electric, your thoughts electric and they are energy. Your thoughts are things, they are alive, they are energy. Plus, we are living in a conscious universe. Our universe, sees everything, records everything and is part of us.

All this is proven. Currently they’re doing PSI (term used to refer to psychic phenomena, experiences, or events) experiments and they are proving so many unusual things that we’ve always been wondering about. They are researching psychic phoneme, like premonition, when you know something’s going to happen. Or when you talk to someone on the wind and ask them to contact you and they do. The researchers are finding that these things are natural. They can reproduce many things we call physic phenome in the lab. If we talked more about these unusual experiences with each other, we would realize that they happen often.

Dean Radin, head of The Noetic Science Institute has written a brilliant book called The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena where he explains his psi research. It’s amazing how many of these things we think are abnormal are being proven in the laboratory. He concludes that we are physic and we are all connected to each other. I think we are very powerful beings and we need to recognize our powers and use them.

Are we walking WiFi’s?

We’re constantly sending things out with our thoughts. We are always asking the universe to help us with decisions. Are our thoughts contributing to our futures? Are we sometimes dreaming things into existence?

Let’s use what physicists say and picture a universe where all around you, every inch of space around you is teaming with energy, energy that is constantly moving and refreshing itself. It is a constant and exists all around us and incorporates us to the stars and all life on our earth and to all of our galaxy.

To give you an idea of the power of this invisible energy, if you and I were sitting three feet apart, the energy between us would be enough to boil all the oceans on the earth. Now that’s mathematically proven. This energy is called the quantum field.

This field is what connects us. We’re all connected through the quantum field and this field is constantly recording everything that happens, every movement, every sound, every thought. Here we are as electric beings, our hearts are electric, our brains are electric, and we are living in a universe teaming with energy, it too is electric. And, we are constantly broadcasting our thoughts.

So, let’s pretend that what you’re sending out with your thoughts you are manifesting. I know this is a big jump, but let’s consider what if. If you are visualizing your film finished, if you can see yourself at the premier screening where your title comes on the screen, the credits roll and you are experiencing joy, gratitude, happiness, success and achievement as you watch your completed film, is this helping to create it? That’s the question.

If you change your thoughts to those of success and gratitude daily where you have a vision of your completed film, you know it is sold, and you are profitable, then does this help you?

Why not consider they are for a month. Just pretend that all the thoughts that you send out, will manifest what you want. Try this for a month and watch how more positive you become. You will only want to think of harmony, happiness, success and benefit to all. Then you will begin to see major changes in your life and the lives of those around you.

It all starts with your thoughts. What you’re sending out and what you believe. By only asking for things for your highest good, you will raise your energy and increase your happiness.

When you come to the realization that you are living in a conscious universe, realizing that it hears your thoughts, it knows what you are doing, it knows what you are thinking, then you will want to carefully chose your thoughts to be of the highest vibration.

Your thoughts will be for your highest good and for the good of all involved. Now you are coalescing with the universal mind. You are co creating with the universe and your wants and needs will be of second of importance to you. Your first focus will be to achieve where all involved benefit and this will happen.

Tell us more about the law of attraction

According to the mathematician, Rob Solomon, in his article The Mechanics of Reality, Solomon states that “the past is finished, and the future is unformed. Both have no existence in physical reality only the now is real.” He refers to the quantum field as the “matrix.” Hs states: “The matrix is infinite and exists outside of time. It contains, in an intangible form, every possible instantaneous configuration of physical reality, like a vast archive of film frames. It is pointless to conjecture why this is so.”

He quotes the Russian physicist Vadim Zeland who proposes that: “the matrix also contains information on alternative ways each state could develop overtime if materialized. These possible timelines he calls lifelines and refers to the potential alternative sequences with which events might unfold as scripts. Because the matrix is infinite in principle there is no limit to the scenarios and scripts an individual could potentially experience.”

Solomon says let’s take a hypothetical person and call them Ellie. “her fixations self-image, strongly held beliefs, (some of which are self-conscious, and which she is not aware of), attitudes and opinions about how she sees her world, be collectively labeled as her “mindset.”

Where the conscious mind does not access the matrix directly, its conclusions, convictions, and strongly held beliefs can as long as they impact the subconscious mind, by possessing a powerful emotional content.”

I believe this is an important key to manifesting. Emotions are the way to manifest your dreams to fruition. Sending feeling with emotions along with visualization of the desire you want is what produces the event. And to live as if you have what you want is what makes it happen quicker.

“The usual analogy is that our mind set acts like a radio. Ellie’s mindset “tunes in” to the corresponding region of the matrix, and lights it up. The matrix then delivers the circumstances held in the lit-up region to Ellie’s physical experience. Although there is always a time delay. Belief and expectation are important factors to the success.

If Ellie performs physical action as if her intention had already been achieved this can have a powerful impact on her belief and the realization of her intention. Action can also reinforce the following factors which can be brought under Ellie’s control and which powerfully impact the matrix, even independently of action: intention, commitment, determination, focus, emotion, excitement, enthusiasm, passion and imagination. As we now know only the present instant is real.

The only power Ellie has is to intend and form the future, preferably with excitement and enthusiasm, by behaving as if her intentions have already been achieved in the here and now. This will cause the reality film to roll in the direction that points to her desired frame in the matrix. So that by the time the future arrives– by becoming the present—- it delivers what she desires.”

“In applying the law of attraction to achieve some desire, we should visualize, and meditate upon our desire with the excitement and feeling that it has already been achieved, with a strong sense of the present. Only the present instant is real, and it is only in the now that we have the power. We should not even imagine ourselves projected into the future with our desires fulfilled, because the future does not exist. Most importantly we should not entertain thoughts about how intentions are quote going to happen. That places desire squarely in the future and the matrix will respond by reflecting back an endless state of going to happen–one day!

Instead picture our desires fulfilled in the here and now the associated excitement and feeling will then steer the analogous matrix film strip towards a frame where our intentions have indeed been achieved. These will emerge into objective reality at the appropriate time.

Actions also, as far as possible, should be preformed as if the intention has already been achieved. Pay no attention to the facts, existing circumstances, contingencies, or to the seemingly necessary Ways and Means. And disregard all limiting factors, be they inadequate funds, poor health etc. Dismiss probabilities, possibilities, and seeming likelihoods as irrelevant. Even business theories and practices of the material world have absolutely no place where the law of attraction is being invoked. “

I think Mr. Solomon has given us a clear, concise way to manifest and I highly recommend it.