A little background to me and this site.

In 2009, I travelled to the West Coast of the USA from my home in London, UK, to publicise The Science of Acting (2009). This book documents the acting technique my father, Sam, developed at his London drama school, The Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing (ASAD). The Science of Acting explains both the process of creating realistic characters and, in essence, the workings of the human mind; because to understand the thinking of a character, the actor must understand the nature of thinking in itself. How, why and what we think have been my lifelong fascination.

The layperson’s adaptation, Why We Think The Way We Do and How To Change It, is currently being completed with coauthor Thomas Garvey, Senior Tutor at ASAD. The work that evolved from my father’s drama school is a side-step from my academic training in Neuropharmacology, yet firmly linked. The Science of Acting is rooted in observations made in the actor’s classroom, rehearsals and life in general; Neuropharmacology is rooted in observations of neuronal and animal behavior.

At the core of both is the study of consciousness.

After three months of book promotion in the US, an unusual set of circumstances led me to sixth months of travel to further ‘explore consciousness’ and how the subject was approached by traditions and cultures globally. Of course with this much solo travel there was no escaping my own exploration of the self. The six months is now approaching three years, extended by the realisation that we are currently living through an unprecedented leap in the evolution of consciousness, here termed ‘The Shift’. With this monumental event taking place I needed more time and more miles!

Many ancient cultures and religions have indicated that these times are significant. Astronomers point to the repercussions of the increasing number of solar flares; astrologers highlight the ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’ taking (or some consider having taken) place, explaining our transition from the Piscean to Aquarian age; international news reports an endless chain of natural disasters, socio-political uprisings and economic crises. It is becoming harder to deny that something is going on, but why and what this will lead to remains to be fully understood.

This Shift becomes intertwined with our personal lives as we recognize the holographic nature of the Universe. Documented by the ancients and now being studied by scientists, this is the awareness that we are inextricably connected to the whole. It explains why as individuals we are going through our own personal conflicts. Although conflict is nothing new - be it affecting our physical health, mental well-being, job satisfaction, relationships, finances, spiritual preferences - it is now reaching new levels of intensity, rocking all sense of security and questioning our ability to survive this changing world. Everything we once took for granted is forced up for question.

Where this website is different from others and the multitude of books on this subject (especially on the year 2012) is that it focuses on how The Shift affects our individual thinking and why everything in the second half of the above paragraph is happening. To evolve from one state of consciousness to another in a relatively short space of time (there’s a phrase!) - at a rate unique to each person - has never been experienced before. Sure, we are watching it playing out on the news but what’s going on in our personal lives is a story that also needs to be covered.

This website is intended as a resource. It shares with you my findings, my travels and many of the instructive and helpful people I met (Links). Having visited more than thirty different countries (Travel), not counting returning to many (taking the count closer to fifty), I have interviewed and spoken to thousands of people about life at this time. My sources include teachers of ancient traditions, people supping coffee/beer/chai/fresh lime and soda in cafés, shamans, cooks, allopathic doctors, psychics/mediums, college students, taxi drivers, alternative health practitioners, waiters, guesthouse owners, spiritual seekers, farmers, astrologers, evolutionary astrologers, shopkeepers, numerologists, tour guides, healers, and the variety of people one sits next to on flights…

From the stories I have heard and what I’ve witnessed taking place in people’s lives as well as my own, I see that there is a process to this extraordinary transformation and a route through these unchartered territories to another side. Order exists to the seeming chaos and to understand it is to make the journey easier.

What follows are a series of essays, which go into increasing detail as the microscope lens is changed to increase its magnification, summarising how this transition is affecting our thinking - which of course means our lives. My data gathering comes not only from the people I have met talking about their lives, but through teachers generously sharing with me their knowledge, as well as an eye kept on related blogs, forums, websites and the popular media.

I invite you to take whatever may benefit you and others from these writings and to join me, ever onward.

Thank you for your interest,

Elena Kogan