De-Armor Meetings

The first de-armor meeting will be on Friday December 16th beginning at 6:30 pm. The next meeting will be on Friday January 6th beginning at 6:30 pm.
Additional meeting dates will be posted on this page. Please send me an email if you want to be on the email list for the meetings. Click here to send me an e-mail.

The meetings are at my office at 660 2nd Street in the coastal part of Encinitas. Click here to see my office location.

There is a minimum age of 20. The nature of these meetings are not for people younger than 20. The cost of the meetings is $20.

Introduction
Genesis 1:27 states that people are made in the image of God. To me, this means that our Essential Nature is God. God is love, peace, wisdom, joy and compassion. We each have the innate (inborn) ability to express God. The prayer of St. Francis is an expression of living a life in the image of God.

The Prayer Of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

If God is our Essential Nature, what stops us from living as an image of God? We, at times, act from fear, anger, shame, sadness, guilt, pride, vanity, envy, hatred and jealousy. These feelings are covering over our Essential Nature of love, peace, wisdom, joy and compassion.

Armor
One definition of armor is: any quality, characteristic or thing that serves as protection. I'm going to simplify this definition and say that armor is a covering that is over something.

Armor is any thought or action that covers over the expression of God. Armor is also all of the stored stories and feelings that we have that block us from fully being Love in every moment. Mental armor can be our habitual set ways of thinking. Emotional armor can be our habitual set ways of feeling. Each person has physical armor; usually in the form of tension. All armor creates a covering over, and interferes with, God's expression coming through in our thoughts, words, actions and feelings.

De-Armor
De-armor involves the lessening of any physical, mental and emotional armor. The following section has two articles that give much more insight into armor and de-armor.

Two Articles About Armor And De-Armor
Two articles have been written specifically about armor and de-armor. These articles will give you insight into de-armor.
Click here to read a nine page PDF article titled: Living A Life Without Armor.
Click here to read an eight page PDF article titled: A Better Quality Of Life.
These articles came about as a result of the work that people have been doing over the past five years in the Thursday group.

These articles are two of many articles about the work being done by people in the Thursday group. Click here for a full list of the articles related to the work being done in the Thursday meetings.

The First Part Of The De-Armor Meetings
The meetings will begin with a time of being verbally guided to be more in contact with yourself. This verbal guiding is usually called a guided meditation. The guided meditation helps each person settle in from their day and come more in contact with themselves.

The Second Part Of The De-Armor Meetings
After the beginning guided time, people will dialog and share. This second part of the meeting is the vast majority of the meeting time.

Not everyone will have a time to talk. If there are quite a few people at the meeting, everyone sharing would make the time of the meeting too long. I've been a member of three different groups where people share. There have been many times when I've gotten a lot more from someone else sharing than from my own share. We each 'have a part' of whatever another person experiences. We can gain much from the experience of others.
If you attend repeatedly, you'll be able to share fairly regularly (though not at every meeting). Not sharing at every meeting can be a relief for some people. They may not attend if they had to share at every meeting.

This time of sharing can become emotive. People may cry or yell as their feelings come up. Do not stay if you're uncomfortable with what is happening. If you're uncomfortable, please feel free to leave at any time. It's each person's responsibility to take care of themselves whether they are just attending the meeting or when they're participating in sharing.

Each person is responsible for only sharing what they want to share and expressing only what they want to express. I'm not in the role of a counseling therapist or in the role of a chiropractor. I'm here to help facilitate the lessening of what is false and what covers over a more full expression of your True Nature.

Confidentiality Agreement About The Meetings
It's very important that everyone feels safe and protected about what they say in group. There is also much learned by everyone from our sharing. To balance being able to tell your friends something that you learned or experienced along with protecting the privacy of each person, the following is the confidentiality agreement for the group:
When you talk of something that you have learned or experienced, no one's name is to be used other than your name.

The Time Of The Meetings
The meetings begin at 6:30. You're welcome to begin arriving at 6:10 or 6:15.

The first part of the meeting is a time to go inside. People trickling in over a long period of time is disruptive to the first part of the meeting. There is a ten minute time period for you to be late; not ten minutes and thirty seconds or ten minutes and two minutes. The doors will be locked for the evening promptly at 6:40. Please do not compromise your safety if you're running late.

You're welcome to leave the meeting after the guided meditation time is over. You're also welcome to leave in between people sharing. If you want to stay for only one or two people sharing, that is okay. I ask that you leave in between people sharing and not while a person is sharing unless you're uncomfortable and you want to leave more quickly.

The meeting may last until approximately 10 pm, though there is no specific ending time for the meeting. For many people the time will fly by. For some people three and a half hours will be too long for them to be there. Please do take care of yourself. You're not obligated to stay for any longer than you want to be there.

The Cost Of The Meetings
The cost of the meeting is $20. If this cost is high for you, let me know before the meeting.

Please call me at 760-942-9700 if you have any questions. You can also email me at phil@petachenko.com if there are many days before I need to respond to your email. Sometimes I don't check email for three or four days at a time.

Water, coconut water and light snacks are provided.

I look forward to being with everyone at the meetings,
Phil

Click here to go to the main page of the website.