A belief system is a set of beliefs or principles that helps us interpret our everyday reality, understand, organize, and make sense of the world. Rooted all the way from our childhood, sometimes these beliefs can limit our happiness and potential later on in life. Far too often, they are so deeply entrenched in mind, that we live completely oblivious to them. Imagine a

world where you had the motivation to achieve the things you wanted in life without experiencing internal conflict, self-doubt or fear? We spoke all about this with Atarah Valentine, a Certified Hypnotherapist, Embodiment Coach, and the founder of THE SEED LEVEL. Valentine has developed a very grounding pragmatic approach to healing mental and emotional blocks, leaving his clients feeling empowered and regaining trust in themselves through a process of conscious and subconscious cognitive reframing.  In short, Atarah says “I teach people how to be themselves.” He does this through conscious learning, disruption techniques, and subconscious reprogramming using NLP, Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy, Mental +Emotional Release Therapy, and Tapping. Valentine talks to us about what exactly belief system enhancement is, how our lack of presence is our biggest enemy and why change can often feel so hard for us.

What Exactly is the Seed Level and how do you help people with belief system enhancement?

Every person sees the world through a unique lens based on their belief system. This belief system is created through familial, societal, religious, and cultural influence. But what if the belief system that is framing your life is actually what is holding you back from living as you truly desire? This is the source, or seed level, of most peoples’ problems: what they consciously want and what they unconsciously believe is possible for themselves is incongruent.

What if we could restructure that belief system to support your personal growth? We can!!! Together I help clients clear mental & emotional blocks by resolving negative subconscious loops and limiting beliefs while installing new habits, behaviors, and motivations.

I work with clients 1:1 over zoom, in group sessions, and through my digital workshops.

What motivated you to start your company? What is your mission?

I created this brand in response to the lack of grounded practices in the wellness industry. So many existing practices are either too woo-woo, overly simplified to the point of being inefficient, or overly scientific, leaving people feeling inadequate or confused. I wanted to create a brand that can work for and be understood by anyone. We are living in a world where we are taught that we must go on a retreat to find ourselves. I want to show people that you can connect to yourself and grow in your day-to-day life.  I always joke with my clients, “If you need to leave your life to find yourself you are missing the point” This is a brand designed to educate and free people from the everyday issues and limitations they experience through childhood trauma, blocks, and limiting beliefs.

How can someone start shifting their reality on their own if they don't have the capacity to work with you at the moment? 

I created the protocol, Rehearse. Recalibrate. Review. to educate people on how they can do this every day by tapping into their body's natural biological, or circadian, rhythm.

Most people don’t realize that we are in a state of hypnosis twice a day: When we first wake up and as we are falling asleep. These are great times to set intentions or ponder what we learned or still need to learn.

In addition to this it is important to take a quiet moment to yourself mid-day, around 1-3pm, as that is when our body needs a reset.  Most people have additional caffeine to push themselves forward or start their numbing behaviors and check out during this time which causes us to lose intention and presence and fall into our programming and automatic behaviors.

What's the biggest block that you see people experiencing?

Lack of presence is our biggest enemy.  Most people spend the majority of their day regretting decisions or fearing the future.  Change can only happen in the present and it’s where I see the most people spending the least amount of time.

Where do people pick up most of their programming? 

Environment. Hands-down. In addition to our family’s beliefs and values we are also influenced by religious beliefs, societal influence, friends, socioeconomic status of the town we live in, books, television…the list goes on and on.

Children are essentially walking around in a state of hypnosis (Theta/Alpha) until the age of 8 when we start developing our critical faculty.  That means there is no differentiation between fantasy and reality. This is why our imaginations are so vivid as a kid.  We can create entire worlds in our backyards and completely immerse ourselves within them. If our mind can accept that as truth, think about what we see and hear daily and the impact that can have as a result.

Why as a result of their programming can change feel so hard?

The job of your subconscious mind is to keep you safe and to expend as little energy as possible doing so.  That means doing what we know how to do, in the places we feel the most comfortable doing it in. When we try to step out of that space we are met with resistance, procrastination, and anxiety.  Anything that is unfamiliar or unknown to the subconscious mind is considered pain.

What is EMI and how do you use this technique with your clients who deal with PTSD and other stress related disorders?

Eye Movement Integration is a similar practice to EMDR.  The key difference between the two is that EMI publicly, and directly, links back to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), whereas EMDR claims to be its own discovery. 

What most people don’t know is that the woman who developed EMDR worked for Richard Bandler and John Grinder who created NLP, and developed EMDR when she left, denying it had any influence over it;s development.

EMI is similar and different in the sense that it is using eye movement to access more of your neurology to resolve and desensitize blocks, trauma, or painful memories, but instead of a singular lateral eye movement we use the eyes full range of motion and don’t intellectually try to intervene with the process allowing your subconscious to pass the emotion without intellectual investment or intervention.

Why is your rehearse. recalibrate. review workshop important to you and why did you decide to lead with this for your first workshop?

Rehearse. Recalibrate. Review. is important because it teaches people how to stay connected to themselves. I don’t even like calling it a workshop as it isn’t something you do once. I call it a protocol. It’s a way of life. It teaches you how to connect with yourself! There is no point in focusing on manifestation, relationships, or career success if we can’t stay in alignment with who we are.  Until you learn how to connect with yourself you will never feel satisfied, no matter how much stuff you acquire.

The problem is, most of us have never learned how to be ourselves or express ourselves authentically.  We are raised to make others feel good, to achieve in order to feel purposeful, and to focus more on our environments for fulfillment than our internal needs.

Why is our imagination so important when it comes to our growth?

 I cannot begin to tell you how many people say, “I had such a vivid imagination as a kid.”, as if it disappeared.  I in-turn tell them, “You have an incredibly powerful imagination! Your imagination is so strong that you create physiological responses in your body in the form of stress and anxiety even when there is no real threat.” That is a powerful imagination, you are just using it to imagine the worst possible outcomes.

Imagine if all of that brain power and intention was directed toward imagining something bigger and better? 

That is why I created Rehearse. Recalibrate. Review, so people can stop reinforcing the negativity and lack, and use every day as a new opportunity to create something beautiful for themselves.