This article explains an evolutionary way for therapists and health practitioners to work and live - a way that focuses on self-enquiry. This way is for therapists across all modalities who want to cultivate bliss and success in their lives and therapy work. Imagine what it would be like to have a state of mind of deep inner peace and serenity - feeling joyous, content, calm, abundant, centred, grateful, inspired, prosperous, supported, secure, invigorated, carefree, creative, and blessed. Self-enquiry is an approach that helps you to foster a state of mind and a way of life that feels like paradise. And this state of mind can be with you anywhere, anytime, no matter what external situation you face. In other words, it is a portable paradise.

Recognising the ups and downs of working as a therapist, Leisa Millar and James Goldings's free eBook "The Therapist's Portable Paradise" gives practical advice from more than 20 successful therapists about how to make it work as a therapist, how to use 10 Actions for using self-enquiry in your therapy business practice and how to create a portable paradise.

The 10 Actions are:

1   Enjoy your work and have fun

2   Create sustainability in your therapy work

3   Practise what you preach

4   Keep a beginner's mind

5   Care for yourself

6   Develop a network of support practitioners and mentors

7   See each client as a teacher

8   Express your passion as a service

9   Take inspired action, without demands

10  Know yourself to deepen your practice

When Leisa and James talk about self-enquiry, they mean a combination of awareness, inner reflection, self-analysis and self-healing. Deep introspection and self-study helps you become more aware of your doubts, fears, beliefs, emotions, judgements, intentions, motivations and thought patterns. All of this self-work flows on to transform your business or therapy work, resulting in:

·           Enhanced therapy practice, eg. your insights deepen your therapy work

·           Benefits for your clients, eg. more effective healing outcomes

·           Benefits for you as the therapist, eg. more stable and centred state of mind, thereby reducing stress and neediness whilst increasing relaxation, health and wellbeing.

The reason your internal shifts transform your business or therapy work is that you start to react less to the situations that arise and thereby you become more relaxed, present, healthy and positive. Other people (for example, potential clients) begin to ‘feel' this within you. They feel your relaxed state of being and become inspired to see you. They continue to see you because of the way you make them ‘feel'. It is ‘this feeling' that inspires them to make the changes needed for their own health and wellbeing.

One aspect about the 10 Actions to Use Self-Enquiry (as described in The Therapist's Portable Paradise eBook) is that you do not need to ‘sell' your therapy to convince people to see you. You become the living product of your therapy work and people see and feel this - not just when they are sitting in front of you, but every time they think of you they will feel your state of being. It is this feeling that they will then share with others when they go out into the world. They will tell others about you and others will notice that they have changed and ask about you too. In other words, if you do the self-work, the universe works for your self.

This does not mean you never take any action such as running seminars and workshops, advertising or marketing; however, it means that your state of mind when you do so is not dominated by fear, neediness, doubt or negativity. Instead, your mind is focused on authentically sharing what you do and what you know because you wish to inspire not require. Practising self-enquiry dissolves the incessant longing for: money, security, an identity or feeling useful. Eventually, you start to realise that if you share your passion, serve others and ‘take inspired action' (as explained in the 10 Actions) you will be supported financially, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.