Reviews, Testimonials & Endorsements
Note: "Phase 1" means living in the "illusion" of fear, struggle, and negative emotions. "Phase 2" means living a transformed life of ease, abundance, financial freedom and joy. "Phase 2 work" refers to the process for entering Phase 2 Robert reveals in his book.
Notable Reviews:
From the Foreword by John Assaraf, New York Times bestselling author of The Answer:
"The picture Robert paints for you in the pages that follow may surprise, delight, and excite you in what you instantly recognize as extremely positive ways. It may also shock you, disturb you, and seem unbelievable or even crazy to you. Regardless of what your reaction may be, initially and over time, this book will open your eyes to many new possibilities. It will stretch and challenge you in powerful ways and open new doors of opportunity for you."
Karl Edmunds, Managing Principal, DMG Financial:
"I approach business no longer from a perspective of scarcity but from abundance. I see the game of business not as war, where any opposition must be wiped out, but as a game in which each player is in a dynamic interplay of offense and defense."
From Real People:
Here's a snippet of a story shared by Grant Lewers from Sydney, Australia:
"My father committed suicide when I was younger and I was always afraid of letting my life get to a point where it was so bad I'd do the same. Prior to discovering the Phase 2 work, I'd say I was trying to manipulate myself and others into the way I thought would be best for me. I never lived in the moment. I never really felt my true emotions. I was always focused on trying to fix, control and influence the future to my liking.
I was constantly stressed out running a business, trying to deal with staff, investors, customers, friends and family. It was hard work maintaining the facade of the persona I had created. After using the tools and expanding, I just started to live in the now. I started to appreciate the moment and rather than try and get my self and others to be or act a particular way, I'm now appreciating them and the moment as being perfect in supporting me in my journey.
The Busting Loose model opened me into a new way of being. It took a lot of energy to always be thinking, influencing, and worrying about the future and trying to hold up a false image of myself. I now have that energy back and can use it to live life and feel my Joy rather than worrying about everything."
Ranchelle Dawn Alexander, from Camrose, Alberta, Canada, shared this story about how fear dropped away as she used the tools and played the Phase 2 game:
"I was completely floored by how well the Phase 2 work resonated with me and how I instantly 'got it.' I own several franchises and always felt that I was losing at The Business Game. My life was full of fear about losing my business and not making 'enough' money. I generally felt like I was 'waiting' for something to happen. Since using the tools, what I notice the most is the fear is gone. I'm not affected by anyone's behavior. I'm not 'uptight' about my business and I experience joy on a daily basis and for the whole day.
My appreciation for myself and how wonderful I truly am has gone through the roof. My appreciation for the life I have created, and the people in it, has literally skyrocketed. Because of using the tools, my relationship with myself, and of course, others, has changed radically. This truly has been what I have been searching for all of my life."
Here's a story from Robert J. Mueller, of Belleair, Florida in which he shares how beliefs about financial limits dissolved:
"For 73 years I searched for inner peace. I retired at age 60 after selling a successful business venture, but I had a constant fear of outliving my retirement funding. I've been married for 51 years and have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. I lived a basic, normal life, but something was always missing. I was raised a Catholic, tried mind control, TM, I Ching, Gurus, etc. I even traveled to China, India and Tibet. But nowhere could I find inner peace. They all spoke of going within, but never presented a procedure to break thru the barrier.
Then I discovered the Busting Loose Model. I used the tools daily and continue to. Now at 74, I finally discovered how to be at peace with myself and enjoy my twilight years.No more fears of outliving my retirement funding or any old age problems!"
Here's a slightly different story shared by David Alli of West Hollywood, California:
"I'm gay and from the time the HIV epidemic started in 1982 I had a passion to do something about it. Toward the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's that passion grew as many of my wonderful, amazing and beautiful friends died. In 1993 when two of my dear friends, Phil and Frank, who started and ran a successful catering company to the stars, contracted HIV. Wondering what to do at this point in their career, they decided to sell their company and travel the world to look for a cure for HIV. Phil and Frank soon returned having met a scientist living in Ireland named Dr. Patrick Prendergast. They needed funding for trial studies, of which Phil and Frank invested heavily. With my new management skills and many contacts in the HIV community, I began recruiting and managing studies for Dr. Prendergast.
Long story short, the study was not a success. However, I had found my passion, and for the next fourteen years, Dr. Prendergast, Leo Prendergast and myself began a journey I could not have imagined. Then I discovered the Busting Loose Model. As I used the tools and moved more deeply into Phase 2, Dr. Prendergast and Leo Prendergast flew in from Ireland. I picked them up at the airport on a beautiful spring day. Driving back to my place in West Hollywood, they announced: ‘We are taking the company public, we've raised millions of dollars, and you (David) will be working for this new company. Your salary will be $7000.00 a month.'
I was in shock. But at that moment I thought of the work of busting loose I had been doing, and the power I had been reclaiming. So now we have this amazing company that produces incredible, magical, out of this world results. Not until I started taking responsibility for my power did all the pieces fall into place and new realms of possibilities began to open up."
Here's a story shared by Michele Morissette, from Gatineau, Quebec, Canada which shows the "ironic Truth" of how extraordinary results can be produced when you let go of wanting to produce them:
"I'm a chiropractor and it used to make me extremely uncomfortable when patients were not responding to treatment or were responding too slowly. For quite some, when a patient wasn’t responding to care or responding slowly I applied The Process to the feelings of discomfort and the frustration of not being able to help them -- without an agenda. After doing that for quite some time, I noticed patients suddenly starting to respond or something else changing. It's amazing. And when nothing changes, it's just another opportunity to use the tools!"
Michael Roman from the United Kingdom shared this story about how "power outside" beliefs started to dissolve after doing the Busting Loose/Phase 2 work:
"I've used the tools with my discomfort over my employer being the one calling the shots and having power over me. As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I increasingly teach in ways that bring me joy and satisfaction, rather than feeling obliged to follow particular patterns or recognized methods.
But most importantly, the place of work has become the main 'arena' for me to play the Phase 2 Game with endless twists and turns in the stories I am creating to support myself. Being in that arena has pushed me further and further down the rabbit hole as illusions are morphed and manipulated to reveal layer upon layer of patterns that were part of my Phase 1 Game."
Monica Garaycoechea, a Medical Doctor from Port St Lucie, Florida shared this about her Phase 2 Business Game experience:
"I feel much more open and comfortable in my business, and thanks to this work I experience a sense of trust and safety I never experienced before. The illusion of money, business, success or failure is evident to me and the play is much more fun and freer. My vision today is based on trusting that what I am doing is perfect and that my real work is to Recover Aliveness from the limitations I am aware of and to really do what I love to do. My passion for The Truth is what always pushed me in life and the fact that I can use my business to increase my Knowing of it and live it is the gift I see and appreciate greatly!"
Pravin Kapadia, from London, England shared this:
"The one major thing that has happened in my Business is my change in attitude and outlook towards business and money. I do not now have the urge that I HAVE TO do this or that or follow a plan in order to increase business. My attitude now is to do whatever I feel motivated to do, see where it takes me, and feel the experiences it gives."
Here's a snippet from John Leonetti of Canton, Massachusetts:
"Since discovering the Busting Loose Model a year ago, I have created a new business and sold my old business. My 2008 revenues for the new business will match the revenues of the old business, yet it took 6 years to build the old business. In addition, I am weeks away from having a book published, a dream of mine. By the way, one year ago today I barely had a table of contents and only had about 35 pages of transcribed notes which comprised the book."
Karl Edmunds of Littleton, Colorado shared this about really "getting" that The Business Game is just a game:
"In 2001-2002, I found my self in the midst of a horrible corporate and personal litigation. I had taken a significant business loss in a start up venture. And emerging out of this maelstrom I felt a powerful shift within me. The metaphor I reference is from the bible when Christ invited Peter to walk on water and join him amidst the storm and waves. For Peter to walk on water he had to release all he ever knew as a fisherman about water.
I realized that I too had to give up everything I ever felt I knew about business and what needed to be done to escape the turmoil I was in -- and The Busting Loose model and tools helped me to do it. Over time, as my sense of who I really am has shifted, I have become less invested in traditional business tactics. I approach business no longer from a perspective of scarcity but from abundance. I see the game of business not as a war where any opposition must be wiped out, but to one of a game with each player in a dynamic interplay of offense and defense. As I have sold off my previously valued tools and assets of traditional business, I find myself armed with a new armament and reaping a harvest of unforeseen wealth pouring into my life in the form of peace, allowing 'what is' to be OK and seeing everyone and everything as an aspect of ME.”
Here's another story shared by Joyah French from Half Moon Bay, California, that beautifully illustrates how everything in the illusion is used by our Expanded Selves as raw material to help us knock out cloud cover:
"I have been self-employed for 30 years and for over 29 of those years spent so much time worrying about clients canceling and students not signing up for classes which would mean bills might not get paid -- although it always seemed to turn out okay despite my fears. That pattern appeared to improve slightly over the years, but would still hook me and steal my joy. I began using the tools daily and then watched my experience in the illusion become ever more filled with joy and laughter. It was amazing. I was riding on a real high.
Then in February of this year, at the age of 66, I fell down the staircase and fractured 3 bones in my right foot. As I progressed through the long healing process of being in a non-weight bearing cast for 7 weeks, not able to drive, living alone, still managing to see clients, I watched miracles appear in my illusion as I kept applying The Process. By the end of the first month I was laughing most of the time because instead of having less money (which I SHOULD have because of not being able to work as much),I was creating more money than I ever had before."
Janet Feld of Somerville, Massachusetts shared this story about how her perspective and direct experience of the True source of her abundance opened up in Phase 2:
"I'm a performing songwriter and freelance music teacher and have been running my own teaching/performing business for 20+ years, the last 9 full time. After using the tools repeatedly over time, teaching and performing work began to 'shown-up' without any solicitation on my part, which had never happened before.
When I was playing the Phase 1 game, I believed I got teaching and performing gigs because of all the time and effort I put in promoting myself; how many contacts I made, how good my press kit/press releases were. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions with acceptance and rejection. I worried about money all the time and judged myself harshly when I didn't earn or ask for 'enough.' The longer I'm involved in Phase 2 work, the calmer and happier I feel. All around, I'm simply having more fun no matter what I'm doing."
Michael Williams from Boston, Massachusetts shared this story about how he began moving from "effort" to "effortless" living in Phase 2:
"In Phase 1, I felt like I was swimming in fresh concrete like I had to put in so much effort for minimal output. Very frustrating. In Phase 2, I put the tools to use and now it's like Glenda Green's effortless command mode, from the heart. While work is not perfect, it is better by far than the best I could have imagined, just one year ago. I have more peace of mind, now, than I've ever had. I take more joy in the moment. Anything less than peace, love, joy, satisfaction, contentment, magnificence, tells me I need to use the tools."Cricket Lee from New York, NY shared this amazing story about the kind of transformations that ultimately come from the cumulative use of the tools over time:
"I started my business after 9/11 when I was sitting on my floor with no car or any money to support my daughter. I had no consulting work, no money, no savings -- nothing. I created myself to be a revolutionary up against the whole fashion industry trying to get designers to change their 'wicked' ways and use my perfected fit system as a universal fit and design (like Microsoft windows) for all of us real women (80% of us).At that point, I had already spent 4 years in the trenches testing and presenting my system, but no one would adopt it fully. Then I discovered the Busting Loose Model and began using the tools on a daily basis, just using them to use them, where it goes it goes, and working to shift my perspective more and more to fun and joy.
Today I am about to sign my fifth license with a huge manufacturing company and my licensees include brands from Neimans to Walmart (Ellen Tracy, Ann Taylor, Simply Vera, etc). We have already been recognized by The Today Show twice; we've been on Fox Business News; been on the cover of the Wall Street Journal; and featured in the Dallas Morning News, New York Times, and LA Times. The Phase 2 work helped me expand through the tough times, pull out of such an intense focus on the storyline, and just stay focused on the fun."
Stephen Ensor from Auckland, New Zealand shared this:
"I have been playing the phase 2 game for approximately 18 months now and am involved in various business activities. I guess the first impact the Busting Loose work had on me is that the anxiety and fear around money I used to experience is almost completely eliminated. Just this alone I feel has major impact on my businesses as well as granting a feeling of unlimited potential and business creativity. As I have staff that I manage, I apply The Process to 'issues' that arise on a personal/business level. Recently the main business I have been involved in is experiencing major growth. Prior to that growth starting, I had let go of worrying too much about sales results etc. -- while using the Busting Loose tools."
Amir Zoghi from Sydney, Australia shared this from the extraordinary transformation he created with his experience of playing The Business Game:
"Let me start by telling you why I got into business in the first place as a Phase 1 Player. When I was fresh out of school my driving force was to make money so I could feel secure and I did what most people do when they want to generate serious money. I started my own business. I had my up and downs, mostly downs at the beginning. I ended up losing the first two businesses I started. Then, my third business gave me enough financial independence to start feeling secure in my life.
What I began to realize soon after the success of my third business was that what I needed to feel secure kept increasing. I needed more status, more material possessions, and more success to retain the feelings of security. On top of that, I started to feel a sense of recognition in my industry, and once that began, I needed more and more recognition too or I wasn’t satisfied. It felt like I was on some kind addictive drug and my life was all about getting high on that drug and needing more and more to continue feeling the high.
I found that my business became all about numbers, results and hidden agendas to ensure my identity and security. It was no longer about what I loved about the business, rather about what I needed from the business. I had lost the passion, the drive, and the love for my products and services. My business became a day-to-day mundane routine.
After discovering the Busting Loose Model, I realized everything I was doing was out of fear. I found that the world outside of me was dictating and determining me and that I had all my power in my circumstances, my environment and the people in my life. When I learned I could reclaim all power that I had outside of me so I could be free to be 'me,' I started on my journey back to my infinite source and realizing who I am beyond the illusion of who I thought I was. I then felt motivated to leave the 3rd business and sold it.
After 9 months of using the tools and expanding, I felt motivated to get into business again but this time without hidden agendas. I got into business because I truly felt motivated to and not because I needed I to achieve specific goals. I started Be Free Events and began speaking and running my own program called "The Quest for Truth" experience. I have now been operating the new company for over 1 year and everything has been coming from a free flowing space.
I no longer do what I need to do. I only do what I feel motivated to do, what I love to do. My decisions are coming only from what I feel within me. The Phase 1 rules, guidelines and formulas that were needed to have a 'successful business' are no longer relevant to me. It's no longer about manipulating a marketing piece so I can influence my client's decisions to spend money with me, or playing a role or wearing a certain mask to impress. It's now all about offering clients what I love to offer because that's what I love to offer, not because that's what the market wants or that’s what is more financially viable.
I found that most people who first come across this level of Truth (including myself) only want to experience the finishing line, the destination, not realizing that The Truth lies in what you are experiencing in the present moment, the journey. It’s all about the journey!"
Michael Mathieu from Boulder, Colorado, shared this story of transformation and playing The New Business Game:
"I'm an Advanced Rolfing practitioner and have been in practice since 1993. The year or two before this time was getting scary business-wise because the auto insurance industry in Colorado changed from no-fault to a fault system. Auto insurance rehab work had been a large part of my practice. This change really dried up my practice in a big way and I kept watching my income drop and drop. A sense of impending doom was always in the background and sometimes in my foreground. I wasn't desperate by any means, but I was concerned.
Shortly after discovering the Busting Loose Model and tools, I jumped totally into Phase 2. Lots of my 'stuff' came up immediately. So I used The Process as much as I was inspired too, which was a lot at times. Things began to change in my business and in my work related studies too, as I created an amazing new mentor. The work has become infinitely more interesting. I enjoy my work these past two years more that ever and am having a lot of fun. I'm also creating my clients to love the work. I feel so confident with my work now, instead of always feeling 'less than.' I speak about my work with a sense of mastery and I never used that word when talking about myself in Phase 1.
In addition, I've created my practice to be really cranking from a financial perspective. I just had my most number of clients in a week last week. People are referring clients to me and those people are actually calling me. For so many years, I thought there something wrong with me because people told me they were referring and but the people hardly ever called.
I have built my own practice now and that feels really good. And I haven't done any marketing. I even moved to Boulder last October and started a part time office there which is thriving too. In Phase 1, you'd have to be crazy to set up a Rolfing practice in Boulder, since it has the highest per-capita number of Rolfers on the planet. I could go on and on. The essence is that feeling inside me that is difficult to put into words. Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy!"
Russ Kirk, who has a corporate coaching and training business in Calgary, Alberta Canada shared this about applying the Process and going deeply into his feelings and The Truth in Phase 2:
"One of the hardest struggles has been to fully go into and experience negative feelings and accept that I've been the one creating them. Talk about the bottom dropping out of my self-image. Talk about a struggle to accept that I would do that to myself. The absolute hardest part has been letting go of my self-image and accepting The Truth that I've been the one creating this illusion.
The first few times it felt like trying to pull a huge barnacle from a rock. It doesn't want to let go. But when it finally releases, there's a feeling of such relief in accepting that this is The Truth. This is what I've been doing to myself. I've been responsible all along. Instead of guilt and remorse, I feel free. The acceptance of The Truth sets me free.
Every time I do this, it becomes easier. It feels like I've taken a massive block of granite from Phase 1 and effortlessly moved it over to my Phase 2 foundation. It feels really strange, but by truly accepting that I have created all of my Human Game experience, I have effortlessly transferred this power over to my Phase 2. The power is not lost. The power is empowering. The only questions are, 'How do I choose to use it? Do I want to take myself down or do I want to build myself up?'
I learned I had to extend faith/trust in The Process 'before' I had faith. By trusting in The Process and going into the feelings time after time, faith slowly developed. The more that I trust The Process the more I realize there isn't any problem that trust can't solve."
Sally Picker, from Rosewood, Australia shared this example of the "proof" she gave herself one day that she really is creating everything that happens to her, down to the smallest detail:
"Along the way I have created some experiences that have left me in no doubt that I am creating my world. I also created the experiences to come at times when I was in a lot of 'pain' and I was questioning everything. The most exciting being I was playing a CD of Robert's and had decided to stop the play. I lifted the lid of the player and had the CD in my hand, but was amazed to be able to still hear Robert talking. I checked the player, there was no CD in the machine and still Robert kept talking!! (I laughed that I created Robert to be so persistent!) I was so thrilled by the creation I called my husband and had time enough to show him (he is familiar with Busting Loose). Robert's 'dialogue' continued a little while longer before becoming faint and finally coming to a stop."
Hunter Greene, Director of Architecture for Hill Studio in Salem, Virginia, shared this about playing "The Architect Game" in Phase 1 and Phase 2:
"In Phase 1 there is a prevailing attitude among architects that we're too good for the business side of architecture. Things like money, rent, contracts, letters, marketing and even the fact that a client would question my (architect) intentions was looked upon with disdain and even encouraged in the architectural education. In Phase 1, I held these feelings as well. Then as I entered into Phase 2, I started having fun with the objects of disdain.
In Phase 2, spreadsheets are really a creative opportunity and can tell quite a story. Marketing is a way to feel the creative energies of other people (aspects of me). Writing contracts and determining fees is another creative opportunity. I'll write these contracts, determine fees and have a blast doing it. Then I'll present it to the client. Sometimes the client says okay to the terms without question, other times I create them to want to play with the terms. In these business parts of architecture, I'm now just living in reactive mode and then seeing what happens.
In Phase 1, there is a list of things to do on projects and with the business of architecture there are priorities and a real structured method for accomplishing things. In Phase 2 with me, when the 'list' of tasks gets long and seems overwhelming, I'll take a breath, use the tools if I feel moved to, settle and see which one pops into my awareness to do first. The things on the list seem to get done on 'their own time."
Terry McKee, an owner of hair salons in Sarasota, Florida, shared these two stories about his Phase 2 experience. Here's the first one:
"My business partner James and I have certainly walked through the fire in the illusion. In the storyline we would be viewed as completely opposite. James being very logical, disciplined and methodical, Terry being creative, somewhat defiant and sometimes scattered. For years we judged each other on just about everything. Much of this we recognized in Phase 1, working on our differences through everything from personal development to therapy!
However, after moving into Phase 2, a major shift began to occur in the hologram. I KNEW immediately that the Busting Loose Model was "True" and somehow I had known it all along. James, in his usual, much more reserved manner, was definitely intrigued. In the storyline I have created myself, quoting James, to get right out there on the ice, while James often stands on the bank, watching to see if I fall through or not before he joins me.
The shifts continued and I realized it really wasn't about James. It was about my appreciation of the part he played in the hologram, and later, this became even clearer when I realized that 'he' was, simply put, 'me,' a reflection of me. What was one of the biggest other shifts? James has not once, since my commitment to Phase 2 said, 'Are you serious?' Not once has he said, 'You're full of it.' In Phase 1, that would have been his reaction! But in Phase 2, as I've created him, he has been incredibly supportive and really gets it, and that is the most potent clue my Expanded Self could send. My commitment to playing in Phase 2 appears to have, in the story line, totally transformed my experience of my business partner.
And here's Terry's second story:
"In the illusion, the retail rental market in Sarasota has hit very hard times. Landlords are actually having to lower rents in order to keep tenants in their spaces. So imagine our surprise when, during the renewal negotiations of the lease at our flagship location, the landlord wanted to raise our rent by 40%. Comments like his came to mind and were reflected back by other aspects of my Consciousness: "In this market? Are they insane?"
To compound the intensity of the script my Expanded Self wrote for this scene, this location is the most profitable and is carrying the other two locations while they grow. "Here we go," I thought. "Bring it on!" I saw exactly what my Expanded Self was up to. I got to the place where I was living reactively, willing to give up this location if that what was what was in the script, applying The Process frequently along the way.
As it 'turned out,' in the storyline, a friend of mine 'appeared' in the hologram, bringing me information and inspiration. This character (me) set some things in motion, and, literally OVERNIGHT, the landlord's committee changed their tune. Not only did we get our rent reduced back to its current rate, we received several months at a reduced rental rate for signing the new letter of intent!"
Jeff Priestley, an entrepreneur from the United Kingdom, shared this Phase 2 Business Game experience:
"I was approximately 9 months into Phase 2 when the pressure was turned to the business and the work just dried up, to almost no cash flow. Having applied The Process for the best part of a month on this particular cash flow pattern, I came into the office one morning to receive a call from a company asking for information about our personality testing service. I had never heard of the company before and agreed to go to visit them. I demonstrated the product and they seemed very impressed. They were going through a corporate reorganization and asked me if I could test the whole of the group at head office, approximately 30 staff. Obviously I agreed and quoted a request for appreciation. What I wasn' prepared for was what came next. 'Can you invoice us immediately? And we will pay immediately.' WOW WOW !!!!
I invoiced and was paid the very next day. To put it bluntly our cash flow turned around overnight. Of course there was a story that logically you could use to explain the willingness to pay so quickly: end of year accounting, tax reasons etc. But I just knew at a very deep level my Expanded Self had just decided to give me a 'Cookie' to show me just how powerful I really am.
Kris Barkway, a golf pro from Sydney, Australia shared this story about a unique experience he had playing The Business Game in Phase 2:
"Weeks after discovering the Busting Loose Model, I started to become aware of the power I had hidden in the illusion of my business and the environment around it. Specifically, I wanted to express appreciation in the form of money for a prestige car, and as it turns out, I had a lot of discomfort around that due to the illusion I had created around what being seen to own a prestige car meant in my industry -- the illusion that being the Resident Professional at a public golf course meant that you shouldn't drive around in a prestige car. This would make the club members feel that you were ripping them off, and would result in being paid less money or losing my job.
I saw so clearly that I had power in the illusion that this creation was real and that creations like it had been limiting my ability to express appreciation in the world in many other ways too -- only one of them being for an expensive car.
Using the tools around reclaiming power enabled me to accept and sit with the feelings of discomfort and expand to the point were I felt inspired to take action without agenda, and without being emotionally caught up in the proceedings. The use of the tools over time enabled me to open into the freedom to walk into a dealership and express appreciation for a car I had always dreamed of -- and to 'gift' myself with many other creations I'd denied myself in Phase 1. The Busting Loose work has had huge impact on my life and business, both of which have expanded exponentially in the most amazing ways."