July 10th, 2008 V for Vixen Write a comment on this article ! Read members’ comments [1] V for Vixen : Archives Can a "love guru" really help? Laura Roberts lroberts@hour.ca Elprehzleinn: the real love guru Though Mike Myers' Love Guru may not be hitting the mark in theatres this summer, there are plenty of so-called love and relationship experts out there who are ready and willing to pass off their own personally branded opinions as deep self-knowledge. Are these guys and gals really experts of any kind, or are they just dishing out clichéd advice in exchange for your hard-earned dollars? I recently had the chance to chat with one of these relationship advisors, the self-proclaimed Spiritual Entertainment Specialist JoreJj Z. Elprehzleinn. Elprehzleinn is offering a class on July 14 here in Montreal called Changing Your Love Story, which he says will help women reboot their current operating systems in order to increase their chances of finding true love. Having gotten started thinking about relationships and the advisors that help people evaluate them, Elprehzleinn said that he usually thinks of himself as a life coach, though he isn't like any other life coaches you may think of, whether it's Tony Robbins or Deepak Chopra. Ultimately, he says his ideas are about what he calls "mind power," which involves approaching the spiritual side of life in an entertaining way. He's come to think of this as "spiritual entertainment," since it involves serious stuff that is more effective when taken less seriously, "like a movie, or a computer game, or a book." But just what does he mean by the concept of changing your love story? Elprehzleinn says that everyone's brain has an inner "program," much like the programming on a computer. This program, working unconsciously, runs the movie of your life and can be accessed by your conscious mind in order to revise it and make it work better for you. Think of switching from Microsoft's notoriously crash-prone Vista operating system to Apple's comparatively crash-free OS X (or to Linux, for the more hands-on among us). The idea of his Changing Your Love Story seminar is to reset your love story, specifically, and to boot up a more "keyword rich" version that will help to generate a better love life every time it's referenced - whether by yourself or by others. Why change your internal story? Elprehzleinn says whether you want it to or not, you've already got a story that's running your love life - and if it's not working for you, then you definitely need to call it up, edit it and make it work for you instead of against you. Think about it: Why do most of us have certain dating habits or unfortunate patterns that lead us to repeatedly fall for the wrong people? According to Elprehzleinn it's because we're letting our subconscious love stories control us, rather than the other way around. What's up with the emphasis on "true love"? Can those who are looking for more casual relationships attend, or is this one of those marriage-oriented seminars, something like an offline eHarmony? Elprehzleinn says the class is for anyone who's looking for true love, whether that's for a lifetime or just one night. He says that he conceives of true love as "a feeling that can be added to the story, for the future, so [that] there can be more of that most wonderful feeling." Is this a class that will help you learn how to meet Mr. or Ms. Right? Not at all. Instead, Elprehzleinn says he'll teach you to manipulate your love story, which will ultimately help draw people to you in whatever way you've decided to write your story. I'll admit that this sounds a bit hippie-dippy, but as a writer, it also kind of makes sense. How many times have I written out a story that I tossed aside because it involved too much wishful thinking when, ultimately, the things I was writing about were exactly what I wanted but told myself I couldn't have? Granted, people aren't much interested in reading about happy couples, so these stories wouldn't work as pieces designated for public consumption. Instead, they were more like a bit of therapy; they were expressions of inner desires that I hoped would, somehow, manifest in the real world. Can the things you write or think about really transfer to reality? Isn't what we call "reality" really whatever we make of life, the universe and everything? So why not dream big instead of limiting yourself to whatever society, your friends or family members have prescribed? Thinking about what you want for a change sounds positively liberating. Whether you've had great experiences or terrible ones in the past, Elprehzleinn is hoping to help you "open [your love life] up to a brighter future." For more information on JoreJj Z. Elprehzleinn's July 14 seminar, Changing Your Love Story, check out his website at www.changeyourlovestory.com. (please note that URL was the one that was used at the time this article was published. Since that time the program has been made available for home study at this link you can take the program right now or see what it is like: http://MediaZDesign.com/LoveStoryMagic/love.html Write your comment on this article! regarding changing your love story I do not know what to believe about changing your own love story, I haven't read it. I just read an article by Laura Roberts. I happen to feel Mr Elprehzleinn is on to something. We are conditioned by society, family, friends to not think freely, but to "blend", be "normal" like the others. Too much freedom is frightening for people. Seeing us not the same disturbs them. This is not new. This is just someone unlocking our inner desires and exposing them shamelessly, giving us permission to live and breath our true selves. Why should that be so scary, could it be our whole lives a small part of us has died daily trying to please, fit in or be approved? Wouldn't it be great if our parent's taught us that from the moment we were concieved? "Be yourself, your best self, your true self, go for the gold, touch the stars. I'll be here waiting if you happen to fall. Go, be, live, love my little one." I have not heard Mr Elprehzleinn, but I do hope to one day. I just have to say, I have no opinion, I am following my"gut." Thanks for listening. carla stafford