The State Shift Institute
The State Shift Method™
One method. For every moment.
From stuck to fully alive.
"On the outside it looks fine. On the inside it could be better."
That feeling is there for a reason. And this is where the change begins.
Sound familiar?
It's not about doing more. It's about being more of who you are.
You're doing fine. Your life is reasonably in order. But somewhere inside you feel it: it could feel more alive. Lighter. Freer. Something sits between you and the version of yourself you sense you could be.
That "something" isn't things you need to add. It's things you get to let go of. Beliefs that aren't yours. Patterns that once protected you but now get in the way. Layers you built up to fit in, to do it right, to keep going.
The State Shift Method™ helps you remove what no longer serves you. So you can truly be yourself and get clarity about your path.
What others experience
I was diagnosed as autistic last year and I'm a visual learner, so the State Shift method really resonated with me. What I liked about the method was the combination of Sylvia's recorded guidance and the illustrated card deck created by Natalie. Through the online platform, Sylvia talks you through each card and how to work with it, while the illustrations give a visual representation of the concepts being explored.
As someone who thinks visually, I found this approach very natural. The visualisations helped me connect with parts of myself, including my shadow, inner selves and inner life force.
I also appreciated that Sylvia has brought together ideas from a range of different sources and woven them into one practical method. Many of those ideas were already of interest to me, which made the process feel both familiar and fresh.
What stood out most was that the method worked with the way I naturally process things rather than expecting me to fit into a particular way of learning or exploring myself.
I've been using the State Shift Method cards for two weeks now and I'm really happy with them. Every day I draw a card and see what it wants to tell me in that moment. The beautiful wooden holder makes it extra nice to display the card where I can see it during the day.
I've turned it into my own little ritual and the cards help me check in with myself. The illustrations are gorgeous too, and a perfect fit for the message of each card.
Why you don't feel like yourself
Something is in the way. Not something you're missing, but something there's too much of.
For years you built up layers. Ways of doing things that worked at school, at work, in your relationships. You learned to adapt, to perform, to keep going. Those layers were smart. They helped you survive. But they cover up who you really are.
More knowledge doesn't help. Another book, another training, another insight. It piles up on top of what's already there. What you need isn't more, but less. Space. Letting go of what no longer serves you.
What is The State Shift Method™?
A three-step practice and a card deck of 52 tools.
The method combines awareness work (understanding why you repeat your patterns) and practical tools (techniques that work in your body) with the discipline to keep it up.
Every card in the deck is a state shift. An exercise for a pattern. You draw a card, do the exercise, take the step.
No insight without action. No analysis without movement. Every single day.
Three steps. Every day.
The heart of the method fits in three minutes. Not because it's simple, but because it's repeatable.
Notice
What state are you in? What thought is spinning? What feeling? Feel it in your body. You don't have to change it. Just see it.
Shift
Draw a card. Do the exercise. Feel, don't think. Shift from the inside out.
Take the step
One action. Sometimes outward: send the message, start the conversation. Sometimes inward: let go, stop holding on. And then you do it.
Insight without action is entertainment. Insight with action is transformation.
52 cards. One story.
Together the cards tell a story. From waking up to living fully. The first cards teach you to see: where you're stuck, what holds you back, who you are when you stop running. The cards in the middle bring you to what you've hidden and teach you to let go. The last cards are about movement, love and living from your center.
There are several ways to work with a card. Simply looking at the illustration and feeling what it stirs up. Reading the text and following the steps. Or listening to the audio and letting it guide you. Which way in works depends on the person, and the day. The goal is always the same: to feel.
The deck comes with a booklet and a holder to display your card of the day where you can see it.
The path
Seven lessons. One journey.
Wake Up
You see through the illusion and meet the observer within yourself.
Answer The Call
You feel why you're here and move through the full practice for the first time.
What's In The Way IS The Way
You get to know the force that works against you and why the obstacles themselves are the path.
Come Out Of Hiding
You meet the parts of yourself you've kept hidden. Your Shadow. Seeing what's there.
Let It Pass Through
Suppressing doesn't work. Acting out doesn't work. Letting it pass through does. The third way.
Do The Work
Through it all. This is where it becomes a practice, not a project.
Be The Change
Everything brought together. Living from your center.
What it's built on
Four sources, pulled together into one method. Not dreamed up at a desk, but tested on myself. For years. Every day.
Phil Stutz & Barry Michels
The Tools. Practical techniques that get you through resistance, pain and fear. Moving through instead of talking about. At the time of writing I'm the only European coach on thetoolsbook.com.
Michael Singer
The awareness work that explains why you repeat your patterns and why knowledge alone is never enough.
Heroic
A huge library of what works in personal development, plus the discipline to show up every day. Heroic keeps me accountable and gives me the structure to keep doing what I know. From knowing to doing. I'm a certified Heroic Level 2 coach.
25 years of learning and applying
I love learning. Hundreds of books, dozens of trainings, retreats, courses. Everything in the field of personal development I could find, I've done. And everything I learned, I applied to myself first. The best of 25 years is in this training.
About Sylvia
I grew up with an alcoholic mother. My father died when I was nineteen. I was bullied. I developed an eating disorder. I carried all of that with me and numbed it for years. I performed. I kept going. On the outside it looked fine.
At twenty-eight I started with personal development. I learned a lot. But I kept falling back. The same patterns. The same voice telling me I wasn't enough.
Until I discovered the Tools and everything changed. Not because the insight was new. But because I finally started doing it.
Since then I've written three books (one of them a bestseller), built my own practice, and guided hundreds of people. Me. The person who never finished anything.
Still at it. You win or you learn.
At the time of writing, the only European coach on thetoolsbook.com.
Who is this for?
So you know whether The State Shift Method™ is a fit for you.
This is for you
Less of a fit
What others say
Sylvia is funny, quick, warm and inspiring, and she builds on the work of Stutz. I'd recommend a training with her to anyone.
Sylvia helped me see the parts of myself that I didn't realize I had been avoiding, and offered a way to accept and love myself.
What I love about Sylvia is her ability to create a safe, open atmosphere where everything is allowed to be. She guides you with warmth, enthusiasm and humor.
Ready to begin?
The State Shift Training is seven video lessons, a card deck of 52 tools, a booklet and monthly live sessions. Everything you need to start tomorrow.
Questions? info@sylviaholtslag.nl
