Emotional Mastery is an online course by Charlie Houpert. The goal is to help you get rid of subconscious blocks, reconnect with emotions, develop self-love, and increase happiness.
Let’s see how to do just that.
Contents
About The Author
Charlie Houpert
is most famous for his YouTube channel Charisma on Command, which he runs together with Ben Altman. The channel currently has 5 million subscribers and over 500 million views.
Charlie majored in philosophy and has spent several years studying emotional mastery. He also created Charisma University, an online course where he teaches people how to become more charismatic.
You can see a review for Charisma University here:
1. Install Joy
The first module is the most theoretical in the course.
It gives an overview of how a lack of emotional mastery can hold you back in life, as well as some mindsets to combat this. It also introduces the three different approaches that the course uses to dive into your emotions.
- The cognitive approach. (With writing and thinking exercises).
- The emotional approach. (With guided meditations).
- The physical approach. (With ecstatic dancing and breathwork).
If you’ve already looked into the topics of self-love or emotional mastery the information is unlikely to be groundbreaking. However, Charlie does a great job of explaining it in a clear way.
Some of the topics in this module include:
- Events in the past can lead the subconscious mind to repress certain emotions. (This not only hinders you from feeling that particular emotion but also disrupts the flow of your other emotions).
- Setting and achieving external goals rarely leads to happiness. (Upon achieving your goal you tend to find that the goalpost has moved and you’re still unhappy).
- By developing self-love you become more aware of what you really want to achieve. (You might find that the goals you are currently pursuing are not actually your own).
Along with the general mindsets and theories, every day comes with a specific exercise. The first module contains exercises from all of the three approaches listed earlier.
Personally I like the different approaches. They allow you to get vastly different experiences throughout the course. Also, if one of the approaches does not suit you it is likely that at least one of the others will. However, the different approaches also means that some exercises might not work for you at all; for me there were a couple of exercises in later modules where I felt nothing.
See also:
2. Remove Subconscious Limitations
This module is fairly hit-or-miss.
Unlike the previous one there is not a lot of theory nor is there much variety in terms of the exercises.
The whole module is comprised of guided meditations (+ optional breathwork) so if that has a deep effect on you it’s a great module, but if it doesn’t you probably won’t enjoy it.
Of course, if you are not getting a lot out of this module you can try going back to it at a later time; this is something I’ve done with several exercises and it often led to very different experiences.
My Note: Distracting Audio
One thing that bothered me about this module was the quality of the audio-tracks for the guided meditations. While I thought the content was good the audios were oftentimes distracting, which is the last thing you want during a meditation.
An example is the deep breaths you take while Charlie counts to six. Sometimes he will start counting immediately, and other times he will tell you to take a deep breath only to continue talking for a while and then start counting. This makes it difficult to follow his breathing and can break your focus from the meditation.
However, something I like a lot, not just about the meditations but about the course as a whole, is that you get a feel for how to do the exercises on your own. This means that if you find the audio-track distracting you will be able to go back and do the meditations without it.
3. Embrace Your Authentic Purpose
This was probably my least favorite module of the course.
It focuses a lot on external aspects such as success and habits, and while these are great topics to dive into I don’t think they are crucial to a course on emotional mastery.
That being said, there is still value in this module (and some people may even consider it their favorite), especially for highly ambitious people.
Some of the topics that this module covers include:
- Redefining what success means to you.
- Developing your intuition.
- Dealing with addiction.
The techniques in this module for achieving your goals and dealing with addiction can be valuable to some people. However, while they are good they are nothing special; setting stakes to hold yourself accountable, or replacing an addiction with a less damaging one are hardly groundbreaking techniques.
The main issue is not their effectiveness though, in fact I think many people would benefit from them, but rather their relevance to the course. While external results are important they are hardly what drives people to invest in courses on emotional mastery and self-love. If you are interested in external success there are countless other resources that dive deeper into these topics.
See also:
4. Upgrade Your Habits
This was by far my favorite part of the course!
Through a mixture of theory, cognitive exercises, and meditations the module teaches you to reconnect with the parts of yourself that you have neglected.
I personally gained a deeper understanding of myself, and my general happiness and sense of fulfillment improved greatly.
My favorite takeaways from this module include:
- Judgment of other people is often an indicator that there is a part of yourself that you haven’t accepted.
- How to integrate your shadow through meditation.
- Learning to forgive your past mistakes by developing a deeper understanding of yourself.
5. Unlock Your Full Potential
The last module of the course is quite varied but the overall focus is on self-acceptance.
Two things I really liked about this module was:
- It ties all the previous knowledge together and pushes you out of your comfort zone. (You get to decide how far to push yourself).
- The idea that it is okay to be a hypocrite. (Many people reject parts of themselves because they value integrity over everything else. This is unhealthy and unnecessary).
Although this is the last module of the course there are also some bonuses including:
- A maintenance module to keep working on your emotional development.
- A course on how to grow a successful YouTube channel. (Based on the strategies that Charisma on Command uses).
See also:
CONS
Overall I liked the course a lot.
However there were a few downsides:
Different Approaches
This might come as a surprise as I wrote earlier that I liked the different approaches, and I do.
However, the different approaches (cognitive, emotional, and physical) are a double-edged sword. While it does allow for a wider range of people to find something that works for them, it also means that some people will find that certain exercises won’t affect them as much, or at all. For example, I found that the cognitive exercises impacted me deeply whereas some of the meditations didn’t make me feel anything.
If you find that a particular approach resonates with you, the fact that only part of the course is structured around that approach will be a downside. Now, that does not have to be the case for everyone, in fact I believe it is unlikely to only get affected by one of the approaches. However, the possibility does exist and that’s why I’m listing this as a potential con.
Distracting Audio-Tracks for the Meditations
As mentioned earlier there are distracting aspects in the guided meditations. Some of the things that annoyed me were:
- Inconsistencies with the deep breaths. (As mentioned earlier).
- Gradual lowering of voice-volume. (You might start the meditation at the right volume but halfway through his voice has dropped to the point where you can’t hear him properly).
- Going too slow/fast. (This is the problem with guided meditations, not just in this course. Since people are different some can get annoyed at how fast it goes while others want it to go slower).
How distracting you find this is subjective though and some people might find it impossible to focus while others don’t even notice it.
PROS
There were a lot of things that I liked about the course, but the main ones are:
Different Approaches (Again)
Yes, it can seem ironic that I list this as both a con and a pro, but doing anything else would be disingenuous. I’ve already talked about this earlier in the review so I’ll keep this section short.
Here are some of the benefits of using different approaches:
- Wider range of experiences throughout the course.
- Gives you more tools to work on emotional mastery on your own.
- Creates a deeper understanding of yourself.
Good Structure, Clear Explanations
Those who have watched Charisma on Command’s YouTube videos will know that Charlie is a great storyteller with an engaging voice and a clear way of explaining things. This is actually a big deal since the course is entirely made up of videos. Charlie’s way of explaining along with his charisma makes the course both fun and easy to go through.
The pacing and structure of the course is also good as it starts with a more theoretical overview and simpler exercises and then moves into deeper topics.
Watch this video for an example of Charlie’s explanation style:
Teaches You to Continue the Process on Your Own
While I personally wouldn’t have minded the course to be a bit longer than 24 days, this makes up for it. As you go through the course you not only learn how to do the exercises on your own, but you also develop a sense for what you need to do in order to feel better (also known as your intuition).
This is one of my favorite things about the course as it allows you to continue exploring your emotions, dive into different parts of yourself, and develop your self-love on your own after the course is done. This is important because emotional mastery is not something that you achieve once and then move on, instead it is a process that you need to keep up with regularly, and the course gives you the knowledge and tools to do that.
Emotional Mastery Review
Overall I liked the course a lot! It gives a great overview of one of the most fundamental aspects of self-development: your relationship with yourself.
Great for Beginners
If you struggle with self-love or feeling certain emotions this course is a great place to start the process of reconnecting with yourself. The course provides a theoretical overview and many exercises that will give you a solid foundation to continue the process on your own.
Even if you already have a strong foundation and the “basics” of emotional mastery this course can still offer new perspectives due to the different approaches. However, I would say that the course is more geared towards people who are fairly new to the field.
Benefits Carry Over into Other Areas of Life
When I joined the course I wanted to increase my happiness and develop self-acceptance without giving up my drive for self-development. While I saw great success in both these areas I didn’t realize that I would also see a lot of unexpected results in other areas of my life.
One such area was in my social life, which was unexpected but also makes a lot of sense. Humans are great at picking up emotions, so when you feel great other people pick up on it and will be drawn towards you. Likewise, if you respect and love yourself you will carry yourself in a way that makes others more likely to respect you. This is why I consider a good relationship with yourself to be the foundation for your charisma.
See also:
Is Emotional Mastery Worth It?
The answer to this question is subjective as it depends on where you currently are in life.
If you already have a good level of self-love and feel happy on a day to day basis this course might not be worth $600 USD. On the other hand, if you struggle with your emotions and generally feel unhappy the course might be worth more than that.
It also depends on your preferred method of learning. Some people might learn more from reading books than from following a video-based online course.
At the end of the day it’s up to you if you’re willing to spend $600 USD on the course or not. However, if you’re still uncertain it can be good to note that the course offers a 60 day money back guarantee. That means that you can try the whole course (twice) and still get your money back if you find it wasn’t for you.
