Connecting the Dots - Finding your Medicine

This month our bloggers wrote about "Finding Your Medicine" -- and the many different types of medicine available, and how they each connect physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Danielle kicked off the month by talking about what it means to Find your Medicine.

From there Vera talked about how Shamanic Extraction Healing can release and remove negative energy, and how we all have the keys to bring our physical, spiritual and emotional/mental aspects into balance in When you have the right pieces you can heal yourself.

During Spirituality week, Tara discussed how Finding Green Tara, and her own spiritual path, became her medicine, while Kathleen talks about love as medicine in her meditation from Thoughts to Awaken the Spirit, and Danielle shared a snapshot of a simple moving meditation that acts as medicine for her young children.

During creativity week, Charla talked about how yoga helps her feel more creative and whole, while Rebecca shared a short story of how a young girl found Natural Medicine in the forest after a traumatic experience.  We also profiled writing coach Marisa Goudy who talked about how taking the leap to doing what she loved provided healing in her life in our Profiles of Success column.

We wrapped up the month by talking about connection: Dr. Lisa Avila discussing suggestions for hearing oneself better in the Subtleties of Listening, whereas Danielle found Healing Through Writing.  Guest blogger TaraLeigh shared her healing journey in an Open Letter to Wheat and Dairy, and Charla talked about how healing changes like the wind over time.

Personal medicines change over time

Dogs are awesome

My husband saw a meme on Facebook recently.  I couldn't find it to post here, but it said that "Cyclists are the only people who understand why dogs stick their heads out windows of cars".  I don't know if I agree that we're the ONLY people who understand this phenomenon, but we certainly do understand it.

I realize that technically, while riding, I actually feel very little "wind in my hair" since I have it in a pony tail and stuffed under a helmet, but the meme is still true.  I love to feel the air on my face, the speed of it, the smells that go by so quickly that I'd call them fleeting.  I love to feel the power of the bike in my hands and under my feet; to feel my connection with the Earth revolving below me.  I miss it.


My "Team" after our 76 mile day 2 ride
during the 2014 Pedal the Plains, a 3
day ride across a part of Colorado

I've been dealing with some chronic pain recently that has kept me away from my bike and I miss riding.  I miss my medicine.  But that medicine is for my healthy self.  Medicines change as you and your body changes.  Just because one thing makes you feel awesome one day/week/month/year, it doesn't mean that it will always be your medicine.  Or that you can't change medicines for a time and come back to them when you're ready to resume.  That's what I'm hoping.

You can't force stasis.  The only constant in life and in the world is change.  And that goes for your medicine, too.

You may have read my "Find your Medicine post earlier this month about yoga for creativity.  If you missed it, you can go back and read it here.  I enjoy yoga.  I always have.  With my pain issues, yoga is still an option for me, where cycling, not so much at the moment.  It makes me sad that I am missing out on the speed and watching the river try to keep up with me on the North Platte River path.  It makes me kind of sad that I'm missing out on the "defensive riding" of avoiding the spring influx of bugs along the river.

Me and my road bike

But we change.  Over time, everything changes.  If I had to give advice to my younger self, I would tell me to never say never.  Everything changes.  Experience changes a person and their outlook. 

Nothing is finite or impossible because life is not over.

I will get back to my healthy self.  I haven't given up or sold my bikes or chucked my riding clothes.  They're hibernating like my medicine.  Waiting for me to come back for them when I'm ready.

Writing as medicine

For many years I struggled with endocrine and hormone imbalances. 

The process by which I found healing included a long path of different modalities… modalities which eventually became the beginning of The Mind Key Project almost six years ago. 

The most powerful modality, however, has been writing. Writing, in fact, is how the Mind Key Project began.  Perhaps writing has helped because it provided emotional perspective, processing and release.  But there's more to it than that.  Writing has also offered a real, physical healing as well. 

The body is an amazing machine.  From the moment of conception, it is creating, maintaining, regulating and regenerating.  Mind Key began under the premise that the body contains all the answers an individual needs to attain perfect health. The question is how to access these answers.

Throughout my life I’ve known that my mental and physical health worked with (and oftentimes against) one another.   Stress induced illness.  Depression elicited deterioration.  Exercise promoted mental wellness.  Eating regularly – finally – all but cured the severe depression that drugs only acerbated. Taking yoga classes alleviated symptomatic stress and anxiety.   Eating healthy helped me achieve balance.

Each person has their own path to follow, however.  One modality of health is never right for everyone. Many alternative health care practitioners revolve their practice around accessing the unconscious workings of the body (think respiratory, circulation and other life-sustaining systems) and in this way discovering an individual's personal health plan. But years of schooling or access to such a practitioner is not the only way to access one's innate knowledge.

A college level course introduced me to focusing, a process of visualizing issues, whether it be emotional/mental or physical, giving them form, sound, scent—and then writing these visualizations down. After accessing and giving form to these issues and writing them in a place we can access fully, we have the conscious ability to discovery the cause of the issue, and change those experiences.

For me writing has always been as a form of connection between the conscious and unconscious mind, becoming a way to access  and discover many answers—including those to health. It also became a way to hear those things I otherwise ignored—a place to discover meaning in the signs around me, to hear my guides, and to unravel mystery.

Make no mistake, for writing to be medicine, it often needs to happen in a stream-of-consciousness manner.  The inner editor (i.e.: the ego) needs to be put aside for the moment.  Blogs, academic papers, social media posts, and generally anything that is being written for an audience doesn't count.  Not that healing pieces of writing can't be put out into the world, but the only audience needs to be oneself, or at the very most a trusted friend.  Think journal entries, letters, and wishes. The most healing writing tends to be that which can be burned moments after being written. Of course, often this is when we discover our most brilliant self, and we often discover gems in this automatic-type writing that is worth sharing with the world.  They key in writing for medicine is to throw that thought away the moment the pen hits paper.

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Danielle Rose - The Alchemist 

Making magic from the mundane

 



 

An Open Letter to Wheat and Dairy

Sometimes finding your medicine means discovering what doesn't work.  That discovery (and then the process of avoiding that which isn't working for you) can be infinitely more difficult than discovering what does.

TaraLeigh

There's a connection between everything; what you eat and how you feel physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Friend of Mind Key, TaraLeigh Weathers, posted a spectacular open letter that we want to share with you!

Dear my Beloved Dairy and Wheat,

I loved you from the moment I met you. I thought you loved me too, but the way you treat me is no way to treat someone you love. Throughout the years you’ve hurt me over and over again. When I was a child you gave me hives, stomach issues, seasonal allergies and chronic sinus infections. I always felt tired, full of snot, bloated and my joints ached all the time. Even with all that torment you caused me I kept coming back for your sweet lovin' because I thought, “It might be different this time.”

Keep reading here!

The Subtleties of Listening

Listening is quite an art form when practiced properly. By "properly", I mean in such a way where one hears all of what is being expressed, between the lines of what is directly communicated and what is not.

While in my office with those I care for, listening becomes a wonderful dance of both active and passive participation. I listen to what is being said, as well as to what is not said, what is being communicated through the quieter aspects of facial expression and diagnosis, tone of voice and choice of words, posture and body language. I listen to my intuition as well, because sometimes I clearly understand that there is more to know than what is being said. When this understanding occurs, it's time to employ a deeper level of listening...

When listening to oneself, the formula is not much different. It  also involves listening in 360 degrees--where you pay attention to the spaces in between the direct, obvious thought patterns. This involves feeling your body during certain thought patterns--do you contract? Do you expand? Does your body feel tight, or does it feel at ease, relaxed? Does the thought make you smile? What does your intuition say about it?  

You may also read environmental signs and correlate them with what you were thinking at the moment that the sign appeared. Try this exercise: whenever you find money, or see a feather on the street, recall what you were thinking right before, or as you were noticing it. This happening is generally considered to be a confirmation, or a "yes" to whatever it is that you were thinking in the moment. Then, of course, the task is yours to interpret this information and figure out how it integrates into your life. 

These methods of listening are crucial to employ when one is endeavoring to find her or his own medicine in life. What heals you? What makes you feel good? What helps you release a bad day? What assists you in the process of breaking an obsessive thought pattern? It is critically important for us to find and fill our own, exclusive-to-only-ourselves, metaphysical medicine cabinet. It is important to really pay attention to what nourishes deep down inside so that you have your options ready when you need them.

For example, some time ago, I recognized that candles were a form of medicine for me. I noticed that every time I saw lit candles, there was a place inside that reacted with such softness and calm. Prior to that moment, I had not ever thought of lighting candles, certainly not just for myself. Now, a lit candle can very quickly free me of most negative emotions and situations. They aren't the only practice I have that nurtures me, but they are a great example of how listening to your personal responses can lead to subtle, yet profound tools of healing. 

One way to begin creating this toolbox is by making a list of everything that you gravitate toward in your free time. What do you find yourself doing over and over? What have you wanted to do but haven't? Do you have anything that makes you think, "I wish I could do that/ I should try that some time"? What do you miss when you don't do it? You are looking for things that either give you a strong response of some kind, or things that seem to come up over and over.

Once you make your list, go through it and begin trying on each item without judgment, listening closely to what your body and your intuition responds. Notice your conscious thoughts around each aspect of the activity. Breathe into each aspect of the list while you do it, and see if your body expands, see if that breath is easy or full, see if it makes you feel soft, or calm, or nurtured, or even loved. If any of these internal experiences occur, it is fairly safe to say that this activity is one that can go into your particular self-care, personal metaphysical medicine cabinet.

This new way of deeply listening may take some time to master, but it does get easier and easier, helping you in many situations in your life. Once you are certain of what works for you, you can employ this tool any time you need it; if you employ it more than only when you need it, you will know a centered steadiness in the face of whatever life throws at you.   The great thing is that there are no rules to how much or how often we all take care of ourselves, only that life is much richer and fuller, and the colors of our world are much brighter, when we do. 

Lots of love to you.  

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Dr. Lisa M. Avila

Dr. Lisa M. Avila affords her clients safe, guided passage from pain/dysfunction to knowing and understanding their own bodies and what it's trying to teach them.

Natural Medicine - A short story

She ran from the house, her skin cold against the balmy summer air. It could have been late afternoon, the full weight of sun and humidity pressing down against her, and it wouldn’t have mattered.  Nothing could warm her now. 

Her hurried steps brought her to the small patch of woods not far from the apartment. Gnarled limbs, heavy with Spanish Moss, provided sanctuary as she wove her way around the trees. Most of her friends were leery of this place, leery of the creatures that called this swampy spot home. She was far more concerned with the human creatures she left behind her, specifically the so-called friend that climbed on top of her while she was passed out. She woke up to find his hands roaming all over her, his lips pleading with her to just let him. Ultimately, nothing had happened. He accepted her no… eventually. She found it no less disturbing, though. The second he had rolled over and passed out, she bolted from the place.  

Her stomach soured with every step as she considered how much worse it could have been. She shouldn’t have drank so heavily the night before.  She should have gone home and passed out in her own bed. These were the course of her thoughts as she found her way to the little stream. Heavily, she sat down at its banks and watched the clear water as it flowed over copper-toned rocks and away, far away, from where she sat. In spite of herself, her mind relaxed. She just watched the water, enjoying the way the surface bubbled over the rocks, flashing with specks of sunlight as it eased around the obstruction in its path.

Suddenly, she knew. She knew that this moment was like the rocks, stationary. Her life was like the water, flowing over, around, and past it, leaving it far behind her. She inhaled the sweet, musty fragrance of soggy earth, then stood. She smoothed the leaves and debris from her clothes, then began to make her way home.

 

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Medussa's Myths - telling the stories of life

Profiles for Success - Marisa Goudy

Marisa Goudy is a writer who helps emerging thought leaders tell stories that matter. Through coaching and online courses, she empowers therapists, healers, and other creative entrepreneurs to write content that connects. In 2016, Marisa is showing her audience that it's possible to easily and confidently create online content with her #365StrongStories project (discover the stories by searching the hashtag or following Marisa).

Marisa says that she was born a writer who lost track of that for many years thanks to a graduate degree in Irish lit and a career in academic library administration. As it is for many folks, a shocking and unexpected life event propelled her to make a change.

Marisa's book. Grab your free copy HERE

"Though I’d always suspected there was something to 'follow your bliss,' this brutal, beautiful truth came to roost in my soul one morning in July, 2010.

"Before that, I felt at home with my infant daughter, my super-supportive husband, and a job I disliked but withstood for the sake of the mortgage. This was the life I’d signed up for… even if it left me yearning for greater freedom and creative expression.

"When my mother died in July of 2010, all the furniture in my comfortable little house was rearranged," she said.

Realizing that everything she held dear could be swept out from under her in an instant, she made immediate changes. She quit her job in academic administration and began an entrepreneurial experiment. It took a couple of partnerships and companies devoted to web design and marketing to help her realize that she was always meant to be a writer. 

"I loved my baby. I loved my man. But even for their sake I couldn’t force myself into a windowless office every day, devoting myself to someone else’s agenda until I could escape into a world that mattered.

I needed to tell stories and help people shape theirs."

Marisa now has two girls, age 2 and 6. They're constant inspiration for stories. 

"As a family, hiking and talking with the fairies is really important and that's all great for setting and character and plot."

Marisa is also an energy healer and student of the Sacred Center mystery school. Her spare time is often spent with a Chumpi in her hand as she uses tarot cards to guide her meditation and journaling sessions.

When asked where she sees herself in the near future, Marisa's response is, "Teaching online classes and building a greater audience for my writing, Even if the novels (a trilogy called Sovereign Reality) don't get birthed for another 5 years, I am still nurturing the ideas," she said. "Truth: I want to be Diana Gabaldon when I grow up."

Marisa's list of goals includes: putting one foot in front of the other; living in the moment and savoring her girls; deepening her spiritual practice; honing her writing voice and building her business so that she has enough breathing room to do all of the above. 

"Remembering my spiritual practice grounds all of that in what is really important."

When we asked Marisa what advice she'd give to others looking to follow their passion to their personal life path/career, she took her time thinking about it. 

"If it seems too hard, it probably is."

 "My former business partnerships were often painful and unprofitable. We were reinventing the wheel and being perfectionists. We did not look around to see what the market really needed because we were trapped in what we 'should' do."

Sounds like sound advice to us!

Find Marisa at www.marisagoudy.com and follow her on twitter @MarisaGoudy.

She's got something valuable to share.

Yoga as a creative endeavor

We've all seen the pictures of the un-doable poses.  The poses where the person looks like a freshly baked pretzel, all malleable and stuff.  The folks who are flexible beyond normal person flexibility.

Pose I can't do

Suffice it to say, that's not me.

I have some physical limitations.  My left hip flexor doesn't open and I have some chronic pain.  I work on it, but there's only so much I can do.  Yet, I do yoga.  

Another pose I can't do

Why, you may ask?  Because I love it.  Because yoga helps my creative juices.  I'm not talking Wii fit yoga poses on the balance board that I do in my bedroom as the Wii trainer lady counts for me. I'm talking about an actual yoga class in a "yoga environment".  As I hold a pose and quiet my brain, I'm able to let go of the worries of my day to day life; those loud, demanding everyday voices of stress, need, work, finances and family.

The longer I hold a pose and settle into the processes of my own body, the easier it is to slip into a creative place.  My creative space involves seeing everyday things in a new and creative way. Whether I am talking about photographing them or writing about them, everyday items are marvelous.  Everyday items and seeing them in new and interesting ways are one of my medicines.

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Charla Dury: The Grounding Rod - Focusing your energy in the present moment

Meditations from the Other SIde

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Even though it is the most simplest of things to do

To just love seems to be the hardest

If we can spend our time only loving

And nothing else

All of our problems would disappear

To just stop and feel love

And the light within you

You will see and feel

How it changes your world

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Thoughts to Awaken the Spirit

Kathleen Santora teaches meditations and self-healing through the understanding of one’s own personal energy. A spiritual healer for the past 30 years, Kathleen began trance healing later when she became aware that angels were working with her during healings. She has since learned to step back and allow her angels to come forward and work through her.

Weehawken, NJ EVENT - Shamanic Drum Circle on Friday 4/15

Meditation made easy

Sometimes meditation is hard, but this little moving meditation is so simple that I've taught it to my girls who are 4 and 7. It's something I hope that we can all come back to when life seems overwhelming.

It's a great way to recenter, and focus.  It's a way to find your spirituality, and to meditate without struggling to remove your thoughts from your mind.  The simple act of walking slowly while bringing your hands to your heart or your face allows you to feel your thoughts without judgement.

Even if you only have a few moments, check out the beginning of the video to get the gist of it.  Listening further will take you deeper into how this helps quiet the mind and bring peace that can be accessed at any moment of the day.

<3 What a gem! <3Quite possibly the most simple and effective spiritual exercise ever.
Posted by Mooji Hawaii on Thursday, October 16, 2014

 To view this video on facebook and like Mooji Hawaii, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/mooji.hawaii/videos/523489724461807/

Finding Tara

       

 I was never a, “If you can’t see it, it isn’t there,” kind of person, but I wasn’t a dandelions-in-my-hair, tie-dyed spirit guide either. As previously mentioned in other blogs, I became jaded in regard to anything metaphysical after my husband of seven years dumped me for a fantasy - a pretty, blonde self-proclaimed medium who sold crystal skulls, bought married men element pendants, and met them for lunches at quaint New England bistros.

Granted, no resemblance, still one of my girls 

After my divorce, I worked my ass off and rarely slept in order to regain my independence. In two years I became self-sufficient, living in my own apartment, working two successful teaching jobs, and maintaining a healthy relationship. Still, something was amiss. Confidence, peace of mind, and healing were things that eluded me thanks to years of feeling inadequate and expandable. Then during my divorce party in the Spring of 2013, I reunited with a grad school classmate, and things wistfully started to change. 

Upon my request via random and desperate text, Mind Key creator Danielle Rose introduced me to Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Oracle among other resources on faerie, goddesses, crystals, herbs, moon cycles, yoga, etc. To this day I remember sitting in her home office, filling a canvas bag with almost every book she owned. I was hooked. 

Everything I read or researched made sense to me. At this point, I am not ashamed to say that I never received the same enlightenment from church. My parents, who are very born-again Christian, tried to steer me towards the Baptist church. Despite disapproval from the ones who put me on this Earth, I took a different road, and I have been on the down-low ever since, at least with my family. Nevertheless, I continue my journey. When I think I couldn’t be anymore moved by this spirituality, something else leaves me breathless. 

I found a little metaphysical shoppe called Soul Journey while taking a different route home from work one day. It was there I discovered Laurie Sue Brockway’s The Goddess Pages, Patricia Monaghan’s The Goddess Path, the many works of Doreen Virtue, and so many other writers, poets, artists, healers, and spirits whose words continue to resonate with me - a secure but wavering being who needs to believe there is something more to existence than what I can see or touch.  

Brockway's wonderful book 

Then I discovered Tara - the Hindu goddess of protection and compassion - and in doing so, I continued building a stronger connection to self. Sure, I was ecstatic to learn there was a strong, feminine deity with my name. But more importantly, Tara became a companion and symbol for my continuous soul journey - a journey that will hopefully lead me to the key to understanding my own mind, where my mind needs to be, and how my mind needs to protect my body. 

According to Laurie Sue Brockway,“Om Tare tu Tare ture soha…essentially translates to: “Hail Tara…Her enlightenment and compassion protects me and liberates me from external fears and internal delusion…May I honor this in myself!” 

And that, in essence, is Mind Key - finding that key that unlocks your mind to your truth. Follow the Green Tara Chronicles to learn more about this tumbled-rock covered road to self.  

When you have the right pieces, you can heal yourself

            Whatever created us – some call it God, some call it universal creative energy – either way we are pretty miraculous beings and I believe we were created to be basically healthy in mind, emotions, body and spirit. However, our human experience gets us off track and misshapes us. Then we start believing the illusions that we are flawed, not worthy or deserving, etc. to have health, happiness, joy, love and prosperous to name a few things. Maybe we allow ourselves success in one area, but usually never all of them. To quote a Seinfeld episode, we don’t think we can have the this, the that and the other.

                However, if we choose to do so, we have the opportunity to find our way back to our true state. It gives us something to strive for and accomplish in our lives when we to take on the hero or heroine journey. It’s so much easier to slide down the slippery slope of negativity, dis-ease and illness so to speak and wallow in the mud with the masses than it is to climb the mountain of success. It can be a more difficult and lonelier journey, and sometimes we allow ourselves to slide back or get pulled back down, but from my own experience of ultimately finding my way back to health, it is so worth it to reach the pinnacle of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual goals.

                We have the means within us to heal, we just need to give our bodies, mind, emotions, and spirit the right tools and environment so that it can happen naturally. In the broad sense (I don’t have the ability to go into the details here due to space constraints), physically it requires an alkaline state which means ingesting natural food and beverages limiting processing and toxic chemicals (both artificial & natural). Mentally and emotionally it requires overall positive thinking and being in touch with your emotions- we need to feel them and then release them, not stuff them down inside to fester and grow.  Spiritually we need to be in touch with something bigger than ourselves and feel love for as much as we can for the other people, nature and animals around us for ultimately we are all connected and created from the same place. This will give us peace and lesson our stress and judgments.

                If we get enough of our mind, emotional, body and spiritual pieces put together, we will discover our own inner healer. We can receive help and assist along the way from people and things that have useful strategies. Ultimately though, it is up to us to stop sabotaging ourselves and believe that it is possible. I made such a decision when I was told by the doctors that they wanted to give me an immunosuppressive drug that could put me at risk to catch a cold that could turn into a deadly case of pneumonia as I wouldn’t have a defensive mechanism to combat it. I decided that wasn’t the route I wanted to take and began believing that there had to be a way back to health. All I had to do was find the right puzzle pieces. Eventually I did and have been off medication around 15 years and am in the best shape of my life. May you find your pieces and inner medicine along the path of your journeys.

Barbara Steingas

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Barbara Steingas is an award winning author, inspirational speaker and radiant life coach, helping people to optimize their health and vitality.  She can be found at Steingasbooks.  Barbara is joining Mind Key as a resident columnist, sharing her 21 Tips for Healing.

What is medicine, really?

I was up to my elbows in dirty water, dingy sponge in hand. I'd been at it two days and the empty apartment was still only half cleaned—my apartment—my new life in a new town, a new state.  And I was alone.

The sun was setting on a Wednesday night.  I'd had no dinner, I had no furniture, no friends, no bed other than a half-deflated air mattress.  My kids were three states away and my marriage in shambles. My entire life was crumbling around me.

If not for an album I'd already over-listened to a god-zillion times, I might have gone completely over the edge.  But there was comfort in Nahko's words, words that offered hope… the hope I'd come to this new place to find.

Still, I wasn't feeling it.

Until these lines sank in in a way they hadn't the fifty billion times I'd heard them before. I sang along, tears in my eyes: "Be of service, be a sensible person. Use your words and don't be nervous. You can do this, you've got purpose.  Find your medicine and use it."

I stopped.  The sopping wet sponge dripping on the floor. What is my medicine?

I thought back over years and years of being depressed, emotionally distraught, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, and full of hate. "Real" medicine had never worked.  Even as an herbalist, I'm hard pressed to find the right herbs to do anything for my calloused body. I'd used medicine before, though.  "Other" medicine.  What was it?

Rewind nine years.  My life felt like it was crumbling then, too. Overwhelmed by planning every aspect of a "budget" wedding, working a miserable, consuming job, and watching my beloved mother-in-law to-be dying. My husband was more stressed than I was, and his sisters, who we had asked to be in the wedding, were doing everything possible to make my life miserable. My family was overwhelmed by my overwhelm—my mother becoming sick, and my sister drawing back.

Needless to say, I was stressed and without much in the way of resources.

See how happy I look while walking outside?

"I'm going walking every day and I'm taking yoga everyday," I announced, finally.  And I did.  And I survived the wedding, which was all I had hoped for, but I also lost more than ten pounds, not from stress, from de-stressing. I was in the best shape of my adult life without even trying.

The point is, that was my medicine.  Walking and yoga.

I dropped the sponge (in the bucket, not on the floor), grabbed my phone and looked up the closest yoga studio.  They had a Hatha class starting in about an hour about three quarters of a mile away from my new apartment.  I dressed in yoga pants, washed my face and hands, and walked there.

That was four months ago.  Today, I'm plodding along, still on my own and still without much in the way of resources, but with my medicine. Medicine that isn't bitter to take.

Today, I often find myself up late journaling, weaving stories, interpreting dreams, and rediscovering myself on paper.  Writing is my medicine, too.

Medicine doesn't always come in a bottle. Mind Key is about finding how to do what makes you happy… because it's not always easy to do.  But.  But if you know it makes you happy, then you are meant to be doing it.  It's your healing.  It's your way of being of service.  It's your medicine. I teach my daughters that the best medicine is the kind that helps your body become stronger so it can do its job best. Isn't that exactly what the things we find joy in do for us, too?

The mess of a late-night-journaling and self discovery session

Mind Key's mission is help you find your medicine.  Your joy.  Your purpose. To help you use it in every moment—because our medicine is more than a quick fix—it's the way we grow and live in service to the the powers that placed us here, and the world in which we live. Who are we kidding in trying to find these things in different places?  They're all in one place.  They're all inside us.  We know the answers.  We have all the keys to open all the locks. 

This month is about sharing the stories, the modalities, and the people who are out there—not to heal you or tell you what you "should" be doing—but to help you find the keys you already have to heal yourself.

We will start this week with healing in a very traditional sense, but we will continue the discussion with healing of the creative and spiritual kind, as well as healing that comes from being connected with others, with nature, and with spirit.

What is your medicine?

Have you ever had an Extraction Healing?

As the founder of and practitioner with Raven Reiki, Vera Remes offers Usui Reiki with nuances of Shamanism and psychic intuition.  She also offers Shaman Oracle and Angel Card readings and is a certified H3 Energy Healing Therapist.  Vera's column (Vera's Rave'n) will focus on the many aspects of Shamanism.

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Extraction Healing, always trying to learn something new to help my clients.  As you know, I am attracted to the Shamanic way of life. The concept of getting rid of stuff that's weighing me down is appealing. So when a “soul extraction healing” workshop was to be given by Michael Harner’s Institute for Shamanic Studies, I jumped at the chance to really learn about this fascinating concept.  I have taken internet courses that touched upon this subject but the thought of an in depth experience, with real live people to work on and receive healing from, all with the same core beliefs, excited me.

If you haven’t heard, Shamanic extraction is the removal of misplaced energy, sometimes called intrusions, from the spirit or soul of the client. This is energy that does not belong in the body and may cause illness. I say misplaced not negative, because there is no “negative” energy from a Shamanic perspective. If energy is misplaced or it isn’t in accord with the environment (the human body, or the body of land…) it will bring illness. 

Do you store your stress or anger in your stomach, back, or as a headache or do you get angry and ever send your anger out at someone. Then perhaps you are the recipient of misplaced energy or worse yet, the sender.  Remember the guy that cut you off yesterday and the insult you hurled behind the protection of the windshield, well, that energy was sent and may well have resulted in misplaced energy in his or her soul.  Words do have power.  Since taking this workshop I have changed my ways and when cut off in traffic or otherwise annoyed behind the wheel, I try to just say something generic like “Really!” Trying to employ that concept throughout my life too.  Try it sometime, not so easy.  Anger is not the only energy that may be misplaced.  An old injury or an organ donation can result in misplaced energy.  All things have energy and those energies may not be compatible with the recipient.

First, we were taught the “diagnosis”.  Each Shaman perceives the energy that needs to be removed differently. It may appear as black sludge, smell putrid or be “felt”.   Once diagnosis is complete, the Shaman merges with his or her guardian spirits which protect the Shaman from receiving the misplaced energy and also increases the Shaman’s power.  I’ve blogged about Power Animals and how to find them and now I know how to use their powers fully.  At the workshop entire the first day was devoted to finding your helping spirit(s). Imagine my surprise when one of my helping spirits was an elemental that appeared during my own energy healing many months prior.  A cute little bugger with a big nose and a round face. Yes, completely round and no body I could discern. I learned how to call him and my other spirit helpers into my space with a rattle and whistle, while others in my group sang songs or made sometimes strange noises.  Once merged we removed the energy and disposed of it by hurling it toward a nearby body of water to neutralize it. Then we filled the void in the soul left by the energy with cleansing water or preformed a power animal retrieval for the client. 

Very powerful stuff this Shamanic healing technique.  I know that by the emails I continue to receive from my fellow students.  All of us were exhausted after the weekend and felt very close even though separated by great distances after sharing this experience.  We have taken to calling ourselves a “tribe."  Eight people who didn’t know each other before were united in this common experience of giving and receiving healing.  Our Shaman/instructor, who I believe to be clairvoyant, guided us through an arduous experience that we all emerged from as better healers and people.  

If you haven’t experienced an extraction healing and want to, find your local Shaman, which may be an ordeal in itself, and try it.  I believe I emerged from the weekend cleansed of energy which was holding me back and renewed with positive energy in its place.  I am a Reiki Master, have performed several extraction healings, and would be glad to assist anyone who would like to experience this awakening for themselves. 
  
As a thank you for reading, the first people in the NY/NJ Highlands area to contact me and mention this blog will receive an in-person extraction healing session free of cost.

Comment here or visit www.raven-reiki.com to learn more and take advantage of this opportunity.