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Clarity Breathwork Retreats at Mount Shasta and William Bengston in Palo Alto

There are two extraordinary workshops coming to our area that I highly recommend.

A Photo From Stewart Mineral Springs

The first workshop is happening this month at the beautiful Stewart Mineral Springs near Mount Shasta. Ashanna Solaris and Dana DeLong are offering Clarity Breathwork Retreats and Training. Level 1: Breath & Transformation is August 9-11, 2012 and Level 2: Breathwork Intensive is August 12-19, 2012. You can take the 3-day Level 1 for a long weekend or you can sign up for both levels for a powerful 10-day experience.

I took this workshop in 2007 and it changed my life. If you have ever considered becoming a Clarity Breathwork Practitioner this would be the training to take. This retreat is also perfect if you are looking for a sacred space for deep personal healing. There will be daily breathwork sessions, meditation, kirtan, inspiring music, process work and much more in a supportive and safe healing community. Click here for more information. You can also call or email Ashanna Solaris ashanna@breatheinlove.com at 650-279-9101 or Dana DeLong dana@clarity.org at 510-691-4483 for more details.

William Bengston, Ph.D.
Researcher, Educator, and Author in the field of Energy Healing

The second event coming to our area that I am very excited about is in Palo Alto at The Foundation for Mind-Being Research (FMBR). FMBR will be hosting a lecture and workshop by William Bengston, PhD., whose ideas and book I have written several posts on. The lecture on Friday, November 20, 2012 is titled: Lessons from the Lab: Energy Healing Experiments on Cancer. His two day workshop, The Energy Cure: Unraveling the Mystery of Hands-On Healing will be on Saturday and Sunday, December 1-2, 2012. Click here for more information.

I took this workshop last March and learned his “Imagery Cycling” technique. I have been very surprised at how much this little exercise has escalated abundance in my life. I am still going over my notes from the workshop and reading the books William Bengston referred to during his lectures and in his many conversations on the breaks. This workshop was a real eye-opener for me on many levels.

This is a rare and fantastic opportunity to hear about William Bengston’s latest research results in California. William Bengston is an engaging, funny and passionate speaker and he is also a really nice guy. Anyone interested in quantum physics and cutting edge scientific research in the healing arts will want attend this workshop. I find William Bengston’s concepts, book and work inspiring, practical and life-affirming.

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New Dimensions Radio

From the New Dimensions website:

“The purpose of New Dimensions Radio is to deliver life-affirming, socially and spiritually relevant information, practical knowledge and perennial wisdom through the voices and visions of those who are asking new questions and are looking at the world in positive and inspiring ways. It is through the exchange of ideas and information that we can be empowered and enabled to meet the future with greater energy and clarity.”

You can catch the next New Dimensions Radio show on Sunday morning at 7am in Oakland, California. Founders Justine Toms and Michael Toms conduct the hour-long interviews that cover an amazing array of writers, healers and spiritual explorers. There are several free interviews on their website and all programs can be downloaded for about two dollars.

I found an interview by Michael Toms of a fairly unknown writer named Bernadette Roberts from 1991 that is priceless. I have already listened to this interview about four times and I know I will be listening to it again.

Last week was Intelligent Evolution with Nicki Scully that you can listen to for free until July 31, 2012

Check it out.

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TaKeTiNa and Clarity Breathwork: July 27th, 28th and 29th in Berkeley

James Word

On July 27th, 28th and 29th, I will be co-facilitating three TaKeTiNa and Clarity Breathwork evenings with James Word, Mary Gaetjens, and Natalie Word. The four of us have been exploring the synergy of rhythm and breath to experience heightened states of consciousness. We are very, very excited to share these powerful modalities with you.

The Clarity Breath Circles we have done doing TaKeTiNa before we breathe have been incredibly profound for those who have participated. Being able to do three nights in a row will be especially powerful as each evening energetically builds on the one before and take us deeper each night.

This workshop will deeply connect you with your inner guidance and integrate that guidance so you can manifest you highest intentions in your daily life. If you are interested in transformation, and balancing that shift on every level – emotional, mental and physical – this workshop is for you.

You can do one evening or all three. The cost is $35.00 for each evening and $90.00 for all three. At aMFa Gallery 1318 10th Street (at Gilman). Call me at 510-601-9632 to reserve a space.

Hope to see you there!

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Self Care: Food and Diet

I have written several self care posts in this blog. If you click on the Self Care category to the left you will see 10 post including: Self Care: Vacations, Exercise and Rest, Scheduling, and the Healing Power of Community.

You will notice that I have not written about diet and food. That is because I am clueless when it comes to diet. Therefore I have had nothing to say and certainly no advice to give. I was constantly struggling with what to eat and when to eat and never felt like I was optimally supporting myself or my healing practice with my diet. It’s not like I haven’t been consciousness about food. In fact, I feel like I have been micromanaging my diet for years.

Then recently I decided to do something different. I started a raw food cleanse.

Several months before this cleanse all I really wanted when I was hungry were peanut butter sandwiches on non-gluten bread and coffee. Through extreme will power I managed to drink green smoothies with kale and parsley and eat other veggies. I knew I was not in the flow when it came to food.

I don’t think I ever met a carbohydrate I didn’t like. And I’ve known for a long time my last meal would be mashed potatoes. Just mashed potatoes, with vegan butter.

Yet, I know that what I eat directly, dramatically and immediately effects my healing sessions. I have always eaten small meals during the day because it helps me to stay  energized and present during the healing sessions with my clients. During a working day I never eat pasta or even oatmeal. Pancakes put me right to sleep 45 minutes after intake.

Half my healing practice is still massage (which I love) so I need to eat a lot of protein and calories. I also eat to ground myself because eating is a grounding activity. It just is.

While I can’t give any advice on diet and nutrition, I can and have energetically supported clients through their personal process of finding what food nutritionally and energetically works for them. Helping a client clear her energy field strengthens her connection to her inner guidance and higher self so she can move in the direction that is the most healthy for her. With long term illnesses and imbalances intuitive guidance and insights are just a natural part of the healing process.

I have eaten raw food in the past and have responded well to the live food diet, so when I found an email for a raw food cleanse in my mailbox last month by Heather Haxo Phillips from Raw Bay Area I signed up immediately.

As this post publishes I am on day 14 of a 15-day raw food cleanse and have never felt hungry once although I have had many cravings for sugar, greasy food and burritos. I feel like I am finally eating what makes me and my body happy. I have had slight headaches from the detox and have needed more rest, yet I still feel more energized than ever. I am now committed to at least an 80% raw food diet. It just feel good.

I am on the cleanse with about 10 other people and we have a private Facebook group to share our process. This has been very helpful. I have learned so much more than I ever expected. We are using Ani Phyo’s book, 15 Day Fat Blast. Heather is guiding us with ways to slightly modify it so that it works for each of us.

It’s been a high learning curve and I have spent more time in the kitchen in the last two weeks than in the last two years. Going forward, I realize I am going to have to put more time and energy in preparing my meals to make sure I am eating well.

A surprising new aspect of this diet for me was how good fermented foods are for me. Kefir made with coconut milk, kombucaha, and sauerkraut are major sources of probiotics, which promote the growth of good bacteria in our bodies. My first kefir batch was a little unnerving for me, but now I actually like the taste.

One of the biggest improvements in my well-being, besides weight loss, is how mentally clear I feel. I was starting to have days where it was taking me until early afternoon to feel fully awake. So far I feel clearer much more of the time. I’m still detoxing, so I will see what happens next.

The raw food diet is not for everyone, but it’s right for me right now. If you are interested in learning about raw foods and want to take a class in the Bay Area check out Heather’s Raw Bay Area.

The only self care advice I have on diet is find the one that works for you. It’s worth the time, effort and energy.

I feel fabulous!

Heather
Chef Heather Haxo Phillips

Heather also teaches yoga and I had a private class with her that was incredible helpful. Check out her yoga classes here.


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Healing Touch and Guillain-Barré Syndrome

Quan Yin With Houseplants

I worked with a wonderful young woman who came to me in the middle of her recovery of an autoimmune disease called Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which is often referred to as (GBS).

GBS affects the peripheral nervous system with symptoms of weakness, tingling and paralysis that begins in the feet and hands and migrates toward the trunk. In extreme cases clients can experience total paralysis, yet most people recover with treatment from even the most severe cases of GBS.

When this client came she had plateaued in her healing process. The onset of GBS had started four months earlier, right after she’d had a flu. She still had severe headaches, pain in her body, nausea, fatigue and felt highly sensitive to her environment. She could not drive or go back to work, and she came to me because she felt she needed an energetic jump-start.

During the healing sessions that lasted about a year and a half, I helped her clear and balance her energy field. She always looked so much more relaxed after each session, the difference before and after was profound. She was eventually able to drive and go back to work part-time.

She told me the first few sessions were the most dramatic for her and helped her release the intense pain she had at the base of her skull and top of her head. She also said the main benefit of our sessions was the deep relaxation she experienced and that it helped her connect with her body in a more positive way.

I know our Healing Touch sessions were deeply supportive to my client. Was it just this particular client or is Healing Touch especially helpful to people with healing from GBS? I know my other clients with autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis and celiac disease, have benefited from Healing Touch treatments.

Note: Just so you know, I always email my clients and get their approval before I write about them. The clients I am describing in my posts are people I’ve worked with years ago. I don’t write about current clients. You can certainly come for a healing and not have a post written about you!

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Healing Touch: A Client with Back Pain

My Healing Room

I worked with a woman who had serious back pain for 3 years before she came to see me. There were months when she could not sit in a chair for more than 5 minutes or walk for more than half an hour because of the lower back pain she was experiencing. She is a lawyer and, because of her pain, she had to work on her computer lying down.

She initially came to me for a massage, but because her body was so sensitive I suggested a Healing Touch session instead. Healing Touch involves the gentlest of touches and can be done not touching the body at all.

For her, Healing Touch turned out to be the only thing that gave her any relief for years. It did not “cure” her, but our sessions gave her body the chance it needed to rest from the sensation of pain, which was exhausting her, so she could eventually develop the energetic and physical strength to go to a chiropractor. Dr. Michelle Reddel helped her address some of the structural issues her body she was dealing with.

When she arrived for our sessions she was usually in severe pain   — a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being the most painful. In our healings the pain always left in the first few minutes of the session. It was really amazing. Her body would then frequently spasm during the sessions, often just a quick kick or leg release. Sometimes her hip or shoulder muscles would rhythmically contract and release for several minutes. The healing were very relaxing for her and she would then be pain free after the session for several days. From my perspective, that gave her body time to rest and heal.

We worked together for 5 years. During that time I always wished our healings would “cure” her pain, yet I was always in awe of how effective our sessions were in relieving her pain. I have no doubt that it was not me that was doing the healing, but that I was definitely accessing and supporting something in her energy field that was healing her.

She now enjoys a life of normal activity. I continue to see her and give her Healing Touch sessions maybe once a year now if she has a flair up or just needs a “tune up.”

Many thanks to my client who approved and help edit this post.

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Healing Touch: Relieving Pain from Back Injuries

Roses From A Client

Many of my clients first come to me because of physical pain. In my healing practice I have always had fairly good results relieving pain of all kinds of conditions in the physical body. Back and neck pain are the most common issues.

For many clients I am their last resort. They have usually tried every other practitioner and therapy first. Energetic healing may not be a part of their world view, but they are so desperate they will try anything, so they call me.

I have had many sessions with clients where the back pain disappears with only one healing. These one-shot breakthrough sessions are not the norm, yet it does happen. Of course I can’t help but love it when this happens, but I try not to get to attached to any outcome.

There are also sessions in which the pain may subside during the healing, but the pain comes back at the same intensity after the session is over. These sessions are the most rare, but they do occur. Again, I do my best to not become attached to the outcome of the healing.

Before starting a healing, I ask my client to rate their pain on a scale of 1 to 10 to estimate the intensity of the discomfort, with 10 being the most painful and 1 being no pain at all. Usually my client’s pain releases right at the beginning of the session, or at least moves from let’s say an 8 to a 2 or 3.

Sometimes this plateau of relief may last only 10 or 20 minutes into the session, and then the pain comes back, though most of the time the client reports that the pain is significantly less intense. If the back pain does comes back, I address it again by working locally at the painful body area.

Pain takes up a lot of physical energy. In between the pain spikes (if there are any), I focus on rebalancing the whole body so the client can “hold” the new “non-pain” state and stay pain-free and balanced longer. In these sessions I feel like I am retraining the client’s body to feel relaxed and safe. The body is so used to bracing for pain after an injury that our muscles can forget how to relax.

In general, people who have been in pain for a long time usually need several sessions to fully relax. My intention during these sessions is to simply to help the client relax and help their body to feel safe enough to release the pain.

I’ve discovered in my 14 years of working with clients that even experiencing just 5 pain-free minutes to someone who has been in extraordinary agony can shift the injury around toward recovery.

Many people also have anxiety and emotional distress when they have an injury. Dealing with insurance companies and our healthcare system can be very stressful, too. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by conscious and subconscious fears that anything this intense may never be healed or will become a permanent injury. Experiencing even short-term relief during a healing floods the brain with hope that yes, the pain can be healed. That relief helps calm down the mental chatter. I find that calming the mind is just as important as calming the body.

Healing works on all levels: mentally, physically and emotionally. With Healing Touch I have helped many clients make a positive difference in the quality of their lives. If you are curious about getting a session, please feel free to call me. 510-601-9632.

Jeri Lawson is a Healing Touch Practitioner and Clarity Breathworker in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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Images that Heal

Image drawn by Pamela Colemman-Smith

Healing for me is the act of rebalancing. The Tarot card Temperance is the archetypical image of healing for me.

When I recently started reexamining what images represent healing for me, I realized the 14th card in Tarot deck – Temperance – is my quintessential image of healing. Pamela Coleman-Smith designed this card for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck in 1909. When I look at this card I instantly feel a state where everything is in complete harmony.

Traditional meanings of Temperance includes moderation and self-control, yet I see this card as perfect flow, which means there is no need to control anything. No need to fast or binge, hold on or let go, speed up or slow down. Inner and outer worlds are in perfect balance. Instinct, emotions and physical needs are in sync. For me, Temperance is an image for transcending the extremes, imbalances, striving and crisis of daily life. It is an image of equilibrium that is attainable in our world, if only at first for a moment or so at a time.

Images can be very powerful allies when going through any kind of transformation – whether you are healing from an injury, building a business, going through a divorce or making positive lifestyle changes.

What images relax you? What pictures help you to feel strong? What symbols resonate with your most authentic self?

Temperance Card from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck used with permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.  c. 1971 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Further reproduction prohibited.

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A Healing Shift

Cynthia Hutchinson

In the May Healing Touch Program Community Newsletter there is a brilliant letter by Cynthia Hutchison DNSc, RN, MSN, HTCP/I, that synchronistically describes my own recent insights. When I first read it I checked to make sure it had not been addressed directly to me. It’s another example of how my Healing Touch community supports my practice.

Cynthia Hutchison is the Program Director for the Healing Touch Program™ and has been studying holistic healing and energy therapies since the early 80’s. One of her many credentials includes a doctoral degree in nursing science. She has maintained a private Healing Touch practice for over 20 years and teaches all levels of the Healing Touch curriculum.

In her letter Cynthia describes how after 30 years of doing energy work she rarely feels kinesthetic sensations and gathers most of her session feedback through common sense, intuition and listening to her clients. Near the end of her letter she has a brilliant quote by Omraam MIkhael Aivanhov:

“…True initiates do not seek to develop mediumistic faculties. They work only to purify themselves, to grow in wisdom, love and self-mastery, so that they can project themselves as high as possible inwardly. Once they reach this peak, the substance of their being is so refined it is imbued with the very quintessence of the universal Soul. This quintessence, in which everything is recorded, enables them to see and feel whatever they wish to know. And so their work allows them to acquire not only power but clairvoyance as well.” – Omraam MIkhael Aivanhov

If I had read this quote a year ago, would I have comprehended the deep significance it has for me? Would Cynthia’s letter have had such a deep impact?

Last year I really thought that the more of my clients aura I could see the better healer I would be. About a month ago in a previous post I describe the realization that this was not true, that seeing auras was not the path to becoming a better healer. Then, before I went on vacation I realized that the one thing I had been basing the validity of my healing practice on – my own tangible common sense experience of doing a healing – was not as tangible and certainly not objective as I thought.

I often feel energy as heat when I give a healing. During a session I had my hands on a client’s knee and I became distinctly aware that I could not tell if my hands were hot or if his knee was just really cold. It was not so much the actual sensation that shocked me, but the distinct shift and instantaneous certainly in my awareness that there was no objective reality in my perception.

This was a huge and profound insight for me. It was also not pleasant. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath me. It was so disorienting that I felt lost. Right after this realization I went to England for my Mother-in-law’s funeral and then took my vacation. I was out of my routine and distracted by the details of travel. I didn’t have to process the ramifications of this new awareness right away. Funny how things work out.

I understand now that my healing journey is not a process of becoming a better healer by developing extrasensory perception. Cynthia stated it so well in her letter. It’s about just being, about letting go and staying clear.

What does this mean?

I’m not really sure, but I have about five half-written posts that I am never going to publish because they are now irrelevant. So many questions feel answered. I have also felt a shift in my sessions. Healings feel even more effortless for me, and still very effective for my clients. There is an absence of striving. I also feel so relaxed. I mean a new kind of relaxed that I would describe as a deeper peace.

So I will just continue with my healing practice and stay open to what happens next. It all feels really, really good.

Jeri Lawson is a Healing Touch Practitioner and Clarity Breathworker in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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Self Care: Vacations

I have had more time off work these last few weeks than I have had since I started my healing practice. Not only have I had time off, but that time off has been away from home and away from my regular routines and responsibilities. First I was in England and Wales for my mother-in-law’s funeral. Shortly after that I left on a week’s vacation that was scheduled months in advance.

During both trips I did not have cell phone reception or a computer. I had known I needed a vacation, but I had no idea how transformative stepping out of my routine — mentally and physically — would be.

I love my work. I realize, though, the best thing I have ever done for my healing business was to get away from it. I still feel relaxed, energized and excited to be back at work.

Vacations will definitely become a regular and essential part of my self-care routine.

Treasures From My Vacation

Jeri Lawson is a Healing Touch Practitioner and Clarity Breathworker in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

510-601-9632