How to Connect with a Nature Spirit

Connect with spirit, Healing, Life Tips, Mediumship, Nature, Shamanism, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

In the shamanic point of view, every thing and every living being has and is a spirit. We can communicate, learn from, and live in partnership with these spirits. They have access to information that we who live in a human body do not. The scope of our knowing is often limited by our human perspective, worries, fears, concerns and judgements.

Communicating with our unseen guidance, we can better understand the spiritual aspects of challenges and illnesses in our lives, receive wisdom and healing, heal relationship issues, and learn to live more effectively in this world in body mind and spirit.

The Spirit world is on a different energetic wavelength than our normal day to day human activity. A relaxed and receptive state of mind is required for tuning in to spirit. When we slow brain wave frequency, we come into attunement with the spirit world. Shamanic practitioners and students deliberately slow their brain waves and enter into a trance state by listening to repetitive drumming. Shamanic journeying is an example of this. Meditating and spending time in nature also help you relax and slow down.

To connect more deeply to spirit, even if you haven’t formally learned how to do shamanic journeys, I offer a few ideas to help you expand your spectrum of awareness to include connecting with a nature spirit.

This begins like mindfulness meditation, but takes you a step beyond meditation into direct communication with spirit. Choose a nature object, a leaf, stone, shell, flower, a fruit, berry, even a tiny radish sprout or small raisin. Find one that you will enjoy exploring through your senses.

Create or find a quiet place without a to-do list, the news, distractions like your phone or easy entertainment, TV in the background, etc. Your quiet place might be outside in a beautiful natural area, a park, leaning against a tree, your yard, or in a peaceful room or mindfully decorated corner inside your home.

Tune your awareness from your head/mind/brain and into your heart. Let those never ending thoughts float by in your head without giving them attention. (If they’re important, you can get back to them later) This will help your brain slow down. Lay your palms on the center of your chest and allow your awareness to move down from your brain/mind/head to center in your heart. Feel your breath moving in and out, your chest rising and falling. Hear the sound of your breath. Focus on your sensations of touch, smell, sound, sight hearing. Allow yourself to let go of any tension in your body.

Now pick up the object you chose earlier. Take time to experience it with all your senses, letting all judgments go. Absorb the information you receive about its texture, scent, color, shape, form. Does it make a sound when you touch it? If this is something edible, savor the taste. How does it feel on your tongue? Allow all of your awareness to be focused on this one thing. Experience it as though you were a curious young child seeing touching and exploring this interesting thing for the first time.

Now get a feel for this object’s energy. How does it feel in your hands? Do you enjoy holding it, or want to put it down immediately? You may receive subtle sensations that can’t be translated into words. Pay attention to them. As you keep your awareness at your heart, you may begin to get impressions from the object. These would be very subtle at first, and may come through any of your senses plus your sixth sense of knowing.

Ask the spirit of the object for a message and pay attention to what information comes through your being. Messages from spirit can come in many forms and can be very simple and direct. Often they come in symbolic form – showing you pictures, images, sounds, feelings, emotions, or other sensations that you then can interpret for yourself.

You can ask the spirit of your nature object questions, such as – What you can I learn from you? What advice do you have for me? Please show me what I need to know about you. How can I thank you for speaking with me? Add any other simple question you might want to ask. Pay attention to everything that comes through for you.

If your ego mind demands attention and makes judgements about what you’re doing, (for example: “This is stupid.” “I don’t have time for this.” “I can’t do this.”) try to imagine an image of the thoughts evaporating – cool steam dissolving them, fog enveloping them, an ocean wave washing them away, wind blowing… whatever image works best for you. Return your awareness to your heart and allow yourself to notice the sensations and spirit messages coming through.

When you’re ready to leave your meditation, disengage by thanking the spirit of the object for what you received, and let it know your time together is over for now. Set it down or take it back outside. Send a blessing and gratitude for sharing its wisdom with you.

Now is the time to write down any messages you received before you return to normal everyday concerns and tasks. You may forget them otherwise. Next, come back into your body by tapping your cheekbones, the center of your chest, collar bones or rubbing & massaging your feet to ground yourself and bring your awareness back into your body and your mind back into everyday life.

In this way, you can learn to connect with the spirits of nature and receive their advice, love, and deepen your awareness of what is possible in life.

photo credits: Featured photo by petr sidorov on Unsplash; photo of feather by Evie S. on Unsplash

What is Love? – Some thoughts.

Life Tips, Spiritual Wisdom, Storytelling

How have your ideas and experiences of love evolved over your lifetime?

As a child I loved making homemade valentines for my 30 classmates. Each consisted of a white paper doily with a red construction paper heart on top, then a magazine cutout of roses or other pretty flowers glued right to the center of the heart.

It was a formulaic design, but I had to crank 30 of them. Hence the mass production set up at my dining room table. On the back I’d write to- from-, maybe even add some pencil drawn hearts or flowers. I felt an excitement in my heart, anticipation of making my friends smile. I wanted to please them and make them happy. My own heart would be happy as I folded the paper, cut the hearts and glued all the layers together. The day of our valentine’s party, I felt excited while placing them in each students’ red white and pink decorated mailboxes lined up on the long windowsill.

How would each class-mate would react? Would they like my valentine? Would they like me just as I liked them? Would they show how much they liked me by giving me the prettiest card, extra candy, gum, or a sweet note?

Of course in 5^{th and 6th} grades, I started wanting to give extra special hearts to certain boys, with the expectation of receiving one in return. The drama was pretty intense waiting for the big reveal, the opening of the stuffed mail boxes and then going through each of the little envelopes from the store bought cards, some with little candy message hearts or a stick of gum.

I have fond memories of those days, when life and love seemed easy, with only a little drama. Now many years have passed and my definition of love has evolved beyond the childlike simplicity of red paper hearts, into something much deeper.

That excitement I felt on Valentine’s day was just the beginning: a dipping of my big toe into the ocean of life and love. I didn’t know at age 11 that a lifelong journey of discovery was just beginning for me and all my friends. Now almost 60 years later, I can look back and see how my ideas about love have evolved over the decades.

Then we believed –

Your boyfriend or girlfriend completes you.

The other person will fill your voids and meet all your needs.

Love is an attraction to a person’s physical attributes and personality.

Your worth depends on having a boy (or girl) friend.

Now we know –

You are whole and complete in yourself.

You fill yourself up first by loving and accepting yourself and meeting your own needs.

Love is an appreciation, an opening yourself to the other person’s energy, their inner being, their essence, their spirit.

Your worth is a given, from birth.

Now I know that love is the the flow of life and creativity through us. It is accepting yourself and those you choose to love, flaws and all. It is respecting yourself enough to follow your heart and say yes to life. Love is standing in your light, seeing and appreciating the light in others.

Love does not seek to control others, judge them harshly, or one-up them. Love means begin honest about your own needs and feelings and taking those of others into account. It means empathy, an understanding of where the other person is coming from, what they are feeling. Love is caring enough to tune in deeply to their spirit and heart.

Love is seeing the best in another. Opening your heart to them in all their humanness..whether it be a grandchild, romantic partner, friend, or neighbor. Love is the energy that connects us all.

Photo credits: Vintage valentine cards – Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash; Child with red heart – Anna Kolosyuk on Unsplash

Truth or lie? Your body knows.

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Are the messages you receive coming from your spirit helpers, or are they just thoughts in your head?

As a beginner on your spiritual journey, you may experience some uncertainty in trusting the messages that start coming through. This is part of the learning process and happens to everyone. How can you tell the true messages and genuine guidance from some random thoughts in your head? – Are they truly from spirit, or generated by ego? This is a very common dilemma when starting out.

Learning to trust yourself and the subtle information you receive is vital to building and deepening relationships with your spiritual guides and helpers. This truth or lie exercise will help you discern which messages are trustworthy and ring with the feeling of truth, and which do not.

Remember, you are a being of both spirit and a physical body. This exercise helps you discern the truth of spiritual messages in your body.

Truth or lies exercise

Find a comfortable seated position in a quiet place. Ground yourself by massaging your feet, rubbing the soles of your feet with a stainless steel spoon, or tapping your cheekbones and upper chest.

Take several mindful breaths to relax yourself and bring your awareness to your heart. Pay attention to the physical sensations you feel there. Can you sense your heart beating? If it helps you tune in, place both palms over the center of your chest, your heart chakra, as you breathe.

Truth:

When you feel relaxed, think back to a time in your life when you knew the truth without a doubt. For instance, this could be when you first knew you were in love with a person, the first time you met your newborn, when you saw a breathtaking landscape in nature, or another amazing situation you remember.

Now tune in and pay attention to the feelings in your body as you remember this significant moment of truth in your life. Where in your body do you feel the feelings of “truth”? Can you describe them? What qualities and emotions do you sense in the feelings? Pay attention to the sensations, the feelings that move through you while holding the memory. The memory is in the past, but the feelings are moving through you now as they did originally in response to that peak moment in your life.

You might write or record what you noticed and felt about the your physical response to the truth to help you remember these feelings.

Lies:

Next, tune in to a time in your life when you were lied to and you knew it, or when you yourself told a lie to someone. This could be a betrayal by a friend or partner, something that happened at your job, or the first time your mom caught you in a lie…

Once again, focus on your body as you remember the past lie. Pay attention to the feelings and physical sensations moving through you as you remember. In what part of your body did you feel them? What qualities did the feelings have? How did you know without a doubt that what you experienced was a lie? Write down or record what you noticed and felt.

How are the feelings of truth in your body different than the feelings of a lie?

Use this information for discernment as you begin receiving messages from spirit. Let your body and heart react to the information you’re not sure of by paying attention to the subtle energy moving through you. How do these messages feel in your body? When you believe spirit is giving you a message, does it feel like the truth in your body and heart, or does it feel like a lie to you?

If it feels like the truth in your body and heart, allow yourself to trust it. Now, pay attention to what happens when you trust the message and follow your guidance. Does it work out for you? How does it feel?

If a message feels like a lie in your body, it is probably not coming from spirit. Try letting it go and asking your helpers to clear any interfering thoughts. Next time you tune in, ask them for the truth.

Don’t try too hard, push or strive to get the “right” answers. If something isn’t clear, ask for clarity, go on about your day and come back to this later. Learning to discern by attending to your subtle body sensations is a basic skill in connecting with spirit, part of the learning process.

Have patience! You’ll get this. Trust your body to know the truth!

Photo credits: Sunset water person – Mohamed Nohassi on Unspash; Colored Night Sky – Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Tips for working with your spiritual guidance

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Shamanism, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Dear friends, this blog post is an excerpt from my upcoming eBook (as yet untitled) about how to connect and work effectively with your spiritual guidance.

In the shamanic worldview, everything and every living being has a spirit, and we can communicate with them to improve our lives and bring our visions into physical reality. They have wisdom, knowledge, practical advice, and unconditional love to share with us.

Spirit is the energy and consciousness of any object or organism. Every human, every physical object and living being is composed of energy, and has an invisible energy field containing the innate intelligence of that being. All have wisdom and supportive guidance to share with us.

Connecting with your spiritual guidance is not difficult to learn or practice. However, your connection to your helpers will be much more effective when…

...your intention to connect with spirit is sincere and heartfelt

…you approach this work with curiosity and flexibility, letting go of preconceived expectations or a need to control outcomes.

…you seek to discern and understand the messages of spirit with both your heart and mind.

…you carry out the directions and advice of your spirit guides as best you can.

…you have patience with the process

Your non-physical helpers are ready to help you. Trust that they hear you, know you, love you. But they will not act on your behalf until you ask for what you want. I repeat: You must ask for what you want!

To ask for what you want – converse with your spirit guides, share your heart, your concerns, your challenges. Share your joys, your deepest feelings, your intentions. Ask for the feelings you want to feel! Make this a habit. Form relationships with your spirit helpers.

You might sit in meditation, drum, sing your words, connect as you walk , write, make art, dance, listen to music that quiets your mind, find a book on the subject, all with the intention of connecting with spirit. Know that you are heard!

Now, be open to the signs, answers and messages your guidance sends you in response to your asking. Spirit communicates quietly in symbols, metaphor, telepathy, signs in nature, feelings, humor, and through your senses. The meaning of some messages may not be clear to you immediately. You will gain clarity with time as you let them percolate quietly in the back of your mind. If, after a time you are still unclear about the meaning of a message, ask your helpers for clarification. Keep asking until you understand.

(True spiritual guidance will never ask, suggest or command that you harm any person or any living thing, cause damage, put a curse on someone, lie, cheat, or steal.)

Spirit Works in Divine Timing.

Unfortunately, there is no rushing the process of receiving advice and information from your spiritual guidance. Patience is called for! When you work with spirit, part of the process is living with some uncertainty and possible unanswered questions for awhile, because spirit time is non-linear. Your intentions may not be manifested in 3D reality on your preferred timeline!

Because of this, surrender, or letting go, is often called for after you’ve asked spirit for your desires to come into physical reality. This means asking for the feelings and experiences you want, giving it your all, pouring your heart out to spirit. Then, knowing you’ve asked, and made yourself clear, do not push, strive, or try to control outcomes or set deadlines.

During this period of waiting, stay open to what does come through no matter how small. Notice any movement toward your goals, thank your helpers and celebrate each victory no matter how small! (A little happy dance works!) This shows spirit you are paying attention!

While spirit works for you behind the scenes, go on about your daily life, living mindfully, enjoying yourself. Your spirit helpers work for you in unseen realms, drawing together all the threads and connections, meetings, and coincidences needed to bring your visions to life. Give the seeds of your dreams time to germinate and begin growing!

When we connect with spiritual guidance, we are not in the “logical zone”.

This means temporarily releasing the ego’s need to control outcomes, letting go of left brained logic and a need to think rationally. One way to let go of your ego is to visualize it as a toddler, and take him or her to the babysitter while you ease your mind, and let go of worries, fear, and doubts. Then your mind is free to relax, become playful, open like a flower to new insights and feelings, and connect with the magic and wisdom of spirit.

When we partner with our non-physical helpers, we connect with unconditional love, practical advice, fearlessness, true power, acceptance, healing miracles, and limitless potential!

photo credits:

evergreen forest Photo by Joseph Young on Unsplash Evergreen sunset Nikola-Tasic on Unsplash – Everygreen sunrise – Les Anderson on Unsplash

Imagine and Create!

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Like planting seeds for the future you desire in your heart and mind, you can do what is called “pre-paving” your intentions. This is a technique I learned from the channeled being, Abraham Hicks in the book written by Jerry and Esther Hicks, Ask and It Is Given from 2004.

To pre-pave what you wish to create in your life, think of an intention that is dear to your heart. Now, visualize or imagine the first step of making your intention come to life, then the second…

For instance if you intend to create more artworks, this year, imagine yourself going through each step in detail, finding ideas and inspiration, making preliminary thumbnails and sketches of your idea, then choosing one to develop, working on the drawing, transferring it to canvas, squeezing paint onto your palette, choosing the paintbrush, mixing color, blocking out your painting with large brush strokes, filling in the details, and finally, hanging the finished painting.

Now, (and this is important), decide how you want to feel as you do each step of the process. Imagine yourself sketching, choosing tubes of color, squeezing out paint, and painting with an open heart, with curiosity, and ease, with playfulness, excitement, satisfaction, and all the feelings you want to feel. Feel the sense of soul satisfaction as you hang and enjoy your finished painting.

Let yourself sense and observe those feelings, sensations, and actions in your body as you imagine doing your work. Smell the paint, feel the texture of the brush handle in your hand, see the creamy strokes of paint spreading onto the rough canvas… hear the sound the brush makes on the texture of the canvas.

You can apply this process to anything you want to manifest in your life.

Everything you bring into physical reality is created in partnership with your spiritual guidance. (whether you know it or not.) When you know this, you can invite and open yourself to the intuition and inspirations that come as you work. Spirit hears you, knows you, and answers in some way.

As you move from your imagination to doing your work in physical reality, you may get messages from your guidance to use a certain color, change a shape or part of the composition, or even to throw the whole thing away and start again!

Listen and try to follow the messages of your spiritual guidance if you can. It gets easier with practice. Whatever work you do, It will be so much more if you allow your spirit helpers to partner with you. Your connection and relationship with this non-physical assistance will help you in bringing the work you visualize and imagine into physical reality.

Everything you plan to do in your next hour, the coming day, the year ahead can be pre-paved – imagined in detail ahead of time, made real in your heart and mind before it becomes a physical reality.

Make this process fun! Dream, imagine, create in your mind first, without limits, then bring those feelings and knowings and actions you’ve practiced into your physical reality.

Photo of large paintbrushes by RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist on Unsplash

Photo of smaller paintbrushes by Yannis Papanastasopoulos on Unsplash

What are Your Intentions for the New Year?

Connect with spirit, Healing, Life Tips, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Many years ago I wrote down this quote for myself: “Intention is aligning your heart and mind to a single purpose.” (Unfortunately, I don’t remember where it came from.)

What do you intend to align your heart and mind to create in this coming year? What are your intentions for this precious gift of life and time you’ve been given? This new year represents a portion of your future that you can plan for, look forward to, design in your mind and heart to bring your dreams into physical manifestation. Setting new year’s intentions help you manifest your dreams into being and keep promises to yourself.

The earth is turning back toward the sun. It is It is time to rededicate yourself to those dreams and intentions that are closest to your heart. Those that drive you to get out of bed, satisfy your soul, inspire your creativity, and resonate in your heart.

Think about what you want to create, accomplish, spend your limited and precious time on this year. How you will take care of yourself, how you will carry out your life’s purpose, how you want to feel as you live another year on our sweet green planet.

How will you focus your energy this year?

Do your intentions reflect the true desires of your heart and mind? Do they come from your connection to spirit, from inside yourself? Or are they a result of cultural or family expectations, coming from outside yourself, from other people’s ideas of how you should be? Do they make sense only to your logical mind, your willingness to please others, bypassing your heart and intuitions and deep knowings? Do they tell you what you should do, ought to do, must do? These types of commands and demands do not come from your heart.

To make your life sing, to manifest your true purpose and desires in life, please learn to trust yourself, the feelings, impressions, emotions, and the subtle messages that come from your spirit, your body and heart. Pay close attention, and follow the subtle guidance of spirit which will never steer you wrong.

Spirit messages will never ask you to harm others, cause damage, destroy, put others down or hurt them, take advantage of others. Spirit messages will be uplifting or energizing to you and through you bring more connection and love and understanding into the world.

These spirit messages may come to you in various ways, through your intuition, your knowing, any of your senses, your body – as in a gut feeling, or a knowing in your heart. They will not be loud or invasive or strident. They will be quiet and subtle, and you will know them to be true.

To set your intentions, find a quiet time every day when you can tune into your heart and spirit. Listen to your intuition, that still small voice, or gut feeling, and know what is true for you. As you practice, you will gain clarity on how best to focus your intentions of heart and mind and bring your dreams into being.

I wish you and your family a beautiful, peaceful, and happy New Year!

Photo credits: Photo of balanced stones by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

Photo by Mohammad Nohasi sunset water person on Unsplash

What is your heart telling you? Can you hear its messages?

Connect with spirit, Healing, Life Tips, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Wellness Tips

The teabag of wisdom… Years ago, while making myself a cup of herbal tea, the paper tag on the teabag had a simple yet profound message for me: “Trust the wisdom of your heart”.

The heart chakra is known as the chakra where matter and spirit join in your being. It sits between the lower three chakras, the root, sacral and solar plexus, the chakras of physical existence, and the higher three chakras, the throat, brow and crown, the chakras of our more spiritual nature.

It is your own receiver and interpreter of spiritual messages tempered through the wisdom of your body, and your physical life on Earth. The heart is a receiver of spirit at the same time understands the joys and limitations of embodiment in human form. The heart chakra gives us humans the capacity for unconditional love.

Your heart speaks the truth to you in a quiet voice. The noise, activity, clatter, and clutter of everyday life can often drown out the wisdom and knowing of your heart. Much like a loud rock band making it impossible to hear someone sitting right next to you even when they are speaking in a normal voice.

For your health and well being, for living a balanced life, listen to your heart daily, learn to understand what it’s telling you and to trust it’s messages. Your heart’s wisdom will help you with discernment and insight into life’s challenges and joys.

Two easy practices to help you tune into your heart’s wisdom

Practice Toning

Hold both palms over the center of your chest. Now make the “AH” sound at a pitch that resonates in your heart. Pay attention to how this feels in your body. It may take some practice to find the right pitch. You can do this by making your AH sound higher or lower until it vibrates most strongly in your heart area and feels good. Continue to tone for several breaths.

Ask and Listen

Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Hold both palms over your heart and ask: What can I learn from you today? What do you have to tell me today? What do you need and want me to know? Formulate your own questions and ask them as well.

The true answers from your heart will be subtle, quiet, simple, wise, supportive, and loving. If you do not receive anything right away, don’t force it or try too hard. Instead, pay attention to the subtle undercurrents of feeling and insight you pick up on throughout your day. Allow the information to gently enter your awareness in it’s own timing. Receiving these messages may take some practice. The answers may take a while to take shape in your awareness, materialize, and become clear in your mind.

Pay attention to your quiet and subtle thoughts, feelings, and knowings. As you become familiar with your heart messages and learn to trust them, you will learn that your heart that never steer you wrong.

Your logical mind may not always be ready to hear or listen to your heart messages. You may want to tune them out if they don’t fit with your beliefs or attitudes about life. These might include preconceived notions about others, knowing when it’s time to leave a partner or a job, a once good situation no longer working out for you… If you are not ready to follow through on your heart’s advice, allow its messages to enter your consciousness and percolate in your mind for a time.

Your heart understands your needs and desires. It connects you to the knowing of your mind, body, spirit, emotions, and the wisdom and insight of spirit. Whenever you are unsure about your next step in life, remember the message from the teabag of wisdom!

photo credits: man with hand on heart ashkan-forouzani on Unsplash and Girl with hands on heart – Fa Barboza on Unsplash

Fox speaks of winter

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Mediumship, Power Animal, Shamanic Journey, Shamanism

Betty’s note: Dear friends, As I practiced mediumship, and invited fox to speak, he came through for me in a very insistent way, wanting humans to know and understand his perspective. I have interpreted the impressions, feelings and telepathic messages I received from fox into words. My next three posts are all channeled from fox.

I am fox! I survive and thrive in your human-centric world in all seasons, all conditions.

Why do humans fuss about winter and cold? This is an integral season in the cycle of nature on our planet, a time to go inward, rest, live off the fat of the land, hibernate, relax, plan, play.

If you resist and disparage the cold and harsh winds of winter, you resist reality. If you resist reality, you resist your life.

_{Photo by Amanda Frank on Unsplash}

Do you wonder why life is so hard? What if you did not resist the unchangeable conditions of your life? Would your life be easier?

Just as our physical bodies require us to wake and sleep, the larger cycles of life on earth give us day and night, sunlight and shadow. Winter follows fall, then spring and summer – every. single. year. if you are ready or not!

You are alive and rooted here on this Earth for now, so if you wish to thrive, learn to be at peace and relax into the cycles of nature beyond your control.

I say, follow your nose, your senses, the quiet inner voice within that leads to the sustenance you seek in mind body and spirit. Find sustenance for your life even in the deep snows of winter.

I am a creature with confidence. I do not question my existence. I do not question my right to live, to feed myself and my family. I do not resist the reality of freezing cold in winter or steaming heat in summer. I live within the parameters of my life as a fox on this planet in this year you call 2023.

Can you do this as a human?

Calm for the Holidays

Energy Healing, Healing Touch, Life Tips, Uncategorized, Wellness Tips

Part of this post appeared originally on Askgrandmothercottonwood.com, my channeled blog, on December 18, 2018.

Dear readers, please take some time out during this holiday season to rest, relax, and take loving care of yourself.

In this season, there is so much busyness that can fuel anxiety and stress– rushing, doing, trying to beat the clock, meet the deadline, make the holiday celebration perfect, trying to please one and all, beat the crowds, put on a magnificent feast.

You run yourself ragged and you wear yourself down! You override your body’s natural rhythms and needs, pushing yourself over the limit of endurance. Another word for this is “stress”.

Can you pull back, breathe, regroup, rethink, and slow down?

An Easy Calming Exercise…

Take a few moments to Find your center of gravity. It might be your heart, your upper abdomen, lower belly, or at the base of your spine near the tailbone. Feel your inner power and balance here, your connection to the earth. Now Bring your awareness to your heart and breath. Breathe deeply for a few minutes as you hold both palms over your heart. This will help calm you naturally. You can also add toning or humming on each out-breath. Find a pitch that resonates in your heart. This feels good and adds to the calming effect.

Tune into your innate wisdom. What is most important to you this year as you celebrate your holiday? What can you let go of? For your health and sanity, let go of the elaborate expectations and preparations that you do not enjoy! Let go of extra events and “must-dos” you have to squeeze into your busy schedule.

If others expect things you do not want to deliver, let them do the work, take the time, make the effort.

What activities will satisfy your soul and connect you with love to family and friends without leaving you overwhelmed and depleted?

Do those things! They can be free, simple, and easy! Play a board game, sing songs, read a book together. Go for a walk, have a heart to heart conversation.

If the holiday stress gets to be too much, please consider scheduling a healing session (distance or in-person) with me to help bring yourself back into a calmer state of body mind and spirit.

Remember the real heart of the season; gathering with those you love and enjoying each other, greeting the sun, celebrating the rituals of your chosen religion, and creating light, love and warmth together.

A fun way to energize yourself and your kids!

Life Tips, Shamanic healing, Uncategorized, Wellness for Children, Wellness Tips

Do you want to get everyone, children and adults lined up to clean the house or rake the yard?

Are your kids out of sorts because they’ve been sitting down too long?

Are you feeling low in energy, lethargic, or dull after a big meal?

Try taking a family drum circle break to get everyone energized, their sense of humor restored, and back on track.

We started our make-shift drum/ rhythm circle slowly, one person beginning, then everyone finding their way in, weaving and blending their rhythms with the others. Some stayed seated, some stood and began to move. This seemed to wake everyone up again – some were dancing, marching and singing to the beat as they rattled, drummed, or shook the tambourine.

This was so much fun! We laughed and enjoyed ourselves and each other.

As a bonus, you might do a project to make your own rhythm instruments.

Make an easy rattle by partially filling a plastic bottle with rice or dried beans. then Tape the lid shut. You can click two pencils or short dowels together. Click two stones or pot lids together. Turn a bucket or large sauce pan over and use as a drum with a wooden spoon. You won’t need any fancy gadgets or electronics!

Try making a kazoo from a toilet paper tube with a hole punched close to one end and a square of wax paper or parchment paper rubber banded over the other end. Hum your favorite tunes into it!

Even if you’re alone, you can raise your vibrations by making rhythmic beats in fun and playful ways. Create a rhythm that feels good in your body and continue until your energy has shifted and you are feeling lifted up.

You might also find a drumming track and try some dancing and moving around in ways that feel good to you and express what you’re feeling. Do this for yourself and no-one else. Sing if you like!

Remember, you and your family don’t have to be great dancers or drummers to energize yourselves and have fun. Everyone from babies old enough to hold a rattle to great grandparents can join in the fun!

The interconnected rhythms with unique beats and movements contributed by each person can tie us together, feed our spirits, anchor us in the present moment, and energize our bodies.

Let the rhythm sound and movement carry you and your family to the place you want to be.

Are You An Empath? 3 Self-care tips

Empath, Empath Care, Energy Healing, Healing Touch, Health Tips, Life Tips, Storytelling, Wellness Tips

You are probably an empath if…

…you absorb the and take on the feelings and emotions or physical symptoms of others, making it hard to tell what’s yours and what’s theirs.

…you feel drained and/or anxious in big box stores, noisy crowds, hospitals, libraries, etc.

…you get sick or exhausted, depleted, anxious or angry after encountering certain people.

One beautiful summer afternoon I sat on my front porch reading. A delivery truck pulled into my driveway near where I was sitting. Immediately my body was flooded with high anxiety!

As I tried to make sense of this sudden shift in my emotional state, My logical brain decided the anxiety could be explained because I didn’t know the truck or the driver, hadn’t ordered any services or furniture… It was an unexpected intrusion into my peaceful day. Then the driver got out of the van, took a bouquet of flowers to my neighbor’s house and drove away.

The anxiety stayed with me even after the van left. After a few minutes of this, I decided to do some discernment and energy testing. I stood up, tuned into my body and stated “This anxiety is mine.” My body responded by falling toward the back, which in self energy-testing terms is a “no”. Now the anxiety made sense. As an empath, I’d picked up the high anxiety of the van driver.

Now that I knew the anxiety wasn’t mine, I asked this energy to drain through my feet into the earth for recycling. I had no more need to feel this feeling. It was detracting and distracting from my peaceful day. Draining the energy away works when you are well grounded, in other words, plugged into Earth energy.

This method of clearing yourself works because emotions and feelings are composed of energy. Each of us holds our thoughts feelings and emotions in our auras, otherwise known as energy fields. The stronger and more charged the emotion of another person, the easier it is for a nearby empath to pick it up. Our auras also seem to be more porous than the energy fields of non-empaths, allowing in energies others would easily filter out.

As a life- long empath I’ve learned some easy ways to keep myself clear of the moods, emotions, feelings, and energies of others that I have not specifically invited in. Here are 3 of the most helpful techniques I use daily.

Three ways to keep yourself clear as an empath.

1. Stay grounded

Two easy ways to get grounded are rubbing the soles of your bare feet with a stainless steel spoon, and walking barefoot on the Earth. When you feel agitated or nervous, when you can’t settle, ground yourself. Getting grounded allows you to plug into your power source, Earth energy, and pull this energy into your body.

Think of an electric lamp. If the lamp is not plugged in, it can’t light up, no matter what you do. When you are plugged in, your energy is more coherent, you feel anchored to the earth in a healthy way, and you can discharge excess energy through your feet.

2. Strengthen your aura

An easy way to keep your aura strong and less porous is to make figure 8 patterns with your hands, fingers, arms, body. First rub your palms together for a few seconds. Now, make the eights tiny, make them huge, on or off the body, in your aura, up and down, sideways, diagonally. Let your hands go to areas that need extra attention. (This technique is from Donna Eden)

Have fun with this! Kids love it! Think of this exercise as reweaving or sewing your loosely woven aura together again with the electromagnetic energy of your hands. This will help your aura filter out the energy of others and draw in the energies of health, well being, and harmony. Figure eights are also very calming!

3. Set boundaries with other people, your life energy, your time.

You may need to set boundaries and withdraw from large events, big crowds, or stay away from certain people. You may not want to hug Grandma or a church acquaintance. It may be in your best interest to stay home from a big family holiday or reunion and wait for a time you can meet your favorite relatives one on one.

Trust your intuition and give yourself what you need. Taking care of yourself as an empath is vital! Please don’t judge yourself for needing to set boundaries in ways others might not understand. Be kind and loving to yourself and tell others no when that is in your best interest.

If you do not take care of your needs, you may get resentful, energetically depleted and perhaps even sick. Take ownership of your life and your energy so you can focus on your own projects, your own life without getting sidetracked by the strong emotions of family and random people.

Gifts of empaths

We empaths can bring great sensitivity and caring into a world that needs our gifts. We are often the healers, therapists, clergy, the spiritual advisors, teachers, the plant and animal whisperers, the artists in our communities.

Tune into your purpose as an empath. Take care of yourself. Own and honor your gifts! Share them when you are ready. You are needed here!

It is not easy to go through life as an empath! But it is possible to live your life in a manner that will truly honor your gifts and your needs for boundaries so your life experience is truly your own!

6 Tips for Getting Centered

Healing, Healing Touch, Health Tips, Life Tips, Wellness Tips

Do you live in your head? Do you sometimes feel spacey and disconnected from reality?

Getting centered can help you feel more present and alive in your own body with a sharper focus and clearer mind.

I hate to admit it, but I had a car accident once because I wasn’t present in my body. My 7 month old granddaughter was in the hospital, and I felt anxious and worried. I left the hospital after dark, trying to find my daughter’s apartment, driving a rental car in a strange city, and got turned around. My mind was churning with anxiety about the baby. I realized I needed to go in the opposite direction and made a left turn from the wrong lane… while someone was passing me on that side… When I heard the metal crunching, I felt a sick, horrible feeling. No one was hurt, thank goodness.

That accident taught me a valuable lesson about making sure I’m centered and fully in my body every single day, especially while driving or doing other things that require my full attention and presence.

leaf water

Here are my top 6 tips for getting centered in your body.

Sit in meditation for several minutes. Pay full attention to your breath or other sensations in your body. Let your thoughts drift in and out like clouds across the sky.
Do a simple yoga routine such as sun salutations. I also like the poses legs up the wall and rotated stomach pose, for relaxing and getting centered. Try yogajournal.com for more information and instruction or check out local yoga studios for classes. Also find instructional DVDs at your local library.
Imagine you’re a tree and send your roots down to the center of the earth. See your roots coming from your root chakra at the base of your spine and from your legs and feet. Feel the magnetic pull of the earth. Breathe in the earth energy through your roots into your lower body.
Make the lowest pitched sound possible without straining your voice. Use a vowel sound and see if you can feel the vibrations of the tone in your lower body.
Go for a nature walk without any electronics. Enjoy the beauty around you. Pay attention to the sensations that move through your body. Let your busy mind rest.
Live in your feet. This means to drop your awareness from your head and all the busy thinking and worry, and pay attention to the physical sensations in your feet. Try it for several minutes as you go about your day, and see how you feel afterward.