Archive for June, 2008

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A Little Freedom Can Go A Long Way

Monday, June 30th, 2008

“ . . . Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be a great poem.” –Walt Whitman, taken from his Preface to Leaves of Grass

Too often we live from our pain stories, while thinking and acting habitually. As a result, we carry more weight on our bodies than is healthy, are not active, cycle in and out of difficulty, find ourselves confronted with the same old problems (may be different faces but the same issue) and repeat and see the past. A key to losing weight, of increasing activity, of experiencing less difficulty and freedom from the past are to practice techniques that move us out of habitual ways of seeing, being and thinking. Freeing ourselves from one habit can begin to unravel the tapestry of habitual states we have created from childhood.

And a little freedom can go a long way.

What you might notice now is that extra pounds are not just about “eating too much.” Rather our extra weight is about the emotions, habits, storylines and agreements that result in certain eating behaviors. We can change a habit that seems unrelated to our food intake and consequently lose weight and find increased energy.

In order to change a habit we need the energy to do so. Habits you may say eat up our motivation, our personal energy and so our desire to change a habit losses power because we don’t have the energy to follow through on our intentions. So claiming energy back is a key to a healthy life-style. Have you noticed how in the evening you may be all enthused about going for a walk in the morning but then morning comes and you just don’t have what it takes to actually go for a walk? This “lack of motivation” is a sign that you lack enough energy. (Your habit basically has more power than your intention). So, you need to claim energy back. Here are a few ways to claim back your vital energy.

1. Spend time in nature. Sit up against a favorite tree. Talk to the tree, journal under the tree. We need to spend at least 15 minutes in nature a day.
2. Walk mindfully. Take a short walk in the morning outside where your step is in synch with your breath. Keep your attention on walking, letting thoughts come and go . . .
3. Practice mindfulness meditation first thing in the morning.
4. Notice places and people where you feel drained of energy. Write about these experiences in your journal, gain insight as to the dynamics (and agreements) that cause you to lose energy.
5. Practice recapitulation exercises, such as the Toltec Breath.
6. Write a poem, work on some art project, get creative in the garden.
7. Do something out of character.
8. Let someone think something that is not true about you while you do nothing to change their mind. Don’t spend time proving yourself to others, or explaining your self. (You will get a lot of energy back on this one).

Within your pain story (last couple lessons) you will find habits, beliefs and agreements that keep the pain going. Simply go through your pain story and find one belief in this story. (“Getting approval will make me happy.” “He will leave me too.” “Things never work out for me.”) Then find agreements (energetic contracts) that keep this belief active, that keep this pain story going (“I need the approval of others.” “I need to be in a relationship to be happy.” “I don’t know what I want.”). Be willing to give these beliefs and agreements up. Realize that where they served you in the past (the old pain story), they no longer serve you now.

Consider journaling about the following . . .

Now begin to write your authentic story. Transform this particular pain story into an authentic story. What do you want your life to look like, feel like, and be like? Describe in as much detail as possible about this authentic story. Take this week to write on it, tweak it and imagine it.

Write about the four elements, fire, water, air, and earth. Write about fire as an element that you represent. “I am fire . . .” Then write about being water, “I am water . . . , ” and so on.

Write about a favorite artifact/collectable breaking. (It cannot be fixed).

Off the page . . .

Give something away that you still enjoy.

Lost

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here.
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying, Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you. –David Wagoner, educator

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Posted in Toltec, breaking patterns, increasing energy, poetry, time in nature | 2 Comments »

Ancestral Healing as a Way to Release our Pain Stories

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Guest writer, Debra Morrill

Last week Julie touched on the topic of ancestral healing in her blog entry. She said, “We also carry the stories of our ancestors and can release these as well.”

Doing ancestral healing work is a powerful way to heal. Let me tell you a story from my own personal healing journey.

One of my ancestor mothers visited me during a healing session around my desire to be more present with myself. She identified herself as Wilhelmina and appeared grief-stricken, cradling a dead baby in her arms. Her husband had been away from home when her infant child died, and so the responsibility for digging the grave fell to her. It was winter, and the act of laying her beloved baby in the cold ground stripped her raw. She was not able to share the depth of this pain and grief with anyone, so it entered the family genetic stream and carried through the women in the line, finally down to me, her great-great-granddaughter, many years later.

Witnessing her pain and doing healing for her in that session helped shift the energy of unexpressed grief in the family line and within me. This healing helped me be more present with myself, including a willingness to open my heart wider and the ability to make better daily food choices.

How does ancestral healing work?

We all know from junior high health class that we receive genetic information from our ancestors that determines physical characteristics like the color of our eyes and hair and the shape of our body. Energy from our ancestors also passes through the family line. From a favorite grandmother, for instance, we may inherit a love of cooking and a warm, nurturing heart.

We can also receive our ancestors’ unhealed wounds and unfinished business. This explains why certain issues such as physical or mental illness, addictions, incest and abuse tend to travel in families.

Deep, unexpressed emotions such as grief, anger, guilt, shame and fear can also be passed to us from our ancestors. These emotions may be so powerful they show up as a visible energy in family photographs. They can make it hard for us to be present and make healthy choices.

Soul loss also travels through family lines. During a traumatic event, part of our soul may split off and go away because it doesn’t feel safe. If the soul piece doesn’t return, we have soul loss. A person with soul loss may feel a vital part of their self is missing, and they may fill that void with an addiction, including food.

The out of balance energy continues in the family line until someone pursues healing for the issue either on their own or with a shamanic healer or other energy healer. Because of a concept called circular time, just one or two family members can break the pattern and heal the wound in the family line.

The usual view of time is chronological – first A happens, then B, then C. But in the spirit world, the ordinary concepts of time fall away. Past, present and future exist at once. Ancestors long been deceased, current generations, and generations yet to come all receive healing.

By working in the spiritual realm outside of time to shift energetically at the source of the original wound, we can clear deeply entrenched energy patterns and create an opening for our whole being to return to balance.

To take it further:

• Journal about the positive inheritance you’ve received from your family line. Are there positive traits, skills, abilities you haven’t acknowledged that could serve you or support you now in your healing journey?
• Look at old family photographs. Journal about the emotions, the energy patterns, the ways of relating that you see. How have these affected you?
• Pay attention to your body. When an ancestral pattern is activated, you may feel heaviness throughout your body or pain or tightness in a certain area. Journal about how this ancestral energy feels and how it affects your body.
• Create a family tree tracking patterns of energy – illness, injuries, cause of death, relationship issues, addictions, abundance issues, etc. Journal about the common themes you notice. How do these issues manifest in your life? How do they affect your health and relationship to food?

Debra Morrill has a shamanic healing practice in Prairie du Sac, Wis. She focuses on ancestral healing and helping clients access their inner wisdom for healing. She also teaches workshops on ancestral healing. She can be reached at debramorrill@charter.net or 608-279-4319.

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Posted in Ancestorial Healing, Deb Morrill | 3 Comments »

Healing the Divide through Narrative Medicine

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

“There is perhaps apocryphal story that Dale Carnegie related about Abraham Lincoln. One of Lincoln’s advisors was recommending a man for inclusion in his cabinet, and Lincoln said no.

“I don’t like his face.” Lincoln reportedly said.

Horrified, his advisor said, “But he’s not responsible for his face!”

Lincoln replied. “Every man over forty is responsible for his face!”

Lincoln understood that over the course of our lives, we create and recreate ourselves in a way consistent with our stories about ourselves and the world around us.” ­– Thom Hartman, Taken from Lewis Mehl-Madrona’s foreword to Narrative Medicine: The Use of History and Story in the Healing Process

A powerful means of physical healing and transpersonal work is telling of ones story in a sacred manner. We engage in sacred story-telling to heal the separation within and without. Diabetes, cancer, obesity, depression, and other illnesses all hold a healing story within in them. Through narrative medicine we discover the agreements that keep us sick, and the means to heal.Wherever we are hurting points to a divide within ourselves. If we have health problems due to a poor relationship to food (or to our physical body) these problems reflect to us where we are divided. We may be divided from our passions, we may be divided from our emotions, and we may feel separated from others.

Our stories, shared in a sacred manner will help name this divide and heal it. (This is why it is so important for our healers, including our physicians to have the time to listen to our stories). We also carry the stories of our ancestors and can release these as well. For example, I carried the “entitlement” agreement in my relationship to food. It seemed I was born with an “entitlement gene.” This “gene” (agreement) made it possible for me to eat as much as wanted as a teenager and throughout my life (up to when I had my child at the age of 40). This agreement to entitlement (I can have what I want and as much of it as I want) was rooted deep in my body and consciousness and perhaps began a few generations back.

Through narrative medicine, creating a sacred healing ritual and ending my agreement to this story my eating behavior has greatly improved. I eat less, slower and notice when I am full and stop. Before I often wanted more even though I was full. I want to share that this story and agreement was knitted to my story of rebellion. In order for me to survive some abuses in childhood and beyond I called forth a rebellious nature. When it came to food this rebellious agreement strengthened the belief that “I can eat whatever I want, when I want and how much I want.” When the entitlement and rebellious theme was strong I wasn’t really in touch with what was good for me. I lost touch with what I really wanted and was making choices from these agreements, not my true nature (where my authentic stories arise).We can each transcend our limitations and habitual states. And we can use narrative medicine as a means to accomplish more freedom. Any healing process should include listening to your story around your concerns. A good healer is a skillful listener and weaver of stories.

Last week we identified with the Healer Within. She holds the pain story, the healing story and much of the “medicine” you need to heal what is hurting you.Begin with your personal story around your body. What is the story of your physical body? Let your body narrate a story. Journal your body’s life story. You can begin each journal entry with your body addressing you, “Dear (your name here), It began when I was handed to the doctor and rushed away from my home of 9 months. I never tasted breast milk but . . .” Let your body speak its’ story, let it take you where it wants. It will take several journal entries to get to the present day. In a few weeks I will guide you on a healing journey with your story.

“In narrative medicine, one of our goals is to avoid insights and interpretations until entities and illnesses literally shout their meanings to us.” – Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., taken from his book, Narrative Medicine.

Consider also journaling about . . .What are some of the agreements you have developed and sustained with your body? With food? Write about this. Write about your favorite time to eat. Describe the environment. Choose one subject to go into detail about.

Off the Page – - If there are more places in your life that are cluttered (closets, evenings, work space, mind) keep clearing up space for your self, for your life now and for the life you are creating for yourself.

It would be good to be walking (or swimming) up to 30 minutes a day. If you don’t have time most days for this, what needs to be removed to make room for this? Our lives should have time for 30 minutes of activity (research shows it needs to be 90 minutes to keep us healthy and lean).

“We must accept the lack of certain, ultimate truth. We cannot know truth, only the stories we create about truth. Humility lies in the recognition that our stories will require constant modifications to keep up with our own evolution. Maturity consists of the ability to manage multiple, competing ideological tensions while negotiating an identity that works for the various, sometimes conflicting communities to which we belong.” –Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., taken from his book, Narrative Medicine.

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Posted in Health, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Sacred Story Telling, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

The Inner Healer

Monday, June 9th, 2008

“Illness is made from negative emotions frozen by time and bad habits.” –Letha Hadady, D. AC., taken from Asian Heath Secrets

“Your choices make you Gods.”

There is a Healer in each of us. Journal writing exercises, mindfulness meditations, visualization practices and exercise all get us in touch with the Healer Within. Last week we focused on slowing down enough to listen. When we take the time to listen we are open to a more enlightened choice in the moment. 

The food we choose to eat directly impacts our mental, spiritual and physical health. As we cleanse ourselves of poor food choices, old ideas and energy patterns also break away. The beauty of this is that we don’t always have to invest a lot of money into getting “treatments.” The primary physician is our self. Furthermore, it is best not to give our health (spiritual, mental or physical) over to another. Others can assist us in our decision to recover our health but it always gets down to our day-to-day, moment-to-moment choices. The Doctor may remove a tumor or prescribe medication but we have to improve our health; we have to choose to take the medication or not.

Carrying a small journal around with you may help in keeping conscious about your food choices. You may also benefit from recording the emotions and experiences that arise as you change (and improve) your health. Knowledge is also good in developing a healthier life. If you have specific health issues such as weight, arthritis, chronic pain, fatigue, diabetes, or weakened immune system it may benefit to learn more about the herbal and natural remedies that have worked. These can go along with your more contemporary, western practice if you have one that is working for you. I recommend you take a look at the book: “Asian Health Secrets” by Letha Hadady. Along with self-knowledge you may want to try acupuncture, Thai Yoga Massage or other massage therapies to facilitate your healing practices. As I mentioned in a previous article, a little yoga or stretching in the morning goes a long way too.

My primary health provider is my self; my secondary one is my Thai Yoga Therapist. I also rely on acupuncture and chiropractic sessions for specific issues. I have successfully treated illnesses with a change in food, herbal teas, acupuncture, and other natural remedies. When I was a young adult I was diagnosed with curvature of the spine. I practiced daily yoga and reversed the condition. In consulting with a Tibetan physician in the recent past removing sugar from my diet was recommended. I not only lost weight but also revitalized my Chi (energy body).  

We must take full responsibility for our spiritual, physical and mental health. We are the healers we seek. As a transpersonal counselor and consultant (for the past 30 years) I know I can only facilitate someone’s journey to a given point. Each one of my clients and students arrives at a place within themselves where they take full responsibility for their wellbeing  - – or not. I journey with them for a while as a temporary navigator. No matter how deep and historic our wounds, we have the capacity to improve our health. We each have a hold of the doorknob into our own personal spiritual awakening. It is in taking this responsibility (with compassion and commitment) that we succeed at recovering lost health or improving what we already have. 

“Remember that you also need to develop some wisdom about chi: you must understand that your vital energy effects your weight.” ­­–Letha Hadady, D. Ac. 

“The foundation of Tibetan medicine is that mind and body are closely related. Therefore, Tibetan physicians have always considered a sound mind as a prerequisite for a healthy body.”  – His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

 

 

Consider Journaling the following:

Consider carrying a journal with you for 2 weeks. Record your food intake but also write about your emotions and experiences, as you become a more mindful eater. Please send any journal entries you would like to share to this post.

Contact your Inner Healer through meditation (see Psychic Writing in my book: “Spiritual Journaling: Writing Your Way to Independence”. In a meditative, psychic place ask your Inner Healer what needs your attention. Begin a letter in your journal addressed to you, – - Dear (Your Name here), “This is what needs your attention,” (or, “This is what I want you to know”) . . . Write until you fill up a page. Repeat the introductory sentence, “This is what I need you to know”, instead of stopping your pen to think. (The thinking mind gets in the way). Sign the letter, “Your Inner Teacher.” Return again and again to you Inner Teacher for needed guidance.

 

Off The Page . . .

For those who use this BLOG as a guide, I am offering an hour healing-consultation session with me for $50.00. I do transpersonal and psychic work, which is personally geared toward your concerns and intentions. Contact me by phone (608-963-0724) or email (jewelhrt8@aol.com) to schedule your session. Let me know you are using the blog.

Find a good tea to drink during the day. You have likely heard of the many benefits of green tea. (White tea is slimming.)  Add some new raw vegetables to your daily salads: radishes (particularly Daikin radishes), beets and celery.

Schedule a session with a massage therapist in your area. Take in with you the intention to make contact with the Inner Healer.

“The way we experience and respond to the world enters into the makings of that world so experienced.” –Joseph Chilton Pearce, taken from The Crack in the Cosmic Egg.

“Food is wisdom for the soul.” Donald Altman, Taken from Meal by Meal 

“Power is the ability to determine our own destiny. Only in a path of uniqueness can the vital energy uncoil and pierce the regions of the unknown. Only with power can we move aside the obstacles that keep us imprisoned, enslaved, and unconscious.” – Anodea Judith, taken from Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and The Chakra System As A Path to The Self.

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Posted in mindful eating, recovery from illness, teas | 2 Comments »

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