Sarah: Process Painting

(guest post from Sarah)

A painting, a beautiful expression, shared by one of my students.
See more at Divine Play: Process Painting


(guest post from Sarah)

Lorane: Unraveling

(written by guest blogger Lorane)

As magical children, we all know we can play with our own minds – we do it all day long. For most of us, the process of becoming adults includes taming that bright, creative organ into a beast of burden. We are guided to transform that toy into a tool: a responsible, adult mind that will work and worry for us and others– and make sure that everything is safe and good according to the rules of whatever game we have learned. For those of us who identify as artists, we at least have windows of creative play free from worry, where we can stay in touch with our childish whims. But for much of our time as adults, we are employing our minds to work, fix, control, plan, and generally avoid disaster.

As a student of spiritual growth, an important part of the process is to learn how to play again. To recover that unabashed joy of the child who can dance, and draw, and sing, and who never worries about how it might look to others. When we are in play, we are not afraid. We love what we are doing, and we are doing it in joy. If something happens that we do not like, we handle it and move quickly back into play. That is a great thing to remind our minds as we unravel the cords that bind us so tightly and keep us from our joy.

In meditation with my spiritual teacher Wendy, she suggested that she saw an image of a long loop almost like a belt running through my abdomen and over my head in a closed circle. Looping through me and over me. We looked at it and it appeared to me to be like a long paper loop, layers upon layers of paper, like an almost endless roll of fortune cookie sayings in print. All the warnings and admonitions of a lifetime. She helped me to envision unraveling it; winding off layer after layer, placing the lines of text into a small fire. I kept at it. But after an awkwardly long time, the loop was still thick.

I wanted to just put it all into the fire and poof! It would be all gone. But even in this spiritual play that we were doing, true to the serious child I always was, I had to report the sad fact of the matter: this long loop of advice was not going away – there were still many miles of it, around and around. I told her I needed to take it home and keep meditating on it. She said, “Good. There are treasures in there for you.” What a lovely way to view past messaging. Treasures do not have to be only what we find, but also what we find we can let go of! The knowledge that we no longer need something is a treasure of great value that lessens our burdens and frees us up for more play.

I lay in bed that evening unraveling, unraveling for hours. I kept the fire going and tore bits of text off the end of the seemingly endless roll, and still there was more. It never got thin and I never got to the end. Finally around 3:00 a.m. I decided to try to burn the whole rest of the coil of advice. I saw it would not bend and I could not break it. So I made the bonfire big enough and hot enough to toss the whole belt of words into the flame. As it burned, I saw it break into four segments, like the four directions. There was a section of advice from Mother, from Father, from my older siblings, and then from all of society. Lots of advice! When I looked at it from my place of neutrality, I saw it was all well-meant. All good advice, from someone else’s point of view, about how to be safe and accepted.

As I saw it all burn to nothing, I wondered if I could remember some of the phrases and warnings, like trying to remember what an old fortune cookie said. What was the overall picture? What is the central message, if any? So many, many words! I found that I could translate that whole unraveled corset of words into two small bone earrings with a condensed message. One earring said SHOULD. The other said SHOULD NOT. I put these earrings into the fire and watched the bone turn to charcoal and then ash. The gold alone remained, a testimony to the good will and kind intentions of all my advisors.

Of course this is all silliness. There was no “real” fire and there were no real bone earrings. Nor has any computed tomography scan revealed a loop of paper with words on it implanted in my flesh and bone, knit into my muscle and sinew and woven in among my intestinal loops. Entering through the stomach and exiting through the lower back, making an awkward lump under my raincoat and impeding lovemaking. It is all make-believe. So what could be the possible value of any of this make-believe, this silliness, this play? I don’t know. My analyzing mind warns me that this is just self-indulgent mental masturbation, a distraction from the real things of life. The very real things of work and worry.

And yet one important thing became clear, even to my analyzing mind, as I played with these images and visions, unraveling this coil. The thousands of bits of warnings and advice and corrections and admonitions on my long, sinuous tape are NO MORE REAL than my imagined fire, my earrings, or anything else I choose to think. The fortune cookie list of advice that I drank in along with my mother’s milk from the very day I was born into this body is NO MORE REAL than any other part of the story I choose to live in. And as an adult, I do not have to continue to live in the stories that other well-meaning people have written into my script.

Through this spiritual work, really spiritual play, I have experienced that I can free my mind from some of the make-believe fetters that I have imagined and used to confine myself. We have all seen children who are suddenly released from school, car, house and run joyfully, blissfully, into an open space of nature, park or playground. Free! Those children are not running to fix something, to control something, to make someone wrong so they can be right. They are running to play and have fun with a wide-open heart and a sense of impending joy. They are fulfilled in the very moment of their release, already in the here and now, already playing full-hearted as they run toward play.

When my son was five or so, he came bursting out of his room one summer morning, and exclaimed joyfully, with an excited face and shining eyes: “I really, really want to do something SO MUCH, but I don’t know what it is!” I assured him that I knew that feeling, that eager summer morning feeling, of open possibilities and a day of play ahead. Of course we must always be in the here and now, but the here and now of standing on that precipice of knowing we are about to fly out into joyful play is a wonderful place to be. Thank you Wendy, for playing with me. A world of possibilities has opened up, and my heart is full and beating.

(written by guest blogger Lorane)

Love is nothing other than finding the Truth

Love is nothing other than finding the truth.
- Rumi

A friend asked about this quote, I said:

I didn’t used to grok this quote, because I wanted an *intellectual* answer.
In the end, this quote, and the consciousness it points-to, is not an intellectual exercise.
From my perspective, Rumi is pointing to a mystical / spiritual experience.

I believe Rumi is using poetry to point to something.
(like a finger pointing at the moon ; )

I am in process of realizing the wisdom of Rumi’s quote more & more,
because I am more and more dedicated to experiencing the wisdom beyond the intellect - spiritually knowing, seeing, hearing... experiencing of spiritual reality

.
It is challenging to speak about spiritual reality, becasue, generally, it doesn't make sense to the everyday mind..
Here are some ways to address Rumi's quote with a kind of logic:

What is the truth? All is ONE.
Affinity (the yummy part of love) is the spiritual Experience of the spiritual Truth of our spiritual Oneness…

or

‘God’ is Love
'God' is Truth

Some folks’ mental pictures of the world might like these logical assertions, some may not.
It doesn’t matter, in the end…

.
IMO, what does matter is that we go to the ‘well’ and ‘drink’!
This Really Matters!
Enjoy the water, bathe in the water, let the water into every cell, all of our attention filled with this water, experienced through this water... NOT to sit thinking all day about drinking or about thirst!!

So, I encourage us all to continue to explore beyond the finger:
all the way to the moon!!

When we allow actual spiritual experiences beyond our analyzer, beyond the physical, beyond duality:
these experiences can be accessed, our thirst quenched, and our life enriched by BEing the delight of living Truth, living Love;
not just trying to understand Love with our limited, little brains (as useful as they are).

I am off to get a drink...
in Life, Wendy

Yes, I shifted to metaphors - commonly used to mystics to say Something about Spiritual Reality… did someone say parables ;)


Read more: posts about Love

.

How can we make it Safe to Come Out?

From my perspective, this short video, Safe in my hands, applies to ALL of us,
each of us shines the Light in our own UNIQUE way
... and sometimes we feel vulnerable as who we Are, with our own relationship to the Universe, following our specific and unique path.

Sometimes we feel like a round peg in a square hole.
Sometimes we wonder:  will we find relationships where we really feel like we fit. Will folks we love see us, know us, love us as we ARE.
Sometimes we feel judged and excluded by others.

Sometimes the best parts of ourselves and our lives
- our very Distinctiveness, our Individual Gifts, the Special way we Understand and Relate to the Divine
can feel like dark blessings.

Sometimes living an authentic life can be really challenging!
AND despite all this, I would like to encourage us all:

It is a huge blessing for ourselves and others, to be our true selves and walk our unique path.
There is nothing better for us, no way we could enjoy more success, or love, joy, peace.
There is nothing we can do better for the world than to behold and reflect the Glory into the world, in our own special way.
We bring Light, Love, Truth, Divinity into the world in ways, places, times that could not happen otherwise.

Life is a process of Coming Out, for all of us.
Let's make it as Safe to Come Out as we can - for ourselves and each other.
Let the Light Shine!

What is your expereince with Coming Out as yourself - to yourself, to others?

How does the "Shamanic View of Mental Illness" relate to Psychic Healing?

This article is by Stephanie Marohn, featuring Malidoma Patrice Somé;  Excerpted from The Natural Medicine Guide to Schizophrenia.
I added a few notes about this article at the end.

The Shamanic View of Mental Illness

In the shamanic view, mental illness signals “the birth of a healer,” explains Malidoma Patrice Somé.  Thus, mental disorders are spiritual emergencies, spiritual crises, and need to be regarded as such to aid the healer in being born.

What those in the West view as mental illness, the Dagara people regard as “good news from the other world.”  The person going through the crisis has been chosen as a medium for a message to the community that needs to be communicated from the spirit realm.  “Mental disorder, behavioral disorder of all kinds, signal the fact that two obviously incompatible energies have merged into the same field,” says Dr. Somé.  These disturbances result when the person does not get assistance in dealing with the presence of the energy from the spirit realm.

One of the things Dr. Somé encountered when he first came to the United States in 1980 for graduate study was how this country deals with mental illness.  When a fellow student was sent to a mental institute due to “nervous depression,” Dr. Somé went to visit him.

“I was so shocked.  That was the first time I was brought face to face with what is done here to people exhibiting the same symptoms I’ve seen in my village.”  What struck Dr. Somé was that the attention given to such symptoms was based on pathology, on the idea that the condition is something that needs to stop.  This was in complete opposition to the way his culture views such a situation.  As he looked around the stark ward at the patients, some in straitjackets, some zoned out on medications, others screaming, he observed to himself, “So this is how the healers who are attempting to be born are treated in this culture.  What a loss!  What a loss that a person who is finally being aligned with a power from the other world is just being wasted.”

Another way to say this, which may make more sense to the Western mind, is that we in the West are not trained in how to deal or even taught to acknowledge the existence of psychic phenomena, the spiritual world.  In fact, psychic abilities are denigrated.  When energies from the spiritual world emerge in a Western psyche, that individual is completely unequipped to integrate them or even recognize what is happening.  The result can be terrifying.  Without the proper context for and assistance in dealing with the breakthrough from another level of reality, for all practical purposes, the person is insane.  Heavy dosing with anti-psychotic drugs compounds the problem and prevents the integration that could lead to soul development and growth in the individual who has received these energies.

On the mental ward, Dr Somé saw a lot of “beings” hanging around the patients, “entities” that are invisible to most people but that shamans and psychics are able to see.  “They were causing the crisis in these people,” he says.  It appeared to him that these beings were trying to get the medications and their effects out of the bodies of the people the beings were trying to merge with, and were increasing the patients’ pain in the process.  “The beings were acting almost like some kind of excavator in the energy field of people.  They were really fierce about that.  The people they were doing that to were just screaming and yelling,” he said.  He couldn’t stay in that environment and had to leave.
In the Dagara tradition, the community helps the person reconcile the energies of both worlds–”the world of the spirit that he or she is merged with, and the village and community.”  That person is able then to serve as a bridge between the worlds and help the living with information and healing they need.  Thus, the spiritual crisis ends with the birth of another healer.  “The other world’s relationship with our world is one of sponsorship,” Dr. Somé explains.  “More often than not, the knowledge and skills that arise from this kind of merger are a knowledge or a skill that is provided directly from the other world.”

The beings who were increasing the pain of the inmates on the mental hospital ward were actually attempting to merge with the inmates in order to get messages through to this world.  The people they had chosen to merge with were getting no assistance in learning how to be a bridge between the worlds and the beings’ attempts to merge were thwarted.  The result was the sustaining of the initial disorder of energy and the aborting of the birth of a healer.

“The Western culture has consistently ignored the birth of the healer,” states Dr. Somé.  “Consequently, there will be a tendency from the other world to keep trying as many people as possible in an attempt to get somebody’s attention.  They have to try harder.”  The spirits are drawn to people whose senses have not been anesthetized.  “The sensitivity is pretty much read as an invitation to come in,” he notes.  Those who develop so-called mental disorders are those who are sensitive, which is viewed in Western culture as oversensitivity.  Indigenous cultures don’t see it that way and, as a result, sensitive people don’t experience themselves as overly sensitive.  In the West, “it is the overload of the culture they’re in that    is just wrecking them,” observes Dr. Somé.  The frenetic pace, the bombardment of the senses, and the violent energy that characterize Western culture can overwhelm sensitive people.

Schizophrenia and Foreign Energy

With schizophrenia, there is a special “receptivity to a flow of images and information, which cannot be controlled,” stated Dr. Somé.  “When this kind of rush occurs at a time that is not personally chosen, and particularly when it comes with images that are scary and contradictory, the person goes into a frenzy.”

What is required in this situation is first to separate the person’s energy from the extraneous foreign energies, by using shamanic practice (what is known as a “sweep”) to clear the latter out of the individual’s aura.  With the clearing of their energy field, the person no longer picks up a flood of information and so no longer has a reason to be scared and disturbed, explains Dr. Somé.
Then it is possible to help the person align with the energy of the spirit being attempting to come through from the other world and give birth to the healer.  The blockage of that emergence is what creates problems.  “The energy of the healer is a high-voltage energy,” he observes.  “When it is blocked, it just burns up the person.  It’s like a short-circuit.  Fuses are blowing.  This is why it can be really scary, and I understand why this culture prefers to confine these people.  Here they are yelling and screaming, and they’re put into a straitjacket.  That’s a sad image.”  Again, the shamanic approach is to work on aligning the energies so there is no blockage, “fuses” aren’t blowing, and the person can become the healer they are meant to be.

It needs to be noted at this point, however, that not all of the spirit beings that enter a person’s energetic field are there for the purposes of promoting healing.  There are negative energies as well, which are undesirable presences in the aura.  In those cases, the shamanic approach is to remove them from the aura, rather than work to align the discordant energies.

Alex:  Crazy in the USA, Healer in Africa

To test his belief that the shamanic view of mental illness holds true in the Western world as well as in indigenous cultures, Dr. Somé took a mental patient back to Africa with him, to his village.  “I was prompted by my own curiosity to find out whether there’s truth in the universality that mental illness could be connected with an alignment with a being from another world,” says Dr. Somé.

Alex was an 18-year-old American who had suffered a psychotic break when he was 14.  He had hallucinations, was suicidal, and went through cycles of dangerously severe depression.  He was in a mental hospital and had been given a lot of drugs, but nothing was helping.  “The parents had done everything–unsuccessfully,” says Dr. Somé.  “They didn’t know what else to do.”

With their permission, Dr. Somé took their son to Africa.  “After eight months there, Alex had become quite normal, Dr. Somé reports.  He was even able to participate with healers in the business of healing; sitting with them all day long and helping them, assisting them in what they were doing with their clients . . . . He spent about four years in my village.”  Alex stayed by choice, not because he needed more healing.  He felt, “much safer in the village than in America.”

To bring his energy and that of the being from the spiritual realm into alignment, Alex went through a shamanic ritual designed for that purpose, although it was slightly different from the one used with the Dagara people.  “He wasn’t born in the village, so something else applied.  But the result was similar, even though the ritual was not literally the same,” explains Dr. Somé.  The fact that aligning the energy worked to heal Alex demonstrated to Dr. Somé that the connection between other beings and mental illness is indeed universal.

After the ritual, Alex began to share the messages that the spirit being had for this world.  Unfortunately, the people he was talking to didn’t speak English (Dr. Somé was away at that point).  The whole experience led, however, to Alex’s going to college to study psychology.  He returned to the United States after four years because “he discovered that all the things that he needed to do had been done, and he could then move on with his life.”

The last that Dr. Somé heard was that Alex was in graduate school in psychology at Harvard.  No one had thought he would ever be able to complete undergraduate studies, much less get an advanced degree.

Dr. Somé sums up what Alex’s mental illness was all about:  “He was reaching out.  It was an emergency call.  His job and his purpose was to be a healer.  He said no one was paying attention to that.”

After seeing how well the shamanic approach worked for Alex, Dr. Somé concluded that spirit beings are just as much an issue in the West as in his community in Africa.  “Yet the question still remains, the answer to this problem must be found here, instead of having to go all the way overseas to seek the answer.  There has to be a way in which a little bit of attention beyond the pathology of this whole experience leads to the possibility of coming up with the proper ritual to help people.

Longing for Spiritual Connection

A common thread that Dr. Somé has noticed in “mental” disorders in the West is “a very ancient ancestral energy that has been placed in stasis, that finally is coming out in the person.”  His job then is to trace it back, to go back in time to discover what that spirit is.  In most cases, the spirit is connected to nature, especially with mountains or big rivers, he says.

In the case of mountains, as an example to explain the phenomenon, “it’s a spirit of the mountain that is walking side by side with the person and, as a result, creating a time-space distortion that is affecting the person caught in it.”  What is needed is a merger or alignment of the two energies, “so the person and the mountain spirit become one.”  Again, the shaman conducts a specific ritual to bring about this alignment.

Dr. Somé believes that he encounters this situation so often in the United States because “most of the fabric of this country is made up of the energy of the machine, and the result of that is the disconnection and the severing of the past.  You can run from the past, but you can’t hide from it.”  The ancestral spirit of the natural world comes visiting.  “It’s not so much what the spirit wants as it is what the person wants,” he says.  “The spirit sees in us a call for something grand, something that will make life meaningful, and so the spirit is responding to that.”

That call, which we don’t even know we are making, reflects “a strong longing for a profound connection, a connection that transcends materialism and possession of things and moves into a tangible cosmic dimension.  Most of this longing is unconscious, but for spirits, conscious or unconscious doesn’t make any difference.”  They respond to either.

As part of the ritual to merge the mountain and human energy, those who are receiving the “mountain energy” are sent to a mountain area of their choice, where they pick up a stone that calls to them.  They bring that stone back for the rest of the ritual and then keep it as a companion; some even carry it around with them.  “The presence of the stone does a lot in tuning the perceptive ability of the person,” notes Dr. Somé.  “They receive all kinds of information that they can make use of, so it’s like they get some tangible guidance from the other world as to how to live their life.”

When it is the “river energy,” those being called go to the river and, after speaking to the river spirit, find a water stone to bring back for the same kind of ritual as with the mountain spirit.

“People think something extraordinary must be done in an extraordinary situation like this,” he says.  That’s not usually the case.  Sometimes it is as simple as carrying a stone.

A Sacred Ritual Approach to Mental Illness

One of the gifts a shaman can bring to the Western world is to help people rediscover ritual, which is so sadly lacking.  “The abandonment of ritual can be devastating.  From the spiritual view, ritual is inevitable and necessary if one is to live,” Dr. Somé writes in Ritual:  Power, Healing, and Community. “To say that ritual is needed in the industrialized world is an understatement.  We have seen in my own people that it is probably impossible to live a sane life without it.”

Dr. Somé did not feel that the rituals from his traditional village could simply be transferred to the West, so over his years of shamanic work here, he has designed rituals that meet the very different needs of this culture.  Although the rituals change according to the individual or the group involved, he finds that there is a need for certain rituals in general.

One of these involves helping people discover that their distress is coming from the fact that they are “called by beings from the other world to cooperate with them in doing healing work.”  Ritual allows them to move out of the distress and accept that calling.

Another ritual need relates to initiation.  In indigenous cultures all over the world, young people are initiated into adulthood when they reach a certain age.  The lack of such initiation in the West is part of the crisis that people are in here, says Dr. Somé.  He urges communities to bring together “the creative juices of people who have had this kind of experience, in an attempt to come up with some kind of an alternative ritual that would at least begin to put a dent in this kind of crisis.”

Another ritual that repeatedly speaks to the needs of those coming to him for help entails making a bonfire, and then putting into the bonfire “items that are symbolic of issues carried inside the individuals . . . It might be the issues of anger and frustration against an ancestor who has left a legacy of murder and enslavement or anything, things that the descendant has to live with,” he explains.  “If these are approached as things that are blocking the human imagination, the person’s life purpose, and even the person’s view of life as something that can improve, then it makes sense to begin thinking in terms of how to turn that blockage into a roadway that can lead to something more creative and more fulfilling.”

The example of issues with an ancestors touches on rituals designed by Dr. Somé that address a serious dysfunction in Western society and in the process “trigger enlightenment” in participants.  These are ancestral rituals, and the dysfunction they are aimed at is the mass turning-of-the-back on ancestors.  Some of the spirits trying to come through, as described earlier, may be “ancestors who want to merge with a descendant in an attempt to heal what they weren’t able to do while in their physical body.”

“Unless the relationship between the living and the dead is in balance, chaos ensues,” he says.  “The Dagara believe that, if such an imbalance exists, it is the duty of the living to heal their ancestors.  If these ancestors are not healed, their sick energy will haunt the souls and psyches of those who are responsible for helping them.”  The rituals focus on healing the relationship with our ancestors, both specific issues of an individual ancestor and the larger cultural issues contained in our past.  Dr. Somé has seen extraordinary healing occur at these rituals.

Taking a sacred ritual approach to mental illness rather than regarding the person as a pathological case gives the person affected–and indeed the community at large–the opportunity to begin looking at it from that vantage point too, which leads to “a whole plethora of opportunities and ritual initiative that can be very, very beneficial to everyone present,” states. Dr. Somé.

The Shamanic View of Mental Illness
by Stephanie Marohn (featuring Malidoma Patrice Somé)
(Excerpted from The Natural Medicine Guide to Schizophrenia,
pages 178-189, or The Natural Medicine Guide to Bi-polar Disorder)
 This excerpt from: http://earthweareone.com/what-a-shaman-sees-in-a-mental-hospital/
This information is from this Malidoma Patrice Somé, there is a lot more info available about and from him - if interested, you can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malidoma_Patrice_Som%C3%A9

For me, this article validates really well the individual work I do with people and foreign energies.  He speaks as a Shaman, not a Psychic - and I enjoyed hearing his perspective, so similar to mine.

I address other spiritual issues too;
But, regarding what is in this article - it is nice to hear such straightforward descriptions of the 'world' I work in everyday, and how needful it is.
I have different beliefs around how to own our space relative to foreign energies and I have different practices, but the results are similar.

I really like the lens of 'birth of a healer', this will inform my work going forward with folks who are beset with foreign energy, dealing with mental illness, as well as physical, emotional & energetic overwhelm...
I have been operating through the idea that these experiences are spiritual calls for us to to go deeper, and gifts - albeit often 'dark gifts'.  But the specific addition of being called as a healer may assist some of the folks I work with, as yet another lever to assist their healing journey.

I notice the Shaman has the assistance of a community, supporting his worldview and that of the troubled person - this is a big help.  We are swimming against the stream of a world of physical-focus, as well as the uncomfortable American culture he refers to.
I am blessed to be part of a growing psychic community in Seattle, which is a great support for healers as well the 'birth of a healers'.  My psychic community in NJ is much smaller - but there is a beachhead, which really does help.

I am inspired by the Shaman's use of group ritual, and I will ask Spirit if there are ways for me to integrate this lever for more powerful, efficient group processes.

Best, wendy

Q&A: Is your style 100% spiritual?

Regarding Coaching: Is your style 100% spiritual?
Do you incorporate the material and real concerns we have in this world?
in a way that is enlightened and not purely human desire.

Great Questions! Thanks for asking.

We together stand in a spiritually-focused space, and address your spiritual and physical, emotional, intellectual, relational, sexual, financial, etc  concerns... from a spiritual perspective
Yes, not from the space of emotions, thoughts, desire, sexual or survival impulses, power trips, etc - but from a more neutral and amused perspective.

AND, we together also spiritually assist your BODY to integrate this Lighter perspective into your daily life
It is all about Being spirit IN body... ON the Earth, WITH All our Relations - this is the Soul challenge, opportunity, joy!

Best to you in your Journey!
Wendy

Let's Get INSPIRED to Om your Leadership, Om your Life! Pre-course Worksheet and Meditation suggestions for January 31st

Intentions for the Om day (start Now!)

• Its all about vibrational shift!
• Let's ALL step into deeper leadership - inside ourselves and in our world - in whatever form is appropriate

Please enjoy this worksheet, to help prepare you for Om day!!

Until Om day - and beyond...
please be meditating, cogitating, pondering, visioning, asking your physical and spiritual friends (God, Angels, Masters, Healing Guides, etc) and journaling...
inquiring in the realm of these questions. 


We have already started this process on January 13th - whenever you begin - without stress, be with this conversation, and notice what you notice..

Week one - starting Jan 13, please meditate and journal on:

1) For you, what is Leadership?
What does being a Leader look and feel like? How do you Lead? How would you like to be a leader in:

• Body?
• Mind?
• Spirit?

• your own space, inner life?
• your everyday world, outer life?
• your/the world?

2) Where do you want to step into your Leadership?

• Being a Leader in the world: your home, family, community, neighborhood, work, government, civic and community organizations, local or world influence?
• Where do YOU want to go? do? be? create?
• What is CALLING you forward?

3) What is it to You to be a Leader relative to yourself?

• Where are you in each of these areas below? Where would you like to be?
• Where are you weak? Where are you Strong?
• What would you like to be doing to support and strengthen these each day?

Areas to choose from, ideas to get you started 
in creating your own priorities and focus for Leadership inside and outside yourself:

Body - Being embodied in Present-time, Health, Wellness, Fitness, Strength, Balance, Flexibility, Fulfilling body-spirit relationship and communication.
Mind - Mental Sharpness & Focus, Psychological Health, Personal Development, Learning & Teaching, Reading & Writing.
Spirit - Relationship with God of Heart, on Soul Path, Spiritual Growth/Deepening, Filling-up with delicious & nutritious energies. Acting from soul rather than physical consciousness/perspective/information.

Relationships - family, intimates, lover(s), house-mate(s), play-friends/buddies, workmates, healthy, supportive relationship with yourself.
Play - fun, outdoor experiences, sports, rest & recreation, vacation, play dates, cultural activities, arts & crafts, music & dance
Contribution - Service, Work, Vocation, Giving-back
Abundance - having what you need and enjoying your home, transportation, toys, money, clothes, food... Knowing you are in the flow of all good things. Enjoying safety, security and choices relative to the world.



.

Week 2 - starting January 21st, please meditate and journal on:

Last last week, we were all invited to meditate on Leadership

This next week, we are all invited please meditate, cogitate, ponder, journal around Ownership!

What does it mean to OWN? from every level - mind, body, and spirit

How do you Own who you are, what you have and what you want?

Where are you owning your self, your life, your creations, your path... and where are you not?

Can you do OWN with open hands? Where, when, with-whom is this easy?

Where do you trip on: attachment, resistance, stuck-ness, fleeing, competition, judgment, perfection…?

Can you notice where is is harder to Own with Ease and Grace, and let this BE ok?

How can you own more deeply? from the place of mind, body & spirit:

• your body, your wellness, fitness, and being consciously in present-time
• your relationship(s)
• your family, and how you relate to them - both blood and chosen family
• your rest, relaxation, reinvigoration
• your recreation, play, and creativity
• your sensuality and deliciousness of all your senses
• your sexual expression and desires
• your home, your stuff, your transportation
• your bank account, and other assets
• your joyful expression of aliveness in the world
• your career/vocation/contribution to life to the world
• your spiritual path and your calling in this lifetime
• your connection with the Divine

Even if you Share these things with others, how can you Own them for Your Self?

Please review all the ideas from last week, from the perspective of owning, instead of perspective of leadership…

When you look from Ownership instead of Leadership, how does this change how you see these areas of your life?

.
Day before workshop:

Please meditate and journal on all your answers and insights in the last couple weeks: let 2 - 6 areas of your life arise, that you can succinctly name, which you would like to focus-on during the workshop, and in the following weeks and months:

• Where are you called forward?  
• What is sparking your creative energy? 
• What parts of your current life would be so much more fulfilling if you were owning them? 
• When you focus on Leadership, what draws you?  

Again - choose the top few areas of your life that you want to move forward in Leadership and Ownership, Now.


Hope you Enjoy your process!!!

Logistics and what to expect on Om day, January 31st

Plans for Om day: Directions, What to Bring, Important Question, Schedule, Menu 

1)
Address and Directions:

Key Center Building
601 108th AVE NE, Bellevue, WA 98004, WA
Suite 1800

Park beneath the Key Center Building, stay left when you go beneath the building.
Take elevator to lobby, go left, Take elevator to 18th floor. 
Please plan an extra 10 minutes to park, take 2 elevators, and arrive at the office
(Make sure your parking stub is validated before you leave the office )

If you have last-minute issues, or need help with directions, call or text:
Lynn: 206-931-7356.

2)
What to Bring:

Print and bring your pre-course worksheet 
Pad/Journal and pen
Water Bottle
Any food or snacks that you need, if you have challenges regarding the menu below.
Wear whatever feels comfortable for you


 3)  
Important Question:
     Do you know basic psychic tools? 
(Grounding, Centering, Golden Sun/Waterfall, Releasing energy, Creating & Letting Go and Growth Periods)

If yes, you will be able to participate with Lynn in the Violet Flame!

If no, you will meet with Wendy to learn basic tools.
Please consider learning basic skills ahead of time, so you don’t miss anything!  You can:

• schedule a session with Lynn or Wendy ahead of time, to learn (Register and pay $197 by January 21st and you receive a complementary hour session with one of us, before or after the workshop), AND/OR
• please come to HOLY MOSES! Reclaim Leadership over your Domain (Meditation Workshop), Friday Jan 30th 6-9pm

4)
Current schedule:

9:20 - doors open (9:35 - 9:55 - 1st set of healings scheduled) 

     Check this chart to see when your 20 min healings are scheduled:

      - If you have the first healing scheduled, before workshop starts, please arrive between 9:20-9:30
      - If your healings are scheduled during the workshop, please arrive between 9:40-9:50

10-11:15 - 1st session - We ARE, DO and RECEIVE by BEING IT

11:15 - 11:45 - Body Break (11:20 - 11:40 - 2nd set of healings scheduled)

11:45-12:45 - 2nd session - What is it to BE the CEO of your life?

12:45 -1:30 Lunch (12:50 - 1:10 3rd set of healings scheduled - 20 minutes each)

1:30 - 2:30 - 3rd session - Don't let MIRAGES Stop you on your Path!

2:30 - 3 - break (2:35 - 2:55 4th set of healings scheduled)

3 - 4pm - 4th session -  ACTIVATE your Intentions as if you have "only 3 seconds left!"
 
4:30 - doors close

4:30 - 5:30 - long healings can be scheduled with today's healers (or you can schedule before or after the workshop) register ahead - these may go fast!

5) 
Menu:

Available all day

fruit platter

crudites & dip

nuts 

rice-cakes, mini-muffins, pastries  (some Gluten-Free)

sugar-free peanut butter
butter & margarine (Earth Balance - red container - gluten dairy and soy free)

water, tea, coffee

Lunch

salad and at least one dairy-free dressing

meat & cheese plate
rolls/bread (some Gluten-Free)

mayo, mustard

chili or bean soup

Body/Energy Services - as part of the Om workshop on January 31st

Body/Energy Services for your delight, self care, and assistance to shift your vibration
as part of the Om workshop:

Body Sessions	Treatment	Practitioner	1st – before class	2nd – at 1st break	3rd – at lunch	4th – at 2nd break
			9:35 - 9:55	11:20 - 11:40	12:50 - 1:10	2:35 - 2:55
20 min	Accutonics	Tamela Graling	Tonya G	Patricia K	Alex M	Jessica B
20 min	Acupuncture	David Harmon	Sharla?	Dean Z	Natasha D	Sri
10 min & switch	Aromatherapy	Pam Mathews	Karen C	Candy M	Dean Z	Alex M
10 min & switch	ChairMassage	Mark Fowler	Devina W	Kimberly K	Chris H	Natasha D
20 min	Aura Healing	Maria Bayer	Candace S	Courtney C	Gale B	Sharla?
20 min	Aura Healing	Liz Ophoven	Chris H	Tonya G	Kimberly K	Patricia K
20 min	Aura Healing	Scott Walsh	Mary L	Karen C	Sri	Dean Z
20 min	Aura Healing	Kammy Pietraszek	Natasha D	Jessica B	Devina W	Candy M
20 min	Aura Healing	Melinda Murdock	Alex M	Corinne M	DeeDee	Judy V
20 min	CaIT	Dawn Spiegelberg	DeeDee R	Gale B	Mary L	Corinne M
20 min	Astrology	Monica Caulfield	Judy V	Mary L	LYNN	Courtney C
20 min	Reflexology	Lucindar Tear	Jessica B	WENDY	Karen C	Candace S

* If you have the first healing scheduled, before workshop starts, please arrive between 9:20-9:30
* If your healings are scheduled during the workshop, please arrive between 9:40-9:50


  If you want more of a particular service, we can schedule full sessions for you.  You can schedule with the healers below 4:30 - 5:30 (Workshop is over at 4).  Would you like to schedule an hour session for only an extra $97?  Let us know what would bring you joy.

Body/Energy Services and Healers for Om Day:

Accutonics - Vibrational sound healing with tuning forks & sacred stones for spirit body integration. Chakra activation & alignment with reading, healing & hand massage. Offered by Tamela Graling: Psychic Healer & Teacher, Licensed Massage Therapist since 2000, & Licensed Esthetician since 2009.

Acupuncture – enhancing your physical, emotional and spiritual wellness through ancient Chinese practice of inserting needles in specific points on the body to manipulate the flow of energy or Qi. Offered by David Harmon: fully trained and certified Acupuncturist and Psychic Healer.

Aromatherapy - utilizing the natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots to enhance well-being on all levels. Receive personal feedback to discover the core of wellness and what essential oils serve you best. Offered by Pam Mathews: studied Herbology and Aromatherapy at Bastyr, working with Essential Oils for 18 years.

Therapeutic Massage - manipulating layers of muscle and connective tissue, to enhance function, aid in the healing process, promote delicious relaxation, well-being, and energy shift. Offered by Mark Fowler: Energy Healer and Massage Therapist.

 
Aura Healing – energy-tune up for your relationship with Earth as well as Cosmic Energy Flow; chakra healing and balancing. Feedback about how to shift your energy, and change your life. Offered by Kammy Pietraszek, Liz Ophoven, Maria Bayer, Melinda Murdock, Scott Walsh:  Psychic Healers with 2+ years of training and experience.
 

Corrective alignment & Integration Therapy (CaIT) - Move your Body, Elevate your Spirit!  Body: shift habitual patterns & rebalance.  Mind: opens & broadens opportunities.  Spirit:  increases vibration = life limitless, freedom actualized.  Offered by Dawn Spiegelberg: Reiki Practitioner and Licensed Massage Therapist.

Evolutionary (Karmic) Astrology – We have come with certain spiritual tools to heal our past-life karma. Learn how best to use your gifts for your highest good. Offered by Monica Caulfield, in the last 4 years, has offered these short-sessions to over 300 satisfied souls at The Herbalist events.

Reflexology - application of pressure to the feet, hands, and ears, to encourage shift toward wellness throughout the body/system. Offered by Lucinda Tear, nationally certified Reflexologist practicing for 14 years.

Om your LEADERSHIP - Om your LIFE: Workshop near Seattle

 
Start your New Year right!

Om your LEADERSHIP - Om your LIFE:

• workshop with Wendy R Wolf and Lynn Brown
• January 31st, 2015,  10am-4pm, Bellevue, WA

Step into more inner AND outer leadership in all facets of your life,

BE the CEO of your own life.

Activate the power in being present, owning your space, and

Harnessing all your energy for YOU!

Own your body - Own your relationships -
Own your path - Own your life!!!

• $435 value, Special Rate this time only! $197.00
• Register before Jan. 21st to receive your 1 hr personal session w/ Wendy or Lynn. ($150 value)
  
• Massage / Acupuncture / Body-Energy Work / Aura Healing / Therapeutic Oils / Acupuncture / Massage / Reflexology:   Includes two 20 min. sessions of your choice during the workshop!

• Lunch and snacks are included. Gluten free / vegan options.
• Contact to register: e-mail, or utilize PayPal on bottom of events page.

see larger flier

I am honored and encouraged by this feedback!

A very empowering experience, exactly the expansion I was ready for. I have new tools to work with and a new guide to call on. Can't wait to experience more with this awesome group! Thank you so much Wendy! 

- Jill Morris, Greater Seattle Area

I have been taking a new spiritual class that is changing me from the inside out.... I have BIG hopes/dreams in/with my new spiritual path :)

I absolutely love my teacher; Wendy R Wolf, all of the student teachers that assist in my class & my class mates… (We learn) life saving/changing tools...

Thank you SO MUCH Wendy!!!!

-Elicia Leivia, Greater Seattle Area 

The tools were very helpful at this time for me. There is a part of me inside that wants to come out and also I have fear of letting it out. The tools will be helpful.

- Joseph Luther, Seattle

You are an amazing teacher and I'm very glad you have chosen to shine your light in the world. You have been an inspiration to me and instrumental in helping me make monumental shifts and changes in my life. I'm very blessed to work with you.

- Joe Brisson, Seattle

Wendy, this class was very enlightening, my awareness of making life simple and happy is soaring. Thank you.

- Melinda Murdock, Greater Seattle Area 

Soul changing. Releasing old patterns and emotions so more joyful positive energies can come in and be present in our lives.

- Maria, Seattle

Wendy is one of the most graceful teachers I have ever met and had the pleasure of learning from. She not only works her healing magic on you, she empowers you with knowledge so that you can also do the same for yourself!

- Lynn Brown, Greater Seattle Area

Wendy is awesome! I've been a meditator for over 30 years, and I learned lots of new and very useful things with Wendy. Wendy is also a very compassionate and caring and generous and non-judgmental person. I have seen her service affect the lives of others in sustaining and powerful ways. Yep, I a fan!!

- Trey Stiles, NM

I have known Wendy now for about 3-4 years and over the last two years have had the pleasure of doing energy work with her. I have pushed through some big hurdles and learned great things about myself. What I have found comforting and endearing about Wendy's spiritual coaching is... She does not give you answers like a psychic, she helps you to do this within yourself - so it is your spirit, body and instinct talking to you, and she does this in a very humble, without ego, humorous, straight forward way. I love her. Please take a chance working with her.

- Beth Visco, Central NJ

Working with Wendy has changed my life in the best possible ways. She is a truly gifted healer, and has helped me overcome many issues and obstacles.
- Aubra Alexandar, Seattle WA

My meditations have been prayer in a different form. By closing my eyes and placing myself into a truly un-distracted state, I am able to have a deeper connection with God, where I reflect and seek clarity on different aspects of my life.
- Katie McCoy, NJ Shore

I was moving/changing so quickly. I am so grateful for you and your guidance along the way.
- Derek R, Seattle

Wendy R Wolf is a remarkable healer and teacher that can help you on your spiritual path. The tools that she teaches will support you the rest of your life. She shines with incredible confident energy as she guides you to connect with your own spirit.
- Danae Goss, Seattle

Wendy is a powerful healer. Working with her was a profound revelation, afterwards I felt ready to shine my light bright.
- Lucy Pearce, Seattle

Thank you SO much, Wendy. That was life-changing!
-Scott Walsh, Seattle

I really enjoyed the permission to feel playful while we learned/worked with some tools that help to open you up to your clairvoyance . Very validating and fun :)
- Kimba, Seattle

Wendy, Thank you for facilitating the meditation workshop last night. I counted at least 23 people!
You have an amazing ability to accept these others where they are on their path.
I enjoyed your laughter. It was so light and bubbly. You are truly talented.
- Janet DeGrave, Greater Seattle Area

Wendy's energy is wonderful - very clear & loving - both flexible to the needs of the participants, and solid in her own knowing, wisdom & power at the same time - intuitive and joyful and fun.
She's clearly a gifted teacher & healer, committed to her own growth and that of her students.
Thank you Wendy!
- Joanie McCoy, Freehold, NJ
(she's on the right ; )

I’d been searching for a way to meditate, but was left mostly reading spiritual books and praying to get in my daily devotion. After finding this meditation I no longer think about devotion, and I don’t even think about guidance in the way that I used to. Today I have changed (the way to see and deal with life) and my perception of God has changed. Meditation has brought me intimately closer with the peace I already felt and sought. Now I know when before I merely believed—now I AM.
-Ryan Glassmoyer, Seattle

Thank U Wendy! ...What a gift group meditation is! The vibration of consciousness I received... A deep grounded sense of belonging to a community. Fully integrated within myself. Fully present. Fully sensing & connecting to others with an open heart. Fully safe & secure within myself. A beautiful melody of belonging & being a part of the whole, while simultaneously fully experiencing my individuated self.
Something like being a bee within the hive or a pea within a pod.... So we humans together create humanity.....Ultimately we are all one!
- Tamela Graling, Seattle

Wendy R Wolf is an incredible instructor and healer. Since I started attending Wendy’s workshops and classes, my life has changed and the way I experience myself and others has improved dramatically. In addition, she is an excellent teacher and her energy and presence always has a positive impact on me. I use her techniques daily and continue to attend her classes.
I have also brought friends to her workshops and they always thank me for it and want to come back for more! I would recommend Wendy to anyone I know, and do! She is awesome!
- Danielle Peterson, Seattle

Thanks for an amazing session yesterday!!!
So glad you are here to dance with me on our journey! I am beginning to feel like the ball in the spiritual pinball machine. I continue to bounce...
I feel I'm getting closer, and that the overall game is embracing my true nature, letting go of control and returning to play and joy, and just being me. It's amazing how real those masks can feel, but I think I'm finally remembering how to bring forth my true self. So who knows what I'll be bringing next time!!
Thank you do much for your love, guidance, support, and insight!
- Jillian Harrington, Seattle

It is fun! I have learned how to ground, run energy and work with my own energy. Wendy has guided me through exercises that have helped me: accept myself, release negative energy, and interact positively with others.
The most important thing I have learned about this training is that I am on a spiritual path. The spiritual tools I have picked up have helped me develop a keen insight of that path, that journey. Going forward, it is I who is able to comfortably live in control of my choice of emotion and choice of will.
But it is fun. I have been enjoying these learning experiences, growth cycles, with someone who I trust and can laugh with. With someone who is experienced and warm-hearted enough for me to let my guard down. I feel free enough to allow the changes of spiritual growth to happen, to work for a positive change in my life. And my life has changed and I thankful to Wendy for her guidance.
- Tim Coons, Seattle

You have prolly read enough!
If not - have fun at these links:

Utilizing the Soul Tools

About Wendy

   
Personal Sessions

Deep Healing

Soul Counseling

Spiritual Direction

Meditation Coaching

Flourishing as a Healer

Developing your Soul Senses & Spiritual Abilities


Working with Ascended Masters

Deepening in the Path of Jesus


Changing our World
   
 
Beginning Students/Classes
   
Advanced Students/Classes
   
Class Evaluations
   
Workshops
   
Utilizing the Audios


Testimonials on Yelp and more!

Testimonials on Stik


You can probably imagine that I am honored and encouraged by this feedback!

I am passionate about encouraging spiritual healing, deepening & growth.
It is a wonderful gift to me, when folks allow me to work with them in this way.
It is sometimes challenging, but the fruit is a delight!

I appreciate your interest in this spiritual path.
-Wendy