Tag: holistic health

Guiltless Mind, Connection and Peace

In the year of 1970 a song was written by a Hungarian band named Omega.  The song is called: Ballad of a Gunsmith’s Son.

“Winter runs through the night
Snow-frost blooms
A life weeps in a new cradle.
His father lifts him up
This child will  be a gunsmith
If I live to that.
And so it happened
But one day the son said
Let us not make guns any more
There will be no war, tearful and sad
I will see everyone happy
With a small bell that he casted
He puts on migrant’s clothes
And wonders all the world with his bell.
The song of the bell softly sings
That no one can hear
And everyone laughs at him who sees him.
One day he returns, stands but barely lives
He is no longer the one who left with eyes closed
His father laughs; just open your eyes
In such a world guns are needed

I know, I know, I know your heart is broken
And yet, still you have to understand
I know, I know, I know your heart is aching
And yet, still you have to understand”

You can listen to the song here:

The following is an excerpt from Lincoln”s speech 200 some years ago…

“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same we do not all mean the same. What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts. These are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of men, in lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?”

The Dalai Lama was once asked why he didn’t fight back against the Chinese when he was exiled from Tibet. He replied, “because war is obsolete, you know.” Then he paused and, in a more serious tone, said that “the mind can always rationalize fighting back, but the heart will never understand it. We would then be divided in ourselves (the heart and the mind,) and the war would be inside us.”

A client of mine going through a serious medical diagnosis came to see me for relief. We talked about her family situation and in her sharing and our conversation, she recognized the war that is going on inside her. On one hand; she feels sorrow for one family member she feels she needs to protect. On the other hand; she is angry with the one she feels she needs to protect herself and others from.

In Dr. Bert Hellinger’s work, he identified three key elements in the family system:
1) A child’s need to belong
2) A child’s need for social hierarchy (order of birth regardless of living or passed family members)
3) A child’s need in balance of giving and receiving
If one of these elements is out of balance, the family system on a sub-conscious level starts to work on repairing itself. These sub-conscious attempts may show up in a family member developing illness, loss of income, difficulty relating to others etc… This does not have to be!

It is so important to recognize the war that is going on in our own minds. Healing starts from within. In our own backyard. With our own family. The son of a gunsmith remembers that Spirit within. Lincoln also did. Ghandi, the Dalai Lama, so many others too. And so can we! It Is Time!

What you like matters, because You matter

We all experience procrastination from time to time. Some of us occasionally and some of us habitually.  Did you ever ask yourself the question why? Are you curious to know the answer? Would you like to change this pattern? Read on to learn that we rarely do things for the reason we think.

A client came to see me with complaints of lower abdominal pains. She has been through the medical field and did not receive a diagnosis. Her tests were all negative, which is a really good thing, yet she felt she would feel better if something was found, so she knew what to do and “get rid of the pain”.  Guided by her desire, searching for an answer to feel better, one day she heard about craniosacral therapy and she made her first appointment with me.

During CST, it is not uncommon that emotions resurface.  Tears, laughter, anger, joy, frustration etc… are all welcome.  The memories that we may become aware of during a session are helpful in making sense of a long-held ache or pain even if there was no previous diagnosis.  There is a part of us that is connected to Infinite Intelligence. Our Inner Physician/Intuition brings the real value in Its guidance towards recognizing the relationship between the memory, the emotion and the aches and pains experienced in the body. An event, coupled with an emotion may be the cause of a bodily ache and this same can also be preventing the healing from occurring.  Our current reactions and behavior patterns can be recognized by the memory of the patient and with the help of the Inner Physician the repatterning can begin to take place.  This is where SomatoEmotional Release (SER) becomes part of the CST session. This can be prompted by the therapist or it can be prompted by the Intelligent System in way of a memory and a stop in the craniosacral rhythm, Dr. Upledger called the significant detector.  SER is different from traditional talk therapy as cells have consciousness and store memories as energy. We experience this energy stored as tight, tense, stuck, dense, hard, aches and pain. When the patient is able to repattern, change perception of the memory that popped up, the tissues release tension and become softer, lighter, freer.

In my third session with my client, she experienced waves of movement first in her lower extremities, later on along her thoracic spine and then felt it stopped happening at her cervical spine (neck) area. As she recognized that “stop”, she became aware of her attitude of “just because”.  She then had a memory of herself as a child and being told “because I said so”.  She also recognized that overtime this “just because” attitude led her to procrastination.

She was aware that she was procrastinating in most area of her life, but did not connect the dots to why or what she can do to change.  She frequently asked herself questions like; “why would I want to do this or that? It makes no difference and it does not matter when I pick up the garbage from the floor or wash the dishes etc”… as a response to being directed by adults who gave her no choice and when questioned she was told “because I said so”.

In repatterning her old habits, she realized that she actually loves it when her house is clean, her work is done on time and wakes up in the morning to a kitchen with space on the countertops.  She realized that the “why” in her doubts were pointing her towards her love of and liking things. And so were the adults in her life, who were just unskilled in their communications. All of those mattered. And with an emotional release of tears, she recognized that SHE matters too.

At the end of her session she reported “feeling lightness in my belly and there is a flow in my neck.”

What are your bodily experiences and/or procrastination pointing you towards?

 

Craniosacral Therapy in Water

I recently participated in a dolphin assisted craniosacral therapy program with the Upledger Institute in Freeport, Grand Bahama.  It was an 8 day intense training and treating clients program.

The first 4 days, experienced craniosacral therapists got to learn about CST in water, whether it was in the pool or in the ocean.

Each morning we received instructions on techniques in the water and we all got treatments from each other in a “multi hand” format; first in the pool than later in the afternoon in the ocean. “Multi hand” means, there were two therapists working on one client at the same time.  The experience I had was quite surprising, moving and intense.  It was not the first time I received CST work, but it was the first time I received it in water.  My curiosity about it received an experience I will never forget.

I spent most of my life in the pool as a competitive swimmer from the age of 6 till my late teens, taught and coached swimming for a number of years after, so I thought I was familiar with the atmosphere pool water provides.

“To know is to know that you know nothing” – Socrates.  I now can say, I know what Socrates was talking about. No pun intended. 🙂

The pool and ocean waters were warm, heated by the Bahamian sun, so none of us was aware of feeling cold as we laid still or stood holding our client in the water. The flexibility and flow of the water allowed for body movements that laying on a treatment table may not allow so freely.  Melting in and having your ears underwater throughout the whole treatment was incredibly relaxing.

At the same time as the body expresses itself, all sorts of memories, thoughts and beliefs surfaced that were deep within, but were ready to be repatterned. Some were gone as quickly as they came and some needed more time to process through and integrate.  This is the reason we had 3 sessions each day in both 4 day sessions.

And then the dolphins… They are incredible to be around!

Our first encounter happened right after the first treatment in the pool.  We got to go to a special dolphin training center where we were able to have a 20 minute free swim with the dolphins. We got to know them up close, got to touch them and play with them. We got hugs and kisses too.  We also experienced a treatment session with them on the third day.  The hip pain that was waking me up each night months prior and up till dolphin treatment day is completely gone.  I am enjoying my sleep through the night since then.  Honestly.

                   

The second part of the program included patients who came to receive treatment for various reasons.  The first morning sitting in a circle, we all introduced ourselves and got to know the patients and their health or emotional difficulties.  Patients received 3 multi-hand treatments for 4 days and they also received a 45 minute treatment from dolphins once each day.

The shifts in the way our clients felt from day 1 to day 4 as they shared in the circle each morning, filled the room with joy and gratitude. We all were looking forward to what the next day was going to gift us with.

I am attaching a video link from the Upledger Institute that explains more about the therapy program.  I feel honored to have met the founders and teachers of the program.  I am also grateful for all the gifted therapists that were participating and I had the pleasure of working with.

Here is the link. Scroll down a bit for the video to show up.

https://www.integrativeintentions.com/

To our health and wellness! It is not only possible, it is inevitable.  It is not an “if”, it is a WHEN.

Don’t mess with Mr. In-between

In the past few weeks, I noticed I have been receiving an abundant amount of junk emails. Not only spam emails, but businesses sending advertisements and offering their services without my choosing to receive information from said service.

Twelve years ago, when I started as an entrepreneur and went through the etiquette of running a business, I remember being taught that under no circumstances we were to email people who did not sign up and gave their permission to receive emails from us.

I found myself a bit more frustrated today looking at my inbox and when I read this particular one “I hate to be a pest” sewer service, I felt like writing him back; if you hate to be a pest, please do not be one. I did not opt into receiving marketing or promotional emails. And please add an option to unsubscribe.  He very nicely emailed me back wishing me a great day.  I graciously received and wished him the same.

Later on that day I felt uneasy about the situation. I am sure he is a nice guy trying to make ends meet and making his clients happy with safe and clean sewers for their homes or businesses.  He may even be in a networking group I belong.  I felt my energy going down and I felt contracted.

Going to my Intuition I heard these words: “Don’t mess with Mr in between”.  I remembered I heard these words before, so I looked it up. To my delight it was the lyrics of a song by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters.

“You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-between
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene”

I realized I was second guessing myself in the decision I made to stand up for what I believe was the right thing.  My doubts showed up and were going to drag me down. I decided to feed my faith and starve my fear and this song was a great reminder to make a decision and go with it. No Mr In-Between belongs in my mind.

Where in your life could you eliminate a Mr. In-Between?

 

Healing through Somato-Emotional Release (SER)

A client mentioned an unwanted happening in her marriage to which she kept having the same reaction. She cringed. Like most people, she wanted this unwanted happening to end by stopping her husband’s action from happening.

Recognizing a Pattern

As we tapped into what actually was happening through her, she realized and heard a physical experience of a static noise in her head. To the question whether she remembers this noise happening before in her life, she noted a particular event with her mother in which she found herself thinking “I did not want this, I don’t know what to do”. She felt so stressed at that time that she needed to leave her mother’s house. She went to the beach and shared her thoughts with a friend.

Connection and Growth

At the time she did not know, but in our SER session she understood, that as she was talking to her friend, she was also working her thoughts out within herself, and she recognized that what what she wanted was connection and growth in her relationship with her mother. She was able to reconcile her discontent with her mother and their relationship became stronger. She was able to face her mother’s decisions with compassion and support.

The Saving Grace in Saving a Marriage

In her mind and relationship with her husband, this same concept did not exist. She wanted her husband to stop doing what she did not want or knew how to deal with. She was contemplating a divorce. Her experience was the same – cringing, static noise and, not knowing what to do – but this time she had resentment on her mind when she talked about the situation. As she connected the dots of symptoms and thought patterns, she came to the understanding that her choice of resentment is a detour from creating a happy marriage.

Making a Decision

She made the decision to think of her husband that same loving way she thought about her mother. Not because she felt her husband deserved it, but because she remembered who SHE was. She decided to remember love within and take action from that memory. A simple change like this moved their relationship from going forward with the divorce she was contemplating to keeping the dancing in their marriage alive.