Good versus Bad Energy

I get asked often “do you see bad stuff?” “What if you see something bad, do you tell the person in a reading?” “You aren’t going to tell me anything bad, are you?”

When it comes to energy, there isn’t good or bad. Energy is energy. When it comes to reading energy, I have never read anything “bad” as information that is ours is usually helpful for us to know. When we can see our information and what is happening in our world, we can better prepare and understand what is unfolding. In seeing and intuiting what is manifesting in our lives, it isn’t about good or bad. It is about seeing it as it is.

Good and bad are how we in the body make sense of things. We are programmed to classify things as either good or bad. Get a raise, good. Lose your job, bad. Win a prize, good. Drop your ice cream cone, bad.

What if when we dropped our ice cream, the owner of the ice cream shop saw it, and without request, brought you a brand new one and this one with sprinkles? Was dropping your ice cream still bad?

What if that job you lost led you to move and in moving you met the love of your life. Was it still bad that you lost your job?

What if you got a raise and then your boss expected so much of you that you let all of your relationships go and ended up tired, depressed, and no fun to be around. Still a win to getting the raise?

You get the idea. We like to think that we know what is good and bad. We like to think we know how to correctly categorize the events that unfold each day for us.

When it comes to energy and working with/reading energy, neutrality is the true winner. When you come from neutrality, when you view things from a neutral lens, the question is no longer is this good or bad. The question becomes “what is the insight to gain here? what is the experience teaching me? what is the opportunity for growth here?”

The challenge for all of us is to move past the good versus bad energy question and see beyond the reaction from a place of neutrality and non-judgment, to be willing to allow the energy to unfold and trust our intuition to guide us.

As always, keep growing!

5 Ways to Include Mindfulness in Your Summer

Mindfulness and meditation don’t have to be hard or take hours. There isn’t one right way or one right time of day. Mindfulness can be part of your daily routine, it can be included in different activities and part of your every day. Here are a few tips and tricks to bringing mindfulness and meditation along with you as summer begins:

1. Play in the dirt! Plant some new flowers, grow a few vegetables, pull those weeds, whatever works for you - connecting to the Earth is a great meditation and helps you ground and be present.

2. Beach traffic turned meditation! Stuck in traffic waiting to get to the beach? Use it as a chance to recenter through good old fashion breathing. Roll your neck, shake out your hands and arms, inhale through your nose and exhale through your nose. Let your breath revive and reconnect you to the excitement of getting to the beach!

3. Sit in the sun! The sun is so healing. Spend a few minutes soaking up some rays and let yourself feel nourished by its warmth. (As always, honor yourself and your skin - wear protection as needed.)

4. Get together with family and friends and laugh! Laughter is such a healing and transformative energy. Gather with people you care about and let the amusement spread. Notice how you feel after sharing smiles and laughter.

5. Take a moonlit stroll! We focus a lot on getting outside to get some sunshine. How about soaking up a little moonlight? As the sun goes down, enjoy an evening stroll basking in the gentle moonlit sky. Walk by yourself or with a friend. Use it as a time to remember how vast the Universe is and how magnificent it all is.

Happy Meditating!

Energy Read for March 2021

A new month is here! March! The longest month, or so it can seem, when living in New England and waiting for the snow to melt and the warmer temperatures to arrive.

This March brings the anniversary of the start of the pandemic taking hold in the US, schools shutting down, and everyone learning how to work/live remotely. There is a lot of excitement this month as the vaccine numbers increase and people gain more confidence in resuming life as they knew it. To that end, here is an energetic read on March 2021:

When I look at the energy of the month, I see rolling hills. Energy is moving, things are shifting. The ideal version would be rolling hills - nothing too steep, no sharp drop offs. The intention is there for that to happen, the energy is there for that to be the way it rolls out. People are ready for smooth, for less back and forth, and for movement. The sun is starting to rise in the picture. It is not a sunny, bright day initially in the picture. The picture is unfolding into a group of people coming together. They are standing in a circle. More people are gathering. People want to come together. Part of the lesson as I have seen it in the last year is about compassion for each other and coming together to see each other - to recognize what we each have to offer on this collective journey. We are all connected. This picture shows me people coming together - joining together - with a willingness to see each other. There is a difference between seeing someone and really seeing someone. We say hello to people all the time. The person you passed at the grocery store and said a passing hi to - did you see them? Your coworker you greet every morning, did you really hear what they said? To tune in and see people takes practice and a bit of time. We get busy, we get consumed with our stuff, and we forget to say hello to each other and really see each other.

My intention for March is that we can experience the rolling hills, we can continue to see each other, to validate each other for all that we each contribute in the world. We all have a role to play. We are all connected. Each one of our actions ripples out. Here’s to March being full of gentle growth, compassion, and coming together to see each other once again.

Abundant blessings always.

How Does It Work

Reading energy, seeing pictures, practicing clairvoyance, is something that I still don’t entirely understand. I have been reading energy for almost two decades and I still find myself amazed. I imagine I share that sentiment with others in this line of work. There is something so profound about connecting to a stranger and telling them things they may already know about themselves and things that are unfolding that you wouldn’t have any way to knowing.

It still surprises me when I start a reading over the phone and get a reading color (I use colors to tune in to the person I am reading) only to find out the color I said is the color shirt they had to put on that day or the color of the wall they are sitting in front of, etc. All of a sudden this ability to read energy, to see things, becomes real to them. I saw or knew something that I couldn’t have known through context clues because I couldn’t actually see them.

So how do I do what I do? The short answer: I don’t know.

The long answer, I have practiced meditation and gotten to know my energy well. I practice every day separating out from other people’s energy and knowing my truth. When I sit to do a reading for someone, I clear my space, my head, and work from neutrality (the center of my head, my third eye, the 6th chakra, a space for neutrality and non-judgment). Then I let the pictures fly and describe them as they pop. After reading for many years, I have a short hand for symbols or colors that might pop up that indicate certain things.

Then, after a reading, I clear it out. When someone comes to me years later and says “remember when you read xyz?” Often my response is no. It’s not my information, so I don’t hold on to it. I read it and release it. I will remember the person and/or having the reading, just not the pictures or information shared.

The ability to read energy is something that we all do to some extent. We can all walk into a room and sense the mood of it. I take that sense and turn it into a picture to read it. It is that simple. With practice, you can read too. When you work from the 6th chakra, you naturally come from a place of curiosity. Curiosity is such a great way to approach life - when you are curious, you are neutral. You simply want to know and learn.

Next time you sense something, ask what you the feeling looks like. Jump into the center of your head, the place behind your eyes, and see what picture pops up. You may be awed by your ability. Perhaps you have been reading energy your whole life without knowing what to call it.

Namaste.

Love and Compassion

I have not had an experience to date where love and compassion didn’t help. Whatever the situation, when the energies of love and compassion were called in, they added gentleness, kindness, softness.

They are the energies I keep coming back to during this pandemic time and during this transition time. We are at a crossroads right now as individuals, as communities, as countries, as a nation, and as a planet. We are all being asked to wake up and see, realize and recognize what we are creating. We are being tasked with increasing our awareness and willingness to listen, to respond, to engage, and to understand.

Make no mistake - this is a big time for us all. Some may be having lots of big feelings and some might be more inclined to use this time to curl up under the covers. There is no right or wrong, especially when your response is from that of love and compassion.

We are all in this together - you, me, your friends, my friends - we are all one, we are all part of the collective, we are all part of the ripple. Right now, wherever you are, take a deep breath and say the words “love and compassion, I work from love and compassion, I offer love and compassion, I receive love and compassion.” Notice how that feels. Did you feel a shift? I know I did.

Keep going. Keep showing up. And maybe bring love and compassion for yourself and others with you.

We Get to Practice!

Some of us are here nailing life every day - learning all the things, never upsetting anyone, creating only “good” karma, and falling in line with every opportunity. Yay if you are one of those!

Most of us, on the other hand, are here practicing - making mistakes, taking missteps, upsetting folks along the way, enjoying wins and losses, having ups and downs, good days and not so good days. We are learning the first time around on some things and with others needing refresher after refresher.

The upside: we get to practice!

Every day is a chance, an opportunity, to practice, to learn, to grow, and to be better version of ourselves. We get to listen, understand, write, interact, laugh, play, celebrate, cry, hug, be messy, clean things up, and repeat.

Along the journey, skills and abilities such as meditation, yoga, breathwork, clairvoyance, and mediumship ease the way. Connecting to information beyond the physical aids in easing the trials and tribulations of life. The more we practice, the better we get, the faster we get.

So today, this month, embrace the practice. Relish in the ups and downs, the days when everything lines up and the days that nothing seems to make sense. Find the amusement when possible, let the tears fall when needed, take a moment to breath, meditate, and center along the way, use the resources you have and welcome the healings as they come, the smiles, the hug, the visit from a friend. Life is not about perfect; it’s about showing up, standing in your truth, all of it, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. We all have all of it and we all get to keep practicing.

Namaste.

As always, follow the energy.

2020 Meditation Ideas

2020 has arrived and with it new energies and new opportunities. Feeling optimistic? Feeling ready? Still working through and processing 2019? Not to worry, there is time to do it all.

As 2020 begins, take a moment to set your 2020 space with a short meditation or two. Here are a few ideas for your New Year Meditation:

• Imagine a gift for yourself for each month of the year - you don’t need to know what the gifts are, simply visualize a gift (can be wrapped, boxed, a color, a symbol, no right or wrong in how it appears) - see a calendar in front of you and drop a gift in each month. Then as the year unfolds, notice when little gifts come your way.

• As you settle into your meditation space, ask what color would be healing to your year and imagine a ribbon of that color running through your year.

• Play with a theme - ask yourself when in meditation, out walking, or having a quiet reflective moment, “what was my theme for 2019? what is my theme for 2020?” and notice what pops up, it could be a word, a phrase, a color, a mantra, no right or wrong here either.

When it comes to meditation, it is about making it work for you. Have fun. Play with colors and symbols. Use quiet moments to recenter, to connect to your energy. Meditation can be 30 seconds, a deep breath, a 20 minute walk, or sitting in your favorite chair tuning in to your thoughts. The best meditation is the meditation that works for you!

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, abundant 2020!

As always, remember to follow the energy…

Hiding - Are You a Master?

I watched my daughters run around on a sunny, beautiful afternoon the other day, feeling completely validated in who they are. They were laughing with friends – everyone dressed differently doing different things – everyone feeling good, validated, and happy.

Then the thought hit me:  when does that change?

I remember not feeling validated as a child. By validated, I mean, I didn’t always feel comfortable to be who I wanted to be, dress how I wanted to dress, and/or always say what I wanted to say. Don’t get me wrong, I was validated a lot and by no means am I making the case for a tough childhood. However, I am conscious of feeling invalidated, not seen, and not heard, at times (you too?).

Being validated doesn’t mean that everyone always agrees with you, doesn’t mean you are right about everything, it simply means others respect you for who you are and what you are creating, doing, etc. They can see you for who you are and that is okay whether it is the same, different, opposite, or similar to them.  

While I would love to say that it shouldn’t matter if others can see you, can validate you, all that matters is how you feel about yourself, at the end of the day, we don’t live on an island and comments, thoughts, opinions from others hurt, limit us, and stifle our ability to be who we want and need to be.

How many ways would you live your life differently if you felt free to be who you are?  To let all shades of you shine? 

Validation has a lot to do with feeling safe. When you are safe to express yourself, you can find the validation from within and even if what you do or say is not agreed with, you are still validated in who you are. Often we hide ourselves so we don’t have to experience invalidation or not feeling safe. It’s easier to hide, to say nothing, to not be who we really are, to fit in, or pretend to fit in.

I am a self-proclaimed master hider. I see energy. I get information. I have spirits visit me. I look for answers and pay attention to the signs guiding me. I often know an answer or something a family member or friend is going to do before they communicate it.

Over the years, I have realized more and more where I hide and where I am seen. I navigate the arenas where seeing auras is not acceptable and I adjust accordingly. I don’t talk to some family members and friends about yoga or energy oriented things instead focusing on business, career, and more tangible things.

The piece that has increasingly nagged at me is that others are invalidated for pieces of their life much more important than whether or not they see auras and can talk to spirit. I see others hiding for big reasons – hiding who they love, hiding what they want to wear, hiding who they really want to be, making ‘safe’ choices as opposed to the choice they really want out of fear – fear it won’t be safe, fear it will be invalidated, and fear of the consequences.

This nagging has led me to change – led me to speak up more about my ability to see – not for further validation, rather in hopes of making it safe for others to be who they need and want to be. The more we each speak our truth, the easier it is for others to speak their truth. The more we can validate ourselves for who we are, the easier it is to validate others for who they are. The more we work from a place of neutrality, the easier to experience the world and the choices of others from neutrality. The more we see the pain created in others when they can’t be who they are, the more we can seek to stop that pain. The more we see, the more we allow, the more we open up to possibility, to love, to acceptance, the more we collectively heal.

Who’s with me? Let us speak up, validate and support each other, celebrate diversity and difference, and see the beauty each person has to offer.

Summer Meditation Checklist

Summertime…and the living is….full of expectations? Busy as ever? The demands and stress of life don’t necessarily take time off just because the sun is out and the calendar reads June, July, and August. I thought I would share some ideas to bring meditation with you as you travel, explore, work, rest, and enjoy some sunshine and summertime!

• Use the actual sun to remind you to fill in with your gold sun. As taught in the Meditation Basics Guided Recorded Meditation series, the visual of a gold sun offers a powerful tool to recharge and energize. Much like stepping outside on a sunny day can feel refreshing and healing, your gold sun can do that for you every day regardless of the weather! Let the longer day time you serve as a reminder to take a few moments (30 seconds is all you need sometimes) each day to visualize your gold sun above your head and imagine/see it shining down and filling you in with your energy.

• Toes in the sand create an optimal grounding condition. As you walk in the sand on your beach day or beach vacation, take a moment to give yourself a grounding cord as you walk along. Anytime you connect to the earth, it’s healing. When your feet are directly in contact with the earth, it’s even better. Often in winter, our feet are covered with socks, shoes, boots, and rarely come out to connect directly with the earth. Let the sand create a grounding and a place for you to release anything you feel ready to let go of.

• Things are heating up meaning it’s time to take off the extra layers. We sometimes don’t realize how we protect ourselves. We build up layers of protection to combat rejection, disappointment, fear, anxiety. We might consciously or unconsciously do this. Warmer weather gives us a change to look at these layers and maybe shed some and/or update our pictures of what we need/want our space to look like. Physically this often translates to spring cleaning. Energetically this can look like sitting in meditation and looking at your layers or booking a reading to get your layers read. Much like spring cleaning, energetic cleaning can also make you feel lighter, better, and ready for new!

Happy Summer! And as always, follow the energy.

Two Questions...

At lunch today, I asked my family to think about two things:

1. What reaction/response do they want to elicit from others?

2. How can they be conscious participants in life?

The first question arose during a morning walk with my neighbors. As we walked, a purposely loud, going fast through a residential neighborhood pick up truck passed by us. We all tightened up, feeling jarred by the sound and speed, then commented on our shared response. While I know the person driving most likely didn’t mean to startle us, most likely the driver didn’t even notice us. However, it got me thinking about how we navigate the world and I thought it might be worth mentioning to my children as they consider how they want to navigate this world. How do they want to be perceived? How do they want others to respond to them? How do they want others to react to them? What feelings do they want others to experience when in their presence?

I’m not suggesting changing your personality/demeanor/authentic self to please others, rather that being mindful as to how others might perceive you and your actions could have merit. We are all here sharing this planet and our survival requires us all to pay attention, to notice each other, and to be kind. We can be ourselves while also taking note of how others feel and what they think. In noticing, we learn, we grow, we adjust, and we might even discover new ideas and ways of thinking and being.

The second question came about due to a simple text invite to a child’s birthday party. A birthday party - innocent enough, right? I have challenged my family to be conscious consumers this year and not simply ask or buy for the sake of getting. This mindful practice has infiltrated different parts of life including birthday celebrations. I am sure I have put several of my closest in a growth period when asking them to break from tradition and come celebrate a birthday and not bring a gift. I had one friend text me saying “literally almost killed me, but I honored your request.” I appreciated her honesty and the reminder to me that it is tough to step out of the norm. The consequence of this practice: spirited and heart felt cards, a chance to carve out quality time to celebrate rather than buying something, and less stress about gifts and more focus on the event! While this has been great for us and simple enough to request of others joining us to celebrate, it has been slightly more challenging to navigate when being the one invited. This weekend, after receiving an invite to a birthday party, my daughter went straight to making one of her handmade, full of unique drawings, birthday cards for her friend while I went straight to thinking “what to do about a gift.” After thinking, I opened it up for discussion with my daughter. I mentioned to her that I want to consciously consume and tune in to what each situation merits (meaning, sometimes a gift is in order and sometimes it is buying a gift because that is what we feel we are supposed to do). We talked about not being anti-gift, rather pro-mindfulness and against doing something because that is what we have always done. After conversation, we thought offering a combined experience made sense - in this case, a promise to go for ice cream this summer together. A win-win - a unique gift, a memory making opportunity, and a fun outing.

The point to all this is to be mindful, to be conscious, to pay attention. It takes practice. It takes questioning. It seems to me we are a pivotal time in our country and history where if we do not stop and ask, pause and question, we could find ourselves on a path full of destruction and harm. These steps may sound trivial, and yet, paying attention to your footprint, to your actions is the first step in mindfully building a kind world, a world of conscious people looking to pay it forward.

And as always, tune in and notice the energy.

How to Train Yourself to See Everything as Healing

We all carry around pictures, thoughts, ideas, as to what we think of or see as healing. Something happens to us and we decide it is good or bad, we like it or don’t like it. What if it wasn’t about something being good or bad? What if it wasn’t about liking something or not liking it? What if everything going on around you and in your life was there specifically for you, offered to you as a healing along your path?

The definition of healing in this case: an opportunity to grow, to learn, to take a step, to advance, to gain greater understanding or depth of knowledge.

The challenge is to see everything that happens in our lives as a healing.

The catch? It’s a choice! We get to decide how we view what happens to us and around us. It’s up to us to choose how to see things. We can view something as good, bad, indifferent, helpful, not helpful, a healing, or not a healing.

How would your life change right now if you viewed everything that has happened, is happening, or is about to happen to you as some form of healing? Imagine it. What would shift?

The drink you spilled this morning making you late for work, a healing.

The massage you got last week on a whim, a healing.

The stubbed toe in the middle of the night, a healing.

The co-worker that constantly invades your space, a healing.

In order to choose to see the opportunities and challenges that come our way as a healing, we have to learn to receive the healing in everything. Seeing everything as a healing is not the usual training or programming we get. Most of us don’t get rear-ended on the way to work, jump out of our car, and run to the other driver shouting “thank you for the healing! I didn’t know i needed to be rear-ended today, and yet, apparently that is where the healing opportunity is!”

Learning to receive a healing in all things takes willingness and practice. Sometimes it is down right difficult, especially the really painful things - disease, violence, loss. I do not mean to downplay any of those events. And yet, as I have experienced challenges, I notice that when I choose to see the healing, when I connect to some appreciation, find some gratitude, allow some grace into a situation, things feel lighter. I can then see where the challenge led me or I can make sense of something and receive the healing.

One way to consciously receive life’s moments as healing, the obvious and the not-so obvious ones, is to say thank you. Thank you raises the vibration of any situation. When you say thank you, the gratitude level immediately jumps. When training yourself to see everything as a healing, saying thank you acts as a trigger to recognize the healing. When something big or small, planned or unplanned, easy or hard comes up, say “thank you.”

How do you see the opportunities and challenges that arise in your life? Are they a healing? Could they be? What do you view as healing? Could you see everything as a healing? What might that feel or look like?

Seeing everything as a healing doesn’t always come easily. Give it a go. Say thank you. See what unfolds. You might just find healing in unexpected places.

As always, follow the energy.

Using Pictures to Heal

Whether we know it or not, we all work in pictures. If I walked in a room and said “elephant,” you would create a picture of an elephant in your mind’s eye.

Further, whether we know it or not, we all hold pictures or ideas of things. If I walked into a room and said “a healing,” you would most likely create a picture of something you consider healing. (Note, your picture might come to you as words, thoughts, sense of knowing, etc).

Sometimes we get stuck. We can feel stifled or unsure. Uncertainty can creep in and leave us looking like a deer in headlights not sure of what step to take. When that happens, it’s an opportunity to look at our pictures of whatever is going on and then shift the picture(s) to move forward, When we hold a picture of something that no longer fits, doesn’t make sense any more (or maybe never actually did), it blocks us from progressing.

In order to change the pictures we carry in our space, we have to have an awareness of the pictures or the energy we feel toward something. For example, someone tells you to take out the trash. You might instantly have a response - good, bad, indifferent - you respond. You may jump into action, you may sit and contemplate whether you really have to take out the trash or not, you might get upset, you might feel happy (there are any number of responses, you get the idea). Noticing the response is key to tuning in to the pictures because it is what sparks the curiosity to look further. Once we see, we can shift the pictures, creating space for healing and moving forward.

When you start to tune in to your pictures, you can play with them - you can update, change, and/or modify them. You can start healing pieces of your life where you might be holding on to old or outdated pictures. The pictures we hold carry a lot of information (after all, they do say a picture is worth a thousand words). When we check in to look at our pictures, at whether the picture(s) still works for us or not, we create space to heal, an opportunity to clear energy, to get unstuck, to take a step.

Next time you are in meditation, ask yourself about something in your life you want to shift - ask “what pictures am I holding about this topic” and let yourself see the pictures or know the answers (letting your thoughts or feelings guide you). Then notice if you want to shift or change the pictures and do so (they are your pictures, you can update or change them as you see fit!). Use meditation to explore your pictures, your views, your feelings, your thoughts. See for yourself what resonates with you and let yourself shift what no longer fits. Then notice what a tremendous healing it is to look, see, and create your pictures for yourself!

Of course, as always, follow the energy.

Resilience.

Perhaps I can blame it on getting older, perhaps I can blame it on the events of the last few years (nor’easters, gas leaks, flooding…), either way, the energy on my mind of late is resilience. Specifically I have noticed how resilient we are, as individuals, as communities, as countries.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back, to recover from difficulty. On an energy level, I often see it as a vertical wave or line, bowing in the middle and then straightening out. As I translate that to a body level, I see it much the same way - we get stretched and then we straighten out again. It may not be the same straight, it may not exactly look like it did before, and yet, we get back to our level, to our space, our routine, and find our comfort again.

What does resilience look like to you? Do you think of yourself as resilient? Do you look at others as having more resilience than you? Are you aware of how resilient you are?

It is amazing what happens when we pause to notice for ourselves how we are at something, i.e. resilience. When you validate that for yourself, it’s magnified. When challenging times appear, when difficulties arise, know you are resilient. It will take time, it might not always be fun, it may look chaotic and feel uncomfortable, and yet, you will bounce back. And when in doubt, lean on others, ask, reach out. There is an entire resilient community waiting to assist you.

As always, follow the energy.

How Do You Communicate with Spirit?

For most, communicating with spirit looks differently than it did when Whoopi Goldberg's character channeled Patrick Swayze's character in the movie Ghost. Mediumship, channeling spirit, is one way to communicate with spirit. That being said, there is no wrong way to communicate when it comes to spirit. Some get hints in the form of numbers, some get messages in songs, some tune in to a vibration or a color. Everyone works with and communicates with spirit in their own unique way. The key is finding your way. So, how do you do that?

Step 1: Tune in.

Everything is energy. Much like you tune in to your favorite radio station (for those that still listen to the radio), tune in to what is energetically happening around you. If you meditate, create space during your meditation to listen to what is popping up around you, the thoughts and feelings you are having. If you don't meditate, foster awareness. Give yourself time to be aware. It can consist of simply asking: what's happening right now? What am I perceiving? What am I hearing? What am I feeling? When you tune in, it's amazing what you tap into.

Step 2: Be open.

Being open creates space for messages, possibilities, and information to flow. Being open means not deciding ahead of time what is going to happen, what you will see, how something will appear, how you will receive a message, etc. You may be looking for a message and your best friend may call you and say the exact words you were thinking or questioning, did you get the message? And yet, you probably wouldn't have predicted that was how the message would show up. Let the powers that be decide/deliver the message, spend your time and energy being open to hearing and having the information.

Step 3: Notice what unfolds.

Stay present once you have tuned in and opened up to the message in order to notice what unfolds. See what pops up and what transpires. Notice as things happen, how they happen. See if you experience more ease, less stress, faster resolutions, more smiles, and anything else. Give yourself permission to be an observer! You might notice messages in the form of numbers, answers delivered with actual words spoken from family and/or friends, unexpected feelings popping up, random thoughts of something that you haven't thought of in years that provide insight, dreams, and any thing else. It's not how you see or get the message, it is that you get the message.

Communicating with spirit doesn't have to be an exhaustive, someone taking over your body experience. We are all receiving information all the time, getting messages every day. Let yourself tune in, be open to what pops up, and the notice what happens next. In doing so, you are shifting your energy. It might feel subtle, it might feel as if you aren't doing anything, and yet you have changed your energy...and the Universe will notice. 

As always, follow the energy.

Ready to tune in more? Develop your clairvoyance - Class starts this September!

How to Have the Perfect Meditation Practice

When asked how to have the "perfect" meditation practice the answer is simple: make it work for you! If it works for you, you will keep going, keep practicing. If it doesn't work for you, then you won't.

The other key: there is no such thing as a perfect practice, only perfect for you.

Meditation takes many forms. It can be done sitting, standing, lying down, sitting cross legged, or standing on one foot. Meditation can be more active and take the form of a walking meditation, introspective house chores, or engaging in creative arts (dancing, painting, coloring, etc). It can be practiced in the morning, afternoon, night, middle of the night, at snack time, or any time in between. It can be done with eyes closed or eyes open. Meditation can include chanting, signing, mantras, imagery, breath work, and movement. Bottom line: meditation is less about finding the perfect place, time, and modality and more about making it accessible for you.

The beautiful thing about meditation:  it creates a space to discover, to allow, to create, to learn, to grow, to reflect, to clear, to release, to understand, to see, to clarify. The other beautiful thing: it's entire yours.

Meditation, party of 1, your insights are waiting. All that is left to do? Show up and practice.

As always, follow the energy.

Are you a Healer?

Have you ever considered yourself a healer? Is that a new idea or something you identify with on a daily basis?

The secret: we are all healers. Some of us more overt, working in professions typically associated with healers. Others, more discreet, doing their thing and yet healing those around them on the daily.

In case you aren't sure if you are a healer, you are a healer if you answer yes to one or more of these questions:
* are you the one others seek out for advise/counsel?
* do coworkers seek you out for your insight?
* do you show up every day, do your job, and produce results, sometimes with recognition, sometimes without?
* do those around you comment how great it is to be in your presence?
* do you treat individuals?
* when stressful situations arise, do you stay calm and navigate it with a level head?
* has someone told you how helpful you have been/are?
* when someone needs help, do you lean in?

Healing takes many shapes and forms. Some days healing looks like offering a band aid to someone with a cut. Others days, it is simply showing up and doing your job. Healing can be the quiet tasks that go unnoticed or the public events that showcase our talents. It can be holding a door, smiling at a stranger, calling a friend, speaking up to offer a solution, holding a space for others to go and grow, or taking a next step on our own path. 

We are all healers. We are all here helping each other and ourselves. We are giving and receiving healing all the time. We are all here to work together and support each other. We are all bumping around simultaneously creating scratches and creating healing.

The other secret: there is healing in all things. An opportunity exists in everything for growth, for change, for shifting, for moving forward, for insight, for recovery, for sharing, and for healing.

We are all healers and there is healing in all.

The question to consider: can you have the healing, regardless of what it looks?

As always, follow the energy.

The Benefits of Running Energy in Meditation

In meditation, you can work with earth and cosmic energies to run energy through the energy channels in the body. There are several benefits to running energy:

1. When your energy is moving, everything in life flows with less effort.

2. Running your energy helps keep the body balanced as you work in harmony with earth and cosmic energy. 

3. Earth energy moving through the legs helps with grounding.

4. Cosmic energy moving through the upper channels helps with sore necks, shoulders, and backs.

5. Earth and cosmic energies create a healing to the body.

6. Running your energy helps remind you of your energy in order to separate out from what is not yours.

7. If you are feeling stuck, running energy can help get unstuck. 

Like everything, running energy is a practice. The more you run your energy, the more clarity it can bring. Whether it's 30 seconds, 5 minutes, or an hour, running energy has benefits beyond the physical time spent practicing it. To learn the technique and make running energy part of your meditation practice, check out a guided recorded meditation on the technique here. 

To learn other meditation techniques, check out Meditation Basics or Meditation Basics 2. 

Matching Your Own Energy

We all have areas of our life that come easily and then areas that challenge us. We have spots where we operate with complete confidence and grace, and other areas where we may fumble and mess up. We are all here learning different things, clearing through different energy, and moving forward on our individual paths. It makes sense that we all have unique challenges and eases. The trick is to learn from and transfer the eases to the challenges. How do we do that? 

Two steps: awareness and practice.

Once you have created a space you can create it again. If you have made money, had a relationship, held a job, owned something, you can have it again. It's as simple and as complex, as easy and as hard, as that. If you can have an awareness of the spaces in your life that are easy to create, you can then look at what made that area easy. Once you have the insight and information, you can work to incorporate those same energies or principles into the area of challenge in your life. 

Step two requires patience and practice. We are always learning and growing, shifting and changing, incorporating new information into our lives daily. When you see a space and attempt to bring ease, it might not always go as smoothly as you like the first time. It's not about matching the same energy exactly, it's about bringing some of the energetic similarities into the challenging spaces. 

For example, notice what areas come really easy to you. Pay attention to that space and even ask, why is that easy for me? What do you notice about that space/area of your life? Are you more detached from the "easy" space? Do you focus more on the "easy" areas? Are you calm when it comes to the "easy" stuff? Then notice what areas/spaces challenge you, and practice working with some of the similar energies from the easy space in the challenging space. It's not about getting it perfect, it's about having the awareness and practicing. Mirroring or matching some of the energies from ease in the challenge. 

Next time you are in meditation, ask for insight into the spaces you are looking to make easier. Then see if you can bring in new information and energy and create more ease in the challenge. Have your awareness and practice. 

Practicing Non-Resistance Every Day

The energy of resistance can impact us all on a daily basis. We may not even realize it. We have to go to the dentist and we aren't looking forward to it, resistance. We know we have a big presentation at work on Wednesday, resistance. We are moving and aren't sure how the new city/town/location will be, resistance. It happens to the best of us - that little bit of doubt, the uncertainty, that creeps in to our space and inadvertently creates resistance. 

Resistance is that energy when you feel things tighten up, when you avoid doing something. It is the energy of preventing something from happening, consciously or unconsciously (a lot of resistance is unconscious). The challenge with resistance is that it sometimes might not even be ours and yet, it can impact us. We may really want to do something with someone and they may be in resistance, so it doesn't happen. We may really want something to go a certain way and someone else has different ideas (ever attempting to run a few "easy/quick" errands with a toddler?), and so it doesn't unfold. 

The key to resistance is noticing it. Once you have an awareness of something, it becomes easy (or easier at least) to clear it or move past it. When you have consciousness around what you resist, you can turn it into non-resistance and become a practitioner of non-resistance. I say practitioner because it takes practice. First, practice in tuning in to the resistance, then practice at allowing, working the energy of non-resistance.

Meditation is a great place to practice non-resistance. There are visualizations to use to work the space of non-resistance. For instance, imagining resistance sliding off of your body like when you were a child sliding down a slide at the park - no effort, nothing to stop you, you simply slid down. You can imagine becoming that same slick surface and see/watch any and all resistance slide right off your body. The amazing thing about this technique is that you don't have to name the resistance, you don't have to know what you are resistant to, you simply have to give yourself permission to release resistance and move into a space of non-resistance. Then, allow next steps to unfold, practicing all the while. 

For more meditation techniques, check out Meditation Basics and Meditation Basics 2. Meditation Basics 2 offers a guided meditation focused solely on the technique of Non-Resistance. 

Curiosity Didn't Actually Kill the Cat

Curiosity is such an amazing energy. They say it is the energy that killed the cat, and yet, did it really? Perhaps curiosity put the cat in a precarious position physically... however, the actual energy of curiosity simply prompted growth, change, movement, depth. 

When you work from curiosity, when you dare to be curious about something, you create space to look deeper, to go beyond what meets the eye. While yes, that energy could potentially put you in a sticky situation or two, my guess is most of the time it does the opposite. More often than not, it leads to answers, conversations, and opportunities. 

When I get curious, I ask questions. Those questions lead to conversations and those conversations lead to growth and change. Sometimes the conversations aren't always the easiest or most fun (it's sometimes hard to ask tough questions, to see and look, to seek truth), and yet it results in greater awareness, greater insight, and greater clarity. 

Next time you find yourself spiraling, wondering, feeling lost - get curious. Pause. Ask yourself what's happening. Notice how you are feeling. Look around you. See what is happening. Be willing to see, feel, and notice. It might feel a bit unfamiliar or uncomfortable at first. Stay in that space. Tune in and be curious. Ask the questions and receive the answers.