Healing Emma Despres Healing Emma Despres

Boundaries

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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about personal boundaries and the manner in which our ability to create healthy boundaries has the potential to improve the quality of our lives, our relationships and general wellbeing. 

Then I bumped into a friend the other day who shared with me that she was having boundary issues with a colleague, and that she needed to tighten these.  This didn’t come as a surprise to me, as I had watched from afar and was curious to see where their working relationship was headed as there was an imbalance in the energy. 

I had a sense that my friend was giving away some part of herself, without necessarily realising that she was doing it, and disempowering herself in the process. So in many respects it was heartening to hear that my friend had recognised this, and further highlighted the tricky nature of boundaries in any relationship, personal or otherwise.

For as long as I can remember I have always had a tendency towards poor boundaries and a weak solar plexus (the seat of our ability to create healthy boundaries). Before yoga came into my life, I used to suffer with depression and my solar plexus was like a dark and deep empty hole; the life force had been sucked from it. I was insecure, anxious, vulnerable, disempowered and I lacked the ability to say no. 

As a result, I ended up getting into relationships I didn’t want to be in, I took jobs I didn’t want to take, I attended social events I didn’t want to attend, I studied for exams I had no interest in taking, I spent my spare time doing things that I didn’t want to do like umpiring netball matches, playing softball, making up numbers in charity sports events, and meeting people for coffee who held little interest to me, just because my solar plexus was weak and my boundaries poor – I couldn’t speak my truth and say no!

Unfortunately, each time I did something that I didn’t want to do, not only did I get angry and frustrated at myself, sinking my spirit even further, but it felt like a part of soul withered too.  The combination of irritation at myself and the fact I was spending my time doing things that I didn’t want to do, just served to further disempower me, and my solar plexus became weaker and weaker as a result.

 It wasn’t only my inability to say no that was damaging; my boundaries were poor. I constantly gave too much of myself to others. I have always had this strong sense of truth, but I didn’t understand that being truthful didn’t mean that you had to share your secrets and innermost private thoughts with the world. I felt this rather ridiculous need to tell everyone everything, including the ins and outs of my relationships and the dramas that accompanied this. 

Furthermore, because my solar plexus was so wide open (or that’s how I imagine it in my head, like this bit gaping hole) that it attracted lots of energy vampires, eager for a piece of me. There were many toxic friends in my life back then. People who thrived on my insecurity and the fact that they could so easily manipulate and control me. 

 I was a lost soul adrift. Unconsciously I had given all my power away. There was nothing left.

 Fortunately, yoga came into my life and saved me and I am grateful to the yogic teachings for this. I am passionate about yoga for this very reason - because it actually works! It changes lives and makes life worth living, and that counts for everything when you once considered that perhaps there was no point to any of it. 

The journey that yoga has taken me on, coupled with the magic of Reiki, has helped me in so many different ways, but it has especially helped to strengthen my solar plexus, enabling me to establish healthier boundaries and find the strength to say no. The practices also helped me to recognise the manner in which I was giving my power away.  This didn’t happen overnight and it is an ongoing process of learning and discovery!

When I first started teaching yoga and practicing Reiki, I didn’t even know what boundaries were. It wasn’t a subject, or a concept that was discussed or taught on my various trainings. Perhaps it was assumed, I don’t know, but when I look back I laugh at my naivety and the manner in which I so easily exhausted myself by not having effective boundaries in place.

I have always been so keen to help people, that I didn’t consider the impact that my ‘trying to help people’ may have on me. An hour’s Reiki treatment would turn into 2 hours or maybe 3 hours as I sat there listening to clients offload onto me.  I wasn’t even aware at the time of the ‘hands on, hands off’ approach that I have since learned, in so much as once the session has finished, then its time to switch off, you don’t then ‘carry’ the client with you. 

Instead, I would ‘carry’ them, weighing myself down, thinking about them and their issues and doing what I could to help support them, long after the session had finished. The often thin line between client and practitioner would blur, and I would end up in the dangerous territory of creating some form of dependence, and confusing the client/practitioner relationship with one of friendship – only that it was never true friendship, as it was never two-way.

 It was the same with yoga. I was a classic caretaker I later discovered, trying to care take people’s problems, do the healing for them, ease their pain. It’s not healthy, and I did finally crash and burn. We only have the capacity to hold so much, and the more we do for others, the more we might question what we are avoiding in ourselves. Why do we need to feel needed? What unfulfilled needs are we ignoring in ourselves?

 Over the years I have learned (and continue to learn) that we need to take care of ourselves first and foremost and in particular, ensure a healthy solar plexus. We can do this in many ways, but from my perspective, yoga, Reiki, ki massage (shadow work) and Ayurveda have all been extremely helpful.  We also need to be mindful of our boundaries and the manner in which we give ourselves away to others (including our children and other family members, let alone colleagues).

We need to find the courage to say no. We also need to find the strength to stand up for what we believe in, and to honour our truth and our inner knowing. We need to walk away from relationships that don’t nourish us, and have no qualms in leaving jobs that deplete us. It’s about discernment and taking ourselves seriously, and it’s about connecting to our gut too, and listening to it - more on this next time…

 

 

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Healing Emma Despres Healing Emma Despres

Healing and responsibility

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I’ve been questioning a lot of different things recently as my life shifts from one way of being to another, and so my perspective has had to shift accordingly.

Amongst other things I have been questioning the quest for healing, and whether we ever reach a conclusion, and to what end anyway. This has tied in a little with my questioning of addictions and the manner in which these show up in our lives and indeed influence our lives and the lives of those with whom we interact regularly (more on that another time).

 It has crossed my mind that healing can become an addiction all in itself. I wondered whether maybe this isn’t a bad thing, because it’s perhaps better than being addicted to cocaine or some other drug (illegal or legal for that matter), but then I considered that perhaps it comes back to intention. 

Is the intention truly to heal, to address our pain and suffering directly, in the quest to improve our relationship with self, with others and our life generally?  Or is it to go through the motions, but never truly do the work, that can be both rewarding but also deeply challenging, uncomfortable and blinking painful? 

Are we being honest with yourselves, or are we clinging on to our denial? Are we doing the talk, but not the walk? Are we kind of going there, but then not really feeling into it on any level, just reading the books, attending the classes and yet avoiding the actual work? Do we have our feet on the Earth, or are we floating in the ether, neither here not there, in our spiritual bubble of love, light and peace? Are we truly practicing or spiritually bypassing?

This led me to question the point of it anyway. There’s a whole generation and more who don’t even question the need to heal.  Sure, something goes wrong and they get sick, but even then, they don’t actually take any responsibility. This is perhaps one of the main downsides to the Western approach to health (other than the manner in which doctors are increasingly becoming puppets for the pharmaceutical industry), the fact that people frequently put doctors on God-like pedestals and assume that they will be doing the healing for them…with drugs provided by the pharmaceutical industry.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have friends who are doctors and I think they’re great, but I certainly wouldn’t want their job. Imagine that level of responsibility weighing down on you daily.  You are the one who is meant to heal everyone! And you’re meant to achieve this in the ten minutes that you have allotted to you to spend with that ‘patient’ (patiently waiting to be healed!). Yet, as we in the holistic world know, only we can truly heal ourselves.  No one can do it for us.  Yet there are so many who overlook this.

Sure doctors can give you drugs, that’s often what they do right? It’s expected that they give drugs, and many patients will get very upset if drugs are not given to them following a doctor’s visit. Yet drugs don’t always get to the root cause of any imbalance or dis-ease. They might help address the symptoms, but does that mean that they actually heal?

 Studying Ayurveda is making me increasingly aware of the discrepancies between the various healing models and the need for responsibility. Do we truly take responsibility for our own health or are we always looking outside of ourselves to hand that responsibility to someone else?  Do we hold our doctor responsible for our health?  Or society?  Or the government? 

When we get sick, do we take responsibility even then? Do we question why we ended up with the dis-ease that we are now suffering? 

 I truly believe that mostly all ailments and dis-ease in the body have an emotional and/or mental and/or spiritual element to it.  I don’t believe you can separate to the physical alone. But the trouble is, the Western model tends to focus solely on the physical – although fortunately these days there is greater awareness of how, for example, stress may manifest in the body, let alone anxiety and other ‘mental’ disorders. Perhaps this is the reason so many have turned to yoga in the last few years.

E and I were discussing this earlier, because a member of my family has been diagnosed with an eye condition, which apparently, accordingly to my optician, puts me more at risk of developing this condition too. I don’t buy into this at all. I mean I get the fact that we have a genetic disposition towards certain characteristics – we might inherit hair and eye colour, let alone personality traits, so why wouldn’t we also inherit the ‘bad’ stuff like suppressed anger and alcoholism, or eye issues, for example.

But I don’t believe that because one family member has something then we will get it too. There is always a chance, but many of the conditions are created by that particular individual due to the manner in which they have been living their life, and the lack of healing work (ancestral and otherwise) to address this imbalance.  Thus if we live our life differently, if we do the ancestral healing too, then we have every right to choose a path free from dis-ease and suffering.

However, if a doctor or an optician tells us that we have a genetic disposition to something, then there is a high chance that we might create it, not only by the law of attraction and creating that to which we give energy (thought, notion or otherwise), but also because we might give away our responsibility top look after our own health – “because we’re going to get it (whatever ‘it’ is) anyway”. Who knows what might happen, but the odds may well be stacked more in favour of history repeating itself if we buy into what others are telling us and perpetuate the ancestral line.  

The idea of healing ancestral stuff fascinates me.  Many will think it completely crazy and every so slightly batty, but it was a notion introduced to me by a German yoga teacher and massage therapist and somatic healer many years ago now. She had a sense that the German people very much lived with the weight of two world wars in their genetic make up. They took on a seriousness, and their bodies very much told the story, and so it was passed from one generation down to the next and will continue until healing takes place.

I have a sense that there’s many a women carrying the trauma of the witch hunting’s. Lisa Lister might have talked about this in her book ‘Witches’ about the deep mistrust that women often have for one another still to this day, based on the fact that back in the day, they were often forced to tell on their fellow witchery friends to protect their own lives. I always remember a Guernsey wiccan lady who lives in Australia, telling me that she used to get shivers down her spine and feel desperately uncomfortable walking past certain areas in town and she was convinced this was from the witch hunts and hangings. 

 I’ve always questioned the reason my Mum and I always over cater.  It’s probably partly learned behaviour, but I’ve always wondered if it might be because my Grandmother lived in Guernsey during the Occupation when food was so scarce, and my Grandfather in the military police serving in Europe. For ever after my Grandparents would stockpile tins of food at their home, the cupboards were always overflowing, and they would both always over-eat and over-cater, as if to counter the scarcity they had previously experienced, and so that fear has transferred itself down the ancestral line. My Mum and I both have a fear of not having enough food in the house!

So ancestry aside, healing becomes key and leads me back to my original questioning. It is very easy to get caught up in the notion of healing for healing’s sake. There is also perhaps – dare I say – a narcissistic undertone sometimes, in that we can get so caught up in our need for healing and self-care (whatever that actually means) that we overlook the needs of others in our lives and put ourselves on our own little (or big!) healing pedestal. Furthermore, ‘healing’ work and ‘self-care’ (whatever that actually means, I’ll repeat that again) can just be an excuse to bypass from the world – to avoid taking responsibility.

Which leads me right back to sort of where I started, well sort of, in my questioning of healing and the point to it all really. The word that keeps coming up is responsibility. Healing has the potential to help us to take responsibility for our own health and wellbeing.  It means trying to understand the reason behind the dis-ease or the ailment. It means looking beyond the symptoms and trying to make changes that might support that underlying reason.

 It’s about trying to get to the root, and weeding that out. This might involve a change in the way that we’re living our life, whether that be the food that we put into our mouths, the job that we do, the thoughts that we think, the relationships we keep, or the trauma that we hold on to from our childhood, or from our ancestral line before you. I’m continuously reminded of my favourite quote, “if we always do what we do, then we’ll always get what we always got”.

However awful pain may be, it is often (but maybe not always) a messenger to show us that change is needed, at least if we want a different outcome in the future.  We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect change. It’s us who need to make the change.  Healing work can facilitate this.  It can shift the energy, that might shift the emotion, that might shift the behaviour pattern, that might shift the physical sensation or ailment.  Or perhaps you start with the physical, and this shifts things for you on every other level.  

It doesn’t matter how you approach it, but it does require responsibility. Responsibility for our own health and wellbeing and for getting to the bottom of things. It does require that we let go of blame and the victimhood mentality and stop making excuses, “but I can’t…because I don’t want to give up…”. The buck stops with us ultimately.  This realisation, and embodiment can often be the healing that is needed to make the change, and to begin experiencing greater health, wellbeing and an empowered way of living.

I am aware by the way, that healing doesn’t always mean getting better. But it does mean easing our pain and suffering, whether that is to continue living in this world as we know it, or to pass on more peacefully to another one.

I also don’t claim to be an expert incidentally, or right necessarily, I just started questioning. I’ve spoken to a few people in the healing field, but it wasn’t until tonight, when I noticed this quote staring out at me in the Earth Pathways diary that my Mum bought me from Chalice Wells, that I got the answer I had been seeking…

"To focus on healing in this climate is an act of powerful, political rebellion. It is an act of spiritual revolution. To heal is to be a conscientious objector to the culture of war we inhabit as normality. To heal is to bring more life force to our planet. To deepen your understanding of our connection to the earth and other people. To inhabit your body more fully. To look life and death squarely in the eye. To get out of the denial and silence and shame and invisibility that you have been taught makes you good. To embody the feminine more fully and reject the toxic masculinity to dominate. This is anything but selfish. To heal is to offer a profound act of service - one which will ripple up and down your family lineage, out into your community and into the world beyond you." Healing Revolution by Lucy Pearce.

Happy healing!

xx

 

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Getting into nature - an antidote to anxiety?

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I’m a big fan of retreating into the wild and just taking a bit of time out from the rest of the world, especially the online world.

It has become popular these days, the whole re-wilding thing, and with good reason, because there is something deeply grounding, healing and uplifting about spending time in the great outdoors.

There is this sense that the more we connect with nature, the more we recognise our own true nature, and step more fully into the more authentic version of ourselves, into the more authentic version of what it means to be alive in this world, and to be a part of this world, not separate from it.

I’m become increasingly aware recently of the number of people, students especially, who suffer with anxiety.  I’ve experienced bouts of this over the years, less so since I’ve been practicing yoga, but there have been moments, often healing crises, when I’m reminded of how debilitating it is to feel anxious.

 Anxiety manifests in so many different ways.  For some it may be that awful uncomfortable and edgy feeling in the tummy, for others it might be a racing heart and heart pain, and yet for others it can create dizziness, and that overwhelming feeling of, well overwhelm.  There will be some physical sensation, but there will also be a racing mind, too many thoughts and a sense of not being able to cope with daily life. 

 I can only all from my own experience, but I do know that the last time I had a bad bout of anxiety, quite a few years now, the thing that finally helped to heal me was not only getting my hands in the earth but was getting in the sea – basically it was getting into nature.

Often anxiety comes from feeling separate, feeling very alone, and very disconnected from everyone else, and from the land.  It can be a very isolating experience, ironically based on the feeling of being isolated. 

 The answer is often to ground, ground, ground, and being in nature provides the opportunity to ado just this

There can be much more to it and I appreciate that everyone is different and I can only talk from my own experiences. Often anxiety is underpinned by FEAR, namely False Evidence Appearing Real, and the behaviour patterns and thought processes that accompany this.  It’s all an illusion but can feel very real when our mind has decided that there is a reason to feel fear and anxiety often results from this - fear of upsetting someone, fear of messing up, fear of something bad happening to us, fear of an imagined event, fear of so anything behind our control, and on the list goes…

 Re-wilding can certainly ease the anxious feelings. We’re spoilt here in Guernsey, in that the Island is wild!  The south coast provides an incredible opportunity to connect with, and experience the elements with the cliffs and the magnificent sea crashing onto the rocks below (well when there is a swell!).

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 We’re also spoilt because we have Lihou on our doorstep.  Lihou is a tiny island that is connected to Guernsey by a causeway at high tide.  You can hire the house on the island, which is a hostel and offers 2 double rooms and 5 dormitories (I think).

E and I stayed there on our own, pre-children, when the snowy owl was visiting.  It was really special as we literally walked upon him on one of our walks and all the while there were keen bird watchers with their long lenses trying to get a shot of him from the coast on Guernsey!

We’ve stayed a number of times since then with friends and family, but last weekend we stayed just the 4 of us, E, me and the 2 boys. It was great, there is nothing quite as wonderful as the tide coming up and knowing that you are cut off from Guernsey for the night, on your own little island.

 We managed a swim in the Venus pool before the tide got to high – OK perhaps it was a dip in and out, I did go in twice though! The house was cold – there is certainly some sense in visiting in the summer, but we lit the log burning stove and wrapped up in blankets. The industrial size kitchen is a challenge when you’re cooking for so few, as the stove is powerful and the saucepans etc. are huge, but I managed, and the children even ate some of their meal!

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 It was a joy to wake and have the Island still to ourselves, high tide and a swim in the sea certainly woke us up.  We walked around the island a few times collecting plastic and washed up crab pots from the beaches, and watched the birds and searched for the Lihou seal – we didn’t see him sadly!

 We watched the tide drop and the causeway clear, and felt like time itself had slowed down.  There is no TV on Lihou and no WIFI, so you’re encouraged to get outside or to sit in the sun lounge and watch the sea and the birds instead. There are plenty of books in the house and a few games if you get bored.

I can hugely recommend a night in Lihou to slow life down and help you reconnect with nature.  You can’t help but leave feeling more grounded, centred and in touch with the elements.  I have a sense that if you suffered with anxiety upon arrival then this would ease by the time you left. 

There are other ways too. Practising yoga can certainly help and I’m aware that a grounding practice and conscious and calming breathing can really make a difference. But truly, getting into the nature can make a huge difference - I’m biased but swimming the sea and getting your feet on the sand, well I do wonder if that’s the reason sea swimming has become so popular, it gets you in the elements and helps you to connect more fully with your own rue nature and feel very alive in the process!



 

 

 

  

 

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Healing, IVF, Women & Womb Talk Emma Despres Healing, IVF, Women & Womb Talk Emma Despres

The womb - is she calling you?

Probably because I have written a book about fertility, pregnancy and birth, I am often asked for insight into what might help women with their menstrual or fertility issues, or how to heal after suffering a miscarriage.

Probably because I have written a book about fertility, pregnancy and birth, I am often asked for insight into what might help women with their menstrual or fertility issues, or how to heal after suffering a miscarriage.

I’m certainly no expert, and while I am keen to share all I have learned, I am very aware that this is a result of listening to my body wisdom and honouring that inner guidance, and this may very well not work for other women who have their own body wisdom.

Plus, I am also very aware that menstrual and fertility issues, and the quest to conceive and give birth to new life, is a huge journey for us and often one of awakening, so there will be our own unique lessons to learn in the process.

Still, regardless of all our uniqueness, there is one commonality - something that I am keen to share with women, and it is this…honour your womb.

It wasn’t until I undertook our first round of IVF that I became aware of the significance of the womb in terms of growing new life and the need for this to be a super cosy and nourishing environment for a baby to grow.

I ended up with placenta previa during that first pregnancy, which means that the placenta (an organ attached to the lining of the womb, which keeps your unborn baby’s blood supply separate from your own and is connected to the baby by the umbilical cord) was totally covering the cervix (the narrow-neck like passage forming the lower end of the womb), which meant that I wouldn’t be able to birth vaginally.

I was very angry about this both during the pregnancy and beyond and it wasn’t until I met the wonderful Jo de Diepold Braham, that I realised the extent of the resentment that I was still carrying in my womb (let alone the scarring from the Caesarean Section) eighteen-months after the birth.

I’d gone to see Jo, an osteopath, to have my neck sorted, and instead ended up with her guiding me into my womb, which was dark and murky and most definitely not in a good state.  Given that E and I were thinking of going through another round of IVF, I had a sense that I needed to do some significant healing here.

I started seeing Jo regularly for Ki massage.  Jo is the most intuitive healer that I have had the pleasure to meet, and the way she works, by taking you into your body and helping to shift energy, resonates massively with my approach to healing. You can find Jo at the Natural Health Clinic twice a month in Guernsey and I strongly recommend you see her if you need any healing womb or otherwise.

Into my life at this time also arrived the wonderful Dr Uma Dinsmore-Tuli with her incredible book Yoni Shakti: A Woman’s Guide to Power and Freedom Through Yoga and Tantra, which all yoginis should have beside their mats. Also the inspiring Dr Christiane Northrup and her marvellous book Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, which should be a reference book for all women at all stages of life.  A little later in came Lisa Lister too with Code Red, which absolutely every menstruating lady should be referring to for monthly menstrual insights.  

There was this whole new world that opened up to me and I started to see the womb in a whole different perspective.

The womb

The womb, or uterus as it is formally called, is a hollow muscular organ of the female reproductive system that is responsible for the development of the embryo and foetus during pregnancy.  It is approximately the shape and size of a pear and sits in an inverted position within the pelvis. 

An incredible distensible organ, the womb can expand during pregnancy from the size of a closed fist to become large enough to hold a full term baby. It is also incredibly strong, able to contract forcefully to propel a full term baby out of the body during childbirth. 

However, the womb is so much more than this!

It is also the seat of our creativity, not least in creating new life, but in helping us to create the life of our dreams, and connects us to our deepest knowing.

As Uma writes: “The very term yoni sakti locates the place of power [sakti] in our own bodies, in our yoni, a term that means both cunt or vulva, and womb or source. Yoni also means home, or place of rest. It is in and through the yoni that we encounter our connection to deeper knowledge, or blood wisdom. The term blood wisdom conveys a sense of the profound experience of ‘knowing already’, or recognising, sometimes not always so clearly, that this deep wisdom is present as a spirituality in our lifeblood. The understanding of blood wisdom is that in our very cells, in our wombs, this knowing has never really been absent, and all that has been denied is access to the living consciousness of the true wealth that this wisdom brings, not just for women but for the whole planet.  She is a deep and tender inner teacher. What she teaches is freedom.”

Certainly since honouring my womb with the greatest reverence for all she knows, and all she can reveal, my life has changed significantly. I started writing again, a passion which had lay dormant for many years, and I haven’t really stopped since, even managing to write a book (which you can purchase here).  I have also felt an incredible sense of freedom and have had a greater connection to my own wisdom and all that this needs to reveal. Of course there is always work to be done, but connecting with my womb has made a huge difference.

This is the reason, that when women are experiencing some issues with the womb space, in whatever way that may be, I am always keen to encourage them to begin their work here.

As Dr Northrup writes: “The uterus is related energetically to a woman’s innermost sense of self and her inner world. It is symbolic of her dreams and the selves to which she would like to give birth. Its state of health reflects her inner emotional reality and her belief in herself at the deepest level. The health of the uterus is at risk if a woman doesn’t believe in herself, is excessively self-critical or is putting too much of her energy into a dead-end job or relationship”.

So perhaps there is some change that occurs when we begin working with the womb, and perhaps this is confronting at times, but also a necessity.

As Dr Northrup further writes: “The health of the pelvic organs (ovaries, tubes and womb) depends upon a woman feeling able, competent, or powerful to create financial and emotional abundance and stability, and to express her creativity fully. She must be able to feel good about herself and about her relationships with other people in her life. Relationships that she finds stressful and limiting, and which she feels she has no control over, on the other hand, may adversely affect her internal pelvic organs. Thus, if a woman stays in an unhealthy relationship because she feels she cannot support herself economically, or emotionally, her internal pelvic organs may be at increased risk of disease”.

This is supported by Bri Maya Tiwari who writes in her wonderful book The Path of Practice: A Woman’s Book of Ayurvedic Healing: “Our Shakti-prana [the primordial feminine energies within) circulates through and around the womb, a woman’s area of greatest vulnerability…Too often, we do not recognise the sanctity of the womb, and the sacred prana that governs it. Herein lies the paradox of the Shakti-prana: this profound source of feminine power also makes us extremely susceptible to disease.  When you care for your womb, and thus honour your Shakti-prana, you heal your feminine life force and protect yourself from illness.”

Thus it is imperative that we do the work to heal the womb. We must celebrate her and all she can reveal to us. How do we do this? Well here are the ways that help me:

Womb yoga

In theory, all yoga should help us to heal and connect more fully with our body wisdom and increase our sense of wellbeing in the process, but womb yoga offers so much more than this. In practicing with deep reverence for the womb and womb space, and working with Shakti (the spirit of our primordial feminine energies within) and Shakti-prana (the body’s inherent life-force), we can effect significant transformation.

As Uma writes: “By greeting the womb with love we not only reconnect to the Sakti or life power in the womb or womb space, but also receive the loving energies of the heart by bringing them into conscious connection with the nourishment potential of the the womb space energies”.

There is a free yoni yoga video on our YouTube channel here, that focuses on bringing awareness and love into the womb space. You might also benefit from the free fertility video here and/or the free video for menstruation here

It could also be beneficial to you to join our Sunday morning yoga class (click here for our class timetable), which while not gender specific, does tend to attract just women and many of the practices are based around the heart and womb. You could also join one of our Yoni Yoga sessions that take place from time to time.

I would also highly recommend investing in Uma’s book, Yoni Shakti: A Woman’s Guide to Power and Freedom Through Yoga and Tantra, which you can purchase from Amazon here.  Please don’t be intimidated by the book – it is huge, but just follow the practices that are relevant to you at any stage on your cycle/life.

Yoga Nidra

I am a huge fan of Yoga Nidra.  It has supported me so much the last few years particularly.  I regularly practice Yoga Nidra as it helps me to rest and rejuvenate and can be incredibly healing too.

You can access our free Yoga Nidra for menstrual healing here.  You’ll find other Yoga Nidras on my website too. Otherwise I can highly recommend using the free ones that are available courtesy of Uma and her husband on the Yoga Nidra network at www.yoganidranetwork.org. I use these regularly – they were hugely supportive before, during and after the IVF process and for healing my womb post-natal too. I also accredit Yoga Nidra for helping to regulate my periods.

Ayurveda

I am a huge fan of Ayurveda because it is ancient, it works and it has roots in the Vedas like yoga! 

Ayurveda is the oldest authentically recorded health system in history, over 5,000 years old. It was created by yogis who spent their lives studying nature and the human condition.  

Meaning “the science of life” it is exactly that, viewing health in four dimensions of physical, sensory, mental and spiritual and is centred on preventative medicine and bringing a person back to balance.  It shows how an imbalance in one part of a person’s being will affect them in another, i.e. if a person isn’t being true to their life path (dharma) then physical and mental illnesses can arise which cannot be effectively treated with modern medicines but can be helped by Ayurveda.

Ayurveda has helped me lots in my life, not least to heal ovarian cysts and eliminate PMS, but also to support the IVF process (it is perhaps not surprising that I didn’t follow any Ayurvedic principles nor take any herbs prior to the failed IVF cycle, as I had done before the two successful cycles). Read more about this by reading my book Dancing with the Moon.

I follow Ayurvedic principles when I can and notice when I veer away, as I end up feeling depleted and out of balance. It really is amazing and I encourage any lady who is experiencing any sort of menstrual, hormonal, fertility or pelvic trauma to contact the Ayurvedic Clinic that I attend in Purley Oaks, not far from Gatwick Airport.

You can arrange a Skype appointment with one of the doctors and can be sent herbs and encouraged to follow an Ayurvedic diet plan for your type (diet in terms of what you should avoid eating for balance rather than weight loss). You might also attend the clinic itself if necessary for Panchakarma (treatments – these are amazing and I go whenever I feel depleted and completely out of balance and attended before IVF too). See http://www.theayurvedicclinic.com

Eating well

I know, I hear you, we all know about eating well these days, but it can be so important for the health of our womb.  If we eat really drying and acidic food then this may lead to a dry and acidic womb, which might lead to dis-ease and may also prevent an embryo growing. You need to nourish yourself with nourishing foods and those that are appropriate for your constitution and for what is going on for you. 

I’m absolutely not a fan of dieting in terms of losing weight.  I think it’s important that we follow a diet that supports our health and wellbeing and increases our vitality – this is the reason I try and follow an Ayurvedic diet that works for me and my constitution when I can, as it looks at the whole person. It’s so important that you nourish yourself and keep your digestive fire stoked.  Remember to drink plenty of water too.  

Reiki

I love Reiki! For me it has been truly life changing as it is so healing! If you are Reiki attuned then all the better as you can channel Reiki to your womb as often as you are able.  I channelled Reiki into my womb space a lot throughout IVF and pregnancy and was comforted by it (you can read all about this in my book Dancing with the Moon)

If you aren’t Reiki attuned then you will need to arrange a treatment with a qualified Reiki practitioner (let me know if you need any recommendations). Reiki treatments are wonderful because not only do you get to relax, but you get to heal and have all your chakras balanced in the process! Definitely a great support for the womb.

So you see there are things that can be done. But you must trust in your own wisdom too.  What is your womb trying to tell you? Perhaps it’s trying to wake you up to your highest potential. 

As Bri Maya Tiwari writes: “The power of your Shakti goes beyond the space of the womb and its magic of bringing new life into the world.  Your womb also has a divine function, which is the cultivation of nurturing and healing powers of the Mother within. In working with your Shakti, you will discover profound physical and spiritual health. In so doing, you as a woman also affect and influence the well-being of all living things”.

If you find yourself reading this and something is resonating, then honour the calling. You are being called.  You’re being asked to do the work.  To heal the womb.  To come home to yourself. 

x

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Healing, Reiki Emma Despres Healing, Reiki Emma Despres

A healing crisis

With all the recent healing work, a healing crisis was inevitable.  It was funny as I hadn't identified with it as such, I just knew something was "off" and was trying to figure out the reason for this.

In the back of my mind I had this thought that I needed to write about healing crises in my Reiki Level One Manual, because following a Reiki attunement (and each of the three levels) you go through a 21 day healing process…

With all the recent healing work, a healing crisis was inevitable.  It was funny as I hadn't identified with it as such, I just knew something was "off" and was trying to figure out the reason for this.

In the back of my mind I had this thought that I needed to write about healing crises in my Reiki Level One Manual, because following a Reiki attunement (and each of the three levels) you go through a 21 day healing process.

The number 21 is very significant in spiritual fields as it means that new beginnings and change are coming in, and this should bring greater balance and harmony, and therefore should be positively embraced. However often this means that the old needs to break down to make space for the new to come in and this is not always an easy process.  

So there I was thinking about writing about a healing crisis but not having identified with it.  Then rather coincidentally (but of course there are no coincidences), a good friend asked me what a healing crisis meant. Suddenly it dawned on me, "ah ha, of course, yes, this is what I am going through, a healing crisis!".

They are never easy to go through at the best of times and this one lingered on for a good ten days, bringing up old anxious and sickness energy from my solar plexus and sacral chakras. I knew it wasn't how I felt now, but it was unsettling all the same. Obviously I just wanted it to go, but this is the thing about the healing process, you have to feel it for it to truly leave the body. That's often the reason that we need to do some healing work in the first place, because we never felt the emotion or whatever it may have been at the time, and stuffed it away, where it becomes a stagnant and stuck energy and subtly (and not so subtly) affects our lives.

So what is a healing crisis?  Let me try and explain.

Well as I've just mentioned energy gets stuck for a reason.  Often it’s because you can’t or don’t want to face something difficult. Thus energy can also get stuck from trauma, crises, numbness, or denial. Some part of you, whether it’s the ego, body wisdom or spirit, is trying to protect you. Rather than feeling everything in that moment and letting it pass through, thoughts and emotions (energy in motion) gets stuffed down into the energetic corners, so to speak. Stuck energy can lead to pain and disease. It’s protection and in the short term it has a place, but when numbing and holding on becomes a habit and a default coping method then it can lead to long term problems.

Healing work is essentially about releasing the stuck energy that no longer has a purpose and serves the individual. If it’s not acute or obvious, it could simply be a feeling of life being “off balance” or something just not feeling quite right. Whatever the reason for the healing work –receiving Reiki for example – the goal is generally to feel better, not worse.

Any type of cleansing or healing that you do will come with a release. This can happen on a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual level, and often happens on several levels simultaneously. When toxins and toxic energy are released, your body and mind have to deal with a sudden and powerful shift in balance. It’s impossible to have a release in any of your bodies (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, energetic) and not have the others affected. 

The body is good at maintaining a balance, so the symptoms are usually mild. But symptoms are always unique and dependant on your sensitivity, your level of illness or disease, the extent of your denial, and/or your frame of mind during a session. This is referred to as a “healing crisis”. Essentially you are releasing the old stuck energy with new energy and your whole system has to adjust to the change and you may experience uncomfortable symptoms.

The healing crisis can be unpleasant and even take you a while to identify that this is what you’re experiencing - this is what happened to me!  It's always a relief when you recognise that you are simply going through a healing crisis. It’s all part of the healing process and essential to complete the healing – better out than in! Essentially you’re releasing all the stuck anger, hurt, broken heart, anxiety, depression, sadness, betrayal, unhealed trauma, unspoken feelings, resentment, frustration, rejection, loss etc. that you’ve been holding onto inside.

The thing is, you won’t be able to release it all without feeling some of it again. It’s like you have to feel it, to release it and let it move on. Sometimes the release is quick, e.g. an overwhelming sense of anger and need to run it off, or scream it out, momentary feelings of sadness and unexpected tears. There may be vomiting or diarrhoea, muscle ache, fatigue, the need to forgive a past situation or person, or make amends with someone, and/or a large emotional purge. Sometimes you might pick a fight with a partner or friend, simply as a way of releasing pent up frustration or anger. 

Sometimes the release might take a few days or a week or so, where you don’t feel quite right, to the extent that you might start wondering if your old anxiety, depression, resentment, sadness, grief, or whatever it might be, has come back again, and this might make you feel a little panicky. 

I've certainly gone through a combination of healing crises in the past.  When I was doing my Reiki training all those years ago, I got what I thought were a lot of vomiting bugs, but I later realised that these were healing crises, the old coming out. In these early days, especially with the yoga I had some sudden anger outbursts that came from nowhere and these too, I came to realise were healing crises too.

Please don’t worry of you too go through a healing crisis from yoga or a holistic treatment or practice. It’s just the old moving out to make way for the new, and your body needs time to find a new balance and adjust to the higher vibrational energy. It should be embraced rather than feared as it is a true sign of healing. Please don’t think that the practitioner or teacher did anything wrong or you did anything wrong, it’s simply the healing process. The deeper and more intense the healing crisis, the deeper and more intense the healing. 

You might find that after a healing crisis things change for you.  Your vibration has changed so situations and the people you attract into your life will also change.  This may mean that there will be some dis-resonance with people and situations already in your life, and some of these will adapt and morph with your own energy, and others will drop away. Please just trust the process, it is all for the higher good and may highlight to you, relationships and situations that are no longer serving you. You’ll shine lighter and brighter as a result. 

Try to drink lots of water during this time, and move your body, getting out into nature, getting your feet on the Earth, perhaps journaling, doing a guided relaxation, holding rose quartz or chakra balancing crystals and just trying to be super compassionate and kind to the self. 

I've found myself drawn to do all these things during the healing crisis, especially running, as if trying to sweat and move it out, running my life forward. I've also drawn on the yoga nidra network and listened to some lovely free and nourishing Yoga Nidras, while holding rose quartz. I've also played a lot with the children and swum in the sea, getting outside as much as possible. It's all helped!

As it happens a 21 day cleanse from the last Reiki attunement session I ran ends today, hoorah for that, it coincides with the weather shifting and my cycle shifting to the autumnal stage and no doubt things will shift during this moon phase.  Happy healing!!

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Healing Emma Despres Healing Emma Despres

Dancing the dream with womb yoga and healing

Wow, so it's been a fairly intense month of healing.  The moon has certainly been putting it in the field - there was a lot of fear, anxiety and agitation coming up for so many, and the need to root down.

I was lucky, as I had been feeling a pull to dig deep into some inner healing work, and in many respects this turned out to be perfectly timed, as it helped support me during these, um, testing times.

Wow, so it's been a fairly intense month of healing.  The moon has certainly been putting it in the field - there was a lot of fear, anxiety and agitation coming up for so many, and the need to root down.

I was lucky, as I had been feeling a pull to dig deep into some inner healing work, and in many respects this turned out to be perfectly timed, as it helped support me during these, um, testing times.

The Ayurvedic treatment and the herbs, combined with some Reiki and massage, and the most amazing sound gong bath all helped on some level to awaken some old stuff and keep me on a level throughout. I fell in love with Sabine's rain stick, but that is a whole other story as I've got one on order (a rain stick that is, not Sabine, she's absolutely one of a kind and Guernsey is lucky to have her) and I cannot wait to use it to soothe away residual tension at the end of class.

My month of healing work came to a delightful end with the most amazing day drinking in the energy of the the delightfully delightful, and ever so phew, amazing, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and Sivani Mata in one of THE best venues ever for training...the Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre for World Peace and Health in Bermondsey, London. This was followed, the next day, by the finale of a ki massage treatment with the most gifted and intuitive healer I have ever had the fortune to meet, Jo de Dielpold Braham. 

I can truly credit Uma with bringing me home to myself when I discovered her during my second pregnancy. I've always been drawn to the Tantric approach to yoga, Rod Stryker, being my main inspiration, but then in stepped Uma with her womb yoga and Tantric practices, and I felt that finally, it all made sense. As if all the pieces came together and I found my heart AND my womb. Hoorah for that, the heart is great, but being a woman, there is much power in the womb space too.

So I was suitably excited in joining her in circle again for a day of creativity, sexuality and cycles of our lives.  I was not disappointed. Oh my gosh.  I LOVE the energy of Tibetan Buddhism, having discovered this on my many trips to Nepal - I resonate with the energy, and it fits in so nicely with the Tantric teachings and the Reiki, and here now with Uma. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Laying on a sheepskin rug, the first thing we did was practice Yoga Nidra together, and the rest of the day fairly much floated in the most ecstatically joyful and poetic way - we were weaving the dance with some movement to really bring some light into the darkness of the womb and heart spaces, into the solar plexus and then the throat with some breathing exercises.  And then the joyful of joyful moments for me, Bhakti yoga, yoga of the heart, and the chanting of mantra to music, sweet voices, and the energy raising, hearts opening, tears flowing.  I LOVE Bhakti yoga.

Then it just kept giving - homemade, fresh, loving, dahl and rice in the Tibetan cafe making new friends, and then chai, that I didn't have to make. Back to class, and then another Yoga Nidra, drifting in a liminal space of healing, and then waking to chocolate, oh my gosh, we were given dark chocolate to ground us after the practice.  Oh Uma, I love that you give us permission to eat chocolate in class, I really did die and go to Heaven! 

Sivani is also a joy.  She lives and breathes kirtan and the sharing of sound and her beautiful voice.  So too her love of yoga for women, and she showed us how to massage our breasts for health and wellbeing, and led some of the session, increasing sensitivity with the most gentlest and smallest of movement, proving again and again the need for all the undoing, undoing, undoing. It's so simple.

I was reminded that absolutely nothing has to look a certain way.  Not me, not you, not the practice, not our bodies, not our yoga, not our anything needs to look a certain way. Just be me, just be you, just be however it greets you. 

Perhaps because of the expansion and openness that arose sharing my day with 47 or so other ladies, the majority in the autumnal phase of the cycle (this alone was truly fascinating), and chatting with beautiful Chris from the moment we left Guernsey to the moment we returned, so I'm not even aware of the travel (it felt like we floated to the centre and back again in Bermondsey, and yet I have vague memories of the plane and of walking along the Embankment and through Borough Market, neither here nor there, a day of that beautiful liminal space), I was ready and open to complete the healing with Jo, and this we did, and this by doing nothing...the undoing, undoing, undoing, by not doing, not a thing, not even speaking, just feeling the energy and witnessing the unfolding, not getting lost in story, letting the body undo all the doing. 

There are times in life when we have absolute certainty that things were meant to be and that we're guided. Like maybe a handful of times when the stars and the moon align and every light is green, and every person smiles, and there is chocolate in yoga, and the robins keep appearing, and the doors are opening, and you can see inside yourself in a way you've never done previously and it all just feels right. Well that was then. That was one of those moments and I'm so grateful to have shared it with Chris and to the Universe and the angels for bringing me these most amazing women into my life. 

Thank you beautiful ladies, and thank you Ewan, for helping me to indulge in such a way, Uma has inspired and there is a greater coming home to the self...Jai ma! Yoni Shakti should be a definite on every (wild) yogini's reading list and definitely try and find your way to Jo in Guernsey or the UK. 

With eternal gratitude and love xxx

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Ayurveda - needing some TLC

A few weeks ago now I became painfully aware that I needed to step out of my denial and do something about the inherent tiredness I was feeling.

I'd seen a visiting Peruvian healer who highlighted to me low kidney energy, and the impact this was having on my wellbeing  I knew this really, just like I knew that there were things I was doing that actually weren't supporting my wellbeing at this particular moment in my life…

A few weeks ago now I became painfully aware that I needed to step out of my denial and do something about the inherent tiredness I was feeling.

I'd seen a visiting Peruvian healer who highlighted to me low kidney energy, and the impact this was having on my wellbeing  I knew this really, just like I knew that there were things I was doing that actually weren't supporting my wellbeing at this particular moment in my life - like prolonged sea swimming (making me too cold and further stressing kidneys) and eating far too many nuts (also stressing kidney energy).  

This made me increasingly aware how we do things thinking, on one level that they are good for us, but knowing, on a deeper level, that they are actually not. So that was the sea swimming put on hold, and a change of diet required. The Peruvian healer shared wise words, "get more out of the head and into the heart". My sentiments exactly! he also encouraged rest. 

Not long after that I saw the wonderfully intuitive visiting Ki massage practitioner and osteopath Jo de Diepold Brahman (every one should see Jo, she's incredibly attuned!), and we looked at the tiredness from another angle...and that was enlightening as ever as it highlighted the energy centre imbalance and the carrying of old memories and stories that one re-plays over and over until that stuff is finally dealt with. Sigh. She also highlighted the need for rest. 

So this found me eleven days later having a Skype call with an Ayurvedic doctor in Purley Okas - not my usual doctor, Dr Deepika, as she's now busy doing the trainings, but another lady, Dr W, who has joined her from Sri Lanka. 

I discovered Ayurveda not long after I started teaching yoga back in 2006. I befriend a British girl on a retreat in Bali, who had been seeing Dr Deepika for a few years.  I was curious.  I knew I needed healing and I loved the idea of trying something so connected to yoga.  When i was back home in Guernsey I made contact with Dr Deepika and travelled over to meet her at her clinic, maybe 25-30 minutes from Gatwick. There began my love affair with Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is truly inspiring, the most ancient and authentically recorded health system in history, over 5,000 years old, it was created by yogis who spent their lives studying nature and the human condition.  Meaning “the science of life” it is exactly that, viewing health in four dimensions of physical, sensory, mental and spiritual and is centred on preventative medicine and bringing a person back to balance.  It shows how an imbalance in one part of a person’s being will affect them in another, i.e. if a person isn’t being true to their life path (dharma) then physical and mental illnesses can arise which cannot be effectively treated with modern medicines but can be helped by Ayurveda.

Ayurveda uses elemental medicine which means that they balance out earth, fire, water, air and ether in the body.  These are divided into three doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which are the basis of a person’s constitution and also the factors that can create imbalances.  Ayurveda places great emphasis on diet, lifestyle, yoga, meditation, massage and herbal medicines to bring a person back to health and keep them there.

I've seen Dr Deepika a number of times over the years - in person and through Skype.  I've followed an Ayurvedic diet as much as I can too - although there have been periods were I have been swayed (yes, even me) by Western approaches to nutrition, and gotten myself in a fix until Dr Deeika has given me a good talking to and got me back on the straight and narrow (well actually not so straight and narrow, that's the joy of Ayurveda).  

So, for example in the Ayurvedic world too much juice will make you damp on the inside and might lead to damp conditions like thrush (yep, that certainly happened to me), and then all the sauerkraut and gut "friendly" foods, can agitate people like me, with all that vinegar and salt, so that we become imbalanced, too much fire and drying out. It;s truly fascinating - especially when you switch to an Ayurvedic diet and realise how nourishing and kind it is to your constitution (dosha then).

I did a ten day Panchakarma at the Ayurvedic Home in Kathmandu (Nepal) once.  This was an incredible experience. Panchakarma is most definitely the ultimate mind-body healing experience for detoxifying the body, strengthening the immune system, and restoring balance and well-being. It is one the most effective healing modality in Ayurvedic Medicine. It promotes detoxification and rejuvenation and is recommended on a seasonal basis, as well as when an individual feels out of balance or is experiencing illness.

Panchakarma essentially removes the excess doshas and correct imbalances in them as well as eliminating the harmful ama (waist matter from toxins that can create dis-ease) out of your system through the body’s own organs and channels of elimination (colon, sweat glands, lungs, bladder, urinary tract, stomach, intestines, etc). Panchakarma purifies the tissues at a very deep level. It involves daily massages and oil baths, herbal enemas, nasal administrations and - from experience - is a very pleasurable experience. 

I did a three day Panchakarma when I needed to sort myself out after a failed IVF round, and to prepare for our final round of IVF.  This was a treat in itself - two nights and three days away from the family, and spending much of it in silence, bliss for me! 

I accredit the Ayurveda for helping me with lots of my healing - of cysts on the ovaries and PMS, and also helping to support the IVF in helping me get pregnant.  I've also learned a lot about energy from working with Ayurveda and of course health and wellbeing.  Dr Deepika has been, and  continues to be a spiritual teacher for me too. 

My favourite treatment is Shirodhana, which involves warm oil being poured on the third eye.  I find it deeply relaxing and soothing, helping me to let go and drop in on a deep level, and leaving me feel restored afterwards.  I enjoyed two of these treatments from trained Ayurvedic practitioners offering their services at Satsanga, where we stayed for the Goa retreat.  It was sublime as ever.

So to cut a long story shorter (hopefully - I need to get to bed!), I ended up going over to the Ayurvedic clinic a week ago or so for a Panchakarma, and timed this with a night in Gatwick (of all places - my first night away from my still-breast feeding throughout the night son, Eben (poor Ewan didn't get much sleep!)) so I could also say goodbye to my brother who was flying back to Australia first thing in the morning, so he went one way and I went another, back to Guernsey. 

I'm on Ayurvedic herbs too and back on the diet and I feel so much better already.  Admittedly I still need to do a little bit more resting, but i feel grateful for having Ayurveda in my life and for my body creating the conditions for me to tap into it again...and over the shifting Equinox too, not that was good coincidental timing!

I've had some Reiki and massage since being back home to compliment the Ayurveda and I've managed one tiny dip (tea bag) in the sea, but you know what, I need to keep warm for now, until I feel fully restored again, there will be plenty of time for swimming (it's freezing right now in there, like hurts its so cold!).

So if you're in need of some TLC, then I wholeheartedly recommend the Ayurvedic Clinic, it's brilliant!!! Incidentally, Dr Deepika specialises in fertility so if you have these issues, it's well worth checking her out if you;re having issues there.  Her website is http://www.theayurvedicclinic.com

x

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Crystals - the best Christmas present ever!

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Crystals

Crystals are powerful healing tools; they can help with physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health; and they can help you and your family sleep better, amplify your healing power, and assist you in feeling calm, balanced and peaceful.

Crystals are a gift from Mother Earth to amplify the power of love and light and have been used for healing since before Egyptian times.

Although they may seem like inert objects crystals are very much alive, they are both filled with energy and are conduits of energy – that is one of the reasons crystals are used in watches, radios and modern medical devices.

We live in a world of constant vibration, intelligent vibration actually, because everything that exists is really energy information, or energy in-formation – vibration. These vibrations form matter, substance or intangible things. 

The key frequency of vibration of an object, a person, a plant or an animal etc. is known as its resonant frequency.  Like you and I, crystals also have their own resonant frequency. This is the reason that we are drawn to a particular crystal more than another – a bit like we are drawn to one person more than another!

Choosing crystals

I find that crystals tend to choose us as much as we choose them. They stand out to us when we see them, or we put our hand into a bowl of crystals and one feels good in our hand.

I believe that you intuitively know the crystal that is meant for you at any particular time. It comes into your life!

Sometimes crystals are with you for a whole lifetime.  But other times you also get a sense when it’s time to let a crystal go and pass it on to someone else. Sometimes they just disappear out of your life. It’s a bit like that saying, “people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime”, it’s the same with crystals!

Choosing crystals for friends is fairly much the same – you just have a sense that your friend needs the one to which you are drawn when thinking about him/her. I like to buy my friends crystals and just go with what I’m drawn to, even if it’s not something I’d usually consciously choose for that person. It always has an appropriate meaning for that person.

Cleansing/energising crystals

Crystals often attract all kinds of energy vibrations both negative and positive.  Remember that your crystal may have travelled many thousands of miles and been handled by many people before you received it.  Therefore, your crystal may have acquired some negative energies and it is important to cleanse it before you use it.

There are serval ways you can cleanse crystals including the following:

  • Putting them in the garden under the light of the full moon (this is my favourite way);

  • Putting them in sea salt or a natural water source (sea, stream, river);

  • Burying them in the earth;

  • Placing them in sunlight;

  • Holding them in your hand and setting your intention that they be cleansed by Reiki.

More about crystal properties and working with them next...xx

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