Politics, Spiritual Awakening and Dark Teachers

This is not a post about politics. This is a post about looking at the current political climate through the lens of a Spiritual seeker/mentor.

Throughout my whole life, politics have never interested me. I don’t really understand them, I have never followed election season (except at the last minute to do just enough research to make an informed voting decision), and I definitely don’t involve myself in discussions about policy.

This election season, however, I find myself absolutely fascinated. Not by the ravings of a racist, misogynist businessman-turned-politician, but by the clear duality between two very different ideologies that is presenting itself for examination, and the opportunity that comes with it.

I should say at this point that I am pro-Bernie all the way. #feelthebern #berniesanders

When I first found out that Drumpf was running in the primaries, I was amused. “Yeah, right. That won’t last long. There’s no way that people would vote for someone like that,” I thought.

I have since been watching the primaries with a growing degree of incredulity. I wondered how on earth it was possible that a person who embodies so much hatred, manipulation, deceit and a total lack of ethics could be gaining so much support.

When I consider the voting pool and how many people out there have yet to delve into their Shadow work, it makes sense to me that they would vote for a person like Drumpf. Imagine all the unexamined wounds, the ancestral traumas, the pain and hatred and blame and self-destructive tendencies that live inside us until we are ready to look at and release them. Most people aren’t willing to do so, and so these Shadows continue to reside and grow within us. All of a sudden, this person comes along who is using his public platform to say all the things your Shadow has ever wanted to express. Of course you would resonate with that message, because your Shadow is running the show! Through his hate speech, this candidate is offering validation to the inner Shadow of all these deeply wounded people.

Let’s take things further and look at the situation from the cosmic perspective. Why is it that this person is appearing now to bring so much hatred and violence to the surface of our collective consciousness?

I believe that Drumpf is here as a Dark Teacher to catalyze within the general population a massive movement toward Spiritual Awakening.

Let me give you a brief personal example. I encountered another such catalyst in my own life a few years ago. At that point, I was already well on my path of Spiritual work and investigation. I had been a practicing Reiki Master for about five years and was in the process of developing my work with Channeling and stepping more deeply into consciously working with Shamanic energies. Nonetheless, when I met a charming, beautiful narcissistic sociopath, I ignored all my intuitive warning bells and fell into relationship with him very quickly. I was with him for only a couple of months, but that was plenty of time for me to step away from my guidance and become deeply drawn into an abusive, manipulative relationship full of coercion and me wondering why I didn’t feel connected to Spirit around this person. Thankfully, I figured it out in time to leave with no lasting damage and with rock-solid commitment to always staying in alignment with my Highest Self and my guidance. I refer to that experience as one of my Underworld Initiations and to that person as my Dark Teacher.

After ending that relationship, it came to light that this person had followed a similar pattern of abuse and manipulation with several people in the community. Long story short, examining the collective Shadow was the catalyst that led to healing for many, and my Dark Teacher was later arrested for domestic assault. My healing process included a lot of asking how a person like that can exist in the world, and what the cosmic purpose is behind it all.

I would consider Drumpf to be another Dark Teacher who is offering society an amazing opportunity to confront our individual and collective Shadows. Knowing that everyone has a purpose, and that ultimately everything works for the Highest and Greatest Good, I have to believe that people like Drumpf and my ex are here to offer themselves in service by embodying the Darkness so deeply that they catalyze transformation and awakening in the masses. In my own case, even though I was already “awakened,” I can credit that situation with cementing in me the certainty that I will always work in service to the Highest and Greatest Good, always stay attuned to Spirit, and always work for healing for myself and others. That was the medicine I needed to receive to bring my Shadow into the Light for healing.

So I have to ask how many people out there, especially those who might be considered more “moderate,” or those who haven’t yet found a reason to examine their beliefs more closely, are being catalyzed by Drumpf’s hate speech into Awakening? How many people like me are there, who may not generally prioritize politics as worthy of my attention, who are called into action in the face of such darkness to use every opportunity available to invite people to connect with each other in love and compassion? How many people see (whether consciously or subconsciously) the choice with which we are presented, and are seizing the opportunity to step into alignment with community, Truth, accountability and togetherness? How many people are experiencing their Spiritual Awakening as a result of this Dark Teacher’s work and the political climate?

There’s a video I like of an interview with Bernie Sanders, where he says, “My Spirituality is that we are all in this together and that when children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me.” In my mind, this quote epitomizes the duality with which we are presented: the choice between separation and connection, between violence and peace, between manipulation and accountability, between hatred and compassion. Watch the video here: http://mic.com/articles/134326/bernie-sanders-my-spirituality-is-that-we-are-all-in-this-together#.6hvNK241p

Let us choose connection, peace, accountability, compassion, community, Truth and Love. Let us choose to Awaken, offer gratitude to our Dark Teachers and forgiveness to our wounds, and stand in alignment with our Highest Selves. Let us receive the medicine we need in order to commit to working for the Highest and Greatest Good of ourselves and of all.

I am currently accepting clients for my three month long intensive transformation healing program, New Moon Rising: http://joyofenergy.com/newmoonrising.html
In our work together, you will receive energetic healing, coaching and practices to help you through your Spiritual Awakening or Deepening. Together, we will examine old wounds, ancestral traumas and offer gratitude to your Dark Teachers for their medicine in helping you confront your Shadow. We all have one, and it’s time to bring yours into the Light to be healed.

Contact me for a consultation to work one-on-one and commit to yourself and your journey.

Many blessings,

Michelle

Embodiment

There’s a term I came up with that I like to use with my clients and students to impress a certain idea upon them. The term is “Divine Embodied Being.”

I find this term very appropriate for a few reasons, but largely because it reminds us of the multi-faceted nature of our existence. The term “Human Being” is of biological origin and serves only to describe our physical and genetic makeup. How are we different from other beings? Well, we’re Human Beings!

However, we are so much more than our limbs and our brains and our genes. We are the embodiment of the Divine. Our physical forms provide the anchor for our souls to live on the Earth plane.

And so, we are Divine Embodied Beings. We are the physical manifestation of Spirit. We are Source and matter.

(For the purposes of this article, I only talk about human Divine Embodied Beings, but plants, animals, crystals, minerals, etc are also Divine Embodied Beings.)

It is so easy for us humans to use duality to separate and exclude: “If A, then not B.” Or, “If I am human, then I am not Divine,” or even, “If I am Divine, then I have no reason to pay attention to my human body.”

This last example is one that I see all too often, especially among people who have begun to realize their Spiritual awakening but have yet to balance it with the earthly aspects of their existence. Many clients come to me who are so focused on the energetic part of their process that they haven’t bothered to bring their physical bodies up to speed yet.

So let’s talk about the purpose and importance of Embodiment practice from a Spiritual perspective.

In order to honor all parts of our nature and live in the world as whole beings, it is of equal importance to devote care and attention to the parts of ourselves that are Divine AND the parts of ourselves that are Matter. Moreover, we must not treat them as separate facets of our existence, but as deeply interwoven and mutually necessary components of our wholeness. It is our bodies that offer a place for Spirit to live inside of us, and it is our Souls that animate our physical forms beyond the level of a biochemical machine.

One of the ways we can support both parts of ourselves simultaneously is through Embodied Meditation. Absolutely any activity can be a form of Embodied Meditation, if you hold the intention for it. When students or clients tell me that they’re “bad at meditating,” I ask them what activities they enjoy, and what brings them peace. Often the answers include things like walking outside, gardening, yoga or going for a run. I tell them that these are all wonderful forms of Embodied Meditation, and when they do these activities, to practice bringing intention and mindfulness to the exercise.

My favorite form of embodied meditation is dancing. And I’m not talking about the kind of dancing where you sort of stand there awkwardly and shift your weight from side to side. I’m not even talking about structured dances with certain steps and standards of correct form. I’m talking about allowing your body to move in whatever way it feels called, whether or not it’s pretty. The kind of dance where you feel energy coursing through your veins, filling your cells and making your chakras spin and glow. The kind of dance where, as you start shaking, you feel all the blockages and stagnant energy inside yourself start to melt and release into the floor. Dancing until you are drenched in sweat and your hair is full of tears from crying as you allow powerful energy to rush through you, releasing old wounds. Dancing and channeling our ancestors who danced for thousands of years before us to honor their bodies, honor Spirit and feel alive. Dancing until you drop in so deeply that you enter a trance state and forget completely who and where you are, and all that exists is movement.

Needless to say, I start more slowly with my clients and we work up to trance dancing when/if they’re ready. I teach some basic practices and help my clients find what works best for them. Some forms of Embodied Meditation can be relatively peaceful, like gentle yoga. Some are more playful, like my friend’s game of “Zen rock-hopping” (jumping from stone to stone through a river or stream. As he says, if you think about it too much, you get wet). Others are fairly extreme, like my roommate running 100-mile races. She told me about one instance, about 70 miles in, were she started seeing ghosts coming out of the ground. But what is the point of activities like that? No matter what form it takes, why do we need embodied meditation?

Physical practices like these unite the part of us that is Embodied with the part of us that is Divine. When we bring our Spirit and our intention to an embodied practice, we can move energy through our physical system. It is the perfect union of tangible and intangible, working across the hemispheres of our brains and across whatever barriers we have put between our energetic awareness and our bodies.

Throughout my whole life, I have had some form of physical practice. Whether it was being part of a sports team or doing activities by myself, I always knew that I felt happier and healthier when I took care of my body. When I officially began my Reiki practice in 2006, it took a few years for me to make the connection between the energetic work I was doing and the physical process of moving energy through my body. There were times when I would do all I could with Reiki to release stagnant energies, but until I went for a run and flushed them from my system, they were stuck. In the last several years I have come to a deep understanding of how physically shaking and sweating old energies out of me is just as important to the healing process as the energy work itself. We are Divine Embodied Beings, and in order to be whole, we must honor all parts of ourselves.

I used to only teach Embodiment practices to my private clients as part of our work together, but I recently included an Embodied Meditation workshop in my Shamanic Reiki Apprentice Program. The next one is coming up on March 12th, and I am happy to expand these offerings out to those who are interested!

Contact me to book a consultation to work one-on-one with me, or if you’re interested in taking classes. In the meantime, I encourage you to look at your physical practice with a new perspective, through the lens of yourself as a Divine Embodied Being. See you on the dance floor.

The Dogma of Tradition

Dogma, regardless of the school of thought or belief system, is still dogma.

I received this reminder in a very unexpected way over the weekend when I participated in a traditional Native American dance ceremony. The opportunity to dance came across my radar about a month and a half ago in that insistent, nudging way that Spirit so often uses to get our attention. I knew immediately that I needed to participate and experience connection with Source through the magic of this ceremony.

When I completed my registration and had all the introductory conversations with the leaders, I received a long list of specific items I would need in order to participate. I spent weeks assembling the ceremonial tools and attire, carefully following all the directions. That was the first sign of what I would take away from the weekend, but I didn’t see it at the time.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, when the group of dancers received instructions from Leadership regarding the extensive list of rules for the ceremony. Throughout the teaching, I heard a lot of “Never do _____,” “Make sure you always ______,” and “You are not ever allowed to ______.” The words “never” and “always” tend to be big red flags in my book, but I absorbed the teaching and took great care to memorize the protocols.

On Sunday, when we held ceremony and danced for about 12 hours, I made sure to follow all the instructions. I walked in the correct direction, I never turned my back a certain way, I always carried my specific items, I used the scripted language when offering prayer, I made sure never to cross certain lines in the space, and I didn’t sing. Out of respect for the privacy around this tradition, that is the only specific detail I will share: the dancers were not allowed to sing. I felt completely taken aback when they told us on Saturday that only certain people sang during the ceremony. For me, sharing my voice and channeling my heart song feels integral to my connection with Spirit. Not allowing me to do so felt like robbing me of one of the sacred tools of my own practice.

In fact, I spent so much time throughout the day making sure to follow directions that my moments of feeling a deep connection with Spirit were rare, and usually when I was not actively dancing. I experienced flares of anger at being instructed in such a rigid system how I was to go about connecting with Spirit, and at one point was completely dumbfounded at the hypocrisy when the Dance Chief called a dedication dance to “burn away all that which does not serve us: bigotry, ignorance, and (you guessed it) dogma.” Fully realizing the irony, I dedicated a dance to eradicating dogma while stifling the urge to blurt out, “Are you kidding me?”

Let me make it clear that I hold nothing against these people or against appreciating tradition for tradition’s sake. I feel so honored for the opportunity and I greatly enjoyed connecting with many welcoming members of the community. I also feel certain that these people understand that there are many paths of Spiritual practice and appreciate that everyone follows their own journey.

That being said, it is very hard for me to accept a tradition that utilizes mechanisms of control and exclusion to promote Spirituality as anything I would ever want to pursue. This holds true for any tradition/school of thought/religion, not just the one I experienced over the weekend. Again, I appreciate these traditions and ceremonies for their cultural value and their importance as precursors for the continually evolving energies we experience on Earth, but telling someone that they have to follow all these rules to connect with Spirit feels very “old paradigm.” (I absolutely loathe the terms “old paradigm” and “new paradigm,” but I feel called to use it here. Hopefully that indicates how strongly I feel about this issue.)

Imagine the case of art: there was a time when artistic dogma dictated that you were only supposed to work with certain media, that portraying people or items in ways other than the prescribed norm was “wrong,” that you were never supposed to mix certain colors or work outside the artistic ideals. Many artists throughout history were considered crazy or profane as they pushed the boundaries of what popular opinion considered “art,” but they were later recognized as revolutionary for their stylistic choices (sometimes during their lifetimes, sometimes not). Eventually, society honored them for breaking out of artistic dogma and creating their work intuitively. Today, artists who receive formal training learn certain techniques and skills, but their instructors encourage them to develop their own style and produce original work that comes from their own internal truth.

So why is Spiritual practice not taught or passed down in the same way? That’s probably the biggest thing that I emphasize with my Reiki students: there are certain techniques and procedures that I teach them, but ultimately I tell them that their practice will continue to evolve over time as they cultivate their own intuition. The only times I offer specific “must do it this way” directions are in health- or safety-related situations that require certain protocol. Otherwise, I am always delighted to hear stories from my students or clients as they share their excitement with me regarding a new development in their intuitive practice. I am always happy to offer mentorship and guidance, or suggest directions for further investigation, but I never tell anyone what their Spiritual practice should look like. In fact, my Spiritual Mentorship page looks like this: http://joyofenergy.com/reikiclasses.html In every class description, I emphasize the importance of cultivating one’s own intuition.

My biggest takeaway from the weekend feels like a very definite affirmation of the intuitive nature of my practice. I hold great appreciation for traditional ceremony and ritual, and now I feel like I can honor it in a different way for its own sake, rather than looking to it as a mechanism for Divine connection. After all, the “practice” part of Spiritual practice is only a means to achieve the goal of connection with Spirit. When practice itself becomes the main focus, the true intent is often lost. This is why, rather than following rigid protocols and dogma developed by humans, I prefer to receive my guidance directly from (the) Source. My practice will continue to evolve as my wealth of intuitive guidance grows, but I know that, as long as I hold the intention of living in service to Self and Spirit, my work will reflect this state of ease and harmony as I work directly with the Divine.

My Beginnings in Reiki–Bridging Academia and Energetic Studies

This post originally began as a continuation of my last one (read it here) in which I offered some advice to a young Spiritual seeker. It turned out to be way more involved than I expected, so it has its own entry here.

Reflecting back on the beginnings of my own Reiki training, it strikes me as incredibly ironic that I began studying such an intuitive, right-brain practice while I was attending University. Though my investigation of healing and Spiritual practices started unconsciously when I was very young, I was first attuned to Reiki at 19 years of age (during the summer of 2006). I came back for my sophomore year of school and found that pursuing a degree in biology was cast in a very different light after coming into such strong alignment with my own intuition and experience in holistic, systemic thought. The reductionist approach taken by most of the scientific community (and the only approach that I was taught as a student of science) seemed horribly incomplete, though I didn’t really have the conscious grasp or the vocabulary to express my feelings at the time. My interests in biology reflected this belief in systemic thinking–rather than pursuing cellular or molecular biology, my specialization focused on ecology and animal physiology and behavior. In other words, I looked at systems where many variables affected each other, rather than the ordered, finite processes of chemical reactions. And yet, even my research on hummingbird foraging behavior (an intricate, complicated topic subject to many variables) was forced into a tiny reductionist box. Still, that meadow in Costa Rica offered me an opportunity to sit in meditative enjoyment of my beautiful test subjects and experience the wonder of their energy.

As I think back on my time at University, I now find it hilarious that the two academic experiences where I had the most freedom to pursue the breadth of my interests (as related to energetic and healing practices) were projects of independent study in classes outside of my major. For the class Archaeology and Religion, I investigated the symbolism of horses in the prehistoric art of an ancient Ukrainian tribe (it may have been the Scythians, but I don’t remember exactly). I enjoyed talking about human-animal relationships in preconquest society, especially since the consciousness of this time had not yet relegated horses to the status of purely utilitarian beings. The beautiful gold artwork portrayed horses and other animals as powerful, mystical creatures that spoke to the tribe’s connection with nature.

The other academic project that allowed me some wiggle room and an opportunity to practice systemic thinking was for a class through the Psychology department called Alternative Health and Wellness, or something similar. I took this class  as a senior, so I had had a couple of years to develop my understanding of Reiki and energetic healing. This class was my first concrete experience in grounding energetic practices in the physical realm. Bridging the gap between academia and esoteric studies was exactly what I needed, especially given the work I’m doing now (bridging the gap between our human and Spirit selves). That class helped me see that the two are not mutually exclusive. I have come a long way since then in my ability to present esoteric concepts in ways that make them accessible to reductionist/analytical/left-brain consciousness.

In terms of sharing this consciousness with my peers at school, being authentic was a challenge. Every time I tried to share my Truth with my friends, I was at best offered the response of, “that’s nice,” and at worst aggressively shut down for “spouting unproven bullshit.” It’s interesting–at a time when students are supposed to be expanding their minds and discovering what their Authentic Truth really is, most of the people I encountered had already decided that anything outside the realm of the material presented to them wasn’t worth considering. Either that, or they were reluctant to acknowledge the fact that their own personal Truth didn’t easily fit the traditional model of Western academia, so rather than express it, they hid or ignored it. Or maybe something else entirely.

And yet, even this is shifting around. In the intervening years I have “found my tribe,” so to speak, and now have a wonderful community of people who ground Spiritual practices and systemic consciousness into their physical lives. I was delighted, however, when some of my classmates from high school and University got in touch with me. A few wanted me to work on their animals, some were curious about my Spiritual evolution and the direction of my practice and a couple were interested in classes and workshops. I remember the first time someone contacted me out of the blue (the last time we had spoken was high school) and told me she had read about my work on Facebook. I was totally blown away.

As I encounter more and more people who tell me stories about their disillusionment with society, education and reductionist thinking, it becomes increasingly obvious to me that the direction in which we’re heading as the whole of humanity can only be one of integrated understanding. Understanding of the alchemy of multiple variables, understanding that there is always gray area, understanding that it is okay to change our minds and that Truth is a continually evolving, changing concept and that knowledge is always incomplete. Understanding that “sometimes,” “maybe,” “it depends” and “I don’t know” are acceptable answers and that asking more questions is always a good thing.

About darn time. Isn’t it exciting?

Healing Horses, Emotionally

I love working with horses. I love working with all animals, but there’s something particularly about horses that makes me adore my job even more than usual. Not only are they incredibly expressive, empathic, communicative beings, but there’s something about the juxtaposition between their sheer size and enormous sensitivity that is so lovely. Some of the biggest, most athletic horses I’ve met have been those to wear their hearts most openly on their sleeves.

On Tuesday I went out to do Animal Communication and Reiki work for three horses. Three highly empathic, emotional, sensitive horses dealing with trauma, two of whom are in intensive dressage training and working toward the Grand Prix level.

One of the dressage horses (a gorgeous Hanoverian mare named Matti) was a new client who is in need of some deep emotional healing around issues of abandonment, nurturing and safety. She told me where in her body she’s storing all of this emotion, and how these tiny changes made on the energetic level are having profound physical effects. Her (human) mom confirmed not only Matti’s prior trauma, but her own observations about how Matti was affected. When I indicated an area in Matti’s shoulder where the trauma was stored, her mom told me, “I thought I was crazy! I had several vets out to look at her and they all said it couldn’t be her shoulder, there’s no physical reason for it!” I explained that just because there wasn’t a physical reason for there to be discomfort didn’t mean a blockage couldn’t exist on the energetic or emotional level, and that was exactly what had happened with Matti. I told her that our work, instead of focusing on shifting things in her body (which is only the symptom of the problem), would begin with supporting Matti through emotional healing.

Matti’s situation is enormously significant in that it speaks to the way in which many of us express physical conditions that are actually the manifestation of emotional or energetic disturbances. This is something that Reiki (and Eastern medicine in general) is far more effective at addressing than most of Western medicine, which seeks to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. For someone such as Matti in particular, who told me that all the work she does is on a very subtle level, minute changes at her emotional core will have a huge effect on not only her general health and wellness, but her physical structure and alignment. We can all learn from the idea that our emotional health directly relates to our physical well-being.