July 2014 - Deborah King

Five Signs That You’re Ready to Initiate

It happens at more and more of my healing courses these days: students experiencing initiations, or spiritual advancement. I used to facilitate just one or two initiations per year, and now I find them happening every day, sometimes to an entire room of people!

As you climb to higher and higher levels of consciousness through initiations, you are also helping to raise the vibration of the whole planet. Initiations come from a place of unconditional love, and that love touches the hearts of everyone who is lucky enough to witness it, and everyone who comes into contact with the initiate.

For such a life-altering event, initiations can sometimes be confusing, especially if you’re new to them. Below are the top five questions I get asked about initiations with answers I hope will help clarify things as well as get you excited by the prospect of your own initiation!

1. What is an initiation?

The short version is that an initiation is a spiritual step up, like moving to the next grade in school. The longer explanation is that initiations are the process of reconnecting with Source, one level at a time. Just as you wouldn’t go from first to sixth grade, you can’t just jump up to the same spiritual plane where Spirit exists from here on the physical plane, it would be too high a vibration to handle all at once. You have to move slowly, raise your vibration level by level. Initiations bring in higher level energy, raise your awareness, and open you up to spiritual gifts.

Initiations happen in all cultures, though they go by different names. In India they call this energy the kundalini rising, in western Christian cultures where I first learned of this process they call them initiations, but it is all the same energy. Whether the facilitator is a Brazilian shaman beating a drum, a Texan minister speaking in tongues, or an energy healer and spiritual teacher like me, the Source energy that flows through us is the same, bringing you expanded awareness and a deeper tie to Spirit.

2. Why are initiations happening more frequently now?

Spirit has infinite information and infinite wisdom; it knows what this planet needs and when. Our world has grown so large so fast, we can barely keep up with ourselves. With increased connectivity it is easier for good energy to spread through the means of Skype and Facetime, so much so that we can even do energy healing sessions and healing courses via the internet!

But this also means that negative energy can spread more rapidly as well, and since negativity is always desperately seeking the light, Spirit saw a need for more light bearers to come into their full potential sooner. If more and more people initiate to higher awareness, the world will start to heal from the inside out.

3. How can I encourage an initiation?

You cannot force an initiation to occur, but what you can do is build a strong base for the initiation to rest on. Prayer, meditation, running, nature, or something else that brings you into mind, body, and spirit into alignment is a good place to start your spiritual practice for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the link to initiations. Sometimes a student will have the initiation energy waiting above their head, ready to download into their body, but there is no base for me to place it on. You must have a spiritual practice, whether that be meditation or prayer or something like that as a foundation. I never have limiting beliefs about what that foundation can be for an individual – one time, it was pole dancing!

But the best thing you can do is be of service. Chop wood, carry water. Do the manual labor; don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty—literally or metaphorically. Maybe you can plant trees in your neighborhood or volunteer to work with homeless teens. Anything you do that is in service to others, giving your time and energy to benefit someone else with no expectation of reward—that is when Spirit will reward you with a step up.

4. Why do I cry at an initiation, even if it’s not happening to me?

Initiations are pure, unconditional love. When I say you initiate to a higher vibration, well, that vibration is love. When that love comes from Source and into your energy field and body, your heart chakra opens wide to welcome it in. Not just your heart chakra, but anyone who is present, live or via the internet, anyone who witnesses that initiation has their heart chakra expanded, too. That’s why you feel all warm and fuzzy inside at my workshops when other students initiate—your heart chakra is opening, and that can bring tears to your eyes.

5. How can I tell what my level of initiation is?

The best approach to take with initiations is to try not to wonder what level you are on. Curiosity is one thing, but it can be hard to keep curiosity from turning into an egotistical need to know, which defeats the purpose of striving to be of service. Attending energy healing courses and workshops and working with a trained energy healer will help you get a sense of where you are and how much work needs to be done to prepare your energy field for an initiation.

First and second level initiations are subtle and do not require a spiritual teacher to facilitate. In fact, if you are reading this, there is a very good chance that you have already initiated to the second level and you didn’t even notice. Beyond that, a spiritual teacher is needed to be the conduit for the energy from Source to you in higher level initiations.

Initiations are like cats—they come when you stop calling for them or asking them to show up. Meditate and being of service is the best advice I have for preparing for initiations. When you are so engaged with spreading positivity beyond yourself, the initiation will materialize when you least expect it, just like a cat. And it will bring you more joy than you can possibly imagine. It will also bring you para-normal spiritual gifts, perhaps clairvoyance or the ability to know beyond this plane, or perhaps even the gift of healing!

5 Most Common Meditation Pitfalls & How to Resolve Them

Anyone on the path toward enlightenment already knows that meditation is an essential part of the process. In addition to being necessary for expanding your consciousness, meditation has a whole host of benefits from calming stress to lowering your blood pressure to clearing your chakras to improving your energy healing abilities, and many, many more. But what if you can’t do it? What happens when meditation seems to stop working, or when it feels like a chore rather than a blessing? How can you jumpstart or retrieve your meditation motivation?

Let me first and foremost assure you that you can meditate! If you are reading this, you are capable. Like any skill, it takes practice and determination, and a little guidance from an experienced instructor like me. As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I’ve been training my students in meditation techniques for decades as part of my energy medicine workshops and healing courses.

Everyone goes through periods when maintaining their meditation practice isn’t as joyful or fulfilling, and you may have problems that many share. But meditation is crucial to your health and happiness, so I’ve put together a list of some of the most common meditation pitfalls and how to counteract each bump in the road in the hope that meditation will become an indispensable part of your life.

Pitfall #1: Time.

In this frantic, life-at-the-touch-of-a-smart-phone-button culture, it can be hard to find the time to slow down and meditate. In fact, it’s darn near impossible. That’s why you must make time.

You do not have to set aside hours upon hours for meditation like yogis or monks—they don’t have day jobs. Just twenty minutes at a time, preferably twice a day, is all it takes to reap the rewards of meditation.

Solution #1: Schedule meditation until it becomes routine.

Add meditation to your calendar like it’s any other important event because it is! It takes about three weeks to turn an activity into a habit, so for three weeks, block off the time and set a meditation reminder on your phone. Sit on the same cushion or chair for each meditation and create a safe space free from distractions that, upon entering, sends signals to your brain that it’s meditation time.

The best time to meditate is when you first wake up in the morning. Before you check your email or read the news, before you’ve even had your cup of coffee, take a few minutes to ground yourself to the earth, reset your body, mind, and energy field for the day ahead. If you find that you drift back to sleep when meditating this early, try a mid-morning meditation break instead. Your second meditation of the day should be before dinner, but after work. Let this meditation be your transition between the hectic rushing around of errands, projects, phone calls, and whatever else your day throws at you, and the slower pace of evening.

Making time for meditation will eventually become habitual. How often do you forget to brush your teeth before bed? I’d wager not often, because you know it’s good for you and it’s ingrained in your nighttime routine. The goal is to make meditation as automatic as polishing those pearly whites.

Pitfall #2: Doubt.

This particularly devious pitfall can strike at any level at any time; even the best are not immune to this niggling little pest. Doubt conjures up thoughts like, Nothing is happening. Is this working? Am I meditating right? This is silly. What is supposed to be happening? Shouldn’t I be feeling something? I must be doing this wrong, and on and on and on. Doubt creates a cycle of self-sabotage in your mind and convinces you that meditation is the problem, not the solution, which is of course, absurd.

Solution #2: Be gentle with yourself.

Learning to meditate is not a race—there is no prize for getting to the finish line the fastest. In fact, there is no finish line. Meditation is a long-form art, a lifelong pursuit that can take some warming up to, but there’s no need to rush. Don’t beat yourself up if it feels like nothing is happening. Trust me, energy healing and emotional processing are taking place. Simply do the work: show up each day and sit, breathing, and do your best. Allow yourself the time to notice the benefits. Meditation will get easier the more you do it, so don’t let your doubts keep you from a practice that will change your life if you stick with it.

Pitfall #3: Physical discomfort.

Maybe once you’re sitting, you realize that your neck hurts from the computer or your back from driving so much. Maybe you just have trouble sitting still, your muscles tense and jittery, bouncing up and down or twitching. Whatever the source, it is not uncommon to feel some physical discomfort when you first start meditating. If you experience severe pain, you should see a professional to help determine if there are conditions that need to be addressed, but plain old restlessness or mild discomfort will resolve in time.

Solution #3: Focus on your mantra.

If you have a mantra to focus on, it will take you away from your body in just a few minutes. If you don’t you’ll want to get one from me – I’ll give you one calibrated to your energy field. https://deborahking.b.smartzsites.com/meditate After a while, sitting will become more comfortable, and your body will begin to associate relaxation with meditation.

Pitfall #4: Emotional discomfort.

Meditation connects you to the deeper levels of your psyche and can release emotions that have been previously kept under wraps. This is one of the reasons meditation is so complementary to energy healing, but when you hit one of those periods when feelings are flying to the surface every time you begin your practice, it can keep you from wanting to close your eyes and meditate.

Solution #4: Focus on your mantra.

During meditation, your job is to simply be. So instead of focusing on those emotional currents churning inside you, turn your attention toward your mantra. Be sure to journal about those feelings later, and be thankful for the opportunity to process your emotions. As you know, releasing old negative feelings is important for keeping your chakras and energy field clear, and meditation facilitates that healing process.

Pitfall #5: Giving up.

Your meditation can’t get better if you stop doing it! Just like you wouldn’t start an exercise routine and expect immediate results, you must give meditation time to effect change in your life. If you give up, you will miss out on all the amazing benefits of meditation.

Solution #5: Don’t give up!

I understand how frustrating it is to come up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles while trying to maintain your meditation practice, but don’t give up! Meditation is the most rewarding personal practice you can do. No other single activity can do so much to increase your all-around well-being as meditation. Keep at it and I promise, you’ll thank the universe you persevered.

To learn more meditation tools of the trade, please check out my meditation workshops and energy healing courses!

Is Less the New More When It Comes To Happiness?

nepai-woman

If you’re like most, your calendar rules your day—the beep of the alarm sets off a series of start and end times to your activities: work, gym, meetings, dinners, classes, appointments, etc., until you’re so booked up that you almost have to check your schedule to see when you have time to eat!

The Weight of Busy-ness It can be exhausting to feel like you never have any “free time.” Maybe you feel trapped between “pick up dry cleaning at 7 am” and “plan tomorrow’s meals before bed” and are beginning to feel like you are a robot programmed by your day planner. If so, the weight of your busy-ness may be affecting your ability to enjoy your time, and therefore your life. Not to mention the damage this type of go-go-go living can inflict on your chakras and your energy field.

No Watch, No Problem Not all cultures are as time-obsessed as we are, and those that aren’t, also tend to be happier. Coincidence? Hardly! People who live in places where kindness and selflessness are valued and acceptance is encouraged—where people don’t even own watches and would have no need for a calendar—experience an entirely different reality. They live each day fully in the present moment, appreciating what they have, and are consequently full of joy. During my years of studying with seers and holy men and women in order to become a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I was able to witness this sweeping joy in many non-western cultures. One experience that really stands out to me is my time with the Nepalese. My experience there was life-altering, and opened my eyes to the happiness that comes from letting go of time and just being present.

Heading up the Mountain My husband and I were experienced mountain climbers when we went to Nepal, and I’d done a considerable amount of third-world traveling, but Kathmandu seemed like a different world altogether when we arrived. Brightly colored prayer flags waved in the breeze above us, car horns blared, and food stands grilled food right there on the side of the road at the airport. From there, we hired a Sherpa (a mountain guide) and took the scariest plane ride of my life up to Lukla—with a pilot who took a big gulp of rum right before we took off and a terrifying landing in what I later learned was the airport rated the most dangerous in the world—and started our climb up the mountain.

Sleeping in Huts Full of Joy (and Yaks) We trekked during the day for seven or eight hours at a time and at night, we’d build camp to sleep a few hours before getting up to do it all again in the morning. If we stopped near a village, which was really usually just a three-hut settlement, we would ask the locals for a place to sleep. The people were warm, welcoming, and generous, often giving us their last two eggs or the potatoes they’d dug up that very day so that we could eat.

Infectious Smiles The huts were filled with thick black smoke from the cooking fire, and animals shared the space—yaks, goats and other creatures were treated as part of the family as their milk and wool were necessary for survival. Just as we would settle in to rest, the priest of the settlement would begin his vigil, praying and spinning a prayer wheel throughout the night. As you can guess, we didn’t sleep much, but were buoyed by the overwhelming sense of joy radiating from the people around us. I was in awe of the utter delight each person seemed to have in everything—the smiles on their faces were radiant and infectious.

Like Going Back in Time Water is so scarce in these villages that the people do not bathe or ever wash their hands, so you can imagine the risk. Water boiled at that high an altitude is not potable, and as Eric and I ate the generous offerings of the people, we also worried we would be infected with hepatitis. We did suffer from horrible dysentery, that went with the territory, and remember, there are no bathrooms. There were also no beds or chairs to sit on, no showers or soap; it was like going back in time. And yet, after just the first ten days in Nepal in these conditions, my sense of time expanded. I didn’t know or care what time or day it was and I suddenly felt freer than I’d ever felt. In my new state of being, I no longer worried about sanitation or comfort or lack of sleep—I was one hundred percent present in each moment as it passed. Then, I understood the joy of the Nepalese.

Fully Present and Altered While being fully present, I was attuned to the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, the feel of the wind on my cheeks, the mountain vistas that stretched for miles, the way the clouds tumbled below our peak, the thin air in my lungs, the warmth in my blood—everything was alive and shining and I felt the same joy I saw reflected in the faces of these mountain people. Despite the fear and discomfort during this trip, I knew even as I left that I had been blessed with profound lessons about simplicity, resilience, acceptance, surrender, and gratitude.

Less is More—Lack Turned into Gain The Nepalese seemingly had so much less than what I was used to in terms of food, water, shelter, and modern conveniences, but they had so much more freedom, appreciation, love, and yes, happiness. Despite the perceived lack, I actually found the Nepalese way of life more satisfying than life back home, and brought much of that attitude back with me. Namaste! In the US I was a true Westerner—“more, better, faster” was my mantra—but when I returned from Nepal, I had elevated my consciousness to a new level of understanding about being present, and how presence leads to gratitude, which leads to happiness. With this new perspective, I was able to become an energy healer and practice energy medicine with more purpose, clarity, and joy, and pass those same gains onto my students in my energy healing courses.

Deepening Gratitude So, if you want more happiness in your life, the answer is not to do more, but less, and to be thankful for the gifts you’ve been given. Spend a few minutes each day practicing just being—stare in awe at a beautiful sunset, sit with your eyes closed and listen to tree branches sway in the breeze, pay attention to the complex flavors of your meal, play a silly game with a friend or a child. Begin a daily routine of meditation quiet your mind and body, and deepen your gratitude. When you take the time to slow down, be in the moment, and appreciate what’s around you, no matter what it is, you can cultivate the joyfulness I witnessed in Nepal, and your smile, too, can become infectious. If you’re attracted to this kind of learning, Join Deborah for her new online video course, The Secrets of Chakra Wisdom. Click here to discover more about the

3 Important Tips for Talking About Your Gifts with Others

Imagine this scenario: you’re at a family gathering or a party with friends, and people are talking about their jobs and hobbies, as people do. When the conversation steers your way, you begin to tell them about your passion for energy healing, or your ability to connect with angels, or about meeting your higher self during meditation…but you stop just before the words leave your mouth. Why? Because you’re afraid of revealing a piece of yourself that may not be accepted by your family and friends.

Family, Meet Energy Healing

As a spiritual teacher and master energy healer, I have gotten many questions about how to broach the subject of energy healing with loved ones who are not studying it themselves. Depending on where your family and friends are on their personal spiritual journeys, you may find it difficult to tell them about your esoteric abilities all together! But as energy healing becomes a bigger part of your identity, it’s smart to consider how you will introduce them to this practice and its role in your life.

Growing the Light Inside of You

You are clearly on a spiritual journey—you wouldn’t be interested in energy medicine or reading this blog if you weren’t also interested in raising your consciousness and increasing your connection to Spirit. Perhaps you are working hard at your spiritual evolution like I did—taking in healing courses and workshops, maintaining a practice of daily meditation, studying with master healers and other spiritual teachers, processing old traumas, releasing negative energy, and clearing your chakras—all behaviors I encourage in order to make room for the light in you to grow.

It’s likely that as you’ve progressed through the levels of energy healing and reached higher levels of awareness, your spiritual gifts have appeared or strengthened. Maybe you’ve developed telepathy or the ability to astral travel, maybe your intuition has multiplied, or maybe you can speak with animals.

Great News is Meant to Be Spread

However energy medicine has helped you, whether through a physical, energetic, or emotional healing, or through the deepened connection to your guides, your higher self, and Source, I bet you want to share all the amazing benefits you’ve experienced! The positive outcomes of energy healing, healing courses, and meditation, and the incredible shifts you’ve already felt in your mind, body, and soul, are definitely worth talking about! You’ve experienced how energy medicine changes lives, yet you may still feel hesitant when discussing your esoteric gifts and interests with others.

You Can Only Walk Your Own Path

And not without reason. Our personal challenge as spiritual teachers, leaders, and healing practitioners is that energy medicine has some skeptics out there that we may have to face, and one of those skeptics may be someone you care about. Of course, it’s important to understand that there is nothing wrong with your friend or family member having an opinion that differs from yours. As you raise your consciousness, it becomes easier to accept that each person must walk their own path, even if it’s not the path you would choose.

So if your loved one is traveling a path that looks like an alien landscape to you, how can you open up about your spiritual talents and the transformations you’ve experienced?

Here are a few tips I’ve found to be helpful:

Be authentically you.

If you act out of love and are guided by a developed intuition and your higher self, you will become a beacon of light, a shining example of how life can be lived, and people will notice. Through meditation and energy healing you may have acquired a calmer, more patient demeanor, or a broader, more compassionate perspective, or a lightness in your body and your soul that you will demonstrate simply by living your truth. People will be attracted to your new positive energy, and will begin to ask you what you’re doing that is making you look and feel so great.

Share by example.

The best way to lead is not by force, but by example. When your best friend asks you how you seem to have so much more energy lately or your coworkers comment that you are handling stress so much better these days, this gives you the in you need to mention energy healing or your other spiritual practice or abilities without offending or pushing it. When you allow someone to approach you first, they will be excited to learn your secrets and more receptive to any concepts or practices you’d like to share. Just like you can’t force someone to heal if they don’t truly want to, your loved ones need to be in a space to welcome the information or it will fall on deaf ears.

Internal validation trumps external responses.

It is wonderful when your friends and family accept your spiritual gifts without blinking an eye, and sharing your discovery of energy healing, its benefits, and any other abilities you’ve developed is part of being a light worker. But don’t forget where the real validation comes from: within you, from your higher self and from Spirit.

No matter how your family and friends react to your esoteric skill set and interests, their feelings do not in any way diminish or devalue your gifts or the personal transformations you’ve made and will continue to make. Regardless of who recognizes it, you are part of a spiritual revolution that is helping to raise the consciousness of this planet, so keep your head held high. Know that your higher self and Source are proud of you for being who you are and walking this path of light.

Search..

Deborah King