Breast Cancer

An Alternative Approach to Breast Cancer

by Energy HealingFeaturedWomen

Women are afraid of breast cancer, and rightly so. In the U.S. today, women have a “1 in 8” lifetime risk of getting diagnosed. Who these days doesn’t know several friends or relatives who have had some form of the disease, ranging from early stage DCIS to stage four metastatic breast cancer? I know quite a few of my students who have been through this difficult experience. So let’s talk about the field of energy medicine for women who are dealing with breast cancer.

I have always believed that when you have been diagnosed with cancer, you need everyone on your team—your oncologist, surgeon, radiation oncologist, and other medical personnel—along with practitioners of whatever complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments work most effectively for you. As a spiritual teacher, I highly recommend the supportive measure I believe is vital for dealing with breast cancer treatment, recovery, and prevention of recurrence: a strong, daily meditation program.

There is a lot happening on the alternative (CAM) front these days. One of the encouraging developments is that there are more “integrative oncologists.” These are the doctors who go beyond the standard Western medical care by combining the best of conventional and alternative treatments. While still utilizing surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy (often administered in very different ways than usual), these docs include lifestyle evaluations, recommendations for specific botanicals and supplements to bring the whole body to a better state of health, exercise, and the inclusion of treatments like energy healing, meditation, acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, therapeutic massage, biofeedback, yoga, tai chi, and the expressive arts.

Integrative doctors and CAM practitioners use protocols that are based on the idea that attacking the tumor with the traditional “cut-burn-poison” approach is frequently not enough. They understand the importance of bringing mind-body-spirit into harmony, and relieving the chronic stress that so many live with—stress that promotes inflammation, which is at the root of almost all chronic disease, impacts your “terrain” (the biochemical environment inside your body), and dampens the immune system and body mechanisms that can fight off cancer cells. Toxic exposures from all the hormone-disrupting chemicals in our food and water, plastics, and pollutants in water and air eventually damage genes that can then become cancerous. So these practitioners aim to bolster your immune system and lessen inflammation, while understanding that we are all unique and need individualized healing plans.

Over the last 15 years, almost every major city mainstream hospital, such as MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City, and UC Simms/Mann Center for Integrative Oncology in L.A., has launched integrative programs. To find a cancer center that provides CAM treatments by practitioners trained in cancer care, go to https://fonconsulting.com/resources/integrative-oncology-centers/. When one of my friends was dealing with breast cancer, she went to the Sari Asher Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Palm Beach and was amazed to find a (female) massage therapist who was trained to work directly on her breast to reduce scar tissue after a lumpectomy and radiation.

There are also annual conferences that focus on integrative therapies. The Annie Appleseed Project (https://annieappleseedproject.org), for example, hosts an annual evidence-based complementary/alternative cancer therapies conference that provides outstanding information to practitioners and patients about new possibilities for surviving and beating cancer (and they serve only organic food).

Many of the complementary and alternative treatments are forms of holistic medicine, often based on the wisdom of ancient medical systems, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (which includes acupuncture, tai chi, qigong, herbs, and massage); ayurvedic medicine (stemming from the ancient Indian Vedas); indigenous healing methods; and naturopathy and homeopathy.

If whole-person integrative medicine is to become the new standard of care, and all of us involved in energy medicine certainly hope this happens, there is a lot to be done before most doctors and patients understand its potential. Of course, the biggest problem with CAM treatments is that most integrative services are not YET covered by insurance. But the tide is turning. Kaiser Permanente recently started to offer coverage for acupuncture, chiropractic, and other CAM treatments.

With breast cancer rates in the U.S. predicted to soar 50% by 20301, it’s more important than ever that energy healing is included in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

[1] https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/breast-forecast

Cathy Gabrielsen PTSD Blog

5 steps to heal PTSD

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedTrauma and Violence

Guest blog by Cathy Gabrielsen

Cathy Gabrielsen

When I start asking over and over again if I am OK, if the situation is OK, if the kids, the weather, the roads, are OK, then I am headed for a PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) episode. When I repeatedly ask if you are OK, if you are sick, if your partner or your kids are sick, then I am PTSD. I need constant reassurance that everything is OK. Because a few times in my life, things were definitely not OK.

I am a regular person: a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend. I am just like you, except I was in a war. The war I survived wasn’t on a distant battlefield; instead, it was right here, close to home. Our traumas, our triggers are all unique, but the effects of PTSD are all eerily similar.

One of the many significant challenges of PTSD was the not knowing. Not knowing when I might be triggered, not knowing how long the episode might last, and not knowing how severe it might be. This not knowing was crippling for me. In one moment I was perfectly fine, and the next, I was in a haze, suddenly feeling like I had just time-traveled, I was in this bubble alone, and then came the fear, the shaking, the paranoia, and the tears of despair. What was beginning to surface were emotions from old traumas that were stored deep within me. Trauma like having had my high school boyfriend nearly die in front of me, never to recover; trauma from having had cancer as a young mother, and who knows how many other traumas. Day by day, a part of an old wound would resurface and I would suddenly go PTSD.

To this day, I will never know why the emotions came on the days they did. To this day, I will never remember how long those moments were – if they lasted minutes, hours or days. The only thing I remember is how I felt. What I did not know was that it was pure fear, fear of the remembering and fear of the re-experiencing, as if it were the first time.

But those terrorizing moments, days, weeks, when I was in PTSD eventually passed. It was in those moments when I felt free that I began to get the clarity I needed. Those moments of clarity were the beginning of my surviving PTSD.

On the days I was clear, I talked to my doctor, and I always took the medication, but what I also did was to search for additional ways to heal. I found meditation and energy healing, practices that created a safe space for me to heal. I started to integrate these alternative modalities into my day, in addition to the steps set in place by medical professionals.

It has been over a year and a half since my last PTSD. I am well, I am free of the past, and I have moved on to a better place. I let go of the experience, I put it down as a step on my path to healing, with the intention of never seeing it again.

During the time of struggle, my family was deeply affected by my experiences and pain. They were at a loss, never knowing what to do. Emotions are contagious. When happiness is around us, we are happy, when stress or anger are close to our personal space, we feel it. When I was in PTSD, so was my family to a degree, they saw it, and they felt it even if they didn’t name it. I can remember listening to my husband on the phone, whispering to my doctor, asking questions, for which there were no real answers.

What I found in my search for true emotional and physical wellness, was that healing had to start and end with me. What I encourage family members to do is be a part of the healing plan. Start to incorporate some of the suggestions below into your life too. The fear is real in a person struggling with PTSD, and the concern of living with someone in PTSD is real, in the family members and friends, who witness and love someone through it.

True healing from PTSD is about getting the fear out of your body and out of your energy field. I am no longer taking any medication; I continue with meditation and energy healing and other alternative modalities to stay well. I strongly suggest you follow doctor’s orders while incorporating the following steps into your day-to-day plan, and hopefully, you too will find peace and wholeness.

How I healed from PTSD and how you can too:

  1. Connect. A connection to Source is a path to healing PTSD. The greatest healing will come with a meditation practice. Take the time to connect to a deeper part of yourself and a higher Source of power through prayer and meditation. Connect not only with yourself but with others. Make a list of people who you can call or talk to when you are struggling and reach out to them when you need to. Developing a connection, or a deeper connection with animals and nature is also very healing. Take a silent walk outdoors, keep the phone off and allow yourself to be present. Put your feet on the ground and feel rooted into the ground. If you can’t get outside, look outside and feel the beauty and peace all around.
  2. Awareness. Discover how you feel. Spend time alone, be contemplative, and write what you are thinking; soon you will discover why you feel the way you do. Take the time to become aware of what brings you joy. Find joy in a new activity, something you have always wanted or dreamed of doing, try something new and in the outdoors! Find something that brings you joy, like that perfect sunrise or new flower in bloom.
  3. Walk away. When you find yourself relieving the trauma, or are in the anxious/panic moment, imagine you are walking away from it. There is no help in reliving it or re-experiencing the event; that will do no good. Intend to put the event in your hands, the whole experience, imagine putting it on the side of the road, or in the trash can, or give it to an angel to carry away to the light, but get rid of it so you can move on without it.
  4. Communicate. Get yourself a small notebook, write the truth about how you feel, what you want to let go of, and keep writing. You may not know why you feel the way you do, but communicate what it is you feel, then let it go.
  5. Be Positive. People with PTSD can experience the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the experiences as if they are happening again at that very moment. As you heal, make a note of what positive experiences you have had. Just ask someone you love to describe the person you have become and write the words down. Somehow, I became better for having experienced the worst, and so can you.

Healing began with me by connecting to a higher power through meditation and prayer, by engaging in energy healing, and by grounding myself in nature. I became aware of my feelings, so I could recognize when it was time to walk away from the fear. I also began to communicate in ways I had never done before. And finally, I exchanged joy for fear, seeing a life free of PTSD and full of positive possibilities.

Healing from PTSD is possible – I know, because I healed. You can too!

A speaker, writer, and practitioner in the energy healing field, Cathy Gabrielsen is a LifeForce Energy Healing® Graduate. Her Grabrielsen Healing Center is located in West Chester, PA and provides both individual and group services.

Lying hurts us

Lying: what it does to us (nothing good)

by Energy HealingFeaturedTruth Heals

Lying is in the headlines today, but make no mistake, it’s hardly breaking news. A culture of lying and the devaluation of truth has been evolving for a long time. We’re in the midst of a war on truth and the collateral damage is devastating to us all.

As a spiritual teacher, I’ve been addressing lying for years, even writing a bestseller on that very topic in what now seems like a lifetime ago (how much has changed in the past 10 years!) – Truth Heals: What You Hide Can Hurt You (Hay House, February 2009).

How does lying affect us? Lies have a severe and negative impact on our personal energy field (our chakras) and our bodies, not to mention our souls. We all know the self-inflicted consequences of what we bring down upon ourselves, the emotional and physical damage, when we deny the truth.

On the flip side, once we get in touch with it, the truth has an amazing ability to heal us.

This was my own startling discovery back in my 20’s, when I had cancer. As soon as I was willing to look in the mirror and admit, at least to myself, the sexual assaults I had endured, I started to heal – I could actually feel it happening, right in my own body, in real time. Pretty exciting! Once I fell back in love with the truth, I started spreading it everywhere, and it’s contagious – pretty soon, others around you start using the truth as their set point too.

I wrote Truth Heals to help people understand how important it is to find their own truth, and to stop living the lies that are holding them back. As I have long taught, it’s the lies we tell ourselves that do the most damage. And as former FBI chief, James Comey, tweeted recently, “small lies matter.” Indeed.

As you work to become more aware of your own truth, you can (simultaneously) work on refining your ability to discern if others are truth-telling. You have the power within you to turn on your own personal lie detector. In your interactions with others, even when watching someone on TV, your body tells you when someone is lying, you sense it in your gut. Listen to that little voice and trust your intuition. Learn to read other people and see beyond their words to what their body language, from posture, to fiddling, to facial expressions, is telling you. Learn what eyes are telling you without ever uttering a word and understand the difference between occasions when someone looks you in the eyes and those times when they are unwilling to meet your eyes. Identify what it means when a smile never reaches the eyes, because when that happens, the smile isn’t coming from anywhere trustworthy.

We live in a troubled and deeply divided time. It’s the age of He Said, She Said, and #MeToo, when major newspapers track politicians’ failure to speak the truth with daily scores. At the same time, the media we depend on for the truth and the institutions we’ve always relied upon to protect it, are now under attack.

What’s critical to understand is that today, more than ever, given the political environment where lying has been weaponized in high places, we must look beyond politics to understand the effect of lies and the war on truth upon us as human beings.

Whatever your politics, I’ll leave you with something that is accessible, positive, and hopeful:

The wisest and healthiest course is to rise above and rediscover the importance and healing power of truth in your personal life, so that you send out a ripple of truthfulness to all those around you. You can prove that “truth heals” and start a revolution.

Harvest Moon

The Night of the Harvest Moon

by Astrological EventsEnergy HealingFeaturedLunar

INDULGE IN THE HEALING LUNAR ENERGY

Weather permitting, don’t miss your chance to experience an amazing annual event that takes place tonight. Just after sunset the moon will be magically transformed into a giant ball of glorious orange gracing the night sky.

Lunar Energy is a powerful source of energy healing, and a full moon is a perfect opportunity to activate your chakras. This Harvest Moon may well be the best of all.

With its unique properties, the moon has been endowed with names to capture its monthly lunar transition. For me, nothing quite compares to the Harvest Moon. I hope you’ll take advantage of this rare and wondrous opportunity to join me in meditation under its glow.

A Time to Recharge and Reflect

Harvest Moon is the name given the full moon that is closest to the Autumnal Equinox that occurred just a couple of days ago, this past Saturday. Year to year, it can be up to two weeks before or after, and while the Harvest Moon typically is in September, it can also happen in early October.

What’s unique is that unlike any other time of year, for a few special nights the moon rises earlier than usual, just after sunset, giving you a perfect evening of moon gazing.

We’re treated to a visual feast and a spiritual reawakening all in one.

For a spiritual teacher, it’s hard to ask for more.

Why the Harvest Moon is Special

This is the night sky at its most romantic and dramatic, affording us a connection with the fullness of the season and the bounties of the earth. Since ancient times, the Harvest Moon has been revered and central to our celebration of the seasonal harvest traditions timelessly binding our cultural and spiritual fabric.

This annual celestial event is one of nature’s great visual displays but what we see only hints at the role it has played in different cultures around the world.

Celebrated Since Ancient Times

In the Northern Hemisphere, it signals the beginning of autumn. Many believe the origins of the Harvest Moon date back to Europe in the 700s. In the centuries since, observances and cultural traditions have been recounted around the world. Two are particularly intriguing.

In China the Harvest Moon is celebrated with a festival where games are played and delicious treats, ‘mooncakes’, are enjoyed. Due to calendar differences, the Chinese call it the ‘August’ Moon.

In America, the Algonquin Indians, among other indigenous tribes, not only celebrated the Harvest Moon but put its unusual brightness to work. Like Mother Nature’s flashlight, they used its light to harvest crops well into the night.

One of Nature’s Optical Illusions

What we see is bigger and bolder than usual, and the moon’s surface appears warmer and a vibrant orange. An optical illusion that is the result of the moon’s positioning, the Harvest Moon’s remarkable brightness occurs because we’re viewing it through the lower, and thicker, part of atmosphere.

While the moon’s color is inarguably more intense, and it appears larger and warmer, as it rises through the night, the moon will appear smaller and cooler.

Upcoming Lunar Events

For those of you who like to plan ahead, a truly rare event is when the Harvest Moon falls on the night of the Autumnal Equinox. This wont won’t again until 2029, but let’s start planning now!

Next up, however, and usually in October as it is this year, is the Hunter’s Moon; the first full moon after the Harvest Moon. It also features unique color, this time red, not orange, and it’s known as a Blood or Sanguine Moon.

Get Out and Experience It

Wherever you are, I urge you to get outside, even if just for a few minutes, and bask in the lunar energy on display and become part of a celestial event celebrated around the world for millennia.

And no worries of you miss it tonight – there are encore performances for a few nights after that are nearly as spectacular.

Worldwide traditions transcending our differences and bringing us together like these should be cherished, so I offer three words of advice:

Sit. Meditate. Enjoy.

That’s what I’ll be doing.

Separated by the miles, we’ll be together in spirit.

Deborah

2018-MeTooBrettBlog

#MeTooBrett

by FeaturedWomen

It was less than two weeks ago, in an Open Letter to Senators Collins and Murkowski, that I voiced legitimate concerns about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.

I was uncomfortable with the rushed process, skeptical of too many documents not made available, and afraid that Kavanaugh’s true position on the rights of women would prove disastrous for future generations.

But in the past week, a letter was introduced from Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist and professor. Ms. Blasey, in an interview published in a recent Washington Post article, tells of a sexual assault by the nominee in 1982. She was a child of 15, Kavanaugh a young man of 17, and in her own words admitted that the event “derailed [her] substantially.” Nothing like thinking you are going to be asphyxiated to get the adrenaline going.

Naturally, Brett denies, denies, denies. That’s standard behavior, coming from the top political figures on down.

I believe Blasey. Her behavior is typical of a young girl who blames herself when she is assaulted by a man; the last thing she thinks of doing is telling anyone, least of all, her parents. How will she explain her presence at a drunken party? And like me, another survivor of sexual assault, she didn’t work up the courage to tell anyone until she was much, much older; like Blasey, I finally told my husband and my therapist when we had been married many years.

I wasn’t surprised by the response of the other man in the room during the attempted rape – Mark Judge – who first claimed he didn’t recall, then denied it, then switched his story back to not recalling. After all, he’s the guy who wrote a book about his teenage alcoholism, including a chapter on his friend who also drank too much entitled “Bart O’Kavanaugh.” How telling.

For the Committee to fairly evaluate Ms. Blasey’s statement, they will need the FBI to investigate and have experts assist them. Instead, they have scheduled a hearing a week away to question her, clearly not enough time for the necessary investigation to take place first. Sounds chillingly like the Anita Hill hearings, yet, we are light years from those days. This is post #MeToo, gentlemen of the Committee, there are a lot of us women watching you.

Senators and Representatives of both parties need to find the courage to stand up and do this right.

The stakes are big.

Women’s Rights.

Due Process.

Fairness.

Truth.

Anita Hill was ignored over two decades ago.

The Access Hollywood tape and the twenty accusers it unleashed were ignored two years ago.

#MeToo changed all that in ways that put the rights of women and all people first.

This time, let’s get it right.

Limiting Beliefs

Heal Your Limiting Beliefs (But First Discover Them!)

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedHealthLife CoachingSelf Love

Do you ever feel like you are running in place instead of moving toward your goals and dreams? Like you’re pounding away on a hidden treadmill going nowhere. Clearly, something is holding you back, when your path seems to be blocked, and chances, you are blocked by limiting beliefs you don’t even know you have.

What’s a Limiting Belief? 

Just like 15th-century Europeans who believed that the earth was flat, you may have unexamined beliefs that are incorrect. Such beliefs may be limiting you, holding you back—especially those that stem from fear-based thinking. Fear is always limiting, as opposed to opening, expanding and freeing. When you start to look closely at your personal beliefs, you may be surprised to find that some actually close doors rather than open them. Limiting beliefs can stifle your vision, your potential, and your power. You won’t set sail to explore the world if you’re afraid you might fall off the edge.

Where Do Your Beliefs Come From?

Typically, your most important beliefs are unconscious. You haven’t examined them because you don’t even realize they exist. Over 90 percent of your core beliefs originated in childhood, coming from your parents or caregivers, school, and culture. These subconscious views run the greater part of your life and shape your potential to be happy or unhappy, rich or poor, healthy or not so much. You have inherited what you believe, most of which is unconscious, and all of it dramatically influences your life.

Do You Know What You Believe?

Questioning your beliefs is an exercise well worth the effort. It’s part of the process of self-discovery needed for spiritual growth and healing. It will free you from all kinds of limitations in life, including fear and living according to what’s right for someone else but not for you. You’ll want to ask yourself: “Where did this belief come from?” and “Does it still work for me, or is it limiting me in some way?” If you think that an idea no longer fits you, ask yourself what might suit you better.

Here are some of the personal “belief” areas you’ll want to examine:

Religion – this is usually the primary limitation for people when they want to expand their consciousness. What, if any, childhood faith were you raised in? Do you believe in the tenets of that faith now? Do you practice them? Are they fear-based? Are you aware of unconscious beliefs from your early education about religion that may be negatively affecting your life today? Also, consider your beliefs about the religions of others. Do you automatically reject others or their thinking because their religion is different from yours, even if you give only lip service to your own?

Politics – So many people automatically exclude everything from the “other side,” assuming that no good can possibly come from it. Do you automatically decide that everyone who opposes your viewpoint is 100 percent wrong? How much do you expose yourself to the beliefs of the other camp? If very strong feelings arise when you look at this area of belief, consider it closely and make sure that love and not fear is ruling your outlook.

Social Values – Where do you stand on the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies, the death penalty, gay marriage, social welfare programs, and other important topics? I always try to read well-written pieces on both sides of every issue and then consciously recheck my position. Have you thought through your own views on these issues recently, or do you automatically determine that there can be nothing of merit on the other side?

Race – We’d all like to think that we’re blind to skin color, but the truth is that we inherit racial prejudices from our family of origin, our schools, and our country—and these are very hard to delete. Bring your feelings into the light and really examine them.

Money – I can almost guarantee that if you have money problem, they can be traced back to certain beliefs you inherited from your family of origin. What are your beliefs about abundance and your own relationship to it?

Relationships – What subliminal or even overt messages did your mother and father give you about interpersonal relationships? How healthy is your relationship to yourself? Is your self-talk positive and empowering? Do you believe in your worthiness and potential? What about your relationship with a significant other?

Why Is It Vital to Question Your Beliefs?

Most of your preconceived beliefs are unconscious unless you make the effort to shift them into your awareness. Here’s why it’s important to bring all of them into your consciousness:

  1. Your unconscious beliefs may inhibit you from becoming all that you are meant to be. It’s nearly impossible to expand and grow, to take in new information and make new choices, when you are confined to operating solely according to preexisting ideas.
  2. If you want to work comfortably with others, you’ll need to be able to accept their beliefs and treat them with the same respect you would your own.
  3. A person with a lot of fixed beliefs is acting from fear. Being afraid to give serious thought to the activities and opinions of others means that you are judging them without really giving their ideas your full consideration.

To free yourself from limiting beliefs that keep you “running in place” instead of growing into your greatest good, give some thought to your beliefs. Find out where you really stand. Free yourself to be open-minded and self-determined, think what you want to think, be in the driver’s seat of your own consciousness!

Open Letter to Senators

An Open Letter to Senators Collins and Murkowski

by FeaturedWomen

BEFORE KAVANAUGH TAKES US IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

 

Dear Senators Collins and Murkowski,

Allow me to first thank you for your good work, not just for your constituents, but for all citizens and people of the earth. Watching the Kavanaugh hearings in some ways makes clear the challenges and grave responsibilities that you, as members of Congress, have in the process of a Supreme Court confirmation. Our future is in your hands.

My thoughts today are not political, but rather human. My priorities are the greater good for all women and men. And as an attorney, lifelong student of the Constitution, and these days, a spiritual teacher, I am very worried about where we are heading.

I am writing on behalf of a minority – not the blue minority, but the pink one. Women, despite the strides of recent years, face a most horrific prospect of rolling back the clock in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. I believe that by proceeding without a deeper understanding of Judge Kavanaugh’s views, women may be irreparably damaged.

You two Senators have the power to safeguard our future and I pray you do the right thing and vote against this nomination.

It may seem unfair that the future of so many of us is laid at your feet, but leaders of all persuasions attest to the strength of those called upon in such trying circumstances. I have every confidence the two of you will find the courage to do the right thing, because the wrong thing has incomprehensible consequences for present and future generations.

At stake are the rights of women to make reproductive health decisions. Decades ago, the Supreme Court wisely decided in Roe vs. Wade to right an ancient wrong that previously took from women the right to determine the fate of their own bodies. Returning to a primitive state of governmental interference would be cruel and unusual punishment for all, both women and men. It would not only vacate the great strides forward, but trivialize the struggle to get there, and ignore how far there is yet to go.

Contemplating such a horrific step backward offers a chilling view of a future far less than our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and their daughters deserve. It’s never a question of our own personal beliefs about the right or wrong of abortion – rather, it can only be the question of a woman’s right to choose what’s right for her.

Note that this isn’t solely a female issue, but more appropriately a human issue.

We really are in this together: it’s not just about the rights of women, because the welfare of women affects everyone, women and men. Every man has a mother, and often a wife or female partner, sisters, aunts, cousins and nieces, grandmothers and granddaughters.

When your fellow Senators asked Judge Kavanaugh if he knew of a law that controlled men’s bodies, it came as no surprise that he did not. The historical inequality of the sexes made that not just unlikely but unimaginable.

Judge Kavanaugh’s face said so much more without him saying a word. Unspoken was the sense he viewed the question as frivolous, indeed, irrelevant.

There are no such similar laws impinging the freedom of men over their bodies, of course, and there never will be legal limitations for men of the type that women have lived with for eons. Roe’s role in the first stages of shedding that yoke was a landmark moment in human history.

Equally disturbing was Judge Kavanaugh’s use of the term “abortion-inducing drugs,” to refer to contraceptives. Like many others, I was horrified by his use of a term that is patently incorrect in terms of biology, and a term that screams anti-science and anti-choice. The defense that he was simply quoting from the parties’ language in the lawsuit in question did not go very far in convincing me that he had chose those words for a legal reason – it seemed far more likely he chose those words because he was personally comfortable with them.

A quick look online reveals that Kavanaugh has the most or second-most conservative voting record ever on the D. C. Court on every policy issue. He does not appear to be the kind of thoughtful, centrist figure we want Congress to select to make important policy decisions for us all, whatever our own personal political position.

More troubling, it appears Judge Kavanaugh’s beliefs are being deliberately hidden from the committee and the public in this hurried process to place him on the Court. This is not an accident, it’s by design, evidenced by over a hundred thousand unreleased documents. Clearly, there is something afoot here.

Beyond politics is fairness and by any objective measure, this process has been rushed, cloaked in secrecy, and politically motivated. In that spirit, the judge’s responses are less revealing than his lack of responses – whether about Roe or self-pardon of a President, there is ample evidence to wonder about the wisdom of a lifetime appointment in these extraordinary circumstances.

The fear consuming us today is not of party, but of principle. The greater good cannot become political collateral damage. Aspiring to our better natures knows no party. It isn’t limited to gender, and a lifetime appointment should not be guided by the shortsighted expediency of settling for less and, inarguably, should not be made by a leader potentially appointing his own judge.

Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski, you must find the courage to stand in your own integrity, free of partisan influence; the fate, the health, and the well-being of all of us, both women and men, are in your hands. Reproductive rights are human rights, and human rights are blind to party and indifferent to gender.

You have the rare opportunity and privilege to draw a line in the sand of epic proportion.

Refusing to settle for less than America’s best is surely the way to sustain her greatness. We deserve a nominee more in the mainstream of public thought; the current nominee could not be farther from the center; his record speaks volume.

Few of us in life have the power to do so much, for so many, as you two have today.

May you find the peace, guidance, and courage required to honor our trust in you.

Respectfully,

Deborah King

Attorney, spiritual teacher, and New York Times bestselling author

Blackkklansman

BlacKkKlansman Review

by AdvocacyFeaturedMovie ReviewsSocialSocial Activism

It’s summertime (still!) and a great time to catch a fun movie: director Spike Lee really hits an all-time high with his BlacKkKlansman, now at a Cineplex near you. Bringing home once again that old saw that truth is stranger than fiction, the film tells the story of Ron Stallworth, played by John Davis Washington – who, back in the 70’s, becomes the first black cop in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Even more improbable, when Ron gets bored working in the records department, he manages to talk his way into a job undercover, and infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. Sounds wild and it is!

I promise, you will not be bored: it starts off with a clip from Gone with the Wind (my favorite book and film as a child) revering the Confederate flag, and moves on to Alec Baldwin delivering a white supremacist tirade. It’s a dramedy of the highest order: be prepared to both laugh your head off and boil in anger all at the same time as you roll along with Ron and his sidekick, Jewish cop Flip Zimmerman, brilliantly played by Adam Driver. (It’s pretty hard to watch Driver without laughing, no matter the role).

Officer Stallworth manages to strike up a phone acquaintance with none other than the infamous David Duke, head of the White Nationalists, and incredibly creepy in his suit and tie and normalness. You’d think the whole thing just too ridiculous if the image of a group of angry young white men marching with torches and shouting “Jews will not replace us” wasn’t seared in your memory from just last summer.

 

The movie runs pell-mell to an incredible climax, again, truth way stranger than any fiction could be written; you will not believe your eyes.

I suppose I could find fault in some of the film’s timing – it’s a little uneven – but hey, I enjoyed it way too much for that. It is truly one of the best films of this year – it’s the work of a cinema giant. As I walked out I turned to the man next to me and blurted out “I’ve got to do more!” and he said “me too!” Go see the film and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about – you’ll want to do more too!

Full moon in August

Full Moon in August: Celebrate the Gift of Plenty

by Energy HealingFeaturedGiftsGratitudeHealthSelf Love

Looking for a sign to guide you toward greater spiritual awakening and growth? This coming Sunday, August 26, the night sky will present you with a powerful opportunity to be awed, inspired, and taken to the next level! The full moon this week is capturing your attention reminding you of the eternal cycle of change and transformation that you are a part of. Ancient cultures used the moon’s movement to mark the seasons and guide their activities. You can use this same celestial energy to connect to your 8th chakra and above and to shine a light on your path.

Sit outside with as much skin uncovered to the moon as possible this week, to absorb its light. Then, this weekend, grab a blanket or sleeping bag and join me on your deck or in your back yard; this is THE month to sleep outside. Watch for falling stars, frequent in August!

What the August Full Moon Tells You

In Native American tradition, the August full moon is called “the Sturgeon Moon,” “the Green Corn Moon,” “the Grain Moon,” or, for the Dakota Sioux, “the Moon When All Things Ripen.” For tribes near the Great Lakes, the “Sturgeon Moon” marks the time when the large, prehistoric sturgeon fish is most plentiful and most easily caught. For all of us, the meaning of the August full moon is “plenty,” a time when the life-giving essentials of the Earth come forth.

There are questions you can ask in this time “when all things ripen” to help you heal and grow in mind, body, and spirit. The concept of “plenty” has important spiritual significance. It has brought life to humankind from the beginning and defined our relationship with the Universe. What does faith in the “plenty” of our world mean? What we believe about the Source of our plenty and our relationship to Source and to one another guides our lives. Now is the perfect time to explore what seeds have ripened in your life this season, what is plentiful, and how you have responded.

Full Moon Beams Power

You can use the illumination of the full moon to cast light on inner things, to help you look at your inner world of emotions, worries and anxieties, dreams, and unconscious beliefs. You can draw on full moon energy to explore and evaluate your goals and your ambitions in the window of moonlight. Remember that full moon energy amplifies your emotions and magnifies what is going on within. Look closely and learn. You can use the following questions to discover what the August moon’s promise of plenty means to you:

How do you define plenty?

For the Native fishermen of the Great Lakes, a bountiful catch of sturgeon signified plenty. Life depended on the gifts of the waters, the land, and the sky. What does plenty look like for you? Is it health, attractiveness, money, friends, career opportunities, achievements, faith? How does plenty make you feel and why?

What seems to be lacking in your life?

It may be that a sense of plenty escapes you. If you have a feeling of lack, try to determine what you think is missing. Do you see plenty somewhere other than where you are right now? See if you can find the origins of lack in your life. What exactly do you feel is “not enough”?

What has ripened for you in the current season?

Have you achieved a goal you were working toward? Did you set out to achieve something that has now come to you? If you have, how has it affected your feelings of plenty and/or lack in your life? 

How does it feel to be on your present path?

Your present life has grown from your past choices, hopes, dreams, and actions. Do you feel like your current path is the right one for you? Do you feel confident and inspired? If not, why not? How would it feel to revisit your choices? 

How have you shown gratitude for the plenty in your life?

Whether your heart swells with a feeling of plenty or you feel you could be on firmer ground, you have grounds for gratitude. The freedom, the energy, and the willingness to examine your inner self is something to be grateful for. Nothing empowers you like taking time to look within and seeing the gift that is your life. Make a gratitude list and be sure to include your power to recognize plenty and share it with the world.

Spending time with these questions brings comforting knowledge of who you really are and why you are here. Self-discovery brings peace, joy, and a sense of what is possible for you in the new span of days opening before you.

May the full Sturgeon Moon bring you a new sense of plenty and a new awareness of the miracle that is you. And may you be blessed with the radiance of healing moonlight on the evening of Sunday, August 26. See you outside next Sunday!

Happy energetic group

Your energy matters

by ChakrasEnergy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedGratitudeHealthMeditationSelf Love

Have you ever noticed the power of your smile? How different does it feel when you walk onto a crowded elevator with a smile instead of a look of irritation? Your smile is evidence of positive energy shining forth—sending waves of peace, tolerance, hope, and comfort into the world. Does it really matter whether you cultivate positive energy and project it forth? Nothing could be more important. Our world’s wellness depends on the kind of energy you contribute.

Energy Matters

In an energy-driven universe, we are givers and receivers. We are conduits of energy and we can decide what kind of energy we take in and give out. The news tells us the world is hurting. Too much hatred, anger, fear, greed, mistrust, incivility, rudeness, and selfishness have been going unchecked. And the greatest of these is fear—fear of not being enough, not having enough, fear that there isn’t enough.The good news is that individually and together we can use our positive energy to counter this absence of love.

I think of Rumi’s call to action: “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.” Ask yourself what energy you are you sending forth into the world. Do you bring light? Do you focus on love and unity? How do you present yourself to the world—your face, your body language, your words? What are your rules of engagement—-kindness, courtesy, laughter, openness, curiosity, respect, love?

You have the power to heal the world with your energy. You can change your energy, grow it, cleanse it, clear it! Here are five essential healing energies you can work with:

Compassionate Energy

The power to love and care for one another may seem to come naturally, but actually it is a learned behavior that is modeled for us. We love because we are loved and we know how love feels. Each day you can model compassion by consciously sending loving energy to the people you meet.

Creative Energy

Did you know you are a creative genius? The power to dream, imagine, invent, and build is part of who you are. With our creative gifts, we humans can envision a hopeful, sustainable future and travel there together. You bring joy to the world each day that you work, play, dance, sing, play music, write, paint, design, have fun, or teach someone else to do the same.

Courageous Energy

Every day that you spend living in faith rather than wringing your hands in fear is a great day for the world. Believing in a benevolent universe and a positive future takes courage. Being a role model for faith in the ever-present goodness can help heal the world. Be one of those who appreciates the good, who smells the rose, pets the dog, and shares a laugh at every opportunity.

Cooperative Energy

Can you imagine a world where cooperation—not competition—is the rule of the day? There is too much emphasis on who wins and who loses. Cooperation allows everyone to bring their gifts to the table. We can begin by choosing cooperation over competition at every opportunity.

Connective Energy

Quantum physics has confirmed what traditional wisdom has always told us. We are one unified energy field. When a tree falls in the forest, not only is there a sound but the air quality on the other side of the globe is diminished. We are connected and what affects one, affects us all. Unity is our foundation. Whatever you can do to strengthen your connection—to Source, to the natural world, to your fellow humans—do it today. Smiling at those people in the elevator blesses us all!

Checking in with your energy

Checking In with Your Energy

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedMeditation

Every year when vacation season arrives, you can’t miss the “Summer Reading” ideas that pop up in newspapers and magazines, bookstores and libraries. Figuring that you are going to have lots of time on your hands as you bask on the beach, makers of summer reading lists offer great new books you will definitely want to check out. As much as I love a good book, I’d like to suggest another kind of “summer reading” this year. Why not use some of that sweet breathing space to take a personal energy reading? If your summer respite is meant to give you new zest for life, it really helps to check in and see what your all-important energy is up to. Is it purring or sputtering? Is the rhythm right? How is your energy shaping your life right now?

Energy Is Life

Everything is energy—both the Universe that surrounds you and the inner energy system that is your life force. The state of your personal energy field is reflected in how you feel, how smooth-flowing or difficult your life feels. Does your energy feel light and bright? Or heavy, dark, and stuck? What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? Do you experience worry, dread, anxiety, even fear? Or do you wake up with joy, excitement, gratitude, anticipation? As my friend Louise Hay loved to say, it’s the difference between “Good morning, God!” and “Good God, morning!”

How connected are you to the harmonious energy of your Source? Are you drawing the power you need to thrive? If you feel uneasy in any area of your life—relationships, health, career, finances, self-esteem, faith—a summer energy reading will help you reset and make a fresh start. You can clear, cleanse, and recharge your energy. You can cultivate the positive, healing energy you want and achieve greater levels of peace, wellness, love, and joy.

Five Steps to Your Energy Reset

Try these proven ways to plug in and power up your energy this summer:

Step into nature for instant empowerment.

Just think how good it feels to walk barefoot in the grass, look up at the blue sky, and take a deep breath of fresh, fragrant air. Summer is a perfect time to get out and enjoy the natural world with all of your senses. If your energy feels stale and cramped, there is nothing like sunlight (or moonlight), flowing water, the wind in the trees, and direct contact with Mother Earth to give you a new perspective. Borrow energy from nature!

Keep a journal for the truth about you.

Not sure how you feel or what you think? No one knows more about your inner life than you. It’s just that occasions to reflect on your thoughts and feelings are too rare, unless you make it a priority. Take some summertime quiet to look within. Keeping a journal and taking the time to reflect and record helps you discover insights into your life. If you need to make changes, your feelings and thoughts help you see what is really important, what is really affecting you—not the opinions of others but your own deep truth.

Serve others for connectedness and unity.

Summer brings a gift of longer days and milder weather. Look for some new ways to give and serve that will help you jumpstart your energy. Do what you love and the energy will follow. Help an elderly neighbor with yard work or home maintenance. Start a community garden. Volunteer at the library for summer programs for kids. Love pets? Volunteer at the animal shelter. Finding a cause that speaks to your heart gives you a feeling of fellowship and hopefulness. Energy grows with connection to others.

Learn to meditate for clarity.

When you meditate, you plug in to the greatest power source of all, an energy much greater than your own. Learn to meditate from an experienced teacher who has felt the power of meditation in a deeply personal way. I consider meditation the cornerstone of my spiritual teaching and energy healing work. To connect with the ultimate Source of understanding and clarity, meditate daily. You will be keeping the door open to your greatest spiritual growth and happiness. Healthy energy is joyful!

Say “Please” and “Thank You!” Pray and Affirm!

What do you want? What are you grateful for? Where should you direct your energy for your greatest good? When you pray, you acknowledge the goodness in your life and ask for the direction you need to reach the things you desire. When you address the Source of All Being, you open a channel of communication that empowers you. Pray for a peaceful mind free of worry, fear, regret, and guilt. Give thanks for loving protection and guidance. Affirm “I have a peaceful, loving heart.” Feel your energy soar!

To learn more about your energy and the power of energy healing, join Deborah’s LifeForce Energy Healing® school. Start at the level where you’re comfortable.

Deborah's Elephant

A Baby Elephant – Just What I Always Wanted!

by AdvocacyEnergy HealingFeaturedGratitudePetsSocial Activism

At a retreat last week, my advanced students presented me with the most amazing, loving, and life-affirming gift. On my behalf, they made a donation to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. I am now fostering an orphaned baby elephant! I received a certificate from the orphan rescue program and will be able to follow my foster child’s growth and development in an online diary. His name is “Maktao” and he is three months old. I’m so thrilled and I hope I will be able to go to Africa soon to bond with him!

The Work of the DSWT

Best known for their work to protect elephants, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) operates the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world. They embrace all measures that complement the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife including anti-poaching, safe guarding the natural environment, enhancing community awareness and providing veterinary assistance to animals in need. Born from one family’s passionate love for Kenya and its wilderness, the trust is one of the pioneering conservation organizations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.

DSWT was founded in 1977 by Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick, to honor the memory of her late husband, famous naturalist and founding Warden of Tsavo East National Park, David Leslie William Sheldrick. For over 25 years Kenya-born Daphne Sheldrick lived and worked alongside David, during which time they raised and successfully rehabilitated many wild species. At the heart of the DSWT’s conservation activities today is the Orphans’ Project, which has achieved world-wide acclaim through its hugely successful elephant and rhino rescue and rehabilitation program.

Orphans Welcome Here

The Orphans’ Project exists to offer hope for the future of Kenya’s threatened elephant and rhino populations as they struggle against the threat of poaching for their ivory and horn, and the loss of habitat due to human population pressures and conflict, deforestation and drought. When a tiny new-born elephant like my charge is orphaned, it is often because its mother and family have been killed to serve the brutal ivory trade. For an elephant, family is all important; a calf’s very existence depends upon its mother’s milk for the first two years of life. An Elephant Nursery now exists nestled within Nairobi National Park under the auspices of the DSWT. The nursery offers hope for any orphaned elephant fortunate enough to be found alive. They rescue and hand-rear elephant and rhino orphans, along with many other species.

Daphne Sheldrick worked for nearly three decades of trial and error to perfect the milk formula and complex husbandry necessary to rear an orphaned infant African elephant. Today, with support from many caring people world-wide, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is proud to have saved over 150 orphaned infant calves, which would otherwise have perished. More importantly, every one of these orphans can look forward to a quality of life in the wild, living free in Tsavo East National Park protected by their new extended orphaned family and friends among the wild herds.

Welcome, Maktao!

So my wonderful gift from my students of a chance to foster baby elephant orphan, Maktao, comes via The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s digital foster program. This program allows individuals across the world to support the trust’s field projects by fostering an orphaned elephant, rhino or giraffe in their care. All elephant, rhino and giraffe orphans rescued by the trust are available to foster, including those orphans living back in the wild. The DSWT’s Elephant Orphanage is open to the public for one hour every day, from 11 am to noon. During this time the orphans arrive for their midday mud bath and feeding. Baby elephants love their mud baths!

Welcome, Maktao, to the sponsorship of a caring human family—all of us here at the Deborah King Center. The Trust likes to name its orphaned elephants in a way that can identify them with their origin. The orphans come from all corners of Kenya and from many different elephant populations, so they are usually given place or ethnic tribal names, as was Maktao, where he was found.

The most precious gift is the gift of life. Thank you, my beloved students, for giving me this gift of life!

If you’d like to help a baby elephant, click here.

Astral travel

Fly Free with Astral Travel!

by Astral ProjectionFeatured

Have you ever had an incredible dream? One where you visited a beloved family member no longer here on earth? Or you had amazing super power to soar over the rooftops? Maybe you were exploring a new city. Did you wake up feeling peace or excitement, surprised to be back home in bed? And then ask: “Wow! Where did I go?”

The potential to have experiences like these—the stuff that dreams are made of—is completely within you. It’s your unlimited nature, your spirit and its connection to the Source that makes such dreams possible. What if you began to explore the access you have to your unlimited being and see where else your “wings” might take you? By strengthening your spiritual connection and expanding your consciousness, you can learn to choose and direct your flight plans. You can learn to astral travel!

What Is Astral Travel?

You actually already travel this way when you dream. Your astral body leaves your physical body sleeping soundly in bed and roams the dream world. With study and practice, you can learn to astral project deliberately—to leave your physical body consciously and choose to travel to certain destinations. Astral projection is an out-of-body experience you choose to embark on with the intent of traveling to many different “astral planes” that are shaped by energy and light.

With astral projection comes the undeniable knowledge that you are more than your physical body. Astral projection helps you gain a new level of access to the universe within you as well. As you explore your inner universe, you can also take advantage on the physical plane of the knowledge you gain from astral travel. Your astral experience can help you reach a higher level of consciousness.

What Are the Benefits of Astral Travel?

Astral travel can open a new world of knowledge and spiritual growth for you. Your energy body, your personal energy field that you’re sitting inside of right now, is your greatest source for healing on every level: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Mastering astral travel techniques is an important step in expanding your energy body, so you have even more opportunities for healing and growth

Here are some powers you may discover with astral projection:

Solution—Problems of every kind, challenges, and stress can be worked through and more easily resolved during astral projection.

Expansion —Whatever you would like to learn about or explore, a vast amount of knowledge is accessible on the astral plane.

Healing— Astral projection can bring you closer to the source of illness, disease or past trauma where active energy healing can take place.

Connection—Astral projection allows you to connect with deceased loved ones or others you would otherwise not be able to connect with in the physical world.

Perception—You can gain a clearer or “higher” perspective on your life situation by viewing yourself and your life from the astral plane.

When you learn to separate your consciousness from your body, you can experience firsthand what life is like beyond your usual physical day-to-day reality. You can see and feel things that will raise your consciousness, increase your energetic frequency, and minimize your negativity, uncertainty, and fear. And you will better understand your limitless potential and your spiritual connection with Source.

Where Do You Want to Go? 

There is no defined limit as to how far you can travel. Imagine flying high above the highest mountains and into the starry galaxies, visiting times and places from the past or the future, meeting with loved ones who have passed on to resolve old issues, and visiting the heavenly realms. You’ll get in touch with your innermost desires and learn how to use out-of-body experiences to design the life of your dreams. If you want to learn how to do it, check here for more info.

Chakra Health

Power Up Your Chakras!

by ChakrasEnergy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedHealth

As the daily news continues giving us reasons to be nervous and worried, anxious and afraid, angry and confused, how are you doing in this struggle between fear and love? We know what fear looks like, and we know we have to rise above life-destroying fear and seek life-affirming love. Each of us has the power to choose and use the unlimited energy of love available from our Divine Source. Take a look within. Is your connection to your loving Source clear and open? Is the energy of your love at the ready, flowing and powering your mind, body, and spirit? For the challenges we face, taking good care of your personal energy centers, your chakras, can help you fight fear.

Your Chakra Power

As invisible but vital energy centers, your chakras are designed to move energy between your personal field and the universal field. Your wellbeing depends on the energy you bring in, and your life of joy, fulfillment, and service depends on the energy you give out. Love can’t reign when fear is blocking the channels. When clear and balanced, your chakras are the means by which you replenish your energy and maintain your health. Without the healthy flow of energy through your chakras, you might feel empty, depressed, and powerless. Each chakra represents an aspect of higher consciousness that is essential to your life. As a system, the seven basic chakras integrate your mind, body, and spirit; and each has a physical, emotional, creative, and spiritual component.

Your Chakra Gifts

Each of your chakra centers is important because each one allows you to call forth different skills and strengths and bring them into the world. Keeping your chakras clear and balanced allows you to access your highest gifts and talents—those powerful energies that are your contribution to the world! Here are some of the ways your chakras affect your life:

First Chakra – This foundational chakra located at the base of your spine keeps you grounded and rooted, firm and secure in the world. However, fear of destructive events like those we are experiencing in our world today combined with personal fears about safety, security, and stability can disrupt or distort the free flow of energy in the first chakra. Taking a walk in the beauty of nature, actually touching the earth with your bare feet, can bring you back to the foundation of your being, make you feel present and safe, and strengthen your first chakra.

Second Chakra – Located about half way between the base of your spine and your navel, the second or sexual chakra is the center of your emotions and desires, and your interactions with other people. In the work of moving away from fear and toward love, a balanced second chakra is vital to helping you enjoy healthy intimate relationships and overcome feelings of guilt and shame that may interfere. Bathing in the ocean or a bath of sea salt and baking soda strengthens your second chakra as it restores you to the purity of your true nature.

Third Chakra – Located at the solar plexus and the center of your body’s metabolic fire, the third chakra is the seat of personal power. This primary power center is the source of will, purpose, and action—that which “moves” you in the world. If managing your energy in a healthy way to reach your goals and fulfill your purpose is a challenge, you may need to devote some loving attention to your third chakra. Physical activities such as gardening, sports, T’ai Chi, Yoga, and Pilates can awaken and recharge this energy center, especially if performed outside in the early morning sun.

Fourth Chakra – The fourth or heart chakra is the bridge between the three lower chakras that connect you to the earth and the three upper chakras that connect you to the Infinite. When the heart center is in balance, you are content, caring, compassionate and forgiving. Heart chakra balance gives you the courage to give and receive love even when fear and anger threaten to close you down. How precious is an open and compassionate heart in today’s world! One of the best ways to boost your heart chakra is by giving and receiving love with a pet. Animals are great role models for the unconditional love that heals us.

Fifth Chakra – When fifth or throat chakra energy is free-flowing and balanced, you are free to speak your truth. You are empowered to express who you are, what you feel, and what you believe. Speaking for your beliefs and your truth is essential for you to express the love that can overcome fear in the world today. Writing down your feelings with total honesty can help clear and charge your fifth chakra. Take time to use your “voice” to write, sing, read aloud, and communicate your true feelings.

Sixth Chakra – The sixth chakra or “third eye,” located between the eyebrows, is the source of intuition. When balanced, this chakra helps you keep an open-mind and have faith in your inner guidance. It supports your sense of the interconnection of all humanity and helps you seek the truth in any situation. When this chakra is out of balance, you may feel out of touch with your intuition and struggle with fear-based negative thinking and narrow-mindedness. Daily meditation helps you awaken this chakra and lets you increase your inner wisdom and your ability to “see” clearly.

Seventh Chakra – The seventh energy center or “crown chakra” is located at the top of the head. This is your connection with spirit, your higher power, and the universe. Opening outward and upward, this chakra draws light energy in from above and fills you with an experience of transcendence. Meditation, prayer, and communion with nature are powerful tools for boosting the seventh chakra. Keeping this connection free-flowing, balanced, and clear is your key to bringing all-powerful love into our world.

Working to take care of your chakra energy centers is simply making sure that you have access to all the powers, the gifts, the talents, the energy and the light that is you. Get ready to share your gifts, to move forward in love, to inspire and encourage others, and to live a life of love and joy.

You can learn more about the health of your personal energy centers and how to supercharge them here in the Secrets of Chakra Wisdom Course.

Open Borders

Love vs. fear – which is guiding us

by AdvocacyEnergy HealingFeaturedSocial

As a spiritual teacher, I’ve long taught there are two basic emotions – love and fear, and every emotion and action can be tracked to either one or the other.

If you prefer, call them good and evil, hope and hopelessness, the best of us and the worst of us, but know this: whatever the literary context, it always comes down to right and wrong.

When the border crisis is dismissed as “just political,” I feel compelled to speak. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A humanitarian crisis of historic proportion is unfolding at America’s borders. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes, the stories aren’t fake but painfully real. It’s not about votes or nightly soundbites, but mothers and children, families and values.

Some things are simply too abhorrent to defend and most of us learned long ago that defending the indefensible will never work out. Coming to terms with a crisis like this is neither easy nor optional. We’ll either figure it out and learn from it or, failing that, risk the moral undoing of who we are and all we aspire to be.

As a horrified world watches America default the moral leadership that has inspired hope and set us apart for nearly two and a half centuries, it’s important to look beyond politics to fully understand what is occurring and what it means in human terms.

We have long stood for the country that takes all – the inscription on the Statute of Liberty reads:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

It’s impossible to reconcile those sentiments with our current stance at the border. We have refugees seeking a better life here, and we are suddenly turning them into criminals and taking away their children in the process.

This can’t be sugar-coated or explained away.

There is nothing political in a baby ripped from her mother’s breast, a toddler sleeping on concrete under a mylar blanket in a facility reminiscent of a jail, or a stunned teenager frightened at a separation he can’t possibly understand.

This emphasis on fear isn’t new, take a look at what’s happening right now in France, German, Italy, and the Netherlands, where fear about the “otherness” of immigrants is being pushed. Around the world people are being manipulated by fear. Emotions are weaponized to trample human values. Ends justify the means as people are used heartlessly as pawns in a much bigger game. That the powerful blame the powerless to stay in power is an old story. Leveraging the emotional vulnerability of the weak to further an agenda is a new wrinkle on an old evil.

Blaming those with different ideas or viewed as threats is a proven technique shamefully enhanced. Look to the language used to justify inexcusable actions, how it expertly stokes fear to manipulate and encourage us to close our eyes to what we see and accept it as okay. Words like “crisis, disaster, an out-of-control influx of criminals pouring over open borders, drug dealers, thieves, rapists” – language meant to incite and further an ugly narrative.

We are told these are people we shouldn’t want or welcome. English isn’t their first language and their skin is often darker than ours. We’re warned that what they want is ours – told their gain is our loss – and it must be stopped.

There are a number of truths here. First, this is a real disaster. Second, it’s a crisis that didn’t have to be; it was discretionary. Third, we have more than enough room for immigrants, as we are a much less dense population than other countries and our population is declining. We should be eager to have these hard-working, highly motivated people who have a lower crime rate, higher marriage rate, and are more church-going than our own citizens, all values we claim to cherish.

Sadly, the tragedy is that there appears to be no carefully thought-out next step, no skillfully-exercised solution conceived to undo the damage done. We can imagine an ever-increasing number of children and families left in limbo for months. The human collateral damage is simply incomprehensible.

By leveraging immigration fears, we’re asked to turn our backs on refugees fleeing tyranny, ignoring our most basic, admirable American values.

I’ve always believed in the idea that there is enough, more than enough, for all of us. Plus, we all learned as children we must give to get. And there is no more basic teaching than the Golden Rule, telling us to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. The answer to our biggest problem lies within us.

Reject fear, choose love.

Value humanity above all else; in the end that’s our best and oldest defense.

Defend against fear by rising above it and meeting it with love.

That isn’t politics. It couldn’t be more human. Or divine.