Energy Medicine Archives - Page 5 of 13

Protecting Your Energy: 5 Actionable Steps

July 17, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured

One of the topics I insist on covering when I’m teaching energy healing to students is the crucial necessity of protecting your personal energy field. This is because during your time on this planet, you will encounter toxic people, psychic attack, energy vampires, and global catastrophes. There is simply no way to sidestep all of it.

But there are ways to mitigate.

“What Drains Your Energy?”

Not everyone is drained of their energy by the same forces.

Introverts’ energy gets drained whenever and wherever human interaction with others occurs. No matter how intimate the connection or how fond the bond, introverts require space and distance to recoup their energy level.

Extroverts, on the other hand, are invigorated by social interactions and feel drained when they’re deprived of them for very long.

Example: The COVID social distancing protocols were embraced, by and large, by introverts because it became socially acceptable to isolate, giving them opportunities in abundance to “disappear” for the better part of two years, and recharge themselves.

But for extroverts, the exact same isolation protocols, for many, felt like an existential threat. Even with Zoom, FaceTime, and outdoor social-distanced communal activities, many extroverts’ energy levels became severely compromised, prompting them to fall into despair and depression. “Check on your friends’ and family’s mental health” became a constant theme because any change in customary routines could create tsunami-level emotional, psychological, and hormonal waves.

So, it’s important to positively identify whatever it is that is draining your energy. There are so many possibilities: certain family members (you know them – they’re experts at pushing your buttons); toxic associates (naysayers, dream stealers, curmudgeons, coworkers, bosses, Negative Neals and Nellies); psychic attack from a negative source (intentional or not); energy vampires (people who suck the energy right out of you for various reasons: codependence, neediness, fearfulness, narcissism, or some other energy-draining quality); social media (with its 24/7/365 ability to wear you out and down); mass shootings; and any of the other global crises that threaten our wellbeing (armed conflicts, climate change, regime challenges, what next)?

If you’re like me, there is more than a single source of your energy depletion, so you will need to employ several methods to restore your baseline energy level.

To be clear, most energy deficits come as a result of external negative-energy influences or internal medical or psychological/emotional challenges, not by way of direct psychic attack. Although your energy field helps to ward off external negative influences, it is not impervious; some negative energies can enter through a hole in your field. What causes a hole? Well, I’ve written entire books on that, but, the short answer is: unprocessed emotions. When your baseline energy level is restored, your personal energy field and chakra centers return to serve as illustrious defenders of your organic functions.

Among the best ways to protect yourself from negative energies is to develop habits and practices that bolster and restore your energy field on a regular basis.

You can do this in multiple ways. Here are a few of my go-to, standby favorites:

Abide by the Golden Rule. Don’t expect to be protected if you engage in attacking anyone else’s energy field. The universe richly rewards those who treat others as they would like to be treated! Best Practice: Learn to keep your energy field in “neutral,” as opposed to on “push” or in “retreat.”

Set boundaries for yourself and others. When you’re forced into close proximity with toxic individuals, (some interactions simply can’t be avoided), limit your exposure by setting boundaries: “We will not discuss politics.” “We will not discuss religion.” We will not bash or criticize each other’s significant other or children.” Best Practice: Set boundaries that align with your higher self.

Start each day with the intention to act from the highest guidance. Begin the day by connecting to your guides, your angels, your ancestors. Best Practice: Build an altar on which to place those objects that help you focus on higher guidance and start each day with a prayer to those guides.

Make a habit of clearing your energy field; employing white light to do so is often helpful. Best Practice: Spent one minute each morning after your mantra-based meditation clearing, charging, and balancing each of your seven main chakras.

Get educated. If you are new to the world of energy and energy healing, join a program that will ramp up your energy healing abilities and connect you to a community of like-minded folks that will support you on your quest. Best Practice: Spend even 10 minutes a day reading/watch/listening about energy healing techniques and how they can help you protect your personal energy field.

Consider joining our LifeForce Energy Healing Level I Certification Course. It is the first step on the way towards energy healing mastery and will be the perfect first step towards beginning that momentum. Or check out our Energy Shop to see which course is the right one to solve the specific issue you’re looking to remedy.

It’s important to take steps to protect (and enhance) your energy at all times. It is what drives your quality of life in all areas.

Our Enlightened Friends: How and Why Animals Communicate with Us

July 10, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Healing Energy Medicine Featured Pets

If you’re an animal lover like I am, you’ll have no problem embracing the notion that all animals – tame, domesticated, captive, and wild — think, react, and communicate among themselves and, more importantly, with us. Our experiences with them have confirmed this fact.

And if you know that humans are essentially spiritual beings, as I do, then it’s likely you believe, as do I, that animals are spiritual beings too. In fact, my life experiences with animals have convinced me that they are far more enlightened than we are.

More than one animal lover has declared animals far better at offering unconditional loving-kindness and forgiveness than any human! I have often said that animals can teach us a thing or two (or two hundred) about how to live life as gracefully as possible.

ANIMALS TRULY CARE

Have you heard about Koko, the sign language-adept gorilla, meeting her favorite and most-watched TV celebrity, Mister Rogers, and taking off his shoes because she had seen him do that on every episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood.

Or how about the documented cases of wild dolphins rescuing humans who have fallen overboard.

At one point, we had a dozen llamas living together with a gelded horse named Brio. One morning early, before the sun was up, Mama Llama, who had been pregnant for close to a year, gave birth. (llamas and alpacas, or camelids, have a pregnancy that averages a whopping 11.5 months) Eric and I were sleeping outside in a tent, near the blessed event, and Brio galloped over and whinnied excitedly that he had just had a baby! I guess the fact that Brio had been gelded young hadn’t daunted his desire to be a father nor was he troubled that the infant was of another species – he couldn’t have been prouder as he pranced around the field!

And if you’ve ever had a cat, dog, horse, or some other kindred spirit in animal guise approach you because you’re in pain, to be with you to lend their support and comfort, you have all the proof you’ll ever need that our animals are proactively ministerial and compassionate guardian angels.

One of my students, Kris, told me she had a Siamese cat named Charisma who she swore was psychic. Whenever Kris would have a truly distressing thought, the cat would run to her from outside with a loud “meow,” as if he had been summoned by her, although Kris hadn’t said a word! Kris told me she even tried faking the sensation of distress, but doing so elicited no response from Charisma. Only the real emotion worked, and it worked every time, no matter where the cat was. It was as though he had whisker-like appendages attached to his favorite person that notified him of her emotional status.

I love the song in Doctor Doolittle called Talk to the Animals. Sadly, though, a lot of people who haven’t experienced close contact with animals consider interactive communication with them whimsical, wishful thinking, or — in skeptical scientific terms —largely speculative and anthropomorphic projection.

Like many other animal lovers, I respect my pets and don’t consider myself their owner. We animal lovers realize we share the earth with all these other remarkably aware beings – beings that are so much more evolved than we are.

“Baby Cries, Caregiver Comes!”

Are you aware that cats don’t meow to each other? Meowing is an adaptation they came up with; researchers postulate that their meows are their best impression of a human baby crying. “Baby cries; caregiver comes! I will try that! Voila! Success!!!” (Two exceptions: young, still-nursing kittens will squeak out a meow-like vocalization to call their mothers back to them, and nursing mother cats will meow to notify their offspring that they’re returning or looking for them.)

Among themselves, cats chirp, tweet, hiss, spit, purr, groom each other, and tussle. Their meows, after weaning, are for us alone. So, cats learned to speak literally eons before our scientists in the West decided to try to figure out what the rest of their vocal repertoire was all about!

Ears, Hackles, Tails & Vocalizations – How Animals Communicate

I had so many conversations with my Dutch warmblood horse, Influence, across the years — some uproariously funny, others profound. In fact, he spoke better English than I spoke Horse!

A lot of people converse with their pets. Part whimsy, sure, but true communication, soul to soul, is occurring. You can call a beloved pet a derogatory term just for fun (one person I know calls her dog “turd butt”) but it will feel how much love you have for them. That’s because it isn’t the language you’re using that’s communicating; it’s your soul, your undamaged, loving essence.

Animals respond to what you’re actually feeling. They’re not fooled by your Oscar-worthy acting ability.

Pretending to be patient when trying to get a puppy to return to you goes over like a lead balloon. The puppy knows you’re feeling frustrated and maybe even angry, and that’s what it will respond to. It will decide whether it’s going to feel safe and ready to comply with your request.
Animals communicate verbally and non-verbally. Some of their nonverbal communications include flickering ears, wagging (or sagging or unmoving and level) tails, and a physical reaction called piloerection, which is when some of the hair on their bodies stands upright. (For humans, goosebumps are our body’s honest effort to raise our hackles.)

Being able to communicate back can have a profound impact on your life – making you a better person, allowing you to tap more fully into the healing power of your animal friends, and allowing you to return the favor of providing the healing energy they also need as living beings.

If your pets remain a mystery to you, here’s a suggestion. Put on your Keen Observer/Researcher hat. Emulate Jane Goodall as closely as possible.

With patience and persistence, your pets — and the crows in your backyard, and the woodland and barnyard creatures that they communicate with — will become an open book to you.

This kind of sleuthing will become so much fun that you’ll find ways to do it every chance you get. And your pets and the environment will be just that much better off because of your new adventure in talking to, and with, the animals in your life.

If you are looking for a bit more guidance on how you can become a better communicator for your animal friend, how you can connect with the more deeply, and how you can better exchange healing energies to improve each others’ lives – consider accessing our Communicating with Pets and Animals course here >>

3 Things to Add to Your Summertime Bucket List

June 26, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Self Love

It’s summertime! Here are a few items that I encourage you to add to your Summertime Bucket List:

Take a sabbatical from Netflix. I know just how addictive binge-watching Netflix can be. In fact, I just “rediscovered” Suits, that awesome 9-season TV series that has me hooked, so I speak from experience when I suggest we all fight off that “urge to binge” and head outdoors right now. Summer only comes once a year, so we need to jump on it! You can hang with your pets, drive through a wildlife park, visit a beach at the ocean, or a lake. Give yourself permission to just BE. You are a human BEING not a human DOING. Your body and spirit will thank you!

Choose a summertime wilderness trail to explore. Put on your hiking boots, shorts, and shirt, apply sunscreen, fill your backpack with survival essentials (drinking water, matches, food bars, thermal, a small/foldable emergency blanket in case you end up having to spend the night outdoors due to a missed turn, your phone, a Swiss Army knife, insect spray, first aid essentials) and take a hike. As long as you prepare for the unexpected, a hike to an alpine lake or across some other breathtakingly beautiful nature spot will rejuvenate you like nothing else can.

Visit your favorite environment and do something fun while you’re there.

Love the water (lake, ocean, pond, river, beach)? If so, consider building a sandcastle (if there is the right kind of sand or mud where you are), renting a kayak or canoe, going swimming, doing yoga, meditating, painting or drawing what you see (or doing your best to express in words what you see and feel when you’re in your perfect place), going whitewater rafting (or its less intense counterpart, peaceful river rafting), surfing, scuba diving or snorkeling, paddleboarding, or inner-tubing down a placid river. Go whale watching. Whatever “floats your boat!”

Love the Outdoors? Attend an outdoor concert in your region and/or play an outdoor game. Admire the wildflowers. Plant a butterfly garden. Take a road trip. Go camping. Visit a farmer’s market. Ride a roller coaster or ferris wheel. Walk or Run 5K for a good cause. Visit a zoo, wildlife park or animal sanctuary. Go birdwatching. Make a bonfire and cook s’mores, baked beans, and vegan hot dogs. Play tennis, pickleball, volleyball, badminton or any other game that offers laughter and exercise. Rent a log cabin for a weekend or mid-week or longer and meditate or do yoga outside it every morning and evening. (Be sure to step outside to greet sunrises and bid adieu to sunsets!) Visit a regional parade. Take an archery class. Catch a ride in a hot air balloon. Make a birdhouse.

Confined to a City? Create chalk art. Volunteer. Put on a puppet show for your neighborhood. Visit a museum and/or an art gallery. Get an adult coloring book. Have a picnic in the park. Record your fondest memories and adventures in a journal or scrapbook. Start a summer gratitude journal. Visit venues that feature animals (zoos, aquariums, the ocean.) Foster a pet or adopt a pet. Write a poem or a song.

There is a poem that I just love, and it’s appropriate here. It speaks volumes about mindset, perspective, and intention, three things that can make or break the human spirit:

Two men looked out through prison bars.
One man saw dirt … the other, stars.

I know you will make this summer memorable in your own inimitable way. Let me know on Facebook if there are other things on your bucket list that I missed.

Enjoy Summer 2023. It will never come again, and you’ll never be this young again, so don’t put off enjoying it in every way you can!

And if finally taking steps towards personal transformation, achieving your goals, and becoming the person you were meant to be is on your bucket list, this Summer is the perfect time to take that step. Registration is currently open for our Master-in-Training program. A year-long program that offers you transformative teachings, a close-knit support group, and an opportunity to work directly with me. It’s nothing short of life-changing.

You can learn about the changes people experience in our free Open House. You can watch the replay here >>

If you’re ready to dive in, you can register for the program here >>

How to Celebrate (and Make the Most of) The Summer Solstice

June 20, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Solar

Ancient civilizations were keenly attuned to celestial events. They had to be. Agricultural or hunter-gatherer in nature, these people relied on their ancestors’ knowledge of the predictable changes that seasons bring to the land. Each season compelled precise “marching orders” that needed to be completed to help ensure their survival!

Among the longest-observed and celebrated astronomical anomalies were two solstices (two dates during the year when the sun appears to stand still) and two equinoxes (“equal-night” events).

Today, we call these four days the first day of summer, autumn/fall, winter, and spring) and today’s farmers and subsistence hunters and gatherers continue to regard them as crucial dates because nature’s relationship with the sun changes ever-so-slightly (but crucially) during these times.

Those who live in rural and suburban areas can easily witness the changes that the four seasons bring, especially if we live in the northern part of the northern hemisphere: Seattle, Boise, Kalispell, the Great Lakes region, and the like.

In the spring, buds erupt from the ground, leaves erupt from branches, and robins return to pull juicy earthworms from newly warmed soils. Before too long, baby rabbits, birds, mice, rats, moles, and shrews begin to make their appearances. The environment comes alive with vibrant colors, sounds and activities.

As spring progresses toward summer, plants begin to ripen and living beings begin to mature. The land and air get warmer and natural water sources become scarcer. Field irrigation becomes necessary.

By the time summer solstice rolls around, the sun is beating down on the planet as many as 16 hours a day in the northern hemisphere (as opposed to the scant eight hours or so that it receives during the winter solstice). Abundant fresh produce floods farmers markets. Life is good. In fact, life is great! “If only this could be the status quo year-‘round,” I’m sure many of our now-long-dead ancestors wished!

But they knew better. They knew that summer was the last gasp as far as abundance went. They knew they needed to continue preparing for the cold, barren, bleak winter months ahead; they couldn’t rely on international commerce, as we do, to deliver what they would be needing to sustain their lives during the exceedingly lean months that stood between them and mid-spring the following year.

So, it should come as no surprise to learn that they acknowledged, with enormous reverence, the value of Sol. Stonehenge and other solstice-specific monuments dot the globe, bearing mute testimony to the reverence our ancestors paid to their life-sustaining environment and to its chief benefactor and influence, the sun.

Ancient Greeks

In Greece, the people celebrated the agricultural god Cronus during the Summer Solstice. During this festival, the social policy was reversed and enslaved people were served by their masters or treated and addressed as absolute equals.

Ancient Romans

For days before the summer solstice, ancient Romans attended a festival honoring Vesta, goddess of the hearth. This was the sole annual opportunity for married women to enter the temple to submit offerings to the goddess in that sacred space.

Ancient Chinese

The ancient Chinese honored the earth, femininity, and yin during the summer solstice.

Other Ancient Cultures

In Northern and Central Europe Germanic, Slavic and Celtic tribes greeted summer by building immense bonfires. The tradition continues to this day in several countries.

Vikings

Nordic mariners met to discuss legal matters and resolve disputes during the summer solstice. They also visited wells that they believed possessed healing powers and built bonfires around them.

Native Americans

Here in the Americas (North, Central and South) ancient Indigenous tribes took part in centuries-old midsummer rituals, some of which their ancestors continue to this day. Some scholars believe that Wyoming’s Bighorn medicine wheel aligns with the summer solstice sunrise and sunset and served as the site of their annual sun dance.

Maya and Aztecs

Although not a lot is settled about the ways ancient Central Americans celebrated midsummer, the impressive ruins they left behind point to the significance of the summer solstice to them. Many of the temples, public buildings, and other structures that remain today are precisely aligned with the shadows cast by summer and winter solstices.

Druids

Celtic high priests (today called Druids) very likely led ritual celebrations during midsummer, but it’s unlikely they took place at England’s famous Stonehenge site. This conjecture hasn’t kept modern Druids from gathering at the monument during the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinoxes, though.

Solstice Facts

The term solstice comes from two Latin words, “Sol” (sun) and “Sistere“ (“to stand still”). During both annual solstices, ancient astronomers noted that only during two widely separated days each year (in June and December) did the sun appear to be stationary in the sky.

A solstice marks one of the two times each year when the sun is farthest away from the equator.

This year in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice will take place on Wednesday, June 21st at exactly 10:58am Eastern Time / 7:58am Pacific Time.

Summer and winter solstices happen at precise times; they are not day-long events, although these moments have been celebrated throughout the same day for thousands of years.

This year’s winter solstice in the northern hemisphere will occur at exactly 7:27p.m. Pacific Time/10:27PM Eastern Time on Thursday, December 21.

Here are ways to celebrate the Summer Solstice Where You Live

In addition to bonfires, fairs and festivals, some people use the occasion to restart their lives, let go of what no longer serves them, and/or open up to meaningful change. Following are examples.

If you’re into yoga, start the day with a sun salutation to calm and center yourself.

Set new goals/intentions. Cast off whatever no longer serves you so you can open space in your life to laser focus on new goals and intentions. Perhaps start with what’s in your closet and/or bonus room, even if your goals aren’t physical items. Doing so will reset your mind to realize that you’re completely capable of creating the life you want.

Create a summer bucket list. Make concrete arrangements to do whatever you feel you must do to feed your spirit before summer’s expiration date.

Make A Flower Crown: In a folk tale from Finland, a young woman collected seven flowers under her pillow on Midsummer night (aka the Summer Solstice) and lo and behold, her future fiancé appeared in her dreams! Whether you’re looking for a mate or just for some creative fun, making a flower crown is a delightful idea!

Start A Summer Garden (Or Add To Your Existing One) But only if you love gardening. Many people feel renewed and/or meditative when working the soil.

Throw a Summer Solstice Party. Get outside with great friends or family members. Build a bonfire, sing songs, play instruments or your favorite music, and eat your favorite foods.

If you can’t be at Stonehenge, watch the livestream to witness the sunrise through the center stone during this year’s summer solstice.

If you’re in the far north (Alaska or Iceland), play a midnight sport (baseball in Alaska, golf in Iceland).

Take a hike. Climb with a friend to an alpine meadow, waterfall, or some other natural wonder.

Play some lawn games. Lawn darts, bocce ball, horseshoes and other lawn games are great fun.

Stargaze. Get outside of big cities and into sparsely populated areas to rediscover a night sky filled with an uncountable number of stars.

Go berry picking. Harvesting wild, edible berries is a favorite pastime of a lot of outdoorsy types.

Catch the wave! Go surfing (board, body, or wind) or waterskiing. It’s exhilarating. (Remember the sunscreen!)

Go camping. Whether you employ a tent or a camper, camping is where it’s at for those who want to surround themselves with nature.

Take an evening swim. If you can swing it, swim naked in the dark with a romantic partner. Love is in the air!

For many reasons that are now clear, the Summer Solstice has been an all-important day throughout history. It is also a day of equilibrium and powerful celestial energy. It’s an ideal to pause and think about where you have come in life, and where you want to go. And if you feel as though you have much to accomplish, like you are ready to step into the person you were put on this Earth to be, then you should consider our year-long Master-in-Training program. It’s our most intimate, powerful, and exclusive program. A program that drives the time of life transformational in a year that most people couldn’t imagine in a decade. And the doors for registration are now open.

If you’d like to learn more about the types of transformations people experience in this program, you can watch our recent free Open House and hear directly from the people who experienced it. Click here to watch it now >>

If you’re ready to reserve your spot for this life-changing program, then do so by clicking here >>

Develop Habits that Help You & Ditch the Ones that Don’t

June 12, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Self Love

It’s impossible, I think, to live for very long without developing a series of habits that appear to have worked quite well for a very long time. We’ve all developed habits for assorted reasons: to pass the time, to shift blame, or to pass muster in some way. Some have become workaholics, others shopaholics, others alcoholics, others marathon TV series-aholics, still others video game-aholics. In a crazy, mixed-up, and heavily politicized world, sometimes dropping out simply to stay sane seems the sensible thing to do.

Mea culpa

Early on, I developed self-protective habits in abundance: among them, staying out of my mother’s way (she detested me in utero) and pleasing my incestuous father (and later other powerful men, working my way up the ladder back when women attorneys were almost as rare as hens teeth), none of which was good for me. As a result of these unhealthy habits and others (including drinking like a fish and an unhealthy daily dose of Valium), I ended up with a cancer diagnosis in my 20’s. Talk about a wake-up call!

It was just so easy to develop unhelpful habits! When it worked, even temporarily, to give me some sense of control, ease, or release, I did it again. And again. And again. Until they became habits. (As it turned out, nearly fatal habits!)

I can guarantee you that no one ever expected (or intended, or desired) to become addicted to a substance, a beverage, or a way of “doing life” that ended up harming them and/or their loved ones and future. But millions of people have ended up hooked on habits that no longer serve them (and perhaps, in hindsight, never did).

With that cancer diagnosis, I went on a health kick and on a quest that extinguished the older, unhelpful habits along the way. With only so many hours in each given day, and what I considered, at the time, to be a temporary reprieve from undergoing surgery while I researched other healing modalities, a whole new world opened up to me. A world in which I was no longer a victim or a victimizer (both learned at my parents’ knees) but a victor. With each new sage, guru, shaman, and teacher I met, I developed new habits to support my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. My body literally healed itself, as all bodies are designed to do when we stop bombarding them with unhelpful habits and harmful thoughts. And as a result, I discovered my true calling (Spirit never wastes a wound): sharing ways to overcome unhelpful mindsets that deliver the exact opposite of what everyone wants to happen to them and their loved ones! Healing is an inside job and developing helpful habits is a crucial step in the process.

My Recipe for Developing Better Habits

This month, replace one unhelpful habit with a helpful one.

If you’re spending more than 30 minutes a day on social media or playing Solitaire or another relaxing-but-irrelevant video game, choose another helpful habit and divert and dedicate the excess time to developing it. Example: If you’re sedentary, devote the excess time to taking a mindful walk. Ideally, choose a nature trail, a city park, or some other place where you can see and hear birds and animals. Or, if children are a special delight, visit a playground in a city park. This new activity should have no responsibilities attached to it. Make this your time to simply walk, sit, and appreciate the value of creating a healthier, but equally enjoyable (“addictive”-worthy!) habit.

Next month, replace another unhelpful habit with a more helpful one.

If you feel you’re addicted to watching too much TV, divert and dedicate at least half of the time you spend doing that listening to a soothing music station (ideally instrumental). Doing so will give your brain a chance to recalibrate and relax. Although our brains are designed to think and to seek pleasurable activities, they don’t benefit from a too-constant drumbeat of pursuit. Too much action/adventure or adrenaline-pumping entertainment can create an imbalance. Give your brain a break!

The following month, replace another unhelpful habit with a creative new hobby or undertaking.

Learn to knit, read a book, play pickleball, speak a new language, or go swimming during the time you would otherwise spend on the unhelpful habit. Write that memoir. Send that letter. Do something you feel really great about.

Repeat, as above, as many times as necessary, each time replacing an unhelpful habit with one that feeds your spirit or advances you in the direction you want to go.

You do have the time; it’s just a matter of incorporating a more helpful pursuit, using the same hours. Simply establish focused intent and then Make It So!

When you’ve conquered your small handful of time-consuming unhelpful habits, you’ll find you’ve freed up ample time (and energy!) to seek and attain the goals that you’re more interested in achieving.

Yard by yard, life is hard.
Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.

It is sometimes the smallest of things that are the hardest to change. And we all need a helping hand sometimes. And that is exactly what our community here at the Deborah King Center provides. And at the highest echelons of our programs, the changes people make in their lives are nothing short of life-changing. Want to learn more about it? Click here to attend our free annual Open House to learn about the transformations that can be in store for you >>

How to Upgrade the Energy in Your Home

June 6, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Self Love

“Energy efficiency” is a hot topic these days. With the Inflation Recovery Act of 2022 now in place, there are government incentive programs to help homeowners, renters, and businesses upgrade to more energy efficient abodes.

As exciting and timely as the above information is, this post isn’t about that kind of energy upgrade.

There is another energy upgrade which I consider equally — and ultimately, even more — crucial.

The kind of energy upgrade I’m referring to is the enormous, uplifting, endlessly creative, and divine universal energy that is available to each of us. Unfortunately, it all too often becomes unavailable or anemic because of stress, trauma, illness, and other hard knocks we received during our childhood and later, and even before, during earlier incarnations.

Far too many folks feel chronically overwhelmed, anxious, and fatigued. Others feel apathetic and depressed. These are all signs of blocked chakras; that is, the pinching off of one or more of the seven energy transfer stations that exist in levels between the bottom of our spine and the top of our head. Unbottling these bottlenecks takes time and intention. Meditation and mindfulness are two ways to unblock chakras.

But another proactive way to jumpstart recovery from blocked chakras is setting an intention to de-clutter your home and every other place where you spend considerable time.

Home Sweet Home

Your home is a direct extension of your energy field. Where is it pinching you? In which room(s) does your lifeforce energy feel absent or anemic? In which room(s) does it feel free to soar?

Is there discomfort-causing clutter in any of the rooms in your home? If there is, simply acknowledge what the clutter does to your mind, body and spirit every time you enter those spaces, and do whatever it takes to remedy your discomfort.

Are there closets in your home with unused clothing and/or other seldom-used items occupying most of the space?

What kind of internal energy emanates when you enter your kitchen, bathroom, living room, den, or bedroom?

How long has it been since you rearranged your existing furniture, or repainted a few of your walls, or done something else to creatively express your gratitude for the space that qualifies as your sanctuary?

What can you donate, sell, or dispose of in some other way that will open up your available space to make room for more energy and joy in your life?

By mindfully analyzing how you feel inside each room of your home and making prudent, spirit-lifting adjustments, you can access more of the universal energy that is available to improve your mental, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing.

Den/Office

About 40% of working people are working from home these days, the rest commute to offices on foot, on bike, via some transit system, or in a personal vehicle. But either way, whether you’re an employee, an entrepreneur, or an executive, you spend many (if not most) of your waking hours in a space that has the potential to numb your spirit or to nurture it. Naturally, I endorse nurturing it!

If your space is your own, consider Sthapatya Veda, that ancient system of Vedic knowledge that involves the connection between people and buildings. Similar to Feng Shui, these teachings from the Vedas hold that the design of a structure has an effect on our energy; if the design of the building is in harmony with the laws of nature, it will promote positive energy to those of us inside of it.

Also consider that minimalism and vibrant but relaxing colors will make you more peaceful. If you don’t have much say in your surroundings at work, bring to your work space a few personal items that elicit smiles and a sense of aliveness inside you.

Make Being Delightfully Present a Daily Pursuit

Our thoughts orchestrate our moods and attitudes. But our thoughts are not things; they are projections. Think of your mind as a movie screen that reveals in Technicolor the thoughts you’re having. Does your movie have a happy ending? If not, write a better storyline! You have the ability to influence the movies in your head to work for you. When you do this, universal energy gets freed up inside you to help you get where you want to go.

Always remember that you are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are less real than passing clouds, but they do (absolutely!) dictate how your body will react, so they can send you to the gallows or send your spirit and intentions soaring into the stratosphere.

Additional energy restorers include exposure to sunlight (remember your sunscreen!), enjoyable movement (fun exercises, gardening, sex 🙂 , laughter (the more, the better!) , gratitude, nature walks or sitting in nature, self-care (hydration, nourishing foods, meditation, all of the above!) journaling, creativity, healthy, sane boundaries, adequate sleep, and friendly, encouraging, supportive connections.

How many can you add to your repertoire of energy boosters? Most cost nothing but intention and a time commitment.

Henry Ford was right when he said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Your thoughts dictate the energy you’ll have access to as you sail in the direction of your goals. And since you’re a member of my tribe, I have every confidence that you will choose wisely!

The best way to control your thoughts, and thus control your life, is to practice meditation. But not just any form of meditation, Vedic Meditation is the best form I’ve discovered for truly creating the life of your dreams. And if learning this form of meditation is of interest to you, you can access my bestselling course by clicking here >>

If you want to take things one step further, you can join an incredible, supportive community of like-minded healers and truth seekers for a year-long journey that will help you cleanse everything from your thoughts, to your physical space, to your emotions and energy field. The next year of our most transformative program is starting soon. And you can learn all about it in our upcoming FREE Open House by registering here >>

Awakening Your Soul’s Plan

May 15, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Meditation Self Love

The Upanishads, which complete the Vedas, are among the most beautiful and influential spiritual texts in the world. The poems contained within seek to understand the meaning of life, the law of karma, and the pathway to enlightenment.

The Upanishads speak of three different types of self: the external self (Bahya-atma), the inner self (Antar-atma), and Param-atma (the highest self or Purusha). When we attain Purusha, we become one with the soul of the universe and finally transcend the cycle of reincarnation. Our ultimate purpose has been fulfilled as we finally reach the eternal bliss of Sat-cit-ānanda, unchanging truth, bliss, and consciousness.

Yet while enlightenment is our eventual destiny, the law of karma ensures that we each have a different road to travel through the cycle of samsāra. Each incarnation on this Earth gives you opportunities to cleanse your karma and learn the lessons you need to move forward on your spiritual path. Though you may not consciously remember it right now, your soul made a plan for you before you were incarnated in this lifetime. When you connect with your soul’s plan, you begin to live authentically and in harmony with your life purpose.

Are You Fulfilled?

The idea of a soul plan might seem like a luxury in this busy and stressful world we live in. Yet I believe that it is only when you awaken your soul’s plan that you can really begin to live the full life that is your birthright as a divine being. To be in alignment with your soul’s plan is to have clarity of purpose and an inner strength that can meet challenges with confidence. Life will continue to happen to you, as it does to everyone, in all its joy and sadness, but knowing your soul’s plan keeps you moving forward on your personal journey.

Many students who come to me for energy healing do so because they feel restless, dissatisfied, or stuck. Life does not seem to have any real meaning or color. I often see clients who feel that time is “running out” and that the window for living a full life is closing rapidly. Regret and fear are two emotions that signal to me that a student or client is out of alignment with their soul’s plan. They have paid far too much attention to what society thinks they should want than to their own inner wisdom and truth.

Activating Your Soul’s Plan

If you have consistently felt bored, irritated, uninspired, or regretful for a long period of time, I encourage you to look within and see if you are in alignment with your soul’s plan. This is a time to be gentle with yourself and to stop piling on the guilt. All of us are connected to webs of people—our family, friends, and co-workers—who have strong ideas about how we should be living. It takes courage to reconsider these “rules” and take a step toward authenticity.

I cannot promise doing so will be easy, but I can say with confidence that as you start to connect to your true self, the way forward becomes clearer. When you get out of your own way—and stop trying to force yourself into a suit that does not fit—your energy vibrations shift to a higher plane and obsessive thoughts and recriminations start to drop away. You learn to trust yourself.

Here are three steps that you can begin today to start clearing energy blockages and connect to your soul’s plan:

Cleanse Your Sixth Chakra
The sixth chakra is also known as the third eye chakra. It is in the center of the forehead and in line with the eyebrows. Known in Sanskrit as Ajna, this chakra rules imagination, intuition, and self-realization. When you work with an energy healer to cleanse the sixth chakra, the door to your higher self opens. Imagine entering a library wherein the blueprints for your soul’s plan are waiting for you, bathed in a clear, illuminating light. This is the power of a healthy third eye chakra.

Be Open
To activate your soul’s plan, you must learn to trust yourself. Change can be risky, and you should not be pressured into doing something “different” just for the sake of it. But, usually, to live in true alignment with our soul’s plan means that we need to be open to new ideas and possibilities that may seem odd, at first, to the part of us that is used to playing by the rules. Often, you may find that even among the people who love you most, you need to give these new ideas time to percolate before you announce them to the world. There is no need to rush. You are allowed to take the time you need to build a bigger and more fulfilling life.

Meditate

As a teacher, it always amazes me how easy it is to be led off-track by the voices of others and so hard to listen to our inner wisdom. We often let the noise of opinions and belief systems and social pressure steer us away from what we know to be right. Over time, you cannot happily live someone else’s life. Meditation unlocks your soul’s plan by allowing you to tune-in to the quiet, still voice within that speaks for the real you. In the beautiful words of the teacher Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, “Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.”

If you would like to learn more about how to release energy blockages and awaken your soul’s plan, please join me for my new online course hosted by the Shift Network, Decode Ancient Vedic Face Reading & Energetic Body Types to Heal Childhood Trauma, which begins Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Space will be limited, so you’ll want to reserve your spot as soon as you can.

You can do that by clicking here >>

Living Your Authentic Life: The Power of Energy Healing

May 1, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured

Who are you? As an energy healer, I often find that this is one of the hardest questions for new clients to answer. Most people respond with their job title or relationship status, or talk about their family roles (such as mother, sister, son, brother, or grandparent). These are all important identities in our day-to-day lives, but when the goal is spiritual transformation, I am asking for an answer that goes much deeper.

When I ask this question, I want to connect with your authentic self. Deep down inside, I think many of us know intuitively that we are not in sync with the life we were meant to live. There are so many ways in which our responsibilities and fears and egos pull us away from our inner essence. Over time, we lose contact with the inner self that was born into this lifetime for karmic reasons that go far beyond what we see on the surface. Few of us ever show this true self to the world.

This is my invitation to you to awaken your authentic self and nurture the spiritual light you have within. As you begin to heal, so, too, does the world.

Seeing Behind the Mask

Many of my students are surprised when I tell them that they are living dishonestly. Reactions range from sadness to anger, yet my point is not criticism but compassion. We cannot connect with our authentic selves until we have the courage to take off our masks.

And I am here to tell you – those things are hard to get rid of! The masks we show to others began as a very early attempt to shield ourselves from trauma and pain. In our attempts to protect ourselves, however, we soon lost sight of who we really are. Reconnecting to that authentic self takes hard work and courage, but it can transform your life.

Cleansing the Throat Chakra

As an energy healer, I work to cleanse my client’s energy field so that he or she can release psychic injuries, express true feelings, and fully accept themselves. Much of this effort focuses on the seven chakras, each of which are governed by the spiritual laws of the universe and divine consciousness.

When the fifth or throat chakra—which rules communication—is blocked, the truth becomes distorted, and we hide our true feelings even from ourselves. Clearing the throat chakra opens a channel to authentic expression. The mask behind which we have been hiding begins to dissolve and our radiant inner light shines through for the very first time.

If you grew up in a house of secrets, or if you were ridiculed and shamed for expressing your thoughts and emotions, you have throat chakra issues that prevent your real self from being heard. The process of cleansing your fifth chakra activates your inner light and allows you to examine your life choices, clarify your values and beliefs, and awaken to your life’s purpose.

Seeing Yourself Clearly

Cleansing the throat chakra is a powerful way to cultivate authenticity. Finding a spiritual teacher experienced in the Ayurvedic system and the mind-body connection is a positive step in this direction.

There are three additional steps that I believe can be very beneficial to your spiritual transformation from a place of fear to one of hope and authenticity:

Cut the lies
That sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it? Yet I say this with the utmost compassion and a personal understanding of how hard it can be to face the truth: allowing yourself to live with lies is virtually guaranteed to make you sick, both mentally and physically.

You must let those lies go. Now, this does not mean you want to confront every single person you know with The Truth. Telling someone that their haircut is awful or their taste in music is bad is just mean. I am talking about the big lies—about yourself, your relationships, your family system, or your job. When you stop participating in the toxicity—and I highly recommend working with a healer during this process—you find inner sanctuary.

Say hello to the real you
So many of the things we think we believe are there just because someone else put them there. As you create a space for your truest self to emerge, you will want to reconsider what to keep and what to discard. What are your values? Do you have a clear awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, light and shadow sides? What spiritual traditions resonate with you and what kind of life do you want to lead? When you turn inwards, and stay with these questions through contemplation, journaling, and meditation, you will find that connecting to your true self becomes easier and more joyous.

Examine your choices
As human beings, most of us naturally want to please the people that are important to us. We want to be successful, attractive, and accomplished in their eyes. We want to be seen as good people who do the right thing and conform to the norms of our respective societies.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it is essential to examine your choices (probably more than once in this lifetime!) and ensure that the path you are on is going to get you where you want to go. When you travel someone else’s journey, or cling to old ways of doing things just because you do not want to make anyone uncomfortable, you are shutting yourself off from personal authenticity.

In the beautiful words of The Buddha, “Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.”

When you look within, cleanse your energy field, examine your choices, and reject the toxic lies of yourself and others, I believe your authentic self will step out from the shadows into the light and shine, beautifully.

If you would like to learn more about how to release energy blockages and become your authentic self, please join me for my new online course hosted by the Shift Network, Decode Ancient Vedic Face Reading & Energetic Body Types to Heal Childhood Trauma, which begins on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Space will be limited, so you’ll want to reserve your spot as
soon as you can.

You can do that by clicking here >>

Becoming an Energy Healer: Do You Feel the Call?

April 24, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Self Love

The world seems to be in a state of constant crisis. Between wars, pandemics, political unrest, job insecurity, and environmental trauma, the toll on our bodies and spirits is profound.

Environmentally, culturally, and spiritually, we know that there is real pain in the world today. It is easy to give in to the forces of darkness and cynicism. There is much work that must be done to heal our planet and many people are crying out for positive and uplifting solutions to their individual and shared trauma.

More than ever, our world needs people who want to be of service to others. The power of energy medicine not only heals us as individuals but enables us to bring light and compassion to those in need of spiritual transformation. As energy healers, we learn to help others open the door to their higher selves.

Positive change begins with you

One of my esteemed teachers, may she rest in peace, Louise Hay, often liked to say, “The power is within you!” I passionately believe this. Every time an individual chooses kindness and love over division and hate, the world begins to heal.

Do you sense that you have intuitive gifts that could be cultivated to help others find their spiritual path? Are you drawn to the light of spiritual transformation? If so, I invite you to consider becoming an energy healer.

My own journey with energy healing has taken me to many countries and I have learned from sages and shamans around the world. In my mid-twenties, I found myself adrift as the hard-charging life as a lawyer I had been living ground to halt. I knew there had to be something more to life and within me than constant struggle and pain.

When I chose the path of energy healing, I connected to my authentic self and aligned with my soul’s true purpose. Could this be your destiny, as well? If you feel a yearning to awaken your inner light and nurture others, then I think you may have your answer. Your higher self is calling you to help create peace in the world.

Here are three ways you can begin to shift to a higher energy frequency and activate the gift of healing that is within you:

See Yourself Clearly and Awaken Your Higher Self
Over three thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians inscribed the instruction to “know thyself” above the entrance to the Temple of Luxor in Ancient Kemet. Thales of Miletus, in the sixth century BCE, believed that self-knowledge was the key to enlightenment, while the Upanishads advise Atmanam viddhi, “know thyself and be free.”

This wisdom reverberates across the millennia to us today. A true energy healer must first see himself or herself clearly. The spiritual practices of meditation, journaling, prayer, and devotion can assist you to clear away trauma and ego so that you can stand in the clear light of your divine essence and gifts.

Compassion for Others Begins with Compassion for Yourself
So many of my students first come to me convinced that they are ready to change. They are “high” on the prospect of moving forward and want to see results immediately.

Yet with just a bit of digging, we soon find energy blockages that are holding them back from the full life they are meant to lead. When we begin to address these lower vibrations, blockages, and trauma, emotions start to tumble out with the force of those flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.

Anger turned inward is one of the most toxic emotions that I deal with as an energy healer. When you release self-hatred, and forgive your mistakes, you open a channel to universal love and compassion. You also create a space within which your inner gifts can reveal themselves and thrive.

As Buddha tells us, “Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.” To see yourself with compassion is to understand and to forgive; and, when you forgive, you begin to change.

Cultivate your connection to Source Source is the primordial origin of unconditional love, compassion, and the healing light of the universe. When you cultivate your connection to Source, as you understand it, you become a vehicle for the spiritual transformation of both yourself and others. Your life’s purpose is revealed, and your divine essence is awakened.

We each have healing gifts that can be cultivated to empower ourselves and others. I would love to collaborate with you to activate your inner healer.

Please join me for a FREE event that I will be hosting in partnership with The Shift Network this Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 8:30pm EDT / 5:30pm PDT.

Space will be limited, so you’ll want to reserve your spot as soon as you can.

You can do that by clicking here >>

The Power of Lucid Dreaming

April 19, 2023

by Deborah King Astral Projection Energy Medicine Featured

Today let’s talk about the power of lucid dreaming — it is such a powerful tool when it comes to activating our intuition. Some of you may be lucid dreaming already, even if you aren’t familiar with the term. But even if the idea is foreign to you right now, it’s possible to learn how to step into your dreams, change your story, and orchestrate your destiny, right here and right now.

First, what is it: lucid dreaming happens while you’re asleep but aware that you’re having a dream. You fully realize that your conscious mind is hovering over your dreamscape, and that you can think, act, and change the things that happen in your dream to get an improved outcome.

Learning how to lucid dream can take time, but once you know how to do it, you may well find that your creativity — even during the day when you’re wide awake — starts flowing more easily. You may also feel an arising sense of calm permeating your soul.

Anyone can benefit from opening this pathway to greater awareness and self-knowledge. What happens is that when you have a lucid dream, you become the director of your subconscious.

You are familiar, I bet, with daydreams. During a daydream, your mind flies off to some imagined place and you engage with it as if it as if it’s actually happening. Daydreaming is a lot like immersing yourself in an unfolding movie. It’s an act of imagination while you’re fully conscious but you become unaware of your present surroundings.

You can get lost in a daydream. Some people live their lives there, content to imagine wonderful things rather than taking real steps to make them happen. “Get your head out of the clouds and your feet back on the ground,” is something a lot of daydreamers heard as kids.

Daydreaming begins with a compelling thought, memory, or fantasy. From there, the daydreamer’s imagination takes flight. The longer the daydream, the deeper the dreamer becomes immersed in his or her private fantasy land.

People who daydream a lot generally find it easier to become lucid dreamers. That’s because daydreaming is a lot like practicing lucid dreaming while awake. In fact, visualization is one aspect of a robust lucid dreaming practice.

When you experience lucid dreaming, you can confront challenges, fears, and hang-ups to become happier in your own skin. Lucid dreaming has the power to release repressed memories and even cleanse bad karma. This is one of the reasons that the Vedic sages were so keen to develop their lucid dreaming abilities.

So, let’s start our journey through lucid dreaming with the Vedic sages, who have practiced the discipline for thousands of years. The Upanishads describe four states of consciousness. The first three are waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), and sleeping (suṣupti). Dreaming (svapna), resonates most closely with our Western notion of the subconscious. In Vedic philosophy, both dreaming and sleeping are considered more important, in a spiritual sense, than waking (jagrat).

While dreaming, a sleeping person frequently is required to acknowledge the vibrations emitted by past deeds and karma. Psychic unrest, events of the day, and other intense experiences may also give rise to dreams. Generally, good dreams correspond to dharma, the path of rightness, while bad dreams are adharma, that which is evil or wrong. In Vedic culture, extending from ancient times, the world itself, or what we all think of as reality, is an illusion—that is, nothing but a dream—made by the God Vishnu.

The fourth state is pure consciousness, called Turiya, which is reachable through meditation and good works. To reach pure consciousness is to truly understand the infinite and to cease from suffering and reincarnation. Turiya exists beyond dreams and beyond time.

Every culture has tried to understand the meaning of dreams so they could trigger their power to change mindsets, perceived limitations, and unhelpful life trajectories. Tibetan Buddhist monks, for example, practice Dream Yoga to strengthen their mind’s ability to detach from their bodies and move fearlessly through their dreams as active participants.

Ancient aboriginal cultures throughout the world have embraced the spiritual and divinatory power of dreams, too. Many of you may be familiar with dream catchers, the traditional Native American artifact that catches bad dreams and allows good dreams to pass through.

Here’s another example: the Māori in New Zealand, also known as Tangata Whenua, the People of the Land, believe that your spirit leaves your body during dreams, and your dreams can warn you of omens and deliver premonitions.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that dreams give us insights into the past, present, and future. Aristotle talked about lucid dreaming in his Parva Naturalia, which was written in the 4th century BC. He wrote, “often when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.” In other words, we often know we’re dreaming, and that we’re caught between two worlds, neither fully awake nor fully asleep.

Several centuries later, Saint Augustine, the Christian theologian born in Algeria, believed that lucid dreams happen when the soul briefly leaves the body to get a glimpse of the afterlife.

Early psychotherapists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries took lucid dreaming seriously, considering them a key to unlocking the human personality and desires. Sigmund Freud believed dreams let us process fragments of memories, repressed anger, and sexual impulses that hang around in our subconscious. Things that might be too painful or destructive to express in daily life can be set free in a dream. By entering the dream as an active participant, he felt that patients could rewrite the early scripts of their lives and release embodied trauma. Though many of us in the energy medicine world today have moved away from Freud, his early dream analysis was an important step along the road to understanding the mind-body connection.

Before we leave Freud, I also want to mention his notion of free association. Freud believed that letting patients make their own connections between their dreams and real life was a far better method than forcing interpretations on them.

As I mentioned earlier, your dreams reflect your unique journey through life. This is important because, as you begin to lucid dream, you might need some gentle guidance to help you interpret your flashes of insight. There are many pathways to understanding lucid dreams. But with practice, you can learn to trust your inner wisdom and intuition.

Ultimately, you have the power to make choices and to influence how your story ends in the dream state and when you’re wide awake. This is another reason that the Vedic sages paid attention to dreams; they are an aspect of karma.

Unfortunately, as they so often do, scientists initially distrusted the idea of lucid dreaming because it was hard to test. Many scientists thought of dreams as more-or-less a neural garbage disposal unit that “cleared out” our brains while we slept. But by the 1970s, technological advances for sleep studies helped bring Western science around to the idea that our brains are doing important work while we dream.

Scientists now know that lucid dreams usually occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a period of very deep sleep with lots of observable brain activity. Current evidence strongly suggests that lucid dreaming therapy will soon be incorporated into Western medicine.

Today, popular figures like actor Leonardo DiCaprio and novelist Stephen King talk about their practice of lucid dreaming, which suggests that all of us will want to give it a try. The Nightmare on Elm Street movie used the power of lucid dreaming to help terrified teen-agers overcome evil. And in the recent television hit, Evil, a scientific skeptic turns to lucid dreaming as one way to try and beat the devil. We might call this a “lucid dreaming uprising” in which our modern world is reaching for ancient wisdom to reconnect with our intuition and spiritual essence.

So, by now you’re probably wondering how to activate the power of lucid dreaming into your life, right?

Swami Satyananda Saraswati originated a twentieth century school of Yoga Nidra. In 1976, having founded the Bihar School of Yoga in the 1960s, he built a system of guided meditation that helps devotees enter the lucid dreaming state. His system draws on the ancient tantric practice of nyasa, which combines the power of touch along different parts of the body with specific Sanskrit mantras.

Satyananda’s approach isn’t directly connected to traditional Vedic texts, but it does have historical precedents in the Vedic philosophy. It’s interesting to note that the United States Army and other big organizations have used the Yoga Nidra approach developed by Satyananda to treat soldiers who experience post-traumatic stress disorder.

There are some foods that can enhance your ability to lucid dream. Foods rich in vitamin B6 are linked with greater dream recall and intensity. One of the roles of vitamin B6 is to convert the essential amino acid tryptophan into serotonin and niacin. This conversion helps your body regulate appetite, sleep patterns, and mood. Foods that help enhance lucid dreaming include chicken, soybeans, turkey, tuna, venison, lamb, salmon, halibut, shrimp, and cod. If you’re vegan or vegetarian, good lucid dreaming foods include kidney beans, pumpkin seeds, tofu, cheese, and soy sauce.

It’s best to eat these foods and take vitamin B6 during your evening meal, just a few hours before you retire for the night.

Here are a few practical steps to enhance your ability to experience lucid dreams.

Make a dream pillow and infuse it with a meditative essential oil. It can be any comfortable pillow, and an essential oil like bergamot, clary sage, lavender, mugwort, orange, rose, roman chamomile, or sandalwood. You can also diffuse essential oil into the air using a diffuser instead of putting drops on your pillow. (Some people have adverse reactions to essential oils that touch the skin, so a diffuser may be best for them.)

Sleep in a cooler than normal room. To keep from feeling hot or too warm and uncomfortable during sleep, throw open a window or run a fan to keep your body temperature feeling exactly right for you. Studies have shown that sleeping in a cool place improves the frequency and duration of REM (dream level) sleep.

Exercise/Yoga Exercise and yoga several hours before sleep has been shown to enhance REM sleep.

Turn off all electronic devices with lit screens one hour before bed.

Regular meditation is another way to prepare your mind for lucid dreaming, as does setting your intention to lucid dream. For example, you might write in a notebook beside your bed your intention to lucid dream just before going to sleep every night as a way to prepare your subconscious. A nightly routine can also help signal your brain that you’re shifting from the waking to the dreaming state.

Lucid dreaming is powerful, so it can also be unsettling because there is no way to cleanse past karma in just one or two lucid dreaming sessions. So, please recognize that this technique, just like meditation, requires time, practice, and devotion. If your past trauma is intense and/or painful, it’s especially prudent to find a teacher or spiritual guide who can gently guide you through the process. Those of you saddled with post-traumatic stress disorder will want to make sure you have support in place before you try out lucid dreaming.

Finally, I must mention that the renowned inventor Nikola Tesla, mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, and author Lewis Carroll are among the many creatives and mathematicians who have drawn upon the power of lucid dreaming to unlock creativity and access the wisdom of their subconscious minds. In the final analysis, lucid dreaming, like meditation, opens our hearts to what is timeless and lets us see things as they really are, stripped of the half-truths and lies we often tell ourselves when we’re awake. In the words of Carl Jung, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Becoming a lucid dreamer activates your power both to see the darkness and to move beyond it into the light.

Lucid Dreaming is just one skill that you can master that can help you see beyond the physical bounds of time and space and obtain wisdom from realms beyond ours. And it is one of the skills taught in our bestselling Astral Wisdom course. Learn to design the life of your dreams by mastering the out-of-body experience by accessing this course here >>

Abundance Comes from Within

March 7, 2023

by Deborah King Chakras Energy Healing Energy Medicine Featured

Did you know that the greatest gift you can give yourself is the gift of abundance? Whatever it is you want—peace, joy, laughter, happiness, strength, a dream career, a better connection to Source, a deeper alignment with your higher self and life purpose—anything your heart desires can be attracted to your life with an abundant mindset and an open crown chakra. With this one shift, you can literally change everything!

The Source of Happiness

You’ve probably noticed that there are people who seem to have it all: health, wealth, successful careers, marriages, partnerships, and most of all, they are honestly happy. From the outside looking in, it may seem as though the material prosperity they’ve achieved created their happiness, but the truth is that it’s usually the other way around. Internal perspective, clarity, and alignment with your soul purpose leads to external abundance. Abundance begins within you, with your thoughts and attitude, and with the proper mindset, there’s no limit to what the universe can provide for you.

You Get What You Give

The world is a closed circle; energy can’t be created, only transformed, and every single thing on this planet is linked to every other thing through the unified field. This means that you are connected to your neighbors and everyone else, to the physical earth, and to higher planes and Source, and what you do affects your personal energy as well as the energy around you. You see this in little ways every day. Think about how easy it is to get sucked into someone else’s bad mood when they’re nearby—their energy can literally drag yours down.

But the reverse is true as well, and positive energy can also spread like energetic wildfire. In fact, that is what you are doing by studying energy healing and walking the path of light; you are helping to raise your own vibration, which raises the vibrations of those around you, and collectively, the universe at large. This is no small thing—energy may be invisible, but it is more powerful than anything you can see with your eyes, and as it heals you, it heals the whole planet.

Ask and You Shall Receive

It is this same principle of interconnectedness that guides abundance. Your thoughts and emotions have their own energy, and what you think about, obsess about, will eventually manifest. You give it weight by thinking and feeling about it so much. This has been proven in studies that show how effective prayer is. Thought and emotion together push that energy out into the world where the desire can be formed and returned to you. Abundance is as simple as a consistent, meaningful request to the universe, accompanied by giving back what you hope to receive.

Shift Your Focus

So if you spend all your time thinking about the fact that you don’t have enough money, the universe sees that as a request, and you will be provided with a continued absence of money. If you constantly lament the fact that you’re not in a relationship, it will be hard to find one. If you are always worried about getting sick, then the universe will provide you with an illness. The universe will give you what you put your energy into, so if you want to manifest the good, you have to shift your focus and attitude.

If you want more money, start donating what you can spare. If you want more love, adopt a pet. Be of service without expectations. True abundance is an inner knowing that you are living the best version of yourself, so switch from focusing on the lack of what you want to focusing on bringing what you want into your life so you can be that best version.

Sometimes I find students can’t manifest their desires because they don’t really believe they deserve them. If your thoughts contradict your emotions, the universe tends to hear your feelings. You may think you want more peace, but if you secretly feel you deserve to be punished for past mistakes, you will continue to be punished. Energy healing techniques like meditation and journaling to release those negative emotions can help you adjust your thoughts toward the positive, and allow you to attract the abundance you want and deserve.

Open Your Crown Chakra

Another way to create internal abundance is to open your seventh chakra, which sits at the top of your head and is connected to thought, consciousness, information, and intelligence—all aspects of the process of knowing. When the seventh chakra is clear and balanced, divine energy can flow into it from the universal field, expanding your consciousness, and providing you with a greater awareness of what you are truly meant to do. With this knowledge, you then have the potential to manifest the life you want to have—the life you were born to live—and the abundance you seek.

Of course, the Crown Chakra is just one of the several chakras you should focus on in order to find true balance, peace, happiness, and health in your life. And while this is too much to discuss in an article, we do have a resource that will help you gain this transformational knowledge (which can literally impact every part of your life). It is our bestselling Secrets of Chakra Wisdom Course. Learn more about it here >>

Purpose Leads to Abundance

The more open your crown chakra, the more connected you are to your higher self, which allows you to really understand your purpose on this earth. Purpose is what many successful people attribute those successes to, and I see this quite often in my energy healing courses and workshops as well. Students who have won the lottery or finally reached the tenth floor executive office suite and are still not fulfilled are usually not following their true path—the roadmap their soul laid out for them before incarnating. Sure, they may look “successful,” but they are miserable, so does that really count as success?

People whose abundance blooms out of motivations deeper and more personal than money or fame are always happier. Real successes are life achievements that are in perfect alignment with your soul purpose and are therefore fulfilling and meaningful on a spiritual level as well as a personality level. My purpose is this—teaching you energy healing and how to live a healthier, happier life, which has made me happier and healthier, too.

When you find what you are meant to be doing on this earth, no matter how much money you make, you’ll have no shortage of fulfillment and joy. And chances are, you will make more money, have more peace, resiliency, love, and everything else your heart desires as well, for true abundance is what you feel in your soul, not just in your bank account.

Of course, becoming the type of person who can welcome and attract abundance requires effort for most of us, a process for overcoming past traumas and healing. And if you are ready to begin your personal journey, consider joining our flagship LifeForce Energy Healing Level I program >>

Celebrating Martin Luther King’s Legacy

January 11, 2023

by Deborah King Advocacy Celebrities Energy Medicine Featured Social

January is a month for reflection and hope. From festive celebrations on New Year’s Eve to the widespread tradition of making resolutions, January gives each of us an opportunity to pause and consider how we might best use our time and energy to thrive. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life, in the ceaseless daily demands that pull on our attention and distract us from the bigger picture. Taking a moment in January to envision and write down your goals for personal and spiritual growth is a gift that will pay dividends over time in terms of a life that has purpose.

In the United States, commemoration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday (January 16, 2023) is in keeping with this spirit of reflection and renewal. The federal holiday was established in 1983 and recognized in all fifty states by the year 2000. Martin Luther King (MLK) remains America’s most globally famous and influential civil rights leader. Hiroshima, Japan, for example, acknowledges MLK Day each year, due to King’s unwavering commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. MLK Day is also officially recognized in the Canadian provinces of Toronto and Ottawa.

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States took place between 1954 to 1965. It began with the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional and culminated in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Martin Luther King’s public career dovetailed with this crucial period of American history. Already prominent in the Black community as a Baptist minister, King reached national fame—largely via the then new technology of television—as the leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This successful 381-day organized protest resulted in the Supreme Court striking down segregation on Alabama public transport as unconstitutional in November 1956.

Following this victory, King continued to lead civil rights marches throughout the segregated South. He was instrumental in creating the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), headed by Black clergymen, and in organizing the movement around the principle of non-violence. Non-violence, in this case, did not simply mean refusing to meet aggression with a counterattack (though that was crucial).

Instead, non-violence as a tactic drew from a deeper moral and spiritual worldview. In promoting nonviolence, King incorporated the teachings of Jesus and the recent example of Gandhi’s peaceful and successful resistance in India to the British Empire to argue that civil rights activists had to lead by example. Meeting violence with violence ultimately reduced the humanity of everyone involved and provided antagonists with a pretext for yet more aggression. In his own words, now etched in the south wall of the MLK Memorial in Washington, D.C., “darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

To end the cycle of violence, and to embody the righteousness of the civil rights cause, King urged those who participated to remain nonviolent. While by the late 1960s, many activists began to waver in their commitment to passive resistance, King held firm that long-lasting change could only be achieved through sustained non-violence. Indeed, in 1966, following passage of the Voting Rights Act, King moved the marches to the segregated neighborhoods of Chicago and other Midwestern and Northern cities, making the case that segregation was not only a Southern problem but an American one.

It is easy to forget today how radical some of King’s ideas were in their time. As with anyone who is commemorated in a statue, a stamp, or a holiday, the edges of history tend to blur a bit. King was a revered figure in his day, but also a polarizing one, and he was certainly a complicated man who worked under near constant public pressure. By the late 1960s, he began to link the cause of racial justice to social justice and started work on a planned Poor Peoples’ Campaign. His involvement was cut short by his assassination in Memphis, TN, on April 4, 1968.

Yet while King, like all consequential figures, often divided his audience, the lasting impact of his life and work is assured. King was on the front lines of the mid-century Civil Rights Movement from Montgomery to Selma to D.C. to Chicago. He believed that reconciliation was not only possible but inevitable, and, in this, he continues to represent the best of the United States. Just as he drew on the deep heritage of Christianity, and the long history of non-violence, King grounded his speeches and writings in the United States Constitution. He did not seek to work outside of that framework, but rather to have the United States live up to the ideals contained in the Declaration of Independence and the 14th Amendment.

As we pause for a moment in January to reflect, to plan, and to think about our own spiritual journeys, it is relevant to remember that King’s actions and writings do not sit frozen in the past but provide inspiration for the present and future of peace and justice. As he wrote, in an August 1967 address to the SCLC, “we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.” When we celebrate MLK Day in the United States, we are not only looking backwards at our history, but moving towards a more perfect union.

Vedic New Year: Global Traditions and Our Relationship with Time

January 2, 2023

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Meditation

Calendars are flexible and so is time. The Gregorian calendar, the solar dating system commonly used today, was created by Pope Gregory XIII in the late 16th century. It is itself a revision of the Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar.

“I like to think of a new year being possible at any moment, as every moment is a kind of doorway,” said Joy Harjo, the United States poet laureate. “You can go any direction.”

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, arrived this past year in September with the sounding of the shofar.

Sometimes I think of time as fluid, almost reversible, the way that music can be. Playing the scales, I can play them forward or backward, and lose myself in them, for a moment, not having a sense of direction, or, for that matter, a sense of time.

December 31, which comes from the Gregorian calendar, is an internationally accepted marker of the shift from the old year to the new. However, many cultures adhere to different dates and traditions. The Chinese Lunar Calendar, for example, is based on the cycles of the moon and the sun. In 2023, New Year’s Eve celebrations in China (and in Chinese ethnic communities around the world) will begin on January 21 and end on February 5, the day of the Lantern Festival.

In India, there are multiple days and festivities associated with the new year, depending on the region, culture, and calendar that one consults. These traditions began to emerge approximately three millennia ago. To fully understand New Year’s within Indian history requires study.

Here we look at some of the most significant differences and Vedic traditions. In each case, celebration of a new year is a time for joy, spiritual reawakening, new beginnings, and the release of bad karma.

A Short Overview of the Vedic New Year(s)

Per the Vedic calendar, Ougadi (Ugadi), the New Year, will take place on March 22, 2023, and is a public holiday, though states and regions may differ from the federal government regarding which days are officially recognized. Ougadi is primarily celebrated as the official New Year by the Hindu Telugu and Kannada communities, though celebrations occur across India with great fanfare.

In Vedic astrology, the timing of the new year corresponds to the movement of the Sun into Aries and the start of the first month (known as the Chaitra month). This is an auspicious time for karma removal, spiritual dedication, and new projects. The Vedic New Year also recognizes the day on which Lord Brahma, the Creator, created the universe.

Diwali (or Deepawali), known in English as the Festival of Lights, is another tradition associated with the concept of a new year and the need to celebrate and reflect. Diwali began as a celebration of the summer harvest and takes place in the fall season. The next Diwali will take place between November 12 and November 16, 2023.

Let me emphasize that India is an extraordinarily diverse country wherein regions may differ culturally, linguistically, historically, and ethnically. Western states, such as Gujarat, and areas in northern India are most likely to associate New Year’s Day with Diwali, as described above.

Other regions and/or cultures may celebrate the New Year at a different time. For example, the Marathi New Year (Gudi Padwa) will take place on March 22, 2023, as per the Hindu calendar. Sikh Indians in Punjabi celebrate the New Year (Baisakhi, sometimes known as Vaisakhi) on the 13th or 14th of April each year, to recognize the birth of Sikhism as a faith and to ask for good fortune in the coming year. As with the Vedas, comprehending the richness of India can take more than one lifetime’s worth of effort!

Several gods and goddesses are evoked in Vedic New Year’s celebrations, again depending upon the region and cultural traditions. For many Vedic believers, Diwali reveres the Goddess Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu and the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Meditation is one way to honor the power of Lakshmi.

Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Parvati and Shiva, is also evoked by many Vedic believers as he is the god of new beginnings and good luck and has the power to remove obstacles. The mantra Om Gum Ganapatayei Namah roughly translates as “I bow to Ganesha, who is capable of removing all obstacles. I pray for blessings and protection.” This is a devotional mantra to use when asking for protection and guidance as you navigate the challenges of a new year.

Diwali has spread from India to include countries such as Guyana, Fiji, Sri Lanka, and Singapore (though dates may differ), as well as many adherents of Buddhism and Jainism. While dates and traditions may differ widely, common to all these celebrations is a focus on family, spiritual reflection, knowledge, hope, and joy. Indian tradition holds that adherents should begin to prepare for Diwali thirty days in advance through various cleansing and organizing rituals and customs that clear out the old and make way for the new.

Some Final Thoughts

Vedic philosophy is rich and complex, spanning such interrelated concepts as vedic astrology, ayurveda, meditation, and the chakras. It requires sincere devotion, a spiritual teacher, and a commitment to stay the course even when things become challenging. This brief overview of the New Year in the Vedic tradition can give you only a glimpse of the bounty that awaits careful study.

One way to become more familiar with the wisdom that the Vedic New Year brings is to seek out Diwali celebrations. Diwali is celebrated throughout the world and the spectacle of food, generosity, and beautiful colored lights can inspire and uplift. I love the unique traditions and history of this area of the world and enjoy sharing them with you.

In closing, you may also find the Lakshmi Gayatri Mantra to be a powerful way to honor Lakshmi and the New Year and to seek abundance and good fortune: Om Mahalakshmyai Cha Vidmahe Vishnu Patnyai Cha Dhimahi Tanno Lakshmihi Prachodayat.

Much can be learned from the Vedas, including mantras, which can be leveraged to enhance (and often simplify) your daily meditation practice. It is this sort of meditation that is taught in our bestselling Vedic Meditation course, through which you can also receive your very own personal mantra. Click here to access it now >>

I wish you a happy and abundant New Year.

New Year, New Light: Five Ways to Make This Your Best Year Yet

December 27, 2022

by Deborah King Energy Medicine Featured Meditation Self Love

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. —Helen Keller

What makes it feel so good to turn the page on a new calendar year? The open days ahead are waiting to be filled with exciting new adventures, voyages of learning and discovery, meaningful new connections with fellow human beings, the joy of serving those in need. It’s the hopeful promise of new beginnings. The calendar waits for you to chart a course and the possibilities are endless and exhilarating!

There is just one vital ingredient necessary for creating a joyful new chapter in the book of your life. It’s both an awesome responsibility and a glorious opportunity. You have the power to make what you will of your new year. Will it be bright with love, laughter, hope, happiness, faith, and dreams? Only you can decide.

You know it’s true that your mind and thoughts have a say in the future. You are a creator of this world. You came here to contribute to the betterment of all. There are a vast number of ways that you can serve to lift humanity out of the lower energy frequencies that feed fear, greed, and violence. It is in your hands to generate a better world through the power of your heart in alignment with a focused mind. When you align with the love in your heart, you immediately begin to see life with new eyes.

How can you make yourself ready to turn a new page and create new beginnings? Meditation and prayer put you in direct communication with Source. Journaling will put you in touch with your own emotions, and along with forgiveness, will help you keep negative energy from blocking your way. Strengthening your connection with Source is the first step to creating the purposeful and meaningful life of your dreams.

As a light-filled spark of the Divine, your soul longs to experience good and to help others do the same. By focusing on the positive and the good, you’ll be able to bring more of it into your life.

Here are five ways you can shine new light on your life and make this your best year yet:

1. Focus on positive thoughts – Use your powerful creative mind to imagine all the good things that could happen, rather than fearing what could go wrong at every turn. Look at yourself and your endeavors with the eyes of a kindly parent who hopes every good thing will come to their beloved child. Create a dream of your happiest, most purposeful life and nurture it. Use affirmations to reinforce your goal of always thinking positive. “Wonderful new doors are opening for me all the time.”

2. Seek out positive people – Build a circle of like-minded friends. Look for people whose spirit lifts you up and inspires you. Have a beautiful dream and gather together with those whose dreams match yours and who offer support and encouragement. Who is living a life you admire? Who is doing work you love? Who is teaching what you long to learn and how can you become a student in that field? Open new vistas by attending courses and workshops that will expand your life’s possibilities.

3. Speak positive words –Words have power so use them to your advantage. Use your words as affirmations to create self-respect, confidence, and good will. Speak kind words. Practice kindness in order to feel good and be a comfort to yourself and others. Be a role model for loving, respectful behavior. Be “for” something rather than “against.” Mother Teresa declined to join a march “against” war but said she would be happy to support a march “for” peace. Read the work of a spiritual teacher you admire to help build your vocabulary of positive words and ideas.

4. Take positive action—Find ways to serve others while pursuing your dreams. Whatever you love to do, make, build, or create contains an aspect of service and empowerment for others as well. Focus on making a contribution by doing something you love. What would you love to see and do? Expand your vision and understanding with a visit to a new neighborhood, a new city, or a new country. Experience a culture or cuisine that is new to you. Make a new connection with the world in a positive way. Counter negative, destructive forces in the world with a focus on those who are working to make it better. How can you help them?

5. Channel positive energy – Be a role model for well-being in the world. Spread joy and compassion. Take good care of yourself. Notice what makes you feel good. Create a happy mood when you need it—smile often, laugh, dance, sing, hike, swim, head for the playground and swing! Release negative emotions. Make unconditional love your set point emotion.

In your bright new year, you have the power to create the life you want and to help heal the world, as Gandhi said, by being the change you want to see. If you would like to learn more about the field of energy healing and its role in building the life of your dreams, check out my LifeForce Energy Healing I Certification Course here.

And I will be so honored to be with you at the beginning of a bright new year. Join me for my weekly Facebook Live show starting January 24, 2023.

Vedic Fire Ceremony: Commemorate the Winter Solstice

December 20, 2022

by Deborah King Astrological Events Energy Medicine Featured Solar

Winter Solstice is upon us. We’re at a turning point as our planet Earth makes its annual rotation around the sun. For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere, the next 24 hours will be where we get the shortest amount of sunlight because the sun is lowest in the sky. In fact, the sun appears so low in the sky (because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis) that it seems to set in the same place as it came up—an illusion that makes it look like the sun isn’t moving at all.

That’s where the term “solstice” comes from. The Latin solstitium translates as “the Sun stands still.” Solstice has been a special moment in time even during the Neolithic era, as seen in ancient sites like Newgrange in Ireland, which is aligned with the winter solstice sunrise, and Stonehenge in England, which is aligned to the winter solstice sunset. Back then it was a time for feasting before the famine months of deep winter set in. Cattle were slaughtered so they wouldn’t have to be fed during the winter; the wine and beer brewed from summer’s harvest were now fermented and ready to drink. So, the heart of Solstice was family and friends getting together to feast and exchange gifts, just as we do today.

And because the event heralded the beginning of the return of the sun, it was the time to celebrate the birth of the sun god in cultures around the world. The birth of Jesus was set as December 25th because it was the date of the festival of Sol Invictus, the sun god of the Roman Empire, and to incorporate indigenous Yule traditions into a Christian framework.

The Romans did it up in grand style, honoring the god Saturn with the festival of Saturnalia in the days of solstice. Businesses would close down and there would be big banquets, music, gift-giving, and nonstop parties—with an abundance of candles symbolizing the returning power of the sun’s light.

What does Saturn have to do with solstice? Solstice begins on the first day of the astrological sign of Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn. That heavy planet is known as a spiritual teacher, preparing you for the obstacles you have to surmount on the path to liberation—like getting through the long dark night of the soul.

In the Vedic tradition, the winter solstice is called the dawn of the year, knowing that the budding flower of time will unfold over the following year. According to Vedic Astrology, the Sun gives access to exploring your future with strength and courage. The sun is the eternal atman, the spiritual life principle of the universe, and the source of much of your energy. It sustains and empowers life through the balance of the seasons.

Just like the first two hours of the morning are when you receive the seed principle of the day, the returning light of the sun at solstice will help you receive the seeds you need to plant for new growth over the coming year. It’s right now, and not January 1st, for the time for New Year’s resolutions.

Join me today in a Vedic fire ceremony for winter solstice to revisit the past year and reflect, without judgment, on what you need to cast off, and to invite in a focus for setting new goals that will help you move in the direction of your dreams. The energy of the solstice supports you in letting go of old habits and beliefs and opening up a fresh chapter in your life. The Sun God starts to rise again, and your soul ascends to spirit.

On the winter solstice, the sun reaches the dark zenith of the underworld, where true light is reborn stronger than before. It points to achieving peace, prosperity, and wisdom.

Since the start of the solar year celebrates the rebirth of the Sun, it’s a wonderful time to meditate on darkness and light, and what they mean for you.

So close your eyes, and take in a deep breath and exhale any tension in your body, then let your breathing become slow, deep, and easy. It is the dark of the longest night of the year. The dark of deep space between the stars and planets. The dark of the depths of the seas. The dark of the womb.

Imagine you are walking alone in a dark forest. It is dusk and there is no moon. You walk slowly on a barely visible path, past trees shrouded in gloom. Your heart is heavy.

You have been through a challenging year and you worry about what might be coming in the next year. You made mistakes, you suffered loss, you had pain. You tend to be hard on yourself, and all you can see are your failures—the times you closed your heart, the times you reacted in anger, the times you saw someone in need and turned the other way. A new year lies ahead, and you know there will be new challenges and new uncertainties.

Not far away from the dark woods you know that people are caught up in a whirlwind of activity. They may have lost sight of the meaning behind the holidays—the rebirth of the Light.

It’s a time of depression for many. Maybe you’re dealing with a difficult diagnosis, or you went through a traumatic event this past year that you’re still reeling from. Or, like so many, you may be feeling the pain of the world—there are so many in desperate situations who are dealing with poverty or war or persecution. Or you may be feeling the pain of the earth as mankind continues to deplete her resources.

You keep walking as night takes hold of the bleak beauty of the wintry forest. The darkness grows deeper.

The darkness holds your unseen worries, the anxious thoughts that circle endlessly in your head and don’t let you rest, the fears for yourself and those you love. Will you be safe? Will you be healthy? Will you have enough sustenance—not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually?

You may wish for the darkness to dissipate, but the darkness is necessary. It is the womb of your being, where the seeds of your future germinate. What have you planted deep inside yourself? What plans are being formulated for your future? Are you feeding your potential for spiritual growth? Is a desire to serve others, to relieve the suffering of others, ready to emerge?

Let’s take a moment to plant seeds of focused intention. These seeds will grow to be the gifts from the darkness for you. Success lies in finding the solution to a problem. Whatever issue comes to your mind, know that there is a solution waiting for you, that you can find that solution today as you bring more light into your awareness.

Create in the light that arises from the darkness. When you allow yourself to go deep into the darkness, to explore its depths and its edges, you honor both the dark night of the soul and the rebirth of hope and vision.

An old teacher of mine used to say, “You have to kneel before you can leap.” Think about it. If you want to jump up in the air, you first have to crouch down to get the momentum you need to spring up. The same is true for spiritual growth. You have to stop fearing your own inner darkness, the uncertainty of life, the depths of your emotions, the dark night of the soul. You have to embrace that which is hidden and honor all the parts of yourself—the high and the low, the powerful and the weak, the light and the dark.

Are you ready to release whatever no longer works for you?

Are you ready to shed whatever is taking up too much of your internal space? Is negative self-talk overriding your hopes and dreams? Are you letting your light shine brightly, or are you hiding it? Are you tired of not living up to your potential?

Set the intention you need right now to release whatever no longer serves you and get ready for rebirth and renewal.

Feel how those good intentions are lifting the darkness a bit. Join me as we breathe in the crisp night air and inhale the invigorating scent of cedar and pine. The first stars are breaking through the darkness of the night and we can now walk more confidently by starlight. There are sounds of rustling in the forest, but it all seems so benign as we suddenly see through a gap in the trees to a spot of light in the distance.

We come to the edge of the clearing and we see someone who beckons us forward – we feel welcomed. A faint glow seems to emanate from the fringes of her robe, it is a woman, with a wrinkled weathered face peering out from the hood of her robe. She is tending the small fire and invites you to sit with her on the blanket that is laid out on the ground. Join her and warm your hands at the fire, then sit and stare at the flames as the sweet smell of burning cedar perfumes the air.

She tells you her name is Brigid, she is the early Celtic goddess of healing, poetry, and fire, from the ancient lineage of Druids. She has woven ribbons of red, green and white, the colors of the Druid holiday season, into her silver braided hair. She speaks to you gently, slowly, thoughtfully, as she continues to watch the fire, saying:

“You have nothing to fear from the darkness, for she is your mother and the mother of the Light. Forget your burdens for a while. Take rest here. The light cannot return until the darkness is complete.”

You watch as she reaches into a bag and takes out some herbs. She holds the plants to her lips and murmurs a soft chant in a language you don’t recognize, then throws the herbs into the fire. Pungent smoke washes over you, and you grow sleepy. The old woman advises you to lie down and enter a dream state. You feel yourself pulled into a semi-sleep. As if from a faraway land, you hear her voice.

“It is time to be magical, my dear, in this sacred clearing. You are here to honor the gods of the coming light, whose power gives life to everything which is alive. She says:

“We all come from the Goddess

And to Her we return

As our ancestors worshiped Her

On air, land, and sea.

Mother, I feel you under my feet.

Father, I see you where the eagle flies.

You shall reach us, you shall teach us

And reveal our fate!

Burn bright, flame within me,

Kindled in the eternal fire.

In your dream-like state, you feel that deep peace, the peace of spirit that passes all understanding. Knowledge arises within you of how to proceed in life. You gain the wisdom that is the gift of the difficulties you have encountered and overcome.

Slowly you wake up. Looking up into the night sky, you see the stars, twinkling in the dark sky. Brigid says, “See the turning of the wheel, the endless cycle that connects us all. May you be guided to the returning light.” And say with her: I am both dark and light. I am both dark and light.

Slowly you rise from the blanket and offer your sincere thanks and gratitude to this ancient woman who has gently given you such solace, such relief from the sorrows you were carrying alone in the dark. You have received the blessing of the ancients and a spark of new life and can carry on. You feel connected to the Source of all life and can sense the swirling nurturing energy of the dark.

You remember the ancient Vedic prayer for illuminating your life, a famous chant from the Upanishads.

From non-being, lead us to being

From darkness, lead us to light

From death, lead us to immortality

And may the infinite light arise within you.

The Vedas are ancient texts that hold the keys to personal healing, self-fulfillment and enlightenment. Within the Vedas, you can find the Sutras – mystical phrases that hold within them immense transformational power.

Right now, you can experience the “seeding” of these 20 sacred phrases in your consciousness — and transform your personal energy field.

The Shift Network has bundled Deborah’s bestselling Sacred Tools for Modern Master course – in which she teaches the Sutras – with three other offerings. Right now, you can get all 4 bundled for just $98! And you can pick it up by clicking here >>

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“What Drains Your Energy?”

ANIMALS TRULY CARE

“Baby Cries, Caregiver Comes!”

Ears, Hackles, Tails & Vocalizations – How Animals Communicate

Two men looked out through prison bars.One man saw dirt … the other, stars.

Ancient Greeks

Ancient Romans

Ancient Chinese

Other Ancient Cultures

Vikings

Native Americans

Maya and Aztecs

Druids

Solstice Facts

Here are ways to celebrate the Summer Solstice Where You Live

Mea culpa

My Recipe for Developing Better Habits

Yard by yard, life is hard.Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.

Home Sweet Home

Den/Office

Make Being Delightfully Present a Daily Pursuit

Are You Fulfilled?

Activating Your Soul’s Plan

Cleanse Your Sixth Chakra

Be Open

Meditate

Seeing Behind the Mask

Cleansing the Throat Chakra

Seeing Yourself Clearly

Positive change begins with you

The Source of Happiness

You Get What You Give

Ask and You Shall Receive

Shift Your Focus

Open Your Crown Chakra

Purpose Leads to Abundance

A Short Overview of the Vedic New Year(s)

Some Final Thoughts

Two men looked out through prison bars.
One man saw dirt … the other, stars.

Yard by yard, life is hard.
Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.