Finding the peace within

The search for inner peace seems to be stronger than ever these days. We are bombarded with self-help advice from every corner. A lot of it is perfectly good in theory, but when the going gets tough, the words of wisdom may be harder to follow. Today,  I'd like to share with you the blog of my friend Shaeri Richards, author of Dancing with your Dragon: The Art of Loving your Unlovable Self. Her approach is down to earth and has the true ring of someone who is walking their talk.

She writes, "Life happens.

Sometimes we might enjoy the way life is unfolding, other times it might feel challenging, painful and overwhelming.

The truth is that we cannot control what is happening in the world around us, yet we do have the power to find peace with life in our inner world.  Paradoxically, when we come to peace inside, our energy shifts and we may find we are attracting different types of situations to our outer world. But even if nothing changes on the outer, peace on the inner will make life more pleasant and fulfilling.

In a world where change is the only constant, coming to peace requires a certain ability to go with the flow, to allow life to be as it is.  It requires a certain surrender to the notion that try as we like, we don’t always get to have things how we want them and when we want them, which is usually “right now, thank you very much.”  [read full post]

Compassion for Self

Jennifer Mills, EEM-CP, explores a subject on the Making Eden Energy Medicine Our Own blog that speaks to us all. She uses Eden Energy Medicine to turn this into something positive and healing.


It appears to me that here in the United States we live in a culture in which the media encourages us to look as young and vibrant as long as possible, acquire vast material possessions, and "work hard" filling our 24-hour day with as much “productivity” as we can pump out. Collectively we compare ourselves to others and our young generations bear witness to this. Add to this a growing list of responsibilities, be it family, civic, and otherwise. Our energies become thin as our collective expectations grow thicker.

My question: with our predisposition to hurdle into the whirlwind of checking the proverbial box and gotta-know-now media, where is our lesson to slow down for self-compassion? We are taught ad nauseum to treat others as we would like to be treated, but there remains a great divide between that and treating ourselves. Is it possible to put aside the wishes and desires of others and their perceptions of us so that we may give ourselves permission to live the beautiful life we are designed to live naturally…and perhaps begin that life with self-compassion?  [read more...] 

Jumping for Joy

Free Stock Photo: FreePhotos.com

I've always liked to jump. That feeling of being airborne, almost flying, for the second or so you are in the air. Weightless. Exhilirated. Alive!

One of my earliest memories of the breath-holding, heart-stopping excitement I was afforded from being airborne was around age two. My dad, lying in bed, would have me sit on his hand while he would raise me up towards the ceiling. A sort of pumping iron, using his young child as a weight.

At infant school (the first school one attends in England, starting age five), each child's birthday was celebrated by them seeking out a bar of chocolate hidden on the top of a cupboard, followed by birthday "bumps" from two teachers. They held me under the arms and bounced me high in the air, so high I thought I would surely take off right through the ceiling. One bump for each year. Six bumps seemed like they would last forever as the whole class chanted along, counting them off.
As a child, I lived for the times I could get on a trampoline. In those days (the late 60s), trampolines were common seaside attractions in British coastal towns. I would beg my parents for the chance to bounce on one, feeling as if I could almost jump out of my own skin, that for a fraction of a second I was on top of the world and had a unique view of everything below. My family couldn't afford to buy a trampoline, but skipping (jump) ropes sufficed, and I would play for hours, chanting the songs, practicing the double jumps, bouncing, bouncing until I could no more.
Dynamic meditation in my twenties, at the Osho Commune International in Poona (Pune), India, was my next taste of jumping. This meditation technique, given to us by Osho, had five parts to it, each designed to help us let go of all the emotional baggage that could prevent us from being silent in meditation. Part three was jumping up and down for fifteen minutes, arms raised above the head, landing firmly on the feet while repeating the mantra "hoo", letting the energy settle deep into the hara*. Once my mind had got out of the way, with all its reasons why I couldn't get through this, my energy began to jump me as I enjoyed the ride. Then came Eden Energy Medicine and the discovery that many exercises work better when done on a mini trampoline. When a friend moved to L.A., leaving me me her rebounder, I began to see my daily routine in a new light. Never having been someone who enjoys anything routine, I began to play with doing the exercises while I was bouncing. The simple act of jumping once again for the sheer enjoyment of it, lit up my Radiant Circuits (the energies of joy). Cross over patterns were easy to reinstall as I added poi balls to my jumping. Stubborn energies that had a habit of sticking in my head, despite constant Crown Pulls, released easily when I bounced. Bonus effects of bouncing include: moving stagnant lymph, pumping cerebrospinal fluid, and getting the heart pumping with an aerobic workout.
But the biggest bonus for me is the smile that starts on my face and spreads throughout my body as I bounce. My aura grows big and I once again feel like I'm on top of the world!

Got lower back pain?

Courtesy Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals

Excellent! It's official. Massage therapy is an effective treatment for lower back pain, according to a study published in the July 5 issue of The Annals of Internal Medicine. Better still, NPR ran an excellent story on the subject.

"A Comparison of Massage Therapy and Usual Medical Care for Chronic Low Back Pain" - read the study here.

Read the full text and listen to the NPR story here.

Staying in the Flow with Eden Energy Medicine



Lynn Bretsnyder, an Eden Energy Medicine Advanced Practitioner, talks about using energy techniques in her personal life.

I had to start thumping my K27's from the minute I buckled up.  They are located just below the corners of your collarbone and thumping them helps your energies move forward and to concentrate better, which is just what I was needing.  I was leaving on a trip I am now calling the Magical Mystery Tour.  I was following a deep intuition to go to Asheville, NC (I live in Miami), specifically in May.  So what happens when a busy life of logic and planning collide with intuition?  Great resistance! [read more]

Tracking Energies with the Meridian Flow Wheel

The Making Eden Energy Medicine Our Own blog has a very interesting post today from Judith Poole. It's a subject dear to my heart. I love working with the meridian flow wheel and following patterns of energetic disturbance. Here is Judith's take on the subject.

Illustration from Judith's "Be In Better Balance Book" - the
illustration is by Martha Tierney



There is so much information in this simple graphic. Sometimes I wonder what it might have been like to have lived at the time that folks observed these energetic relationships. They were aware that energy is most available to different organs and their associated meridians at different times of the day. And they noticed that there is an exquisite order to this pattern. I suspect this knowledge was so embedded in people’s experience at the time that they didn’t think very much about it. Perhaps it was similar to people knowing the time of day and the changing seasons by watching the movements of the sun. [read more]

Calming The Stress Response In Our Fast Paced World


Angela Melton of Empowering Energy Medicine is the latest blogger to share her thoughts on Making Eden Energy Medicine Our Own.

She writes on a subject familiar to many of us.


I have always been proud of my ability to multi-task while maintaining attention to detail in my fast-paced life. What I didn’t realize was that, although I felt like I was able to do it all, I was actually surviving in adrenal overload mode. I kept telling myself that when I was finished with whatever I was tied up with doing I would finally be able to take a break and “breathe”, but that time never came. It seemed that just when I was done with one all-consuming task, another was already revving up to take its place. Because of this I was always too busy to relax and enjoy life in real time. However, I was oblivious to this fact because I was moving too fast to see it, and the world around me was spinning right along with me. Our society encourages us to move faster and do more (at whatever cost), and rewards those of us who have these traits, and I had bought into the belief that this was what I was to do if I wanted to get ahead in life. [read more]