HYPNOSIS SHOWN TO HELP GUT HEALTH

This doesn’t mean that gut problems are all in your mind. Rather, the good news is that scientific research has now shown the your mind is powerful enough to remediate the painful symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). That’s the condition that multiple teams of investigators from The Menninger Clinic, Baylor College of Medicine, and several VA hospitals have been studying at different sites. 

The researchers weren’t just investigating the effectiveness of hypnosis and hypnotherapy but also of guided imagery, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, biofeedback, and what they call emotional awareness training. Turns out that all these integrative, mind-body medicine interventions work.

I learned about this from a recent Health Journeys newsletter from Belleruth Naparstek, a psychotherapist, award-winning author, and pioneer in the field of guided imagery. 

Belleruth added that those reviewing the studies “concluded that there was evidence for the effectiveness of [the] treatments, but more studies were needed” to figure out exactly what about them was producing the relief from symptoms. 

Learn more at https://tinyurl.com/preview.php?num=y3q4atmj

This links you to a preview containing the full link. This way you can be assured that clicking that full link will take you to Belleruth’s bonafide Health Journey’s site. 

May you and your belly be well!

Photo: ID 71088034 © Robert Kneschke | Dreamstime.com

Ready to amplify the healing power of your private practice?

During this time of radical disruption–and enormous possibility–I’ve been looking for ways that I might better serve my clients and humanity. Last year I was fortunate enough to be trained in an energy healing modality that brought me into deeper alignment with myself and the greater whole. 

The Rising Star Healing System shifted me from paralysis to action–calm, compassionate, joyful action. And I’ve maintained this state–with small waivers now and then–despite being faced with the same triggers that had sent me into paralysis previously. Other Rising Star recipients report similar beneficial and lasting changes of state–physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.

I want to let other practitioners know about this powerful, yet gentle modality–and to offer them the possibility of training to be a Rising Star practitioner. That’s why this past June I traveled to Ireland for an advanced training that allows me to train others to be RS practitioners.

That’s also why I’m now traveling from my Southern Oregon home to the SF Bay Area to hold small-group, informational gatherings about Rising Star. I want practitioners to have the information they need–plus a demonstration–to decide whether this is a modality that they–you?– would like to incorporate into their practice.

I’ve found Rising Star to be highly complementary to my long-time practice as a clinical hypnotherapist and life coach. Many psychotherapists and massage therapists–actually, therapists and mentors of all stripes–from around the world have found that it complements their practices well.

Interested? Contact me ASAP. On this trip I’m scheduling these small-group gatherings and individual Rising Star sessions through Wednesday, September 20, Depending on demand, I’ll return to the Bay Area in early November. [Check my EVENTS page.]

Would you like a FREE Rising Star session? That’s what you’ll receive if you gather a small group of interested friends and colleagues and host a gathering.

If you live elsewhere on the West Coast and would like to host an informational gathering, I’d be happy to talk with you about that possibility.

Learn more about Rising Star at the site of Derek O’Neill, the Irish psychotherapist, humanitarian, and “Celtic sage” who brought through this system. 

Why I’m doing this: I believe that what the world needs now, more than ever, are people who can experience and maintain states of love, joy, calm, and compassion in high-stress situations. I’m imagining vibrant networks of people with clear minds, open hearts, and balanced flows of physical energy coming alive and serving, each in their unique way, the greater good. I personally am committed to shifting from complaining about what’s wrong with the old systems to creating the new.

I’m bringing a new healing modality to Bay Area this September

Hypnotherapy, The Passion Test, and Breakthrough Life Coaching are not the only kinds of sessions I’ll be facilitating on my upcoming trip to the SF Bay Area. During my stay–Saturday, Sept. 9, through Wednesday, Sept. 20–I’m also introducing a powerful, yet gentle, energy-healing modality called Rising Star.

THE RISING STAR HEALING SYSTEM:

• Releases trapped emotions
  
• Rebalances the physical body
  
• Relieves stress, anxiety, worry, depression
  
• Promotes self-love and empowerment
  

Rising Star works by directing energy from Source (the Universe) to the Source within the client, via the chakra system.

I’ve benefited greatly from it and am thrilled to share this transformative Source-to-Source healing modality with you. 

I’m also delighted to be back in one of my favorite places on the planet, reconnecting with clients, colleagues, friends and family. I’ve been missing you!

LEARN MORE about Rising Star.

CONTACT ME to schedule a FREE, 30-minute telephone consultation to find out whether Rising Star is a good fit for you–or whether a better choice at this time might be to schedule a hypnotherapy, Passion Test, or breakthrough coaching session with me.

I’m providing the free consult to those of you who have been clients of mine in the past as well as to those considering working with me for the first time.

Ready to schedule a session? Check out:

MY BAY AREA SCHEDULE & SESSION LOCATIONS–Check now and later. I may be adding events and updating the schedule.

The Embrace of the Sun and the Moon–an ongoing gift of the Eclipse

Has the window closed on the chance to take advantage of the powerful gifts of the Total Solar Eclipse of August 21? Not in my experience.  

Just this morning I listened again to a 10-minute video in which a Peruvian shaman speaks of the “Big Medicine” of this rare North American, Pacific-to-Atlantic-Ocean phenomenon and provides viewers with a brief experience of its healing power. Immediately I felt my heart warm and expand, just as I had at the peak of the eclipse. And again this intense feeling stayed with me for more than an hour.

I realized that what had opened in me more than a week ago is still accessible, that the power of the eclipse is ongoing. I feel its momentum every day as I take small steps to do more to bring my own gifts to the world. To paraphrase an Irish blessing, the wind is at my back, the road is rising to meet me.

Are you feeling this, too? Or would you like to? It’s not too late to tap into this stream of power released by the eclipse.

Engaging via video with a Peruvian shaman may or may not be your cup of tea. It worked wonders for me. And I trust that you can find your own way of keeping connected to what was set in motion on August 21.

I simply fell in love with don Oscar Miro-Quesada’s interpretation of the total eclipse. He describes it as the loving embrace of Father Sun and Mother Moon. I plan to meditate on that image regularly. I want to feel inside, over and over again, the healing of old wounds inflicted by the war between the masculine and feminine. This war has raged in my own head and heart all the years of my life, as well as in my family, my culture, and, for millennia, in most human cultures.  For me, the sight of Father Sun and Mother Moon embracing is a balm to these wounds.

Don Oscar speaks of how this eclipse has the power to re-align us and our relationships with love and wisdom. In his words, it “balances all opposition … all polarity.

I’ve been reflecting on how, when the masculine and the feminine are viewed as separate and in opposition, they give rise to dissension and wars. When experienced as part of a single larger whole, they generate partnership and peace. Besides living through my own battles and seeing them play out in the world in brutal fashion, I’ve also experienced exquisite times of partnership and peace, both within and without. The loving embrace of apparent opposites within a single whole is possible.

“May wholeness be so, within me and in the world.” That was my prayer on August 21 and again this morning.

If you want to view don Oscar’s short video, here’s the link:

http://blog.theshiftnetwork.com/blog/peruvian-shamanic-wisdom-solar-eclipse-plus-powerful-alignment-practice

Illustration credit: ID 20511971 © Dvargfoto | Dreamstime

Ride the Wave of the Solar Eclipse and the Power of 2017

Ready to take your life in a new, more aligned direction? Also a bit scared about what this will mean? How far out of your comfort zone will you have to go? How much time and effort will it take? Do you–like me–sometimes feel on the verge of losing heart about completing a beloved project, cultivating a fulfilling relationship, or creating a fresh way of living and serving?

Take heart!  I have it on good authority that, because of unique cosmic alignments during this Post-Solar Eclipse period, the Universe is supporting us more than ever. We need only take small steps in a direction aligned with who we really are–our authentic self–for the power of these steps to be amplified many times over. What makes my heart happy is that this momentum and amplification continues through the end of this year and for two months beyond. To learn more, check out what Eric Coppolino has to say:

Summer of Trust: The Great American Eclipse

The Fulcrum, the Venturi Effect, and the Cycle of Fire

Also, aside from the planetary alignments, the Year 2017 is the first year in a new 10-year cycle, according to numerology: 2+0+1+7 = 10 = 1+0 = 1. This makes it an extremely propitious time to begin new endeavors, be they personal, spiritual, artistic, professional, or relationship- or service-oriented. And this period of momentum and support also continues through February 2018.  

For more on this, check out Elizabeth Peru’s blog post for March 9, 2017 (scroll down to “You Are Reaping the Rewards of Your Past 10 Years.”): https://elizabethperu.com/blog/?offset=1490240701885

But don’t let this long stretch of time lull you into procrastination–a favorite avoidance technique of mine. Note to both of us: The momentum is greatest right now. So take some time soon to clarify your desired direction and to list a few baby steps that will take you there. Then, one by one, take those steps.

You just might find yourself catching your own, personal cosmic wave and riding it toward your heart’s desire with greater ease and grace than you can imagine.

Photo credit: ID 14674842 © Paul Topp | Dreamstime – Subject: Professional Surfer Cecilia Enriquez surfing at Rocky Point, Hawaii

Heading into February 2017–Why Is This Week So Powerful?

Have you felt it? That power? Maybe in the women’s marches around the world? From little Ashland, OR (my home base), to Alaska to Antarctica (!), not to mention Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and the big mama march in Washington, DC. Plus in many other cities and towns in every region of the USA and on every continent. With the number of marchers (women, children and those who support women and children) breaking records and doubling, tripling, and quadrupling the original estimates. According to reports, it all started when a retiree in Hawaii posted to a few dozen friends on Facebook her suggestion that women march at the Capitol mall the day after Trump’s inauguration. This phenomenon has been as organic and grassroots as it gets.

Or maybe you woke up, as I did the last couple of mornings, feeling a flame in the belly that hadn’t been there for months, or maybe a year or two. And a sense of … possibility, despite superficial evidence to the contrary. 

According to my sources, ancient and contemporary, this is no fluke. Every year at this time for millennia, the Celts–pagan and, later, Christian, with a strong, earthy flavor–have celebrated Brigid’s Day (aka Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Feast, Candlemas, and that strange but lovable Yankee version, Groundhog Day). 

According to druidry.org, Imbolc is “the harbinger and the evidence that better times are coming.” Oooh, may it be so. 

Keep reading

Have you set your intentions for 2017? 

If so, hurrah for you!  Heading into February is a super-powerful time to revisit them, maybe even tweak them, and to begin turning them from visions into form. (You can skip the next paragraph, including question sets #1 and 2.) 

If not, hurrah for you! This is an exceptional time to set intentions. Grab pen and paper right now. But before your jot down your intentions, daydream a bit. Imagine it’s the end of December 2017 and you’re celebrating your year. Ask yourself (and jot down):

1. How am I different than I was back in January? What shifts in a way of BEING have I made that I really feel good about? (See as well as feel this new you. Luxuriate in being more fully who you are,} 
   
2. What have I DONE over the course of the year? What accomplishments do I want to celebrate myself for? (Imagine this celebration. Give yourself some very specific praise–and receive this from others.)
   

From these two lists, choose your top 3-5 intentions for the year–the ones that, when you imagined them, brought you most alive. Write these down. And leave lots of space between each item.

Now–very important–have a calendar handy, and take one more step. Beneath each of your top intentions, write one concrete (measurable or observable) action you promise yourself you will take to begin bringing this intention into actuality. On your calendar, mark the date by which you will have done this–and imagine how good it feels. You can write and schedule more than one, but don’t overdo it. No more than three actions per intention!

As you were writing your intentions and scheduling your actions, did any “stories” come up? Stories that undermined the good feeling? Messages to yourself like “I’ll never do that” or “I don’t have the time (or money) for this” or [fill in the blank]?

Keep reading