I very much enjoy Jeff’s teachings on a very uncommon style of meditation. Instead of going up and out, escaping the body, he guides us down and in, landing squarely in our humanity.
He’s offering yet another free webinar that I’m excited to attend.
Here’s an excerpt from his newsletter:
THE PEACE PARADOX – Why Chasing Calm is Making You Miserable (and What to Do Instead)
Together we’ll explore:
• Why chasing “calm” often creates more inner tension • How true meditation can welcome ALL emotions – even rage, grief, and fear • The astonishing paradox of peace – how true peace emerges when you stop trying to be peaceful! • A radically compassionate, deeply human approach to spiritual practice
This is not about transcending your humanity—it’s about befriending it.
I often share his free webinars here because they address the very obstacles that I and so many others experience on the spiritual path. He’s very generous with his offerings and these freebies offer a taste of what you can expect from his programs should you wish to go deeper.
I have no financial ties to him, this is just an amazing opportunity I want to pass along.
I very much enjoy Jeff’s teachings on a very uncommon style of meditation. Instead of going…
Today marks a turning point in which night and day are balanced.
In the northern hemisphere, summer turns to fall, and in the southern hemisphere, winter turns to spring.
Where I live, the days are getting shorter and the weather cooler. I love it! Sweater weather is coming.
Regardless of your relationship with this seasonal shift, it’s happening. No amount of bargaining will change the fact that the wheel of the year keeps on turning.
I find that the more aware and attuned I am to the seasons, the more harmony I experience in my life.
We can all benefit from aligning ourselves with the rhythms of Nature. What’s one small act you can easily do today that will create more balance in your world? Perhaps it’s curbing frivolously spending or taking a break from a busy workday.
I very much enjoyed this free breathwork meditation on Insight Timer. It’s only ten minutes long and applicable wherever you are on the planet.
Every step in the direction we wish to go contributes to our health and happiness. Something as simple and accessible as practicing equal breathing techniques can have a profound impact.
Even one mindful breath can help. Join me now. Bonus points for an audible sigh on the exhale. Aaaaaah.
Today marks a turning point in which night and day are balanced. In the northern hemisphere,…
It’s easy to think that we’re all at the mercy of invading microbes, but it isn’t that simple. There are so many factors that influence our body’s capacity to defend itself against disease.
Some of the factors fall under our personal influence. And this is where our power lies.
True, I cannot completely control my environment and circumstances, although this doesn’t prevent me from doing my best. Just because I can’t achieve 100% success doesn’t mean I sit on my hands and do nothing.
My definition of empowerment is doing everything that I am able to cultivate the life I desire. If I want optimal health, I’m going to address every factor that is within my power.
While the chaos happening in the world is beyond my scope of influence, I do have a fair amount of sway over how it lands in me. I can’t escape stress entirely (although I take a good stab at minimizing it as best I can!), I am all about metabolizing it so it doesn’t leave me in a state of chronic fight or flight.
Not only is that uncomfortable given the resulting tension and anxiety, but living in survival mode drains the body’s resources, rerouting energy that would otherwise be used to keep ourselves healthy.
Sure, there are supplements you can take to boost the immune system. If you’re forever in super-stressed-out mode, though, your digestion and assimilation is impaired and you won’t be able to absorb them and they won’t be particularly effective.
There are tons of ways to address chronic stress. My favorites are spending time in nature, bouncing on the rebounder, laughing, meditation, tai chi, mantra, and Reiki. These practices all soothe my nerves and help me to move the energy so it doesn’t get stuck in my system.
So before you go spending a small fortune on vitamin C and such, find a way to release the tension held in your body and cultivate an internal sense of peace and safety so your nervous system can relax.
If you’d like some support, I’ve created a remote Reiki treatment exactly for this.
It’s easy to think that we’re all at the mercy of invading microbes, but it isn’t…
The school year has already begun here in Philly. And summer is definitely winding up.
While these things aren’t a surprise, many of us can use some support transitioning from one season to another to maximize wellness.
With the cooler temperatures and shortening days, our bodies are challenged to find a new equilibrium.
For those of us who are students, teachers or work for the school system, or have one of these in their lives, there can often be extra stress as new routines are implemented.
Add to that the germ factories that pop up when kids gather together, it’s a common time of year for illness to thrive.
Just because a bug is going around doesn’t mean you need to catch it!
It’s the perfect time to make yourself inhospitable to all unwelcome guests, bacteria and viruses included.
I’m launching a campaign of unavailability for invading microbes by offering an immune boosting remote Reiki special.
I’ve made this is as accessible as possible so you can get a hefty dose of life-force energy and give your body a jumpstart to face whatever cooties lurk around the corner.
This is a 40 minute remote Reiki session focused specifically on your immune system for only $77. I’ve trimmed down the duration by eliminating the pre-session phone call to save you some cash. And since you needn’t go anywhere for the appointment, it’s super easy to receive the healing energy with minimal effort.
There are countless ways to boost your immune system. Resting at home while at getting an infusion of stress-reducing, immune boosting Reiki might just be the simplest, most effective and most enjoyable.
The school year has already begun here in Philly. And summer is definitely winding up. While…
Holistic healing means addressing all the various parts of ourselves, including our emotions. Even the ones that are uncomfortable, unpopular and chaotic convey messages that support our overall wellbeing.
Often when I bring this up, I meet resistance, even in people who are engaged in healing work. Cue glazed eyes and impromptu change of topic.
Most of us have been conditioned to avoid expressing our feelings so we don’t make others uncomfortable and are well practiced in the arts of suppression and numbing so we need not deal with the messy nature of feelings.
As a result, the unexpressed emotions get frozen in our systems, blocking the flow of life-force energy while also lingering like a powder keg, just one errant spark away from KABOOMING.
It’s not a good system for creating a healthy, productive life or intimate relationships.
It seems to be a big secret that it doesn’t have to be this way. Maybe that’s because emotional suppression is a great cash cow for the pharmaceutical and alcohol industries?
In between stuffing it all down and erupting at the worst possible time is alternative approach, one I would describe as more mature and effective.
It takes a fair amount of compassion, courage and curiosity to turn towards our feelings, both those that are unfolding in the moment and those stored in our archives, but it’s the only way to reclaim wholeness.
We aren’t whole if we reject any part of ourselves, and that includes our emotions.
Ugh. How inconvenient! Sorry, not sorry, there’s no skipping over this.
I’ll add here that feelings need to be witnessed and felt, not rationalized, analyzed, figured out or otherwise compartmentalized. This is a huge, sneaky bypass attempt. I say “attempt” because it doesn’t work- this supposed bypass just leads to a parking lot where you sit and stew in perpetuity.
Thinking about your feelings is not the same as feeling them. Believe me, I tried. For almost a decade, I thought I was doing emotional healing work by sensing and naming my feelings, but I was still avoiding the painful, messy experience of anger, grief, disappointment and fear. Guess what? Those energies remained active within me, waiting to be felt, growing impatient and more and more disruptive over time.
Let’s take anger as an example. When I get angry and suppress it, it lives on within me, eating me up on the inside, leaking out sideways as passive aggressive behavior and sarcasm, or exploding outwards, causing collateral damage when the pressure exceeds my capacity for containment.
I’m sure you’ll agree that’s not healthy.
Don’t think that I’m saying you shouldn’t get angry! I’m not. First of all, I can’t tell you how you should feel. Second, there are loads of reasons to be angry. Anger, rage even, is justified sometimes. It’s a sign that a boundary has been crossed and perhaps that some sort of action is needed to protect our values, if not our safety.
So if you don’t want to store anger and you can’t avoid it altogether, then you must need to hurl it back to the person or event that activated it?
Nope. I’m not saying that either. As you likely know, impulsively reacting in the heat of anger can also have harmful consequences.
I’m suggesting a more masterful, mindful approach. One you may not have even knew existed.
You can metabolize that anger in private, without involving anyone else, including the activator of that anger.
Which doesn’t mean you never need to have a conversation with a coworker or partner about crossed boundaries, but doing the inner work first gives access to our inner wisdom and power so we are more likely to remain connected with our values and be heard because we haven’t just called someone a big fat stupidhead and run off sobbing. Don’t look at me like that- you know exactly what I mean!
Reiki is tremendously helpful for doing this work. It helps me find the motivation and courage to dive in, the clarity to recognize what needs to be done, the energy to stay with it, the compassion to prevent self-condemnation or blame.
If you’re looking for some support with metabolizing your emotions, I have a few different suggestions to offer. It depends on how much you want to participate.
If you are willing to witness and allow feelings to emerge and be felt, Reiki sessions can help. This is a long-term project, especially if you’ve been accumulating painful emotions for an entire lifetime, but it is doable with a commitment to showing up on a consistent basis.
You could take a Reiki class and learn to give yourself daily treatments as your primary strategy or as a supplement to receiving sessions from a professional. This is more affordable, as you’ll be doing a significant part of the work yourself.
If you’re stuck and floundering, it might help to have a Reiki+Coaching session, where I can shine some light into the shadows where you’ve stored the dark stuff. This will only work if you’re willing to witness what’s there, don’t project your anger onto me and truly want some help getting started addressing your issues.
If you’re wanting to go on pretending that your emotions are not wreaking havoc from the sidelines, I recommend never getting a Reiki session. Reiki is always working in your highest good and is not going to allow you to continue storing toxic waste in your psyche and body. There are plenty of ways to avoid your feelings- you only need to watch TV for ten minutes to see one of them displayed.
If you want to rebel against the repressed/suppressed status quo and activate the full flow of life-force available to you, I do hope you’ll join me in one way or another and let Reiki do it’s magic on your behalf.
Holistic healing means addressing all the various parts of ourselves, including our emotions. Even the ones…
For the past two years I’ve devoured Louise Fletcher’s free online art course.
This year she says she got hit by a lightening bolt instructing her to create all new content. She tried to negotiate, but failed, claiming the bolt to be a “harsh mistress”.
It sounds like her muse and mine are cut from the same cloth. There’s no arguing with a lighting bolt. (Trust me, I’ve tried. 😆)
This makes me even more eager to join this year’s series of classes.
I don’t know how to paint. Not really. But I sure do enjoy putting color and shapes on paper and seeing how it turns out!
Creative expression is a fantastic way to alchemize emotions and drop into the moment. Pleasure and joy are tremendous medicine for many ailments. They all open us up to the flow of life-force energy.
If you think that sounds great but don’t know how to begin, I highly recommend signing up for the Creative Reset. What do you have to lose but inhibition, self-doubt and fear?
Louise Fletcher, lovely human being and art teacher
For the past two years I’ve devoured Louise Fletcher’s free online art course. This year she…
Reiki is an ancient healing practice that allows initiates to tap into universal life-force energy and direct it with our intention and attention.
The form of Reiki healing as it is commonly practiced here in the west has its roots in 20th century Japan. Usui Sensei, beloved founder of the practice (not the energy, the energy was/has always been available in nature), had a spiritual awakening while fasting and meditating on a mountain.
Reiki was the result of this awakening. He developed a style of accessing and utilizing this life-force energy that was very useful. I call it “traditional” Reiki.
It is a very linear process. Step A, B, C, etc. It works very well for people who like structure and want to know exactly what comes next.
Fast forward 100+ years and jump over to a very different culture, a different landscape, a different pace, in a world with very different needs; traditional Reiki, while still amazing, can feel constrictive to many.
Usui was a student of Buddhism, of meditation, of awakening the vast consciousness found in stillness. Some would call this a masculine approach to spirituality.
Not because it’s for men. No, this has nothing to do with gender. But because in the system of polarity, consciousness, linear thinking, working with the mind is considered to be masculine.
It’s one part of the puzzle of healing, but leaves those of us who revel in the feminine, the dance, the mystery, the depths of emotion and intuition can feel left out.
Neither is right or wrong. Just like night and day, they are both important, yet very different.
I teach a blend of the traditional, formulaic approach and the intuitive approach that has organically emerged in my practice.
I believe that there is something here for everyone and it’s my goal to help students find their own unique style.
Recently I told a student (who is finishing Master Teacher training with me after doing levels 1 and 2 elsewhere) that I almost always start a session at the feet.
She stared at me, mouth hanging open for a moment before sharing that her instinct is to do this too, but she had been chastised in her earlier training that this goes against tradition.
Yes. Yes, it does. Tradition says start at the head. This doesn’t make sense to me for many reasons and I find that beginning at the feet provides much-needed grounding and a less in-your-face start to a session. Literally.
I’ve done it this way for twenty years and it works well for me. My clients seem to enjoy it.
The history of Reiki is riddled with similar stories of evolution: students breaking the mold that was handed down but never really fit.
I offer something different. Let’s call it a buffet. On the buffet you’ll find a structure that you can use to get your bearings. Like training wheels. Then, maybe you learn to let go of the support when it becomes unnecessary over time. You can either continue going in that same direction or allow your intuition to guided you.
For me, this is a very personal practice. The more authentic I am, the more healing energy can flow through me.
If you’ve been trained in a strictly traditional fashion and feel too cramped, I invite you to spread your wings and experiment. The most important thing you can know about Reiki is that it can do no harm. Even when you start at the feet. I promise!
If you’d like to learn a different, less traditional, less restrictive way, what I call a natural evolution for those of us who aren’t monks in Japan in the 1900’s… well, I can teach you.
There’s a level 1 training coming up in Philly. I also teach virtual classes. Live classes, in real time, not recorded. I’m happy to discuss setting something up if that appeals to you.
Reiki is an ancient healing practice that allows initiates to tap into universal life-force energy and…
Once again, guidance has arrived for me, seemingly out of thin air. As it happens on a daily basis, there is no doubt in my mind that it isn’t a coincidence that odd things catch my attention as I’m going about my days. If you’re interested in intuition and receiving Divine Guidance, I have a story for you.
A few weeks ago, I was out for a walk in Nature, visiting the creek. I noticed a man gazing at the flowing water and (in my head) heard “What’s he looking at?” in a tone distinct from my usual voice.
This got my attention! He didn’t appear to be overly friendly, so instead of saying, “Hey mister, whatchya looking at?”, I lingered until he moved along and then I took his place at the fence.
Holy #@$%! (That was definitely my own voice.) There’s a heron standing in the creek! In the six years I’ve frequented this park, I’ve only once seen a heron here.
I was transfixed. I wanted to share this exciting news, but all the people passing by were plugged into devices or conversations, so instead, I enjoyed this visitation in quiet reverence.
I noticed how he (yes, that’s the sense I got. I have no proof, but it felt right to call him a he) stood upright, very still in the middle of the creek. Watching. Waiting. Fishing, obviously, but in a very dignified way.
Not like the ducks I see every day who look like they’re bobbing for apples or the smaller birds who dart around constantly.
No, this guy was letting the fish come to him.
“I’m gonna just stand here until my fish comes by,” seemed to be the message he was transmitting.
I eventually moved on, keeping one eye of the path, the other on the creek.
Soon I saw a big lump of … is that a duck? Very unusual. Especially as I only moments ago thought about the amusing upside-down ducks I often see here, with their heads underwater and butts in the air.
This duck was all tucked into itself, sleeping on a log. A sitting duck. That phrase describes someone who is exposed and vulnerable. And a few feet away, on that same log, a turtle. Sunning himself, as they do. This guy had stuck out his neck as if watching over the duck. Very curios indeed.
Heron, duck, turtle.
There’s a message here.
I just KNEW it.
I could do an online search for “spiritual meaning” of these animals, but I prefer to work with my own personal Lexicon.
What do they mean to me?
I’m not going to get into the whole interpretation. It’s directly related to the new moon intention I set recently and more personal than I care to share online. The process was simple, though. I spent some time with my journal brainstorming about “wait for the bounty to come to you”, “sitting duck”, “stick out your neck for a friend” and in a few minutes had a reasonably clear insight about action to take in conjunction with the seeds I planted on the new moon.
While I’m not publishing the complete message, I did want to share this as a sort of formula: being open to intuition, catching the clues, and working them out for myself.
Most importantly, I was available to receive the message unlike everyone around me who was focused on their exercise, music or screen. I was present, tuned into the environment and available to receive the message.
On my return trip, the heron lifted off and I was treated to the view of his huge wingspan, which caused me to gasp and my jaw to drop. Yet, nobody else noticed. 🤔
I later opened the Merlin app that I use to identify birdsong. I laughed to find the bird of the day is… wait for it… a heron. Coincidence or confirmation?
It’s been some time since I wrote about connecting with intuition. It’s become such a part of my daily life that I don’t much think about it. But it’s come up often in sessions with clients lately, so it was on my mind this morning.
You may be thinking, hey Pamela, you’re always talking about following the breadcrumbs, isn’t that the same as intuition? That’s fair. I often wonder this myself.
Here’s what I have to offer from my current level of understanding. The “breadcrumbs” are from an external source, call it Life, Love, God, the Universe, Spirit, guiding me. I differentiate this from my “intuition” which is the internal nudge I feel to take notice of the breadcrumbs.
Intuition is how I receive Divine Guidance. Lots of people say they want access, but they haven’t practiced being still and quiet long enough for the messages to get through. Like in the good ole days when you actually had to answer the phone while it was ringing to speak to the caller. You had to be at home, ready and able to pick up the phone. You couldn’t be on another call or in the shower or have your hands full, metaphorically or literally.
Nowadays what I see are people constantly consuming (scrolling, watching reels, plugged into podcasts or plain old digital nonsense), which does not leave any space for messages to drop in. If you can’t walk your dog around the block without staring at a screen, well, come on, how do you expect magical information to reach you?
In between smart phone addiction and living in a cave in the Himalayas, there’s a vast middle ground where we can cultivate capacity to receive. I recorded a lesson and practice on the “why and how to receive” theme and it’s available in The Toolshed. This is my latest offering where I post a practical tool for subscribers each month on a hot-topic.
You can learn to be receptive if you make time and are capable of paying attention. There are tons of ways to do this, so you needn’t visit The Toolshed if it doesn’t resonate. But you’ll likely have to do something. Burning bushes are exceedingly rare and I’ve yet to meet someone who enjoyed an intuitive connection who didn’t have a major intervention in the form of accident or illness who wasn’t devoted to some form of practice.
Sure, like Mozart, some people are naturally gifted, but most of us have to put in the time to develop our skills.
My intuition has been an invaluable resource for me. I usually feel like I’m on my path, moving in the appropriate direction and that everything will work out somehow. When I’m not, I feel like I’m being thrown about without a raft in the stormy seas.
Reiki has been the bridge that helped me get out of the perpetual thought loops and land in my body, capable of intercepting messages.
Getting into a rhythm with treatments or learning to give yourself Reiki consistently (Yes! You can easily learn how to use Reiki. Anyone can do this and I can teach you!) could be the portal you’ve been looking for to access your intuition and its priceless wisdom.
Once again, guidance has arrived for me, seemingly out of thin air. As it happens on…
Just yesterday I was thinking about getting a class on the calendar. Today someone emailed me to ask when the next class starts. For someone who operates on intuition, it doesn’t get much clearer than that!
A fire was lit and the next class has been scheduled. Everything fell together so easily.
I’ve decided to make this a 5 class series as students always want more time to practice and I don’t like to rush.
So if you’re interested in learning how to access spiritually guided life-force energy (AKA Reiki) for healing body and mind, heart and soul, this is the starting point.
We’ll meet on 5 Thursday evenings, 5:30-7:30 at my studio, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philly.
September 4, 11, 18, 25 & October 2.
I’m offering a $25 discount off of the $400 price through Sunday 8/10. Use the code EARLY-BIRD at checkout.
If you want to read more about the class, here’s where to find all the details.
Luminous Heart Reiki & Massage 