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10/6/2020 0 Comments Member Spotlight: Deborah BrodeyThis week's spotlight is Deborah Brodey - Transformation Guide, Yoga Teacher, Vocal Sound Healer and Ceremonial Artist. We invite you to learn more about Deborah as she shares her take on her work, as well as some tips and advice for a healthy, fulfilling, and happy life. Stay tuned for a follow-up article this Thursday, showcasing our Community Engagement Coordinator's personal experience receiving Deborah's services!
2. What kinds of issues do you have a particular gift with supporting people through?
3. What is the most fulfilling part about working with this specific healing modality? I love creating powerful co-creative containers of love and magic that can hold my clients in deep honour, love, acceptance, so that they have full permission to be themselves and to uncover those parts that may have never been voiced. I love empowering others to uncover who they are, to find their voices and stand in their power and to Love, accept and trust themselves fully. 4. What are some of your go to pieces of advice to help someone cultivate more self love.
Some of my greatest healing experiences have happened when I spend time in Nature, walking, sitting with a tree and just observing Nature. Since we are a part of Nature we can learn much about ourselves by simply being with Nature. A Tree does not have an issue with whether it is worthy of love. It is love. There is no worthiness to get. 5. How does somebody find out if you are a good fit for your services or not? I offer a free 30 minute consultations. I also run an online Free 5 Day Radical Self Nourishment Challenge a few times a year now so people can have a deep experience with me. The next one is Tuesday October 13 - October 17, 2020 at 2 pm Eastern. 6. If you were to write a self-help book, what would the topic be, and why? I am writing a book all about 7 Principles of Living Reciprocity. Reciprocity is about living in right relationship with ourselves, the Earth and our communities. As humans we are very out of balance with our true nature. Reciprocity is an ancient teaching that is Universal to all Indigenous, original and earth loving peoples around the world and is key to preserving life and living in alignment and right relationship with the Earth, and all of our relatives. It is the key to our survival and our thrival on planet. 7. Do you have a daily self-care practice or ritual that is helpful for you? Yes I have a number of practices I do every day. The first thing is having gratitude every morning and giving thanks for being here another day. I especially like to honour Mother earth and all of life and the elements and the directions everyday. I align with the earth and its cycles. I find it very powerful to align with the bigger forces. I then will do a movement practice to get in my body usually yoga or dance. I often incorporate chanting and sound into my movement practices and breathing practice. 8. What do you think are the key ingredients to living a happy life? The key ingredients for me are cultivating a loving relationship with your self through the cultivation of friendliness, compassion, goodwill to others and equanimity. These are yogic qualities when in balance support our relationships with ourselves and with others and that support us to develop Peace of mind. Other ingredients are good health and energy hygiene, Loving relationships, reciprocity, creative expression, finding meaning and living our purpose, abundance in all of its forms, laughter, fun, playfulness and joy and community. 9. What is a quote that you resonate with, which reflects what you believe in & what you practice? Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things. Lao Tzu
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4/23/2020 0 Comments Quelling FearBy Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa The outbreak of COVID-19 can be stressful and overwhelming for both adults and children. According to the Centre for Disease Control, stress during an infectious disease outbreak can include:
Did you know that elevated levels of cortisol also interfere with our capacity for empathy, learning, and memory retention? Daniel Siegal, psychiatrist and leading world authority in the fascinating field of interpersonal neurobiology, explains: The release of stress hormones leads to excessive death of neurons in the crucial pathways involving the neo-cortex and limbic system - the areas responsible for emotional regulation (Siegel, 1996: 106). Left unchecked, millions of brain cells in the hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex are destroyed - the areas of the brain responsible for human empathy and impulse control. (Wright, Camden-Pratt, and Hill, 2011). So many of the short-sighted, competitive, violent tendencies prevalent in our society are actually symptoms of a system that teaches fear, shame, and aggression rather than amity and collaboration. Be it the authoritarian, competitive ranking system of our school system, the deluge of "bad" news in the media, or the economic disparities maintained in our societies, it is easy to live in a constant state of self-focused anxiety and shame. Tips and Solutions to Quelling FearThankfully, we are innately a people of emotion and relationship. Social researchers Miburn & Conrad confirmed that individuals raised under punitive parenting styles tend to prefer harsher law and order policies domestically, and support war as a foreign policy, and oppose pro-environment policies (1996). If we are to take back our own minds and hearts, and create a better future, what can we do? Sound Healer Valerie Moysey explained to me that the key is coming into coherence: "By introducing / reintroducing a resonant field, we come into coherence". By coherence, in this case, Valerie was referring to the Heart Math Institute's work, which describes coherence as a measure of the pattern in the heart's rhythm, which reflects an orderly and harmonious synchronization among various systems in the body such as the heart, respiratory system, and blood-pressure rhythms (Heart Math Institute, https://www.heartmath.org/support/faqs/research/) "While a number of techniques can be used (grounding, sound, breathwork, nature, prayer, etc) to come into coherence, the result is an activated parasympathetic nervous system and slowed fight-flight response." explains Valerie. 1. GroundingWhen we are afraid, anxious, or overwhelmed, we are ungrounded - we lose our sense of center, get swept off our feet, and lose our ability to make decisions clearly. Grounding is a process of dynamic contact with the earth, with its edges, boundaries, and limitations. It allows us to become solidly real - present in the here and now - and dynamically alive with the vitality that comes from Earth. (Judith, A. in "Wheels of Life", p. 66) When we are grounded, we can a sense of inter-connection with life, which brings clarity through stillness, and ultimately enhances our ability to make decisions easily, expand our consciousness, and manifest our goals. In this sense, grounding is quite literally "foundational" to all of the practices suggested in this article. But how do we get there? Valerie Moysey shared a number of easy strategies with me which one can do:
Valerie also speaks to the matter of "Entrainment" that happens when you spend time and proximity with a person who is grounded. Entrainment describes the way the body gradually syncs up with either a biological or external rhythm. In this case, when one who is in fear is with somebody who is not in fear, and that person is grounded, the fearful person will eventually become more calm. In this way, it is important to choose your company wisely, and ensure you give yourself the chance to resonate with others who are grounded and not in fear. This could be a friend, a family member, or even a paid practitioner. If you'd like to explore or discuss this further, please don't hesitate to connect with Valerie. 2. Take Heart
For more resources, the Heart Math Institute has some really great tips for managing fear from a heart-based space here: https://www.heartmath.org/calendar-of-events/coronavirus-technique-for-reducing-and-overcoming-fear/ Coincidentally, in the middle of writing this blog, I came across an Instagram post by sculptural fibre artist Marina Dempster, whose craft is a transmutation of materials, thoughts and emotions. Marina's work explores human paradoxes: comfort and discomfort, stillness and action, acceptance and change. Her "Dear Friends // Near Enemies" series of tufted cushions explore the paradox in language and get us thinking more deeply about our unconscious beliefs, urging us to go within for our answers. The cushion that caught my eye was F/EAR, pictured below. I reached out to ask if she could describe for me her take on this piece, and how we move through fear, and her response really resonated with the need for self-compassion, kindness. This is what she said:
3. BreathAt a time when so many are struggling to breathe, it's easy to get caught up in the fear and forget to breathe ourselves. I mean REALLY BREATHE. We are always breathing, but doing so consciously gives us constant access to the sacred, and a tool to shift our attention to what is sustaining us.
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5. CleaningWhile living in a culture that teaches accumulation, it is important to also spend time clearing the physical, mental and emotional debris that we collect. Creating space for the sacred, we bring awareness to the foundation of our being and learn to sift through and release what no longer serves.
6. Sounding Through FearWhen the vagus nerve in our bodies is overstimulated (eg., due to stress or fear) or inactive; the right frequencies can bring it back to normal working order.
7. Prayer / IntentionThe coronavirus pandemic is indiscriminate, affecting lives across races and religions. This global angst has simultaneously inspired interfaith unity and solidarity. There are examples around the world of leaders coming together across faith groups as well. On April 22nd, in fact, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze religious leaders in Israel were set to hold an interfaith virtual prayer Wednesday afternoon amid the coronavirus pandemic (The Times of Israel). In a Statement from the Parliament of World Religions, it invokes in us the need to "find new ways to bring comfort to one another, to cooperate with one another, and to overcome the ravages of disease and death." Meanwhile, the The Canadian Interfaith Conversation was pleased to participate in the development of the statement, "Hope, Gratitude and Solidarity: A Message to Canadians from Religious Leaders in Canada in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," released March 30, 2020. They also offered an interfaith message for spiritual and religious leaders to be beacons of support during these difficult times. "Together with over 80 leaders of religious communities, we pledged to "witness hope to each other and so become beacons of light during these uncertain times." While we witness this outpouring of support and solidarity from spiritual and religious leaders around the world, many of us are also turning to prayer more and more in our own daily practices, to ask for support in with our fear. When we bow our heads, bring our hands to our hearts, or kneel on the ground in prayer, we open up to the invisible world and the intangible presence of our heart, mind, and soul. When we listen with all of our senses from this place, we connect, participate with, and witness the Divine and attune to the sacred. Valerie also strongly recommended prayer: "Set a strong focus / intention for help, ask what is it that you need to move through this time, and listen to what comes through". It reminded me of this quote by Rumi, which seems to thread all of these tips and strategies together. Make everything in you an ear, each atom of your being, and you will hear at every moment what the Source is whispering to you, just to you and for you, without any need for my words or anyone else's. You are - we all are - the beloved of the Beloved, and in every moment, in every event of your life, the Beloved is whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know. Who can ever explain this miracle? It simply is. Listen and you will discover it in every passing moment. (Rumi) This quote really touches me, and the words can carry all of us through each of the practices recommended throughout this article.
May you be blessed by these medicines as you listen to, navigate, and learn from your fear, into a place of beloved expansion, compassion, and hope. And through all of this, please know that you do not need to navigate this alone. You are supported and loved. 4/15/2020 0 Comments Spring ReflectionsBy Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa The shift from winter can now be felt as the streams thaw, life reawakens, and the buds emerge. Since the Spring Equinox in March, when the day and night were of equal time, the light has been gaining momentum. We can feel the effect in our own restlessness as the seeds and buds make their way to the surface.  Life emerging at the Rosseau Sanctuary Historically, there are many myths and archetypes of reawakened life. Here are a few examples:
The return to life has so many qualities that we experience in our own lives when we live seasonally. Renewal takes strength, endurance, and eagerness in order to amount to an abundant harvest. Just look at how hard yet how calm that seed has to work to reach up through the mud to the surface. Like those seeds, we need to root around in the dark, make mistakes, and clarify our boundaries. With the heightened energies abounding, fears and doubts also emerge as a barometer for change, exposing opportunities and processes to bring you us closer to peace, or expose an area in our journey that is being called to grow. Renewal also requires discernment around what to keep and what to release, to make room for the new - it's the perfect time for Spring cleaning, both inside and out. 5 Personal Reflections for SpringDeveloping confidence in your innate ability to shed and rise up will both strengthen your connection to yourself as well as your ability to trust and surrender to your soul's yearnings. To help you on this road this season here are some personal reflections to consider:
Blessings of Growth, Healing and Renewal,
Melanie-Dawn Feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, low or irritable? Not feeling like yourself? You’re not alone. Burnout is the new epidemic. Social media is full of articles describing different kinds of burnout in different ages and stages of life. Article upon article retells the same theme: how the thirty-something can’t send the piece of mail that’s been sitting on his kitchen table for 3 months, how the working mom-of-three can’t bother to cook home meals for herself, how the CEO has been making irrational decisions that puts the company at risk. The solution touted by wellness experts is to do more yoga and meditation, to practice self-care, to ask for help, to take more vacation time. While I advocate these techniques for my patients all the time, unfortunately, they’re just that: techniques. These tactics often fall by the wayside when huge work project deadlines are looming, or when the kids need to get from school to activities, or when an aging parent needs extra care. Our medical and social support systems need to recognize burnout from all facets. There are physical, mental, emotional and economic aspects to burnout. Until things change in our corporate and family lives, until we have flexible work schedules and don’t feel enslaved by our smartphones; until we don’t feel obligated to respond to emails at all hours of the day and night, until we have enough reasonable, affordable child care, or can afford to spend time with our children, and until we feel not only like we have a safety net, but enough support, all we can do is help ourselves manage the damaging effects. Health care providers like myself can offer help to get you through and repair the systems damaged by stress until some room is made in your life for true rest and healing. Here is how stress and burnout affect your hormones and what you can do about it. Stress and burnout rob you of energy There are a few mechanisms by which this phenomenon occurs. First, stress blocks thyroid function at two different levels: at both the level of the brain and the thyroid, which leaves you feeling cold, tired, depressed, and overweight, among other things. Second, chronic stress and burnout means a lowered Cortisol Awakening Response, which is how your stress hormones rise in the morning to help wake you up. If you can’t drag yourself out of bed in the morning, that’s chronic stress and burnout at work! Stress and burnout throw your hormones off balance Horrible pre-menstrual symptoms, from anxiety and depression to bloating, swelling, cramps and cravings, are zero fun. I’ve seen stress disrupt the delicate balance between estrogen and progesterone—a phenomenon called Estrogen Dominance which is responsible for unpleasant symptoms such as mood swings, headaches, and breast tenderness. Stress also makes the transition into menopause a much bumpier ride; hot flashes, mood issues, and dryness tend to be much worse when you’ve been stressed for a long time. If you want to see the effect that stress has on your hormones, take note of your cycle 3 months after an extremely stressful period. Since hormone receptors take about 3 months to respond to hormonal fluctuations, your period can be heavier, lighter, or even absent 3 months after a stressor. Stress and burnout ruin your sleep Most of my patients struggle with their sleep in some way. Some can’t fall asleep, some can’t stay asleep, and the poor unlucky ones have trouble on both sides. Chronic stress disrupts your stress hormone, cortisol, which has its own natural rhythm: it’s meant to rise in the morning to help get you out of bed and fall in the evening to helps you relax into sleep. When you’re burned out, your natural cortisol rhythm is reversed and you’re wide awake at night. If stress has robbed you of progesterone as mentioned above, you’re missing an important anti-anxiety, sleep-promoting metabolite that comes from this sex hormone. So, what’s the solution? Quitting your stressful job or ditching your toxic family members aren’t always feasible solutions but there is help anyway. Natural remedies from herbal medicines can help calm down and rebuild the body’s stress axis and reset hormonal rhythms to bring the whole system back into balance. Naturopathic Doctors work to help the body find it’s own natural rhythm again. I like to talk stress and hormones; I offer a short free chat about what can be done in the face of chronic stress, hormone health, and burnout. Visit https://calendly.com/drwebsternd/hormone-reset-assessment-call to see how you can take steps to combatting the effects of stress. About Hillary
5. Finding your Strength and Power in your Core, and sending that power down your feet into the earth to anchor it in the web of support that is gaia. With Spring comes the time to reconnect with the feeling of the earth beneath your feet, and the realization that we are not separate from the earth - but an extension of it. The earth is here to support you. Feel your power in your belly, send it down your legs into your feet, like roots into the earth. Sway your hips, feel your center, touch in with your anchor. Breath, walk and dance from that place. While individual Reiki Sessions always have their sacred and unique energy, it is fascinating when there are themes across sessions, and I can't help but think about the impact that our individual healing efforts have on group consciousness. Perhaps individual sessions can give us a glimpse into the collective consciousness, and when we work towards a brighter future for ourselves, we are setting into motion healthy changes on a systemic level. At any rate, I do hope the insights gleamed through others will also support you in your path this Spring.
Many blessings, Melanie Good sleep can be hard to come by for many people. For some, falling asleep can take hours because they just can’t turn off their brain; for others, staying asleep is the problem. There are many factors that can contribute to a sleepless night and many different ways that a lack of rest can affect you, both mentally and physically. Many people are unaware of just how much sleep deprivation can take from them and what those effects can do over time. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help yourself get better rest. Creating a sleep routine that you can stick with is a great start; it might include changing your diet, getting daily exercise, or making lifestyle changes that will help you relax and reduce stress or anxiety. The way you feel can have a huge effect on your ability to unwind at the end of the day, turning your rest habits and your mental health status into a cyclical pattern. Keep reading for tips on how to get better sleep for the sake of your mind and body.  Photo via Pixabay by Xiangying_yu
Getting the right amount of sleep can be tricky, especially if you’re a busy professional or if you have existing health issues. Talk to your doctor about the best ways to get rest if you’re still having trouble after making some changes, and keep him informed on your lifestyle so he can help guide you down the best path for incredible sleep. Sheila Olsen
Sheila Olson has been a personal trainer for five years. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals. She encourages her clients to stay positive and incorporates mindfulness and practices for reducing negative talk into her sessions. She created FitSheila.com to spread the word about her fitness philosophy. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Get dressed. Go to work. Stress until midnight. Repeat. If that sounds like you, keep scrolling for ways you can beat the humdrum while keeping yourself healthy and happy. The best part is that you can do these things every day for a quick pick-me-up.  Image via Pixabay
There you have it, simple and effective ways to keep your mind and body in top shape. From waking up early to hitting the gym after dark, taking care of yourself today will ensure you have a better tomorrow. Sheila Olson Sheila Olson has been a personal trainer for five years. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals. She encourages her clients to stay positive and incorporates mindfulness and practices for reducing negative talk into her sessions.
She created FitSheila.com to spread the word about her fitness philosophy. 8/30/2018 0 Comments What is A Womb Blessing & Why Would You Want One? (by Zahra Haji, Yoga Goddess)A Womb Blessing is a hands-on energy healing similar to reiki, but focused on the womb and 5 key points related to fertility and the womb energies. It was developed by Miranda Gray, author of Red Moon and creator of the Worldwide Womb Blessing. The main purpose of the Womb Blessing is to reconnect a woman to the sacredness of her womb and her divine feminine essence. But physical healing is a common byproduct of this reconnection: babies miraculously conceived, menstrual cycles coming back after up to 1.5 years of absence, and various other menstrual irregularities healed. The Womb Blessing is an especially powerful tool for women trying to conceive, because it offers the opportunity to heal the heart-womb connection and allow new fertile energy into the womb space. For the month of August, I’m offering Womb Blessings at the Inner Arts Collective for $50 off. If you’re yearning to go deeper into your sacred feminine connection, I want to let you know exactly what you can expect when you come to me for a Womb Blessing. Here are a few frequently asked questions: Q: What actually happens during a Womb Blessing? A: When you book a Womb Ceremony, you receive a 25-minute consultation, a 5-minute visualization to connect with the moon and your own womb, and two treatments: a Womb Blessing + a Womb Healing. Treatment 1: Womb Blessing (35-min) The Womb Blessing is a physical prayer that brings healing to your femininity, womb and life. Together, we work with the energies of these key areas of the body in an energy sequence: ▪ Brow ▪ Heart ▪ Womb ▪ Yoni (your beautiful vagina) ▪ Head ▪ Womb & Ovaries Q: What happens in a Womb Healing? Treatment 2: Womb Healing (30-min) Part II of your Womb Blessing is a Healing. The Womb Healing portion concentrates on healing and activating 3 energy centres and on the flow of energy between them: 1. Pituitary Centre: Helps the hormonal & menstrual cycle and opens your spiritual awareness 2. Heart Centre: Heals the heart on issues of love, loss, forgiveness, caring, giving and receiving. 3. Womb Centre: Works on the physical and emotional patterns you hold around your hips and belly. Plus, I will energize the following 5 points of your Womb Centre that correspond to your 4 feminine energies and your complete womanhood:  Q: Do I have to DO anything during a Womb Blessing? A: No, you just need to relax and receive the energies! I’ll guide you through the Womb Tree meditation to help ease you out of thinking and into receiving. Q: Where are your sessions located? A: At the beautiful Inner Arts Collective, conveniently located at 257 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 1N2–across from the Big Carrot! If you have a question that will help you decide whether a Womb Blessing is right for you just email me at iam@yogagoddess.ca and I’ll sort you out!
8/23/2018 1 Comment The Nightmare of Pregnancy Loss and the Hope to Heal (by Zahra Haji / Yoga Goddess)In my work with women struggling to conceive, I’ve recently seen 3 different clients who have each suffered 5 or more miscarriages. It breaks my heart every time to hear about a woman losing her child, no matter how early on. It’s not only the loss of a baby but the dream of becoming a mother, of caring for and nurturing that child, that doctors and even loved ones don’t always understand. There’s this idea in the fertility world that we need to keep pushing through like female warriors on the quest of making a baby. And that’s a problem. Because the heart and the womb don’t work that way. They can’t be pushed into doing what we want. You can’t make your heart love any more than you can make your womb reproduce. But you CAN nurture them. That’s the message I shared with my client Shelena, who has lost 5 pregnancies all before 6 weeks. Making her heartbreak even worse, her doctor doesn’t consider them “real miscarriages” because a heartbeat was never detected. So after her most recent loss, she came to me for a Womb Blessing. A Womb Blessing is a hands-on energy healing similar to reiki, but focused on the womb and 5 key points related to fertility. I was amazed at how Shelena’s body responded. I have never felt such a physical thirst from a woman’s body. It’s as though her womb was drinking in the energy, starved for the Divine Feminine reconnection. On some level, we all are. We’re starving to reconnect with our feminine nature because in our daily lives we’re told to just “pick yourself up and keep going.” Like Anya, who also lost 5 pregnancies. When she came for a Womb Blessing I suggested we light 5 candles to represent her miscarriages. Afterward she said: I resisted doing anything to commemorate them myself because I was afraid to revisit the experiences, but I found that small, ceremonial gesture so moving and very effective. It was the first time that I truly acknowledged these souls and said goodbye. That night she felt relaxed and at ease. She told me, Now I feel lighter about my efforts to become pregnant and more at peace with my past experiences. In our own way, I think we all are longing for acknowledgment and healing. Because if we just keep pressing forward and never stop to acknowledge our pain, healing can’t happen. And you can “push through it” up to a point. But at some point you need help. Help that isn’t medical. Help that isn’t trying to “fix you.” Help that’s healing for you. If you are struggling to conceive and carry a pregnancy, I want to extend that help to you with a Womb Blessing Ceremony. Because a Womb Blessing is a direct reconnection between the earth, your heart and your womb. And to help you begin that reconnection immediately, I want you to have a special meditation called the Womb Tree meditation. Just click HERE and you’ll be taken to the Womb Blessing page where you can download the meditation –AND if it feels right you can book a Womb Blessing with me too. Connection with the Divine Feminine is your birthright as a woman. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to claim that birthright and begin healing your heart-womb connection. Download the Womb Tree meditation HERE and begin healing.
Jennifer Polansky
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