Facets of Healing

 In our Intentional Creativity practices and classes, we often suggest,  'take it to the journal' especially when feeling stuck or seeking insights.  For decades, I've kept journals with lots of words, and sketchbooks ... in our Intentional Creativity process we combine the two, and use art and color to assist processing and integration.  Healed Enough journal Simple composition books make a great base for these creative journals, and is fun to decorate the covers, as we did in school! Another option is a sketchbook with blank pages - choose something you'll enjoy using!   Simple art materials suffice and add interest - washi tape, markers, inexpensive paint, old magazines for collage, tools for making patterns, oil pastels, mod podge and glitter are fun ways to add color and movement.  This is a great place to record your intention, ideas and insights that arise during a class or project.  At times I participate in a friend's  EFT tapping  group sessions. In one on

 This morning I started a new batch of coconut milk yogurt, using L-ruteri and L-rhamnosus for the culture.  Yogurt culture The L-ruteri strain was common 75 years ago, but is rare now.  It was originally cultured by a German physician (Reuter) from a Peruvian woman's breast milk, and is important for the health of the small intestine. Use of this strain increases the production of oxytocin and collagen, and has several additional health benefits.  In the 70s and 80s, I used full fat raw milk from a local dairy to culture my own yogurt, which our family enjoyed. When making yogurt using plant based milk, it's helpful to add prebiotics and sugar, as coconut milk tastes sweet, but the probiotics need more sugar to culture properly. 13.5 oz tin full fat coconut milk 2 tsp green banana powder (prebiotic) 2 tsp organic beet sugar + 1 tsp maple syrup  2 Tbsp starter from previous batch, or 2 capsules pro-flora prebiotic (mine came from Integrative Therapeutics) Heat the coconut milk

 In neatly 4 decades of offering bodywork and energy seasons, I have collected many modalities and tools. Reiki and other energetic offerings are surprisingly powerful when offered remotely, which gives us the opportunity to work together wherever we are in the World! When we combine Reiki with a dash of creativity, Magïc happens! In 2005, I traveled to my favorite retreat center, Breitenbush Hot Springs for a training in the history and use of  Tuning Forks both personally and in sessions. Already a harpist, I had  studied using sound as a vehicle for balance and harmony a decade before. Our training centered around use of weighted forks on acupuncture points - Ohm tuners and  Acutonics .   Around the same time, I acquired a set of Intentions Tuners (all but one unweighted forks which are  intended for use off the body)  "In water and watery solids, such as the human body, sound travels over 4x faster in the form of photons or sonic shear waves."  Dr Karl Maret in the forwar

Throughout our lives, we move around. My parents grew up in rural communities, and I was about 3 when we moved from town to the country! At nearly 6, we moved back (to an acre just outside town) so I could go to school and my dad was closer to his job, then I went off to college 12 years later ... Z-man helping  Over the intervening 54 years, I've been in different spaces from one -7 years, and in my little house the last 19! Now, my daughter and son in law are building me a Grannie Flat in their back yard (!!) So after nearly 2 decades,  I'm engaged in downsizing and purging for that move, which will be in stages! During construction, I'll be mere yards away, in a back nook in their home! Able to watch over and bless the process at every stage! Deciding what to take with for that 3-6 months, what can go into short term storage!  I've ordered my new mattress, but for the nonce, I'll borrow one of the kids bed, that fits in the space.  My new room Note to self:  Wash

  My feed over on Instagram delivered a wonderful profile with a continuing saga of the artist's adventures ...  Hannah posted about a taking much needed camping trip, which turned into a sodden disaster - and wrote that they hung their 'cloutie flags' upon setting up camp in Cornwall.  Clooties by a sacred well I guessed she meant small cloth prayer flags or banners, and found this when I looked it up: The Scots word ‘clootie’ means ‘cloth’ and this term can also be found in use in the famous Scottish dessert, the ‘clootie dumpling’.  The ‘cloots’ of the clootie well are scraps of cloth hung from trees surrounding a sacred well or spring. These sources of clean water have been places of healing for millennia. Traditionally, the well would be visited at special times of the year, such as Beltane, the May Day festival of Spring, or when someone needed a cure for an illness. The well would draw people from across the local area, a social pilgrimage, each taking their turn

Tapping creative process can be a powerful way to work with trauma of all sorts. My massage mentor Jeanne Christensen compared our therapeutic work to peeling an onion, one layer at a time, to get to the core.  Medicine Basket Creating a safe container is one of the keys to gently working through layers.  I like to allow time to sit back with my journal/ do metacognitive drawing for process. It's good to verbalize that we will only go as deep as we're ready to process, and don't need to unpack it all at once.  The Intentional Creativity container is already structured in ways that support safety and healing for any issues we and our beloveds come with.   I often begin with basic grounding, imagining my roots going into the earth, and letting any feelings that arise drop down like compost. I keep tea or water handy (await from my paintbrush!) and remind myself to breathe.  When working with clients, I imagine a Matching Picture Rose 🌹 in the room or on my altar, attractin