Someone breaks my heart daily.  I don’t take it personally.  I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, right? Surely someone wouldn’t purposely cause harm to a very delicate item.  Strangers have broken my heart…you know, those people who are talking down to their kids in a store…emotionally abusing them in public…yes, those people break my heart. The ones who abuse animals…oh my…I think that makes the biggest crack in it….the parent who uses their child as a pawn in a divorce? Yes…that cracks my heart too…that caregiver who backhands an elder…that makes a jagged gash to my heart…but people close to me break my heart too…those verbal bitch slaps sure do sting…the family member who doesn’t see the point in living any longer…those are rough ones to handle…the arrogant ones who think they know so much…you know, the ones who are book smart but light on life experience? Yeah…those make my heart twinge…possible internal damage to a chamber.  Again…I try to not take it personal, you know? I know…deep down inside, these hurtful people are good people…they weren’t born bad or mean…then again, maybe they were…but still…I try to see the Light in everyone…sometimes I have to look really hard but I always find it eventually.  I have a secret way to repair the damage…do you want to know what it is?  You can use it too…it is called Kintsugi…the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, silver or platinum…it is how I mend my heart…I imagine a little paintbrush dabbing liquid gold on the ragged edge and then these heavenly hands come and hold the wound together as it dries…these hands have shown up to help me so many times over the years…it took me many years to accept whose hands were helping me but I got there eventually…in my own way…in my own time…my heart still gets broken daily but that is okay…my heart is beautiful with the gold lacing across it…it is a work of art, you know? Almost like filigree…but thicker in some places because those breaks were so deep…I suppose…as I near the end of this life…my heart may be more gold than flesh…and that is okay…I will still look for that Light in others until there is no more Light in me.

Yesterday I was getting the mail from the box and there was this painted rock on one of the stones…it was of an owl and on the backside of the rock was the word, SMILE.  It is a current trend to paint rocks and leave them around the county for others to find. You can leave them or move them to someplace new. I left it where it was. This morning I took the dog out and I could hear a Barred Owl cooing across the road in the trees. I love listening to them talk to each other and the cute noises they make. Today the owl flew out from the tree and glided around the edge of the tree line and past the side of the house. I love it when they do this! Owls are one of my favorite birds to watch and listen to. Owls deliver messages from the other side. When you see an owl, it usually means that change is coming. Some cultures believe that when you see an owl, there is going to be a death. The death could be of a person you know or it could be the death of a relationship or job…seeing an owl means: change. I wonder what change is coming my way? In what ways have animals brought you messages?

Have you noticed that some events that happen in your life leave you a bit…less whole? Some occurrence left you a little bit fearful, a little bit anxious, a little bit less trusting…on the outside you appear whole but there is this little, nagging thing that just doesn’t feel right to you. Somehow…you lost a piece of yourself along the way.

Over the years, a few more holes in your armor come about. Childhood abuse, a divorce here, a break-up there, loss of a pet, loss of a family member, domestic violence, addictions re-surface….depression sets in. You are running out of coping mechanisms.

All these incidences take a little piece of you…a piece of your soul.

Conventionally we treat these missing pieces by labeling the disease/disorder and taking anti-depressants, using some form of psycho-therapy or counseling, prescribed medication, self-medicating by drinking copious amounts of alcohol, street drugs, cutting….sometimes ending in a last result effort to take away the pain: suicide. Often these treatment plans can go on for years, emptying your bank account, your self-esteem, your belief systems, your mind….and still…no cure.

Conventionally, we are treating the symptom and not the source of the disease or disorder.There are other methods of treatments. Old ways. Traditional ways. Traditional medicine. Traditional healing.

The old ways treated these disorders using prayers, herbal remedies, laying-on of hands, eating certain foods, sweat lodges, plant medicine and soul retrieval. All these methods worked until someone came along and told us they didn’t. That our ways were evil. When we chose to not listen and practiced our traditional medicine anyway, they suppressed our ways by destroying our reputations, our homes, our businesses…. sometimes they took our lives. Those who survived continued to practice underground or fled to other areas where conventionalists had not reached yet. We knew our traditional healing ways worked and we weren’t ready to give them up.

There is a resurfacing of the traditional ways. Traditional ways still work. One traditional healing method has been having an uprising in interest: shamanism.

Shamans are found all over the globe. Some are men. Some are women. Many people have been trained in shamanistic techniques but that doesn’t make them a shaman. Each shaman has their own way of using their tribe’s traditional medicine.

One shamanistic tool is called soul retrieval. Someone trained in this technique journeys to the Other Levels of the World with your animal helpers to find your missing soul pieces, they convince them to come back and then they deliver them back into your possession. Once you have your soul pieces back in your possession, it is your responsibility to come to peace with them, invite them back into your life, help these hurt pieces heal themselves so that they will stay and not leave again in order for your soul to be whole once more. Soul retrieval can be hard work. It is not a passive treatment method. If you’ve been disconnected from yourself for many years, you will have your work cut out for you. You don’t just sit back and let someone else do all the work. Soul retrieval requires acceptance, forgiveness and the openness of self-love.

For those who are tired of the pills, the repeated discussion of “how do you really feel”, tired of feeling like you are shattered….and are ready to be healed and feel whole again…a soul retrieval can be a life saver. Maybe this type of treatment will work for you. When looking for a facilitator for soul retrieval, ask about their training, how long they’ve been practicing shamanistic techniques, interview them to ensure you find someone who is the right fit for you. You must feel safe with this person because, after all, they will be bringing back very delicate pieces of your soul and you want them handled with care.

My wings lift me from the ground as their tips brush the dusty road below. Each pump raises me higher. The wind ruffles my feathers as I cut through the air. I ascend until I am above the tree tops. Surfing along, I look down to see what is below. I am cloaked in darkness but my eyes make it appear to be a monochrome landscape… differing shades of grey and black. Silently, I glide along looking for nothing in particular… just observing. The wind sliding over my feathers brings me great joy. Flying brings me great joy! I descend until I am coasting above a field. The tall grass tips tickling my chest. Small eyes look upward in fear as I silently pass by. They relax when they realize that I have let them live another day. As I come to the end of the field, I bank to the right to avoid an oncoming tree and dart upwards until I am above the tree tops again. I pump my wings a few times to gather speed and lift. I fly towards the east looking for the sunrise. The yellow glow is on the horizon’s curve, hovering there waiting for the perfect time to announce the new day. The sun slides upward, rays branching across the sky like open arms welcoming the crisp morning air. I close my eyes and glide along feeling the warmth of today’s sun soaking into my body. I give voice to a screech thanking Mother Earth for her glorious gifts she unselfishly gives each day. I turn and head west so that I can feel the sun on my back. Heading  back to my resting place, I navigate myself through the trees until I find the perfect branch to settle upon. I land, traverse back along the branch until I am closer to the tree body. I rest my shoulders, let my head settle into a comfortable position and close my eyes. I sigh and smile to myself, happy inside from my exhilarating flight. Content, I drift into a dream state as I rest my body for a while.

The Akashic Records are a record of your soul’s journey, from the time you first individuate from Source until you finally return home. This can take millennia. But no matter how new or ancient of a Soul you are, the Akashic energy holds all your thoughts, feelings, actions and deeds from each lifetime. Many people imagine the Akashic Record as a library with each book representing a lifetime. Some people look at the Records as a computer with all of your info stored in the hard drive. Truth is, the Akashic Field is part of and connected to the All; in everyone and everything. You have your own masters, Teachers and Beings of Light that keep track of this information, just for you. We can access these masters & Teachers and they will answer your personal questions about this life and the past lives which are affecting you today.

When you realize that you came into this life with a plan, it becomes very useful to access the information about that plan. We come to complete some Karma, fulfill our past life vows or to be with someone special and to support people who are part of our soul family. The human challenge is that as soon as we’re born, we forget this plan. At limes in our life we feel blocked or constricted or disappointed in our life because we don’t remember why we chose our families or situations. We may feel life is unfair or very difficult. I access the Akashic Records to retrieve guidance, information during times of transition, grief, indecision or when in need of guidance in general. You can ask questions in relation to: health, career, relationships, life purpose, self-esteem and abundance. We format our questions to the Akashic Record using How, What, Why. The Akashic Record does not answer Yes or No questions.

You might experience some of these limitations in the following ways:

• Feel you are carrying too much baggage? Sometimes this looks like extra weight.
• Are you stuck in a rut? Maybe you hate your job but can’t seem to change.
• Feeling spaced out and tired? Too many people in your space, holding you back.
• Overcome with emotions? Trauma from this life or past lives can affect you.
• Depressed? Angry? Frustrated? Let’s find the core to start healing that.

Akashic Record Readings are done over the phone.

Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a holistic, evidence-based therapy that incorporates the intentional and compassionate use of the universal energy to promote balance and well-being in all aspects of the individual: body, mind, and spirit.

The most reliable effects of Therapeutic Touch are:

• Elicits the relaxation response
• Alleviates pain
• Accelerates the healing response

Other effects:

• Reduce anxiety, aggressive behavior
• Regulate and support the immune function
• Palliative care or care of the terminally ill
• Reduce the effects of chemo and radiation
• Stress Management
• Fever reduction
• Chronic illness
• Chemical withdrawal

A session of TT consists of the client sitting in a chair (or a bed if client is in Hospice) while I assesses for irregularities of energy. I then modulate these energies to create an even energy flow. This modality does not require physical touch but can include it depending on what is found during the assessment. TT is not faith healing; it is fueled by compassion and intention. Treatments are 20-30 minutes in length. TT can also be done via a distance healing session.

This is my brother; he was 62 years old when he passed away from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. I discovered my favorite use of Therapeutic Touch after a session with my brother. He was in the last care center that would take him and had been waffling between incoherence and verbally babbling for several months; I used the Hand Heart Connection with him (a method enabling those caring for the dying to stay in touch with the patient physically, while letting go emotionally and energetically). During our session, he said my hand on his heart was very hot. This is the first real word I’d heard my brother say in weeks. In my mind, I told him that I knew he was in a lot of pain and I was going to miss him, but it was okay for him to leave us if he needed to. He looked directly at me and said “Oh”. Shortly after, he became coherent, almost like he no longer had Alzheimer’s disease. He knew he was dying and was able to tell the family he would miss everyone but assured us all would be well. One week after our session, my brother passed away. It was Christmas Eve, the day he usually spent laughing and wrapping last minute gifts (I believe Santa needed him that night). I continue to feel my brother’s presence after his death. Our experience was the catalyst for me to pursue becoming a Qualified Therapeutic Touch Practitioner. What resonates the most with me is to deliver comfort in the dying process. I believe in this method for palliative care, and I know Therapeutic Touch works.

We’ve all heard the saying: sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me. I beg to differ with this. Words intentionally said to purposely cause harm, actually do harm. Sometimes we can see the result of harmful words on a person’s face or in their body language. Some people are good at hiding the hurt but it takes a toll internally, such as, chest pain or intestinal disorder. Some people will develop a pain in their body but don’t know that it is associated with something a person said to them. I witnessed this during a TT practice group that I attended.

During our practice group, we trade TT sessions with each other. This allows us to be a recipient to TT and gives us the opportunity to experience other practitioner’s techniques.  During this session, the light in the room was dim because of the weather outside and we decided to only use the natural light coming in the windows to allow for a relaxing session. The lady I was exchanging with was experiencing shoulder pain but she didn’t know what it was from. She had been to the doctor about it but a cause was not found. As I was doing my assessment, I noticed these little bits of golden light on her left shoulder. They glinted like metal. I squinted my eyes to see what they were and they looked like little darts. Little gold darts. I tried to reorder the energy in that area but the darts remained. I looked at the back of her shoulder and didn’t see anything. I decided to follow my gut instinct and proceeded to pluck these gold darts out of her shoulder. Once I removed them all, I imagined green colored light coming out of my finger tips and directed the green light to her shoulder area to soothe the little holes left by the darts. I finished her session by energetically brushing her off from head to toe.

After the session, she said her shoulder felt better and she asked what I had found. I told her about seeing the little darts and what I felt they represented: someone tossing hurtful words her way. She got this look on her face that let me know that she knew exactly what I was talking about. A co-worker had been saying mean things to her and others. They tried to ignore them but apparently the co-workers words had hit their mark.

When I am working on a client, I always tell them what I see and feel in case it resonates with them. It may not make sense to me but it may make sense to them, if not during the session, possibly later on after they have thought about it for a while.

While ‘forest bathing’ offers many health benefits, a clean local park or green space may not be readily available to everyone. In these instances, you can recreate being in a green space in your own home. By using potted plants and an essential oil diffuser, you can create a smaller version of a green space to do forest bathing. Your goal is to recreate a place found in nature that you feel is pleasing and relaxing. Pick plants that remind you of a place you’ve been or a place that you would love to visit. Using colored pots can mimic colorful blooms on plants. Putting a mirror behind your potted plants can give the appearance of lushness and foliage abundance. Once your space is pleasing to your eyes, you can work on what is pleasing to your nose. It is rewarding to do your own research on which essential oils you want to use. Find what appeals to you and makes you feel comforted, relaxed or rejuvenated. You can use single oils or a blend of several in your diffuser. Once you have added a few drops to your diffuser, sit in your space and allow the healing benefits of essential oils to waft around your space and breathe them in.  Let the visual of your plants and the fragrances of the oils take you away. If you are a person who does not have a green thumb and all plants die within a 5 foot radius, you can still benefit from diffusing essential oils. You can create a virtual green space by exchanging live plants for a recording of bird or Earth sounds. Playing a CD in addition to diffusing essential oils while your eyes are closed can transport you to a virtual outdoor space of your choosing.

While doing your own research on which essential oils to use is rewarding, a certified aromatherapist can be helpful in guiding you how to make the most of your essential oil purchase. Each essential oil has its own unique emotional/energetic qualities which provide individual therapeutic properties. A certified aromatherapist has studied essential oil delivery, safety parameters and their uses. Their knowledge of therapeutic properties of essential oils (and their contraindications) can help you design an essential oil blend that will answer many of your physiological concerns. Treating the emotional aspect of a disease or disorder can alleviate symptoms and assist a body in self-healing.

Botanical oils are all around us. Some float in the air we breathe. Some get on our skin through touch. Some have to be extracted from the plant parts through distillation. Not all plants produce enough essential oils to make it cost effective to try to distill the oils. Essential oils contain compounds that can uplift us emotionally, alleviate pain, heal flesh wounds, or even have adverse effects like making us sick, some can even cause death. Essential oils are helpful when used properly and safely. Nature has provided everything we need to exist and thrive.

I first read about forest bathing in an article posted by Mark Sisson in 2010 (1). The premise of the article was to promote being out in nature and how “natural” it is for our physiological and psychological well-being. This concept of being in nature, or a green space, as a natural thing for humans has always made sense to me. I’ve used nature for my own mental wellness for most of my life without even knowing it. Any stress that occurred in my life resulted in me turning to the outdoors to go for a walk or angrily throwing rocks in a pond or using a stick to beat the ground, all the while, yelling why? Why? WHY?  Nature may not be able to answer why something less enjoyable is happening in your life but it does change your way of thinking about it after spending time outdoors in a green space. I prefer walking among the trees over a garden full of flowers. Being in the forest is very calming and soothing to me. The forest has always been a good place to contemplate things happening in my life.

There have been scientific studies on the effects from being in green spaces. Exposure to green space results in protective factors against depression, anxiety and increased immune strength. Salivary cortisol, pulse rate, blood pressure and sympathetic nerve activity decreased (2) after spending time in green space. Spending 3 days in the forest, with daily walks, resulted in a 50% rise in “natural killer” (NK) cell (3) activity and an increase in the number of NK cells. NK cells are lymphocytes known to fight off infection and attack cancer growths. After the 3 day trip into the forest, blood tests showed the increased NK cell activity lasted as long as 30 days (4). The increase in NK activity can be attributed partly to inhaling air containing phytoncide, or essential wood oils given off by the plants (4)(5). The main types of phytoncides are nonexcretory phytoncides, which are found in the protoplasma of cells, and volatile fractions of phytoncides, which are released into the atmosphere, soil, or water (by aquatic plants). Volatile phytoncides are capable of producing an effect at a distance, for example, those from leaves of oak, eucalyptus, pine, and many other trees (14). Delivery of essential oil is most effective through inhalation, which allows you to absorb up to 70% of the oil.

Japan appears to be ahead of the game in using this type of treatment to assist people in their healing process. Japanese Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) or forest therapy is increasing worldwide. Shinrin-yoku can be defined as making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest. Due to the impressive results of these types of studies, government entities in Japan are partnering with the medical industry to hold free health checkups in park areas. Japan is even designating areas as “official” forest therapy sites. The titles are given to forests that have been found by researchers through scientific evidence to have relaxing effects (4). Levels of the stress hormone cortisol decreased in test subjects after a week in the forest (6). Stress can play a role in headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, and arthritis. Forest bathing mitigates to lower stress, which can alleviate these symptoms.

Dr. Qing Li, president of the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine, has compiled research that shows forest therapy not only boosts immunity, lowers blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones but also increases energy, reduces anxiety, depression and anger (9). This supports why wilderness therapy programs which take troubled youth into the outdoors for weeks at a time, like Anasazi Foundation, Open Sky Wilderness and Journey Wilderness (10, 11, 12) are so successful. The combination of being in nature and breathing botanical oils brings us back to our roots of being human. There is no better place in nature to heal, grow and learn.

In the United States, there are a few organizations that provide forest therapy guide certification (7,8). These organizations have one long-term goal in mind: to make forest therapy part of the United States healthcare system. Building an infrastructure which includes training centers all over the country will provide enough certified guides to propose a pilot project to large healthcare providers. A successful pilot and a national certification system in place will make it difficult for the medical community to ignore forest therapy (9).

Even though this type of treatment is popping up in the Unites States, it appears to not be as fully accepted and integrated like it is in Japan. I feel that this is because forest therapy is something you can do on your own and doesn’t make some corporation a profit. Our country’s health care system appears to be getting more profit based and far removed from what humans used for treatment before corporate greed took over our world. Though some treatments administered today for common ailments are helpful, many of them have a list of adverse side effects that go with them. After listening to several of these advertisements on the television, I often think I, personally, would rather deal with the disease because the adverse side effects appear to be worse than the disease itself.

Forest bathing helps relive many unwanted symptoms stemming from a person’s past and present traumatizing life experiences. In our aromatherapy studies, we learned how to treat the emotional aspect of a symptom. There is evidence that even the type of green space can make a difference in its effectiveness – for example, if someone was comforted by their grandmother and she wore rose perfume, then walking in a rose garden may serve this person better than walking in a forest. They would associate the rose aroma with their grandmother. Likewise, if a person had suffered a traumatic experience in a forest, I doubt walking in a forest would be beneficial to them. Ideally the plant oils would help with lowering their stress but emotionally, forest smells may trigger panic and bring back the past memories of trauma. Our mind and bodies create associations with smells and experiences.

Author Thom Hartmann (13) writes about using bilateral therapy as a treatment for psychological trauma. He believes that when a tribesman died during the hunt, the remaining tribesmen relieved themselves of the burden of their death while walking back to the village from the hunt. He believed that the walking itself stimulated the whole-brain psychological healing process (13). But what if it was more than the walking and swinging of the arms that helped tribesmen process death? What if the plant oils contributed to the emotional healing?

An article published in Washington Trails Magazine talks about the physiological effects of a body after hiking in the outdoors. Exercising in a natural environment (compared to indoor environments, such as gyms) has a positive effect on heart recovery, blood pressure and overall perceived exertion (15). While the article continues its positive affirmation of how healthy it is to be outdoors, the article never mentions why. Studies have found that children improved their memory and attention span after a nature walk compared to an urban walk (15). Why does all this fantastic stuff happen when we spend time in outdoor spaces? These articles never mention that there is a possibility, and more likely a probability, that plant essential oils play a high role in these positive physiological responses. I believe plant oils are causation to improved physiological responses, not just a correlation to body movement.

This planet that we reside on is full of wonders and provides us everything we need to survive and thrive. We know this because many scientists’ inventions are based upon something that is found to occur naturally in nature. Many of today’s pharmaceuticals are synthetic versions of an herbal or botanical product. Unfortunately, sometimes these synthetic versions are molecularly smaller than the naturally occurring product, which allows them to reach places in the body that nature never meant for it to go. I feel that this is one reason there are so many side-effects to man-made medications. Being smaller to allow deeper penetration does not necessarily mean better healing. Naturally occurring pharmacies reside right outside our door and in our local parks and forests. Society needs to relearn all that is available at our fingertips. I hope to see the day when doctors prescribe a walk in the park or a trip to a local certified aromatherapist as the foundation for their treatment plan to patients.

1. Sisson, Mark, Mark’s Daily Apple (2010), Forest Bathing.
   http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forest-bathing/
2. Li Q, Morimoto K, Nakadai H, Katsumata M, Shimizu T, Hirata Y, Hirata K, Susuki H, Miyazaki Y, Kagawa T, Koyama Y, Ohira T, Takayama N, Krensky AM, Kawada T, US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (2007), Forest Bathing Enhances Human Natural Killer Activity and Expression of Anti-Cancer Proteins. http://www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov/pubmed/17903349
3. Anderson, Stephen K, The Journal of Nutrition (2005), Biology of Natural Killer Cells: What is the Relationship Between Natural Killer Cells and Cancer? Will an Increased Number and/or Function of Natural Killer Cells Result in Lower Cancer Incidence? http://jn.nutrition.org/content/135/12/2910S.full
4. Nakamura, Akemi, the Japan Times (2008), ‘Forest Therapy’ Taking Root. Researchers Find That a Simple Stroll Among Trees has Real Benefits.http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/05/02/news/forest-therapy-taking-root/
5. Li Q, Nakadai A, Matsushima H, Miyazaki Y, Krensky AM, Kwada T, Morimoto K (2006), US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, Phytoncides (Wood Essential Oils) Induce Human Natural Killer Cell Activity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16873099
6. http://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/the-science.html
7. natureandforesttherapy.org
8. shinrin-yoku.org
9. http://aplus.com/a/a-walk-in-the-woods-for-health-and-healing
10. http://www.anasazi.org
11. http://www.openskywilderness.com
12. http://journeywilderness.com
13. Thom Hartmann, Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional
    Well-Being (Vermont: Park Street Press, 2006)
14. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Phytoncide
15. Jones, H. (2016, May).  Hiking: The New Alternative Medicine, Washington Trails, 14-17.