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Breathe

Good afternoon glorious beings. I greet you with all the love and light I can, from the universe, from my heart. What a year 2020 was. There were so many different things happening not only on an earthly plain but on the many spiritual plains as well. If you felt the many shifts my heart and spirit is with you. My soul was rocked to the core as the masses of human hearts collided with fear, dread and hopelessness. Through this time my own family was affected physically and I scrambled every day to find the clarity and the love I so desired to give and feel. Feeling utterly crazy, I turned to guided meditation as I so often do, to lead me in the way I can remain in my body.

Have you ever caught your breath, maybe a quickened one, only to realize your breathing? One of my most revealing moments came from my years as a personal trainer. I had to teach clients HOW to breathe. Some were amazed to FEEL the breath, the living spirit inside of themselves, some were stunned they never paid attention to the very thing keeping them alive. Everything becomes so automatic in this physical plane we don’t even know HOW to breathe. We don’t remember HOW to feel our body, our heartbeat, our words leaving our throats. What some of us DO know how to do is be without being. Human creatures have lost sense of self in the most literal way.

I started to breathe intentionally , with purpose, to restore the energies that had left my body and to feel me again. I took up some somatic practices that help realign my energies with myself and although not everything was a welcomed feeling, it was healing. One thing we can do as earthly dwellers is focus on intentional breathing. Notice all the sparks, tingles and vibrations in your body as you do! Do you feel the top of your head, your chapped lips, your fingertips? Do you feel your heart beat throughout your body, reminding you of the core of being? There are many guided meditations and prayers that can help restore your being and guide you into a place of positive intention and love personified. Taking up yoga even if for five minutes a day can help ground and relax the spirit. Seek out the nurturing energies of a Reiki guide, massage therapist, can also help restore your intentions, put you back in your body and guide you to self healing.

2021 is the year of the energy warriors. We are a group of love, supported by the universe, guided by our hearts to bring awareness and promote self healing to every living thing. I stand up and cry thanks to the spirits around me, below and above me for such an honor. Remember it is a simple as taking a breathe. Please reach out to me if you desire a distance Reiki session and feel so inclined to reach me.

With Love and Light

Spirit

So I went on vacation..

There is one title I do not get tired of writing or experiencing. During this troubled time where the world is in disharmony and emotional chaos, I needed to take a vacation.

I put down the phone and the laptop and I opened my eyes, my ears, my heart. I sat, in mental silence, tapping into all the senses that I have ignored or pushed away for a longtime. I sat with myself and realized there was so much about me I have not discovered yet, or grown to love yet. I was calm, serene, with a pretty big smile on my face most of the time. Although I consider myself a pretty positive person, life certainly has been a test lately.

The thing I noticed the most was that I did not mind being still with no obligation. I could watch with my eyes wide open to all that played out in front of me. I saw plenty of dragonflies dancing throughout the scene and there was also a cardinal on my last day there. I smelled everything from the stench of rotting fish, to the lovely beach roses that surrounded us. It was if I had indeed taken a vacation from all that was consuming me.

I took a vacation from the anger, frustration, sadness, hopelessness, despair that had been so present since I received my attunements. I sat with the emotions and watched them enter and flow like the ocean that I was next to for seven days. Each passing of the wind got easier to just…let go. I made sense of some of these and treated them with the respect that they deserved before saying farewell. I made some definite decisions about where to proceed in my path next in order to achieve harmony in my own world. Oh how I wanted to stay in that place with no worry, no doubts.

Upon returning to the world I reside in most of the time I almost felt lost. So I plugged in the sounds of the ocean and the wind. I reconnected the senses to what had inspired me in the first place to take a vacation. Personal growth is not always neat. It can get very messy before true understanding emerges. Every day is a new opportunity to renew our faith in the universal energy that surrounds us. Have trust that what we put it, comes back as love and beauty.

I recommend taking a vacation…

In love and light,

slowturtle

The Cardinal

There is a cardinal outside of my house, right across the road in a series of pine trees. I was SO excited to discover this as earlier this week. Up till this point I have been lost in the small groups of goldfinches, that love to play in the purple flowers along the road up from my yards. I think I have identified the plants as chicory but I am still investigating this. So it was just my good fortune that I noticed a red figure moving in and out of the sumac trees across my road. There he was clear as the first evening star, a cardinal. It has been long since I have gazed upon one, so brilliant its red color that you get lost in it. I watched it hop from branch to branch all the time exclaiming to my very lazy pooch that there was a cardinal across the road. He didn’t care much but I knew that this was a sign of things. But what exactly?

The cardinal is known for representing celebration, hope, health and joy. WOW! All those positive things in one little vivacious bird! Some other representations of seeing one is confidence, balance, spiritual connection, and visits/ messages from other world. An example, if one has been requesting guidance from the universe the cardinals sighting is a positive sign that the spirit hears you. No wonder I get so happy whenever I see one. I was taught by my mentor that the cardinal is indeed a messenger from the spirits. If one is to see one and have one hang around for a bit, there was something I need to hear, see, touch or do. The bird species is known for being a seer and messenger. I used to see them quite a bit in a different location I was living where it was very rural with little human disturbance. Now I am in a place where human interaction is by the second, so how blessed I am to have a sighting of the cardinal.

I have been of late calling upon the universal energy to help me give away the things not serving me. I have also been asking for guidance in matters that I do not understand and also for clarity of my own being. The cardinal has let me know the universe is listening and I will continue to be open about what I receive.

If one has a cardinal show up in dreams, it could me that one is beginning to be true to oneself. It might be time to stop living under a pretense of someone that is not and open up to who one truly is, accepting this and embracing the true self.

I am so thankful and grateful in abundance at the gifts that are provided everyday. By slowing down and being aware not only of ourselves but the signs around us we support the circle of energy all around us, in us and beyond us.

In love and light,

slowturtle

I recommend this book:

” The Anatomy of Change, A Way to Move Through Life’s Transitions”, by Richard Strozzie Heckler. I was first introduced to this book in the first semester of massage school. What I really enjoyed about this book is awareness of oneself can bring about true healing. When you add on a healing modality such as massage or Reiki, then its like the double punch revival to your spirit, soul!

In his intro he wants to re-introduce us to the wisdom of our bodies! Oh how so many have forgotten how truly magnificent we are! We live in a world where most things are now preset work, school, eat, sleep, maybe workout, maybe socialize. Do you ever feel like your in the movie Groundhog day? Social media outlets do add benefits but they also serve as distractions to the self, keeping our minds and actions focused on things that might be non productive or even dangerous. The sadness is that most people want to be distracted. We no longer have to look inside to try to understand the marvel of the being, our vessels of pure energy that walk the planet. What Heckler stresses in his book is how to look inside to the wisdom that is in you, and is you, to bring that forward into your awareness.

” Once we have recognized our conditioned tendency, we can expand this insight by experiencing ourselves as being involved in a bodily and energetic process, which is the rhythm of excitement. This rhythm is the basic energetic process that touches us in each moment of our lives. To experience this rhythm is the next step in moving toward living in our body.” Richard Heckler

When I first read the above quote I was so moved that I was brought to tears! Where is the excitement that I once had to be me? Did I ever feel it? I wanted it, needed it to be tangible. This really was a critical piece for my massage practice. To be in tune with myself allows me to help other people recognize that they have the ability to tune into themselves. I am just a vessel of energy as are you, but we are so powerful and so beautiful. It is a lifelong process but everyday I breathe with more graciousness and thankfulness. I also have suffered from clinical depression since childhood and as an adult I am able to better cope with my thoughts and emotion by taking the time to really see my wisdom. Take a chance and read the book! It is well worth it!

In love and light!

slowturtle

Massage Reduces Frequency of Chronic Tension Type Headaches


Massage therapy applied to the anterior neck, jaw and cranial muscles in addition to the shoulder, posterior neck and occiput muscles resulted in a significant decrease
in headache frequency, among other benefits, for women diagnosed with chronic
tension type headaches (CTTH), according to a recent case series. THE CASE SERIES, “Remedial Massage Therapy Interventions Including and Excluding Sternocleidomastoid, Scalene, Temporalis, and Masseter Muscles for Chronic Tension Type Headaches: a Case Series,” involved four women diagnosed with CTTH. This is defined as more than 15 headaches per month for more than three months.
For the case series, the four women received six 45-minute massage sessions throughout a three-week intervention period. According to the study’s authors, the massage intervention included “myofascial trigger point release, neuromuscular
therapy and consideration of central sensitization mechanisms present in CTTH.”
Two of the four women were assigned to the exclusion group, where they received massage therapy focused on the shoulder, posterior neck and occiput muscles. The other two women were assigned to the inclusion group, where they received massage
therapy focused on the same muscles with the addition of the sternocleidomastoid, scalene, temporalis and masseter muscles. The main outcome measure in this case series was headache frequency. Secondary outcome measures included headache
intensity and duration. All three of these outcome measures were recorded in a headache diary for one week before the start of the study, throughout the three-week intervention period and for two weeks after the intervention period had ended.
Results of the research showed a reduction in headache frequency and headache disability index scores for all four women two weeks after the intervention period had ended. One of the women from the exclusion group and both women from
the inclusion group recorded a decrease in headache frequency to the point where they were below the diagnostic criteria for CTTH. Overall, the two women in the inclusion group, who received the more wide-ranging massage, showed the greatest decreases in
headache frequency and HDI scores. “Comparative results suggest there may be additional benefit in reducing headache frequency and disability with inclusion of anterior neck, jaw and cranial muscles in treatment strategies of CTTH,” stated the authors. “However, limited sample size makes it difficult to rule out outliers or individual variables. Further investigation is recommended.” M


Authors: Grace Shields and Joanna Smith.
Sources: Therapeutic and Sports Massage Program, Massage
Therapy Department, Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill,
New Zealand. Originally published in February 2020 in the
International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, 13(1),

Daily Meditation

Good evening. I hope that my words meet good feelings and the end of a nice day for all. I wanted to share my meditation experience for those who might be interested. I also encourage others to share theirs if they would like to. I find that when I share I not only learn more about the experience but also learn much by the feedback of others.

In constantly striving to tune in to my higher self and intuition, I have focused in on daily meditation that is guided to do just that. I have found a wonderful one on You Tube from New Meditation Music that was designed to meet my higher self. It was about 58 minutes and took me to a beautiful place in my mind. I was so deeply relaxed that I followed all of the guidance without straying mentally once, this being a huge accomplishment to me. Over the course of my Reiki study and eventual attunements, I have to say that I was a little worried that I would not be opened to the universal guidance that I longed to be in touch with. I was focusing in on releasing all that was not serving me. I am not sure about you but this was like the metaphorical onion layers being peeled one at a time. I was not aware how disconnected I was from myself, as a matter of fact I didn’t even really know who I was at that point. Discovering that most of the things I considered a hobby were only things other people really enjoyed. So I would mimic them and take these things as my own. Peeling back that layer I realized I had really little knowledge of my own being, my own self. Most things I carried inside I had collected like stamps, only sadly very little value was attached to these things for me. As I cleaned out the closet of my programmed self I am discovering that I spent so much time running away from the things that make me who I truly am.

The meditation was a truly beautiful, powerful experience. Upon seeing my higher self appear, the bright light of gold took the shape of a beautiful female, with long red hair and green eyes. She wore all white, not quite lace but light and airy. There was a breeze that was constantly blowing around her and through her, and her curly hair moved with the breeze like they were one. Now anyone that knows me truly, knows I love the wind!! The smell, the feel, the touch and the stories. <sigh> It makes me happy just writing these words. My guide was there with me, he showed up beside me as I introduced myself to myself. He held my hand, like he so often does, and the first thing out of my mouth after introduction was how much I loved her. Then I threw myself upon her and we embraced, all the time I was expressing to my higher self how happy I was. My entire body felt as if on fire, but cool and collected as we sat and I served tea. The room we were in was off a room that housed a collection of photos of my past lives. The only one I recognized was my photo as a samurai warrior. I did not doubt who she was or that this meeting needed no more words. I did express to her without speaking that I needed the fear to go and the love to flow. Did I mention how heavy my body felt, my physical body? Yet in the room with her I felt like the wind. She continued to grab my hands and look directly through me, like a confirmation she understood what I need and is prepared to connect to make it happen. I left knowing that I can enter that space anytime I need and that she would be there ready to hold my hand. I need not fear, only be.

Just for today, I will not worry.

I have come away from this really feeling grounded like my feet grew roots. I followed up with a Reiki self treatment and then the day could be what it would be. Its not always hearts and flowers, there are so many deep emotional waters that flow sometimes disrupting the harmony that I have established. But I am learning to watch it flow and let it be released so the universe can use it more productively than I can. I am truly grateful. Again I welcome any to share experiences.

In Love and Light,

slowturtle

The Crown or Seventh Chakra

The crown chakra also known in Sanskrit as Sahasrara, is located on the top of our head. The seventh of the seven chakras, it represents states of higher consciousness and divine connection. Its color is violet and white and its element is pure consciousness. The quality and functions are integration, unity with the divine, wisdom and purpose, universal consciousness, understanding, and enlightenment. How important it is not only in our day to day functions but especially during this time in history, that our crown chakra is clear.

Some Gemstones associated with the crown chakra are Alexandrite, Amethyst, Clear Quartz, Diamond and Selenite.  Some Herbs associated with are Frankincense, Lotus, Neroli. Rose, and Spruce. Some Essential oils associated with the Crown are Frankincense, Neroli, Rose, and Pine.

Imbalances in this chakra would display as cynicism, disregarding what is sacred, closed mindedness, and disconnection with spirit.

Crown Chakra Affirmations

  • I am part of the Divine
  • I honor the Divine within me
  • I seek to understand and to learn from my life experiences
  • I cherish my spirit
  • I seek experiences that nourish my spirit
  • I listen to the wisdom of universe
  • I trust my intuition
  • I am open to letting go of my attachments
  • I live in the present moment
  • I am grateful for all the goodness in my life
  • I love and accept myself
  • I know that all is well in my world
  • I am connected with the wisdom of the universe
  • I am open to divine wisdom
  • My life moves with grace
  • I am at peace

Each any every waking moment present new opportunities to look inside and discover all that makes you you! Every breath has meaning, every beat of our hearts pump energy and guidance. Listen to what is within. Feel the very essence of your energies. We are all connected! We all have the ability to heal ourselves and help guide others to heal themselves. Listen….

In love and light

slowturtle

A Call to the Circle

Greetings!

I am back or here, maybe I never really left! What a world, what a year, what a time for all the love and peaceful energy we can muster to ignite the world! Up to this point I have been sitting with so many things and watching them come to the surface and release. Change can be overwhelming.

Last year I embarked on a journey I felt I needed to take, one that would bring me to many different fields of my spirit and heart. Some places I had been before and had left quickly. Some I had just met again and it was a real crossroad of deciding what I needed to do, rather what I wanted to do. Being a retail pharmacy manager had taken a pretty big toll on my mental and physical space. I needed to be recharged and excited again. So I invested a small sum of money that ended up being the best thing that I ever did, besides housing my two children in my womb. I took a massage therapy certification course and immersed myself in energy work. That started my energy path. I have made it so far as to having to re-enroll for the course this September, I am not complaining, and have received my reiki master attunements.

I am reaching out to all like spirited and hearted ones to pull to my circle of support during these times! I long for connection and peaceful, loving guidance and harmony. This world is in such need of all these things, and it seems to me there are more energy workers than ever on the planet at this time. Will you join me?

In love and light

slowturtle

 

 

 

 

Getting by should not be acceptable!

I’m pretty sure that when they define the word ambitious by actions it would seem that mine over the last 35 years could be redefined as lazy. Sadly, as most of us in this world,  I scroll through the endless pages of social media feed only to detect that I am not as accomplished, popular, determined, intelligent or independently wealthy as all of my associates on faceplant. Of course keeping in mind that 99% of this is the exact opposite of reality, it still has an effect on my mental acceptance of myself.

The last few years for me have been less than stellar and although I realize walking into a new decade of age should be thrilling and exhilarating, it is quite the opposite. I have come face to face with many mental stumbling blocks, some have been added to by the presence of other humans, that drive me into a vast pit of being utterly lost and bitterly confused. I use the word bitterly with literary intensity! I am bitter. Like unsweetened raspberry jam. My body no longer feels, looks or acts like it used to. This has nothing to do with you are as old as you feel, it is not a mental state of mind it is very much physical. All of the energy that was is no longer. It does not matter if I am using copious amounts of liquid stimulants, only coffee, there is nothing that beings back that energy that made me who I was! Where did it go? Did I lose it somewhere? Can I PLEASE have it back?

I have been researching age and health for a while now  in my determination to not be “that” 40 something, you know the one who is boring, unpopular, lazy and overweight. Although it might have been for the wrong reason it was very interesting material. Like fitness programs we are all individual. There is no standard that is built for everyone but there is general rules that do apply to most. You then build around what you know about your client and come up with a program that fits the criteria set by both.  Aging is the same premise. Taking what you know is going to eventually happen and developing a method to utilize knowledge, experience and hopefully wisdom to create a journey you could write a novel about. Yeah, ok, sure. I just want to wake up and feel like my 30-year-old self, not even my 20-year-old self. I want to be inspired everyday to succeed, grow and love my life. Believe it or not I used to love life. I am not blaming age but it would certainly help if I didn’t feel so damn 40 something.

In with the positive. It is OK to create your own version of success. I do not want to be remembered by anyone for anything other than I was the best Jennifer I could be. Kind, generous, considerate, selfless. This world is full of disrespect, anger and selfishness. I strive to make the biggest mark I can by being all the qualities I admire and respect. In the coming weeks I will explore different topics for us humans that care to venture beyond the standard thinking of success and hopefully reach out and touch people who might just need a little boost. It is ok to not be the C.E.O of a public stock company but it is not ok to just get by. There should be no such thing. We limit our views on happiness. We put them in a bag and mix them with what other people brag about. We identify less with our own stories and strive to be more like someone else’s.  By sharing my own story I will introduce the ideas that call for less critical thinking and more self-awareness. That is if your interested in the ramblings of a 40 something.