Services and Solutions

Services and Solutions to Assist you
on your Path to Wellness and Creativity

	INNER WISDOM DISCOVERY SESSIONS Need to hit your personal reset button? A limited amount of complimentary 30-minute breakthrough sessions are available each month. They’re designed to help you identify a current block and move through it quickly. To be put on the waiting list for an upcoming available spot, please email Jeannine at breakthrough@cranialalchemy.com with your name, best email (if it’s different than the one you used) and what your #1 issue or concern is right now.

	FUTURE SELF VISION QUEST Discover your hidden shortcuts to success in a 90-minute Future Self Vision Quest Session with Jeannine You’ll be guided through an enlightening 60-minute journey that unveils the pathway to the future you want most. Followed by a separate 30-minute session for support and integration.

	WORKSHOPS AND RETREATS Whether it’s the Make the Shift one-day Workshop or a 3-4 day weekend retreat, I am always creating healing, creative, stress-free ways to invite you to widen your perceptual lens and create your reality and health with personal reverence, curiosity and consciousness on all 4 levels, which I share and speak about in my Cranial Alchemy system. Learn More.

	IMMERSION EXPERIENCES 30-Day Personal Alchemy Experience with Half-Day Private Immersion Retreat – Imagine what could shift in your life when you give yourself the gift of a 30-day experience that opens up all your creative channels. We’ll start with a half-day, mini retreat in Los Angeles, tailored just for you. Your 3-1/2 hour experience includes a light-touch Craniosacral session to release tensions from the inside out. Plus an array of experiential exercises personally selected for you by Cranial Alchemy founder Jeannine Wiest. Options also include adding Multi Hands and/or Water Work. Learn More.

	PRIVATE PROGRAMS Stay tuned… We are in the process of revamping our program offerings.

>>Click Here to Learn More About Jeannine

Would you like to like yourself more? and other juicy questions…

A few years back I created the Heal Your Mojo telesummit and one my guest speakers was Alan Questel, who is a star teacher in the Feldenkrais World.

I’d like to share a bit about Alan and his work with you today.

Alan got started in Feldenkrais through his own back injury. Most people don’t know this but Alan and I went to college together and studied acting. When he was an actor, to make money, he also had a construction business. It was our acting teacher that had introduced us to Feldenkrais.

Being initially skeptical of Feldenkrais, he saw a chiropractor for his back pain instead but the pain was worse. He then had sciatica, so thought he’d try this Feldenkrais guy.

Initially feeling the treatment was a waste of time and money, when the treatment was finished, he got up and had no pain. He was shocked. After the third treatment Alan pursued Feldenkrais and it has been part of his life for over 30 years now.

Alan says “The contact a Feldenkrais practitioner makes is skeletal. Movements are very small. We’re looking for the smallest change in quality that’s usually indicative of someone’s movement habits.”

Here are some great tips from Alan on how to become more skeletal:

Pay attention to your relationship to the ground.
Sit in a chair.
As you stand up, actually notice your feet pushing into the floor. Having that new focus will change something.
Try it when rising from your bed.
Instead of rolling over in bed, push against the mattress or surface you’re lying on and simply notice. How does that influence your sense of yourself in rolling?
Re: self-image Alan reminds us that often we wait to get uncomfortable to get comfortable. He reminds us that as children we were constantly moving towards a greater state of comfort. Food for thought!
That if we like ourselves – a good inquiry is this: “Would you like to like yourself more?” Notice your internal response to that question.
And get more skeletal!
Be kind and gentle with yourself.

Sound somewhat familiar? Well, if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ll recognize how Alan’s work is in alignment with mine. And, I wonder now…which of his suggestions started you thinking, feeling, imagining, creating? Let me know!

Alan Questel is known for his clarity, creativity, and down-to- earth style of teaching while bringing a depth of understanding, humor and a gentle human perspective to learning the method. Trained by Dr. Feldenkrais, he teaches his Feldenkrais Professional Training Program in the USA and Australia, Europe, Japan and South America. He’s all over the place.

He is the author of “Creating Creativity: Embodying the Creative Process,” and he’s also the creator of “Pregnant Pauses: Movement for Moms.” (they’re DVDs). He has also done numerous Feldenkrais “Awareness Through Movement” CD set for the Public.

A picture speaks a thousand stories: A client’s truth

I have to thank my client B. for allowing me to share this story.

When she first started working with me, the concept of talking to and learning from her own body and inner wisdom was foreign.

During our sessions together and also by participating in my Alchemy of Self Healing online class, B. found trust in her ability to work in concert with her body rather than forcing it.

Over the course of several months, she unpacked several key old pain stories holding her back. She even discovered a talent for painting and felt physically and creatively renewed.

B. continued on with me and we unraveled ancestral ties and their often lasting effects on the bodymind.

Specific to today’s sharing, her mother came up in sessions and an old “I was never good enough for her” wound showed itself for healing. The wound included “I’m not pretty enough” which you will see not only wasn’t true, it wasn’t even B.’s story…it belonged to her mother. But it was lodged in B.’s body.

But where?

But how would the truth reveal itself?

Here’s how brilliant the body is.

B. had, throughout the years, felt a “gripping” ache in one hip. As she began releasing and recounting her mom “less than” memories, the aching hip got worse.

We discovered by dialoging with the hip, (ask me if you’d like clarity on this tool) that as B. said “My mom….this is going to sound strange but it feels like she’s in my hip!”

B. had never before made the connection between the gripping in her hip and her mother.

In our work together, she honored the energy of her mom while telling the “mom energy” that she (B.) wanted the energy out of her hip.

Well, the gripping stopped and it never returned. That wasn’t the surprise.

A week later, B. found this photo of herself with her mom.

She sent it to me with a note:

“Notice the placement of my mom’s hand? No coincidence my right hip was holding onto an old story, eh?”

Pretty cool, huh?

Of course we know there are no coincidences, yes?

So where might you be storing energy that–well-meaning or not—isn’t yours?

Hmmmmm…

Release Your Small Stories… Embrace the Bigger Canvas

In case you’re wondering, I’m referring to both the bigger canvas of the vast world around us as well as s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g into the bigger canvas of you. Yes, the fabric of YOU.

Why is this canvas critical to embrace for optimal creating and/or healing?

Your soul needs room to Breathe.

To create a new job, relationship, financial future, or to revive your artistic muse, you need to support your soul’s longing for spaciousness.

How?

By releasing your small, often long-held stories.

How do you know which are the small stories?

Well, after years of assisting people with releasing stories I’m willing to bet that most of them are, in the final analysis, small.

Does that surprise you? Want specifics?

Start with the stories in your bodily organs.

Remember Softening your Stance from my last post? Sometimes those small stories put up big blocks to softening.

So in order to allow your soul room to breathe we require softness and ease.

One tip I’ve found myself using often with private clients lately is Color Breath.

Try it in two ways to determine which application resonates well.

One way is to first locate an ache or pain or address a lingering illness.

Now imagine…If you could only use color and texture to describe it, what color comes to mind? (First thought, best thought!)

For example, say I have a literal pain in the neck.

I might get start my color exercise by getting quiet and breathing a few cleansing breaths (in through the nose, out through the mouth).

Hmm, what does that pain remind me of color-wise?

“Orange” pops into my awareness. Now, I don’t spend time worrying what that signifies. Maybe I like orange, maybe not. It doesn’t matter.

I simply notice the SHADE of orange (burnt umber? Sunset? OJ?) and the Texture. Is it flowing and light like water from a stream? Or cool and blanketing like a clay face masque?

Next, I’ll imagine that orange juice-y cooling blanket (that’s what I got, so I’m going with it) wrapping lovingly and easily around my body with a focus on my neck pain area.

And I wait. I breathe in Orange. I invite it to swirl wherever it’s wanted, as my body wisdom sees fit to take it in.

Typically, there will be a release, an elongating and a spaciousness. Give it a try! Let me know your experience.

This first tip was an internalizing of color to make a fairly quick shift of a small pain story.

A second way, an external way of utilizing color breath work, is to envision yourself as an actual fabric canvas and invite the colors you need to show themselves to you and help re-shape your canvas.

One color might smooth out an area while another color might stretch and add length or width to you (the canvas).

So for this second experiment, lie down and imagine that you are that canvas.

Allow colors to show themselves above you, around you, even invite them to easily move your limbs, maybe your torso.

What colors show up to envelope you, and guide you?

It’s as if the color is breathing you.

After you’ve tried both, I’d love to hear which exercise gave you a sense of more spaciousness.

Blending Opportunities: A Recipe for Renewal

Last week I gave you an example of looking for a pattern in your body so that you might identify it and decide how it is serving you. (Hint: Oftentimes, these patterns are NOT operating in your current best interests.)

Before you seek outside assistance with old operating patterns lodged in your body or aura, I recommend you attempt to uncover a pattern or two on your own. (You can always ask me for help)

But why not play Inner Detective for a moment and see what dots your patterns connect. I promise, you can’t do this exploration wrong!

Here is a self-check which can help focus you in on your key operating “stuff” no matter your chosen method of getting personal clarity and relief–should you decide to join a guided class or work privately with an integrative coach–you’ll be that much more aware of what needs to shift.

However, even if the solo exploration is all you do the benefits can be maximized by blending.

Here we go. Self-check time with the focus on blending.

The first good question to ask is: “What do I blend?”

Hint–look for what doesn’t seem to fit together in your life right now.

Two desires or conditions that appear to be in conflict.

For example “I have an opportunity to do __________ but it probably won’t work since I have pressing obligation/previous commitment/existing relationship/partnership____________ that doesn’t match up.”

This kind of statement rings true for many of us and can create headaches, lead to inaction and cause grief. So let’s reframe…by asking self-check question #2:

“What’s the opportunity here, now?”

Remember, even when it seems otherwise…there is always choice.

And sometimes the choice appears via blending seemingly disparate elements.

Opportunities to blend include: softening your stance, and widening your perceptual lens.

Softening your stance–this is a physical self check. Literally look for areas in your body you can soften. Try softening your jaw, belly and knees. While thinking about what doesn’t “match up”– what tension in your body do you notice? Soften that part.

Widening your perceptual lens—this is a metaphysical self check for our purposes today. After you’ve softened your stance, try softening your gaze and imagining your situation—whatever you’d like to see blended and harmonious.

Now imagine your field of vision widening to as expansive a field as you can dream. I like to think of the old Cinerama-vision wide, curved movie screens when I do this.

It’s ok if parts of your field are blank at first–you’ve still created space for a solution or highest outcome possible to emerge. See how by this experiment you are actually blending with the Divine?

Pretty cool, huh? I hope you try this short sequence and surprise yourself!

Gifts and Patterns

Here’s an integrative way of taking stock of a year.

It’s based on a craniosacral concept which I use as a jumping off point for a Gifts and Patterns exploration with VIP Day clients.

The concept is called The Significance Detector and cranial therapists know that when this pause in the cranial rhythm occurs spontaneously — something of consequence to the client has “shown itself.”

Often during a deep session, there will be key moments or elements to the significant piece and an advanced therapist will put “a drag” on the bodily tissues involved so as not to “miss” a key moment whizzing by.

OK so how can this information be useful to you right now?

Remember that your body is a finely tuned recorder.

Getting attuned to the frequencies your body vibrates to and holds is healing and can remove blocks to your manifestation efforts.

You can begin this process by slowing down your body awareness. Try the Belly and Heart exercise (I teach this in a free teleclass quarterly), or circular breathing, or any of the grounding exercises in my book, The Alchemy of Self Healing.

Then grab a pen and paper and jot down a Cliff’s Notes list of highlights and lowlights of your past year.

Don’t worry if you recall events out of order…the order you recall feelings, events and people must be honored.

Once you have your list, read each entry out loud s-l-o-w-l-y (as a way to put a “drag” on your thoughts so your body can, in effect, sync its truth or knowingness of each entry with your brain’s awareness or judgement.

As you may well know if you’ve been following me awhile, your body’s truth does not always sync with what your brain thinks, right?

Then look over your list and see which entries caused similar bodily reactions. Sometimes 2 seemingly unrelated events can uncover a pattern that needs attention.

For example, let’s say I’ve done my Cliff’s Notes list. In March I played fast and loose with my health while traveling, got sick and missed an interview.

I check with my body to see WHERE that lives inside me. I do this s-l-o-w-l-y.

Say my body flashes me a sinking feeling of dark, claustrophobic dread in my throat. I’d list that in my Cliff’s notes next to that March event.

Next, I’d be on the lookout for another event on my list that year where my throat was involved—maybe constricted differently but if I find a few events where my throat held the “story” trapped somehow, that might well indicate a pattern to work with.

Try your hand at Cliff’s Notes then let me know the patterns you noticed.

The gifts are in the noticing.

Horse Reflections; Equine Mirrors

From pages 111-114 in my book, The Alchemy of Self Healing, the following essay incorporates working Craniosacrally with a horse, and Direction of Ease, Inner Wisdom and leaps on all Three Awareness Levels that are worked on in the book.

Essay: From Tolstoy to Degas in Orange County

I’m perched on the metal fence of a riding ring, in Silverado, California, staring at a thoroughbred named Degas. I’m studying an energy-based modality developed by Dr. John Upledger in the 1970s. It’s called Craniosacral Therapy, and it worked so well on my endometriosis years ago that I took a class to find out more about it, then another class. Now I’m pushing fifty and have completely changed careers, from television costume designer to craniosacral therapist. But I have never before worked with animals.

Gail Wetzler, P.T, teacher of our group of ten bodywork therapists, has chosen horses at this barn for us to work on. Degas has been chosen because none of the veterinarians can figure out why he won’t jump for his owner. The owner is thinking of getting rid of him if he won’t.

Degas is 15 years old, around sixteen hands, and as I watch him in the ring, he seems impatient. I wonder if he has any idea that his fate might take a quick twist if this therapeutic effort doesn’t help. He’s watching us, waiting, one ear cocked, his right hoof raised with only the tip on the ground, as though en pointe.

This afternoon we will be using several techniques on Degas. Rock and glide, for example, is a way of gently nudging free restrictions found up and down the spine. Craniosacral techniques can also address emotional constrictions that present as physical issues. This week 10 of us are here to learn to apply this body/mind modality to horses.

We form a loose circle around Degas. All of us are focused on Gail Wetzler, a thin, intense physical therapist and Craniosacral teacher with piercing eyes and a no-nonsense history of working with high performance horses and impossible diagnoses. Her teaching assistant, Sally, demonstrates hand positions in the air, showing how to modify craniosacral protocol for horses. We will use multiple hands on Degas to assess his condition.

I am new to this and nervous; suddenly I begin to think how funny it is that the term hands describes the height of a horse and now we are going to use our hands to keep him tall. Well, maybe it’s not that funny.

Changing careers mid-life was an enormous leap of faith. I haven’t always seized chances that come my way, but I have always had sensitive hands, have been tactile in a detailed way. I don’t fully understand what I’m doing in Silverado, but maybe I don’t have to.

It is true that 30 years ago for one year on Broadway I danced the role of a horse in a play with music based on a short story by Tolstoy. This, I think, is my link. To prepare for the part, I had to closely study horses. I am good at observing them, so maybe I can use what I know to find my way into Degas’ cranial rhythm and palpate my way down his spine. Advanced therapists encourage neophytes to use what they know. And how many therapists have portrayed a Tolstoy horse on Broadway?

As one of the original cast of Tolstoy’s Strider: The Story of a Horse, one minute I was toiling Off Broadway, and the next minute I was toasting our Broadway debut with a thin vial of chilled vodka at the Russian Tea Room. In the play we dancers portrayed both horses and people which may be why the moment I saw Degas, I wondered whether he understood the importance of this session. Was he aware that his fate was not his own to decide?

Strider follows the life and tragic death of a piebald horse. In his youth he is torn from his mother and sent to auction where his life will either be saved or he will become horsemeat. At auction he snags the attention of a prince.

At the time, I related to the role of the young damsel and the filly being wooed by three males—Darling, the perfect thoroughbred whose alter ego was a handsome Count; the Prince who represented Imperial Russia; and Strider, the outcast.

Strider, born with piebald markings not superficially suited for a great lineage of horses, was the shunned outsider, but he dreamed big. He exhibited none of the Russian gloom and lingering question marks about the purpose of life. He had an altered perspective and here in Silverado 35 years later, so do I. Circling Degas, I relate less to the damsel than I do to Strider.

In the play, there is a split second when the Count tosses a rose to the damsel, but Strider catches it in his mouth, walks to the stands, bows on his hindquarters, and presents the rose to her. He inspires laughter in the powerful Prince who buys him to annoy the Count. Strider becomes the Prince’s favorite horse.

Now 10 pairs of open hands have a chance to change Degas’ life course. I stand beside my colleagues and hear my intuition which sometimes speaks so clearly to me. My hands on his flank blend and meld with Degas’ inner wisdom. As a dancer I would have been catching the rose; as a healer I am the one offering it. Under my hands, I feel Degas’ body offer up a therapeutic pulse. I mentally image my way through the emotionally charged superficial fascia to feel the play between it and the deep fascia. What is each tuned to? I layer my awareness down to the organs, to the heart. What trapped energy is held there?

Thirty five years ago, I thought I understood the darkness of the play and its politics, but now, recalled from the flank of a horse, the story sparks something different in me. How many chances do we get? Is everything predestined so we might as well down that vodka and write poetry or go quietly mad? Can we reconcile politics with humanity? I feel the urge to cast the Food and Drug Administration as Imperial Russia–imperious and cloaked in authority.

Whoa, I tell myself; I am getting carried away. I need to sit; my arms are going numb. But Degas is in healing mode, his body working hard to unravel restrictions.

I add another five grams of pressure to the black flank and continue to blend and meld with this powerful horse. Waves of energy that I can only call sadness rush from his body. I have learned to trust my hands and to allow the client’s body to let me know what it needs. The questions disappear; Tolstoy floats away as Degas’ inner wisdom takes center stage. Degas won’t jump. The vets say there is nothing physically wrong with him. How will we explain a horse’s sorrow to an owner who wants only a jumping machine?

Alternative therapists are not branded piebald, but we might as well be. We reveal ourselves as unique health facilitators to a society that seeks double blind studies. Still, more and more people are turning to alternative care because the way we facilitate healing offers an investigation of the whole body, and we all live in our whole bodies, not in individual parts.

Degas takes a step back and drops his head. All 10 of us move soundlessly in sync with him. We are all in tune with his cranial rhythm and with each other. Degas goes into what in cranial work is called a Stillpoint, a divine space, a therapist-assisted pause in the Craniosacral system of the body that allows for self-healing. I feel a palpable shift in the air around us. We are all exactly where we are supposed to be, and we all feel it for one elongated, elegant second.

Here I am in Orange County, piebald instead of a damsel, owning my calling, standing in the grace of Degas who is now very still, intent on the feel of a facilitating miracle, 10 pairs of hands on his 16. There’s hope. There’s hope all around.

I never got to see Degas jump, but in my mind’s eye I see us taking our separate leaps, both of us landing with ease.

Don’t have a copy of my book? You can get your copy here.

And it makes a thoughtful, body-full gift!

Thrift Store Gratitude, A Story

Taken from my book, The Alchemy of Self Healing, Chapter 3, pages 88-91

Essay: Super Thrift Store

On Saticoy near Woodman in deepest darkest Van Nuys, sits the Super Thrift Store. It is a dismal looking building, but it’s a Hollywood costumer’s secret garden. Due to the scavenger energy required to work through the racks of stuff, low-budget Hollywood usually finds its way here. Now times are tough again, and I’m swerving past the chain link fence into the blacktop parking lot, desperate. I am working on a comedy, I use that term loosely, about two blonde, sexy, large-busted girls who wear string bikinis all day long, every day, looking for Mr. Right. I don’t think I have to worry about divulging any secrets since that could describe any of thousands of low budget films ever made. This one has a twist. But of course you knew that. I’ll spare you the twist.

I have dragged Mimi here; she’s new to film. For the last six years she has costumed a daytime show with label whore divas who need designer shoes even for those scenes in which there is no chance their feet will be shown on camera. I will bet anything she has never shopped at the Super Thrift Store, but Mimi is a sport.

To reach the entrance we must pass the drop-off point which is actually a super drop-off point, meaning that goods from over ten smaller drop-off points wind up here, where they’re sorted, and under some curious hierarchy, which tells me everything has an ego, the best stuff shines under florescent light strips next door at Super Thrift Store. The lesser garments one can only pray for. The proceeds from any purchases go to help families that can’t help themselves. I never before knew exactly what “sundries” described but now I have an understanding of that word because some of these sale items are indescribable. A cane missing a handle? Celine Dion room freshener? Oh, maybe that’s perfume. Still.

Mimi and I race around, filling our cart with finds. Hip hop jeans, check! Oh, and there are some tangerine-colored Juicy flip flops with fake diamonds streaming from a baby pin–99 cents, check! Oh, and a short black skirt in a size zero–50 cents and fabulous. We can put that on the snooty lead and freak her out when she wants to buy it at the end of filming. That will be fun. Triples of a wrap-around pleated satin halter top–tags still attached. We know we will need triples for the jello scene. I said I would spare you the twists in this extravaganza but there’s one.

Piles and piles of stuff spill over the sides of our cart. Mimi says we have just 500 bucks. I know our stash will cost well under. At checkout the reality of this place sinks in. Ahead of us is a mother with two young sons who want two toys that are out of their packages but still seem new. To these boys the toys spell the Promised Land. They show their mom the shiny water blasters, one lime green, the other slick black. The mom carefully looks them over. I know she is delaying disappointing her boys. She asks the clerk how much. Two dollars. Each. She tells the boys she can get them one. They have to choose. I want to pay this stranger’s entire bill and buy those kids every toy on the shelf. But I know better than to make any grand gesture. What am I going to say? “Hello, idealistic baby boomer here, I have unresolved issues of lack and fairness and I’d like to project that onto your family?”

I have friends who grew up extremely poor but didn’t know until high school that they were poor, and I know, no one has a right to mess with Mom’s word, especially not a middle class white costumer who has 500 bucks to spend on stuff that may never be used. I begin to examine the ceiling tiles until they leave and it’s our turn to tally.

Our haul totals $300. Mimi is impressed. We have covered several principal asses, I hope, and we wend our way back to the car, avoiding a potential trip over a group of kids’ bikes lying on their sides waiting to see if they’ll make the grade for Super Thrift Store or if they’ll have to ride off into lesser sunsets.

We load the car as only professionals can, and discuss a potential Starbucks run. At the exit gate a thin, middle-aged, dark-complexioned man in a washed out beige button down shirt and worn but well pressed trousers, stops us. He is out of breath. He waves delicate arms above his head to get our attention. I am confused. I am in a rush. My internal dialog starts with “What’s the deal, pal?” Out loud I call out the window, “Is there something wrong?” in the tone I have in the past reserved for that final classic “Officer?”

The man looks intently at me. He runs his thin fingers through thinner hair. The air around us waits, suspended. Mimi waits. I wait. He looks at my Lexus as if to assure himself that I am the one he wants to speak with. “Excuse me, but you made a large purchase inside, just now, yes?”

“Uh, yeah,” I am ready to floor the gas pedal and get out of there. This hold up has made Starbucks out of the question. I am thinking, Spit it out, man. What on God’s earth do you have to say? Does he think our 100s are counterfeit?

“I am the manager here, of this store…”

My inner smart ass cramps. Speed it up man. What’s the dealio? I am beside myself, hands on the wheel, ready to fly. Mimi gives me a dark look, or am I imagining that?

“Ladies I, well…God Bless You. This sale with us today it means we can help so many this weekend. Ladies, if there’s something…maybe something you had to leave behind today in the store?”

I do not know what to say to this guy. “Wow” comes to mind but that won’t work.

He continues. “I would like to give you each a small thank you, sorry, a gift, yes, for this miracle. An item you wanted, maybe?”

I look at Mimi and feel tears start heating up inside. She is silent. I say, “Thank you so much, but we have to go now. We will be back.” He looks sad so I add, “It’s a generous offer, thank you,” and he brightens.

He says,” Please, just remind me of this day if you come back, okay?”

“I will be back,” I promise. “Thank you so much,” I add, thinking of water blasters.

As we drive toward Burbank I allow the wave I am feeling to slosh up inside. Manager man wanted to give me a gift. Did I leave something behind, he asked. Something I could not afford? Yes, I think, now fully aware of something I cannot afford to lose. A healthy dose of humanity. A paradigm shift I didn’t know I needed.

“Can you believe that just happened, Mimi?”

“Yeah, I know. Forget Starbucks, huh?”

I can’t tell with her what she’s thinking, exactly.

I decide to keep my present close to my heart for as long as I can.

Don’t have a copy of my book? You can get your copy here.

And it makes a thoughtful, body-full gift!

Endings and Beginnings

Paradox in the Natural Scheme of Things

For me, Winter represents a paradox.

It’s both cold (temperature).

The end of a year, a sometimes sobering completion or ending.

And to some, it is a reckoning.

On the other hand.

Winter can be viewed as warm (holidays, family, friends).

A joyous wrap up leaving you eager for newness just around the corner.

And for some, it is affirming.

A Winter season holds all those options and more.

You notice I used the word “options.”

That’s because my suggestion to you as December begins is to choose to imprint it.

Instead of letting it imprint you (with obligations and those old stories trapped in your body)!

One way is to resist the urge to view December as a runaway train of extremes, warm/cold, sobering/eager or the ever popular…

Too much/not enough.

Rather, choose to look for and locate a stillness inside and acknowledge any seemingly opposite awarenesses.

Just BE with what is.

ALLOW that to be fluid rather than fixed (so it can change and flow).

Practice embracing the paradox.

After all, in the end there is always a seed of beginning—it’s Nature’s constant and a comforting decree.

Deep Nourishment

The Five Signals

My friend healer, Cass Phelps, graced my first Heal Your Mojo expert talk series 4 years ago where we talked about his work, The 5 Signals.

Listen and learn to hear what your body is asking, and take back your power.

His wisdom is timeless.

He has a unique approach to how we feed ourselves, both literally and figuratively.

All I can say is it was a yummy conversation.

>> Listen Here <<

A Magical Interview: Without a Healthy Earth we are Motherless

Without a Healthy Earth we are Motherless

Gabriel Horn, White Deer of Autumn, is a writer, professor and protector of the earth.

I was fortunate to interview him last year for my Heal Your Mojo series.

More than ever, my inner wisdom tells me that the vibrancy of our personal mojo is woven with the water, sky and earth.

Would you like more resonance with Mother Earth?

I invite you to steep yourself in our conversation about Mr. Horn’s award winning book, Motherless, and see how it relates to the current events at Standing Rock.

And check in to see how it widens your current, personal lens.

>> Listen here <<

If you’re interested in Gabriel Horn’s book, Motherless, you can order a copy here.

2016 International Book Award Winner- Multicultural Fiction
2016 Indie Excellence Book Award – Finalist
2016 Paris Book Festival – Honorable Mention – Spiritual
2016 Award of Literary Excellence – Friends of Florida Mid-County Regional Library
2016 Next Generation Indie Award – Finalist Best Overall Cover Design Fiction
2015 Florida Book Award Bronze Medal – Young Adult Literature

Selected by Dept. of Education for Talking Book Library for the Blind

Would you like to like yourself more? and other juicy questions…

A few years back I created the Heal Your Mojo telesummit and one my guest speakers was Alan Questel, who is a star teacher in the Feldenkrais World.

I’d like to share a bit about Alan and his work with you today.

Being initially skeptical of Feldenkrais, he saw a chiropractor for his back pain instead but the pain was worse. He then had sciatica, so thought he’d try this Feldenkrais guy.

Here are some great tips from Alan on how to become more skeletal:

Pay attention to your relationship to the ground.
Sit in a chair.
As you stand up, actually notice your feet pushing into the floor. Having that new focus will change something.
Try it when rising from your bed.
Instead of rolling over in bed, push against the mattress or surface you’re lying on and simply notice. How does that influence your sense of yourself in rolling?
Re: self-image Alan reminds us that often we wait to get uncomfortable to get comfortable. He reminds us that as children we were constantly moving towards a greater state of comfort. Food for thought!
That if we like ourselves – a good inquiry is this: “Would you like to like yourself more?” Notice your internal response to that question.
And get more skeletal!
Be kind and gentle with yourself.