Menu
I appreciate that the term “Energy Balancing” can mean a myriad of things to each individual person. And based on a person’s exposure and experience with holistic and complementary techniques, energy balancing is a common intention and or outcome for many modalities.
My first experience with Reiki was over three decades ago, when my Mom took her level one training. It was fascinating and magical in the late ’80’s to feel the energy flow from her hands. It wasn’t until 2003, and I had my daughters did I feel drawn to learning Reiki for myself so that I could help soothe a sore tummy and help them calm down after scraped knees and other bumps.
This opened the door of curiosity and expansion to learn more and different ways to activate or calm energy within myself and others.
In 2006, I trained in Laughter Yoga, Therapeutic Touch and Level One Yuen Energetics. The Yuen Method introduced me to muscle testing and I have applied that tool to countless areas of my life to significant benefit. And all of these added value and fueled my curiosity growth, on all things energy, and have been a part of all that I do since then. I chose to attain my Reiki Master Level in 2020.
In 2004 I found what I had been searching for to release whatever energy was stuck in my L4 L5 area of my low back, which had become problematic for me to live and move easily, without pain or restriction. From 1994 to 2004, you could name any mainstream to woo woo modality and I likely had paid for a session(s), to alleviate my low back issue. From massages, cranio sacral, energy work, affirmations, chiropractic, yoga, acupuncture, traction, Qi gong, you name it I tried it, at least once.
An advertisement in Yoga Journal caught my attention, and even without knowing what it was all about, I had an intuitive bell ringing loudly to find out more. After watching a video on people’s experience I was even more certain I needed to know more about Yamuna Body Rolling, best described as using various balls and equipment to unwind the body.
As there were no practitioners near me , I didn’t hesitate to travel to Vancouver to take a weekend workshop. That was physically life changing for me and after taking the next level in the spring of 2004 I began to teach classes and workshops. This technique was so empowering to me, that I had a tool and technique to alleviate pain and restriction in my body, and to share with others the tools to do the same. In 2023 it continues to be a staple in my movement repertoire.
While teaching at a Pilates studio in Australia, I was introduced to another movement modality called Gyrotonics. This method works with the spiral movements of the body to strengthen and unwind.
I was introduced to Feng Shui from a magazine article in my early twenties. The idea that I could arrange my home to open to the flood gates of money to pour in and make room for my knight in shining armor was very intriguing. Books and information were not as readily available then, and the first one I bought couldn’t have been less comprehensible to me. Until eventually, as an avid fan of Hay House books, I came across, The Western Guide to Feng Shui, by Terah Kathryn Collins.
Intuitive Bells were ringing from page one and I consumed anything and everything she wrote on Feng Shui, the elements (within the home and ourselves) in order to create balance and harmony. Which I coupled with the wisdom of affirmations as shared by Louise L. Hay, in her many books on the subject. Gratefully, I was able to create the opportunity to train at the Western School of Feng Shui, and have been a practitioner since 2007. I also expanded my knowledge about the elements by learning in a small group environment, from Carey Davidson, author of the Five Archetypes, in 2022.
I was blessed to meet and get a selfie with Louise L. Hay and do her mirror work with her at a workshop in London, England in 2011!
Grief
The flow of energy, in mine and my daughter’s lives, changed significantly in 2009, when my husband died by suicide, then five months later my own father died. It was an exceptional year. As much as I knew about helping energy to flow, how to make a body feel less restricted, how to rearrange our home to support our wellness, it just didn’t matter because grief changed everything.
The Grief Recovery Method was a education that exponentially changed what I ‘thought’ I knew about grief. I went with the intention of learning new ways to help support my daughters, friends, family and life coaching clients. And I left with tools that I didn’t know I needed for myself. The tools that I learned continue to be one of the most significant tools in my toolkit.
As an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention, I attended the Mental Health First Aid program, just prior to the start of the pandemic in 2020.
As the prevalence of trauma in ours and other’s lives, how it shows up and affects us in the present was the next layer. In 2021, I did a deep dive to learn about the nervous system, trauma and trauma responses from Mastin Kipp, within his Live Your Purpose Intensive training.
Part of supporting my daughter’s mental health meant getting the pug dog they had been begging for–for years. Alas I had to address the allergies I had around dogs before that could happen. Gratefully someone mentioned a muscle testing based, non invasive, energetic modality that could help me with that. My experience as a client at Blue Sky since 2016 was fantastically successful, and we welcomed Ivy the pug into our home in September of that year. Who’s super powers include and are not limited to shedding all day every day and licking.
I continued to be a client to address my other sensitivities, intolerances and emotions that I was reacting to. When Tamara invited me to both learn from her and collaborate with her in July 2022, I can not even begin to express how invaluable that was and am grateful to have been a part of people’s experience at Blue Sky Healing. As I am not a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine nor a licensed Acupuncturist, certification was unattainable.
As a regular massage client, last fall I explored Indian Head Massage Treatments, as an extension of my bodywork resume and as a way to hands on help relieve stress and tension. Alas, this is a technique I will reserve for my daughters, who struggle with tension and migraine headaches.
I recently completed an Introduction to Touch For Health, a muscle testing based modality that has been balancing energy for over forty years. I love working hands on and rebalancing the Qi (energy), with the body.
In my recent session, with a thirty year practitioner, I was thrilled to experience a broader range of muscle testing techniques to locate and balance one’s energy, and defining and aligning with a goal for the session. I am excited to learn more from her in the next few weeks.
I appreciate that this overview may have you asking “Why such a patchwork quilt of training?”
I have always understood that opportunities come up at the most perfect time, whether it looks and feels that way or not in the moment. My motivation for continuing to invest in my education about the mind, body, or energy is simple.
I want to experience it for myself and learn how it felt, helped and supported me; then I ask myself “Will knowing this help: my daughters, my loved ones, myself and others?”
All of the trainings, in all of the modalities have met this criteria, and continue build upon the previous, continue to expand and support in one or many ways in my life and those in it.