Category Archives: healing

INTERVIEW WITH DANA TAYLOR- author & healer

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I met Dana through the Visionary Fiction Alliance and recently enjoyed reading her book, Ever-Flowing Streams: Tapping into Healing Energy. She is an award winning author and healer. Her book describes her journey as a healer in the Christian tradition and how she eventually became a Reiki practitioner. Although I will focus on her non-fiction book, Dana also has several novels available. Today I welcome her to talk about her work and life experience.

Thank you, Ellis, for inviting me to chat today. These days my life involves writing, healing, and enjoying what I call the Supernal Adventure as we’ve entered this amazing post-2012 cosmic era.

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 Do you see healing as a calling or can anyone train to become a healer?

Both. Some people incarnate with a life mission primarily geared toward healing in some capacity. However, learning to channel healing energy is something everyone can learn. As our paradigm shifts into quantum thinking, the general population will begin recognizing their energetic nature. As that evolves, learning to channel universal healing energy will become commonplace. It will be part of the New Normal.

It was interesting to read about your prayer work with Christian groups. Eventually, you seemed to grow beyond those roots. Could you talk a little about what you experienced as the Christian community shifted away from healing as a mission?

Some of the loudest voices in the Christian community have felt their values under attack and so we’ve seen a shift from the Charismatic Movement of the 80’s to political agitation. As my world expanded, I began to see the stifling effects of Fear Theology. However, I have never turned away from my deep love of Christ. In fact, as my spirituality has grown, the healing and love of the Christ Spirit has become more brilliant. Interestingly, my book resonates most with Bible Belt readers wanting to keep their faith, yet yearning for the freedom to explore beyond the constrictions of denominational thinking. To them I say, “Break down your walls of fear! The Son is shining out here.”

Photo: Alan Vernon

Photo: Alan Vernon

Larry Dossey, MD has written about scientific research conducted on prayer. There is strong evidence to suggest prayer can have an effect. What factors do you see as essential in optimizing the healing power of prayer (the healer’s ability, how to pray, for whom to pray, etc)?

Dossey is a quantum thinker. He gets it. He provides scientific research to validate what the shamans, healers, and holy people have intuitively understood since we first started painting on cave walls. Praying is a multidimensional activity. Awareness of the dimensions beyond 3-D comes easier to some people than others. It’s a skill that can be developed. Like a kid playing basketball, throwing the ball into the bucket over and over every day after school. Practice, practice, practice. Prayer is the same deal. Get alone. Turn on some meditation tapes. Listen to Tibetan singing bowls. Whatever works. As you raise your frequency and stimulate the pineal gland, you will make a spiritual connection. And that’s when the fun begins. Nowadays they’re calling it “quantum entanglement.” You step into a dimension that laps into another. Suddenly, you see that broken bone, or an empath feels the great sorrow of a sudden loss and you send a higher frequency of healing and love into the situation. It’s beautiful.

Did energy work feel like a natural extension of your prayer work?

Absolutely. But the word “prayer” has taken on a lot of baggage. Organized religion has given it a bad name! The biggest shift is understanding that healing prayer is an act of co-creation with Spirit. It is not begging. Please, please God heal my dog. It is reaching into a dimension where Spirit resides and being a human conduit for healing energy. Prayer has many euphemisms nowadays. We use words like “intention,” “affirmation,” and “sending healing energy.” It’s all prayer to me.

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Do you think Reiki will follow a similar road to acceptance that acupuncture has traveled? Will my health insurance cover Reiki anytime soon?

Most oncology departments in hospitals are recommending Reiki to their patients. Reiki practitioners are volunteering with cancer patients across the nation. Of course, insurance coverage would mean regulating Reiki, setting up boards and state certification and all that. I know of one hospital in California that had a paid Reiki practitioner on staff. It’s probably just a matter of time–and bureaucracy.

Can visionary writing, in fiction and non-fiction forms, shift consciousness?

Never doubt the power of the Word! Think of opening chapter of the gospel of John In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is referring to Christ as the Living Word. Stephen King says writing is mental telepathy, placing the images from one mind to another. Visionary writing will be increasingly influential. There is an explosion of channeled material–A Course in Miracles, the Kryon books and audios, etc. You don’t get much more visionary than information coming from nonphysical beings. The Internet transmits philosophies across the planet. We’re seeing turmoil and struggle as various forces compete for mass consciousness mind influence. In the end, individuals, communities, and countries will have to sift through all the information and think for themselves. I hope peace, kindness, and love triumphs.

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr

How do you balance writing and healing work? Is one more important?

They come in seasons. There is always a presence of both, but healing and writing has been a seesaw for me. Sometimes I’m up in the air with heady healing experiences and growth, then it settles down and the writing rises to the occasion. Writing can be a slave master. Working in the healing energy is more fun and amazing.

What are you currently working on?

The working title of my work in progress is Supernal Journals. Over the past ten years I have recorded the most astounding experiences I’ve had shared with my three Supernal friends, Sue, Paula, and Helen. Using those as anecdotal chapter openings, I’m exploring areas of the New Normal–energy healing, past life therapy, channeling, mediumship, Akashic records–all the things we’ve bumped into over the last decade. We’re ordinary people living extraordinary lives.

Thanks for doing the interview! I hope readers will seek out Dana’s books and visit her blog. I, for one, am very excited to learn about her new book. Sounds like it needs to be on my to-be- read list.

For more on Dana and her books visit her blog.

Website: Supernal Living

Facebook: Dana Taylor

Supernal Living with Dana Taylor

Twitter: @supernaldana

Link to Ever-Flowing Streams: Tapping into Healing Energy http://amzn.to/1a0dW63

 

 

 

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Filed under Books, healing, Uncategorized

THE GIFT OF MUSIC

 

Photo: Xavier Ryan, 2014

Photo: Xavier Ryan, 2014

We are one week out from Christmas now. The cards are out and most of the shopping is done. I still have cookies to bake and a Christmas Eve meal to plan. There is an on-going battle to keep Maggie and Millie (my 9 month old kittens) out of the tree. I’m losing. Being drenched by a water bottle or having a can of coins shaken at them fazes them little. They are junkyard-tough, little kitties

I wondered if in the run up to Christmas, there was anything I could offer that would be useful. Upon reflection, I have come across something that might be. My life with its ups and downs, pales to those who are dealing with serious illnesses. Recently, I watched a movie called Alive Inside. It deals with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Music therapy has been found to be very successful at reaching those who have become withdrawn especially as memory seems to fade. Music stimulates more parts of the brain than anything else and it can bring back connections thought long gone. The problem is that not many people know about it and most nursing facilities don’t offer it. The best kind of music for this purpose is something from an individual’s past, something that makes an emotional connection, something from childhood or early adult years.

So during the holidays, if you are visiting someone with dementia, especially those who are withdrawn, please consider bringing the gift of music into their lives. Forgo the cookies, candy, flowers, or hand-knitted scarves. Take an iPod, CD player, etc. and offer the gift of music to those who are in need of connection.

Here’s the movie trailer. You can watch the full movie on Netflix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWn4JB2YLU

For more information: www.MusicandMemory.org

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Filed under brain science, healing, health

INTERVIEW WITH KAREN WILSON

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I recently finished reading a book by healer and spiritual teacher, Karen Wilson. Karen has spent the last decade or so immersed in the study of spirituality, meditation, and alternative health. No stranger to the mystical, she shares her experiences and the techniques you can use to find happiness, inner peace, and contentment in her newly released book titled, 7 Illusions. Karen teaches at workshops and spiritual retreats in Australia and Europe.

7 Illusions asks us to examine who we really are. The seven illusions she explores are categorized as creation, free will, the mind, fear, death, the self, and emotion. Understanding how our perceptions cloud our reality opens our eyes and allows us to see things as they truly are. This is the key understanding that will allow us to live happy, contented lives. Karen writes from experience and is passionate about helping others as we make the spiritual journey. She joins me today to discuss her book and her approach to spirituality.

Welcome to the blog and thanks for taking the time to be with us. I appreciate it!

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What do you think triggered your spiritual journey? What were your own personal challenges at the time?

When I arrived in Australia at 23, I wasn’t at all into anything ‘spiritual’. During my travels I arrived ‘by chance’ in a little town called Byron Bay, the alternative mecca of Australia. There I started hearing about all kinds of New Age beliefs, alternative therapies, talks about yoga-healthy living- meditation, and God. I remember thinking that all these people might be crazy or that there was something they knew that I didn’t. I started asking questions to ‘the universe out there’ as I was being told. I wasn’t expecting any answers back, at all. Yet I got some. Too many to be ignored, I couldn’t keep my head buried in the sand anymore. That was my biggest challenge, to realize that all my old beliefs were not true, that was questioning my very sense of self. I was like an adult back at kindergarten, having to learn everything from the beginning. When I was ready to learn, I started reading all kinds of self-help / New Age books. I started learning energy healing, and I started meditation. All that I didn’t believe in before! I practiced a lot and I also started having many ‘spiritual/mystical’ experiences. My life totally changed in the years following these awakenings. I became happier, more peaceful. I also healed my physical body. I was on medication for hypothyroidism since I was 14, which according to my doctor couldn’t be cured. But the best of all, I found myself and I started living, really living.

Your book identifies 7 illusions. Of these, which is the most difficult to overcome or see through?

I think the identification with the mind is a powerful illusion. Until we experience a state of no mind and realize that we are not that voice in our head, the mind will keep on controlling us. The mind is a great tool, but it is not who we are. Unfortunately we tend to get caught in its incessant chatter without realizing that we have the power to stop it or change ‘what is being said’. If we change ‘what is being said’, then we change the experience we are living. No matter what`s in front of us, the mind will always judge it. Things are either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The difference between the two comes from the programming of our mind. But seeing things as ‘good’ will create a sense of happiness while ‘bad’ will bring dissatisfaction. That`s the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. When we identify with the mind we are condemned to see life through its filter. But when we understand that we are not that mind and that we have the power to change the filter, then our life changes. We truly have the power to change our mind and our life.

Photo by: Kate Jewell

Photo by: Kate Jewell

I love the phrase from the book about “creating happiness by creating ourselves happy.” How can we go about this?

We can create ourselves happy by changing our negative beliefs and perceptions on life and on ourselves. We will never find happiness on the outside; we will never find happiness in material things. All the happiness in the world is present inside of us. What does it mean to be happy? It is being contented with what is. It is being contented with who we are. If we want to create ourselves happy, we can create the person we will be contented with. The person we dream of becoming. And there is an indefinite number of possibilities of who we can be. For example, are we trying to become rich to feel more empowered and self-confident? Then why not trying to be more confident first, so it doesn’t matter if we get rich or not, we will be happy with ourselves. We can create ourselves as we wish. We can be anyone we want to be. And becoming our dream-self will bring us self-love and contentment which no amount of money in the world can buy.

The book balances the idea of free will and fate. In this way, we’re not omnipotent but we’re not victims either. How do we integrate this into our daily lives?

If we can`t change what is happening right now in our life, we can always change how we are reacting to it. We can always try to fight and resist our life but it will only bring unhappiness and frustration. When we start accepting what is and when we start to live the present moment, then our experience changes. We are not changing the outside circumstances, but we are changing the inside, we are changing ourselves. Instead of focusing all of our thoughts, all of our energy on the past or on the future, we can shift our focus to the now. We can start living and enjoying the now. And in the now we have the power; we have the free will of who we want to be. In the now we can choose to be happy or not, we can choose to be fearful or not, we can choose to be loving or not. In the now we always have the choice to smile…or not.

Photo by: Deror Avi

Photo by: Deror Avi

Why do you think so many people struggle with meditation?

I think it is because we don`t learn early enough how to meditate. We are taught early how to use our body: how to walk, talk, write, use a fork, etc. Imagine if we were to start learning all that in our twenties, thirties or later, imagine the struggle then! It`s also like training a dog, it`s much easier to train a puppy than a grown up dog with its old habits and way of being. It`s the same with our mind and meditation. It does not mean that it`s too hard or impossible, just that it may take more time and effort to tame ‘the beast’. Many will give up after a few days or weeks, thinking that it doesn’t work or do anything. It’s like going to the gym after years of not exercising and looking at our abs after a week and giving up because we don’t have a six-pack yet! I remember the first time I meditated, I only lasted five minutes! My mind was so busy and ‘unchained’ that I kept on forgetting I was meditating! Yet I’m so glad I persisted, as not only it became easier and easier, but it totally changed my life. I think meditation can be a struggle at the beginning but it is definitely worth the effort.

Why is it good to be “out of your mind?

Because when we are “out of our mind” we are present, we are here. We can be physically present somewhere, yet in our mind we are somewhere else. We can be in a beautiful place in nature yet we can’t really SEE it, because we are thinking about something else. To really SEE something we need to be completely present with it. When we look at a tree for example, and start defining it: ‘it`s a nice tree’,’ it’s an oak’, ‘it’s quite tall’, we are still in our mind. We are LOOKING at the tree but we don’t really SEE it. Instead of watching the tree we are listening to the voice in our head which is telling us about the tree. Soon that voice is going to compare that tree to another, make judgments, reminds ourselves of other trees we have seen in our past, then other people, then we are going to think about what we are going to have for dinner. We are still in front of the tree, but we are long gone. If we are ‘out of our mind’ then we just look at the tree, that is all. There is nothing standing between the tree and us, no words, no thoughts. We are really seeing what is. The tree just is, and we just are, that is all.

Thanks for being here and sharing!

For more about Karen Wilson or her book, 7 Illusions, please explore these sites.

Website: www.karenwilson.co

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/omniahealing

Blog: http://karenwilson33.wordpress.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Discover-who-really-are-ebook/dp/B00JZHU3TM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407958582&sr=8-1&keywords=7+Illusions+by+Karen+Wilson

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Filed under Book Review, Books, Buddhism, Energy medicine, healing, Spiritual/Mysticism

STEPPING OUT OF TIME

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We’re taught to think in terms of linear time. Our whole lives are guided by the concept that one event precedes another and that consequences come from causes. We tell our life stories from the beginning and only in middle age do we look back connecting events in new ways to retell our story. Even this perspective, binds us to linear time. And yet, we all have experienced time’s peculiarities which open us to wonder. Why is it I can lose time in a favorite activity and that last hour at work seems like a month?    Dispenza

Einstein said, “…the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one.” Here we see Einstein speaking like a mystic and why should that surprise us? I’m reading Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself (How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One). Dispenza takes on the notion of linear time by examining an experiment done in 2000 by an Israeli doctor. Watch for the zinger!

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Leonard Leibovici, MD conducted a double-blind, randomized trial of 3393 hospitalized patients all suffering with a sepsis infection. Leibovici was interested in whether prayer could affect patient outcome. The patients were divided with half being prayed for and half not being prayed for. Dr. Leibovici collected data on the length of fever, length of stay in the hospital, and death as a result of infection. Turns out the prayed for patients had an earlier reduction in fever and shorter hospital stays. The death rates for both groups were not statistically different. The results may shock some, but science has been doing prayer studies for quite a while ( Healing Words-The Power of Prayer & The Practice of Medicine by Larry Dossey, MD). The truly mind- numbing thing about the study is that those praying in 2000 were praying for patients who were hospitalized in the period 1990 to 1996. The conclusion drawn here was that patients who were prayed for in 2000, actually got better in the 1990s.

So what is going on and how should it change our ideas about time? What if Einstein is right and time is just a persistent illusion, an artifice created by the brain? We’re used to thinking that prayer or focused attention might be able to affect our future. But what if I can do something today to affect my past? Can I pray for a better childhood? Can I heal a fractured relationship from decades ago? Can I send myself strength to get through a rough career change I’m making now? Can I? Can you?

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Filed under Book Review, Books, healing, Spiritual/Mysticism