Life is a Gift
EFT and Movement
by Eloise de Leon on 02/04/12
I was first taught EFT by a fellow volunteer at Shakti Rising, a social change organization for women in San Diego. She taught me in a coffee shop on a sunny San Diego morning. We tapped on our faces and bodies while dozens of customers walked past us with their coffees and bagels. We didn't care how we looked because we both knew we were doing something radically evolutionary. That was about seven years ago and I haven't stopped tapping, since!
EFT stands for the Emotional Freedom Technique and if you are new to it you can learn the technique by clicking on its name above. I have taught EFT to students, parents, teachers, and people in all kinds of distress. EFT is powerful for catalyzing insight and change. I am happy to have created a new way of practicing the technique that makes it even more fun and effective—EFT with movement!
Here's a sample set-up phrase: "Even though I've felt extra tired lately, I love and accept myself....Even though I'm tired and still have lots to do, I love and accept myself...Even though I'm tired and sometimes I don't give myself credit for how much I've accomplished in a day, I love and accept myself."
With the set-up and reminder phrases I tap on the EFT points while simultaneously allowing my body to move and express itself. Positive phrases make me want to expand and move generously around the room. It's very empowering. Sometimes I make myself laugh when I see myself in the mirror! Some movements are awkward and others graceful, just like the phrases. Both ways are important. The result is that I require fewer rounds of EFT to de-stress and gain clarity on issues. I feel my cognitive and emotional shifts from head to toe!
EFT is great because there are subtle ways of doing it so that you are not noticed. But EFT with movement requires a private space and it's well worth it. Clients are welcome to use this type of EFT in my sessions. Don't worry, I'll be moving and tapping with you. Be prepared to have fun.
Keys in Our DNA
by Eloise de Leon on 01/14/12
On
some mornings I hold my granddaughter on my lap while I say morning
prayers at my altar. I light a candle and use my feather to spread smoke
from burning sage over the altar. I shake my rattle which is really a
long seedpod from a tree, then offer thanks for all that is. I give
thanks and send blessings... I love sharing this with the baby and she
too, seems to gravitate towards it.
I have a dear friend who was
trained to make altars through her tradition of Aztec dancing. Her
tradition was very disciplined. She made beautiful vestuarios to wear
and a feathered crown and did song-filled altar ceremonies that lasted
all night. When she walked into my home one day and saw my little altar
she laughed. I'm Native American but know little of my heritage. But it
doesn't stop me. It's in my DNA to do this.
Years ago I met a
young man who had been a Navy Seal and who was also very psychic. One
day he received an inner message that I was to go to his new house out
in the country and speak with the Indian spirits on the land. He said
that they guarded what used to be an underground spring with crystals.
He said that the land was very powerful and magnified the qualities of
whatever homeowner held the land. At the time I didn't believe him but
was curious to see the land. He wasn't living on the property yet so he
told me to go when I had time and where to find the house key. It was so
intriguing that I went. It was beautiful driving out into the
mountains. Arriving there, I climbed over the fence to get onto the
property. I walked through the empty house and found the room that was
built over the defunct springs. Just outside the sliding glass windows
were huge boulders. I sat in meditation for a long while and then opened
my heart and talked to the spirits. I had no idea if there was anything
there, but I was moved to do so.
When I finished I walked
outdoors and was suddenly moved to do a blessing on the land. I had no
idea what to do exactly, but I had a water bottle in my hand and
automatically began to sprinkle water in the four directions. Then I
used the water bottle for a rattle (the remaining water made a nice
sound when I shook it). When I looked up to the sky there was a large
bird making circles directly above me. I'm a city girl and don't know
what kind of bird it was. It was just very large and beautiful and I
knew it was saying hello.
I
say all of this to acknowledge that our ancestors' wisdom runs deep in
our veins. We are they. I've come to accept my limited conscious
knowledge of tradition but welcome it when it spill out through dreams
or waking moments. It is in the body. I believe that if that's what I have to offer, it's what I must offer and that it is received.
One day, a friend of mine told me that there
had been a hatching of snakes in the neighborhood. Her husband had
killed one of the baby snakes and thrown it in the trash. I believe that
all life is sacred. Sadness and compassion welled up in me and I had a
flash of inner guidance that we should do a ceremony to make amends for
the killing. As soon
as I heard myself say it, I worried that my friend would think I was silly. But she tuned in and received her own clear
message confirming the ceremony. It felt tremendous to work together, as
if we were two ancient medicine women, doing what came naturally. We got the snake out of the trash
and laid it gently across a large crystal. We blessed the snake kingdom
and asked for peace with the snakes that lived in the canyon near the
houses of that neighborhood. After I left, my friend skinned the snake and kept the rattle for her medicine bag as she had been guided to do by her spirit guides. It was a powerful day in all, reminding us of our inter-connectedness with all life and of how our urban Indian DNA is still rich with guidance for our path.
V.R.R. Chriss Lemmon
by Eloise de Leon on 01/06/12
Many years ago I studied with a remarkable man by the name of V.R.R. Chriss Lemmon. He founded the Order of the Ascended Rose. It was like a mystery school but legally, a church. I balked at the esoteric name but now I think it's beautiful, considering that the rose is a symbol of consciousness and roses have a very high vibration. Training with V.R.R. Chriss Lemmon was intense, fascinating, exhilarating, and always beneficial. Everyday I still use the tools that he taught me, that help me live a creative, productive life. I sometimes wonder how it can be that I am no longer near Rev. Chriss, his wonderful wife, Rev. Deborah, or my fellow ministers, now that I am 3,000 miles away. I miss them.
One of the best things I learned from V.R.Rev. Chriss, was how to differentiate between my energy and the energy of other people. He did this by showing me how to cleanse my energy field and set up a healthy energy boundary. In time I could sense when someone was stepping into my energy field. Sometimes it would make me feel downright ill. Grounding out those unwanted energies became a daily routine, much like taking a shower.
The second most important thing that V.R. Reverend Chriss Lemmon taught me was that I am in control of my life and I don’t have to care about what other people think of me, not even my family. This comes in handy during the holidays! The way he taught this was experientially. With some training in intuitive reading, we (his students) would sit in small groups or pairs and we would intuitively read each other’s energies. So, for instance, the question might be asked, “How much space is your mother taking up in your energy field?” We’d close our eyes and get a reading on a meter or by knowing it or sensing it. We had a lot of laughs. We began to understand that we are always at choice and you can always clear people from you energetically. It actually makes for healthier relationships.
One of the toughest energies to deal with is judgment and families tend to throw a lot of that around. My 1 year old granddaughter is extremely sensitive to energy. If I see her do something and think, “Oh, she shouldn’t have done that. That’s not good,” she will sense it immediately and give me a very bad look and yell. Adults do this too, when they act and speak defensively.
Which comes to the third greatest thing that the good Reverend taught me: how to stay neutral. He did this in a peculiar way. He would say things that would make me angry! He did this to show me what I was attached to. He did it in a lighthearted way, but I got suckered into being mad. Then he showed me how to find where the energy of my indignance was in my body and how to clear it out. Being neutral is about being non-attached, open, present and free.
My life changed forever for the better from studying with Reverend Chriss Lemmon. I cherish his teachings and the remarkable spark of light he is in the world. Now, I use the skills I gained through his ministerial program and intuition training, everyday and with all of my clients.
For more information about the maverick V.R.Reverand Chriss Lemmon, see: www.esoterictraining.org.
Stephanie Alston-Nero
by Eloise de Leon on 01/04/12
One of the best surprises in moving to New York was meeting healing practitioner and Shaman, Stephanie Alston-Nero. Stephanie is also a gifted poet and has published two beautiful books of poetry, In Wild Violet Shrine and Kiss Me On My Face
of God. For her shamanic work, she trained with Sandra Ingerman (famous for her soul retrieval work) and Malidoma Patrice Some, an initiated elder and author from Burkina Faso, West Africa.
Stephanie sees New York City clients in her lovely Harlem home which is easily accessible by metro. She and her husband, Mike who is a filmmaker, run Stone Feather Retreat Center in the Catskills, two hours from Manhattan. Stone Feather is a magical place, serene and full of nature's life force energy.
Stephanie is a gifted shamanic healer. Although she has been trained by the best, there is nothing in her work that belongs to anyone else. She acts from pure Source, from pure inspiration. Stephanie intuits communication with the spirit world quite easily and offers messages that are poetic and on point. Stephanie's shamanic work includes soul retrievals, extractions and divinations. Her work helps clients to heal ancestral wounds and move forward in life with confidence and grace.
Stephanie works deftly with the tools of her Shamanism using incense, candles, water, flowers, rattle, soft bells and her strong voice as she sings, chants and speaks in languages of light. The entire ceremony is beautiful to observe and deeply personal and profound to receive. I can attest to this as an observer and receiver.
A Shamanic session with Stephanie can address issues that lie in the subconscious. With the healing. the person can move forward with greater dynamism and can speak their truth joyfully without fear. I am grateful for her precious gift to the world.
Ancient Templates of Wisdom
by Eloise de Leon on 12/28/11Ancient Templates Study & Meditation Group begins January 15th at 1:00pm in Brooklyn, New York. Info: www.insightandjoy.com/Workshops.html
In order to tell you about the Ancient Templates I must first tell you about Lucia Rene, a mystic and author of Unplugging the Patriarchy. Like the title of her book, Lucia Rene's work in the world is to assist in the transition of our world from patriarchy to a world that is centered in the heart with balanced male and female energies. Lucia Rene has many teleconferences and energy tools available on her website: www.unpluggingthepatriarchy.com. Lucia Rene is a magnificent teacher and generous in her offerings.
In 2005, Lucia Rene was in Peru in the tropical forest surrounding Machu Pichu. It was there that she enountered what she calls, the Ancient Templates of Wisdom. It is unclear to me how this encounter took place but what I understand is that it was not on a concrete level, but rather energetic or interdimensional. She received spirit guidance to ferry the templates to the Cauldera in New Mexico which she did in 2011. There, she received an energy transmission of the entire set of the Ancient Templates into her body. There is a written account and two audio accounts of her this story in more detail.
There are a total of 94 Ancient Templates and they vary in nature. Some are qualities such as joy, acceptance, calm, love, courage, forgiveness, harmony...while others are actions such as singing, weaving, writing, speech. Four of the Templates are different from all the rest: Formlessness, Timelessness, The Universe Containing All of Existence, and The Universe Containing the Void.
Lucia Rene immediately wanted to share the Ancient Templates with others and the first person she chose was one of her assistants, Elizabeth McCullough. Elizabeth is a powerful psychic with clairaudient and clairvoyant skills. Elizabeth recounts in one of the audio's on Lucia's website, that when she received the Templates, she had a past life memory of being a librarian at the Library of Alexandria at the time it was destroyed by fires set by Julius Cesar's soldiers. She remembered her anguish over the loss of the library and of the Ancient Templates that were being written onto scrolls. The templates are meant for humanity. They were designed for our bodies and our use.
Lucia has given Elizabeth the task and honor of learning everything she can about the Templates and help disseminate the information to the world. Elizabeth sees this as a fulfillment of her life's purpose and is doing a careful investigation of the Ancient Templates. She offers teleconferences and personal consultations to help people use the Templates. Her website is: http://www.ancienttemplates.org/category/ancienttemplates/. Everyday she adds information about one of the Templates and she is busy writing a book about them.
I have been using the Ancient Templates for my own well-being and also in my counseling and healing practice. The Templates are very subtle and gentle. With daily use, I am becoming more and more familiar with how they work and finding new ways for them to support me and my clients. Overall, I can say that the Templates have given me new clarity, peacefulness, and sense of stability. I have more flexibility in my attitude and approach to things. And when I was recently sick with a cold, it passed through me quickly without discomfort which was quite remarkable for me.
The Templates lie inert along the shishumna, the column along which the chakras are positioned. With a simple intention, you may activate a Template into use for the day or some portion of the day, afterwhich they will return to being dormant until you activate them again. They seem to go dormant when you sleep at night. Except for the Template of Youthfulness, most can be paired or used in a small group of 3 to 5 at a time. For healing sessions, I use the Templates of Healing, Release, Acceptance and Forgiveness as a set.
My good friend, Rebecca, who is a seer, believes that we all have the Ancient Templates within us already and that we don't need a transmission to use them. That makes sense since a few months ago, Lucia Rene transmitted them into the collective consciousness. Transmitting them, though, helps a person to become aware of them. I have listened to Lucia Rene's transmission tapes several times and experienced wonderful energy activations each time.
1. Lucia Rene and the Ancient Templates
http://www.
2. Elizabeth Mc Cullough http://www.wix.com/mcculloue/
There are many audios to listen to and lots to read. There are other people disseminating information, too. Such as Karen Heywood who has a lovely meditation on her website at: http://visionworks.ca/free-meditations.html.
Intuition
by Eloise de Leon on 12/17/11
Many years ago I decided to learn about intuition. I thought it would be great to have access to more information to get me out of muddled situations and steer myself in a better direction in life. First I read the book, Practical Intuition, by Laura Day. I began to understand that information is everywhere and we access it by paying attention to our environment. It piqued my interest even more and eventually, I enrolled in an intuition class.
Classes were held in an affluent beach community and the students were friendly professionals of all ages. There were educators, health practitioners, administrators, yoga teachers, musicians, an accountant, a therapist, etc. Although it seemed unorthodox to be learning intuition, it was really more like child's play. Classes were always a time of lots of laughing. It required us to get into our childlike innocence and see the world with fresh eyes. It was the most fun I've ever had in a class and I stayed there, learning more and more for over two years.
For several years after, I tried to activate my intuition through little games or by writing in my journal with my eyes closed. I did this because ironically, I doubted my inner knowing. Eventually, my intuition spoke to me very clearly: stop chasing answers.Stop trying to control life. Relax and allow life to happen without knowing it all in advance. Stop trying to know so that you can be safe. Just experience and accept and enjoy!
I sometimes teach intuition games just because it's a way to demonstrate what it is and how it works. But I don't teach it as a way of getting ahead in life or seeing through people. Never. Better to live with awareness and stay on your toes, ready to respond spontaneously and...intuitively!
Natalia
by Eloise de Leon on 12/17/11
Natalia kept trying to decide if she really had a problem. Nothing
was really wrong in her life. She had a job, friends, a loving family.
But she wanted something more in life, more from herself. Natalia found my business card in a coffee shop and called me.
Natalia signed up for a series of six platicas with me. During platicas, I share ways to release stress and gain new insights about one's issues. During the platicas, Natalia explored her self-expectations and her fears about not doing or being enough in life. I led her through guided visualizations during which she spoke to her "inner self." She learned the emotional freedom technique (EFT) using phrases to raise her self-esteem and self-acceptance. And she was guided to pay attention to what brought her joy in life as opposed to what she did out of guilt or obligation. Raising her awareness of the difference would allow her to choose joy and express her truth. When Natalia finished the six sessions she surprised me with a gift of thanks. Soon after, she began preparing for a pleasure trip abroad.
