Ananda Blog

What is holistic healing? It means treating the mind/body/spirit as one unit, and looking at health, psychology, thinking, lifestyle, nutrition, sexuality and more as intimately, intricately connected. Yet, even those of us who practice ‘holistic’ living or look for holistic treatments such as herbs, acupuncture, reiki, etc., have to do so as separate activities that we pick and choose from much as we pick and choose from vegetables in the grocery store. Using herbs to treat insomnia, for example, isn’t being holistic. It’s using herbs to treat a symptom. Even when we want to be holistic, our healing centers, traditional medicine and alternative, are set up as separate systems. We as individuals have to coordinate our whole self for healing, and that is difficult without a culture to back us up.

Last night Len Worley, Ph.D., gave a talk about the ancient Greek Dream Healing Temples, with pictures and descriptions of his visit to the best preserved of these temples, Epidauros. From what Len discussed, dream healing was widely practiced in the ancient world, in the West most particularly in Egypt, Greece and Rome. It’s foundation is holistic healing: treating the whole person, including the sleep state, in order to heal. Sick people would go to these temples, engage in extensive ritual including bath, massage, theatre, sports and religious ritual, then enter the sleep chamber. If they were lucky, they would receive a healing dream. In Greece it was believed that these healings came from the God Aesclepious, a man turned God according to Greek mythology, and from whom Western Medicine originates.

The healings came in one of three forms: a prescription for a cure, an understanding into the cause, or some other form of advice or healing.

Holistic healing is much talked about these days, yet as Westerners we still think primarily in terms of symptom and cure. We don’t talk as much about healing, and as far as I know have nothing as complicated set up to truly promote and address holistic healing in a central way. These ancient temples provide a model for us to follow, one that shows us how holistic healing could be supported by the medical establishment and firmly rooted in cultural assumptions, allowing people in pain to receive the integration and balance we all need.

My favorite story lately is that of Paul, the Psychic Octopus. Go ahead and giggle—that was a ridiculous sentence, the kind of thing that gives all this New Age spiritualism the shove in the pants it so often and so frequently deserves. Also, as a business owner who promotes the transformative and healing power of intuitive readings and energy work, a psychic octopus is exactly the kind of farcical, trivializing news story I hope goes away fast.
Now let me tell you why I love it. Paul the Psychic Octopus (giggle again, then read) lives in the Oberhausen Sea Life aquarium in Germany, where, for the past two years, he has predicted soccer results for the German national team with astonishing accuracy. He has been wrong only once in two years. For you non-statisticians out there, let me assure you this is not a statistically insignificant figure. His predictions have become so famous and correct that they are now carried live on German television.
To get his predictions, Paul’s keeper puts two glass cube containers of mussels in his tank. Each container has one of the two competing team’s flags on the front: the German flag on one, the national flag of the opponent in the other. Whichever nation’s mussels gets eaten first is his ‘predicted’ winner. Again, using this method, Paul accurately predicted (well, ate) every game but one for the 2008 UEFA Euro Championship. He has been accurate 100% of the time in the current 2010 World Cup. He received a death threat (I will sauté him with garlic and olive oil!) from an Argentinean chef who was upset that Paul correctly foretold Argentina’s loss to Germany the quarter-finals. More intriguingly, the Huffington Post speculates that if you had placed accumulator bets based on Paul’s predictions at the start of the current World Cup, you would have earned 131 times your money.
Seriously, what are we to make of this? There is the chance that the psychic octopus (I love saying that) is just randomly, freakishly statistically right. I mean, he doesn’t ‘know’ that he is making soccer predictions. He’s just chowing down on briny, delicious mussels that his human keeper has correlated to soccer teams. Statistical anomalies do happen and maybe this is one. However, there are some other, intriguing possibilities.
1) Native cultures have used animal totems and animal signals for thousands of years as messengers. Now, an octopus in a Sea Life Aquarium tank receiving a message from Spirit about a soccer game is nowhere near as romantic or compelling an image as an eagle dropping a feather into your lap after you ask about your life purpose. But how many of us live in a place where Nature in its most exotic forms are easily accessible? If Spirit is using animals to communicate with us, Spirit isn’t going to care what animals it uses or where that animal lives. It is going to use the animals that surround us. For many of us, this most likely means household pets, squirrels, the occasional deer, and all the animals we have access to in zoos and aquariums. (come to Lee Channing’s talk on animal communication at Ananda on August 5 for more on this). Using zoo creatures and National Enquirer-type headlines might upset our preconceived notions of who and what Spirit should use, but this brings me to my second point…
2) Spirit wants us to lighten up. It is important, when dealing with intuitives, predictions, energy healing and the unseen world, to rigorously apply our skepticism and critical thinking to the information we receive. We are vulnerable when we are seeking. At the same time, why in the world shouldn’t we have some fun with this? I certainly hope that the Source of All Life has a sense of humor. Maybe this is a reflection of that, a way to both poke fun at those of us who take the unseen so seriously, and at the same time awaken curiosity in skeptics who can best be reached by a large scale, kind of ridiculous but freaky accurate sports related story that hints at a larger scale to life than we can possibly imagine. This story went global. It’s one of the most widely reported news reports out there right now. And why not—I don’t need a psychic octopus to predict that more of you are reading this piece than the last article I wrote on chakras and auras. This is much more fun.
3) A friend suggested this one, and it’s wonderfully intriguing. Those of us who live with animals know how connected we can become with our pets. Maybe Paul the Psychic Octopus and his keeper have this kind of connection and the accuracy of Paul’s predictions are a reflection of their bond. If the keeper is somehow tapped into a precognitive knowledge of soccer results through his deep caring about the game, then the octopus is simply reflecting the nature of the animal-human bond, and his keeper’s intuitive capabilities that he might not even be aware of.
I don’t have any final conclusions about all this. I love thinking about it. I love that the world is more wonderfully weird than we can possibly comprehend. The only thing I know for sure here is that I deeply, deeply wish I’d put $1000 on that accumulator bet following Paul’s predictions at the start of the World Cup soccer tournament. By the time Spain defeated Germany in the semi-finals, and Paul retired from current World Cup prognostication, I would have earned $131,000.

I’ve written the first of a series of e-books, designed to help people navigate the array of options in the conscious living/holistic healing/metaphysical movement. The first one is titled “What To Expect From A Psychic Reading.” It’s 16 pages, filled with general guidelines to what a reading can and can’t do, how to choose and evaluate an intuitive, how to judge future predictions, when to walk out of a reading immediately and more. The second section is an interview with 3 top intuitives, in which they discuss their perceptions of readings and ways clients can best use the session. There’s lots of great information in there, and it is really fascinating to see how the intuitives share the same perspectives and think of things differently, deptending on their own focus. The purpose of the book is to help clients empower themselves during an intuitive reading when the tendency often is to give the intuitive more of the power. If you’re interested, check out the link on our website:

As a single mom who lost power for most of 2 days and nights in the last storm, a new business owner, and someone who thinks the best weather months in Charlottesville are July and August, this snow has challenged me on all fronts: physically, emotionally, financially.

As someone who offers to others the idea of choosing happiness no matter what as a spiritual practice, this weather has challenged me to practice what I preach.

In that spirit, I wrote a Snow Gratitude list, acknowledging the many wonderful gifts the snow has brought me. If you want, write your own list and post it as a comment below. I’ll post them anonymously on the website and we’ll collectively send a big “YES” of appreciation out to the Universe.

In no particular order except for the first one:
Spending time hanging out with and enjoying my kids. Nowhere to go, no schedules to keep means more time simply being together.
Heat, Electricity and Running Water.
The Dominion Power Crews who worked hard to restore power in what must have been very cold and uncomfortable circumstances.
Baking Bread, Pie, Cookies and other treats that make us happy and create good kitchen smells.
My neighbor who, without saying anything, started digging away at the snowplow wall of ice blocking my driveway. Another neighbor who I barely know, and her brother with the snowblower. She sent him over twice to help me dig out because she knew I live alone and could use the help.
My friends who had me over to spend the night when my house got cold.
The Wii the kids got for Christmas and my friend who helped me get it. Families spending lots of time indoors need something to do.
Zach, and the Ashtanga Yoga Classes at ACAC, for helping me build muscles and core strength that came in handy digging out snow and ice.
Ibuprofin, because “gym muscles” are slightly different than ones used in physical labor.
Reiki, which helped me relax and reduce my stress.
My cell phone with internet access, so I could stay in touch even without power.
Finding my lost earring because I finally had time to do a thorough house cleaning.
My friend who fixed my fireplace this fall, and the intuitive who suggested during a reading that I really needed to get that done.
Doritos.
My children’s essential good nature and sense of adventure that meant even living in the cold and dark was a playful, fun event.
Lost. I can’t decide if this show is brilliant or ridiculous, but the season premiere gave a nice distraction.
My friends. Good books. Getting extra sleep and rest.
I’m sure there is more, but this a start. Post your list to be anonymously included on my website

I like this quote:

“Instead of seeing life as a harsh training school for wayward souls or a karmic wheel we might one day eventually escape (if we are lucky enough or good enough, or merely as a statistical accidnet with no inherent meaning or purpose, we instead see life as a wondrous gift. We are not here to be good or perfect. We are not here to prove ourselves worthy. We are not here to serve others (at our own expense) or to save the world. We do not have to earn or deserve love. We do not have to “behave well” or conform to external rules and expectations. In a loving universe we can relax. We are safe. We are worthy. We are loved without condition. We are cosmic voyagers on a magnificent adventure in physical reality and –as creative sparks of the divine–we can have, do or be anything we wish. No limits. No strings attached. We can create our own heaven on Earth. And the key to doing so is unconditional love–for self, others and the world.”

Gill Edwards, “Wild Love Sets Us Free,” in The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies and Possibilities.

I taught a Reiki 1 and 2 class last night, and as always it was simply amazing. A group of 4 women this time, all curious and excited, and none of them having any unusual healing abilities whatsoever before the class began. Then, not to trivialize what is truly a spiritual experience, but I blew in their head, did a few things with symbols, read a few poems, and they were healers. Their hands began to heat up. They tingled. They began to sense things that they had no comprehension of half an hour before the attunement happened. The Reiki miracle occured again, except it isn’t a miracle, it is natural, and can belong to each of us if we want it.

Each woman in the class had the experience of giving Reiki to someone and knowing at a certain point on someone’s body that there was a problem–one new Reiki practitioner stopped above a woman’s uterine fibers that were acting up. Another stopped above a sore muscle. That kind of thing. The wonderful varieties in the way Reiki manifests intuition and knowing were all present–One person knew to go back over a particular area because she smelled something different, while another felt her hands tingle harder, another felt cold and the fourth simply couldn’t move her hand. Tummies rumbled when symbols got activated on the third chakra. And the distance healing, which for me is the whole point, it takes Reiki from being interesting and cool to finally understanding the connection to the Divine that it is. When I brought out the teddy bears and said pick someone to heal, but ask permission first–and one person had to change her distance client because she got a clear NO signal, and then they turned their bears into their client and saw that it worked, it is just an amazing moment.

I have no idea how Reiki passes from one person to another. As always when I do an attunement, the rational part of me still says “please let this work this time,” because I can’t quite believe it. And it always happens, this huge gift from Spirit. I don’t know how else to explain it, except that Reiki, the healing energy of it, the mystical nature of it, is real, and when you get or pass an attunement you finally understand it, in a way that simply receiving Reiki, no matter how awesome that is, can’t quite demonstrate.

We are loved and protected by forces far beyond our knowing. We have abilities to heal and bring balance to ourselves and others, and we are meant to develop and use them. Reiki is truly an astounding gift from Spirit.

I was lying in bed last night, alone and feeling sorry for myself, flipping around cable and came across that movie “Fly Away Home,” the one about the 13 year old girl who adopts a family of orphaned geese and then, with her father, flys an ultralight from Canada to North Carolina to show them how to migrate. With such a sentimental plot, the movie is actually better than it ought to be, but what captivated me last night wasn’t the building of the relationship between daughter and father, or the heroic determination to let the geese live a natural life. Rather, it was the total absurdity of the situation. A father teaches his 13 year old daughter to fly an ultralight 500 miles so they can show geese how to migrate? It’s insane. I started laughing at the delicious craziness of people, how we pick these outrageous projects for no sensible reason (clip the geese’s wings already, keep them in Canada, don’t risk your 13 year old daughter’s life in a dangerous flimsy aircraft), and give them all the meaning we have in the world. I went to sleep feeling happy to be human, to be connected if only by biological features, to people who would follow such a crazy passion.

Then today I was reading salon.com’s Best Viral Videos of the decade post and fell in love with crazy again. So yes, the reuinion of Christian the lion with the men who raised him made me cry. Yes, Susan Boyle is inspiring. But what saved me all over again were the inane ones. The completely illogical Rick Rolling fad, particularly this link to Obama and the utterly fantastic blendtec videos. Yes, it’s advertising, but so what? Watching an iphone being pulverized in a blender brought utter joy to my day.

Obviously, some of you might be thinking, she doesn’t get out much if she’s just discovering these things now. Too true.

But given that: Who thinks of these crazy things? People with passion, obsession, too much time on their hands? Geeks and nerds? Maybe those who have found a way to break free of feeling burdened by life by embracing the senseless?

This has been Such A Serious Year. For me and for many people around the world. Difficulty, pain, heartbreak, financial woes. The usual litany of human drama. For next year, 2010, I want more inane joy, more crazy passion. I want to laugh every day. I want to remember that life is absurd and that’s what makes it a wonderful gift. I want to watch more things being blended, just to see what happens.

For 2010 I want ecstatic happiness even when–maybe even especially when–there is no good reason.

I’ve had 3 occasions this past week when my intuition kicked in very suddenly and unexpectedly, just as I was going about normal life. What was interesting to me about this is not only how accurate I was, but that I immediately, in each instance, either discounted my intuition or tried to ‘figure out’ what it meant. The most obvious example of this was that last Wed. I made plans to meet a friend for dinner on Saturday night. On Thursday morning I woke up knowing that the dinner wasn’t going to happen but not knowing why. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why–he has a sick relative, maybe that would be it. Maybe I’d be too tired after a long day at work. Maybe he’d have to cancel for some other reason. That is, instead of simply accepting the intuition, or even sitting with it in meditation to see if I received anything else about it, I tried to impose my meaning and structure on it, interpret it according to what I knew. And all my thinking was completely wrong–we didn’t have dinner together because there was a blizzard, not because of any reason my brain created.

The other 2 examples were similar, once when I knew something about someone I just met, then discounted my own knowing, then was later told I was absolutely right in my intuitive hit by someone who knew him. The other was when I was getting dressed one day and I knew I was going to see a particular friend that day. This I discounted because I wanted to see him but had no reason to expect that it would happen, and in fact had good reason to think there was no way I’d see him. And then I did.

None of these moments of intuition were of particularly earth shattering importance. Which actually makes them important–intuition doesn’t develop in the big areas usually, rather in the day to day moments of our life. In none of these situations did the knowledge help me in any dramatic way that I can discern–my world didn’t change, I didn’t win the lottery, nothing bold or even particularly meaningful. What it did do was show me how quickly I disown my own intuition, either by wanting to analyze it, or by discounting it for other reasons. I didn’t believe any of these hits because they didn’t make sense to my logical mind, and it was only afterwards that I was able to see how right I had been.

I think I want intuition to be magical–the lottery numbers, the unerring knowledge not only of the event but also the causes, the structures, etc. And it doesn’t work that way, at least not while we’re developing it. Instead, I think this week showed me how important it is to accept the information, as it is. Confirmation will come, and there is a place for the logical mind to make sense of things. But maybe not as we think it will come. Intuition has its own intelligence. Learning to recognize and trust that is as important as receiving the information itself.

I’ve been thinking and working with manifestation and intention a lot lately. How to create and focus on what I want to achieve, when what passes for reality in my world is in a different place and my emotions are heavily fear centered. Like many of us, for me this manifests most acutely these days with money. And the absence of it.

Two books have been particularly helpful with this. Ask and It is Given by Esther Hicks talks about our emotional guidance system as the primary clue to determining why we have what we have in our life. Basically, our emotions tell us if we are focusing on what we want or what we don’t have. If our emotions are heavy, fear based, worry, blaming, etc. then we are asking the universe to give us more of what we actually don’t want. It doesn’t matter if we do meditation, affirmations, etc that focus on the desired outcome–if we then drop back into blame, worry, fear, we are not believeing in (they say ‘allowing’) what we want to manifest. “my father and I have a great relationship’ may be a perfectly fine affirmation, but if, when the affirmation part of your day is over, you are pissed, irritated and upset with him, that’s what you are creating more of. By paying attention to our actual feelings we can most accurately and helpfully shift ourselves into the results we truly want. The book gives lots of excercises to lift our emotions from these and into the ones that create/allow the desired experience to come through. Feel it before you get it seems to be the operating idea here.

The other book is The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart. I love this book because she applies science to the law of intention and manifestation, citing numerous examples of scientific experimence showing the power of applied consciousness. She then lists what has been learned from these experiments, how we can best use focused intention in our lives. My favorite tip: meditate for 20 minutes before beginning any intention. This has been proven to dramatically increase the efficacy of any visualization/intention processes. Also, be as specific as possible.

Ananda now has an intuitive reader every Wednesday. Michele Bigness will be in the Center regularly, instead of just once a month. Check out why her readings are so spectacular and why people who get a reading from her turn around and refer her to everyone they know.