Category Archives: Energy Healing

Problems? More Than One Way

No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.
— Voltaire

What do you think of that approach? In your life have you solved all problems by sheer sustained thinking? Me either. And I suspect that, perhaps later in life, Voltaire ran into a few problems that did not yield to thinking of any kind.

In the realm of energetic healing our experience is that every single person we meet, though physically made up of the same atoms, molecules, and tissues, and almost identical DNA, is in fact utterly unique. And one size never fits all.

We respect the tools that science and modern medicine utilize to rule out and diagnose diseases and maladies. Diagnosing is not our purview. Finding ways to bring healing to a particularly unique individual is what we are moved to pursue.

There is nothing wrong with sustained thinking. It is just not the whole ballgame for us. Here is another approach.
My master teacher once said, “The guru does not solve problems. The guru dissolves the state in which problems exist.”

I’ve been chewing on that one ever since having a direct experience of a problem dissolving as my state changed. Now that happens almost daily. And has for about 34 years.

How is that possible? I have replaced assaulting problems with entering an altered state through meditation, or sometimes dance, or singing. It is almost the opposite of thinking. One could call it ‘allowing’, or ‘letting go’, or ‘stilling the mind’. This is not New Age stuff, it is an ancient science and technology of the mind that has been handed down for ages.

Learning to trust the inner spaciousness as a remedy for even modern problems has helped me become a better person, a more reliable friend, and a stronger support for others.

— Helen

For one of the best books on meditation look for
Meditation for the Love of It
by Sally Kempton.

Sally says, “The meditation that will work is the meditation that you will do.”

So don’t over think it, just do it.

The Call to Heal – Beginning Cell-Level Healing

Beginning Cell-Level Healing

11/30/2020 – Class is full. Thank you. Please check in 2021 for more offerings. Blessings and Peace

December 8 – 11, 2020  Online

This course will create a foundation for you to discover your own unique healing gift. We approach healing with the understanding that each person has an inborn ability to use energy to heal themselves and others. The extent of the healing effect varies with every student and with every client – as we are all utterly unique, though made up of exactly the same ‘stuff’.

Join us to learn the ins and outs of Cell-Level Healing from the perspective of its founder, Joyce Hawkes, PhD. You will learn the 9 guiding Keys to Cell-Level Healing, how to give and receive healing energy, why it’s called Cell-Level, the flow of a healing session, as well as time-honored practices that will assist you to develop your natural gift for healing and wholeness.  (This course will fulfill the prerequisite for our 2021 Advanced Training Retreat.)

We’ll be using Zoom (and if you have not used it, relax. It’s easy.) Limited to 20 participants. These courses usually fill quickly. Cost: $300 US. To register: Class now Full.

Course Schedule (Pacific Standard Time)

  •   7:00  –  7:30 am Meditation
  •   7:30  –  8:00 am Pause
  •   8:00 – 10:00 am Teaching & Practice
  • 10:00 – 11:00 am Pause
  • 11:00 – 12:00 pm Teaching & Practice

 

A Garland for the World

Holding a Rudraksha Mala for mantra repetition

In a perfect storm of trouble may we offer our highest to those in peril, fear, and grief. To that end we will be posting music from various traditions now and in the coming days to help all of us. We wish you well.

This mantra from the Rig Veda of the Hindu tradition is for healing, for defeating death and the fear of death. It comes from one of the oldest spiritual practices on our planet. Traditionally sung 108 times in the morning and evening, we offer this garland of sound energy

as a way for you to imbibe peace and healing for yourself, your loved ones, and all the world.

The Maha Mrtyunjaya Mantra

om tryam bakam yaja mahe sugandhim puṣṭi vardhanam
urva ruka miva band hanan mrtyor muksiya mamrtat

So You Want to Be a Shaman


Photo by Joshua Newton

Thumbing through a course catalog a few years ago I noticed an offering that included the ability to obtain a Certificate of Shape-Shifting. I casually wondered what the Final Exam might look like. Does one have to cross the sprawling campus as an Elk, a Mongoose, or some other animal? Or perhaps hiding in plain sight as a cedar tree would qualify.

In my files somewhere I have a Certificate of Sainthood – yes, it’s true . . . but that does not make me a saint, as any of my close friends or family members can assure you. What is it that makes us who we are anyway? Is it the certificates and degrees we hold? The role or position we have acquired? Our status, possessions, grandmotherly-ness or shapely physique?

Of late I have run across a number of people who openly declare themselves to be Shamans. The number is now surpassing, in my mind at least, those who claim to be Gurus. It seems like being a Shaman is the new, cool thing to be. Overheard on the bus, “Oh, did I mention I am a Shaman?”

Some of the practices we employ as healing facilitators fall under the category of ‘shamanic’ by nature of their connection to time-honored indigenous healing practices used throughout the world. Generally, we stop short of deciding that makes us Shamans. Perhaps, to use a phrase coined by Hank Wesselman, we are at best shamanists. 

We have found that it is wise to embrace humility foremost before the vast mystery of this life we live, this unfathomable universe. I remember a story of a young teenager who, when asked if he was a Christian replied, “I am trying to follow Christ.” This seems like the kind of answer that can really lead somewhere.

Just as it is easier to say you are a Christian (or a Buddhist, or a Saint) than it is to be one, it is also easier to say you are a Shaman without actually having any ability to remove someone’s pain, forecast the weather, or locate reindeer. That goes for pretty much every endeavor in life. In each village, town, and city there are people with advanced degrees who jumped over every hurdle the university presented to them, yet can’t do the work. You know them, don’t you? That’s why it takes us so much time to find a good doctor, a good lawyer, a competent therapist, or social worker, or palm reader, or bartender, or . . . .

OK, back to wanting to be a Shaman. We recommend you start slowly and carefully to examine your desire. If fame, fortune, and status are drivers for you, stop reading now. ‘Cause that dog won’t hunt.

A true Shaman is a servant – they serve the collective good of their ‘tribe’ through courageous efforts to obtain knowledge, and more importantly to acquire experiences that can lead to the ability to assist people to heal at all levels.  After they set foot on the path they spend an enormous amount of time purifying themselves, experimenting, turning within, taking stock again and again of their own motivations, and coming up against a shit-load of inner and outer challenges. In other words, it’s no picnic. On the other hand, it is a fascinating adventure, one that can lead to mastery, mystery, and even death. But since we all face that last one, perhaps it is time to take up the Master Game and lean into the call.

You may want to start your exploration here:

Michael Harner’s Foundation for Shamanic Studies

For a fascinating read try Hank Wesselman’s shamanic trilogy Spiritwalker, MedicineMaker, Visionseeker

Seeing You in Wholeness

When we work with individual clients or with a classroom of people we are always asking internally, “What is needed? What can move this person, these people closer to health? What energy will guide them to embrace the wonder and mystery of the body and mind coming into balance, moving forward? It is our desire to be facilitators of healing for those who come, and to ignite an interest in just how profound an experience it is to be a human being. Helping people heal is an honor, and we would love to share that with you.

Join us at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, and let’s explore both the science and the mystery together.

Cell-Level Healing
Wild Awakening For Health
October 7 – 11, 2018

Embark on a deep, guided exploration of your innate ability to focus energy for health and wholeness in body, mind, and spirit. Looking within, both through powerful micrographic images of cells, and through time-honored practices, explore the healing nature of your physicality and your mind. Touch the heart of stillness in meditation, enjoy hands-on practice, sing yourself to joyfulness, and deepen your ability to be of service to yourself and to others through the refined techniques of Cell-Level Healing.

More info here:
https://hollyhock.ca/programinfo/hawkes-folsom/

Anger – What is It?

There is certainly a lot of anger being experienced in our world today. There is no doubt about that. We feel it, we see it’s effect playing out before us. Anger is hot, dry, forceful — sometimes it feels righteous, sometimes not. I ran across the best definition of the feeling of anger in a little book entitled What’s on My Mind by Swami Anantananda. He says, “Anger is the intense desire to change that which is.”

ANGER IS FUEL FOR ACTION

The ‘that which is’ or the ‘what is’ is whatever we perceive is going on in us and around us. Anger itself fuels our actions when we sense the ‘what is’ must be changed but the feeling itself is not a logical thought process – it is quick and hot – it takes over and impels us to action. Anger is what pushes us into the street to save a child who is running into traffic, and it is also what causes us to shout ‘boo’ at a ball game when the referee makes a call against our team – even a good call. So, anger does have degrees, and it is often tied to our self-interests.

FEAR UNDERPINS ANGER

Inherent in our awareness of ‘what is’ is another emotion – fear. It is our fear that if the ‘what is’ remains as it is there will be dire consequences: our child will be hit by a car; our team will lose the game. All of this happens in an instant, the flash of fear, the fuel of anger to change the situation or to express our dismay. I would hazard a guess that all anger is rooted in fear.

EFFECT ON BODY AND MIND

All of this is nothing but energy, powerful energy running through our bodies and our minds. And that energy has its effects on both body and mind. One of my teachers said, “Anger destroys your memory.” This struck me as odd when I first heard it, but as I contemplated my own experience I saw that it was true. When my mind is bathed in the feeling of anger I forget all that is beautiful in my life and in the world, I lose touch even with my own body, I forget to eat, I don’t sleep well, I forget important appointments.

There is a known physiological basis for this forgetting. In the body anger creates a cascade of chemistry, the chemistry of stress, in order to bias us toward an action. This is the classic Flight or Fight response, now also expanded to include Freeze. The nervous system is activated on what we call the ‘sympathetic’ side, and the following things happen: the higher executive functions of the brain literally shut down as this is not a time to think with the rational mind, the immune and reproductive systems go offline, blood flows from the core to the extremities to fuel our muscles, our blood pressure goes up, digestion stops.

Taken together this is a survival mechanism that allows us to save ourselves and others in times of real or perceived danger. The downside of this response happens when fear and anger are chronic. We lose our rational minds, our clarity, we can’t think, we have digestive problems, sleep escapes us. It takes 3 days of work by the body to metabolize the stress hormones that are created by one single such event, so constant activation leads to a backlog of work for the body and a continuation of all the downside effects. We become exhausted, depleted, and depressed.

REMEDIES THAT HELP

I am not suggesting that we all give up anger and fear. Certainly, I have not evolved enough to have done so. (Maybe next year.) But I have seen that moderation is helpful, and for me that means not watching Rachel Maddow every single night of the week, only every other night!

It means finding non-violent action I can take in the face of what I see that needs to change in my life, my country, and the world. In the weird mix of my life that includes tap dancing, marching in the streets, attending vigils, donating money to people who are otherwise defenseless and unrepresented, and praying for children and parents who have been separated from each other. It includes speaking up for the other, the stranger, the poor, in keeping with my core values. In short moderation means finding ways to use the anger to create change without harming anyone or myself.

Another remedy is simple but not easy – Apprehension. Yes, a funny word, in this case it does not mean fear, but rather capture. It means I apprehend my anger and fear when possible – I catch it. When I am able to stop and simply feel the feelings without any story about why I am feeling them there is a moment when the energy can be felt only as energy. I feel where in resides in the body, I feel its power, its rawness, and even the pain it causes. In that moment I am ‘at choice’ with respect to the feeling. I can choose how to respond, I can channel the energy into right action, or I can choose to watch it until it dissolves back into the place from which it arose.

Meditation is key for me in making a space to reconnect with inner wisdom and strength, guidance, and peace. It has shown me that everything on the outside is reflective of the inside. It allows me to take up the battle with my own inner enemies, the false notions that keep me feeling separate and alone, that haunt and traumatize me. Meditation binds up the disparate pieces of self and connects me back to source, to love, to the holy, if you will.

Breath can also be used to reactivate the other side of the nervous system – the parasympathetic. It is the simplest and quickest way to rebalance the body and mind. Breathe in to the count of 4, hold for 5, breath out to the count of 8. In just a few rounds of this type of breathing you will notice that your body and mind are more relaxed and at ease. You can change the counts if it feels that the out-breath is too long, just keep the relationship to an out-breath that is twice as long as the in-breath.

These are my remedies for managing fear and anger. You are welcome to try them. I would love to know what others you have found.

Quick – Heal My Pancreas!

What does it take for the body to heal? Sometimes we find out that a particular organ or system in the body needs help. A disease has been diagnosed, or testing shows there is an imbalance happening, or perhaps a tumor has been found. What to do?

Certainly we consult with our team members: our doctors, nutritionists,  naturopaths, energy practitioners, and even our friends. What can I do the heal my pancreas? Can you help?

As energy practitioners we have observed that healing needs to go deep in order for good results to follow. For instance, the pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach that secretes digestive enzymes into the duodenum. Also in the pancreas are the islets of Langerhans, which secrete the hormones insulin and glucagon into the blood. So in each case it is important to determine which cellular action is being impaired.  Knowing that helps to determine the target for energy work.

Some knowledge of cell types, inner cellular structures, and function is useful in guiding the process. Our bodies and the cells that make up those bodies have vast capabilities and intelligence. Cells perform countless actions every second to keep us alive and kicking, and sometimes they need extra assistance. Paying attention to what the body is saying, and taking appropriate action is vital to living a healthy, happy life. Having a team approach in service of that goal is a good idea too.

We will be teaching in The Bahamas (someone has to do it) in March. If that draws you please join us. It will be a delight to meet you and your pancreas on Paradise Island.

More info on the Events page: Joyce and Helen in The Bahamas 

P.S. The venue is a Yoga Retreat Ashram, with delicious food, yoga classes, Meditation and Chanting, Nassau Bay on one side, and the aqua blue Caribbean on the other – Take a Look