In our culture, when we speak of protection, we are usually referring to the physical world. We imagine bundling up for winter to protect against the cold, wearing a helmet and knee pads, and home alarm systems—all of the ways that we can protect material belongings. If we understood that the spiritual, emotional realm is our primary self, and that everything in the physical world is a reflection of that, we would be mostly concerned with how to protect the most important aspect of who we are—our spiritual and emotional selves. Whether it’s from our own internal energies or the unhealthy energies of others, attaining this protection is crucial.

During the first part of that process, we learn that we aren’t alone; we have spiritual allies. Then we can venture into the unknown and learn about who we are as spiritual, emotional beings, and what our subconscious expectations are. Our subconscious has stored memory from many lifetimes. Each memory, traumatic or otherwise, has an expectation attached to it. These deeply held memories project or suggest who we are, and with our conscious minds preoccupied with daily tasks, we usually follow those subconscious suggestions. Being guided to discover our truth through a first-hand experience that allows us to pull information from our subconscious into our conscious mind is a powerful, life-changing experience.

Our spirit holds our long-held truths. What we discover with our first-hand experience in our spiritual lives is the magic that will set us free from stagnant lives, pain, depression and fear, imbalance, memory loss, the negative thoughts and energies of others, and our own disempowering, learned beliefs. Understanding, as our ancestors did, how to protect our empathetic sacred selves with knowledge; building our lives and beliefs from our spiritual strengths; overcoming these learned beliefs from soul loss and trauma—this is the “spiritual healing work” recorded in the history of every culture. The shaman’s journey is among the oldest examples of meditation and healing work for the benefit of all.

By using all of our senses to experience our spiritual strengths and challenges, we eliminate fear and doubt, because we feel the experience in safety—a deeply relaxed state where healing takes place. When we work with self-discovery tools and expand into past life therapy, forgiveness can take place, and we experience the bigger picture of our relationships.

Kathleen Downey is a certified practitioner of shamanic healing, counselor, past life therapist, yoga teacher, nutritionist and author of Healthy is Delicious. She is available for private sessions in Lambertville, NJ, and video conferences worldwide. She and LMT Courtney Downey will host a two-part workshop, Protecting Your Sacred Self, in Doylestown, July 15 and 24. Email [email protected] or visit CoreLevelHealing.net.

July 2016