Nature's Balance

Being in balance in all areas of our lives is a perennial topic for discussion and contemplation. Often we may find ourselves over-committed, under-rested, over-fed yet under nourished, generally or very specifically unhealthy in some way and the key to clarity and wellness turns out to be that magic word – Balance.

Finding balance in a world where we are either pushed or pushing to be performing at our peak 24/7 365 can be a major challenge for many of us. It’s important to Take Back Control of your own life. To remember that you and you alone are responsible for creating your own reality and that you have the power to change what isn’t working can be the greatest gift you will ever give to yourself.

Start right now-are you willing-right now- in this moment – to take a time out? – To come back into balance? We are taught by some of the greatest of teachers to literally “stop the world”. It is our world, our creation, and we can and do have the power to stop everything right here, right now and ask some soul searching and very serious questions.

The first question you might ask yourself is this – When was the last time you took some time just for you? Not just a day off from work but some serious time out – 3 – 4 days, maybe even a week or two that is totally and completely unscheduled – time to reflect, to journal, to meditate, to rest, to review your life, to see where you are and where you’ve come from, to decide, really consciously decide who you are and who you want to be, to see where you are and where you really want to be going.

When we make the choice, the conscious decision, to stop, to take a time out and to deeply contemplate our passions, our purpose, our soul’s journey, we may find that there are some changes that need to happen and soon. Change can be very frightening for people and yet it’s the most natural thing in the world. Nature herself is a perfect example of the ever changing nature of our universe. All too often we busy ourselves to the point of exhaustion and collapse, merely because we are afraid to face the necessary steps that we need to take in order to change our lives, change our world and bring things back into a place of balance.

In the Peruvian Tradition of the High Andes we are taught about a concept known as Ayni. Ayni is a way of living in the world that is in balance with our own nature as well as with the natural world around us and all of our relations. The native peoples believe that we are all connected and strive to live lives of balance and communion with all that is.

A simple way to start the process of breaking through to balance is to track for yourself your own natural energy rhythms. Using a calendar and a scale from 1 – 10, each day mark a number for that day that is a measure of your energy level,. For example today you might be feeling very lethargic, not really wanting to do anything – maybe today is a 2 day. Tomorrow you might get up and feel all full of “piss and vinegar” as my mom would say – ready to take on the world and accomplish mighty feats – tomorrow might be a 10 day. When you have tracked your own energy for a month or so (at least 30 days is recommended) you then have a picture of your own flow – perhaps during the full moon you are totally charged, later in the month might be your down time. Chart the flow and begin to match your commitments and activities to your own true nature. Don’t say yes to that party when you know if falls on a day when you will likely be in the 2 zone. Go for it and book three appointments with clients and host a dinner party on your usual 10 day. Just bringing some consciousness to your own energy will start you on the road to balance. Make it a prayer – Lord may I bring a little more balance to my life and to the world today and may I begin with me.

Amethyst Wyldfyre, MsD Is a Multidimensional Metaphysician with a thriving practice in the Merrimack Valley of Southern NH – she can be reached through her website at http://www.amethystwyldfyre.com

Yoga has been such an amazing part of my journey to wholeness and balance and I am so grateful to myself for making and sticking with my commitment to the practice. This week I was reading Yoga Journal and there was an article about having a home practice. I started my practice at a gym a little over 5 years ago and about 4 years ago I brought it home with a video that a friend had given me of Rodney Yee.

Rodney and I have a date now just about every morning for AM Stretch. I love this video because its only 20 minutes. Heck anybody can squeeze 20 minutes in right? “They” say that 20 minutes of practice several times a week is as good for you if not better than a full hour and a half practice.

So I’m reading this article and it’s talking about different sequences you can try and different times of the day that you can practice and how having a home practice can seem a little daunting at first to most people because they just can’t figure out how to do yoga with out a little help and guidance from a teacher.

This is why I love Rodney, he’s with me every morning – by now I’ve actually memorized the entire video. He’s consistent, always there and he’s my favorite way to start the day. The thing that’s nice about doing the same video every morning is I really get to see where I’m at. Some days I’m not on the mat at all and I catch myself doing my leg stretch about 10 seconds ahead of Rodney – this would be a day where I’m ahead of myself. Other days I listen to my body and give myself extra time in Down Dog – this is where I’m really in touch with what my body needs. Then we have days like today. The funny thing about home practice is of course you are doing it at home!

So here we go starting out with a little relaxation to get present:

Rodney – “Surrender to the Earth”

Upstairs – CRAAASH (“Sorry Ms. Wyldfyre – I dropped the chair”, says Nate my son’s buddy who slept over)

Now we move through the relaxation process and we are really cooking – moving our legs left, and right, stretching the arms out to the side, now we’re in bridge pose. What a great morning! Moving along now we roll over into cobra, now back to the mat, now updog – What’s that? Updog????

Kack, Kack, Kack – It’s the sound of my 17 year old labrador making vomit on the floor – quick off the mat, run to the kitchen, shoo the cat away, grab the paper towels! Bend, stretch, squat, wipe, run for the rubbish barrel, Ack out of paper towels – shoo kitty get away from the there, wipe some more, ok all cleaned up! Now where were we?

Oops – missed Downdog, missed Lunge, missed Supported Chair Pose – God Rodney’s already back on the floor, no standing poses today.

Alright, lets get focused and back on the mat again – Staff Pose into the twist, moving right along twisting to the left, twisting to the right, cleanse those toxins, now cross legged, now up on the pillow for the final forward bends and prepare for meditation.

Closing the eyes, feeling the head right over the chest (WOOF!) , focusing on the breath (WOORF!), feeling the eyes relax back into the head (WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! Pukey dog wants in but he’s going to have to wait) Now entering into 2 minutes of meditation to center the mind (WOOF! WOORF! WOORF!) (MEOW, MRow – now Kitty is joining the chorus).

And me? I’m in the silence. Centered, balanced, focused, and serene – WHAT??? My 2 minutes is up? Thank you God for Yoga, for Rodney, for Kids and Cats and Dogs and Life. It’s all good. Wonder what my practice will be like tomorrow…….

Have a great day!

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional shaman, healer, artist, author, blogger, performer, speaker and psychic who lives and works in the Merrimack Valley of NH. She can be reached through her website or blog for more information. She can also be followed on Twitter at @AWyldfyre. (This article was originally published online in my blog at Gaia.com in 2007 – my good old dog has since passed – I still workout to Rodney Yee only now I have 3 more tapes that a dear shaman friend gave to me so I have a little variety – they say that’s the spice of life!)

R U Ready for a Sound Healing Session?

How often have you turned on the radio and heard a song that made you bounce in your seat? How about the feeling you get when you hear the sound of a soldier playing taps? What about the amazing chills that run up the back of your spine when a good gospel singer lets it rip? Do you see just by these examples how powerfully sound can affect you – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?

Everything in the Universe is vibrating – every atom, every molecule, even you – remember your high school science? Everything that vibrates emits some kind of a sound and the sound waves travel and interact with each other throughout the space time continuum – ever since that first sound – the sound of the big bang – in some ancient traditions the sound of OM – the first, sacred, seed sound that birthed our universe into being.

When we are out of tune, dissonant, or out of harmony with our environment, we begin to feel ill at ease and can begin fairly quickly to display signs of illness or dis-ease. Sound therapy is a marvelous way to re-attune and re-harmonize ourselves with our environment and return to a natural and healthy state of being

Sound has long been used in the medical community to see inside (Ultrasound) and to return the body to a state of wellness. Sound therapy is an ancient practice designed to return the client or patient to a state of harmony and balance. There are some fundamental principals behind the practice and why it is effective. Harmonics, resonance and entrainment are three of these principals. Harmonics is the expression of the same note or sound vibration at a higher frequency than the fundamental note. Resonance is a matching of frequencies with the natural frequency. Entrainment is the matching of brain waves to a desired frequency. All of this is interesting “left brained” information but is not necessary to learn or know about in order to receive the maximum benefits of a session.

Many sound healing practitioners have been formally or informally trained as musicians however this isn’t a required qualification to an effective session or practitioner. There are also many in the field who are naturally ordained and intuitively gifted who can be even more powerful healers because they have opened themselves to Spirit as the guiding force for the session.

Some of the many tools that can be used to facilitate sound healing include rattles, bells, chimes, gongs, tuning forks, metal or crystal singing bowls, the didgeridoo and the human voice. Each of these tools have differing uses within a session. Most sound healing sessions are intuitively driven and the healer will be “called” to use differing beats, rhythms, sounds and volumes in each unique circumstance since no two people have the exact same vibration or issues to be resolved. No matter what is used you are sure to leave the session feeling shifted at a very profound level.

Working with sacred sound to heal, balance and harmonize is beautiful, natural and restorative – people can really feel the difference within after a sound session – it’s easy to receive – plus it’s fun!

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional healing artist who uses sacred sound, color, light and energy to catalyze positive change, healing, growth and evolution on a personal and planetary level. A member of the Sound Healers Association, she often plays healing concerts with a 9 bowl Crystal Singing Bowl set, has recorded a CD Divine Union – A Crystal Singing Bowl Healing Journey and has a private healing practice in Nashua, NH. She can be contacted through her website www.amethystwyldfyre.com

The New Year is always a special and magical time – a time to reflect on the joys, blessings, challenges that have been surmounted and opportunities that have been taken in the previous year, a time of celebration of the year past. It is also a time of freshness, newness, a time of contemplating possibilities and your own capacity to create and to change.

In our culture we celebrate New Year’s on January 1st – but did you know that this was an arbitrary date picked by the Church when the Gregorian calendar was adopted and that traditionally the New Year was celebrated in the springtime when the time for planting new seeds was upon the people?

Is it time perhaps for you to think about the seeds you’d like to plant for the coming year? Often we create a New Year’s Resolution list, setting out the goals for ourselves and our becoming at a time when the energy is most supportive for the work that goes along with making change in our lives. Here in New England we are truly blessed with a noticeable difference in the seasons. When the winter arrives, we are invited to move inward – in to our homes, in to ourselves, in to our hearts, in to that place of stillness where we can connect most deeply with our Source.

All change is initiated from within. By going within and consciously choosing to make a connection to our Spirit, to the Source of our Being we are granted the gift of insight. Here, deep within, we have the opportunity to see for ourselves who we are and where we are going. Here too we can see, with compassion and great self-love, those areas of our lives that are not in alignment with our true self.

When we allow ourselves the time and the space to contemplate deeply who we are, to assess where our way of living is out of alignment with our truth, we are energized to make the necessary shifts in our patterns of behavior that will allow us to more fully express our deepest essence.

Take some time in your sacred space today. Sit with a journal and some meditative music to set the mood. Shut off the outside world (yes this means the cell phone, the regular phone, the computer, the TV!) and withdraw your senses. Come into your center, to that place of stillness where there is nothing but the breath. Let yourself be nurtured here. Don’t strive to find out anything. Just be. Allow the nature of who you are, of your essence, to arise naturally and beautifully in the moment. Give yourself the gift of silence. What you find there may surprise and delight you!

Spring is just around the corner – only a few days away in fact – all of the ruminating, mulching, deep inner work and energetic shifts of the winter have produced fertile ground within which our seeds may be planted. Now it’s time to choose – which seeds do you desire to plant, cultivate, fertilize, tend and grow in the coming months? What harvest are you visualizing for yourself?

Enjoy the newness of this time and be grateful for your own gifts, gifts that the world is waiting to receive from you when you are ready to emerge from your cocoon to share. Take a deep breath and enjoy just being. May peace and harmony be with you in this time of reflection and resolution and may you find joy on the journey of Living Your Spirited Life!

Having just come out of the holiday season we can all appreciate how much our mood can be impacted by aromas. The pungent smell of pine, spicy cinnamon, hot apple pie, roasting turkey – just thinking of these smells can jump start the body/mind and evoke thoughts and feelings that are tied to our holiday celebrations. The smell of leather, or your mother’s favorite fragrance, fallen leaves, fresh cut grass, each and every scent has a distinct effect on us bringing up emotions, thoughts, reactions, images or memories of a time when we first encountered that scent.

Fields Of Lavendar Body Powder - Yummmm!

Whole industries are devoted to the use of scent to set the tone in our home or office environments. Scented candles, home fragrance sprays, incense, colognes, the list is endless of ways to perfume our world. Most popular scents are derived from the natural world of plants, flowers and trees. The plant, flower or tree resin is distilled into an essential oil which can be used in its condensed form or mixed with other ingredients to create products that can be used for therapeutic purposes.

Aroma therapy is an ancient technique for shifting the vibration of the body/mind through the use of scent. The aroma therapist is skilled and knowledgeable not only in the different fragrances and scents but also in how each scent can assist in altering the state of mind and wellbeing of the client. Aroma therapists may also develop products based upon their knowledge that the client can use at home such as bath salts, balms, spritzes, sprays, and lotions. Aroma therapy can also be combined with other bodywork or energy work practices as a complement to the main focus of the therapy.

The human energy field or energetic anatomy has seven chakras or centers where universal energy is transformed into use by the human body. These chakras or energy centers can become imbalanced through trauma, from being in a harsh environment or from ancestral, genetic or karmic causes. The use of aroma therapy can aid in balancing out, attuning and aligning these centers so that you feel more present in the world, more balanced and better able to act upon your inspirations in a positive and life affirming way.

Here is a list of a few of the different scents that you can use and ways that they can assist you in achieving a greater sense of health and well being:

Amber – Believed to be a good source of beneficial negative ions when worn close to or on the skin.
Lavender – Clears thinking, dissipates fears, releases repressed emotions, minimizes anger & reduces worry.
Patchouli – Diminishes depression, eases anxiety, heightens sense of joy in life. Cools & calms during emotionally hot situations.
Pine – refreshing & revitalizing, restores strength. Has a balancing effect, calming emotional upsets due to hormonal imbalances.
Rose Geranium – Rose Geranium – a great all-over balancing effect, helps to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety.
Rosemary – helps in coping with stressful conditions, relaxes nerves, balances intense emotions and controls mood swings.

There are many, many more scents and many ways in which scent can be used to assist you in your journey to health. Try experimenting with a few essential oils, usually easily purchased in your local health food store. See which scents work best to help you feel good. Experiment too with mixing scents. This can be especially fun in the bath. It’s a great way to practice good self care and to learn something new!

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional shaman, healer, artist, author, blogger, performer, speaker and psychic who lives and works in the Merrimack Valley of NH.  She can be reached through her website or blog for more information.  She can also be followed on Twitter at @AWyldfyre.  (This article was originally published in Applaud Magazine Late Winter 2008 edition)

Make Sure You Stop to Notice the Blessings All Around You! Original Photo @2006 by Amethyst Wyldfyre

Blessings like butterflies come to us and often catch us unawares. How many times have we heard the words “Count your blessings!”? When we take the time to become consciously aware, to slow down, to breathe, we are able to make the space in our lives to truly acknowledge all the many ways that we have been blessed. As we count our blessings we automatically create an energetic link to Spirit which activates an infinite feedback loop that garners us greater and greater blessings to count.

The Universe is filled with raw un-manifest energy, where our attention flows that is where the energy goes. This concept called Ma Te Ah in Hawaiian is a wonderful idea to hold in our consciousness. When we think about our blessings we create an incredibly powerful force field or strange attractor as it’s known in physics that begins to both spin and magnetize more of the same to us.

Along with counting our blessings we also have the opportunity to take a moment to express our gratitude to the Universe for each and every one of them. Gratitude is the currency of the Universe and of course currency is gratitude in action. When we draw upon these powerful forces of good, naturally more good will manifest in our lives, in many forms, including financially.

As we garner greater and greater good it becomes vitally important to maintain the flow of acknowledgment for our blessings and gratitude for what we have received. It is wise to have awareness that what we have to work with is to be used and stewarded wisely for the greatest good of all concerned and not squandered haphazardly to satisfy the whims of the ego. Humility and an understanding that we have the capacity to harness these forces through the grace of Spirit is important to cultivate as is a state of balance in how we manage our resources.

Take some quiet time in your own sacred space today and let us begin to count the many blessings that we possess. Perhaps you will start your list with the physical: Are you healthy? Do you have a warm snug home? Are you well fed and clothed?  When you have exhausted all that you are blessed with in a physical way then move on to your emotional world: Are you loved? Are you surrounded by a supportive group of friends? Are you involved and connected with your family? Is your neighborhood or community a breeding ground for goodness? Moving on from there take a mental inventory: Are you well educated? Do you have access to books, literature, theatre, art, culture, and music? Are your colleagues mentally stimulating? Does your work enrich and excite your mind? Finally let’s look at the Spiritual: Do you have freedom to worship as you choose? Are you intimately connected with your inner world? Does Spirit speak to or through you? Are you free to share what you believe with others?

During the holiday season our many blessings become more obvious as we create outward displays of our celebration of the season and exchange gifts and spend time with our family and friends. It’s vitally important to remember that this time is a time for celebrating and sharing with others and that material goods are meant to be a small symbol of the deeper underlying energy of our feelings for each other.  Now that the season has passed and the focus has shifted we sometimes need to be reminded that these blessings are still here with us!

Blessings come in many shapes and sizes, sometimes those that appear to be the smallest in the end turn out to be the most valuable. The blessing of an open heart, a compassionate ear, the hug of a small child, a sunshiny day, a beautiful flower, a delicious ripe tomato, the mundane, everyday tasks that make up a life like fresh sheets on the bed, hot tea on a cold afternoon – everywhere you look there’s another blessing. By truly choosing to pay attention, to attend to that with which you are blessed you will discover a whole host of blessings surrounding you each and every moment. So the next time you feel down, sad, angry, lost, hurt, or fearful take a moment, take a breath, count five things right in front of you that are blessings and watch yourself become lighter and clearer before you know it! Thank you for blessing me with your attention today. The light within me recognizes the light within you and we are one – and blessed!

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional shaman, healer, artist, author, blogger, performer, speaker and psychic who lives and works in the Merrimack Valley of NH.  She can be reached through her website or blog for more information.  She can also be followed on Twitter at @AWyldfyre.  (This article was originally published online by Aspire Magazine Dec./Jan. 2008)

Grandfather's Clock Stopped - It's always 6:05!

I‘ve been thinking and dreaming a lot lately about time – in the teachings of my medicine lineage we work in the North Direction with Hummingbird Medicine and Hummingbird teaches us about how to move back and forth through time and how to step outside of time.  The three areas that I’ve been pondering are Measurement, Management and Mastery.  We have organized our reality around the Gregorian Calendar for quite some time now – we measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years that are not exactly aligned with our sweet Earth Mama’s cycles and rhythms.  Our bodies – natural extensions of the Earth – created from her elements – have their own internal clock – they know when to rise, when to rest, when to eat, when to go inward, when to act, when to be still.  We can actually bring the light of our conscious awareness to our own natural rhythms – track them and see how much alignment we’ve created in our outer world with our inner clock.   What if we consciously chose a more natural way of measuring – perhaps in alignment with the cycles of the moon, the earth’s rotation on it’s axis, the rotation around the sun – what would happen if we threw out the calendar all together – put the clocks and the watches in the trash and just tuned in to the rhythm that has rocked the cradles from the beginning?

Hatun Kinte - Sewa Kinte - Great Hummingbird - Teach Us To Move Through Time - Step Outside of Time - to Embark on Our Epic Journey

How about Managing Time – how often do you feel as if you are squeezed for time, pressured into moving at a pace that is just not who you are at your core, do you try to schedule every moment of your life – breaking up each precious moment of the day and allocating something to DO for yourself in those moments?  What if you took a different view of time – and realized that there is no race – there is no need to rush – there are no “dead”lines other than the ones you make for yourself.  Death is the BIG CLOCK that is ticking for everyone – notice we use the word “dead” in deadline – to put the pressure on – to bring on the fundamental fear that is at the core of our fear matrix – that we must “get it all done” before we run out of time!  What if instead of trying to manipulate, manage or manhandle time to suit your purposes, you instead allowed yourself to surrender to a larger view – a larger perspective of time and a larger perspective of life, death and the way the Universe actually works?

Mastery of Time is when you Re-member that this whole concept is MADE UP IN YOUR HEAD!  You get to decide – about everything!  You can, if you wish to expand your conscious awareness, begin to see how you can move through time, bend time, stretch time, move back in time, step forward in time, and even if you really wish to hone your skills step outside of time all together.  Time I have found, is highly elastic.  Sometimes I set an “appointment” for myself here in the 3D and discover (sometimes to my consternation when I’ve let myself re-attach to the collective notion of time) that I’m not going to be arriving at the appointed hour.  Some would say “I’m late!”  some actually do speak about themselves and say “I’m ALWAYS late!”  When we speak to ourselves in this way – of course we are – we create our own late!  Every TIME!  I have come to understand much better (I think that the 9/11/01 example was a wonderful clue for us to see) that there is Man Time and then there is DIVINE Time – In DIVINE Time – thousands of people who would normally have been to work “On TIME (in Man Time)” didn’t get there – and of course were spared from the experience.   When you become a Master of Time – you RE-Member that you are ALWAYS EXACTLY ON TIME!  Because the only place you can ever be is HERE, NOW.  Time (as is Death) is an illusion.  Being is the Truth.  BE – HERE – NOW.  Bring the fullness of your presence to this and every moment – let go of time and you will be immeasurably blessed by the river of life that is timeless.

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional shaman, healer, artist, author, blogger, performer, speaker and psychic who lives and works in the Merrimack Valley of NH.  She can be reached through her website or blog for more information.  She can also be followed on Twitter at @AWyldfyre.

(The top half of this post was originally published in December of 2007 on Applaud Magazine’s blog)

As is customary at this time of year we all take a few moments to say goodbye. Saying goodbye to the year past, saying goodbye to the frenzy of holiday preparation and celebration, saying goodbye to habits that no longer serve. As the year wound to a close I had to say goodbye to an old friend too. My labrador retriever – Blackjack was assisted to cross over last Thursday. Blackjack was what you’d call a “good old dog”. He was a loyal companion and friend, a good watch dog, a guardian and playmate for my son and a true and kind member of our family. At 17 1/2 he lived a long and mostly healthy life. He ran, jumped, played and kibbitzed right on up to 15.

Then he started to slow down a bit, he got a little grey around the edges, he lost his vision. Many people told me after he lost his ability to see that he should be put down but I refused to do that. He was still generally healthy, found his way around the house and the yard well enough and was an integral part of our family life. My boy James was insistent that he should live to die a natural death and so this was a most difficult rite of passage for him. In the last year I knew that time was short. Last Christmas Eve I didn’t think he’d make it through the night and I stayed up late opening sacred space and showing him where the rainbow bridge was. He surprised us all by staying for another whole year! Finally the end drew much nearer. He made it through this Christmas and then went rapidly down hill.

When he couldn’t get up anymore, stopped eating and drinking and had to be picked up to go outside we knew it was time. I opened sacred space before we left the house, called in all of the spirit guides, spirit animals and energies of light to make the way clear and obvious for his spirit, opened his chakras and showed him the rainbow bridge to the other side. It was a tough decision to make but the right thing to do. The vet (Dr. Stephen Frye, Clark Veterinary Hospital in Nashua) was incredibly compassionate, gentle and kind. He helped us to say goodbye in a way that was filled with dignity, grace and the ultimate kindness. Blackjack has already come to work with me in my medicine work, to dance in my dreams and will always be a guardian spirit and friend for my son and our family. While saying goodbye is never easy to do I’m incredibly grateful to Dr. Frye, to my husband Ross and to the lovely Marie Glover at Animal Heaven (in Hollis NH) who made this experience the best that it could be. Goodbye Blackjack and hello once more. May you journey joyfully to your home star and illuminate the path for those of us to follow. Your faithful friendship was a magical gift. With all our Love – Amethyst, Ross and James

December 28, 2008 – When I was contemplating what to write for One Consciousness today I was brought back in time to this time last year and found that I had this lovely article written about a loyal and true friend and companion and felt it was fitting to share in his honor with the readers here.  The whole subject of loyalty has been “up” lately in my life. Most importantly I’ve been getting the guidance to remain loyal to myself – sometimes this can be quite a challenging thing for us to do – our loyalties are torn – we are spread thin – there are so many priorities.  I invite you to use the final days of 2008 to take some time in sacred space and to come back to the center of who you are.  As you do this you may find that some of the activities or people that you’ve been giving your loyalty to aren’t serving you and the greater good any more.  You may find that as you clear your mind, body, heart and Spirit that you are being called to a higher level of loyalty and you may need to apply all the teachings and practices that have brought you thus far to make the changes that are necessary for your growth and evolution right now.

Ayni Despacho Photo from Four Winds Sanctuary Project Site

We just held a despacho ceremony (a ceremony from the Peruvian tradition of shamanism) at our home last night in honor of the new moon followed by fire ceremony.  This despacho was very interesting – we were guided to place many, many prayers in to this gift bundle for Pachamama (Mother Earth)  around what needed to die for us as this year comes to a close.  After all of our group had placed in their prayers I received guidance to lay down over this arrangement of kintus (prayer bundles made with leaves and flowers) a layer of incense & purifying herbs, followed by a layer of “clouds” (made from pieces of cotton balls stretched out) onto which we then placed our prayers and planted the seeds for our becoming.  It was most interesting because it was like two despachos in one – one layered on top of the other with purification between the two.  Take this sacred time to lay down and put to rest what needs to go in your life – purify and cleanse and prepare the canvas/blank page/soil for your seeds, your intentions, your dreams for yourself, your family, your community and your world.  Be loyal to the higher calling.  Let it be.

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional shaman, healer, artist, author, blogger, performer, speaker and psychic who lives and works in the Merrimack Valley of NH.  She can be reached through her website or blog for more information.  She can also be followed on Twitter at @AWyldfyre.

(This article was originally published Spring 2008 in Applaud Magazine)

Yoga is an ancient practice and a word meaning to unify or yoke together. What does yoga yoke together? – the mind, the body and the spirit. Springtime is a time when we move out of our winter slumber and start to think about bathing suit weather, we realize that we may not have been as diligent with our exercise routine or maybe we are ready to try something new. One of the major benefits of a yoga practice is that it does tone and strengthen the physical body. Stretching and flexing the muscles, developing upper body strength, improving balance, getting that yoga butt, all are great motivation for starting a practice.

The subtle benefits of yoga though are even more beneficial. Within the practice there is a great deal of time spent learning to focus on the breath. Awareness of the breath connects us at the deepest of levels to the life force that sustains us. Deepening our breathing instantly takes us into a state of relaxation releasing us from the fright or flight response created by the shallow upper chest breathing that most of us do in our daily life. Breath awareness alone is enough to transport you to a deeper space of subtle connection with your own spirit and with the spirit that is all around us. Practicing with a group provides opportunities to share the breath with each other and to note how we are all connected. Group practice also provides a magical support system and can enhance the energy of your practice as each member of the group contributes to creating a safe and supportive environment for each other.

Often as the practice deepens, the asanas or poses will activate releases of emotions, thought forms and other toxins that are stored in the body at the cellular level. The asanas are designed specifically for these subtle benefits as well as the more gross benefits of a lean and muscular physical body.

There are many wonderful styles of yoga and a wide variety of studios throughout the region for sampling them. Yoga is also available at most gyms. Private in home instruction can be a great way to learn the poses and to refine and customize a practice that is perfect for you and your body type and ability. Finally there are a lot of great video based instructional tapes that you can just pop in to your VCR or DVD player and begin your practice right on the living room floor.

As you begin to explore the world of yoga you will discover that the asanas or poses are merely a scratch on the surface of this ancient practice of alignment. There are whole workshops dedicated to just learning the different types of breathing that you can do while practicing. Chanting is another practice that is a part of the yogic tradition. There are also philosophical writings that are available for study. Yoga is a multi-layered, deeply transformational way of life that you can spend your whole life exploring. Come to each practice with beginners mind, that way you’ll reap the maximum benefits!

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional healing artist and initiated shamaness in the Inka Tradition who uses sacred sound, color, aroma, light and energy to catalyze positive change, healing, growth and evolution on a personal and planetary level. She teaches at a number of locations and has a private healing practice in Nashua, NH. She practices yoga daily to maintain balance, focus and to stay in good shape physically, mentally and spiritually.

For more information about her and her evolving work contact Amethyst at her blog or website.

(Photo credit – Darlene Pina Yoga Teacher with Amethyst Wyldfyre in Triangle Pose – Photo by Keith Spiro used with permission)

Don Francisco - Peruvian Shaman with Amethyst Wyldfyre

Shamanic Healing has been practiced in indigenous cultures around the world since the time before time. The shaman plays the role of intermediary between this ordinary reality and non-ordinary realities. In our ordinary reality we have organized the world in accordance with the collective consciousness of the present time, aligned around the norms and mores of our cultural, societal and familial patterns. The shaman knows that this perception of reality is only a small slice of the truth and has developed through rigorous training and practices the capacity to intervene at a multitude of levels to affect change and catalyze healing.

Looking at the four body system of how we are organized as human beings we can see that each of these levels has a direct effect on the next level down. Spiritual trauma, karmic patterning, soul loss and generational patterns are played out at the mental, emotional and finally at the physical level. Usually we don’t even realize that there is a problem until illness or dis-ease has manifested at the physical level, however intervention can occur at any of the other levels to circumvent the occurrence of illness or dis-ease. The primary focus of the work of the shaman is at the spirit or energetic level.

There are as many differing shamanic practices as there are cultures, each with its’ own flavor and nuances. The shamanic journey however is a core practice in almost every shamanic tradition. The shaman, journeying on behalf of the client, goes to other levels of reality, entering into a different perceptual state than we experience in our ordinary day to day activities. Once entering into the non-ordinary realm the shaman has the opportunity to bring back for the client information and energy to clear, extract, illuminate and energize the client and to catalyze the client’s natural and innate healing capacity.

Quantum physicists have finally corroborated many of the ideas and practices that have been carefully and painstakingly preserved through out time by the shamans of the world. The ideas of the power of intention and our ability to create our own reality are both shamanic ideas that have recently been exposed to the mainstream of our society.

One of the most interesting practices of the shamanic healer is the process of soul retrieval. When someone has been traumatized a portion of the soul will fragment and will leave the person going down into the Earth Mother where it is safe and protected. Unfortunately when this happens, some of the energy or life force of that person leaves with the soul part. The shaman journeys for the person, going down into the Mother Earth, finds the lost piece and returns it to the client using intention and breath to transfer the soul part back into the energetic field of the client. When a lost soul part is retrieved, often there will also be a gift and sometimes a power animal retrieved for the person as well. The gift and the power animal are additional tools that allow the client to re-integrate the soul part that has been returned.

What is especially important to realize and be aware of in this type of healing work is that the client is actually the one who is doing the healing. They are empowered by the process to be a full participant in the work that is done. The shaman provides sacred space, journeys on behalf of the client and can assist with some procedures but the healing work is truly the client’s own work after leaving the table.

Amethyst Wyldfyre is a multidimensional healing artist and initiated shamaness in the Inka Tradition who uses sacred sound, color, light and energy to catalyze positive change, healing, growth and evolution on a personal and planetary level. She teaches at a number of locations and has a private healing practice in Nashua, NH. Contact her by phone 603-594-2744, email at amethyst@amethystwyldfyre.com or visit her website or blog for more information!  (This article was originally published in the Fall 2008 Issue of Applaud Magazine)