nicole scarf

How to Serve from Authentic Love vs. Lack – The Shadow Behavior of the Rescuer

by Nicole's Blog

Mamas do you ever feel a bit overwhelmed, overextended, or frankly just burnt out? Like, OMG, there are so many moving parts and balls in the air with family, kids, and career?😫

I really resonate with that as a mom and entrepreneur. 😉

For a while I was really struggling juggling both.

When I started a new level of deep shadow work something shifted for me.

I learned that I was a classic Rescuer, also known as the people-pleaser, sometimes called the over-achiever.

I didn’t see this shadow aspect in myself back then, but when it was pointed out by a mentor, I saw how it was playing out in my life as a mother and co-parent.

I would give to the detriment of my own health and well-being. I would bend over backwards for other needs instead of my own. I would please others because I didn’t fully value myself and I didn’t want to disappoint by saying no.

There was a real cost in these unconscious behaviors like exhaustion, enabling others to not show up for me, and sickness.

I was so used to saying yes to everything and doing all of it, so I didn’t often ask for support and if someone did it felt burdensome so I would deny it anyway.

Thank God I learned about this ego behavior and how to transform it to create healthy boundaries and to love myself more.

The last few years I dove really deep so I could teach this to the women in my Unleash the Priestess programs because I see how prevalent this way of being is in our society. Women typically place themselves last.

In working with the Rescuer role, I teach women how to get really good at catching their subconscious habits and watching themselves with objective awareness.

When they practice this with compassion, they experience real changes that benefit themselves and their families.

I teach women how to create a daily sadhana that’s non-negotiable so they can receive the love that is their birthright.

I teach women how to create structure, discipline, accountability, self-responsibility and time management so they can create efficiencies and stretch time.

I teach women how to live a full life that’s more balanced and centered in self-love.

If you would like to learn more about this shadow work, join the conversation with other women doing this deep shadow work to illuminate it and reclaim your feminine power.❤️

Join our Facebook Community, The Priestess Within Sisterhood #unleashthepriestess and check out the 4-part series we just completed on Shadow work with my mentor of these teachings, Deanna Larkins.  She’s the owner of Emerge Hot Yoga Studio in Ashland and of Emerge Spiritual Studies.

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How Meditation Impacts Daily Life

by Nicole's Blog

How Meditation Impacts Daily Life

Stressors fill the world around us. When looking for a way to combat this, meditation is an often-overlooked solution even though its benefits have been studied in the Western World since at least the 1970s. Meditation is extremely beneficial for a person’s daily health. The surprising thing, however, is just how beneficial regular meditation really is. Meditation can be practiced a variety of ways, but however you choose to do it, meditation reduces stress, improves mental clarity, improves mood, aids in sleep, and increases a person’s ability to problem solve. When practiced regularly, it also helps to build focus, eliminate negative thoughts, and change perspectives.

Stress Reduction

Probably the best-known reason for trying meditation is a reduction of stress. While many people know that stress is not good for them, few know the real damage it can cause. High levels of stress can inhibit beneficial sleep patterns. It can lead to anxiety and depression. It can lead to increased blood pressure, as well as mental and physical fatigue. Regular meditation decreases the effects of stress. It also has the effect of lessening the symptoms of stress-related conditions. Improvements to symptoms like irritable bowel syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder can occur through regular meditation.

Help Decrease Anxiety

When reducing stress in life, there is a concurrent reduction in anxiety. This reduction can have numerous psychological benefits. For those that suffer from anxiety-related ailments like phobias and panic attacks, mediation offers substantial benefits. When combined with a physical movement such as yoga, the reduction in anxiety is considerable.

Can Lead to Better Self -Awareness

One of the central principals of all meditation is to listen to one’s self. The theory is that when this is done, people grow into the best version of themselves. A predisposition to harmful or negative thoughts improves with mediation. Meditation can help redirect these thoughts to a more beneficial state. Gaining awareness of chronic negative thoughts leads to better control of these thoughts. Accomplishing this on a regular basis leads to daily positive effects. This change in perception and attitude can positively impact relationships with others as well.

Become More Focused

Weightlifting builds muscle and continual mediation strengthens the mind. Performing meditation regularly increases the strength and focus of the mind. This change can lead to a mind that can focus more entirely on tasks at hand. It can improve mental functions like memory and attention span. Some theories suggest that meditation can even reverse mental patterns like worrying and wandering thoughts.

Combat Memory Loss

As people age, several systems in the body begin to deteriorate slowly. The many functions of the mind is no exception to this decline. A great deal of age-related decline comes from a lack of preventative care. Practicing meditation regularly can combat this decline by focusing the mind. This continual focusing through meditation can stem the tide of memory loss due to age.

The benefits of meditation go far beyond the mental. The mind and body are thoroughly connected. Improving mental function will lead to other physical improvements.

Insomnia

A common problem for many people is insomnia. Insomnia is often a side-effect of a mind filled with runaway thoughts. A calmer mind leads to less of this type of thinking. The added benefit of meditation is that it leads to a more relaxed body. Combining both factors can lead to deeper and better sleep.

Meditation can also help to control pain.

Pain is often a function of the mind’s perception of the physical body. A more controlled mind can control the thought of physical pain. Many palliative care practitioners are beginning to see the benefits of incorporating meditation into their treatment plans. This can be especially beneficial for those with chronic pain. Those that meditate learn to control all the thoughts of their mind. Mediation can mitigate and lessen regular pain over time.

The regular practice of mediation has benefits that can affect every part of the mind and body.The correlation between a more focused mind and physical, mental, and emotional benefits are hard to deny. Meditation leads to a calmer daily life and a more finely tuned mind and body. The best part of all of this is that even for beginners, regular meditation leads to almost immediate results.

 

Written by Charles Davenport for Senior Planning. Senior Planning is an eldercare planning agency, dedicated to helping seniors apply for benefits and find the care they need.

Nicole Red

7 Keys to Actualizing Your Spiritual Business Visions!

by Nicole's Blog

As a spiritual entrepreneur, I bet you have a deep desire to actualize your visions through clarity, alignment, and focused intention.

Yet sometimes you get bogged down in the details and get overwhelmed. Have you ever sat down to write, make a video, or a post and instead find yourself scrolling Facebook, distracted and eating chocolate? Do you feel confused and indecisive on your path or unclear of your purpose?

As a female soulpreneur your energy, emotions, body, mind and spirituality DIRECTLY impact the success of your business.

WHO you are BEING is just as important as WHAT you are DOING (if not more).

You are a magnetic energetic being.

If you are feeling unclear and indecisive that is showing up in your business as doubt, needs for external validation, and sabotage.

I love to teach women how to view their shadow work through the development of the chakra system, because this is where all the limiting beliefs, emotions and blocks in our system are that affect the whole of our being.

I will teach you how to study your physical body, energy, emotions, and unconscious and conscious thoughts through this architecture to get back into balance.

The chakra system is like a pulley system. If one is out of balance, you need to readjust the whole.

So let’s say in this case, you are in doubt, overwhelm and anxiety which is making you feel fear, confusion and lack of focus.

1-  First, you need to get grounded to override the overwhelm. Breathe. Connect to the Earth.

2 – Then tune in and listen to your feminine womb wisdom. Feel into your creative center. Speak to your womb, and ask her who you need to be in efforts to attract what it is you want. Tap into your seat of desire and inner essence.

3 – Pull your desire up to your solar plexus. Harness your energy and overcome your inertia, so you can connect with your power center of enthusiasm, will and vitality. Where your gifts and talents reside.

4 – Once you feel your confidence and can access your energy, you can move into the heart of your service. Here, you have the opportunity to connect with WHY you are serving your tribe. Really feel it and be it.

5 – Now connect to your voice, your authentic truth and your vibe.

6 – Access your intuition, meditation and clarity of purpose.

7 – Connect with the Cosmic Divine Guidance….AND THEN BRING IT ALL DOWN INTO THE BODY to manifest it.

YES!  You are now fully plugged into the matrix as a CLEAR CHANNEL.

I wish it were as easy as stated above.

There is a lot more to this than this brief description as you are a multi-dimensional, multi-facted, multi-layered energetic system. 😉  This could take a few months of teachings, implementation, tools and integration, but you get the idea.

When you are creating from a grounded, connected and deeply soulful place confusion and overwhelm are gone and you have unleashed your creativity, confidence and clarity.

From here, you can take INSPIRED ACTIONS.

In my “Unleash the Priestess Within Program” I empower you to understand your shadow work so you align with your creative power, activate your soul’s purpose and make a bigger impact in the world.

I teach you how to powerfully and gracefully put yourself first and practice radical self-love so you have the energy, momentum and focus to serve from a more conscious place with confidence and clarity of purpose.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact me for a quick 15 min chat!

nicoledrum

The Healing Power of Shamanic Drum Journeying

by Nicole's Blog

Dr. Michael Harner, the author of The Way of the Shaman, was an anthropologist that revived shamanic drum journeying as a practice in the West.  In this studies, he found that this practice was common to all shamans and cultures throughout history. He knew it was an important and potent practice and believed that anyone could practice this to create healing for themselves.

In traditional shamanic drum journeys, the shaman goes into an altered state of consciousness to journey to what’s called “non-ordinary” states of reality to retrieve information from spirit allies for healing.  Even if you are not a shaman you can still begin practicing entering non-ordinary states of reality and connecting with the Divine.  That is your birthright.

As a Yogi on a spiritual path of self-realization, when I was introduced to this practice it felt so beautifully aligned with my own meditation, coaching and visualization practices.  It’s my belief that we enter these altered states of reality using our imagination to connect to the Divine any time we meditate. Of course, as we are more practiced with meditation, energy work and other healing modalities we get deeper and more connected to these non-ordinary states.

In Shamanic journeys, a drum beat, rattle or another form of a click track are used to focus and relax the mind to an alpha or theta state.   When you are in this state the imagination can soar beyond into the non-ordinary realms, parallel universes and dimensions beyond space and time.

When you journey you are opening yourself up to connection with all living things on this planet Earth and other realms beyond what you know here. It’s a practice that reminds us of our infinite potentiality.  There is a sense of wholeness that returns in this remembrance as well as empowerment that comes from this.

In my experiences with Shamanic drum journeys I’ve recognized how its opened up my intuition as well as heightened other senses.  For example, if you are a visual person in your daily life, you may not see visuals in your journeys because that’s your dominant sensory input. You may start to experience an awakening and deepening in your listening or felt sense in your body.  This helps you become a stronger communicator.

The Shamanic drum journey has many healing benefits.  This practice is used to address 3 forms of illness in the Shamanic view:

1 – Loss of Power

2 – Loss of Soul Essence

3 – Blockages or negative energy taken on through the loss of power or soul essence.

When we travel to these other dimensions – called the Lower, Middle and Upper Worlds – we can address these different forms of illness based on what spirit allies we connect with.

Typically we go to the Lower world first to retrieve power animals that can help us feel that innate power again and to reconnect with Nature spirits.  We can travel to the Middle World to address this physical dimension and communicate with the those that live in our present reality for healing.  And the Upper World is the ethereal world in which we can connect with guardian spirits, teachers in human form.

Some Other Benefits of Shamanic Drum Journeying:

  • Reclaim your power and soul essence.
  • Release negative thought patterns and reprogram your narratives.
  • Quick and direct access to Divine Spiritual Guidance.
  • Create transformation for yourself, others and the planet.
  • Experience harmony, balance and wake up to your highest potential.
  • Connect to the Natural worlds of plants, animals, trees and other aspects of the living realms.
  • Remembrance that everything in life has a Spirit.
  • Increase your intuition, senses and ability to communicate.

How do you start to practice shamanic drum journeys?

With any Shamanic Journey you want to start with an intention and move into a question that you wish to address within these realms.

There are drum tracks you can find online to start practicing. Sandra Ingerman has a beautiful book called “Shamanic Journeying” a beginners guide that includes a CD for practice.

You may also find Shamanic practitioners around your local area that guide these practices and local workshops.

As always, if you need any guidance or have any questions feel free to reach out.

Coming up April 10 – 12, 2020 in Mount Shasta, the Sacred Valley Spiritual Retreat is offering a Shamanic Healing + Freedom Breathwork Retreat weekend which includes Shamanic teachings in: Realms and Worlds; Causes of Sickness; Chord Cutting; Energy Extractions; Shamanic Journeying; Rituals and Altars; Sacred Spaces; Despacho Ceremonies; Mesa Building.

Blessings on your journeys,

Nicole

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I’m Feeling Lit Up in My Essence

by Nicole's Blog

Here in this moment I’m ready to claim: THE RIGHT TO BE MYSELF!  It’s the energy that’s coalescing in the collective. Ladies, are you feeling this too? Are you ready to give yourself permission?

My Divine ESSENCE is being re-activated and I’m feeling lit up. 😉

I’m all about energy and going deep into the architecture of the chakra system.  In fact, the subtle body is my absolutely favorite place to hang out and get nerdy. 😉

Just for the record, your divine essence is your second chakra, also known as the Seat of Your Self.  It’s your desire map. Svadhistana translates to “sweetness or abode”. Your womb is your uniquely architected Divine temple.

I’ve had this deep purging and releasing of the old matrix in my body happening for a while, but right now I’m so present to full surrender.  My Sacral Chakra has a deep yearning to let God, let Love and let Flow.  I’m allowing ease and grace to be very present.

Growing up in a Catholic household, I shamed myself, my body and my sex for too long. Thankfully, I have tossed those old lenses out along with the societal programming around the way things “should” be in areas like relationship and motherhood. I’ve recently and boldly stepped into whole new level of loving kindness and relationship with Christ Consciousness and the Divine that feels so intimate, supportive and unifying.

As an empowered awakened woman in this now, I’m also feeling a deep resonance with my Aquarian energy that calls bullshit on all of those outdated modes of separation, lack consciousness and ego battles of right and wrong.

I am tasting the creativity, desire, pleasure and bliss in my vortex re-align and re-awaken. I’m feeling a burst of magic coming from my deep with my womb.

I’m feeling a full tilt lean into Truth and Light. I want to leave all my protective armor on the battlefield and dance with my heart and soul into Unconditional Love.

How did I find this power again?

Well, recently I recalled the top moments in my life when I have felt absolutely lit up.

These are the moments that remind me what a gift it is to be Human and FEEL.  These  moments when my Kundalini Life Force expressed itself wholly and fully in my body. I loved these moments when I felt completely in my power, connected to Source and living truly in my Divine essence.  When I felt truly me and truly FREE.

I bring myself now to the word embodiment. Your Divine essence is within your body! Get in there and feel it sister.

In these moments I was in (and truly feeling) my body –  full senses activated.

For me, these moments have been traveling tropical islands, dancing on stages, flowing with water, singing my heart out in song circles, creating music and writing, having exquisite lovemaking sessions, going wild at festivals like Burning Man and my son’s first breath on my bare chest.  These were moments I was all WOMBYN – hear me ROAR. In these moments, I gave myself full permission to be ME.

In these moments I felt like time stopped. Divine Love, Truth and Light poured through my whole body and heart.

These were the moments I put aside any thoughts of rejection, failure, and not enough-ness.

These were moments of electricity.  In them, I was in my highest potential of Being-ness and in my Creative Genius. These were moments of transformation, empowerment, ascension, and pure magic.

In these moments I am the light. I am my living, sharing and being my gifts. I’m joyous, excitable, aligned, connected, soulful, fierce, radiant, graceful and LOVE.

It feels amazing to be connecting to this sacral energy again.

I invite you to think of your top moments when you were fired up and feeling amazing.  Write them down, feel them, describe them, meditate and dance with them.

Get connected to your beloved womb wisdom beloveds.  Move your body, breathe, play, dance, and get your energy activated.

Raise your vibration and claim your RIGHT TO BE YOU!

I have 2 spaces open for my 1:1 soulmate clients to start this February 2020.  If you’re ready to drop your guilt, shame and sexual narratives that keep you out of love, contact me and let’s get you connected to your essence.