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

image1-1

Healing the Emotional Root Leads to Enlightenment

by Nicole's Blog

At the core of your being, your inner child is longing to be healed.

The little, playful, innocent child within you is hurt.  When you get triggered that is her kicking and screaming to be heard, seen and loved in the way she wants to be. She’s asking for your help!

You keep trying to push her away.  Sometimes you say, “That wasn’t such a big deal, I’m over it, stop whining and complaining. I’ve forgiven him/her.”  Yet, avoiding and ignoring doesn’t feel supportive to a sensitive child who wants love and attention.

Imagine your own kids. See yourself as them. See your parents as inner children as well.  This will bring about compassion.

The work you are here to do is to heal your inner child that is wounded so that you are no longer a victim of your own life who is not seen, heard, or loved in the way that you want to be.

If you can give that inner child a voice, what would she say?

Your inner child didn’t have ways to express herself in the way you do as an adult, so she internalized her pain and suffering. She believes that the world is against her.  That things are not going to work out for her.  She becomes a Victim because she has lost her knowing that she is love.  She is separated from love.

Your inner child that is wounded develops this ego identity that believes she’s at fault. You may punish and sabotage yourself because you believe you are bad or wrong.  In the end, you don’t ask for your needs to be met.  And you may believe you don’t deserve or your aren’t good enough.  You become the Martyr.

If you can give your inner child a voice, what needs would she ask to be met?

As a child, when you stopped asking for your needs to be met, you stuffed all this pain inside of you, how does that make you feel?

The inner child is angry, raging and sad and feels like she needs to blame and shame herself and others for these feelings of being trapped and mistrusting of the world.

She probably lashes out or criticizes or judges herself and others.  She may even get outwardly reactive and triggered often by others and her relationships. She becomes the Perpetrator. The inner and outer judge.

She feels its her against the world, or she isn’t seemingly getting what she wants when she keeps trying to make things work.  She’s in a tantrum and can’t see her way out.

If you can give your inner child a voice, who and what is she blaming for things not working out?

She really wants other people to get her, hear her and acknowledge her. She keeps pleasing others to make this happen.  She expects that she can change or fix others so it all works out.

She keeps seeking relationships with people that will be ‘on her side’, ‘follow her path’, and get it. She feels safe and in control.

She’s taking on more than her fair share of responsibility and giving more than she needs to.

She’s feeling like other people’s pains are more important than her feelings and feels resentments building up because she’s suppressing her voice.

She becomes the rescuer, to fix, solve, change or control so that she can prove her value.

If you can give your inner child a voice, what would she say and feel like if she could drop all of her expectations and needs to please others and really take care of herself? What is really her responsibility?

If you resonate with any of this you are working in the programming of the 4 addictive ego behaviors – the victim, martyr, persecutor and rescuer.

These are the ego illusions.

In the end, these are stories that are created by the wounded inner child in efforts to survive with its pain and suffering.

What if this could shift?

What if your perception has been clouded by hurt and that’s why things aren’t in full flow?

What if you could express your feelings and be heard and loved in response?

What if you could heal your woundedness and live in internal peace and harmony, so much so that chaos could not touch you?

What if you forgave yourself and others to the extent that you could see beyond the illusion of comparison, competitiveness, wrong, right, blame, shame and rebellion?

What if you could live in so much internal love that you radiate out all needs met, all the time and you could resource from within and your connect with the Divine?

What if you could heal that inner child and experience victory and freedom at deep levels of your being?

What if you could sit in neutrality and let go of the attachments and expectations and live in synchronicities with the Universe and feel undeniably supported?

This is achievable.

This is a practice.

This is the truth.

Healing the emotional root of your traumas and releasing the triggers is the path of enlightenment!

 

If you want to learn how to to heal your inner child and breakthrough your limiting beliefs, step into your power and live the dreams that you imagine for yourself, contact me for safe and loving support.

(FYI…Photo above is me and my little bro.)

earthing

{Free Meditation} For Anxiety + Stress!

by Nicole's Blog

Have you ever felt anxious, groundless, scattered, mistrusting or fearful?  Do you have trouble with money?

Are you fearful that there is not enough?   Are you in a state of overwhelm?

How connected are you to your body?    Do you get stuck in your head and spin out? Is it hard to make decisions?

These are the qualities of a root chakra energy imbalance.  

This can be caused by things like:  
1) Disconnection with the Earth
2) Early core wounds in your childhood experience
3) Societal programming and trends around scarcity and lack
4) Fear of disease and illness

What can you do to balance your energy system and heal your root?

In  ancient wisdom teachings we understand that Nature is our reflection.

Thus, we learn about our human energy centers through the qualities of the master energies/frequencies of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether/Space/Center (depending on the traditions) and we heal through connecting with them.

I am offering you a very simple practice today that can help bring you into connection to the Earth and recharge your energy body.

Qualities of the 1st Chakra:
Earth Element/Pachamama – Roots, Density, Physical
Relates to your physical body and our health
Imbalances relate to issues with mother, basic needs being met (root relationship, shelter, food, water, money)
Safety/Trust

How do these qualities relate to you?

The foundation of the trees are the roots.

The roots make the trees stable and provide firm footing and connection to the Earth.

When you are healthy in this center you feel grounded.  You feel safe and connected. You understand that your basic needs are being met at a foundational level (food, water, shelter). You don’t need to hoard.

The earth energy relates to your physical body, specifically your feet and legs.

The 1st chakra reflects your core relationship with the Mother (earth & human).

When your foundation is solid and anchored you can trust in life. When you trust, you understand that life is always giving to itself. Life is prosperous and abundant and revealing the highest potential of all things.  Even in the unexpected.

An imbalance in this chakra is fear, overwhelm, lack and scarcity.

When you feel, see and connect to the unconditionally loving presence that is the Earth who constantly offers herself without asking anything in return, you will begin to release your fear and anxiety.

You can start to feel supported and loved.  Here is a great practice to get connected!

Earthing + Grounding Meditation Practice (15 minutes).

1.  Download this FREE meditation on my dropbox HERE and put it on your headphones!

2.  Go outside with bare feet and stand on the earth (not the concrete) in Tadasana or Mountain Pose.

3. Charge your body with real vital energy – prana.

4. Stay there for 15 minutes and you will receive 350 volts of energy into your body.

This will take energy away from the mind, get you grounded in your body and give you life giving prana and energy for healthy habits!

If you want to go deeper, I take my clients through a highly customized 3 month 1:1 healing and coaching journey through each of their energy centers. With this knowledge you can re-balance all your energy centers for a better overall life balance.

You will do this through an extensive tool box of coaching, remote intuitive healings, somatic and embodiment journeying, meditations, affirmations, yoga, breathwork, sound healing, and tantra mirror connection work.

If you are interested in learning more about the “Unleash the Priestess” program, book a free call to find out more.

P.S. Join my free, private Facebook group #unleashthepriestess to connect with other women who are empowering each other to evolve and thrive by sharing their deep healing processes!

Infinite blessings on the path to awaken to the Divinity in all,

Nicole
Http://nicoledoherty.com

“Our power to manifest is equal to our power to generate our own evolution.”
– Claire Zammit

spiritual gifts

How can we be “earth-minded” holiday gifters?

by Nicole's Blog

For a while I’ve been grappling with the traditional holidays, mainly the amount of money we spend as a culture on material goods. I’m currently navigating how to celebrate the holidays and discussing with Lloyd what our traditions will be as a family, especially with our two year old son.

What do we want to teach Yeshua?

How do we want to be more earth-minded gift givers?

Do we want to continue giving our money to big corporate monopolies that are not helping the planet?

I would love to hear from my community about this and if this is something that you struggle with as well. The deeper I’ve gone into my Shamanic studies, the more I’ve been practicing rituals to the Earth and the Moon.  I’m understanding more of the role I play as a human within the cosmos. I’m realizing how much more important it is to be of service to the Earth. Thus, wanting to buy less things and in replacement, exchange more healing energy with people and the planet.

How can I be of better service vs a better consumer?

The other day I went to a store and realized that I was in the mad rush of holiday shopping. Lately, around the holidays I go into a state of overwhelm and feel like I want to hide. There is all this activity going around outside of me and inside I am screaming,”What are we doing to our planet?”. I look in these big stores and see so much crap that will just end up in the garbage.  I see so much plastic.  Even as I look around my own house, we made a pledge to only use wood toys and I don’t see more than a handful of them.

How can we change our holiday gift giving to have less negative impact on the earth and more positive impact on each other?

Here are a few suggestions that I’ve come up with today:

  • As a healer, I love gifting energetic exchanges that don’t impact the planet negatively and create landfill, but impact a person’s soul.  Gift a healing session to someone. Put your money into the hands of people who are really changing lives!  I know countless healers, breathers, yogis, intuits, and therapists that could offer so much love for less than $200!!! Even over Skype! Could it be any easier?  Let me know if you need recommendations.

  • My family and I decided moving forward to only send electronic gift cards to stores that we regularly use for purchases like food, music or books.

  • Another earth-giving gift idea is to create an experience that you could share with someone like a picnic on a hiking trail with a dinner at the end of the road at a nice place you love.

  • Gift educational experiences that will help someone process things in their life and help them heal like workshops or classes. There are thousands of extraordinary teachers out there that are offering brilliant teachings!  And websites like Sounds True and the Shift Network and countless others offering brave new information.

  • You could offer earth gifts like crystals, stones, incense, and items that are beautiful, meaningful, have healing qualities and are from the earth.

  • Donate to charity on behalf of someone.  Our teacher trainees did this for myself and Jocelyn as a teacher’s gift for our last yoga teacher training. It was so incredibly touching. With the fires that have recently happened my community has been able to offer this gift to our dear friends. {Link to fundraiser. Receive a tax deduction by donating to our 501c3 non-profit at: ElevateFoundation.org – Simply click the yellow DONATE button at the bottom of the page)

  • On that note, perhaps offer clothing and empty your closets of anything you haven’t worn in a 2 years. Someone else could use them.

  • Trade.  What service to you offer the world and what service do you want to receive?  Reach out and touch someone.

  • Volunteer for an earth project. Ecotopia, (Ojai Hot Springs) is always looking for people to clean the land.

In my humble opinion, I believe its time to re-evaluate what we are consuming.

Do we want to continue to put our money into the places that are causing so much grief to this planet and not to mention, perpetuating the lack story of “I don’t have enough money.”? How many times a day do you hear that ridiculous story.

It’s time to take our power back.

It’s time to create a barter system based on love and healing energy.

It’s time to cure the mind’s distractions.

It’s time to give our money to each other, the people that are changing lives.

It’s time to help the planet.

As my community, I’d love to hear from you.  What are some of your awesome ideas that don’t negatively impact the planet? What types of gifts are you giving this year?  I’d love to hear your creative stories 😉

smiling young woman in summer field show heart shape hands sign

Do you deny yourself love?

by Nicole's Blog

Do you deny yourself love?
 
I always ask my clients what their self-care practices are.
 
Often I get a nervous laugh. And then a ton of excuses.
 
Why do we deny ourselves love?
 
Recently, I had to look at some of the ways that I deny myself love.
 
I criticize myself. Sometimes I’m afraid to charge a decent price for my services. I don’t schedule myself a lunch. I procrastinate about things. I opt out of yoga because I let client sessions run over.
 
These are the ways I take myself out of self-love. How about you?
 
When I recently talked to a client of mine about love, she said, “I never wanted to love myself because I was told it was arrogant.”
 
Arrogance is not love. It’s fear – imposing your ideas of superiority because you have to prove your worth. Love is knowing everyone is equal under the eyes of God.
 
What I’ve learned from the Shamanic indigenous ways and Yoga, is that everything is connected and it’s imperative that we respect all, including the Earth. In loving and having incredible respect for all of God’s creations, we must love this body-mind system to its fullest.
Love is appreciation, value and self-worth.  Love is what you are offering the world in service to the whole of humanity, the Earth and ultimately the Universe.

How could your life be different if you really loved all of you?
Can you imagine into what it would be like if that’s the way we all lived?
 
The more I value and love myself, the happier I am. I don’t need to do anything to prove myself, I have so much less pressure to perform, I feel in flow with life, the less I need, and I can offer so much more to the world.
 
If you want to learn more about self-care, self-love practices — sign up for your FREE Shamanic Priestess session. We can talk about ways you can love yourself more.  Ping me.
 
P.S. Join my free, private Facebook group Shamanic Healing Arts Academy #ShamanicPriestess to connect with other women who are empowering each other to evolve and thrive by sharing their deep healing processes!

Infinite blessings on the path to awaken to the Divinity in all,
Nicole

Http://nicoledoherty.com
“Our power to manifest is equal to our power to generate our own evolution.”
– Claire Zammit