Numinosity Wellness

Reflections on Card #26 The Taming Power of the Great – Remaining Aware

Now is the time to gather up your reserves to face the challenges that lie ahead. It may be a good time to question: What ways am I being tested or pushed to grow beyond my current sense of security? How am I reacting to the changes? Are my reactions serving me or distracting me?

Obstacles will feel less obtrusive, and your energy is freed up after having identified what your potential fears are and how they are inhibiting you. Once they are named – you can put more energy into your desired outcome.

Take some time now to be introspective and contemplate what practices would make you feel most grounded as you get ready to move forward. Carefully consider what honors your own integrity as you create a plan of action that will allow you to advance with more ease and clarity!

Featured deck Tao Oracle by Ma Deva Padma. Gina C James, LMT #7348, Reiki Master and Spiritual Director uses the Tao Oracle in conjunction with her multilevel bodywork sessions.

In our current times we are faced by many challenges that threaten to knock us off balance.

Spiritual Direction can offer a space to reflect on what these challenges mean to us. It can provide a time to recognize what has been lost, what must be grieved and what must be released.

Through spiritual direction we can discover how we find hope – that voice of Spirit, God, the Divine – resonating through our inner wisdom helping guide us into a sense of deep endurance through hardship. Reconnecting with that inner faith reminds us that we will be okay, that we will again find opportunities to thrive.

When life changing events happen, they can either be unexpected or perhaps we have a low level awareness of what’s to come. The stress we feel from watching the news, listening to friends, family and coworkers who are being affected can cause our bodies to shift into “fight or flight” mode. When we are directly affected we go into “shock”. Physically, our adrenal glands are on overdrive, trying to maintain a stream of constant energy that our bodies cannot sustain for long periods of time.

At some point, we “crash”, feeling the exhaustion of pushing ourselves beyond our current capabilities. This is when the grief over what we have lost begins. There can be confusion and often depression that sets in, spinning our world on its head.

Often our minds are looking for answers, justifications, ideas of where to go or what to do next. Our bodies are yearning to relax, to feel whole, strong yet flexible. Our spirits are yearning for awareness, to feel connected and not alone. We find ourselves scrambling for something to fill the gap.

Here we have the opportunity to look within and listen to the ways that we are being with the current situation. There is an opportunity here for Spiritual growth when we take the time to notice what is yearning to be attended to.

In a Spiritual Direction session we listen in order to notice where you are being “nudged” internally. We can look at what are the most appropriate and tantalizing places and practices to cultivate both inner and outer connection and consider how to best integrate them in your daily life.

We are all engaging daily on our Spiritual paths intertwined with our professional and personal journeys. By allowing ourselves the space to deeply acknowledge this interconnection and by making mindful choices along the way, we allow the bright light of hope to guide us through difficult experiences. We witness a deep knowing that this too shall pass and we will arrive on the other side with a renewed sense of clarity, health and peace.

Gina C James completed a two year Contemplative Listening program in Spiritual Direction in 2006 through Namaste. She is a member if Spiritual Director International. She currently offers Spiritual Direction Sessions through Numinosity where she can be reached for more information.

Mercury Retrograde, what does it mean?

This cycle happens three or four times every year, when the planet Mercury slows down and appears to move backward.

Mercury in a chart rules communication of all kinds.
When Mercury is retrograde, more awareness is needed regarding email, voice mail, computers, phones, faxes, etc…

Miscommunication is common, hence the need for more awareness
and patience with yourself and others. It is definitely a more contemplative time of reevaluation; think of words that begin with ‘re’. Renew, restore, refresh, review.

This will be an approximately three week period of review in your life.

Mercury Retrograde dates for 2009
January 11th-31st; May 6th-30th; September 6th-29th; December 26th-January 15th, 2010

For more information, contact me at: lyn@numinositywellness.com

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of psychotherapy that was developed by Francine Shapiro, in 1987, to assist clients in resolving disturbing and/or traumatic life experiences. It uses a specific structured approach to address past, present, and future aspects of disturbing memories.

EMDR is based on the adaptive information processing model which hypothesizes that symptoms surface when disturbing events have not been adequately processed at the time of the experience, and that once fully processed these disturbing events can be resolved. EMDR uses an integrative approach, combining elements of traditional psychotherapy orientations and physiological approaches. It combines mind, body, spirit – or to put it another way the intellectual, the emotional and the physical. A very simple example of how to use an integrative approach is the question: When you think of that experience what emotions come up, where do you feel that in your body, and what negative thoughts do you notice?

The most unique aspect of EMDR versus other more traditional psychotherapies is the use of bilateral stimulation of the brain (moving back and forth between the right brain and the left brain.) To do this the EMDR therapist uses different forms of bilateral stimulation such as eye movements (moving the eyes back and forth – right and left,) bilateral sound (through ear phones hearing sounds go back and forth between the right ear and the left ear,) or bilateral tactile stimulation (ex., pulsars that are held in the hands or bilateral tapping on palms.)

With EMDR, an EMDR therapist would combine bilateral stimulation with negative thoughts, visualized images, and body sensations. EMDR also utilizes “dual awareness” to allow the individual to be able to move between the disturbing material of the past and what’s going on in the present moment. The intention of dual awareness is to prevent re-traumatization from exposure to the disturbing memory.

EMDR was originally used to treat PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,) currently it is used to treat many different types of issues including those that are less complicated than PTSD. Some of the other issues that can be addressed using EMDR during counseling are depression, anxiety, grief and loss. Clients also seek EMDR for symptoms that result from a car accident, surgery/hospitalization, and other experiences that were sudden and/or traumatic.

EMDR is useful for performance enhancement such as acting and or performing, presenting or giving a speech, preparing for tests, and other professional skills that the client wants to strengthen.
Depending on the issue or reason for seeking EMDR treatment, the number of sessions needed vary. For a single incident trauma the general recommendation for number of EMDR sessions is approximately six sessions. The EMDR sessions do not necessarily include the initial intake assessment, which can take several sessions depending on the client’s psychological and emotional needs. A qualified EMDR therapist can assist the client in determining an approximate number of session’s that may be needed.

For more invasive, chronic and long term issues there is not a general guideline for the number of EMDR sessions. It may take quite a number of traditional psychotherapy sessions before moving into EMDR; again a qualified EMDR therapist can help the client assess what that might look like.

For further information regarding EMDR visit the EMDR section on Christina’s website.

We invite you to participate with us in a toy drive for disadvantaged children. We will be collecting unopened, unwrapped toys and children’s gifts through December 17th. We will also be collecting non-perishable food items (cans, boxes, etc) for the Oregon Food Bank through December 24th. Happy Holidays!