What I Offer

In some past posts, I have alluded to starting a website - I'm working on that, and in the meantime I thought I'd write out here what I'll be offering on the site. If you're interested in any of these, drop me a line, or pay by clicking the "donate" button on the right over there, and indicate which you're getting in the paypal note.

Intuitive Readings

Do you ever feel a little stuck on an issue, like maybe there's an aspect you're not seeing? Have you sought clarity with something going on with you or in your life, and just weren't able to find it? I can help! I have the ability to connect and intuitively sense those underlying concerns, bringing them to your attention. I can offer insight after a short conversation with you that will help you bring a solution to fruition, or bring peace to a confused area.

This is NOT a psychic reading, I don't usually see the future for my clients. I have clairsentience and strong intuition, and I'll use those to help you! Blocks to your growth will be more visible, helping you to release them, and BE in this moment more clearly, allowing you to move forward in a beneficial direction.

A reading lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour, and costs $45. I will call you, and if you're outside the US, we can use Skype. Let me know if you have any questions!

I'm also offering a package deal, 3 readings for $115. You can use these yourself, spread out over time, or give a reading as a gift to a friend!

I have some testimonials, just a couple for now (I'm putting a bunch on the site):

I would not hesitate to refer people looking for a reading to you ~ Paul P

You picked up on details, and helped me find the answer I was looking for! Your insights are amazing, and very helpful. ~ Cindy K



Happily, because I finally, finally have the use of a car:

Drum Circles

I have been facilitating drum circles for several years. It brings me SUCH joy to reach and connect with people in this way. Drumming in community is SO powerful. If you haven't experienced it, I highly, highly recommend it. My specialty (every time I write that, I hear Wallace from Wallace & Gromit, saying, "It's our spec-i-al-i-ty.") is healing or intentional drum circles. I teach the basics of hand drumming if anyone needs that, we drum for a bit, then I lead a guided meditation. I rarely go in with a meditation in mind; usually, I just say what I'm seeing when I start, and go from there. After the meditation, we drum some more to send that centered healing energy out - or in, depending on need! It is always, every single time, a magical experience, and I am always, every single time, surprised and pleased by what happens. I have never led two circles that were the same. These circles are some of the best things I've ever experienced - and I get to make them happen! How cool is that?!

I am also very, very good at getting people drumming who have never drummed before, especially people who might be just a *teensy* bit scared.

I have done healing circles in the community, for women's groups, for spiritual gatherings, and for companies that wanted to offer wellness options to their employees. Drumming is proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, strengthen the immune system, reduce burnout, and a host of other health benefits has been observed.

I have also led circles as a team-building exercise, for corporations or other groups - especially youth groups. I can, through the drum circle, emphasize and bring out any theme your gathering might have. I have opened and closed conferences with drum circles - it brings a group together in a unique, memorable way, and if it's the conference opener, speakers and presenters will start with reduced stress and greater mental clarity.

Pricing on drum circles varies, depending on how many participants, how long you want the circle to last, if I'll be drumming several times through the event, etc. Just send me an email, and let's talk about it! Right now, I'm prepared to offer circles within 50 miles of Charlotte, NC. I'm willing to travel farther, but a travel expense would need to be added to my fee.

I could write a whole lot more about drumming, but I'll stop here. Contact me with any questions!

Reiki

I am a certified reiki master. If you're not familiar with it, reiki is healing energy channeled through me to you, or whomever I'm working with. I was initially skeptical when I first heard about it, but was moved to take a class, and I loved it so much, I continued on to become a reiki master. I've had such incredible experiences with reiki! The word reiki is from two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy."

I channel this energy, and it flows to my client, being drawn to places of imbalance or low energy. I intuitively know where to place my hands. The feeling of receiving reiki varies from person to person and session to session, but over all, it is a refreshing, gentle radiance, restoring wellbeing and peace. It works on a physical, spiritual, and emotional level. Reiki can unblock and heal past hurts and wounds. I don't know of a single imbalance or situation that reiki cannot help. It is good, positive energy. You do not have to hold specific beliefs for reiki to work for you.

It lowers stress, and leaves you feeling centered and confident.

The work I've done with reiki informs my intuitive readings, and flows through my drum circles.

I can give you reiki in a session in my office here in Charlotte, or I can give distance reiki, at a time we'll agree on.

A reiki session lasts anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes, sometimes up to an hour.

The cost of an in-person reiki session is also $45, and can be combined in a 3-session package for $115. For distance reiki, the cost is $35 per session, or $95 for three. Again, feel free to save those sessions for yourself, or give someone the incredible gift of receiving reiki.

So - those are the things I'll be offering on my site, and I'm very happy to be able to offer them now!

Namasté, Veruca Salt

Sooo.... I've been working with a life coach, to help me reach some goals that I've had for a long time, but wasn't consistently working on. The few times we've met have been *amazing* and very, very helpful.

I can FEEL a shift in my energy. I'm waking up early now without setting an alarm, ready to start my day. I don't have as much patience for just sitting. I've always laughed when people have said, "I just can't sit still if I have things I can do!" I have never, ever, in all of my 43 years been that way. People have said, "I just can't relax!" and I completely could not relate. I have described myself as "Type Z". I have never had difficulty relaxing. But, suddenly - or, maybe not so suddenly (note the 43 years, above) - I am impatient if I know I have something I could be doing.

In terms of kundalini and chakras, a blockage has been cleared, and more energy is flowing freely.

I got in touch with a part of myself a few years ago, when I was actively looking at my history of cleaning, or not cleaning, which has long been an issue for me. I did an exercise from Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life, which I won't go into here, but had the result of me coming to realize that one reason I didn't clean, was because there was a part of me that really, really liked the idea of people being shocked when they came into my home. I am a peaceful person, and I usually bring calming energy where I go, so there was a part of me that really loved the idea, that people that had that view of me would come into my very messy home, and they'd be like, "YOU? Live here? In this chaos?!" I called this part my inner teen - very rebellious when controlled, full of fire and sometimes anger, strongly desiring to bring about change. I did some writing, and told my inner teen that I'd really like a clean house, that it's easier on us as a family if we can find things when we need them, that things would flow better in general if our space was clear. AND, we could create a very shocking piece of art that would go right on the wall, visible right when people walked in the door. So the same effect would be there, but our home would be clean.

A note about inner teen - This is also the part of me that, at one point, was wailing, "But when is it going to be MY turn? When can I be the asshole parent? People always said when I was a grownup, I could treat my kids the way I wanted, and it would be my turn! But you're here with your peaceful parenting, and listening, and honoring! I WANT MY TURN!" This part of me was resentful, and angry, that my kids weren't going to be subjected to the amount of control I had been subjected to. It took a lot of writing and working through that, to make peace with it. I think a lot of people want their turn at being the asshole parent, and that's where a lot of unschooling families can get hung up, if they don't do the work to look at that and let it go.

SO. There's my life coaching going on, and me having more energy, and working on a website for my intuitive readings, and drum circles. And my inner teen. Going, "I'm going to have this doughnut for breakfast! AND coffee! And you can't stop me! I don't care if it brings you down later, stops that energy. I want it NOW!" I talked about this with Laura, my life coach. I told her about Meredith, an unschooling parent whose son came to live with her after he had been to school, living with his birth mom, being controlled and judged and punished. He was angry, and was making some hurtful choices. At first, she tried to push her value of peace on him - then she realized she needed to meet him where he was, honor everything about him. They did things like buy him panes of glass to break, so he wouldn't feel the need to break windows. They asked, "What is it about breaking these windows that you need?" and they found a way for him to do that, without destroying others' property. I met Ray at an unschooling gathering, and he is an amazing, exciting, happy-to-be-alive unschooling teen. I have loved being privy to their journey, through Meredith's postings on unschooling lists.

Knowing them, and their story, is helping me with this part of my journey. Doing the work to get in touch with my inner teen is helping me with this part of my journey. Unschooling is life is unschooling.

When I told Laura about Meredith, and about my inner teen, she suggested I find a way to allow my inner teen to be of service to the bigger picture for my life. How can we take the passion, and anger, and fuel these changes I'm making - while honoring that part of me? I had set aside a few hours today, when I was going to get in touch, do some writing and exploring, and listening. Before I started that, though, I logged on to facebook, to say "hello" and see what my friends are up to today. Another friend named Laura had changed her profile picture to Veruca Salt, and she posted, saying, "my inner Veruca". I immediately heard Veruca in Willy Wonka's factory, face red, yelling, "But I want it NOW!", so I commented with that. Laura replied, "She is a powerful creator."

Wait. Huh? Oh! She is! She IS a powerful creator! And with that, I'm beginning to see how I can channel that destructive energy... I want my website NOW! And I want it to look like I want it to look!! But instead of looking to Daddy or outside myself to make that happen, I'm stoking my own engine with her fire.

I'm still going to write, and make sure I'm hearing my inner teen well, and meeting her needs, like Meredith has done. But, ah, the gift of Veruca, so unexpected, an image SO clear, it can't help but inspire me. She's not a bad egg, she just needed someone to help her channel that amazing energy, and desire.

I am loving how all these different aspects of my life come together, and how radical unschooling has fed me like no other change I've made in my life, how it teaches me to be present and listen, and honor. Not just my two sons, or other kids, but parts of myself, too, so I can grow up - at 43 - with a strong sense of centeredness, and groundedness, and self, and support.

And I love how when I set a goal and am determined to meet it, everything flows together to help that happen, even facebook.

Gassho ~