My Work

Happy 2020, everyone!

Many people have asked me about the style of work I do now, and I have to admit that the clichés of the holistic world make describing my work challenging. The best way to answer this is to break it down into sections.

Body and Nervous System:

CranioSacral therapy is a light touch therapy that targets the fascial system and central nervous system. It releases restrictions in the fascia and helps reset the CNS so that the body can more easily self-correct. People who live with chronic pain, anxiety, depression, PTSD, lack of vagal tone, and trauma, all benefit from this healing modality.

Reiki is a Japanese style of light-touch energy work that supports the client’s natural healing process. It works well with other forms of treatment to help calm the body, emotions, and nervous system.

Mental and Emotional:

Somatic Counseling focuses on the internal body responses of the client as well as the mental and emotional processing of trauma. This therapy is great for clients who have difficulty recognizing their feelings, or how their emotions affect their body responses. The work of Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Stephen Porges, and Michelle Chalfant, have greatly informed my practice.

I am LGBTQ+ affirming, and I work closely with this community. Together we address issues of (physical, mental, and emotional) trauma, neglect, anxiety, depression, PTSD, relationship issues, etc.

Psychoeducational Classes:

I teach classes that are designed to offer tools to handle life stressors. Some of these classes address the nervous system and Vagus nerve resilience, and others teach grounding and centering practices that help reduce anxiety and feelings of overwhelm. Classes are offered in Tupelo, MS, at Conscious Healing Therapies, and in Starkville, MS, at Soulflower Healing Arts Studio.

How you can work with me:

The beauty of my work is that sessions are designed specifically for each client, depending on one’s unique situation and needs.

If you would like more information, or if you would like to schedule time with me, feel free to email me at tupeloholisticcenter@gmail.com. We can set up a free phone consultation so that we can determine how I can be most helpful to you.

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Ancestral Support

Some people say that “we are our ancestors,” and I see their point. Yes, we carry their DNA forward. We are intimately connected with those who came before us, and we carry their blessings and their challenges in many ways. We can struggle because of their struggles, and we often cause harm because of the harm they perpetrated. We carry their medicine and their burdens, and we also can (sometimes unconsciously, often consciously) continue a lineage of suppression instead of liberation.

I want to be mindful, that while we are deeply connected with out ancestors, we are not our ancestors. They had their own lives and their own strengths and weaknesses and coping mechanisms. Many brought love and connection, and many caused harm.

We are responsible for carrying their medicine forward, and we are responsible for healing those burdened places that caused pain to others. We are the healers that we have been waiting for. It’s way past time to turn this mess around.

Ancestral Reconnection and Healing

Our work together will help you cultivate a deep relationship with your healed ancestors. Everyone has them; they just may be far up your lineage. We will use Earth Medicine tools to develop right relationship with them, to interact safely with them, and to engage their assistance in healing your family lineage.

These one-on-one sessions are respectful, powerful, insightful, and transformational.

When would you choose to work with me?

• You see patterns with your grandparents, your parents, and yourself that you know need to be healed, and not passed down to your children.
• You do not know who your biological ancestors are, but you want to connect with them.
• You feel isolated and disconnected from your purpose.
• You have experienced trauma or complex trauma, and you feel that this trauma has ancestral roots.
• You are experiencing physical or emotional pain, and you feel like it “doesn’t belong to you”.

These are just a handful of reasons why you may want to engage with your healed ancestral lineage.

When we connect with our healed ancestors, we can bring transformation to our personal lives and to the beautiful beings who will come after us. If you do not have children, your work still affects your lineage.

My approach in working with you is gentle and respectful. I honor your life experiences, your personal world view, and the medicine you bring to our work together. You are the one in control in these sessions. My job is to walk alongside you; witness your experience; and bring support, respectful dialogue, and guidance as you need it.

Be prepared for this work to encompass several sessions, depending on what you bring to your Ancestral Helping Spirits. After we work together several times, you will be able to do a lot of continued exploration and healing on your own.

Before We Begin

When you register for a session with me, my scheduler will ask you to prepay for your session (if you are a new client… return clients can schedule with their username/password). Your first session with me will be 90 minutes, and later sessions can be scheduled for either 60 or 90 minutes, depending on your preference.

Before our initial visit, I ask you to share as much as you can, what pain, problem, burden, and/or questions you are bringing to our session. Then I go into journey on your behalf and ask how I can best support you during our time together.

Our Sessions

Our sessions may include a bit of education around how to connect with your healed ancestral line, how to engage with them, etc. If you already work with your healed ancestors, we will progress into exploring your pain points or concerns, and how to work with your ancestral helping spirits to transform your lineage. While we work together, my focus is also on monitoring you and your process, ensuring that you have a safe, supported experience.

If you already work closely with your ancestors but you are in a “stuck” place in your personal healing, I can help you work with them so that you see your next steps more clearly.

Sometimes our sessions may include personal clearing or other energetic work. Not everything is “about” your lineage. Sometimes we have to clear ourselves of any blocks before we can engage more deeply with our ancestors.

Are you ready for some amazing transformational time with me and your ancestors?

Schedule time with me:     Client Portal

If you have any questions before scheduling, you can send me a quick message below.

♡
Dana

We do not become healers.
We came as healers. We are.
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become storytellers.
We came as carriers of the stories
we and our ancestors actually lived. We are.
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

~Clarissa Pinkola Estés

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2017 Earth Medicine

I am so thrilled and delighted to bring Earth Medicine to you once again! This deep, experiential work is designed to help you develop right relationship with your own unique spirit support so that you can develop a courageous heart and live your life in a good way.

Since 2014, Bear Medicine has been guiding us as we carry our medicine. Bear has been my ally since 2006, and I have been so honored to work with this powerful spirit. She has taught me so much about myself and about how I show up in the world, and I am so grateful for her medicine and her continued support. However, she has stepped back to allow Horse to come through. This has been an emotional and powerful process for me, and I hope to bring honor to the medicine of Horse as we move into this new cycle of Earth Medicine.

Here are some additions that Horse is bringing to our Earth Medicine Intensive:

1. This class will be 1 year in length instead of 6 months. Each six month cycle is a stand alone intensive, and has a separate registration. When you register for Earth Medicine, you are registering for a 6-month cycle.
2. Our first two months is devoted to making sure you know all of the ins and outs of journey work. We will look at different plant, stone, and animal relatives, and we explore ways to cultivate right relationship with our allies.
3. Also get ready to learn all about Earth Medicine energy work! This is a style of shamanic Reiki that my allies and I developed over a period of years, and they have finally given me the go ahead to begin sharing it. I am so excited about this. You will be the absolute first people to learn this specific style of energy work, and I am so honored to bring it to you.
4. Through this intensive, we will be developing an intentional medicine community. Our journey experiences will bring healing to our community, and we will have a main collective altar that my ancestors and I will tend over the next 12 months. You will create altar spaces as well, and we will intentionally connect them so that they all link together and with our collective altar. This altar space will provide support, healing and wisdom for each of us during this sacred time together.

 

Are you ready to join us? We begin on December 1, 2016!

*registration closed*

Deep gratitude,

Dana and Horse

A Prayer of Thanks

Thanksgiving Address by Jake Swamp I have loved this for a long, long time, and I wanted to share this beautiful Thanksgiving Address with you. Let’s go back to honoring prayers, to gratitude prayers for all beings, plant, tree, stone, animal and earth. May we treat them more gently. May we begin to consider many generations forward in all that we do. Sending you all big love as you give thanks in your own way. ~Love Dana OHEN:TON KARIHWATEHKWEN;  THE “WORDS BEFORE ALL ELSE” —from the Thanksgiving Address, Haudenosaunee tradition Today we have gathered and have come from many different places. We have all arrived safely at this place to share with each other our gifts from the Creator. So we bring our minds together as one in Thanksgiving and Greetings to one another.   We send greetings and thanksgiving to our Mother the Earth who, like our own mother, continues to give for our well-being. She continues to care for us and has not forgotten her instructions from the beginning of time. We now bring our minds together in Thanksgiving for the Earth.   Now, as one mind, we turn our thoughts to the Waters of the Earth, that continue to flow beneath the ground, in little streams and in rivers, in lakes and wetlands, and in the great seas. They quench our thirst and help us to keep clean. We now bring our minds together in Thanksgiving to all the Waters of the Earth.   With one mind, we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to all the Beings that dwell in the Water which provide for us in many ways.   Now we direct our thoughts to the many kinds of plants that live low upon the Earth—the mosses, the grasses, the herbs, the food plants and the flowers, for they too have not forgotten their Original Instructions. There are many members of this Nation who sustain those who walk upon this Earth and take away the sicknesses of the human family. With one mind we send our thoughts and Thanksgiving to the Plant Nations.   We now gather our minds together and send Greetings and Thanksgiving to all the Animal Life in the world, for they continue to instruct and teach us even today. We are happy that many still walk with us although their natural world has been changed and life has become very difficult for them at times. Sometimes we may see a fox or a deer eye to eye and we are reminded of that feeling of kinship we get when we see the animals. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to all the Animal Life in the world.   With one mind we now think of the Trees. According to their Original Instructions the Trees still give us shelter, warmth and food, and keep the air clean. When we see the trees we are reminded of the beauty and power of the natural world. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to all the members of the Tree Nation.   We now bring our minds together to send our Greetings of Thanksgiving to the Birds. At the beginning of time the Birds were given a very special duty to perform. They were instructed to help lift the minds of the Human Family. Many times during the day our minds are lifted by their songs. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to all the Birds of the world.   We are thankful to the Four Winds who continue to blow and cleanse the air in accordance with their Original Instructions. When we listen to the Winds it is as if we are hearing the Creator’s breath, clearing our minds as it blows through the Trees.  With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to the Four Winds.   Now we turn our attention to the Thunderbeings. They welcome the springtime with their loud voices. Along with the lightning, they carry the waters of Spring on their backs. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to the Thunderbeings.    Our minds are one as we send our thoughts to our oldest brother the Sun. Each day the Sun continues according to his original instructions, bringing the light of the day, the energy source of all life on Earth. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to our oldest brother the Sun.   We now gather our minds together and give Thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon who holds hands with all of the women of the world, binding all of the cycles and rhythms of the Waters. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to our Grandmother the Moon.   With one mind we send our thoughts to the Star Nations who continue to light our way during times of darkness to guide us home, and who hold the secrets of many forgotten stories. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to the Star Nations.   With our minds as one mind we think of the Four Spirit Beings who live in the Four Directions. We know that they are helping us when we are moving through life and a feeling tells us not to go a certain way, or that we are on the right path. And now we gather our minds together as one and send our special Thanksgiving Greetings to the Four Spirit Beings.   Now we have arrived in a very special place where dwells the Great Spirit that moves through all things. As one mind we turn our thoughts to the Creator with Thanksgiving and Greetings.   We have now become like one being, with one body, one heart, one mind. We send our Prayers and special Thanksgiving Greetings to all the unborn Children of all the Future Generations. We send our thoughts to the many different Beings we may have missed during our Thanksgiving. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to all of the Nations of the World. Now our minds are one. *****************************************************

Working with Sacred Smoke

Smudge sticks or smudge wands are bundles of herbs that are traditionally burned during ceremony or for purification purposes. I also use smudge sticks and other types of incense/smudge to

• Cleanse and bless homes,
• Clear imprint energy in a space,
• Lift prayers to Spirit,
• Dedicate a space for a particular spiritual purpose,
• Prepare space for ritual, journey work and meditation,
• “Clear the air” after an argument or an intense conversation,

and I have lots of other reasons to work with sacred smoke and the spirits of plants.

If you want to work with local plants, I encourage you to do a bit of research to see which plants and trees work best as smudge; personally I love to work with Juniper (cedar), pine,  mugwort, yarrow, rosemary and rose (in loose incense or wrapped on the outside of my smudge bundle) and local resins to burn on coals (or a charcoal disc).  I purchase from ethical sources and keep on hand: palo santo, white sage, tobacco and a variety of resins. You can visit Druid’s Garden to learn to make your own smudge sticks: Making Smudge Sticks From Homegrown Plants And Wildharvested Materials.

When selecting plants to work with, I always ask permission before harvesting any plants. If I feel a “no” or a “not this one” or “not right now” anywhere in my awareness, I don’t harvest. I will leave a small gratitude offering whether I receive a yes or a no.

Alabama herbalist Phyllis Light wrote in a Spring issue of Plant Healer Magazine about Pine (and Cedar):

“Cedar is burned at the deathbed to release the spirit of the dying. Pine is burned after death to help those still living to release the dead.

Pine smoke from smoldering branches penetrate the house to cleanse and clear away ghost spirits. It initially burns the eyes but then the vision clears.

My grandmother performed this burning at deaths in the community. I must admit that I’ve been lapse in my adult years with this ritual. But it’s never too late to burn first the cedar and then the pine to release the spirits and ghosts that may be hovering in the corners or at the top of the stairs.”

When working with sacred smoke, each tool that’s used while smudging represents and honors an element. For example, the abalone shell (or fire proof container) represents Water, the flame used to light the smudge represents the Fire element, the feathers represent and honor Air, and the herbs, trees, resins, etc. represent the element of Earth. When these elements are combined via the ritual of smudging, the element of Ether or Spirit is invoked and honored.

I personally begin with a prayer of gratitude and intention, asking the spirits of the plants and the elements and directions to be with me and lend protection while I work. And when I say protection, I’m not just asking for physical or energetic protection. I am asking that my attention stay protected… from me. I want my focus to be clear and steady. I want my prayers to be authentic. I want my intention to be heart-centered. I am asking for protection around all of that.

Next, I smudge myself, clearing and cleansing my energy field and bringing my mind into “right relationship” with my intention. What are my motives? Are my internal processes in alignment with my heart and my purpose? If there’s anything (emotionally, mentally, spiritually) that’s in the way of internal alignment, I ask that the smudge clear it away so that I can proceed in a good way.

Then I offer the sacred smoke to the directions and my ancestral helping spirits. Holy Gratitude.

Next I will open windows (if I am indoors and want to clear space) and possibly doors, and use smoke to cleanse the space, working in a clockwise direction in each area, paying close attention to corners, closets and underneath furniture. If I am not cleansing an entire space, but one particular area, I still work in a clockwise manner, and encourage airflow by opening windows.

If you need to clear a space and you are sensitive to smoke, you can

• Make or purchase a smudge spray

• Use sound (rattles, bells, etc. to clear dense energy

• Utilize Reiki or other forms of energy work to transmute energy in a space

Finally, after any ceremonial work or clearing of an area, I thank my spiritual support, I give thanks to the directions and to the spirit of the plants who gave of themselves for my purpose.

“Bad” energy and “Ghosts”

I’ll be the first one to say that there’s some bad shit in the world. Some of it is generated by humans and some of it is not. If you want more insight around the way I work with energy and ghosts, you may want to consider taking an Earth Medicine intensive. For the purpose of this blog post, though, here’s my basic thoughts on bad energy and ghosts.

Energy is neutral. It doesn’t have a good or bad charge on its own. The good or bad comes from people. If someone feels uncomfortable around an energy, she may think of it as “bad” energy. If someone’s personality doesn’t mesh with mine, she may think I have “bad” energy, when really, I’m mirroring something for her that may make her feel uncomfortable. Energy is neutral. What we do with it puts a positive or negative charge on it. Our intention is what flavors the energy. I’m sure someone can (and will) make an argument for that, but that’s how I process energy in general.

Some indigenous cultures see energy has having a variety of vibrational frequencies. There is light vibrational frequency, and there is the dense, heavy vibrational frequency. Smudging and an energy clearing process is often used to disperse and / or transmute that heavy, dense energy.

I see ghosts as the spirits of the deceased who have not, for some reason, transitioned properly, and they’re earth bound either out of confusion or an inability/unwillingness to resolve issues or beliefs that are keeping them here. Most ghosts are not “bad”, but they don’t have the right to be here; any energy that they use in order to be in this realm is usually generated by the strong emotions of the living. In my opinion, smudge is not what gets the unresolved dead to leave your presence. Your intention, you’re telling them to leave, and your resolution not to feed them with your emotions is what makes them leave.

Most often, sacred smoke gets rid of what we call “imprints”. Imprints can often be mistaken for ghosts because they can be very strong energy impressions and can sometimes be seen by the living. Imprints are not spirits; they’re more like energetic fingerprints, or they can sometimes be strong emotions left behind by the living. These energy imprints can feel spooky or heavy, or they can leave behind a trail of strong (and sometimes influential) emotions. Smudge is an excellent way to disperse that energy and clear it out of your space.

To clear imprints / heavy energy, I suggest using Juniper (cedar),  mugwort or white sage. I tend to lean more toward bioregional plants since white sage is over harvested and working with the plants in my space to balance and clear energy of my space simply makes sense to me.

After I cleanse and clear a space, I like to burn sweet herbs or resins to invite healing and protection and wellness into a space. For this I may choose sweet clover, lavender blooms, roses or sweetgum resin if I want to honor the bioregional model of earth medicine, or I may choose sweetgrass if I feel led to work with it.

One South American tree that I really love is Palo Santo. I work with it sparingly because it is not one of my local allies. I work with this wood primarily in body/mind therapy sessions and to “seal” the auric field of a person after a healing session.

For more awesome information and resources:

The Amazing Cat Torelli has a kickass incense shop on Etsy. Check it out: Forest Druid Creations. Her incense, Florida water and Queen of Hungary water are above and beyond fabulous.

Rebecca “McTrouble” Altman at Cauldrons and Crockpots wrote a very interesting blog post on smudging (from an herbalist’s perspective) called Holy Smoke.

https://altnature.com/thegarden/smudge.htm

“Killer Germs” Obliterated by Medicinal Smoke (Smudge), Study Reveals

Study ^^ Referenced in the link above ^^: Medicinal smoke reduces airborne bacteria.

Native Tech: Uses of Sweetgrass

Who Holds Your Power?

Some of the most therapeutic work I have experienced in my life has involved restoration of personal power. From a very young age, many of us have been taught to unconsciously give our power away…

because we are too much.

because we are better off than someone else.

because it’s how we show love and concern.

because we are not as important as someone else.

because our feelings don’t matter.

This Earth Medicine healing session involves energetic clearing and restoration of power.

True power is a beautiful and necessary component of a whole and complete person. “Power over” is what people generally think of when they hear the word “power”, but true power doesn’t hold anything over anyone; true power is something that needs to be restored in order to operate from a heart-centered place in relationships.

Power is very healing when you’re holding and working with your own power; but what if someone else is holding your power? What would that look like?

Someone else may be holding your power when you feel lost or out of control while trying to communicate.

Maybe you have a difficult time keeping your emotions and someone else’s emotions separate.

You may feel a sense of overwhelm, confusion or even a bit of fatigue while simply being in the presence of a particular person.

What would holding someone else’s power look like for you?

You may feel like you always have to take care of, fix or complete something for someone else, even though they should be able to do it on their own.

They need you. “What would they do without me?”

You were called “little mama” or “protector” or “the man of the house”, etc., from a very young age.

The work that you and I do together helps to restore your power, and it also helps you to gently and respectfully return the power that you hold for others, giving you the opportunity to approach your relationships from a more loving and authentic place.

The clearing process that we do together will help you to clear any energy that keeps you in emotional patterns that no longer serve you. At the same time, we will track, identify and bring healing to empathy overwhelm so that you can bring your complete presence to your relationships without feeling like you’re taking on your loved one’s pain or emotional issues.

This work helps with relationships between partners, siblings, parent/child relationships, coworkers, and just about any other relationship imaginable. Relationship begins with the YOU that you bring to it. If you are struggling with a relationship challenge, contact me via the contact form below so we can schedule a time to work together. If you are already sure you want to work with me, click this link and register for a session.

Power Restoration Session

Remember: you matter, and the more complete you are energetically, the more you can move forward in integrity and operate from a place of compassion.

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Earth Medicine History

Earth Medicine History, Purpose and Teachers

Back in 2008 I was facilitating small workshops that I called “Earth Ways” short courses. One workshop was called “Connecting with Place”, one was on “Tree Spirit Medicine”, I had a class on “Animal Allies” and a mini workshop called “Listening to Plants”…basic techniques, really, but these classes came from my deep desire for connection, and I may have had two students. One of them was me. LOL

Then in 2010 I had a pretty traumatic emotional experience where I dissociated and struggled for a few years to come back into a place of wellness and connection. I won’t go into the details, and only a few people know the particulars, but I sat in a very painful place, and the only constant connections I had were my spirit support, my spiritual practice and a few intimate friends.

It took several years of working closely with my spirit allies before I felt whole again. I still am very protective of my personal space and my connections because I know how it feels to lose my “Place”, both internally and in the world.

This Earth Medicine intensive and ultimately the Earth Medicine Training Center was born from the healing work that I did with my ancestral allies, my animal and plant allies and my land spirits.

I first felt the call to open a training center in August 2014 while I was working in Costa Rica. I had just finished teaching a 2-week CranioSacral class and I was getting ready to head up to Monteverde to be with my shamana sister, Karen. I had just finished a journey with Bear and I was free writing afterwards. All of a sudden, “shamanic training center” was on the page. I burst out laughing.

I began my Earth Medicine online intensive on December 1, 2014, and I thought, “This must be what Bear meant by a ‘training center’; I can do this,” and I put it out of my mind.
Then in March, my friend Pat died, and I had the great honor of being with her and doing ceremony with her and preparing her for transition while she was in Hospice House.

Shortly after Pat left, I experienced a health crisis and had to retire from massage therapy. Bear poked me again during my 5 month healing process and announced that I was going to open a real physical training center. I couldn’t even play a drum for more than a few minutes without pain. The entire idea felt impossible to me.

Ultimately, I trusted the guidance I was receiving in spite of what my physical reality was showing me. I began to dream with Bear; I wrote down my dreams and waited for the symbols to be revealed to me. I asked questions and received clarity. I rested. In the daytime I fleshed out what came to me.

Training background:

Like many contemporary people, I first became aware of shamanism from books and drumming CDs. While I found them all interesting, and several people who offered their basic teachings online were of great value to my foundational practice, I would look at these wonderful people and their work and, while admiring them greatly, think, “This isn’t my path.”

Something felt wrong.

In my search for culture and place, I began digging around in my family line via Rootsweb and Ancestry.com (and amazing cousins who have done years of personal research). I have 9 nationalities running through my veins:  French, Cherokee, English, Irish, Indonesian, Siberian, German, Finnish, Chinese and Levantine. And that’s just what I’m aware of. I struggled with my roots for a long time; I still felt that I didn’t have a culture or a place.

I took my feelings to Wolf in journey. It was time for me to find my “pack”. I wanted to show respect to all of the cultures that I had been exposed to through various shamanic teachings and First Nations teachings, but I knew that those ways were not my ways. It wasn’t my medicine. I also knew I didn’t want to call it “shamanism”. I am not a shaman, and I don’t feel called to become a “traditional shaman.” I am a contemporary person with a deep love and reverence for mother earth, living a contemporary life.

I spent the next 3 years working intimately with Wolf medicine, and I was shown my own practices, my own earth honoring rituals and my own method of soul retrieval, power restoration and other forms of healing.

In late 2013, Wolf stepped back and Bear came forward to give me deeper teachings. I have been working with her ever since.

When I offer information that I have been taught by others, I am mindful to let my students know where specific information came from, and then show how it became a springboard for me to learn deeper lessons with my allies.

Really, when I considered ethics, integrity and cultural appropriation while creating this intensive (and other Earth Medicine trainings), I came to a few personal conclusions;  some things are universal, such as working with the directions and elements, journeying, song, dance/movement, sonic drivers, spirit allies, etc. And those things that are not “universal”, specific ceremonies and teachings and specific songs, etc. belong to a culture and should absolutely remain with them.

My prayer is that my work is a reflection of my personal experiences, and that the sharing of them inspires my students to rely heavily on their own personal allies instead of me to be their great teachers. Only through diligent practice with our unique spirit allies can we develop and carry our own powerful medicine.

Love, Dana

Journey: Your Inner Garden

Inside your mind is a garden. This garden is a beautiful reflection of you; your life, your body, your emotions, your power and your healing. This garden changes as you change and vice versa; and as you make changes in your inner garden, these shifts can be a catalyst for change in your physical reality.

Your garden is the direct expression of your subconscious. When we explore this area together, symbols will be our language. We will explore together in community via journey work, active imagination and free writing.

With this workshop, you will learn about your inner garden, what lives there, and what spirit helpers want to work with you to create a healthy, vibrant garden. This is part one of a three-part workshop series. The series will contain “Your Inner Garden”, “Creating a Healthy Inner Garden” and “Advanced Inner Garden Exploration”. If connecting with your subconscious, actively creating change in your life on a spirit level, and becoming a positive voice for Mother Earth excites you, then you want to be part of these workshops.

Would you like to work with me? Great. Then sign up for my newsletter and you will be the first to know where and when my workshops will be offered. If you don’t see a workshop available, send me a message at tupeloholisticcenter@gmail.com and talk to me about scheduling one. I am also available to come to your community with this workshop series.

Let’s dream a beautiful reality together.

Dana

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

Mullein, Verbascum thapsus, is well known for its use in healing the lungs and for treatment of ear infections.  Personally, I have found mullein to have a much wider range in it’s healing actions.

I was introduced to this plant by my Grandaddy Edwards when I was 13 years old. He used to smoke it for bronchial congestion, and he kept a little patch of it in his garden.

Mullein is a great tonic for the respiratory system. The (well strained) tea soothes bronchial spasms and can clear lung congestion, according to Gail Edwards. It’s also a great support, I’ve found, in nervine tea blends, especially for people who have a tendency to experience extreme nervous tension or who feel irritated when overheated. Like moi.

It’s also indicated for irritated, overactive bladders. Mullein tea and/or Marshmallow root cool and soothe the bladder.

It’s a very important ingredient in my lymphatic blends, and I also am experimenting with it in my muscular and joint pain blends, and I really like how it helps calm irritated and inflamed nerves. You can also make a poultice with the leaves to place on muscle spasms, inflamed joints, and painful and swollen breasts. A friend of mine reports that she steeps the larger leaves and has them placed along her spine when she has painful flare ups from a nerve condition and it soothes her tremendously.

Several years ago, I made an infusion of flowers in extra virgin olive oil to treat my cat’s ear infections; this year I am experimenting with infusing both flowers and the flower heads; I simply pulled the flower heads from the stalk (they peel easily) and added them to extra virgin olive oil. I will use a low heat method to infuse the oil because the flower heads were not completely dry.

These large second year roots will be dried and used for ceremonial purposes. From a plant spirit / energetic perspective, I’ve experienced Mullein as a “gentle guardian” plant. I work with Mullein when I need clarity, when I feel overwhelmed, or when I feel scattered and unable to rest peacefully. I am working with this medicine to help watch over me during dreamtime as well.

How do you work with Mullein? I’d love to hear your experiences with this plant.

Inner Landscape Discovery Session

  Your subconscious mind is your “inner landscape”. This part of your brain holds very valuable information and, when accessed properly, your life circumstance has the opportunity to shift dramatically for the better.

The Inner Landscape Discovery Session is a process of using ceremony, earth-based tools and heart-centered questions to gain insight, to find positive, proactive responses to life challenges and to formulate grounded strategies for living your most amazing life. This interaction between you, me, these tools, the questions and your inner self stimulates conditions for deep connection and insightful growth. Have you ever noticed patterns in your life and wondered what reasoning or teaching was behind them? Do you wish to make life changes, but just the thought of how to begin feels overwhelming? In this session, we work primarily with your internal body responses and subconscious insights in order to bring about deeper self awareness and new creative expression. *Note* A session with me is rooted in the belief that my clients always have choices; you create your life through your own choices and through your responses to life events. You will not be seen as a victim, and you will be treated as the empowered and unique individual you are. I believe that you have all of the love and support that you need, both physical and non physical, seen and unseen; accepting this love and support is your choice. My work with you is to help you gain insight and clarity, as well as a new sense of purpose. These sessions can happen in person at the Holistic Center or online via Skype or FaceTime. Does this work sound like it could be of value to you? Send me a note and let’s talk.

Bear Medicine

It’s Bear Medicine time, my journeying friends!

Post your journey experiences with Bear Spirit below in the messages and you will be entered in a drawing for a medicine reading! I look forward to reading your experiences with this amazing, protective and nurturing medicine. ♡

If you don’t know how to journey, then sit quietly and ask Bear spirit to come join you in meditation. Allow impressions from this powerful spirit to come to you.

Let Mama Bear nurture you this gorgeous winter.

 

Shifting, Courage and Words.

I wrote the following to myself in June of this year… over 5 months ago now. I put it away and just found it again tonight.

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“I feel a subtle shift. It is deep within me, though; deep down to my bones. And something is rising up… bubbling to the surface… beginning to make itself known…

But I have no words.

I am a big word person. I need to be clear so that I can understand myself and others; so I can see and recognize and honor our boundaries, and words help me do that.

So when I feel this shift, this movement that begins softly and discreetly and slowly becomes a force that can no longer be ignored, my first impulse is to try to give it a name. A word. A phrase. A title.

I ask Spirit:

What is this?
What does this mean for me and my work?
Who am I now because of this?

I sit with Divine Presence and I listen. And I wait. And the shift gets bigger. And I get a bit nervous, so I start searching again. What could it be? How will I need to prepare for this change in my work? My life? And then I realize I am not sitting anymore. I am not listening

to my body.
to my spirit.
to the divine.

So I drum. I light my candle. I burn my sage and sweetgrass and palo santo. I give thanks and I return to my training to go within and listen. I allow the elements to assist me. Air to give me clarity and focus. Fire to burn away all of the extraneous things that were sparkly at one time but that no longer serve me. Water to cleanse me and allow me to grieve and let go of what I thought I wanted. Earth to ground me and to hold me as I wait and listen. And Spirit to give me comfort and peace as I wait.

And I realize that I don’t need words.”
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When I stopped looking for the words, Courage stepped in and she said, “Let’s do this.”

When I stopped needing to describe anything, Courage took my hands, smiled at me and said, “Let’s play.”

She whispered, “Don’t look back. I’m right here.”

She said, “Here, purchase this house,” and then she giggled when I believe I have lost my mind. She says, “I dare you to stop teaching continuing education to massage therapists and teach something you love instead.”

I took that dare.

I bought that house.

I’m teaching that class.

And I still don’t have the damn words.

Ha. ♡

 

Medicine Bundles

 

Do you need a little support?

My medicine bundles are beautifully created with ceremony, ritual and prayers, and each is specifically created for individual needs; I never make up medicine bundles to keep on hand. Each piece of medicine that is selected to make your bundle is Your Medicine for This Moment.

Enclosed in your bundle are the 4 sacred herbs, along with one or more stone allies and plant allies who wish to be with you; they will support you and strengthen your medicine. I will also enclose specific animal medicine that corresponds with the animal spirits who will be working with you. Bear always likes to stick her claw into the making of my bundles, so Bear medicine is always present in some form.

Medicine Bundles: $46 (includes shipping)

Here’s how you can get one: send me a message at tupeloholisticcenter@gmail.com describing how you need support. I will possibly ask you a few questions to assist me in the making of your medicine bundle. Then you can send payment via my online store, The Holistic Center, and I will create and send your medicine bundle right out.

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Do you need some guidance along with your support? An Earth Medicine Journey Reading may be perfect for you. An Earth Medicine Journey Reading is a two-fold process: first I go into journey on your behalf with a question or a situation that you have shared with me. I come back with wisdom from your allies and mine, and I may introduce you to new allies who wish to walk beside you on your journey. Second, I go on a Medicine Walk on your behalf, and I receive impressions and medicine for you. Your reading will be sent to you in a PDF file. Because of the nature of this reading, I can only do one of these per day. Several hours are spent devoted to you and your specific situation.

Let me know if this service speaks to your heart.

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Earth Medicine Journey Readings: $80
Medicine Bundles: $46 (includes shipping)
Earth Medicine Journey Reading + Medicine Bundle: $116 (inc. shipping)

All purchase options are available at the Holistic Center online store link.
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Each time you purchase a bundle or an Earth Medicine Journey Reading from me, you are supporting the restoration of the Tree House. Thank you so much. Your desire to work with me as you carry the medicine is an honor.

Earth Medicine Online Workshop!

 Would you like to take an Earth Medicine journey with me? 

Each lesson in this 6-month medicine journey will include the following topics:

Journey exercises, Animal Spirit medicine, Plant Spirit medicine, Stone Spirit medicine and creating a working Earth Medicine Altar.

Lesson 1 teaching: Connection, Cleansing and Creating Sacred Space Medicine of the North: Earth. Grounding practices and Stillness Bear and Deer Medicine Root Medicine, Mushrooms and Elder Medicine Immune System

Lesson 2 teaching: Deepening your Relationship with your Spirit Allies Medicine of the East: Air. Bird Medicine Energy Medicine Nervous System Allies Passiflora, Oat and Kava Medicine

Lesson 3 teaching: Boundaries and Relationships Medicine of the South: Fire. Mountain Lion and Wolf Medicine Hawthorn, Rose, Cacao Cardiovascular Medicine

Lesson 4 teaching: Emotional Wholeness; Authenticity and Integrity Medicine of the West: Water. Dolphin Medicine Lymphatic Medicine Cleavers, Chickweed, Violet

Lesson 5 teaching: Connection and Right Relationship Medicine of the Above: Spirit. Hummingbird Medicine Ancestral Allies Mountain Medicine: Wisdom

Lesson 6 teaching: Healing the Medicine Carrier Medicine of the Below: Within Mugwort Medicine Black Panther Medicine Healing the non physical: shadow work River Medicine: Wash it all Away

I am thrilled to be offering these lessons online! Spend 6 months in a deep, restorative experiential with me. We’re going to have a blast! Course Registration: $97 Registration Closed: November 28, 2014!

Love, Dana and Bear

Thank you for supporting the Tree House~

Earth Medicine Workshop: Sacred Space and Right Relationship

“I was just sittin’ here enjoyin’ the company. Plants got a lot to say if you take the time to listen.” ~Eeyore

Do you have a desire to connect deeply with your land? Do you wish to strengthen your relationship with a particular area? Are you curious about the “spirit” that your land holds?

Sacred Space and Right Relationship is the introductory workshop in my Earth Medicine series.

Come join me Saturday, September 13th, at the Holistic Center in Tupelo, MS, and we will explore:

What Earth Medicine is
The meaning of creating “sacred space”
Understanding “right relationship” or “ayni” in relation to land
How to connect with the spirit of your land
How to trust the impressions that come to you
Developing a “sit spot”
Tips and tools for deepening your connection experience

and tons more!

This series of workshops is for you if:

you love trees, plants, animals, and the earth, and you desire deeper connection with them,
you are interested in shamanic tools for self healing,
you love ceremony and ritual, and you want to learn how to take your spiritual practice to another level,
you are naturally curious and have an open mind.

This series is not for you if:

you don’t particularly care for the “outdoors”,
you feel uncomfortable around alternative ways of expressing one’s beliefs,
you are looking for a shaman to help you with mental health challenges, (contact me personally if this is a concern for you, and I am happy to give you trusted referrals, as well as possible options for working with me)
you don’t like to explore altered states of consciousness or the non-physical.

Are you excited? Great!

Place: The Holistic Center: 2609-A Traceland Drive, Tupelo MS 38804
Facilitator: Dana Tate Bailey
Email: tupeloholisticcenter@gmail.com
Cost: $20
Pre register by sending $20 via Paypal to the email address above. In the notes section, type “Earth Medicine workshop” so I know the purpose of this payment.

Please note:
Space is limited to 10 participants. If you would like to register but you do not use Paypal, please send me a message and let me know to hold a space for you.

If this series really interests you but timing/date is an issue, please contact me and we can discuss alternate avenues for you to enjoy this experience.

Also keep in mind that I am developing a mentorship series of classes that are designed to assist you in your personal (physical/emotional/mental/spiritual) wellness journey, and this workshop will help you to determine if earth medicine work is a good fit for you.