This past year I was eager to return to work after taking the fall of 2008 off.  During 2008 I had started to react physcially to my client work.  Part of this was due to working with clients who were very ill--my Empathic nature was picking up on emotional and physical symptoms.  But the other part of this was because I truly wanted to start doing other things in my practice.

However, I had become addicted to working with clients.  There is nothing more rewarding than seeing another heal themselves while being a facilitator in that process.  I was very good at the one-on-one work, I had worked hard to build a full practice, and Spirit had led me here, darn it!!  I didn't want to move on, even though my soul had already told me to do so.  When I didn't get that message at the soul level, it came down to my mental/emotional body and I started to be cranky.  When I didn't get that message, it came down to my physical body, and I caught cold after cold, usually after working with a client.

So, finally I took the Fall off.  I had a reading from Sonia Choquette that I needed to rearrange my practice because I was tiring myself out.  I had a reading from Debra Grace that I needed to rearrange my practice because I was becoming too overwhelmed by raising a toddler plus the client work.  I had a reading from Marv Harwood that said that I would step away from client work and into something new that encompassed all my shamanic training and made me very happy.  What exciting news!  During the fall I got to sit and watch movies and cross stitch--one of my favortie passtimes.  I also had the chance to plan very nice holiday celebrations for my friends and family.  It was so nice!  I felt rejuvinated and ready to get back to work once the New Year rolled around.

But, what did I do when the New Year rolled around?  I took on about the same client load, started two workshops, and gave myself no downtime.  While I loved my two new workshops and my client load, I was really overloaded and I knew it.  But still, being a bit afraid of stepping into a new calling, I stuck to what I was doing.  Soon I noticed a red spot below my lip whenever I used my Florida water. That was weird, since I had used it no problem for years. I also started working out, but whenever I did so, I would turn bright red or break out. One night when clearing my workshop room, I had trouble breathing. I had put my florida water into a mister to us it, and I had inhaled some of it.

Now I had full blown asthma and very irritated lungs. Now I had to really pay attention to what I was up to.  The pain in my chest, plus not being able to breathe got my full attention.  I was on automatic pilot, treating myself to the exact same things that had made me overwhelmed in the first place.  This was a very humbling experience, and luckily for me I had the great support of my fellow shaman friends and mentors, plus others, too.  Because the message had to come down to the physical plane before I paid attention, I had to attend to the physical body.

The first thing I did was a ayurvedic detox under the supervision of my friend, Supriya Shanbhag Moffitt.  The intention was to take the toxins plus all the extra heat out of my body.  My friend, Jasmine Scalesciani led me through a nutrition and rebalance session in which she gave me tips on what to eat to maintain my very sensitive constitution.  (If you are an Empath and psychic, you have one too!  You can find Jasmine's info Here if you would like to talk to her)  And, with the help of Dom Anaya and Doug Brown I addressed both the physical body and the energetic body by visiting them for osteopathic cranial and classical homeopathic treatment.  And of course I visited my shaman friend, Hilda Porro, and my mentor Greta Holmes for energywork.  Marv Harwood continued my shaman training by giving me lots of homework to do with my mesa (medicine stones)  One consequence of all of this was I lost over 15lbs without trying.  Whatever was making me heavy left with the detox.

With the commitment to health and to changing whatever had caused me to become ill in the first place, I'm happy to say I'm off all medications and that I am back to work.  But now I see just a few clients, I do one workshop, and I'm spending the rest of my time writing.  At this rate I should have the book for Empaths in Relationships published by the end of the year, and then after that I would like to focus on the bigger scarier dreams that I wanted to bring into being.  It was that fear that was keeping me from moving forward.  It's good to be moving forward once again. 

Of course, I'm prone to get hit on the head by two-by-fours.  But, the lesson for me here was to embrace change, stop stalling, take a baby step forward, and go after what I really would like even though it's scary.  That's what the soul wants--and sometimes what the soul wants brings up fear and uncertainty.  What is funny is that I've had to do this over and over in my life.  But still it's HARD! especially when the change seems extra large.  I hope my process encourages you on your own soul's journey.

much love

Elaine