Highly Sensitive People, Now More Than Ever the World Needs Our Medicine

The timing of this announcement, given what we have been facing in our communities, our nation, and internationally, feels significant.

Years of planetary chaos seemed in late-2016 to reach a crescendo. All that lay hidden in our shadows with regard to what in humankind wants to heal (greed, violence, hatred, separation or the illusion of “the other”) moved into the light of our collective awareness. The crisis, like a global-scale Herxheimer Reaction, prompted some of my friends and clients to ask how we can take responsibility for and help soothe the world’s woes and bring us back into balance.

Moved and inspired by your displays of tenderness, compassion, and commitment to serve, I’ve felt a soul yearning to support you bearers of light to ensure your missions are accomplished. In order to create a community for and attract more who are similar in characteristics and attributes, I’ve reflected on what you all have in common. I came to the conclusion that you (and I) are what clinical psychologist and researcher Dr. Elaine Aron refers to as Highly Sensitive People (or HSPs).

We process stimuli more thoroughly than the average person and feel more intensely than others. Often this means we’re more artistic, observant and conscientious, exhibit greater empathy, notice subtleties in our environments, identify imbalances as well as solutions, put others at ease, and hold a vision for what is possible in creating a better world. We’re artists, guides, coaches, healers, empaths, intuitives, inventors, philosophers, thought leaders, and sages.

Many HSPs are not aware that their sensory processing sensitivity trait, when acknowledged, understood, and honored, is a strength—nor the fact that it is the very medicine Earth and its inhabitants need now more than ever. When an ailing child cries out for comfort (as humanity seems to be doing more and more desperately these days), it is the embrace and nourishment of the wisest and most nurturing caregiver that can most effectively lull the little one’s pain.

That is the gift that you possess, HSPs. When our own nervous systems are balanced and our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs met, we’re an unstoppable force for positive transformation in our families, communities, and beyond.

And this is where I feel called to serve, beginning now, in this auspicious hour.

I’ve narrowed my niche, serving those among the 15 to 20 percent of the human population who identify as highly sensitive, by offering virtual and in-person emotional healing services, coaching, education, community, even transformational dance classes, so that you may heal yourself to heal the world, find support and power in numbers, and dare to shine your light far and wide.

Body Talks Therapy, the name of my new practice, is more than a nod to my somatic (or body-centered) approach to facilitating your self-empowerment; it acknowledges the sacredness of that which allows our spirits to live in form, where we can connect with our breath, with our five senses, and with our emotions, and experience the wonder, mystery, and miracle of being alive—even during turbulent times.

No one knows precisely what’s in store for the human race and for Earth, our beautiful home. But because of you, I am optimistic. With the unfolding of current events, I’ve witnessed your journey from shock and devastation to a willingness to peacefully rise up, embody your best selves, and to love others (regardless of their background or beliefs) with every bit of strength and resilience you have.

Since I was a child, I possessed a deep knowing that once I worked through my own pain and integrated much of my personal shadow with my light, I would play some kind of role in helping others do the same and to steer us in a direction that would serve humankind’s highest good. Often I felt isolated, unaware of those around me who were doing the same, and longed for a community of folks with a similar life purpose.

The Hopi elders have said that we, this generation, yes, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.  From where I sit, you are the ones I’ve been waiting for. I bow to you; for the light in me recognizes the light in you.

 

—Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

 

 

 

A Love Story About Monsters on Halloween 2020

Many of us are scared. None of us knows what to expect in the days to come, and most of us (regardless of political affiliation) believe that if the “wrong” Presidential candidate wins, hatred and/or tyranny will have prevailed. We anticipate violence and civil war.

Surely there are people whose unhealed traumas are surfacing, and they/we will act out in the weeks ahead. Because, as you know, hurt people hurt people. And none of us can shove our hurt and fear into our subconscious any longer. What we haven’t yet dealt with is demanding to be seen and reckoned with…otherwise it has been coming out (and will continue to come out) sideways, so to speak.

That’s why it’s time to heal the parts of ourselves that perceive reality through the lens of “The world is full of bullies, full of hate and violence, and there isn’t enough love for me to want to be on planet Earth.” And “the other side is bad.”

The truth is, the majority of us are loving, compassionate, good people. We’ve just become spiritually sick and we can no longer suppress it. There is a bright light in almost all of us. Kindwhile, that light is shining more brightly than it ever has and is exposing and provoking all of what lay hidden in our shadows. All of us are experiencing a collective purge.

When I was a child, I got stomach aches every single morning before going to school. Because anywhere beyond my bedroom felt dangerous. The nuns were cold. The kids were mean. As I grew into a teenager, I’d scream at my poor mom in rage, “Why did you give birth to me?! I don’t want to be here!”

When I got my driver’s license, I’d journey at top-speed through hills and valleys, caring not whether I crashed and died. I wanted off of this planet. I hated “the humans,” as I referred to people whose behaviors I loathed or whom I let intimidate me. It wasn’t until I became a therapist that I realized that hatred protected me from feeling compassion so deep it felt like heartbreak and twisted my gut into knots.

A few years ago, I started to re-remember what motivated my Soul to embody in this life, here and now. The words “Father, they know not what they do” started running through my awareness unbidden. The thoughts were not mine. I was being urged to forgive people for not being the way I thought they should be, acknowledge that I wasn’t unlike “them,” to make peace with my Soul’s decision to be a part of this Shift of Ages, to open my heart and let love in and out at its own divine will, and to perceive people at the soul level…which I now understand does actually stoke the fires of who they really are underneath of who they are not.

I get you who look around and wonder how we ended up in what feels like a hell full of goblins. But we are no different from the goblins. They are projections of what we all have disowned within ourselves. Where within ourselves do we feel like a monster? What part of ourselves are we ashamed of or hide for fear of being deemed unlovable and unworthy?

The truth is, we all have narcissistic, psychopathic, and sociopathic tendencies. There isn’t a soul on this planet who hasn’t played the role of perpetrator at one time or other and won’t do so again. We do it every single time we judge another person as wrong, bad, or less-than.

In order to feel less triggered and afraid of the “monsters,” can we look with unconditional compassion at the goblins within? Can we remember that we aren’t innately awful but that we adapted to circumstances early on that frightened or wounded us by creating monster-selves? The monsters aren’t who we are. They are parts of us that have lived in the darkness for so long, they’ve contorted into something ugly to get our attention during our dream states.

It’s time to love those monster-selves back out of the dark, to feel their hurt and usher them into wholeness. If you don’t know how to do this, ask me. Set the intention for it to happen, and you’ll be guided.

When we’re triggered by the social media post of a friend with whom we disagree, can we first notice what it’s evoking in us? Can we pause before responding and allow ourselves to feel the discord within? Can we breathe into and out of it wherever we feel it in our bodies and ask it what it fears and what it needs from us? Can we spend a little time with the feelings, holding them with compassion and love? We can alchemize our pain this way. And it will make it so much easier to listen deeply to each other. I mean REALLY LISTEN and understand each other’s motivations and points of view.

(Side note: I just watched one of the kindest souls on the face of this planet, someone to whom I’d entrust my life and my friendship, be attacked verbally and viciously online by longtime friends because his vote on Tuesday is not to vote. These friends of his were unable to take the time to understand his point of view because they were so triggered, upset, and in fear, and unable to courageously and vulnerably take responsibility for their emotions. They projected their monsters onto him and thus cut off someone whom I suspect would have given the shirt off of his back for them if ever they needed it without even being asked.)

You see, until we heal our spiritual sickness and integrate the parts of ourselves we are projecting onto others, we’ll continue to experience a world full of dark teachers. They’ll appear as tyrannical leaders, domestic terrorists, corrupt systems, or cruel neighbors, depending on our personal perspectives. They won’t go away until we’ve made peace with ourselves.

When at last we love every aspect of ourselves, we access the exquisite pain-pleasure of compassion for all living things–no matter who they are or what they do. This is how we achieve unity mindset and at-oneness with all living things and never, ever again feel alone or unloved. And this is how we will change the world. For as I sit in full presence with all of my clients’ self-perceived goblins and love them with all of my heart, they transform before my very eyes into the bright beings they were before they ever believed the lies that they are less than perfectly imperfect. We are all called now to see each other in this way, giving each other 110% permission to be EXACTLY as we are NO MATTER WHAT (which, by the way, doesn’t mean we don’t set healthy boundaries; we can still bless those who insist on intentionally hurting us and send them with unconditional love to be on their way).

On this Samhain, when the veil is thinnest and the light of the full moon illuminates what we’ve been trying to hide from ourselves, let’s ask our ancestors for guidance and support. Deep soul work is not for the feint of heart—and that’s why WE are here. Because we knew we could do this, NOW. We knew we could heal the trauma of our ancestors and purge the wounds from the human collective. The payoff, I promise, is well worth our efforts. And it’s getting closer. There is a dawn that will come that I’ve felt in my belly and seen in visions, and it takes my breath away. It’s so close, I feel I can almost touch it.

So together, let’s get through these birthing pains. We’ll soon enough find out just how stunningly beautiful and amazing we all are underneath of all of what we are not. The truth is, I already see it. I see YOU.

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

We Are One Human Wolfpack: Group Reading, Channeled Messages, and Activities to Ready Us for Our Peacemaking Mission (a Fundraising Circle Benefitting the Wolf Sanctuary of PA)

We hear the drum beats and trumpet calls of a potential civil war when we check social media or peak at national news. We’ve witnessed people taking sides, and we quiver at the power of impassioned outrage to pull us in and participate.

But when we chime in, our hearts cry out and our intuition sounds an alarm, warning us that the train carrying the peacemakers and way-showers to humanity’s highest potential is about to leave the station and embark on a mission we know deep inside is ours.

We freeze at the platform, conflicted. Our egos tells us that if we truly care we’ll grab a sword, that the way of peace is for the woo who bury their heads in crystals and sage. News breaks. Words like weapons fire from the left. Return fire from the right kicks up dust, and we lose clarity. Before we know it, we’re triggered, hypnotized by the cadence of battle.

One more warning whistles to hop on the way-shower train. What will you choose?

Circle online with Rachel Grundon, psychic channel and medium, and Allison Brunner, psychotherapist and coach for sensitives and empaths (see full bios below), on Wednesday, September 2, 5:30pm to 8:30pm EST, for tools and hands-on learning on how to step out of judgment, duality, and conflict and see through the lens of your heart to ready yourself for your soul’s purpose, shine your light in this collective dark night of the soul, and steer humanity to the next level of our evolution.

Rachel, intuitive/holistic health care practitioner, psychic channel, and clairvoyant medium, will offer a group reading and insight on what we might expect in the months to come. Allison, owner of Body Talks Therapy and Coaching for Sensitives and Empaths, will guide us through experiential practices to help us expand our vision to perceive all humans at the level of soul. (See below for more details.)

All proceeds from this meeting will be donated in full to the Wolf Sanctuary of PA, hard-hit by this year’s statewide lockdown and social restrictions. The suggested cost of this meeting is $30—but you may may offer more or less depending on your circumstances. We’ll call on Wolf medicine for courage in stepping into our roles as teachers, guides, and path-leaders; for trust in our psychic senses and mysticism; and for the ability to see all “others” as ourselves and part of one human pack regardless of backgrounds and beliefs.

Attend the first circle only, or sign up additionally for weeks two through four of the series for an additional $111. (If you feel especially called to this work but cannot pay full fee or prefer to make two smaller payments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Allison.) We’ll connect from 6pm to 8pm EST during weeks two to four on Wednesdays, September 9, 16, and 23.

In these online circles, we will:

Week One:

• Call in wolf medicine and the six directions and archetypes of the ancient Andean mystical tradition, particularly jaguar and hummingbird to steady ourselves amidst conflict and see each other at the level of soul.
• Receive a group psychic reading and channeling on what’s to come.
• Experience in real-time a sense of oneness with fellow participants.
• See through the lens of the heart, the seat of our intuition.
• Honor rather than vilify the ego and the ways it has helped us as it now shifts roles in the days to come.

Weeks Two through Four:

• Learn how to step off of the Triangle of Disempowerment and back into our sovereignty.
• Engage in shadow work to retrieve the parts of ourselves that feel powerless and afraid.
• Participate in fire ceremony and medicine-stone healing.
• Journey to and receive messages from our Higher Selves and the Higher Selves of those we’ve deemed Other.
• Use our words to uplift, heal, and bring people together.
• Affect change from our center vs leaving our body-mind-spirit and creating more drama.
• Claim the lessons from the many lifetimes we’ve lived in duality for the expansion of our soul’s wisdom.
• Use the power of observation to bring out the best in ourselves and others.
• Become a Divine Witness to and transmute the suffering of those struggling through The Great Awakening.
• Shift our energy to create that which we want to see in the world.
• Commit once and for all (if you’re ready) to the positive, service-to-others polarity and experience all that we came here to create (oneness, unity, balance, and unconditional love) in this lifetime.

RSVP for Week One here. RSVP for Weeks One through Four here. Make a donation to the Wolf Sanctuary of PA here. Any questions? Send an e-mail.

Thank you in advance from the bottoms of our hearts for not only your donations but for your willingness to carry out one of our most important missions ever in the history of this planet. We cannot do this without you!

Much love,

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy, and Rachel Grundon, Lotus House of PA.

Rachel Grundon is a psychic channel and medium who has been pursuing her desire to help others using her healing gifts as a clairvoyant, clairaudient, and clairsentient. Developing an intuitive connection with her clients, Rachel facilitates deep-healing through self-actualization and self-empowerment. She fully acknowledges the lack of personal fulfillment in those entangled in the “daily grind,” and works with individuals to uncover their true life’s purpose. 

An evidential medium, Rachel is also able to connect with loved ones that have passed on from their physical bodies. She focuses on providing evidentially detailed psychic information for her clients to bring healing and confirmation.

To contact her with questions, or for information on private sessions, e-mail luxconvergence@outlook.com

Allison Brunner, LCSW, of Body Talks Therapy, facilitates deep healing through guided shadow work, shamanic energy healing called Illumination, and somatic, experiential psychotherapy or coaching for highly sensitive people and empaths. She’s an old soul big sister, guardian human, and rebirth midwife to old souls experiencing personal growth and sacred transformation.

Until she realized and cultivated her personal power, Allison struggled with trauma and embodiment on what felt to her like a dense, violent planet. She experienced extreme mental and emotional distress, not realizing that at times she was inadvertently taking on the suffering of others. As a shaman’s apprentice in the ancient Andean mystical lineage of the Q’ero, she created a map to assist others in finding their way back to themselves and the remembrance of their power and divinity.

To contact her with questions or to schedule free phone or video consultations, visit bodytalkstherapy.com.

Together We Rise: an Online Gathering for Connection, Empowerment, and Courage

How many of you have either said or been told in the past two weeks, “These are unprecedented times”? If I had a roll of toilet paper for every time I have uttered, read, or heard it, I’d be stocked into next year.

Well, it’s true. These times are remarkably, terrifyingly, excitingly unprecedented.

For some of us, it’s unsettling. For others, it’s inspiring. To me, it has been both, depending on the hour. Every morning and every night, though, I pray for everyone’s safety and good health and hold compassion for those who have lost loved ones.

There is so much going on in our world (and beyond our world), seen and unseen, on many levels. You know that or you probably wouldn’t be drawn to me as your therapist, coach, friend, workshop facilitator, or circle holder.

And you know how I’ve said so many times it now seems cliché, that we were born in this lifetime, when we were, where we were, for a special reason? This has never been more relevant. The time we’ve all been preparing for has arrived. Now is our moment to shine.

Together we will co-create the world we’ve dreamed of and deserved.

To be honest, I didn’t think this “time” would arrive so quickly. I’ve been swept off of my feet, between steadying myself in a cyclone of collective fear, figuring out how to adapt to social distancing (a word I hope never to utter after 2020) and quarantine (a word I’ve replaced with “retreat”).

But after a solid couple of weeks of sticking my toes in mud, walking in sunshine, meditating, singing happy songs in the shower, and drinking lots of orange juice, I am ready. I would be honored to facilitate sacred circle again. Being in service to and holding healing space for fellow sensitives, empaths, and wayshowers means more to me now than it ever has.

In this session, we’ll connect and listen deeply to each other’s experiences, empower each other, share stories and our visions for the future, and cultivate inner calm, courage, and hope.

Join me via Zoom next week (RSVP below). Space for each gathering is limited to 8. Circle is open to Body Talks Therapy bodywork and coaching clients, as well as to my local community, and to friends and colleagues worldwide. We will, of course, honor the light and divinity in each person regardless of race, religion, gender, gender preference, or political orientation.

RSVP to one of the following: Wednesday, April 1, at 11am–1:30pm EST, or on Thursday, April 2, at 5:30pm–8pm EST. If all slots are full, please e-mail me; I’ll consider adding additional sessions if there is demand.

Requirements: Members must participate with video for the sake of group cohesiveness. All that is shared is confidential and remains within the group.

Cost: Donations accepted; however, if you are experiencing financial hardship due to loss of work, please accept this invitation as a gift.

Thank you so much in advance for participating. We all need each other now more than ever.

Love,

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

It’s OK to Feel Afraid: Fear Is Not a Four-Letter Non-Spiritual Word

(Continued from yesterday’s post, Tele-Therapy Discount And an Important Announcement Regarding COVID-19)

While it’s true that fear does compromise your immune system, do not be ashamed of feeling afraid.

If you’re not afraid, though, great! I celebrate that! My personal intention is to fear not. In meditation, I keep getting the message that the fear that is arising for me and for all of us is a collective healing of fear programs.

But it is entirely normal to feel fear in a situation like we’re all in REGARDLESS of statistics, and regardless of whether or not the media is engaging in hype. Logic and emotion do not go hand in hand. Many of us have histories in which we have not felt safe as a result of some trauma. Current events can trigger old trauma. So be kind to yourself. Have compassion for what’s coming up for you emotionally these days.

Don’t let anyone bully you into feeling ashamed of how you feel. The truth is, there are people in the world right now who are bragging about their lack of fear in order to earn your approval and admiration. Others are disconnected from their own emotions and look down on those experiencing fear, because they haven’t acknowledged their own shadow. They weren’t allowed to show or feel emotion (or it wasn’t safe to do so) when they were growing up.

Still others engage in spiritual bypassing. For them, fear is a four-letter dirty word. They hail love and light and suppress their lower emotions.

Fear is not a sign of emotional or spiritual weakness. It signals that you are human.

Now read this carefully and notice how your body and emotions respond to the following words:

IT’S      OK      TO      FEEL      AFRAID.

I promise. It’s OK. Take a breath. As you exhale, send roots from your tailbone into the Earth.

You’re not alone. A lot of us are concerned—including those of us who don’t buy into the media hype.

Resistance to what you’re feeling creates more of what you’re resisting. In this case, fear increases (even if only subconsciously) and can show up physically (through belly aches, heartburn, etc.) or emotionally (like when you snap at someone or break into tears over something unrelated).

Love is the antidote to fear. So grab an object that represents any fear you may be feeling (I recommend a pillow). Hold it. Listen to what the fear has to say. Talk to it. Don’t try to convince it not to be scared. Acknowledge the fear. Say it’s OK to feel whatever it feels. Tell it you see it, you’re with it, and you’re going to take care of it. Ask it what it needs from you. Stay out of your head. Be in your heart.

Just so you know you’re not alone, I will share with you that I am afraid. The idea of being in quarantine triggers the heck out of me. I experience anxiety around doctors, pills, and hospitals. I’m afraid of a panicked public and empty store shelves.

I was so “off” on Sunday, I struggled to enjoy the warm, sunny day. So I called my sister, who struggles with anxiety, so that I could be in service and get out of my own head.

You know what happened? She answered the phone in a calm voice and began to tell me funny stories about people carrying cases of toilet paper from the grocery store to their cars. Rolls fell onto and all over the parking lot. Shoppers could barely fit the tissue in their vehicles, so they tied them to their roofs.

We giggled, shaking the fear from our nervous systems.

She shared that she was inexplicably centered and certain that everything was going to be OK. My nervous system calmed. I felt reconnected and was able to settle down and go to sleep.

You see? Love is the antidote to fear.

Call a friend or loved one. Hug your dog. Engage in a random act of kindness. Offer someone help, support, or assistance. Comfort someone else who is afraid. Heck, gift someone with a roll of toilet paper or a homemade bottle of hand sanitizer!

Be extra kind to yourself these days. Eat healthy. Sleep well. Laugh more. Minimize stress.

Take epsom or sea salt baths. Get outside. Take walks. Meditate. Watch a funny movie.

Naturopathic doctors are prescribing antiviral supplements and herbs like Sovereign Silver, Cat’s Claw, L-Lysine, and lemon balm. They recommend increasing your intake of fresh vegetables and fruit, supplementing with Ester-C, B-12 and Folate, as well as Zinc. But ALWAYS, always, always, check with your doctor to ensure that it’s safe for you to take any natural medicine or supplement, especially in combination with allopathic or other prescribed medicines.

One thing I know: we will be changed by this experience. We’ll be wiser. In fact, I consider this virus my newest teacher.

Never before have I ever felt more connected to my brothers and sisters around the world. We’re all in this together. And we have an opportunity now, all of us, to learn so much.

I personally am being shown how I can improve my grounding and centering practices. I’m learning patience with the people who lash out when under stress. I’m realizing it’s time to surrender my ideas of how the world should look and the way it ought to be. I’m intending to trust more and to have faith.

This is our opportunity to extend a level of compassion to ourselves and to our fellow humans regardless of race, color, creed, and yes, even political party. Perfect timing. Perhaps it took illness for us to see.…

So send love to each other tonight. For this is the next stage in our evolution.

All of you empaths out there, stay tuned: I’ll be posting here (and on my Musings page at BodyTalksTherapy.com) about how to ground and release the fear that is not yours. I gotta admit: I’m having to use my tools every few hours. The collective fear is a doozy energetically!

You’ve got this, my friends.

All my love,

—Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

Tele-therapy Discount and an Important Announcement Regarding COVID-19

In response to the queries I’ve been receiving about whether to attend in-person therapy sessions when/if someone in Lancaster County is diagnosed with (or presumed to have) the COVID-19:

I want YOU to feel comfortable and take care of yourself in the way you best see fit.  Ordinarily, I maintain a policy of requiring 72 hours notice for rescheduling or canceling sessions. However, now through April, you have three options if you are symptom-free:

1. Keep seeing me in person. You are absolutely welcome as long as I remain symptom-free (which I intend to be)! I will let you know if anything changes.
2. Reschedule, without paying a fee, for a date when you feel confident coming to my home office. (You can do so right from the confirmation e-mail you received when scheduling—or reach out to me for assistance with this.)
3. Schedule or switch to a video session. I use a HIPAA-compliant app (or web site) called Spruce Health to facilitate tele-therapy sessions. The connection is secure and more stable than that of FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom.

Tele-therapy

Spruce Health is easy to access and use. If it’s your first time connecting with me by video, join Body Talks Therapy on Spruce Health. Create a login username and password. You can either download the Spruce Health app or receive my calls from the Spruce Health web site at your scheduled appointment date and time.

ALL CURRENT AND FUTURE VIDEO CLIENTS: Please download my new Tele-therapy Agreement and Consent form. Sign and return it online, through the Spruce Health app, or via postal mail. Contact me for the mailing address. You may send it via regular e-mail at your own risk (since regular e-mail is not guaranteed secure).

To cancel or reschedule an appointment, use the “Change/Cancel Appointment” button that appears at the bottom of your confirmation e-mail. You’ll receive reimbursement for the cost of the session you purchased (if canceling) minus PayPal’s credit card fee ($2.90 + $ .30 per transaction), within 24 business hours.

Precautions

Most of you know I experience allergies to pollen, dust, and other allergens, throughout the year. I sneeze frequently. I will not be shaking hands, hugging, or touching people until we’re in the clear. (I will instead give air hugs.)

I will also conduct energy healing sessions remotely ONLY—until further notice.

If you are experiencing a compromised immune system, please seriously consider video sessions.

If you are sick or exhibiting symptoms of influenza or respiratory illness, you may either cancel and be refunded minus PayPal’s fee, reschedule for 14 days later, or switch to a video session.

I will also leave non-latex size Large gloves just outside my front door for those who would like to use them. Don’t be shy. You may also wash your hands when arriving or before leaving your in-person session. I’ll be disinfecting all door knobs between in-person sessions.

Session Discount

I’d like to offer everyone a $10 discount to try out a video session with me. Even if you’ve engaged with me via video before, you too can use the code WEREALLOK when purchasing your next session or package.

Encouragement and Solace

Now…practical issues aside, let’s talk about fear.

(Read more tomorrow.)

— By Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

Schedule a Shamanic Energy Healing Session for $15 off

After practicing master-level Reiki since 2009 and Integrated Energy Therapy since 2016, I’ll be offering shamanic energy healing as taught to me by shamanic guide and energy medicine practitioner Liz Seidel. Liz’s approach comes from her experience as an initiate into lineages that include the medicine peoples of the Q’ero of the high Andes of Peru, the Kallahuayas of the Late Titicaca region of Peru, the Mapuche shamans of Chile, and the Kahunas of Hawaii.

Photo by Amber Johnston Photography

It is an honor for me to add this to my repertoire and make it available to you. I credit this modality for helping me to accelerate my own healing and evolution ever since I began working with and learning from Liz in 2015.

If you’re new to shamanic energy medicine or to my practice in general, feel free to schedule a session and apply the coupon code ENERGYMEDICINE for a $15 discount. This applies to in-person sessions only. (Check back in about a month for distance sessions.) Offer expires in 30 days.

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

Don’t Distract From Feelings—Listen to This Guided Somatic Exercise

You know the ache or fluttering in your stomach, the tightness in your chest, or even the lump in your throat that you notice over the course of a busy day? That feeling that something isn’t quite right beneath the surface as you run through a list of things to do or thoughts about why you’re actually fine, should be OK, or will be alright once you do this thing or get that thing?

And no matter what you do, those physical sensations are still there. The longer you ignore them, the more persistent, bothersome, or chronic they become. You begin to feel anxious, admit that you’re down or even a little depressed, and suddenly you’re diagnosing yourself with a mental illness.

But nothing is wrong with you. Quite the opposite is true. Your body—and your emotions—are speaking to you, and you’re not listening. They have something important to tell you. The further you try to distract yourself from them, the more persistent (and uncomfortable) they become in order to get your attention. As my own clients can attest, when you turn towards what’s bothering you, your symptoms can, in many cases, dissipate almost immediately. Continue over many months or years to repress them and they could eventually fit the criteria for a mental health diagnosis.

Don’t take my word for it, though. Listen to this mp3 I’ve created which guides you inward, inviting you to be present to your experience and receptive to any messages from your body (the portal to your subconscious).

A quick note to readers who don’t quite feel safe in their bodies, feel flooded by your emotions, or who have experienced a great deal of trauma in your lives, I ask you to wait for next month’s post; I’ll create an mp3 just for you, integrating special grounding and resourcing techniques so you can ease your way inward more slowly and at a pace that is more supportive to your needs.

—Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

 

November Full Moon Circle: It’s All About You (And Us)

We’ll continue our monthly Women’s Full Moon Circle on Sunday, November 18, 5pm to 7pm, in rural Lititz. Rather than following a theme this month, we’ll use this gathering as an opportunity to connect a little more, sharing our intentions for what we’re releasing, and getting to know each other a little more.

You can still count on our usual combination of silly (think “magical tea” and giggly meditations), serious (journaling and oracle cards), and sacred (dancing and fire ceremony, which I promise not to forget to include this time!).

So bring your journals, forget your makeup, and wear your pajamas if you’d like (yeah, really). Let’s take this Sisterhood to the next level!

Cost is $10. RSVP right here. I look forward to spending another evening with you all!

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

October Full Moon Circle: the Sacred Feminine Rises

October’s Full Moon Circle will be held Saturday the 27th, from 5pm to 7pm. Join us for the first time, or return to the Sisterhood we’ve created and be held in safe space as we heal, honor, and allow the Sacred Feminine to rise, stronger than ever, within each of us.

Bring a pen, paper or journal, and an object to represent and/or honor the Sacred Feminine. (A $10 donation is suggested but not required.) RSVP here if you plan to attend. Space and parking are limited, so please let us know in advance if your plans change so that another person can fill your spot.

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy

Celebrate the Full Moon With a New Monthly Women’s Circle

Photo by Amber Johnston Photography

Body Talks Therapy (BTT) will host our first women’s Full Moon Circle on Sunday, September 23, from 6pm to 8pm. (These will replace the former new moon circles.)

Aligned with BTT’s mission to support people in carrying out their soul purpose, our full moon circles will feature ceremonies of release and letting go of who we are not and what no longer serves us so that we may step fully into and remember who we really are.

Drawing on the power and intensity of the full moon, we’ll allow our inner wisdom and creativity to illuminate aspects of ourselves we’ve outgrown and that which wants to be purged. We’ll engage in meditation, song, journaling, drawing, fire ceremony, and somatic exercises or dance to facilitate release.

September’s Harvest moon is in the sign of Aries, a time for looking forward and taking initiative. At the same time, the full moon asks us to pause and reflect. We’ll do both in this ceremony, engaging our intuition, inner guidance, and heart longings to determine where we’re called to take our next step. We’ll meet and engage with our Future Self or Higher Self; and for those of you for whom this is the first time you’ll make contact we’ll get to know these aspects of ourselves via journey  into the subconscious.

Bring a journal and pen, markers or colored pencils, and an object to represent your Future or Higher Self.

Please also RSVP here in advance and save your confirmation e-mail, which will contain the address and directions on where to park at this event. Most importantly, update your RSVP as soon as possible if you cannot attend, because space is limited to those occupying 9 parking spaces.

— Allison Brunner, LCSW, Body Talks Therapy