Everyone loves diving into a Retreat Goody bag – I know I do.

I’ve been thinking about all the things that will value add and hopefully enhance your Retreat experience to immerse into Self Love more during the event, AND when you go home.

So let’s take a look!

Our world is moving fast these days, and at times it’s so challenging to remain connected to the deep part of ourselves that we hold sacred. It’s even more challenging to align yourself to like minded people and simply deep dive into who you are and navigate your path back to your true essence.

I’ve been involved in spiritual circle work for over twenty years. There’s something magical about harnessing the energy of a group instead of trying to access your internal wisdom all by yourself.

We experience the magic when like minded people gather, open their hearts and uncover their essence to get in touch with their greatness. We connect our frequencies and wisdom, to create a safe space of loving nurture.

Every experience offers us lessons and gifts, of wisdom, confidence, strength and resilience! Allow me to show you how to lower the defensive wall and embrace exploration of your journey back to your calm and comfortable self.

I will be utilising a combination of modalities including intuitive meditation, clinical resource therapy, hypnosis, counselling, and wellness coaching.

I can’t wait to begin.

I recognise that not everyone finds meditation an easy activity. For some, the mere mention of meditation can be stress inducing and they claim “oh I’ve tried, and I can’t do it”.

My response as a Meditation teacher is this – meditation is an invitation for you to take a journey inward through embodied practice which can reach every area of your life.

It merely requires you begin to follow and trust in your own intuition. This is a calm and inward focused practice of self-love and acceptance which offers you a deeper sense of gratitude and love in your life.

The purpose of meditation is not to quieten your mind and become a buddhist monk, but rather become present and simply observe your thoughts as they come and go.

Intuitive Meditation is a ‘scientific and philosophical based’ method of Meditation to access and connect with your own intuition with trust and courage to follow your heart’s truth (your soul voice / your inner guidance).

Connecting to your heart’s truth allows you to stay present and be guided from our intuition with trust and clarity/certainty. The aim of this deeper connection is to bring your intuition into your day to day life, not just only in your meditation time.

Through this method you quieten the monkey mind with breathing practices to become still and to activate your own intuition, from within your heart truth!

As you follow the breath into your heart space, here you meet your higher self through connecting with your intuition in its highest form.

To support you gaining the most out of the Alchemy Retreat, I’ve recorded a 10 minute Heart Activation Meditative Recording.

Please DO download this file and listen as often as you can – ideally daily. Why every day? Because you are training your every day mind, to slow down and pause. Frankly who doesn’t need more of that?

One of the things I’ve learnt over the years as I’ve undertaken various healing journies and completed study is this – we have a truck load of strategies and tools to cope with what life throws our way.

However the old quote is true – if you don’t use it you lose it.

By this I mean, if you don’t make a conscious awareness of what strategy is useful, for a certain unwanted thought or feeling or behaviour, means you may struggle to ‘know’ what to do when life gets hot in the kitchen.

This reflection journal sheet is designed to prompt you to take an active role in attempting the various self love actions suggested here in the portal. The intention of this reflective journal isn’t to create work, but to create mindfull connection to the positive affirming actions.

In other words, I’m simply creating an invitation for you to connect with how do you feel before and after undertaking the action? And more importantly when you connect with the emotional component of a stressor trigger in your life and perform the suggested action, this invitation allows you to connect with what provides you stress relief?

Download and use the Alchemy Action Reflection Journal sheet or simply use the questions in your journal and enjoy exploring what actions bring you more calm in your life!

Everyone needs a little affirming Self-Love!!

I recently created a series of Self-Love Cards for clients to create wonderful ways to for you to uplift your spirits through self care affirmations, actions, journal prompts, and quotations.

Pulling a card for day enables you to gift yourself a direct message from the Universe. A sample of affirmation cards have been provided within your Alchemy Retreat goody bag.

Journaling your response (to the card you selected) can allow you to gain clear insights and deepen your understandings of your current situation.

Reciting an affirmation and quotes can also provide you with a simple inspirational message for your day.

Doing self-love actions activate your heart space.

Saying, singing, chanting, reciting affirmations on a regular basis is a powerful way to keep your thoughts positive and grounded into the present moment. Self-Love Cards are a great way to keep your affirmations (desired positive state) close by. Having the physical card with you as a beneficial reminder to remain connected to the positivity throughout the day.

They have been specifically designed to tuck a card in your wallet, or on the bathroom mirror, or even at your work desk. Frequent viewing enables you to re-read your Self-Love affirmation throughout the day.

The more you affirm the positive attribute, the more you are becoming what you want to achieve – the dream life!

There’s no right or wrong way to use this deck of Self-Love.

Simply pull a card from the deck as needed. You may wish to create a regular self-love practice like first thing each morning as you sip your cup of coffee.

The benefit of repeating your use of these cards, is that you increase your vibration of Self-Love through repetition. You are actively infusing the power of the words and activities.

While you can use Affirmations + Actions at any time, it can be helpful to play with them when you feel most open. For you this may be upon waking, first thing in the morning. I especially love to pull a card after a walk outside and have watched the sun rise.

You might like to take a few deep breaths before you use them, have your journal ready to explore them deeper, light a candle or anything else that makes you feel extra snug and supported. Any thing the further nurtures you into the intentional practice of self-love.

JOY CHOSE YOU

Joy does not arrive with a fanfare on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life.

Joy sneaks in, as you pour a cup of coffee,

Joy sneaks in as you watch the sun hit your favourite tree, just right.

And you usher joy away, because you are not ready for it.

Your house is not as it must be, for such a distinguished guest.

But joy cares nothing for your messy home, or your bank-balance, or your waistline, you see.

Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life, that’s how joy works.

You cannot invite her, you can only be ready when she appears.

And hug her with meaning, because in this very moment, joy chose you.

-Donna Ashworth

Any ritual is an opportunity for transformation – Starhawk

I can light a candle because I need the light, or because the candle represents the light I need – Christina Baldwin

Intention is the core of all conscious life. Conscious intention colours and moves everything – Hsing Yun

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it – Roald Dahl

What you think, you create.

What you feel, you attract.

What you imagine, you become.

Learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else – Leonardo da Vinci

When we light a candle in our ritual space, we ignite a flame in ourselves – Alison Leigh Lilly

Forgiveness says you are given another chance to create a new beginning – Desmond Tutu

Everything has beauty. Not everyone sees it – Andy Warhol

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder – G.K.Chesterton

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it – Paulo Coelho

Ritual is the passageway of the soul into the infinite – Algenon Blackwood

Your task is not to seek love, but merely seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it – Rumi

Click here to read the full blog!

What is the first thing to do when your buttons are pushed?

Our life is full of experiences. Some are fabulous, some teach us lessons. Some of those lessons just aren’t resolved with a good night’s sleep, and it’s this reaction to the external world that creates our defensive reaction.

Some of those life experiences are hard.

When the lesson hasn’t been fully embraced, we can feel like our buttons have been pushed. What’s happening inside our brain when we experience a triggered reaction is that we don’t quite yet have the resources to work through that situation.

We often repeat the same experience until the lesson is learned. This is often not pleasant and can make life feel hard as we build our resilience muscle.

We are constantly building our emotional intelligence — our capacity to process our emotional response to external life.

If you’re open-minded in relation to change, you can view life as every single experience presents you with a gift to grow and evolve. However, if you’re stuck in your neurological survival reaction, this growth can become stunted. You’re capacity to self-reflect, assess and move forward strategically can become impeded.

When we explore the reactive trigger, there are a whole bunch of things occurring in the brain when it switches into survival mode. As a therapist, explaining our neurobiological response is confusing for most.

Instead, I make reference to the part of our psyche called the inner child — that part of you deep inside that keeps a record of every single experience you’ve ever had, including the feelings you associated with those moments.

This means your inner child carries an emotional wound. It is very much like a garbage can, full of crap thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about yourself and the world. And unless you have emotionally mature and stable parents, your capacity to address all of these emotions generally doesn’t happen until you’re an adult.

By that time, you are consciously aware of when you are triggered because of how it makes you feel. It’s uncomfortable and often leaves you feeling out of control. It’s often the source of your anxiety and panic. It is also something that we avoid until our reactive behaviour feels toxic or gets us into trouble.

When life feels uncomfortable, it’s human nature to want to slam the lid down tight and avoid that discomfort. And yet the more you shove more in, the worse it gets.

It’s like an old septic tank. The more you fill up the vessel, it starts to stink metaphorically. As it gets full, you feel like you want to cry or scream or hit something. You may even want to run from the scenario that drove the trigger.

You can get really worked up. Or rather, your inner child can feel overwhelmed, panicked, anxious, nauseated, and completely out of control. These feelings contribute to the manufacturing of unconscious fears of the unknown, future, and uncertainty.

When those feelings arise, and life feels hard, you should practice the pause.