Marcia Beachy, MS, LPC, CCHT

Articles

Depression is an all too common experience for us, even though we are loathe to admit it. When the blues set in (darker mood, low energy, hopelessness, sleep irregularity, changes in appetite, impatience, angry outbursts, emotional numbness, wanting release from all the pain, etc.), we know we’ve “got it.” For those suffering with more severe episodes, medical intervention may be necessary. For most of us, muddling through with support from family and friends is our choice–or for those determined independent types, muddling through alone.

Continuous depression creates a kind of brain-freeze, a mental blindness to the whole picture of things. The “joy factor” of life eludes us and our perspective becomes increasingly narrow. Since we seem to be created with a high joy and love requisite, ongoing grief, sorrow and depression can feel like the weight of the world. Furthermore, the world we see “out there” seems bleak beyond measure, reflecting our own lack of hope.

Many have found simple, effective tools for coping with depression, or releasing it altogether, which I want to share with you. So whether you are an old warrior or newbie in the dance with depression, here are some natural supports to experiment with on your journey of better mental and emotional health. We will divide them up into what to do and what not to do in order to truly lift life-sapping, depressive patterning.

What NOT to do:

1. Do NOT stay behind closed doors and in darkened rooms. This feeds depression, which you don’t need more of.

2. Do NOT watch violent, angry, hopeless TV programs and movies. Minimize exposure to negative media of all kinds, including video games and music–and the nightly news.

3. Do NOT believe anyone who conveys to you that your situation or diagnosis is irreversible or hopeless. Perhaps they don’t see a way through but that is simply a perspective offered. It is NOT the ultimate truth of you.

4. Do NOT limit your amazing possibilities to heal by believing your symptoms are “only” chemical imbalances or “only” mental/emotional inadequacies on your part. Why not experiment with a gamut of interesting, positive options, some of which may be just the ticket for you?

5. Do NOT get into the guilt/blame/shame game with yourself because you feel depressed. Talk about draining your own energies–guilt will do it!

6. Do NOT continue to be in negative vibe situations, wherever they may occur.

Things you can DO:

1. Check out your thyroid function. Imbalances in the thyroid gland create havoc with mood.

2. Jumpstart the “Joy Factor.” Yes! Give yourself full permission to feel that elusive thing called joy again. What does it for you? Can you recall? How about looking at the blue sky, walking along the river, holding a pet or your favorite baby? Maybe the smell of roses or fresh-baked bread gives you that “Ah-h-h….” Milk it for all it’s worth. This can change your brain chemistry! Even if it’s hard to get started, do it.

3. The Attitude of Gratitude. This goes hand in hand with the Joy Factor. What are you grateful for? The roof over your head? The fresh air in the morning? That you are, in fact, loved, whether you feel it or not? How about those moments of peace, the money you have, or your pet who never forsakes you? Say it. “I am so grateful for_____.” Gratitude opens our hearts. As the heart opens, love begins to flow and love is a wonderful brain-chemical stimulant! Be grateful to yourself as well. What are some of your own qualities that you appreciate?

4. Light & Color Therapy. This is fun and easy. Let the sun shine on your face every day. Tilt your face upward and drink in that light! The pineal gland lies deep in the brain and it is sensitive to light. Some sources say that it is the pituitary gland most affected by light. For our purposes, the following information is what counts. When this gland gets its requirement of light, it puts out “mood upper” hormones like serotonin and melatonin, which keep us light-hearted and in lighter moods. People who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) do better when they give themselves full-spectrum light treatments through the winter months of less sunlight. If you work inside all day, simply make certain that you go outside in the sun at lunchtime or sit in a sunny window regularly.

Color therapy can be simple and effective. What are colors that you enjoy, that you like to wear or be around? If you could breathe in a color that would make your nervous system feel particularly calm and relaxed, what would it be? What about a color that would give you jest and pep? Have fun imagining that color flowing through your body every day. Wear colors that appeal to your senses in a healing way.

5. Nature. We have all had the experience of being uplifted by the fresh air and beauty of nature. We are awed by our Colorado snowcapped peaks in winter, the vastness of the Pacific Ocean at sunset, the marvel of spring wildflowers after the thaw. Through these we somehow sense our “place in the family of things.” (from the poem Wild Geese by Mary Oliver) On a simpler note, your patio garden or backyard flowerbed can gift you with the same sense of connection to the whole–a bigger grace than shopping lists and errands. Scientists tell us that the frequency of the natural world and of our bodies is the same. To return to our innate healthy vibration, we would do well to spend time in undisturbed natural settings. Our innate nature is, well, like nature–beautiful, harmonious, creative and alive.
6. Movement. Depression can leave us feeling immobilized, trapped, helpless, uncreative. To counter these feelings, we can begin to move. Move the body. Get things moving inside and out with your exercise of choice. If you enjoy going to the gym, great. Just remember to also get your feet on the Earth and breathe fresh air. Your body and mood will improve.

Years ago one of my clients told me she had discovered something about movement and mood. She learned that if you move your legs you move depression; if you move your arms, you move anger. Try it and let me know how it works for you.

7. Nutritional Therapy. The brain and the body need high nutrition for optimum functioning. Sugar, caffeine and refined carbs aren’t high nutrition and if that’s your diet, your brain is probably starving! Sugar, alcohol, caffeine and nicotine can be real mood downers in the end. Even though we may use them for relaxation or to increase our energy, the overall effect can be major mood swings. Then we need more and the cycle goes on. So cut back or cease and see how you feel.

When possible choose locally grown, organic, fresh foods. The closer food is to its original form, the better. Nutritional supplements are necessary due to the depletion of our soils and the stress levels we are experiencing. At a basic level, a powerful daily vitamin/mineral is essential, with plenty of calcium and other minerals, plus B Complex. For more refinement of your diet and naturally re-balancing of your brain chemistry, you might want to consult a nutritionist or naturopath. Please refer to the resource people listed at the close of this article for some of my favorite experts.

Becoming a “waterholic” is a simple habit to add to your toolbox. Sometimes all our other cravings are simply the body’s cry for pure water. What feels like hunger may actually be dehydration trying to get your attention. More water, more hydration, more release of toxins. It’s a simple but powerful tool for health.

8. Environmental Factors. Our environment may be such that it negatively affects our sense of well-being and mood. Here are some things to check out:

(a) Electromagnetic/radar/microwave/fluorescent light influences. Our bodies are impacted by the radiation from computers, cell phones, cell towers and other electronics and technology. If you aren’t balancing all that computer time with time outside on the Earth and looking at distant vistas, your body/brain isn’t happy. It’s a good idea to minimize cell phone and iPod use. Putting all that radiation directly into your brain for hours isn’t smart. Fluorescent lighting is not full spectrum lighting and the imbalance can drain our energy. Remember the pineal/pituitary glands we mentioned earlier. You need the sun!

(b) Environmental chemicals and toxins. Are you using chemicals in your work, gardening, farming? These pesticides and herbicides are toxic and over time do affect your health. Also check out the toxic cleaners in your home.

(c) Stressful environments. Is your work and home environment such that it is relatively free of conflict and negative stress? Constant stress without replenishing ourselves can lead to a breakdown of our mental and physical health. Consider these factors as you gauge your environment’s impact on your mood.

9. Mental Disciplines. Our thinking habits water our moods and we grow what we water. Double check yourself. Have you adopted a victim mentality? Have you taken on negative patterns of thinking such as “life sucks” or “you can’t win for losing” or “the world is going down the tubes” or “I’m no good and never will be” or “It hurts too much”, etc.? Negative thinking spirals us into whirlpools of hopelessness. We must honor and learn from those deep feelings of sorrow. However, if complaining or despair has become a habit, then it’s important to re-evaluate.

Before we proceed further, it is important to acknowledge the effect of a world in flux on our psyches. Our sense of well-being is influenced by change, difficulty, and negativity on the interpersonal and planetary levels. We hurt when we see that others are hurting. We hurt when our planet hurts. Depression can be a signal that we are overloaded with undifferentiated pain. It may not all be our own personal “stuff”. We get to step up to another level of discernment and choice. We can pray for the world and its people; we can meditate on peace within and without; but we may need to step back and create some boundaries so that our mental environment supports a better sense of personal well-being.
If we are grieving, we can know that grief is time-limited and is a reminder that we have experienced the gift of love. We can honor those deep feelings of sorrow, loss, and even hopelessness.

Whether grieving or in a deep funk, we eventually can graciously begin shifting our thinking into what it is we truly want and begin to speak as if we have it, even if we don’t, even if we don’t really believe it. We do it anyway. We choose to believe it’s possible to feel better, to feel hope, love and incentive. We can learn to speak with joy about what lightens our hearts. We change our thinking to “It’s all working out”, “I’m learning from this.”

Gregg Braden (Walking Between the Worlds: The Science of Compassion, preface, p. v) speaks eloquently of our powerful mental capacities when he says, “Shifting your body chemistry by shifting your viewpoint is perhaps the single most powerful tool that you have available to you for the remainder of this lifetime……New data now supports the idea that human emotion determines the actual patterning of DNA within the body.” In other words, shifting your viewpoint from hopelessness to believing that–under it all–you and I and this amazing planet are worthy of giving and receiving compassion, is a great mood enhancer.

10. Meaning within Suffering. When we address the idea of meaning, we move into the spiritual aspect of ourselves. This part of us longs to be integrated into daily life and contribute inspiration and deeper understanding to our experiences. You don’t have to be religious to embrace this wise inner self–just be open.

Some of the wisest sages speak of the place of suffering in our development as human beings. Once we have experienced the dark night of the soul, we are permanently changed. We have a choice as to how we integrate that; we can be bitter and resentful, or we can realize we now understand others in similar circumstances. Compassion, grace and fortitude are attributes we discover within ourselves. Our minds and hearts are open to the suffering in the world and we can choose to do our part in relieving suffering. Often this is when we touch the bones of who we are, finding our soul, our true nature rising from the shattered remains of our ego and social persona. In this way, depression can bring us home to a more compassionate self.

Whether you wish to work on your body, your thinking, your environment or spirit, these guidelines can be a starting point in your holistic treatment of depression. All that we do counts. It all matters in the journey of self-healing.

RESOURCES:

Nutritional Support for Depression
1. R. Wayne Davis, Naturopathic Doctor, 1401 N. Elizabeth, Suite C, Pueblo CO 719-248-4873 bewellnaturally@hotmail.com
2. Katherine Duboue’, Licensed Certified Nutritionist, Muscle Testing
4218 Astrozon Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 719-574-7066 kduboue@msn.com

Trauma/Anxiety Release
1. William Settle, LCSW, LMT, Emotional Release Therapy, 6 Pineridge Ct., Pueblo, CO 719-544-4109 wmjsettle@msn.com
2. John Harder, LCSW, Emotional Release Therapy, 720 N. Main, Suite 335, Pueblo. CO 719-583-1462
3. Jo Ann Wiedman, Peace-Restoring Energy Work, Pueblo, CO 719-647-1443 joawiedman @ yahoo.com

By Scott Smith, The Pueblo Chieftain

November 1, 2007

She’s a believer — in soul, in self, in healing, in growth.  And in reincarnation and the power of past-life regression therapy.  For Marcia Beachy, it just makes sense.

The Pueblo resident first embraced the past-lives concept many years ago, after reading a book about the life of renowned psychic Edgar Cayce.  “I felt like I had come home to something that I knew and didn’t know that I knew,” says Beachy. “Suddenly, the way in which the world functioned made more sense to me. I understood the potential causes of suffering and how that works for us, and ‘as you sow, so shall ye reap’ began to make sense.  “To look at the soul as having a long journey of experiences made me feel like I had been given a lifeline of walking my own path — and I dove into it.”

Beachy became a professional counselor — and more. She has a master’s degree in counseling from Northern Illinois University and is also a certified clinical hypnotherapist; a specialist in past-life, present-life and between-life regression therapy; a certified massage therapist; a reiki master; and a trained bereavement facilitator.  She’s been a counselor for 23 years and has 13 years of experience in past-life regression and soul-connection work.

And, all the while, she’s been on her own journey, both physically and spiritually. She grew up in Cheraw, spent most of her adult life in the Chicago area (married, had three daughters, divorced), moved to La Junta nine years ago (“Colorado won’t let you alone — it’s always in your heart,” she says) and settled in Pueblo last year.

Most of her counseling business includes traditional psychotherapy, but some of her clients also choose to explore regression therapy with Beachy, who is adept at helping to guide their expeditions into their unconscious pasts.
> “I’ve always been drawn to uncover the deeper truths of who we are,” says the soft-spoken Beachy. “You could call that our soul, you could call it our true self, you could call it many things. But that’s where the juice is for me, where the excitement is for me in working with people.  “And my journey required that I do the same thing, so there’s no separation between my growth and the growth I’m able to support with my clients. So the deeper I go, hopefully, the deeper they are invited to go.”

Beachy stresses that regression therapy should not be viewed as a magical solution to an individual’s problems and issues in this life — but she believes that past-life exploration can yield genuine benefits in the area of self-realization. Basically, she says, people sometimes can better deal with existing trauma, drama and pain once they realize a problem’s deeper origin.  “People benefit by experiencing forgiveness, by experiencing relief of guilt, by experiencing insight, by experiencing a higher perspective of who they are,” Beachy says. “Sometimes, there’s even a release of physical symptoms, because the original cause is accessed. “It’s a wonderful additional therapy. . . . But regression therapy is not an escape. It’s a complement (to talk therapy).”   It’s also not just for those working on difficult emotional or psychological issues.

Some of Beachy’s clients are merely curious. “They want a venue for exploring more of who they are; they want to grow, rather than to alleviate pain,” she says. “And this therapy can provide growth on many levels that can be very satisfying.”  But regression therapy is not for everyone, cautions Beachy.  “It’s not for people who already have enough on their plates — they need to be dealing with the here and now,” she says. “And it’s not for people who have dissociative disorders and personality disorders; things are already jumbled.”

A regression session with Beachy usually lasts about 2 1/2 hours and costs $150; it includes a half-hour interview with the client, followed by relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy and a gently guided journey into the unconscious. There are no guarantees — not everybody can access past lives (“Some people just see black”) — but Beachy says that most people can connect, some more easily than others.  For some, it’s a one-time deal; for others, they return again and again to further delve into their past lives.

Beachy has written a book about past-life regressions, “This Divine Classroom,” which includes detailed case studies of three repeat clients. One of them not only experienced personal emotional growth, but also reported a cessation of physical pain after one session.  “She went into a past life in which she was a monk in a monastery who was very troubled about his sexuality and had a lot of guilt, and the despair drove him to throw himself over the wall, where he died,” Beachy says. “What he felt when he hit the ground were his bones crushing in his legs. She said, ‘That’s why I’ve always had weak ankles.’ She told me later that her ankles were much stronger now that they don’t carry that trauma anymore.”

Of course, not everyone is a believer in reincarnation — and that’s just fine, says Beachy.  “I’m not here to do any convincing,” she says. “In fact, having an open, skeptical mind is actually a very good approach, because there’s not the expectation of your ego needs being met by doing a regression.  “I don’t worry about whether you believe in past lives or not; my work is about healing and wholeness. I don’t care if (a past life) can be documented. What’s important is if it’s added to your own understanding.”

Beachy is now working on another book, and focusing more on the death and dying process and what we can learn from it. “We die as we live,” she says. “If our predominant frequency is love and wisdom and forgiveness, which is a high frequency, then we carry on with that; if it’s anger and rage and resentment, we carry on with that. When we die, it continues according to what we’ve built.

“It doesn’t matter what religious hat we put on. What matters is what’s in our heart.”

For more information, call Beachy at 542-0156 or visit her Web site, www.marciabeachy.com

Source:  The Pueblo Chieftain

Pueblo Chieftain, Nov. 1, 2007

Editor’s note: First, some background. This year, for the Halloween/Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday season, we wanted to explore a different realm. Something beyond writing about the usual haunted houses, trick-or-treat candy, goofy costumes and sugar skulls. Something way beyond.

Writer-editor Scott Smith decided to explore the mysterious world of past-life regression. What follows is a first-person account of a session he had with Pueblo resident Marcia Beachy, a licensed professional counselor, certified clinical hypnotherapist and trained specialist in regression therapy. The 2 1/2-hour session was tape-recorded.

By SCOTT SMITH

I am Gregor.  More precisely, I was Gregor, a Catholic priest who lived — and died — in a small village in 14th-century Britain.  Or so I believe after undergoing a recent past-life regression session with counselor Marcia Beachy, a gentle woman who has been professionally trained to help individuals examine their souls by connecting with their former lives. And so how does one embark on such a journey into the deep unconscious? Well, it goes something like this . . .

For starters, it helps to have no preconceptions. I consider myself an open-minded skeptic (“That’s good,” Beachy says), and I believe that anything — and everything — is possible. I have no answers, only questions, especially concerning things like the afterlife. And although I happen to be a big believer in reincarnation (it’s a concept that makes karmic sense to me), I’m not exactly a crystal-hugging, Shirley MacLaine-loving, mantra-chanting New Ager. It also helps to have a good spiritual guide, like Beachy. She’s been doing professional talk-therapy counseling for 23 years and has specialized in regression and soul-connection work for the past 13 years. She seems to know what she’s doing. She has a soothing voice and a calm, reassuring bedside manner.

The session, which took place at Beachy’s new home on Pueblo’s north side, began with a half-hour interview. It was a chance for her to learn a little more about me, my family and any issues that might be troubling me in my present incarnation. And it was a chance for me to be the interviewee for a change, which was fun.  We briefly discussed my childhood, my professional life and my interpersonal relationships — including two wonderful marriages that ended suddenly, painfully and, at the time, inexplicably. And we agreed that the main purpose of my regression therapy would be to satisfy my curiosity about the past-lives business, as well as to perhaps learn something about my soul that I could apply to today’s reality.

After the interview, I stretched out on Beachy’s massage table, on my back with my eyes closed and my head on a comfy pillow; she covered me with a warm blanket, put on some nice, meditative music and began the session with a series of relaxation techniques (breathing, color imagery, etc.) and hypnotherapy. She guided me deep into my unconscious, using images of a hill, stairs, a path through a deep forest, a wall and a door. I followed her spoken instructions, and in a matter of minutes I was in an odd state of semi-consciousness. I also was immersed in the past.

WAY BACK
I heard Beachy’s voice. I answered her questions. And I swear I “saw” moments from one of my past lives unfolding somewhere beyond all my known synapses. I was aware of the present (I occasionally heard the wind howling outside Beachy’s house) and the past at the same time. It was strange, but not unsettling.

Beachy guided me, literally step by step, on my path of self-discovery. She asked me what I was wearing on my feet (straps of leather, held on by twine, with no soles — “rudimentary shoes,” I said) and my body (a well-worn, hooded robe), what the ground was like (dirt packed down by horses’ hoofprints), where I was walking (“toward a wooden building”), what I saw (laughing, barefoot children who were dressed in rags and chasing chickens) and how I felt after entering the building, which turned out to be a church (“I feel like I own it. I feel like it’s my church,” I said).

And so one of my past lives unfolded, detail by detail, with occasional unobtrusive prompting by Beachy. I was a Catholic priest named Gregor. He was short (5-foot-2), bald, old and tired. He was happy with his life’s work, but sad at the moment, because many of the villagers — his congregants — had died. The church benches were empty.  Gregor was especially sad for the deceased children — kids who barely got to taste life, harsh though it was in this village. The mourning for the dead youngsters brought me to tears; I could feel tiny drops forming in the corners of my closed eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks.

On this overcast day, Gregor was preparing for a funeral. He was weary.  There had been many, many deaths — and enough burials to nearly fill the small meadow on the outskirts of town. And now, Gregor not only presided over the farewell services, he handled the burying part, too, because the town’s gravedigger had died.

As Gregor slowly walked out of the village and toward the meadow, shovel in one hand, he felt an apple in his pocket. He was looking forward to eating it later, after the burial. The apple was dinner. There was little food in the village.  He reached the burial site — a freshly dug hole in the meadow’s rich, dark soil — and waited for the funeral procession. The dead man was named Jacob; he had no family. Four of the village’s men carried the body, tightly wrapped in a blanket (there was no coffin), to the grave site. No one else attended. The men set the body into the hole. They prayed. One of them offered to help Gregor with the shovel work, but the priest waved him off. “You’ve done enough,” he said. “Thank you.”

When Gregor was finished filling the grave — it was hard work, especially for an old, tired man — he rested on the shovel’s handle and surveyed the meadow. At the far end, a red fox raced into the trees. Gregor smiled. Life goes on, he thought.

Beachy asked more questions.  Why did Gregor become a priest? (“God’s will.” And it was a decision made at a young age — after the death of his mother.)  What year is it? (“13 and 17.”)

Then she guided me to Gregor’s deathbed. The priest was 70 — ancient for that time. He was in no pain, but felt a great heaviness on his chest, “like an anvil.” Beachy asked Gregor how it felt after his final breath. How did he feel as his spirit left his body? The priest responded: “Elation. Freedom. Satisfaction. I feel like I’ve lived a good life. . . . I feel like life is everlasting.” Asked Beachy, “Things you taught as a priest and now you know?”  Said Gregor, “I don’t know them yet. But I believe in them. And I’m going on a journey.”

Beachy encouraged me to take that journey right now. But instead of following Gregor’s spirit into the afterlife, I instead found myself in another past life. I was dressed in Depression-era clothing — ragged shirt, dungarees and hat—  and had just awakened after sleeping the night by a large river. My stomach was full — fish that I had caught in the river, I think — and my bones were stiff from sleeping on the hard ground.

After realizing that I’d lost contact with Gregor and had dropped into another life, Beachy gently guided me back toward the dead priest’s soul. I grudgingly followed, but part of me wanted to connect with that middle-aged man by the river. I wanted to follow him and learn about him.

Once I reconnected with Gregor’s spirit, I felt a sense of total belonging. I was everywhere. I was a leaf. I was a tree. I was a rock. I was everything on the planet, and everything was me. My personal identity was gone.  Beachy asked me what I had learned while living as Gregor. My response: “It made me better understand people’s frailties. I learned about empathy. I learned about giving. I learned about honesty. I learned about selflessness.  I think they are areas in which I had been deficient previously, whatever that means.”

And what messages, what wisdom would Gregor give to Scott?

“It’s important to keep trying to improve . . . in areas of deficiency, because it’s attainable. Perseverance, I think, is the message. Focusing on others in a positive way strengthens yourself. But it has to be sincere. You have to believe.  “Just persevere. We’re all flawed, but we’re all individuals. Life is good. But life is not perfect. It’s not supposed to be.”

And one more request from Beachy: Anything else for Gregor to share with Scott?  “Just be thankful. Be thankful for all the good. Enjoy that apple in your pocket . . . because a lot of people don’t have one.”

And it was over. Beachy slowly brought me back to full consciousness. I felt woozy. Amazed. Peaceful. After a drink of water and a brief visit with Beachy, I collected myself and left the counselor’s house. With Gregor.

THE AFTERMATH

Some observations after the regression experience:  While transcribing the tapes of the session, I had to listen very  carefully to hear my words when I was immersed in Gregor’s life. I spoke slowly and deliberately, but I also sounded fatigued and weak, almost speaking in a whisper sometimes. Was that because Gregor was tired and worn-down? Or was it just the way I sound when I’m under hypnosis? (Hypnosis, says Beachy.)

I was fascinated with the detail of my descriptions when I was Gregor: the smell of my robe (sweaty and salty, but not unpleasant); the frayed twine that held together my rustic footwear; the musty smell in the empty church; the fact that there were not headstones or upright crosses in the graveyard— just a few rough-hewn crosses made of branches and lying flat on the ground; a hungry horse neighing in the distance; the distinctive feel of the apple, cool and smooth, in my pocket. Beachy says that details like smells are a good indication that “you’re really there.”

Most of the time, it felt like I was seeing life from Gregor’s eyes, but a couple of times I felt like I was outside his body, watching a scene unfold.  That’s just the difference between being an “experiencer or an observer,” Beachy says.

After the session, I Googled English history, circa 1317, and discovered that it was the final year of The Great Famine in Europe. It was a three-year span when an estimated 10-15 percent of the continent’s population died from famine-related causes. (The Black Death didn’t hit until 1338.)  That would certainly explain the many deaths in Gregor’s village, as well as the dearth of food.

And here’s a spooky coincidence. When I returned to my home to eat lunch after the regression session, I turned on my iPod sound system, which was set on “shuffle” to provide random tunes in a library that contains more than 3,200 songs. The first song that came on was a version of “Jacob’s Ladder,” by Bruce Springsteen. Yes, Jacob. The name of the man that Gregor had just buried . . .

Source:  The Pueblo Chieftain

We already know. We comment on the “school of hard knocks”. We sing, “when will we ever learn.…”. We muse as a friend did recently, about her “higher education in love.” We discover, create, are tested, fail and succeed.

Sounds like school and, of course, it is. Life is a demanding teacher. Earth is a tough classroom. And to what end? Could it be that we are spiritual travelers arriving from distant parts of the Cosmos to attend one of the most challenging curriculums in three-dimensional creation? Does this tough classroom serve to mature us and hone our spirits? Key alchemical processes are occurring now. Various immensely valuable teachings are enveloping us like waves, some of which we ride with grace. Others propel us gasping and sputtering to the depths. Yet at some core level, we know all of life is about learning.

Like the wave on the ever varying sea, change is key to Earth School’s curriculum. Big change shakes and rattles our collective cage. That’s happening now. Immense waves of change are washing through every strata of life. This upheaval cracks us open. We may try to keep the shell of familiarity around us but fractures still show through. Sometimes our reality shatters. We feel adrift and without purpose. We may try to act “normal” but inside we feel like war victims or earthquake survivors. And we are. The human race is under tremendous pressure.

You need no alerting to this. Your relationships are undergoing major changes. You finances feel unstable. You see ineptitude gripping our financial leaders. The challenges of medical care and the mercurial nature of the world arena are difficult to ignore. You may be watching your children cope with unprecedented assaults on their innocence. We long to create stability within this moving wave of change. Stability is a natural desire. Having stability within these changes requires great flexibility and opening the floodgates of clarity and creativity. It requires letting go of much of what we think we must have. It requires we dance with our fears.

Change rides on the waves of opposites. This classroom exists within the embrace of opposing forces. Instead of the oneness and harmony of our spiritual origins, we have the experience of light and dark, of happiness and sadness, of inclusion and rejection. We experience calm and security in the morning and by evening are filled with anxiety. The sun shines and then the clouds oppress us. A friend becomes an “enemy” and we are thrown into anger. The friend apologizes and we love again. Back and forth we go until, with experience, we develop a “middle path”. We discover more acceptance of our anger and a deepening of our love, thereby creating some reconciliation of duality.

In addition to the hard learning tools of change and duality, we have the added challenge of “the veil of forgetfulness.” An enormous dilemma in this spiritual training school, this divine classroom, if you will, is that most of the students don’t know they are enrolled! In fact some traditional religions have taught the negation of Earth and the human body, that they are evil or at the very least, not worthy of honor and certainly not divine. How silly and sad this seems. What a waste we say! But wait. There may be a way in which our unknowing, whatever its origin, serves a greater purpose. Perhaps the enticement of discovery and coming to KNOW is a part of the lesson plan, like the lure of a treasure hunt or the solving of a puzzle. Perhaps we are meant to unravel the mystery of who we are and in the process gain soul wisdom, a gift to ourselves and to our Creator. To remember our true nature and feel it in our bodies and daily life is our quest.

Breaking through this veil is a necessary task in Earth School homework. Suffering is a great way to break through, though not often sought! When we suffer, we question, we probe, we protest, we cry. We go deeper than our present identity. We may touch the soul. In addition to suffering, other veil-breakers are deep meditation and prayer, deep compassion, various altered states and intense relationships. In this work, an altered state of consciousness is our particular avenue through the veil. Uncovering previous existences of the soul and wisdom from the “heavenly realms,” via hypnosis, is the passage we will explore together. Here we will discover how the learning tools of change and duality work as aids for soul growth over time. We will learn to perceive through the eyes of the soul, developing a sense of soul psychology. We will explore the divine classroom curriculum at the present time and the divine human archetype that is returning.

The term for the heavenly realms we use is “interlife.” Interlife refers to the dimensions and experiences encountered after the death of the body (often called the afterlife). From the interlife we will explore what lies beyond death including:

-   Spiritual guides and support staff available to assist us

-   Rehabilitation and retreat centers for recovery after difficult lives

-   Interference or heaviness that can waylay the heaven-bound soul

-   The healing of pain that the soul perspective brings, and

-   The dawning realization that maturation of soul is the effect gained from all of Earth School experience.

The past life stories in the three case studies that follow, are taken from my private practice and represent the story of humanity’s journey and our arrival at this present juncture, this choice point. These stories intertwine with all of our individual stories into a larger human chronicle that weaves into the epic of universal creation. As this grand chronicle unfolds, we are privileged to catch glimpses. Hints of the greater story most often come through from the interlife.

Critical soul choices are being made in the present chapter of our human story. Soul choices might involve following a prompting to move to a new location, or placing ourselves in situations where we experience powerful lessons, or growing the courage to speak our truth. If, for example, we can recommit to expressing love in the face of fear, our soul is being heard. Listening to the soul is a primary challenge as the proponents of fear become noisier.

Our death can also be a pivotal choice. My mother died in July of 2001. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, my father remarked, “Well, your mother decided to go at a good time. This would have been too hard for her.”  Besides mirroring his own overwhelming sadness, he acknowledged the soul choice my mother made.

My desire is that the material in this book be of help in these soul decisions. And, if by chance, you are in the process of leaving this divine classroom, may you find comfort and guidance for your departure. If you are choosing to stay, flourish, and learn all you can, may you find deepening joy, courage and commitment. If you feel like you are camping out on the planet just watching the human drama unfold, may your curiosity guide you to the passages of interest.

The term “God” is seldom used in this material because it has become a conflicted term for many, implying anything form the greatest love to the greatest judgement and condemnation. It connotes a singular masculine deity, devoid of the divine feminine. This concept gathers no support from consciousness studies, regression work, spiritual research or personal experience. Therefore, I generally utilize more neutral terms, the Divine, Spirit, Source, etc.

This material was inspired by courageous past life regression clients who chose to understand themselves from the perspective of their souls. They discovered lives of service and growth as well as difficult lives that have haunted them for centuries. The healing power of soul understanding and bringing what has been hidden to light, released many ties to the distant past. Their generosity in releasing their stories, with the hope that others might benefit, is most commendable. I am deeply grateful to each one and honored that I have had the chance to work and learn with them.

As you read, may your heart drink in what nourishes you. May you remember what you already know. May your soul open more fully to your own unique expression of divinity so needed in this time of great change.

To order a copy of the book “This Divine Classroom:  Earth School and Psychology of the Soul” click here.