A Confession, Collective Prayer and Empowerment

Blogging has been an effective way for me to process and release feelings of frustration and anger. I believe it is important that we acknowledge that we experience such raw emotions. However, once we release it... it is vital to reclaim our power and channel our energy towards the greater good.

So, my confession is that I wrote a blog on Alterna-Mom tonight that was full of anger and frustration about the Oil Spill in the Gulf, Vaccinations, and other toxic situations. All day I had a sense of doom hovering over me about the predicament we are facing as a global community. I fear what ramifications that the Oil Spill will have on our children.

No sooner did I post this blog titled Oil Spill, Meditation and Eradication did a friend post a wonderful video reminding me of the power of prayer and intention. It came as a reminder that we are empowered as a collective to create a vibratory shift in the Oil Spill, Vaccination Industry and Chemtrails... This video is a call to action.

It has been proven that prayer works even across oceans. So, why not give it a try FOR our oceans. If you are unable to manifest the words or peaceful thoughts to help you in this collective prayer, here is a simple guided prayer to help.

If you find collective prayer difficult to comprehend and need a more tangible act, try calling your congressman and ask for clean energy now. As this guardsman says, "IF not now, when?"

Storytelling, Life Lessons and Empowerment: Emily's House

Our ancestral elders and Shaman used storytelling to not only entertain, but for educational purposes and for cultural preservation.

I presume that they also used storytelling as a means to ensue morals and self-awareness in their youth.

It most certainly wasn’t just the words that captured their impressionable audience. The storytellers of an ancient time used tone, inflection, gestures and expressions to obtain and maintain the spectator’s attention and initiate their imagination. (Unlike today, they did not have colorful pictures in books to grab their attention and they definitely didn’t have electronic boxes with flashing colors, sounds and strangers relaying stories.)

Through the art of this ancient storytelling their children learned life lessons and essential wisdom for a productive future.

Often the lessons in the stories were not obvious. The children had to hear the story over and over while processing the content. Eventually they would make conclusions and integrate the lesson within their being.

Unfortunately, as we moved towards a more industrialized world, we have not only lost many of our stories, but we have lost the art of storytelling. Today, our teachers and many parents tell a child what to do and what not to do. They are told who they are to be and what expectations are set upon their being.

Instead of listening to and integrating ancient stories to nurture who and what they become, we are conforming them to a one size fits all model. When we tell the children our expectations in this manner they often become defensive and rebel; self esteem is lost.

One of our children had the privilege in attending a Waldorf preschool, Briar Rose Children’s Center (BRCC), where storytelling played a large role in the curriculum. The stories told captured the adults as much as the children present.

Recently I was sharing with the lead teacher from BRCC, Rebecah Freeling, some of the raw emotions I had about our personal public education experience. I was telling her that I felt frustrated that the public educators didn’t see my child’s strength, potential and brilliance. I felt like her essence was being lost at the hands of public education. I concluded that I wanted to home school this child with a twist of the Waldorf philosophy next year.

A couple of weeks later, Rebecah and I met at a coffee house. We greeted each other enthusiastically with a hug. She handed me a piece of paper, warmly smiled and said she’d be back. As she walked away, I eagerly opened the piece of paper and my heart flipped.

I was holding in my hand the story written by Rebecah for my daughter five years earlier upon her graduation from pre-school at BRCC. As I read the story, I remembered a flash in time… Emily was sitting on the floor nestled between her father and myself with preschool children all around us. Facing us was an animated Rebecah telling this beautiful story about a girl named Emily and her house.

Emily’s House For Emily Richardson, August 2005 By Rebecah Freeling

Once Upon a time, a woman named Emily decided to build herself a new house. The house she has was very beautiful, but it had no walls – only a roof. She liked being able to see out, but the wind blew right through even when Emily didn’t want it to. So she asked her friends for help. They all came together on house building day and this is what they did:

A house we will build for you.

It will be strong and straight and true.

Gnomes will build a firm foundation

We will sing with jubilation!

Strong and steady, walls are tall.

They will have no holes at all.

Fairies make the window now;

Light can enter, wind can blow.

Doors that open, doors that close.

You can let in what you choose.

Fire Spirits make it warm.

Build a roof in perfect form.

Here we dance and now we sing;

Happiness is what we bring.

Water Sprites now do flow,

Make a garden of flowers grow.

Plant your seeds and we will see

They’ll grow as strong as they can be.

Now at last the Angels come,

Wrapping Love around you home.

Emily now here you stand.

Here’s your heart, your mind, your hand.

Open up just as you like,

Or close the window, tight as tight.

You’re the Master – you can say

Who will come, who goes away.

Trust your friends, we’re always here.

Our love and help are always near.

And Emily lived in that house, happily ever after.

Reiki and Sleep Issues: A Testimonial

A friend connected me with a Mom [L] who has a 7 year old son diagnosed with Autism. She thought we could support each other. As [L] and I got to know each other better, I asked her if she knew anything about Reiki. She initially said, “No”, but then decided to search the web. Intrigued she came back asking me for more information.

I offered to gift her son [N] 6 sessions. She accepted my offer and I came to her home on a couple of occasions to do Reiki with [N]. She saw almost immediate changes and agreed to let me send Reiki from a distance. I told her that we would set intentions and since Reiki is energy, the energy could travel through time and space. After the series of sessions, she decided to learn how to do Reiki herself.

[L] attended my Level 1 training for Exceptional Parents On April 24, 2010. She reported that things were going well soon after the class. On May 27, 2010 I received an email stating,

“I have to tell you about this. Last night, [N] was wired after I put him to bed. He was rocking back and forth really hard, slamming his head into the pillow, and talking/singing. I kept telling him to lay down, it was time for night night, and he would lay down for 2 seconds before starting up again. So I got the Reiki energy flowing - I could feel that burning sensation in my hands - and then I had [N] lay beside me, and I put a hand gently on either side of his head. I thought he might wriggle away, but within 30 seconds, he babbled a couple more things and then got very calm. Within 2 minutes, he was snoring! I kept my hands on him for a little while longer, and then I put them on myself for a few and rolled over and fell right to sleep.”

This morning (the next day!) I checked my email and found another message in my inbox from [L],

“Wait, there's more! Tonight we were experiencing the same rocking, etc. as last night. I was doing something, but he pulled my hand over to his head. Apparently, it didn't feel right, so he pulled it away again. I stopped what I was doing to invite the Reiki energy in and again put my hands on either side of his head. He almost immediately calmed down. It took a little longer tonight before he was snoring, but I'd say it was within 5 minutes!”

How empowering for [L] to have Reiki available to her and her son. Thank you [L] for giving me permission to share your Reiki success story!

Sleep issues are common among exceptional children. Our daughter had irregular sleep patterns since infancy. She stayed awake until 2 or 5 in the morning. And if she did fall asleep at a descent time, she would wake up at 5 am making her tired earlier. It was a vicious cycle… Not only would she stay awake, but she would vocally stem, kick, cry, scream, pace for hours at a time. I dreaded bedtime; a grueling experience for the entire family that only seemed to contribute to our on-going exhaustion.

In March 2010, something shifted when I started to use brushing and deep compression in combination with the Reiki. Miraculously our bedtime woes almost ceased immediately. We now go to sleep within minutes of laying down and sleep peacefully all night.

If you are interested in Distant Reiki please learn more here.

Welcome and Be Still

Welcome to Exceptional Beyond Labels!

I feel called to chronicle my journey, both personally and professionally; A journey that has deepened the meaning of the unconditional love, spirituality, and self-empowerment in my life.

As a mother who has dabbled in many natural modalities to address my daughter’s symptoms of autism, I have undoubtedly seen an improvement in her quality of life. Within one year of actively pursuing these natural approaches, we were witness to huge accomplishments and joyful milestones; catatonia to an expression of life, non-verbal to the beginning of expression speech including pronouns and conjunctions, no eye contact to eye contact without ABA protocols, isolated play to parallel play then interactive play, and so much more.

I yearned to connect with other mothers and families doing the same, thus Exceptional Beyond Labels was birthed. As I ventured forward with my search to connect with others on this parallel journey, I soon discovered not many in my corner of the world where doing what I was doing. This would prompt me to offer natural approaches like mediation, reiki, shaman and soul healing through the Exceptional Beyond Labels advocacy group.

This wild adventure as brought me to a place where I no longer want to cure my child, for today I now see her as a precious gift and accept she will always see life through different colored glasses. However, don’t get me wrong, I do continue to offer her tools to make her journey through this lifetime more productive and meaningful; tools that will increase her ability to increase socialization, communication, and functionality.

Beyond supporting my child, my goal is simple to offer hope and to inspire others… mothers, fathers, siblings, educators, neighbors and anyone else whose life is touched by autism.

I, also, want to share with others about my views of how autism and spirituality are closely tied. This journey has strengthened my relationship with God and has deepened my overall spirituality. One of the things I have found to nurture this spirituality is the act of being still.

Be still... How many parents find this statement challenging to embrace?

Let’s face it; on any given day the last thing we are thinking about is being still. We have a laundry list of things to do longer than the Dead Sea Scrolls with lunches to pack, socks to sort, special dinners to prepare, extracurricular activities to organize, arguments to mediate, therapies to orchestrate....

However, I suggest that if we just took 10 - 30 minutes a day to “be still” and quiet our minds that we would be better equipped to face the day and the struggles that come along with raising a child diagnosed with a disability or who has a special need.

I recently asked a friend for some recommended tools for meditation. She suggested that I needed rest more than to meditate. As I explored my options, I found that resting WAS my meditation. It was in the act of resting and quieting my mind that I was able to Be Still.

In the act of Being Still, I was able to recharge my drained batteries and then return to the life of mindful parenting. In the act of Being Still, you too can turn off the some 65,000 thoughts we have each day and be with yourself in a space that heals, regenerates, and creates so that you can better meet the needs of your children. It is in the act of Being Still, that I discovered that my child IS exceptional beyond any label and has unlimited potential and possibilities within her!

I hope you join me on this journey and support our children who are EXCEPTIONAL BEYOND LABELS!!