Heart is Home!

February 2, 2024

Top Five Ways to Open your Heart!

Top Five Ways to Open Your Heart

Connect with like-minded individuals by inviting a friend or new acquaintance for coffee, tea, or cacao. Start a club to engage in conversations of similar interest to co-create and explore new possibilities.
Participate in ceremonies using plant medicine, vibrational sound healing or plant essence. My favorite is “cacao” accompanied by the heartbeat of the drum.
Listen to your heart. Place your hands on your heart either in meditation, ceremony, Reiki self-healing, or before falling asleep. Use your breath and consciously inhale for a count of four, hold your breath for another count of four, and then exhale slowly for four. The number four represents the energy of stability and peace. Notice any sensations in your body or feelings that come up.
Spend time with children and call on your inner child to show up. Children under the age of six are still strongly connected to their dreamers and can often help us recall and connect back to our child-like wonder. Allow your heart to open and notice the reflections you receive.
Journal each day about a feeling that is top-of-mind or persistent. Write about how that feels in your body or heart space. Unexplained feelings are often the shadow part of ourselves that lurk behind a veil of other emotions, such as anger, fear, guilt, and shame. If the sensation is uncomfortable or confusing, and your brain goes into a loop of resolving, then it’s most likely a feeling that is keeping the heart closed to protect you from harm.

If you are struggling with any of these tips, find a well-trained practitioner or therapist to help you get to the root of it. Shamanic practices are perfect for finding the origin and to help remove, cut away from, or let go of what no longer serves you.

Continue on to read more:

More on duality and the shadow work within:

Last month we provided tips to get your energy moving in fun and light-hearted ways. As you know, there are two sides to everything and the other side of fun is work. In this case, our inner work. In life, when we bring opposites closer together, we find balance. When we find a way to be in the sweet center of our lives, we flow in creativity, ease, and more beauty. This balance can only be found by dedicating time to the inner work, including delving into our shadow side. If you are not familiar with this or have experienced a shamanic practice, this concept may be new to you. If you are unfamiliar with what the shadow side is and what that work entails, read on.

Astrologers I have been following all indicate that 2024 is the time to look deeply at our shadow side. The real work is understanding how we act and react when we are in stress, and not the best version of ourselves. The shadow work involves neutralizing our triggers and forgiving ourselves as well as others, for our humanness. This means operating with compassion, not in judgment, no easy task. The focus in the coming years is to create a new reality, one of love, compassion, peace, sisterhood, and brotherhood. We are moving towards unfolding into this new way of existing together, focusing on humanity living in harmony. We can get there faster by meeting our shadow side head-on.

Astrology touches on our shadow personality traits and helps us to gain a better understanding of who we fully are. The positive and negative aspects of our Zodiac sign entice the quest to learn more. The traits assigned to our sun sign never mean this is us and that's that. No, it is just a framework, a guide, so you can get to a place where you desire change and wish to write a new story. The story is authentically yours, not the programs from thousands of years ago that have put us in a state of extreme polarity. We are all parts of right and wrong, good and bad. Eventually, you will see it’s a choice to be in harmony. The traits that the stars assign and the pathway of energy that follows are for you to maneuver. When you know your authentic self, you know your triggers and you choose the actions that create the most desired outcome. This knowing helps make the shadow/light work and the journey exciting!

Shadow work is intended to nurture our soul and help reveal the “authentic self”. By working both sides of our being’s personality, the light and the dark, we can embrace or overcome aspects of self that influence our journey through life. In simple terms but not simply, our perceived good and bad traits influence our decisions and our life’s direction. There are many ways to approach this work. Ki Lifestyle Solutions offers shadow work through many course offerings. There are other approaches and it doesn't have to be a spiritual-based practice. Find a person, practice, class, or experience that focuses on shadow work that feels best suited for you.

I have found, on my journey, that a spirit-based practice worked best for me. I am truly grateful I found Reiki first and then moved into Shamanic practices. The gentle approach of Reiki took the edge off the “kick-in-the-butt practices" I experienced in Shamanism. I was able and willing to look at myself and my ego first with compassion.

We will continue to share ways that help us find our authentic selves, through this blog and newsletters. My method, as mentioned before, is to lay one brick at a time to create a strong foundation, and then continue to move forward mindfully. If you are reading this, most likely something has been awakened in you. A part of your soul that seeks and wants to understand its place and is ready to come forward.

Take this year to dive fully in and learn about yourself. There are many courses, practices and community gatherings that can offer opportunities for reflection in kind and supportive ways. The goal is to be open and willing to see, learn and grow. We are close to making this huge collective shift. Even though it may look like we are still struggling, more and more of us are awakening. It may get crazier before it gets better. Remain hopeful and know that the work each of us does to be in harmony and balance creates a larger and stronger collective consciousness of love and light. Often things must break apart to be rebuilt better. We are turning a corner and this is why our inner work is so important. There is a huge opportunity to be at peace if we just keep finding the peace inside ourselves. As within - so without. Enjoy the month ahead and stay connected.

The train is headed to its destination New Earth, we hope you will be on board!

Namaste!

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Reiki and "The Veil"

By Carell Mehl • September 30, 2025

The ‘Veil' - the dividing line between the divine, and this physical construct of earth. So many of us still don’t see the magic that can be witnessed between here and there. Often, you will hear that the veil is thinner than it has been at other times of the year, or during a spiritual retreat or ceremony. We are the creators of our existence. We have the power to make this happen, whether we are attuned and initiated into Reiki, or not. The difference between having Reiki as a lifestyle, as opposed to not having it, was revealed to me over the past couple of years. I see how quickly people are learning what took me 10 to 15 years to accomplish. Good news for those who waited, and also for those who started three decades ago. The time construct is an illusion. Time doesn’t exist, so really, we are all precisely where we need to be. Comparison using a timeline, really, is a process of our perceptions and what we align with in the moment. For example, I am currently in a new meditation practice, and a new experience has arisen. In this experience, a whole new reality unfolds, presenting a new opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of myself, and create more extraordinary experiences. Reiki will bring us all to this place eventually, guided and protected so our childlike wonder can develop and take us beyond the veil. Can we achieve this without Reiki? Absolutely, but as a person who is sensitive to energy, I find this modality has given me the love and grace to explore with childlike wonder. I still get to listen to, and follow my higher knowing, and it insists that I do so, but I get to move along at the pace of growth that serves me best (even if my ego thinks differently). Not all of it has been easy, but as parents allow their child to learn to walk and become more human, so does God, Spirit and the creator, allow us to develop in whatever way is intended for each of us. This reflection has both positive and negative aspects, from which we can learn. Soon, the child knows not to touch the hot flame or burning wood. Beyond the veil is where we can heal ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. This is where the supernatural kicks in. As this human experience unfolds, we get to observe, watch and learn. Become the watcher, become the magician, and orchestrate the reality your eyes desire to see. There is no prescribed timing, or amount of required waiting. We only need to allow flow, let go, and enjoy the experience. This is only possible when we are the closest to the veil, or when there is the thinning of the veil, as the veil itself on this side of the human experience creates the illusion. Reality awaits beyond the veil—the experience where we heal, grow, and evolve into our life purpose, the place of our universal connection to our creator self, and where we recognize who our guides, teachers, and higher self are, as well as the reality we desire to be in. When invoking the Cho-ku-Rei symbol, take your time, do it with intention and focus. Pause and wait to feel the energy. Really, DO NOT RUSH. Feel it, know it, and understand it. Even if we are seasoned masters, and have been doing it for a long time, this is all the more reason to do this step with intentional clarity and smoothness. As the veils are so very, very thin, you may be surprised by the magic, and how reality can change into beauty so quickly. If we spend too much time in a single state when we're out in the world, we can get stuck. If we no longer like this experience, we sometimes forget that we have the power and tools to change it. Reiki keeps us tuned and connected to creating our desired reality. Tips for aligning with the “Veil”: Invoke Reiki. Use the Cho-ku-Rei and Sei-hei-ki symbols and ground them into the Earth. Be slow and precise, and pause for at least 40 to 90 seconds after you invoke the emblem. Energy flow. Breathe and move the energy down to the one-point (Tan Tien). Open-heart connection. Simply touch the centre of your chest with your thumbs, keeping them in a prayer mudra position. Surrender. Open up to receive with childlike wonder. Calm the mind. Hear your breath or a continuous noise - no thought. Meditation. Starting with a simple OM Meditation is excellent, 10 to 15 minutes, allow yourself to feel. Breathing. Circle your breath - up from the bottom of the left foot and up the body over the crown, and then exhale down the right side. Consult your inner knowing. See if your inner knowing relays any messages, images, or body sensations. Pay attention . An image is worth a thousand words. Journal. Write, dream and create what those meanings are for you. Take action. Move and do one thing that brings reality closer to you. If you need help facilitating any steps, or still feel stuck, reach out. A little guidance will take you far. Alternatively, try a Tarot/Oracle Reading from Ki Lifestyle and a Shamanic Akashic Record reading. Shamanic and Reiki sessions are also available for assemblage shifting or other issues. These tools help gain insight, identify what keeps you stuck, and create strategies to achieve your goals. ~ Namaste & Many Blessings!