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Nurturing the Seeds we Plant in our Garden
How time flies!! This has been a busy time for me, and as my intent was to get this newsletter out by May 1st, it has become blatantly obvious that it wasn’t going to happen as planned. So I apologize to those of you who look forward to the next newsletter deliverance, and ask that you bear with me as I take time to breath and bring to life the words that will take form in this latest addition.
As I have moved out from the winter dormancy into the breath of spring, I have opened my heart to trust the dreams of old and new to spring to life. For those of you who visit me at my Butler office, you are witnessing the expansion of the space I work out of. My landlord is busy accommodating the remodeling of two more treatment rooms and upgrading the hallway and bathroom (so, please bear with me as the alterations unfold).
Welcome Jill and Teri…
I am very excited to introduce two very special women who will be joining me in uplifting the energy and creating the space for growth in our Butler office. Both Jill Michel and Teri Rockwell are integrative therapists who have found a passion in this preventative field of alternative healing.
Jill’s skills not only encompass massage therapy, but she has expanded her knowledge throughout the years by continually training in other healing modalities. She is certified in Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a Reiki teacher, a practitioner in Cranio Sacral therapy, Somatic Emotional Release, Sound Vibration Therapist, is a student of Silva Healing Technique and has been a Massage Therapist at Spa 23 for the last six years. I met Jill about 4 years ago at Spa 23, where she became my massage therapist. Our friendship was instantaneous, her energy and spirit is contagious, and she has been a blessing in my life, both personally and professionally.
Teri’s gifts not only entail Massage Therapy, but she has enhanced her growth through continued training in Lomi Lomi, Chakra Balancing, Pre-natal Massage, Warm Stone Therapy, Cranio Sacral Therapy and is a Master Reiki Practitioner. Teri has, also, worked at Spa 23 for the last year. I met Teri about 3 years ago as a student of the Institute for Therapeutic Massage in Pompton Lakes. Teri’s energy, determination and focus was obvious, as I got to know her as a student. Her enthusiasm and love for this profession is heartfelt and I am grateful to have the opportunity to know her as a colleague and to foster a friendship.
Both Jill and Teri have grown to trust their intuition as they detect imbalances within the body and utilize their gifts and skills to aide in the well-being and health of their clients. It is a pleasure and blessing to welcome you both!!
To schedule an appointment: |
Jill Michel: 973-728-9157 |
Teri Rockwell: 201- 887-6057 |
Celebrating Mays and Junes Birthday
Unbelievable that we’re already into May and as time has seemed to be impossible to catch up to, I have decided to stop worrying about what I haven’t gotten to (like sending out birthday cards) and to go with the flow. So for all you May & June babies, “Happy Birthday”.
February and March Winners
Congratulations go out to Pamela Gordon of Pompton Lakes who was my Valentines Day winner for February. Also, for March’s St. Patrick’s Day promotion is Kathy Jaehera of Boonton (who is Irish herself). Thanks go out to all my clients for your continued part in the fun and energy you bring to my practice.
Mind and Body Connection
It had not dawned on me, until this past year and a half, how very much our bodies are controlled by our thoughts. Interesting the word past and how we hang on to what no longer persists. Through years of struggling, I have put down my defenses and stopped being the victim of circumstance and have taken responsibility for my life
(That doesn’t mean that I don’t have moments of being human, full of self-doubt and unworthiness, judgment and hard core anger—but my awareness to my mind or my ego reminds me of the darkness that used to shadow my life—and in that moment I return to right-mindedness).
“What The Bleep Do We Know?!” is a groundbreaking movie about water, which earth and we are largely made up of. It captivates the profound awareness of our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions as humans as well as the impact it has on our environment. The pioneer to this discovery was a Japanese researcher, Dr. Masaru Emoto, whose first featured articles came from his self-published books “Messages from Water 1 and 2”, and his newest book “The Hidden Messages in Water” (“his message is one of personal health, global environmental renewal, and a practical plan for peace that starts with each one of us… this research created a new awareness of how we can positively impact the earth and our personal health”).
“Dr. Emotos’ study of water is proof that thoughts and feelings affect physical reality. By producing different focused intentions through written and spoken words and music and literally presenting it to the same water samples, the water appears to ”change its expression”. Using a very powerful microscope in a very cold room along with high-speed photography, to photograph newly formed crystals of frozen water samples. Not all water samples crystallize. Water samples from extremely polluted rivers directly seem to express the ‘state’ the water is in.”
“Through his discovery he found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors.” The emphasis is clear in how our minds control and form it’s plight on our unsuspecting bodies.
Captured Light Industries: www.whatthebleep.com
There have been countless studies and documentation written on the power of our minds. Turning “within” we have an opportunity to become mindful of our thoughts, our actions and emotions. For years I have lived with colitis, and for most of those years have kept it a secret (hence be, the power of telling your story). Through my course, it has become clear on it’s invasion in my body. The process has been a long journey, but one that has taken me to greater heights because of my willingness to see beyond the illusion of disease.
Interesting enough, when I was diagnosed with colitis I was 16. I was pregnant at the time and the stress that I was coping with antagonized my body and the fear and isolation taunted me with insecurities. Today, I have a greater understanding to the years I have spent masking the debilitation this disease had scarred me with.
Five years ago I came through the doors of massage therapy and chose an elective in Survivors of Abuse. The instructor of the class was a woman who said nothing until unbeknownst to the class she picked up a 4 x 4 and directly slammed it on the table I was sitting at, which totally not only got my attention, but would lead me to the awareness of a time in my life that I had been “raped”, I was 16 (being naïve, I didn’t know that’s what it was, it would take me the next 31 years for the light to go off, and the healing to start).
What I would later come to recognize is the years I have spent not being comfortable in my own shoes. As I progressed on my path in the holistic field, I came upon a course through “Upledger” in Cranio Sacral Therapy and a year a half latter signed up for Somatic Emotional Release, a course in facilitating the release of an emotional and/or physical trauma that are bodies remember. The experience was life altering, as I was the client. The emotional and physical release I experienced brought me to a greater understanding of trauma.
Often, in order to sustain an experience that is traumatic we may separate ourselves from the act. In order for me to survive the experience I left my body and became detached. As the years unfolded I found myself wanting to feel connected to others. In later years as my circle of friends became more selective, my support system intact, it would present itself for the preparation of the work ahead (I know now that God certainly had a plan).
The years of loneliness flooded my body as I became aware of the presence of the weight of my attacker in my pelvic area. Immediately bolting him out of my body and what I wasn’t able to scream then, I now found my voice “Nooooo”!! The experience was amazing, but left me feeling totally isolated from the class and my friends. What I now realize is the feeling I had of not being connected to others was really my disconnection from myself, and now I had returned feeling all those emotions again as if the experience had just happened with no time lapse.
One of the most important responsibilities as a facilitator to a Somatic Emotional Release session is inquiring about the client’s support system the client and next, a follow up phone call. I was fortunate to find a book on trauma on the vendor table as I was preparing to leave the session. I began to read on the train ride home and found I had all the classic symptoms of trauma. But now what to do with it? As I closed the book and reopened it randomly I asked the question “So, now what?” I turned to the page on “isolation”. The following words stood out, “Pick up the phone, and call someone” (Thank God for cell phones).
Being a Chaplain, I picked up the phone and called one of my Chaplain buddies. Thank God Suzanne answered. She immediately knew I was in crisis and stayed on the phone with me as she continued to let me know that there was no way she was letting me disconnect from her and that she would track me down if I tried to isolate myself from the relationships I had built.
Today I continue my healing, but I no longer am disconnected from myself, nor from others. I now have a voice, as I’m sure most of you are well aware of!! And I am free to live my life. I continue to discover my beauty and my passions. The road may have bumps in it, but there’s nothing I can’t conquer. This is the best time in my life!!
This experience has helped me understand the power the mind has over the body.
Somatic Emotional Testimonial
I’d like to take this time to thank Clare Sherlock, a client and friend, for her willingness to share the intimacies of her own experience with Cranial Sacral and Somatic Emotional Release. Clare your authentic account has been both an honor and a tribulation to the work you have done in your own journey to self-discovery:
My experience with somatic-emotional therapy has truly been a transformational experience, one that I would recommend everyone try.
My first exposure to it was an intense, surprising session. I knew I was ready for something, that I was on the verge of a breakthrough of a build up of emotional, psychological and physical stresses that had accumulated over the previous few years, along with painful and embedded memories from my childhood.
A good friend of mine recommended me to a wonderful therapist, Linda Dominguez, who I immediately felt at ease with. During the course of our session, I had 3 major breakthroughs (more like emotional meltdowns)—and this in front of a total stranger, something unheard of for me. Trust has always been an issue for me. But she made me feel safe and secure, and guided me through the process. Linda never took her hands off me—and we got a good laugh in too, a healthy diversion from the heavy work we were doing, when she tried to reach the tissue box without removing her hand from contact with my body. When she finally reached it, and handed me the lone, last tissue, we both cracked up because it was a “do you think you can spare it?” kind of moment—one tissue wasn’t going to do much for the avalanche of tears pouring out of me. What a catharsis!
We had 2 more separate breakthroughs after that, and then Linda’s unerring instinct told her that I had had enough, and she gently cycled me back to an inner and loving state of calm.
Prior to that session, I’d always had a pretty intense touch aversion, and certainly never let my emotional guard down, especially in front of strangers. Since then, however, my life has changed in so many positive ways, and I’ve been steadily progressing toward the path I need to be on. I trust myself more, I trust others more, and I’m opening up more and more to all the positive things life has to offer.
I recently had my second somatic session with Linda—between the first and second one, we’ve had regular energy sessions (cranial sacral), clearing my charkas, balancing my energies, removing any negative energy and entities--and often, a wonderful, soothing massage thrown in for good measure.
The somatic-emotional therapy, when done right, is more than just a series of steps, or a learned technique by the practitioner. It takes keen intuition, a deep and true caring for the person on the table, and a genuine desire to help and heal. In short, it takes a truly giving person like Linda to make it “happen.”
My second session with Linda was far less emotionally intense at the time. I suspect that I’ve been having so much work done for the past year or two that my remaining issues had “learned” to go deeper, to avoid exposure and expulsion, almost to the extent that I felt detached emotionally from the process—although all kinds of strange and symbolic images were popping into my head during the session. I was not as dazed and confused afterwards as I was after my first session, not as shell-shocked with emotional shrapnel. But, as coincidence would have it (but are there really any coincidences?), the next day my girlfriend gave me the number of a psychic she had seen before, and I called to see if I could get an appointment. We’d often talked about this, and it just so happened that this was the time.
When the woman called me back, she seemed to know about my mother, who had passed 5 years ago. I never got over the guilt and the hurt and loss of my mom. The psychic could not have known this—but she said she recommended a mediumship and not a future reading, because my mother was with her, tapping her on the shoulder, politely but persistently insisting (that’s mom!) that I needed to come and she needed to talk to me. She said she’d never had the chance to say goodbye, which was true, and that I should not worry, that “I’d done everything right.” I felt galvanized—I was overcome by emotion, and all day I was on a crying jag. That evening I sat out on my deck in the cool May evening with a glass of wine and Norah Jones on the CD, and thought of mom, and her ordeal, and cried and grieved and hurt like it had all just happened yesterday. That’s what somatic-emotional therapy does. It gets you in touch with emotions you thought were resolved, the ones you’ve buried whether intentionally or not, the ones that rule our lives behind the scenes, causing all kinds of mischief and putting up stumbling blocks to our progress.
I truly feel I needed to get back in touch with those feelings in order to help me break on through this membrane I’ve been struggling against for so long. It’s hard work, make no mistake, but it’s worth every minute of it. Sometimes it takes days to fully process what takes place. And the learning and growing continues well beyond the session itself.
And if you’re lucky enough to have a caring, giving, loving soul like Linda as your guide through this than before journey, you will make it to the other side—better, stronger, more whole.
My Referrals:
The following referrals are a direct reflection of the featured article for this “newsletter”. Our thoughts, our words and actions can affect all of us at any age in how we show up as a parent, a peer and in all our adult relationships. I am very connected to these two vibrant women who are passionate about their careers and the impact they can have on the bonding that takes place with a new life, as well as, the impact we carry in our homes, community and work place. You can also, go to my web site under Referrals to find more information on their services.Suzanne Crouch, PCD: Full Moon Post Partum Doula Services
973-948-7309
I have been a resident of Sussex County for 16 years along with my husband and three children. Having the opportunity to serve women in a positive manner has always been a dream of mine.
I have been a Doula in Sussex County for the past 6 years. I provide Breastfeeding support, mother and infant care, light meal preparation and housekeeping.
I believe helping women through their childbearing years as a mentor is an ancient tradition and every parent has the right to positive parenting support.
Mission Statement
To be a guide in the enfoldment of a woman’s own motherly wisdom. Gently and lovingly being at her side for support and direction while allowing her instincts to arise….
Donna Price, M.S: The president and founder of Compass Rose Consulting, LLC. Donna is a personal and business coach providing extraordinary services. Donna has 18 years of management experience, has completed a 72-day wilderness leadership course, cycled across the country and created new paths and directions for her life based on her vision for a healthy and balanced life. Each achievement has started out as a dream and through a process of identification, living with intention, planning and action, dreams have been realized.
Compass Rose Consulting, LLC is committed to working with each client to identify his or her path and move in a direction of success. Compass Rose Consulting; LLC offers the innovative and successful Best Year Yet program and the leading edge Genuine Contact program as well as custom designed coaching. We offer custom designed coaching programs to meet your schedule & needs. She is speaker and trainer as well as providing coaching, facilitation services and business coaching.
http://www.compassroseconsulting.com or at 866-948-ROSE.
More Fun…. Name this Newsletter
I have given some thought to giving this newsletter a name. I thought a contest would be a FUN way to collect ideas to put in the pot. So if you would like to join in, please email, call or write me with your Name this Newsletter entry. The winner will receive a gift certificate for a service of their choice.
Contact me @ simplylinda7@earthlink.net; 973-632-3797;
Linda Dominguez LPN, NCTMB, CST, RM, PO Box 127, Pompton Lakes, NJ 07442
Celebrating Mom and Dads:
Everyday is a day to celebrate parenthood!! So to all my moms and dads:
Congratulations! |
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Next Newsletter due out September 2005: Upcoming Features: Diversity
To be removed from this mailing list, contact me at simplylinda7@earthlink.net or 973-632-3797.
Past Newsletters:
Newsletter 1
Newsletter 2
