Spirtual Center Coming Soon

Hello Everyone,

Now that the wedding celebrations are behind us, my sole focus is getting our Spiritual Center – Sacred Pathways – open for business. I will write about that process here. It is certainly a huge part of my story.

This will be a center for the common person who has a desire for healing, a desire to learn about Spirit, a desire to take care of themselves in order to serve outside of themselves better. It will be a gathering place for like-minded souls to retreat from regular life for a few minutes or for a week-end. You will find there peace, love and joy.

The vision is becoming clearer every moment. May your own visions of your highest and grandest version of yourself come true! It can.

With much love,
Kelly Stewart

Deepening Meditation with Daily Practice

I teach the importance of daily meditation practice. I wish I could say I’ve had a formal practice for years and years but the truth is that I have not. I’ve had students report how good it is and my own knowingness told me it was true. However overcoming the inertia of not doing it can be daunting. There are a thousand reasons why I didn’t start a daily regular practice, none of which really matter.

I have in fact meditated quite a bit in a lot of different ways but nothing regular. I didn’t have a time set aside each day for my one on one sit with Spirit until last year’s Winter Solstice. I chose one thing – a Kundalini Yoga kriya followed my an eleven minute meditation. This gives me a concentrated thirty minutes with Spirit each day. Doing this “one thing” during that thirty minutes – every day – allows me to attempt to gain some mastery over it. I am far from mastering it in this short few months however the value I have gained from the experience can not be measured. You can not put a value on what you get from Spirit. It is only something that each much discover on their own.

What I can say is that my meditations are much deeper now, much more focused. My inability to complete one section of the kriya has improved to where I can complete it and I’m beginning to complete it without gasping for breath in the end. I’m learning to stop looking at my timer to see how much time is left. Not being bound by time and working outside it is so freeing. I’ve learned to lean into the practice and let it guide me. I’ve learned to let it put my heart and soul at ease and to let go all those other things going on outside my sacred space. My ego mind has become more quiet. I am more than ever now able to quietly observe life from a place of peace.

So if you haven’t already taken up a regular daily practice. I highly encourage it. If you need help selecting something to do, email me and let’s chat. If you’re still not in a place to do this, feel no guilt about it. It’s not about what you should or shouldn’t do. It’s about noticing and then doing the things that get you to where you want to go. It’s about dropping old beliefs and systems that no longer serve us and picking up newer, more mature ways of being. It’s a process. We’ll all reach the final destination one way or another.

Business Location and Paths to Enlightenment

The plans for a business location are moving along albeit a bit slower than hoped. As with all dreams, we have let go the outcome of any one decision and allow ourselves to be molded and guided into the right thing. Hopefully by the time I’m ready for another post, I’ll have more information about this.

Until then, I was much pleased to find this post by Neale Donald Walsch for today.

…that happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life,
impels us through all its mazes and meandering, but leads none of us by
the same route.

This quote speaks directly to my thoughts about our paths to enlightenment. No one has the same exact experiences in the exact same way at the exact same time. Even when the enlightenment of many is spontaneous, how they came to that point is not the same. May you follow your heart on your own journey to enlightenment and may that path be filled with happiness and peace.

Awakening to Reiki’s Many Uses

Reiki, a Japanese hands-on healing technique, is rising in popularity. More people are hearing about it but may still be unsure about its use. Traditionally it is a method for channeling universal life force energy into a person with specific or intuitively known hand positions to bring about healing or balance. However Reiki has many applications that extend beyond the traditional healing by placement of hands on the body.

Reiki is part of our awakening. Connecting ourselves to this life force energy with an attunement is a way to start a self-care practice. Its ease of use and gentleness has allowed it to become a gateway modality into the world of complimentary alternative medicines. It is for everyone and should be taught in our schools and used at home or work consistently and not just for healing. Think about it. If we can channel life force energy into our bodies to help us feel better and heal, then why couldn’t we channel it for other uses? It turns out that we can. For example, our home and work environments have a palpable energy to them. Reiki channeled into these spaces creates a clean, safe and welcoming environment in which to live or work. Imagine the calm learning space teachers can set up for our children in the classroom by implementing the use of Reiki on a daily basis. And using it in clinics and hospitals is extremely valuable as well, not just for the patients but for the space itself.

I’ve personally witnessed results using it as a way to clear and protect a space. With the intention that only persons for my highest good be allowed entry to my home, I ceremonially used Reiki to clear and then create a protective barrier at my front door. I was then intrigued by noticing who would approach my door and who would keep their distance. It was obvious my protection was working as it was keeping those I felt uncomfortable with away. I’ve also used this technique at my office I was sharing with a co-worker. We found one of the managers speaking to me from the doorway rather than entering the space.

Using Reiki on our pets and other creatures is helpful and often sought out by the animals. I know a woman who uses her Reiki on horses regularly with excellent results. She also has other barn animals who will plop themselves down right in front of her when they are not feeling well. They won’t leave until she gives them Reiki. She notices improvement in them the next day. And don’t forget our plants; they love Reiki too. I once experimented with poinsettias by giving regular Reiki to one plant in particular. The plant given Reiki grew bigger, healthier and more beautiful than the others. I took that plant home at the end of the season and it lived with me another few years.

If you’ve been attuned to Reiki, I encourage you to experiment and play with it beyond placing your hands on yourself or a friend. You can add life to your food and water by giving it Reiki. Give Reiki to your pets or garden. Sweep your hands in a space as if you were using a broom to remove unwanted energy and then infuse it with good energy. We feel better and perform better when our space is clean and clear of unwanted negativity. When we practice these techniques in our daily lives, we’ll begin to notice the improvement of our environment and living space. It will raise our awareness to the energies around us at all times. If you haven’t been attuned to Reiki, give it a whirl. What have you to lose?

New Facility

Exciting News!  I will be opening a healing studio in the coming month or two.  I’m working with a business partner now and we’ve been checking out properties.  This will allow me to begin offering classes and personal healing sessions in a more private space.

Stay tuned for the unfolding of this grand adventure!

Musings by me as if I were John Muir

I wanted to share a talk I gave embodying the archetype of the Adventurer. I had great fun writing this document using information I had gotten from the Ken Burns National Park videos – America’s Greatest Idea. I love the videos almost as much as I love the National Parks. It is my hope that we preserve and continue to restore – as in the case of the Everglades – these great open spaces as they are for future generations. Let us not be the generation that turns our back on the these areas or exploit them for some momentary illusory gain. I hope you enjoy my musings and realize I too love these spaces almost as much as John Muir. He is one of my heros.

–

Hello, my name is John Muir. I have found the clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. Let me tell you about how I experience nature. I love the out of doors. I do not understand how those city folk get along in a life without the experience of being in nature. In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.

I had heard about this valley with high granite walls like no man-made cathedral and the grandest waterfalls you ever laid eyes upon. I have travelled to that valley many times and found that is no lie. I go there frequently between bouts of being drawn into city life with all its encumbrances. They call this valley Yosemite.

It is not unusual for me to take off for weeks or even months with my tiny sack of supplies because you see, I have no thought for safety for I have an enormous trust that things will turn out just fine. I like to go on adventures and explore. It is in nature that I find my solace and rejuvenation and it is where my soul is fed like nowhere else.
I remember when I first laid my own eyes upon those majestic granite cliffs with their cascading waterfalls. I stood in pure awe, without words, for the feelings that coursed through my heart and soul could not be contained by words. Such beauty cannot be described, only felt. I walked right up to the base of that tallest falls in the valley. The roar of the water incessantly pounding the rock made my ears ring. I then hiked all day to the top of that fall and got as close as possible to the water worn smooth granite edge just to get a taste of the experience of what the water must feel like as it leapt from the edge. I’d follow those drops down, down as far as I could with my eyes and senses. Ohhh the freedom.

I then found a way to scurry out on the wet slippery rock to go into that space behind the waterfall. Nothing behind me but slick, wet rock with a mossy fur and nothing in front of me but a wall of water rushing north to south. The damp smell somehow pleasing as a cool mist covered me head to foot. This was especially nice since it was a hot bright sunny day. From this place, behind the waterfall, all else is silenced. Only the rushing air pushed by falling water and its crash onto the rocks below can be heard. And, in this sound, is found the song of the waterfall. They say God is heard in music, and I hear music in the song of the waterfall and so I believe God must be in that waterfall.

I recall another day I heard nature’s song. I felt a storm brewing so I went out and climbed the tallest tree I could find and sat in it so I could experience the sway of the trunk and the slapping of the branches upon my face as the fury of the air element blew by. It’s swoosh through the canyons and across the tops of the trees filled my ears like the wildest of symphonies. God must be here too, for the song of the storm was gloriously loud and beautiful in its might.

The best song of all though can be heard after a day’s long journey up to the top of a split granite dome. You can see the edge of the Universe from up there and down below, the Yosemite Valley is stretched before you like a fine living canvas, except no painting can capture the real song of this view. The breeze in your hair, the small of fresh air, the sweat on your brow and the sturdiness of the rock gives way to the spacious song of all of nature in one place. I then had the realization that no one will ever experience this magnificent view exactly like I had just seen it. It is another moment, among many, between me and God, and there are no words, only feelings of delight, awe and gratitude.

I become nature as I explore it. I listen to what it tells me for it has wisdom far beyond my own. What would man be without nature? Without its pristine state preserved for future generations? It is my wish that all have a nature experience for there is no other experience, in my mind, that would compare in its greatness. To me, being in nature is my church, it is where I commune with my maker. So go, climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

New Website Wonders

If you found your way here to my new website, then I am happy to say it is up and running.  What a process and what an experience.  Often frustrating and occasionally exciting.  There was much to learn including the fact that my organizational skills, while considered excellent to many, still fall below my preferred level.  I am my own worst critic. 

In the end, the work has been worth it.  This site now reflects the current me and will be updated regularly to reflect that me.  I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. 

Much love and many blessings to all,

KJ