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HEALING ARTS
The path to healing involves different modalities for different souls, at different points in their lives. This is a list of modalities, (followed by a brief description of each), that we have seen and experienced as being being authentically healing in ourselves and others, all currently offered here at the Sanctuary.
We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
- E. E. CUMMINGS
MODALITY GLOSSARY & FAQs
The Sanctuary is focused on spiritual development and expansion as part of the healing process because our souls know the best path forward for each of us on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and energetic. Receiving a spiritual reading can be an incredibly healing experience, opening us up to support from the spirit world and the loving guidance available to us all.
​The mediumship we practice here at Sanctuary for the Soul is focused on healing for both the living and their loved ones in spirit. It is an opportunity to bring closure, forgiveness, support and love, allowing for healing in a way that might otherwise be elusive. This is not meant for entertainment, but for personal growth and guidance. Mediumship is the cornerstone of Sanctuary for the Soul because the spiritual guidance available to authentic healers most often plays a key role in their healing work. It was through this kind of inspiration that our Sanctuary was created.
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What is a medium?
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A medium is a person who is sensitive to energy often too subtle to be picked up by the five senses. Using this extrasensory perception, a medium is able to sense those in the spirit world, often receiving impressions and even messages that can be communicated to their living loved ones. In this way, the medium acts as a sort of messenger between the spirit world and the physical world. Receiving a mediumship reading can be a source of great healing for both the living and those who have transitioned into the afterlife. Our departed loved ones do not stop caring for us once they pass, and experiencing mediumship is a beautiful way to become aware of the continued love and support they surround us with. It is always an honor to witness the healing, closure, support, and continued love that is possible when we open our hearts to the spirit world.
How does mediumship work?
In the absence of their physical bodies, the energy of the spirit world vibrates at a much higher frequency than we in the realm of matter do. To allow for communication to happen, the medium must raise their vibration while the spirit lowers theirs, so they are able to meet somewhere in the middle. (This is where the term “medium” comes from.) We can easily change our energetic vibration by focusing on what we love, because love is the highest vibration there is. From there, communication between the physical and spirit worlds is possible.
What is the difference between being psychic and being a medium?
We are all psychic to some degree. Having a gut feeling about a situation that later proves true, or thinking of someone right before they call are great examples of this that most of us have experienced at one point or another. It is very natural for human beings to be psychic, as we are spirits within bodies. So, while being psychic is natural, it can take a little more work to develop as a medium, and some people are more prone to mediumship than others. The way to become a medium is by developing psychic skills.
What is the purpose of mediumship?
Mediumship is a way for us to know that life continues beyond the grave. This is potentially healing in a number of ways. It can bring comfort to the living who mourn the passing of loved ones. Mediumship supports the continuation of the spirit beyond the lifetime and the body, which can help ease the fear of death that some people feel. Receiving messages from those in the spirit world through a conscientious medium is a profound gift that can bring healing to all involved.
How do Mediums receive messages?
Every medium, just like every person, is completely unique in how their abilities work for them. So all mediums work a bit differently, even though they may learn similar techniques upon first opening up their awareness to the energy around them. There are six extrasensory perceptions that mediums can develop that allow them to receive impressions of spirit:
Clairsentience means “clear feeling,” which is the ability to feel or sense spirit through sensations in the body. Clairsentient mediums can often feel within their bodies the size, personality, health problems, even sometimes how the spirit died.
Clairvoyance is “clear seeing," meaning that a clairvoyant medium can see spirit or images of what the spirit wants to show them in their mind’s eye. Some mediums are even able to see energy, auras, or spirits with their physical eyes.
Clairaudience means “clear hearing,” referring to the ability that some mediums have to either hear telepathic messages from spirit inside their minds (subjectively) or with their ears (objectively) as if someone is speaking to them.
Claircognizance is simply knowing information without receiving it any other way. Thoughts seem to pop in out of nowhere, and a medium will simply know what the spirit is impressing upon them.
Clairgustance is the ability to taste things that have meaning for the spirit. For example, if someone’s Aunt loved to bake apple pie in life, the medium may suddenly taste apple pie.
Clairalience is “clear smelling.” A good example of this is when a medium smells flowers or cigar smoke when the smells are not physically present in the room.
These six extrasensory perceptions are available to anyone interested in developing their intuitive abilities.
The Tarot is one of many tools used to access the intuition and the innate wisdom within each of us.
Tarot is a deck of 78 cards filled with symbolism and meaning. 22 of the cards are called the Major Arcana, which represent the archetypes of human existence as well as the spiritual lessons. The remaining 56 cards, called the Minor Arcana, represent the trials of everyday life.
Tarot is a reflection of our life and the trials we are faced with. Every spiritual lesson we could face in our lives is within the 78 cards. And, when we use the cards as a tool to connect with our inner intuitive wisdom, they show us what we must learn and master in order to live life in an inspired and growth-motivated way.
How does Tarot work?
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When a person “reads” Tarot, they shuffle and draw cards in answer to a question. In the spiritual view, there are no accidents, and everything happens for a reason, so the cards that seem randomly selected are actually perfectly intended. The card reader accesses their intuition to understand what the cards and their images mean regarding the question for the seeker.
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Is Tarot fortune telling?
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Tarot is not meant to be prophetic. The cards simply give us a better understanding of both the conscious and subconscious motivations around our choices and actions. Tarot allows us to access the wisdom inside of all of us as spiritual beings.
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Knowledge of the energetic anatomy of the human body in relation to health and wellness has been explored for centuries, and there is a common understanding of the universal energy that moves through and supports all of life that the science of Quantum Physics is now validating. Ancient Hindu texts identified this energy as “Shakti” moving through the chakras, or the energy vortices in the body. Acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine is based on the movement of this energy called “Chi” through the meridians, or energy super-highways of the body. Ancient Indian spiritual tradition acknowledged the life force energy as “Prana,” which is the basic source of all life. In all of these ancient traditions, blocks caused by injury or emotional pain stop the flow of this life force energy from moving fluidly through the body, which results in illness. Energy Medicine is the process of stimulating the life force energy in and around a person’s body in order to restore balance and flow, which enables the body to heal.
Energy Medicine refers to various techniques working with life force energy that help to bring balance to the energy systems of the body for healing, wellness and stress release. Energy practitioners focus on the energy within and outside the body, often including the chakras (or energy centers of the body), to empower movement and flow to stagnate areas, to ground and release energy, and to help release blockages often created by previous injury or stored emotions. Practitioners work with energetic healing in different ways, and there are hundreds of Energy Medicine healing modalities, some of which are Reiki, Reflexology, Kinesiology, Crystal Healing, Chakra Balancing and Spiritual Healing.
What can I expect from an Energy Medicine session?
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Energy Healing is beneficial to the whole being: body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Shifts can be made in any of these areas during a session, allowing for healing to take place in subtle or dramatic ways. Techniques vary from practitioner to practitioner.
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Shamanism is the most ancient spiritual healing practice connecting nature and spirit. It has roots in many tribal cultures across the world, and it was a way that ancestral communities accessed healing, medicine and even located food sources. Shamen means “one who can see in the dark” in Siberian culture. The Shaman in these communities was a visionary healer who, through altered states of consciousness, was able to access information from the hidden realms of the spiritual plane, where truth and inspiration are readily available.
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Today, Shamanism is honored and valued for its role in mediating the natural world and the spirit world in order to make healing on the deepest levels possible. It is concerned with the healing of not only the individual, but of the entire community, including people, animals, plants and nature. The goal is to create internal and external harmony with all of creation.
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The body is often in our culture disregarded for its innate wisdom. Modern medicine diagnoses and treats illness with medication, with little consideration for the mental, emotional or spiritual state of the patient, often pathologizing those who continue to be sick beyond treatment. But, in these more ancient spiritual practices, the whole of the organism is considered important and valid in the healing process. Shamanism considers physical illness as a symptom of the spiritual state.
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When one opens to Shamanic work, the original wounds that create disfunction and illness within the body, mind, emotions or spirit are addressed at their source.
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There are many ancient practices that unite the mind, body and spirit for health, wholeness and growth. These practices recognize that one cannot fully come into balance and heal oneself without incorporating all aspects of the organism. The vision for our Sanctuary includes opening a permanent location where a number of these systems will eventually be offered. Until then, we offer some information to bring light to these beautiful practices.
Our minds tend to run our lives, often creating stress and turmoil through fixating, worrying, regretting, planning, and wishing, which is all focused either on the past or the future. Meditation is the practice of giving the mind a gentle point of focus in the present moment, such as the breath, a candle flame, or music, in order to train the mind in awareness. Working with the mind in this way leads to an improved sense of presence and calm, and can promote the development of human qualities such as empathy and patience, which are qualities of the spirit nature, or Highest Self, within all of us. It is, in actuality, drawing the attention away from the outer world and focusing inwardly on the self and all aspects of the self, which will naturally promote understanding and self-compassion.
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*Watch for upcoming Meditation classes and events coming soon on our Events & Classes page.
Yoga is a spiritual practice integrating the mind, the body and the spirit to achieve wholeness and wellness. Though yoga is widely recognized as a method of exercise or “asana,” the physical practice is only one component of a much more broad system including meditation, mindfulness and breathing practices. These disciplines allow the mind to become quieted, promoting a sense of peace, awareness and self-acceptance for the practitioner. Other benefits of yoga include: increased flexibility, muscle strength, respiration, improved energy and vitality, cardiovascular health and overall wellness.
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There are varieties of Yoga Asana ranging from Restorative Yoga, which centers on ease and support in longer-held poses, to Vinyasa Yoga, where movement is connected with breath in a faster-paced and challenging practice. There is truly something for everyone. Yoga is a beautiful opportunity to explore the physicality of the body while finding stillness within the mind, and awareness of the spirit. And it is rich in history and depth for those who wish to delve beyond the physical practice.
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*Watch for Yoga Classes coming soon on our Events & Classes page.
Art
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We are all creators and artists, using all different mediums from words to sounds to colors to forms to express ourselves and our view of the world. From the dawn of human history, we find cave paintings and carvings, in which ancestors of the past told their stories, related to others socially, and made connections with the workings of the Universe and their place in it. To create art is a natural drive for human self-expression. Art allows us to access our emotional, mental and intuitive natures, and it communicates with beauty and purpose and meaning. It is a source of inspiration, allowing us to connect to others through understanding, shared experience or common feeling. Art is a reflection of personal and social evolution, serving as a sort of recording of our existence, our thoughts, emotionsand intuitions in visual form.
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An important tool in the creation process is our intuition. Intuition is the ability to know something without using analytical reasoning, and it bridges the gap between the conscious and subconscious parts of our minds. This makes artistic expression a powerful tool for understanding the self at a deeper level than the rational mind is capable of on it’s own.
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Art plays a key role at the Sanctuary because it not only is capable of inspiring us with beauty and meaning, but it also allows us to access our subconscious thoughts and beliefs which create our reality. It is often these subconscious attitudes that keep us limited and wounded. With the ability to acknowledge what lies beneath our consciousness, we are then able to make the choice to change it, to heal it. And this is where the deepest healing lies.
Stones
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Our Earth provides so many different kinds of medicine for us, from herbs to sunshine. When we can recognize the healing power of nature and what it offers, we can empower our own healing, drawing to us what we'd like our health or state of being to reflect. Stones and crystals are one of the beautiful gifts that we can utilize for our benefit. As scientists have proven in quantum physics, everything in matter is made up of moving particles, vibrating at a particular frequency, which gives each substance its particular characteristics. The same is true for the rocks and minerals.
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Human beings have prized rocks since the beginning of history as talismans for their beauty and innate healing properties intuitively recognized for centuries. We can draw these healing properties into our lives when we use particular rocks in our environments or wear them on our person.
Henna (Mehndi)
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Henna is a plant that has been valued for thousands of years medicinally and for its powerful dying properties for the hair, nails and skin. Henna art (or Mehndi) is the traditional use of henna paste made with dried and ground leaves applied to the skin in beautiful decorative designs and patterns. Once the dried paste is removed, a sort of temporary tattoo of the art is left on the skin in a lovely shade of brown. Though the origins of Henna art are uncertain, it was used throughout the Middle East and Africa, and in ancient India and Egypt. It is thought to have even been used by Cleopatra to decorate her skin.
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Henna is considered a blessing for the wearer. It is associated with positive spirits, prosperity and good luck. In Hindu cultures, Henna is painted on the bride as a symbol of beauty, joy and spiritual awakening. It is used for rites of passage, religious ceremonies, pregnancies, festivals and simply for adornment. Henna is now a global art form, appreciated for its beauty and for its traditional uses.
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