New Year's Resolution

It’s a New Year and many of us like to make a New Year resolution. What is a New Year resolution? A New Year's resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year. The nature of New Year's resolutions has changed during the last decades, with many resolutions being more superficial and appearance-oriented than in previous times. For example, at the end of the 19th century, a typical teenage girl's New Year's resolution was focused on good works: she resolved to become less self-centered, more helpful, a more diligent worker, and to improve her internal character. Body image, health, diet, and desired possessions were rarely mentioned. At the beginning of the 21st century, the typical teenage girl's resolution is focused on good looks: she wants to improve her body, hairstyle, makeup, and clothing.

The 19th century had the right idea in declaring a resolution at each New Year it came to. I want to offer you something even simpler then what was proposed back then. How about a New Year’s resolution of spending more time with you…connecting with yourself every day for 10 minutes a day? All you have to do is sit in a chair or other comfortable spot, close your eyes, and begin to focus on your breath. Allow your mind to rest from its usual activity, and think only of your breath as you fill your lungs and empty them. Once you are in a relaxed state, deeply in tune with your breath, I want you to imagine a light beam going from your tailbone to the earth. That’s right! The best gift you can give yourself…the best resolution you can make…is to ground yourself every day by breathing deeper and connecting to the earth.


When was the last time you spent 10 quality minutes with yourself, focusing only on you? If you are a mom, then I know you balance work inside and outside the house, you may have a partner and many other activities in your daily life, and you probably can’t remember when you sat in stillness, focused on you. When you make this your New Year’s resolution, when you partake in what I call GROUNDING MOM, not only do you benefit, but your children, husband and every other person you encounter benefits. Grounding yourself keeps you focused, fuels your energy system and keeps your physical body buoyant to the daily stresses you endure.

Take advantage of the internal journey so that your external world flows easier and more effortlessly. This New Year’s resolution is the first true step towards whatever it is you feel you want more of in your life…health, energy, beauty, peace, love, joy, patience, mental fortitude, fulfillment, restful sleep, etc. I hope you choose to go down this path and give yourself the best gift of all.

As a free offering to you, you may visit my website to download a guided meditation that I am making available to help you in your New Year’s resolution journey. Click here for your free audio meditation. You can save it to your computer and listen whenever you want…I recommend every single day! I have many other tools and ideas that can help you maintain balance in your chaotic world. Please call me and begin the deeper journey into yourself, where all the answers and healing possibilities lie. I would be honored to work with you and to enhance your practice through the spiritual counseling I offer.

Todd Kurpil
www.healingguy.com

 

Shark to Blood

Like a shark to blood is a good analogy of how ego is to pain. The shark has a keen sense that allows it to sniff out blood in the water. The shark can smell it from miles away and will pursue until it reaches its prey or loses the scent. The closer the blood trail, the easier it is for the shark to find the wounded prey.

Now let’s look at ego to pain. Using the same imagery, we can imagine that the ego is always swimming within each person, waiting for the pain to surface, be it physical or emotional pain. The pain puts out a scent that the ego can ‘smell’. Depending on the individuals overall well-being and balance, the ego is either miles away or very close to the pain. It may reach the surface quickly and boil over, or the pain may subside before the ego can even be called into action, or something in between.

If you are a person that is stressed, fatigued, angry, and lethargic or any other low vibrational state, then the ego is always circling close by, waiting for the emergence of pain. If you are decompressed, energized, light, calm, or any other high vibrational state, then the ego is miles away from the possible emergence of pain. In other words, the more balanced you are the less chance your ego has to take over. By the time the ego picks up the scent of the pain, the pain is healed or at the least you are in your right mind again, and you are no longer vulnerable prey.

Make no mistake about it—the ego is out to destroy you, just as the shark is out to kill its prey. It can and will make every vulnerable situation ten times worse, unless you are mindful. Arguments with loved ones, anger towards co-workers, parent/child altercations, sibling rivalry, fights between friends, road rage…all of these painful experiences can either be handled with love and tolerance or they can be ego-fueled, painful and hurtful experiences. And if your ego is not busy attacking others, it will just attack YOU. You will tell yourself that you are the dumb one, the worthless one, the problem.

Here is the good news; we can choose to look at the ego as something that is here FOR us. How do we do that?

Be mindful. Be present. Be aware. Some of the best ways to achieve these states of being are by creating outlets for yourself to decompress the stress, such as: having a meditation practice, being on a serious spiritual path, getting energy work done, practicing yoga, or reading spiritual literature. You have to do the work, consistently, and your spiritual self will be able to see what the ego is up to. Your mind will be in a state that allows you to see that rise in your blood pressure, and you will realize ‘oh, this is my ego right now that is going crazy. My ego wants me to send that email, or my ego wants me to say something that will really be a low-blow.’ And you will be able to censor yourself, to take a breath, and to be still until the urge passes.

When this is in place, the Spiritual mind will use the ego to grow and mature. You will find that each pain that you have is a gift to understand and grow as a human being. You will use the ego as a barometer of sorts, a healthy tool that furthers your understanding of your own triggers and weaknesses, and will help you achieve balance.

Reiki: Universal Life Force

Reiki is an alternative healing modality that is channeled from the practitioner to the patient to enhance energy and reduce stress, pain, anxiety and fatigue. Reiki is a Japanese word pronounced “ray-key” and it means ‘universal life force energy’. Traditionally, Reiki was discovered by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese educator in the early 1900’s. Reiki came into the United States in the 1970’s.

It is believed that the recipients of a Reiki treatment can draw in healing powers from the practitioner’s laying of hands to help heal problems in the body. The relaxation allows for stress in the client to reduce significantly, thereby allowing the body to repair itself faster and easier. Reiki is used to assist the body in the healing process from illness, injury or even from the side effects of drug therapies. Reiki is also used to alleviate stress and enhance deeper states of consciousness.

Reiki is not a form of religious healing, which means almost anyone can learn the practice of Reiki, no matter your intellect, culture, or religion.  

Reiki is a simple modality that is first and foremost helping the person that just learned it. When you learn Reiki, you are giving yourself the gift of a conscious awakening within you.

Reiki comes in three classes; Reiki Level One, Reiki Level Two and Reiki Master. Reiki Level One gives you the background of Reiki, the ability to do Reiki and an invocation that opens up the energy centers in your body to allow the universal energy to flow through you effortlessly. You can do Reiki on yourself, family, pets, plants and friends.  

Once you learn Reiki Level One you can choose to come back and take Reiki Level Two. This class will give you symbols that were passed down from Reiki Master to Student which helps to focus the life force energy in a deeper way. You will also get another invocation for your energy centers which will infuse and support the symbols that are passed on to you.  

Reiki Master Class is for those that choose to gain all the knowledge of Reiki and want to get the last symbol and be able to teach Reiki to others.

I have been teaching Reiki for 13 years and I am going to teach my first Los Angeles Reiki Level One Class on Sunday, May 19^th from 10 to 4. If you are interested in taking this class please send me a message at todd@healingguy.com.  My classes are small and I only take 5 to 8 students per class. 

www.healingguy.com

 

Healthy Grieving

Over the past few weeks I have been finding death to be a theme in my conversations with friends and family. Each one of the people I have spoken with has been touched so deeply by the relationships they had and with the knowledge that the person they love has died and is not going to be here anymore. I felt inspired to write this based on my own death experiences and hope that this helps you somehow and in some way within your life.

Grieving is an emotional way to release and find balance in life about a situation of loss. If you do not grieve you will hold on to a person that has passed by not letting yourself go into that place inside you where healing can actually take place. If you do grieve you can unwind your pain and suffering around a person that has passed, simply by letting yourself go into that place inside.  

In my own experiences, I have been in both places with people that I loved who have passed. I’ve allowed the grieving to occur, and I’ve stifled it, subconsciously trying to hold on by not fully experiencing the loss. One example which is appropriate for this blog because of who this man was to me is the loss of my best friend, my hero and my grandfather, whose birthday is March 13^th and who has been gone from this plane for over 20 years. 

In the immediate time period following his death, there was a lot of grief that took place for me. But the grief was a holding on to, a resistance of reality, and a resentment of his absence. I experienced anger, pain, frustration, irritation and other lower vibrational emotions. I did not want to believe that my hero in life was not with me anymore, and I tried very hard not to accept it. For years I held on to this pain because I thought it was keeping him alive, when really it only was the illusion of keeping him alive.

As time moved on from my grandfather’s passing, I began to get healing work done and read some great books that helped me understand the process of grieving. I found that grieving in my body allowed for the tears and the sadness to flow through me like a river into an ocean. I sometimes grieved for over an hour with uncontrollable crying. What an intense process that was for me, because honestly I remember wondering if it would ever stop. 

But when I started to truly grieve, I realized that to be balanced with this loss, I had so many grieving’s to go, and there is no shortcut. I believe that we get a certain amount of grieving’s for each person that dies and it can be 10 or 50 or 500. And you just can’t cut it short, go around it, or avoid it. You must experience the sadness; you must cry every tear that needs to be cried, in order to fully process the loss and eventually to move on.

Another realization for me was that I began to understand that my grieving, in large part, was for the physical loss of who my grandfather was to me. I was grieving over the loss of his physical presence; the love I had for his physicality was a result of my beliefs that equated him with his body. I so loved the physical representation of him, because to me that was him, and I missed him terribly. Over the years I have continued to deepen my understanding that ‘he’ was not his body, and so even though his body is gone, his spirit and love are still present in my life.  

With my openness to feeling the pain I found peace in my heart and soul. I feel calm, balanced and alive remembering him and all of my angst, anger and pain have finally lifted. That’s not to say it doesn’t still hurt sometimes. I will always miss my grandfather…his body, his voice, his personality… and I wish I had another moment with him to share my life and what has evolved within it. For him to meet my beautiful wife whom I know he would have loved and for him to know my precious daughter who he would have went bananas for. Much of who I am today is a tribute to who he was for me. 

I have many clients that I work with to help them unwind and find peace with the deceased in their lives. The process of going into the grieving is not easy but it is doable, and it’s healthy. Each grieving is one step closer to peace and balance. You will never forget that person that touched your heart and soul, and nor would you want to. But when the pain is intense, you will be able to find a sacred place inside you… a well of love, peace and joy, that you can draw comfort from. You can feel grateful, knowing that they helped create this place because of who they were, for you, in this lifetime.

If you have someone that has touched your life that has passed, please give them a shout out and type their name in the comment section.

Thomas Monzo, my grandfather.  I miss you and love you very much.

www.healingguy.com

todd@healingguy.com

 

Energy Work: Going Beneath the Chatter

I've been writing these blogs for the last couple of months and I am so excited about the responses I have been getting. My purpose in writing is to get myself out there and to talk to people about the work that I do. I want to help as many people as possible, and I also want to educate people about what healing work is all about.

Today I want to break down what a healing session looks like so if you've never been, you can visualize what a session would be like and will perhaps feel inclined to begin the work for yourself.

The set up: the client (you) lies on the massage table fully clothed and covered by a sheet and blanket. The practitioner (yours truly) sets the space with an invocation which for me states that within this session may the highest of the high be experienced and realized in order to help this person decompress stresses of all kinds and go deeper into who they truly are.

The session: Guided by the scientific education of hands on therapies and spiritual intuition I listen to what is needed for the healing to take place. The journey is never the same for any two people, and rarely the same for one person from session to session. My intention is to help a client reboot and unwind in their session.

The client: a deepened state of consciousness sets in for the client and a journey into unbounded awareness starts to take place.

What is this all about?

Imagine an ocean from top to bottom. The waves on top are our thoughts, the constant chatter. This is where the external world all of us live in happens day in and day out, and is rarely given a chance to be quieted. Even in our dreams our minds are active, working out the stresses of our waking thoughts. The focus, organization and stress of what the mind takes in and puts out all day long is huge!

Everyday think about what you do....you wake up, and immediately your mind goes to what lies ahead for the day and all that you need to accomplish, usually before you are even out of bed. We get up, work out, eat breakfast, go to work, eat lunch, go back to work, go home, or go out with friends, eat dinner, watch TV, or work some more. Somewhere in there we take care of kids, we go on Facebook, we pay bills and plan for our future vacations, for our investments, and we try to maintain relationships with friends and family. At the end of the day we brush our teeth and go to bed, hopefully without the thoughts of the day keeping us up, only to get up and do it all over again. The routine is constant and some days are good while others feel bad. The difference between our good and bad days can often be attributed to our stress levels, and how we are dealing with those stresses.

Stress seeps in little by little (or a lot by a lot) and it seems never ending. Where does it go? Does it just disappear? No. Your body begins to break down little by little as these stresses accumulate.

The amazing thing is these thoughts, and these everyday stresses, are really just the surf of the ocean. These are the 5 to 10 percent usage of your mind that most of us live in. What many people don't know is that there is 90 to 95 percent more of our brain that is accessible to each and every one of us, and which takes us deeper into ourselves. When we unwind these stresses, we can more easily use more of our intellect and therefore more fully be who we are.

Diving into the massive ocean is where the juice is. This is where unbounded awareness lives and it can be yours for the price of...nothing. It's FREE! Yes it is FREE to look inside the self, to explore inside the self and to bathe in the beauty that exists in the self. When you go underneath the chatter, stress automatically starts to unwind and decompress. The vastness of your ocean is unlimited and accessible to you through different outlets.

One outlet is to meditate every day for at least 20 minutes a day (best results doing this twice a day).

Another outlet is to go see a healer that can help guide you into a deepened state, which allows you to heal the mind, body and spirit. If you become a consistent client each session will take you into a healthier place.

And this is what healing work is all about. Going beneath the noise, to the source of your pure intelligence, creativity, light and Oneness with all living things. It is my purpose in life to do this work. I would be honored to assist you on your journey towards a stress-free existence.

Please contact me, as always, with any questions or comments. Feel free to comment on the blog if you have experienced energy work yourself and want to share what your experience was like. And thank you for reading.

www.healingguy.com

todd@healingguy.com

Holding Space: You do it more then you think

For the next series of blogs I am going to write about the process of receiving energy work. I am sure that many of you have gone to a healer or energy worker, and I am sure that many of you never have! My practice is in Los Angeles, but wherever you live there are healers that can help you if you are searching or interested in trying this type of work. Here are some basics you might want to know.

The key for any healer is to be able to hold space for you while you are receiving the help that you are searching for. ‘Holding space’ is a term that is used in the healing community. What it means is providing a safe, protective and loving atmosphere that one can be vulnerable in during a healing session. When I am helping a client my structure of holding space is based in complete presence for my client. I ground myself into the earth, open up to the cosmic world and create an invocation that allows for whatever healing needs to occur during a session. I leave my own ego and needs at the door, and focus all of my energies on the client.  

I believe that all of us from one time or another have held space for someone dear in our life. For instance, when a person gets married there is often a gathering of people that are called together to witness the ceremony. Every person at the ceremony is there to share in the experience, but most of all they are there to hold space in this sacred event for the couple. All eyes and hearts are joined in the witnessing of the monumental, yet very private, occasion.

Another example is when a loved one passes on and there are funeral or memorial services that people attend. Those who gather are not only there to pay respects to the deceased but also to hold space for the family of the deceased; to bear witness to another’s suffering. We all instinctively know that at weddings and funerals, it’s not about us. And we gladly put our own ideas and opinions aside for a moment to focus our energy on those who need us.

Another important though often overlooked way to hold space is to just listen to a friend or family member that needs to vent. To hold space in this situation is to be present and listen with complete empathy and love as they let out whatever it is they need to. Often the best thing we can do for another is not to offer our opinions or to turn the conversation around to ourselves, but just to hold space for the other person to safely and securely feel whatever it is they are feeling. By being there for them, without judgment and without personal motive, the other person is often able to come to their own resolution or conclusion themselves. They just needed a safe space to hash it out. At the end of the conversation you may hear them say I feel better, thank you for listening. Some of the great therapists will tell you that they don’t actually get paid to talk or give advice, they get paid to listen.

You may have experienced that feeling of being there for another; when it is no longer about you, and all of your energy is focused on supporting and uplifting another. Those moments are when you are holding space. They are a gift. 

The process of holding space is something innate in all of us, and each time we do this we may feel grateful, balanced and helpful on a very subtle level. The next time someone asks if they can talk to you about something know that they are asking you because when they talk to you they feel safe, protected and loved, as they spill out everything that makes them vulnerable. To hold space for another is a blessing to both the receiver and the giver. Eventually you may realize you’re giving and receiving at the same time.

So when you go to a healer and you feel safe, protected and loved you know that you are in the right place to unwind whatever stress you may be holding onto. You are in helping hands with a healer that can stay neutral and present with you throughout your healing session. I am so grateful for the many opportunities I have had to provide that space for my clients, friends and loved ones.

I am interested in hearing places you have held space for another in your life.  The more of you that comment on this, the more others will awaken to the times of great healing they have participated in in their own lives. 

For example, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to hold space for my wife while she delivered our beautiful daughter. Never in my life have I been more certain that what was happening was not about me, and yet I knew my presence and energy was needed immensely.

Now it is your turn! Thank you for participating.

www.healingguy.com

todd@healingguy.com

 

Stress and Meditation (yes, you can do it!)

In our daily life we are constantly dealing with stress, and that stress settles in our bodies. It makes us reactive, antsy, irritable, and depressed and often is the reason people look to outside sources for relief (i.e. drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc.). Stress can come in great and amazing moments in our life and it can arise in dysfunctional, heart wrenching moments. From winning the lottery or getting a new job, to having a romantic relationship dissolve or being cut off in traffic, we are constantly engaged in stresses. Most people just take it in and live with it until they die. They wonder why they can’t sleep, or why they are gaining weight, or why their back hurts. Stresses accumulate one by one and plant themselves in the body. This is an ongoing process that somewhere in a person’s life will eventually manifest into some kind of physical struggle, disease or discomfort. That tense neck, the stomach ache, the heart disease…they are all manifestations of stress. No wonder we spend billions of dollars a year on pharmaceuticals that are supposed to help relieve us of stress and all of its symptoms.

Think of stress in the body like a knot in a string. The knot shortens the string, or constricts it, and takes away its natural, expansive state. It is no longer loose and flowing with the length that it originally had. To unwind the knot will allow it to go back to its natural state. The same thing is true in a person’s body with the knots of stress. We just keep adding more and more knots, and spend very little time unraveling them. But you know all of this; you know the very real effects of stress on your body, and you’d probably like to live with less of it, right?

To unwind these stresses one has to have the motivation and tools to dissolve the knots and return to our natural born right to be expansive and healthy in this world. Diluting stress can be challenging without tools to transcend. So how does one dilute and neutralize stress?

Meditation. Yes, meditation is my answer. I know, I know! You’ve tried it and it doesn’t work, or it’s just not for you. The work I do in my private practice as a multi-dimensional therapist is based in the principals of wellness for the whole person. I work with my clients to identify what in their lives is constricting them emotionally and mentally, and we often are able to relieve the physical pains they are in by a combination of talking and hands on energy work. When I use Craniosacral Therapy and energy work on the table, the client is able to transcend into a deeper state of relaxation and consciousness, which helps ‘seal in’ the work we do verbally sitting in chairs. They enter into a meditative state while I am working on them. When my clients get off the table, they typically feel a deep sense of peace and inner relaxation. I wish they could all see me every day, but the reality is we all need to have tools to achieve this state in our day to day lives. I always tell my clients the key to holding on to those feelings and continuing the healing work we begin in my office is meditation.

I am continually impressed by the resistance people have to meditation. We’ve all heard by now about the benefits meditation provides, but people have such a hard time with the notion of sitting for any length of time and not doing anything, and not thinking anything. It seems to be an almost impossible task with the rate at which our monkey minds produce thoughts. And you know what? It is almost impossible! So rather than fight the thoughts, let’s incorporate them.

My wife and I recently visited our local Transcendental Meditation Center, received the instruction, and have begun our journey of practicing this thousands of years old meditation. I believe there are many ways to meditate, but I am excited by the simplicity and ease this practice provides, and I am already seeing the benefits after one week.

Transcendental Meditation, or TM, is an art of inner sound and natural thoughts. The process works together to help stress unwind in the body. To use a sound, or a mantra, allows you to deepen into yourself and then as you find yourself relaxing you will experience thoughts, which is natural and perfectly fine. You don’t fight the thoughts. You just let them come! The thoughts are usually meaningless to your mind, but to your stress they are as precious as gold. Every thought generated will magnetize stress knots within you and unravel them as the thoughts are allowed to occur. As the thoughts and stresses are released, your mind returns to the mantra and you will deepen the relaxation in your body even further. This cycle will happen over and over as needed and you will find yourself in a higher state of consciousness, and deeply rejuvenated, when you reenter the present world in which you live. It’s that easy!

I know you’re busy, and the thought of sitting for 20 minutes seems stressful in and of itself. But to unwind the stress one has to journey inward. You must begin the process of finding bliss within in order to have bliss in the world. Meditation allows you to transform the stresses and dissolve them from your being. What better way to spend 20 minutes. It will make you more productive, efficient, alert, and creative in your life.

As I said, there are many ways to meditate but having a serious mediation practice is key to the unwinding of your stress knots, and therefore to living a healthy and balanced life.  Your body and your mind will thank you for the respite. It is truly like plugging yourself into a charger twice a day. You feel fully rested, centered and calm.

To learn more look up a Transcendental Meditation Center near you, or come see me. And as always, thanks for reading and please feel free to comment or email me. Happy Meditating!

www.healingguy.com

todd@healingguy.com