ServinG communiTY +
Each one of us has the capacity to heal ourselves and to support each other in healing. Each act of kindness, clear boundary setting, empathic and heart-centered presence adds to the balance of good. While no one of us alone can solve all the problems of the world, we each have the capacity to engage and to offer what we can, when we can, in the way that we can. No gift is too small. Our gifts are numerous and diverse and together they are powerful. Here are some of the ways in which I am sharing my gifts and some of the many organizations that are dear to my heart.
Free Monthly Reiki Healing +
I believe in healing for all. To help facilitate access to healing I offer free, remote, Reiki healing to all who request it. This is a recurring free monthly session intended to support anyone in need of healing. Energy healing does not require contact or proximity. It is gentle, powerful, and beautifully supportive. If you want to receive healing in this free session add your name and any details you wish to share via Request Healing +. Dates and details on the Events calendar.
Free Online Education + Resources
Created and offered especially for you these free online information, guides, and downloads range across topics related to simple energy healing techniques, vibrational remedies, supportive ceremonial and ritual practices, and more. The guides are available stand-alone or in conjunction with workshops and events open to the community and are designed to be easily accessible and straightforward resources for those who want to learn gentle ways to support themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.
Healing Invisible Wounds from the Aftermath of Police Violence
Silicon Valley De-Bug
SVDB is a San Jose based organization providing advocacy, story-telling, and community organizing with a focus on criminal justice reform, housing, immigrant rights, and economic justice. They are nationally recognized as a model for community-based justice work, believing people are stronger when united. SVDB strives to forge connections among the community, bring awareness to relevant social and economic justice issues, and influence policy, transforming the landscape of power and justice in our community.
This event is an annual retreat and gathering of families who have lost loved ones to police violence. Healing sessions and workshops designed to support the individuals effected by this tragedy included yoga, breath and meditation work. I offered free intuitive energy healing and BioMat® sessions. BioMat® sessions provide negative ion and far infrared light therapy while intuitive healing sessions offer energy healing and the option of safer-touch (for those who preferred touch vs. no-contact). Agency and consent are keystones of my practice and can be especially supportive for those who have experience contact-based trauma. Energy therapies can help individuals release, relax, and restore. I was honored to serve this community and their important work.
Free Open Apothecary: Solstice Seasonal Magic +
Winter Session
A community offering to help folks create what they most need during the holiday season. This is an invitation to enjoy an exploration of vibrational essences and tap into deeper knowing to design one’s own remedy for the turning of the wheel of the year. A highly limited offering open to only 5 individuals occurs only happens once a year. Participants have access to 500 + high quality vibrational essences and elixirs in the apothecary and all materials needed to formulate their personal 1oz dosage bottle of remedy solely for themselves and their self-care. Flower remedies and vibrational essences are easy to use and safe for everyone. We gather with intention before Winter Solstice, so that each have their personal remedies are in hand for the Earth’s sacred and pivotal passage into her next seasonal cycle. An event supported by curiosity, trust in oneself, and an open heart for the weaving of Earth medicine, community, and healing. Dates and details in Workshops under Events.
Photo by Melanie Ingler, 2018
Free and Donation-Based Sessions: Covid 19 +
Every human deserves access to the support they need to heal and to thrive. Covid-19 brought hardship to many and while I have always reserved a number of client spots for sliding scale clients, I knew this was not enough in the extraordinary circumstances in which the world found itself. For this reason, I suspended all regular payments for sessions and converted to a Donation Only practice for June 2020 - June 2021 and again in 2022. Clients were asked to pay what they could, whatever the amount, as long as it did not cause further hardship for them or their families. I trust that, when they find themselves in the position to offer their unique gifts and talents in support of another human in need, they will continue to spread the gift and that their gift will make a difference.
Free and Low-Cost Workshops & Treatment Sessions +
I am passionate about being in service of healing and empowering others in their personal healing journeys. I believe in each individual’s innate ability to return to balance and to bring about change in themselves and in the world. I also believe that this information and skill should be available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. To this end, I have always reserves space in my practice for clients in need of alternative payment arrangements and offers periodic, free and low-cost workshops in basic energy medicine techniques. Workshops are open to people of all experience levels and some may be suitable for children ages 10 and up.
Energy Medicine lends itself perfectly to remote healing. During the COVID-19 Shelter-In-Place and for a time after, as people were adjusting to the new-normal and in acknowledgement of the extraordinary challenges many found themselves facing, all sessions were offered on a donation-only basis. No one was turned away due to lack of funds.
Free Community Altars + Sacred Arts
Every year I follow the traditions of my mother-line, building an Ancestor Altar during the time leading up to and including Dia De Los Muertos. These “Altares” and “Ofrendas” are made in order to remember our beloved dead and our ancestors; to ceremonially and ritually honor and invite them into our lives. This is a time of joyful celebration of life and of our continued connection to those we hold in our hearts.
In 2018, at the prompting of my daughter, I offered my personal sacred remembering-practice to the community by building a public Ofrenda so that family, friends, neighbors and strangers could participate in the this cherished tradition. People engaged beyond my expectations when invited to leve messages and the names of their beloved dead; place images and offerings on the altar; spend time in meditation, celebration, story-telling, prayer, song, and other forms of practice that brought them closer to the memory of their loved ones. Offerings left after the disassembly of the altar were then ritually burned and released as prayers on the copal smoke. The free community altar became a gathering place for people to share stories and memories of their loved ones, a bridge between cultures and generations, and a beautiful and magical space for all. I was honored and humbled by the way this offering was embraced.
At the request of the community and with their help the 2019 Dia de los Muertos altar was installed for viewing and personal interaction, including community events for Altar Building & Paper Flower Making, Dismantling & Ritual Fire, and Personal Altar Contemplation & Remembering-Practices
2020: In light of the unusual circumstances in which we find ourselves (SARS2-COVID-19 Pandemic), the losses many have suffered, my belief in the importance of ceremony and ritual and my dedication to you, my community, I created a FREE, printable guide to “Remembering Our Beloved Dead: building a personal altar and remembering practice”, which is available to all. In addition, I offer you a list of books on the topic of Dia De Los Muertos, generously curated by my dear friend and sister-altar-builder, Natasha Bodorff of Boulder, CO.
2021-Present: The Annual Community Dia De Los Muertos Altera continues evolving and connecting us with our ancestors and our community. Its most recent form is as a varied altar space, incorporating both a more traditional Dia de los Muertos tiered ofrenda and a modern “Family Tree” with messages, images, poems, prayers, and offerings woven into the ribbons hung from its branches. You are, as always, invited to participate. Dia De Los Muertos Community Remembering Practice +
Guide + Book List
The Bill Wilson Center
The Bill Wilson Center provides a great number of services to underserved groups, particularly minority and LGBTQ+ youth. Their programs include counseling, housing, foster care and community outreach. They are also home to the Center For Living With Dying, supporting those dealing with loss and grief, and the Bay Area Critical Incident Stress Management Team, a group of dedicated volunteers who respond in moments of crisis and specialize in PTSD, trauma communication, and support around death notifications.
CISMT provided much needed and deeply appreciated support when my own community was in the throes of deep and repeated losses. Recognizing that CISMT members and other first responders, caregivers, nurses and similar professionals and individuals are at risk of compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress, I am honored to be able to offer something back to the BA CISM Team. To this day I feel deep gratitude for the compassion, loving-presence and expert guidance they offered to me and my community in our hours of need.
I provided free Healing Touch and Reiki sessions at the Bill Wilson Center's free quarterly HIV/AIDS Rejuvenation Retreat. This event is a "Day of Renewal", providing healing and support to people living with HIV/AIDS, their friends, family, professional caregivers and volunteers working with the Bill Wilson Center. Many living with HIV/AIDS do not receive regular touch. The human species requires touch to thrive, and individuals deprived of regular and supportive touch are at risk of declines in mental, emotional and physical health. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve this community with heart-centered and healing touch.
Cancer Support
Healing Touch is one of a number of complimentary modalities studied for its positive effects in supporting cancer patients. San Francisco Bay Area’s Stanford Hospital is one of many throughout the country that recognizes and welcomes Energy Medicine into its integrative approach to cancer treatment. Research information regarding energy medicine and cancer support can be found on the Healing Touch Research website. Information about Stanford Hospital’s integrative support program for patients with cancer can be found at the Stanford Cancer Supportive Care Program website, and free Healing Touch is available to Stanford oncology patients through their Healing Partners Healing Touch program.
Cancer is a disease that touches many of our lives and I am no exception. My family and circle of loved ones includes incredibly brave survivors as well as strong souls whose lives ended with this disease. While I have never been a provider with the Stanford Healing Touch program (due to scheduling conflicts), I previously offered free Energy Medicine sessions to all of my private clients diagnosed with cancer, those undergoing treatment, and those in the process of healing, and continue to reserve a number of pro-bono and low cost spaces for clients in need. Stanford’s Healing Partners program is listed above as an additional resource for those looking for treatment options.
Waldorf of the Peninsula
The Waldorf School of the Peninsula is an extraordinary educational institution dedicated to building capacities, inspiring, and fostering imagination and a passion for learning. They have been featured in numerous media sources and are noted for their unconventional approach to learning based on the development of the whole human being, human interaction and a noted lack of technology in the classroom. My own children have been a part of the WSP community for nearly fifteen years, and I and my family are grateful for the phenomenal education and experiences this school offers.
For several years I chose to exclusively offer my skills free-of-charge, requesting that any compensation instead be given to a worthy cause or others in need. Unable to afford much-needed care at various times in my life and fortunate enough to receive the gift of healing, regardless of ability to pay, I felt called to return to others what I myself received.
When a series of tragedies struck the Waldorf School of the Peninsula community in 2016-2018, I made myself available, free of cost, to support those affected. I worked with immediate family members, community members at large, and in ceremonial presence to help support the healing of this group of precious souls, including my own, whose depth of grief was profound. This extraordinary “family” held its members with grace and love and, blessedly, the arc through sorrow ultimately led us forward, in-love with life.