The Empath magazine - Issue 1

The empath THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE

T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R H I G H LY S E N S I T I V E P E O P L E

ARE YOU HIGHLY SENSITIVE?

Issue No. 01 | Spring 2017

ENERGY HEALING

Using the gift of sensitivity to help and heal others

An HSP self-test

SENSITIVITY AND SHAMANIC HEALING RE-FRAMING A DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD

MIRROR MIRACLE

Jennie Lynn's true story

Turning negative memories into positive ones

THE SENSITIVITY SPIRITUAL CONNECTION

ia? Nihilina, utempratudem cenihil viverius? Ratquod nos vivasdactu qua dit ponicii pos seris.

Hosterio, sidem tum ina, cae intebat iferivest L. Aperios ere nis.

Maelari orbempo nferes ocut ditastempra opublius; num con tem con dit publia videm quem pon se ne nem dum temusat ursus, nos ium interum effret conunum tu cotabus, quam tia virtes acte coenit.

Esinte ta vesena, omantracria me essi publibustin tem, simus hae cauctor dintisteli publica

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stemnih ilibust aris, con nictum ublicast adhuci publin rem in hocta, senatis, utuusquide inatus, qui egiliqua nius, consulem hilicup icastil iconsulla muspionstius faceriv erbita, ut nihili pultus, qui fue es host depsent erris, cepecus hocturs acerfectus vaturoximis a sum movermihil hiciesenemod re, nos or publin tra o convo, pri perem pra contemus. Sena, C. Si et? Rordiis nostra ne condemus morid con striontum nos bondem tam sin desulto audamque iam imus in tum hicer pubi caecres conscre ctabunununt. Solissi liisse

te tam moditessi furbit erum sessul unc in horum hos sedelin atratudetrum scios mandemu murniqui teludacchus comniae facturb eniur, viris bonsull abenimere poenatuam ocur qua pra mere cus, poenatis, coneque que furopotelis in tebem oritium plienat ci te publici tem ut L. Ox macciam ut parti iam tem occiemoeniu st L.

W W W.T he-E m pat h.c o m

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Magnetic Love by Jennie Lynn The law of attraction is no secret, but if everyone knew how to use it, then why isn’t everyone a millionaire by now? There is one critical missing element most people are unaware of which I reveal. Confide in me what you want, and I will show you how to become a magnet for all of your desires in life.

ISBN: 978 1 988071 41 1

This book carefully positions love as the prerequisite for mastering the law of attraction to embrace the ultimate love, wealth, and freedom you crave. Your mind, body, and soul have been screaming for your attention, and I will teach you how interpret your body ‘language’ so you can live in health and happiness. I wholeheartedly promise you will discover these empowering solutions as part of an inspirational life-changing experience you won’t regret.

When you connect to your higher self and realize the incredible power within YOU, it will catalyze monumental breakthroughs in your life and heal you from the inside out to

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allow abundance to flow. I guarantee you won’t want to miss out on some of the most powerful lessons you will ever learn when you master the art of manifestation yourself.

As you break free of the invisible cage of paradigms and fears holding you back, you will unlock your limitless potential. If you are willing to make the quantum leap, this book will ignite you to take action to align your heart with your mind so that you can live the life you desire but that has been just out of reach, until NOW www.jennielynn.com/magneticlovebook

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8-9 Are you Highly Sensitive?

38-41 The Sensitivity Spiritual Connection

A comprehensive 25 point HSP self-test to guage your level of sensitivity.

Therapist and teacher Sue Lilly explores the connection between sensitivity and spirituality.

10-13 The Mirror Miracle

42-45 Getting Over The Codependent Trap Empaths Often Fall Into

Jennie Lynn's true story of finding self-love and connecting more deeply with yourself.

14-23 Coping in the Workplace

THE EMPATH The magazine for Highly Sensitive People ROBIN BARRATT PUBLISHING The Annexe Building 47 Sandy Lane Norwich, Norfolk NR8 6JT UNITED KINGDOM Call + 44 (0) 7508 833 433 Email: Editor@The-Empath.com www.The-Empath.com Facebook: theempathmagazine EDITOR Robin Barratt DESIGN Louis Stefano DeMarco www.louisdemarco.co.uk DISCLAIMER While every care has been taken to ensure that the information contained in this magazine is both accurate and up-to-date, Robin Barratt and Robin Barratt Publishing accepts no liability in any part for loss or damage incurred by reliance on information contained in this magazine through omissions, errors, howsoever caused. Š COPYRIGHT Copyright remains with Robin Barratt Publishing and the authors and contributors at all times.

No part of this publication can be copied or reproduced in any way whatsoever.

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Energy worker, crystal therapist, I.C.G.T. Fellow and Health Kinesiologist Brian Parsons explores how HSPs can cope in an often challenging workplace.

24-29 Re-framing a Difficult Childhood Mentalist, psychologist, author and speaker Simon Maryan Ph.D looks at using metaphors to help turn negative memories into more positive ones.

30-37 Sensitivity and Shamanism Shamanic painter, teacher, practitioner and author Imelda Almqvist explores the connection between shamanism and sensitivity.

International coach, therapist and public speaker Kelly Armatage looks at how the three stages of ASK can help codependently trapped empaths.

46-51 Energy Healing and Sensitivity Reiki Master, spiritual and holistic coach/practitioner/teacher Julie Lomas explores how having the gift of sensitivity and healing can help and heal others.

52-57 Empathy and Art Interviews Ella Prakash and Elham Razani two international artists (Middle East and South Africa) who use art as an expressive platform for their sensitivity.

58-59 EMPATHY AND POETRY Sensitivity in poetry.

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INTRODUCTION A very big welcome to The Empath, probably the only magazine in the world aimed specifically at Highly Sensitive People.

This magazine is published as a pdf because, in this format, it can reach many more people, in many more countries around the world, and there are Empaths and HSP everywhere of course, but also (for a small supplement to cover costs) we will print The Empath as a hard-copy paper magazine too, for those traditionalists that like that increasingly rare feeling of real paper!

So, Who Are We? The term HSP now seems to be a recognised psychological term for people with a much higher level of sensitivity that 'normal.' Normal is a subjective term anyway, as of course we are all 'normal' to ourselves!

Being an Empath and a Highly Sensitive Person is the same; we have the increased ability to perceive the mental or emotional state of another individual; we easily and quickly absorb and experience other people's emotions, especially hurt, fear, anger or anxiety, and are often brought to tears when experiencing these emotions; we are easily hurt ourselves and can very quickly get upset with disharmony and discord; we don't like emotional confrontation; we can become very quickly overwhelmed with the world around us, and with people and noise; we are highly intuitive; we instinctively know when people are lying to us or trying to deceive us, and have much stronger gut feelings about things which are - more often than not – correct, and we just 'know' the motivations and intentions of other people. There are lots of other traits too of course!

To summarise, we process sensory data more deeply due to the nature of our central nervous system.

In short... Highly Sensitive People are wired slightly differently.

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The sensitivity scale

5%

of the population are Acute Empaths, or Acutely Sensitive People (ASP). These people frequently feel completely overwhelmed with the emotions of everyone around them and struggle to function in everyday society. Acutely Sensitive People really love helping others though, and will quite literally do anything for anyone, however they often can't actually work in caring or helping jobs as the pain of others upsets them too much, and so ASP are very often solitary souls.

I am an acute empath, which means for me much of my life is a real struggle - my story as an Acutely Sensitive Person will now be in issue two.

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20%

of the population are Highly Sensitive People (HSP).

Although these people often have real challenges in life, and they often struggle with the world and within the world, they can however normally function most of the time, and in most situations, and because they really do care for others, and about other people, Highly Sensitive People tend to work as nurses, doctors, carers, support workers, therapists, healers, social workers, teachers etc., etc.

50%

of the population are Averagely Sensitive People. They care

about their loved ones, they help others and they give to charity now and then, but they are not affected that much by the world around them, or the emotions of others, and they don't get overwhelmed with life as much as an HSP or an ASP would.

Averagely Sensitive People tend to have regular, non-caring type jobs e.g. electricians, plumbers, accountants, truck drivers, administrative assistants, builders, shop assistants etc., etc.

20%

of the population have Little or Low Sensitivity; they don't care much about anyone other than themselves and what they can get out of life. They don't do anything for anyone, they never give to charity and they

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emotionally separate themselves from everyone around them.

These people are bankers who make as much money for themselves without thinking about the consequences for others, business people that only care about profit and who don't care much about their employees, professional landlords that make their tenants live in squalor, Lawyers than defend the worst of the worst just for the money etc., etc. Sadly there are a lot of people in the world with Little or Low Sensitivity.

5%

of the population have No Sensitivity – these are the psychopaths and sociopaths, criminals, mercenaries and extremists. They are nasty, cruel THE– EMPATH.COM

people that have no sensitivity, empathy or compassion for anyone.

Of course these are just approximate percentages and rough guidelines based upon my personal experiences and conclusions on this subject, and of course there are empaths working as electricians and truck drivers (examples) and a lot of very uncaring, unkind insensitive people working in the caring industries!

Life for us isn't always easy; we do struggle and we do most certainly have some real challenges in life, but whether you are Acutely Sensitive, Highly Sensitive, or just averagely sensitive, I do hope you find this magazine both interesting and, more importantly, helpful. I don't have the backing of a big

publishing company; it is just me, Louis, the magazine's graphic designer, and our wonderful contributors, so I have to do things gradually, step by step.

But the HSP community really does need a good regular magazine, so I hope you like the first issue enough to stay with us and support us on this wonderful new journey; a journey of discovering who we are, and how we can best manage being who we are.

With love Robin Editor & Publisher

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ARE YOU A HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON? A 25 POINT HSP SELF-TEST Are you Acutely Sensitive, Highly Sensitive, Averagely Sensitive or... well you won't be reading this if you are none of these!

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE 1. I often feel the need to be by myself and to get away from everyone.

2. I get upset easily if people are upset with me.

3. I can easily sense other people's emotions.

4. I can easily sense the changes in other people's emotions.

5. I can easily sense how people feel about me.

6. I can easily tell when people are not being truthful towards me.

15. People often think I am shy or introverted.

Score yourself between 1 and 5.

16. I am sensitive to strong smells.

1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree

7. I often get overwhelmed by too many people around me.

8. I find confrontation with other people extremely difficult.

9. I am a very emotional person.

10. I can generally sense people's true motives.

11. I take great joy in helping other people.

12. I am often brought to tears when I witness other people's sadness, plight, distress etc.

13. I feel unsettled when other people are watching me.

14. I often put others first, even to my detriment.

17. I am noise sensitive - loud noises upset me.

18. I am unusually sensitive to pain.

19. I get stressed easily when I have too many things to do at one time.

20. I get startled easily.

21. I am often moved by the arts.

22. I find great comfort in being in nature.

23. I feel as though I am a very spiritual person.

24. I believe I am quite a complex person.

25. I sense the pain of the earth.

Note, this is a general, interest only self-test, and is not in any way medically or psychologically proven or approved.

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If you score between 110 and 125 you are most likely acutely sensitive; for you life is a real struggling with lots of daily challenges.

If you score between 75 and 110 you are most likely highly sensitive, you have lots of challenges but you can cope.

If you score between 50 and 75 you have average sensitivity, and if you score under 50, well, best you read another magazine!

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The Mirror Miracle: A Story of Inspirational Self-Healing

By Jennie Lynn

Over the past few years, I have been experiencing many awakenings as I increase my conscious awareness. I realize that as a Gemini, I am always on the cusp of two extremes. I am tough but I am also very sensitive. I can be leftbrained at times, and right-brained at others.

One of my strongest assets as an Empath is that I am very in-tune with my emotions and energy.

I would like to share a very special story with you of how investing in the study of my mind connected me more deeply than ever with my soul. It was there that I finally discovered an infinite well of love and healing, which had been dormant but secretly pleading to be unleashed.

I explain how I transformed from an ungrateful and lonely perfectionist into a humble angelic warrior of love.

I fell madly in love with my soul mate and healed myself from the inside out, and both found and pursued my true potential and passion. There has never been a greater feeling than to have fallen in love and strengthen my self

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image and confidence. I really hope it inspires you to connect more deeply with yourself so that you can both heal from the inside out and having a better understanding of yourself and of others.

It was February 19, 2017 at 3 am.

I sprung out of bed and little did I know that this would be the day that my life would change forever; I heard my soul speak to me for the very first time, and I experienced what I now know is a quantum leap.

For the past five years I had been battling a very debilitating autoimmune condition called hashimotos hypothyroidism. My self image was deteriorating day after day as I endured weight gain, pain, and crippling fatigue - I felt half alive. Since the diagnosis, I began a quest to cure myself, seeking the right doctor, the right pill, or the right diet that would cure me.

I learned that every disease is the result of a stressed mind - a cry for help. My body had been desperately trying to communicate with me but I could not hear it until its cries became a scream. It was shouting at me to STOP!

Then it hit me.

I found the root cause of all my troubles. My own body was attacking itself because it was starving for LOVE. A battle was going on inside of me, because I was chasing perfection and I created such a broken body image. I had sabotaged my health because I neglected to appreciate my body, and a lack of gratitude alienated my soul. I was the prisoner of a perfectionist paradigm. I had mindlessly created a bad habit of focusing on my flaws every time I looked in the mirror, to the point that I dreaded it. All I saw was my imperfect self.

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But this one morning, something changed because I woke up and I miraculously felt healed. I looked in the mirror and smiled as a wave of peace rushed over me. I had finally embraced the beauty of my soul as I mindfully connected deeply to my inner self, my best friend.

I wondered what had caused this and why so all of a sudden?

As I reflected, the answers came to me on how I had discovered the deep reservoirs of love and healing power within me.

For the past two months I had been diligently writing a book titled Magnetic Love. My intent was to guide others to discover themselves and find true love

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of self and relationships, but also how to master the law of attraction to live the life they desire.

I had the immense privilege to meet Bob Proctor at the end of 2016. I had immersed myself in his teachings and he kindly wrote my foreword.

Little did I know that I would experience this miraculous transformational healing that I had intended for my readers.

As I was raising my conscious

awareness, I realized how my self image had been suffering, and I had become a stranger to myself. I didn't know who I was, and I didn't love myself. But after I wrote this book, it was apparent to me that I was not the same person I was when I started writing it. I endeavored to master the universal laws that govern our world. I had been planting seeds in my mind for months, and on this morning, they bloomed into a beautiful garden of selflove. Until I invested deeply into learning, I would not have known a better way. When I stopped obsessing over the disease and focused on gratitude, the battle was over and I won because I was healed. I realized that the

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE only thing I ever needed to do to embrace the peace I craved was love myself, connect to my soul, and feed my mind.

I was expecting the universe to send me my most coveted desires, yet deep down I was unloving of myself and ungrateful for all the blessings I already had. It was like oil and water; the two repel one another.

But you can't hate yourself thin. You cannot expect abundance when you're in a negative vibration.

My message to the world is how to become a magnet for what you desire and help you discover the missing key.

Through my desire to help others, the universe in turn blessed me with the ability to heal myself. You must be grateful for your body and love yourself, because we often don't appreciate our health until it is taken from us.

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. The only thing we really can control in life is our attitude, so have an attitude of gratitude and realize that our reality depends on the quality of our thoughts.

Feed love to your body and mind until you heal, and if you're not getting results, increase the dose. Your soul is perfectly divine and yields a goldmine of healing power. Get in vibrational harmony with yourself, and I promise you will transform your life and live your dreams. Thank you David and Emily!

If this story resonates with you, please share with your loved ones and others to help them transform their lives.

In loving Gratitude, JENNIE LYNN Jennie Lynn is an Inner Circle Proctor Gallagher Institute Consultant and Co-Founder of Matrix Success Network. Her book Magnetic Love is endorsed by Bob Proctor and Peggy McColl, and is launching on May 9. www.jennielynn.com/magneticlovebook

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Surviving as a Highly Sensitive Person... in the Workplace

By Brian Parsons

Have you heard the joke about the highly sensitive individual in the workplace? Actually, there is no such joke, because the reality is being highly sensitive in the modern, 21st Century workplace can be a total Hell on Earth, and for a number of different reasons, as Brian Parsons explains...

If the 14th Century Italian poet, Dante, ever came back to life, he would probably need to re-write his famous work, The Inferno, to include several new chapters on The Hell of the Modern Workplace.

But, unlike Dante’s Hell, if you are highly sensitive there are indeed ways to get yourself out of these hellish situations, and eventually to even enjoy going to work!

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But to achieve such an escape from Work Hell, the first thing we need to take on board is that, for a highly sensitive individual in the modern workplace, they are often having to fight a war on THREE fronts. In fact, it’s often these three areas which make going to work far more problematic for a highly sensitive individual then your average person. But what are

these three problem areas which so many highly sensitive people are having to deal with?

PROBLEM 1 Being Highly Sensitive… in a Heavy ElectroMagnetic Work Environment

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The first one is the exposure of a highly sensitive individual to the high levels of electro-magnetic pollution which exists in our modern offices and workplaces, with all manner of computers, laptops, tablets, server rooms, full building Wi-Fi, creating a very intense and wide-ranging E.M. field.

But why exactly is that such a problem?

It’s a problem because of something called electro-magnetic entrainment. Electromagnetic entrainment occurs whenever someone’s own electromagnetic field (i.e. their personal aura) starts to resonate at the same frequency as the electrical appliances around them. This is possible because electrical appliances – computers, microwaves, ipods, televisions, and mobile phones etc. – have their own powerful electromagnetic fields, which use a higher and wider range of frequencies than the human body, and the weaker electromagnetic field

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of the human body starts to resonate at the same rate as these external E.M. Sources. Now, this is a problem because all life on the planet has evolved over billions of years to use very weak electromagnetic fields to maintain health and well-being, and also these natural fields utilize only a small band of the electromagnetic spectrum available (4 to 7 Hz).

Conventional science now admits that the human body does create its own electro-magnetic field, but does not currently believe that this field is in any way connected with our health and well-being.

They consider it to be just a by-product of living and with no obvious function or benefit. But Nature doesn’t usually develop something without there being a reason behind it, even if we can’t tell what that reason is. Scientists used to say that the pineal gland had no functional use, or that thymus gland had no function in adults. How wrong they were.

A healthy human E.M. field is essential to our health overall.

Cars, trains and aeroplanes also emit an E.M. field, and when travelling in these vehicles a person is entirely surrounded by the vehicle’s E.M. field. This is why someone can feel ungrounded or spun out after a long journey by car or plane, which can often contribute to the feeling of jet lag that occurs after such a journey. When the human body’s own natural E.M. field starts to resonate at a rate and strength beyond that which evolved to support natural health and wellbeing, this puts the physical body under a level of unnecessary stress, which eventually takes its toll on our physical, emotional and mental health. The human body naturally resonates on a frequency 4 to 7 Hz. The majority of electrical devices resonate on a frequency of 30 to 40 Hz. This is a potential difference of 23 to 36 Hz. So when our physical bodies fall into entrainment with an electrical device, its own E.M. field rises up by 23 to 36 Hz above our normal range.

But why is this such a problem?

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE Well, just take a moment, and find the highest sound which your voice can achieve. Hitting this high note probably makes your voice sound quite squeaky.

It probably also feels that your vocal chords are under some strain just trying to reach that high pitched sound (OK, you can stop now!).

Imagine if you could only communicate through talking in this high pitch voice. It wouldn’t be long before your voice would start to crack underneath the strain, and you would develop a whole range of different throat complaints. Although you can hit the high notes if needed, your vocal chords are not designed to function normally, or any length of time, at this high pitch.

This gives you some idea of the effects on the physical body when it is required to operate and resonate above and beyond its natural E.M. range. It puts the body under tremendous stress and strain, which is not good for us on many different levels. And if the human E.M. field is indeed also being used for our well-being and internal communication, which many complimentary and alternative practitioners believe, the more stress it is placed under, the more normal functions will be affected.

But why would the physical body alter its natural E.M. range?

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all programmed to fit in with the behaviour of other people and the world around us, it is part of our survival mechanism. And the same is true of our physical body and the E.M. fields which surround us. We are surrounded, 24/7, by electronic devices which are louder then our own E.M. field, and far stronger. The amount of E.M. stress that a person can deal with before it manifests as a physical condition / illness will vary from person to person, but as most of our modern society is now so totally dependent upon devices that emit an E.M. field in some way, it is very rare to find a person who has not been affected to some degree (even if they are not conscious of it).

In one of the companies where I used to work, they installed a wireless network throughout the whole building, as part of their ‘embracing the 21st Century’ drive. It was very interesting to see how different people responded to the increased levels of E.M. in the building. Some people reported experiencing disturbed sleep and an increase in headaches and migraines, while others reported no difference at all. Those who reported no change, and who were therefore probably less sensitive to E.M. fields or who had stronger constitutions, naturally concluded that the ones who had experienced a difference were just making it up. In fact, N.A.S.A. and the Russian space program has found that animals and humans will not survive in space unless their spacecraft is provided with a magnetic field similar to that of the Earth. Without a

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE background field of 4 to 7 Hz, astronauts and cosmonauts start to become ungrounded, spun out, and function less effectively.

So if you go into space, you need to take an artificial E.M. generator, which mimics the Earth’s own natural EM field. But, and here’s the important point for our discussion, if someone is already highly sensitive and they step into such a highly loud and stressful E.M. environment, then this puts their own aura / energy-field under even more pressure, even more stress then normal, and so they find it harder to maintain their own energy and personal boundaries and, as result, they tend to even more open to the emotional stress all around them, and more prey to the political games which their bosses and co-workers are playing. The thing is highly sensitive people are usually quite energetically open to start with, so walking into the E.M. field of the modern office just puts them under even more pressure, forcing their aura to be even more open. Which doesn’t feel nice or comfortable, and can even leave them exposed.

This is the first way in which many highly sensitive individuals are knocked off-centre by the modern workplace. Which takes conveniently on to the next section…

PROBLEM 2 Being Highly Sensitive… in a Highly Political & Stressful Work Environment Have you ever watched a TV THE– EMPATH.COM

documentary program on the Great Apes… chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans? If you have then you will have seen two things: • First, that theirs is a highly structured society, with a Primary Male and Female at the top, and various levels of status all the way down - to the lowest of the low - with individuals being forced out of the tribe if they seriously break the rules.

• Second, these Great Ape societies are full of individuals who want to get to the top; to gain the best food, and the best mating rights, the social prestige, as well as other perks which only high status can bring, and so they will scheme and fight to get to the top of the tribe, and so engage in various forms of ape politics to achieve their dreams.

Well, what are Homo-sapiens if not the latest version of a Great Ape sharing many of the same drives and motivations? In fact, the naturalist Desmond Morris wrote a famous book back in the 1960s called The Naked Ape, which argued that the majority of human behaviour, relationships and politics have come down to us from our simian ancestors.

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE and where some people lie and scheme on a regular basis to climb the greasy pole to achieve their dream of success. But these modern business and workplaces present our highly sensitive individual with a number of BIG problem, especially for those who can read the emotions and energy of other people.

For example; suppose the top boss comes out of their office and says that everyone’s job is safe, but the highly sensitive person is uneasy, because they sense the top boss is lying, holding something back, but can’t articulate their feeling to their friends because, how would they explain their hunch?

“Hey, everyone, don’t trust him, he’s not telling us the truth! Although it’s just a hunch, and I have no idea why he is lying, or about what, oh and I have no hard evidence to support my feelings.” And then, a month later, the company announces huge job losses, and it becomes obvious that the Boss was lying to protect their own position (having climbed the greasy pole to success themselves, some people do act that way). Well, that is one of the examples drawn from my own life; that happened to me! I felt the job losses coming, I felt the boss man was lying, I felt the deceit, but at the time I couldn’t articulate those feelings into concrete warnings. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I could sense that something bad was on the way and could feel it approach for a whole month, but couldn’t tell anyone about it.

Who would have believed me?

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And then, as the company went about laying off 300 workers over a six month period, I had to sit in the office, amidst the total anxiety of my co-workers, who were all losing their jobs, and were quite rightly uncertain about their future and also how they were going to earn money to support their families. And I was anxious too, after all I was losing my job as well. But my highly sensitive nature meant I had to deal with my own anxiety while also sensing the group anxiety all around me, which made it all worse. It was like my anxiety was on steroids.

That is the second problem with being a highly sensitive individual in the workplace. You are so plugged into the emotional atmosphere of the people around you, the emotional ups and downs, the energy swings, the general fears and anxieties, that it can become really tiring but there is little you (think) you can do to switch it off.

PROBLEM 3 Being Highly Sensitive in a Highly Manipulative Environment + Energy Vamps So, let’s now move on to my famous Petroleum Analogy!

Crude oil comes out of the ground; can you put crude oil into a diesel car? No, because the crude oil needs to be refined before it can be put in a diesel car. Can you put diesel into a petrol car? No, because

the diesel needs to be refined further before it can be put in a petrol car. Can you put petrol into an aircraft? No, because the petrol needs to be refined even further, turning it into aviation fuel, before it can be put into an aircraft. So, the bottom-line is that for the engine to function effectively, the correct fuel needs to be refined for it. Without the correct fuel, the engine won’t work at all, or will splutter out and possibly damage itself. And the same is also true for Humans; we need to refine our energy to help us achieve our goals in life, and highly sensitive people often have a very refined energy, and so can often achieve a great deal in life. If, and only if… They don’t keep giving their refined energy away to other people, people who are often too lazy to refine their own energy fuel, and so prefer to steal it from other people.

Which is what psychic vampires in the workplace are most often all about. These are people who are generally too lazy to sort themselves out, and so try to steal the energy of others to become successful in life; stealing other peoples refined energy to fuel their own goals. You meet them in the business world all the time, and usually they look nothing like Dracula. And usually you find them in some position of authority feeding off the energy fields of the people beneath them. In fact, the reason why they have become so successful is because they are drawing upon the energy of those around them to boost their own energy. Time for a little modern scientific research to

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE back this all up...

In his book The Synchronicity Key, the writer David Wilcock explains the mechanism which allows individuals to share, pool and focus their collective energies for a common goal, which probably evolved for good and positive reasons. Wilcock’s book explains how Russian scientists have now discovered that our DNA can store / release photons, and that our level of vitality and wellbeing is directly linked to the number of photons our DNA is currently storing. Based on this, Wilcock writes that: If your tribe lives in a cave, huddled together for warmth, and a sabre-toothed

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tiger appears at the entrance looking for a meal, someone’s got to fight the tiger and protect the others. This will usually be the alpha male of the tribe. Everyone else is cowering in fear of the tiger. As they move through this terrible life-or-death feeling of stress, their DNA gives off a massive release of photons, beamed into the warriors who are out there protecting the rest of the tribe.” This is one of the reasons why the majority of people will move mountains not to be outcast from their family, tribe or collective, even if it means acting in a way which is against their own personal interests (i.e. biting your own

lip rather than offending those ‘stupid’ tribal elders who know nothing but ‘tradition’ and are opposed to new ways of thinking, giving the tribal-leader your last goat for the annual sacrifice, even when it means your family will likely go hungry for the next week). If someone is ever unfortunate enough to be thrown out of their tribe, not only do they find it harder to physically survive all alone in the wilderness, but they lose the friendship and energetic support of their ‘group’, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage.

There is no one to flood your body with their photons, so

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE helping you to raise your game, when the sabre-toothed tiger shows up. It’s just down to you and a rush of adrenaline. But, unfortunately, once nature has created a mechanism, then that same mechanism is also open to manipulation and abuse by our fellow human beings.

Just suppose that the alpha-male leader in Wilcock’s example starts to like the burst of energy he gets from the rest of the tribe when danger threatens. It makes him feel all-powerful and generally invincible, and after a while he starts to ‘crave’ it like a drug. The only problem is that sabre-toothed tigers are very unpredictable and you can’t guarantee that they will turn up at your cave entrance exactly when you need them, especially when you are starting to crave your next burst of photonic energy because the effects of the last burst is quickly wearing off and wild pigs and wart hogs, although ugly, just aren’t as scary as sabre-toothed tigers. “I know,” thinks the alpha male, “I’ll stage manage a little conflict with the tribe in the next valley. That way, there’ll be a bit of conflict, a bit of fighting, and I’ll get another burst of energy from the tribe in order to protect them. And next week, I can pick a fight with the tribe down by the river. Another burst of energy for me and everyone’s a winner!”

Unfortunately, the little people who are being frightened and scared just to provide a fresh photon-burst to the dominant leaders are definitely not winners, and the leaders manipulating events to create these situations are fooling themselves if they

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think they can control the genii of war and violence once it is let out of the bottle.

But keeping people in a state fear, anxiety, ungrounded, keeping them trapped in the low vibes make it easier for an energy vampire to steal their energy / photons. Now, once again, all this presents a serious problem for our highly sensitive individual.

Because their energy field is generally more open and flowing then other people, that’s one of the reasons they are sensitive to the environment around them, some would say even psychic to some degree, and so they find it harder to hold onto their photons, which means their energy is hoovered up by the energy vampire. For a psychic vampire, an unprotected highly sensitive individual is an easy lunch. Until, that is, the highly sensitive individual learns how to strengthen their own energy field, and so hold on to what is rightfully theirs.

SOLUTIONS So What Can You Do Practically About You Being You? OK, unfortunately, we can’t make ourselves un- highly sensitive; we can’t tone down our level of energy awareness. But we can put in place vibrational filters and barriers between our energy, and the energy which we find unsettling, which is knocking us off centre. So it’s like either: a) Putting in place a energy wall between us and the disturbing

energy. b) Turning down the volume on the disturbing energy so we are no longer knocked off centre when you are exposed to it.

Now, you don’t ever want to switch off being highly sensitive, because once you understand it, it can be a very useful skill to have, especially in many different jobs and work environments.

For example, I know of a UK tax man who uses his highly sensitive nature to know when someone was lying during a tax

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE investigation, and his superiors have come to value his instincts, and it has been a big plus for his career development. So your highly sensitive nature is not something to get rid off, although admittedly, there are times when you wish you weren’t so highly sensitive, but you do need to know have strategies to protect yourself from energies and people you find hard to deal with. So what can we do… practically do?

Now, part of my training has been as a crystal therapist, and so I am very aware of those

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crystals which help to protect and strengthen the human aura / EM Field.

For working with electromagnetic entrainment? First, wear natural Lodestone. The most effective way to counteract this influence is to 'remind' your body of the specific strength and range of EM frequencies that it needs to resonate with in order to maintain health and well-being. Natural Lodestone helps the physical and energy bodies to remember these natural frequencies, as Lodestone,

vibrates at the same strength and frequency as the planet’s own electromagnetic field (4 to 7 Hz). Another crystal, which comes from Russia, and which helps an individual stabilize and ground their own natural electro-magnetic field is Shungite (which has become much more widely available in recent years).

If you cannot locate a piece of Lodestone, then you can replace it in this layout by a piece of Shungite (although Lodestone is preferable).

Next, crystals to help a highly

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE sensitive individual to be less open to the emotions and energies of other people, and also to be less vulnerable to those psychic vampires? Black Tourmaline, Labradorite, Bronzite, Black Tourmaline in Clear Quartz; all crystals which you can source online if you need, and are not that expensive. And my all-time favourite; Clear Quartz plus Turquoise plus Pyrite, three stones together, in a pocket say, which help to protect and strengthen your personal energy field from external parties which are out to manipulate you. Note: You’ll need to cleanse the crystals every other day. There are many ways to cleanse crystals, but the easiest is place crystals under cold running water for one minute and that will cleanse them of any yucky energy they may have picked up.

IN CONCLUSION There is a saying; “To win a battle, first you need to know what kind of battle you are fighting.” There’s no point in turning up dressed to fight as a Viking, complete with shield and board sword if you are in the middle of World War 2, and everyone else is fighting with bullets and semiautomatic weapons. That’s why in this article, I have spent time going over the three types of battle which a highly sensitive individual is engaged in while in the workplace, and how best to win in those types of situations.

And the really cool things is; sometimes being successful in one area can lead to major advances in the other two. But above all,

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greater knowledge of your situation changes the situation you find yourself in. Because you stop being a victim who doesn’t understand what is happening to you, why things never seem to work out for you, and you start to become empowered, with strategies and approaches to strengthen your energy-field and sense of self, you stop being a victim, and start to become happy and focused, which has always been your true birthright.

And that is so cool.

BRIAN PARSONS Brian has extensive experience as an energy worker, and is a trained crystal therapist with the Institute of Crystal & Gem Therapists in the UK. He is currently an I.C.G.T. Fellow, as well as one of their tutors and internal course moderators. He is qualified in Health Kinesiology, and over the years has studied a range of different therapies and energy systems. www.vibrationaldoorways.com

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USING METAPHOR TO RE-FRAME A DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD

By Simon Maryan Ph.D, mentalist, psychologist, author and speaker

As with most things, being an Empath, ClairSentient, a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) has its pros and cons, particularly as a child. As you go about your life, it can be hard enough growing up and dealing with your own emotions, never mind absorbing everyone else’s too. This absorption often creates confusion, frustration, anger, sadness etc., as all these external emotions flood into the mix and we can develop our own coping strategies, which we feel are the right thing to do at the time but ultimately trip us up at some point later in our lives. And, let's face it, no one teaches us how to cope with it. There is no Empaths' training course for kids, although there should be!

The ideal childhood is supposed to be filled with fun, laughter, excitement and love, unfortunately this is not always the case, because bad things do happen to good people and I believe that children are good people until we condition them not to be.

Some kids have a really hard time when growing up, and don’t really get much of a childhood; it is taken away from them by adults - and sometimes their peers - through physical, verbal, 24 THE EMPATH / ISSUE 1

psychological, emotional factors such as neglect, violence, bullying and abuse.

becoming fully alert and ready to respond with either running away, aggression and / or violence.

When a child is subjected to repeated verbal and physical abuse from their parents, they can internalise this voice, which constantly criticises them, no matter what they did. This can feel like being under constant threat of some form of attack 24/7. This constant anxiety leads to being habitually hyper-vigilant, sleeping poorly, and reacting instantly to any surprise by

As kids in this kind of environment grow into adults, they tend to develop behaviours and emotional responses such as regret, grief, guilt, shame, physical and psychological disability, loneliness, insomnia, rages, drug use, self-criticism, depression, generalised anxiety, hypervigilance, violence, disillusion - all of these (and more) may be part of what is often now called

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PTSD or Complex (CPTSD).

Each of these tends to make the other aspects worse; a perfect storm that often seems to the sufferer to be part of one confusing and tangled ball of chaos and emotional instability.

And so, to work successfully with this, it is vitally important to be able to separate the past from the present and detach the emotional connection and conditioned responses from the past, and replace them with positive, resourceful responses that enable the person to live in a calm, relaxed and happy state THE– EMPATH.COM

using different processes that are appropriate.

Re-framing is one method of dealing with these psychological and emotional issues that made when relating to a very difficult past. There are a number of ways of re-framing; one of my favourites is with metaphor.

The word metaphor is from

the Greek metapherein, which means to transfer or to change.

In my therapy / coaching, I use the term metaphor as a symbol that captures or represents qualities of my client and of the journey they are making. Myths, archetypes, natural phenomena, animals, and common objects may all serve as metaphors. By way of distinction, metaphors are not adjectives, literal descriptions, judgements or assessments.

Metaphor is the language of archetypes, symbols and essence.

Because it is a language that

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE is representative in nature, it simplifies and focuses our perception. Our culture uses metaphors abundantly to capture an idea or essence. For example, we say things like: “She has stars in her eyes”, “We are drowning in data”, “Here’s some food for thought.”

As a therapist / coach, I have found that using metaphors can capture the essence of the client and the coaching issue in a way that descriptions cannot, because metaphors hold within them worlds of association and information. The pictures that metaphors paint are, indeed,

worth a thousand words, because the images stay with us long after descriptions or data have faded from memory.

Although there are countless ways to use metaphors, I share my experiences with clients using metaphors in two primary application areas: assessment and practice design.

First, an important distinction: I use metaphor to capture and explore the client’s issue with them, not the client as a person. A metaphor is purely a lens to view through; just as it focuses perception, it also limits it (Morgan, 1996). If I

confuse the metaphor for the person, I obscure the person’s multidimensionality, the full mystery of who they are. When used as a lens on the issue at hand, the metaphor provides useful focus and depth.

Metaphors have proven invaluable to me in gaining clarity about my clients and their issues.

For example, one of my clients had been told that she was seen as aggressive, arrogant and prone to loss of control over her anger both at home and in her workplace. The reasons for her behavioural responses were deeply rooted in her difficult and abusive childhood, and very early on she felt that she needed to be strong and aggressive in order for her to cope with her environment. Underneath this behaviour appeared to be an inability or unwillingness to yield, a perception that she knew best and that her perspective was the right one. The metaphor we discovered for the shift the client needed to make was to bring her from a dormant or dead oak tree to a weeping willow.

These images were useful because they crystallised and simplified our understanding of my clients’ issues. Perhaps even more important about metaphors however, is how much information they give back to us about ourselves when we really listen and look into what they can mean. The oak to willow image was a useful beginning.

But what I found most amazing is how delving into the image

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE itself could actually significantly deepen both our understanding.

For example, if we work with the image of oak, what else is true about an oak tree that might be true of this person?

The oak holds onto many of its leaves in winter and even in death. What might this person need to let go of? The oak tree is associated with tremendous strength. Might this person be too strong or too forceful for her own effectiveness? Then look at the weeping willow image; it sways in the wind. What might she need to let move her? The willow weeps. Might grief be a component of her journey?

Another client came to see me and he seemed very together but had received feedback that he didn’t play the game according to the rules of the culture, and didn’t connect well with peers and superiors. His superiors however, thought he had the makings of a good leader. It was difficult at first to get any other impression besides how smooth and together this guy seemed.

To begin with, I used this feeling 'data' to uncover a metaphor that initially guided the session: a tarpaulin was the metaphor that surfaced. The shift that he needed to make was to move from tarpaulin: protective, tightly woven, and invulnerable, to tapestry: permeable, colourful, warm, yet solid.

What was this image telling us about? What were we seeing in this person’s dilemma? Tarpaulin was certainly not working for him at the moment; this client was smooth, he did his job well, but

he sensed that his superiors and colleagues were envious of him.

How does that fit with tarpaulin?

That somehow they couldn’t relate? Couldn’t get through?

Couldn’t see vulnerability? What else about tarpaulin? A tarpaulin is great when it’s raining, but not that interesting to look at. Its texture isn’t particularly inviting.

What do tarpaulins do that might relate to this guy? It covers up, protects. Was this image pointing to this guy’s need to raise the cover, go through life with less protection? Was he efficient at the expense of being engaged in relationships? What is the opposite of tarpaulin? Tapestry.

What does a tapestry have that a tarpaulin, doesn’t? Rich texture, colour, a story, relief, warmth, weight. Can it still protect and cover? Yes, but in a different way.

How? As you can see, these simple images led to many questions that might never have been explored otherwise, for

metaphor is the language of our intuition.

At once, it both captures reality and reveals mystery. It mirrors back to us what we already know about our issues and yet also shines a light on what else might be waiting to be discovered, and all without needing to delve into the content, the minutiae of the potentially traumatic past. Very often the last thing a person wants to do is relive the trauma yet again; they may well be doing that enough on their own. Metaphor can

help someone look at their past through a different lens, a different perspective that is free from -or at the very least holds significantly reduced - emotional connection, because they’ve never looked at it this way before.

Metaphors have led me to ideas about practices that my left brain might not have revealed. For the first client, the oak willow metaphor itself was a very physical one, and surfaced my intuition that she might be very physically oriented. Therefore, with her permission, I gave her the practice of learning aikido to give her a physical way to learn that meeting force with immovability was ineffective. In this case, I shared the metaphor with her and explored the word arrogance in the context the metaphor provided, since that was a major piece of the criticism she had received about herself at work. Arrogance comes from Latin, meaning absence of questioning. I asked her to look at the oak tree as more absolute in its stance and asked her to explore through the willow image where she might need to be more open to questioning her own assumptions or conclusions.

For the second client, the tarpaulin metaphor led me to help my client shed some of the protection that had been so vital to staying invulnerable. His first practice was a simple one of looking at the world through the eyes of the people he had significant contact with each day. He was to imagine what they were feeling, and to notice

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE how he gathered clues about their reactions to him. He was also to become aware of when he had a feeling connection to someone, and to be as specific as possible in writing about how he thought that happened. As time went on, the metaphors proved invaluable, as we both learned how much he actually feared being in relationships with others, and had found strategic ways to manage within them without giving himself away. The outcome metaphor, tapestry, helped discover a way to move forward for this client to help him create and embrace his own tapestry with its own rich colours, warmth, permeability, and stability.

in the domain of life in which you are experiencing difficulty.

Think about what you look like, sound like, and feel like to you. Think about your gestures, your posture, the sound of your voice, what you evoke in you when you describe your issue or your words. What three or four adjectives or phrases come to mind? If an image comes to mind at this point, you’ve got your metaphor. But if not, just work on getting a short description.

Try not to censor what comes out. You’re done when you have three to four adjectives or phrases that feel like they really capture you in your struggle.

Step 3

The first step is to be clear and open with yourself. Listen, observe, notice your own internal reactions and what you’re not saying.

Free associate images with the adjectives. When you picture yourself and the adjectives you’ve described yourself with, what images come to mind? Free associate. Don’t censor these.

Note the first one(s) that come to mind. Try to work as little as possible in your rational mind. If nothing comes up, you can scan a few different areas: something from nature, characters from movies or books, myths from any culture, types of transportation, or household objects. Usually, your first images are good ones to work with. It often helps to come up with a ‘from’ image (one which captures you as you currently relate to the world or your issue) and a ‘to’ image (one which captures you operating as you would like to).

Step 2

Step 4

The Metaphor-making Process Metaphor making is fundamentally an intuitive process, and for more intuitive people metaphors may come naturally and easily. However, I would love to make metaphors available to anyone who would like greater access to their intuitive wisdom. The following five step process for accessing and working with metaphors is a great place to start.

Step 1

Describe yourself with regard to your issue. Bring yourself to mind, and visualise yourself

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Turn your focus away from you and fully explore the metaphor.

Now that you have your

metaphor(s), forget about you for a minute, and simply delve into the images themselves. List all the attributes you can about them, What are the characteristics of your metaphors (for example, tarpaulin and tapestry)? What characteristics distinguish the first image from the second?

What would help something transform from the first state to the second? It is helpful to speak these associations out loud with a partner or write them down without worrying about making sense or expressing yourself eloquently.

Step 5 Bring yourself back into focus.

What did following the metaphor tell you about you? In what new ways do you see yourself and how you might work with you? What are the metaphor’s implications for the self observations and practices you will design?

CONCLUSION In working with metaphors, I have found a rich way to assess situations and design practices to help my clients. I have also experienced some lessons learned that I want to share with you: First, be aware that the metaphor helps you to create a hypothesis about your situation. It is not an absolute. As a coach I cannot claim to know what is best for my client. My job is to offer possibilities to my client.

Sometimes the client rejects the possibilities that I offer them, and there is data to be gained from that experience. More metaphors may surface for you. Follow your

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE metaphors confidently but lightly.

Second, to share or not to share? I don’t suggest that you always share your metaphors with anyone else. I don’t always share mine. In deciding to share, base your criteria on what will be useful for you. In the oak to willow metaphor, I shared the images and they were useful. In the tarpaulin to tapestry work, I did not share the images.

I have shared metaphors in a few different ways. Once, I wrote a poem about a client.

The metaphors surfaced in the writing. Sharing the poem with my client seemed a natural thing to do, for it opened possibilities for them. Sometimes I ask my client to watch a movie that has the metaphor embodied in a character or situation the movie depicts. I often ask my clients to read books for the same reason.

Sometimes we draw the images that show up for us. Sometimes we just talk about them.

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Third, if you use and share metaphors that are within your current world, you may run into trouble. Why? Because someone else may take it more literally than is useful. taking the metaphors too literally can lead you to run the risk of swirling in the loop that had you stuck in the first place.

Fourth, the metaphor does not have to work completely to be useful. For example, when I thought of a weeping willow, I thought of grace, flexibility, air, and movement. That was as far as I needed to go with that metaphor as it related to that client. There are other properties of the willow, however, that may not lend themselves to understanding this client’s movement.

Fifth, it helps to talk through your metaphor with another person. I have found that my understanding of my clients and my own approaches deepens with each metaphor conversation

I have. I make time to do this and it has proven to be incredibly productive for me as a therapist / coach, and also as a parent to two young kids.

If you haven’t deliberately used metaphors yet, I highly recommend beginning to practise creating and applying them as often as possible and notice what effect they have on you and your conversations. Most of all, have fun with it.

SIMON MARYAN Ph.D. GHR & GHSC Reg Simon is a mentalist, psychologist, author and speaker and run his Mind-Body Coaching business based in Aberdeen, UK, offering coaching, psychological change as well as physical and nutritional coaching. He also runs training courses in NLP, Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy and Coaching as well as a variety of other soft skills courses. www.simonmaryan.com

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A SPECIAL SENSE FOR WORLDS SEEN AND UNSEEN - A shamanic perspective on Highly Sensitive People

By Imelda Almqvist, shamanic painter, teacher, practitioner and author.

This morning I went for a walk in the forest with my twelve year-old son.

He said: “The sound made by the fabric of your coat bothers me... your arms rubbing against your body as you walk... can’t you walk in a different way?”

“You mean, walking with my arms extended like a scarecrow?!” I replied.

“Yes, your coat doesn’t make that awful noise then... much better!”

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As a painter I have been fascinated by synaesthesia for years: for instance by people who can 'taste colour' or 'hear architecture as music.' It is a condition where the human senses are wired up differently.

For me, by moving into a mildly altered state of awareness, this is a mode of perception I can access, but I can also switch it off again - meaning that I do not have synaesthesia.

However, I can claim to be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).

In my family of origin this was misunderstood: I was the difficult one, the highly-strung child who was perceived as making a drama out of everyday events.

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bottle of Valerian drops at hand, because I so easily got into states of not sleeping, not eating or not coping with any kind of sensory overload, especially noise, crowds and excessive stress.

Today, four decades later, I am an international teacher of sacred art and shamanism. I fly all over the world teaching courses where shamanism meets art.

So, what can shamanism offer people who identify as HSP? Many useful tools!

A good spiritual tool-kit can teach us how to dial up or

dial down our own settings – effectively regulating how close, spiritually and emotionally, others can get to us. We can learn to allow others to get physically close, as some situations necessitate, without crowding our sovereign psycho-emotional space. We can use meditation aids, such as putting a blue egg or orb of light around ourselves.

We can also choose our level of emotional expression or engagement, and therefore our vulnerability in groups.

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE determinedly seeing the Divine Spark in people, no matter how they behave; meaning we may still feel annoyed but we do not necessarily proceed to feeling triggered or overwhelmed.

We can also learn how to use a good dose of old-fashioned humour to diffuse situations before they get to us, and laugh them off. This requires a long journey of mapping our own strengths and weaknesses... but it is not impossible.

Then we can request that a personal spirit ally come forward to help us with this particular issue. This could be a specialist power animal, or perhaps angel or ancestor that guards our personal space and whispers in our ear when we are about to over-react. That way

self-monitoring becomes built-in; meaning we have less moments of suddenly exploding with rage or not coping and feeling like a child again, and that in turn means that others feel safer around us. The anger or regression is often around not being able to set appropriate limits and boundaries early on, and then losing it when others seem to trespass on our souls.

We can also learn how to work on tricky situations before we even get there, by using meditation and positive manifestation techniques to set up the right circumstances

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and highest outcome. Strong intentions will often bring very positive outcomes, defying previous experiences.

When teaching shamanism we encourage students to pay closer attention to all their senses, as our senses unfailingly offer us vital information. Doing this can literally make the difference between life and death. The need to be polite and please people can override dire warnings arising in our gut.

For me the great paradox lies in having all my senses in gear, receiving even the information that the dominant world disregards, allowing me to stay safe in an unpredictable and fastchanging world yet not to drop into blaming my surroundings and / or other people for what I am feeling on a given day. They all offer me mirrors but no one forces me to feel anything or to react in any way – other than what I choose to feel and how I choose to react. When that process becomes conscious (a lifelong project!),

HSP people can become fabulously gifted shamanic practitioners who can work true miracles through offering spirit-led healing work.

For me there is a big difference between empathy and compassion: using my own mind or body to understand what

others feel and experience is fine, as long as I know how to clear myself soon after. However, true compassion, for me, is a 'higher octave' of this: feeling a Divinely-guided love for (even VERY difficult) people without getting trapped in playing out an expected role in their personal stories - 'trauma dramas' unfailingly create repeats of key life stories, and this is always a request for healing and a different outcome, not a repeat of the same old pattern! For me compassion includes the quality of tough love, acting in service to a person’s soul and larger cosmic journey - not their everyday waking personality and identity, or indeed high sensitivity. For me

empathy is about meeting and feeling people exactly where they are, but compassion is about meeting and seeing them as the people they are Divinely capable of being. My own helping spirits have never refused to guide me on this and, over the years, I have made some colourful paintings inspired by my Team!

Not surprisingly, a lot of my own students will tell me upfront that they are HSP. Their two main questions to me unfailingly are: “Can you make life easier for me - by reducing overload and stress where possible?” and: “Can you teach me ways of handling sensory overload better?” The answers to those questions are: sometimes... and yes! Depending on where and what I am teaching,

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE and the size of the group.

So… is the highly sensitive teacher always soft and kind and flexible with her high sensitive students? Not all the time, but she tries! For instance I can reduce pressure on people, allowing them to move at their own pace or to find a secluded space to work. For example, one of my art students loves working in our greenhouse outside, rather than in the main house in close proximity to other students. While teaching sacred art I am willing to be flexible and always stretch everyone’s comprehension of what sacred art is. Your own life is the greatest piece of art you will ever make!

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However, when I am teaching a professional certificated course such as my two year Shamanic Practitioner Training program, a different set of priorities applies because I am going to be sending people out into the world stating that they are ready to work with the souls and suffering of others. They will claim: “I trained with Imelda Almqvist”. This means meeting my many criteria, and me keeping a very close eye indeed on personal process and how far people have come on their own healing journey.

On those courses I say to the HSP participants: feel free to opt for solitude on your breaks, but I cannot endlessly authorize

time out of class, or slow down because someone gets triggered or emotional, because then the whole group is going to lose out on crucial teaching time. In an ideal world I’d teach a course where every module lasted twice as long, or for HSP participants to move more slowly, but in reality my own life, as a working mother of three teenagers with a very busy schedule, does not allow this.

Shamanic training is all about pushing people out of the comfort zone and stretching what they perceive themselves to be capable of, even for HSPs with emotional challenges.

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In my professional experience, extreme sensitivity is real, but projection is also a very real phenomenon. By this I mean that we project onto others what we do not wish to own in ourselves. We all do it, me very much included, but I offer my shamanism students a toolkit for becoming aware of this. Doing 'shadow work' in our every waking moment soon shows that the people around you hold up mirrors of who you are and that you must learn to 'own' accept, not run from - even the most unflattering reflections.

The moment you can do this, the internal pressure eases immensely... it was you all along, not them.

I have had HSP students in class practically shout at me: “You remind me of my mother, I can’t stand it!!” This usually means that they cannot handle authority or bear to be told where they need to do better. The 'inner critical mother' is triggered and the students only want tender loving care and praise from me. My response is that in choosing to train with me, you choose me as your teacher for a certain period and for good reason - meaning that you must accept both positive and negative feedback, from me and / or the larger group and in the spirit intended, allowing you to learn and move beyond current limitations.

My job is to turn you into an accomplished and trustworthy practitioner who can separate his or her own stuff from the issues

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of clients. It is not my job to be your corrective mother figure who compensates for whatever painful things occurred in your childhood by being ever-loving and generous with praise. It is your job - not mine - to do your own shadow work and healing work on that. I believe that on the level of soul we choose both our parents and teachers...

This journey to discernment is a tightrope across a jungle – but there are amazing views to be had walking this tightrope... and the stars are never far off!

IMELDA ALMQVIST Imelda is a shamanic painter, teacher, practitioner and author who divides her time between London, UK and Södermanland, Sweden. Imelda has also pioneered a shamanic program for young people called The Time Travellers offering safe sacred group space for children and teenagers to develop a viable spiritual toolkit. Shamanic healing is all about restoring harmony in the body, mind and the human energy field. www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk

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Sensitivity and Spirituality

By Sue Lilly

Is it possible to be sensitive and not spiritual, or spiritual and not sensitive? Sue examines the connection between sensitivity and spirituality, the relationship between the two, and how to ground yourself when things get a little overwhelming.

In order to look at this joint topic clearly, first the individual words and their various meanings needs to be explored.

Sensitivity It could be argued that the natural state of the human being is one of acute sensitivity to both the environment and to the people surrounding them.

However, the urbanisation of humans would not be successful if that degree of sensitivity was maintained in cities and towns; living in large groups, subject to the physical, emotional and mental ‘pollution’ of those groups, and separated from nature, would create intolerable stress for people to remain that sensitive. To comfortably live in urban situations that acute, natural sensitivity would be needed to be ‘dumbed down.’

Highly sensitive people in ancient societies would have been valued and their skills supported and revered as useful to the tribe,

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village or community. These people would have shown their sensitivity through their ability to tune into other people’s emotions, states of well-being, and their ability to ‘read’ nature (weather, impending changes, animal behaviour). It would be likely that these people needed to live on the edge of their community. Partly because other people might have difficulty relating to them on an everyday level, but also because of their need to be alone, to have silence and relief from absorbing other people’s emotions.

Spirituality The classical psychiatric definition of spirituality is something everyone can experience: • Helps us to find meaning and purpose in the things we value.

• Can bring hope and healing in times of suffering and loss.

• Encourages us to seek

the best relationship with ourselves, others and what lies beyond.

Spirituality is not governed by any religious belief but for some people it may incorporate a religion.

So Sensitivity and Spirituality do not automatically go together; you can be sensitive and not be spiritual, and vice versa.

Over the years I have been involved in healing, teaching and counselling, I have seen that when people embark on their personal, spiritual journey, at some point their sensitivity increases. Often this is recognised by the person as something very positive and self-affirming. There have been a few instances when it has been detrimental. So here a balance needs to be struck. Sudden ‘switching on’ of increased levels of sensitivity can create havoc unless the person already has strategies to deal with the effects.

If a person is born with high levels of sensitivity, and if they

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE are lucky, their family would help them recognise and manage their situation. If not, the journey to understand themselves may not be easy.

This is where sensitivity and spirituality meet; “To encourage us to seek the best relationship with ourselves” In the ancient, traditional treatises of yoga, there are two steps before anyone gets to practice

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Hatha yoga (Asanas - the physical positions that are nowadays synonymous with the term Yoga) or meditation. The first step is Yama. This consists of ethics and behaviour - not being violent, being truthful, not being acquisitive, not being wasteful, not being envious. The second step is Niyama. This consists of observances - self-care, being content with what you have, vigilance and awareness of your

personal condition, study of one’s self, surrendering to the flow of the Universe (or God) as you perceive that to be (apologies to Patanjali for modernising the first two limbs of yoga). The Yamas are a good guide to the mental and psychological states that encourage spiritual growth. The Niyamas show how to manage sensitivity and hypersensitivity within your spiritual journey.

Self-care or looking after oneself

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE is probably one of the hardest things to do for someone who is deeply empathic and sensitive.

Living in today’s electromagnetic soup of Wi-Fi, tetra and other unseen pollution, bathes the unsuspecting sensitive in energies that play havoc with the health.

Picking up stress from other people becomes personal stress.

This loads the physical body with other people’s symptoms and destroys any physical balance in the body systems, which often results in pain, digestive problems, immune system dysfunctions (allergies, lupus), etc. Absorbing the feelings of others often results in putting other people’s needs before our own. Any feelings of well-being can be crushed by absorbing someone else’s anger or depression and being open to the thoughts of others can create high levels of fear and crippling self-doubt, indecision and fear of failure.

Ironically these can all be accompanied by an over-strong sense of ego which can be easily eased by spiritual development work. To learn to manage all these brings most of the other Niyamas into play.

The Key: To identify what personally belongs and what does not.

Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries.

Unless there is a clear boundary between the self and other energies, there is no way to determine what is really personal stuff and what is not.

The great thing about this is that

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE clear personal boundaries also underpins long-lasting, secure spiritual growth.

Protection and grounding produce good personal boundaries and are therefore vital. Protection is the means employed to stop other energies entering the personal energy systems. Grounding techniques reinforce the connection to the planet and give excess or unwanted energies a means to be released.

There are two types of protection and grounding techniques: active and passive.

Active protection is where a person visualises or uses imagery to create a shield around themselves or repeats a mantra or affirmation. Smudging with sage, lavender or mugwort can remove unwanted energies.

Placing crystals or other healing items on and around the body for a few minutes each day can be helpful. Active grounding is also where a person visualises or imagines a link into the planet emanating from their feet or base of the spine. Active techniques require a clear mind and a good focus, but they cannot be maintained 24/7.

These techniques are excellent for developing a healthy habit of awareness and mindfulness and can be utilised when needed.

symbol. These don’t need any conscious thought, apart from remembering to wear them and looking after them. In practice, sensitive people often need to use several of these techniques to maintain their energy integrity.

Patience is needed for the process of getting to know who and what the person is, separate from everyone and everything around. Compassion towards the self is needed as the vigilance does slip and the awareness does wander. Kindness towards the self is needed to balance out the sense of failure when things go awry. All of these are firm stepping stones on the spiritual path.

SUE LILLY Sue Lilly has been working as a therapist and teacher for forty years. She has studied and uses astrology, yoga, crystal therapy, colour therapy, nutrition and kinesiology. For twelve years she ran a busy therapy clinic until writing and teaching became her priorities. Sue and her husband Simon, have written over thirty books covering a wide range of complementary and alternative healing topics. As a mother of three, and grandmother of seven, she is keen to pass on knowledge to younger generations so that they can benefit from natural ways of maintaining well-being and feel empowered by the natural world around them. www.suelilly.co.uk

Passive protection and grounding is where a person carries or wears a grounding crystal, or a spiritual or religious protective

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Using A.S.K. To Get Over The Codependent Trap Empaths Often Fall Into

By Kelly Armatage

Being a highly sensitive person, with increased levels of empathy and compassion, makes us susceptible to feeling and taking on the emotions of others.

Due to being so energetically open, we literally feel and absorb the suffering of other people. Empaths have a built in need to heal, to soothe and to help those around them. Whilst this is a wonderful loving quality in itself, it can often lead empaths to pick up the behaviour of codependency.

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE Codependency is the need to fix, heal and change others.

Codependents often attract partners that need support due to addictions or other behavioural issues. Behavioural issues that will damage relationships, such as alcoholism, cheating, gambling, consistent unemployment and so on. Being codependent means we feel 'pleasure' subconsciously when a) we are needed by others, b) when we over-give and c) when we are delusional and believe that if we change others, that this will give us the love we crave.

Having experienced codependency and the suffering that this creates in relationships, was one of the reasons I studied to become a therapist. By choosing to heal this within myself, I have been able to facilitate co-dependent workshops and sessions for others.

The A.S.K. technique is a wonderful tool to help empaths heal codependent issues in their relationships.

A.S.K. empowers the individual to take the correct steps required to create healthier relationships in their lives.

A.S.K. is a 3 step subconscious therapy technique that helps the public to recognise a) why they have emotional pain and b) what to do about that pain by c) recognizing the behaviours they have, that are creating unhealthy results in their lives.

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE If we were to use A.S.K. for an individual that is in a codependent relationship, we would write the following on the A.S.K. Worksheet (see below and available free online).

As you can see we work through A.S.K. by listing the issue, in this case “I hate my husbands drinking” and the associated emotions (and intensity out of ten) that are triggered through thinking this thought.

We then do Step 1, which is commitment, and we ask ourselves; “How high is my intention and commitment to remove these emotions, change this problem and get to a solution?” Ten out of ten is the preferred mark, as then the mind literally opens for a solution and to see the truth.

Step 2 (truth) is to list the negative actions, behaviours and habits of others and ourselves. In this case, his habit is drinking and her habit is to fix him and judge him. For every habit, there is a subconscious pay-off (pleasurable feelings that we feel subconsciously through carrying out the act). Pay-off feelings are pleasure, comfort, relief, familiarity etc. We list the pay-off for both parties.

Then the plan is to list the direct opposite habits of ourselves (we cannot list the direct opposite habits of others, as we cannot change others). Once we have listed the picked up habit, pay-off and plan, we do the most important part of the technique, which is to forgive others and ourselves for our habits and pay-offs. We do this by understanding that we are all trained to behave and that there is to be no judgment of that, just understanding and compassion for our behaivoural conditioning, that is influenced by past events and parental modeling.

Step 3 (growth) is to list the life lesson that you are being taught here. In all emotional pain is growth and learning, IF we can have the courage to be responsible and change our behaviours. In this case, it is to increase self love and to remove codependency. Codependency will always create suffering and toxic relationships. Increasing self love will ensure you get happiness from within, as opposed to relationship “love” addiction.

A.S.K. helps us to realise that we are in emotional pain, because we are judging others and ourselves for the actions carried out. Through acceptance of

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the habits of others and ourselves, we open up the path for change. We have the power to change our emotions through compassion and we have the power to drop negative picked up habits and payoffs and pick up new and empowering habits, which enhance our relationships and life. Studies say it takes between 23 to 66 days to create new neural behavioural pathways. As we have the courage and motivation to implement the plan over a 2-3 month period, we create new habitual patterns.

A.S.K. Worksheet Issue “I hate my husband’s drinking addiction”

EMOTIONS Resentment 10/10 Powerlessness 9/10 Anger 9/10

1. COMMITMENT 10/10

2. TRUTH PICKED UP HABIT MINE – judgment of his habit MINE – the need to fix him/codependency HIS – addiction to alcohol

PAY-OFF MINE – familiar / pleasure HIS – comfort

PLAN Forgiveness of his habit Stop trying to change him / drop being codependent Consider leaving or giving boundaries

3. GROWTH Self Love / Removal of codependency

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE KELLY ARMATAGE Kelly Armatage is qualified in providing Counselling, Coaching, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Sessions, Meditation Classes, Self Development Workshops and Corporate Training. As well as being a regularly booked public speaker and published writer, kelly runs workshops and seminars that facilitate massive change personally, professionally, emotionally and spiritually for audiences worldwide. www.kellyarmatage.com A.S.K.TECHNIQUE www.aserenitykit.com

a PROFESSIONALS' GUIDE TO 30 HOLISTIC, HEALING AND COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES Compiled by Robin Barratt

out now

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Energy Healing and Sensitivity

By Julie Lomas

Reiki master and therapist Julie Lomas looks back at the difficulties and challenges she had growing up as a HSP, and how she eventually found Japanese Jikiden Reiki, bringing her a deeper sense of inner peace and quietness.

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Ever since being a young child I have been very sensitive to the energies around me and very intuitive or perceptive, This has grown as I have aged but luckily I have learnt to use it to my, and others, best advantage.

Growing up I could feel how other people were feeling and often felt a little scared. Luckily I had a grandmother who was also quite sensitive and use to help me out when I felt things. I often felt lonely as a child and felt like I

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was the odd one, or strange one out. Even in later years I felt like I was the strange one.

I was a magnet for sad and hurting people; people have always been drawn to me and would pour out all their problems, saying they felt they could trust me. I use to find it so draining and, at times, even felt annoyed by this when I was younger.

Years later I accepted it as a gift being hyper-sensitive to energy. I

have learnt techniques over the years to help me and others.

It is now a great advantage in my therapy practice as I can intuitively find issues and feel what people are holding on to and where. I have learnt how to grow my ability without it draining me all the time. I have also learnt what not to do.

In my early 30s after illness, I discovered Reiki. Reiki was only really starting to become known in the early 1990s and, at the

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE time, I was living in Bahrain. Reiki helped me to get well after two years of illness and major surgery.

I found it by fluke, although as I now know nothing happens without reason, and nothing is a fluke or co-incidence. And so I decided to learn it! Then after the initial attunement process, all my own innate healing abilities, sensitivities and intuitiveness started to come back to forefront. I became extremely sensitive again.

The more I practised Reiki and other healing modalities the more I felt, saw, sensed, knew... and I did not like it. I often felt drained in large crowds of people, as if all my energy had been zapped from me. I got tired easily. I felt peoples' sadness and pain, and I would instinctively know if people had hidden agendas, or were up to no good etc.

By this time I was not just learning and practising Western style Reiki, I was studying Crystal Therapies and Colour Healing, and my perceptive abilities were stronger and stronger and emotionally I was all over the place, I didn’t feel like I was on this planet at times.

I first learnt Western style Reiki this was the only Reiki we all knew at the time. I really didn’t know what to do, the more I practised and learnt Reiki, the more sensitive I became and I seemed to be picking up

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everyone’s thoughts and, when treating a client, was in pain or felt sick and then very tired. I always asked my teachers what to do or why was this happening?

They never could truly answer it.

I went to several different teachers or 'Masters' as they are called and no one had an answer, they would say; it’s the Reiki, its meant to happen, it’s intelligent energy., you need to protect yourself, you need to do lots of different rituals, you are not doing it right, learn to live with it, you better go learn again from someone else. I did that, learning three times to Master level in the USA and UK, and three times I never felt any better, just more confused and sensitive. No one in the Reiki field could answer the questions I had, what I was feeling or what the clients were feeling. I finally decided to stop practising it, thinking that would be the best solution. I didn’t realise that the Reiki never leaves you, that it is always with you and always flowing and you are always using it! And you can always use it to help yourself.

Because I was now learning other healing modalities from professional sources in the UK, I found those teachings to be much more helpful in helping me to understand, what was going on and how to deal with what I felt. I still use these techniques as today too.

Eventually I read Frank Arjava Petter’s work on Reiki and things started to make sense, I started to get answers. I finally learnt Jikiden Reiki in 2006 with Frank Arjava Petter, and I have never

looked back. The simplicity of Jikiden Reiki, the philosophy and the teachings are just amazing.

They make sense! And we get all the answers we need. We can listen to the body with our hands. Jikiden Reiki is purely the Japanese way of Reiki. There is no Western influence; this is how it was and how is taught today in Japan. Once we understand their philosophy, it all makes complete sense. It is simple, pure and it works. There are no complicated rituals and we have the answers at our finger tips... literally.

We learn that Reiki is a oneway street, we are just the

THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE conduit and we do not need elaborate rituals before we start to practice. We do not need to put protection around us before we commence treatment. Reiki its self is a protection, even for people like me who are very sensitive. Sometimes I feel what we were told and taught in Western Style Reiki made our minds over-think, and I feel it made those of us who are empathic feel more., because we thought we should.

In Jikiden Reiki we do not pick up the negative energy from the client, or illness, because it is not transferred to us. What we are

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feeling is called 'Boysen.' There are five levels of Boysen, and we can listen to the body and its healing through our hands.

Understanding the concept of Boysen is what Jikiden Reiki is about; understanding it helps us know what we are ‘feeling’ and what’s going on.

I feel being empathic helps me in my practice; I often feel pain where the client is feeling pain, I often feel their emotions and sadness even with Jikiden Reiki, however I know it is not my pain; it isn’t being transferred to me, and I just acknowledge the feel / sense, say 'thank you' and let

it go. I then move my hands, (if they have not already moved to where they need to go) and carry on. There is no detriment to me at all, or the client.

Practising Jikiden Reiki is simple and easy and powerful all-round and, like anything you do in life,; the more you practice the more adept you become. It helps to bring you as a person to a deeper sense of inner peace and quietness. Saying the Gokai (the principals we live by) daily in Japanese, brings us to a calmer place. We automatically ground ourselves, or become present.

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THE EMPATH MAGA ZINE Often when I have been out in large crowds, or something has upset me, and I am out of balance or out of sync with myself, I sit quietly for a short while and say the Gokai. Place my hands on my abdomen or thymus and just allow the Reiki to flow, I soon feel better and back to me. Being grounded in any healing modality is essential and yet so misunderstood. To be grounded means you are present in your life and you are aware. It enables you to think more clearly and focus more easily. It takes you out of your head, over thinking and even over feeling. It is essential for everyone, especially if you are empathic. Jikiden Reiki automatically helps us achieve being present and grounded in our lives. Learning Jikiden Reiki has been a great blessing, I recommend it to all who practice Reiki. It has helped me to deal with my empathic and perceptive abilities.

As a sensitive or empath, if you get other people's energy coming into your system, it can cause all kinds of problems. You may feel intensely emotional, but with emotions that are not yours.

Many in the Reiki community are highly energy sensitive and find themselves drained of energy periodically. In Jikiden Reiki and the way we practice it, this does not happen when we treat a client.

As a sensitive, empath or psychic, it is important to become aware of your unique situation, so you can learn to manage it effectively.

When you have a deeper sense of who you really are, and your

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abilities, then you can learn to make choices which are healing for you, even if others might not understand or relate. Jikiden Reiki will help you to do this.

I am so very grateful to be on this healing journey and to share that being sensitive is a gift, and I use it to enhance my ability to help others. Rather than feeling like you have a strange problem or there's something wrong with you, you start to realise that you have a gift, and be grateful for it.

Look at it in a different way; once understood that you do not need to suffer, think of sensitivity as a gift waiting to be unwrapped, and that wonderful things can and do happen.

JULIE LOMAS Julie Lomas is an award winning writer and bestselling author of the self-help book Comfy Slippers and a Cup of Tea, A Life Coach, Holistic Therapies Practitioner, Jikiden Reiki Shihan, Crystal Therapist Teacher, Personal Development and Stress Management Facilitator and seminar speaker, Julie focuses on inspiring people to bring positive change into their lives so they are able to lead the most inspired authentic and creative lives possible. She has been practising and teaching therapies in the Middle East, USA and Europe for over twenty-five years and is an advocator of standardization of correct teaching and practices of holistic therapies and practices.

She brings healing and personal fulfilment into the lives of her clients addressing areas such as confidence, self-esteem, forgiveness, values, spirituality, emotional well-being. www.julielomas.com

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Empathy & Art Ella Prakash Indian artist based in Bahrain Collection: QUEST - INNER SELF www.EllaGallery.com

Ella's strong support of liberal feminism can be traced in her initial works, but her QUEST - INNER SELF collection marks a brave transformative step in terms of style and execution.

Ella's quest to seek inner self is a symbol of growth and perfection, and in this journey she learns and connects with a beautiful blend of various emotions that helps in revealing the Inner-Self.

“My exploration of a woman’s sense is self and healing. I am inspired by life experience and my travels and my emotions.

Everything around me can inspire me, however my work is dedicated to amazing women from over corner of the world.

I want my work to empower them no matter where they come from. Women sacrifice so much in their lives and I want to celebrate their achievements and their dedication and commitment to the society at large.” Her paintings are the results of her journey which, from a long time, she was searching for, and she has tried to show this journey within her work. “I have understood that both genders go through different stages in discovering their inner self. In my latest

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collection of paintings, Quest Inner Self, I have gone through the process of creating a palette which will highlight the different stages women go through in discovering their inner self.” She works in acrylic, broadly defined by ethereal figures, geometric lines and shapes which carry a cerebral tone personal to the artist that aspires to create a contemplative journey for the viewer. “My work displays a blend of warm and bold colours precisely contained in calculated strokes that offer a sense of illusory realism.” The anatomies of the abstract figures juxtaposed with geometric shapes are Ella’s signature allegories for the vibrant, ever changing self.

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Empathy & Art Elham Razani Iranian artist based in South Africa Work: PASSIONATE www.ElhamRazani.com

Passionate - Water, fire, soil and wind, these elements that I’ve used for this painting, describing the relationship between women and men in different ways: I used fire as a red colour for women to explain that sometimes we have different feelings; feelings of being excited, happy, aggressive, emotional, lonely, disappointed, unappreciated, sad etc. And sometimes these feelings are out of our control; they surface by themselves. If a woman can control and manage these feelings, she is okay, but if she cannot control herself, she will be on fire and will burn.

I used water as a blue colour for men to say that if they know how women feel, and realize how the way they react is important, they will then be in a position to calm a woman down. Sometimes the woman need their partners just to listen to them, or to be close by and responsive; to put their head on their shoulders, so as to feel that somebody is always next to them in support. This will affect their relationship. But if he doesn’t understand her, he will catch the fire from her and it will make the fire more intense.

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bottom; if the two understand how to support and protect each other, their relationship will grow strong, and their feet will be planted firm on the ground, which means they are protected at the root.

I then used wind to depict the two relaxing, enjoying and understanding each other. The woman’s hair is blowing in wind which means that she is being supported by her partner and the root of their relationship is stable and therefore they can be relaxed and let the wind take them anywhere they want so as to enjoy the freedom and beauty of God that has created us to be.

The main reason to use these four elements, is to say that if all elements are in the right place everything will be going right.

In this painting one’s eyes are moving around the painting, and there is a sense of harmony.

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Empathy & Poetry I Feel Everything

By C.E. Randall I feel everything.

From their laughs, to her cry.

From the breath of your sigh.

I feel it.

From endangered species, to homelessness.

From deforestation, to terrorists.

I feel it.

From your pain I suffocate, I tense up and begin to shake.

It's not all bad, I feel good too, If anything special happens to you.

Your wedding day, your new job, You rescued a kitten, I'll try not to sob.

I need white noise to sleep, but silence to think.

I need the curtains closed so my eyes can blink.

I see names as colors, for no rhyme or reason.

I see a year as a circle, same as the seasons.

Airports and crowds give me fight or flight, But a little bit of Xanax makes it alright.

Sometimes I feel blue, can't get out of bed, I don't get a good night's rest because of the thoughts in my head.

I take aids to sleep and to balance my mood, You'd understand if you opened your view.

The pain I feel, The struggle is real.

If you poke my arm, might as well swing a bat, So I can't get massages because of that.

Every day is a fight to stay true to myself, Don't listen to the haters, only listen to yourself.

We're different, we're weird, we're misunderstood, But we don't need a cure because our nature is good. Š C. E. Randall E: cary_e_randall@yahoo.com T: @CaryERandall

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Battling The News

By David Watt

Keep It Real

By Bernadette Perez

Bombs fell thick and heavy, a stench hung in the air Comprised of acrid perfumes a battlefield must wear.

Anguished looks abounded around me as I ran – I joined them in expression as sympathy began.

I am taking you to a place Free from silence Let my words be your guide Concealed by being Shielded from self Clouded against power Stare into thy reflection

Why did I thus suffer each evening after five?

This war was suffocating, consuming me alive!

The only consolation my battered brain could find Was that the T.V. news existed mainly in my mind. © David Watt E: maridav@wattfor.net

Hostile bid forbearance Listen to beats Strung together in rhythm An aching soul Concentrate on the outcome Lost are those who lose control Brutal challenging ventures Return with vengeance I scope my surroundings Converse with death Chat among the living Seek answers left adrift Sceptical illusions lucid in dreams Float in mystical rivers Content to be Existing Interfaced by two different fronts I am absorbed through sound echoes Vibrating elements of serious thought Imagined or supposed Conveyed as genuine A natural continuous flow Constantly moving Prevails more powerful than it's opposing force © Bernadette Perez E: bpburritos@aol.com

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Comfy Slippers and a Cup of Tea

by Julie Lomas Make yourself a cup of tea, put on your comfy slippers, sit back, relax, and allow Julie's wisdom to seep into your awareness.

ISBN: 978-0957159662

In Comfy Slippers and a Cup of Tea Julie explores many subjects which often hold us back in life or stop us from achieving our full potential.

She uses her own experience and wisdom to guide you through the maze of life, bringing a new sense of purpose and excitement.

We all deserve to live our best life, and by taking steps to love our Self, forgive others, let go of the past, and remove limiting beliefs from our consciousness, this will become a reality. www.thelightnetwork.com

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ISSUE TWO

Out Summer 2017

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