Free Spirit: Sacred Knowledge for Healers & Helpers

Contents

Disclaimer

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Introduction

PART ONE: THE IMBALANCED HEALER AWAKENS

CHAPTER 1: From Imbalance to Balance

CHAPTER 2: Empathic Traits of Healers and Helpers

PART TWO: A THIRTY-DAY PLAN TO RAISE YOUR ENERGY AND JOY

CHAPTER 3: Your Preliminary Self-Assessment: Your Now—Your Desires—Your Commitment to Self

CHAPTER 4: Connecting with Your Bliss Body: True Self—Soul—Free Spirit

CHAPTER 5: Connecting with Your Wisdom Body: Intuition—Prophecy—Higher Knowledge

CHAPTER 6: Connecting with Your Mental Body: Mind—Emotions—Inner World

CHAPTER 7: Connecting with Your Energy Body: Nadis—Chakras—The Earth’s Magnetic Field

CHAPTER 8: Connecting with Your Physical Body: Nutrition—Hydration—Exercise

CHAPTER 9: Pulling Your Thirty-Day Plan Together

CHAPTER 10: Habits

Conclusion: It’s Your Life, Live It with Joy

Bonus Ritual: Give Yourself an End-of-Day Massage

Sadhana: Suggested Daily Practice for Mind/Body/Soul

Acknowledgments

End Notes

About the Author

Praise for Free Spirit

DISCLAIMER

The information in this book is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. This book is not intended to be a substitute for the medical or psychological advice of a professional. The author and publisher are not offering professional services advice. You should seek the services of a competent professional, especially if you need expert assistance for your specific situation.

The author and publisher assume no responsibility for your actions and specifically disclaim responsibility for any liability, loss, risk, or any physical, psychological, or emotional damage which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright © 2021 by BRENDA BURGER. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to [email protected].

Copy editing and book production by Stephanie Gunning

Cover design by Gus Yoo

Author photographs by Angela Lewis

Discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021925740

Free Spirit / Brenda Burger —1st ed.

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DEDICATION

To all healers and helpers around the world

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INTRODUCTION

My intention in this book is to educate healers and helpers on knowledge not taught in school, even most of the specialized professional schools. This population includes massage therapists (which is what I was originally trained to be), nurses, medical doctors, naturopaths, chiropractors, caretakers, doulas, counselors, physical therapists, and others. Had I been as knowledgeable at the beginning of my massage career twenty-four years ago, as I am now regarding the subtleties of the human mind-energy-body complex, I could have spared myself a lot of physical, mental, and emotional pain and trouble. There is nothing I will share with you in this book that I don’t wish someone had shared with me early on.

This knowledge was hard earned. I continuously studied and observed results from trial and error, having been put through the ringer and being adversely affected enough times by others while helping them lessen their pain and discomfort. While I owned and operated a successful day spa, I managed many staff members. As they were performing various healing arts I saw their challenges, and negative repercussions emerging from their interaction with some clients. People tend to seek the expertise of wellness providers because they feel some level of physical pain, tension, and/or mental stress, and expect some alleviation of their maladies. Several years into my practice, I stumbled on sacred knowledge from the Vedic tradition.

Being an Ananda Yoga teacher certified in the United States and certified ayurveda panchakarma practitioner trained in a hospital training academy in India gave me keen insight into the mind/body matrix. In addition, I have received unparalleled continued education of classical hatha yoga and kriya yoga training both here, in the United States, and in India from graduate teachers of the Isha Yoga Center. Their style of classical yoga instruction programs for personal and spiritual enhancement, teach practices derived from a very unique yogic tradition maintained in its full purity and vibrancy for thousands of years.

Having experienced spectacular results of increased health, energy, and joy by keeping my daily practice of yoga and kriya yoga and maintaining a lifestyle within the guidelines of the wisdom of ayurveda, I felt urged to author this book as a supplement and support for you in your journey as a helper/healer.

My studies of the Vedas seems an endless pursuit, and truth is understanding the entirety of Vedic wisdom surely will take more than a lifetime. However, I share with you the fraction of the wisdom contained in yoga and ayurveda that I have come to understand so far just in case you are searching for ideas and inspiration to help you improve your sense of wellbeing and amp up your joy being the compassionate helper/healer person you are.

Filled with my Vedic wisdom, and keeping my daily yoga practice, I then enrolled in a metaphysical studies program associated with the Department of Graduate Studies at the University of Sedona and received a doctorate in philosophy with a specialization in holistic counseling. My dissertation, From Gravity to Grace, focused on how people could bring more joy into their lives using the natural principles of the traditional Indian medicine, ayurveda which is the practice and application of the science of life based on Vedic wisdom.

Because helpers and healers give more generously to those they serve than to themselves, restoring their balance must be a daily personal practice.

Being such compassionate beings, we helpers and healers tend to jump right into any situation we encounter with the intent to nurture, heal, save the day, and fix the world, even when it means martyring ourselves. For many of us, this tendency stems from witnessing and experiencing some level of physical or mental abuse and or emotional pain and torture as a child. Not always—but more often than not.

With a self-made commitment to help heal others, we tend to jump in with both feet until the day we accept that it’s not easy to play God and try to fix the world. It’s perhaps our inner need to fix ourselves that we project this need into the world and try and fix the world. Like applying bandages to our image on the mirror in response to a cut or a wound on our face rather than on our own face. The only way out is in. As the Bible reads: Physician heal thyself (Luke 4:23).

Fortunately, godlike powers are not required of us. We do better and feel more joyful and energized when we drop the attempt and rest. When we tend to ourselves first, we make a giant contribution to fixing the world. Much like a flight attendant announces during takeoff, in case of an emergency, place the oxygen mask on yourself first, before attempting to assist another. May the wisdom contained in this book be a gentle reminder to place the oxygen mask on yourself first.

All helpers and healers of the world, I hope to persuade you that your career and one-on-one work with the people you serve—whether you call them your clients or patients or your family and friends—won’t fill you with as much natural joy and excitement as is possible unless you begin taking good or better care of yourself first. Self-care involves everything you do on a daily basis to tend to your body, mind, energy, and spirit. May this book inspire you to place the oxygen mask on yourself first.

Certainly, this means being sure not to overwork by treating too many people in a row without a break, for example, or putting strain on your back by leaning over a table for hours on end without relief. Nurse friends of mine tell me they are sometimes so busy at work in the hospital that they have barely enough time to drink water and hydrate themselves, or even to relieve themselves, and that their lunchtime break is only time enough to gulp some food down and race back to work. Burnout and an end to your career is sure to follow if this continues for long enough. We can’t afford to lose our healers and helpers of the world for reasons. We need all of you!

I urge employers of these gentle souls to make changes in the workplace. The cost of replacement supersedes the cost of providing a safe and decent working environment for helpers and healers.

Our physical body and our energy body needs our care, love, and attention, otherwise the system breaks down and we eventually may become the patient.

A physician client of mine once mentioned to me how, during his medical internship, his physical health was declining rapidly due to excessive working hours. He was expected to work an insane number of hours, mostly at night, in the hospital. His only resolution was to sink back into the natural circadian rhythms of life, such as to sleep during the night, eat three square, healthy meals between sunrise and sunset, get plenty of exercise, spend time in nature, get plenty of sunshine and fresh air, and take the time to nurture loving relationships with his friends and family.

About the energy body, on an occasion when you treat someone who feels energetically toxic to you, let’s say, for example, because they are expressing their anger or hatred, or someone whose energy system is disorganized, say presenting with a headache, or pain from a chronic illness, if you are touching them or doing energy/bodywork on them to relieve their suffering, your own energy field may very well become affected and disordered by means of the interaction. Energy has no boundaries, so their energy filters into you and vice versa, your energy filters into them. Do you keep the daily disciplined practice (sadhana) to build your energy field, and keep it healthy and free of discordant energy? Are you able to dissolve it and not have it affect you physically, energetically, or mentally? Do you ever feel tired, depleted, or even depressed, anxious, or angry after spending time with sick or negative people?

In the event you unintentionally or even intentionally absorb another’s energy, it is my strong suggestion you take good care of yourself and build your energy body to withstand bombardments of another’s energy that drains your energy by keeping up a daily spiritual practice of yoga/breathwork and follow guidelines of living an ayurvedic lifestyle.

What you normally do to manage and dissolve the energy of those you treat or heal—the helping vocabulary changes from profession to profession—is your self-care practice.

In the Vedic tradition, your daily practice of self-care is known as your sadhana.

The Sacred Sciences of Yoga and Ayurveda

Most of the information and guidance I will offer to you in this book is based on the wisdom of yoga and ayurveda, which both originated in the Vedic tradition.

Yoga philosophy stems from books known as the Vedas. There are four main Vedas: the Rig-Veda, the Yajurveda, the Atharvaveda, and the Samaveda. This literature is one of the oldest bodies of recorded knowledge in human history. The entire Vedic tradition that is based on this literature is composed of highly spiritual wisdom and pure knowledge that was revealed to us through the hearts of enlightened rishis (mystical sages and saints, aka seers).