I try to be real and honest with myself and with the world, especially through the words I write. I have threshold moments where I realise I’ve been as real and honest as I was able… but a new level’s opened up. Something shifts and suddenly I can’t ignore an invitation to go deeper.

This is one of those moments.

I’ve not said this publicly before, but it feels important to find the words now. So here’s what I’ve been struggling with silently for the past year: how the hell do I describe the work I do with people?

The clearing tools I use are powerful and I use them well. I have an intuitive ability to help people see the deep patterns that lie beneath their lived experiences – especially the scenarios that keep repeating over and over again. I’ve facilitated profound transformation for clients in the areas of health, money, work and relationships.

When it comes to describing what I do, all the marketing coaches tell me I have to focus on outcomes. Results. Evidence of transformation, wrapped up in a catchy byline.

Chris Johnson - Digital Smart Media | Creative Commons via flickr - https://flic.kr/p/KGYK1K

Chris Johnson – Digital Smart Media | Creative Commons via flickr – https://flic.kr/p/KGYK1K

I see many new age ‘healers’ promising miraculous results – instant wealth, spontaneous healing from disease, 7-figure businesses built in just a few hours per week and locating your ‘twin flame’ with ease. While I know miracles can and do occur, I don’t believe they’re that common. My personal experience is that healing tends to happen incrementally and only when my soul is ready, not when my ego decides she’s bored and wants to move on.

So as a practitioner, I’ve always felt uncomfortable about the possibility of over-promising and under-delivering. I prefer to handle potential clients’ expectations very carefully. I always encourage clients to stay open to the possibility of miracles, while paying close attention to the ripple effect of small changes.

Because in my experience, tiny brave steps often hold more power than big seismic shifts.

Of course, I have evidence of what the experience of working with me was like for different clients. You can read some of it here. There have even been some ‘miracles’.

But in terms of how it might go for you – I have to be honest. I have no idea what will happen in a session before it starts. I simply don’t know what’s going to come up and how we’ll navigate it.

If I told you anything else, I’d be lying to you.

Because the work I facilitate helps people reconcile with their own shadow. I help people acknowledge and accept the dark parts of themselves they’d rather not see. I help them see the lessons held within the patterns that keep repeating.

And here’s the thing: shadow work is soul work. Shadow healing is soul level healing. And soul healing can be tricky, because if you’ve not yet learned everything your soul wants you to learn from a particular pattern, that pattern probably won’t shift yet.

We can work within these constraints, to some extent. I can focus on helping clients explore the lessons that a specific experience or pattern helps them learn. And I can help people move through the process of bringing closure to old agreements and contracts.

But ultimately, this kind of work is bigger than you and me.
This kind of work runs to a schedule of its own design.
And this kind of work cannot be tightly controlled, measured and administered according to a specific, prescribed dosage.

We don’t have jurisdiction over the soul realm. So as a practitioner, I can’t make cast iron promises about results. Because your soul’s in charge of your healing, not me. I’m not in control of your evolutionary journey and neither are you… no matter how much your human ego might like to believe otherwise.

OK – so we’ve established that I can’t guarantee specific outcomes. It feels so much better to openly acknowledge that this kind of work is essentially a mystery. It feels like I’m finally telling the truth about what I do.

So what CAN I promise?

Simply this:
I help you find the courage to face your fears.
I help you dig down to the roots of the patterns that hold you back.
I help you acknowledge old suffering and transmute it into forward movement.

I help you go to the places that are too frightening to go on your own.

ufo34 - shadow | Creative Commons via flickr - https://flic.kr/p/S4uJJ

ufo34 – shadow | Creative Commons via flickr – https://flic.kr/p/S4uJJ

If you work with me, here’s what you’ll get:
You get to grow.
You get to expand.
You get to be safe while you’re on the edge of change.
You get to be held in a compassionate and judgement-free space.
You get to look at some things that may be too scary to look at alone.
You get an expert navigator to help you move through the mystery.
And you get to tap into the exquisite depths of the love your soul has for you, by activating the immense healing power of your own heart.

This kind of work isn’t for everyone. Many people have no interest in feeling anything ‘negative’, preferring instead to focus only on the ‘positive’. If that’s working for you, great! And if not, perhaps you need to try a different approach – one that embraces both the ‘positive’ and ‘negative aspects’ of our human experience.

Shadow work continues to be the most important area of focus in my own healing journey. I never feel like something’s really cleared until I’ve found the courage to confront the dark emotions and energies that keep destructive patterns anchored in place. Holding my ground in the face of the stuff I’d rather die than feel is the only way I can take my power back from all the times and places where I’ve given it away.

My own transformational experiences reinforce my intention to help clients realise a deep, organic sense of their own power. Rather than create subtle dependence by ‘healing’ you, I seek to help you become sovereign and independent of me. I help you learn to treat your own soul as your primary healing practitioner.

So how do you know if my work is right for you? You’ll be:

  • ready to take radical responsibility for your own healing
  • ready to let go of old stories where you get to play the victim
  • comfortable with the possibility of experiencing deep emotional release
  • willing to look beneath the surface in order to find the root
  • willing to see some old suffering clearly in order to finally let it go
  • willing to walk through some dark places in order to create change

Working with me probably isn’t the right thing for you if:

  • you just want to find a healer who can fix you, fast
  • you’re uncomfortable with being vulnerable and raw
  • you’d rather retell your stories than rewrite the endings
  • you prefer not to feel any yucky emotions because you’d rather focus on raising your vibration

All I can do is encourage you to tune into how the prospect of working with me feels. Because if we’re meant to work together, it’ll feel right for you. And I’m not talking about big rushes of energy or other dramatic evidence of ‘destiny’ or ‘rightness’. I’m talking about a quiet expansion in your heart and a quiet conviction in your gut that tells you this is the right thing, at the right time.

I only work with people who get a clear ‘yes’. If I have to convince you to work with me, the sessions probably won’t feel good for you. But if it feels like the perfect thing, we can  probably do some great work together.

So if you’ve been to lots of ‘healers’ and tried a lot of modalities or if you’ve done traditional talking therapy but have some repeating patterns that still won’t shift – perhaps I can help. If so, I’d love to talk about it.