At every workshop, almost everyone yearns to “see” the energies, the colors and the shapes that Donna Eden sees, through our own eyes. It seems like the ultimate highest intuitive sense, doesn’t it? Well, don’t be too hurried for those things for which you might not be prepared.  Let me tell you of my own unexpected experience that happened to me, earlier this year.

As Donna Eden’s daughter, I am one of those sensitive individuals that can walk into a room and get zapped by everyone’s energy.  I have always had difficulty holding hands in a healing circle or being inundated with people who want to hug me. I find it hard to go to historical landmarks where war, plagues, injustices, etc., had taken place through time. And, even though I do everything I have learned to prepare and protect myself, it is also hard for me to do energy work on anyone without feeling drained or receiving some of their “stuff” after their healing. 

Most of my life, I didn't want to be in this field of work. Why?  From an early age I saw my mother being ”laid up” in bed after private sessions, talking on the phone with some ‘dear souls’ that were walking or feeling better for the first time in many years. Of course she was so happy for them and not about to tell them that she now couldn’t walk and was talking to them while lying in bed. I’d hear stories about clients with entities that would jump into my mother’s body and séances that had to be performed to rid her of them.  Strange experiences were common in our household.  I was always fascinated by the Occult and had the ability to see, feel, hear, and even smell the nuances of the world unseen. I felt, heard, saw and talked with the elemental beings from an early age. I even saw colors (auras) around people until the first day of preschool. (That’s another story!) I never thought twice about this world. It was natural and normal to me. This was my childhood.

Despite growing up with the work as a natural third-generation healer and intuitive, I participated as a student in the two-year Eden Energy Medicine Certification Program, and yet, I still felt that I did not learn how to protect and ground myself while healing. It became all too clear with the experience that followed. My own experience has made way for changes to the certification program with specialized attention toward protecting yourself when doing Energy Medicine.

Last Spring, I was asked to be on faculty at the Certification Program and I was chosen to take the role of Soul Catcher.  A Soul Catcher’s job is to observe the energy shifts in the classrooms; see if the energies shift toward emergency situations, and then, to catch those sensitive students that may spin out, due to the changes that occur. Spinning out can represent anything from headaches to nausea to intense breakdowns.  As a soul catcher, you are the energy rescue angel and you help anyone in need.

Over the years, my mother learned how to protect her own energy, because she had to and still give her personal, amazing healings.  She found her own way to protect and ground and the generic “white light shields” just weren’t going to cut it!  She began to teach others who wanted to learn this work… it started with Sandy Wand, her first student, with one-on-one teachings.  Classes followed and then grew into workshops which grew into a book and then into the Certification Program.

So, here I was many years later, unexpectedly finding myself on the faculty at the C.P.  I was going to take my job seriously,  so I dove right in!  I was the only soul catcher for the two large classes at C.P. each with hundreds of students.  I did my job and rescued many in need, but I did not realize that I was losing myself in the process. Sometimes, I had as many as three people simultaneously who I was trying to help, and many of them were all very sensitive souls, like me.  These were the ones who could pick up any vibration, any shift of energy, anyone’s mood, electromagnetic in the room, environmental stress, etc. I knew these sensitivities all too well.  These unique individuals are the ones who will make the best healers when they know how to correctly protect and ground themselves.

When the class was over, I left the C.P. early and rushed immediately into a series of other jobs, which took me to Northern California and England. It was so rushed; I had less than twenty-four hours at home then left to teach at the Tribal Bellydance Festival in Sebastopol, California.

When I got home, something did not seem right in my energies, but I chalked it up to exhaustion and emotional stress. Even, my partner, Jeff, told me that I looked more drained than he’d ever seen. My skin was pasty, dull and lifeless (of course, nothing that a little makeup couldn't cover!).  I was also experiencing terrible mood swings, and Jeff was at a loss as to how to help. (I didn’t even know what to do for myself!)  Slowly, I was beginning to see that this wasn’t your average fatigue stress, yet I could not focus on what was “out of sorts” in my being. I had no time, and I was “off”.

In the days that followed, it seemed like I was in another space and time. I felt like I was getting the flu. I could not focus, I was tripping over my own feet; being clumsy and bumping into things. I even fell a few times over my own feet, a far cry from my usual graceful personality.  I felt like I was on a real short swing, rocking to and fro, very fast and it wouldn’t stop. I had relapsed into my childhood dyslexia and dyscalculia (difficulty with mathematical and number calculations), more than I ever had before in my life.  I developed seasonal allergies for the first time in my life, too… coughing, sneezing and runny noses weren’t considered beautiful for a bellydancer ready to teach and perform.  My perception was off, I would reach for a glass on the table only to find it was inches away to the right or left of my grasp. I felt unstable, uncoordinated and dropped things continuously.  I had a foggy brain and would forget where I left something.  Yet, I was incredibly attuned to everything around me… good and bad.  I also had a high sensitivity to anything technological - TV’s, radio, computer, even the refrigerator!  I couldn’t stand being in the same room when they were on and I love the radio (music is my life).  Jeff, my partner got yelled at unjustly more than a few times when my mood was just plain “off”. I couldn’t go near the computer for months, so of course my life backed up with e-mails I couldn't answer.

On the positive side, I was highly intuitive and then, while I was reveling in it… all of a sudden to my surprise, I was seeing in between the worlds!  That was intense!  I would sit still and watch beings of all sizes and even pets walk by, as if I was “sidewalk watching”, but it wasn’t in our materialistic world.  They were see-through and made of light. This was very freaky!

 I felt like Alice down the Rabbit Hole.

Who are you?!!!”, said the hookah-smoking Caterpillar. “Well, I know who I was this morning, but I’ve gone through several incarnations since then.” Alice said to the Caterpillar. WHAT THE BLEEP WAS HAPPENING TO ME?!

Luckily, while teaching my Bellydance classes, I could wear a mask to hide the fact that I was completely “out of it”.  No one knew how ungrounded and unstable felt. I was clearly not myself; I was a shell of myself.  (But, the show must go on, right?!) My class was packed and my dance performance came off without a hitch. Thank the Goddess!!! 

In two days, I was leaving for England.  I phoned my Mom and told her what I was experiencing.  She knew all to well, as my symptoms were similar to those from the early days of her healing career.  She did not want me to take the endlessly long flight or even be in an airplane. She wanted to come and meet me ASAP and get “this thing” fixed.  Since I was in Northern California and about an hour away from one of our top Energy Medicine Practitioners, Beverly Davies, I told her I would get myself to Beverly so she could fix me up until my Mom could see me. Mom agreed.

I should not have even been driving with my impaired vision and ungrounded feeling - the drive to Napa was shaky, so I was extra careful on the road, which was very hard under the circumstances.   Beverly, though I didn’t know it at the time, was the perfect E.M. practitioner to help me. One of her specialties is “Psychic Self-Defense” and she has created a complete protocol. She helped me get grounded with some of her amazing techniques, then bandaged me up to get on the plane a few days later.