What is the IHA WAY?
The Integrative Healing Arts [IHA] provides an integrated approach to the practices that restore health: vitality, well-being and compassionate resilience. There are two main areas in life that only “I” can do for myself which we call CARE of SELF:
1. The life style choices I make that impact my physical body: nutrition, movement, sleep, non-toxic environments, and
2. Manage my own interior SELF—my thoughts and beliefs, emotions and attitudes, sense of purpose and meaning and the relationships that form my social network.
IHA is in service to healing the primary source of human disease and suffering—disconnection from our inner self, the soul, from nature, from one another and from the Spiritual Source of life. IHA weaves an integrative tapestry of ancient healing practices to support the body’s innate capacity for healing, renewal and recovery.
The philosophy, skills and practices emerge from our universal Ancient-Cross-Culture Healing and Wisdom Traditions, as a way to be with the challenges we face everyday in the 21st Century. There is one common thread that weaves through all our cultures: it is knowing that we are dynamically inter-connected to each other, nature and the cosmos. Whether we bring harm or good, impacts all life. As we learn the way of integrative healing, in the CARE of our SELF, we support and nourish life for a sustainable future. The universal truth of the unity of life, called the perennial wisdom made known by Aldous Huxley, is the primary law that supports life, health and well-being:
1. There is One Divine Universal Source underneath and within all things that connects us in a unified field of intelligence and potential,
2. Our soul, the Divine Spark, is the vital life force that animates our very being, and lives in every cell of our being, actually in our DNA, carrying the language of Source’s creative life purpose,
3. It is this spark calling us to wake up to our creative life purpose, for in so doing our health, vitality and well being is restored.
4. The beautiful goal of life is to experience the connection the our Divine Universal Source of all Life [USOAL] and thus to one another is the gift of life.
When we are disconnected to the Vital Life Source, we experience dis-ease in body, heart and mind. There is a longing for peace, but are confused about how to experience the finer realities of love, peace, joy, contentment and gratitude. The Western way of life is not bad, simple incomplete as it leaves out the very aspect that makes us human: the Divine Aspect of our inner—thoughts, feelings, passions, desires, creative imagination and the will towards full expression in relation to all who share our lives.
Life is both a great mystery and a profound gift. Before we dismiss this as not relevant, for a minute, contemplate the question: what is the force that ignites the SA Node, the pacemaker in the heart that initiates each heart beat? In the womb, the heart begins beating around the 6th week of gestation. What a miracle! What is the Source? The ancients considered the heart to be the bridge between man and spirit, the primary generator of the pulse-wave that sets the rhythm for the whole body. When the heart is at peace, it brings coherence, harmony and the sense of effortless flow to the tasks of human life. When the heart is connected to Source, we experience life as a gift and not a destination.
Core Principles of Self Care
SELF CARE PRINCIPLES
1. Quantum Physics
—Entanglement: we are dynamically interconnected, therefore our Presence impacts the outer space—environment—we share.
— Consciousness is the fabric of reality: the thoughts and beliefs cause a downward effect on matter, supporting the concept of the interconnection of mind and body.
—Mind, the presence of consciousness, is invisible, non-local and present in the space we all share
— How I perceive the outer environment—alters my mind body.
—There is only One Mind, One Source of all life. It is the vital life force in matter that grants life. Where it is present, we are whole, well and vital. Where it is diminished, dis-ease begins to manifest.
2. Knowing myself is the key to healing.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” —Aristotle
3. Healing is restoring my wholeness in coherence of the 5 Domains of my being: body-emotions- mind/brain-energy-relationships. It is a process of releasing the triggers of worry, fear, anger, grief and resistance, to embrace the higher life feelings that come from creative engagement with life. Releasing resistance, enhances the life force for resilience, vitality and well-being.
4. Compassion is the energy behind healing and it begins in self compassion to be filled with respect, confident and self esteem. Compassion is the energy that neutralizes the inner and outer critic.
5. Care of Self is the corner stone for managing the stress of life, to move from resistance to courage, creativity and engagement with life.
6. The outer environmental forces activates the sensory system which impacts the body’s vitality.
7. Relationships are vital to good health and well-being. interpersonal neurobiology.
- “It is single cell’s “awareness” of the environment, not its genes, that sets into motion the mechanisms of life.” - Bruce Lipton
THE PROCESS/PRACTICE
The IHA way is based in the cross-cultural shamanic-spiritual traditions, quantum physics, neurobiology and the science of creativity. It offers an integrated skill set that helps you become the New Human, an Aware Presence capable of self regulating your heart and mind’s response to life’s challenges, to:
Know Myself, fulfilling our destiny and creative life purpose by accessing the inner voice of soul. Activate your Biology of Resilience, even in the midst of it all. Be a source for creative innovation.Transform the habit of the reactive stress response that is depleting your energy.
Navigate your life’s journey from your Higher Mind of compassion, wisdom and peace.
The practice restore resilience, creativity and the joy of living a full and rewarding life. We have far more ability to regulate our health, vitality and well-being than we were taught. IHA offers a skill set to both the inner technology of Care of Self and the outer technology of Care of Our Relations through the integration of the three forces: Art, Science and Spirit.
Art- embraces your creative mind and honors your unique, original nature. It is about listening to the right voice. Our ego has learned to protect itself by a very critical inner voice.Soul’s guidance is the genius within that asks us to risk by rising to meet life with courage, knowing you are always enough. Soul is the resilience within us.
Science- is now revealing that life and all that is, is made from the building block of conscious energy—thoughts. You have access to this realm of higher information through your full awareness in the ever present moment of now. Your full awareness gives you the power to choose the direction of your life.
Spirit- is the feeling of bliss, of being fully alive and in the active of creative participation in and with the world.
The Integrated Skill Set Supports, the body-heart-mind, organ systems, throughout the seasons by harmonizing the outer sensory system and the internal neuro-hormonal system. Calm Grounded Presence, Centered in Heart Awareness and Mindful in the ever present moment of Now, are meant to be used through-out the day:
Contemplative Practices and Meditations
Conscious Breathing
Prayer practices
Tonglen—Heart-Focused Giving and Receiving
Self Directed—Reiki and Acupressure Energy Practices
Mantras
Creative Imagination
Essential Oils
Art making
Movement/rest/sleep
Journaling
Time in nature
EACH ELEMENT FEEDS THE OTHER
FIRE
Water
FIRE
Fire is the Divine Spark within every Cell of your Being. It is the passion you feel to live from the deep well of Love, igniting your connection. The spark lights the way from the unknown to the known, creating a new world of sustainable caring and compassion for all life.
Air
Water
FIRE
Air is the Big Breath of Life, fueling the Fire in every Cell. The first Breath of Life Awakens the Soul’s deepest desire to be a vessel for the New Earth, by awakening the DNA intelligence that holds the Truth of who you are and why we are here.
Water
Water
Water
Your Body is 72% Water and it holds the vibrational Patterns that Nourishes every Cell of your Body-Mind. It’s the intelligence of the One Mind to which you belong. Listen to the Waves that wash away the tension of Wrong information.
Earth
Earth
Water
Earth is your Home. You belong here to Care and Tend for her. Your body is made from the elements of our Mother. Tend to your body with compassion, love and deep respect. It is a gift to have the experience of life. Don’t waste a moment!
Ether
Earth
Ether
The Creative Spark that belongs to you is held in the
Ether, the field of Infinite Intelligence, the Space that holds you close to the Infinite Divine. You have within the Inspiration that Lights your Creative Life Purpose.