Soulful Reads Author Q&A
To the read the whole Q&A with JUDY, please click here.
To the read the whole Q&A with Merrill, please click here.
To the read the whole Q&A with kim, please click here.
To the read the whole Q&A with Rhonda, please click here.
To the read the whole Q&A with Matt, please click here.
To the read the whole Q&A with Florance Ann, please click here.
To read the whole Q&A with Bill, please click here.
To read the whole Q&A with Corin, please click here.
To read the whole Q&A with Ellen, please click here.
To read the whole Q&A with Merrill, please click here.
Whole Body Prayer: The Life-Changing Power of Self-Healing
Written by Yan Ming Li & published by My Whole Body Prayer Press
My review of Whole Body Prayer is part of the Sept/October 2022 column
Q: What I most appreciate about your book is your discovery of the Light, the essence of the Light, and your dedication to following the Light. Could you share how the light feels to you and how you call upon it for guidance?
A: I first discovered (and befriended) the Light at age 5––it has guided me ever since. For better or for worse, I follow it faithfully. The Light sometimes brings surprises and challenges, such as my mother’s paralysis. But it also brings Grace, such as showing me the Whole Body Prayer posture and its healing abilities. It guided me to Japan and then to America, to writing my book. Everything.
The Light is available to all of us, but we cannot simply “summon” it at will. It’s more like we create space to allow for it to show itself. This involves deep meditation and absolute stillness–the emptying of the mind. There is a concept in Chinese: RuJing, which means “falling into emptiness.” This is the place from which you can encounter the Light.
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF OUR FIRST Q&A! Master Li speaks Mandarin so his son Alex Lu is reading:
Q: Can you describe how healing happens to someone in the position of Whole Body Prayer? Is there a mental image you suggest they hold during the posture?
A: Whole Body Prayer activates our Qi and allows it to circulate throughout our system, where it hones-in on muscles, organs and even individual cells that are in need of healing. There is no mental image to hold other than the Light itself. Simply empty your mind, focus on your breath and listen to your heartbeat.
Q: How do you encourage someone to continue with the Whole Body Prayer practice who might experience difficulty being devoted to it (because of discomfort or time)?
A: Begin slowly––just 5 minutes, in the sitting variation of the pose. Then you can try 5 minutes of standing. People always want a magic pill. But that is a fantasy. Nothing is easy. Everything takes work, especially our health and wellbeing. If you need additional motivation to help you endure the discomfort of extending your practice, go to the hospital. Have you ever been to the ER? It will definitely open your eyes. Look around. Observe yourself as you observe others––in their suffering and in their disease. This can serve as a reminder that our life is precious and it must be cherished. We must do all we can to promote our health and longevity.
Q: What motivated you to create a film? What do you hope to share beyond what you relay in your book?
A: We made the film to reach a wider audience. My dream is to spread this teaching of Whole Body Prayer to everyone in the world who needs healing. The planet needs healing now more than ever. But, in order to heal the world, we must first learn to heal ourselves, because we are a part of this world.
Q: You have a second book soon to be published. Can you describe a bit about it and the inspiration behind its creation?
A: While my first book was a memoir, this second book is a series of short essays revolving around the Taoist notion of flowing with Nature and the Natural Order of the universe. Each essay can be read individually, like a bite-sized chunk on a certain theme. All of these themes point to the same idea––that all is One. We are all connected. And certain practices can bring us into greater harmony with this Truth.
Q: What is the most important thing you learned about yourself writing Whole Body Prayer?
A: I realized that, while I’ve healed and taught many people self-healing, I forgot to heal myself.
Release : Create a Clutter Free and Soul Driven Life
Written by Peggy Fitzsimmons & published by Waterside Productions
My review of Release is part of the Sept/October 2022 column
Q: What did you learn about yourself writing Release? How are you different after the publication of your book?
A: I learned so much writing Release, and the learning continues. I actually read the first few chapters of the book the other day and was like “hey there’s some good stuff in here!” I remember after I got some harsh (but true!) feedback on my first draft, I was ready to call it quits. My ego mind had me on the ropes and I set the book aside for months, all the while feeling the inner conflict— to complete or not complete! Then my energy healer friend Kathy Fitzgerald said a very helpful thing. She said that the book and I were in relationship, and that relationship had its own direction and way and timing. That helped me surrender and trust my process. Every step in the few years it took to put the book together was right on time and necessary to learn more about what I was writing about. Or as I say, what was “writing me.” Page by page, I was uncovering more about my soul and my ego and finding the most uncluttered way of expressing what I wanted to share. Since the book was published, I’ve been called to “walk the talk” of Release even more. In smaller ways, like having to quiet my ego chatter to do some of the publicity stuff that comes with writing a book. And in bigger ways, like when my Dad died a few months after the book was published and seismic shifts ensued. I see now that everything is about release. Every moment. It’s the only thing we can do. Accept, surrender, release, come present…rinse and repeat! It’s the medicine for all of life. I want to keep living that knowledge and being gentle with myself when I forget, which is quite often!!
Q: In Chapter 9 you discuss energetic clutter. How did you gather the idea of calling back your energy from “other times or places” back to you? It’s a wonderful concept.
A: Everything in the energetic clutter chapter comes from studying with the amazing Francesca McCartney, founder of the Academy of Intuition Medicine™. (side note: I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about energy skills and healing to check out her programs. Truly life changing.) Calling back our energy from other times and places…it’s like simply hearing the words inspires a felt experience of how we have all left part of ourselves somewhere. Maybe in a previous trauma, a past relationship, a different phase of life, an unfinished project, a difficult conversation yesterday, or even physically by having our “important” stuff stored apart from us in a storage unit. Calling back your energy speaks to the importance of being in present time, bringing all of your energy home so you can have access to it. It requires us to really look at where we are fragmented or parts of us are in exile, so to speak. If you sit quietly for a few minutes and ask, those times and places will be revealed to you. From there you can begin to reclaim yourself. Most of us need help, so by all means find a teacher, a coach, an energy healer, a therapist, or some of the great books that are out there to light the way.
Q: I also enjoy the idea of “own your bubble.” Can you share how you use and teach this technique of cocooning oneself in their own energy field and a little bit about your signature energy?
A: We’re all energetic beings, ensconced in an energy field, or aura, that is generated by our energy centers (chakras). It’s helpful to imagine the aura as a bubble or an egg or an energy skin that surrounds us and is made up of our energy. Ideally, that bubble is filled with your signature energy, which is like your personal vibration and rhythm. You can get a feel for that energy by paying attention to when you feel the most like you, or at your best. That frequency and pulse is your signature energy. It’s our job to maintain our best energy. And it’s a challenge because our bubbles are easily compromised if we’re not aware and grounded. Your bubble might get infiltrated by other people’s energy of anger or sadness, and suddenly you don’t feel your best and can’t quite understand why. Or it might be affected by the energy of chaos in the world, or too much noise, or even a messy environment. You have to stay very present to keep releasing out of alignment energy from your bubble, while fostering your best energy inside your bubble by remembering who you are as a soul and doing the things that make you feel good. Francesca McCartney calls it “filling ourselves with ourselves” and that’s what I mean about owning your bubble. Everyone is walking around in their own bubbles and part of decluttering is being aware of your energetic space and the energetic space of others, and honoring all the lovely bubbles out there, starting with yours.
Q: Of all the healing roles you have been blessed with so far, which has been the most rewarding?
A: That’s an interesting question. I feel that every place I’ve walked in this life so far, and every chance to grow myself while companioning others, has been the most rewarding! I made the choice to seek experiences in my life and through that choice I’ve had lots of adventures in the material and spiritual realms. I was always looking for a deeper truth, partly because I knew it was there and partly to help myself feel safe and like I belonged when I wasn’t sure I did. In my travels, I’ve been with a range of people having a range of human experiences— from adolescent sexual offenders to addicts in recovery to spiritual teachers to high profile business types— and I’ve learned that at the core, we’re all here to remember who we are as souls, beyond our small-minded ego selves. We’re all human beings, with a soul aspect and an ego aspect. That’s the human condition. It’s the great equalizer, the great connector, the great journey. I’ve been lucky to connect with other human beings in many settings—in the wilderness as a wilderness therapist, in private practice and residential treatment, at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, as a consultant in the Oprah world, in people’s homes as they declutter, and now through my book. To me, life is all about decluttering. It’s a continual process of releasing ego-based functioning and allowing our souls to take the wheel of our lives. To go back to your first question, since publishing my book that knowing has crystallized. And I’m here for it…and will continue to be here for it in whatever my life brings next.
Q: You mentioned that Release was part of closing a chapter. How did you sense that it was time to close a chapter and writing a book would be a good way to do so?
A: I wrote Release because I knew it could help people, and I felt a push inside to share rather than hoard what I had learned in my life travels and with my clients. But unlike some other authors, I didn’t feel I wanted to build a brand or position myself as an expert or even continue doing the work I was writing about in that form. I just needed to kind of name the thread of my life…helping myself and others remember who we are…and write what I thought was helpful to share to live that more. In that sense, writing was closing a chapter while also knowing that the bigger book of life continues, and everything contained in Release comes along and informs the next adventures. I think it’s that way for all of us. We have to trust our own knowing, our own way. Whatever it is, even when others may have a different opinion. That way we are free to “follow the breadcrumbs” that life is leaving for us, and free to own where we have been.