Energy healing method is linked to recoveries from cancer in mice. Visualization directed at water or cotton is retrieved later for healing. Silent recordings of energy healing sessions are linked to genetic changes. 

This recipe is an old favorite. We’ve refined it over the past few decades, adjusting as the seasons went by. We hope you will enjoy it too!

Energy psychology has emerged as a transformative approach in the criminal justice system, particularly in response to the ongoing heroin and opioid epidemic that has plagued communities across the USA. As jails became overcrowded with individuals suffering from addiction, traditional mental health and addiction treatment programs often fell short in addressing their needs. This crisis paved the way for innovative solutions like energy psychology play a crucial role in rehabilitation efforts. Tapping is one form of energy psychology.

The Four Agreements, popularized by best-selling author don Miguel Ruiz aim to Promote living a balanced and healthy life. Offer clarity during times of conflict, struggle, and confusion. Be easily understood, while needing consistent practice for success.

We all face difficulties in life, as this is part of the human condition. Whether it’s engaging in the same old argument you’ve had before, being inundated by an onslaught of negativity and doomsday predictions or feeling like a dark cloud follows you everywhere you turn, sometimes life can seem heavy and burdensome. When we feel stuck or hopeless, the lessons become buried under confusion and obscurity. However, life presents opportunities for us to learn from such problems. Keep reading for tips that can help you disarm difficult situations.

Most people identify with their own physical body, thoughts, and feelings. They know the “I” that is “me.” But what about their energy field? The biofield, a scientific name for the aura, is a multilayered feature of each person, existing throughout their life. The biofield is physically invisible, and not part of conventional scientific scholarship. Consequently, it is often overlooked. But the biofield has vital properties, health benefits, and ways of revealing your health status. The biofield contains and interacts with other energy systems like the meridians and chakras. Here’s a blog on chakras , and one on meridians to learn more . This blog is a foundational introduction to the biofield. Read on so you can work with the biofield’s gifts for better living.

Can the latest technology in modern science, like artificial intelligence (or AI), reveal clues to ancient healing practices? One engineering research group ( Joy A, et al, 2022 ) proposes just that. The biofield, or aura, is a living system of subtle energy that enhances wellness. It is a smart container, working within and outside of a living being. The biofield is a super data processor, much like modern computer systems. Both the aura and computers work with codes, interactions, and libraries of data. They make the invisible become visible to the observer, who interprets the data. Artificial intelligence and the biofield can be trained to speak a common language. Meanwhile, we listen and learn. Welcome to the era when ancient practices meet modern science.

Veterans in Crisis Some veterans face daunting emotional health problems after serving in the armed forces. Not all recover right away. Data from the USA estimate between 20% to 30% of veterans are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Symptoms wreak havoc on daily life, with riveting flashbacks, frequent insomnia, and chronic depression. Worse, these individuals are at high risk for suicide. The impact of untreated PTSD takes a heavy toll personally and collectively.

“Stay in the center, and you will be ready to move in any direction.” ― Alan W. Watts 

Intuition is a relatively common experience. A recently developed theory of intuition called transpersonal intuition may explain it.

Even though it can be difficult, it's the part of greater wisdom to forgive. Here are the why and how of forgiveness as an act of wellbeing.

If you want to tune up your daily living, look no further than your unique body awareness. Tune in and tune up your wellbeing, clearing the way toward greater health and resilience.

Moving information between thought and matter is how energy healing works, as we transfer intention between the subtle and physical worlds.

“We move by discharge of energy into the ground. All energy finds its way eventually into the earth; this is the principle known as grounding.” -Alexander Lowen

“You’ll never meet a happy ungrateful person, or an unhappy grateful person because gratitude and happiness go together.” ― Zig Ziglar “It is impossible to bring more abundance into your life if you are feeling ungrateful about what you already have. Why? Because the thoughts and feelings you emit as you feel ungrateful are negative emotions and they will attract more of those feelings and events into your life.” ― Vishen Lakhiani “I’d love to be grateful, if only I had a reason.” – Anonymous client Gratitude is heralded as a universal human virtue, a foundation of happiness and peaceful living. Families desire to raise grateful children, businesses aim to have grateful workers and customers, and religious practices in many languages are rich with prayers of gratitude. Although the concept of gratitude is simple to understand, it can be challenging to express sincere gratitude practices on a daily basis. Often unacknowledged are dynamics which can block gratitude from being experienced and shared. The shadow of gratitude, that which is hidden in the unconscious both personally and collectively, fortunately can be identified and modified, freeing gratitude’s benevolent nature. Then the shadow of gratitude can be cleared with easy-to-follow energy practices and tips, allowing enjoyment of gratitude’s gifts. Gratitude defined Gratitude is defined as a strong feeling of appreciation or gratefulness, often to someone, or something which is done, to help you. We are commonly taught to say thank you when given presents, compliments, or acts of service, and to return a thoughtful kindness with the same type of gesture. Deep appreciation may be shared through tender eye contact, words of thanks, and simply spending quality time together. Gratitude toward nature, essence, the divine, all of humanity or the planet and heavens may be based on internal processes which are not shared with others. Such gratitude has been inspiration for grand literature, art and creativity. No matter the form, the state of gratitude does not just feel good as a passing fancy. Scientific studies have found lasting and positive benefits of gratitude. Benefits of gratitude Research suggests gratitude affirms goodness by acknowledging sources of gratitude outside ourselves. Gratitude practices can enhance many aspects of living. Physically, people are found to have improved sleep, lower blood pressure, prevention of overeating, and improved pain tolerance. Hormone and brain health are achieved through activating the bliss centers of the brain, enhancing dopamine and serotonin production which are linked to happiness, and regulating stress hormones to reduce anxiety and fear. Mind and body interface with better managed grief reactions, and improvement of low mood through chemical changes and positive beliefs. Interpersonally, gratitude practices create greater capacity for forgiveness, and strengthen relationships, both personal and in the workplace. The shadow of gratitude If the benefits of gratitude practices are widely documented and seen as helpful by many, why aren’t more people acting and feeling grateful both easily and more often? The unbounded natural sheer joy of gratefulness is often hampered by unacknowledged factors, mostly cultural and familial in origin. Bringing awareness to these inherited and contemporary hidden beliefs can provide a chance to examine them in the light, and then make conscious changes so gratitude can become a cherished habit. You may find some of these common blocks to gratitude in your own life. If so, keep reading for tips to help clear them. Vulnerability If you feel your gratitude, you may also recall times you were not grateful, or were disappointed or alone in your gratitude. It may be too painful to remember or experience when gratitude experiences had failed or gratitude was submerged because it was not allowed to be expressed. Such vulnerability may be a deterrent against future gratitude encounters. Greed If you are grateful for what you are experiencing, especially if you name it to self or others, you may fear you are cursing the good fortune, and it could be taken away. Likewise, you may be seen as selfish to want more than you have already. It is best to be grateful for what you have, be happy with your lot, even if it does not feel like enough. Embarrassment If your gratefulness is especially compelling or profound, you may fear overwhelming yourself or others with your enthusiastic gratefulness. You may be concerned that you would look crazy or weak or foolish if gratefulness pours out of you. Best to keep those feelings inside. Notice how often people apologize when they cry, even with tears of joy? Jealousy Your gratitude could make others feel jealous. They may ask, “Why do you have good fortune or happiness and not me? What makes you so special? “ They may try to reverse your good fortune or take away your happiness. Insincerity Stating your gratitude to another person could be perceived as insincere. The thought is that your thanks might be suspect, possibly exaggerated or flatly untrue. You could be seen as a fake or phony. Indebtedness If you are thanked, maybe there is an expectation that you owe the person a debt in return. Gratitude can be seen as transactional, as in what do you want from me now? Or now I am obliged to return the favor, which can become a burden. Rejection Your gratitude may not be received or understood as sent. If I open up to you with my vulnerable gratitude, you may scoff or not understand or be nonchalant. Unrequited love or misunderstandings could be the result. 10 ways to release the shadow of gratitude How do you manage the risky business of gratitude? Try following these tips to clear the shadow of gratitude, so you can let your heart sing with joy. Gratitude is your birthright Embrace your innate capacity to be grateful. We all have gratitude it even if we were not taught how to work with it or share it with others. Childlike abandon of gleeful gratitude is your birthright. The more you make space for it in your life, give it permission to grow, the more it will enhance your daily life. Protecting yourself is a natural defense It is okay and normal to squash tender feelings, as we’ve all been burned and encouraged to hide vulnerability as a coping technique. Repeated heartache and disappointment teach people to tuck in their heart’s longings and satisfactions. Stop fighting what is, and know you are not alone in wanting to protect your wounded heart. Be gentle with your pain Opening up to gratitude may unearth sorrows and pain. Sincere gratitude may open you to unexplored grief, anger, disconnection, disappointment, frustrations and more. If so, seek help to shore up your reserves so you can be safely witnessed, then able to tolerate painful memories and feelings and beliefs. Gradually reveal the gems Once you clear the messiness of pain, there are gems hidden inside. Let them out slowly, with safety and trust, if even addressed to yourself in a letter you later burn, or a voice memo you erase. Don't let the pain stop you from finding your treasure. Let nature be your teacher Watch natural spontaneous examples of gratitude in animals and babies as they squeal with joy and abandon when they are happy. Take in what they do, and imitate it: deep eye contact, happy sounds, consensual touch, playfulness, glee. Find respite in your body Discover the sensory experiences you are grateful for and explore them, pushing yourself in a good way to tolerate pleasure and happiness. Let your body teach you how to bring gratefulness into the sensory and movement aspects of living, aspects you may have forgotten or buried. List your bliss Write detailed gratitude lists, for simple to deep moments. Hold space for the emotional and memory swirls which surface. Review it over time to notice your progress and process. Clear debris with energy practices Learn energy practices to release blocks or challenges to gratitude. You can work with self-reflection, or find a practitioner on the ACEP website or other places, who can work with you. Keep it real with your people Be ready to have a frank talk with others as you share your gratitude with them. Go slowly, and be brief. And be ready for greater intimacy to ensue, both with joy and sorrow as you open your heart. Allow them to share their gratitude with you. If it feels uncomfortable, keep going as you acclimate to new ways of receiving love. Share what you know Often the best way to learn is to teach. Find eager others to share your wisdom and learn from them. Often overlooked are those we spend time with on a daily basis. The more consistent you are with your gratitude practices, the more you and others will benefit. There are many layers of conditioning in families, society and media to block the freedom of gratitude, despite agreeing that being in gratefulness is a good way to live. Pay attention to habits and traditions covering up gratitude, and instead establish new ways of being thankful. It takes time and attention to create new patterns. You are well on your way simply by noticing asking questions of how you can be grateful for your life. Want to learn more? How Gratitude Changes You and your Brain (2017) https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain Gratitude article in Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude Article on science of gratitude https://research.com/education/scientific-benefits-of-gratitude Access this free guide about clearing blocks with energy psychology . You can customize it for your blocks to gratitude. Read about using energy practices to remove common blocks in this blog . Find an energy psychology practitioner who can help you. Author Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP, is a licensed psychologist in Westlake Village, California, USA. She is certified in Comprehensive Energy Psychology and Logosynthesis. Lori is president of ACEP ( www.energypsych.org ), and is a Reiki master. Learn more about Lori at www.drlorihops.com . Shadows of Gratitude Lori Hops To be thankful and grateful may open Pandora's box Instead of "Yes, it's true!" you may receive lots of reasons your seasons once fine, turned to ruin for all of the misgivings and misaligned feelings that others can't share your internal knowings. To thank what is, could peel back layers of grief, unrequited love, misunderstood belief. Better to be silent, to hold it all in, than harm a heart heavy with love unspoken. Else it explodes into rivers of brightly held dreams creating tsunamis of thankfulness schemes. Best to live life releasing love through all altitude to avoid mass causalities from an avalanche of gratitude. From A Tip a Day for Wellness and Inspiration Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lori.hops www.drlorihops.com

Does this sound familiar? It’s the New Year, and I try to set goals to improve my life for New Year’s Resolutions. I start out OK, but before long, I skip a few days, and then I stop altogether. It seems I feel worse about myself because I tried and failed. Is there anything I can do to keep the goals going well past January? Fret not! You are not alone. Many people face this same situation when setting goals for themselves throughout the year. It’s normal to become more aware of goal setting when focused with others who are also making their New Year’s Resolutions. The New Year offers the promise of an enhanced beginning. You may have confidence that this year will be different, and will be focused on positive outcomes. But what happens when you face obstacles, or lack of motivation? Many people give up too quickly, and grow cross with themselves. What’s a well-intentioned person to do? Number One: Know Thy Goal The first step in solving a problem is to understand it. Rather than being overwhelmed by a challenge and then giving up, look at the problem one piece at a time. For instance, if you have a goal to eat enjoying better nutrition, a first step for one person may be to find tasty and healthy recipes, while another person may want to imagine eating foods they enjoy, which are good for the body, whereas another person may not know where to start as they become anxious when thinking about food. Set up a step-by-step program for yourself, along with identifying ways to know when you hit the mark, so you can measure success. Energy psychology approaches such as EFT , TFT , and CEP are designed to discover the rough spots where you get stuck with your goals. Once the resistance, energy blockage or limiting belief is addressed, you may be well on your way toward reaching your goal. You can receive a freeguide from ACEP on using energy psychology practices for removing blocks to goals. Number Two: Keep It Simple, Sweetheart! Many people stop short of their goals because they take on too much at once, and have unrealistic expectations. Instead, try setting a series of small achievable goals that do not require drastic changes. Although it may seem boring, or that you are not making progress, most likely the consistent effort is paying off. As they say, slow and steady wins the race. After a few days of success, gradually increase your set of goals. By the end of several tries, you may be on your way to starting a new happier and healthier habit, and because it is gradual, it feels easy and simple. For instance, with new food ideas, look for a few fun recipes or ask some friends for suggestions they enjoy. Keep recipes or photos saved on your computer or phone where you can look at them during the day, or print out some images to decorate your fridge, just to get the hang of a new way of eating. Then you may be ready to move on to writing the shopping list, or throwing a cooking and dining party in person or online. If you start to take on too much, calm yourself by using grounding and centering techniques, such as these meditations about gratitude , or try some breathing techniques . Once you are calm, and start again with easier goals and slow down. Number Three: Reward Good Behavior Acquiring a new goal is not the time to launch into self-criticism and self-doubt. Instead, treat yourself gently, and with positive rewards. It may feel silly at first, but try anyway. Many people are more comfortable with stern voices in their heads rather than supportive ones, but you’ll likely go farther with a bit of sweetness and generosity of spirit. Find a small reward or fun activity you like, and give it to yourself every time you work on your goal. Change the reward to keep it fresh and motivating. Lavish with easy or quick self-care rituals, take comedy breaks by watching your favorite shows or routines, or get some fresh air. Be creative and inspired so you have fun and are relaxed. If you find you are still hearing those pesky negative messages, consider turning them around with positive affirmations, or address them head on with focused approaches to change, such as Logosynthesis, using words to move energy. You can learn more about a variety of other energy psychology practices on the ACEP website Resources section . Number Four: Don’t Go it Alone Find others with the same goal as yourself, and make it a team effort. Choose supportive people you trust, possibly a family member or friend near or far to share the joys and challenges of moving through goals. You may want to set up a social media online support community with likeminded folks, to encourage sticking with resolutions long past January. Sharing your joys and sorrows with others can reduce isolation, and make you see you are not so different from others. If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or are burdened by emotional, psychological or energetic distress when working toward your resolutions, consider finding a coach, counselor or mental health professional to give you a hand. ACEP has an energy practitioner directory you may find helpful. You had good reasons to launch into the new year with resolutions, so don’t lose sight of the goodwill, desire for positive change, and belief in a better way of life. You are valuable, worth the effort, and with some focus, determination and finding the right support, you may turn your dream resolutions into sustainable reality. Author Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP is a licensed psychologist in Westlake Village, California, USA. She is certified in Comprehensive Energy Psychology and Logosynthesis. Lori is president of ACEP ( www.energypsych.org ), and is a Reiki master. Learn more about Lori at www.drlorihops.com .

(by Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP) The holiday season, coined the most wonderful time of the year, can offer beauty, but can also deliver acute stress. Pressure to live up to an image of perfect gatherings, meals, and gifts, can render feelings of inadequacy or exhaustion in people when comparing real life to the dream. Festive parties may be coupled with tense conversations when folks don’t see things eye to eye. Clients may feel especially alone in their experiences, thinking others are fine, even though many share these uncomfortable reactions to supposedly cheery days. Mental Health Struggles During the Holidays According to a NAMI study , 64% of those with mental health problems faced increased symptoms, such as more severe depression, manic behavior, and suicidal urges during the holidays. These symptoms may cause those suffering to pull away from others, or experience increased interpersonal friction, abuse, or violence, creating a downward spiral of more extreme social isolation and hopelessness. The pandemic has presumably made these reactions worse, due to long periods of staying at home, facing possible illness, and even losing loved ones. One study showed an increase in anxiety and depression among adults in the US between August 2020 and February 2021. Holiday Helpers Practitioners are trained to be aware of the greater risk of worsening symptoms for their clients during the holiday times. For instance, it is important to remind your clients of what coping strategies already work for them, as it is easy to forget to use what they know when under stress. You may want to discuss with clients anticipated holiday pressures and triggers before the big day(s) arrive. Along with typical triggers unique to your clients are holiday specific changes, such as spending time with people whom they don’t prefer, enduring long trips in crowded or confined spaces, or being alone or away from loved ones. Common seasonal solutions may involve: setting realistic financial plans to spend wisely on gifts and parties. assembling a team of available helpers to ease with holiday cooking, shopping or travel. monitoring use of alcohol, drugs, food or other substances which are often abundantly available at parties and in pantries, leading to potential overuse and/or relapse. watching for reactions when reminiscing about the good old days with family and friends; it may bring out heightened grief missing those who are no longer around. assessing clients for signs of depression, risky behavior and suicidal intentions. scheduling extra therapy or counseling appointments if needed. providing that back up services are in place for your clients if you are out of the office. Give your clients local and national contact resources in case of emergency. For example, the National Suicide Prevention Line is 1-800-273-8255. Moving beyond conventional interventions to include energy practices affords your clients additional layers of support. Energy practices can be customized for seasonal needs. Energy Practices to Add Cheer If your clients are reacting to holiday greetings of bliss and joy with the opposite reactions possibly of negativity, angst, or dark moods, psychological/psychoenergetic reversals may be the culprit. If so, they can be addressed through focusing on releasing trapped energy and information. A free guide to addressing reversals may be helpful. Here are some other ideas to consider: Play up the gratitude so often found in holiday greetings, movies and songs. Write a gratitude list each day counting down until a celebration, or write a list of 12 months in review, to be reminded of what to be thankful for as we close out the end of the year. Tap or hold the space between the eyebrows to reinforce good feelings, or do some calm breathing as shown in this video from Resources For Resilience on the ACEP website . Reinforce healthy boundaries by strengthening the biofield with chakra exercises, such as weaving the chakras and connecting heaven and earth from Eden Energy Medicine, or other energy practices such as massage, Reiki or hatha yoga. Entrain the brain by listening to music designed to induce relaxation, or guided mediations on gratitude. Create a personalized meditation track for your client you can record on their phone in session, which they can keep and listen to in between appointments. Manage triggers by creating advanced techniques like designing a customized energy plan, such as EFT tapping scripts, customized chakra or meridian sequences, or affirmations to enhance competency and success. Make room to appreciate the little things in life, slow down and enjoy, and you’ll create a safe and welcoming space to share with your clients and those in your personal life. ACEP is here to support you as you support your clients. We offer training in EFT to enhance your skills in energy practices. Consider joining a community of practice to meet fellow practitioners, to bolster your support network. Sign up to join us at our next live in person conference. Registration opens in mid January. Sign up for alerts to get best pricing . Let’s celebrate what we are and who we are becoming, as we all create a bridge into the new year. Author Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP is a licensed psychologist in Westlake Village, California, USA. She is certified in Comprehensive Energy Psychology and Logosynthesis. Lori is president of ACEP ( www.energypsych.org ), and is a Reiki master. Learn more about Lori at www.drlorihops.com .

(by Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP) Intuition. The aha moment. The flash of insight. Suddenly solving a vexing problem. Gooseflesh on your arms as you meet an important stranger. A sinking feeling in the gut just before receiving bad news. Our bodies can register nearly instantly vital information for our well-being and growth, and our minds slowly play catch up trying to make sense of it all. Intuition Defined Intuition is hard to define, but easy to recognize. Intuition is: knowing that you know without knowing how or why without conscious reasoning your built in GPS protecting and guiding you the still small voice hard to quantify easy to dismiss vital to honor How Intuition Helps You Intuition can bring a measure of clarity to a confusing and complex world, saving you from danger, as a fail-safe pre-programmed setting. For instance, it can suddenly tell you to stop your feet from crossing into unexpected traffic, despite your mind’s plans to walk ahead. Though a natural occurrence for safety’s sake, you need to deliberately focus on developing intuition in order to benefit from its gifts of subtilty, creativity and depth of awareness. By activating your free will to summon intuition on demand, it will assist you with life’s challenges, reveal secrets, and become a source of trusted advice. The Body is Primed for Intuition You were born intuitive. Recent empirical evidence suggests how this works. Read my article in the 2016 Energy Field listen to this podcast about the science of intuition . The right brain is designed for the hallmarks of intuitive processing of information: global thinking, seeking coherence, pattern recognition, and rapid processing of nonverbal information. The body’s physical receptors capture vibrations, light, sound, touch flooding the stomach, heart and nervous system with information for the brain to decode as we very slowly think with our left brains. Our commonly overrated left brains are primed for logic, sequence, language, limited data storage, mapping onto expectations, flavored with opinions, sifting through the onslaught of data from the body and right brain. Then we react, sometimes too late, possibly never. Intuition bypasses the slow left brain for a quick message to the right brain. It’s up to us to pay attention to the messages of intuition, act on it, or ignore it. Physical and Subtle Information If we decide to pay attention to intuition, it accesses the physical body as a conveyor and container, translating between physical and subtle information. Physical information is represented by three-dimensional reality, such as objects. Subtle information is represented by nonphysical reality, such as thoughts. Here are some commonly known intuitive systems which pass through sensory systems, though the list is not exhaustive. The eyes register and capture physical light variation, by wakeful time in form, by dreamtime or reverie in metaphor. Clairvoyance is clear seeing, with the mind’s eye. The body’s skin and organs measure weight, pressure, and temperature in response to the outside world and inner realms like thoughts and feelings. Gustatory reactions lead to clairsentience, or clear feeling, with chills, gut reactions, sudden fear or relaxation as instant signs of subtle messages. The ears react to vibrational waves coursing through the air. Hearing someone’s voice, or even their thoughts (telepathy): clairaudience is clear hearing with the ears, what is unexpressed or intended but not physically spoken. The mind memorizes facts, decodes puzzles with formal knowledge, and almost magically can also understand without obvious reason, instantly grasping a knowing beyond expectations or conventions, beyond space and time. Claircognizance is clear knowing all at once, appearing effortlessly and often unexpectedly. Lesser recognized is the nose receiving odor which is not in the physical, or clairaulience. It is clear smelling, such as catching a whiff of grannie’s old perfume no longer present, when no one is around. The Chakras and Intuition In order to be a clear and grounded recipient and sender of intuitive information, it is important to be fully present in the body. Steadiness on the earth, rooted with the lower body and the bottom of the spine correctly aligned, hips balanced, healthy and open for creative exploration, and clarity of power in the belly sourced from integrity are a recipe for success with intuition. Chakras are seats of energy, and hubs of information and communication, recognized by many healing systems from around the world. Primarily located along the spine, although found throughout the body, the chakras are related to physical organs, endocrine glands, colors, sounds and concepts; esoteric and practical wisdom is contained in them to enhance life. Chakras process internal and external information and are translators from the physical to the subtle and back again. The root chakra (Sanskrit for wheel) is at the bottom of the spine, the sacral chakra is in the pelvic area below the navel, and the solar plexus chakra is in the abdominal region above the navel. Once these lower chakras are developed and stable, then the upper body can follow suit with the relational heart chakra, clear voice communication in the throat chakra, third eye chakra between the eyebrows for visioning and the crown chakra associated with higher dimensional and mind-based intuition. Three Lower Body Chakras and Matching Elements The Root of the Matter: The first or root chakra connects you to home, the earth, grounding. Like the soil which nourishes new life, the root keeps you alive and vital, or can bury or poison you. The element of earth, which is associated with the root, builds, protects, and soothes, as well as repairs and rebuilds when necessary. Intuitive messages from the root are part of your sense of family, place, history and legacy, and all it represents. Stability, trust, safety and the absence of such, like fear and mistrust reside here. The Ways of Water: The second or sacral chakra in the hip area is characterized by creativity, reproduction, and emotion. Like water that soothes, washes, cleanses, and absorbs, and can be frozen or fluid, the sacral chakra offers generativity or stagnation. Intuition through the sacral chakra can release writer’s block, relieve pent up emotion and memory, and explore the themes of guilt, pleasure and forgiveness. Sexual reproduction and expression are found in both the root (location of the genitals) and sacral (womb, ovaries) chakras. Solar Fire: The third chakra or solar plexus is associated with the various organs in the belly below the ribcage, creating agency, will and self-image. Your personal sun, sending and receiving messages of power are connected to the element of fire which eliminates, purges, builds excitement, and heat. Intuitive messages about relative position and interaction within hierarchies, systems and community reside here, shaping and being shaped by how others and you perceive your self-worth, shame, pride and effectiveness. Triad of Manifestation: Intuition with Earth, Water and Fire When the elements of earth, water and fire combine as part of the three lower body chakras, intuitive work accelerates with manifestation. Intuitive knowing, which is grounded in the rooting of earthiness, tempered by the watery flow of emotion and creativity, and ignited from the fire power of interacting with the world combine into a triad of manifestation. Sourcing your intuitive nature with these features sets you in an optimal place, when balanced with wisdom, to bring alive your truth. It readies you for working with the upper chakras, through the prism of the heart center, to align the physical world with the heavenly world. It all starts with learning how to nurture your natural intuitive senses, following the messages you discover, testing out what you learn and staying open with discernment for new experiences. You can combine intuition and chakra work with energy psychology, extending the practices into a therapeutic format for clients. Advanced Integrative Therapy , founded by Asha Clinton, PhD, uses all of these modalities from a psychodynamic perspective, amongst other approaches. Another approach is John Diepold’s Heart Assisted Therapy , which combines energy psychology with heart-based chakra work with conventional psychotherapy methods and mindfulness. Want to learn more? You can learn about the chakras, energy psychology, intuition and more through ACEP’s vast library audio subscription . You’ll get downloadable learning labs, keynote presentations and invited presentations from past conferences. “Intuition’s Spark” by Lori Chortkoff Hops There’s a mystery that flashes quick, unexpected, yet familiarly unfamiliar. Genius strikes, making landfall, lightning speed. The moment before is often forgotten, singed with tension or boredom. The moment after is complete, silent, blinded. Dumbstruck, it may take years to study, absorb, share. Venus fully formed in the shell. Like time in reverse, bits fall off to be caught piecemeal by the searching brain, sieved through the unsubstantial heart groping for the glimmer, deafened by the inspired inspiration. Author Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP is a licensed psychologist in Westlake Village, California, USA. She is certified in Comprehensive Energy Psychology and Logosynthesis. Lori is president of ACEP ( www.energypsych.org ), and is a Reiki master. Learn more about Lori at www.drlorihops.com . Lori teaches online developing intuition classes and offers personal intuition consultation.

(by Lori Hops, PhD, DCEP) We often face challenges in life that resemble a marathon, but if we treat them like a sprint, we are likely to create more stress than is necessary. The strategy of a long-distance race is different than running a quick sprint. And here is where we have a lot to learn from marathon runners. Successful marathon runners train for long-distance races by maximizing their energy and stamina, while protecting their bodies from overuse and damage. They pinpoint when and how to exert effort, conserve energy and deeply rest. Our capacity for endurance in 2020 and beyond may be enhanced by following tested tips from the pros on marathon race training, blended with energy practices.