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About Heather – 4 August 2021
““Heather is a very quiet and gentle person, I suspect clearing has helped her deal with the many challenges of bringing up a large family, much of the time, on her own.
She was always the quiet presence during my visits to their home, never one to sit idle, she would be in the back row of a workshop, busily knitting away, taking care of the children and making sure everyone was fed and watered. In all, a delightful person to have on the clearing team.” – Eric Dowsett
text: Eric Dowsett (intro), Heather Rice & Véronique Levadou
Meeting Eric and clearing
In 2000, my ex-husband and Eric met at a conference where they were both teaching. A couple of weeks later, Eric stayed with us in Ireland and that is how I found out about clearing. We talked about organising an informal workshop in our home which had a workshop space. Later that year, he gave the first evening talk in Ireland.
As a mother of three children at that time, I was very busy. I did not think I could do any clearing courses as my children were young; the youngest was six months old. Eric was open to me bringing the children along with someone to mind them. This made it possible for me to travel to the Netherlands for my first clearing residential workshop while meeting my children’s needs.
I enjoy Eric’s down to earth approach, humor and way of teaching. What he teaches resonates with me and my approach to life.
Children and clearing
My children grew up with clearing by having Eric in our home, by attending his workshops with me, first as babies and toddlers, then travelling the world as we went to retreats, and by being exposed to practicing clearing myself and with the local group.
I think it was after years of my five children attending workshops that Eric ran the 28 days family retreat in Vietnam. It was a really interesting retreat as families came with their children for once, and children were involved fully in the retreat.
At previous retreats I juggled being on retreat with being a mum who had little folk needing attention that had to be given discreetly. I remember the Australian one I went to, I had to get to the retreat from the house we rented through the bush early enough for morning meditation and so walked along tapping the ground to notify snakes I was coming. At lunch and siesta, I would go back to the kids for a bit of down time then return to the sessions after.
Gaining experience
When Eric started teaching in Ireland, I was organising workshops and co-ordinating clearing appointments for him in the country. As his chauffeur and host, I gained clearing experience quite quickly and ended up clearing places and people. Then when Eric was away, people would contact me to clear for them. I used to run a weekly clearing group and organised trips to practice space clearing. When explaining clearing, I broke everything down as Eric taught at the time. As the years went on, I talked less and just processed and listened more
I enjoy both personal and space clearing. I love seeing balance being brought about. Getting to know the people and helping support them is always wonderful. When space clearing, the place always seems brighter and happier at the end. Over the years, I have seen incredible results and been honored to be asked for support by extended families in their times of stress. For example, one of the family members of a friend was having difficulties conceiving. I was asked to clear for them. Lots of shifting happened. They got pregnant shortly after having been told that they were unlikely to be able to have a baby naturally.
There are a lot of ghost energies in Ireland and people are often afraid of them. Over the years I have been often asked to clear homes because owners have seen a child, heard strange noises or doors would close suddenly. I love the ‘ghost busting’ part of space clearing, with so much old trapped energy in my country, I very much enjoy help lightening the place and freeing that charge and find I do quite a lot of this type of clearing. The rush of energy, perhaps gratitude, you get at the release point is amazing.
Heather Rice | photo by Zen Rice
Years ago, I used to hold weekend clearing trips for people who had attended a clearing workshop, to practice space clearing. Once we were at a relatively new factory. The energy in that building never had been brilliant. We all were clearing and there was some quite heavy energy in the entrance hall and it kept going on. So, I talked to the owner and I told him that we were finding a lot going on here. I asked him if he had any idea what could be the main issue. He said that the brothers who were plastering the walls got word that their father just had a heart attack but because when you plaster you have to keep going, the chose to complete the wall. By doing that, they embedded their sadness, their grief into the wall of the waiting and entrance area. In this case the insight of the charge left in the walls helped to clear and bring balance to the factory. Being there and releasing charge helps whatever is stuck and it helps the environment. I do love when you look back and the light changes, that you see that place looks kind of sparkly.
A way of life
Clearing helped me understand the feelings I picked up from the world around me. I have always been very sensitive and so felt overwhelmed when younger with the amount of information I would perceive. I had shut down being aware of some of it as a way of self-preservation by the time I was in my teens. Through clearing I realised I could open up again and help bring balance to my world and that of others.
I think it also has helped me be more supportive of family, friends and people I work with. I home educated my five children so had lots of practice being with them 24/7! It has given me a way to tune in, support then disconnect again and keep myself balanced. As I do a lot of clearing automatically, I find sometimes I have to consciously disconnect from issues or energies so I do not keep taking them on. Before I discovered clearing I did not know I needed to do this.
I use clearing with everyone including; sick or upset children, sick animals, people dying and babies being born. Clearing is part of my life. I often wake up knowing someone has given birth or died as have been tuning in to them in my sleep. Smiling and breathing always are good in a crisis and useful in any situation.
I remember clearing at an architect’s office. I was drawn to a filing cabinet and was pulled to a file. I cleared it, and after the owner told me, she actually was heading to a court case with that client but after the clearing the case resolved gently. Those are the wonderful moments when you see how clearing really helped bring balance.
Clearing is really a way of life to me; an approach of loving acceptance and support for whatever and whoever I meet. I use it in daily life working with people, my family, places I go, when working as a photographer and in my voluntary work with breastfeeding mothers. When I am clearing my ears pop a lot, rather than yawing or burping like many other clearers, it makes it easier to do discreetly! I will often be talking to someone and realise I am clearing them. So, it is no longer something I have to focus on, I guess am unconsciously competent now.
The clearing community is very important to me. I love all the big hearts and how our lives have been weaved together. I greatly enjoy the day-to-day support, friendship and peer group. I have seen miracles happen with the community clearing together. For example, a young baby went to hospital with suspected meningitis, her parents were involved in our clearing group so asked for support. After clearing, the results changed and there was no longer evidence of meningitis in newer blood work. The baby bounced back! This is the magic of clearing.
Clearing has merged in all my activities
I use clearing when practicing Nature Photo Therapy, a way of de-stressing using a camera in nature, that I developed after years of seeing the positive effects of people getting into nature with cameras. I find clearing, forest bathing, mindfulness and nature photography is combining into a useful tool. A camera helps to keep you in the moment and to capture the moment, literally. By bringing people out into nature I find they relax and release more easily. Nature’s doing all the forest bathing positive effects, the person is the breathing in the oxygen getting all the benefits of the plant energies, balancing their energetic vibration.
I am also a toy maker and sell my pendulums, which Eric uses on his courses.
And, I have written five books using my handcraft, photography, home education and life experiences. I also help support others running an online group for those writing books.
photo by Heather Rice
I just set up my clearing as a business and am focusing on it more now my family is growing up. I feel there is a great need for clearing and gentle energy support.
Heather’s:
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About Amara – 24 May 2021
“I stopped taking life so seriously all the time and made more decisions that were supportive of what I wanted in life.” – “I find that it is an ongoing journey to bring everything back to the simplicity of the clearing process. It’s so easy to overcomplicate.” These are extracts from different periods in Amara Hamilton’s life. I talked with Amara about her extensive and continuous journey of self-discovery and energy work.
text: Véronique Levadou & Amara Hamilton
From working as an occupational therapist to learning feng shui and energy clearing
Before studying feng shui and energy clearing, I worked as an occupational therapist. When my children arrived and as I wanted more flexibility, I began working for my husband in his surgical practice. After our divorce ten years later, I had the opportunity to consider what I wanted to do relative to my work moving forward. Lots of things had changed in the hospital setting and I was no longer drawn to that type of work.
For a few months, I explored what would be of interest for me. I read a book called The Artist’s Way and started writing my morning pages. In one of the chapters, it invited me to look for synchronicities during the following week and several conversations ended up pointing me to feng shui. I became curious, so I bought a book about it and soon put feng shui into practice. Shortly afterwards, and totally unexpectedly, I received a financial gift which was very helpful to me at that time. I was intrigued.
A short while later, I opened the newspaper and a person from Calgary (Canada) who was being interviewed, talked about her feng shui training and shared that her mentor was coming to Calgary to teach. I reached out to her and decided to book a home consultation for myself and a business consultation for a friend to get a better sense of what these teachings were all about. That is how I started working with energy. The woman I talked to, Gina Dolinsky, quickly became my good friend and she is also part of One-world-one-heart.com.
During our feng shui training, quite a lot of people from Gina’s class went on to Eric Dowsett’s energy clearing teachings. We had all noticed there was a missing piece in our feng shui training as we had not learned how to sense energy patterns and talk about them. I discovered that Eric was teaching this missing piece. During his workshops, I began to sense energy patterns in a physical space and learned how to be with them.
The wild days
Over twenty years ago, I participated in my first space clearing retreat with Eric Dowsett and many more of his retreats followed. A few of these retreats took place in California (USA), which is full of intense fault lines and strong energy patterns. During our retreats, we visited some crazy places where the energy was extreme. I had to completely readjust my perspective and mindset from what I thought was possible. While visiting spaces to practice clearing, my body would suddenly feel freezing cold or I would walk into a room and bump into and bounce off a marshmallow-like energy. One time, we opened a basement door and a strong energetic wind blew through, causing us slightly freak out, quickly shut the door and try to regroup from an unexplainable experience we could feel and not see. We stayed in haunted hotels with lots of night time energetic activity and cleared Asian antiques in a beautiful home only to end up exhausted on the floor after an hour because of the intensity of the energetic attachments to the furniture. We delved into clearing medications, old battle grounds and whatever came our way. I loved these retreats! There was so much to confront in terms of experiences and I learned a lot about expanding my capacity of being with a huge variety of energetic patterns and not getting triggered by them. It was such a great bonus to have a clearing community and we got to know each other well.
In those first couple of years, it seemed to take a long time for most people to understand and implement the basic principles of the clearing work. Our minds were over-complicating everything. The teachings were new and Eric was constantly reminding us to keep things simple. After a while, we began to notice that retreat participants were understanding the concepts faster and faster. What had initially taken two or three days to transmit, could suddenly be done in a half day. I remember us all commenting on having been there to start building an energetic path that was quickly turning into a road and then a highway, allowing the energy clearing information to be picked up with much more ease and speed.
Continuing clearing
When I started with the clearing work, it became more apparent how disconnected I had been from my body for most of my life. As I kept practicing, I started to become more sensitized to variations in the energetic patterns in my environment and I received a framework to put that into words.
Previously, I had mostly lived my life in a reactive way. I did not feel I had a lot of choice or control and often life seemed unfair and I would sink into “poor me” thoughts. It was a huge shift in my life to realize that I was responsible for the quality of my life and that I could choose my next step, no matter what. All of a sudden, there was room to breathe and move. I stopped taking life so seriously all the time and made more decisions that were supportive of what I wanted in life. Implementing these foundational principles changed everything in my life for the better and I am deeply grateful for that.
For me, space clearing was initially easier to access because I could sense the earth energies and their different flavors more easily in my body. Over time, I learned to connect with the more subtle aspects of personal clearing as well. In the beginning of my clearing work, I therefore focused mainly on space clearing. I have a good affinity for physical spaces. Once I have seen a space or looked at a floor plan, I will remember it and, if needed, it’s easy for me to rearrange the furniture to create a better flow or functionality, including managing clutter.
Working with clients
I quickly incorporated energy clearing into my work as the foundational practice and let go of doing pure feng shui. For me, it made sense to mix feng shui and clearing because I am a practical person and my clients have practical challenges. Common examples are: not being able to focus at their desk, not being productive, not sleeping well, and not really feeling at home in their living space. I always like starting clearing the physical space. Once the underlying energetic patterns start shifting, we can add personal clearing and incorporate some feng shui principles to address productivity, health and steps to move forward in the client’s desired direction. I also love that all the clearing work can be long distance, which allows me to work all over the world.
Often people may think that a house clearing does not relate to them personally, that it is separate from them and their issues. However, the living space and personal life are closely intertwined. It helps to clear the physical space first and then it allows the personal challenges to come forward. No matter if we are working in a client’s home, office or place of business, something will always arise that is ready to be cleared or addressed in some form. When I ask a client to stand in the area of greatest energetic challenge, they will often experience a stress response: a word will come up or a body sensation is noticed. We will then talk about how that is playing out in their lives and then we have the beginning of a conversation that is more personal.
I attract mostly women who feel stuck in some aspect in their lives. They want to move forward into a new phase of life and complete a past cycle, they want to create new work or make a change in their current work. They also want to be more visible and impactful which means they want clarity, more boundaries and a sense of connection to their bodies, truths and desires. They are tired of having to play roles, but want to be themselves and show up as themselves no matter what life brings them. I had to face and work with all of these challenges myself, so I can relate very much to all of these topics.
Amara Hamilton | photo: Don Hajicek
Clearing work now
At this moment, the majority of my time I work for a seminar company which is all about embodiment, being seen and heard, and making an impact. I am responsible for training and supporting the teachers they train. I met the owners eight years ago. They are very open to energy work and so we started collaborating. I clear the office spaces, the team, events and event spaces. I also coach their clients in their business and personal growth programs. It’s a wonderful, constant reminder of being present and addressing what is showing up in the moment and I may use clearing, shadow work, and anything else I have in my toolbox, to assist them.
I also have my own clearing and feng shui business. I mostly work with adults, but will do some clearing for children and pets if they are part of the family. In my own work as well, I mix clearing and coaching, following what arises in the moment. Some of my clients I have known for many years and I enjoy the deep connection.
Over the past 20 years, I have been very attracted to the energetic framework of the feng shui bagua. The bagua is like a compass, helping to orient us in physical spaces and offering another layer of energetic information to work with. While most feng shui consultants use it for the physical spaces, I have always applied it to the inner space of people as well. The bagua describes all areas of life and offers a holistic perspective. As I see it, we have lots of areas in life that are going along just fine, and then a couple in which we find our continuous challenges, our personal growth areas, so to speak. I have created a program, Wise Woman’s Compass™, that offers a personal journey through these different aspects of the bagua. Often, I use this framework as the foundation of a clearing journey. It seems to support people in creating more spaciousness in their lives, letting go of what does not serve anymore and being able to have a greater perspective from which new, more aligned choices can be made. That leads to more ease, fulfillment, joy and peace.
The simplicity of clearing
I find that it is an ongoing journey to bring everything back to the simplicity of the clearing process. It is so easy to overcomplicate. Eric Dowsett talks a lot about what made a huge impact on me, and I therefore teach other people as well, which is to not take things seriously, to not pick up the story.
I enjoy supporting my clients by explaining and finding simple examples or visuals and add in some humor to help them understand their more complex issues and habitual patterns. It takes away from the seriousness most people fall into when dealing with their issues.
One explanation I often share is this: when you notice or think of something that bothers you or you feel a strong emotion, imagine allowing it to move in through one ear and out the other. What usually happens is that a thought arises in context with a feeling and our minds habitually go and pick a story from our lives to explain what is going on. We have many ideas, themes, stories, fears, worries coming to mind during the day. So, a question to ask yourself is, how do you know you picked the right story? Once we have picked a story, we tend to get stuck with it, there is more worry, fear and everything goes downhill from there. How would it feel instead to notice the thought or emotion, acknowledge it, but not pick up a story? Just allowing it to pass through the mind and then letting it emerge out the other ear back into the universal flow of things.
People often don’t know that they have the option to not pick up all the stories again and again. They can allow themselves to stay in a flow and be more present to what they want to bring into their lives and experience, instead of reliving and getting stuck in their past all the time. This will add a sense of spaciousness and lightness to their day.
I really love what I do and the fact that I can combine my tools, experience and knowledge and have it be my unique expression.
Final thoughts
I have so much opportunity to coach and support clients. My current attitude is to simply show up and to be present. I don’t create a plan of action ahead of time. I may have some thoughts and options in my head, but I am not fixed on them. When clients make an appointment, they often tell me what they want to talk about. Once I am with them, I check where they are that day because between the moment they contacted me and now, how they experience their life or the issue they want to talk about, can be very different. My intention is to be present in the moment and to be open to whatever arises. While we are always in an experience of clearing and holding space, sometimes a tool or strategy gets added.
In my heart I know that simply being with a space or a person, staying open, non-judgmental, untriggered, is allowing a shift to occur. Sometimes people need some talking, explaining and experiencing to calm their minds, to convince themselves that in their estimation something is happening. In the end, it’s about making contact and being together.
I feel very fortunate to be able to express myself in so many ways through the clearing work. It’s an integrated part of my life and the journey is ongoing.
Amara’s:
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About Lois – 22 April 2021
“Where I am today, is not where I am going to be tomorrow. I am not the same as I was yesterday. One of the biggest gifts is to understand this as you learn to experience every moment present, mindful and free.” Here is the story of Lois Kramer Perez and some of her highlights of clearing and life experiences.
text: Véronique Levadou & Lois Kramer Perez
I feel really fortunate that I had the opportunity to be introduced to clearing way back when I was on my journey of transformation.
A part of the requirement of the school where I was learning feng shui, was to take courses related to feng shui work and one of the teachers, who was a student of Eric (Dowsett), recommended his workshop. That recommendation made sense to me, it just fit and I went on his three-day clearing workshop.
This workshop was so impactful that it changed everything for me. Eric is the perfect teacher as his teachings are so simple. I resonated with his energy, the way he expresses things, the examples he gives and the tools he empowered us all to explore. I really clicked with his classes when I first heard him say “Don’t believe a word I say, find out for yourself”.
Clearing taught me to relate to myself in a different way.
Clearing is merging everything. It is so powerful yet so simple. To me it shows more about living, and it is not so much about the action of doing. Clearing is all the time. It becomes how you relate to what you are thinking, saying, talking and how you are noticing. Sometimes I get a delayed notice; I’ll get a reaction and then later the realization. At least I noticed something as opposed to just going around and not noticing any feeling at all!
Before I knew about clearing, energy work was not present in my daily life.
Retrospectively, I was very much connected with some people in an unusual way. I would for example know what happened to them before talking to them. When I did the clearing work, being connected to others became stronger. I did not realize how sensitive I was until then.
After my husband died, I decided to learn reiki, feng shui and clearing which made me live and see things in a different way.
I loved my job in the fashion industry, but the business in that world started to change. I would come into the office with coffee. Before I took my coat off, I turned on the computer and listened to the voice mail. I would be starting my day as if I was standing on one foot.
Inspired by one of my feng shui teachers, I got myself a set of Tibetan tingsha cymbal bells. The bell sound felt like a reminder to disconnect to what was happening around me, breath consciously and to get clear. From then on, every day, I would arrive at my desk, take off my coat, sit down and then ring the bells three times.
One day, I did not ring the bells for some reason, and I heard someone from the office down the hall call out “Hey Lois, why didn’t you ring the bells?!” Apparently, my colleagues listened to the bells as well. Then they asked me to bring the bells to meetings. When I would ring the bells, everyone would just stop for a second and take a deep breath. Someone asked me to go to his cubicle and ring the bells because he was experiencing a really bad day. And, two designers fighting on which colors to choose for the season requested the bell ringing as well.
Clearing helped me to stop being a multitasker at work, to set the boundaries that I wanted and to become aware of new realities, to see through realities that I decided were true.
A colleague with whom I befriended with, became my boss. Her behavior and communication slowly changed and she would really get on my nerves. The way we were interacting could be tense and I just did not understand what was happening. One day, she was picking on me and I was so angry that I made a list of things I wanted to tell her next time we met. After finishing the list, I read it and had to laugh. I realized it was all nonsense. It sounded ridiculous as there was actually nothing to say. I felt that there was no charge anymore because I was not connecting to anything.
How I related to things like that, shifted. Practicing reiki, feng shui and clearing felt like a much different way to live than to be driven by emotions or getting lost in stories of emotions. I began teaching classes and working with clients in the evenings and weekends. Living differently just happened. It wasn’t that I had a plan.
Clearing workshops are life changing, and retreats of five or seven days are even so much better as they deepen personal development.
Either way, I love the different locations of the retreats, different energy, meeting different people, having different experiences every time.
Fifteen years ago, I requested an unpaid prolonged leave to be able to attend a four-week clearing retreat. Shortly after I made that request, I was on a business trip beginning in Seoul then on to Shanghai. When I arrived at the hotel in Shanghai, I discovered I lost my passport. People around me panicked and even though I was really not happy about the situation, I knew then, with everything I learned from clearing, that good things can happen to people. I asked the concierge of the hotel to help me find my passport, which I thought I lost at the airport. I told him: this is going to be simple, just call people at customs at the airport, here is the copy of my passport and when I’ll get back later you will tell me ‘good news, we found your passport’. He was looking at me like I was nuts!
I then left for a dinner with my colleagues and it took all the strength I could to stay present and not get pulled into the emotions around the lost passport. I could feel tightness in my throat and I would take a deep breath to release the tightness. I had been practicing this for years while participating at many workshops and retreats.
Before going on this trip, I had been daydreaming about quitting my job to practice feng shui and clearing. I was imagining how my life would be, how it would feel, what my schedule would be every day.
A few hours later, I returned to the hotel and the concierge said to me ‘good news, we found your passport, good things happen to people’! Tears began to flow and I realized clearly that this was my sign to quit my job. I could hardly wait to get back to the office to turn in my notice. My last day at the office was on Chinese New Year’s Eve. I celebrated a new beginning and I have not looked back.
Now, I was free to experience a life changing 28 day clearing retreat in Vietnam. Halfway into the retreat, my hand was severely burned. I decided I would not go to the hospital, instead have the doctor come to the retreat venue, and he did.
The magic of it was, everyone was clearing me and by the time I went home, my hand was completely healed. Of course, the doctor treating my hand every day for two weeks was part of the healing. Even the doctor and nurse were surprised how quickly the 2nd and 3rd degree burns were healing. I just knew my hand was going to heal before I got on the plane as I decided that this was the only reality I would accept.
Every time I become fascinated with new information to learn, as I did with reiki, feng shui, clearing, neuro-linguistic programming and past life regression, I have even more tools that I can share with my students and clients. I find that as I learn more and more, these techniques begin to merge together.
I cannot seem to separate these techniques in all that I do. The clearing principles have just become a way of life. A lot of the principles used through these different techniques are connected to clearing. Combined, these tools help clients learn to clear themselves, to become empowered.
Clearing gives me the ability to be able to step back and notice when I am judging something and to realize when I am getting lost in the energy of the feeling, or maybe taking something personal, which I then turn into a story to blame something external. Clearing changed the way I did everything because, like feng shui, it is not a black and white process. It is a complete process of wholeness. It has to do with the person, who they are, where they are, what is happening for them at the moment and their relationship with everything. When I have a feng shui consult, there has to be some clearing involved because clients might be holding on to something in a way that they don’t even realize, for example an unconscious defense mechanism. Clearing helps to release charge of what clients are holding on to. I enjoy bringing the information down to basics, to simplify how we look at things.
Many years ago, I created a clearing meditation circle group as it became such a part of everything I did.
When I facilitate these meditations circles, I use the clearing principles and I explore how to expand clearing for people so that they have something tangible to connect to and enjoy the process.
Every time I learn something new, I have to share it, I cannot keep it to myself. We are meant to share. Sharing is about understanding the purpose of the collective. We don’t realize how our energy is supporting the complete collective. We are human tuning forks, everything is connected. Sometimes media likes to promote triggers that get people angry and upset. Why can’t we promote and trigger people to be happy and peaceful?!
With clearing there is no judgement, it is just what it is. When we clear, the polarity is removed from this is good and this is bad. It is just the experience right in the present moment.
When people have a certain fear, I use these two analogies a lot; if you stick your hand in the gas flame of your stove, you are going to get hurt so you don’t do that. However, it does not mean you have a fear of cooking. And, you are not going to run across a highway on which cars are going sixty miles an hour. However, it does not mean that you are afraid of highways. In other words; there are things that are not beneficial to do because they are not going to serve you, but it does not mean there has to be fear around it.
My mission is to offer opportunities for people to become open to other possibilities, to understand what it is to feel relaxed and to have the power to be in control of themselves regardless what is happening around them. To naturally process the information of the energy of emotions before they get swept away.
If you change your mind around an issue, if you stop connecting to an emotion, like fear, if you stop judging it, then it no longer exists. A clearing helps to move the energy. Using all these methods I have been merging, really shifts the thinking and feeling. It gives an opportunity to release thoughts which are spinning. Even if you get five minutes of peace and relaxation out of it, that is awesome.
At a week-long clearing retreat many years ago, I noticed that some people were experiencing epiphanies and I did not.
I was wondering what I was getting out of this retreat. After doing a clearing exercise, I stood up, tripped, and fell on my hands. I cried like I was three years old. The crying unlocked a vault of stuff; the energy of emotions and feelings that were ready to be released. Ahhh, what a relief!
Think of it this way: holding on to the energy of emotions or feelings are like filling up a balloon. How much can you blow up a balloon before it explodes? When you least expect it, at the most inopportune time, such as when you stub your toe or bump your elbow, it will be like the balloon blowing up and out comes the expression of the energy emotions!
Learning ways to release or clear energy in the mind, body and soul will minimize the extreme expressions allowing to notice every energy of emotions and feelings without having to stuff them down deep inside or to get lost in the energy of emotions. That was one of my epiphanies.
All these experiences bring us to our own awareness, and it is all uniquely timely. If it is the right time, you’ll get it and if it isn’t, you won’t. And that is okay because that is just where you are right now.
The simplest thing I like to share is that you are born with a naturally powerful instrument, available to you 24/7 and it is your breath.
Just by noticing, you can begin to clear anything. First, decide there is nothing good or nothing bad. As you take a breath in, breathe in what is beneficial to you right now. Then, as you exhale, release what you no longer need right now. Keep it simple and do not even be concerned about the details. Focus on the ease of the moments. It only takes twenty seconds to begin to change our neuro pathways in our brains. How easy it that?! Just a few mindful breaths you are already changing your present state to peace. You have to breathe anyway, so do it like you mean it!
The key here is to redirect your attention to something else. Everyone has their own methods already, whether it’s getting up and moving, doing a power pose, using your breath to clear your energy or even singing a song. Find the action that connects with you and keep it simple. Energy has no rules to what you have to do or be. Learning clearing is a never-ending journey. Where I am today, is not where I am going to be tomorrow. I am not the same as I was yesterday. One of the biggest gifts is to understand this as you learn to experience every moment present, mindful and free.
Lois Kramer Perez | photo: Jean Terman Photography
Lois’:
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About Annelies & Franca – 31 January 2021
Annelies Bretveld is living in The Netherlands and Franca Giuliani in New Jersey, USA. Over the years, these two experienced clearers have met several times at clearing retreats. A while ago, they asked each other the same questions to share in more details how they practice energy clearing.
Annelies
Franca
When was the first time you heard about clearing?
Annelies: “My ten year old daughter came to me and said that she was afraid of ghosts in our house. So, I arranged to have our house cleared. That space clearing was a special experience for the whole family. After the clearing of our house, my husband experienced the house much lighter than before. For the first time in years, the guinea pigs of my son were not nervous but calm. My daughter felt much better and wasn’t afraid anymore. And I saw and experienced the lightness during and after the clearing!”
Franca: “I met Eric (Dowsett) for the first time in New York City around 2005. At that time, I was studying feng shui, which included a long weekend course with Eric and dowsing. He introduced me to dowsing and clearing. During that course, we had to report to a private residence in a very nice neighborhood in New York City. So, a bunch of us walked around this home following dowsing rods and checking in with a pendulum. I found it so amazing! Interesting enough, about ten years later, I met the owner of that residence while attending a space clearing workshop in Switzerland.”
What made you start clearing yourself, others and spaces?
Annelies: “I realized that clearing makes a difference. After my first experience with the house clearing, I attended a clearing workshop.
I loved the silence and the concentration.
I could easily feel it and wanted to experience more about this magic field.”
Franca: “At my first workshop, I was surprised about the dowsing rod and wanted to know how it worked. After following a couple of workshops of Eric, I realized that every clearing workshop is different. Different people, different location, different atmosphere and different energy. And every time I learn new things.
The most important thing that I learned, and I am quoting a philosopher, ‘You can’t put your foot in the same river twice’. Meaning that even if you do the same thing again, it will be sort of different because the natural changes, such as time. Time has at least changed. Every workshop, every retreat has taught me yet another thing. Even if the structure and attendees were the same.”
How do you apply clearing in your life?
Annelies: “I use clearing on a daily base in my personal and professional life.
In my personal life, I use clearing at the start of the day, to become aware of myself, my body, my environment. I release (a part of) the stress of my children when they have an exam or a test at school and I clear the people around me, like my dearest friends and family when they are in trouble or could need some help.
Since I began clearing, my life has changed. The relationship with my parents, my husband, my children and people around me became better. And last but not least: I became more patient, less angry and more compassionate to other people!
Regarding my professional life, I am an interior designer and feng shui consultant. In the beginning, about eight years ago, I saw energy (space) clearing as a nice addition to my other services because I could do more for people with a problem concerning their home. At that time, clearing was a separate service. After a while, I experienced that clients (and I!) became more interested in the clearing part and a new service was born: a combination of space clearing and feng shui advice. In this combined consult, the quality and the flow of the energy in a house will be brought in balance. Over the years, space clearing became more and more important in my business. Instead of an additional separate service, clearing became an essential part of my work and it is often the start of a project. When working with a new client, I begin with an energy scan and then very often a space clearing is the next step.
Another part of my work is giving workshops in personal clearing and courses in space clearing. Live and online. In a one-day workshop participants learn what clearing is and how they can practice it. The next step for the enthusiastic clearers is to learn how to clear the environment in a four-day space clearing course.”
Franca: “I use it everywhere and every time. In my personal life I’m practicing clearing on a daily base. In my professional life, I earn money with it by doing personal and space clearings and teaching both ways of clearing. And also, in my job as a feng shui consultant I make use of clearing. Even if I am working with someone just to help get a grip on their clutter, energy clearing is part of it.”
Why and how did you start giving workshops and courses?
Annelies: “Before working as an interior designer and feng shui consultant, I was a lecturer. I always liked teaching people and standing for groups. That was the most important reason for me to start giving workshops. At first, I organized feng shui and Nine Star Ki workshops. It took a while before I had enough confidence to teach personal clearing workshops, together with my colleague clearer Jacky Rademakers. Before starting my thought were that clearing is less concrete and therefore more difficult to explain. However, during the first workshop we gave, there was no problem at all with the explanation of clearing! Jacky and I became enthusiastic and a lot of workshops and courses later, we still are enjoying giving these clearing workshops.”
Franca: “Because I became so amazed by what I have learned! I wanted to share this knowledge with others, and explain to them how it can help in their lives. Getting people to attend started mostly by word of mouth. I would separate the subject matters, because I noticed that some are so interested in feng shui but could not grasp clearing (just yet). Interestingly enough, the interest in dowsing and clearing has been increasing more and more each year.”
How do you explain clearing to someone who has never heard of it?
Annelies: “I always say that clearing is a very easy and simple way of releasing stress. Everyone can understand that! The next question which often arises is: how do you do it? My answer is: ‘I listen and focus on my body instead of focusing on my head.’ That’s all. Everyone can learn it!”
Franca: “I always say that clearing is about being available for someone else. There are so many things of the universe we don’t know and couldn’t see and for me clearing is a way of tapping into this universe.
Once I did a personal clearing with someone. She was curious and had no clue of what it was about, nor how it could help her. Going through her personal energetic fields, I sensed that there was a concern regarding her ‘voice’, having to have a conversation that she does not want to have with someone. I made myself available to ‘hold a space’ and clear. Afterwards, she shared with me that for the past few months, she had struggled with how she can tell her 94-year-old mother that it was time to give up her driving license.”
What is your favorite part of clearing?
Annelies: “Space clearing is my favorite! When I am clearing a house or a building, it feels like being one with the environment. It is a quiet place to be in and the only thing I have to do is to feel, to notice the experience, nothing more. I cannot think when I am in that place, so it is very relaxing. For me, that is the nicest way of being.”
Franca: “Space clearing is my favorite as well. In the first place because it’s the most important part of clearing for clients’ homes and also because I like to do this part the most. Space clearing can matter the most. If I can help someone or a situation, I am grateful. One can do all the feng shui adjustments, organize all that they can. However, if the underlying energy space has not been cleared, any effort may not stick.
Of course, personal clearing can bring a lot for someone. When the house of a person isn’t cleared, it is just like ‘putting fresh flowers in dirty water’. Personal clearing can help bring up emotions and feelings that are hidden way inside of us. Once, one of my clients realized how her happy marriage really was unhappy.”
Which clearing for someone had the most impact on you and on the other?
Annelies: “I did a space clearing for a family with a son who didn’t dare to sleep in his own bed for years. While doing the clearing it became clear – for me and the family – that there was a lot of charge in the room of the boy. Even though it took some time for the energy to settle, six weeks later the boy slept in his own bed every night without being scared. It was an impressive experience for me and for the family.”
Franca: “There was a woman who had to make a very important choice in her life and the choice could not be based on mental arguments. Married for more than twenty years, she had to decide if she would stay with her husband, with whom she has three children, after his infidelity. After a personal clearing, the woman knew what to do. This was a very intense experience, for her and for me.”
How important is a clearing community for you?
Annelies: “Very much. It makes me feel like I am not alone. The community is a big family, with some very close friends nearby and others at a distance. When a challenge occurs, the clearing family, spread all over the world, is there to help. And, just like a real family, our clearing community is growing.”
Franca: “It is very important that there exists a clearing community and for me it is important being a member of it. It’s like having a buddy system. There is always someone to learn from, ask questions and teach.”
Annelies‘:
Franca’s:
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About Nicole – 9 December 2020
In this video, energy clearer Nicole Kincaid is answering – in her words and with her own experience – the question she gets asked the most: “Do you get drained when you do energy work?”
Nicole’s:
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About Therese – 20 november 2020
A mother, a wife, an energy clearer, owner of a feng shui business and home interior store, and much more. This is a very short enumeration to describe Therese Uyterlinde Österman. The article focusses on how one of her dreams recently came to life and how she used her life experience and energy clearing to realize it.
text: Véronique Levadou | photo: Stéphanie Driessen
text continues below photo
As a young girl, Therese had a natural impulse to rearrange objects in her family house. “After cleaning-up or moving objects and giving them a new place, it felt better and it was making more sense”. This is one of the first memories which is part of the common thread of Therese’s way of living and working to harmonize spaces.
Together with her husband, Therese raised two children and they moved twice between The Netherlands and Sweden. Around that time, she followed extensive training in healing, feng shui and shamanism. Growing up on a small island in Sweden, nature and natural elements always played a big part in Therese’s life.
The process of starting her own business is one of many years in which Therese was collecting knowledge, inspiration and courage to follow her dream. The day she put her intention and energy on designing her business logo, was the day it became visible and clients began to contact her.
Out of curiosity how others were working with energy in homes, Therese discovered energy clearing by Eric Dowsett and started reading his books she borrowed from her father-in-law, who went to his workshops many years ago. After attending several personal and space clearing workshops and retreats in The Netherlands and Italy, she added energy clearing to the services she already offered to her clients. Even though personal clearing is often connected with space clearing, she has a slight preference for the latter. “When you experience imbalance in your house, you can solve that with energy clearing. After clearing, a space feels like you can breathe and move around more freely as the pressure is gone. Clearing is a positive renewal of your space”.
About one year ago, Therese found the building for her interior shop. How one resonates with a space, is very important for Therese. When she went to visit the building for the first time, before entering, she took some time to make a connection from a distance with the building. She looked at it from the other side of the road, tuning into the store and the surrounding environment. She continued being aware of what she felt when she approached the old shop, in a way any space clearer would approach a site to be cleared. Many surrounding elements and aspects can influence spaces. By doing this, Therese consciously felt a flow of energy within her while she was connecting with it. That was the moment she knew this was the place she wanted for her shop.
Before embarking on her new adventure, as an active member of One World One Heart and the clearing community, she asked fellow energy clearers to clear the upcoming store to ensure all unbalanced energies would be lifted. During the renovation, the shop was taken over by many workers. She literally and figuratively gave them space to work while she prepared the concept, design and hunt for sustainable interior products.
“Harmony and balance are essential. The products in the store are all related to the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). The guideline for the store is the natural rhythm of the elements, the balance of yin and yang that we find in all living things”. Therese handpicked and cleared each object, from the furniture, vase, stone, plant to a blanket, to assemble a well-balanced inventory.
As the store, now the core business of her company, is currently in a balanced state, regular conscious clearing it is not required. Therese is unconsciously harmonizing the space by just being connected to her environment. Each visitor is commenting on how beautiful, calm or inspiring they experience the store. Now and then some visitors drop by just to feel the ambiance of the space.
Therese’s:
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