Common Thread - Thursday - May 5th, 2011

The Common Thread Group will meet in Waveland Hall at 7pm.
This month we are going to change things around just a bit.  Just want to keep you on your toes!!! ;o)

We will begin our meeting with a few short announcements and Cathy Lindsay's astrological report for the month.  We will close our meeting with a love and healing meditation.  The energy that we create with our group is a wonderful feeling to take home with us!

Our May speaker is Carole Meade.

The title of her presentation is

Shamanic Journeying:  Walking Between Worlds

The shamanic journey is a practice common to all indigenous societies throughout history, dating back for thousands of years. The oldest burial site for a shaman, who happened to be a woman, was dated to 60,000 years ago. The fact that it has survived for thousands of years speaks to the potency of the work. By listening to a drumbeat or other rhythmic percussion, the shamanic journeyer enters "non-ordinary reality" - an altered state of consciousness beyond time and space - to access spiritual guidance and healing, assist others and the planet and to reconnect with the cycles and rhythms of nature. Join me to learn more about shamanic journeying and to experience a short journey into non ordinary reality.

Carole has been studying Shamanic Journeying and Healing for the past 17 years. Recently, she has been studying with Sandra Ingerman in the Two Year Teacher Training in Santa Fe, NM. As of graduation in April, 2011, Carole is certified to teach Basic Journey Skills, Energy Extraction, Healing with Spiritual Light, Medicine for the Earth, Psychpomp/Death & Dying Work (helping lost souls to cross over) and Soul Retrieval. In addition to teaching, she has a Shamanic Healing Practice. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and a Board Certified Art Therapist.

Common Thread - April 7th

The Common Thread Group will meet at 7pm in Waveland Hall at Plymouth Church. As usual, we will begin with a short meditation followed by a few short announcements (Please keep your announcements short so we don't eat into our speakers time. You are more than welcome to put information on the table by the door for people to pick up if interested.)

Cathy Lindsey will give us the astrological report with how the energies from the planets are affecting us currently.

This month our own Dr. Jim Bell will be our presenter. Jim will be talking on HeartMath, based mainly on the book, "The HeartMath Solution," by Doc Childre and Howard Martin. It describes a practical method of getting into a positive frame of mind, which, as he'll explain, is amazingly beneficial. 

Jim is a small town lad growing up--Tipton, IA.  He graduated from med school (Iowa) 1960, and went into General Practice, then Family Practice in Des Moines starting in 1963, and has been here ever since.

He retired from traditional medicine in 2000 and is now doing patient counseling (depression, anxiety, family and marital discord, obsessive/compulsive , and other similar disorders), and using Spirituality (or Energy Medicine) as basis for counseling.

Common Thread Group - March 3, 2011

Exciting times are ahead, and isn't it wonderful to be able to get together with like minded people to discuss all this marvelous energy and information that is coming in!

I so hope that you will join us on Thursday, March 3rd at 7pm at Plymouth Church in Waveland Hall!
We will begin the evening with a short meditation, as usual, followed by a few short announcements.  Then Cathy Lindsey and I will run through some of the energies associated with Astrology that could help prepare you for what will be happening this month.

I'm excited to announce that our speaker this month is

Geral Blanchard.

Geral had been a traditional psychotherapist working in the field of sexual abuse and interpersonal violence for 37 years when he made a dramatic professional transition. Three years ago he moved away from the mechanical counseling techniques learned through conventional training in psychology and began implementing more intuitive approaches that he had observed in shamanic healings throughout Africa, South America, Canada, and elsewhere. Blending indigenous healing methods with contemporary counseling practices, Geral now brings ancient wisdom and more spiritual care to his patients.

Geral is the author of five books, including the forthcoming book on this subject, Ancient Ways. He has written articles on shamanic-psychotherapy for the British magazine, Sacred Hoop, and the American magazine, Sacred Fire.

His Common Thread presentation will tell the story of his career shift which began by "throwing the bones" in a shaman's hut in Swaziland. Geral will describe his evolution from initial reluctance to a full embrace of indigenous ways.

Thursday - February 3rd - Common Thread Group

Our February meeting will once again meet in Waveland Hall at Plymouth Church at 7pm.  (If you are thinking of joining us for the first time, you'll see details of our location and who we are in the right column.)

We will have free tickets available to the Iowa Holistic Expo which will be March 5th & 6th this year at the Marriott Hotel, downtown Des Moines. Free parking is available across the street in the city ramp for both Saturday and Sunday. Go to http://www.edgelife.net/ and click on Iowa for details.

We will begin with a short meditation, a few short announcements, and Cathy Lindsey's Monthly Astrological Report.  (You can read the previous reports by clicking on Cathy's name to the right side of your screen.)  Our speaker this month will be Kim O'Hara. 

Kim O’Hara will be speaking on the topic of PSYCH-K.

Our lives are based on our perceptions of the world and those perceptions are based on our beliefs. By changing those limiting beliefs that are holding us back, we can energetically change the quality of the experiences we attract into our lives, and thus, change the very fabric of our lives! PSYCH-K is an excellent tool to help you accomplish this as it changes beliefs where they reside – in the subconscious mind!

Kim will present a brief overview of the science behind PSYCH-K, including some information about the breakthroughs of cellular biologist, Bruce Lipton, who wrote Biology of Belief, and is a strong supporter of PSYCH-K. She will then share some proven techniques that you can use at home to change subconscious mind beliefs by enhancing whole brain function and reducing stress naturally. After the main presentation and time for questions, Kim will ask those interested to join in a group balancing of a statement or two chosen by the group. It should be fun to feel the energy shift for so many people around the chosen topics. Popular group balancing statements include “The Universe is safe,” “I trust myself,” and “I am the peace I seek.”

Kim’s Bio: For 20 years, Kim was an attorney and successful insurance executive. In 1997, she left the business world to become an energy healer. In 2004, she moved to Utah and started a more conventional coaching business. While her clients were happy with her services, she was unhappy with her inability to consistently effect meaningful change for them. As we know, insights don’t heal you, and change can be difficult using traditional talk methods. Last fall, Kim discovered PSYCH-K and the desire to help people in a meaningful way was reborn, with the confidence that comes from having the right tools to do the job! Kim is absolutely thrilled to have returned to coaching, to be offering the elegance of PSYCH-K to her clients.

For more information about Kim or PSYCH-K, please visit her website: http://kimohara.weebly.com

January 6th - Common Thread Meeting

Our January 6th meeting will be held in Waveland Hall of Plymouth, starting at 7pm, as usual with a short meditation.  This will be followed by brief announcements and Cathy Lindsey's Astrological report for January.

Due to popular demand, our January meeting will be a group discussion meeting rather than a planned speaker.  Our moderator will be our own Scott Houston.  You may remember that he was our speaker last July on the topic of "The Zen Teachings of Jesus".  As is the way of Zen, Scott chooses not to select a topic for discussion, but is open to any and all that the group wishes to bring up. So, what have you read or heard lately that is exciting, interesting, or maybe even scary?  Have you gotten anything conflicting that you would like to dig into deeper? What have you wanted to learn more about, but hasn't come forward? We will be free-form, so our time together should be great, great fun.

December 2nd - Common Thread Group

This month we will meet in Waveland Hall at 7pm and begin with a few short announcements, followed by Cathy Lindsey's Astrological report for December.

The reason we are not starting with our usual meditation is because are speaker this month is Charles Day whose topic is "Introduction to Meditation and Buddhism".   Charles will lead us through one of his meditations during his presentation.

CHARLES W. DAY

Brief Biography

Charlie graduated from Roosevelt High School and received his BA in Journalism and Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from the University of Iowa. He worked mostly in California but also in California, India, and Thailand as a psychologist, psychotherapist, consultant, and teacher before retiring in 1997.

He’s trained and supervised psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists, and developed and directed mental health programs for Head Start children, juvenile delinquents, drug addicts, abused children and their families, and the Hispanic community.

After working eight years in Asia, he returned to Des Moines in 1994 to work for the Des Moines Child and Adolescent Guidance Center until retiring.

Charlie has studied meditation practices and spiritual traditions for over 40 years and now devotes much of time teaching and writing about meditation and Buddhist philosophy.

He’s the founder and guiding teacher of the Des Moines Meditation and Mindfulness Group, leads weekly meditation groups and occasional retreats in Des Moines and at the Iowa State prison for women in Mitchellville, and administers the Group’s website www.DesMoinesMeditation.org, on which many of his articles appear. He especially enjoys guiding individuals in their meditation and spiritual practices.

Charles W. Day

3100 Grand Ave., Apt. 4F

Des Moines, IA 50312

Telephone: 515-255-8398

Email: charlesday1@mchsi.com

www.DesMoinesMeditation.org