Members' Area: Healer Foundation: CPD, therapy newsletter, membership

Our friendly and informative meetings are free for members and are open to friends, colleagues and guests for a small fee of £5.00. All are welcome. In addition to the speaker, the meetings offer a great networking opportunity.

A chance to meet the Healer Foundation team, to share business & philosophies & to meet up with like minded peers and colleagues

Norma Bingley will introduce the fascinating technique of “Overtone Chanting” which is a traditional form of singing in many parts of the Himalayas and Altay;

Hear about the many ways to overtone, and some inspiring stories of healing including one lady whose hearing improved by 20 decibels.

Also discover a new sound therapy Power ToneME Matrix, using an approach that acknowledges subconscious communication, with the use of language and sound. Come and find out about this amazing therapy.

This will be followed by a group “ information exchange” on the topic of “Charging for your therapy treatments”

Download a copy of the full details here.

------A place for members to share ideas, discuss activities and ask questions----

The Serene Centre offers The Healer Foundation members a very cheap rate of £13.00 pp per night for accommodation, for a group of 4 or more in October (when it is still warm enough to swim) for a few days of shared healing and meditation. OK - so you missed that date! Please contact Chris or John for later opportunities.

Members, If you have a story to share, ideas to discuss or anything else you would like to post here please send details via email to Denise

Yes we are back from yet another amazing trip to Pushkar Rajasthan India. As always the trip was the highlight of my year, to visit the girls (the foundation has 175 girls now in full time education & 400 on the waiting list) and see how happy they are to be given the opportunity to have an education is a joy to see. All of the girls are sponsored by different people from all over the world, the website has a list of sponsors and also tells a little about the foundation and its aims. www:foundationfiordilotoindiainc.com

My first visit to India was four years ago, its hard to believe but after reading a piece in the Tera-Mai Reiki news letter some divine force seemed to take over my life. I never had any desire to go to India or anywhere else for that matter, I was happy with my life the way it was. After reading about this guy who was working with the street children I stepped on the roller coaster with angels as drivers and let it happen.

I was doing Reiki shares on a monthly basis and mentioned to the group that I intended going to Pushkar, one lady had visited the area before she said she would like to come with me!! eventually there were four of us on that first visit. We set out to raise money to take with us to help these kids, we only had 6 months and no idea what we were going to do to get the money. I asked all the therapists I knew if they would be willing to give up a few hours a week, the local town hall were kind enough to offer us a room to work from, we were up & running. I put up posters around Knottingley & Pontefract areas advertising taster treatments of Reiki/ Sechiem, Reflexology & Indian Head Massage for £5 per 15mins, this gave us the chance to introduce the therapies to the local community as well as raise money for India.

It was hard work at first having to pack the car with treatment couches, stools, blankets, pillows, candles, towels plus all the other equipment we needed to turn the bingo lounge into a welcoming therapy centre, but I did it week after week for six months. To begin with the clients were few and far between, but word soon spread and things picked up, people came to see what we were about they stayed for coffee and a chat then came again the following week sometimes bringing a friend along with them. We were suppose to be working from 4-9pm but more often than not it would be 10-30 before we had finished then everything was to pack back into the car! it was often after midnight when I'd fall into bed.

India was a shock!!!

I had never travelled without my husband in the 23 yrs we had been together and 4 white woman (especially without a guide) in Dheli caused quit a stir. I had never seen or could have imagined the things I saw, people without limbs, faces so disfigured they didn't even look like faces, men and woman with rags to cover their bodies and not a shoe to be seen, all holding their hands out for money. Little kids whose hair had never seen a comb since the day they were born asking for rupees and chocolate while hanging on to our arms.

I hadn't been in the place for more than an hour when a man attempted to steal my CD player out of my backpack!! it was still on my back at the time, bless him I don't know who was more scared him or me! I shouted so loud he stood in shock!! I remember praying to every angel I could think of to be with me and keep me safe while crying my eys out and saying"I can't do this" Jean one of the ladies who was with me was a star, she had been to India on many occasions and kept telling me I would be fine, I didn't for one moment believe her.......

Parts 2 & 3

Public transport in India is an experience!

Travelling through India on public transport was like being in your very own video game!! the noise was like nothing I could ever describe!. Up in front a cow would be wandering towards us without a care in the world, the bus would have crashed killing everyone on board rather than hit the HOLY COW!! Trucks painted in the most weird way with flying streamers went buzzing by, whole families out for the day (all on one motor bike!!! no joke honest) waved as they passed. The odd camel pulling a card so heavy with its load it look like it was about to tip over, even Elephants!! it got so nothing was a surprise after being on a bus full, and I mean full of people (they were even riding on the roof) for 10 long smelly hours. Pigs, dogs, goats they all shared the road, it didn't even matter which direction they wanted to go! after a while it was best not to look at the road.

We saw some awful sights along the road side, poor people, living in some of the most horrific conditions imaginable. We watched children being put down to sleep under tarpaulin like tents right next to the busy roads. We saw men shaving each other because they don't have a mirror to shave themselves. Toddlers playing in what I can only describe as filth!! like the places our rubbish from the dustbins end up. It got to be the norm to see a bloke peeing just anywhere, kids were crouched over open drains doing what we do in private and thinking nothing of it, they would even wave as we passed. Now is there any wonder I cried for nearly a week?

By the time I reached Pushkar I was in a state of shock all I wanted to do was go home, I missed Mick & the kids more than I ever thought I would and we were only a few days into a 6 week visit to Rajasthan. Pushkar seemed like heaven compared to the disaster that had been Delhi, I instantly felt comfortable in this enchanting little place with its temples surrounding the holy lake.

Meeting a priest and having a puja

I had my first meeting with one of Pushkars many Brahmin priests a couple of days after we arrived. He offered me a flower then asked if I wished to have a puja (a prayer for my family) at the lake. During this ceremonies I felt very relaxed and was truly enjoying the whole experience when I realised I was crying! "Lady why do you cry" the priest asked, " I don't know" was the only answer I could give. He looked me straight in the eyes and said "because you are home" Wow!! looking back on that day still sends shivers down my spine.

The guy who we originally went out to work with was not what we expected, we visited the school and tried to get involved with the kids but things just didn't seem right. I asked for a letter of acknowledgement for the money I had given him, I asked if it was a registered charity and could I see the documentation Reg number & stuff but he kept putting me off.

Finding a new home for the money

To cut a long story short things went from bad to worse and in the end I asked him to return the money to us. He told me it had been stolen! when I said I would send for the police to look into the theft he got quite angry. To say I was shaking in my shoes is an understatement. He took money from his wallet and handed it to me, then asked "are you really going to take that money?" I said I was and turned to walk away, I could feel his breath on the back of my neck as I walked he shouted at me "you are a very wicked woman! you are taking food from the mouths of poor children" By the time I reached the others who had waited some distance away I was so upset I couldn't even speak. This incident was soon spreading around like wildfire, everyone seemed to know what had happened. We were sitting in the coffee shop that night when the priest I had met earlier came to ask if I was ok, he told me of a foundation that helped girls from poor backgrounds have access to education he was the representative in Pushkar!!!! all started from there.

Part 4: My arrival at Pushkar

To say I felt I had come home when I arrived in Pushkar may sound strange to some, I can assure you it felt really strange to me. I had been in shock since arriving in India, but once the four of us arrived in this bewitching little town with its temples and bathing ghats clustered around the holy lake I relaxed. After meeting Deepu [the Brahmin priest] and visiting the office where we were shown everything we needed to see to assure us the Fior Di Loto was cosha we decided that was where our money would go.

We were taken to visit the school the girls the foundation support attend, we were taken to visit the girls and their parents in their homes we even met the driver who collects the girls each morning in his bus [ well truck sort of thing, not really sure what it was] from the out laying villages and then makes sure they get home again when school is over. Each girls needs £120 per year, this money pays for her transport to & from school, 2 uniforms [winter & summer] a hot meal each day, a full medical & any medical treatment she may need while attending school, also 2 hair cuts a year.

Twice a year the founder of Fior Di Loto visits Pushkar from the Dominican Republic, while she is there she organises a picnic for the girls and sometimes a visit to see a movie in nearby Ajmere. These children are amazing!!! they are so happy to be given the opportunity to go to school, they work so hard and behave impeccably. Girls as young as 4 yrs are learning three languages! Hindi, English & Sanskrit. They are being taught the way I remember learning many years ago in my infant school, what we call parrot fashion, the lesson is on the blackboard and it is repeated in a sing song way until its known. Sometimes we would see them leaving school for home the backpacks so full of books they could hardly stand up, but bless their little hearts they always have a smile on their faces.

My angels were with me throughout, I did some strange things while in Pushkar like hiking up a mountain to meditate in the temple with a priest I had only just met. I would wake early on a morning and walk to the lake to see the sun come up, on my own! the others would go to bed early but I would stay out often sitting by the lake talking to the locals the only light from the moon & stars. I remember thinking about this when I got home, was that really me? it was so out of character but it felt so right. I felt and swear I saw my dad while sitting at the lake, I knew he was with me enjoying this experience as much as I was. I fell in love with Pushkar & her people, I cried when we left and promised to return. If you have ever been to India you will know that a promise is a PROMISE!!!