During my thirty-five-year nursing career, I have been privileged
to sit with patients and families of patients awaiting imminent
death. I have had the honor of helping families cope with
difficult medical decisions. I have been present to many people
in their suffering. But not one of those many encounters over
the years prepared me for this horrific night, when the patient
was my precious daughter and she lay before me, wishing to
die.
This crisis followed a long and difficult pregnancy and weeks
of incapacity from a stent placed into her left kidney to
help pass several large kidney stones. She had gone into the
hospital to have it removed so that she could once again enjoy
limited mobility and some respite from the pain. She returned
to her room following kidney surgery in nearly unbearable
agony. Rather than remove the stent, the surgeon also had
to place one in the other kidney to help pass a total of five
stones that no Western medical treatment or device could dissolve,
and the resulting pain was beyond all pharmaceutical relief.
Her breath was short and gasping, her hands clutched the sheets,
and her ashen face was drenched with perspiration. It was
more than I could bear to witness – and there was absolutely
nothing I could do for her.
If ever I had wished for the power of the Gods to perform
a miracle – this was the moment. Since that was not
possible, my sense of inadequacy, frustration, fatigue from
eight months as caregiver, anger, sorrow, and fear raged through
my being with a force that transcended every emotion I had
ever known. I was shattered and yet captive of the moment.
I had to stay connected. It was like standing with my finger
in a live socket taking the volts of electricity and not being
able to let go. Together, my daughter and I barely endured
another endless night.
The next morning the phone rang. I picked it up expecting
it to be my husband. Each day that he was unable to come to
Sioux Falls he would call for an update on the status of his
beloved daughter. The voice on the other end wasn’t
his, but rather that of Wanigi Waci.
“Your daughter is very ill.”
Hearing the comforting voice of my mentor and friend reduced
me to tears and I sobbed, “I know she is, Wanigi Waci,
but I have run out of ideas on how to help her.”
“If you like, I can bring medicine to her, Jo,”
he offered.
Little did I know that this offer would take me into another
dimension of health and healing, to a place I had never been
before, a place that would explain the appearance of the five
stones and the meaning they held for the women in my ancestry.
Excerpted from
Mother, Heal My Self: An Intergenerational Journey Between
Two Worlds
by JoEllen Koerner
Foreword: Jean Watson Ph.D., RN, HNC, FAAN
Published by: Crestport Press (www.crestport.com)
Description: JoEllen Koerner was raised in
a small Mennonite community in South Dakota, became a Civil
Rights activist in the South, and rose to prominence as a
nurse executive of international repute. None of these life
experiences, or her honed skills as a Western medical practitioner,
prepared her for the moment every parent hopes never happen:
Her daughter, Kristi, her body wracked with pain, asks permission
to die.
Into
the depths of this dreaded moment enters Wanigi Waci (Spirit
Dancer), a dear friend and keeper of the Lakota Sioux healing
traditions. He invites Kristi and JoEllen into his People's
time-honored healing ways and giving community, using Native
American alternative medicine with ramifications whose importance
ultimately surpasses the restoration of Kristi's health.
Mother,
Heal My Self, a work of surpassing beauty and power,
invites the reader to explore the deeper powers of spiritual
healing and the necessity for increased intergenerational
awareness. The book's raw honesty makes JoEllen Koerner's
quest everyone's quest for meaning.
About the Author: JoEllen Koerner, Ph.D.,
RN, FAAN, is past president of the American Organization of
Nurse Executives and an originating member of the Center for
Nursing Leadership. She is co-founder of the Healing Web,
a collaborative education-service model that facilitates service
learning in the community.
Excerpt from Seven
Directions Movement Meditation
BREATH
We inhale, we exhale, this we know.
Our breath is the most important healing gift we have. Breath
feeds flesh and bones so one may ACTUALIZE ONE’S POTENTIAL.
Movement is initiated by the breath.
Breath is Life. It is a natural reality that is present in
us all. When we consciously work with our breath the mind
becomes focused and our breath carries thought around the
world. Motherearth inhales and exhales, just as we do. Sacred
life energy moves within her body as it does in ours. Simply
in the way we begin our day we experience the power of breath
and movement to bring harmony and to clarify the mind.
Our physical existence depends upon our breath. Breath is
paramount in all we do and crucial in all physiological functions
of our body. Breathing is not only a physical process it is
the vital source connected to the functioning of mind and
emotions. When we are in touch with our breathing our state
of mind and emotions are affected.
Feelings, thoughts and emotions may be released, our thoughts
and emotions stabilize, giving way to relaxation and ease,
bringing clarity and focus to our being.
During the Seven Directions Movement Meditation
we learn to synchronize the movements of the body with the
flow of the breath. Basically, the breathing in of the vital
force is done with the movements of receiving, gathering in.
Sending out, the give away movements are performed with full
exhalation.
As the breath and movement become in harmony so the dance
flows with ease and grace. When the mind and movement are
in harmony the mind remains focused.
7
Directions Movement Meditation by Whitefeather
Seven Directions Movement Meditation Trio
Item Price:$ 45.00
Collect all three of White
Feather's Seven Directions Movement Meditation; includes
booklet, CD, and video. With this complete set you will be
practicing this dance with ease and grace : )) The perfect
gift for someone who has everything! "White Feather has
provided us with a phenomenal expression of human movement
that is connected with earth energy. She has shared this with
countless people to help them feel their wholeness as an expression
of inner truth." Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, Elder of
the Seneca Wolf Clan.
New from White Feather!
Introduction: The Seven Directions Movement Meditation (Understanding the Cycles of Truth). Embraces all life with gratitude and love. A gentle movement utilizing the body, mind and breath. Strengthen heart, bones, vibral core. Bring clarity and focus to your life.
Course Description: We will join together as one body, one mind, one heart, one law, the law of Love. Sending our thoughts of peace to the Seven Directions.
Lesson 1. Will explain the philosophy of the wisdom wheel, the 12 Cycles of Truth. We will explore the colors and animals residing in the four cardinal directions, their attributes and gifts and how they relate to us.
Lesson 2. The Breath. We will focus on the breath. The importance of being aware of it and how it relates with the movements of the dance and in our daily life.
Lesson 3. The movement. Now we are prepared to properly implement the movements and learn the meaning of each of them.
Lesson 4. The Dedication. We will discuss the dedication, its importance , what it means and how it effects us in our daily life and future
Course Goals: Learn the Cycles of Truth wisdom. Offer your love and thoughts of peace to Mother Earth, our first Mother and to all of our relations. Maintain an attitude of gratitude in all we do. Balance and restore your energies. Create Harmony and centeredness in life.
WWU is an online non-accredited distance learning environment, offering courses for personal empowerment and wellbeing. Enrollment is ongoing with each course designed to be completed in four weeks; however you study at your own pace with lifetime access to your course.
Each course consists of four lessons with accompanying assignments and resources. Interaction with your mentor is available through email, online forums, and assignment critique. Once registered, students gain access to a virtual classroom where all course materials reside. The classroom is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so that you may log in whenever convenient. There is a 15 day no-questions-asked refund policy, providing the course has not been completed in that time. All courses are $49.95
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