Prologue
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 (http://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
http://www.susunweed.com/Excerpt_Movement_Meditation.htm
Excerpt: 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.
Seven Directions Movement Meditation DVD Video
Sacred Dance for Spirit and Body
White Feather's Seven Directions Movement Meditation
http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000197
is now on DVD! This dance creates balance and centeredness as earth changes occur, strengthens our vibral core and brings clarity and focus. Dedicated to the generation to come, we keep the teachings of peace alive. Don't forget to check out the Seven Directions Movement Meditation book and CD.
Price: $24.95 (plus shipping).
Click here to read the introduction and an excerpt
http://www.susunweed.com/Excerpt_Movement_Meditation.htm
from The
Seven Directions Movement Meditation by Whitefeather
ORDER White Feather's Seven Directions Movement Meditation DVD
http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000197
in our Bookshop
The Seven Directions Movement Meditation honors all life. As we move around the circle we remember, "Everything within the circle is sacred, all things outside of the circle is sacred, all is sacred."
- Moses Shongo, Seneca Medicine Man
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