In the beginning I was searching for relief from pain and suffering. I had chronic, severe asthma and was depressed. Mainstream medicine was not helping the situation. On all levels I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. This is when my journey began. I wanted to get well. I wanted to feel good. I wanted to be happy.
Desperate for answers, I opened myself up to experiencing alternative solutions to healing. I tried everything: hands-on healing, acupuncture, chiropractic, herbs, aromatherapy, chakra balancing, homeopathics, crystals, psychic healing, flower essences, color therapy, shamanic healing, past life regression, positive affirmations, guided visualizations and more. While working with alternative healers there was a skeptical gremlin in my brain telling me it was all snake medicine. My upbringing was very traditional and these “alternatives” didn’t gel with my current belief system. A sense of feeling better was sneaking up on me, yet the analytical part of me wanted scientific proof.
Like a sponge, I began to absorb information and knowledge on various alternative-healing modalities. The modalities that I felt attracted to were also the ones that I questioned the most. This created the need to research and study them even more. I took a highlighter to the book Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber. It was one of the first books I read that shed light on how all this stuff really works. It broke down in scientific terms the reality of our energetic selves. We are made of energy and the rate at which we vibrate allows part of our body to be in solid form and the rest of us is vibrating so fast it is not visible to most. Some of the modalities Gerber covered were healing methods I had previously found hard to believe; like color therapy, crystals and flower essences. These therapies work directly on the human subtle bodies, the part of our being that extends out past our physical body. The healing has a domino effect through all the layers of our being.
I was so fascinated with flower essences I went to Virginia to study with Machaelle Small Wright, an expert in flower essences and plant energy. In her book Behaving as if the God in all Life Mattered, Machaelle explains that everything has a life force within it that must be respected. Machaelle taught me how to capture the imprint of plant energy to create medicine. Understanding that everything has a vibrational nature, gave me new respect for the potential of healing that can take place when using “natural substances” like herbs and essential oils. In addition to learning the physical symptomatic treatment of herbs and essential oils, I understood that plants have vibration and heal us on all levels when used in their natural form.
Being an artist at heart, I know the remarkable way that color can influence mood. Most recently I have had the opportunity to work with and study color therapy. Everything is made up of electromagnetic energy vibrating at different frequencies that correspond to sound, light and color. Color has a profound effect on all of us on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. If our energy centers become blocked or depleted, then our body cannot function properly and this, in turn, can lead to a variety of problems on any level. Colors are frequency wavelengths. To practice color therapy I use a tool called Mega Body Light. During a treatment I aim precise spectral colors towards the client’s energy centers (chakras) to alter the subtle energy-body and consequently balance, charge and heal. The results are frequently amazing to me and even though I understand the science – inherent in its working – it still feels like magic.
The reality is that all healing is vibrational, as everything is. I have discovered that the subtle and quiet way energy heals is crucial to my own continued path to ultimate wellness. Feeling good, well and happy is a frequency I intend to give myself and others. This is my passion and my path. There is no end to this journey as I continue to learn the magic of how energy works.
BY MAHARA ASHLIE, Summer 2007
Mahara is the owner of WELSTAR an essential wellness spa in Orleans. She has developed a product line of over 200 natural body care products using herbs and essential oils. Mahara’s training and education include Herbology, Aromatherapy, Reiki, Reflexology, Color Therapy, Flower Essences, Massage Therapy, Graphic Arts and Art Therapy. It is from this background that she draws her knowledge of wellness therapies and has adopted her philosophy, “Treat it with Love.” Mahara lives with her spouse and daughter in E. Orleans.
