Healing Through Ceremony & Conscious Relating

Healing does not always have to come through the typical healing modalities that we think of, such as Reiki, massages or Shamanism. Sometimes the simple act of being in a community can be profoundly healing. Or a circle in which we speak about our feelings. And sometimes a cup of cacao and a lot of chanting your Yes to life, love and your heart’s desires can be deeply healing. It is not always the obvious what causes the shift, but the subtle and seemingly ordinary that can bring big magic.

Some of the workshops at BaliSpirit Festival 2019 that had deep healing effects and brought about unexpected energetic shifts were the Cacao Ceremony with Elah & AuSierra, a breathwork session with Alchemy of Breath, Layla El Khadri’s Feminine Leadership, as well as Oceano’s Wataflow, a partner flow session through the water.

Each one of these workshops had its own way of working on body, mind and spirit to let joy flow freely and release anything that no longer serves you.

The healing power of Cacao Ceremonies

Cacao has been used as a medical plant in ancient Aztek and Mayan culture. It is considered the food of the Gods and found its way into Western culture through widespread cacao ceremonies, which can vary from healing sounds and cacao, to ecstatic dance journeys, shamanic journeys, meditations and tantric playgrounds. Cacao is also considered the return of goddess Venus, the goddess of Love, to harmonize men and women among each other and create a bridge between the hearts.

The cacao ceremony with Elah & AuSierra was based around voice liberation through chanting, singing and opening the chakras through sound. However, the power they transmitted together through music and voice went beyond just sounds, but opened up spiritual realms too! As they were calling in the four directions and spirit to assist their sessions, a portal to higher dimension opened.

Releasing and Affirming with Your Voice

And what happens in a voice activation session? It’s the simple act of using the voice to affirm what you truly desire in life, speak out loud what needs to be said and release what has been held back in your vocal chords for too long. It´s a lot of chanting and singing songs together, but also speaking your Yes to life! One of the main slogans of Elah & AuSierra.

By doing this, a shift happens not only in the throat chakra but also in the sacral chakra, the center for juicy pleasure and the flow of life! Through the sound vibration the whole system realigns and allows greater energy to flow through the body, connect with the heart and listen to what truly matters.

There is great power behind claiming and owning your Yes. Because the more you own your Yes, the more you own your No as well. Simple truth to be shared with the world. 

Connecting to feeling with the Divine Feminine

Similar healing came through Layla El Khadri’s workshop of Feminine Leadership, where participants were placed in small groups to speak about something they usually feel ashamed about. The sharing of something uncomfortable in a group of strangers has to do with vulnerability, but also with transformation. The moment that we share what we usually fear, it has the potential to transform into its opposite, therefore freeing the energy in the body, mind and emotions for positive future outcomes. Not only can trauma be integrated in that way, but also suppressed or hidden memories, which otherwise block our path to freedom.

Using the Breath as a Tool when Healing through Ceremony

The breathwork session from Alchemy of Breath was a playground of conscious relating and collectively raising the energies through the breath. Breathwork is a modality that uses connected in- and exhale through the mouth as a way to increase life force energy in the body, release long-held tension from the body, trauma or blocked emotions and connect with the heart and the answers within.

Breathwork sessions can be done alone or in group settings, but for the festival the experience consisted of partnered-up breathing with five different partners, which dramatically altered the experience. Breathing alone can already be energizing and eye opening, in terms of what shows up in each session, but breathing with a partner looking eye to eye is a radically new way of consciously relating and mutually helping to release, realign and raise the vibration in each other. 
The mind is then transcended and heart and soul connect through eye gazing and holding hands while breathing.

Water as healing for trauma and integration of emotions

Last but not least, the Wataflow session in the pool of the festival was a shape-shifting and deeply healing experience. In each session, one person would help their partner to float through the pool under and above the water in different shapes and forms, which helps the brain to switch off and deeply relax the whole body. But floating not only switches off the neokortex in the brain, it also activates the cell memory in the body, so that sometimes deep emotions or even trauma arise to be released. The technique of being consciously guided through the water by a partner and at times even held like a child, requires the ability to fully surrender to the guidance for the one floating and trusting the healing effect of the session, while at the same time it requires the person guiding the session to hold space for whatever arises from the one in the water.

Many of the techniques shown at the festival seem to be very simple on a surface level, yet have profound healing effects on body, mind and spirit when tried out. It’s not always the obvious what brings the shift, but rather the small things applied with strong intention and thorough background knowledge that can help to change the awareness, the feelings and the emotions in the body and at the same time connect us more to the people around us. When these techniques are held with a circle of people, the experience is even deeper. At BaliSpirit Festival you can explore healing through ceremonies and discover the effect of collected energies.

Article by Anna Haack, inutitive coach and psychic healer, Reiki master, Yoga and meditation teacher, movement facilitator and DJ.