2018 EFT Free Online Tapping Summit
Hey there! Just wanted to put the word out that the 10th annual free online tapping summit begins tonight. You can check it out and register here: https://www.thetappingsolution.com/
I will be tapping along for the next ten days. I did this last year and really enjoyed it so I am back for more:-)
DE Reports: EFT Tapping

I participated in a free online ten day summit learning about and practicing EFT Tapping, produced by Nick Ortner of The Tapping Solution. EFT is the acronym for ‘Emotional Freedom Technique’ and it is the practice of tapping on nine acupressure points of the body related to the meridian acupuncture points as known in Chinese medicine. The reasons for doing tapping are many and include: stress and pain management, weight loss, clearing past trauma, dealing with limiting financial beliefs, even enhanced athletic performance and the list go on! The summit is in its ninth year (offered annually in February) and has had over 2 million participants in that time. Apparently, this tapping thing is catching on, which makes sense because science is beginning to back up the outcomes with more and more published studies showing up in medical publications.
My simple understanding of how EFT Works:
Many times people experience strong negative reactions/emotions each time they revisit a painful memory. Tapping helps to release the intensity of the negative emotions by sending calming signals to the amygdala part of the brain. When negative emotions (fear, anger, anxiety, etc.) arise the fight or flight state is triggered which originates in the amygdala. You can not exist in a state of calm while simultaneously triggering the fight of flight response. That is why tapping is effective. Tapping while thinking about the stressful event (or pain in the body) rewires the brain signals to associate calm feelings with the stressful event, therefore no longer triggering the amygdala into the fight or flight response when the stressful event comes into mind. For some people, they may simply tap for pain relief or weight loss, but then discover a deeper layer – an emotional aspect that is causing the pain or extra weight which may not be known or even connected to the pain/weight at first glance. Which leads to tapping to clear the emotional aspect and in the process the physical pain is often relieved or at the very least lessened. It takes time and more than one session, but there is science backing up the validity of the practice.
I found the practice to be very relaxing as it sends calming signals through the body to the brain. I felt more calm and relaxed after a few minutes of tapping. Anybody can do it and you don’t need a facilitator, plus you can try it out for free. There are a ton of YouTube videos on how to do it for any reason you may consider trying this practice. For me, my experience was that I was tapping to relieve physical pain and in the process forgotten memories surfaced. I hadn’t made the connection that the two were related but tapping did in fact lessen my physical pain. If you are interested in learning more about EFT and why it works or how to do it check out this link: thetappingsolution.com .
Yours Truly,
~Brandi
DE Reports: Aura Photogragh

I’ve always wanted to get an Aura Photograph, which is an image of the electromagnetic field that surrounds an individuals body. A specialty camera measures the vibrations of that energy field and then translates it into a color image which can be interpreted and is unique to each individual (you can read more about it here). I finally got mine at the Mind, Body, Spirit Expo in Portland last weekend.
Judy Lekic of Alternative Changes took the photograph and gave a two minute interpretation of what she saw. I’ve attached the image, however it is a picture of a photo so there is a glare and the clarity is not as vibrant as the original, but none the less, you’ll get the idea as you listen along:-)
Yours Truly,
~Brandi Helligso
DE Reports: What Does the Year Ahead Hold for You?

I discovered a new birthday practice last year, tried it out and was astonished at how uncannily accurate it was at giving me a glimpse into the year ahead for myself personally. My story follows, but first I have to give you the nuts and bolts of how to do this yourself. You can do this if you know the exact time of your birth. You don’t have to understand astrology or even have an interest in it to participate, but you do need to obtain a solar return chart because the moment the sun is in the same exact place as it was when you were born changes from year to year. For about five dollars you can get your solar return chart here. I prefer the Merriman’s Report and I recommend Café Astrology because they offer reports at a much discounted rate compared to anywhere else on the web. Okay, so when you get your report you’ll know the exact moment of your birthday. From there you will journal your day as it unfolds. For me, I like to do it in bullet points by time and reference the interesting parts and go back and fill in later so I can enjoy the day! Each day is equal to four minutes and each month is equal to two hours. It is important to set your intention for the day, for the energy of the day reflects the theme of the year ahead. Last year was a year of revelation and healing for me and my solar return chart journal of the day gave me a heads up. Sort of like the background music of a movie. The context of what is happening is often set my the music. This is what this practice will do for your year ahead. Here is what unfolded for me…
Last year, I was really excited about this new birthday practice, so much so I that I got ahead of myself and was ten minutes early in acknowledging the sacred moment of my birth. I suppose that showed up as symbolically needing to practice patience, and understanding that everything comes in due time. Just the opposite is true if you are late for the sacred moment, it could show up symbolically as being late to many things throughout the year. Anyway, what comes next is really intriguing.
My mom and I decided to begin the day with a beautiful hike both of us had never been on before.
It was a perfect sunny day with gorgeous scenery. Our plan was to hike four miles in to Hiker’s Camp on the Tillamook Trailhead and turn around and hike the four miles back. However, about halfway in we came upon deep, deep muck! It was uncommon in August for the hike to be this muddy. We didn’t think it would be for too long, but as we hiked along there appeared to be no end in site. Hikers were turning around and others that were coming the opposite direction told us the muck went on for at least another mile or two. We had a choice to make, turn around or continue on. I was determined to continue on, how bad could it really get? My mom agreed. After all, it was my birthday and we didn’t know when we could return. So on we pressed!
I was trying to strategically hike through the deep mud, and go around, but I got frustrated and mistepped. I ended up ankle deep in mud. At that point, there was no more pussyfooting around. I threw my arms up and said, “Oh well, at least now I can tromp straight on through, I’m already covered in it!” So I went head on through the muck as my mom managed to stay relatively tidy. I did have to wait for her to catch up to me though, and in the moment I commented that there was some serious symbolism going on here. The beautiful hike turned into a mud bog, and out of determination I went straight through the mud even though it was uncomfortable. I was much faster than my mom who was going around every obstacle at a much slower pace, but I wanted to hike, not be on an obstacle course and I didn’t care if I got dirty. We weren’t making very good time.
We eventually made it to hikers camp, and sat down to enjoy our lunch. My sandwich was a big mush pile, it had been beat up through the entire hike in my backpack. My mom was bummed because she made the sandwich for me. I ate the non-mushy parts and tossed the rest in the fire pit. Hmm, more symbolism I supposed. What the hell was all of this supposed to mean?
Because we had taken so long to get to hikers camp we had another choice to make. Read More
DE Reports: SUP Yoga
I just love receiving an experience as a gift. A dear friend of mine gave me a SUP Yoga Introductory class from Clatsop Paddle for my birthday this month. I actually like saying SUP Yoga; the way it rolls off my tongue. I say it with a little extra emphasis on the SUP part. As a matter of fact, I thought SUP Yoga was a catch phrase, like shortened lingo for ‘what’s up yoga’ or something. It wasn’t until driving to the class that it hit me, SUP is an acronym for stand up paddleboard. Oh well, I still like saying it. And I like the practice even better!
I went into the class not knowing what to expect. I had never been on a paddle board before. I was fairly confident in my yoga ability though, and it was comforting to find that I had taken yoga from the instructor before (Michelle, over at the Hot Spot Yoga studio). I went into the class fully prepared. I had rented a wet suit and life jacket, I got the booties. I was fully outfitted for the cold I was sure to endure from falling into the lake multiple times as I tried to balance on the paddleboard. Turns out though, that the lake was warm, the day was hot, I didn’t need the life jacket as I can swim well enough, especially in a calm lake in an anchored position. The booties I didn’t even wear; I like to do yoga barefoot. But, what was really nifty, is the board itself. You can strap all your gear underneath the bungees on the board and make a day trip with all the gear you’ll ever need. I definitely need to do that someday!
I must have had a really nice board because it was easy to find my center of balance. I was able to keep my eyes closed throughout the yoga piece and I literally felt as if it was just me and the voice of my instructor on that lake. It was nice as we were all able to spread out on the lake with enough space to not hear each others deep breathing, or shifting from position to position. All my uncertainties of knowing nothing about paddleboarding vanished as well as the tensions in my body. I had never connected so deeply in a yoga session as I did that day on the lake. I was even able to get into the camel pose without pain (chiropractic and massage sessions have been doing me wonders!). I realized after the fact that I was basically in a meditative state the whole time, as my mind was clear and free of chatter. I was totally in the present. I felt so energized after the class and will definitely return.
I would recommend this to anybody who is a little familiar with yoga as one of my friends that attended the class felt that it was difficult for her to get into ‘the zone’ as she was not that familiar with the yoga poses, but she was comfortable on the board otherwise. My other friend that attended, enjoys yoga, but was fearful of her perceived lack of balance. Turns out, she was comfortable on the paddleboard too. No balance issues there! I’ll be back for more, next time with just the bare essentials, ready to go!
Yours Truly,
~Brandi
DE Reports: Interview and Reading with Healer, Jennie Williams

I met Jennie when I first started my blog. I found her to be very insightful and I really enjoy her direct approach in her view of life. We became friends through our mutual blogs and I thought it would be interesting to see her work in action. Follows is an interview I did with Jennie, followed up with an actual reading she conducted for me. Please feel free to comment, I am sure Jennie would be happy to answer any questions. I have included links throughout this post to connect you to Jennie and the references made. Enjoy!
Interview with a Healer: Jennie Williams
Brandi: You are a Healer, what exactly does that mean? What would you like the readers to know about you and your process?
Jennie: How amazing? Someone wants to interview me! I guess as a healer one of the biggest things I recognize and want to teach others is that we heal by relationship. And right here is a good example. Brandi, as you give me this sort of amazing recognition I don’t know what I feel! I don’t know if I am hot or cold – whether I want to protect myself from being seen or reveal myself. My diaphragm is tight and so are my shoulders as I write this. I have waited so long for some recognition and now I have some, the good feelings are rattling the patterns of grief in me at feeling completely unrecognized and misunderstood. Once the patterns have been rattled I know the next stage is that they will shift. It is like having a bottle of dirty water and pouring in clean water in until there is no longer any dirty water left in the bottle.
Brandi: I love your analogies! Of course I want to interview you. I am intrigued by what you have to offer and want to learn more! So you can read energy, do you do energy work too, or just counsel based on what you see?
Jennie: Yes, I can read energy in people in person or in photographs or on television and also in environments. I use it making daily decisions in my own life but it has taken me a long time to trust what I know. For instance if I need to work with a therapist or a dentist I will check out their picture first! And I will check out a picture of the environment we will be working in if that is possible. Or I could use it when choosing a school for my child or a B & B . . . anyway enough of that!
I have worked with my hands doing reiki, shiatsu, working with crystals and chakras. This was a journey God took me on about 13 years ago. I worked with people and we felt changes happen, sometimes quite dramatically and I made records of the changes. I found that when people returned, a significant change had not taken place or lasted. I felt that working with people’s energy wasn’t enough. Somehow I needed to be working with the whole person. So I started to counsel people but I felt a strange feeling of being too much pulled into their world and their issues and struggling to find a way out. Then I started doing energy readings of what I saw in people’s bodies and drawing little charts for them. This made me feel sort of powerful but something still wasn’t right. Some people seemed overwhelmed by what I told them, others just wanted the diagnosis, others were disappointed because I didn’t have a quick fix and some just came to test me. At this point I felt I needed more than just being able to diagnose. I needed to be able to give people a healing experience. I can’t remember why I started looking at books on dreams but suddenly I felt drawn to buy a book called ‘Become the Dream – The Transforming Power of Hypnotic Dreamwork’ by Randal Churchill and I was transfixed by what I read. Randall was using people’s dreams as a basis for a similar work I do with the body areas. I knew I had found a way to help people actually have an experience of healing whilst in a session with me. I hoped this would give them the know-how and confidence to start to work in this way by themselves too.
Brandi: What a gift you have! I think a lot of people will be able to relate to taking a long time to trust what they know. I’ve learned through my own observations that whether somebody is going to a healer or a traditional doctor their response is probably the same. I don’t think there are any quick fixes and if it appears to be a quick fix most likely it is temporary. I agree with you on the dream part. I journal significant dreams because I know they mean something that I need to understand to have more clarity in my waking life.
Brandi: Okay, on to the next question. Would you be able to look at that same picture I sent to you one year from now and see a shift, or is the energy image that you see captured at the time of the photograph? Read More
Upcoming post for the ‘DE Reports’…
I just wanted to let everybody know that I am working on my first post for DE Reports. I’m looking forward to posting in this category as it where I will share my explorations into alternative healing, metaphysics and spirituality. The post I am working on now is about an energy reading I received and how the chi is flowing in my body and where it is disconnected; the possible reasons and the recommended ways to improve the flow for full connection throughout the body. Stay tuned for more…