Dear blessed community,
Its been a long time since writing a post of any kind. Now, inspired by a recent solo experience, I feel moved to share some thoughts on healing as a way of illuminating both conscious and unconscious motivators that move us into this work. This musing arises from a 12-day Animus Valley Institute, Women’s Vision Fast experience that I attended in April, on the sacred lands of Ekone Ranch in the interior of Washington State. The healing that transpired was unexpected, rich, and VERY difficult…and I am so grateful. As with so many deeply transformative healing journeys, what we think we need is not necessarily what is required. This was certainly true for me. A deeper, wiser part of me simply knew that it was time to really SEE all that I had successfully concealed from myself over a lifetime of living with, and managing, challenge. This meant risking metaphorical death in order to become more authentically, my Self.
It was a BIG ask!
This primer has led me to consider how, in the west, we have a notion, or perhaps a desire for healing to be quick, maybe easy, certainly “not painful”. We tend to yearn for a transcendent, expansive, pleasant state without ever moving into the messiness that requires our attention.
To find ourselves here without first entering the darkness, is to bypass not just true healing, but the potential and the wisdom that lay in the shadows. We must enter that which we deny so that we might learn the shape of it. When we understand the wisdom it imparts, only then, can true alchemical change transpire.
“The only way out is through.”
~ Robert Frost
The wisdom that I speak of has always been part of us. It guides our life passage. It knows what’s true and nudges us constantly in the direction of our highest and best good. But in our hurried and noisy lives, we seldom hear its voice, for it speaks in whispers. Stillness and quiet are required. So too is trust. We need to trust that something more exists beyond the facade that we so desperately cling to. And we need to trust that the parts we shield ourselves and others from, have value. They are not ugly, wrong or bad, rather, they have something to share with us, if only we will slow down and listen.
Time alone, in the wilds of Washington state, taught me that.
When we’re willing to hold this tender and vulnerable truth, without trying to change or fix anything; when we’re willing and able to surrender into the depth and breadth of that which is revealed to us for mending and release; when we make room for something more to emerge… something shifts. We land in the centre of who we truly are. We come home. This poem by John O’Donohue, captures this for me…
“And, when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From the gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.”
Arising from this understanding, is a carefully curated list of (2025) OFFERINGS designed to support you in your own process of coming home. Each targets a different level of healing:
CIRCLES & WORKSHOPS
See: https://www.deniseneumannfuhr.ca/workshops-and-retreats/
- Community Breathwork Circles
- Cannabis-Assisted Breathwork Circles
- Cannabis-Assisted Meditation Circle
- Workshop Series: Shadow & Deep Healing Work
- Workshop: Vipassana Out Loud
PSYCHEDELIC PREPARATION & INTEGRATION COACHING (PPIC)
Contact: https://www.deniseneumannfuhr.ca/contact/
- PPIC focuses on clients who need help preparing for a sacred plant medicine experience, as well as those who have journeyed and need help integrating what they’ve experienced. Intention setting helps to create a container for the experience, whereas integration helps to process and make meaning of insights gained. This is where true healing becomes possible.
You’re invited to reach out with any questions that you may have about these events or any other inquiries. I am here to support you.
In love and gratitude,
Hollow Bone
“Discover the wisdom within”