New Year.........New Beginnings!

As I say goodbye to 2015 and welcome in 2016 I am excited to be seeing a long standing dream realized to work in collaboration under the same roof with other amazing alternative health practitioners in my home town Golden, BC. 

My friend and colleague Nathalie Bertrand has also shared this dream with me for years and I am delighted to say she's found the perfect spot in downtown Golden to set up a new location for a team of us to work from. 

It's called Nourish Clinic and is opening its doors to people on the 19th January in an Open House Warming from 4-7pm to be found on 806 Park Drive (just around the corner from Element Therapeutics and the yoga Studio, so a hop and a skip from the other amazing alternative practitioners in town we will also be promoting wholeheartedly.) 

Meet the Team!

With a focus on nourishing mind body and spirit I am so excited to be able to refer my clients to these amazing practitioners who know just how to heal your body...... 

Nathalie Betrand is an amazing Remedial Massage Therapist who specializes in releasing and resolving pain and chronic conditions that have otherwise not responded to treatment. Nathalie believes in an approach focused on targeted tissue release, underlying causes and long-term change, rather than temporary symptom relief.  Pending certification as a registered therapist in BC Nathalie is currently enrolled at the Canadian College of Osteopathy. www.nourishclinic.ca 250.439.8479

Mark McKenzie is an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner who uses gentle manual therapies, within a holistic approach, to treat a variety of issues, mainly muscle and joint pain. www.rmosteo.ca 250.939.8137

Judith Thibault is a Holistic Nutritional Coach.  Her vision is to empower people to take charge of their own health and make simple nutritional changes that will support them, their entire life! She believes in the abilities of our own bodies to connect with nature at the source, while following a synchronisitic path of making a difference towards the good of others, and our earth. 

Kerri Lautamus massage and bodywork. Kerri creates a unique treatment for each client, with the goal of providing the perfect balance between relaxation and therapeutic massage for each individual. She draws from her knowledge of Reflexology, Jin Shin Do, Thai and Ayurvedic Massage, as well as her training from the Foothills College of Massage Therapy. Each session will leave you feeling calm, centered and re-balanced.

Randa Sultan is a Qigong and Energy Healing Practitioner and you can expect profound and lasting effects from this alternative approach to healing. www.sacredprana.com

And myself Liza Hindmarch with my Holistic Life Coaching tool bag full of energy psychology tricks! including EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) Family Constellation work (tracing & releasing the origins of issues by uncovering unconscious loyalties we may be carrying from our ancestors and family of origin, often with miraculous helaing effects!) and The Journey (a gentle yet powerful guided vizualization approach which releases old cell memory to make space for effortless healing to take place).

I have always referred clients to others for body healing.......now I can do so with new enthusiasm knowing we are all to be found under the same roof! 

Come and join us at our Open House Warming for wine, raw chocolate and tea and take up our amazing promotional offer of $99 for mind body spirit healing with myself and two of my collaegues! 3 sessions with 3 of us for just $99! Amazing value for money and a great way to start off your new year and ensure those new years resolutions don't go by the wayside! 

I hope to see you there! 

Happy New Year! Liza

A Taste of Bali

It's Monday morning, but you have no meetings to attend, no family members to care for; today all you must do is find your center. You start by attending the daily morning yoga class, with a warm sea breeze passing through the open walls. After a breakfast of fresh organic foods grown on site, you gather with your newfound community and settle in for the playful work of transforming your life. 

By the time the afternoon rolls around, you've had a breakthrough or two and you're ready to explore the town of Sukawati, cruise the expansive beaches moments from the resort, or fully unwind with a spa treatment. Having met your own unique desires for the day, you reunite with the kind faces of your new friends and enjoy a sharing circle, a delicious meal of local flavor, and an evening meditation. As you rest your head on the soft pillow that night, you feel more connected to you, the real you, than you have in a long time. 

This is a little taster of some of what is in store for you should you feel the inner calling to join me on my upcoming Art of Transformation Retreat in Bali, Indonesia 28 January to 5th February 2016. I've teamed up with Clear Retreats to offer this amazing opportunity, check it out at http://www.clearretreats.com/bali/#bali-is-calling

There's possibly no better place to transform spiritually and we have teamed up with Floating Leaf Eco Luxury Retreat spa center, a 5 star resort, to provide the best in luxurious accommodation and amazing cuisine during your stay. You will experience a Water Purification Ceremony at one of the Sacred Temples and have an oppportunity to have a private healing session with one of Bali's best healers! 

Transform your life, let Bali help.

Do you feel unfulfilled, stuck, or could just do with an infusion of more joy and happiness? This retreat will help you master the ability to transform any area of your life, whether it be personal relationships, career, health and fitness, or simply fulfilling a wish for more inner peace and harmony.

For seven amazing days at the end of January, we'll combine rest and relaxation with deep self-inquiry, spiritual Balinese ceremony, meditation, Family Constellations, journaling, and group work and play to create lasting change in your life.

Why is this going to be great for you?

Well, for one thing, it's in BALI! In a village beside the sea, with a deeply spiritual culture, kind locals, and a thriving artisan community. Luxurious accommodations, sunshine, fresh air, and tasty organic food, these are all great things too. 

Beyond the obvious draw of Bali, this retreat is going to rock your world because of it's unique combination of pampering and transformational coaching done in a group setting. 

You will leave this retreat in Bali
  - feeling inspired and spiritually awakened
  - with tools to transform your life consciously
  - a greater sense of inner clarity and wisdom
  - having busted through negative beliefs, block, and limitations

This location is top notch.

We've teamed up with Floating Leaf Eco-Luxury Retreat Centre for this retreat. Located in Sukawati, Floating Leaf is moments from the beach, just 20 minutes from the incredible city of Ubud, and less than an hour from the international airport, Bali Ngurah Rai (DPS).

The retreat center combines ancient Balinese wisdom with modern luxury, and in so doing provides a safe place for relaxation, personal transformation, and a return to balanced wellness. The center has a Balinese spa, a healing pool, and an open-air Yoga Sanctuary with views of the Indian Ocean and Mount Agung Volcano. The organic permaculture garden supplies and inspires a private chef, who prepares flavorful and nutritious meals, juices, and snacks in the open kitchen. 

This is what's included......

• Luxury accommodations for seven restful nights (double occupancy with two beds)*
• Seven delicious breakfasts at Floating Leaf
• Seven beautiful dinners, either at Floating Leaf or in town
• Balinese cooking class, in preparation for one of our dinners
• Six healthy nourishing lunches, either at Floating Leaf or out
• Six morning yoga sessions
• Five morning Art of Transformation group sessions
• Four evening meditations followed by sacred sharing circles
• One spa treatment or massage at Floating Leaf
• One full day Family Constellation group experience
• Purification ceremony at Tirta Empul Holy Water Temple
• Visit to Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud
• Traditional dance performance
• Transportation to and from airport
• Transportation for our day trips

Got you tempted yet? More blogs to come soon on my experiences in Bali in 1999 when I studied sacred space clearing there with Karen Kingston and discovered all sorts of amazing aspects of their culture which is steeped in spiritual practice ritual and ceremony. 

If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true.........happy, happy talking, talk about things you like to do............ (lyrics from some song growing up as a kid! anyone know who sang them?)

Phoenix Rising!

There’s a quote from a favorite little book of mine that has been coming to mind for me lots lately……it’s from Illusions by Richard Bach……

“You teach best what you most need to learn”

This truth really is what has inspired the whole of my life’s work, especially my coaching work and is the inspiration behind my Art of Transformation Course. I brought to it all the learning, wisdom and self-help tools that have helped me on my path in life. My first big learning came from the kids with emotional and behavioral problems I used to work with back in the 90’s. My role was teacher to them but really they were the ones who taught me well……..taught me about how each and every one of us no matter how ‘dysfunctional’, no matter how much we act out in life due to our inner chaos and struggles, is worthy of being positively regarded, of being unconditionally loved. They inspired me beyond words these youngsters who had the balls to be angry, to dare to act out their hurt and pain, to go joy ride and glue sniff to get their highs and escape their pain ~ for a short while. They were surviving as best they knew how.

And really who was it who had emotional and behavioral problems? Them or society’s judgment of them? Weren’t they simply trying to let everyone know of their inner pain in the only way they knew how? I believe so.

I didn’t realize why I admired them so much til recently when on my own inner path of transformation (yes, I walk my talk and my head gets held in the fires of transformation more than any of you who are brave enough to engage with me! How else would I have earned the right for you to put your faith and trust in me as so many of you have, and continue to do.  There’s nothing I haven’t first fully tested out on myself that I won’t guide you through holding your hand. If it doesn’t work on me then it’s chucked out! Fast! And when I am not on my game I take time out to re find my balance….as I have done recently. My integrity is vital to my work……..you pay me to show up and be fully present with open heart to your pain and my guarantee to you is to do so )

These young warriors had the courage to let their pain, and trauma, come out. Albeit destructive at times, but at least it was being given expression which is healthy! I have become aware lately of the true extent to which my early childhood was completely and utterly suppressive of my innate organic nature. To survive I literally had to stuff my fear, my anger my sadness……..each and every feeling except the ones acceptable to my parents and teacher, and well, everyone really! I was conditioned to be a ‘good girl’ to please others and gain their approval. I am only now beginning to contact those places within my body where these suppressed feelings have been stored for 48 years! And it’s been intense. I get now why the solar plexus chakra is where we hold our power, our self-esteem. Those old Indian gurus who named the chakras did know a thing or two. I have been discovering the ‘fizzy explosion feeling’ in my tummy is actually my anger, my stuffed suppressed power and in all honesty it scares the shit out of me still. But I know my work is to befriend it, to listen to what story it wants to tell me about how terrifying childhood was a lot of the time. And how it’s safe now to let it have expression. 

This past year has seen me walk a path of purification I had no idea was possible to walk…..and this time my prayer had been a fierce one! What happens when your deepest prayer is for freedom, inner liberation and enlightened realization? First and foremost all your prior ego strategies of survival must be stripped away, so the illusion of the personality and psyche gets shattered into a million little pieces. It’s not pretty to stare head on into the shadow and reflect fully on the destruction and pain its caused to self and others. Then all attachment to everything dear and clung to is also stripped away, leaving you……in the dark night of the soul and with no idea of who you really are! In the times of surrender into this void of feeling a nothing and a nobody I have amidst the terror, experienced small glimpses of the peace that I imagine those enlightened masters reside in all the time. Then all too soon its gone again! Leaving me with the realization that a mediation practice is called just that for a reason…..because it takes practice and dedication! And coming back to the meditation cushion over and over again, practicing mindfulness, watching my thoughts race and holding onto the knowledge that I am not my thoughts is the thread I hold onto that is pulling me out of this trap of the mind.

So……..in case any of you are wondering if I am on my game still, despite my own life disintegrating and being transformed into something new, then yes…….depends on what your perspective is on growth and transformation and what you are looking for in a guide!

Yes I am back on my game in that I am able again to be fully present to others pain and sit with open hearted compassion whilst they find their own healing movements. And yes, the shifts just keep on getting deeper for people……maybe because I have more depth of compassion from my own inner journeys of transformation of late? Who knows……it’s a mystery to me how all this works. Because in truth, what I offer to people comes through me, is not of me. I simply show up with a desire to be of service in some way.

If you just want fluffy nice happy transformation then this maybe isn’t the place for you to come seek support……the path I offer is one that at times is ruthless in its pursuit of freedom, and there are no guarantees as to where you’ll find yourself. But one thing is for sure……I’ll hold you in a container of trust, deep respect and love. And I’ll bring every ounce of compassion and honoring to your courage to dare to dive in with me. To see what is on the other side of pain and suffering when all resistance to what is is let go of.

Maybe it will birth you into bliss, freedom, peace…..enlightenment! It’s my prayer for you as it is my prayer for me.

Anyone brave enough out there to sign up for The Art of Transformation this fall? I have….signed up that is! Been doing the art of transformation all my life really!

Hope you may feel the inner calling to join me in the fires too…….that phoenix awaits you!

Art of T Dates for Autumn 2015

This autumn I'll be offering two rounds of the popular 10 week course, The Art of Transformation. Join me for some powerful work in Golden or Invermere, and finish off 2015 with a bang.

October 2 through December 4, 2015 in Invermere, BC
TIME : Weekly on Fridays, 7-9:30pm
LOCATION : Do Nothing Floatation Centre, 1036 7th Ave
COST : $385

October 5 through December 7, 2015 in Golden, BC
TIME : Weekly on Mondays, 7-9:30pm
LOCATION : Munay Holistics, 605 Golden Donald Upper Road
COST : $325 Early Bird, $385 after September 15

“I would absolutely recommend this course....Best 'me' time anyone can give themselves. Liza builds instant trust in the group and she is the most gentle guide. I felt so supported in my journey and i feel healed.”

— Isabelle Simard

Using the Enneagram for Self Awakening

The enneagram is a personality typing that has its origins in ancient India wisdom and it is a powerful tool for gaining new insights into who you are, why you behave the way you do and how you relate to others.

Are you a 9, 4, or 6 .... wondering what personality type you are? Want to know WHY you and your partner, child or friend rub each other up the wrong way at times? The answers can be found in discovering which personality type you are.

Join me in a one day workshop of fun, exploration, and enlightening moments of self discovery; I guarantee you'll leave with a helpful new perspective on yourself and others. The cost is $55.