Shamanic Healing and Shamanka School, Middle Piccadilly, Day Two.

The Star Room at Middle Piccadilly. Image credit - theirs. 

Well it was weird, no doubt about it!

Shamanic Healers always seem the most 'out there' people I've ever met once in a treatment session, yet outside of it, the most grounded, pleasant, happy-in-themselves ones.

You may have heard of Shamans - Native American Healers.  They are the most profound and wise teachers and Eliana Harvey, whose hands I was now in, has spent many years being guided by them and passing on what she has learned through her own school -  Shamanka, Traditional School of Women's Shamanism.

It involves four modules per year for two years and is certainly worth exploring, if as she says, you feel that life has lost its magic.  It takes place in Dorset at Middle Piccadilly, focuses on finding your true feminine empowered self and the 'Path of the Heart.'  It's not about being a Practitioner, it's about embracing unseen worlds, drawing on ancient woman's heritage and being the best intuitive you.

At 86 years old and having recently returned from working with Mayan and Inca Masters in Peru, she surprised me in many ways, initially by the lithe way she crouched down, lit a tea light candle positioned on the floor and got up without a groan or a grunt or a flicker of anything untoward of a woman less than half her age.  This, in itself, was astounding and she put it down to a yoga rourtine she has devised when I commented upon her unquestionable suppleness.

Her sharp intellect and fairly cut glass accent kind of cut through any insecurity one might be feeling as she calls upon her Power Animals and our ancestors and instructs you to walk around the room and choose which direction feels right to lie in on the floor.

I was lucky to be in the Star Room and, as I paced about, was torn between two ways to position myself.  These transpired to be the something or other parent, which I can't remember and, the one I (unwittingly) plumped for in the end bang opposite was, she told me matter of factly, 'The Wounded Child.'

It's traditional to use drumming and rattles to help to heal any trauma that might be creating a negative pattern with regard to our our emotional, physical or spiritual well-being, and although this can be alarming it's best not to knock it until you've tried it!

I was really quite reticent to deal with my rage still, but let myself be guided by expert Eliana as she told me to give other people back 'their shit!'  It wasn't so difficult once I got going.  In fact, it was actually quite cathartic.

We talked about me not knowing who my real father is and how hard it was growing up with different colour skin than almost everyone else around me.  She felt that I had inherited some of my 'Second sight' from his side and there must be a purpose behind it and seeing as how healing is also on my mother's side (I own an old fashioned remedy book of my great-grandfather, with his hand-written notes in the margins), how I've been dealt a double dose of sensitivy which makes life hard.

Gosh, there was a lot there and it would take more than an hour to deal with a lifetime's worth.  Once again, though, just because the treatment itself was over, it didn't mean the work stopped.  I've found this quite a handy tool when I'm out walking, feeling what's going on in my body and giving it right back where it belongs, saying stuff I didn't even know I wanted to say.  It's very empowering, interesting and really recommended!

Eliana advises us to call upon our own Power Animals - at any time - and I could see a huge eagle behind me, protecting me with its wings.  I was worried my children were with their father and she told me to call upon theirs.  Immediately, there came a deer for my oldest son, whom she said we could transform into a stag, which made sound sense because of his gentle nature and his strength and for my youngest son, a lion came instantly.

Anyone who knows him will know this suits him down to the ground.  He has a lion heart and is enormously protective and loud!

There isn't time to think these things up.  You just ask and they appear.

I felt I wanted to go on and on with what we were doing.  It was like we had tapped into a source of real power and I was really loathe to let go.

But the great thing is, you don't have to.  I still feel connected and these unseen worlds are there for us all.

Not all the treatments on offer are so off the wall, but rarely will you have the opportunity to undergo anything like this elsewhere.  It's why all the other guests decided to try one out too and each of them (all with different Practitioners trained by Eliana) said they had been bowled over - the general consensus being 'weird but wonderful.'

The  rural setting is sublime. 

Middle Piccadilly is probably ahead of its time.  Increasingly, scientists are endorsing energetic work and agreeing with everything old fashioned medicine has been about for thousands of years, but because nobody can make millions out of something we can all find for free, it's still largely derided and undermined.  It can even help to heal the most heinous violations.

There was a time people laughed at Aromatherapy and Reflexology and before that, those who thought the world was round, but, nowadays, we all know better and, before long, the balance of mind, body and spirit - Holistic Health - will get its deserved due.

When it was time for me to leave this wonderful little rural retreat, after yet another lovely lunch, I felt inspired and free-er, softer and encouraged.  Most importantly though, deep down inside, I can feel Midde Piccadilly hasn't left me.  

Tomorrow, the final instalment in this set of posts, I'll talk about the generous discount that has been offered exclusively for my readers and a can't-wait-for-cookery book that Dominic Harvey, Eliana's son and resident chef, is about to launch.

Post 1 - Turning Back Time to Middle Piccadilly Rural Retreat, Dorset.
Post 2 - Day One - Eat, Treatment, Sleep, Repeat.
Post 4 - Exclusive Offer for a Stay at Middle Piccadilly.

Disclosure - I was a guest of Middle Piccadilly for the purposes of this review, but, as always, all words and opinions are honest and my own.