Connecting to Spirit: Channelling, Mediumship, and Intuition

#19 - Self-Care for Healers: Preventing Burnout and Finding Balance with Laura McVeigh

• Lisa Brandis • Season 1 • Episode 19

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In today's episode, host Lisa Brandis dives deep into the crucial topic of self-care for healers, intuitive guides, and spiritual practitioners. Joined by holistic counselor and intuitive Reiki master Laura McVeigh, they explore the signs of burnout versus stress, the importance of self-compassion, and practical advice for maintaining good boundaries. Laura shares her insights into transforming stress into rejuvenation through self-care and energy alignment. This engaging conversation also includes a trance-channelled message from Lisa's guide Anya about balancing emotions and maintaining authentic connections. 

Tune in to learn how to honor your energy and find balance! 

Learn more about Laura McVeigh:

https://www.lauramcveigh.com.au/

Use the code POD10 for 10% off your first individual session with Laura.

00:00 Audio - Self-Care for Healers: Preventing Burnout and Finding Balance with Laura McVeigh

01:09 Meet Our Guest: Laura McVeigh

02:47 Understanding Burnout

04:27 Recognizing Burnout Symptoms

06:58 The Importance of Self-Care

08:08 Personal Stories of Burnout

12:37 Advice for Healers

13:50 The Role of Compassion and Love

25:04 Boundaries and Balance

36:44 Final Thoughts and Conclusion


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Lisa Brandis:

Hello everyone. And welcome to today's episode. I'm Lisa Brandis, your host, and I'm so excited to dive into a topic that is deeply important to me, self care for healers. As healers, intuitive guides and spiritual practitioners, we dedicate so much of our time and energy to others. But how do we ensure that we don't burn out In the process to help us explore this, I'm thrilled to introduce our guest today, Laura McVeigh. Laura is a holistic counselor and intuitive Reiki master and a passionate advocate for empowering others through self care and energy alignment. She creates a supportive space for her clients to transform stress and overwhelm into a sense of rejuvenation and balance. And with her extensive knowledge, she helps people around the world make meaningful changes in their lives. So welcome, Laura.

Laura:

I'm very excited.

Lisa Brandis:

Well, as one of my Reiki masters, it has been such a joy to witness your evolution over the last five years. It's been since you became a Reiki master. And I'm so proud of, witnessing your Remarkable journey. And also bridging counseling and Reiki and energy healing to create, yeah, really life changing experiences for your clients. And today we were having a bit of a chat before we met about what kind of topic would be really relevant for people today. We talked about the experience of burnout and it's a common thing with healers, especially, and quite often it would be one of the biggest questions is how do I not take on other people's stress and when we're, you know, empathic, it can be very easy to Really tune into what's going on with others and then, and then burnout. And so I wanted to talk to you specifically about, what exactly is burnout? Mm-hmm

Laura:

Burnout is the idea that, well, let's start with stress, because everyone experiences stress. It's a daily thing. We all live with it. But there is a difference between being stressed or being under pressure and burnout. So stress can be useful. It can be aggravating when we're talking about burnout specifically, there's kind of three hallmarks that would separate burnout from being stressed. So the first one is emotional exhaustion. So that's the fatigue that we experienced because we care too much for too long without that idea of refilling the cup, so to speak. big signal, and I think this is the one that people tend to notice first, is the depersonalization. So we're talking about depletion of empathy, depletion of compassion. It's like, Again, we've just cared for so long. It's not that we don't care, but we cannot connect with that feeling anymore. It's just, oh great, another thing we have to do, another session we have to run instead of feeling the joy and the honor of being able to be in this healer position. And the third one is decreased sense of accomplishment. And I think this is where people get really down and really start to notice the burnout is feeling of, it doesn't matter what I do, it's not making a difference. Not necessarily, I'm going to stop because why should I bother, but what is this for? It's not helping anyone. So those are the three big signs I would say that someone is experiencing burnout rather than stress.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah, interesting.

Laura:

Yes.

Lisa Brandis:

How do we recognize it? Because I would imagine and probably looking at my own experience, these things creep up slowly. And, you know, you can have one really good day where you feel amazing. And then you have a couple of really low days. And then after a while, the low days become more than the great days. So, you know, I would imagine, and from my own experience as well, it can be quite challenging to recognize and identify that you might be experiencing burnout. So is there any telltale signs?

Laura:

Yeah, absolutely. And it is one of those things where we start to think again about we chronically stressed or is this burnout? Because obviously chronic stress is something that lasts for a long period of time. There's the idea as well that not all stress is a bad thing. Some, some exciting things like buying a house or having a child are incredibly stressful, although they're very positive experiences. And I think a lot of the time people think, but this is such a good thing. Why am I burned out? I'm doing the, the job I've always wanted to do. Why do I, why am I not connecting with it anymore? So there's a whole range of symptoms, so to speak. So physical signs include things like issues, breathing, digestive issues, painful muscles, headaches, even issues like a heart rate and blood pressure. Being elevated, sleep disturbances, the things you'd kind of recognize, mental signs can be things like jumping to conclusions, tunnel vision, blaming others, catastrophizing, overgeneralizing is a big one. I recognize in a lot of my clients as well. And then probably really the biggest one that I notice is just that disconnect. So just knowing that you're supposed to be enjoying your time with your family and your friends and just not, just not being

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

that.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah. And could that be described as just kind of a numbing sensation where you just, yeah, that feeling of kind of floating through your experiences without feeling the ups and the downs or is it different to that?

Laura:

And this is where it tends to get very messy because all the things we've described also could be applied to if you're dealing with anxiety, if you're dealing with depression, if you're dealing with grief, believe it or not, a lot of those signs are

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

So it is really, I feel knowing yourself, what this is, and then knowing when to get help. maybe it is a break. Maybe you need to see a doctor.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

balance

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah. And you know, I think we find as healers that quite often people that. don't want to go and see a psychologist or don't necessarily want to go to the doctor. It's almost like a bit more of a gentle way of easing them into perhaps a recommendation or a transition to a therapist. It's like a safe kind of fun experience. It's a bit nurturing. They're, they're not necessarily being labeled with anything by us. We do not diagnose in our therapy. So, you know, obviously you and I come with other skills, you know, I am a clinical hypnotherapist, like you're, you know, you're a trained counselor. So we have these other modalities that sit alongside the Reiki healing that we offer people, but I have found, through the thousands of students I've taught that it is a safe place for people to come. And kind of first admit that they're having problems because a lot of us in society, we just squash, we suppress, we don't like those negative emotions. And so quite often people will go to all kinds of different ways of distracting ourselves. And in today's day and age, there's certainly no shortage of distractions is there to kind of take us out of. Oh

Laura:

gosh.

Lisa Brandis:

absolutely. So it sounds to me from what you're saying, the first thing we need to do is identify that we're having a problem because we have to also move through, you know, that we might be in denial. I know it wasn't me that brought the awareness to the help that I needed when I experienced burnout. It was my husband and one of my best friends. And I was literally still arguing with them saying, no, I don't have a problem. I don't have a problem because it felt too big to recognize and identify. And I just didn't want to stop the busyness that I had. And exactly what you said, you know, I'm doing the work that I love. It's part of my calling. I was. Born to do this work. So it had nothing to do with the job, my purpose, my calling, because all those are the same and haven't changed. It was just the way in which I was working. That was slowly over time, depleting my energy to the point of being in dysfunction, in a state of dysfunction. And I did actually get psychology. You know, I went and saw a psychologist that was a big step for me as a healer and as someone who teaches and empowers people. And you know, is, is the, the standard I held for myself, and I'm sure there's other leaders and healers that would recognize and identify in this. It took a lot of courage for me to admit that I was actually having mental struggles. And even for a long time, I didn't talk about it with my students because again, I had to protect that vulnerable part of me that was in pain. And processing the healing I was going through, but I think it's important to acknowledge that we can still be an amazing healer and have, you know, mental health issues and we can still doing amazing work and still need to get help and support, you know? So I think that the human aspect and the spiritual aspect co exist, don't they?

Laura:

We're not one thing or the other. And even the way you were speaking about that, being a healer and being a leader and being a mentor and a teacher is obviously a massive part of who you identify as.

Lisa Brandis:

Oh,

Laura:

swoop in and say, not that you're not doing it right, but there's something interfering with it. That's a huge issue then with self identity. So

Lisa Brandis:

and it was a massive.

Laura:

kind of

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah, massive identity

Laura:

top.

Lisa Brandis:

crisis,

Laura:

Yeah.

Lisa Brandis:

and of course my big turning point story was that I used to have anxiety and Becoming a Reiki master changed all that for me. So my big story of transformation and And I'd never experienced burnout, burnout came later in my life, but my big transformation story was that you know Reiki healed My mental illness back then, so to then identify that, Oh, it's not doing it's, it hasn't, it hasn't remained that way for my entire life, you know, that, that,

Laura:

Yeah.

Lisa Brandis:

was the part that I found, you know, it was almost like I'm, I'm running retreats and I'm teaching people. So that's why it took me so long to identify that I had the issue because of exactly what you said. It was that it was a crisis of identity. Who am I then, you know, if not, yeah. And the bigger the following, the worse it felt, right? And I had a big following. I still do, but it was, yeah, huge pressure.

Laura:

imposter syndrome

Lisa Brandis:

Oh my God.

Laura:

there is going to say, well, if you're such an amazing healer, why haven't you fixed yourself?

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah, exactly. But you know what the big breakthrough came? It came when my mum, I rocked up on mum's door, sobbing my heart out. And she said to me, Lisa, you're not a robot. And it was like, Is someone giving someone that loves me dearly, my mother giving me permission to be human, like to, and it was the pressure, not anyone else put on myself. It was all the pressure that came from me to live up to this unrealistic standard of happiness and recognizing that the minute I took the pressure off myself and when I don't have to be, you know, I don't have to be anyone's guru or anyone's spiritual teacher. I just have to be me. And then. It allowed me to continue working, but from a place of new authenticity. Yeah.

Laura:

because

Lisa Brandis:

So we don't, how dare you

Laura:

be a human with feelings, like, what were you thinking?

Lisa Brandis:

and you know, what I found is that the students related to me, they're like, Oh God, you too. Right. Cause it actually made me more relatable because people all have struggles and I never judged anyone else. Just judged my own, which was part of my, you know. Part of, yeah, my makeup and, and how I'm wired. So what advice would you give to healers that struggle with a similar kind of experience, Laura? Either fear of being judged or even fear of taking care of themselves and getting the help that they need.

Laura:

I think one of the interesting exercises that I've done with clients is to, and we've all done it, imagine you were talking to your best friend. Would you

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

friend, be a robot, stop feeling, keep working, you've got to do this, nobody's going to take you seriously, if you're not doing, doing, doing, you would never say that to your best friend, or to your mum, or to your child, no way on earth would you do that. I think the first step would be, speak to yourself with more compassion. More kindly. If you are not in a place where you are ready to hear it, that's okay too. But trust the people who are telling you. if you're seeing your healer and they're saying, look, I'm a bit worried. You seemed like you seem like you're heading down the road to burnout. Or your mom says to you, your husband or your best friend says to you, Hey, something feels a little bit off. you trust

Lisa Brandis:

Mm.

Laura:

Do you trust the

Lisa Brandis:

Mm.

Laura:

they're giving you Because it's coming from a place of love.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

Listen to the people that love you and treat yourself with some compassion because this is a human experience. It is completely normal to be going through these sorts of very human experiences.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah, so perfect. And that's exactly what I ended up doing as part of my recovery from burnout was learning how to be kinder with myself. And what I found, Laura, which is interesting, is that kindness is one of my top values, as is compassion. And over time, the burnout slowly eroded my self love and my self compassion. That's why it was a surprise that I was no longer being kind to myself. Because, you know, learning to love myself was something I did 20 years ago. That was the early days of learning Reiki. And I've been practicing now for 22 years. So I really wanted to, point that out to people. Self love is an ongoing practice. And it's something that, you know, we, we constantly have to work at. And sometimes we don't recognize when we've gone off track. I didn't recognize I was being hard on myself. Others were seeing it, but I didn't believe I was. And I think that's part of the distortion. We don't see ourself clearly when we're in a bit of a dysfunctional state. And funny enough, I was catastrophizing and it was my accountant that said to me, cause I was in some panic over some financial thing. She actually pointed out to me that I was catastrophizing. And how did she know it? Because she had had anxiety. She had had someone pointed out to her a therapist, and then she was able to identify it within me. And she was the one that told me to go to my mum's. She said, just take yourself to your mum's. You need to get some help, right? Love comes in all different places and from all different people, right? The time we need it. So,

Laura:

Absolutely.

Lisa Brandis:

So,

Laura:

that idea that you mentioned of guilt,

Lisa Brandis:

yes, yeah, yeah. Guilt plays a big part in it, self care and guilt.

Laura:

absolutely. And taking the time you need to look after yourself is, I think, one of the biggest hurdles because we are very conditioned to keep going, keep working, keep doing the things. You've got a to do list you have to take care of. And like we spoke about yesterday, the thing that probably makes me madder than just about anything in the world One of the top things, um, is when people say you have to fill your cup so you can give to others. It's like, no,

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

Just, you should fill your cup because you're a human being. I'm getting so aggravated just thinking about it. You should fill your cup because you're a human being and you are deserving of looking after yourself. And a lot of people struggle with that idea because again, it's

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah,

Laura:

I'm a mom, I'm a carer, I'm a healer. I have to do all these things for all these other people. It's like, no. You should just look after yourself. And people find that really, really uncomfortable.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah. I noticed like even your energy changed when you spoke about it and you said yourself it makes you angry. What about that makes you angry? What is it exactly about that, that popular notion that, that kind of,

Laura:

piece of conditioning, isn't it? You have to be nice, you have to be caring, you have to be good, you have to look after other people. You can, you can just go die in a hole, nobody cares about you, but you have to die looking after all these other people.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah,

Laura:

chronic.

Lisa Brandis:

So to totally reframe that, and I love it because the, the. You know, quite often there is real wisdom in the things that irritate us in society. And, and it's because then profound change comes from the people like you, Laura, that speak up about a notion and challenge it. Cause sometimes we just accept these things as a given. It's almost like women are nurturing, right? All these kind of ideas that healers care for others. We're caring, nurturing people as part of our identity, part of our natural predisposition as well that, you know, empathic people, especially those that are attracted to healing modalities or counseling, we're naturally caring, empathic people. So it's easy for us to fit into that mold of wanting to take care of others. So. What would be the ideal situation for you if we were to flip that on its head and not be about self care for others? What is the opposite of that look like for you? What's the ideal state that women, you know, being that that's our, mostly our audience, what would women

Laura:

You are deserving of boundaries. You are deserving of care. You're deserving of looking after yourself, just because you are you. You don't have to do more, be more, give more. You're worthy of care, just because you're you. You're deserving of everything.

Lisa Brandis:

to sit with that for a minute because that's powerful. That's powerful. And do you know, I think back to one of, I asked an amazing mentor and therapist, a tip when I was first starting out in this career, I said, Oh, give me, I was like, I was expecting some profound, it was profound, but it was not what I was expecting her to say. And she looked me in the eye and she said to me, the way that you can be the best therapist you can be Lisa, is to love people. Because what we're all craving is more love and what you do so naturally and effortlessly and easily is love others. And from that basis of openhearted connection and true authentic love people feel that and in the resonance of that people heal people like, and exactly what you just described is just the state of love, not because you deserve it, not because you've, you know. done backflips or, you know, achieved an award or had lots of people at a workshop, right? You, you're loved because it's a basic human need. We all deserve it. And we shouldn't have to ask for it. A bit like the sun shines on us all every day. So, love is there for us to receive and feel and express wouldn't it be nice, if we could take it one step further, wouldn't it be nice if we started there rather than waiting until we've burnt out before we get the help, what if we just Get help because it's fun to do get help because it's so nice to have someone just run energy on you. What if we don't have to go to a healer because we feel like something's wrong in our life? What if we go to a healer just to maintain a sense of, balance and, to kind of catch things before they get. Out of balance, just to increase a sense of wellbeing. Not necessarily happiness, but what about just to bring us back to ourself,

Laura:

I have a theory that I love and I'd like to do more with it. I call it unglamorous or boring self care because we all love a bubble bath and a massage and a facial, but sometimes self care is. you need to go to the doctor? Have you made your appointment? When did you see the dentist last? Have you drunk enough water? Are you taking your medication like you're supposed to? Were you supposed to have that blood test that your doctor requested and you haven't done it yet? So all of these, these routine, boring things that really do contribute to our health and wellbeing. So why not have Reiki? Why not have a massage? Why not see a therapist? Just as a routine part of, I'm a human being, I'm trying to look after myself.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah.

Laura:

I will do these things.

Lisa Brandis:

To me it makes perfect sense and I know from all of my experiences, I see my hypnotherapist once a month, we do a share with each other because we're both therapists and we realize the benefit of, you know, sitting down and having someone else kind of help us. with the challenges that we're facing. And let's be honest, if you're human, there's challenges just around the corner. And to be honest, if you know, for those of you that are interested in growth, growth happens from that place of discomfort, which means we're being challenged. We're either creating the challenge to grow and stretch, because we want to thrive in life. And I just can't think of any reason why it shouldn't be part of our normal, natural, self care. And I love that it doesn't have to be glamorous, right? And it can be times when we go to the healer and open up and have a big cry, or we go to the healer and we share and express all the incredible things that are going on in our life as well. It's just nice to have that supportive partnership that is there 100 percent for you. And they're to guide you in what it is. That is important for you to explore and just to sometimes have, I know from my own experience, sometimes just a healer can hold space for us when we have lost that self kindness and that compassion and they can walk us through those negative, icky feelings and emotions that we don't really want to let out of our body. They can hold space to allow us to do it and it just seems to flow a lot more effortlessly then and doesn't feel as hard as if we tried to do it all on our own.

Laura:

The therapist relationship, they specifically that when they talk about psychologists and things, they often say that the relationship with your therapist is the most important thing. It doesn't matter if they're doing CBT or ACT or whatever the modality is, the connection with that person that's the most important part. And I feel like that's same with anything, same with any healing relationship, any friendship, knowing that you've got that person that you can connect with is so vital to, to self care, to boundaries, to everything.

Lisa Brandis:

I absolutely agree and connection is needed now more than ever, because I think we feel we're connecting through social media, but it actually has been proven that it's not a real connection and zoom has its place, podcasts and things like this have. It's place in society, but there's just nothing truly like sitting opposite someone person to person, getting a hug, sharing a cup of tea and even sharing and expressing who you are. It's needed and, and from a biological state, we actually need it to thrive. We need human touch. We need human connection. And I think we have an epidemic right now of people that are missing that and craving it and probably don't even know that they are. I've loved it. We've talked about burnout. We've talked about the signs and how to identify it. We've looked at, how chronic stress shows up differently to natural stress in short term experiences, how it can have a physiological effect as well as, emotional, we've looked at, Ways we can get support both in self care, but also reaching out and getting help. You did mention boundaries and I know this is something that a lot of people do suffer with. Do you have anything you want to share around in particular having good healthy boundaries?

Laura:

But obviously the boundary that you have with a child is going to be different to a boundary that you have with your workmates, for example. So it's identifying the relationship. What is acceptable to you in that relationship? Controversially, I'm going to say sometimes that needs to be flexible. So if you're at work and there is an absolute urgent deadline, but your boundary is that you leave at 4. 30 on the dot because your hours are done. it's a one off thing and somebody says to you, please, we need you to stay. Could you help us out with this thing? okay for you to bend your boundary that one time? Maybe it's okay. Maybe it's not. But that's for you to decide. And then, I guess, re rebound reeing the relationship is going to be important. So, can you live with? What is acceptable to you? What is not draining to you? Because then if you're starting to feel resentful, or like you're always doing the giving, maybe that's the time where you need to look at that boundary and say, okay, maybe it's probably a bit too flexible now, or I'm not being clear enough about it, or the other person isn't respecting what I've asked for. kind of deciding how you're going to reel that back and determine how you're going to set that up again.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah. I think that's actually not such a controversial response. It makes total sense to me, Laura. So thank you for saying it because, and I see it the same as, you know, with balance. It's almost like find life, work balance and it's like, well, can we really have a balance? Like we spend more time at work than we do at home and we spend more time sleeping somewhat, you know? So, and again, balance falls into that same category of, as. Yeah, what's working for us. So I love that. And sometimes we again need someone to share that with, to be able to help us to work out what is, you know, what is meaningful for us in our relationships. And then how do we communicate effectively if we feel like someone's taking advantage. And that is where the difficult conversations come in and having some You know, wise guidance on how to best do that to maintain the strength and the love of the relationship is usually really valuable, Laura. So again, you've got so many skills that you can offer to people, in terms of, both the counseling and I love that it's, fortified with Reiki as well. So people have that opportunity to experience both sides of your modalities. So is there anything that you would like to share? In addition to what we've already spoken about today.

Laura:

I would just say, notice when something is making you uncomfortable. And that's, it's probably an odd thing. So whether it's a feeling or a person or a situation, and pay attention to it. I think particularly again, as women and healers, if something makes us uncomfortable where we tend to just push through because we need to see the client, we need to earn the money, we need to take care of the thing. But that feeling of anxiety or fear or apprehension it's there for a reason.

Lisa Brandis:

Mm,

Laura:

that's

Lisa Brandis:

Mm,

Laura:

with a lot with my clients. Quite often it's like, Oh, I don't have any reason to feel this particular way. It's

Lisa Brandis:

Mm,

Laura:

Yeah, you do.

Lisa Brandis:

Mm.

Laura:

if it turns out that we explore that and, you know, do the therapy around it and do the Reiki around it, maybe it's legitimate feeling. I, I just, in general, would love it if people paid more attention to how they feel, About things.

Lisa Brandis:

Yeah, and to me that ties into what I teach as well with your intuition, that gut, that gut feeling, that gut connection, that first thought. I wrote about it in my book, a whole situation where I had those feelings. We called them red flags in the end when we worked out, there was not just one red flag, but I kept making excuses for the way I felt because I wanted to be kind or wanted to help or felt that I should be. And we do it so much where we put others needs above our own and make their needs more important than what we're feeling. So that's a really valid point for people, especially empaths and

Laura:

Yeah.

Lisa Brandis:

lightworkers to really. You know, validate their emotions, validate their feelings, and, I think there's nothing more important to be honest, and, and it is the gateway to our intuition, our, our emotions tell us when we're in alignment, you know, and when we're not, so speaking of that, I would love to bring Anya through because I like at the end of these, interviews,

Laura:

Okay.

ANYA:

The human is a very complex experience and we like that you both have resonated with the different ways in which emotions can bring to the surface, complex issues that are best dealt with. Within relationships, there is quite often mirrors to your experience that can be reflected through one another and through the very powerful connection. It is the very thing that allows you to sense and feel when you're in alignment and when you're living life to an accordance with what brings you. A sense of peace and a sense of connection and happiness. And there are many different strategies and many different techniques that you can engage. We like that healers, take different tools and techniques and lean on different ones at different times in order to find clarity and in order to find peace around certain circumstances. And what we also would like to remind you is that it's not as difficult as you think. So quite often humans get very caught up in resistance and fighting the very emotions and there is a tendency to suppress them when in fact if they just allowed that emotion to come up and sat with it for a few moments and brought just simply an awareness. To what they're feeling and what they're thinking and what they've experienced. It doesn't take much to gain a neutral perspective on it, which is part of what we do when we blend with our human counterparts is bring a more balanced perspective to the very, at times, hot emotional experiences. We say hot as in the fluctuations of energy and the rise and falls and the peaks and troughs of life's experience. And it is where we find the most interest. It is part of our desire to help humans learn how to navigate through the challenging situations with more ease and more grace. And part of that is exactly as you two have described and have spoken about. It is about self understanding, self compassion, bringing love to any problem or challenge that you're facing. There is always a spiritual solution to any problem. It doesn't necessarily come with. is sometimes the solutions that will actually ease the bigger burden may have to go through a challenging experience in order to bring about change. And that is where support can best help you navigate through. The difficulties of change when and if it's the right time for that person to do so. We would, love to answer any questions if you have one for us, Laura.

Laura:

I guess just, am I on the right track with all of this? Because this hybrid way of working,

ANYA:

Brings about its challenges.

Laura:

Yeah.

ANYA:

Yes. Well, the thing is, is that there are limitations within some of the therapeutic practices and they don't from what we're feeling and tuning into from you. They don't always take into an account the energetic experience of the human and the energetic way in which humans interact. In fact, everything is energy, but the mental modality Faces, the problems and challenges through a mental lens and an emotional lens and doesn't necessarily take into the bigger underlying beliefs that also contribute to. The challenges that human face. So we always suggest that you operate in a way that is integral with your own values and your own principles and your own beliefs. And that might mean that at different times you have to wear different hats. It might mean that in order to satisfy the legalities or the. Recommendations of one modality might be that it's experienced in total separation to another, and so it's offered as perhaps a different experience for people. There will be a underlying connection that runs as a thread through what it is that you do and how you operate. We have seen through Lisa's experience that in the beginning, In the early years with little experience, it was much easier for her to follow those that have gone on before and follow the rules as that was laid out for her to do so, because someone that does not have a breadth of experience within a certain modality does best to just follow the rules until they themselves have that breadth of experience. Once they have, they understand through their own personal experiences where those rules can be applied and where they can be, Gently moved around. Does that make sense? So for the for always for the benefit of the client and the therapeutic relationship as a whole and when there is that integrity that stands at. As the basis with which you work is to work in a, in a way of assisting the outcome is positive for the, for the interaction together. It can be, it can be gently navigated and it, and it is also an understanding of checking in with yourself as to whether you know the work that you're doing is in, is in balance. And is working in an ethical way, and when you know that it is, you can rest assured. Whether you would get others acknowledge different modalities, perhaps it would not come if they have not yet experienced it themselves. So sometimes there is just a blanket no, because they do not understand what it is. And without the breadth of understanding what it is, it's hard for them to make a decision to say yes or no. So sometimes they just stick with the modality that is known. And they make rules around that one because there are so many different ways that humans can interact in so many different modalities. And again, as you said earlier, that also depends on the needs of the human and some modalities just simply will not resonate with some humans. So therefore it would make sense that you put on the clinical hat for that person and someone that is totally open to energy and loves it and has experienced it. So has that full breadth of understanding and awareness, then they would. It would make sense that you could lean into that area with them. We have enjoyed this interaction and look forward to connecting with you all again. Namaste.

Lisa Brandis:

Thank you again, Laura, for sharing your wisdom and heart with us today. So for those who would love to connect with you and learn more about your work, how can they find you?

Laura:

My website is lauramcvay. com. au, I am on most of the social media sites as well. And I'm working on being more consistent about posting particularly Reiki videos, so do come over and encourage me there.

Lisa Brandis:

Beautiful. Do you have any special offers for our listeners?

Laura:

Listeners can receive 10 percent off their first individual session using the code POD10. So P O D 1 0. That's valid for the next six months.

Lisa Brandis:

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Laura. And I will put all Laura's links to be able to access that special rate, at the end in the show notes. So thank you again, Laura, for sharing your wisdom and heart with us today. Thank you to everyone who's listening. Remember taking care of yourself. Isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. Until next time, be kind to yourself, honor your energy and keep shining bright. See you in the next episode.