GCW’s Tips for Life

February 16, 2021February 9, 2021 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Here are several humble and easy tips from GCW based on her tree wisdom and observations of humans during her long life.

Tip #1: Spend time in nature every day to renew your relationship with with the web of life. In nature, you can release human caused worries, tensions, anxieties and find the peace and calm at your center.

Here you can walk and move your body freely. You can swing your arms, you can run, you can sing to your heart’s content. You can catch a snowflake on your tongue. You can climb or lean against a friendly tree. You can sit on a rock and soak in the sun, observing the life surrounding you and the beating heart within you.

Everything you experience in nature can be seen as a mirror of your inner self and you can learn from this; the dark forests, rolling prairies, deeply rooted grasses, feathered creatures of the air and treetops, grazing animals, fur bearers, scampering tree dwellers, the moods of weather and sky, the quality of light, industrious insects, magnificent spreading trees, tangled undergrowth, flowing streams, silver ponds, changing seasons…

Nature places no demands on you, makes no judgments about you, has no agenda for you to follow. Here you can be yourself. Here you can reconnect with the carefree and happy child within you.

Tip #2: Hug a tree now and then. If you are tuned into your body in a sensitive way, you will notice a change in your energy as you hug a tree. You might also notice the energy of the tree. It may feel loving, welcoming, vital, peaceful, calm, patient. As you hug one of our representatives, you connect to the grounded earthy energy of the tree, and that will energize you!

Tip #3: Root to the Earth. You’re in a body and thus you belong here. You are meant to live fully in your body, not spending the majority of your time in your mind. If you do, eventually you will crash like a weak rooted tree in a high wind. To root yourself, visualize sending your energetic roots deep into the earth so you are anchored to the soil and bedrock. Now you can pull Earth energy into your body through your roots and know that you belong here.

Tip #4: Reach to the Light. Take up your allotted space in the canopy, so to speak. Soak in life giving energy that is your birthright and grow toward the sunlight. A tree will never turn away from the light, but grow always toward it, reaching and reaching and soaking in as much as possible every day of the growing season.

If you are alive and reading this, you are in your growing season. Make the most of it! Claim the light that is yours without apology.

If others are overshadowing you, find safe ways to find the light that is yours. You might start small and build on your successes over time.

When you are rooted and reaching to the light, when you spend time in nature, when you hug a tree now and then, you fully alive in body, mind and spirit. You are free! You are participating in full spectrum of human possibilities from the earthy to the sublime.

In this way, you connect and know your oneness with the web of life.

Connect to Earth

January 26, 2021January 25, 2021 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Yes, dear ones, I return to a favorite theme. I speak of grounding once more because it is so vital to your well-being!

When your body and mind are exhausted, when you feel as though you can’t take another step, when you are depleted, shaky or frantic, recharge your power supply by reconnecting with Mother Earth.

Plug in and let her entrain your energy to her heartbeat, the rhythm of our planet, to the reality of her loving support.

When you are ungrounded you may seem to float away like an untethered space walker. Humans ungrounded deplete themselves and try to compensate for a lack of Earth energy, try to find a power supply elsewhere – food, drink, drugs…?

When you are grounded, you are filled with Earth energy pulled in from the chakras at the soles of your feet. This energy rises up within your body to anchor and root you to your home. This is mother Earth’s way of telling you – you belong here, this is your home.

Rediscover your power supply in the most simple and natural way.

Walk stand or sit with your bare feet on the earth, on grass a beach, in mud or soil. Lay under a tree. Hug a tree and lean there for a few moments. Visualize yourself as a tree and send your roots deep into the Earth. Gently massage your feet. Walk in nature. Rub the soles of your feet with a stainless steel spoon.

As you are here in a body, you are meant to live fully within the parameters and limitations, joys sorrows and challenges of this physical existence. Getting grounded will help you be here now and experience the fullness of life.

Practice simple grounding daily and recharge your batteries. Live in your body. Live more fully as you are meant to.

Ground with your favorite tree

November 3, 2020October 20, 2020 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Dear reader, this post is from the archives of AskGCW.

Yes, I repeat myself once again with rooting and grounding theme. I do this because so many humans walk this earth with their awareness and their spirits partially outside of their bodies.

The energy of ungrounded humans feels as though it floats in space without an anchor or home. This causes many to feel anxious and unmoored. Ungrounded people are disconnected from a vital source of life-giving energy.

Making sure you are grounded in times of trial and uncertainty, when you feel spacey anxious or disconnected.

Here is one simple way to anchor yourself with my friends and cousins the trees. Which tree are you drawn to? Oak, sycamore, sweet gum, hackberry, cedar palmetto, beech, elm, walnut, fir, hickory, maple, ash, cherry, apple, spruce, poplar, aspen, magnolia, pine, cottonwood, mesquite, …?

Choose your favorite tree. If needed, find a picture of a magnificent tree to help your imagination see the details.

Now envision for a few moments that you too are a magnificent tree. Bear with me, you don’t have to tell anyone else about this…

Now imagine that you have roots reaching deeply into the soil, gripping the earth. Your roots range in size from mighty ones the size of main branches, tapering down to the tiny tenacious hair like roots that draw in nourishment directly from the soil.

With your imagination see and feel your roots reaching deeper into the soil and subsoil, through the bedrock and mantle of the Earth to the molten core. (Anything is possible in your imagination)

Now as you breathe in, pull in the anchoring Earth energy up into your feet, legs and lower torso to fill the cells of your physical being and help bring your awareness into your body – where you are meant to live.

Now you are plugged into the frequency of the planet.

Breathe the Earth energy in through your roots and let it travel upward through your trunk and branches through the tips into your leaves. Do this breathing several times as you imagine the energy filling your from the center of the Earth up.

Feel yourself relax and become one with our planet. Allow the Earth energy to soak into every cell of your body.

Let the trees show you anchoring. This simple practice can help calm you. No equipment or expensive accessories are needed, no experience or skill required.

All you need to tap into Earth energy are your heart, imagination and intention.

Connect with Earth Energy

October 31, 2020October 20, 2020 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Dear reader, this post is from the archives of AskGCW.

Dear one, do you feel shaky, off balance, flighty, un-tethered?

Our great mother, the Earth asks you to lie down heart to heart, belly to belly with her and absorb her loving grounding energy into your body.

When you feel anxious she will calm you, when you feel unmoored, she will give you solidity. When you are tired, she will fill you with energy. When you feel lost, she will provide a home, a safe resting place, a solid foundation.

Go to the Earth when you find yourself off balance, jittery, bereft. Let her energy heal you.

Let her envelope you in the energy, the safety, and feeling of home. Know that we belong to each other!

Message from a tree

January 11, 2020January 9, 2020 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Stop awhile on your hike, your walk to work or school, lean against my trunk, absorb my loving energy. I have much to give.

I share my strength, my shade, my beauty with you. You can trust my solidity. My roots anchor me securely. I will not wobble or fall, back away or collapse as you lean your full weight against me. I am here for you, a sure presence.

I share my loving energy with you. What you might call my love is all encompassing. It does not question or expect or judge, it simply radiates like joy from the core of my being, embracing and enriching and interweaving with the entire web of life.

I share my tree wisdom with you. I have weathered many storms, many cold winters, droughts, floods, beating summer suns, loss of limbs, nearby construction projects that have felled many of my companion trees, yet I endure and thrive. I continue to send my roots into the earth for nourishment and reach my branches to the light life-giving sunlight.

Those of you who pay attention with your heart and your 5 senses can learn from the trees. You might learn patience in the face of change. You might learn endurance in all seasons, all weather conditions, You might discover a new way to think about unconditional love.

You might learn that to be strong and stable you must develop deep roots and connect with Earth energy. You might learn how to gracefully claim and take up the space that is yours and spread your branches to the light, because it is your birthright.

You can learn much from a tree. Trust, root deep, love, endure.

Three worlds

January 4, 2020December 25, 2019 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

I, Grandmother Cottonwood, am a magnificent tree. I live in three worlds.

My roots reach deeply into the lower world, pulled by gravity , the magnetic pull of Earth’s core. My roots draw in nourishment and water and all earth elements needed to feed me.

This is the zone of magic, of power, of earthy energies and animal spirits, of ancient knowledge, of survival on this planet. This is the region of Earth wisdom that will feed your souls.

The wisdom of the lower world has been accumulated over millennia from the time our Earth was a swirling mass of gasses, even before life took hold.

All myths, legends, all ancient wisdom resides here. You can tap into their power and richness. They will feed and fuel your growth. As my roots feed me.

I am rooted to the Earth

My magnificent trunk and large limbs reside in the middle world, the spiritual aspect of the created world. Here I weather storms, bake under a hot summer sun, rest in winter, scatter my seeds in spring. Here I age and witness tired old limbs fall to the earth and others thrive and come into leaf.

I witness my bark growing thicker and tougher each year. I interweave branches and roots with the sycamores, the hack-berries, the thorny locusts, the grasses, the nearby cottonwoods.

Here I interact with the energy, the spirits of those who walk by or who lean against me, those who give me tree hugs.

Our spirits are all one here. All living beings are connected through our invisible energies. Our spirits interweave and overlap whether we know it or not. We communicate and understand each other. Human, plant, animal, insect, Earth.

As a living being on planet Earth, my awareness is centered in my physical reality in this place and time

I am centered in my body.

My smaller branches and tiny twigs, my growing tips and buds, my fine crown of leaves reside in the upper world. This is a place of expansion, of light, of growth, a place of miracles of divine wisdom and divine energies. This is the realm of spirit, of your higher self.

Here the sunlight touches my leaves fueling their growth as they absorb the life giving light. My crown brings the amazing energies of the divine down from the heavens into my body to keep life alive. I reach to the sun, my source of power. I am whole and complete

I am aligned with divine light.

I am rooted to the Earth. I am centered in my body. I am aligned with divine light.

Root and Ground Yourself

October 8, 2019 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Have you forgotten your roots? No, this isn’t about your human family. The roots I speak of go deeper into the earth, anchoring you to your home.

They anchor and connect you like my deep and strong cottonwood roots anchor my massive trunk and crown so that I can stand tall and thrive here.

You are meant to live here on this planet, energetically rooted and connected to the loving energy of the earth.

Picture a field of prairie grass with deep roots that penetrate the soil and cling tenaciously to life. The deep roots draw up sustenance from many feet below the surface, anchoring their tall stems leaves and seed heads.

You too have the ability to send your energetic roots deep into the soil, pulled down from your feet without effort to the magnetic core of the earth. You are then able to draw in the earth energy that you need to live fully in your body.

Yes, I speak of concepts invisible to your naked eyes. Come out of your head, out of your logical zone and try this. Try living fully in your body, feeling the sensations in your feet legs, hips, your core, your heart, your center – all of you.

See how you feel, not how you think you should feel when you visualize your energetic roots. If you feel uncomfortable or scared to live in your body, find a healer or therapist to help you.

Living fully in your body is the gift you’ve been bequeathed as a human being.

When you are deeply rooted, you are more flexible and resilient and able to weather life’s storms with grace. You can recover more easily from heartache and trauma and injury and find new ways to grow and thrive.

When you allow yourself to live fully in your body, when you surrender to gravity to knowing this planet is your true home and will be for countless lifetimes, when you know that as mother earth thrives, you and all living ones thrive, you will feel at home, safe cared for, connected.

When you plug your body’s energy from your feet into the energy of our Earth, you will know a new sense of peace and belonging.

6 Easy ways to ground yourself:

Walk barefoot on the earth.
Lay on the Earth.
Hug a tree.
Visualize roots like tree roots going from your lower body feet and legs to the core of the earth. Breathe out stress, breathe in earth energy.
Rub the soles of your feet with a stainless steel spoon.
Massage your bare feet.

GCW as healer: A Shamanic Practice

January 26, 2019January 23, 2019 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Dear friends, rest here awhile in the shelter of roots at my base. Can you imagine yourself laying among my roots, on the cool Earth? What do you feel? What do you see, smell and hear as you take shelter with me?

Grandmother Cottonwood – winter afternoon

Feel the Earth energy permeate your body as my roots draw it upward from deep in the earth. My roots are deeper and wider than you can imagine!

Let yourself feel her energy, anchoring, filling, healing, and energizing you. Know the feeling of belonging, of home.

Now as you soak in the energy of home, letting your mind rest and your body be one with the earth, let yourself feel the energy of sky and stars fill and permeate your being as I gather it in from my leaves, buds, twigs and branches, channeling it down through my trunk to fill you with light and life force.

Let the light that fills you be in the color most needed for you at this time. It may be any color of the rainbow, bright, clear, jewel-like. Become one with the gorgeous color. Allow yourself to dissolve into it. It might be a deep electric blue, the rosy pink of sunsets, or whatever color your spirit has chosen for you.

Now let the energies, the colors and vibrations of earth energy and heavenly energy fill every cell of your being, bless you, energize you, and heal you.

Rest here in this peaceful place as long as you wish, experiencing and bathing in the peaceful healing energy of earth and sky.

You can revisit my sheltering roots whenever you need peace and renewal.

Fear or light?

August 22, 2018August 18, 2018 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Do events and actions beyond your control trigger fear in the pit of your belly? Do scenes on the television screen create an underlying stress that colors your life in shades of gray? Does worry about “expert” opinion and commentary on the news destroy your mood and suck the joy out of your life?

Circling vultures

If this is so, your connection to source, to the vibrations of light and love that sustains all life here, to the well being that you were born with has been weakened. In this way the web of all life is weakened as well.

Turn off the news and entertainment that brings you down! Its darker, heavier energy fills the light in your life with murk and commands you to think about the media’s interpretations of events they choose to show you. They are filtered for maximum fear, controversy and disharmony! Then these images and words are pumped into your brain!

Remember – Fear is cheap! And Fear sells! Apparently there is money in fear.

Do not fall into the fear trap!

You might think to yourself… but I must be informed! I must not bury my head in the sand…!

My dears, the most vital thing you can do is to maintain your light, the clarity of your vibrations to be a source of light and love on this planet. To maintain your inner peace in the face of ugliness in the world, to know the reality beyond the 5 senses, the realm of spirit in which we all exist and to call on our higher selves to take control. Yes, there is ugliness, when others forget their own divinity, their own light.

When you maintain your light your vibrations send ripples of love and light out into the world, affecting those around you, who in turn may also connect once again with their light and send more ripples of loving energy into the web of all things.

This is infinitely more valuable than “being informed” of every ugly event taking place across the globe.

Grandmother Cottonwood

When you feel fear manufactured and magnified by the media, turn your shiny device off, deepen your breathing, take a walk in nature, or hug a tree, play with a baby, do some yoga, dig in the garden, touch and connect with the sweet green earth, your home…. and above all, know your light.

Creative flow

December 10, 2016December 9, 2016 / Shamanic Healing of Ames / Leave a comment

Set the stage for your creative work. Send you roots deep into the earth that supports all living things. Breathe in her nourishment, let earth energy fill your body. Let go of worry, doubt, expectations.

Bird nest near stream

Now, firmly rooted, stand tall and let your crown open. Let yourself expand upward to the light. Let your energy be joyful and expansive as you reach the vibration of flow.

You will feel yourself open to a powerful flow of creative energy moving you to act, to do what inspires you, to do what satisfies your soul. This energy is life itself.

Ask Grandmother Cottonwood

Spiritual healing and advice

grounding