Workshop Details

Location: Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center

2067 Evergreen Rd, Pulaski, PA 16143

Room: Begel Hall West

9:00am-4:30pm

Lunch Included


Please note: This is the registration for the workshop only as a stand-alone event. If you are interesting in attending the retreat and adding this workshop on, please register HERE.

Energy Management and Psychic Protection

One of the greatest challenges for those who work in the helping and healing professions is finding the balance between sharing your experience and energy, and becoming drained by the needs and demands of others.  Creating boundaries while being open and honest about yourself can seem like an impossible task when your attention and energy is being pulled in so many directions.

Modern life is a constant barrage of emotions, negativity and random energies. Even the most blessed among us can become overwhelmed. Those of us who are intuitive, empathic or psychically sensitive are often vulnerable to energetic pollution in the world. What isn’t always easy to admit is that we are all intuitive and sensitive. The tools we use to manage, hide from, or self-medicate that sensitivity can be healthy and can be self-destructive. 

In this workshop we will look at ways to transform unhealthy avoidance strategies into conscious protection strategies.  We will explore ways of creating spaces where intuition and empathy feel easy and natural.

In the morning session we will look at simple, practical ways of clearing the energy in a place using sound, smoke, water and stone.

In the afternoon session we will discuss finding greater awareness of how other’s energies and emotions effect us and how to filter out those disruptions without closing ourselves off or shutting down.  

Throughout the day we will explore different methods to create mental boundaries to protect ourselves from energies left behind from traumatic events and disruptive, negative people. Using psychic self-defense and shielding we will learn to cleanse our space and protect our precious energy.

It is impossible to completely isolate yourself from the world, but it is possible to move through this world without becoming mired in chaos.

Instructor

Guest Instructor John Michael Thornton

John Michael Thornton is a psychic and co-founder of Great Conjunction Spiritual Center. He is the author of Grounding, Forgiveness & Gratitude ~ Three Guided Meditations to Heal your Soul as well as guided meditation cds and ebooks. John has lectured for Mindful Ohio, Lily Dale Assembly, BMSE, and the Association for Research and Enlightenment. His energetic and charismatic style has made him a popular teacher and lecturer throughout the Northeast.

Discussant

ICM Founder & Director Jamie Marich

Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they/we) began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music. Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga, while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Akron, OH. Marich is the founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy. Marich is the author of EMDR Made Simple: 4 Approaches for Using EMDR with Every Client (2011), Trauma and the Twelve Steps: A Complete Guide for Recovery Enhancement (2012), Creative Mindfulness (2013), Trauma Made Simple: Competencies in Assessment, Treatment, and Working with Survivors, Dancing Mindfulness: A Creative Path to Healing and Transformation (2015), and Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery (2019). Marich co-authored EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care along with colleague Dr. Stephen Dansiger in 2018, and their new book with Springer Publishing Healing Addiction with EMDR Therapy: A Trauma-Focused Guide released in 2021. North Atlantic Books published a revised and expanded edition of Trauma and the 12 Steps in the Summer of 2020, and they released The Healing Power of Jiu-Jitsu: A Guide to Transforming Trauma and Facilitating Recovery in 2022. Her latest release with North Atlantic Book, Dissociation Made Simple: A Stigma-Free Guide to Embracing Your Dissociative Mind and Navigating Life came out in January 2023. She has three more projects in the works with North Atlantic Books, including her personal memoir about surviving spiritual abuse called You Lied to Me About God, due out in Autumn 2024. The Huffington Post published her personal story of being out as a clinical professional with a dissociative disorder in May 2023. The New York Times featured Marich’s writing and work on Dancing Mindfulness in 2017 and 2020. NALGAP: The Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Addiction Professionals and Their Allies awarded Jamie with their esteemed President’s Award in 2015 for her work as an LGBT advocate. The EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) granted Jamie the 2019 Advocacy in EMDR Award for her using her public platform in media and in the addiction field to advance awareness about EMDR therapy and to reduce stigma around mental health. Jamie also sits on the editorial board of the EMDR Journal of Practice and Research, and she was the 2008 winner of the Poster Research Award at the EMDRIA Annual Conference.