This collection of life experiences was a breath of fresh air! Bravo to these forces of nature for sharing their stories with us. They are leading the way to many paths of self-empowerment.
The book was by no means an easy cover-to-cover read. I found myself at times struggling to get through it, not because I wasn't enjoying it. It was more that I felt the need to really digest each article, allow it to resonate and settle before moving to the next.
As a massage therapist, it is very common for me to encounter clients dealing with a sense of (unknown) disconnect. They really don't see the correlation between what is happening to them on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level, and how profoundly these aspects of themselves influence the other. They struggle to keep everything separate, when it is all unavoidably intertwined. This book showcased 17 stories of women breaking the mold, overcoming this obstacle and finding their SELF and their TRUTH. Thank you for sharing!
Rachel MacDonald, RMT
HEALTHYSELF THERAPEUTICS
rachelmacd@gmail.com
Thankyou Louise, for pulling together such an inspiring and fascinating collection of real life journeys! I was moved by the courage, determination and open heartedness of these women who have moved into the power of being truly authentic. I could see aspects of myself in all the women, reminding me of how connected we all are. It felt as though their victories were mine and I felt a surge of power and excitement to unfold my `next level’.
The only problem I had with the book has been keeping it long enough to review it. As I began to share the insights and details of the stories I was reading, my mother, sister, two friends and even my husband, in turn, took over the book. I can say that it certainly has wide appeal!
Many of us long to be ‘bigger’, to feel inner peace, to rise to our full potential and feel great about who we are but feel helpless to know how to achieve this. Perhaps we know subconsciously that when we live from that space almost anything is possible.
The joy of this book is that the detailed stories of the women (of all ages and many backgrounds), offers a well lit pathway to begin the transformational process. The women share their innermost secrets, vulnerabilities and successes without defences, leading the reader to feel as though they have made many new friends. The journeys offer much hope to readers and a template for change.
I too am a graduate of the WEL-Systems® training, having travelled to Canada from Australia in 2000 to study WEL-Systems:NLP. What I didn’t expect from that training was the inner peace, insights and release from the grips of chronic fatigue syndrome, that resulted from the Quantum TLC™ process. Since then I have used the powerful and simple processes with hundreds of clients, with what can only be described as miraculous results, similar to the stories described in the book.
If you are looking for movement and growth from an emotional, physical or spiritual issue and if you are ready to take responsibility for creating your own life, I highly recommend Sekhmet Rising and the experience of the WEL-Systems approach to wholeness. It has changed my life, so that my life is a constant series of synchronicities and miracles.
Marilyn Powell
Sydney, Australia
PhD Candidate (Behavioural Science)
M.App.Sc, BSN,Dip.Ed, Master Practitioner and Trainer NLP
marilyn_powell@bigpond.com
To reach deep within ourself and grab at the core of our being, our true self, is by its very nature something that transcends words. It is a transcendent experience, and something we all struggle with when we are on the path of true self discovery and authenticity. After such a connection to our deepest selves, we sometimes yearn to put this experience into words, to share it with others, and to participate in the understanding of the experiences of others. The process of doing this grounds our experience in the physical world and makes it more likely we will follow through with our newly gained understanding.
The collection of personal experiences in Sekhmet Rising is such a powerful collection of personal truths and journeys that it inspires our own searching to a new level. I found reading these stories empowered me to reask questions, to rethink answers, and to revisit many past experiences along my path.
The effect was an even deeper understanding of who I am, what I like and don't like, and how I came to be who I am. Thank you for the journey, for as woman share we are all included more fully in the dance of rising up!!
Laura Kealoha Yardley
Author of Heart of Huna
Louise LeBrun, author and founder of The WEL-Systems Institute invited seventeen women participants and facilitators of the WEL-Systems growth experience to contribute narratives about their personal journeys and transformations to become more authentically themselves. “Each has had to come face-to-face with herself; not just who she wanted to be but who she has already become” (p.2). The introduction aptly warns the reader: “Be well warned: these women are highly contagious!”(p. 4). Each courageous and challenging story invites the reader to awaken to their own potential testimonies and to actively choose their own meaningful life opportunities.
Sekhmet Rising is the book title and symbolizes the powerful Egyptian Goddess or “metaphor for feminine wholeness” (p. 106) who represents both the orderly protector/destroyer and the healer/creator who has relational qualities for bonding communally. LeBrun suggests the energy that is Sekhmet lives in each of us and is the Fire, or force of restlessness that cannot be silenced indefinitely, and that “Its unrelenting surges through the body can either awaken us or silence us forever” (p. 1). Sekhmet is “the Stillpoint- that place from which to bear witness and observe, from which to mindfully choose to engage rather than react or be drawn in to that which will not serve us” (p. 4).
LeBrun suggests that “women have become the keeper of the keys to the dungeons of our own imprisonment” (p. 11). Many of the contributing writers share their past stories and struggles with eating disorders, obsessive compulsion, drugs, depression, and various body and relational problems that Theresa McKeown refers to as “side-tracked on the sub-plots” (p. 119), and Koreen Kimakowich calls distractions “that I would invite into my life as a way of being” (p. 89). Noreen Mejias, however, suggests these experiences are valuable, “… my confusion was and is a gateway or portal into my own continuous growth and evolution (p. 187). They all suggest embracing your own past story and mobilizing the inner rage and Fire for positive change. Eva Marsh in her struggles with life and Multiple Sclerosis says, “My Fire has always yearned to burst into a huge flame” (p. 45), and Susan Griffin says “I know now that Fire never left me - it only stayed hidden away until I was ready to reclaim it” (p. 73). While each story in the book is unique, Eva Marsh has been “intrigued by the concept of a universal source of energy”
(p. 54). The editor strongly states “Get off your knees! Stand up for what we all instinctively, know to be true of who we already are – powerful, versatile, creative innovators” (p.14).
Each author chronicles their journey to a point of awakening and the profound realization that their inner
restlessness or personal genius needed to be protected, understood and expressed. When each found this place of still knowing and body intuition, it offered them the guidance to take healthy and creative action to improve their lives and to get in touch with their inner selves. Each woman’s narrative includes a description of the unique tools they used for connecting with Sekhmet, where a still
point was ultimately reached that provided the needed clarity of understanding. Lorna LeBrun, at the age of 81, suggests “It is never too late to redesign your life (p. 255), and this holds out hope for most readers.
This book offers an interesting read and a telescope into real women’s lives, lessons and feelings. It also provides personal inspiration to awaken the reader’s inner restlessness and to honor their own genius. As you read, you cannot escape identifying with many of the common challenges and being moved by their courageous examples, struggles, insights and actions that ultimately led to creative and fulfilling lives for each of them. Jackie Zirpdji beseeches the reader, “it is with great excitement that I share with you my story as an invitation to discover and trust your own magnificence (p. 195). Patricia Donihee likewise reaches out: “My belief is that what is needed is for women to have awakened to their magic within to share the story of their journey and become a beacon to guide other women to never give up on the self ” (p.212)!
Practical individual and collective methods for tuning into the body to receive its messages are offered to all readers as the unifying thread to otherwise separate and engaging stories of personal challenges and journeys to consciousness. Each used the common focus of the WEL-Systems program to examine their beliefs, values and attitudes as the potent drivers of women’s responses to life. Koreen Kimakowich, describes this knowledge with the quote, “As my Light radiated all that was my now and beyond, what came into focus was a plethora of beliefs, values and attitudes (BVAs) that had been thrust upon me and have become the driver of my responses to life” (p. 93). With this insight, simple breathing in a quiet place, setting aside distractions, listening to body messages, and valuing their revered information provided pathways for the next creative action steps to become clearer. Anita Allen says “what it requires is unwavering faith in your inner compass, YOUR inner truth (p. 115).
While individual chapters make up a majority of the book, the editor brings it together in many ways. She suggests that “What is the tapestry within which each of these is a thread of a different color or texture and yet nonetheless, all part of the same design”(p. 10)? She also calls upon collective action “We reach into our families and communities and organizations, and we become the invitation for change within our collectives of choice. And with the unstoppable, combined forces of Intention and Attention, we come together to build new and larger collectives that are required to change the world” (p. 15). In some ways each of the individual writers all came to a collective consciousness regarding their connection to others, their belongingness and wider beliefs.
The last section of the book includes quotes from all of the contributors, heralded by the opening provocative statement “If I’d known then what I know now …” (p.271). It makes for a fine conclusion.
The book provides a good individual read to help in self-exploration and transformation. It also makes for an excellent collective read by a group or a class that would provoke rich dialogue and critical and personal reflections. Ultimately, the reader is left with the notion that is stated in its preface: “The lives of these women matter – and so does yours” (p. 7).
Heather Lee Kilty,
(Ph.D. in Health Services, Ph.D. candidate in Therapeutic Counseling, M.Ed. from Harvard University) has offered a counseling practice for over 25 years and has taught Therapeutic and Professional Communications and Diversity and Health in the Nursing Department, as well as Classical and Contemporary Discourses in Women’s Studies and Canadian Women in a Global Context at Brock University.
Barbara Dewar,
(Ph.D. candidate in Therapeutic Counseling) has offered an individual and group psychotherapy practice for over 23 years. She is familiar with the use of the intersubjective in therapy with clients, and in the supervision of psychotherapists. She is co-founder, with Jo-Anne Corbeil, of Espritedu Training of Psychotherapy Associates and Counseling Referral Service.
I have experienced much in 60 years of living. I have been a passionate crusader
for the realization of my own truth ever since I can consciously remember.
Words and language as the verbal manifestation of my thought have always held
majesty for me – from a very young age. I realize now that, as much as I have evolved my consciousness, as much as I have grown, I have yet to fully step up to the plate of my full expression.
I remember when I was 11 years old, asking myself, ‘If I am so brilliant, then why am I so stupid?’ I already knew the presence of that brilliance; however, I did not and could not fit in. Cultural outlook and the expectations of the prevailing school system at that time could not identify nor include diversity thinking and approaches to learning. The only way to stay safe was to ‘dumb down’ the expression. The only way to stay alive was to put up, shut up, not rock the boat, stay silent, stay still, stay out of sight, stay off site. In a nutshell, this, to me, was the common life-line and the bold (at the time), unconscious strategy intrinsic to the lives of the eighteen authors who have contributed so resourcefully to Sekhmet
Rising; The Restlessness of Women’s Genius. As I have read each chapter, I have come to understand that shame, for me, provided the tension to stay suppressed and closed down – and safe. Shame’s pressure rolled out the pavement and painted the lines by which to leave the planet, get out of the way, stop the internal torture; at the same time, shame spelled relief for staying put…then I could not leave. The irony of all of this is that I have been leaving most of my life in some way or other. It has only been in the last couple of years that I have come to really accept my own invitation to stay. My own invitation to me to play the game has been significantly enlivened by the read of this powerful book.
Simply put and highly recommended, the read of Sekhmet
Rising – The Restlessness of Women’s
Genius – fires your neurology to awaken you to that which you already have, within you…not only you as your very own opportunity and your own unique message, but also you as your own innate, natural tool to express your life and your living in a bigger and more eloquent way. These are the stories of eighteen highly courageous women – each one intentioned to make a difference in her own life; each one intentioned to stay conscious and to remember her brilliance; each one willing to change her mind. It is all so simple. Read the book; read the words; read the space between each word; your experience of your life will change as you read. Each one of these remarkable women made her own unique self-discovery in the magic of her breath and her breathing and in her intention to fully pay attention to these two things. The body opens, the energy flows deeply in and out to its infinite reach, and the ignition of the divine comes to full power. Read Sekhmet Rising and give thanks. Your life matters.
Sheila Winter Wallace, R.N.,
Full Initiator in Huna, Trainer of NLP and Hypnosis
Membership Director, Past President (1996), and Life Time Member of the Ottawa
Women’s Business Network
A.C.T. & Inspire – www.actandinspire.com
Performance Enhancement for Alignment, Congruency, and Timing
Ottawa, Ontario
