Tithing

You might have noticed that for every workshop I do, I donate at least 10% of the proceeds to a charity.

I introduced this tithing at my very first workshop back in 2006 when Doreen Virtue asked each ATP® who was holding an International Angel Day event, to donate 10% of the proceeds from their event to a children's charity of their choice.

Ever since I was a little girl I have been involved with the RSPCA in some way or another and I have always desperately wanted to be able to help animals. I promised myself that one day when I was working, I would donate regularly. As soon as I began to earn a regular salary, I joined the RSPCA and WWF and it thrills me no end to think of the good that my donation may be doing. So when I began teaching workshops, it felt the perfect way to further show my support of the animals, and my gratitude, to be able to have the income available to make the donations.

Tithing is very fulfilling to me; it makes me feel good because I feel that whilst my workshops are helpful to the individuals who attend them, they are also in support of causes that I feel strongly about.

I usually donate to PETA, WSPA, Animal Aid, BUAV etc. I try to donate to a different charity for each workshop however it is my intention to seek out other charities that may need our donations but don't have the accessible advertising funds to make themselves as well-known to the general public.

I was prompted to write this blog post because I was reading the PETA newsletter that I receive monthly and happened across a video which shows just some of the truly awful, horrifying and barbaric things that 'they' do to animals in the name of science. It was so upsetting that I just wanted to remind everyone that these charities really do need your help and even if you can't donate a large sum, as Dan Millman says "a little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing".

I hope that I have done this post justice and managed to put across my message: I donate because it feels good, it brings me joy to be a part of making a difference and even if it's not a huge amount that you've donated, it all adds up.

So please, if it feels right for you and you have a little spare (time/food/cash etc.) to donate, there are so many charities battling to help animals in so many ways, and whatever you can give will make a huge difference.

You can visit the following websites for more information:
http://www.peta.org.uk/
http://www.wspa.org.uk/
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/
http://www.buav.org/
http://www.rspca.org.uk/
http://www.bluecross.org.uk/

"The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention." Duguet

Congratulations are in order :-)

The 13th of September 2008 was most certainly no ordinary day! Firstly, it was two days before my 30th birthday, and secondly, it was the day that Barbara and I became Healer Members of the NFSH!

Following two and a half years of hard work, dedication and practice, Barbara and I went before the NFSH panel. To be eligable to go before the panel, we had to complete: a minimum of two years of probationer membership, volunteer at an NFSH healing centre, work with four case studies, complete four training courses and CPD (continued professional development) and spend a number of hours training with our two NFSH Sponsors at regular intervals.

At the panel, we were judged on our understanding and knowledge of the very stringent Code of Conduct which the NFSH and all its healers follow; so to be able to come out of it as Healer Members, really meant so much to us! It was the culmination of a wonderful stage in our lives and careers and proof that hard work really does pay off!

Barbara and I are so excited and grateful to be able to take our professional healing practice to the next level. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing your human or animal patient glow with the benefits of a relaxing and rejuvenating healing treatment.

Meeting Jack Angelo

Above: Sue Walsh, Jack Angelo, Barbara Capaldi

On Wednesday I attended a Distant Healing workshop that was presented by the NFSH and Jack Angelo. It was an absolutely fascinating day and I felt like I came away from it armed with so much helpful knowledge and information. Jack spoke clearly and from the heart and really is an inspiring person. You can visit his website on http://www.jackangelo.com/

I attended the workshop with my friend Barbara who I do a lot of healing with (see http://www.twohealers.bravehost.com/) and we asked Jack if he would mind having a photo taken with us, as we were a little startstuck! Being the lovely man that is, he obliged with a huge smile!

If you have read the Distant Healing page on my website then you'll know that I find distant healing astounding, effective and extremely powerful and having completed the workshop I believe this even more strongly then ever. Sadly, it seems that many people don't really give distant healing a chance as, understandably, it's difficult to imagine how it can be effective however, if we look into studies about healing and energy then it's been proven time and time again that distant healing is extremely effective. My advice to someone considering distant healing would be to give it a go! It can't ever harm a person and can only ever benefit them and without having had the experience of distant healing, how would one ever know what it felt like?

Cute anecdote...

Here's a cute one for you...

The other day I was pottering around in the bedroom tidying up and chatting away to La Mai whilst doing it. From downstairs I heard Lee say:
"You know Sue, she's a cat, she's not going to talk back!"
"Oh yes she will", I say, at which stage I look at La Mai and say "La Mai, say something"
"MEOW!" La Mai responded instantly :-)
It was as if in response to me saying "say something" she said "Something!"

So you see, she DID talk back! How I love my kitkat.

Book review: "The Holy Man" by Susan Trott

Rating out of 10: 8


This tiny little book packs a powerful, albeit loving, punch.


"The Holy Man" tells the story about Joe, a holy man who lives in a hermitage on a mountain. He is joined in the summer by a few people whom he invites to spend their time with him; people who are all very special and unique in their own ways but who don the same robes, shave their heads and share in the daily duties as equals with one another. In winter Joe lives alone, quietly considering and absorbing all that has happened in the summer, thereby learning more and becoming wiser.

The book follows the stories of various pilgrims who come to meet the holy man in the summer. They flock from all over the world to see him and to stand in line on the mountain, sometimes for days on end, in order to meet with him.

The chapters are short (approximately 4 pages each) and introduce us to some of the pilgrims and monks. However, no matter how short the chapters, each story without fail teaches one an extremely valid, true and helpful lesson about ourselves, others and life. For example, there is the story about the person who is greeted at the door by the holy man and shown straight through the hermitage to the back door. "Wait," he says "I have waited days on this mountain and I haven't met the holy man yet." and the holy man replies "If you treat everyone you meet as a holy person then you will be happy."

The aspect I enjoyed the most about the book, besides the superb lessons for living, was how so many of the pilgrims learnt so much about themselves and life simply by making the journey or standing in the line that it emphasises for me the saying "life is a journey, not a destination". It's all about how we become who we are through the process of our experiences and that sometimes we can think that one thing is going to make us happy/help us/solve all our problems (eg. the holy man) when in fact, the truth is that through our journey to that instance, we change and learn so much that when the instance comes about, it's simply a confirmation of what we have learnt. For example, the book tells the story of the drunk who kept losing his place in line because he was going back down the mountain to get more alcohol. He spent weeks on end doing so but by the time he came to meet the holy man, he was fit and healthy and no longer desired to drink because he felt so well without it.

There are lessons in this book for each of us and what I like about it is that the "holy man" isn't so holy that he is inhuman. He makes mistakes too, he has an ego just like others, he has had his time of doubt and suffering. This I feel helps the reader to relate to the holy man so much more because we realise that even we are capable of being holy. We realise that this human experience is just that, a human experience, and that no one is ever perfect. So often we read books in which the protagonist or author is so perfect that we feel that even aspiring to be like them is pointless because they are not of the same humanity as the rest of us. This book shows us how Joe makes humbling mistakes which leave him dependent upon others and so reminds us that we are a) not alone and b) that no man is an island and c) that we all need someone, no matter who or how "perfect" we are. The story also shows us that those of us who are "most holy" for want of better words, are so not because they are flawless but because they acknowledge that they are human and learn from this.

Written in a simple, unpatronising and enjoyable style this little books teaches us about forgiveness, fear of death, letting go of loved ones, anger, greed and vanity (to mention just a few).

I highly recommend this lovely little book. It will bring a smile or perhaps a few tears to your face but I think that you will definitely come away with a lot more that you had bargained for.

Happy reading!

How I came to learn about healing

In 2003, I was working as PA to the Managing Director of a luxury Caribbean tour operator. It was an extremely stressful time of my life and when I went home to see my family in South Africa, my Mom recommended that I go see a gentleman called Jan. I didn't know what I was going to see him for, nor what to expect - the funny thing is that I am generally a bit of a control freak, so for me to go along somewhere without knowing anything about it must mean that it was destiny!

Well, Jan turned out to be a healer and an extremely gifted one at that. We spoke for a while and then he explained the healing act to me and that I was going to lie on the healing table; that he would move around my body holding his hands above me and that at the end of the healing, he would touch me on my hand to tell me that he was finished. And so the healing began...

I remember the experience with crystal clarity because it was so different from anything I had ever experienced before. I recall my mind feeling completely active and awake. At one stage I could hear a baby crying somewhere in the building and felt frustrated that the noise was intruding so much on the quiet atmosphere. I also very clearly saw a dogs face that was created by mould on a painted wall (sounds strange I know but it was really beautiful).

I also distinctly remember lying there thinking "I must do this for horses. This is what I must do. I must do this for horses. I could really do this with horses." If nothing else had happened that day, the mere fact that I was repeating that in my mind (knowing nothing about what therapy it was I was experiencing mind you) inspires wonder and awe in me to this day. I feel like in that moment, my higher self and soul were completely connected and a deeper guidance that I wasn't aware of was showing me the way to my life path. In the years following that experience I have sometimes thought back on it and wondered what the significance was but now, as I am spending almost every week giving healing to horses, and loving every second of it, it seems my life has come full circle and my soul has, thankfully, found a way to keep me going on the right track. (Excuse me if I just interject a little WHOOOOHOOOO here!)

At one stage I also remember feeling what I thought was Jan touching my forehead with one of his fingers and applying pressure. It felt nice and warm but very powerful. Finally Jan came to touch my left hand and instantly I was awake. I asked him why he bothered touching my hand if I was awake anyway and his response to me was "You don't snore when you're awake do you?" I couldn't believe it and yet I couldn't dispute it either. There was no doubt that I had been fast asleep however my mind had felt awake...what a feeling! I really had been on another level! I also asked Jan why he had touched me on my forehead and he said that he never once touched my body, although he had held his hand above my brow chakra and that was what I felt. How amazing, that just the energy coming from his hand actually felt like a physical pressure. My last question to Jan was "What was that and what did you just do to me?" and he replied simply "Spiritual Healing".

Well, needless to say I was absolutely blown away by the powerful, beautiful and extremely peaceful experience I had had. The best part is that I am a bit of a skeptic too. I'm not one of those people who will discount and question everything you say just to be different or difficult but I certainly don't just accept things because they're 'nice'. I quite like to have facts and reality prove things to me and the consequences of just that one healing certainly did so.

I saw Jan once more before leaving to return to the UK. Following my first healing I had been feeling, literally, like a new person - fresh, positive and happy about life - whereas before I felt jaded, worn out and positively stressed out... and had the illness to prove it too! I asked Jan where I could find out more about this "Healing" therapy and he gave me the name of the NFSH (National Federation of Spiritual Healers) in the UK. This all happened in April 2003 and by the end of August that year, I had completed my NFSH Parts 1 and 2 of the healer training.

That was what I quite like to refer to as the start of my "spiritual path". Since that first course, my life changed dramatically. I did a yoga and meditation course and from there I began to pursue more courses about personal and spiritual development and here I am five years later with a wealth of experience under my belt (and yet I can also easily acknowledge that there is SO much more to learn and this is just the beginning).

However, the person I am today is so much more true and real and in keeping with my soul and I will be eternally grateful for the change my life took the day I met Jan.

Hello world! Sue gets a blog.

Well, gosh... gee... here we are! Fancy that, I've gone and decided to get me a blog :-)

Some of you may know me and some of you might have found this dear little blog whilst trawling the internet for some form of entertainment or inspiration - or just "cos" as the case most often is.

I'll introduce myself... I am Sue Walsh, an Angel Therapy Practitioner®, Usui Reiki Practitioner, Spiritual Healer (NFSH) and Animal Communicator. I work under the name of "Paw Your Heart Out Healing" and have decided that it might be nice to share some of my news, experiences and events through the medium of this blog - Sue Paws Her Heart Out (see what I did there).

I believe that when one is working with a healer, that healer is providing as much of a part of themselves as they are providing a service. This is because to be a healer you have to be a certain type of person. As a healer, one cannot simply study a course and then charge people for a service which begins and ends in the allotted time. You have to continue to learn, develop and improve yourself all the time, you have to be someone that really cares and isn't just "in it for the money", most importantly, you have to be someone who is going to be equally as thrilled that your client is healing as they are.

For this reason, when you are with a healer as a client you are not paying for just their skills and training but for thier personality and for who they really are at the end of the day. The fact that they come from a place of integrity, that their motivation is real and honest and that to them, doing a good job isn't about how much money you make but about how helpful you have been.

Because of this, I felt that a blog was a good idea. So that you could get to know me and see why I am that type of person who is a healer for a reason... because I truly care to help and want to empower others to heal.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts and would love it if you would please leave your comments and suggestions.

With love,
Sue x