Dr. Jane Simington has endured her own dark night of the soul – the death of a child, in 1985. This tragic event threw her into ten years of drifting, misery and disconnection. In response to both her own pain and from helping thousands of clients, she has developed a trauma recovery program and grief certification program. She also has extensive knowledge of energy therapies and other holistic health modalities. Her book, Through Soul’s Eyes discusses her work in all these areas.
Dr. Simington discusses how we need to heal at the soul level first, then work up to healing from a physical, emotional and mental perspective. She begins by defining spirituality and how one can be both spiritual and religious or be spiritual and not religious. Remembering that we are a spark of divine energy enables us to help see that light more fully in others. We become able to see there is divine energy in all of creation. The tragic death of her son and a later trip to Thailand made her realize she needed to see outside herself. As she says, ” We have to take an inward journey before we can be transformed, especially after a crisis.” A crisis can be a call from our souls, a difficult but transformative process. The “dark night of the soul” often includes much fear, which can prevent us from going within and taking risks and courageous steps. Fears can block us from being the incredible person we are meant to be and from using our gifts and talents. The best way to deal with fear is to look it in the face and step beyond it. Rewards come when we take risks.
Dr. Simington believes past life experiences have an impact upon our present lifetime. As we discover own healing gifts, it’s helpful to realize we carry generations of information. Some of our inner knowing is of fear-based times when we were hurt in past lives. Memories are stored within us. When we step forth, memories often often awakened.
She has created a new model based on, but very different from, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In her practice, she realized that it was necessary to heal her soul’s pain. As a result, her model has spirituality as the foundation, then emotional and mental needs with basic physical ones on the top level. We needed to be deeply rooted in our foundation to deal with a crisis. Trauma is spiritual disconnection, when people feel separated from meaningful aspects of life.
Dr. Simington shares various holistic techniques that help us deal with fear and anxiety, grief and loss. Visualization is particularly helpful in healing from grief and trauma. We can’t heal trauma only with our left brain. Right-hemisphere activities like dreams, imagery, and journalling all foster healing. Activities like “writing from our soul” and creating a collage enhance self-discovery, including finding our purpose in life. For more information about Dr. Simington and her book, please visit http://takingflightinternational.com/