Kim Hermanson's Blog, page 25

Metaphor’s terrain is the spiritual realm of the inner life

No matter our culture or upbringing, metaphor helps us process our inner world. At any given time, we may be “on fire,” “stuck,” “in over our heads,” “overwhelmed,” “burnt out,” or “in flow.”  Metaphor helps us understand how we’re feeling and thus, better navigate our lives.

What is not so well known is that metaphor allows us to enter mystical states and communicate with the Divine. As the language of the heart and the brain’s right hemisphere, metaphor brings us into mystical and non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Metaphor’s terrain is the spiritual realm of the inner life. It’s how we align with greater wisdom.

To experience the power of metaphor to take you into connection with the Divine, check out some of the experiential videos on my youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmupkq30Cj7aqwMprrVWGRQ

“Not fitting in” is a good thing

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“Not fitting in” is a good thing. It might feel painful, but it means that you’re creating something bigger.

A visionary path is invisible to ordinary eyesight. We can only see it with our inner eyes. 

Without a vision, it’s easy to spend all our time reacting to and attempting to solve an endless array of problems. We have no broader perspective in which to hold what happens.

Your organization will never feed your soul, but your vision will. Your work is bigger than the institution in which you’re employed. A vision is the sanctuary that you can turn to for inspiration and support.

An Instant Shift… and Healing

When I was 26, I was involved in a head-on collision on a rural highway in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was flown by air ambulance to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota.

I had fractured T-12 and displaced my spinal chord by 40 degrees. The doctors at the Mayo Clinic gave me less than 5% chance of walking again.

In addition to the trauma, I was beside myself with pain. (Breaking your back is excruciatingly painful.)

At some point, a nurse walked in to the emergency room. She whispered in my ear: “Close your eyes and imagine that you’re floating on a cloud.”

 

Almost immediately, my body shifted into a place of peace. I relaxed. I could breathe again. From that point forward, I started to heal.

That simple shift–from trauma to peace was instrumental to my healing and eventually, allowed me to fully recover from my injuries. I not only recovered my ability to walk, but one year later I played soccer.

 

Westerners dismiss the imagination, as “not real” or “make-believe.” We think of the imagination as playtime (like Disneyland.)

But the power of guided visualization is well-known and documented. Our imagination has the power to shift us and heal our bodies. Our minds can’t do that. They don’t have access to that kind of power.

It only took a moment. One minute I was in excruciating pain and trauma. The next moment, I was in a place of peace.  Of course, I still had to deal with a critical injury. But something else–Something from another world–gave my body a place to rest and heal.

That place of wisdom and healing is available to all of us.

Clarify & own your true soul purpose: an online shamanic pilgrimage

I spent years trying to fit in to traditional boxes, yet never fitting in… because a spiritual calling can’t fit into organizational boxes. I spent more years not trusting what Spirit was showing me; feeling that I wasn’t the right person for what I was being called to do. I wanted a safe and normal life–I didn’t want to make waves, speak out, or bring attention to myself.

My clients are also people who have been spiritually called. They rarely have the proper training or credentials. Spirit doesn’t care about credentials. Spirit also doesn’t care if you feel you’re too old, tired, or not ‘good enough.’ A spiritual call will haunt you until you heed its message. You are the only one who can answer that call.

S0 if you feel like you’re not living who you really are and what you are here to give, I hope you’ll join me for my next online shamanic pilgrimage. Details are below.

 

Thursdays Nov 4th, 11th, and 18th from 11 am PDT to 1 pm PDT 

NOTE: This shamanic pilgrimage is over Zoom. You can live anywhere in the world and still participate. Recordings will be available if you can’t make it in person.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Early bird rate: $97 until October 26th ($137 after that)

* registration includes audio recordings, two PDFs, and the opportunity to work with Kim

Spiritual callings can’t be understood from the logic of the thinking mind. They’re not rational or logical, and it takes courage to follow them.

For example, we often don’t have the proper training or credentials for whatever is being asked of us. Spirit doesn’t care about credentials. It also doesn’t care if you feel you’re too old, tired, or not ‘good enough.’

A spiritual call will haunt you until you heed its message.

It takes fortitude to go against the norm and follow an inner call because true visions—and paradigm-changing work—don’t come from the ego or what society values as important.

If…

something deep is nudging youyou’ve been haunted by a visionyou know you’re not living your purposeyou have a gift you’re afraid to fully step into you’re resisting a call from Spirit because it feels way too big.

Please join us for an online shamanic pilgrimage into your true soul’s purpose.

Together, we will open a field of potent Source energies and powerful intelligence that is not of this world.

This realm knows who you are. It’s time for you to be seen and own your gifts.

As you anchor in this vibrational field, you’ll discover newfound clarity and unforeseen possibility. You’ll also experience flow, grace, ease, strength, and a deep sense of security and peace.

In this seminar you will:

Own your spiritual gifts & resources.Align with the wisdom and intelligence of your true gift.Uncover the core vibration that wants to be set in motion.Discover inner knowing & possibilities that can’t be revealed any other way.Quickly shift out of difficulties and into a place of profound healing, power, & creative flow.

This is deep work. It’s not for those who float on the surface of spirituality and creativity. Some of us need a strong connection with Spirit to do the pioneering work we’ve been called to do.

We humans are brilliant when we allow Something greater to move through us.

Please join us.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

“Kim’s work is pioneering.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, New York Times bestselling author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

KIM HERMANSON, PhD is an award-winning author, educator and shamanic catalyst. She is adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute and has served as both core and adjunct faculty at Meridian University, Sophia Center at Holy Names University, University of California Berkeley, Sofia University and the Esalen Institute. Her books include Getting Messy: A Guide to Taking Risks and Opening the Imagination and Sky’s the Limit, which received an Independent Publisher Book Award. She has also co-authored articles and book chapters with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, New York Times bestselling author of Flow and founder of the field of positive psychology. Kim was initiated to the shamanic path in her 20s when she was critically injured in a head-on collision on the highway and accessed otherworldly energies to heal her body. During the next 15 years she experienced a series of mystical experiences that culminated in 2007 with a profound awakening experience and formal call to be a shamanic energy worker. Kim is known for her skill in quickly shifting people out of psychological difficulties into a place of profound beauty, healing and creative flow. Her life is dedicated to the transmission of energies from this stunningly beautiful and intelligent realm. Her PhD is from the University of Chicago.

 

 

Losing my mother

My mother passed away on August 4th and I wish I could do it all over again.

When I received the call at the hotel in the middle of the night, I rushed over to the nursing home. I sat down by her bed and didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t sure how long it would be.

I googled ‘what to do when someone is dying’ and read people’s suggestions:  open all the windows so the person’s spirit can exit. Tell the person it’s OK to ‘let go.’ Read poems.

I loved opening the windows, but reading the poem felt weird. I sang a song or two on my guitar but wasn’t really in the mood for singing either.

I was feeling sleepy and tired of sitting, so what I ultimately decided to do was crawl into her bed next to her. About four minutes later, I heard my mother take her last breath.

While I waited for the funeral home to arrive, I heard her speaking to me.

All the different phases of the dying process were new to me. I found the terminal restlessness phase disturbing, but I absolutely loved the day she spent talking nonsense. Her voice was so light, happy, and free. Almost childlike. I couldn’t understand anything she said all day, but I always agreed with her. Actually there’s one exception to my not understanding her. At one point when my face was close to hers, she gave me an earnest look and said, “You’re not going back to college? I think you should.”

I assured her that I would go back to college.

When she stopped speaking, I bought a cheap guitar and my sister and I sang songs in her room. When we sang, I felt her attention with us and her breathing quieted. I wish I could relive that moment: the three of us singing together.

I feel blessed I had those nine days with her. Nine days immersed in a space of pure love. There were no words.

At one point early on, knowing I wouldn’t get another chance to have a conversation with her, I searched my mind for something to say. Did I need to ask her something? Get answers? Apologize for anything? Have a forgiveness ritual? What would I regret not saying or doing? But there wasn’t anything there.

We just quietly looked at each other.

Whatever I said would have been manufactured. In fact, even trying to find something to say took me out of my heart… and into my head.

Because the truth was obvious: there was nothing but love between us. A month later, I’m still filled with that love.

I’d spent my life carrying around the story that she didn’t love me. I was so wrong.

I also spent my life believing she didn’t respect me and viewed me as irresponsible because I walked away from a well-paid career in my twenties to follow my creativity.

Wrong again.

Of her three very smart and capable children, I discovered after her death that she’d designated me to be executor of her estate. Even though I lived in another part of the country, far away from her and the sibling that we all expected would be in charge. She picked me.

It’s uncanny how our minds can lead us so astray. They jump to conclusions, make up stories, and stick to assumptions that just aren’t true.

And we can spend our lifetime believing those stories. I did.

I’m so grateful for her quiet room… down at the end of a long hall at the nursing home. It was so far away from activity. No one bothered us. No one could hear us sing or talk or cry. No one walked outside or peered in. It was totally private and serene. Two sides of the room were windows–one side faced a brick wall at the back of the property. The adjacent side held a large set of windows that looked out on a green lawn. Quiet, peaceful and beautiful. I brought in bouquets of flowers from mom’s garden and hung out on the sofa that I’d grown up with in our house.

I remember thinking how much I was simply enjoying being there with her. I still feel filled with love. Her love, our love.

I took a journey with her and wish I could do it all over again.

Losing my mentor, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

My mentor, advisor, and the father figure in my life, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, passed away this week on Wednesday, October 20th.

I met Mihaly (Mike) soon after my father died unexpectedly at the age of 57. I asked him to be my academic advisor and he took me under his wing. He was only a year older than my father. It was a confusing mentor relationship because he was already somewhat famous by then–I didn’t want to take up his time and it was awkward to have fatherly feelings for a man who wasn’t my father.

I felt like I disappointed him when I escaped to Montana after completing my Ph.D without publishing the research that I had conducted with him. I also declined the academic teaching job that he found for me. I guess I needed to be a hippie for awhile. Over the years, he graciously read and gave me feedback on drafts of my books, recommended me for teaching positions, and introduced me to his agent. (He cautioned me that it would be a long shot and it was… too long of a shot.)

It’s been a year of loss as my mother died three months ago. Now my father figure has passed too. Bless his heart. Thank you Mike for your amazing mentorship, intelligence, creativity and grace. And for seeing me.

P.S. Here’s the article we wrote together. Originally published in Museum News, and then revised and reprinted in a couple book chapters:

Intrinsic Motivation: Why Does One Want to Learn?

Beauty will save the world

 

Dostoevsky said “Beauty will save the world.” He didn’t mean surface beauty. He meant poetic beauty.

Or as James Hillmans says: “the way in which the Gods touch our senses, reach the heart and attract us into life.”

That kind of beauty will save the world.

Knowing… on a different level

I’d love for you to join me for an awesome new class in May. It’s super inexpensive and I guarantee it will shift your way of thinking and how you perceive life. It’s titled Reclaiming the Deep Feminine: A Sensual Way of Knowing, but it’s absolutely not just for women. All of us have masculine and feminine energies flowing through us.

I am dismayed at our culture’s view of the feminine, which is generally viewed as soft, pretty, delicate.

Ick.

I have absolutely no idea what will show up for you in this class, but whatever does show up, it won’t be soft and pretty.

That’s not what most of us are missing.

What most of us are missing is innate sensuality. A way of knowing where we feel our way.

I love the word sensual because it’s erotic and evocative. It’s about organically feeling something. That’s what we do when we make love, right? We feel our way with the other person. Sometimes that feeling is soft and gentle, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, sometimes hard. Sometimes confusing, sometimes empty. We notice the quality of the touch we’re receiving and we respond to it.

That’s what we’ll doing in this class. We’ll be feeling our way. We’ll be noticing the quality that’s present and letting that quality move us.

I guarantee it will be profound.

The class two sessions. It includes handouts and the opportunity to work with me individually and it’s only $79. If you’d like to register, here’s the link: https://www.kimhermanson.com/events/

See you there!!

Pure brilliance. Or at least I thought so.

Now that I have your attention…  I’m doing this awesome new class in May and I’d love for you to join us. It’s super inexpensive and I guarantee it will shift your way of thinking and how you perceive life. It’s titled Reclaiming the Deep Feminine: A Sensual Way of Knowing, but it’s absolutely not just for women. All of us have masculine and feminine energies flowing through us.

I am dismayed at our culture’s view of the feminine, which is generally viewed as soft, pretty, delicate.

Ick.

I have absolutely no idea what will show up for you in this class, but whatever does show up, it won’t be soft and pretty.

That’s not what most of us are missing.

What most of us are missing is innate sensuality. A way of knowing where we feel our way.

I love the word sensual because it’s erotic and evocative. It’s about organically feeling something. That’s what we do when we make love, right? We feel our way with the other person. Sometimes that feeling is soft and gentle, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, sometimes hard. Sometimes confusing, sometimes empty. We notice the quality of the touch we’re receiving and we respond to it.

That’s what we’ll doing in this class. We’ll be feeling our way. We’ll be noticing the quality that’s present and letting that quality move us.

I guarantee it will be profound.

The class two sessions. It includes handouts and the opportunity to work with me individually and it’s only $79. If you’d like to register, here’s the link: https://www.kimhermanson.com/events/

See you there!!

Reclaiming the Deep Feminine & a Sensual Way of Knowing

I’ve been working with an increasing number of people who are reclaiming their rightful connection to the divine feminine. This includes a deeply sensual way of knowing which was long ago banished as evil by the patriarchy and Christian church.

Culturally we are disconnected from our very wise, intuitive sensual power, so it’s not surprising that we would feel lost and adrift. The divine feminine is our deepest and most beautiful source of knowing.

We humans have access to incredible power. 

I hope you will join me for my next online experiential seminar. It’s time to take our power back.

Details are below.

RECLAIMING THE DEEP FEMININE:A SENSUAL WAY OF KNOWING

Tuesdays May 11th and May 18th
11 am – 1 pm PDT  
(2 pm-4 pm EDT/ 7 pm-9 pm BST/ 4 am-6 am AEDT)

Early bird rate: $59 until April 26th ($79 after that)
* includes recordings, the opportunity for individual work with Kim + handouts

Click here to register:  https://www.kimhermanson.com/events/

 

The writer Dostoevsky said that beauty would save the world. But after centuries of patriarchy, many of us are disconnected from our own deep beauty and sensual feminine knowing.

To fully own our true power, we have to reclaim our right relationship with the Divine. This includes embracing the tender, sensual, and subversive parts of ourselves that we’ve ignored, feared, dismissed, or run away from.

There is an energetic place where you are hooked up, aligned with your Highest Self, and connected to your own deep knowing. A place where Spiritual resources can flow through you.

In this 2-week journey, we will enter the shamanic field to reconnect with the Deep Feminine and its potent wisdom. Collectively, we will engage underworld energies that have been scorned, rejected, and misunderstood for far too long.

When we enter the intelligent field, we can never know what will arrive. Some of you may tap tribal, ancestral, or indigenous forces. Some of you will experience subtle mystical energies. Some may experience the divine feminine in an erotic way—fully alive and ready to make love with the world, a partner, or a creative work of art. For others, ancestors, spirits, and soul guides will show up.

All of you will experience these forces as creative power that is not of this world.

Own your sacred fire.Claim your wholeness & power.Heal a lack of belief in yourself and your ancestral line.Develop a healthy relationship with Spirit & your own inner knowing.Get answers, see opportunities & uncover resources that can’t be known any other way.Somatically experience primal Source energy & activate it to awaken significant healing.

Deep healing isn’t just for you. It’s ancestral, it’s indigenous, and it’s planetary.

NOTE: Men who would like to regain proper balance of their masculine and feminine energies are warmly invited to attend.

Click here to register:  https://www.kimhermanson.com/events/