Explore the transformative world of spiritual and holistic health in an exclusive MysticMag interview with Deana Paqua from Embody the Sacred, a seasoned Teacher and Practitioner of Cross-Cultural Energy Medicine and Contemporary Shamanism, a Reiki Master Teacher, Licensed Massage Therapist, and Certified Tarot Reader. Discover the power of energy healing, shamanic practices, and their integration with Western approaches to support trauma recovery, personal growth, and overall wellbeing. Continue reading to learn more.
What can you tell us about yourself and your professional background?
My journey in the fields of spiritual and holistic health over the past 30 years has included not just the 25 years I’ve spent as a teacher and practitioner of Cross-Cultural Energy Medicine and Contemporary Shamanism, but also many years also as a client and patient. I believe very strongly in the roles of spiritual and holistic health approaches working alongside Western and contemporary medicine. That optimally, we can find a way to incorporate more natural, holistic, mind/body/spirit approaches to healing that are provided and accessible to all, along with conventional medical approaches.
I became involved in the fields of holistic health after recovering from cancer and dealing with a severe anxiety disorder. I found more natural approaches to help with the anxiety, and then I was in a near-fatal car accident back in 1997, and my background in spiritual and holistic health practices helped me make a miraculous recovery along with the marvels of Western medicine. It also led to a powerful life and career change where I embraced my calling on the path of the Wounded Healer, to leave the corporate world and enter the world of integrative healing arts.
I went back to school and trained and became a licensed massage therapist and Reiki Master teacher and went on to study for the past 20 years with indigenous and traditional healers from across the globe, I also pursued a Master’s Degree in Integrative Health and Healing. My practice evolved to working more on the spiritual side and working with energy and sacred ceremony to support those recovering from trauma, dealing with major life changes and transitions, injury and surgery recovery, and supporting empaths in learning how to protect and clear their own energy in everyday life. Now, my greatest joy is working as a teacher where I can support and empower others in learning more self-healing tools and growing on their own spiritual and personal healing journeys, in my own private practice and as an Adjunct Professor at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT.
What techniques or healing modalities do you use in your practice?
My practice has grown and changed over the years, and I currently incorporate a variety of modalities in my practice that have a solid traditional foundation including Usui & Karuna Reiki, Integrative Energy Therapy, Emotional Freedom Techniques, Contemporary Shamanic healing, Andean Mystical practices, and the Tarot. I have also trained in many forms of body/work and hands-on healing over the years. I find that touch is very powerful, and enjoy including that work in my in-person sessions. I am also trained in working with Flower and Plant Essences and working with crystals. I always provide clients with tools and remedies they can work with on their own to continue their healing process.
How can you help people heal through Energy Healing and Shamanic Healing?
Some of the ways I support clients in their healing process is through helping them clear and balance their energy, and remove energetic blocks to accessing their own innate healing abilities to move through challenges with more ease such as trauma recovery, major life transitions such as job changes, surgeries and divorce, and processing grief and loss of loved ones. I also support clients in restoring and retrieving and restoring their personal energy and vitality through Soul retrieval because of these major challenges. I also work in-depth with many empaths and other health care practitioners as clients and students who are dealing with overwhelm and burnout. I support them in making a deeper connection to their personal Spirit guides, power animals, angels, and ancestors and learning which crystals, animal messengers, plant and flower essences are available to support their goals for healing, protecting, and empowering their personal energy, learning new tools for themselves and their own clients and supporting their spiritual growth so that they can build their confidence, expand their healing and spiritual abilities and help more clients, the collective and the earth.
What does the learning process of your Shamanic Training look like?
It is my honor to offer a year-long Holistic Shamanic Practitioner training program, now just for women, that has been offered starting every October for the last nine years. Classes are held one Saturday per month and there is at-home reading and other recommended practices to continue developing skills in between classes. There are in-person and virtual training options available.
This program is meant for energy healers, empaths, health care practitioners, and spiritual seekers who are looking to build their confidence, learn new skills and tools, and develop their intuition and spiritual connections to their own spirit guides, angels, ancestors, power animals and spirits of nature to support their own healing and wellbeing and their clients, families and the earth. Individuals may be called to this course if they wish to incorporate more spiritual, energy-based, shamanistic, and mystical practices into their lives including Shamanic journeying, ceremonies, and rituals to honor the change of seasons. This program is also for those who wish to learn authentic traditional healing practices from ancient lineages with an emphasis on the heart-centered, earth-honoring traditions of the Andes in South America and some North American teachings such as the Medicine Wheel, and to work with these practices to discover and build your own personal spiritual medicine. All practices are shared with respect and permission.
For anyone wishing to apply for this course, they can find more information here: www.embodythesacred.net/Shamanic_training
You also organize classes, circles, and events. What can a person expect from those?
I have offered a variety of individual classes, drum and healing circles on a variety of topics including Shamanic Journeying for Self-Healing, How to Deal with Negative and Discordant Energy, Empowerment for Empaths, Seasonal Drum circles, and more. Each class and circle is unique and is for those looking to develop their own personal healing and spiritual practices to help them navigate the challenges of everyday life including dealing with stress, illness recovery, women’s spiritual empowerment, and more. These classes are typically offered as a single, one-time event. If someone is looking to connect with like-minded people, who are on a spiritual path and looking to connect more deeply with their own spirit guides and nature and to be of service to the greater good, these classes may be a good fit.
Is there anything else about your work that you’d like to share that we haven’t covered?
It is truly my honor to be the humble teacher of great heroes. My work focuses mostly now on supporting and empowering other women energy healers and health care practitioners who are on a spiritual path and dedicated to a path of service dedicated to their clients, communities, and the earth. They may be dealing with overwhelm and burnout, need help dealing with their sensitivities to others’ energy, dealing with self-doubt and lack of confidence about their healing abilities, and need support in empowering themselves and learning new tools to work more deeply with their clients and for their own personal healing. I offer a variety of ways to support those looking to work with me, through private sessions, classes, readings, and training programs.
For more information about Deana Paqua, please go to www.embodythesacred.net
