Virginia Karuna Starr‘s journey into holistic healing and spirituality began amidst the backdrop of a conservative Christian upbringing on a dairy farm in Nebraska. After experiencing personal tragedies and deep self-reflection, she embraced the Sufi path, finding solace in the Love of God and adopting the spiritual name Karuna, meaning Compassion. Through her practice, she offers a unique blend of Craniosacral Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, energy medicine, and mind/body integration services, aiming to relieve suffering and promote holistic healing. Lean more in her exclusive MysticMag interview below.
Can you share a bit about your journey and what led you down this spiritual path?
I grew up on a dairy farm in Nebraska, surrounded by nature and a conservative Christian community. I am thankful for the values that were instilled in me, yet I also experienced disharmony between the God I was told about and the God I actually experienced. As I navigated through high school, college, Physical Therapy School, marriage, work, and being blessed with four beautiful daughters, I began to release some of the theology that had been so confusing to my soul. I was introduced to the Sufi path and in so doing began to truly experience the Love of God which I could only conceptually conceive of previously. Beloved became an integral part of my life, rather than just another activity to perform.
As life does, I ended up with some personal tragedies that led me to places of deep grief and self-reflection. Transformation truly does occur in times of trial. I was given the spiritual name Karuna, which means Compassion, the purpose of helping to relieve the suffering in this world. I used to make fun of spiritual names until I was given one of my own and my life pivoted on a dime. No longer was it about striving, attaining, and performing. Compassion is the constriction of Love, the experience of holding all the emotions of truly connecting. My life’s work has been to learn how to embody this Karuna and, in so doing, help others to discover their own depth of Love and ability to connect.
What is Craniosacral Therapy and how does it work?
There are many different ways to explain Craniosacral Therapy and each practitioner has their own individual way of expressing their work. I personally have found Craniosacral therapy to be a gateway into finding true healing; tapping into the Universal energies all around us to help jump-start one’s own healing system. It is a bridge between Eastern and Western medicines. My interpretation of this work focuses on the nervous system, a balancing of the nervous system. My job is to connect with my client through touch and presence, listening deeply to their system, providing a place of safety. In the listening, the body and soul can be seen and heard.
My client and I co-create through a session. I help find where the body is holding tension, where there is damage to tissue, and where stagnant energy may be blocking healthy living. We then work together to relieve the tension, move the energy, and allow the natural healing ability of the body to manifest. It is a beautiful experience of bringing the unseen to the seen, and that is where the magic begins. We begin by focusing on the limitations of the body and expand to bringing in the possibilities in the power of the spirit and the soul.
What other healing modalities do you use?
I offer Somatic Experiencing, which is a technique taught by Peter Levine, focused on finding how and where trauma may be stuck in the body and then releasing that trauma through an energetic discharge or specific movements that allow for a nervous system reset. Many of us are caught in a fight, flight, or freeze response and this work helps to get the body out of sympathetic system override and into the organic healthy functioning of the parasympathetic system. A body can only heal when it is in a state of safety rather than being stuck in a state of survival.
As a Physical Therapist, I am able to work with the physical body and offer therapeutic cupping, strain/counterstrain, and trigger point release techniques, along with specific exercises and stretches that can help realign and reset a body that has become out of sync.
Energy medicine is another focus of my treatments, where we look at the system from the perspective of vibration and movements at the energetic level. Our bodies are made of more than just muscles, ligaments, bones, and fascia. This energetic system, which is often overlooked in conventional medicine, is crucial to the well-being of an individual and truly informs the rest of the body.
What Mind/Body Integration services do you offer?
We are at our best selves when our systems are balanced. We are made up of three “brains”; our head brain, heart brain, and gut brain. Research is beginning to show more and more the importance of these three nerve-driven regions to be in communication and integration with each other. To accomplish this, we must have an awareness of each center. This is done through hypnotherapy, meditation, breathing, somatic exercises (body awareness and mindful movement), heart-opening practices, and knowledge of basic nutrition and optimal brain health.
How can spirit practices like Centering Prayer or Kundalini Yoga Kriyas improve someone’s spiritual well-being?
It is commonly known that athletes must work out and practice to become proficient in their sport; musicians must practice and take good care of their voices. It is the same for our spiritual well being. In order to be connected to Spirit, it is necessary to consciously attend to that part of one’s life. And just as there are many different languages in this world, there are a variety ways to practice one’s spirituality. One language is not superior to another; it is just the way that a person learns to express themself.
Centering Prayer is a way of quieting one’s self and learning to listen. By sitting in silence and observing how the habitual mind works, one can begin to better understand the dialogue between Spirit and matter which dictates our actions and behaviors. One can begin to discern between what is Spirit-driven and what may just be something more temporal, coming more from the smaller self. With this discernment comes the evolution of learning how to become more responsive and less reactive. To come from that place of deeper awareness and understanding. To know God.
Kundalini Yoga is a wonderful modality that uses chant and movement to connect to spirit. Rather than just employing the mind, it recruits voice and body to meld with spirit. As one works through a Kriya (a specific set of chants and exercises) this amazing experience of feeling Spirit move through your being ensues. By doing a specific Kriya for a certain amount of days in a row, this experience becomes engrained in the system and actually changes it at the cellular level. I personally believe that my personal use of intentionally doing the Kriyas for 40 days at a time is what helped me help at the most profound levels in my own healing journey.
What can you tell me about your Sacred Starr Solution program?
This is still under development, but once finished will be a three-month program entitled, “The Sacred Starr Solution: Enlightening Your Experience to compassion, purification, and transformation.” It focuses on the connections within and between the three entities of: 1. connection to self, 2. connection to a higher power, and 3. connection to other. By combining bodywork, mind/body integration, and daily spiritual practices, one will discover an entirely new way to walk in this world.
Suffering happens when connection is disrupted. When we lose the sense of self and aren’t in touch with our inner life or our bodies; when we can’t seem to relate in harmony with others; when our spiritual life feels shallow and empty…these breaches keep us from becoming whole. By consciously attending to each of these areas, flow can be restored and life suddenly becomes an adventure rather than a grind. The program will focus on a 10-step program:
1. ARRIVE — Step Through the Threshold
2. ALLOW — Put the Guard Down
3. FIND — Look Within
4. CLEAR — Clear the Vessel
5. CONNECT — Connect to a Higher Power
6. BRIDGE — Build a Bridge
7. DIVE — Dive Deeper
8. REACH — Horizontal Healing
9. DEEPEN — Deepen Connection
10. HEAL — Heal the World
To learn more about Virginia and her work, you can visit virginiakarunastarr.com
