spiritual direction

Ground Your Light Video-cast

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

A huge thank you to Lauren Kimberly Moore who invited me to participate in her “Ground Your Light” video-cast. Please enjoy this heart-felt conversation!

Learn about Lauren and her work with Sacred Living Arts:

Learn more HERE

Lauren Kimberly Moore is a Certified Spiritual Director having trained through the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute (2018-2020). Her training groomed her to be a supportive, loving and non-judgmental companion along the spiritual path for those who seek deeper meaning, purpose and understanding in life. Spiritual direction is a non-directive contemplative practice that carries one into present, intimate and holy spaces. Lauren’s aim in this work is to be a compassionate listener and to help support the creation of sacred moments in daily life.

In her deepest inner being, Lauren’s work is a ministry. She has had a lifelong calling and practice to help illuminate the Soul. Lauren feels strongly that we are here to walk alongside one another, to witness each others healing and authentic truth. As an initiated Magdalene Rose priestess, Lauren walks women through ceremonial and transformational experiences to reclaim the sacred feminine within. From this feminine energy of opening, receiving and remembrance, we return to our whole self embodying divine power, love and wisdom.

Lauren is a Registered Yoga Teacher with over 500 hours of training through Alignment Yoga (2015/2017), Holy Yoga (2017) and the Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Research Institute (2001).  Along with teaching yoga, Lauren has been facilitating mindfulness meditation courses, retreats and workshops since 2014. She enjoys using her collective skills to compassionately support the well-being of others. Lauren teaches privately, to small groups and continues to work within various school districts supporting mindfulness practices for both students and staff alike. 

Lauren is also a Wisconsin Licensed Massage Therapist (432-146). She graduated in 1996 from The Humanities for Allied Health in Pinellas Park, Florida. Specific to bodywork, she has trained in the modalities of Therapeutic Massage, Swedish Massage, Neurovascular Therapy, Thai-Veda massage, Reflexology, Reiki, and Raindrop Therapy.

Lauri Ann Lumby

Has over twenty-five years of experience as an educator, facilitator, spiritual counselor and soul-guide. She has supported hundreds through her one-on-one guidance, books, workshops, retreats, online classes and community.

Lauri is an author and a poet and has published eleven books including Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy, and her popular novel Song of the Beloved, the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene.

Lauri earned her master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia/ITP University, is a trained Spiritual Director in the Ignatian tradition and has certificates in Adult Education and Psycho-Spiritual Development. Lauri is a Reiki Master Practitioner in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister. 

Join Me Beside the Hearth

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

For over twenty-five years I have been a source of support for individuals through the most vulnerable and tender parts of their human journeys. I have counselled people through the unexpected death of a child. I have supported couples facing the “dark night” of their marriage. I have been a welcome guide and mentor in the human journey of spiritual growth and development. I have provided healing for those experiencing mental, emotional, and spiritual pain. I have been a source of support through midlife crises, divorce, job loss, empty nest, and other deeply transformational times of transition.

Whether working with me over the phone, via ZOOM, or in my home, you will find a warm and welcoming place here where you can step away from the chaos and unrest of the outside world and be supported in returning to your heart – for it is there you will find rest, peace, and the answers to life’s questions. My hearth-fire is always burning. You will find comfort and safety here.

With love,

Lauri

Email lauri@lauriannlumby.com to schedule a one-on-one session with me! We can meet via ZOOM, over the phone, or in my home if you are local. My suggested fee is $165.00 per session and I offer a sliding scale for those for whom $165.00 would be a reach. Don’t hesitate to reach out!

What is Spiritual Counseling?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

  • Who am I? 
  • How do I connect with and comprehend the presence and action of the Divine in my life? 
  • What are my gifts and how am I being called to engage in them for the sake of my own fulfillment and share them for the sake of the betterment of our world? 

These are the questions that find their answers through the sacred ministry of Spiritual Counseling/Spiritual Direction – perhaps the most ancient form of life coaching.  Since the advent of human consciousness, we have sought the answers to our life questions, often through the elders and “holy people” of our respective spiritual traditions.  The Guru’s of India, the Rabbi’s of Judaism, the monks of Buddhism, the Shaman of indigenous tribes, and the men and women religious of Christianity represent merely the tip of the iceberg of those that have served as companion and guide on our spiritual journeys.  These “wisdom teachers” have served as witness to the truths that we already know, holding up the mirror for us to see what we are perhaps unable or unwilling to see for ourselves.   This style of Spiritual Counseling often required years upon years of training and required the seeker to travel great distances to obtain the answers to the questions of their heart.

Another form of Spiritual Counseling is that which comes through what the Irish would call “Anam Cara” – soul friend.  A soul friend is an intimate and trusted friend who is able to journey with us from a place of truth, acceptance and courageous honesty.  These are the intimate friendships that provide a vessel in which we can be our truest selves and, in the process, discover our deeper truths.  In the Anam Cara relationship, we are able to help each other name our respective “demons” and work together to find the tools to give them release.  Sometimes, the role of Anam Cara is to simply be with each other in our grief, sorrow, struggles and fears.  The role of Anam Cara requires no training or previous experience.  It simply asks us to be present and to hold each other in love.

The third form of Spiritual Counseling/Spiritual Direction, and the form that I practice professionally, lands somewhere between Anam Cara and Wisdom Teacher.  In this form of Spiritual Counseling, my role is to journey with my clients as they seek the answers to the deepest questions of their heart.  Clients are empowered to discover their truth and to find the tools through which they are able to openly give their truth its expression.  As such, Spiritual Counseling becomes a journey of discovery and a vehicle for healing; for it is often our inner wounds that prevent us from hearing and giving voice to the truths that are locked deep inside of us. 

That which is brought to Spiritual Counseling encompasses the vast and varied territories of our everyday existence – relationships, jobs, passions and hobbies, parenting, life transitions, losses and grieving, our physical wellness (or lack thereof), our emotional wellbeing, and last but not least, our spiritual journeys. 

Spiritual Counseling can look a lot like traditional talk-therapy, and there are two primary differences.  In talk therapy, the goal is often behavior modification.  Spiritual Counseling goes beyond behavior modification to discover the deeper spiritual wound that created the unhealthy behavior in the first place.  Once this wound is uncovered, Spiritual Counseling offers effective tools through which this wound can now be healed.  The tools through which these wounds are healed are intimately connected with our relationship to our Divine Source.  This connection with the God of our understanding is the other factor that sets Spiritual Counseling apart.  This relationship with God becomes the ground upon which authentic healing work can now be accomplished.  As such, it is often in discovering and cultivating this relationship where the work of Spiritual Counseling begins.  

Having participated in both sides of the Spiritual Counseling relationship, I can attest to the power of this form of life coaching.  Thanks to my own Spiritual Counselor, I have gained access to the deepest truths of my being, while finding release from the fears that have prevented me from sharing these truths in the world.  In my own role of Spiritual Counselor, I have witnessed healing, transformation and emerging truth for the clients with whom I have had the privilege to companion.  Those who have been honest and diligent in the process have found the answers to the questions of their heart and have been empowered to freely and openly live their truth in the world. 

In the end, the goal of Spiritual Counseling may be summarized by this quote from one of my favorite wisdom teachers: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!” (John 8: 32)

Book an Appointment Now!

Spiritual Counseling with Lauri Ann Lumby includes:

  • Personality, Temperament, and Gifts Assessments.
  • Exploration of the Soul’s calling.
  • Uncovering and transforming the obstacles to living out that calling through a variety of mindfulness, creativity, and shamanic practices including Lauri’s trademarked Authentic Freedom™ protocol.
  • Depth work – identifying ungrieved losses, unhealed wounds, past traumas, ancestral trauma, and learning shamanic practices for transforming and releasing them.
  • Shadow work – uncovering the unintegrated and often rejected parts of self and bringing them into wholeness.
  • Ongoing support.

Healing the Father Wound

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 2 Comments

No matter how perfect and loving our parents might have been, no matter how well they provided for our well-being and supported us in our dreams, each one of us will experience woundedness from our parents. This woundedness may be no direct fault of their own, but simply comes forth because of what they were shown by their parents, the culture in which they were conditioned, what remains unhealed within them, and/or simply because they are human.

As we are human, so too are our parents. There is no shame in that. And yet, for many, the parental wounds become a significant obstacle to both their inner and outer freedom, as well as their ability to enter into healthy relationships and enact their own parenting. Unhealed parental wounds become stumbling blocks to our ability to become happy, healthy, and content in our lives and to find that which will provide meaning and purpose in our lives.

While reflecting specifically on the Father wound, I was provided with the following image of what the Father wound looks like (to me anyway):

Photo by Anni Roenkae on Pexels.com

As you gaze upon this image, what comes forward as your image of the Father wound? 

For each individual, the Father wound will have its own color, size, shape, etc.  It will also have its own unique make up.  Of what is your Father wound made?

  • Fear?
  • Rejection?
  • Condemnation?
  • Criticism?
  • Expectations?
  • Avoidance?
  • Abandonment?
  • Cruelty?
  • Rage?
  • Co-Dependency (the need to seek his approval)?
  • Impatience?
  • Frustration?
  • Inaccessibility?
  • Disappointment?
  • Threats of violence?
  • Violence?
  • Abuse?
  • Jealousy?
  • Molestation?
  • Inappropriate or lack of boundaries?
  • Feeling unsafe?

Every individual carries their own unique experience of the Father wound which might be related to one, several, or all of the above. The first step in healing the Father wound is identifying of what that wound is made.

The second step is to enter into a transformational practice for healing and releasing that wound. Two practices I have found to be especially helpful in transforming parental wounds are Tonglen and the Ho’oponopono prayer.

Tonglen

is a Tibetan Buddhist mindfulness practice founded on the understanding that in order to heal our wounds, we need to move toward them.  Instead of resisting, ignoring, or running away from our wounds, we allow ourselves to feel them.  In allowing the feeling, we can transform the wound and release it from our bodies and our consciousness. 

To heal the Father wound using Tonglen:

  1. Identify the wound along with its feeling (what does rejection feel like?).
  2. Allow yourself to feel the wound.
  3. Identify where in your body you are feeling it. 
  4. While feeling the wound, breathe into the place in your body where you are feeling it.
  5. Breathe out love.  Give a visual image to that love if you find that helpful (bubbles, flowers, hearts).
  6. Breathe into the wound while feeling it.
  7. Breathe out love.
  8. Continue with the breathing into the wound and breathing out love until you feel a shift.  Perhaps you are feeling more peaceful, or the practice brings forth tears.
  9. After the shift, you have completed the practice.
  10. Return to the practice when you feel that wound triggered again, or set aside a daily practice to continue healing that experience of the Father wound.

Ho’oponopono

Ho’oponopono is a traditional Hawaiian prayer/ritual which is used to heal wounds within us that we may have experienced at another’s hand. The practice is simple and yet profoundly powerful. I have witnessed true miracles in the use of this practice.

  1. Identify the wound.
  2. Give it an image,
  3. Become aware of where this wound is held in your body (where do you feel abandonment?)
  4. Repeat the Ho’oponopono formula over and over and over to the place in your body where you feel that wound. 
  5. This is the formula:

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

I love you.

Thank you.

The key to Ho’oponopono is that you are saying the formula TO YOURSELF not to the one who caused the wound.  You say it to yourself, and to the part of you that experienced the wound.

Both Tonglen and Ho’oponopono are powerful tools for healing our parental wounds. Admittedly, these practices may not be enough for many to fully heal from these wounds.  It is for this reason that I also encourage additional support through a trained spiritual director (which I am) and/or a professional therapist, or better yet, a combination of the two.  If you are finding yourself hindered by a parental wound, and are seeking for additional support, please see my information below.

Lauri provides sessions locally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and remotely via ZOOM.

Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, OSF, MATS

is a trained Spiritual Director with a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology. She integrates sound psychological knowledge with proven spiritual and transformational practices to support you in being free of that which might otherwise hinder your longing for peace, contentment, meaning and fulfillment in your life.

To learn more or schedule an appointment, email lauri@lauriannlumby.com.