Omega: How would you describe energy healing to a five-year-old?

Deborah: I would tell an adult or a child that you’re composed of energy. Your body feels solid, but it’s moving energy. We have lots of physics research to back this up. Sometimes the movement of all that energy becomes stagnant or off-kilter, and energy healing is a way of reestablishing balance.

So you’re sitting inside of a big bundle of energy. Your own personal human energy field surrounds you. I’m simplifying it a bit, but essentially you’re sitting inside of it. And it came first, and your body grew out of it. When you have an illness or an accident, it will show up in your field and can be addressed very successfully and help you heal even quicker in the body.

Omega: Your path to becoming an energy healer began with your own illness and trying alternative healing modalities. What are some of the guideposts that led you along the journey and kept you inspired?

Deborah: I became interested in it so quickly because I had an amazing remission with a hands-on energy healer, and that’s tantalizing. I started studying with healers and shamans worldwide, and every step of the journey was truly fascinating and led to the next step very serendipitously.

Omega: How did you first know that you could sense energy in yourself or others and go from being healed to being a healer?

Deborah: I can’t remember. It was such a subtle transition. I realized later that I’d been able to do it all my life, even as a small child. I think we all can, and I think we need to be made more conscious of it because a lot of us just turn it off.  And that’s one of the things I do with students, I make them aware of their own capabilities in sensing energy. They’re always just so startled to find out how sensitive they are.

Omega: In your book Truth Heals, you talk about how telling the truth can be a powerful way to begin healing our bodies. What’s the first step in telling the truth?

Deborah: I think your whole body resonates with the truth and lets you know. I think we know instinctively. I urge people to, first of all, realize the most damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. For example, "I’m so thrilled with my accounting job now that I’ve invested all of my resources and 10 years of my life in becoming an accountant when in fact, deep in my heart I hate it." Or, "I’m really happy with my marriage, but you know, in my heart I’m really not." It’s those kinds of lies that are most damaging. So that’s where I work with people first, just looking at what you’re telling yourself and where you’re kidding yourself.

Omega: You write openly about healing from both abuse and addiction, what recommendations do you have for those who are dealing with similar issues?

Deborah: Well, for both of those things I would say get help immediately. For addiction, I really push 12-step programs. I think they’re enormously helpful to everyone. And for abuse, I would want you to reach out to a hotline or someone in your family to get some help. Don’t try to do it by yourself.

Omega: On a recent hiking trip, a narrow cliff gave way and sent you tumbling 10 feet down rugged terrain. Both your knees and right wrist were broken. What lessons have you learned from going through your most recent knee surgeries and recovery?

Deborah: It’s been really eye-opening. I was in the hospital more than a month. It was a fairly serious accident. 

I found a recovery facility run by an order of nuns that started in Spain more than 150 years ago. It was really kismet when I ended up there because I was raised Catholic as a child. Back in those days, nuns actually wore habits, so this was déjà vu. They were really wonderful. But the first lesson I learned was patience and slowing way down. I was going way too fast. Aren’t we all?

I’ve written fairly prolifically as a result of this incident. I keep churning out new blogs. I’m looking for the meaning and then the silver lining, of course. There’s always one. You may not know right after an illness or an accident what the silver lining is, but there is one always. And of course, these things don’t happen by accident. So even as I was sailing through the air, I remember thinking, "Hhmm, I wonder what this is going to bring me? What is this meant to tell me?"

This incident has turned me around and set me back on my path. I think I’d slipped off my path. I was looking backward instead of forward, which is another unhealthy thing. You don’t want try to recreate your own path. You won’t be successful at it. We only have the moment. We only have the present. My husband and I were reminiscing a bit about all our wonderful days in the mountains, and thinking of recreating that. I don’t believe spirit has that in mind at all. As I sit here currently in a wheelchair, I can laugh about it with you.

Omega: It seems there’s a lot of emphasis today on morning routines, but can you speak to some simple ways people can recharge their energy at the end of a long day?

Deborah: I will refer to Ayurveda as that’s the medical system I most rely on and teach. I would say first, if you’re over 25 you need to eat six small meals of protein. Not two or three, but six. If you have something when you get up in the morning, a couple of hours later you’re having a little handful of something else, such as a few almonds or a protein drink. But you need to do something all day long to maintain your blood sugar levels. Usually the problem in the late afternoon is blood sugars drop. It’s been too long since lunch, and maybe lunch wasn’t protein-rich enough. So that would be my first suggestion.

Secondly, there’s nothing better than a short pick-me-up meditation for 10 or 15 minutes at 5:00 p.m. to even things out a bit. You don’t want to build your energy late in the day. It’s antithetical to good rest.

Also, remember that it’s completely normal for us to be declining and have less energy after 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. You don’t want to exercise really past noon, especially if you’re older than 25. It’s okay to exercise in the evening if you’re you know, in your twenties. But really by the time you’re 30, you need to exercise before noon.

I recommend that people do something that’s entertaining the hour or so before bed—something light and cheerful. Don’t watch the national news or the international news. Don’t do anything that will stir up your mind or your psyche either. Take an evening walk if it’s summertime. Go out and sit on the deck. Watch the moon. You know, things that are just very supportive and yet very soothing.

The angels really support the serenity of the evening tide. That’s another level of our environment that we forget about. There is an angelical realm that very much supports our higher chakras, and if we’re calm and cool and slow moving that supports our spiritual connection, too.

Omega: What wisdom from other realms is relevant right now?

Deborah: You know, history shows that if you engage in activities that oppress a whole people that you’re going to have to pay for it later. So that’s what we did. That’s what our forbearers did, and the blood is on our hands. And it’s horrific, but it is not unexpected. It’s all about inclusivity as opposed to exclusivity. You can’t exclude a whole culture, ethnicity, gender, or anything else. And you know, I think it’s time for us to switch away from the patriarchal and more toward a feministic attitude.