Mullein in flower

Have you ever told “a little white lie,” out of fear you’d be rejected if you spoke your truth?

Mullein flower essence provides a sense of protection and teaches us how to love and support ourselves during times when outer support isn’t available.

As an herbal ally, mullein leaves made into tea helps keep our lungs healthy. Breathing is life. We closely watch for a newborn baby’s first breath. And for a loved one’s dying, last breath.

I drink mullein tea often, to clear my lungs and strengthen them. Very helpful, since I live in a city with sub-par air quality. I had respiratory issues for years. Mullein has been key to maintaining health. It’s a nutritive herb, so it can be drunk like a beverage.

The medicine of mullein flower helps you attune to your inner voice. Mullein flower essence helps you listen to and follow your inner guidance and trust it to carry you through challenging situations that arise in your life. It’s not always easy to tell the truth. Sometimes, when we don’t, we feel later that we missed an opportunity to treat our own selves with respect, and to be heard, even if the person we’re talking with disagrees, or doesn’t believe us, or is disappointed that we don’t agree with them.

I experienced this while taking the mullein flower essence. I met up with a body-worker who, like me, has been active in the local community of healers for decades. We reminisced about the outstanding healers and teachers of the late ‘70’s and 80’s, who were doing groundbreaking work. We both rode that wave, learning and practicing new forms of healing that somatic and energetic. They weren’t understood and weren’t considered valid by many people, especially in the scientific and medical communities. We were at the leading edge of new healing technologies. We couldn’t do double blind studies because the techniques we used were uniquely adjusted to the individual client. They couldn’t be standardized and tested. Materialists and rationalists were stumped.

Even though some people made fun of or belittled the alternative health movement, I was on a mission to learn non-toxic ways to heal myself and help others. And so was my colleague.

He mentioned a Chi Gong teacher that he’d admired. I’d studied with the same teacher in the early ‘80’s, a time when chi gong and tai chi were rare in Houston. I also knew that his integrity was not up to current community standards. I knew that this teacher had molested several women students. I felt tension in my body from my gut to my throat. I checked in with myself, asking, “do I say anything?”

A panicky part of me wanted to stay silent. I’d spoken up about experiences of inappropriate touch at a young age and been dismissed. No one believed me, or if they did, they said that’s just what boys/men do. There was nothing anyone could do about it.  

Another part of me said, “No more silence. Speak UP! This is the place and the time to speak your truth.”

I leaned into the encouraging voice of mullein, which said, “Yes. Here is your voice. It’s time.”

Even though I felt uncomfortable, I spoke up. I told my colleague that this teacher had molested several students, 3 that I know of, including me.

He said he was shocked, that he’d had no idea. Then he said, “I’m so sorry that happened to you. That should never have happened.” And he went on to talk of other teachers and leaders who’d molested students and children under their care.

Wow! I did it! I protected, reassured AND LOVED MYSELF. Though speaking up in this situation wasn’t easy in the moment, I did it anyway. And I took care of myself afterward, reassuring the fearful place in me that the adult me would take care of any repercussions, and reminding myself that I have so much support now that I didn’t have in childhood.

Deep gratitude to mullein flower essence for helping me know in my being that I had the support I needed from the inside, to speak an inconvenient truth.

Mullein helps me support myself as I change an Ancestral Pattern of staying silent in the face of abuse, addiction and trauma—my time to Stand UP and Speak UP.

Imagine what flower essences can do for you.

Read more about Mullein Flower Essence here.

Women’s Blessing Circles
with tapping and guided meditation

Women’s Blessing Circles nurture and nourish women with soothing, healing and energizing guided meditation and EFT tapping.  You may release anxiety or pain. You may receive an energy transmission from your guides. 

Join us 1-2 times a month for an evening of guided meditation and EFT tapping in a small, supportive group of kindhearted women. Even if you arrive feeling frazzled, you’ll leave feeling supported, more grounded and centered. 

Women’s Blessing Circles are co-created with my spirit guides. The intention is to create space to process stress, anxiety, burdens and worries, and return to love, connection, peace and safety. If you desire to down regulate your nervous system, this is the place.

Next event:

Thursday, February 27
6:30-8:30
Cost: $40 cash or check.
To pay with PayPal, send $44 here  

Located in the Houston Heights.
Exact location given upon registration.

Group size is limited.
To register, mail me: nancy@nancykern.com by 5 pm Wednesday the day before.

Women’s Blessing and Tapping Circles are offered 1-2 times a month, on Thursday nights from 6:30-8:30 pm. Dates of upcoming Circles will be posted on this page.

Women are needed to step up as leaders across many domains of life now. Our wellbeing is essential, as we influence so many people. Many of us are caregivers, even if we have full time jobs. Our families, friends, co-workers, lovers and animals depend on us.

Being a caregiver can be exhausting. We need boundaries and clear, simple ways to protect and nourish ourselves.

There is much chaos and disruption in these chaotic times. We need times to turn inward and receive. Sharing this harmonious process in small groups is so satisfying. You get insights you may not get on your own. 

These chaotic times also bring unprecedented opportunities for us to heal on deep levels. Some of us are healing traumas that have been present for generations in our families.

The Women’s Blessing Circle supports you to both do your healing and receive nourishment. When you’e needs are met, you can show up in your world as a steadying influence, grounded, embodied and rooted. 

Bring your heart, your openness and readiness to heal, reclaim love, laughter and space, where there’s been worry, anxiety, tightness and tension.

Stand UP, Speak UP
Women Claiming Our Power
workshop for women“I dissent!”—Ruth Bader Ginsberg

We all know that women’s power has  been devalued. And we’ve long been silenced. We have much to contribute. We need skills to overcome our conditioning and make ourselves be heard. Spiritual Coaching can be practical as well as spiritual!

We’re insightful and innovative. We care about our Earth. We care about the welfare of children, animals and vulnerable people. We care about education, healthcare, diversity and income inequality. And if you’re on this page, you aspire to live guided by Soul.

Our ideas, insights and values matter. When mindful, soulful, compassionate women influence decisions, we have a direct impact on the quality of life. We change policies and inject sanity. Women are change agents.

2000+ years of dis-empowering gender dynamics gave us laws and cultural norms that silence women and keep us “less than.” Sometimes we don’t recognize we’ve given away our power or been talked down to until after the fact. We don’t notice, or we dismiss the insult, or we tolerate it, because for so many generations, that’s what we were taught by our mothers and grandmothers.

What if you knew what to say, in the moment, to influence the situation? This workshop will give you energetic tuning and verbal skills to address diminishing, insinuating or unwelcome remarks in the moment, as they arise.

We’ve been conditioned to go inside and reflect on our feelings. This is a GREAT life skill. Even so,  in many situations we need other options to respond.

Is it time to upgrade your default mode?

Sometimes, going inside keeps us stuck. At times, we need to stand our ground, set a boundary and make it stick. We need the option to question the person who’s consciously or unconsciously dissing us or crossing a line. We need to know what questions to ask and how to turn the conversation to support your authority and well-being.

How many times have you been in an uneasy, not-quite-safe or invasive conversation—and gone into the freeze response? In the freeze response, you can’t think of anything to say, so you go silent.

Or you try to explain yourself and dig the hole deeper, telling them even more about your deep, sensitive interior.

And if you were taught to “never hurt their (men’s) feelings,” you probably know by now that this strategy can make things worse. (PLEASE NOTE: if you are in a dangerous or abusive situation, your safety comes first. While this approach can help you avoid getting into abusive situations, it may not get you out of one.)

Learn how to Stand UP and Speak UP for yourself—to protect yourself without risking injury. Learn how to use language to deflect unwanted or too personal attention or stop a projection that’s being insinuated but not clearly stated.

This workshop is designed to give you skills to speak up and take care of yourself IN THE MOMENT. You do this for because YOU VALUE YOURSELF.

Even if you have uneasy doubts about your worthiness (at some level, we all do), when you Stand UP and Speak UP for yourself, you send yourself the message that you are worthy.

Step outside your comfort zone and challenge the places you’re stuck. Get skills to meet the challenge and unlock opportunities to influence situations in a positive way. Own your power! You have agency, which is different from control, to co-create.

What you’ll get in this workshop will help you Stand UP and Speak UP wherever you need this.

As with all my work, we’ll call on our allies, well ancestors and helpful Beings to support us at the start of every class. Invite your protector guides and helpers, whoever they may be.

At the end, we’ll give thanks, and request that our breakthroughs be magnified and radiate outward into the world, in the name of the sacredness of life.

Clean up old patterns and create a new future. Learn new skills—energetic, emotional and verbal—to influence outcomes, stand your ground and speak up for yourself. Become an advocate for your own wellbeing–and a force to be reckoned with, whatever your passion is:  writing a book, advocating to protect and heal the environment, social justice, world peace, free education, health care that includes alternatives and ethical standards for public service.  

Why do I care so much?

I believe women have special qualities to bring to the table. All peoples will benefit from bringing the sacred feminine into harmonious partnership with the sacred masculine. We need to heal our own internalized feminine and masculine parts. 

As a child, were you put down for being a girl? Taught to be docile and obedient? Was your creativity squashed? Were you criticized and controlled? I know I’m not the only one who didn’t learn how to stand up for myself as a girl. I was too busy being the calm one, the healer. The one who didn’t lose my temper.

It takes effort to change these patterns. That’s what this workshop is about.

Working the verbal self-defense dojo exercises gave me the know-how to stand up for myself in situations that felt difficult or overwhelming. So I reached out to Kasia Urbaniak for permission to incorporate the Verbal Self-Defense Dojo into a multiple session workshop that includes journaling, EFT Tapping and other exercises.

After years of recovery from early childhood trauma, EFT tapping brought my nervous system out of fright/flight/freeze. It helps me claim my power and my voice. It helps clear up the past, so we can be more present in the moment—stand up and speak up—and create a new outcome.

What will the world be like when women ask for what we need and want, and get results?  Research shows that when women are empowered and have their own money, they spend it on education, taking care of children, and building businesses that support families. They spend it on the welfare of themselves and others. Women are less likely than men to gamble or drink it away or be reckless with money.

With excitement and joy, I am JAZZED about this work and helping women claim our power to right wrongs and do good in the world.

With fierce compassion,

Nancy

Workshop sessions include

• Grounding & embodiment
• Call in your helpers
• Clarify & your intention & motivation to stand UP & speak UP
• EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) aka tapping—to reset the nervous system & build power & confidence
• Women’s Self-Defense Verbal Dojo module*
• Guided meditation

Logistics:

3 Tuesdays—January 14, 21 & 28
6:00-9 pm
Location: my home office in the Heights of Houston;
exact address provided upon registration.

Cost: $310—pay by check, cash or PayPal. Price includes the donation I’ll send to Kasia* for letting me use her work.

Email nancy@nancykern.com for more info or to register. If this course calls to you and your funds are limited, reach out to me and we will make it work. Work/study options are available. 

BRING WITH YOU:

1. Reusable water bottle that closes (please no single-use plastic)
2. Journal
3. Pen
4. Sweater for temperature shifts
5. Socks if weather is cold
6. Your full attention and whatever emotions you’ve got—frustration, anger….
7. Curiosity, openness to try something new, and a desire to create a new outcome

Women work collaboratively.
*Gratitude to Kasia Urbaniak for her permission to use her course Women’s Self-Defense Dojo in this workshop.