What is Dowsing?

Dowsing has been around for ages and I feel that everyone is a dowser. What is a dowser, you ask? Simply put, a dowser is someone who is able to find water for a well, lost items, energy grids, mineral deposits, influence the negative energy and redirect it to become positive and much more.
Dowsing is an ancient practice that has been lost to most people over time. We aren't as "in tune" with the universe as we once were. We have become disconnected with the natural rhythms of the earth and all that is on it. Dowsing brings us back to be able to feel and connect with that energy.
With dowsing we use pendulums, L-rods and Y sticks. These are tools so that we can have something concrete that we can see show us the yes and no answers, or point us in a direction, because we alot of people can't connect with that in born sense that guides us or simply because we have been raised not to believe our "gut" instincts.
When we get comfortable with the dowsing tools, a whole world opens up to us. We learn how to use these tools to gain information, to change energies and energy patterns. All this is accomplished on our own and we don't step on anyone's toes.
We can use the pendulum to check to see if the supplements we are taking are necessary, if we are taking the correct dose and taking them at the correct time of day. We can use the pendulum to find where we left our car keys, if we should take that trip now or wait, if the produce that we have in our grocery cart has any nutrition, plus much more.
We can use the Y stick to locate underground water to drill a well and we can even determine how deep to drill. The Y stick can also locate veins of minerals.
We can use the L rods to get pointed in the correct direction when looking for a way to walk to locate the well or minerals, to indicate the beginning of someone's aura, to find "holes or tears" in the aura so that they may be repaired plus much more.
This June, I am having a weekend of dowsing to teach the ABC's of dowsing so that people will have a greater understanding of this much misunderstood tool that is available to us.
Interested? For more information go to the web site.

Straw Bale Homes

I thought that I would take some time and talk about straw bale construction. There are some people out there that think that building with straw bales is cheaper that regular stick construction. While that is true about the cost of the materials for the wall systems, it is more labour intensive and can therefore be just as costly.
We love our straw bale home. We feel comfortable with the contours of the walls, the thickness of them and the comfort of heating with wood (although it is quite messy!)We didn't want to have a basement, as is the norm I find, so we chose a slab on grade. The only thing that I regret is that we didn't put in radiant heat. In hindsight, we should have at least put in the tubes so that if we wanted to, we could hook them up at a later date.
Straw bale homes have a R rating of 35 to 50, are 4 times more fire resistant than stick construction, hurricane resistant and now with testing done in Nevada, (I think that is where it was done) the only wall system that has not failed in the earthquake testing! Now isn't that something!I don't know why everyone doesn't build a straw bale home. The benefits are so great!Easy to heat, easy to cool, and comfy to live in!
There is a great deal of thought that should go into the design of the bale home as it is not always easy to change things once the cement or earthen plaster is put on to cover the bales. Many people don't realize this when they decide to build and go headlong into the process without proper planning.
When we built our home in 2000, we were virgins in the straw bale area of expertise but we did persevere and managed to move into the shell after 27 days. We opened our retreat one year almost to the day after we stacked the first bale. It was a long process, but a very satisfying one!
We joined forces with Chris Magwood, Julie Bowen, Hank and Anita Carr, John Weiss, Tina Therrien and a few others to form the fledgling Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition in 2001. The organization has grown immensely over time and is one of the leaders of information for anyone wanting to build a straw bale home. You can access the OSBBC by going to www.osbbc.ca
I was encouraged to develop and teach a workshop on being your own General Contractor as our build went so quickly and problems were overcome with either no or little loss of time.
I now teach this workshop twice a year, once in the spring (or close to it) the other in the fall, for anyone wanting to be their own general contractor, or to see if they have what it takes to be a GC as the job is very demanding and can become stressful.
If you would like to take this course, check www.robinsnestretreat.com/s_22.asp for more information or call me, Gail at 705-639-2284. Registration must be pre-paid to ensure your spot and spaces are limited.

The other day I talked about Alternative treatments and focused more on Reiki. When describing Reiki, I talked about the Universal Energy. This is a term that many people have trouble with as sometimes if you can't see it you might not understand or believe it.
Everything in the world is made up of energy. Einstein theorized that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Energy is. The reason things look different is that energy is put together in different ways. Think of it as Lego. You can build many houses out of Lego but if you use the colours in different places, the house looks different. This is a very simplistic description, but it illustrates what I am trying to say.
In order to understand a little better and perhaps feel what I am saying, take a minute and rub your hands together, palms touching. Rub them together quickly for about a minute or two. Now, slowly move them about 2 inches apart. Now bring them back together. Move them about 6 inches apart, then bring them back together. Do this a few times, each time moving them a little farther apart. Remember to do this s-l-o-w-l-y. Can you feel any resistance between your palms? Something like a squishy feeling? Rubbery almost? If you feel this than you are feeling your body's energy. This is what you are made up of. This is what surrounds your body. Besides the energy that you acquire through eating and drinking, this provides your body with the fuel to live. They say that some of the most proficient yogis of the world can even subsist on this energy during their prolonged periods of meditation.
This energy is available to all of us to use for our healing. Our bodies strive to be well. We have built in armies to fight off infection and disease. Unfortunately, we don't do all that we can to help our bodies. In face we sometimes hurt our bodies by eating too much processed food, too much sugar, too much of many things that cause our bodies to break down as they become overwhelmed by our indulgences!
By taping into the energy around us and letting it move through us to help us heal, we are doing our bodies a great service. Each individual needs to become aware of what works for them. Some people can't digest wheat, dairy or grains. Some people have trouble with raw vegetables, some people are allergic to nuts, some fruits and some vegetables. Everyone is unique and only by paying attention to our bodies and what they are telling us, and then caring about ourselves enough to DO something, are we allowing the natural healing energy around us to help.
We can do even more by utilizing, or asking for the healing energy to wash over us and to help us heal and then ALLOWING it to happen.
Try having an energy healing treatment sometime and allow it to carry you on a wondrous healing journey!

The term "Alternative" as relating to treatments seems to be disappearing from the vocabulary of many these days. Many years ago, a person was considered to be strange if they went to a chiropractor, now it is an everyday occurrence. Homeopathy and Naturopathy were once in the same category as crones, witches and wizards. Now, many people avail themselves of their knowledge along with that of their MD's.
Energy medicine is gaining in popularity as well. People are not as skeptical when it comes to using Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Healing Touch, or Reconnection as a tool to attain health and well being.
I have taken introductory courses in Therapeutic and Healing Touch and have read about Reconnection but chose to become a Reiki Master. To me, they are all using the energy of the Universe. The difference is in how they are used. They all involve channeling the healing energy through the body of the practitioner and directing it to the client. Hand positions are involved and minimum touching (if any). The client usually lies on a treatment table fully clothed and covered to keep warm as the body temperature usually drops during energy treatments. The treatments usually last 1/2 hr. to 1 hr. and the client usually feels very rested and sometimes even falls asleep on the table. I have had some clients feel very energized after a treatment while others want to go to sleep for awhile. This depends upon the client and what needs to be cleansed or healed.
When guests come to The Robins' Nest they have a choice of treatments if they so wish. More and more they are trying Reiki and they are quite surprised by the insights they receive while having the treatment and also by the way they feel after it is over.
Next time you are considering treating yourself, why not try Reiki!

Events at the Nest

We are well into 2010 and things have been hopping here at The Robins' Nest Retreat! We have had a couple of Scrap Booking groups in for weekend get aways and it has been a positive experience for us all! It was truly amazing to see these ladies truck in copious amounts of scrap booking essentials and weave beautiful pages to document their events. Kudos to them and the time that they invest to keep their memories for future generation.
We are now offering an affordable Scrap Booking Special for any groups that are interested in a get away close to the GTA. Details can be viewed at www.robinsnestretrea.com/s_45.asp

We are also hosting a relaxing weekend of Yoga with Caroline Owen of Wavelengths Yoga in Norwood. This is taking place on February 26-28. Caroline will lead the group through a weekend of meditative yoga that will engage you in body, mind and spirit.

What are you interested in? What would you like to do if you had a weekend away? I will be teaching some classes in Dowsing, Aromatherapy, and Reiki in the future and will be writing about them in future blogs.
You can reach me at info@robinsnestretreat.com