c. 2006 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) Laura O’Donnell meets you at the door of her brown split-level home in Southwest Portland, Ore. Trim in yoga pants and bare feet, she leads you up a short flight of stairs to her home office.
The 34-year-old physical therapist invites you to sit down before settling herself in an overstuffed chair. She folds her hands, gives you a beatific smile and asks, “Do you have any questions for the spirit world?”
Today, growing numbers of Americans are turning to psychics _ or intuitives _ as a way to achieve spiritual wellness. The phrase “mind-body-spirit connection” was virtually unheard of 10 years ago. Today, it’s almost a cliche, the subject of thousands of books, classes and lectures. Even Kaiser Permanente, one of the country’s largest traditional HMOs, promotes the concept.
For her part, O’Donnell draws upon myriad disciplines _ psychology, physiology, sociology, theology, anthropology and mythology _ to help her clients achieve harmony and greater consciousness.
O’Donnell received her bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Oregon and went on to earn her master’s in exercise physiology from California State University at Northridge.
Three years ago, she stopped seeing patients in medical offices. After moving her practice to her home, O’Donnell was able to broaden her approach, focusing on spiritual and emotional wellness as a road to physical health.
O’Donnell spoke recently about traditional health care, medical intuition and communicating with “the other side.”
Q: Is it correct to call you a psychic?
A: The term “psychic” has become such a loaded word that many practitioners have gone away from using it. Instead, the word has been replaced by “intuitive.” I tend to think of them as different things. Everyone is intuitive _ but not necessarily psychic. The ability to sense energy or information from the greater consciousness can come in different forms for different people.
Q: What do you say to skeptics?
A: There is controversy over the process of communicating with “the other side.” Personally, I have no doubt in its truth because of my experiences. I think, often, this is a misunderstood process. I have no doubt that our loved ones continue to exist even after they have left this planet, or dimension, if you will.
Q: How do you communicate with the other side?
A: The way it works for me is that I get a sense of a person’s energy, and then I will get pictures in my mind’s eye, either symbolic pictures or pictures of actual places or things that exist now in a person’s life. It is up to me to interpret that, based on what thoughts or feelings come along with it. Often, I get verbal information that comes like thoughts in my head. Only I know the difference between my own thoughts and the information that is coming through loved ones or spirit guides.
Q: How does your work help clients achieve wellness _ both physical and emotional?
A: There always has been the controversy between allopathic and alternative types of healing. My belief is that they are both valid forms of healing. We have a body; we also have a spirit and emotional reactions to our life situations. It is important to honor both of those processes. My hope is that we cease calling these other parts of ourselves “alternative” and start to remedy this split by honoring what things we require for happiness, for health and for making our lives work the way we desire.
Q: Do you believe in the power of traditional medicine?
A: Of course it is appropriate to treat the body when we have a physical issue, but there is always deeper meaning attached to it, and medical intuition speaks to what may be going on in our emotional or mental bodies. We can hold beliefs that will make us ill. We can be in a life situation that creates illness. Medical intuition _ or working with a psychic on these problems _ is really about looking at the emotions, beliefs or energetic issues that are causing illness or unhappiness.
Q: What is medical intuition?
A: In its simplest form, it’s the ability to perceive emotions, thought processes or life situations that are contributing to physical issues, illnesses or the inability to express our true self. Because of my experience in health care and teaching, I often get specific information about a person’s body along with the deeper process that is driving it. The information goes together beautifully and has allowed me to expand on the allopathic knowledge I have.
Q: How can people increase their own “intuitive” abilities to improve their own lives?
A: The ability to recognize the energies of those in spirit is about slowing down and paying attention. The more attention we pay, the more we will discover. Meditation is a wonderful way to slow down and take time to be in the present, to discover the beauty that there is in every moment we are living.
Q: How do your psychic messages help people?
A: When we think of psychics, we think of people telling us what our future holds. Psychic predictions are probabilities, and those can change based on our actions, our decisions. They aren’t set in stone because the universe is an energetically dynamic structure. Every decision that we make influences not only our lives but also the entire universe. Knowing this allows us to make conscious decisions about what kind of energy we are putting out into our world. What is it we would like to see happen in the world? What kind of energy are we giving ourselves and others?
I believe I receive this information to allow me a deeper understanding and greater empathy for those I work with. It is really just another form of information-gathering that I can use to assist others in their journey.
Q: What do you say to people who think that communicating with the dead is impossible?
A: Losing loved ones is a very traumatic process, and it is often very healing for us when we are able to connect with them and realize they remain with us in spirit. I do believe that we all have the ability to connect with our loved ones on our own, but many people either are unaware how to do this or do not trust the experiences that they have. A medium is able to communicate and bring messages to others on behalf of loved ones or helpers in spirit.
Q: You say one of the keys to emotional and spiritual health is expanding one’s consciousness. What do you mean?
A: Consciousness is the ability to perceive greater forces and energies at work in our lives. Growing in consciousness means growing in our empathy and love for ourselves and others, and having a greater understanding of the responsibility we have in our own lives and to the world we live in. It is looking at greater reasons why events occur in our lives and choosing how we will react to those events.
Q: What are some things people can do on their own to grow spiritually and emotionally?
A: Meditation and self-reflection are wonderful tools to tap into our own consciousness as well as the greater consciousness that exists. It allows us to discover ourselves, our motivations and our deeper desires. It also empowers us to move beyond reacting to external events in our lives and to choose how we will react to those events.
DSB/JL END ROBERTS
(Michelle Roberts writes for The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.)
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