To celebrate National Complementary Week, our Senior Complementary Therapist Claire Jenkinson shares her journey of discovery in holistic healing and therapies and tells us how her desire to help people on a deeper level has brought her to Hospice at Home West Cumbria.

“Looking back over my career I see a tendency to want to help people, to ease suffering and to empower people to help themselves. After graduating from university I undertook post-graduate training in guidance and worked with young people as a careers adviser for 14 years. I quickly became aware of my desire to help on a deeper level: to empower the young person to know themselves deeply, truly and to make life decisions in-line with this. I also realised that most of us, regardless of age, have issues to clear and heal as part of this journey. To be able to see, understand and release what holds us back from living a truly happy, healthy, empowered life which in congruent to our uniqueness as individuals is a cornerstone of my approach. Although my first profession wasn’t a therapy as such, it was certainly about helping, guiding and empowering: always for the greatest good of the person sat in front of me. That hasn’t changed.”

“At that point in my mid 20s I found the book by the Dalai Lama, ‘Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: ethics for a new millennium’.  The teachings in this book were a catalyst for my journey of discovery, and I haven’t looked back since. And so the journey began. I started reading about health, healing, compassion, mind-body connection and began studying and practicing. I embarked on numerous courses, retreats and workshops to deepen my connection and understanding. I wanted to help myself and to gain skills to use in the world to help others. Several of these were large undertakings, notably Yoga Teacher Training with the British Wheel of Yoga and later, Homeopathy Training with The Lakeland College of Homeopathy. Reiki training has been interwoven throughout this, from meeting my first Reiki Masters in 2001 to Reiki Master Teacher training in 2019. Of course, this work is ever evolving. Along the way there’s been a healthy smattering of other courses, some with professional status, and others with an equally important personal impact on me and the way I practice. Examples of these include the amazing weekend spent being introduced to Therapeutic Touch and many a weekend spent in the Lake District learning about the wonderful beneficial effects of vibrational essences from world leaders in the field. What a privilege.”

“I feel such a profound sense of gratitude to my many teachers and friends who I now fondly call my ‘Dream Team’: the wise ones who have shared and guided me to be the best therapist I can be and to serve others as well as myself.

What became increasingly apparent to me was that what underpins the skills, knowledge and techniques is the therapist themselves. The tools and just that: they are effective, ‘power’ tools only when placed in the hands of the person who can use them with discernment. Key to this is working without an agenda, without an outcome in mind and certainly not with the desire to ‘fix’ a person or situation. To simply work with the intention that the person will take from the session exactly what they need is the highest ideal. Crucially, inherent to this is getting ones ‘self’/mind/ego out of the way.

And this quality is what we look for in our therapists at Hospice at Home West Cumbria.”

Thanks for reading.

In love and light.

Claire

Please find below, a selection of books which have influenced Claire through her journey:

Eckhart Tolle:

A New Earth: Create a Better Life

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Barbara Ann Brennan:

Hands of Light: Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field

Light Emerging: The Journey of Personal Healing

Diane Stein:

Essential Reiki

Donna Eden:

Energy Medicine for Women: Aligning Your Body’s Energies to Boost Your Energy and Vitality

Bruce Lipton:

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles

Joe Dispenza:

Becoming Supernatural: ow Common People are doing the Uncommon

Lynne McTaggart:

The Field

Jon Kabat-Zinn:

Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness Meditation for Everyday Life

His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: ethics for a new millennium

Ian White:

Australian Bush Flower Essences

Stephen Wright & Jean Sayre-Adams:

Therapeutic touch

Swami Sivananda:

The New Book of Yoga

Louise Hay:

You Can Heal Your Life 

Tosha Silver:

Change Me Prayers: The Hidden Power of Spiritual Surrender

Martin Miles:

Homeopathy and Human Evolution

Colin Griffith:

The Practical Handbook of Homeopathy

The Companion to Homeopathy

Charles Eisenstein:

The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible