153. Lomi Lomi, Palo & Power: Ancient Healing Tools with Donell Allen

Please turn the following into: show notes, 10 seo titles, a 20 word seo summary: Welcome to Mind Power Meets Mystic The show where practical mind power and mystical wisdom collide with humor and wild curiosity.

Yeah, we're not here to play it safe. I'm Cinthia Varkevisser, your resident spiritual shit disturber. I stir things up with mystic power and bold action.

And I'm Michelle Walters, coach and Hypnotherapist. I bring strategy and transformative hypnosis to help you turn subconscious blocks into unstoppable momentum.

Let's shake up your thinking, dive into your soul and make bold moves in your life.

We'll take you on a journey of breakthrough and aha moments, exploring spirit, business, love, relationships and self expansion.

We're connecting you with your highest self and flipping fear into strength.

So buckle up. We're doing this one wild, transformative conversation at a time.

Let's go.

Hello everyone. You are here with me. Michelle Walters and my podcast co host Cinthia Varkevisser for another episode of Mind Power Meets Mystic. We called our podcast Mind Power Meets Mystic because I have a little nickname. My Instagram is mind power junkie. I'm a hypnotherapist, and so I just big, big fan of power of the mind. Cinthia is our show mystic. She is an intuitive healer and has all kinds of interesting ways and connections with things that many of us have no real understanding of. We are joined today by our friend and and wonderful person who I've known for several years, Donell Allen. Donell Allen is a practicing massage therapist who does lots of other things that I'm sure we're going to hear about, and she has been in practice for eight years, and the initials after her name are cnmt, which is something about neuromuscular therapy, because Donell is really kind of magical when it comes to that stuff. So with that, welcome to Mind power meets mystic Donell .

Thanks. Well, hello, Michelle, hello Cinthia. It's great to be here. So okay, I'm just going to talk a little bit about what I do. I am a certified neuromuscular therapist. Um, I went to school at national holistic Institute, College of massage therapy and health education. Let's see. What else can I tell you about what I do?

Um, a little bit make magic.

I make you all I do, actually, in more ways and just with my hands

on, yeah, you're in my part of the world. There you go. Naughty part.

It's so much fun. So much fun. Um, gosh, a little bit about my background. I came from. I came into massage by sheer accident. But really, is there any accidents in the world? I used to work in healthcare for about 30 years. I went from the gamut of mental health to hospital, and that's where I began my career. And I loved healthcare. I was not a practitioner. I was all administrative. And then one day, I lost my job, had to figure out what the heck I was going to do, and coming from a synchronistic perspective, doing what I was continued was doing wasn't making me feel good at all, depression, anxiety. And so I had the opportunity to remake myself. And I was looking at things like, Oh, should I be a garbage collector? They have great benefits. Should I sell shoes? I mean, you know, just things. And I kept coming back to massage, went to school, fell in love with it. Why did I fall in love with it? Well, you know, I discovered that approximately 80% of people's issues can be a soft tissue issues such as, I have carpal tunnel, I have migraines, I have a piriformis issues, I have leg cramps, I have obstructural deviation that's really causing pain. This is something that massage therapy can help with. So not only are you coming in and laying on the table and relaxing and hopefully letting go, you are actually getting corrective work, at least with a neuromuscular therapist, and that's another reason why I chose to go into neuromuscular therapy, because it was, it's it really helped me marry what I was doing in massage to could we live in the West, with the Western world, so I can clearly articulate, from a medical perspective, why I'm working this. What muscle is it? What? Why am I working it? What is it going to do? As opposed to, I'll tell a little story. When I was first in my class, and we studied the east. So we were doing shiatsu, and I was working on one of my one of my classmates, and I kept seeing this flashing like little.on his back, and I thought he's got a heart rate monitor on. Oh, poor guy. What's going on with him? So I'm doing the shiatsu moves, going down the shoe points. But I didn't feel a heart rate monitor. And the reason I thought it was a heart rate monitor is I used to be a Jazzercise instructor, and I would wear a heart rate monitor, you know, just just to feel the pulse. I wanted to feel the pulse looking at my watch, because that was my jam, one of my jams, and he didn't have anything on and I was like, What's going on here? And as I began my studies, I would notice these lights on people. And what I learned later is that as a therapist, as a massage therapist or a body worker, we see the body. The body talks to us in different ways. For me, I get to see light, little pinpoints or intuitively, know. So, for example, Michelle, you might come to me and say, you know, I have migraines. My neck is killing me, and there's something in your body that says, you know, today we're going to work your scalenes, specifically the third scalene. It's attached to the first rib, and I know where it's, you know, sort of like, Oh, great. I know where it's attached. I know the muscle. But there's an intuitiveness for me, and I think most body workers have that. Why do people come to me? Well, they come to me for all kinds of reasons, as I mentioned, but a lot of times people when you're in pain, when you're going through depression or anxiety, we've lost our power somewhere. We've given it up through stress, through and most of the time, our issues are coming from what's going on in the outside world, such as, I have job stress. I have too much on my plate. I'm working with aging parents. I'm giving birth, anything that's stressful, and then we get locked into that, that condition. So we're talking about third chakra today, solar plexus. That's where our power comes from, our center, our horror, and coming from a place of power, a place of centeredness, and we're off center.

You know, it's funny, I hope I'm sorry to interrupt, but yeah, I was just having a conversation with a martial arts colleague, I guess, is a teammate, call it martial arts mate, and He's young. He's in college, and we were talking about what is an emotional injury versus a physical injury, and that that there's a combination, right? And and he didn't understand. So I'm really glad that you're bringing this up, that once you have some kind of outer stress, that it's that it is creating a physical block and that and that you're there to work it out. So thank you for talking about that, because a lot of people, we're in a western world where everything is it's all about symptoms. So we're not really getting into the core of the issue, which is why East Meets West is beautiful for me.

You've been listening to Mind Power Meets Mystic with me. Michelle Walters and my co host, Cinthia Varkevisser, we want to tell you about a special gig the two of us have going on. It's called Mind Power Meets Mystic, the project, and it starts off on a zoom call with Cinthia. Cinthia tell everybody what they can expect.

So for the first half of our session, you will be with me, and Michelle will be very quietly in the background preparing to do her work. What we will do is that we will talk about the one thing that you either want to amp up or that you want to release. And through the intuitive work, I help you get boil it down to its essence, and then give you an RX of three practical things to do to set you on your way. And then Michelle magically appears. What is it that you do that Michelle,

I have been listening in but not participating in the first half of the call, I have an excellent idea of what Cinthia means when she says something, and I have an excellent idea of quickly getting to what my client is all about and his or her individual strengths. I turn all of this into a 20 to 30 minute hypnosis session on the second half of the call, which when we're done. I strip off and send you as an mp three that you can listen to over and over again. You also will have Cynthia's three point recommendations and the recording of the Zoom call. It is a fantastic one hour offering a great gift for yourself or for someone you don't know what to get such insights, and we've gotten such great reviews, so if you're interested, send me or Cinthia an email. You'll find our contact information in the show notes, and we'll tell you how to get started.

I know you as someone who practices Palo and someone who also has done Lomi Lomi and is very respectful about the Lomi Lomi practice as you as you do this. So I would love to hear, I love that you're talking about the clients and how they come in, but tell me how, how you're, how you incorporate Paulo and other things as well, because I know you do other things, yes. So that,

okay, one quick, one quick ad here. I know what Lomi Lomi is, but I bet some of our listeners do not know what Lomi Lomi or Palo is, so please include a little Okay, so

let's go, let's go that way, and then we'll talk about the because what people, people are coming to you for really big things that they don't know that they're really big things, and that's the best part.

Okay, so Lomi Lomi Lomi Lomi is comes from the Hawaiian Islands. I have studied with, and I am certified with a person who actually got, received her training in Lomi Lomi on Maui. I did go to Maui, and I learned there as well from a Kahuna, my massage and lomi. Lomi was actually originally from my studies. What I understand was derived on the islands. You're on an island, we need to get along with everybody. We're in the United States, we still need to get along with everybody, okay, but there's a lot of places we could run and hide on an island. Hide. On an island, you can't run and hide. So lomi. Lomi was a way of working out the energies, the the spiritual energies, the angst, the anger, the hurt, along with the physical. Okay, there's a whole ceremony that's involved with that you would be the the it's not a it's there's a giver and a receiver, and that's how it's looked at. It's really a beautiful tradition. I won't go into a bunch, because we don't have a lot of time here. That's a whole hour presentation, minimal of what I have for that piece of it. Suffice to say that not only you, the giver and the receiver, but those who might be affected can also participate and be the witnesses. And it's basically to get rid of what you don't need. You let it go. I'm upset with Cinthia for I don't know she called me a name or she didn't call me back, and I'm taking it personal. Well, if you don't talk about that with somebody and let it go and find out Cinthia might have been sick, or she might have, you know, there could be multiple reasons she doesn't get up in the morning and say, I'm gonna, you know, mess with Don Elton. I'm gonna hurt her feelings most of the time. We that's not even on on the radar. So it's getting rid of that. Sometimes we can't get rid of it because it's bigger than that. And so this is a way of Lomi Lomi that releases from an energetic, spiritual as well as a physical perspective. Okay, that's what's involved. Mine is Lomi Lomi inspired? Why is it inspired? Because I am not Hawaiian. My I do follow a number of spiritual paths. I think they're all beautiful. And my guides have said, Yes, you can. You're going to learn this, but you're not, you're not Hawaiian. So when you call in your when you call in the gods or the ancestors, these are the ones that you work with. You need to be respectful. I do not. So there's that piece of it, and again, whole other, whole other lineage, I don't do the chance in Hawaiian. It's not my language. I know them, but out of respect, I do my chance in English, because that's my first language, and that's what came to me, and that's what feels right. Everybody else can follow whatever they need to follow. Two I have, I have a background in Fairy Palo. That's Paulo is ATR. It's African traditional religion. As you can see, I am not African. It's something that I was called to and to learn. Same with fairy, same with hoodoo. These are all earth based practices, and they're beautiful. And what draws me to these religions are the, of course, the energies, the spirits. Again, they've been they call but I work with herbs. I work with plants, and I my element. Is water, so

that good? Yeah, no, give us just like the one minute of what is Palo, because I know about your lomi, let me, but I don't know anything about what is

Palo. So that's an African tradition, religion, and Apollo means stick, and it's working with the sticks, with the roots, with the earth. Again, it's an earth based tradition, and it comes from the original lineage, which is comes from Africa. It came over from the folks, unfortunately, who were brought over to the Americas and to Cuba comes in from Cuba, and that is to learn more about it. I would suggest reading about it. It's not something that I am public about a lot, because it's just, it's just how I was raised in that tradition. So I'm happy to talk more offline with other folks if they're interested. Yeah, I hope that was

helpful. Though, cool. No, I think that was very helpful. And so we are talking about third chakra

today. How do these

methodologies and your various other treatments enable people to connect with that power center?

Well, this is pretty much, I'm trying to think how to put it into words. You're coming on. I'm going to talk about a session with me. You're coming in. You're discussing what might be going on. So we are going to discuss, like, for example, I know you, Michelle, I can discuss a little. I'll feel more comfortable discussing it more from a spiritual aspect as well as a physical aspect. For folks who are new to me, I don't know if you're open to that. And you know, I'll get a feeling, you know, I kind of go so far with that. Example, I had a new client that's coming on the table, and I kept getting hits that this person is attached to their condition. That is how they are identifying. I can work on you, and I will help alleviate some of the pain, but if we continue to take it back and we identify with I am Oh, and this is no offense to anybody. I suffer from depression, everybody. So I'm going to talk about Donell. There was a time where Donell attached I was depressed, and I suffer from depression, and I had all these different aches and pains, and yes, I got massage, yes, and I worked through it, but until I really let go the fact that, you know, yes, I can fall back into it, but that's not who that's not how I want to be defined anymore. I also have to do some work in letting go. So that's gaining my power back. I'm giving back the gift of depression. I no longer need it. Now. This was not a one up thing. This was work that I had to do, but I also had a practitioner who helped me with it, and I also went to therapy and so forth. Now that's depression. There's all kinds of other things. Think about anxiety. When you're anxious and you're like, oh my god, oh my God, look at my shoulders. They're going up. They're going up. If I continue to walk around like this, folks, my shoulders, my upper trapezius muscles, are becoming earrings, as opposed to the coat hanger they should be. I have just shortened these muscles. These muscles being upper trapezius muscle, scalenes, levator scapula, sternocleidoid, mastoid SCM, and then I'm also rounding because I'm protecting myself. Does that make sense? Yeah. So on the table, I am opening up your pecs, I am opening up your biceps, your deltoids, lengthening your neck muscles and those upper trapezius muscles, along with back muscles too. Okay, um, but do you see how that opens it up on the table? I also use, and I ask people if they're okay with it. I use Himalayan hot stones. Why do I use Himalayan hot stones? Because I like the properties of salt. They are, if you think about it, the ocean. If you get a cut, you run to the ocean. If you're at the beach, okay, not if you're in the Midwest, okay, you're into the beach, yeah, put your hand in the water. It's salt water. It does. It's salt. Is an extractor. It takes away the the the poison, the, you know, the infection, from a meta, from a spiritual perspective, or an energetic let's use energetic perspective. The Himalayan salt stones also smooth out that energy body. Along with, Oh, my God, they feel phenomenal. They help with I do deep tissue work as well, so I'm using them to help your muscles melt and relax from a physical perspective, from a energetic perspective, I'm helping that energy body go, huh? So let it go. This is all non verbal. I just ask you if I can use the stones and people might ask a little bit more about what. Used for, besides melting the muscles.

So Donell, what I really like when you're talking about your client is that they are they are still identifying with their condition, right? So your healing modality through everything, right, is that you're going to heal them for the moment, knowing that they get release relief, and they have an opportunity to shift, and they also have the opportunity to stay identified with that

space. That's right. And so the other thing too is like with what you do Cinthia, you know you're helping people along from a metaphysical perspective and channeling. What I do is I, I would love to say no, I don't love to say I am the conduit. This is what I am. I'm the conduit. And I am put in. I feel like I come into people's lives, or they come into my lives because they've lost that connection to their power, to the energy and all I'm there is to help facilitate that energy that comes down. I used my knowledge to help work on them, whichever whatever it might be, the body remembers how to heal. Our bodies are natural healers. We just have to remember that we can do it. Um, so the solar plexus, which is the third chakra, which I love, and sometimes I'll use stones. It depends on what I'm doing, of stones being crystals. So the solar plexus is yellow, usually yellow Citrine. It's associated with your stomach, your liver, your small intestine, digestion. So you think, you know, people have, I don't want to say stomach cramps, but you know, when you have that gut feeling, I don't feel good. Something's just not sitting right. This can help move that out as well. And as you know, it has to do with will and our power and our willpower. When I was learning massage, we talked about in the east, we talked a lot about coming from the horror coming from the center, and that was to help protect our body. So when I'm when I'm working on a person, I'm coming from my center, and when I say, protect my bodies, these these phalanges, they can get hurt because they're small, but there's a huge muscle. Your abdominal muscles are huge, and your glutes and your hips are huge, and your legs coming from that area, you can really help facilitate a lot of physical movement as well as well as energetic movement, right?

Okay, I'm gonna little plug for Donell. I think Donell is amazing, not only with her kind of funky, magicky stuff she does, but on the table, she has just melted away muscles that mine that have just been like, we are not happy. We are totally tight, and that's just the way we're going to be and and also, I think the other good thing that you really done for me to now as I'm sharing a little love is, you know I came in to see you, and you're like, Oh, Michelle, your neck, your upper back, you're so you know your your shoulders are too close to your ears and and I know this, and you made them feel much better, But you also sort of raised my awareness that I don't even mean to do it. I just, they just creep up there. And I've noticed that they creep up there when I'm working on the computer, it when I'm sitting on the sofa, sometimes they creep up and so that awareness of like, Wait, make some space there that's really going to serve you. Michelle has really, has really helped that being said, I still need your help. There you go. But it's, you know, it's really important. I love the mind. I love thinking about the mind and all the things the mind can do. But the fact is that we are on earth in order to inhabit bodies, and it is essential that we listen to them and take care of them in whatever fashion. You know that means for a person, whether that's massage or exercise or a particular diet. You know, you got to take care of your body or your body doesn't take care of you absolutely and then,

and that's part of how you can heal. I mean, it sounds the way you I love the way you phrase it. It's simple but yet profound. You just being aware of what, of how you're contributing, cuz we all okay. I believe that I am responsible for a lot of my stuff, so when I'm doing my magical work, I'm really uncrossing myself, and I'm putting that into the candle, or whatever I'm using or whatever long ago I might be creating. It's pretty much for the stuff that I'm throwing on myself, and we don't realize that. So, um. Um. And again, we are all part of our healing process, along with asking an acupuncturist or a chiropractor, they're all doctor, they're all part of Cinthia, we're all part of the healing process. Michelle with hypnotherapy, yeah, yeah.

And I think you know, one of the things that I talk to clients a lot about, because people come seeing me and they're stressed out or overwhelmed or feel out of control or whatever is, you got to think back to, what do you control? What do you influence? And what are you just worried about? And one of the, you know, a lot of people kind of like, oh, when you think about what you're in control of it's not so many things really. You know, it might be what you eat for dinner, what time you go to bed. Well, it's also where you hold your shoulders, because there is nobody but yourself that's able to take care of that. So anyway, plug for plug for.

Donell, thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anything else you wanted me to chat about, or want to make sure that we're respectful of time

about that we got you, we got you. Yeah, you're the time minders.

Okay, I'm sorry, forgive me. I'm also, I also am part of my practice. I have to be aware of time. Yes, I think that's true. So it's true. Otherwise, yeah, I could just sit on your table all day. That's right, and I which would be great for me and bad for all the other people that have been called to

see you have knocks on the door. I mean, let's see exactly.

So let's see what else is coming up for me. So my business, I actually go under Luna D azul massage by Donell A work in Pleasant Hill out of the centered body Pilates studio. For those of you who might be in the Napa area or on that side of the bridge, I also work at a wellness center called Hale house located inside the Stanley ranch properties. Um, so you can always ask for me there, and I work a little

bit there too. And it is glorious. People go see Donell there, if you, if you're in that area, and that's a possibility, because you will have a magnificent time. And Hale

house, it's, it is amazing. I will say that. Let's see what else is coming up. Cinthia and I are creating spa spiritual spa day. We are in the creation process. So it's, it's sort of, we're pregnant with it. How's that

not quite crowning yet, right? Is

there a due date? Well, we are working on the due date, but sometimes these things take a little bit a little bit longer gestation than we normally think.

So actually, let's talk about that right now. So let's do it. We're looking for places that will host us so we can give talks about why we are collaborating, and how we are holistic in our approach and that we are truly working mind, body and spirit. I'm coming from the emotional, energetic, spiritual plane. And then Donnell will be also working from the energetic, spiritual, physical plane. So you are, you're being held. But a lot of people don't really understand what that looks like. And it's a, it's a, you know, a little bit more than a two hour investment. So it's important for people to understand what they are. So we're looking for places to have a speak and do many demonstrations. So if you know anybody, or you'd like to hear more about it, please catch us online through the podcast, email us, text us, that's where we are.

Yes, that would be amazing. So I've been able to sit in I've received some of Cinthias, I really don't want to say Cinthia, some of the universe's message is through Cinthia And I really that's why I was drawn to her. I really appreciate her. I respect her work. Because, you know, there's all kinds of folks out there, and it's been extremely helpful in my life. And I was also drawn because there was something there that said there's we need to do some work together to help others, to help others. And so how I'm approaching my aspect of it is, I'll have hands on as Cinthia comes and delivers whatever messages or that she is going to be getting a download for you will come to see me. And the idea is, what do you want to let go of so that you can allow this new to come in? It's really a beautiful,

oh, I love that. It's a gorgeous ladies. I can't wait to hear when this um, baby is about to be born.

Me too. I think we're like in this I feel like I'm what, six months along? Are you in the second or third try?

At the end of the second trime, end of

the second trimester? Okay, very good. So thank you, Donell, for your appearance today on Mind Power Meets Mystic, this has been so fun to talk with you today and get to learn a little bit more about who you are and what you do. So listeners, please like us. Give us a share. Tell a friend about us. Tell a friend about Donell. Reach out. This is all sort of happening for you, by you and with you, and we want it to be that way for a long time. This is also we're exciting because you're we're moving into our next year of podcasting, and it's just exciting to be able to keep this up with my wonderful co host Cinthia Varkevisser and all of the great guests we have like Danelle Allen, thank you so much.

Bye. Bye. Thanks for having me.