Dear Jackie- thank you very much for your interview! I am so pleased to know more about you and your passions.
Please introduce yourself to my blogreaders:
My name is Jackie Stewart, I live in the UK and I’ve been supporting people to heal their emotions and listen to the wisdom of their Souls since 1999. I use flower and crystal essences, nature reconnection, meditation and spiritual counselling in my work.
How did you know, how did you find out what your calling is:
I remember at the age of 9 reading philosophy books to try to answer the question Why are we here? I’ve always been naturally empathetic and sensitive to emotions so I think I was always being called to do this work.
I believe that our calling is what gives us the greatest joy and sense of homecoming.
My first job was publishing and events organisation for a mental health charity. I was fascinated by how the mind works and why some people struggle with mental ill health whereas others are more resilient to life.
I began to explore complementary approaches to health and worked for a holistic magazine for a couple of years. I knew I wanted to work in healing so took reiki, gaia healing and kinesiology courses.
Then I came across flower essences and my heart just jumped out at them. Every part of me knew that using essences to help others was what I was here for so I did a two year part-time diploma course in vibrational medicine in London learning about flower and crystal essences, spiritual counselling and Soul work.
I’ve always loved meditating and found it very natural to do, so I started teaching guided meditation in workshops almost 10 years ago. I’ve run mediation classes and now record meditations for people to use online.
Until recently I’ve also worked part-time for charities and community projects, writing information and running workshops. So as well as doing client work, communication is part of my calling. I write client reports about the essences I choose, write e-books, blog posts and web pages. I've also run workshops and classes and been interviewed on radio twice.
I think we know we’ve found our calling when we couldn’t imagine not doing it and it doesn’t feel like work most of the time! Your calling is so much a part of you that when you answer the call, you know it’s the call of your Soul.
How does a day look like in your life:
Every day is different but a typical week will contain writing, choosing essences for people, nature time, marketing, dreaming, planning and creating/recording meditations.
My day begins with waking up to get my son ready for school and feeding the cat! After the school run I usually head straight out to the garden to take 100 barefoot breaths. I try to do a yoga practice or meditation for at least 15 minutes before I start work but that doesn’t always happen.
I spend the first hour of my working day replying to emails and responding to people who have placed orders for essences or one-to-one sessions with me. I’ll read blog posts by other people, check in with Twitter and Facebook then focus on what I need to do that day.
Sometimes I’ll start the day mixing essence blends to send out to people who have ordered them, sometimes I’ll have a client or I’ll be tuning into essences for someone who’s ordered an emotional healing package. I prefer to do this type of spiritual work in the morning when I feel clearer.
This morning I woke up early to record a guided meditation I’ve just written. Morning is the quietest time to do this, before my neighbours and the traffic outside get noisy. I spent a couple of hours editing the meditation and preparing it to go online.
After working on the meditation I spent another couple of hours writing a guest blog post and finding images to accompany it.
We’re currently revising the workbooks that are the main part of the Barefoot Breathing e-course we run, so I read through one of the workbooks today to review the existing content and plan how to edit it. I need to work on an informal script about what I’ll be saying on video about our Barefoot Breathing e-course tomorrow. I’ll be recording the video in local woodland with Jason who is the co-creator of the course. Then we’ll spend the rest of tomorrow focusing on new marketing ideas for the course which runs again at the end of May.
This week I’ve spent a lot of time choosing essences for clients who purchased emotional healing packages from me. They receive a guided meditation and a workbook and then we do an email consultation where they tell me about how the’re feeling and I’ll choose from approximately 800 essences to select a personal combination for them. I read what they’re written then meditate on it until I’m confident that I’ve chosen the best combination of essences to match how they’re feeling and restore balance.
This week I’ve also made two essences because it’s been so sunny and you need sunny days for essence-making. One was lungwort flower essence which I blogged about on http://www.essenceofwild.co.uk/ and the other was rose quartz essence which is the first crystal essence I’ve ever made. I usually buy crystal essences from my favourite supplier so it was very exciting to make one myself!
As you know I work as a dreamcoach I would love to know what you are dreaming about:
In my waking moments I’m dreaming about living in a sustainable eco-home in Scotland close to woodland and sea, with a huge garden filled with healing plants where I can make essences and teach people about plant spirit medicine.
While I sleep I’m having recurring dreams about returning to my homeland of Scotland, living in the countryside near the sea. My conscious mind and my subconscious mind seem to agree about what I need to be doing!
Nature and its beauty gives us so much. We get grounded when we are in the nature. Could you share a little tipp or inspiration to help connect the people with the nature?
Take your shoes off, close your eyes and take 100 barefoot breaths in nature, feeling the soul of the earth through the soles of your feet. If you need inspiration to take barefoot breaths, join our free experience 10 steps to soothe your soul in nature. {http://barefootbreathing.com/10-steps}
England, the land of the green. I love England and I call it the land of my heart. Do you have a personal story about England you would love to share?
I’m originally from Scotland and have spent about half my life in Scotland and half in England. I love that Dr Edward Bach who discovered flower essences in the 1920’s and 1930s lived in England and I’ve gone on pilgrimages around the country to walk in his footsteps.
Edward Bach was living in Cromer, a seaside town in Norfolk when he discovered his first flower essences. I wanted to visit his house but didn’t know where he’d lived. That didn’t bother me because I was confident the local museum would be able to guide us to his house. Unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited and although we asked people in the town nobody could tell us where Bach had lived.
A mixture of logic and intuition led me to his door. I knew he’d been friendly with the lifeboat men and that there is a story about how he’d woken during the night hearing the distress calls from a fishing boat in trouble at sea, so we walked down to the lifeboat station.
There was a row of houses near the lifeboat station and I had a deep sense of inner knowing that he’d lived on that street. I walked along the street and got a strong psychic hit about one house in particular. I could just see him there; I could imagine him living in that house behind the green door! I felt certain but there was no way to prove it. I wrote down the address and headed home. When I looked online I discovered that it was the house he’d lived in. So much of our energy stays in a place long after we’ve gone.
Thank you very much for your kindness to be on my blog.
Thank you for inviting me Andrea.
You can win one of Jackie’s soul blends for yourself by taking part in this giveaway.
Choose from a combination of flower and crystal essences for self-love, self-nurturing, creative flow, soul wisdom, authentic expression, living your dreams or sacred balance.
Head over to Jackie’s website to see which of the Soul Blends resonates with you most, then leave your name and the name of the blend you'd like to receive in the comments section beneath this post.
{http://www.flowerspirit.co.uk/soul-blends}
THE GIVE-AWAY is now closed (5th April 2012) and the winner will be announced here soon.
Photographs by Jason Smalley (http://www.jasonsmalley.co.uk/)
Here you can find out more about Jackie:
BIO
Jackie Stewart offers Soul medicine for conscious living at http://www.flowerspirit.co.uk/. Her brand of Soul medicine = flower + crystal essences for transformation + emotional support to heal your heart + spiritual counselling to bring you clarity + guided meditation to soothe your Soul + big big love.
Happiest outdoors kissing flowers, stroking moss or meditating, Jackie is the co-creator of 10 Steps to Soothe Your Soul in Nature and the Barefoot Breathing e-course at Essence of Wild {www.essenceofwild.co.uk}.
Find her on Twitter @JSFlowerspirit and Facebook (JSFlowerspirit) and at http://www.flowerspirit.co.uk/. You’ll receive free Soul medicine from your personal healing flower when you sign up for Jackie’s mailing list.
If you are interessed to be interviewed on my blog, drop me a line at: mail(at)glueckspilzchen(dot)ch
