At the beginning of this year I made a plan to develop my practice so that I can use my skills more to help others. I truly love my work and am passionate about it. Being a great list-maker, I wrote down things to do, many of them practical, others speculative such as updating my brochures, cards and marketing materials and designing a website. Around about that time I also decided to say ‘yes’ to more things. It wasn’t long before this decision began to bear fruit.

Firstly, I was invited by a friend to join a Mastermind Group. I had no idea what this was but soon discovered that like-minded people meet together for fun, support, inspiration and networking. The actual goals, structure and rules are determined by the group. I felt a ‘no’ lurking somewhere inside me, but I went along and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

There are five of us from far-flung parts of Sydney, each self-employed and working to help others. It was fantastic from a networking perspective and also for learning how others work and develop themselves and their businesses/practices. My trepidation upon receiving the invitation was replaced by a confidence in myself and my work. I realized that I needed to step outside my comfort zone and stand up within a wider professional context.

Next, I was asked to help find sponsorship for my son’s high school band, a fledgling, co-curricular programme which needs money for equipment, instruments and music. I said ‘yes’ despite reservations. I set the role up working with the committee, yet independently and within a framework compatible with my other commitments. It has been very enjoyable talking to potential sponsors, city council dignitaries and local press, who without exception have been helpful and pleasant, and there is interest in my yoga classes from the committee members.

I have rediscovered skills I hadn’t used for a while, or considered in terms of developing my practice. Now I am more confident in approaching people in business about my work and may use my media contacts to write something about healing or counselling.

Recently, a visit to a specialist clinic gave me food for thought regarding client care. The environment was noisy, with a television and receptionists’ voices competing, broadcasting client details for all in the waiting room to hear. The appointment itself was rushed, without time to remember to get all the information needed. This was not an ideal experience, but it did serve as a reminder of the importance of the comfort and privacy of each client.

It has now been some five months since I wrote my plan and list of things to do, and what has happened? I’ve found that development of my practice is inseparable from development of myself, and that change can come about in some surprising ways - like a recent invitation to teach children’s yoga at the local school. Not on the list of things to do, but happily I said yes!

Janet Stratford practices as a Healer, Progressive Counsellor, Transformation Yoga Teacher in Sydney, Australia.

Susan Loftus has been a holistic practitioner for 16 years. In 2000 she joined ISRHA as a Healer. In this article, she describes how she found herself making the momentous decision to go to Africa..

In September, I am travelling to Kenya as part of a programme organised by ‘Gap Years for Grown-Ups’. I am going away for six months and as part of my ‘gap’, I will spend four weeks in Kisumu in Western Kenya. This is how it happened:

Following some challenging and distressing changes, I had settled in my new little house, working alongside a friend in her clinic in a neighbouring village. Then came another change as my friend decided to realise her dream, retire and move to Yorkshire. After the initial shock, I felt I must make plans, driven at this point by a whole lot of ‘sensible shoulds’ which would increase my financial commitments. After reflection and meditation, I began to allow events to settle and deal with them as they occurred and I felt such relief when initial plans failed.

It was at this time I picked up a brochure on ‘Gap Years For Grown-ups’ – something I had sent for months earlier. Perhaps this was the real opportunity. Desires arise from very deep within and I had long held a desire to visit other countries and cultures, to imbibe their ways of life and to see and embrace their approach to healing which I see as all coming from the same source.

From then on, things have fallen easily into place. The gap organisation is an intermediary to the people I will be working with in Kenya in an area that is heavily affected by AIDS and HIV. After an initial interview and chance to visit all their projects, I will be placed with the one or two to which I am drawn and best matched. The ones that speak to me at this point are with children and a hospice where I would visit, listen and read to people. I worked at a hospice in Devon and this was a real privilege.

Many things happen in the world as well as within ourselves that can seem overwhelmingly difficult. What can a person do when so much seems to be going wrong? Nicole Bradford writes from Canada about the power of Winged Prayer as a means of helping others and of receiving when in need ourselves.

Winged Prayer is one of those very simple things whose power is great, but hard to see sometimes. Kind of like smiling at people when you are out and about - easy to do, so easy that it feels like not doing it won’t make much difference - but it does. And sometimes one doesn’t realize how much difference it does make, until it has been put aside for a time – and then brought back into life. Then you feel the difference!

On September 11, 2001, when I first learned of the strikes in the United States, I felt there was something I could do that was powerful and significant. It was sending Winged Prayer. The peace I felt that morning was a blessed contrast to the intensity that I’d felt watching the news on television. It gave me what I needed to keep the television turned off, and to keep myself from being affected by the fear and negativity which were very tangible.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I had let go of my practice of Winged Prayer for a while. This reminded me to use it and when I did, I felt the change so much that I thought, ‘How could I have forgotten?’

And when my family moved to a new Canadian city, sixteen hours drive from my spiritual home base in British Columbia, I felt terribly alone at times. Linking in with Winged Prayer gave me the opportunity to remember I am part of the oneness, as I have felt in other times and places. It helps me to feel close to help, love and like-minded souls, even if I am away out here in Edmonton, Alberta.

To have a tool with which to bring myself to peace, especially in times when the odds are against it, is a true blessing. I cannot measure the effect it has on the world ‘out there’, but the truth I feel about the effectiveness of this simple act is so strong that I do not doubt a difference is made outwardly.

One evening, after a consistent stretch of family sitting times with Winged Prayer said out loud, my daughter Geneveive (4) said, while I was kissing her goodnight, “Mummy you love everyone in the whole world!” I hadn’t felt the peace and joyful gratefulness that night very strongly... till then.

Like I said, Winged Prayer is one of those very simple things whose power is great!