Healing Relationships for a Greater Community
Communities are all around us. From the YMCA in town to public high schools and different species, they come in all shapes and sizes and place value in a range of different ideas and belief systems.
The red deer could be an example if it were the focus of an experiment revolving around how other species use community. The documentary film I Am, directed by Tom Shadyac, shares the story of a team of scientists that execute a study on a herd of red deer to better understand their decision-making process. The start of the experiment begins when the herd needs to relocate to a new watering hole—a decision that, surprisingly, they make as a team. Following is what the group of scientists discovered.
When the deer are grazing, let us say 100 of them, a few will begin to point their heads in the direction of the watering hole they want to visit. The interesting part is it is not until the 51st deer in the group looks in the same direction that they then decide to relocate. No alpha male, no matriarch and no one deer is better than the other. It is pure community effort.
With that in mind, the idea of a community transforms into a universal, interconnected entity. Humans, as do the red deer and many other species, rely on one another in order to be successful. We see this in our own towns and homes and within the relationships we create with each other. Admittedly, it is easy to lose sight of this interdependence we have with one another and it can get lost in the hectic ways of modern society and what is expected of us socially.
It is not forgotten, however, especially by a few local examples of successful community builders right here in our part of the world. Pandora Healing, KG Divine and life coach Molly Suggs all have the “51st deer” concept in mind. When one of us succeeds, we all have the opportunity to succeed.
At Pandora Healing in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the part counseling and integrative wellness center, part yoga studio challenges their guests to reconnect with the people around them especially in our modern times when connections with the material so often trump those revolving around relationships.
At Pandora Healing, they hope to help people change that. Using a three-part process that begins with energy healing, moves into body healing and ends with talk therapy, Pandora Healing aims to give visitors a safe environment to explore the root of the issues they may be facing.
Founder Jason Wood knows firsthand the struggles of self-discovery and how learning to open up to change is not always easy at first, but achievable with the right methods of healing. “Once I was able to open my heart, I saw my ability to open up to relationships with people,” says Wood. “I started to realize they weren’t scary.”
Now, after almost five years of Wood’s journey from a personal practice to a full-blown wellness center, it’s clear that his work touches many. With community being Wood’s main drive, he has helped myriad visitors find healing through individual sessions, along with the yoga and meditation offered; the combination being the most beneficial to people. “If, at the end, I can help heal this person’s wounds and help them create better relationships, that’s what I work for,” says Wood.
Pandora Healing offers a number of different options for those seeking an alternative healing or counseling sessions. Through energy medicine therapy, energy balancing, Ohashiatsu acupressure therapy and their counseling sessions, people find ways to connect to their own best self, and then use that in their communities, as well.
“It’s been amazing watching Pandora Healing from a business standpoint and seeing it become a reality,” says Wood. “It’s thanks to my team around me being able to create a place where people can feel safe.”
Anita Mahi, new business owner, Reiki master, esthetician and author developed KG Divine Wellness and Beauty Center, in North Haledon, New Jersey, last September and has been watching her business grow since. “We want to connect with the community to help people heal on the inside, as well as the outside,” she says. In a lot of ways, KG Divine is a standard beauty salon; facials, massages, waxing and other sessions are all available, but there is much more to this wellness center. For one, before you even enter, you are greeted with a painted door that reads, “You’re a beautiful soul,” a phrase Mahi wants all her customers to know.
“It is so important to make people feel good as soon as they step in the door,” says Mahi. “I love people, I love working with people and ultimately, I want them to be happy.” In addition to the beauty and outward health options, there are a number of healing modalities, including Reiki IET, intuitive readings, angel card readings, and chakra clearing. While the list is already long, Mahi goes the extra mile for those that may not have found what they’re looking for.
“We network with the local wellness centers to make sure every client is guided to the right place for the right help,” she says. “If for whatever reason we cannot help them at our center, we still want to find a way to help those who walk through our door.”
This alone speaks truth to the eagerness Mahi and her team at KG Divine has to help others. The aim is to create more positive people that will then creative positive relationships in the communities around them, and Mahi believes that to have a successful business, you have to be loyal to your customers. Finding ways to help them find happiness is the most important for her, even if that means sending them elsewhere to do it. “If you help everybody, it all comes back to you, too,” she says.
Mahi’s energy is contagious, and her shop exudes a similar atmosphere. She knows this and invites visitors to simply come and sit in her shop for 10 minutes and breathe in the positive energy around them, whether or not they end up staying for a session.
Her caring nature and willingness to help those around her is refreshing. “I want to bring healing to the community, they need it,” Mahi shares. “People are looking for it and don’t know where to go!” It may be time to look no further than the inviting words on the front doors.
Life and leadership coach Molly Suggs, working out of Ridgewood, New Jersey, says, “My goal is to help people build their inner foundation, so that if the external world falls apart, their inner world doesn’t,” she says. Through individual consultations, Suggs works with her clients, helping them to reach a positive place in their lives. This then sets up positive relationships in their outside world, as well. Of her 35 clients, some she has known for years, Suggs says, “They become a kind of family to me.”
At first, Suggs and her clients commit to working together every week for the first three months, while they discuss real goals, and she helps them take an honest look at their values, belief systems, hopes dreams. One important aspect of her sessions and work with people is their own accountability. Suggs focuses heavily on the work that is completed in-between sessions, rather than just during them. “I want them to realize they are not victims, but the captains and directors of their own lives,” she says.
There’s a simple formula that Suggs follows when coaching her clients. First, she helps them understand their current behaviors and patterns. “There’s no right or wrong in that,” she says. “Then we take a look at which of those patterns and systems are limiting you.”
From there, they create a vision for themselves, their families, their careers and their spirituality. In many ways, this is the most crucial point, she says. Goals are often created in people’s lives, but they are not fully connected to or act upon them. Once this is realized and tangible goals can be targeted, clients are pushed to follow through, check in with Suggs and become active members of their communities.
“The one thing we all yearn for is to belong, to be accepted and loved,” says Suggs. “That’s one of the things I reinforce—to get out there and form a community, and many clients start to recognize they’re not that different from those they come in contact with.”
Leaders like Wood, Mahi, and Suggs are all valuable members of their areas of expertise, with healing as a common denominator. When the healing process begins within one person, it can spread rapidly between the people they come in contact with, creating a more interconnected and interdependent world.
Pandora Healing, Hawthorne, NJ, PandoraHeal.com, 973-304-4119.
KG Divine Wellness and Beauty Center, North Haledon, NJ, KGDivine.com, 973-304-1046.
Molly Suggs, Bergen County, NJ, MollySuggs.com, 201-245-7422.
Jamie Bogert is a contributing writer for Natural Awakenings.
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