Authentic content creation – I started 2026 with many thoughts about the work I would like to share, ideas and teachings which feel true to my philosophy and include my love for art, energy and healing. Events planned for the year ahead, in-person retreats, courses and workshops and an online series of workshops which I have been developing all feel along the right energetic line. In themselves, they hold excitement and passion, but when I started to create content to post and promote, I felt a different energetic pressure. A pressure coming from the platforms I was planning on using, a need for constant energy and the overwhelming addition of social media and world of disposable content.
I felt a pressure to create content and publish posts and reels. Not that I have an influencer-level following or make any revenue from social media, but I could feel the unstable energy drawing me in, wanting my power and energy.
Authentic content creation
I took a step back. At the same time, I was writing my monthly newsletter which was a completely different energy. I felt a sense of community, nothing intrusive, just a wonderful group of like-minded souls interested in art, creativity, mediumship, awareness and personal development. The content came together and flowed naturally. It felt authentic without the push and pull.
A quote which inspired my January newsletter.
“Ring out the false, ring in the true.” Alfred Lord Tennyson
A more reasonable New Year’s resolution. It made sense to me to start the new year by allowing the things I know to be false to fall away and leave, so the things I know to be true can come closer for a deeper experience.
My partner and I did a card spread each other for the year, it also gave another confirmation, I was given the cauldron as my overarching card. The message was simple: whatever you put into the cauldron, you consume and it becomes part of your energetic, physical, emotional and mental experience. A message that hit home on a micro level.
Some things are easy to identify and adjust, obvious things, eat only the foods my body needs, spend more time in nature and silence, speak to myself in a kind and honest way, only read articles which align with my work and lifestyle choices, be aware of the media and social media content I consume. Only spend time in places and with people who connect respectfully and harmonise with my energy.
But, and there is a but… What happens when I must engage with people, technology and places where I can see the paradigm or a destructive nature of what is happening? I became aware of this where I could identify multiple dynamics within each thought and sensation, some I agreed with and other elements which didn’t align.
How do I engage without being drawn into the energy?
Social media is a perfect example. My thought process is that I need it for communication and work, but energetically there is an addictive pull which could influence my content and deplete my energy. My system identified this as incredibly harmful and could distort my original thoughts and truth within my content.
The phrase “Don’t make content, be content.” came to mind.
My content is truthful and feels right for me in this moment. The space I create from feels authentic. But when I approached any social media platform, there is a destructive pull which is laced with judgement, hierarchy, false highs and addiction. So, where is the line, and how do I hold my space within that energy?
It’s easy to get caught up with the methodology of marketing and recommendation, create five posts a week, three reels and countless stories, count the likes and engagement, look at what other people are doing and analyse their work. This is the energy and the draw of the platform. We feel rushed, on edge, as if we are way behind what everyone else is doing, the feeling as though we are not doing enough and obliged to create any content. This is the never-ending wheel of delivering content for a quick hit and false reward, the illusion of hierarchy.
Take a step back. I realigned with my content. As artists and creatives, we create from a space of contentment; we are content in the moment of creation. This is the energy to follow and align with as we navigate the turbulent journey of publication and social media. Only recognise the pull from a space of ‘creative contentment’, never from the space of ‘make content’.
Social media is merely the delivery mechanism, to use a technical term and it should be treated as just that. It doesn’t have a self or feelings, nor can it give you any level of valid praise or satisfaction. It is simply a space where you can share with your community in your own time. Social media has incredible power and when used with the right energetic awareness and monitored consumption can be navigated successfully without detriment.
For me, this energetic approach clearly defined my content and space of creation and the pull of the mechanised platform. I may not post to please an algorithm, but I post to share with a community of real people I am proud to be part of.
When we stop making content and start being content, we share our truth and let everything else fall away.
How is it that in the morning we can feel balanced, relaxed and ready for the day. Fully in touch with our emotions, clear in our thoughts and calm in our body, despite this state as soon as we step outside, everything changes! We walk into a town high street, a shopping centre or a crowded supermarket and suddenly feel unbalanced, stressed or anxious. Thoughts start racing, emotions rise, tension grips our body and we always feel rushed and late.
Here’s an important consideration: “what we feel is not always us.”
We are sensitive beings, far more aware of energy than we often give ourselves credit for. The more inner work we do, the more sensitive we become to the subtle vibrations around us, the atmosphere of places and spaces, the frequency of people, the unspoken and unseen energy constantly moving through us and the situations we find ourselves in. Our energetic system doesn’t always recognise that it is not us, it can mistake what belongs to the outside world as our own, and we end up carrying the weight of energies that were never ours to begin with.
Picking up on other people’s energy
As I’ve shared before, places hold specific frequencies and energy – read Moments of magic are all around us. Rooms, landscapes, and environments have their own vibration, and when we pass through them, we can feel a shift. Sometimes it’s uplifting, even magical, giving us just the nudge we need for our next thought or insight. This goes a little to explain why sometimes we have a gut instinct, we need to visit a certain place at a certain time, our body directing us towards something we need.
In my experience, people work in much the same way. Every individual resonates at their own unique frequency. People enter our lives at particular times and not always by accident, but because their resonance carries something our system needs to evolve. They may not arrive as traditional ‘teachers’ in the formal sense, but just their presence acts as a catalyst.
It could be a conversation, a word, a look, a gentle touch, or simply the energy of sitting quietly in their company. Something falls into place. Something aligns within our system and a realisation emerges. These encounters are often overlooked until after the fact, but they serve a very important purpose. Trust within ourselves, listening to our body, intuition and energetic system, an invitation to flow freely, follow your heart and bring what is needed in the moment, without resistance. A loving appreciation for the value of people and Mother Earth.
How to develop intuition and awareness: The challenge of energy exchange
Be mindful with your energy and focus. As naturally giving beings, we want to help. When someone we care about is struggling, our instinct is only to help, this usually involves giving your time, focus and importantly your energy. Alternatively we want to take away their pain and heal it for them, keep our loved ones safe and protected. If we are not aware of our energy, our kindness and love for giving can blur boundaries. We begin to hold and carry what is not ours, we want to process and heal for them.
Our love and kindness can rob people of their own healing experience and create a co-dependency. It sounds harsh but simply put, if I give you my energy and you are successful, who is successful? It me, because you used my energy. If you are sick and I give you my energy to heal, I have essentially taken away the opportunity for you to heal yourself and build confidence in your own healing ability. I have created a co-dependency and reliance on my energy.
The first step in working with this awareness is learning to update our system. To pause and ask the question, does this feeling or energy belong to me? By doing this, we teach the subconscious and energetic body to recognise our authentic frequency and to distinguish it from the frequencies which are not ours but have been intertwined within us.
My thought on this is simply, we cannot process what doesn’t belong to us. When we try, we simply feed the energy. Healing and processing happens more efficiently and authentically within our own system. We learn and we evolve through experience, feeling it for ourselves, sometimes it’s impossibly hard, but always worthwhile.
Coming back to yourself
The practice is simple, though not always easy, come back to yourself. Reconnect with the part of you that is constant, the quiet awareness that has been with you since the moment you entered this reality. That part of you is unshakable, even when the world feels overwhelming.
Sometimes it takes silence. Sometimes it takes breath. Sometimes it takes grounding yourself in the natural world or stepping back from environments that overwhelm. But in all cases, return to what feels authentic within you.
1:1 Sessions – a space to return to your authenticity
In my work with clients over the years, the first step is to help them recognise what is theirs and what is not theirs. So many of us are unknowingly carrying other people’s energy, trying to process it and wondering why we feel stuck, heavy or overwhelmed.
In a 1:1 session, we create a safe, focused space to reconnect with your authentic frequency. I hold space and through the medium of art we explore the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual layers of your being and gently separate what is truly yours from what has become entangled. This is not about cutting things away, it is about bringing your awareness back to what feels right for you and allowing everything else to find its own space.
If you are feeling the weight of energies that don’t belong to you, or if you sense that you are more sensitive than ever before and need guidance in navigating that sensitivity, I invite you into this work. These sessions are an opportunity to reset, realign and rediscover the authentic strength of your own frequency.
Hold a space of love for yourself, during this week try to pay attention to the moments when you feel a shift in mood or energy, or when the thought of someone or somewhere arrives in your mind unexpectedly. Pause and ask: How do I feel, is this mine? Or am I picking up on something or someone around me? Notice what happens when you gently step back into your authentic self and hand back what isn’t yours.
Creating community. In groups sessions, workshops and on retreats, bonds of friendships are created and energetic spaces become defined. Richard is continuing to develop an aftercare and integration space to help you navigate the next steps following these experiences. Monthly updates and ‘Active Relaxation’ tracks will be shared to help you better recognise yourself and feel comfortable within your natural journey. Subscribe to the ‘Aftercare and Integration’ space.
Somatic Healing for mental health: Our body gives us the feedback of our experience
The body gives us the feedback of our experience. It’s the tool we have for navigating our life here on earth, it’s our vehicle. Long before our mind can form the right words or our emotions rise to the surface with a feeling, our body has already responded. It’s always listening, always recording and carefully translating, delivering subtle signals to our consciousness about our existence, a tightening in the chest, a softening in the belly or a lump in the throat. These sensations are not random. They are our somatic language of experience.
What is Somatic healing for mental health? We tend to think of life as happening all around us as a stream of external events we must navigate. But the truth is, life happens through us and our body is giving us the feedback. Every conversation, every moment of stillness and every gesture of love, our nervous system takes it in, filters it and responds subconsciously.
The wisdom comes through us
We often override what our body is telling us. We dismiss the feeling of tiredness when our body screams for rest, we push through our aches and pains, putting the cause down to something abstract. We’ve been told that our mind is in control, it’s all-powerful, and we use it to analyse, justify and explain every experience. But the body doesn’t operate in logic, it offers deeper knowing through sensation and feeling.
Somatic healing reminds us that our body holds the traumas of our life, stored in the tissues, muscles and fascia. Our posture can reflect our past. Our breath can reflect our present. Tension in different areas often holds the words we were never allowed to say, the grief we never gave ourselves permission to feel.
To heal, we must learn to feel, recognise and release. Somatic work teaches us how to come back into relationship with our bodies, not as problems to fix, but as landscapes to explore through emotion and feeling.
The practice of listening
What if your body was your guide in this space? What if the tiredness you feel isn’t laziness but a signal to rest? When we begin to listen to our physical sensations with presence, we stop dismissing the feedback and start learning from it.
Somatic healing doesn’t require that we go back to childhood memories. Healing is completing a cycle, don’t get in the way. The gift is presence and honouring each part, bringing awareness to our bodies, our emotions and our spirit. Simply listening with our mind and nothing more, allows the mind to become the observer of our experience and not the director.
Daily embodiment
As with any practice, this isn’t about fixing or reaching a goal, it’s about becoming presence and observing.
A way to begin:
· Place a hand on your heart or belly and ask, “What am I feeling now?”
· Notice your breath, not to change it, just to witness it.
· Listen carefully and notice how your body wants to express itself.
These small acts of tuning in reconnect us to the natural feedback loop of the body. They remind us that healing is found in a subtle shift and a moment of stillness.
What are we doing to our bodies?
We have seen a huge leap in cosmetic surgery and tattoos, people hurting and deforming their bodies, changing to look a certain way or to visually tell a certain story. Anything we do to change or manipulate our body, including exercise and eating, can if we are not careful be driven by the conscious mind showing its dominance. The result is our mind dictating to our body what to do, what to feel and how to perform.
“When I thought about this more deeply, I realised by tattooing, undergoing surgery we are removing or limiting our body’s capability to talk to us clearly.”
Rather than forcing our body to be a certain way, listen, move and hear deeply what your body is telling you. Don’t let your mind tell your body what it thinks your body needs.
Listen to your experience and get out of the way
To listen to our body is to connect to Mother Earth and to live truthfully in alliance with nature. It’s to acknowledge that we are in a relationship with our bodies, and our bodies are having a relationship with our experiences. They are the storytellers and the witnesses of every step we take in life.
Your body does two things really well, so let it get on with them!
Firstly, it is your main tool in giving you feedback about this experience, the experience of this reality in both the seen and the unseen world.
Secondly, and most importantly, it heals and processes. It is constantly processing your experience, your emotion and your thoughts. It is constantly healing. Allow your body to do its job! Listen to the feeling of the world around you and get your mind out of the way so your body can heal.
The invitation is to begin listening more deeply. Let your body become a compass, guiding you through healing and into a more authentic life, one where presence is the priority and feedback isn’t turned away from, but honoured and embraced.
In the end, our bodies reveal more than we could ever know. If we’re willing to listen, it will always speak to us in truth and honestly.
Do we really understand what trauma is and how healing works?
How do we heal from trauma? We are sensitive multilayered and multifaceted beings; one of the significant factors within personal healing involves identifying parts of us which no longer resonate and allowing them to leave. Through different healing techniques, we can feel and sense more fully the presence of ourselves and access deeper healing. Listening carefully to our body, connecting with our spirituality and drawing our awareness to what we feel through art and colour. This process allows us to recognise blockages or things which don’t belong to us within our energy system and release them to find their own space, enabling a deeper connection to our innate self-healing ability.
Identifying what’s happening with people
We live in a fast-paced world and lead incredibly busy lives, interacting with many different people, groups and communities each day. When you finally get time to relax and reflect on the day’s events, have you ever looked back and noticed how certain words or phrases in some conversations landed differently? How some interactions carry a charge that seems disproportionately intense compared to the words used and their meaning?
Some people have a very strong reaction to certain situations and conversations. After careful thought on this topic, an insight arrived in my mind; The words are meant for us, but the energy attached is often connected to something deeper, trauma that is unresolved.
The words are for us, the energy is connected to historic trauma
To look at this clearly, the superficial meaning within the conversation is meant for you. On the surface, you’ve annoyed me, and this is me telling you. “Can you please do this?” or “Can you please stop doing this!” Why do some people have a far stronger reaction than just “OK, no problem”? I believe it’s down to the energy attached, the loaded charge that can sometimes accompany the words, which is not for you. Don’t take it personally. This energy comes from a deep-rooted memory or pain that needed to be shared and needed power and energy, but now, we have the opportunity to resolve it.
This energy often becomes more present when people are irritated, or something trivial is made into a big deal. Again, it is not for you. Don’t take it personally.
How do we heal from trauma?
What is the trauma or pain looking for? Simply, it is looking for energy.
When something surfaces within us, a trauma or old belief system, it simply wants to make itself known to our conscious mind. We feel a frustration; it is not us, but something within us that is seeking power. The frustration manifests and we lash out, looking for energy in the form of a reaction from others which becomes the fuel. Someone bites back with anger, giving their energy. Someone shows compassion, giving their energy. By doing this, we have fed the old trauma.
When we unpick many of these old belief systems, there is often nothing there. They are ideas planted in our mind, usually many years before, ideas we have attached emotion to. When something triggers the belief system again, we don’t recognise the original idea, we just have an emotional reaction and mistake it as part of who we are. The emotion gives power and energy to the trauma.
When we remove the emotional charge and simply see the idea, we realise it doesn’t have a self, it has been a paradigm of belief, it is nothing but a thought that no longer feels right or belongs to us. It’s not us, more than likely it was never us. This realisation allows the idea to dissolve and be processed. It no longer holds significance.
Finding these outdated systems
Trauma lives in our bodies and only reveals itself to our conscious mind when the time is right. Emotion is not just stored in memory or our energetic field, but in the nervous system, manifesting through pleasure, pain, actions, and breath. A comment or situation in the present might trigger a full-body reaction and bring forth past trauma. Why? Because the energy of what’s said is tangled in the emotional resonance of past experiences.
When we hold space for someone’s healing (or our own) we are not just listening to words. We are witnessing energy in motion, shown through the body. This is the foundation of somatic healing. Listening to and observing the body with the understanding that to process trauma, we must go beyond mental narrative and back into the body. Words may trigger, but it is the energetic space where the deeper trauma resides, and that’s what we feel attached to the words.
How can we work with this?
Somatic healing is widely practised today. Holding space with this awareness allows someone to go deeper into their own feelings without our reaction fuelling the trauma. Our role is to engage fully and hold space without projection or judgement, simply offering space, healing and not offence.
Physically, we stay grounded.
Emotionally, we stay in our own space.
Mentally, we take responsibility for the words directed towards us, but nothing more.
Spiritually, we honour the energy of the unseen world.
The less we do, and the less we engage, the more we allow the other person to feel themselves, process their emotion and observe their own experience.
Spiritual or energy healing is another form of healing based on holding space and allowing the flow of energy through the energy system. The practitioner becomes aware of this flow and helps the client connect to their own purity. This helps the client discern more clearly what belongs to them and what no longer serves. Their awareness may come more on a mental or spiritual level primarily, rather than a physical one.
What can art do?
Creating an authentic methodology, my work with “creative healing”. In my work as an artist, medium, healer and facilitator, I’ve studied spiritual healing at the Harry Edwards Foundation and somatic healing to deepen my understanding of the body. I am a tutor at the Arthur Findlay College working with energy and mediumship. With these insights and modalities, I have developed my own methodology, adding the dimension of art and creative healing.
Healing doesn’t come from reacting to the superficial. It comes from feeling deeply what arises, with self-awareness.
Working 1:1 with clients, I combine somatic and energetic healing while integrating art and colour to highlight visually on paper blockages and sensations which can be felt in a person’s energy field. This makes them more tangible to the conscious mind. Seeing something visually while feeling the sensation adds a powerful dimension to the experience.
It’s been a profound evolution of my work. Understanding energy and somatic healing and finding my own path by bringing art, spirituality and intuition together to offer what’s needed in the moment. The artwork is then given to the client to support their ongoing creative healing journey.
So, when something feels disproportionate in conversation, when words or phrases hit harder than expected, pause. The words are for you, but the energy behind them is trauma coming to the surface, looking for fuel or release. Look at this from both sides, what’s coming up within your system and what’s coming up for the person speaking.
Consider this moment an opportunity. Your job is not to fuel the trauma, but to hold space for its release. It is their inner world speaking, their body projecting and processing, asking to be heard by their conscious mind.
For the practitioner, it is an opportunity to help and be of service. For a partner or loved one, it can open space for deep healing on both sides. Hold space, nothing more. Allow them to meet their own feelings and discomfort from years past.
For the individual, welcome what arises with curiosity and compassion. Honour the intelligence of your body as it seeks to resolve what became entangled years ago. By holding space for yourself, you become a witness to your own transformation.
This is the work of healing and self-healing. In stillness, we become aware of paradigms shifting. Allow them to dissolve and be fully processed by your emotions, your body and find the release within Mother Earth.
Is beauty subject to change? What is considered beautiful rises and falls with the fashions and drama of the age, and this is no more relevant than in today’s world, sometimes I think the idea of beauty seems to be lost in a kind of haze. Ideals are drawn and redrawn by culture, commerce and of course the narrative and society where we live. What was celebrated as beauty in one decade is discarded or completely overturned in the next. Tracing back across time, fashion and art have always captured the zeitgeist of the era in every style, shape and size, in essence striving to capture eternal beauty.
Fashions are fleeting and trends only temporary, but there is one form that remains timeless across any age. Untouchable in its essence of purpose and the only true beauty, it’s a total embodiment of life and creation… a pregnant woman.
What makes a woman truly beautiful
A pregnant woman is not forced into some kind of story, changed to model a certain style or follow a predefined format of what someone else thinks beauty is, she is pure, beautiful and is the creator of life itself. She becomes a living sculpture of art showcasing an innermost power and love, not defined by external validation but by the undeniable presence of a universe forming within her. No clothing, no cosmetic, no cultural ideal can outshine the miracle of growing a new life.
Beauty as Creation
We often mistake beauty for appearance, a surface façade which will not be considered beauty as years pass and our culture evolves. In today’s world we have the ability to create symmetry, a certain look or style with make-up, clothing or even cosmetic surgery. But true beauty is not static or an -ism of an age. It is movement, depth and the full embodiment of one’s inner being. That embodiment is unique to each and every one of us, there is no mould to fit or style to follow. It is moving towards who you are as an individual and realising who you were born to become.
A pregnant woman holds the deepest form of becoming, not just for herself but for the soul she is bringing into this world. The body that once followed fashion and cared about what people thought now takes the lead in something far greater and utterly timeless, the continuation of life itself.
Through transformation comes change and the ideas around expectation and appropriation alter dramatically. She no longer feels the pressure to conform or to be a certain way which society expects, this no longer matters. Pregnancy demands your full attention; priorities are only with creation and building a family, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually bringing father, mother and child together, it is life itself which becomes important.
Pregnancy asks a woman the deepest questions, to create space within her, to grow everything from her own body and become responsibly for a new soul, to sacrifice and to step into a space of unconditional love. Her body becomes more than an object to be gazed upon, it becomes a vessel which has taken up its fundamental purpose. In my mind there is no higher beauty, or greater artistic endeavour than this.
Beyond the Mirror
Fashions and trends across all time ask women and men to edit themselves into something which blends in and fits with the narrative. Pregnancy requires the opposite, it invites growth, openness and becoming aware of the greatest gift we have, life itself. It is the ultimate answer to, why are we here.
You may ask, why am I writing about this? Well, it’s the time of our life when my partner and I create another life from the love between us, build a nest and embark on the most beautiful and unbelievable form of creation there is. Fatherhood and motherhood await, and I have the privilege to witness this transformation and play a role in the process. It is the greatest gift and privilege of my life.
Remembering the True Form
I have studied the Old Masters’ paintings which I admire greatly, when I look back there are many themes and stories, but time and again the artist returns to the image of the mother and child, a sacred relationship of feminine beauty, unconditional love and sacrifice. This subject matter represents the timeless process of creation and reminds us of what beauty really is. Not the fashion of the day or the cultural norm, but what is born through us, the essence of who we are and why we are really here as a species, procreation is the highest vibration of love and devotion. Honouring what is eternally true and nature’s deepest intelligence.
It is creation and love between two people becoming form. Something stirring in both mother and father, a responsibility to nurture, to care for, protect and provide. All this beauty radiating naturally and organically from within. Through holding the pregnant woman as a sacred form, we can return to a more truthful definition of beauty. Beauty and creativity are not defined from the opinion of the critic, some archetype or an idea created by society; a woman doesn’t wear beauty, she is beauty and only through her body can life continue.
So, when my partner asked me, do you still find me attractive now I’m pregnant? My answer is simple, you are the total embodiment of true beauty and there is nothing greater on earth.
How to integrate a retreat experience – We need to look after ourselves in every way. Our physical and mental health are known to be deeply important and closely interlinked to the thought of us living a productive and healthy life. If we eat well and get enough rest, we have the mental capacity to deal with whatever life throws at us. I would suggest it goes deeper than that, we are looking to develop our thoughts about the nature of existence and our own philosophy and wisdom.
At a certain stage in life many people choose to focus on personal development, setting goals and targets to reach. These can be measured quite easily when it comes to physical health. We can measure weight loss, muscle gain, and overall improvement in our health. Mentally, we might learn new skills—like a language or how to write and deliver a business plan. Both areas require downtime and digestion. If you lift weights, your body needs recovery time. If you learn a language, you need time to build confidence and process before using it in daily life.
When people attend a personal development or creative workshop, the benefits aren’t always as easy to identify. Maybe we can think about it in a different way.
When we attend a creative, healing, or personal development workshop, we are not only learning the mechanics of something—we are updating our entire being, our philosophy, and our understanding. This takes time to integrate and cannot be measured by a certificate at the end of a workshop. Many people aren’t fully aware of this process or how it works. When we learn something new, it often means something within us is no longer resonating. We need to hold space for the new truth to enter our being, and for the old belief or paradigm to leave. This is where it’s important to give time and space for your own aftercare and integration.
When we take in knowledge, we need time for digestion and to find where it sits within us, identifying any conflicts within our belief system, and hold space when turning new information and knowledge into our own wisdom.
How to integrate a retreat experience
We bring knowledge into our conscious mind, attending a workshop, demonstration or retreat. The practitioner shares their knowledge and wisdom. Something resonates within our mind or body. Our energetic system thinks, “Yes, that feels right and makes sense!”
Step One: We need time to think about it—allowing our conscious mind to understand. It’s their wisdom, not ours (yet), but we can find a truth within it. This is the first step of integration.
Step Two: We feel the truth within the knowledge that resonates with us. Our emotional self-engages in the process. We consciously understand the information, and our emotions confirm that it resonates and feels authentic.
Step Three: We listen to the feedback from our body. The new feelings give us physical confirmations when we verbalise our thoughts around the new information. This reinforces what we are thinking and feeling.
Step Four: We hold space and connect with our spiritual self—our spirit and belief system. We ask: How does this integrate? How does it fit with what I believe, who I believe I am, and what I stand for? We wait for an answer and allow the integration in to our being, turning knowledge into our wisdom.
By following these steps and allowing time for aftercare and integration, we can find the spark within someone else’s shared knowledge that resonates as truth and turn it into our wisdom.
How many times have we suddenly thought, “Ahh, now it makes sense!”? Or when one person tells us something and we finally listen and make a change? Why does that happen?
Firstly, we held space for aftercare and integration—it always makes sense once it has processed through our system. Secondly, we listened to that particular person because they spoke authentically from their wisdom, not just from the knowledge of others.
How do we recognise the difference? We feel it. We know it. It resonates deeply— we feel the truth within our system.
Take time each day to resonate on the frequency of you and those you harmonise with. The idea of the Aftercare and Integration space was born from people attending workshops, demonstrations, and retreats—and afterwards finding themselves back in their daily lives, having to integrate their learning alone.
During many workshops and retreats, we hold space for each other. I begin each day with an energetic alignment. Many people have asked to record the alignments—but they are created in the moment, with the highest intention for the group.
Make 10-20 minutes each day for yourself in this space, I create alignment tracks specifically designed to listen to each day for aftercare and integration, under the title Active Relaxation. The tracks evolve as the space evolves with what’s happening within the energy of the space and as more people come together.
This space and newsletter are different from ‘Richard’s Monthly Update’ newsletter. Everything in the Aftercare and Integration space is offered freely—there are no advertisements for workshops or demonstrations or items for sale. This space is entirely for people to hold space for themselves.
Each month, there will also be a different healing focus. Simply hold space and offer a thought for others. We can go so much further in group energy!
What Is Active Relaxation?
Active Relaxation is a state of relaxation and personal alignment to rediscover the feeling of you. It brings awareness to your knowledge, your wisdom, and to what no longer resonates as a truth with in you. It’s a space where you feel both relaxed and actively aware of the world around you and the energies of the unseen world.
A core part of the Aftercare and Integration space is the ‘Active Relaxation’ track. A 10–20-minute guided alignment track created within the energy of the space. It’s a track to listen to daily to connect more deeply with the authenticity of you. It’s not a meditation, but a space of active relaxation—where people can come together, each in their own time, to align with themselves and connect to a frequency others can join. This happens very simply by stepping into your own alignment and authenticity.
Life is full of dualities, yet everything is simply what it needs to be in the moment. Our perspective and intention shape our experience of the world around us.
Imagine a gentleman enjoying his morning coffee in a quiet, sunlit room. The aroma of the coffee fills the air as he gazes out the window, he senses a crisp morning breeze as the trees sway gently in his garden. He takes a deep breath, feeling the freshness of the day ahead. After breakfast he decides that a walk, he reaches for his jacket and is about to pick up his walking stick but notices an umbrella by the door. On this particular morning, the umbrella is not just an umbrella—it is the perfect walking stick. It serves the need at hand, supporting his steps and playing its role.
The following day, the gentleman finds himself in the same routine, morning coffee and looking out of the window and feeling the same pull toward a morning walk. As he reaches for his jacket, he sees the walking stick and umbrella, he smiles and picks up the umbrella. Halfway through his walk he feels drops of rain on his face and hears the splashes on his jacket. It is always both, the walking stick becomes the umbrella and protects him from the rain.
What is the umbrella? If left by the door with no immediate intention, it is both a walking stick and a shield from the rain. It exists in potential, ready to be shaped by the needs of the moment. This simple and powerful realisation speaks about the potential of energy around us and the way we navigate our own lives.
The Power of Perspective and Intention
This story highlights a fundamental truth: we have the power to shape our reality through our perspective and intention. The same object, the same situation, can take on different meanings depending on how we choose to engage with it. The umbrella is always both—it simply awaits the intention that will define its role.
Similarly, in life, we always have everything we need. We often look outside of ourselves for fulfilment, success or happiness thinking it comes from external sources. But in reality, we carry the tools and resources we need within us. The key is to recognise that everything we encounter can serve multiple purposes, depending on how we choose to perceive it within the moment.
Manifesting our Desires
When we step into any situation with the belief that we have everything we need, we unlock an extraordinary ability to manifest our desires. Our mindset shapes our reality. By focusing on abundance rather than lack and by seeing opportunities instead of obstacles, we empower ourselves to create the outcomes we wish to experience. Just as the gentleman instinctively knew the umbrella could serve his needs on both days, we have the ability to trust that what we require will be available to us in the moment.
This principle applies to every aspect of our lives. A challenge can be something that destroys us or becomes a lesson to simulate growth and new opportunity, depending on our perspective. A setback can be a failure meaning we give up or a redirection toward something greater. It is our awareness and intention that determine the meaning and impact of our experiences.
Embracing the Duality of Life
Life is not always black and white. It is fluid, ever-changing and filled with the most wonderful possibilities. Navigating life successfully is grounded within our ability to see beyond other peoples or societies definitions. When we embrace the idea that all things can be both, that we are not limited by singular purposes or fixed paths, we open ourselves to a world of opportunity and growth.
The umbrella is always both. Life is always both and we have the power to define what it will be for us in each and every moment. By embracing this philosophy, we step into a reality where we are not merely passive observers but active creators of our experience.
The lesson of the umbrella reminds us that our reality is shaped by our perception and intention. We always have what we need, but it is up to us to recognise and use it effectively for our highest good. Whether we see an obstacle or an opportunity, whether we feel limited or empowered depends entirely on our mindset. When we step into each moment with trust in our ability to navigate life, we align ourselves with the authenticity of our true power. The next time you face a choice or a challenge, remember – it is always both.
Healing with art – I have always found a therapeutic element to painting, each piece of art is a journey through creation and emotion. Beginning with a spark and enthusiasm of an idea, followed by the eagerness to paint and love of creation. The work starts in the paintings detail, a painstaking process of getting each aspect just right, despair arrives when it all goes wrong and the image in the mind is not matched by the result on the canvas. Somehow it all comes together in the finished work and on many occasions the painting is far more magical than the fixed image in your imagination.
In every painting there are moments of freedom when the thinking mind is switched off and the paint is flowing, time is no longer important, and the journey of self-discovery is all that matters.
Healing with Art
Through the many hours that goes into each painting I have become aware of the moments I am aware of more, a part of me is accessible where wisdom and healing comes from, a greater source of energy that is a deeper aspect of me. This is the point where healing begins.
It is this starting point for healing that really interested me, it felt like access to a greater part of myself. An authenticity that wasn’t interested in any of the trappings of the conscious mind, or the egotistical outcome of any work of art. It was only concerned about the energy and spontaneity of the moment. This started my journey looking into working with energy and healing, looking at accessing the energetics beyond our five senses. This took me to psychism and mediumship at the Arthur Findlay College and healing at Harry Edwards Foundation. Two world renowned places where I had the opportunity to study under a selection of incredible tutors.
Working with art and healing
My work evolved, offering one to one sessions or group workshops where art and creativity allows us to go deeper and realise more about ourselves and our true nature. We have access to so much more! When working with people on mediumistic and energetic levels art is a beautiful way allow the conscious mind to understand what is happening energetically. Colour has meaning and invokes feeling on another level allowing access to the deeper parts of who we really are.
Auragraph
I have previously written about ‘Auragraphs’ in another post, and I don’t want to cover the same ground. My version of an auragraph is a little different to what Harold Sharp initially created. It is a pictorial interpretation of what is happening and coming up energetically within a client’s field. My role within the process is to hold space and allow the energy to move in a way that is natural for the client and their self-realisation and awareness. The drawing evolves as the session progresses, each drawing is unique, just as each client is unique and on their own journey.
Soul reading
The ‘soul reading’ for lack of a better term brings forward more information for the conscious mind. Again, my role is holding space for the client and allowing the energy to move in a receptive way for greater access and understanding. I also work is healing alignment looking at the different aspects of self in this world. I may also become aware of other energies accessible through a mediumistic faculty.
Workshops and group work
I really enjoy working with groups and hosting workshops, it’s a way we can all feel connected, supporting each other within a safe working space. Although the workshops have a theme and basic outline, I find that moving with the energy and how the exercises unfold is for the highest good of everyone attending. Each workshop unfolds organically because of everyone participating in a respectful and open way. It is a real privilege.
Working with art and healing
These opinions and interpretations are my own, I have developed my own way of working and views on how I feel the work comes forward for me at this time. My evolution is continuing along with my views and ways of working, I know my work will also continue to evolve. As an artist this is what keeps me interested and inspired, I work with likeminded people as I know we can go further as a group than can as an individual. With everyone I have the privilege to work with I always suggest that they tap into their own creativity and though art they have an opportunity for their own personal journey of self-discovery.
Personal growth and creativity are not a nice to haves or things to fit in if there is time, they are a necessity for life in this world however it manifests for the individual.
Mediumship is communication between an incarnate and discarnate soul or a living person and dead person through a medium. A medium is someone who has developed the ability to attune to the frequencies beyond our five senses and to become aware of the energy of an individual soul which no longer has a body. Spiritualists believe the “spirit world” is the place a soul goes after their life on earth.
When discussing what is mediumship we must also touch on psychic ability. Belief in psychic ability is nothing new and has been widely accepted and deeply studied form of energetic communication. It is when a person is picking up information from another living person or incarnate souls energy field.
Researchers have been exploring consciousness, mediumship, psychic ability and communication with the afterlife for many years and continue work with mediums and large Spiritualist organisations.
Table of Contents
Mediumship is a natural gift, it is an awareness of energy that all of us can become aware of, and for most people, this awareness simply sits quietly in the background of life until something happens or someone invites us to look more deeply into our intuition and sensitivity.
At its heart, mediumship exists to demonstrate that life continues beyond the physical body and our five senses. It offers comfort and letting go of grief, evidence of survival and a space of deeper healing, for many people it is the beginning of a personal and spiritual journey.
What does mediumship mean?
What is mediumship in terms of meaning? The word “medium” comes from the Latin medius, meaning “in the middle”. A medium stands in the middle, between two states of being, the physical world we live in and the spirit of those who hasve passed to the next life or to the spirit world.
Mediumship gained popularity during the nineteenth century with the birth of modern Spiritualism marked as 31st March 1848 with the Fox sisters in Hydesville, New York. This provoked the question, what is mediumship and how can it serve us? Investigations into mediumship over the decades have exposed many fraudulent mediums although there have been many cases that couldn’t be disproved. The practice of mediumship is still very much plagued with these negative accounts today.
Within the religion of Spiritualism, mediumship is delivered as part of each Divine service, which is traditionally held on Sunday in Spiritualist churches around the United Kingdom. On weekdays demonstrations of mediumship and special services take place where other variations on mediumship and communications are delivered like Spirit Art and Flower Readings.
Open circles and open platforms are also held within the churches offering an opportunity for attendees to practice and develop their mediumship and other disciplines like Psychic readings and Psychometry.
When people search – what is mediumship? they are usually looking for a definition, or want to understand the differences between a medium and other forms of spiritual or psychic practice. Ultimately, people are looking for reassurance that their loved ones are still with them in some form and there is a part of us which is eternal.
How does mediumship work?
As human beings we have a natural sensitivity to energy and the world around us. Every life, thought, feeling, object and interaction is a form of energy and carries its own frequency. A medium has spent time learning to become more aware of the subtle difference in frequencies at a deeper level, they become more actively aware of the spirit world and the unseen world.
The process begins very simply with awareness. A medium develops the ability to differentiate between their own energy and the energy which resonates from someone else or from somewhere else. I have written more fully about these processes, meditation, sitting in the power and attunement which become a foundational part of a mediums development. There is no substitute for the actual practice, many choose development circles and working with experienced teachers who they resonate with.
When a medium is working, they raise their energy to attune to the spirit world, they become aware of a specific spirit communicator and allow information about their life and personality to come forward. The information generally arrives through perception, although some mediums hear or see objectively but for most its subjective. It is the responsibility of the medium to translate what they are receiving into accurate and meaningful information for their recipient. This is referred to as evidential mediumship, providing evidence of a particular person and their life lived on earth.
What are the different types of mediumship?
When going deeper into what is mediumship we can discuss the different types of mediumship. Mediumship can take many forms, and each medium develops their own unique way of working that suits their own nature and natural ability. There are two distinctive categories, mental mediumship and physical mediumship.
Mental mediumship is the most common form of mediumship practiced today. The medium receives impressions internally through perception, these include, clairvoyance (seeing), clairaudience (hearing), clairsentience (feeling) or claircognisance (knowing), and relays that information to the sitter.
Physical mediumship is where spirit energy affects the physical environment objectively for all present to experience, producing phenomena such as direct voice, materialisation or trance communication. Physical mediumship requires a very particular set of conditions and takes many years of development.
There are also specialist forms of mediumship that focus on specific ways of working. Spirit art, aligns with my natural sensitivity and love for art, it involves drawing a portrait of someone in spirit as part of the evidential mediumship communication. I hold regular monthly online demonstrations of spirit art.
Mediumship vs psychic: what’s the difference?
What is mediumship and what is psychic communication? This is one of the most common questions people ask, and the distinction really matters.
A psychic works with the energy of a person, place or object that is still in this world. They may pick up information about the past, the present or possibilities for the future, but the information is drawn from the physical self, energy and connection with Mother Earth.
A medium works with the energy of those who have passed and no longer have a physical presence in this world. The source of the information is the continuing energy or soul of someone who has passed away.
Every medium is psychic, because to do the work you have to be sensitive to energy. But not every psychic is a medium. Mediumship requires a particular willingness to step into a deeper space of attunement where communication with the spirit world becomes possible.
What is happening when Mediumship is taking place?
So, what is really happening when a medium is delivering a demonstration of Mediumship?
During a demonstration the medium is working to raise the energetic vibration of the room and bring the energy of the congregation together to allow awareness of the frequencies with in the spiritual realms. From the perspective of Spiritualism this would be the energy of a passed loved one relating to a member of the congregation.
With evidential mediumship the medium brings forward information about an individual or spirit communicator. The medium provides information which could only be known by the recipient and is considered proof of life after death. The thinking behind this is, how could a person know information about a deceased loved one they have never met and describe specific situations of their life only known by the recipient and their family and friends.
Can mediumship be used for healing?
Simply put, yes, and for many people this is where mediumship has its most lasting impact.
What is mediumship and what is healing mediumship? Many healers will say they are not mediums but what they mean is they are not evidential mediums. Holding space for the natural flow of energy is what mediumship is. Healing through mediumship happens on more than one level.
There is an opportunity within a Divine Service to build the group energy to bring forward information verbally from the spirit world while hold space for the flow of energy for healing and self-awareness for people in the congregation. Everyone can feel the energy of the space and more deeply connect with their self-healing ability.
Mental healing – security comes with the knowledge that our loved ones are looking down on us from the next life. Comfort comes from the knowledge that we live on after this existence, part of life is eternal. Energy can never be destroyed it just changes form.
Emotional healing – the feeling of our loved one’s energy, forgiveness and allowing the emotional grieving process to be understood and acknowledged. Stepping more into the present moment allowing peoples energy fields to recognise and release emotional trauma.
Physical healing – feeling the energy around us, bringing the unseen into the physical world. Releasing blockages within our energy fields can help to release physical aches and pains. Our physical self connects more deeply to the world around us and offers a greater understanding of the energetic beings that we actually are.
Spiritual healing – accessing the greater aspects of self and feeling the connection to everything and everyone. The nature of us in relation to the universe and universal consciousness. Also, our connection to Mother Earth and natures laws.
There are a few different places where you can experience mediumship, and the right one depends on what you are looking for.
Divine services are the traditional setting within Spiritualism. They usually happen on Sunday, and include prayers, hymns, an philosophy and a demonstration of evidential mediumship from the platform.
Platform demonstrations are dedicated mediumship events, usually in the evening, where a medium will work with members of the audience to bring the feeling and presence of departed loved ones.
Private sittings or one-to-one sessions, are delivered either in person or online. These allow for more focused communication and are for people who are looking for specific evidence or who have something particular they want to explore. The medium can not guarantee the spirit communicator who will come through but the communication can be deeper and more sensitive in nature.
Retreats and workshops offer a longer immersion, either to experience mediumship more deeply or to begin developing your own ability. I host a number of workshops and retreats each year, you can find up and coming dates on my events page
How long does it take to become a medium?
This is the honest answer, it is a joureny which continues to evolve and you are always learning.
Back to the question, what is mediumship? Mediumship is a practice, not a qualification. Some people choose to sit in a development circle and find a safe space to open their sensitivity and begin to deepen their understanding. Not every medium wishes to work publicly but if they do, residential courses, specific workshops or retreats are a great way to enhance development with platform demonstrations as a particular focus.
Initially you have to understand the training and development it takes before starting to develop a mediumistic awareness. These views are based on my observations and my own development.
Firstly, before any mediumistic development can take place the practitioner must first undergo a realisation within their own personal development, becoming more deeply aware of themselves, who they are and what is happening within their energy field and the energy surrounding them. From this point the practitioner opens to attuning with different frequencies which surround us but are out of the range of our five senses. Next is to translate the feelings they are picking up into a conscious format.
Over time they learn to differentiate between what’s them and what isn’t them, this evolves into the ability to move the restrictive aspects of their consciousness out of the way to allow speaking and communication within the flow of energy in the moment.
Of course, this is a very simplified explanation and any form of attunement to different frequencies and psychic ability takes years of practice and dedication.
What matters far more than the timescale is the consistency. Regularly sitting in the silence, working with a teacher who you resonate with, being willing to get things wrong and learn, staying curious rather than becoming attached to results. Development and inner awareness happens in the quiet spaces between the exciting moments, this truth serves most spiritual practices.
If the pull to develop is strong, find a circle and safe nurturing space, find a tutor whose work resonates with you, and simply begin. I teach both online and in person, including at the Arthur Findlay College, and you can find my current training offerings for Mentorships and specific training for Spirit Art.
Frequently asked questions
Is mediumship the same as Spiritualism?
No. Spiritualism is the religious, scientific and philosophical movement that grew up around the initial question of what is mediumship in the nineteenth century, and it has its own principles and practices. Mediumship is the ability itself, which exists independently of any particular religion. You can be a medium without being a Spiritualist, and you can be a Spiritualist without being a medium.
Can anyone learn mediumship?
In principle, yes. Everyone has a natural sensitivity to energy, even if it sits in the background for most of your life. What varies is how much time and patience a person is willing to give to developing that awareness, and how their life circumstances support the process.
What is mediumship and platform mediumship?
Platform mediumship is the term used for evidential mediumship delivered from a platform in front of an audience or congregation, usually in a Spiritualist church service or at a public demonstration.
Is mediumship a spiritual practice?
For most mediums, yes. The work requires a willingness to sit in stillness, to quiet the conscious mind, to stay curious, and to trust what is not yet visible. Those are spiritual qualities and practices, regardless of what tradition a person works within.
What is direct voice mediumship?
Direct voice is a form of physical mediumship in which spirit communication is heard audibly in the room, independent of the medium’s vocal cords. It is a rare phenomenon and usually occurs in dedicated physical circles with people who have sat together for many years.
Can mediumship prove life after death?
Mediumship offers evidence of life continuous, and for most people that evidence is enough. A message from a medium containing specific and relevant information the medium could not possibly have known, speaks clearly of life beyond this world.
Finding alignment
Asking the question what is mediumship opens a conversation to look more deeply and your own abilities and awareness. People might begin with this question but it opens to personal development and deeper understanding of our reality. Far more is happening that relates not only to mediumship but to any spiritual practice or inspired or enlightened state of awareness within any field or industry. Sports people it’s called the flow state, for artists and writers it’s called inspiration, for actors its embodiment of the character.
The practitioner may become aware of an omnipresence and alignment with their true self, they feel the energy within their body and have the ability to step into the energy of the present moment. It is from this point where everyone has a connection to everything and everyone in and beyond our physical and conscious reality.
Mediums and spiritual teachers have developed their knowledge and awareness to a point where they have the ability to hold space and become aware of the energetics around them. Their work is to hold space for people/students in order for them to become aware of their greater self, removing preconceived conditioning and opening up to their natural abilities.
What is personal alignment? There are many groups, practices and practitioners working today, all teaching different modalities of wellness and wellbeing. Everything from Body Somatic, Energy Healing, Shamanic Healing to Qigong and many different forms of Yoga and breath work practices which revolve around bringing different aspects of your being into alignment, activating greater parts of yourself and working on personal attunement. All practices and modalities have a truth within them, when you find a practice or teaching you resonate with the most important aspect is to feel into the authenticity in which the teacher and group operates. Find what is right for you.
For many teachings and practices finding a state of alignment is the goal. This can sometimes be confusing to students. The goal of the practice is to find alignment, but a common misunderstanding by students is that they think the practice is to invoke a state of serenity in everything they do, approaching life with an outlook of zen and calm. Alignment to me is something different and doesn’t necessarily mean serenity or calmness. For me it is simply a state where we have access to greater aspects of who we really are and a deeper understanding of our true nature, capability and importantly capacity.
The part of development which is not often realised
I would suggest that alignment this is just the starting point for accessing our own authenticity and self-healing to recognise these emotional reactions within our energy field that we may have previously thought of as us. It is not what’s happening externally, it is what the external world triggers internally within us. With alignment or any self-development or spiritual advancement work we start to become aware of paradigms of thought that no longer serves us or old trauma that comes back into our consciousness. This work is difficult, challenging and can often open dark spaces where we don’t want to go. This is the work; these are the places we need to explore when finding our own purity and authenticity.
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Do not become confused by our human reaction to life’s challenges.
What is personal alignment? Finding your own space
The majority of these healing and balancing practices revolve around bringing together the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of our humanness. During the sessions a state of alignment, inner calm and serenity is entirely possible and if working with an authentic teacher and group then easily reached. Where it falls is when students return to their daily lives and struggles and feel they need to live in a state of inner calm, they then become frustrated when they are not able to maintain the awareness and alignment without the support of the teacher and group.
A slightly different mindset is needed, the point of the teachings and sessions are not to produce a state of calm to walk through the rest of our lives. They are to produce a state of authenticity we can recognise as us. This is the reference point for living daily life, the practice and alignment allows us to feel what is us, so we are then aware what isn’t us. We are able to recognise paradigms we live in which we previously maybe thought was us.
When we work on alignment and healing it is also important to learn how to hold space for ourselves and others, experience what comes up and hold space for the point of authenticity within us. Holding space for others and allowing them to find that point within them.
After alignment – working with a practitioner or group
Students returning to the world following a course, retreat or workshop will be resonating on a different frequency, they have expanded their bandwidth. I hear,“Nothing has changed but everything is different.” They have become aware of other energies that are operating in our world. They are also more aware of how people are plugging into their energy fields through certain emotions. In some cases, students have set up supportive unconscious boundaries within their energy field so people can’t plug in as they used to, this can cause frustration and may manifest in emotional behaviour from people around the students. This is why holding space is so important.
Another point that is important to note is that certain people will now be attracted to the new frequency within their energy field, this can be both positive and negative. A lot of people who resonate on similar frequencies will come together to work together and for greater healing and development, but also people who want to take energy or plug into their energy field in an unhealthy way (Be aware that many people who you feel might be negative or have drain energy are not aware of what they are doing).
It is important to know how to take the teachings and practices you learn from others and find how they work for you as an individual. There is an element of truth in all practices and if you feel drawn to a certain teacher or practice then there is something that connects at that specific time on your journey. The next step is to find the authenticity within the teachings for yourself and allow the rest to leave. This simple point will allow you as an individual to be able to fully understand what you are doing and how it works for you, giving you deeper understanding and greater capacity. This also removes any reliance on a teacher or specific modality that has been developed by others.
Our greater responsibility
Alignment with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our being is just the beginning. You stand in your own space with greater awareness of yourself which allows for a deeper experience and ultimately deeper healing. We have a greater responsibility in today’s world, it is our role to take personal responsibility not just for our actions but also for our energy and every part of our being. We are conduits to process energy, hold space for ourselves and others in a way that they can raise to match our vibration. Become the lighthouse and signpost for others.
Holding firm within your own authenticity to allow others to find a key within your energy field to gain deeper access to their own.
Written by Richard Stuttle
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