So Many Gifts…

The Missing Link

Hello,

In my last post, I shared about my spiritual guided journey to New Mexico.

I promised to share one of the biggest gifts I received….

Soon after arriving to the high desert of Santa Fe, I was introduced to the Toltec practices of Don Miguel Ruiz, (Toltec Shaman, author of The 4 Agreements) and Doña Bernadette Vigil (Toltec Shaman, author of The Mastery of Awareness) who, unbeknownst to me at the time, would become my Shamanic Teacher for the next 10 years.

Even though by then, I had pursued many spiritual teachers and practices, therapy, counselling and read many self help books, I still was not able to heal wounds inside myself that I knew were holding me back from my empowerment. 

The tools and practices I learned over time on the path of the Toltecs were the missing link in my own healing. 

I realized along the way that the years of commitment to this path were me apprenticing to myself and my self- love. 

One of the great gifts of my years as an apprentice of Doña Bernadette Vigil’s, occurred on my first “power journey” to the sacred pyramid site with Doña Bernadette. She introduced me to Don Valentin Cervantes, an indigenous Toltec Shaman who’s family has lived in Teotihuacan, Mexico for generations. Since 1995, Don Valentin has shared his practices, ceremonies, culture and huge heart with myself and the students I take on journeys to the pyramids of Teotihuacan.

I had the honour of being initiated in 2004 to lead groups through the ceremonies and practices of the Toltec, in the pyramids of Teotihuacan.

In a 2017 ceremony with Don Valentin and his family and community, I was given the titles of “Mujer del Fuego”, (Woman of Fire) and Ambassador of Teotihuacan and the Toltec teachings.

Imagine having your own power journey to Teotihuacan!

It is possible! Check out details here.

In my next email I will share the greatest insight I have received and continue to receive on my life path.

See you then!

All my love…

Liz

A Dream…

Signs of Guidance

Hello,

In my last post I shared a very personal story of a challenging and difficult time in my young life. I promised to tell you how I made my colossal shift from a reckless existence towards the path of self-love.

It was a few more years of avoiding and denying my self-love, knowing in my heart that a change was imminent for me, but still not quite ready to take flight into my unknown! 

Have you ever felt that way? Desiring more and building bravery to take the leap? Paying close attention to the subtle signs of guidance leading you on?

My next shift in “awakening” arrived through a dream I had. I dreamt of a place with terra cotta coloured houses with turquoise blue trim around the doors and windows, a high desert land of big cottonwood trees and juniper, piñon and sage growing amidst the red orange coloured rock cliffs. 

I had been applying to massage and healing arts schools in Canada and the USA, to pursue study of the alternative modalities that had helped me (well saved me really) in healing from my “accident”. I wanted to study and learn so I could be of service to people in their healing, as multiple practitioners had been in mine. 

A couple of days after that dream, I received the application and curriculum from The New Mexico Academy of Massage and Advanced Healing Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When I opened the envelope and saw the cover of their brochure, it was exactly the visual of the dream I had had two nights earlier! The houses with the blue turquoise trim made of adobe, the red rocks, the cottonwood trees! 

I had never been to New Mexico and knew very little about the place. I was attracted to their curriculum because of the inclusion of spiritual study as well as academic. I knew this was it, I was being guided in an indisputable way and I knew deep down I could not deny it! It was time to leap! 

I left my life and all that I knew and owned on the west coast of BC, Canada and took “flight” into my unknown with excitement, trust and fear. Oh yes, fear came too.

In my next post I will share one of the biggest gifts I received upon arriving in a completely foreign place to me….

All my love…

Liz

My Love

A Personal Story

Hello,

I hope the gift you received: 3 SELF-LOVE PRACTICES , “For women ready to discover who they truly are” is of value to you!

If you have been following me for awhile, you might not have received it yet and I want to make sure you do, so please click here to receive yours.

I practice these steps and many others in my current life. I hold myself with deep love and respect and enjoy who I am every day. If you don’t know me yet I am Liz Forrest Master Shamanic Teacher of over 25 years.

Learning how to love myself has been one of the biggest practices of my life and not one easily mastered. 

Can you relate?

So much of my social conditioning growing up was about learning how to fit in with the expectations and demands of the life I was born into.

Though I was pretty good at it, from a very young age I was often questioning if there wasn’t more to life than what I was experiencing. I regularly felt unfulfilled and restless. As I grew up, I had more and more interest in foreign cultures and religions and different spiritual teachings. I continually felt I was searching for something, with no idea what I was actually looking for.

Then I had a turning point. 

A point that slammed me with such a force, I didn’t know if I would survive it. Through my restlessness, I became frustrated and reckless. I immersed myself in a superficial existence of parties, relationships, abusing my health with alcohol, and with little of anything that supported my well-being. 

I felt deeply unfulfilled and the more unfulfilled I became, the more reckless I got. The less self-respect I held. I was so disconnected from myself. 

I was in a spiritual crisis.

I was running fast and furious in the opposite direction from what my soul was truly needing. 

My “wake-up” moment, my shift in consciousness, came on a dark rainy night in the form of a car striking me down in the road I was crossing a few blocks from my home. 

The physical result of the “accident” was multiple fractures throughout the entire left side of my body and months in hospital in traction. The prognosis was that I would never walk again without some form of a mobility aid; a walker, crutches, or even a wheelchair.

I was 18 years old. 

Through the months of time I had in the hospital, I began to deepen my relationship with my heart and soul and make some of the biggest decisions of my life. 

The first decision was that I did not agree with the prognosis. When I was released, I did not take the instruction or drugs that the allopathic doctors offered me. Instead, I pursued Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, herbology, meditation, and prayer. 

I surrounded myself with all that I could find that nurtured my body, heart and soul in the truest way. As that old saying goes, “It was the best and worst of times.” One I am truly grateful for. A little more than a year passed, and I was on my feet, literally, walking, dancing, and slow jogging. 

You may not have such a traumatic “awakening” as I did, but have you ever felt unfulfilled? Felt like you are in a monotone existence? Meeting your responsibilities, yet longing for something more? 

How did I make this colossal shift? 

For my physical healing and to embrace my true soul’s calling?

Stay tuned, I will be sharing that in my next post.

All my love…

Liz

Winter Solstice Newsletter

Blessed Solstice 2022!

Winter Solstice is recognized and honoured across the world as the lengthening of the daylight and the sun’s return to us. The light of the sun is returning incrementally, nurturing the newborn life in the seeds buried in the darkness of the earth to emerge once again in the spring beginning a whole new cycle of life.

Right now in the northern hemisphere, we are experiencing the longest nights and the shortest days, more darkness than light. This is a sacred time of rest and reflection before the slow transition toward the sun’s lengthening of the light and our days.

Winter’s energy is a time of going within. Out of the darkness new inspirations emerge. When we consciously connect to nature’s cycles, our own personal growth cycles deepen.

Allowing these energies of inspiration and ideas to build slowly within as we move towards spring, connects us to powerful openings of manifestation for us all.

A practice I have done for many years, is to reflect over the past year in gratitude for all that I have received. As importantly, I acknowledge and honour all that has completed, ended or concluded in the past year. Be it a person, animal, relationship, job, house move, whatever is now not in my life. This can be done in a simple solstice ceremony of your choosing; with a candle, a meditation, a spoken prayer of releasing what the Angel of Death has already taken from you. This creates energetic and emotional space for the new creations to be born with the next cycle of my life as spring emerges.
I am excited to experience what the new life of spring brings to me and I hope you are too!


Power Journey

I and 8 women of power spent Dia de los Muertos, (The Day of the Dead), at our beloved Pyramids of Teotihaucan, Mexico in October/November! 

We received incredible healing, phenomenal energy, deep connections to each other and our families there, and left with expanded hearts and an elevated vibration of love! 

Would you like to bring all that into your precious self any time soon? I would love nothing more than to guide you into the sacred magic of Teotihuacan, which translated from the Nahuatl language means “where human becomes God”. In other words, where us humans receive the gift of connecting to our own Divinity in a deeply profound way.

Next journey: March 30th – April 4th, 2023Welcome your new season of spring growth in the home of the Toltecs!
Click here for more details and to register 
If you would like to reclaim more of yourself and discover how to overcome whatever is holding you back from your empowerment with tools and practices based in Toltec Shamanism, I would love to offer you a free 30 minute introductory session with me. 
To book yours contact: thekiva@me.com 604-809-7349

Reviews

“I have had the pleasure to experience three journeys (so far) with Liz to Teotihuacan. In each visit, I have learned how capable I am and that my life is full of energy and possibility. Through Toltec wisdom and practices, I have healed wounds, released old stories and conquered fears. By releasing old beliefs and stagnant energy, I am renewed and empowered in my life.” 

– Kisae

“I highly recommend the “Power Journey” to Teotihuacan, Mexico. Liz Forrest is indeed a Master Teacher. She holds the Toltec Shamanic practices with reverence and high integrity. Liz is well know and respected in the San Sebastian community, the village across the road from the pyramid site of Teotihuacan, where her students are welcomed and accommodated in a beautiful family run inn.

It was so special to be able to go on this journey with a guide so deeply connected and loved by the community. This allowed us access to parts of the pyramids that were closed off to other visitors. Not only that, we also received deep teachings, healing rituals and ceremonies.

I highly recommend Liz and the Power Journey to Teo, as the locals affectionately call this sacred and special place on the planet.”

– Lisa Eddy, Soul + Skin Mentor & Sacred Beauty Lifestyle Podcast Host

Next Power Journey to Teotihuacan

SO GRATEFUL TRAVEL IS HAPPENING AGAIN!

My first power journey to our beloved Teotihuacan, Mexico in 2 years is scheduled and already filling up.  If this is your year to be in the sacred magic of this ancient site, discover who you “truly” are, experience the ceremonies and celebrations of the ancestors and be held in beauty and transformation, please contact me here: thekiva@me.com for your 30-minute Complimentary Session to explore if this is the journey you are seeking.

with all my love, Liz

In the Spirit of Earth Day

In the Spirit of Earth Day, may we all honour the lands we reside on and offer gratitude to the Indigenous Peoples for the privilege of living where we live and play, the lands where we work and raise our families, the communities that are built on these lands that we are visitors upon. 

Thank you.


The first of my “3 Steps to Personal Freedom” “Live” on Facebook begins Monday April 25th 

In my private Facebook group Loving Transformation with Liz Forrest at 11:00 to 11:15 am MT. If you are not yet a member, please join here. I would love to “see” you Monday!

With all my love,

LIz

Deep Connection (plus some updates)

Bandelier — Ancient cliff dwellings in the ancestral homelands of the Pueblo people.

As I write this, I am a few days from completing an “Emotional and Physical Cleanse” that I and our community participate in every year in the Spring season to bring awareness to our whole self: our physical well-being, our emotional responses, our minds, and our spiritual life. It is a few weeks of bringing our attention to our habits, up-leveling our self-respect with honouring ourselves in our day-to-day activities, and sitting still and quiet to “hear” our subtler guidance. Each year the cleanse is a time of deep reflection that I appreciate and feel the alignment of the renewal of the Spring season in myself.

Many of you know of my deep connection to the southwest high deserts of New Mexico USA. I have spent time in various areas of the state of New Mexico for the past 30 years or more. Even though I was born and raised beside the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of BC Canada and will always have a deep love and familial bond for that gorgeous place, my heart and I feel my soul has had a karmic relationship with the land, the peoples, the culture, the spirit of New Mexico.

Those many years ago found me at my proverbial fork in the road of my life, unfulfilled, in a monotone kind of autopilot existence, knowing in the deepest part of myself, my spirit was starving for more of something I couldn’t even name. My final decision-making guidance came in my dream state in 1988 and I knew then, it was the moment to step up and step into my courage in a way that felt a bit like a free fall.

I left my entire life on the coast and moved to Santa Fe New Mexico, with very little money or plan, other than being accepted in a school to learn how to serve others with healing art modalities. That decision opened the doors that led me to my most powerful spiritual teachers that set me on the path I continue to walk to this day. That same decision introduced me to some of the biggest influencers of my personal and professional life thus far. 

The tug and then the push that moved me down that unknown fork in my road was my heart saying, “Trust me on this one, I know something you can’t see yet!”

I will not lie; it was not easy. It was challenging, exciting, interesting, terrifying, heart opening, confidence building, and healing in too many ways to write about here. I had to learn some truths about myself that I had been hiding under a whole lot of agreements and beliefs that I came to understand weren’t even mine.

As I reflect on that time of my life, I am so grateful that I chose the path that I did and didn’t settle for the comfy fit of ease that was not nourishing my soul in the ways I was hungry for.

Have you ever felt like there is “more” of you that has not been discovered yet? That old programming is keeping you from “stepping up and stepping into” your truth? I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the private Facebook group Loving Transformation with Liz Forrest.

I have been studying, practicing, and teaching wisdom based in Toltec teachings for the past 25 years. I have witnessed firstly myself, change and grow and evolve, time and time again, and have had the great privilege of witnessing many others do the same through these practices and tools.

Please join me for the first “3 Steps to Personal Freedom” In my private Facebook group Loving Transformation with Liz Forreston Mondays: April 25th, May 2nd, and May 9th from 11:00 to 11:15 am MT. If you are not yet a member, please join here. I would love to have you in our community of like-spirited folks.

Bandelier — Ancient cliff dwellings in the ancestral homelands of the Pueblo people.

Updates:

  • I am leaving registration for my Mastery of Empowerment course open until April 30th with private one-to-one classes with me to get you started on this path of healing your past “story” and creating your new Dream Life!
  • If you are interested in a Complimentary 30-minute Breakthrough session, please contact me at: thekiva@me.com
  • There are still a few spots available for the next Power Journey to Teotihuacan. Click here for more details or to reserve your place.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

~ Rumi

What makes Community?

(excerpt from Liz’s Spring 2022 Newsletter)

It has been an interesting, challenging, and changing year since we welcomed the Spring Equinox of 2021! Would you agree?And here we are, (in the northern hemisphere), at the time of the Mother Earth’s re-birth with longer days, warmer weather, and buds being drawn into life once again.
I have always trusted that all I need to know, I can find reflected back to me in nature. The changing and challenging transitions we all face as we walk our path, the beauty of simplicity, the teachings and acceptance of endings and completions. The gifts of all that we experience while holding joy, excitement, fear, and sadness perhaps all at once!
A dear friend of mine often says “Joy and grief live in the same house” and I say Ometeotl to that wisdom.I have been in many discussions in my circles in these recent times, exploring how to maintain our grounded centre in ourselves, how to live with open compassionate hearts amidst chaos and how to be brave every chance we get to continue to forge our way through this new way of being that we are all being called to create.
The consistent response to these inquires is always revealed as:being with like-spirited people.having support by being what I call “held and heard” no matter what state we are in, in the moment.being able to share whatever is on our hearts in a safe and caring environment with no fear of judgement.
Having this kind of sanctuary instills renewed Faith in ourselves, cultivates faith in Divinity, faith that we will come through whatever is challenging us because we feel respected and cared for. This is true community in my view.Another element that is helpful, well, for me it’s essential, is actual practices to strengthen my faith in this miraculous journey of living!
If you have not yet received my gift of 3 Practices Of Self-Love please click on the link for the .pdf you can print out to remind you of who you truly are.I appreciate our community deeply and the unique space you each hold in our circle. Thank you for all that you offer every day to be of service in your life.I thank you from my heart to yours for being a part of this community and the new paradigm that we are all maneuvering the very best we can!
If you are not yet a member of my private Facebook group, Loving Transformation With Liz Forrest, I would so love to have you join us to be “held and heard” with a whole bunch of like-spirited folks!
I send each of you blessings and all my love,
Liz