“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” - Leonard Cohen

My name is Emily Ember.

I am a somatic & shamanic practitioner of the past 10 years, and a current psychology/counselling student with a passion for transformation of the body-mind through holistic healing/therapies and congruence to the light.

What is the Light?
The light is our own unique soul-print or 'blue print'. Our unique self that only can be expressed and felt through us. It is an imperative part to finding if we are to embody greater health and happiness on the planet, for All.

My story...

With a personal history of overcoming developmental & psycho-social (psycho-spiritual) trauma through various somatic arts, intentional healing work, professional development and lived experiential wisdom embodying the Light, today I support others in sacred ceremony preparation and integration, holistic lifestyle counseling and more. I am a trauma informed practitioner, have a history in event management (and in creating and facilitating safe spaces for self and community transformation) and a Certified Holistic Health Coach. Read more about my personal story.

Professional Bio

Services

Holistic Lifestyle Support/Counselling
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ― J. Krishnamurti
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Sacred Ceremony Prep
"The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." - Lao Tzu
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Sacred Ceremony - Somatic Integration
Integration is an important part of working with these substances in a healing capacity.
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Events (Retreats)
Coming soon in FNQ, 2025
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Join my email list

Subscribe to Shining Light Therapies mailing list about offerings and events.

“In the non-psychedelic context, Walker, an American psychotherapist, has written about complex trauma [4]. His views and suggestions are based on his own history of complex trauma. He describes its origins and four coping strategies: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn (the fawn strategy
intends to please the aggressor in order to ensure personal safety).Walker
also described strategies for and typical phases of recovery.

Walker illustrates the development of complex trauma as follows: ’Contempt
is a toxic cocktail of verbal and emotional abuse, a deadly amalgam of denigration, rage, and disgust. Rage creates fear, and disgust creates shame in the child in a way that soon teaches her to refrain from crying out, from ever asking for attention. Before long, the child gives up on seeking any kind of help or connection at all. The child’s bid for bonding and acceptance is thwarted, and she is left to suffer in the frightened despair of abandonment.’

The present case concerns unsupervised self-therapy of complex trauma
with psychedelics. Due to the assumed risks of psychosis and/or retraumatization,
such practice is usually advised against. However, according to a senior psychedelic therapy advocate, British psychiatrist Ben
Sessa, the primary risk factors for psychoses are cocaine, amphetamine,
and cannabis [5]. Also, a case study by the author presented a counterexample
in which a psychotic patient successfully utilized psychedelics to heal complex trauma [6]. In the present case, occasional cannabis use did not result in psychotic symptoms; therefore, for this patient, the risk of psychosis was assumedly low.” ~ Page 23

Turkia, Mika (2024). Psychedelic therapy in practice. Case studies of self-treatment, individual therapy, and group therapy.

https://psychedelictherapy.fi/

Ayahuasca is a technology that facilitates higher levels and states of consciousness. It is a shamanic tool that can support and aid the regeneration of new neural pathways and open the ability for deep healing and profound transformation of our lives. It can invigorate our beings once again and aliven us to a state of being that is truly congruent with who we are.

Often in ayahuasca ceremonies, self-awareness about the certain life and mental ‘conditioning’, ‘patterning’ and habitual states of doing (that potentially keep us locked in same ways of ‘doing’) will arise, rewiring our ability to make new decisions, and choices for our lives.

The benefits of ayahuasca can be seen long term, rather than overnight, however the profound shifts can literally occur in an over night sitting, therefore highlighting the importance of sufficient, and well-thought of screening, preparation and integration practices for oneself - irrespective of whether a facilitator or experience offers these steps, as part of an over night sitting - or, as I would like to put it... ‘procedure’.

The benefits of ayahuasca whether long-term or short have been proven by numerous studies (Hamill et al., 2019; Nunes et al., 2016; Turkia, 2024; Weiss, 2023) which highlight the dire need for more adequate community awareness, and a sacred understanding of what this medicine provides.

https://www.shininglighttherapies.net/post/ayahuasca

“As outlined by both participants, the recovered memories played a fundamental role in their healing. Though psychedelic experiences can overwhelm sensory and cognitive processes, as these case studies have shown, the ability of psychedelics to assist in revealing memories—whether previously avoided, forgotten, too painful to consciously recall, or if they are abstract, symbolic, metaphorical, difficult to
discern, unprovable, or simply false—can have important therapeutic efficacy. While trauma scholars have explored issues of memory, the therapeutic value of the classic psychedelics to bring forgotten or repressed memories back into consciousness—where they can be reconsidered and managed—has been less studied through in-depth interviews. This phenomenon is brought into relief by the stories presented here.
Psychedelic experiences, as a means of self-transformation and healing, implicate narrative and narrative autobiography in several ways. In producing an altered state
of consciousness and, concomitantly, an altered sense of self for a short period of time, users are able to reframe and
reinterpret their identity and biography. This experience is especially significant for individuals suffering various forms
of mental distress: the psychedelic state temporarily removes them from their suffering (e.g., psychological, physical,
emotional, and biographical) in a way that provides the distance needed for reflection.”

~ Rose, J. R. (2024). Memory, trauma, and self: Remembering and recovering from sexual abuse in psychedelic-assisted therapy. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 8(3), 336-348. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2024.00363

We own nothing. Everything is given to us

“It is easy in a complex, beautiful world to be thrown off, distracted, or so overwhelmed we can’t feel ourselves. Most of us need concerted focus, inspiration, and support to engage in the deep listening of the inner workings of our own body and being. 

To reconnect, to reimagine, to remember, to recharge, to re-access. The prefix “re-” points to circling back to something known or held as valuable before. 

In movement practice, the dance of ‘circling back’ can be poignant and illuminating. To realign with something essential in ourselves is vital to living our own values and gifts. The movements of returning are known to us, and the practice and art of doing so vitalizes and aligns us with our core selves.

If there is to be a reinvention, or a recommitment to something we have been with before, we need to know what we are capable of now, in 2025, at whatever age we are, and in whatever state of health we find ourselves in. A time of retreat and the focused play of embodiment practice invites this into re-evaluation and renewal.” - Andrea Juhan, Open Floor co-founder

“Ultimately, only the knowledge of spiritual laws and the transcendental order of life, which must not be transgressed, allows us to heal. These laws are deeply engraved in the unconscious and in our psychic and physical structures (engramming). The deeper the inscription, the more spiritual elevation is necessary. It is therefore essential to educate oneself to know them, to observe them and thus to heal oneself. This education must reach the spiritual level to be complete, and healing at this level requires rituals.”

https://ayahealingretreats.com/tobacco/

#noyarao #despacho #mapacho #ritual #bloodritual #tobacco #cleaning #healing #light

“A dialectic expressed by Heidegger, the twentieth-century German philosopher, clarifies this paradox. He proposed two modes of existence: the everyday mode and the ontological mode (from onto, “being,” and the suffix -logy, “study of”). In your everyday mode, you are entirely absorbed in your surroundings, and you marvel at how things are in the world; whereas in the ontological mode, you focus on and appreciate the miracle of “being” itself and marvel that things are, that you are. There is a crucial difference between how things are and that things are. When absorbed in the everyday mode, you turn toward such evanescent distractions as physical appearance, style, possessions, or prestige. In the ontological mode, by contrast, you are not only more aware of existence and mortality and life’s other immutable characteristics but also more anxious and more primed to make significant changes. You are prompted to grapple with your fundamental human responsibility to construct an authentic life of engagement, connectivity, meaning, and self-fulfillment.”
~ Irwin Yalom, ‘Staring at the Sun’ (pg 33)

“Integration is a process in which a person revisits and actively engages in making sense of, working through, translating, and processing the content of their psychedelic experience. Through intentional effort and supportive practices, this process allows one to gradually capture and incorporate the emergent lessons and insights into their lives, thus moving toward greater balance and wholeness, both internally (mind, body, and spirit) and externally (lifestyle, social relations, and the natural world).” ~
Synthesized definition of integration from Bathje, Majeski, & Kudowor, 2022:

“The same power of these transformations greatly depends on their integration not just by individuals, but by their community. We are social animals. We need community (members) to reflect on our knowledge or transformations. Otherwise they vanish.” ~ Jeronimo Mazarrasa, ICEERS Foundaton

I felt to introduce myself again here this new year 💚 My name is Emily Ember, I am a shamanic practitioner of at least 5 years (much more in many ways) and also a second year Psycology + Counselling student. Although I am not a qualified medical practitioner, I understand the power of plant-medicines, psychedelics and also sacred and ceremonial experiences to heal the body-mind.

I too, have had my dark night of the soul. I would say, as all have been, I too have woken from an eternal slumber. A dark abyss, a challenging and also traumatising existence in this world. Yet, I would not be here and alive, and happy without these sacred tools, and teachers ~ the plant and psychedelic or altered state experiences… these “advanced technologies” themselves. I truly don’t feel in many ways modern medicine would have had the answers for me, at least with the body-mind.

I give a lot of thanks for being a shining light and a testament to the power of the pursuit of healing, a fierce dedication to embodied living and the fullness of choosing a life less travelled! 🧬

If there is one thing I have learnt in my 36 years alive, it is that life is very, very precious…and that every part of healing, unfortunately as we have a lot to do, for our potential rectification for generations to come, is all so very worth it 💚💙❤️

If you resonate with me or my work I can be found and contacted at www.shininglighttherapies.net

I am seeking to support those who wish to prepare for their psychedelic experiences, who wish to uphold their own life as a sacred and precious gift and resource and take the step unknown into their own decent, perhaps, and the power of embodied integration, somatic therapies, tools to integrate the possibilities that lay awake on the other side. Goodness arrives and abides to all those who seek, the Light 💙

May we all know Light, May we all know Love and may this future behold a great one for you, and Me = We 🌎

To peace, on Earth. May all Being Be Free 🪶🕊

Kindly,
Emily

When you’re deeply sensitive, love is ecstasy. Music is godlike. Heartache is a wide, somatic wound. Visual natural beauty is jewel-drenched, wild bliss. Tension and conflict are muscle tightening and toxic, straight down to the cells. So how do you hold it all? You rinse, recenter, and remain clear. You recycle your sensitivity by propelling yourself and others to create waves of change in a super starving world. Direct your passion by spreading your heart only across what clearly matters most. Surround yourself with the souls and spaces that groove alongside your own- the ones that also desire to chase the beauty, courage and freedom we’re all here to teach each other.
Choose love over fear and let go of the rest, breathing what isn’t best up out of your bones.
Remember-there is power in the body.
Harness it for the greater good, and allow nothing confusing, peace disrupting, or harmful to stand in its way. It is beautiful to feel in a body made for feeling, and exist intensely on a planet exuding intensity.
~ Victoria Erickson

“The things we need most are the things we have become most afraid of, such as adventure, intimacy, and authentic communication. We avert our eyes and stick to comfortable topics. We hold it as a virtue to be private, to be discreet, so that no one sees our dirty laundry. We are uncomfortable with intimacy and connection, which are among the greatest of our unmet needs today. To be truly seen and heard, to be truly known, is a deep human need. Our hunger for it is so omnipresent, so much apart of our life experience, that we no more know what it is missing than a fish knows it is wet. We need more intimacy than nearly anyone considers normal. Always hungry for it, we seek solace and sustenance in the closest available substitutes: television, shopping, pornography, conspicuous consumption — anything to ease the hurt, to feel connected, or to project an image by which we might be seen or known, or at least see and know ourselves.”
― Charles Eisenstein

#deeppsychology #abyss #darkness #light #shininglight #burn #bright #decay #dross #deliberate #nature

“When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.”

~ ‘Sweet Darkness’, David Whyte @davidjwhyte

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”

~ Carl Jung

#shininglight #darkness #psyche #spirit #light #eternal #healing

“When human beings have no sense of living with a wide open sky above and a lush green earth below, then it becomes very difficult for them to expand their vision. When we feel that heaven is an iron lid and the earth is a parched desert, then we want to hide away rather than expanding ourselves to help others. Shambhala vision does not advocate going ‘back to nature’. But within the world that we live in, there is room to relax and appreciate ourselves and our heaven and our earth…

If we open our eyes, if we open our mind, if we open our hearts, we will find that this world is a magical place.”

~ Chogyam Thrungpa, ‘Shambhala’

#noyarao #treestreestrees #bigtrees #lasplantasmaestras #jiwijiwijiwibo #buddhist #buddhism

“Of course love is never earned. It is a grace we give one another. Anything we need to earn is only approval.

Few perfectionists can tell the difference between love and approval. Perfectionism is so widespread in this culture that we actually have had to invent another word for love. “Unconditional love,” we say. Yet, all love is unconditional. Anything else is just approval.”

~ Remen, R. ‘Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal’ (2006)

“The hero is the man of self-achieved submission. But submission to what? That precisely is the riddle that today we have to ask ourselves and that it is everywhere the primary virtue and historic deed of the hero to have solved. As Prof A. Toynbee indicates in his six-volume study on the laws of the rise and disintegration of civilisations, schism in the soul, schism in the body social, will not be resolved by any scheme of return to the good old days (archaism), or by programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future (futurism), or even by the most realistic, hardheaded work to weld together again the deteriorating elements. Only birth can conquer death - the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new. Within the soul, within the body social, there must be - if we are to experience long survival - a continuous “recurrence of birth” to nullify the unremitting recurrences of death. For it is by means of our own victories, if we are not regenerated, that the work of [Nemisis] is wrought: doom breaks from the shell of our very virtue. Peace then is a snare; war is a snare; change is a snare; permanence a snare. When our day is come for the victory of death, death closes in; there is nothing we can do, except be crucified - and resurrected; dismembered totally, and then reborn.”

~ J. Campbell, The Hero with A Thousand Faces

“Many of us are in the kind of existential pain that Douglas Adams once described as the ‘The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul’. Icebergs melt and wildfires blaze. Violence escalates, virus replicate. Life long activists for social and environmental justice speak in terms of hospice care for the species and the planet. With the world simultaneously burning and drowning, it might seem like nothing we do will matter very much in the end. But what if nothing could be further from the truth. What if it is not only what matters in the end but what matters in the spacious now, here in the short ark of history. Not just the what, but the how. Not just the big picture but noticing that the big picture is created by patterns in the smaller scale in the warmth of our flesh.” ~ Douglas Adams, Patterns in the Flesh

✨🍃 Psychedelic Preparation Sessions…
Remember your nature.

In Person in FNQ or online ✨🍃

These sessions provide a guide, support person and cheering ally who understands the concerns, courage and capacity it takes to show up to oneself to do this important self-reflective work - which is what psychedelic experiences can offer us.

Prep sessions are lead by you but can be focused on:
- getting clear on your why
- developing and strengthening resources (internal and external) for your journey, and supportive post-experience integrative care available
- sessions can be focused on feelings, sensations and a psycho-somatic (somatic psychology) approach
- screening and suitability discussions to find the experience that may best suit you including discussions around medical contraindications and referrals for qualified medical advice
- create support structures and referrals other professional support for your preparatory and/or integrative journey.

At my website you will be directed to fill out an intake form to start the process.

Contact me with any specific questions or concerns.

Your body speaks to you vitality and reveals your tiredness with life. To a significant degree, your body expresses how alive you feel. Ask yourself these questions: “Do I like how my body feels? Am I taking good care of myself physically? What I am expressing by my posture? What does my facial expression communicate? How does my body react to stress?”
Are u alive in your senses? Perhaps you rarely stop to notice the details of your surroundings. If you take time to absorb the world through your senses, you may feel renewed and more interested in life. Ask yourself, “What sensations have I felt today? What have I experienced and observed? What sensory surprises have enlivened me? Am I willing to slow down and embrace life by being in tune with my senses?”

My name is Emily Ember. I’m actually not a fan of social media yet I’m inclined to share some of the things I’ve learnt along my way in healing with you. I come from a background of developmental trauma overcoming eating disorders and more as a result of that, through various psycho-somatic, movement-arts and intentional psychedelic use.

Today I am a first year psychology and counselling student, along with a shamanic practitioner of 5 years + a movement based background another 5 years atop of that.

Intending to use this platform as a sharing of sorts like a blog to hopefully connect others with the wisdom within 🧡

✨www.shininglighttherapies.net

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@shininglighttherapies

My name is Emily Ember.

Services

Holistic Lifestyle Support/Counselling

Sacred Ceremony Prep

Sacred Ceremony - Somatic Integration

Events (Retreats)

Join my email list

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