September 2021 e-letter

Even as the world grows smaller with instant connections to anywhere, Eden Energy Medicine is growing larger! We are thrilled to be seeing increasing numbers of EEM practitioners around the world. Our books are appearing in many countries and languages. That is the focus of this e-letter, and we’ll get things started with a few personal vignettes.

Shortly after Donna’s first book, Energy Medicine, came out in 1998, she was teaching in Wales and visited the ancient township of Laugharne. With a population of about 1200, Laugharne lays claim to Dylan Thomas, the most famous of all the Welsh writers, who spent the final years of his life there. The local community is very proud of the association, and the township is home to a famous bookstore, the Corran Bookshop, run by a noted author and largely devoted to Dylan’s work.

Donna of course had to visit it. As a first-time and largely unknown author, she hardly expected to find her book at this legendary but tiny bookshop 5,000 miles from home. Not only was it there, it was featured in the window! Her angels probably wanted to whisper in her ear, “Get used to this, Donna!”

One of our sweetest encounters happened in Costa Rica. We had taught a 5-day class for the Omega Institute at Sueño Azul, a retreat center on the edge of a rainforest. Following what was a remarkable class, we had asked the resort staff to map out for us a few days where we could get a taste of the culture and the country’s beauty yet where few tourists go. They were very accommodating and found a beach town several hours away that seemed perfect. It was small, isolated, and surrounded by incredible beauty. While tourists had not generally found it, the Sueño Azul staff thoughtfully located a tiny resort whose owner was Canadian and could serve as a sort of guide since neither of us speaks Spanish. When we arrived, Donna sat down in the small lobby, and David went to the front desk to check in. Sure enough, English was the native language of the woman at the desk, but there was something very strange in her demeanor. As David tried to explore what was going on, she finally could contain herself no longer. She blurted out toward Donna, “You wrote the book!” as she pulled Energy Medicine out from behind the desk and held it up. It turned out that she was not the owner; that was her mother. But her mother had become quite ill, and she had come to fill in at the resort. She was desperate to help heal her mother, and she was trying to do it with Donna’s book. Of course she wound up getting energy medicine lessons from us every evening after each of our day’s adventures, and Donna did some healing work on her mother.

Another vignette: We were on a train during one of our then annual European teaching tours, around 2010. Two young women who were wearing headphones had commandeered the last cluster of seats and had spread their papers over the two remaining seats. We were only able to stand in a corner at the front of the train, which was laid out so we were facing their way. They seemed very excited by what they were studying. They were avoiding looking at us since their having taken over the seating area was the reason we were standing. Then one of them did look up. She saw Donna smiling at her, and she let out a little scream. It turned out that they were both listening to an audio version of Energy Medicine and going through all their notes. It was kind of Twilight-Zone-ish for them to realize that they were listening to our words while we were standing in front of them. They were soon showering us with over-the-moon compliments and greetings as well as sheepish apologies for having hogged the seating area as they made room for us. We learned that they were from Slovenia, and we still hope we will at some point be able to clear the time to accept their invitations to organize classes that bring us there.

We have room for one more brief story. During a teaching tour in Ireland in 2015, our entire family was going from class to class and touring the country in an SUV. We stopped at the tiny town of Cobh in County Cork. Cobh was the last port-of-call for the Titanic before it sank and also the harbor town from which millions of Irish immigrated to the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries. Donna wanted to stop there because of fond memories about when she took the ship from Cobh back to the U.S. after some amazing adventures in Europe when she was 19, and we planned to film an Energy Minute there. A couple of people spotted us walking around the town, and they came running up to us super excited! They couldn’t believe we were in their small town. They asked if we were going to film an “Energy Minute,” and they were thrilled when we said, “Yes!” More people have now watched that glimpse of Cobh on YouTube (please see Your Energy Minute in this e-letter) than the entire population of the town!