03 - Creating Safe Spaces, Softening into Shadow & Finding Your True Voice – with Leanne of LK Reiki Healing

In this episode of Sacred Spirit Sessions, Danielle is joined by Leanne Kift, founder of LK Reiki Healing and the Clearing Community in Leeds, a donation-based, inclusive space offering everything from breathwork and Reiki to open mic nights and community connection.

Leanne shares the personal journey that led to creating a safe and welcoming space for others. She speaks openly about the healing power of shadow work, reclaiming her feminine energy, and how she’s learned to feel seen and supported without masking who she truly is. Together, they explore emotional regulation, self-compassion, spiritual growth and the importance of holding space with integrity. They also reflect on the responsible use of plant medicine and the lessons it brings when used in ceremony.

A powerful and heartfelt conversation about healing, purpose and returning to your authentic self.

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Transcript

Good morning and thank you for joining the Sacred Spirit Sessions, the Golden Wolfing podcast with myself Danielle. I'm so excited to bring you lots of interesting episodes, insights into what it is like to work with the spirit from so many fascinating people across the globe such as shamans and healers, psychic surgeons and mediums and energy workers and I hope this gives you some inspiration into your journey with spirit. I hope that you enjoy the stories to come and you walk this path with us. 

So this afternoon I have got Leanne from LK Reiki Healing who is the owner of the Clearing Community in Leeds. Good afternoon Leanne, it's lovely for you to join me. Thank you, thanks for having me. 

So I'm dead excited to have you on the show and I have been following you for a little while now and I've seen clips of the work that you do and obviously we've had discussions and I've been and met you and things like that but just tell me like what you're doing at the Clearing, at the community because there's so much going on and there's so much that I feel like we can share with people. Yeah there's so much going on, it's a collective community so yeah there's obviously we've got our like main community events so they're like donation based so then they're accessible to all and it also helps whatever gets raised obviously it goes towards the running cost of the space until we be able to tap into funding but we've got all sorts of stuff going on there just for connection, for awareness, for well-being, you know there's like I don't know how many of us there is now, I think there must be about like 80 of us in the group but I'm not sure like how many of us are actually in there and doing stuff but yeah we've just got everyone sharing their offerings and their gifts and it's just being in a collaborative space so then there's room for everyone to do everything you know rather than meaning sort of like a limited that we've got one person doing this or one person doing that, we've got multiple people doing massage, reiki, breath work, what else, sister circles, there's like the open days, what else, fam jam which is like the open mic which is open for everyone that's like family and stuff as well and then for people that aren't that spiritual as well because I want it to be able to be accessible for everyone because not everyone wants to come and do breath work or meditate or like are even open to stuff like that but just want connection so yeah there's, I can't remember what else would be there's so much. It sounds like a like a vast array of offerings and it's amazing that you're doing it for people as a donation base so that people want it or they need it they can just tap in and access it because it's really accessible which is fantastic but when you talk about you know things for people who are not spiritual or maybe they've not gone on the spiritual path yet or accessing them and it's for connection how does that look for somebody you know if there's somebody who wants to come and things actually I want to connect but I don't identify with a certain kind of genre of spirituality or I'm not dipping my toe in this what would it look like someday out there? Well we sort of named so the open mic was the first one for that really like it's probably the only thing that isn't spiritual where it's like more of a music-based family thing so you know it's just you come and you can bring your spoken word or if you're a stand-up comedian or I don't know whatever it is do you want to? Comedy? Sorry? I didn't know you did but I mean if somebody wants to come and do bring whatever it is it's there for like a sharing space for everything so that's what I was hoping that that would like sort of reach out to people that weren't thinking of anything spiritual because it's just musical there's no like spiritual thing behind it even though there is so much spiritual stuff behind me but I mean from the outside they'd be like open mic fam jam to come down to be able to just get involved and play the drums and it's just being a part of something like even it's a really good bridge for you to be able to get into something or of a community and it's not got that much pressure because you're not being asked to you know I don't know tap into stuff that you're quite not you don't understand yet or that you've not been introduced to yet it's just really simple and yeah it's connection really.

I think when people first start out it can be a bit daunting and it can be like oh is it a bit weird what's this and it sometimes it sounds to me like you're bridging that gap but also you're saying to people you don't have to fit in this box you know like being spiritual we never wanted to fit in a box so we always want to be a free spirit but I guess people who are non-spiritual they might think that's a box that they don't fit and it kind of when you were talking about it it reminded me like you know when you sneak veg into your kid's food and we're you're going to have this because you know it's good for you but you're not going to like the taste of it it was like that analogy where you're kind of you're sowing the seed and you're giving them a bit of a taster about spirituality but you're doing it in a really informal way and I think music is a really it's a it's it's a really intriguing way to do it but it connects people through music we connect through music don't we and sounds and shared and song and it's sharing that right kind of um journey about what the song is about as well so how do you find um you know if you get families coming off families coming with children how do they respond to that when they're sat in that space everyone really is really responsive like to the space itself even when people come to the open days like the fundraiser days they don't really know what to expect and these are people that maybe have had a massage they're not really you know open to other stuff and they'll that obviously that's open to family as well like them days and they come in and you can tell like obviously they say they feel ultimately like welcome straight away when they come in the space itself it's got like a really calming presence so and then there's always you're always greeted you know by a hug or someone you know showing you what's on and what's whatever and I feel like I feel like it isn't too overpowering for for them because it's just a really calm environment and there's no pressure you know like we're not saying you've got to do this or you've got to be a certain way or dress a certain way to do this you can come exactly as you are you know you can come up in you can turn up in pieces in pieces that's absolutely fine too um and you'll be held and accepted like that and I don't think there's enough spaces like that really you know where you feel like you've got to be of a certain vibration to be able to come whereas that that isn't the space there's so many different people unique and um authentic people there that are just real and at different points of their journey and that's why um yeah like bridging the gap between that so it's accessible for everyone. It sounds like it's a really welcoming open space like you say where it doesn't matter what point you are in your journey even if you're just you're at the very first steps or you're you're really far into it down that rabbit hole or back in and out it sounds like that is the the I think it's like the cornerstones of creating a community and it's not saying I'm up here and you're down there or you know I'm superior or anything like that um and I thought that there's so much missing out there that connection and that loss of connection and disconnection to each other to ourselves uh how do you think it's making a difference um I know you've created this wonderful space but on a on a day-to-day level how do you think it's impacting people's lives it's definitely it's changed mine for a start you know like I really knew I had this calling this mission to try and create a community and try and gather people together because I knew that we needed to come together and it'd been going on for like different places so just for it to be a safe space for me it's something like a really personal thing for myself because I never had a safe space so that's like the whole the whole space itself encapsulates that that you know it's somewhere you can come and you can be um held and you're safe and you know you don't have to be anything and I do think it's changed a lot of people um you know they've met new people there's new connections there's like people that have made friends and then everybody we're all connecting with other communities as well so it's like we're all like going well I'm doing this and I'm going to go over here and it's just like creating like a web um of people and being able to like information like resources like if people especially with the whatsapp group and stuff like that people can drop stuff in there and be able to get advice or if they need support or be able to just um yeah it's just somewhere where you can tap into whatever it is that you need um whatever it is I feel it's helping a lot of people. It sounds amazing and I know that it's it's obviously spiraling outwards and I know it's growing it's I've seen um from your social media it's growing and things like that which is amazing um you mentioned creating that space and holding that space for yourself and I know it's dead important that we've as space creators we've got to be held exactly um but how how important were it you know and how has it helped you on your own healing journey because for me what I'm hearing is it sounds like you're creating a space where it is safe and that safety resonates like safe healing you know all the kind of things that come up for us but how is what has it done for you I know it sounds like it's done a lot for you on a personal level. 

Yeah it's just um it's helped me step out of my shell in a sense as well of like to be to be able to be seen um and to be able to sort of like step into my gifts and like not feel like strange or an outcast because obviously you know like I've always felt like different you know like even from being a kid and stuff but to be able to be who I am and not have to like hide or mask or anything else like that that's been extremely liberating um and also to just be able to like my human designs like I'm a 42 which is a community builder slash hermit so it's like I've got two contradictory things going on so I'm like yeah I'm out here and socializing and gathering and getting everything together but then I have to go into this like little cocoon and stuff and it's been able to be able to be understood um and yeah like appreciate like people appreciate and understand that like we're all here to like respect and learn from each other and grow from each other and like you said there's no nobody's up here nobody's down here it's just so nice to be just sort of seen heard and understood like that does like massive things for you you know it drops down barriers and helps you helps you just be yourself really which um is a bit of an act of rebellion these days really. There's a saying and um it's a Lakota saying and we say that when you're in circle everyone is equal no one is behind you no one is in front of you we all stand in circle equally together and it just reminded me of that when you were talking I was like she's created that space but I know that you when you're talking a lot as well about that I am self-acceptance and your human design which is dead interesting I actually did my human design last year um it will manifest and it's really interesting isn't it how um you coded and set up before you incarnate on this earth to have the experiences in a certain way and I know that a lot of people are kind of coming back to that and learning the kind of the gene codes and how they manifest or how they operate even business and stuff like that and you mentioned a lot about like feeling different we often do feel different don't we when we're spiritual if you've not got your community but most of us have not had a community from from being children um what do you think it would have done for you if you would have had that community growing up oh it would have been my life would have been completely different like I said I've never felt safe you know and even recently like I've only this year felt safe to be in my feminine energy that's how much of an impact it had of not having a safe space or being able to express how I really feel you know like suppressing and just start cramming everything into your circle chaperone hoping to get it all never resurface or not even not even doing it in a conscious way you know it's just like a defense mechanism so like being able to yeah drop into my feminine energy and know that I can be vulnerable and I can say actually I'm not doing okay this moment in time or you know I need some help asking for help was like one of my massive toxic traits and sit there and try and do everything for myself because I didn't want anybody to think that I was like incompetent or like anything else like it's brought up so many different uh figures and shadow aspects of myself that I've had to face head on but it's literally like created this like beautiful cocoon and this safe space for me for it you know to sort of like just soften a bit and be able to be in that feminine energy that I've not even realized you know that I've shunned so much basically I think in the in the west we're like designed as women you know as men to kind of just get on and to be and to do and actually that we've got to like put these barriers up we've got to present the world a certain way and often it can be from experiences or just like like I said it's the concepts of how we believe things living at west it's it's like as a woman it's very sometimes difficult to be held in it to feel safe to feel nurtured to receive to sit back and say okay you know look at this and I'm safe to do that I don't have to put this boundary or this barrier up to a point where I won't let you in and to get really in balance because I mean I don't know what what you've noticed but I know that when I'm really sitting my feminine and my masculine and feminine is so balanced I can do and I can give but I can receive and I have so much force to you yeah it's just so different it's like a life change you think so like god I've just been like I've been known for like having so much momentum and being resilient and being strong and being tough and it's like yeah like you know that's that was my default setting that I have no other choice than to have that um so to be able to drop into that and then feel like I don't have to like you know pedal stuff so much it'll so like be more like drawn to me um it's really nice because I've been able to slow down loads like before maybe even like I don't know maybe even six months ago I felt overwhelmed with it or even with the community and the clearing and everything I was just like what am I you know this is too much I'm like doing too much I'm like running out of time for this and then that's that shift of being able to drop into it and being like be okay with resting and taking my time so they'll be like slow down a bit more it's like now I'm just finding it so much easier to manage like I was thinking about it today I was like I don't feel half as stressed as I used to do before you know like running around and stuff so um yeah it's a really beautiful energy but you've got to feel safe um to be able to drop into it I think so yeah it takes a lot of work. 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I think sometimes you know you mentioned a lot about like shadow of work and we often have to face a different layer or face ourselves many times over directly but from a different parallel or perspective to heal it um and I think that like what you described like that comes with it being on that wheel don't they think right we've got to keep doing we've got to keep giving I think sometimes on your spiritual journey we get all these insights when we make progress and we're like right I'm going to get these ideas and I'm going to run with them and you kind of go full pelt but I think that's a lesson in itself and it sounds like you've had challenges but another lesson you know I should have seen that coming or I should have listened a bit more to my intuition or spirit it's like it's another lesson but it's like you've really learned to trust yourself to feel you it sounds like you've made yourself feel safe by trusting yourself to know that I can do I don't have to to push it or rush or to be on the wheel I can just sit back and create that's exactly what happened it was like I did like I decided to to um do like 11 months of just dating and committing myself to myself um and being able to work through it all to become this safe space for me because I was realizing it was like I was I don't know maybe attracting it in different ways but it wasn't like helping me out in any way I'm sorry um so it was it was really interesting because I had to go through and it was like my masculine and my feminine were like having a fight it was like they're having a battle and they both wanted different things and I would just it was just um yeah it actually dropped me complete vulnerability to the point where I felt scared um because like I had to get rid of like this masculine this over it was just over protective it was you know like it was just not imbalanced really so I wasn't giving room for it but so then I had to drop myself straight into the vulnerability and I was just like oh my god what is this awful like where's it gone like like you know you've got like your little protectors gone or something it was just like left me like wide open and then it was interesting it was like I was making a new template you know like of it being a bit more balanced so like you could still have the masculine energy because I don't want to demonize it because it's got me a very really really long way it's got me to where I am right now so for to be able to like do like a nice dance with them both now and integrating both together um it's really beautiful and I'm still navigating it I'm not I'm nowhere near to the point of being a feminine expert like I'm still very much like waded in the waters with it but really enjoying the difference of the feeling um yeah but don't you think like we're work at work in progress so if people say like I always say this but if they say I'm fully healed it's a red flag for me I'm like you can't be fully healed I don't believe it anybody the soul and we've got like we've got like a bit of mission we've got lessons to learn and we've got all the unconditioning to to do and for me I just say my work in progress I'm further than I were but you know I'm going it's going to continue to for things to compromise and for me to shift and work through um so I think that I think it's like you said you do you do like dance it's about that self-acceptance in it and actually saying I accept dispersion but how does it work for me and how do I how do I make it work for me that's for me that's blending the shadows and it's like you've got your soul gifts now and it's like making them um kind of weave together yeah when you sort of tune like putting it all together and being able to um let it all come through so like with the shadow and stuff as well as much as like it dropped me into like the most vulnerable and terrifying place I'd ever been it made me look at these other things you know like and I had to accept them I had to understand them I had to love them I was like you know I had to look at all these things of like how much shame and like self-judgment that I'd give myself you know about everything about about even being soft you know like it goes back to your conditioning of like you know shut up crying don't be like it's weak you know there's so many different things that you can pull through um but it's being able to accept it sorry I'm saying every time that you talk about certain bits I'm gonna I'm giving you like my my therapy but every time you talk about certain bits you do this your posture changes you do you and you like try your hand moves to your throat so you're not pulling it from your mouth you're pulling from your throat and I'm like is that some throat chakra stuff going on that we're still clearing yeah I've been going through um some uh interesting activations and stuff recently that's why I've got a crystal on my throat today as well and I know people at home can't see this but you keep when you when you cough usually you put your hand to your mouth don't you but your hand is going like under your throat and you're almost like it reminds me when I do psychic surgery and you pull the energy trying to you're going this under your throat so over the the full moon um yeah that I had quite um a bit of a release and a purge and stuff from that so I'm still um yeah going through much there I think really in time energetically with the moon and the planetary alignment and I think it's like being that last push to keep clearing on it just recently yeah and it's I had such a block in my throat chakra when at the beginning of my journey so it's my throat and my heart my heart was completely closed off and my throat so um I used to talk really quiet like never was kind of this and this would never have happened like many years ago talking in front of people and stuff like that um I used to talk really really quiet like then people like could barely hear me and stuff so like I've had a lot going on with my throat um and then obviously I had like activations going on that with it at the chanting really helped to mantra and stuff to help open it up and then obviously I started with the light language and stuff as well which was it's just comes through in like different bits I suppose like it'll it's always clearing it's always doing things and when you're getting different activations and different um frequencies that I'm having to channel that I'm trying to understand and fathom it all so it's like yeah like I say I'm always a work in progress there's always something clearing or moving through so yeah. And so in terms of like your shadow work as well and how would you say or how would you say for other people like in your experience what have you seen that helped with so how how would you say it interlinks with like mental health? Massively I feel like if you don't do the shadow work everything else you do is just pretty much surface level anywhere that it's going to keep coming back up because you're not getting to the root of your issue you know sort of just putting like a temporary fix over it whereas if you sort of dive in you know and you don't have to dive in and be like I'm a bit of savage with it to be honest and like you can go. 

Sorry to put him on what does that mean why are you savage with it tell me? Because I like it when I don't mind going straight in and like getting gnarly and just like pulling it out and being in the dark and stuff like that I'm quite comfortable with that because I woke up in the dark it's not something that scares me you know of like going to the depths of like how um how deep I want to go with it but with pizza someone that maybe just started out you know maybe you want to take a little bit slower and it's just about like it's inquisitive you're sort of asking yourself questions to be able to understand yourself on a deeper level so then you can see like you don't realize how you're reacting and how you you know it could be in relationships it can be in your day-to-day life it can be where you how short your patience is and your frustration and everything else if you sit and you work through that shadow of it you can see where it comes from and you understand it and then you don't get annoyed with yourself you know like god yeah I wish I was more patient or like I don't know it just sort of just integrates that because it's all the bits that you're not you're not proud of it's suppressed stuff um and there's so much like beauty and power in actually owning it because especially if you're prone to people you know judging you or criticizing you and stuff like that if you do this work it really doesn't matter what anybody else says to you or thinks about you because you know yourself on that deep level that you're just like well I know me you know so it's like you can are you just less triggerable or when you are triggered you can sort of take it from a point of being like an observer and being able to see and notice a pattern rather than be like completely consumed by the emotion or the situation um it's this like deep self-reflection I think everyone should do it you know like it's like a bit like there's a psychological tool and it's called positive inquiry I don't know if you've heard about it so when you're doing that that like reflection that that it's like that positive inquiring it's like thinking like looking within and looking at yourself and the parts of what you're doing and and the ways that you say how are you thinking that that voice that's in your head and pulling it all apart and then capturing because it's it's building that self-awareness in it so that actually your brain can go oh actually what we're doing then what we're thinking and you reflect and you take a like you kind of zoom out of it and you take a perspective of an outside an outsider to look in don't you? It's really powerful it's the most profound thing I've done through everything you know like I mean each thing that I've you know three of my journeys been absolutely like you know transformational but I do feel like the shadow work has been where I've actually really really like honed into this like acceptance of me and who I am and being like you know sort of I wouldn't say unshakable because things could you know could happen and you know I don't want to say never say never but being able to deal with things like so much better and not be taken out by it or like I don't know it doesn't it doesn't put like pull me straight back like five or six seven hundred steps it's like it's just it's just there and you notice it but yeah I've had to learn to be softer with it because obviously I'm doing a shadow workshop soon and next week and I sort of embodied the whole thing first before I did it I did the seven weeks I was like right I'm gonna do it first and then when I offer it obviously out then I'll know obviously and I was like wow I've gone too much in this like I actually was my shadow like I went dark I was wearing black I went fully like embodied it to a point where I'm done. It's funny you know when you reflect over stuff it's funny but I think the fact that you actually said right I'm gonna write this course it's come down this hole and I'm gonna write it even though you've done shadow work and then to put yourself back into the lesson and to kind of put yourself through the stages of what you're delivering it's a it's a big task to do because I know you know I've done loads of shadow work and stuff and I've done like a lot of shamanic shadow work in the chakras which is it's so difficult in there I found it the most challenging parts of myself that I faced um has been doing that work and it was probably the most challenging times of not the most but some chunks of my life and I'm like why did I do that when I were in it but but you you come out the other side don't you but then to put yourself back in as a teacher actually I physically just done this for x amount of weeks and stuff and then to rejig it amazing because it's it's also keeping your work safe and bounded which for me I think there's so many people doing so many things and it's amazing but I think we've always got to be conscious and even keep reflecting as we keep you know as our journey like evolves them layers more and more and we step into teaching mode of actually what am I doing is it ethically right is it safe practice I'm I'm making this boundary because even though the shadow work helps us for some people it can tip them over edge of mental health or their mental health care and I've seen it happen to be so to hear you doing that for me I'm like yep giving you a big clap backs I'm like that is safe and bounded work you you're going through it and you know what works for each yeah right softening yeah I softened it I thought oh I'm gonna need to make this a bit more nurturing you know because I was just thinking you know you're doing it for your own level like I can handle that like I'm used to going in like that so I just sort of made it a little bit more soft and in a nurturing way but it's still going to be we're still going to be doing exactly the same amount of work but it's just I just put a bit it was the feminine the feminine coming so it's just so weird how it all like um panned out so I was like oh this is a good time for my feminine to come in actually because it needs that to like carry it and hold it so then we can like bring in the compassion and the understanding and then you know this doesn't have to be like scary work this isn't anything that has to be daunting and you're going to be held throughout there's going to be support throughout and I felt like that really important because you know sometimes it's hard when you're you know in the trenches on your own I suppose so yeah and just as you were saying it that in our like getting an image of like because it can make you feel like you're literally getting dragged by the hair in dark woods in mud backwards by spirit and you're like just saying just please just let me go and in I don't think it has to be like that I think it's like nurturing it can be soft it's going to be tough because it you know it goes in with pain we've got so much unconditioning that we need to do and and deconditioning and like inner parenting and all that kind of stuff that we have to do and all the inner child work and to be parent ourself is a big thing so I think it's to be a balance because otherwise it can be really really tough to get through kite and you'll know because you've done it I know I've done it it done I think shadow work with people here they're like oh are you going are you messing with dark or what are you doing in one light dark don't really do shadow work it's a misconception and actually I I get people to reflect on like where does a seed grow in the dark where are you born in the darkness of the womb you can't see where you know everything everything evolves in darkness to be to be fertilized and birthed and brought up into the light and it's mixed it's blended but it to be all tough does that it don't have to be difficult um and even if it is it's still that's also okay as well like to be finding it difficult and that's what I wanted it to be like a completely safe container like I was thinking over lift this was me and I wanted that like what would what would have made that better you know like you know in certain times what would have made that like softer and like there's gonna it's gonna be broke up with different exercises and things like that to help you know and using the chakra system to really like structure that in so then you're also like anchoring everything in as well so um I think it's gonna be really beautiful to be honest it sounds yeah it sounds like it's gonna be it's really interesting and I agree with like what you were saying where sometimes it is gonna be tough but if you're held and you and it's safe and spirit will show you what you can handle I do truly believe that and I'll always say it to people you'll only be shown and at times it might be like I can't cope with what I'm seeing and it's not going to be nice some some parts of ourselves and things we have to face are not nice but it gets you through that uncomfortableness of facing yourself and once you've done it you can face yourself by 10 times over and heartier I think it's that ironclad it's just that you just sort of it's the the most um powerful um and loving thing you can do for yourself is to be able to look at it all and yeah it isn't nice it's not nice to look at things um you know about yourself but sorry again but when you do it and it's like you see it from a completely different um angle because you're not coming at it with judgmental eyes you know you're understanding the pattern of why you were like that or why you acted like that and that's that and that it's okay you know that we don't have to be this like perfect um you know a a brushed version of me whether we are like we have got you know imperfections and we've got flaws and these things like that they're they're actually what make us endearing as well like when you actually notice that like you just have to give yourself a break the whole thing is about just being a bit more understanding and compassionate about yourself i'm going to say it sounds like you found a level of um self-compassion so everything that you've talked about it sounds like you you're sitting in a seat of like compassion for yourself so that even if you know a shadow does pop back up and sometimes it just keep your shadows will keep often popping back up walls are showing you things um but you would look at it compassionately and say actually what do i need what is it showing me what is it telling me and what do i need to give myself as well oh my god like i've done this or there's this and nothing works or like you don't take that stick up and stick out and beat yourself up for it and it's just almost like okay just let's pause let's stop let's still um what do i need what's going on for me what's coming up for me ah this is rising because sometimes no matter how much shadow what you've done you get to a place where you're like oh i'm not triggered and so much time passes and a few years even can pass and then actually you're in a different lesson and you think i'm really triggered then but it sometimes creeps up until you don't notice it until you're at a point where you're like so angry or frustrated all the emotions like the directions of the solar point and saying actually what's going on and you've got to strip it back again um so i think it sounds like it's it's all evolving at the right time in it like you've been on this lesson you've been on this journey and now you can share your gifts with us which is it's the point of it isn't it well this is it i feel like if i had somebody at the beginning of my journey that could have you know held that space or give me some guidance or support or even you know tell me what even shadow work was i feel you know it would have helped massively you know you know in in the beginning of the journey i mean obviously it's not meant to happen like that and but it's just yeah i feel there's a reason why you go through what you go through um for you to be able to share that you know and i think it gives people hope as well like i'll never ever like sugarcoat anything or make out that things are better than they are or you know i can become quite honest about my journey and where i am and everything and i feel like there's power in that um and being able to speak your truth which is something that has took me a long time to be able to do as well so yeah i feel like that's what i want to do i want people to be able to stand in their true expression and be able to love themselves for exactly who they are and wherever they are as well it's interesting i heard somebody just talking the other day actually about speaking your truth and it's something that i always advocate like through like the shamanic work that i do with people and healings or even if it comes up in a reading i'm like it's all about expression and sometimes people you know i heard this other day sometimes people don't always know what that that authentic voice sounds like or who they are so it can seem nearly alien and a woman was saying it she was actually talking about and you can you can kind of check in with yourself like this and say am i using my authentic voice and am i standing in my power um and she asked about a situation and she said well um how do i keep my power even when yeah you've gone through so much journey you've gone through so much healing it were a person who were actually talking who'd um become really successful so the way up they've become really successful but there's still at times they might get somebody who texts them right back there and makes them feel small makes them feel invalid makes them feel like that child like oh i can't i can't express so i feel i can't um challenge that person they've made me look a fool in front of people or they've they've devalued me or what i've said um and she said a really good way of doing it is checking in with the tone of your voice and i was like this is amazing so an example what she said that when she visited her mum her partner said to her do you realize that you go really high pitch like she go hang on like there's a voice to go high you know feminine voice and uh she was like well it's my mum i'm gonna speak like that and what she realizes that her mum did it and so it was something she'd picked up on conditioning but also when she were in the situation with her mum it taught her to up the tone of her voice and revert back to being that little girl so she'll speak fluently she won't speak deep her words weren't thought out it were back in that role and she said one of the ways that you can check in with yourself especially around like conflict and i feel like this is sometimes where the shadow can be like a bit poked i read that shows one of my account when you get conflict you're like oh i didn't say oh set that person or i'm so mad and like you take the stick out and you beat yourself but why didn't i say this why don't i do that and so she said what you can do is he'd actually called the person out in front of everybody he'd gone back into room so he basically heard somebody saying something about him so he'd gone back into room and said next time you want to say that i'd prefer you to have a conversation with me alone and she said to him do you think you're angry and you're like yeah i were angry but i felt really disrespected um anyway she were like saying to him right the way that to actually get your power would be just to sit and think okay this is what's been said and then afterwards kind of um have a word with that person after and say actually kind of just have a word afterwards but say it you know very close time frame that has happened and i prefer you and she said talk about um factual situations as opposed to vagueness well you made me feel like this and actually and then it turns into personal and the person might switch it back on you and say i never did that that's how you feel or and then it can feed the shadow a little bit more and revert back to that that child she said but think about something factual like you know i heard you speak about me like that however i have respect for you so i would prefer you to come to me if there's any issues like i will come to you and she was just saying about um the tone of the voice will also keep you calm and it stops you dropping into that shadow it stops you dropping into that like um that disempowered version of yourself as well and i like that really good tool to use continual after shadow work is you know that positive inquiry start to do it through conversations how is my tone of my voice how am i how am i sitting you know like is it heightened and is it going lower and it's a really good juice of that throat chakra and that that um power yeah well it's really important like you can say something and it's not the words that you say it's the tone and how you say it that that's when it how you can be read so like i've never been one for like screaming and shouting i mean i have screamed and shouted in my life obviously but like i'm not the type of person that will that's not like my first go to if i'm somebody who was having conflict with me or anything i can remain really really calm like i've got a very very long patience in a sense of you know to be able to get me into an angered state like that because i understand that it never gets anything sorted you know from being a kid and listening to my dad scream and shout at me and stuff like and we were screaming at each other nothing ever got resolved you know like that way so i don't think um yeah that i just don't think anything gets resolved that way so i'm always calm even if someone is shouting at me i'm still calm i have a calm tone to my voice and yeah it's very rare that i'll jump out of that but i'm not saying never it never happens it's not happened for a very long time but yeah sometimes under using the voice is it is um like a blockage on and in balancing the throat chakra so even when you've unblocked it i think we've always got to keep working is it balanced i'm using my voice by staying quiet is it keeping my safe safe is it you know all that conditioning and lessons in it but then alternatively on flip side it's like if you're being pushed at point of like right and then and we and i i can recognize that it's something that i used to do and people be like oh my god like the the thing that i was totally different when i'd lost my temper and it's literally because you're going from extremes and they'd be like oh you're dead feisty we didn't think that coming and i'm like but then it was it were my listening you're under using that throat chakra because actually you're being assertive and you're using your inner authority to say how you think and feel and get your expression over you don't have to underuse and you don't have to overuse but it was the interview that i'm listening to today she were actually even talking about you know and this is one that shadows sometimes we can often see ourselves as a victim in circumstances until we do the shadow work and we think actually did i sign up to that lesson and what did i do and how did i enable it and even conflict you show up for conflict you're engaging whether your person's like shouting or not but she just said um when your voice is very um even toned it's a set tone as well it sends a signal to the other person's brain and to say they're not switching you know like or so sometimes people might think oh i won't push her you know like it's a sign to your brain that this person's regulated and that actually that they're switched on and they're listening so it just loads of like non-verbal cues to other person but it was just fascinating yeah communication is key really isn't it anyway so it's how you communicate with yourself as well so like being able to talk to yourself in that way like with your shadow as well um the things that you say to yourself like that in a narrative you know that you've got going on as well like that's um really important you know how you speak to yourself um rather than how you speak to others says a lot about yourself to start with anyway yeah and it key and i think it helps you to emotionally regulate as well yeah it's a key thing in shadow work if you're if you're going through difficulties and to kind of learn to emotionally regulate through that and one of the things that i wanted to ask you as well is your journey so i know we're just nearly at the end of time but briefly the journey with psychedelics because with everybody's journey and everyone has such a different experience and they've got a different outcome that they want to achieve from it yeah so i mean when i was a massive partier um psychedelics were my favorite anyway so um you obviously got sort of brought into that in a completely different environment obviously it wasn't ceremonial or medicinal at all it was just for partying i loved altering my state of consciousness so i think i'm always gonna end up finding them back on this path as well like after i'd sort of like woke up and come through so yeah using mushrooms and like plant medicines and stuff have been really beautiful um tools to help me understand things help me release stuff you know and you get so much knowledge um and information you know and downloads from you you actually sit in ceremony with it and you know really respect it um and take that time out for yourself because it's you know you're letting the medicine do what it needs to do and it is medicine um you know there's also a level of abuse with it as well you know if you're overdoing things as well it's everything's about balance i think you know being able to know when the right time is for you to sit with it you know if you know that you feel a calling for it i think you know that it's that time to go it within it's just that's like shadow work as well i feel like i'll do it all the time but that's what it is you know it's inner work it's work it's not something you're doing to go um having a nice trip and fly that does happen obviously you get loads of beautiful things come through like that but i see it as work you know like it's being able to take that time to work more on yourself and understand and you know it can each each different each year each time different you get something different and just when you were saying about shadow work we're always doing it but it's like the spiral in it like with to spiral in to spiral back out and we have to do that so it's over but you know like in terms of you've done it recreationally the plant medicine and you've done it in uh you know in ceremony yeah in the kind of the spiritual way of doing it is it different yeah i think it is different definitely like i feel like i had spiritual experiences on them when i was partying and i wasn't doing it in that way because i was definitely that's how i knew that i was open to certain things i could see things and things that you know people else couldn't see and i'd um i definitely there was something spiritual going on and i didn't actually know it was going on at the time because obviously i was yeah they're completely different frequency then so doing it in a ceremonial way is um yeah definitely different because you know especially if you're doing mushrooms you set your intention aren't you you've got to set your intention with them um otherwise they just go for gold or they're the kind of mischievous energies that you've got all that right definitely set an intention with the rush ways and then stuff like you know the other like irons iosco and stuff and things like that um yeah definitely you just got to be able to surrender to it all and you know that's different as well like every time the medicine itself has helped me really integrate and solidify this like acceptance and being able to like move through layers of shame toxic shame you know like grief um just all sorts of stuff self-abandonment my own wounds my own relationship wounds are how i show up in relationships and things like that it's been such like a turning point this whole year i feel like like everything's been like preparation for it all you know with the the reiki the shadow work the medicine the general just where i'm in my life the support and the safe space it's all been like infused like to help every single part of it all to be able to just be able to come back to myself it's like as if you're just like taking off loads layers like that i don't need that anymore like what am i carrying around for tip off like you know i don't need to carry this heavy bag full of bullshit anymore i don't know if i'm allowed to swear but sorry i did anyway but how but how why do you feel like you know when you've just lost like all that bullshit yeah obviously we can't swear i feel um i feel really light at the moment like i say i went through a really big really big purge over the um full moon um and cleared a lot of karmic debt um and just loads of different things from like this life past lives all sorts you name it and so i feel extremely light now today like almost like floating i've been in a very um in a bubble since that really and then obviously i know things will come up where things i'll have to deal with and things like that but it's about what i'll take from it is that i won't i won't bulk it all back up and make sure that i ask people for help and support and that you know that doesn't make me a weaker or by less of a person by asking for support you know so that's my biggest takeaway of the year from it all well if you think the theory is to be strong is is actually to ask for help because it shows vulnerability that's what i mean yeah so that's where i'm like swimming in vulnerability but but what would you say if anyone is saying actually um the plant medicine is a drug like we see it in the way i mean it's a drug what would you say about them well anything's a drug if you misuse it you know like even like rapping stuff like that you know you can get addicted to that because you know there was a point where i was doing that to help me stop smoking so i was having that in the morning and having a ritual and still doing it ceremonial but then i was like using it through the day like you know for different things and i thought well i'm actually taking away from like the actual medicine part of this now it's like i'm using it as a crutch um like anything i think you can misuse anything that can be seen as a drug um depending on how you your intention is and what you're going to do with it i don't think uh mushrooms are a drug they can help um all sorts of stuff you know even microdosing alone can help people with depression pcsd there's there's you know scientific um information to back that up and then the same with the with the iron stuff as well i think there's people out there that are doing it in the wrong way you know there's some people preying on people and not holding the space or not knowing enough about it you know being in the too much in their ego there's like like anything not just in medicine like there's a like a balance of being able to do it ethically and being able to be responsible and know what you're doing and know that you know there's certain things that need to be you know taken into account but each person is different so it's like that's worked for me you know the things i've done have worked for me but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be the same for everyone else you've got to take everybody's individual thing into medical and everything at hand as well yeah i think there's big um there's a lot of like spiritual bypassing going on and there's a lot of um people kind of jumping onto the the newest thing of selling a circle space or being like it's a trend with some things in it and i know that it's not a trend you know that but i'm part you know there's people out there like it the overuse of cacao everything is took away from um you know like the the authenticity of the the plant medicine and the ritual of what it actually means and everything's and i don't know if you know this i completely agree with you i feel like it's not a pharmaceutical drug like we'll readily put pharmaceutical drugs in it's a plant medicine comes from the earth but i don't know if you know this actually um there's been studies done in israel at the minute and what they're looking at is they're looking at um you know the teachings and things like that the first book then before the bible and things and what they're saying is um you know how um moses and talks about the holy fire with the tree the tree of light so the tree represents a tree of life what they're saying is their belief is that it was actually it was um the tree might have been um a plant medicine tree and actually it might have been ingested there's loads of cultures and there's loads of things being written and the scholars actually looking into it now um there's reference for us from egypt and a lot of worlds where people um would go and they would eat parts of the tree and actually it were acting in a psychedelic way and and they were receiving plant medicine and so the visions and things that they would see and the way they were connecting to god you know if you believe god and christ consciousness within is that they were going within and they were actually having um kind of psychedelic experiences so it's really interesting isn't it when you look at it and you know it's just being used well and respected you know it's a respectful medicine like and if you don't go in with the right intentions you will it will whoop you you know like and you've got to know understand that as well like and have the respect for it and show whatever it is that you need to do before you know it's like making yourself clean and a clean vessel for it all and everything as well like it is a ritual and it's something that shouldn't be overused you know as well like and i think we all end up doing it with all sorts of stuff not just like plant medicines like anything we can overdo anything you know when we enjoyed something and it's just being able to like bring it back into balance and it's just but then it's like don't you always have a hard time you know about like like oh right okay it's hit the scale back there again but i think if you're gonna do it you need to feel safe and trust who you're gonna do it with um you know do your research about it make sure that you know that you're in you know a compatible match for it and stuff as well yeah i think it's like you say it's doing it or doing it with someone who isn't doing it from and it is all about keeping that balancing it with with anything really and especially hyperworked but thank you for sharing so much it's been fascinating and i'm sure that there's loads that we could probably talk about let's get in front of it you'll have to come back and just and share some other things and you've talked a lot about your life experiences and relationships and i find it fascinating when we have these conversations and open them up i always feel like relationships are his biggest lesson and in every life that we incarnate and you know whether it's like really romantic or friends or whether it's family connections it's always like it can be in a relationship yourself it's one of the biggest tests in it um so it'd be dead interesting for you to come back on and just share and share some insights into some other parts of that as well i will because i've probably got a bit more info to like i say i'm just sort of floating about with relations like i say i've been in a relationship with myself um but i've recently like opened myself up to someone else now so i'm at the very beginning yeah so i could um let you know how that goes and how because that's the reason why i didn't want to be in relationships is because it kept highlighting all my insecurities and all my wounds and everything so i took that time for myself not really knowing that that were gonna happen and then now something's coming to my um i didn't expect it so i'm very much grand like the beginning of that it's an interesting journey in navigating it and i did exactly the same as you i think for nearly two years i were not in relationships and it was literally because i needed to go through that next layer of understanding of myself and and to evolve a little bit more and different stuff and i like to know what i need to give everything back to me and then when i'm in a place where i'm ready it'll happen and i think it can still be challenging just to you might have some road really oh this is really tough and it's easier being on my own but in actually it's kind of integrating everything everything that you've been through so you'll have to get it but i'm i'm look forward to kind of hearing your next step in your journey but thank you so much thank you thanks for having me um we would like to work with you leon like whether it's the um coming to the community and sitting in that space or it's um accessing the shadow work or your healing and your reiki healer how will they find you um so i'm on instagram um it's leon kift on instagram it's lk reiki healing on facebook and then obviously the clearing community on um then there's like a book there's a book link on there but they can always message me if there's anything that you fancy doing um on and the the just best thing is just to drop me a message and i can send over whatever links or what information that they need um yeah and whereabouts is it in leeds at your best um on broad lane in bramley so it's on st catherine's mill um so it's from living leeds i knew it was leeds and i was thinking which part needs help so we don't expect it to be there because it's just a small sort of unit but like i say it's um it's more than just a space so yeah um everybody's welcome to come down and have a look like we've got fundraisers and stuff um coming up every month and stuff so that's a good place to start if they want to see what what it's all about well that's great oh thank you for sharing with us this afternoon leon and we'll speak soon yeah thank you thank you for listening and i hope that you've enjoyed today's episode look out for more episodes coming up if you'd like to reach me in the meantime you can contact at golden wolf ring on the website or alternatively through email which is danielle at goldenwolfring.co.uk