A New Approach To
Wellness And Awakening
By Jon Terrell, M.A.

Deep down, we all long to be fully alive and present in each moment. We want to love and be loved. We want to shine in the world and express wellness in  all aspects of our lives.

But we can find ourselves trapped in conflict, pain, and uncomfortable, destructive emotions. We can feel cut off from love, from our sources of aliveness and healing.

Life happens...

• We experience grief with the painful loss of those we love
• We get caught up in relationship conflicts that can lead to anger and anxiety
• We can feel stuck, fearful and depressed, with nowhere to turn

In new relationships, we can end up repeating old destructive behaviors, unconsciously recreating the conditions we so much want to avoid. This can be a shocking realization!

Yet, when we wake up to this pattern, however uncomfortable the realization is, it is the beginning of our journey home.

The day we realize that we’ve lost our way is the start of a new journey, towards wholeness, healing, and love.

The journey is not about following another person's path but discovering your own.  

Within each of us are the keys to healing and awakening, to finding our way home. 

This site is about finding those keys.

Two Wellness Keys: Emotional & Energy Healing

Emotional Healing-Working Through Grief And Other Feelings

The first wellness key is about emotional healing, which we do primarily at intensive retreats.

Emotional healing occurs when we fully experience our feelings. But most of us don't know how to do this. We may be overwhelmed by uncomfortable and even scary emotions. We may have learned from an early age to stuff our feelings inside of us.

We suppress our grief, anger, and fears. Our brains are often threatened by these powerful, uncomfortable feelings, so we push them out of awareness and end up stuck in the past, or worried about the future.  We lose contact with our lives in the present moment.

Sometimes uncomfortable feelings come screaming up, and we can hurt others with our anger. At other times our emotions are stuck inside us, and we end up feeling stuck and powerless.

People come to our retreats for relief and to feel fully alive again. 

Some people come to our retreats because they feel depressed. When we have stuffed our feelings, especially grief, for a long time, we can end up depressed. While clinical depression may be helped with medication, deep emotional work can often be extremely valuable in reclaiming our life, returning to wellness and being open to joy again.

Feelings live in our bodies, below the level of thoughts.

We can have a full understanding of our situation but still be stuck because people are stuck not at the thought level but in their feelings. That is where the work needs to happen. And that is what makes our retreats unique.

You can talk about emotions all day, and still not change them. To transform feelings, we need to experience them thoroughly and allow them to evolve. At the retreats we do this, we create a safe environment where all feelings are honored. And we have the tools to help participants work them through to the other side. The other side of grief is joy, of fear, and anxiety is excitement and peace. The other side of anger is passion, aliveness, and focus.

People sometimes attend because they are trapped in one emotion to the exclusion of others. They may be sad all the time, or angry, or anxious all the time. At our emotional wellness retreats, they learn to be whole again and experience the full spectrum of life. Within these uncomfortable feelings are our joy, passion, aliveness, and excitement...waiting for us to reclaim them. 

Feelings, especially the challenging ones we tend to avoid, are our greatest teachers and healers. They hold treasures waiting to be discovered and embodied.

Emotional Healing Retreats For Grief, Loss and Difficult Emotions

We offer two emotional healing retreats:

Grief, Loss, And Other Difficult Emotions Retreats are Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon small group events (maximum of 12 participants) for people seeking relief from emotional pain. Most are held in western Massachusetts, but once a year we lead one in Florida.

Healing Emotional Pain is an extended version of  our Grief and Difficult Emotions Retreat, and is one day longer than the other retreats, which allows for a more relaxed pace and some additional processes.

Healing is best done in groups, where the power of love is unmistakable and pervasive. What can take years in a private psychotherapeutic setting can often be worked through in the course of a retreat or two that focuses on feeling emotions rather than talking about them.

The pain of our wounding, when shared with others, brings both relief and a recognition that we are not alone. As the emotional energy locked in old feelings is transformed at the retreats, participants reclaim lost power and awareness. They experience a new sense of emotional and physical wellness, feeling more whole, loving, joyful. 

The Second Key Is Energy Healing

Energy Healing can rebalance, renew and awaken us to our full potential. It's a wellness practice that helps us access our deep Self and the forgotten gifts within us.

I've been a pioneer in the field of Energy Healing. Way back in 1973, I directed one of the first Wellness Centers in the U.S., which offered energy healing, acupuncture, holistic services, and training in Light-Fire meditation.

My energy healing work includes deep tissue bodywork and more subtle energy approaches. I continue to work with unique Inner Light-Fire tools for healing and awakening based on years of exploration and personal study.

This work helps people cleanse and purify their body, including the energy centers (chakras) within us as part of a full program of body/mind integration and awakening.

It's offered in Sunderland, Massachusetts. in the western part of the state.

Once a year,  I lead the Inner Light Healing Retreat which focuses on teaching participants how to work with Inner Light-Fire to transform their bodies and minds,. It includes learning hands-on healing techniques to work with others through the power of touch.

Start with this page to explore these offerings.

This whole website can help you find your unique path to the limitless power of love and healing that is within you. 

The site itself is designed as a journey. Explore it.