Jessica Mahler - Healing with Shungite: The Complete Guide for Protecting, Detoxing, and Purifying Your Mind, Body, and Soul

Text copyright 2020 Jessica Mahler. Design and concept copyright 2020 Ulysses Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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ISBN: 978-1-64604-091-9

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This book has been written and published strictly for informational purposes, and in no way should be used as a substitute for consultation with health care professionals. You should not consider educational material herein to be the practice of medicine or to replace consultation with a physician or other medical practitioner. The author and publisher are providing you with information in this work so that you can have the knowledge and can choose, at your own risk, to act on that knowledge. The author and publisher also urge all readers to be aware of their health status and to consult health care professionals before beginning any health program. This book is independently authored and published and no sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with, any trademarked brands or other products mentioned within is claimed or suggested. All trademarks that appear in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. The author and publisher encourage readers to patronize the quality brands and other products mentioned in this book.

For anyone whos ever been told theyre too sensitive

Preface: My Journey with Shungite

Shungite first came into my life in 2016. I was covering a vegan food festival in Miami where, sandwiched between vendors offering samples of organic vegan cupcakes and sustainably sourced coffee, I found a table covered in black crystals. Ive always had a fascination with crystals, dating back to grade school, when I would blow several weeks of saved allowance at the Natural History Museum gift shop on pretty pebbles with healing abilities that meant nothing to me at the time; I was just overcome with a deep knowing that I had to have them. Fast-forward three decades, and here I am, still spending my hard-earned money on crystals and minerals with healing abilities to assist my life and the lives of those I work with one-on-one.

When I met this particular vendor, she only spoke of shungites ability to protect against electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and calm anxiety. As someone who suffered from crippling anxiety for the first twenty-five years of my life, my ears perked up at the notion that this crystal I had never heard of could help me keep my tendency to worry and overthink in check.

I had been feeling a bit like a fish out of water at the festival; this was the first time I had ever been flown somewhere for a story, and I was extremely nervousnot because I was traveling by myself, but because of the immense pressure I placed on myself to make sure I was at as many events as possible to find the best story angles and get the best interviews. I have always been particularly sensitive. But when I held the shungite in my hand that day, a sense of calm washed over me. In a warehouse filled with the din of conversation and movement that had previously made me feel uneasy and on edge, I suddenly feltat peace. With everything. Id like two, please.

This book was written entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic. I had been traveling around the world for two months for various work and personal reasons. At the time of my travels, the coronavirus scare hadnt hit the locations I had been touring, so returning home March 2020 to the US in panic mode felt like I had landed in a parallel universe. The world seemed to have completely shut down, and with it, my career. Not only did I have classes, workshops, and trainings to cancel, but I also had two retreats to reschedule. Losing out on the income I thought I was coming home to, I could have freaked out. But meditating with shungite daily and placing it all around my home kept me not only sane but also hopeful for what was to come. Where the old me might have been hyperventilating, present me took many long, deep breaths, grabbed my shungite, and stayed calm.

My relationship with anxiety definitely took some time to understand. I had suffered from insomnia since I was born and wouldnt get regular full nights of sleep until my late twenties. I first looked to yoga twenty years ago thanks to my mother, who believed starting a yoga practice would help my thoughts from racing at night so that I could sleep more soundly. My interest in yoga led me to more esoteric practices of Reiki and breathwork. And while all these tools have been positive influences that helped me to uncover the stories from my life that have contributed to my nervous proclivities, it wasnt until I began to intentionally work with shungite that I noticed a significant difference in my overall mindset and energy.

Which isnt to say that helping to ease anxiety is all that shungite is capable of. On the contrary, Ive found that it can actually help in myriad ways in various areas of our lives. Understanding the effects of shungites energy helped me recognize how our modern-day ailments are associated with both our surroundings and our life experiences. This helped me to connect the dots between the physical realm and the energy realm. My hope is that this book helps you to do the same.

Introduction

The popularity of healing crystals wasnt born out of the New Age movement that exploded in Western culture in the 1970s. The flower power counterculture that erupted in the late 60s and early 70s promoted peace, equality, nonviolence, and love in opposition to a disappointing, corrupt US government. At the time, the US was engulfed with Vietnam in one of the most unpopular military conflicts on record. With the end of the war, the peace-and-love resistance eventually gave way to a new era touting practices in search of a deeper meaning to life. People began to turn their awareness inward.

The term New Age is deceiving; this movement didnt actually promote anything new. As therapy became more popular and gained acceptance as a means to heal trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), people began to look to a variety of ancient cultures in their search for personal transformation. It was at this time that interest in Buddhism, yoga, meditation, acupuncture, natural food diets, astrology, and other spiritual disciplines exploded onto the scene as ways to assist planetary healing and societal revolution.