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Heartbeat Groove Alchemy
Name: Shelley Elaine Rike
Location: Encinitas, Ca
Occupation: Mother, Visionary at Heart Beat Groove Alchemy, and Integrative Holistic Health Practitioner
Aspiration: To be able to fall even deeper in love with life.
Closest Plant Relation: Moss
Most Enduring Animal Totem: Jaguar, for helping finding the medicine within
Current Reading Material: I just started Goldfinch. I am only a few pages in. 3 people have told me to read it. I don't usually read these kinds of books, mostly prefferring true stories and books about the body and soul, but If 3 different people tell me to do the same thing, I explore it. I’m also really enjoying The Spell of the Sensuous, and the current Gather and National Geographic magazines right now.
What is the best/ weirdest/ most life changing thing that has ever happened to you? I had an ectopic pregnancy when I was 21. I didn't know and my fallopian tube ruptured. I was rushed into emergency surgery and a priest came and prayed for my soul. Then they gave me too much anesthesia and my heart stopped beating. I experienced myself out of my body looking down and watching the doctors work hard to revive me. As this was happening I floated up past a membrane, saw colors I had never seen before and received some sparkles. I got to decide if I wanted to go on to another realm or come back and bring unconditional love to everyone I come in contact with. I thought that sounded like more fun so I am still here. I was embarrassed because I was young and partying and dating, so had no clue who the father of the pregnancy was. After that I got a clue. A pretty big clue. I have never seen life the same since. Only what really matters matters. I also was told I would never get pregnant again after that from the trauma to my body but I did, many years later, and my son has made me the best possible version of myself.
What are some of your favorite self care rituals? They change everyday, I just really listen to my body and soul. Movement, stillness and everything in-between are all so important. I usually pick 3 essences from my line of Animal Totem Essences: one for my root, one for my heart and one for my pineal, but then some days I just stay with the essence of me. Every day for sure I pray and find reverence and connection to nature and the people in my life.
Tell us how you created the Animal Totem Essences for your line Heartbeat Groove Alchemy? I was in a really tough place in my life being a single mom and having to fully support myself and my child. My son did not want to be with anyone but me. He had extreme separation anxiety so I had a very hard time going back to work. I prayed to be shown a way to support us. I was teaching mommy-and-me movement classes and hiking with my son most days. One day on one of the hikes a snake slithered across the trail and left its skin right in front of me. I heard a voice tell me to take the skin with me. I had nowhere to put it so I put it in our water bottle. As the hike continued I heard specific plants and flowers communicating, asking to be added to the water. This was the first essence I made. (Although now that I look back, I have been making them since I was a child, putting plants in my shampoo and making concoctions in my bath) It scared me when I held the bottle the next day. A vibration unlike anything I had ever felt before rattled so deep within my body. I poured most of it out down the drain in my kitchen before that same voice stopped me and guided me to put some on my body. I anointed myself with it in the sign of the cross, naturally, as I grew up Catholic. A few days later it was raining and a full moon and I woke up in the middle of the night to put bowls out to collect the rain. Something in me had woken up. Some remembrance of what this was came back. I put the rain water in glass jars and had very strong guidance to drive out to Joshua Tree with my son. It happened to be the first rain of Spring and the desert flowers were blooming. I made the first 12 essences right then. For each, an animal came in to guide me. They are all universal laws of nature and life that support us in the most profound way, without judgement or expectation. Since then, I have had many more animals merge with me and guide me into making more essences, going to certain places at certain times to collect nature at the point of expression that holds the vibration that perfectly matches different vibrations we carry within us as humans. These vibrations allow us to understand, release, and expand without language. It is magic. These essences were created from nothing, but hold the purest form of unconditional love. I believe it is divine intervention. I was in such a vulnerable and open place when the connection happened that I was able to carry it through and will continue to do so. They continue to blow my mind daily and the guidance is very strong for me to share them with the world for others to experience the magic.
What are you currently most passionate about teaching?
I am most passionate about witnessing people find their medicine by listening to the part of them that holds the key to this gift. When I say medicine, I mean the essence inside of you that can not only heal you & your life but the world around you. I enjoy supporting the discovery of this part of our beings. I don't think it is something I can necessarily teach but just observe happening and ask the right questions to guide you into this part of yourself. To be able to support others in hearing their inner knowing louder is my passion because I know this brings joy. The system that has been most powerful in supporting others in this is a system shown to me through creating the Essence line. It connects you into your Root, Heart, and Pineal creating an Internal Navigation System that guides you into your essence and all knowing abilities about your highest version of yourself.
You have been an integrative bodywork practitioner for over a decade. Can you tell us how your knowledge of the physical structure of the body informs your body alchemy sessions, and how you came to your current role in helping people not necessarily learn a skill or healing modality, but move through blocks to discovering and unlocking their own unique one of a kind medicine?
When I work with a person, I see and feel a line of tension arising for observation. This is different in every body and different in the same bodies on different days. When trust is established, the blocks are shown to me in a way that I will attempt to explain. In the body these blocks are warmer and or colder and the body folds around them. When I "listen" to the body it has pathways inside that have parts that have no movement. I know I am on the right place because the rhythm of the body stops or becomes very weak, almost undetectable. I know it is time to move to the next place because the rhythm gets big. I know when the session is complete because the body has a big rhythm and feels like it "kicks" me off. When I do sessions over the phone somehow I still know and feel all of this. This is why I so enjoy supporting others finding their unique gifts and medicine, because I have studied many modalities that can support my natural abilities, but none of them was able to give to me this gift that I have, and we all have gifts.
What happens in your Tipi Quest Retreats? I’m still figuring that out myself but the feedback that I get is that they are experiences that change your perspective on life so much so that your life transforms into what you really want but didn't even know you really wanted because it was buried so deep inside your body. In practical terms, I become a hallow bone and am guided for what is in the highest good of the participants. I love this because they are always different and exciting. Many different movement practices can come through, including dance, yoga, Pilates, Yamuna ball body rolling, journeys into your soul, visceral journey into your body and breath work ( which is always a little uncomfortable but takes you where you need to go to get what you want.) There may be a dance party involved and I always make amazing playlists. There is not too much talking but an invitation to let your highest self guide you. Afterwards we share some food and talk about our experiences to ground them down.
Do you have advice for people who are looking to strengthen their own intuition or distinguish between genuine intuitive guidance and emotional impulsiveness? Get clear by cleaning up your life. You know what I mean. Relax and let it flow. Pay attention to your breath and if it makes you take a natural deep breath in, then it is guidance and your inner knowing. If you are holding your breath you are probably being impulsive. Your body knows. Listen closely when it speaks and it will tell you everything. Feel your thoughts. Are you feeling them or are they feeling you?
What’s the best recent dream you’ve had? I had a dream the other night that the earth was invaded by giant weird space crafts and then robots jumped out and started destroying everything and everybody. I saw the robot that was the control of all the horribleness and took it down. Then the war stopped and peace happened outside me and within me. When I woke up I felt I could take on the day knowing I could handle all the life experiences that were happening. That was a week ago. I told this dream because I never dream like this. Usually my dreams are about weird plants and animals that I have never seen before, and navigating through jungles, buildings, and tsunamis holding my sons hand.
To Register for our July 11th "Temple Quest" afternoon retreat with Shelley, click here.
Learn More about Heartbeat Groove or book a private session with Shelley by visiting www.shelleyrike.com