On a late September morning, I helped set up a climate festival and was lucky enough to meet Kristine McPeak. A friend of mine, who also set up the festival, tweaked her ankle by stumbling between a crack in the pavement and grass. A group of people immediately came to her aid by positioning her in a chair and elevating her ankle with ice. Kristine was there to help keep her calm and soothe her nerves. I was impressed by her positive attitude and caring demeanor.

Sometime after that incident, I talked to her about what her practice, Peaceshine, offers. She opened up to me how it took a long time to get where she is today. By letting go of her past and learning to love life, she found different ways to approach difficult situations and people. Her goal is to help people relax and find inner peace through Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and Healing Touch.

At the climate walk, Kristine gave people who were interested a chance to win a free session with her. I was lucky enough to win the session, a couple weeks later.

The session began with orange and other essential oils wafting into my nostril and through my bloodstream. I filled out a little form and she instructed me to breathe deeply. She described how keeping a journal can be a great way to reflect on the day and yourself. But there are different ways of keeping a journal other than straining your hand to describe paragraph after paragraph of what happened that day and how it made you feel.

What she does is draw her hand, in various forms and abstractedly filling it in with what happened that day. It does not matter if you are good at drawing to try this, since it can be filled in with words or whatever you see fit. Kristine encouraged me to do this, while also letting go of whatever stress weighed me down that day by ripping up the paper and getting rid of it.

She then went on to describe EFT which is an alternative coping method to combat stress, anxiety and feelings of self-doubt. When the body is extremely stressed, it can go into flight or fight mode. When in this mode, blood leaves the frontal lobe of the brain to send to the rest of the body. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain which makes decisions. When extremely stressed, it is harder to have a reasonable thought process.

EFT is based on acupuncture in that it targets certain parts of the body by tapping with fingertips. Certain points of the face and upper body are targeted while focusing on a stressful memory or thought. Light, repeated tapping tells the brain that everything is okay and it allows you to let go of the pain. It is like turning off the smoke detector in the brain and calms the amygdala.

We went through the process of EFT a few times and then went on to healing touch. For this, I lay down onto soft blankets and she softly rubbed my feet and neck as I took deep breaths.

Healing touch can have a wide variety of effects depending on what someone needs, from decreasing pain to calming depression and creating a sense of well-being. Harmony can be restored in oneself by calming the mind and body and creating a peaceful environment for oneself within.

Kristine is empowering and uplifting. She wants others to feel better after having met her, and that she does. While putting my anxiety to rest, which barely ever happens, she helped me better understand myself. From one session with her I already feel more positive and level-headed. It almost feels like a weight was lifted off my chest.

Check out Peaceshine on Facebook and do not hesitate to schedule an appointment.