We are thrilled to introduce you to Jared Domenico, musician, energy healer, and our newest (and first male) contributor at Chakra Center. We asked Jared to stop by today and chat with us a bit about his life, his unique form of energy work,  his creative ambitions!

Enjoy!

Tell us a little bit about your Awakening? (What got you interested in all this spiritual/quantum/distant healing/esoteric stuff?)

It’s always been there. I remember being a kid, laying in bed at night and sometimes having long conversations with what adults might call God, Source, The Universe, your guides…of course as a child I didn’t have or need a name for it. I’ve read that a fair number of children speak to themselves at night in some manner or other.

I’m not sure what other adults may recall of such experiences, but I distinctly remember feeling like I was connecting to something deep inside, and yet also “out there” in the vastness. During adolescence, I became attracted to crystals and meditation for a short time, but then put that down for years. I did, nonetheless, make a conscious choice in my early teens that what felt good and true to me was better than being perceived as cool, which changed my peer group and my life.

The rest of my teens and early twenties were filled with abundant creativity, and though those old friends I shared that with are not the first people I think of when I think of  a site like Chakra Center’s readership, all of that artistry around me made me fluent in connecting to my intuition and the life force. Plus I was surrounded by kind and loving people.

I can’t separate my creative life from my spiritual life (though when I was younger they felt more separated, and I struggled with it). They feed one another. I feel that I draw from the same source whether I’m writing a song or sending energy healing.

Additionally, while growing up my parents had a lot of books on the shelf about positive thinking or spiritual topics, which of course shaped me as well. As did their unconditional love. I just followed my nose, and as I got older I got deeper into more books I’d find on my own, as well as healthy eating,  meditation, yoga, starting to receive energy healing…

I also must mention that as a teenager, I was involved in my (Roman Catholic) school and church for a few years. I remember, for example, doing readings at mass, and trying to understand what the words were conveying. And being involved in the retreat program at my high school. And being moved by the message of Jesus. I also returned to a church for a time more recently to explore it as an adult, that time a Protestant church. I was looking for the roots of Christianity–it gave me a stronger sense of what that tradition can mean at its core, and also about Judaism (the church I attended had a lot of sermons that were more like a course in Bible history) but ultimately, I did not agree with the doctrine. These experiences, however, are certainly part of my story and drive for understanding.

I did have one period around age eleven or twelve when, out of the blue, I experimented with sending healing (in this case hands on) to a close family member who was complaining of a chronic physical ailment. We did this on a few occasions and the ailment subsided. But as funny as it sounds, I never really followed up with doing more of that type of thing until recently. It remained just an outlier experience in my life while growing up.

In my case, what people might call an “Awakening” has been a knob gradually getting turned up, rather than a switch getting flipped. Having said all that, there was a period of compromised health I experienced last year that came out of nowhere and is still something of a mystery. And that period turned out to be a huge amp up for all of this. I had to put a lot of my life on hold, which lead to a lot of reflection, and a tremendous increase in the amount of material I could take in via reading, videos and podcasts. I lacked energy to such a degree that one good side effect was that it got me more out of my head and into the intuitive heart space.

It was during this period, with my defenses down, that I re-discovered my energetic healing abilities. Within days of that discovery, I also dug up a notebook of old poetry I wrote when I was a pre-teen and very early teen.  The writings talk of, among other things, mental travel, telepathy, the network of shrines and temples around the world, Egypt, Atlantis, Stonehenge, hidden knowledge, parallel timelines, rituals, communicating with all kinds of life…a whole bunch of things. And a lot of which I had little to no conscious knowledge or understanding of at the time. This was before I was older and read those aforementioned books on my parents’ shelf, and even so, their books were of a much different ilk.  Discovering those poems floored me and confirmed a lot.

What does healing mean for you?

A journey of aligning with the inherent balance and universal loving intelligence that undergirds your particular individual expression in this life. The more you let go and align with this, the more support you have for your sovereign journey (the ability to move with ease and grace, increased wisdom, energy, joy, peace of mind, abundance, etc.)

Sometimes it is the healthiest body that reacts strongest and quickest to imbalance, because it is in touch with this true life force essence. Therefore I take a more quantum and broader view of health. Is the person who temporarily appears energetic but runs on caffeine and alcohol and turbulent emotions healthier than someone else sick in bed whose body is trying to purge what’s unnecessary? I’d say the former may just be better aligned with the imbalances of the modern world! But that will eventually bite you in the ass.

What is Distance Healing?

It’s energy healing. The only difference in distance healing is that the people involved use means other than physical proximity by which to connect. I know that sounds funky to some. It took a while for me to wrap my head around it. I started as a recipient and had no idea I’d one day be a healer.

Ultimately, if cellular phone signals, electricity, and other forces can travel great distances in the blink of an eye, it makes sense to me that the more powerful and varied energies that emanate from a human being can do the same. The fact that everything is ultimately one thing doesn’t hurt either!

Energy work focuses on the subtle (non-physical) aspects of a person’s makeup, but of course that can affect the physical expression as well (as evidenced from some of the feedback I’ve received when I send healing). It’s kind of like an actor preparing for a role. Some of the work is inner and emotional. But putting on the costumes and getting on the set–the physicality of it– furthers the actor’s ability to inhabit the character. I believe people would do well to optimize both, and of course the relationship between the two. Which ultimately aren’t two things. It’s all one thing.

I currently see this energetic work as a great complement to (NOT a replacement for) more physical approaches, be they established modern technologies, or “alternative medicine.” Discernment is always paramount.

From the feedback I receive, there’s a few ways in which people typically derive benefit (there’s a lot more to it, this is a broad summary). One is that something subconscious just lifts or is cleared. The recipient feel good. Sometimes that’s enough. In other cases, from that state of feeling good, the recipient is more apt to discover what will keep them feeling good. Sometime after the session, with an increased awareness of what they need, they make a discovery or decision. Say they realize that they need a cleaner diet. Then they finally have the clarity and conviction to go to a nutritionist.

At other times, a recipient of the healing may discover something new and specific, something brought to light, in my follow up email (because I get energetic readings during the sessions I perform as well). These sometimes bring subconscious patterns to the conscious mind. Again, that act can be a healing in and of itself, or bring someone to the point where they then know what they need next.

Tell us a bit about your new website (what are you intentions with this new project?)…

Some of my intentions:

-Sharing my values of creating and experiencing “beautiful fun” and thriving in life.

-Creating a place where great people can connect and inspire one another.

-Sharing the different things I do in a dynamic yet united manner.

-Exercising courage.

-Transmuting and re-framing a lot of  mainstream cultural assumptions, and aligning with/participating in the aspects of the world that hold the most    love, light, and evolutionary power.

I move energy and reveal energy as a musician, healer, and general communicator. Creative expression through the arts was intimately connected with healing, prophecy, energy work, and the unending quest for wisdom in many older societies. I feel I’m part of a through line bringing that tradition into the present time-space. My new website serves as one of the main ways for me to share it all under one roof and communicate with others.

Anything I create, the way to contact me for healing work, and any news will go through the site. However, I was very very keen on creating a community. I love conversations, and a couple of online groups I’ve been part of have changed my life (funny since I never used to be one for that). So there’s also ways people can share their own things on the site, and connect with one another.

This is all brand new at the time of this writing (early Feb. 2013). It’s going live as I debut here on Chakra Center and also have my first major radio interview (on the wonderful Molly McCord’s Conscious Cool Chic podcast).

What about your new column on ChakraCenter.org? What kind of information can people look forward to?

It’s called Ever Onward. The name implies unending expansion, evolution, growth in the light, the soul’s journey.

While admittedly broad, what gives it more focus is that I will often take topics or issues from mainstream culture, or things perhaps with a challenging or controversial undertone, and examine how they can be flipped around to benefit those walking the path of the heart. Or, how changing our perspectives on such topics can serve as a way to develop deeper compassion for those individuals choosing life experiences that may be denser, more turbulent, less conscious.

In other words, I’ll often use decidedly “non-spiritual” topics as springboards for discussion. I like Eckhart Tolle’s quote “everything can be used, but nothing is needed.” We can go through and transmute some of the stuff we encounter in day to day life that at first blush seems dense and limiting.

I anticipate that the writings will veer more towards being essays that offer the reader some for food for thought, rather than being instructional in nature. While there are certainly times for retreat,  I generally believe in facing the world and walking through it and in it. This provides a means by which to grow in your own light, and offer light to others. Participating, being the change you wish to see, as Gandhi said.

People with interests like ours can be catalysts and alchemists.

What is the Ultimate Dream for your life?

This question implies putting your better days in the future, which is tricky. In the general sense I’m already living it–I’m at peace with myself, surrounded by love, get to create and express what’s in my heart, and share with others in mutual growth and benefit. Everything else to be added is icing.

I understand that the question is a way to ask me what I value. And of how to negotiate this human life on Earth, which necessarily limits and fragments the Ultimate.

I would say then, that my dream is the same for me individually as it is for everyone else and the entire world: to be so radically present and so on fire with love that all else burns away and transforms in that.

What advice would you give to others who want to find their joy path but aren’t quite sure how to move forward?

Haha I feel funny giving advice. If someone feels blocked or in pain (and of course I do too at times), then I can only repeat what so many others have already said.

No one can give you anything, but rather provide you with clues to help you open up the box of treasures that you’re already sitting on. Be present.

When you feel pain and don’t sit with it to understand its message, then the root cause remains. The root is something imbalanced that needs your attention. It’s a signal. Do not distract yourself. Let there be times in your day when you’re not using your phone or computer or fantasizing or analyzing. Let there be entire days like that.

Breathe deeply and feel your body. Feel your being.

Be aware.

Be present.

There are a lot of “New Agey” words and phrases thrown around these days. What does The Shift mean to you?

That a way of being is becoming more prevalent. That the path of the spirit and heart is getting out there a little more, and being seen as a little less woo woo by more and more people.

It is ultimately not an attempt to spread an idea, and therefore not a religion or political ideology. Sure, there are ideas that support and fuel it, but it is really a posture, a feeling, an understanding  that animates your life. It puts such different emphases on the menu of elements that comprise a human being, while awakening what have long now been dormant elements, that any attempt to interface with it using old paradigms falls short. That, in fact, is partially why many people in what we call Western society (which really is everywhere in the world now) dismiss this stuff with that “woo woo” label.

For many people, there’s no framework, support, or language for a lot of this.

It takes such a different energetic and mental posture, that it’s actually sometimes beyond the analogy of  “speaking different languages.” It’s beyond, say, translating a poem from English to French. For some, it might as well be trying to translate a poem from English to math. There’s no common reference, no similar architecture. That is, if a person is only trying to use the intellect (which is largely how we’re all groomed of course).

I love the intellect, it’s a prime human gift, am thankful for my education, and hopefully am using it decently as I write this! But as I stated above: it’s about new balances among the elements that make you a human.

It is the heart and the intuitive mind that can initially make the leaps over the hurdles the intellect just wants to study. As they say, the intellect is a great manager, but in the grander scheme of your life’s vision, an over-cautious and ineffective CEO. So individually and collectively, we’re looking at an opportunity for a re-structuring.

Having said all that–I respond to the way people feel to me, and the heart they live with. That takes a back seat to doctrinal beliefs. While I don’t call myself any one religion and do not believe in an anthropomorphic creator-being watching over us, I’m still comfortable with the world  “God.” I mention that to say this: I’ve met people who call themselves atheists who I feel are on a very spiritual path and living a heart-based life. So in that instance, it is just a difference of language.

Your actions and lifestyle communicate your real beliefs.

What we call “spirituality” is the language and framework that resonates with me, that makes sense to me.  It’s my native tongue. But at the end of the day, I sniff out and respond to people’s hearts and spirits.

As I said, “the shift” we sometimes hear about concerns a way of being, it’s hopefully spreading, and you know it when you feel it in another. And when you don’t feel it in another, all you can do is still be your authentic self around them. A debate likely won’t change their mind, but maybe feeling your energy will open their heart.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I love hummus.

Jared Domenico is, among other things, a musician, energy healer, and communicator. His Chakra Center column, Ever Onward, often utilizes topics that are atypical to spiritual seekers as springboards to discuss transmutation and growth, and to create re-framed perspectives, more understanding, and broadened points of reference. JaredDomenico.com, which started in Feb. 2013, is where you can find him online.

Check-out his first article for Chakra Center, here.