MELANIE’S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

When Melanie was introduced to yoga and meditation in 2010, an accidental kundalini awakening—also known as a spiritual emergency or a shamanic initiation—was triggered right during her very first yoga class. Totally unprepared, she underwent an ongoing series of non-ordinary states of consciousness: from seeing spirit and hearing voices to having visions and out of body experiences. Having grown up in a very conservative environment, this turned her life upside down; eventually leading to total transformation in terms of beliefs, world views, and values.

As a writer and a public speaker, Melanie is dedicated in sharing her experiences in order to help others awaken to the bigger picture of life and to raise awareness of spiritual emergencies, which, especially in Western societies, is often misdiagnosed as psychotic.

Melanie is delighted to be featured in The Light: A Book of Knowing, amongst contributors such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dada J.P. Vaswani, Anita Moorjani, Dr. Bruce Lipton PhD, Joe Vitale, Jeff Foster, Kute Blackson, and Deva Premal and Miten. Further, she is published in Experiences from the Light; both books presented by Keidi Keating. She is also a blogger for The Huffington Post, US.

EARLY YEARS

Born and raised in Germany, Melanie studied classical ballet according to the syllabus of the Royal Academy of Dance, London, passing her Intermediate examination with honors. At the age of seventeen, she became a merit scholarship student at the Gus Giordano Dance Center, Chicago, where she was educated in American jazz-dance, ballet, modern, tap, and hip hop. For over ten years, she has been passing on her knowledge by teaching young dance students in the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain.

After a series of injuries, Melanie quit dance and founded the label Philly & Moe, under which she designed and manufactured dog apparel and accessories. Philly & Moe collaborated with a dog shelter in the Spanish province of Granada, using the shelter dogs as models as a contrast to what is usually seen in canine fashion and with the aim of finding them a loving forever home. Philly & Moe’s designs were available in pet boutiques worldwide and were chosen for Disney’s movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Philly & Moe closed its production in 2011.

Today, Melanie lives on the Island of Møn, Denmark.

WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY?

A spiritual emergency—also known as a spiritual crisis, shamanic initiation, or kundalini awakening—is a mostly temporary phase in which one undergoes a series of sudden ‘spiritual experiences’ or non-ordinary states of consciousness. These experiences range from hearing mysterious voices, having past life or/and future visions, out of body experiences, near death experiences, communicating with spirit guides, the body or psyche being invaded by a foreign entity (good or evil); just to name a few.

Those experiences go far beyond normal psychic abilities. They happen in such intensity that the affected person is, in most cases, unable to follow through with every day life. Consequently, the loss of job or friends is not unusual.

There is a vast variety of triggers for such an emergency like disease, an accident, the loss of a loved one, the ending of a relationship (love or work related), traumatic emotional experiences, but also deep meditation, and spiritual or yogic practices, for example.

Amongst some societies, it is believed that those affected by such an emergency are highly sensitive beings, chosen by spirit for a higher calling, such as becoming a shaman or healer. However, the Western world has very little knowledge and experience with spiritual emergencies and thus often falsely diagnoses it as psychotic. As a sad consequence, many people suffering from a spiritual emergency are treated in clinics today, where they are given heavy drugs to suppress their symptoms—the visions they are having and the voices they are hearing et cetera.

While being caught in a spiritual emergency, it is important to have someone experienced by your side for guidance. Although it is an extremely frightening and difficult time to go through, it is also a blessing in disguise that eventually brings profound healing and total transformation.

Where to Find Help

www.spiritualemergencenetwork.org

FURTHER HELPFUL SITES

Integrative Mental Health for You: www.imhu.org

Crazywise: www.crazywisefilm.com

LITERATURE

Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis — by Stanislav Grof, M.D. & Christina Grof