Elemental living | Keri Krieger

February 8, 2017 by kerik_admin

2016 It’s A Wrap!

2016 A year in review.

It’s hard to believe but I don’t think I have ever done a review post before, but 2016 you were different!

It was a wholehearted year where finally I felt like I could truly (and not begrudgingly) embody my belief that life is happening FOR me not too me (or AT me as some times it has previously felt!)

It was a strange year though in the sense that I kind of felt time got stretched in all sorts of weird ways and most of year actually happened some how all crammed into the the last few months. In fact the first half of the year felt like a different year all together.

Was I alone in this?

Something quite fabulous happened around September where all of a sudden all the work and planning that felt a little bit like it could be going nowhere suddenly went EVERYWHERE!

Lets start at the beginning shall we!

The seeds for the year were planted in Dec 2015 when I attended a Violet Gray intention circle. I wrote about it here. The gorgeous Alex invited me to one of their circles where each attendee makes their own crystal bracelet and my word for the year found me. SHINE.

I wasn’t quite sure what that word had in store for me, but it felt like backing myself, being seen, confidently standing my ground and letting my light shine. To be of service in the most bold and beautiful way. Letting the truth that I have the right to take up space really take hold I put my hand up and raised my voice.

It was a theme that unravelled through out the year so beautifully. I also moved into a gorgeous new home at the end of 2015 and the first few months of this year were filled with purchasing cushions and plants so much so that many of the planned furniture purchases still haven’t happened as I keep coming home from nurseries and Bunnings with even more plants! (who actually needs a kitchen table anyway?)

2016 had its heartbreak moments that I explored in this post HERE. And as I check in with myself enjoying the spaciousness of retrospect I can see an experience that will forever leave me knowing that I can do hard things with Grace.

It certainly wasn’t the most difficult experience of my life but the wholehearted way I took care of myself, the way I honored the process and let myself be guided by the ancient wisdom I offer to my clients was a bit of a revelation. Duh I know right!?

This experience has really shaped the way I have moved forward in my life since and the unapologetic way I choose to live through this natural lens.

There were daily walks with my four legged love

Lots of Live music.

My month long festival of birthday was celebrated in my usual over the top style for most of August. Yes all month, why the heck not?

And where would I be with out the fire works that Sydney puts on every-time I come down for my Roadshow!

A review of 2016 would not be complete without a mention of the amazing women that populate my life. I spent a rich and delicious weekend at Dr Libby’s Beautiful You weekend in June. (if you have not been GO it’s even more amazing than you think it will be! )

Celebrated like it was 1999 at the book launch of Ali Hills book Stand out. (go get it!) and found myself shoulder to shoulder with so many women I admire and look up to, whether it be at events or around my kitchen table.

A deep bow to the women in my world!

Again Dec 2105 saw the start of some amazing growth in my business and coaching practice that flowed through to the rest of 2016 .There was this article on Mindful Collective.

I featured on Nicole Mathesons podcast Unbreakable. You can listen to the episode here.

I adore this women and her way of showing up in the world. It’s irreverent, and feminine and wholehearted. Conversations with her are one of my favorite things.

I spoke at the Soul Sister Circle Sessions held at Warehouse 5 on the Gold Coast. And again found myself collaborating with women I truly admire and respect. Tahlee, Jasmine and Bec the founder of SSC are creative pioneers in their fields. The magic, and power of having 100 women in a room sharing their stories is not to be underestimated.

The big decision that I made in 2016 that shaped the end of the year and is very much providing the main flavour of 2017, is the choice to attend Tigress Yoga Female Yoga Teacher Training for a whole month in Bali.

Yup a whole freakin month in Bali. And you know what people (like me and perhaps you) say, that if it’s meant to happen it will but you need to take the first step. Well I took that step, not knowing where the money or time was going to come from but just knowing deep in my bones that this work was the perfect marriage of soulful restorative practice for myself and a necessary piece of the unfolding puzzle that is my coaching practice.

So it won’t surprise you that the money of course appeared, and then some. Going to further prove (in case you need proof.. sometimes I do!) that when you are truly in alignment with something, you will be supported.

The path, whilst perhaps not paved with unicorn glitter will naturally and with a degree of ease unfold in front of you. I’m equally excited and reverent about this experience which I know will be one of great revelation to me. I’m trying to approach that mindfully although every. single. cell. in my body also wants to cartwheel at the thought of being in that tropical heat with mango and coconut awaiting my tastebuds every day!

The new year is off to a wonderful start with the birth of my second niece. Little Abigail made her way into the world on the morning of the 1st of Jan. I had hoped to be at her birth as I was with her sister, but she had other plans. So another trip to our nations capital is on the cards!

I also thought it might be fun to share my reading list for the year. And also reveal my little addiction to teen fantasy fiction…. there really is no better escapism!

Lastly, if you would like an opportunity to reflect on the year that was using the 5 elements I have a play book for you. You can find it here.

I read in no particular order ……

A Year of Yes Shonda Rhimes

Rising Strong Brene Brown

Outrageous Openness Tosha Silver

Women’s Wellness Wisdom Dr Libby

Speaking Out Tara Moss

Cross Roads of Should and Must Elle Luna

Love Warrior Glennon Melton Doyle

When Women Were Birds Terry Tempest Williams

Stand Out Ali Hill

Celeste Roland Perry Wild Wood

The Wrong Girl Zoe Foster Blake

My drug of choice is teenage fantasy fiction and I make no apologies for my behaviour! (I can inhale one of these in a single Sunday afternoon)

Garth Nix The Old Kingdom Quartet

Cassandra Clare Lady Midnight

Claudia Gray Trilogy

Blood in the Beginning Kim Falconer

The final Terry Pratchet book.

Another trilogy I read at my sisters over Xmas!

Still currently reading from 2016 A Course in Miracles

Seven Thousand Ways to Listen Mark Nepo

I know there are some I have missed but I think thats as good a start as any if you are looking for a great read!

I truly hope your new year is off to a magical start and I look forward to connecting with you across 2017

April 11, 2016July 19, 2016 by kerik_admin

The Practical Magic of Feng Shui

Art by Brandy Woods

The last few weeks have seen me re-arranging the furniture like crazy. This is a pretty normal habit for me. Seasonally I like to keep the energy in my home fresh and keep clutter from building up.

But after 3 moves in 13 months last year I was taking no chances so last week I had Feng Shui Consultant, Building Biologist and Nutritionist Kate Woods come to my house and check things out. Kate is one of the very few building biologists in the country. As corporations come to realise the link between productivity, staff health and that our environments directly impact that, this field is set to explode. And of course as an acupuncturist I wanted to make sure the energy in my house was being supported. I wanted to feel like the energy of my home was working WITH me. In acupuncture treatments we take into account the external causes of illness and these can include the obvious things like external trauma, too much heat, wind, and dampness but also other ‘pathogenic factors’. I looked at this like an acupuncture treatment for my home and couldn’t wait for Kate to work her magic. It’s an incredibly precise science, and I wondered how I would possibly measure the results.

Rituals to guide you from Breakdown to Breakthrough.

Healing Power of Ritual

Ritual is something that I have always used as a marker to honor times and places both physical and metaphysical in my life.

Ritual speaks to the deep unconscious places in us and has anchored intentions and goals for me when life has gotten hectic.

This can be as simple as a cup of herbal tea or something as elaborate as this water purification ceremony, I experienced in Bali. This Ceremony occurred whilst I was on a Tigress Yoga retreat in July last year. I went with all sorts of wild intentions, most of them unrealistic! One of them was seeing this holiday as a ritual place marker of healing and time out. The problem with this was that I had an expectation of what healing looked like.

My expectation was that I would go on this magical holiday (it was really really magical) I would have 10 incredible days off (the first 10 days of actual holiday down time in years ) and I would magically spring back like a magical elastic band version of myself. Viola! Keri 2.0. Expectations much? The reality went a little differently.

But it was EXACTLY what I needed and it was in fact just what I had been asking for. I just didn’t know it at the time because it looked a whole lot like MORE breakdown… nothing like I expected breakthrough to look at all.

It was much like this water temple purification process actually.

I don’t know about you but the idea of going to a truly ancient spring on a beach in Bali bathing in the ocean and being blessed and cleansed conjured up all sort of (unrealistic) images. Eat Pray Love has a lot to answer for, but as these images can attest I looked much more like a drowned rat than a divinely inspired Julia Roberts.

Bucket after bucket of salty spring water is tipped over your head as you are chanted over and a cup of coconut water is offered to you that, somehow in-between gasps and dunks, you are meant to mindfully ingest.

The actual blessing itself was quite like being caught in pounding surf, where you mistime the waves and get dumped trying to gasp for air before the next wave lands on your head.

Most of the time instead of feeling serene and mindful, graciously letting go and inviting in my carefully thought out intention I was just praying that I was ingesting the coconut water and not actually giving myself some deadly parasite that would plague my health into old age… I’m still not convinced that didn’t in-fact happen.

Bali TY & Water Temple 043 Bali TY & Water Temple 046-1 Bali TY & Water Temple 033

Did I feel different? Did I feel changed? Did I leave a different person?

You better believe it.

That pledge that I made to myself, the intention that I had set in action had been witnessed by the gods. Lets be honest I’m an out of the closet Pagan!

I am completely in love with the Balinese reverence to nature and beauty; these places have power if for no other reason than we believe them to.

And that is enough for me.

Rituals - Breakdown to Breakthrough

I came home and I couldn’t in all honesty continue life as I had been. Working with out rest, running from heart ache, avoiding tending to some very large wounds.

In the following months everything unravelled.

A wonderful mix of anxiety, depression, shocking cortisol levels, high testosterone, absent estrogen, exhaustion, and an overwhelming inability to leave the house, left me bewildered and wondering how on Earth I had found myself having another breakdown. Seriously?

The REALLY important thing to realise here and this realisation is only available in hindsight. Is that ALL of this was actually me breaking through. It was the last point of contraction before the process of expansion could take place. And if I hadn’t had such an amazing team of people around me, if I didn’t have all the knowledge of my own years of training I would have believed that I was getting worse. Many people indeed told me I was.

I can tell you now that I wasn’t. Things do actually get worse before they get better but not in the way we think.

It has taken a huge amount of self belief, self care and faith to trust the intuition and self awareness that reassured me in the scariest of moments that this was not under any circumstance a downward spiral.

It was the upward one.

If you find yourself in this situation, in the heat of the moment it will be hard to tell the difference.

So here I am sharing my story with you, to let you know dear reader that there will be moments when you doubt your own resurrection story that ‘something has gong wrong’ with your carefully laid plans of healing your heart and soul.

Do not doubt yourself. Surround yourself with the best team of people you can find.

I involved medical science, herbal medicine, psychology, exercise and meditation.

And above all trust your intuition.

If this post speaks to you in your journey know that help is at hand. I’m kind of a specialist guide for The Dark Night of the Soul. (No water dunking required)

I’d love to hear from you. x

in Coaching / Elemental living / Feng shui your heart / Health / Life magic 0 comments

May 19, 2015September 11, 2016 by kerik_admin

The Huntress + The Dark Night of the Soul

The dark night of the soul is something that many people have written about over centuries. The phrase itself has become synonymous with hardship and loss and quests to regain what was lost. I have written alot over the last few years about the experiences and heartache that have shaped who I now am and and most importantly the work that I now find myself devoted to.

I no longer want to tell the stories of ‘this or that’ happened.

I want to tell you how I came out the other side.

I want to tell you what worked and what didn’t.

I want you to know that there is a way through and you don’t have to go it alone.

I want to encourage you to let go of the stories that no longer serve and discover the strength that lies at the heart of your feminine darkness.

In those spaces between the knowing.

This is my story of the Huntress.

You see I’m fascinated with mythology, I always have been.

These myths date back to the beginning of time and form tapestries on the walls of our collective unconscious. The stories of Artemis and Diana in mythology show her as a moon goddess, governing the wild natures of women children and animals. She is depicted often with the crescent moon with a bow and arrow in her hand. The huntress governs the ebb and flow of our feminine cycle and it is with her by our side that we enter our dark night of the soul. Like a stroll into the woods without her guidance and fierce support do we make it out in one piece.

For this to happen we have to trust her, dance in our darkness and embrace the power and strength that quite frankly we have no clue exists until there is nothing else.

Ask a mother in child birth where she drew the strength from

Ask a wife how she knew that something just wasn’t right

Ask the artist that writes and writes where that first divine spark came from

So when I saw this archetype begin to show up in my life I new it was time. I knew that despite the exhaustion I still felt that I really was out of the woods. That somehow that part of my journey was over. That her strength and resourcefulness was somehow mine to access piece by piece.

This is what she wants me to tell you;

She wants you to listen.

She wants you to sit in the dirt in the darkness in the warm loving embrace of your fellow women.

And stop. And to put. down. your. weapons.

There is a time for fighting, for defending, for taking aim at the target in our sites, but there needs to be a time for taking refuge in safety and warmth and softness. Let us create a space for that now, before its too late. Before the heart ache of loss and let down, of disrespect and disillusionment tarnish our ability to love and trust forever.

Before we lose the learning and the magic inherent in the huntress.

Before all that is left of her magic is anger and armor and we lose the ability to be creative and spontaneous and tap into the endless wisdom of mother nature.

That is the wisdom of the huntress.

If this sings to you I would love to hear from you, comment below, or pop me an email

#huntresscollective will be an ongoing part of my coaching work and I’d love to see how she’s showing up in your world too, hashtag your courageous moments on Instagram I’d love to cheer you on!

in Coaching / Elemental living / Life magic 0 comments

March 31, 2014 by keri

Women On Fire

Its been tough.

Its been amazing .

Life has taken you to your edge more than you ever thought possible, the thoughts dreams hopes and fantasies of your youth got gritty and edgy and dirty and you thought and prayed on more than one occasion “Fuq I hope I get through this.”

Yet on the outside you looked for all the world like a woman coping with amazing adversity with grace poise and determination. The option of collapse just wasn’t on the cards there was too much riding on your success.

And even while people complemented you on your ability to get the job done, at home on your own you doubted your very ability to get up and do it all again the next morning.

You read books on self help Echart Toile and Brené Brown have been your bedtime companions, you bought yourself flowers, walked the dog fed your kids and kept the toilet paper stocked up. And Did. It all. Again. The next day.

You were hungry, you still are hungry, craving a desire for nourishment deep in your bones deep in your very soul that wakes you up every day, eyes on the horizon putting one foot in front of the other.

You gratitude prayer is your mantra, its your daily bread and butter whilst you put together that proposal and dream up the next step of your evolution.

Its been tough but the light is getting brighter, YOUR light is getting brighter.But hell it would be great to not have to do it all on your own.

A tribe, A team that has been there too. Has been there in the dark as you watched all that you knew and love vanish and yet you still drew breath.

You danced you swam, you made some very questionable decisions, repeatedly!

You learnt you experience you picked yourself up and fell down another rabbit hole!

Your not happy with the status quo, the mundane you can deal with but settling isn’t part of your vocabulary. Its not that you want lots of attention and ego stroking, just to give yourself the permission to fucking BE all that you are, permission to speak your truth and live your dharma, the role, the story, the magic that only you dear woman can sing into this world. I hear you!

The peak of your youth is just behind you, but you have never felt more at home in your body, more quietly confident, the fire in you is rising, the magic, the sex the power that is yours and only yours is simmering almost ready, you feel it yes?

I’m calling out to you women, high and low, good god I’d love to meet you how I’d love to have you on my team and share my story with you.

To sit around this virtual fireside and support each other and journey together that is my wish, is my heartfelt spiritual directive.

In ancient times we had a place, a collective and a space to weave and share and dream and birth our stories in this world. To laugh and be deliciously wicked and wild. Dear one this is such a space. Come sit and play and laugh and heal.

Healing that will set your world on fire.

in Coaching / Elemental living / Emotions / Feng shui your heart / Life magic 0 comments

March 15, 2014 by keri

Primal Po meets Modern Man

From the archives is the post all about the Po. The alchemical spirit of the lungs and how we can incorporate this ancient wisdom of the most primal aspect of ourselves into our modern worlds .

I have all these incredibly intellectual ideas and theories to share on the soma; the physical body, and its responses and how the Po is an expression of the innate wisdom of our cellular bodies. And I”m sure I’ll get to that at some point… there is an endless amount of information I can share from this elemental point of view.

What I am really feeling tonight when I think about the Po is the gentrification of the body and the senses and how thats effecting our health and our relationship with our bodies wellness. Oh is that all… the ‘gentrification’ of the body!!

The Po is experienced through our senses, taste, texture, scent, sight. Its the automatic functions of our bodies like breathing and peristalsis (digestion). Its experienced in that space between our skin (our awareness of where we start and stop) and the outside world. Its the animalistic aspects of our functioning bodies and our psyche.

Its all the bits we have no control over yet constantly inform our likes dislikes and urges.

And as highly functioning modern upright people, we have a few issues with these urges and tastes don’t we? ( This is where the gentrification bit come in ) Our minds and intellect, and our hearts and dreams would have us operating from an almost utopian platform. We have been culturally disciplined to detach and suppress the so called less attractive aspects of our bodies and minds. There is much that still today we wouldn’t dare discuss ‘in public’ . And yet much of these taboo subjects include basic bodily functions that are quite essential to our wellbeing and survival ( think poo and sex ).

So what happens when we suppress the Po and ignore the innate wisdom of our bodies and trust that connection between the body and the mind? Pain and ‘psychosomatic’ symptoms ranging from stress-related skin disorders, eating disorders and chronic undiagnosable pain.

Our bodies only ‘language’ is our nervous system and its through this system that it will try and get its messages across to us. They sound something like this.

“Hey, you up there! ” (patient pause for response) “Hey! We don’t think you should be eating that… (another patient pause) HEY!!!! (huddle together for a brain storm) I know, we’ll create some pain, that’ll do it. (patient pause) Damn it they just took a pain killer….. hmmmm Ok Ok I’ve got it, some red skin that always gets them ok GO!

Ok so this isn’t exactly scientific but you get my point. The bodies wisdom; the innate cellular wisdom, that gut feeling, intuition, or a ‘sense of knowing’, does actually need to be heard occasionally! Or, quite simply there are consequences. Now this doesn’t mean that we have to go all primal and throw out all the other functions. The other spirits have their place.

Ideally they work together. Depending on our own make up and our cultural learnings some are going to be more easily integrated than others. Myself, I live in this visceral world of experiencing life through the Po. I probably give this spirit way too much free rein! What does that look like?

Senses, texture and environment are paramount to the Metal element. There are always scented candles burning and fresh flowers and my house has always been full of animals (lets not mention the bats here ok). I work physically with peoples bodies. I have a bathroom full of more oil and lotions than any one body is ever going to be able to absorb and I spend almost more time in the ocean than on dry land. In winter this is replaced by the bath tub (Tonights blog is proudly bought to you by Embody Bath Salts). Textured cushions, natural fibres, LOTS of colour, really I could go on and on. If this sounds like you and your saying, well thats every modern woman surely, I’ll tell you sadly this is not so.

This genuine external expression of the Po is matched with an internal nourishment and respect of that animal instinct. The ability to ‘check in’ with our bodies and interpret its metaphorical language. This I believe is becoming quite a rare ability as we seek to cover up, pretty up and medicate the aspects of ourselves that we don’t like, don’t ‘fit’ or are fearful of. To bring that full circle and back to the bodies I spend my day working with, this results in disharmony. Disharmony of mind and body expressing its self in pain and inflammation of increasing severity.

As I read this I realise this really is my primary function with my treatments. To work as an interpreter for the body and to translate the pain and inflammation that my clients are experiencing so they might heal themselves. What can you do to nourish your Po? Well, any of the above is great, experiencing your senses, in what ever way is fun for you. (You don’t have to turn it into the extreme sport as I tend to do)

One of the easiest ways is to simply ‘check in’ with you body. When I think this or eat this how do I feel? more or less calm? more or less tight in my shoulders? BREATHE! yep just slowly calmly breathe. You’ll be surprised to find just how often your holding your breathe.

To finish off, here is a quote from one of my favourite books “Five Spirits” that so beautifully articulates the place I wish to take my practice.

By Lorie Eve Dechar. Lantern Books 2006

“When the acupuncture needle penetrates the surface of the skin, there is a moment of silence, an emptiness, a wondering and not knowing. When the metal needle meets the living body, there is a silence, a pause …before the tiny whirlwind spins and the qi redirects its course. For thousands of years, the intentions of healers and patients have met in that single breathless emptiness, that turning point of the soul that is the moment of transformation.

Perhaps, as we open to another form of consciousness, the present silence of our world will become that empty turning point, that breathless moment of change. Perhaps, if one by one we humans reclaim our vision of a living cosmos imbued with intention and intelligence and illuminated by wisdom, we will become like ten thousand silver needles penetrating and healing the body of the earth. Then perhaps , through healing our planet, we will heal ourselves and hear again the songs that the stones of the earth are singing to the clouds of heaven .”

in 5 elements / Elemental living / Emotions / From the Archives / Health 0 comments