Imagine sitting in a comfortable chair. A fire dances in the fireplace, background music plays softly, a hint of roses wafts the air, a fountain gently flows, and beside you is a table filled with sparkling crystals. Where is this serene and peaceful environment? At Sharon Kufeldt's healing home office in Incline Village.

Sharon is a gifted healer. She has training in multiple modalities including as a clinical, childbirth, sports, pain management and certified medical hypnotherapist, certified past life therapist, Trager Psychophysical Integration (bodywork) practitioner, massage therapist, interfaith minister, spiritual counselor, certified bereavement counselor with the American Academy of Bereavement, and Reiki Master Teacher. She has been doing healing energy work with herself and clients for the past 25 years.

Sharon regularly works with clients on putting more soul into their workplace and life.

"All my life, I have been sensitive to energy. While studying Cultural Anthropology and after burning out from a stressful job, I expanded my interest in alternative forms of healing and spirituality," Sharon explains.

She had been working as a software developer in Silicon Valley.

Sharon notes, "I was working in an environment that was extremely stressful. During a six month period, I had four major life stressors, surgery, my mother died, I graduated from college, and was separated from my husband of 13 years. Within the year, I quit my corporate job and began studying healing.

"In 1973, my husband had a skiing accident and injured his back. After six weeks of taking painkillers and being immobile, I decided to work on his back. In two days, he was up and around. In five days, he was out of pain. And in two weeks he was skiing. I started having a lot of experiences like that."

She then moved to Getting In Touch, a holistic community in the Santa Cruz Mountains where she began training with Dr. Milton Trager and obtained her massage certification. Along the way she received further training in hypnosis (which she had been doing since 1975). She also began taking classes at the Berkely Psychic Institute, did the minister training program, and started teaching psychic awareness tools on staff for several years. She developed and taught PMS and Menopause Self Help seminars with Dr. Susan Lark and at local community colleges and health centers. Since then, she has taken many classes, workshops, and experiential seminars as part of her self-directed ongoing training.

"I was very good at what I was doing and they paid me a lot of money, but I worked 60-80 hours a week. I quit working with computers for the money because it didn't satisfy me anymore and I fell into doing my life's work, step by step. The opportunity to work with my clients is very powerful for me. There isn't anything else that I could do that can come close," Sharon declares.

"Now I teach people how to create the most happiness they can in their life. That's an inner thing. No matter what work someone does, when they bring all of themselves to that work with integrity, then they are bringing soul to their work.

"It's a process of tuning into yourself and others and making yourself more conscious instead of less conscious. When you look for the meaning and make an inner connection to that which is more, whatever spirituality is for you, then you are connecting with your soul.

"To me soul is presence, being present right here right now. It's also about choosing to be where you are, choosing to interact as fully as possible. And soul is also appreciating beauty, looking for the good where you can find it, and being honest with yourself and others."

Sharon emphatically proclaims. "I like to tell my clients, bloom where you are planted or else move!"

Here are some pointers about burnout.

"Burnout is an extreme state of distress that has manifested in dis-ease... mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual. It is most often associated with work although it can be from any aspect of life such as caring for children, elderly, or spouse. It is the product of over-focus, usually of a stressful situation. We get overextended and can no longer recover our balance. Stress will eventually manifest in disease, such as high blood pressure, depression, ulcers, heart disease, cancer, etc. You can burnout even doing something you love."

How does it happen?

"We get out of balance. We lose sight of what is important to us. We lose our own sense of power and choice. We don't think we have the time or priority to attend to our own wellness. Given enough stress, everything will eventually break. Sometimes things crumble a bit first, sometimes it's total. Warning signs are high blood pressure, chronic fatigue or stroke...or an instantly fatal heart attack or suicide."

What can we do about it?

"First, prevention is most important. Then, recovery from early stages takes less than recovery from more advanced stages. Sometimes there is no recovery, just dealing with the consequences. Or, more precisely, someone else dealing with the consequences for you."

How do we prevent burnout?

"Nourish yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Create a balance in your life that can sustain your chosen lifestyle. If you cannot sustain, change what you must until you can sustain it. Extend your support network to ease the distress as much as possible. Nourish yourself when and where you can. Return to balance as soon as possible.Balance is about having all areas of life working together supportively, not perfectly."

How do we become more balanced?

"This depends on how, why, and how far out of balance you are. Generally, look at: Do I get enough sleep? Exercise? Healthy food and water? Nutritional support? Emotional support? Spiritual support? Re-creation? Are my relationships functioning well? Seek whatever assistance you need.

"Next, get clear about your personal values and priorities. Make sure you know what is important to you and why. Then, make choices that bring you in line with these values and support your priorities. Come to realize that you don't exist in a vacuum. What you do affects others. Others affect you. Be willing to listen and receive from coworkers, friends and those that love you. Give of who you are in ways that foster you and others to feel good.

"Remember that life is about change. You are the most important agent in your own health and wellness. It is ultimately up to you to make the choices to create a healthy, balanced, vibrantly alive, meaningful, fun, and happy life. This is a continuous, moment by moment process. Every step, choice, thought makes a difference."

People experiencing burnout feel powerless, stuck, can't see a way out, and their choices seem nonexistent. Handling these feelings and stress before they get out of control is crucial.

"We all have a certain amount of stress we function with well. Some stress is important to keep us engaged in life. When we get more stress than we can easily handle, we lose our sense of perspective. Eventually, we see everything as stressful. If this continues for a long time, then we reach the burnout stage."

Symptoms of burnout include nervousness, anxiety, anger, insomnia, TMJ distress, major weight gain or loss, depression, frequent illness, headaches, relationships failing, suicidal or homicidal thoughts, extreme irritability, wanting to run away, wanting to destroy something, no sense of priority, everything's an emergency, less productivity with longer hours and feeling trapped.

How do we prevent stress?

"Let's suppose you're at work and you notice that you're snapping at your coworkers, boss, or clients or seething inside. These are signs that something is wrong. Immediately, when you notice your behavior, take three deep slow breaths. Then, when you can, get yourself out of the workplace physically. Take a break. Go some place private - outside, bathroom, conference room, sit in your car, or the break room. Check in with yourself. Ask two important questions: How am I feeling and what do I really want? You may be feeling trapped, resentful, angry, that you don't matter, everything is your responsibility, no one else wants to get this project done, or it's all too much and I want to get out of here. Honor all of your feelings without judging them. It's healthy to feel them. Feelings are messengers from your body to your mind. You can feel them without acting out toward others. It's OK to scream in your car. In fact, sometimes it feels really good. Breathing helps here too. Deep slow breaths. Touch your face, massage your shoulders until you feel calmer and more centered.

"Then ask yourself what you really want. Go deeper than the obvious of wanting to do something destructive. What I really want is more respect, more control over my work, to work 40 hours instead of 80, to feel recognized and appreciated, to make my work more meaningful, more money, to keep my job to pay the bills, to find a new job or career, or to take a vacation.

"Now, what you can do this instant, is choose one way you can take care of yourself when returning to work. If you're still in crisis, take time out immediately for a walk or lunch. Put a do not disturb sign on your desk or door. Delegate some work. Set up a meeting with your boss or staff. Call a friend. You can also make a commitment to yourself to get support and begin to work through the longer term changes you want to make."

Here are some "do it yourself" healing techniques:

Deep slow breathing can ease anxiety and distress - breathe fully into your belly and out fully for 3-12 breaths.

Place your hand over your heart and connect with a memory of giving or receiving love and let this feeling expand.

Connect to nature every day in a way that nurtures your soul and your senses.

Sharon teaches individuals how to develop their own intuitive, psychic awareness and healing skills. And she teaches stress reduction classes in corporations and medical centers and does classes, retreats and workshops on request.

"I bring all of who I am to my work and I also bring all the tools I have learned and developed, such as my psychic skills of awareness, intuition, and my ability to work with energy and spirit," Sharon clarifies.

Sharon is a facilitator, and a catalyst for other people's healing, personal growth and development.

"Transformational hypnosis is a wonderful tool that can be crafted to work with many varieties of change and arenas of healing. Most importantly, I bring my presence and compassion."

Each healing session is unique and Sharon never knows what to expect. "What happens is a client comes to me for a reason, such as they want to stop smoking. But when you change a habit or anything else about yourself, there is a root cause that needs to be healed before the change can happen. So we work on that aspect and I have had virtually a 100% success rate with helping people stop smoking.

"People also come to me for what I call a spiritual emergency. They are becoming aware that maybe they have everything they thought they wanted in life but they're still not happy. Usually what's missing is the spiritual aspect of their life, the meaning, and I try to help them find their own path to their own spiritual expression."

She offers a wonderfully eclectic healing practice.

"It's not about being a technician, it's about creating a healing space for whatever that person needs. I think the most important thing about being a healer is being present with the person, and working with the process that most meets that person's current needs," she believes.

"The healing process is a living creative thing. Healing does not have to be painful. Healing can be joyful, empowering, fun, and even playful. Wellness is about being OK with yourself in the world."

Working with energy includes color, sound, aroma, touch, thought, all the senses, movement, and light. Sharon uses as broad a spectrum as possible to support the shift. She loves to work with people of all ages.

"I feel very honored to do my work. I am grateful for the gift and the opportunity to share it. One of my goals is to teach people how to heal themselves deeper, easier, more effectively. Each session I do is a teaching session and a healing session. I always give homework. It's usually fun.

"I love this work because I love to see people empowered and creating a happier, healthier more prosperous life and I think everything can be healed given effective support. I make a difference every day and that feels good.

"One benefit of bringing your soul to work is whatever you do can be more fulfilling," she concludes.

Sharon divides her time between Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Palo Alto, California and has clients all over the country. She also helps people establish a healthy nurturing environment in their home, does telephone support, energy healing and spiritual counseling. Call Sharon at 775-833-1947 or Email: kufeldt1@earthlink.net. Website at http://sites.netscape.net/tahoehealer/homepage.

Sue Hecht is a published writer/editor, poet and PR specialist, originally from New York, now living in northern Nevada. Through her business Publicity Plus, she helps artists, authors, alternative health care practitioners, integrative and/or complementary doctors, renewable energy professionals, business owners, and "light workers" to claim their more than 15 minutes of fame. She teaches seminars, classes and workshops, and does professional speaking on personal growth topics, writing, publicity, getting published, and creativity enhancement.  She also offers intuitive counseling and writing coaching, and has interviewed Dr. Patch Adams, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Ralph Nader, and others. Contact her at 775-881-2035 or email: suemagic5@yahoo.com or visit her website at:
http://www.freeyellow.com/members2/suepr/page1.html

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