As we've seen time and again, "love thy neighbor" is often easier said than done. Even for the most spiritual people among us, it would seem... One highly annoyed woman recently shared how her daily life has been disrupted by a lady next door. All was going swimmingly until the new resident started holding "mindfulness sessions" for clients in her garden and took aim at the woman's washing.
The energy healer claimed the sight and smell of her neighbor's "common" laundry was interfering with her clients' chakra alignment. But the woman didn't take it lying down. What began as a few peaceful chants escalated into full-blown spiritual warfare, and a formal complaint to the council. Now the woman is wondering if she overreacted. Bored Panda reached out to spiritual healing facilitator Tasmyn Lenders from New Earth Healing to find out her thoughts on the matter.
One would like to think that a new spiritual neighbor could possibly bring some zen to your surroundings
Image credits: Marcus Aurelius / Pexels (not the actual photo)
But the exact opposite happened when one woman's neighbor began holding "mindfulness sessions" in the garden next door
Image credits: Dziana Hasanbekava / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: CouncilSally1
An expert breaks down chakras, misalignment and spiritual healing
Image credits: Andrej Lišakov / unsplash (not the actual photo)
Tamsyn Lenders tells Bored Panda she went through a traumatic experience that triggered an intense spiritual awakening in 2022. "The day after, I was a completely changed person," she says. "I would say that my soul transcended my ego and I saw myself for the very first time. I knew, deep down, that what I had experienced would become a catalyst for helping others navigate their own trauma and healing journeys."
Lenders says a spiritual healer is someone who offers a frequency that helps others match or raise their own. "It’s about facilitating healing, providing deep insights, and supporting clients as they move through blockages to become the best version of themselves," she explains. Lenders likes to think of herself as a healing facilitator rather than a healer. "I don’t see myself as a glorified healer but as someone who assists through various modalities like hypnosis, Reiki, quantum healing, and Kundalini activation."
Before discussing the neighbor drama, we asked Lenders what chakras are. She explains that they're energy centers located along the spine. "They create a connection between our energetic and physical systems. Chakras receive and transmit life force energy throughout the body, allowing the body to function at its optimal levels. Chakras play a vital role in maintaining balance and our overall well-being."
She tells us that chakras spin to function, ensuring that energy circulates properly throughout the body. "When all the chakras are spinning well and functioning harmoniously, they are considered aligned," adds Lenders. "However, chakras can become overactive or underactive, leading to misalignment."
The expert says misalignment can happen for many reasons—trauma, unbalanced or repressed emotions, unhealthy lifestyle habits, and negative thought patterns. It’s often not just one thing, but a combination of factors that disrupts their balance.
Can the sight and smell of laundry really affect the chakras? A spiritual healing facilitator answers
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Of course, we want to know whether certain sights and smells, like laundry on a washing line, can affect the alignment of chakras... "Yes, chakras most certainly can be affected by smells," says Lenders. "A lot of energy healers use essential oils to activate certain energy centers or enhance treatments." She says that laundry detergent could potentially affect the chakras in a more subtle and indirect manner, because there a lot of synthetic chemicals and artificial scents used in them.
"However, if not directly exposed to the detergents, this will have less effect on the chakras or the general well-being of the person," adds Lenders. "Many things contribute to the misalignment of the chakras, not only a dose of laundry detergent. Chakras become misaligned over time with many different situations and things."
So what's this expert's opinion on the woman's post? "As a healing facilitator who has chosen to live in a community of properties, my take is that I cannot control the actions of others around me," she tells us. "I am respectful of their spaces and their needs, as I expect them to be of mine. We are co-creating and it is important to bring elements of love, respect and peace. I do not only see things from my perspective, but also the perspectives of others."
Lenders says she sometimes holds sessions with clients in her own home. "I would never expect my neighbors to not hang their washing up on the line because it is their own space and I respect that," she adds. "I would say that both parties have agreed to live in a community-based living space, so they need to respect each other and their needs."
The expert believes the woman running the meditation circle hasn't been sensitive to her neighbor's needs, and says she would advise the neighbor to arrange a meeting to discuss how she feels. "She very well may end up with her very own blocked throat chakra if she doesn’t," Lenders says, only half-joking. "It’s so important to speak up about how we feel and to address things. I always say we need to respond not react in these moments."
"If the woman running the meditation circle has been on her own healing journey, and worked through a lot of her triggers, she would be open to addressing things," adds Lenders. "She would be able to see things from a different perspective and to not only be thinking of her own needs."
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