Holistic Healing

Before a 6-foot metal locker fell on her in 1986, Laurie Levine was training to be a nurse specializing in spinal rehabilitation. But the freak accident, which pinned her beneath the locker and caused permanent injury, drastically altered her career path.

While searching for natural therapies, she took courses in the spiritual healing practice of reiki, as well as acupressure, cranial sacral therapy, pain and stress management, massage therapy--you name it, she took it. She also became a master practitioner of neurolinguistic programming, a hybrid of linguistics and hypnosis that studies how people influence each other in subconscious ways.

The accident “was a major message from God, saying, ‘You’re in the wrong profession,’ ” Levine said recently during a phone interview from her parents’ home in the San Fernando Valley. Heeding the message, she moved to Australia and started her life over at age 30.

In the ensuing 13 years in Australia, she has taught holistic health in workshops and private sessions, had her own radio program and written a newspaper column, and is a key contributor to Australia’s largest women’s Internet community site: https://Womenzone.com.au. She also produced the first in-flight relaxation program for Qantas Airlines.

Combining what she has learned about the mind-body-spirit connection, Levine wrote “Spiritual Medicine: Transform Your Health, Life and Relationships” (Frog Ltd., $14.95). She will be at Barnes & Noble in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday to discuss some of her healing methods.

“Love is what spiritual medicine is about--that’s the whole essence,” Levine said. “ ‘Simple’ is the key word for me now in everything I do and everything I teach. I believe we make our lives way too complicated.”

Her book defines the term “spiritual” as a person’s connection to the essence of love in its purest form. Medicine is defined as a healing agent--anything that takes the body and mind out of stress and pain and uplifts the spirit.

The main premise of Levine’s book is that the answers are within people. In workshops and private sessions, she said she teaches people how to tune into themselves and understand their bodies.

As for her own well-being, Levine said she meditates and prays regularly--and she feels the difference when she doesn’t. Science of Mind principles guide her prayers; that is, pray as if you already have it, pray as if it is already done, pray as if everything we need is given to us.

“Whatever we put out there is what we end up creating,” she said. “Most of the time it’s more fear. I guess my job now is to help people release the fear and get back to a place of absolute health and love and joy inside themselves. Why we are here is to remember who we are: that we are love. Somewhere down the line, amnesia sets in and we forget it; we have to pull the veil of amnesia off ourselves and we’ll start to remember.”

Her next book, already in the works, will be “Spiritual Diet.” You can visit https://www.spiritualmedicine.net for more information.

HAPPENINGS

* Today: 10:30 a.m. Reading Rainbow Storytime features stories from the PBS series. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 160 S. Westlake Blvd., 446-2820.

* Sunday: noon. Tim Cockey will discuss and read “Hearse of a Different Color.” Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 374-0084.

* Sunday: 7 p.m. Poetry night will featured Clyde A. Wray reading from his new collection, “Unswayed She Came.” Open mike follows. Borders, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 497-8159.

* Tuesday: 9:30 a.m. Preschool story time features poetry with Shel Silverstein’s “Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?” and “A Giraffe and a Half.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., 339-9170.

* Tuesday: 4:30 p.m. People and Places will focus on Japan. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. Monthly poetry workshop. Thousand Oaks Borders, 497-8159.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. Laurie Levine will discuss and sign “Spiritual Medicine.” Thousand Oaks Borders, 497-8159.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. Classical music is featured in a monthly series of talks hosted by Adrian Spence, artistic director of Camerata Pacifica. Tonight, the life and music of Mozart. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Wednesday: 8 p.m. Poetry workshop for published poets and beginners. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Friday: 7 p.m. “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” and other Dr. Seuss favorites will be read during Read Across America, which celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Thousand Oaks Borders, 497-8159.

Plan Ahead: From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 10, Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library will sponsor its tri-annual used-book sale at the Newbury Park Branch, 2331 Borchard Road. The sale also offers CD-ROMs, videotapes, record albums and DVDs. Visit https://www.ftol.org for more information.

Information about book-signings, writers groups and publishing events can be e-mailed to anns40@aol.com or faxed to 647-5649.