I am honored to feature one of my fellow authors in “Pearls of Wisdom:  30 Inspirational Ideas to Live Your Best Life Now!”  I first met Renee several years ago at WeCare spa in Palm Springs where she was working as a Shaman healer.  I had never met a Shaman before.  I sort of expected a Native American man with a wool shawl and rattle.  Renee does have a wool shawl and a rattle, as I eventually discovered, but here was this hippy athletic sage with baskets full of fashion magazines and an unflappable desire to drill straight to the heart of the matter.  Renee brings her diverse personal experience as a woman and a chef to her grounded, practical approach to reuniting people with their own inner magic.  

I’ll never forget her first medicine for me.  She gave me a dried husk of corn.  She said, “Remember to reconnect to the Earth.”  That was exactly what I needed at that time.  I still have my husk of corn as a reminder that no matter where I wander, the Earth is my support and my home.

Renee’s chapter in the Pearls of Wisdom collection is “Creativity:  The Recipe for Awakening.”  Renee shares her very personal breaking point when her mistaken beliefs began to crumble and she soon realized that a key to personal freedom is getting creative.

Here are some questions I had for Renee:

 1.      How did you get into this collection of inspiration with folks like Jack Canfield?

I was among the top 25 finalists in The Next Top Spiritual Author competition, emerging from a field of over 2,500 candidates from around the world. I was asked to submit a chapter by the publisher.

 2.      What is your chapter about?

Creativity; a recipe for Awakening is about combining leftovers with new fresh ingredients to restore passion in one’s life. 

 3.      What do you think makes this book unique and who would want to read it?

It is an anthology featuring the new voices of the Awakening Movement.

 4.       What kind of wisdom do you have to offer the reader?

I have walked through the fire  and my experience can shave off years of hard work as evidenced in the work I do with clients. Do not burn your feet, but read these pearls.

 5.      The publisher promises that the authors such as yourself are “up and coming” leaders in self-help.  How does the publisher know this and what is your expertise in “self-help”?

In 2010, my healing memoir, The Shaman Chef; How cooking saved my life (scheduled for publication in autumn 2013), placed me among the top 25 finalists in The Next Top Spiritual Author competition, emerging from a field of over 2,500 candidates from around the world.

 6.      Most people know about Jack Canfield from the Chicken Soup books and Marci Shimoff from her Happy book … How would you like your readers to think of you?  What is your “signature niche”?

The Practical Shaman; a no-nonsense down to earth practitioner who shifts and awakens consciousness.

 7.      We often hear that the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – how does that proverb apply to the 30 authors in this book?

We are building and launching a new thought movement.

 8.      What is your most central and compelling “pearl of wisdom”?

Presence is key to your happiness.

 9.      How can our readers/listeners find you?

http://practicalshamantravel.com

 Renee Baribeau is a mentor, healer, coach, teacher, and writer.  Over the past fifteen years, she has trained with a long list of traditional shamans and modern-day mystics. She has received rites of passage from Q’ero elders in Peru and a Mapuche shaman in Chile, and apprenticed with a Lakota elder in Southern California for nine years. A graduate of the Healing the Light Body two-year program with the Four Winds Society, she then studied directly with Jose Luis Herrera. She has also received the healer’s blessing from Swami Kaleshwar.  renee@thepracticalshaman.com  http://practicalshamantravel.com

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