Lena O’Neill Cain

Interning Teacher

Welcome Message

My Relationship with the Trillium Path
My life changed the day I was introduced to Trillium Awakening, in 2002. I had been devouring spiritual texts, practicing daily meditation and engaging in other spiritual practices for years before I joined Trillium. Due to my Highly Sensitive and empathic nature, and being a survivor of trauma, I was rapidly initiated by the potent transmission of the group of teachers and participants at my first Trillium workshop. Within the first few hours of the event, I got activated by an emotional trigger with someone there, that took me down into a deep, dark well within me, falling, falling, falling through time and space. In the coming weeks, I would return to the blackness of this inner well, and once I was able to surrender to what it needed from me, I fell into my Core Wound and experienced my Whole Being Awakening in a style that matched my naturally Shamanic style of doing this work.

Working one-on-one with teachers and mentors of this work, I have received invaluable support and guidance. I have never felt as seen, heard or “gotten”, being held lovingly and unconditionally by them, while being offered opportunities to become conscious of, and work to correct my blind spots.

My Trillium teachers, now colleagues and mentors, re-parented me through some extremely treacherous waters of my psyche. They taught me how to greenlight and liberate myself from my deepest wounds in order to heal the psychological splits that formed as a result of my traumatic childhood. This work literally loves you into Being! if you met the “me” of 2002, you would find me nearly unrecognizable.

Who Is a Good Fit for My Style of Teaching?
Students who tend to gain a lot from their work with me are empaths, Highly Sensitive, intuitive types who are passionate about spiritual practice and have a fierce desire to grow and learn in relationship. You will reap great rewards such as increased resilience, compassion for self and other, and refined nonviolent but authentic communication skills.

I use body centered (somatic) tools to help you become more attuned to your physical sensations, and increasingly aware of your emotional and mental states, which is the pathway to embodiment. I will assist you in discovering ways to quiet your mind so that you can drop more into your body and heart. I teach and encourage Mindfulness to my students which will greatly enhance your Trillium path, bringing you more agency regarding relational tensions and conflicts that inevitably arise in Mutuality.

Intimacy is one of our greatest teachers, and I enjoy assisting students with triggers that arise in close friendships, with coworkers, peers, partners, family members, and children. I have witnessed in my own life how incredible growth happens as a result of relational conflicts. I will offer you practical tools with which to work your material and to communicate in a nonviolent way, while holding firm boundaries and asking for what you need. I have graduate level training in counseling that I integrate into my work.

I offer you a playful but transformative approach to our work together, incorporating guided meditations and practical tools to help you connect with your body, yourself, the divine, and the earth in deeper ways. My teaching style is both loving and authentic. I will root you on in your evolutionary triumphs, hold you with gentleness in your tender places, and bring you real in-the-moment reflections that will help you to grow. I enjoy offering homework to students who have a desire to take their work deeper.

Supportive Practices
I have found that the use of ritual, prayer and ceremony greatly enhance this body of work. The use of intention, handing over one’s cares and worries to the divine (however you may perceive of it) and acting in a ritual space allows you to get out of your own way, make room for intuitive guidance, and receive the essence of what you are longing for.

Creativity has also been a highly transformative catalyst in the awakening process for me, and I encourage journaling, drawing, making sound, and moving in organic ways to students because these practices liberate stuck energy and bring the personality into alignment with higher will in magical ways.

About Me
I have lived my whole life in the state of Washington, and I am the youngest of 13 children. I grew up Catholic in a small coastal town here, and I identify as Queer. I have a grown Black Queer daughter who I raised as a single Mom. who currently lives in Oakland, California. I am an artist, a singer and nature photographer. I love to dance ecstatically and I have a private healing practice called “Bridge Between Worlds”, offering Shamanic and Sound Healing, Mediumship and Animal Communication, Death Doula work, House Blessings, Psychic Reading, and Soul Retrieval.

I channel spiritual downloads from my guides via sound and the written word, and use ritual and ceremony to assist clients with their life challenges and to invoke their dreams. I am a writer and poet, and I have been using journaling as a way to help bring perspective and to my life challenges since I was 6 years old.

Messages Are All Around Us!
I receive messages from spirit in my environment all the time, from billboards, song lyrics, license plates, overheard snippets of conversation, and via gifts like feathers and coins. I believe that our environment is always trying to speak to us, to bring us messages of hope and truth, and to help us deepen into our awakening process. Prayer is a main cornerstone of my spiritual practice, along with building altars for personal, community and global transformation and healing.

BLM
Black Lives Matter has a particular importance to me because my daughter is Black, and many of my partners have been black. I act as a Bridge Between the Worlds of “what it means to be Black in America” from mothering my daughter, while walking through the world with my white privilege. I plan to offer classes focused on racial awareness for Trillium students at some point.

My Disabilities
I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) and I have discovered ways to heal significantly from it, and I have multifaceted support in place for the challenges that still accompany this disorder. I also have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (or MCS). Both of these diagnoses contain within them beautiful gifts.

If you have a sense we may be a good fit to work together, please contact me to set up a complimentary 30 minute consult @ lenaoneillcain@gmail.com

Many Blessings!
Lena