Join us for a trip from Peru to Costa Rica with our guest, Teri Nehring.

Teri has been a licensed therapist for over 35 years and has trained in many complementary alternative and holistic modalities. She immersed herself in learning Reiki, Breathwork, Brainspotting and the shamanic arts. It is her passion to weave their wisdom, teachings and practices into her therapeutic work.

Her journey led her to Peru 15 years ago to find and work with authentic indigenous masters of living energy throughout the Andes and the Rain Forest. She traveled for numerous years in her quest to advance her own knowledge and understanding of how to work with energy and plant medicine. She now leads several groups a year to Peru and hosts groups in Costa Rica to share in ancestral wisdom and practices. 

Teri currently resides in Costa Rica with her husband Pol and four furry children. She and Pol feel blessed to own and operate Villa Inti Wasi (House of the Sun).  A catalyst and retreat center where all can feel welcomed, safe, and loved while in the process of their own evolution and transformation. 

In this episode, Teri Nehring discusses her experiences of understanding and working with energy, and highlights her connection to Peru and the spiritual teachings she has received there. Teri understands her mission has been to be a bridge with the shaman brothers she shares about in the podcast. She is helping people connect to spread the word that healing skills can be learned and taught. She also recounts some of the life-changing moments she has experienced, all of which have led her to embrace a life of less stress and more creativity in Costa Rica. 

Teri and Cherie want you to know there is a class being taught in February to learn more about working with energy. Visit https://livinginnerhappiness.com/

Want to know how you can begin your journey to hope and healing? Visit Elevated Life Academy for classes and free resources for personal development and healing. 

Resources

Add any links or sources used or referenced in the episode.

Villa Inti Wasi

https://livinginnerhappiness.com/

Cherielindberg.com

elevatedlifeacademy.com

15 years? It's been a long time. Yeah, close. I remember the first time I met you, I had just come back from Peru and found out that you lived there for a year. And then we met up again when I went to Oneida Nation and did a training and reestablished our connection there.

So since then, I would say it's been a whirlwind. So feel free to share about, your journey. I would love to hear your mission here on earth.

talking about one's mission in life is wonderful because it's a great opportunity to help other people understand what you're up to out of a mission for most people come opportunities, support, all kinds of things. It's really beautiful to know one's mission in life.

in my experience, many people spend a lifetime trying to figure out what that is. So I feel truly blessed because I've known what my mission is for quite some time. And it's just been all of the interchanges to support the mission and to be able to get to the mission full time. And so what I want to say to anybody out there who on the podcast listening if you have a mission, the most best advice that I can give is that you need to be open.

Because it may not go exactly the way that you see it in your mind, and you may spend a lot of time doing other things while you're working toward your mission. It's important. It's come to you for a reason. And if you can withstand the challenges,

it can be a really beautiful thing. I've had a very colorful and blessed life, especially in the last 15 years. My mission really began 15 years ago when I made my first trip to Peru and I didn't even realize it was a mission at that point.

I was just going because I felt the call. And the first time when I landed, I will never forget that day because all of the smells and everything just came rushing in and the tears started to roll. I've been here many times before, and from that first trip, there was this knowing, maybe not being very cognizant of it at the time, but in the back of my mind, there was this knowing that this wasn't going to be my last trip going back to Peru. And so as part of my journeys to Peru, my mission became to find authentic people to work with and believe me, I spent quite a few years spending a lot of money. And I don't want to say, or have a sour note about it because all learning is important.

it takes us to the next juncture. And many times it's the catalyst. And so I was always reminding myself. As I was going along in my journey, really trying to find authentic, genuine people who were sincere and who really wanted to share their wisdom, because when we look many times at different cultures, number one, it's not always okay to share that wisdom if you're outside of the culture.

And number two, because of what happens in many cultures, there's a lot of hesitation about the what if we begin to share that information with people. And when I first met the brothers, I started working with the brothers probably four years into trips. And when I first met them especially brother Tupac, he's on the highest level of spiritual leadership that one could be on in Peru, and there are only a few left. There are other younger ones, but it takes 20 to 30 years to reach these levels of understanding and mastery. And when I first started working with them, I was very determined that I was going to continue. Not only because of the help that I got from them when I first started going to Peru.

I had started the work in my healing journey. when I first met brother Tupac, I didn't speak a lick of Spanish, but when his arms came around me, I, heard through his words. That he was going to help me heal. it was like a window opened and a summer breeze came in and it was so joyful not only to hear that, but to feel that and for it to be sincere.

And so started a long relationship with both of the brothers. I had met Tito at the airport and instantly he and I had a connection. he was very creative, a businessman. And so I knew, I knew he and I would probably make some connections for other things. Brother Tupac was the wild card.

But after four years of pursuing and going on journeys and really working out a relationship, that trust started to build. it was really important for people to have access to them. To me, they were like, the rough gem and I felt lucky to be able to find them.

And what was beautiful is that they openly shared everything. They didn't put reserves on things or say, I'm only going to show you this. They were willing to give all of it and for somebody who has a medicine bundle or a me side, it's very important to understand how to work with it.

So when I felt that trust level begin, and I was learning as much as I was learning, my mission really became to help them to get out of the woods and into society. Cause many of the indigenous people in Peru live way up in the mountains there's not a lot of electricity.

They don't have the access that we have. And so I really felt that my mission was to help to get them discovered by people. when I started back on a spiritual path, wasn't a real popular thing. now it's become more widespread.

more embraced people are exploring their spirituality. But I knew that the forefront work had to be completed. a huge part of my mission, was starting to bring people to Peru to meet with them and to work with them.

And it started with people who had kipus which is the original Quechuan word for a medicine bundle. And now, with Cherie and some other folks, it has expanded to bringing, in therapists, doctors, nurses, healers, people that are working with other people so that they can really understand the principles of energy and to really begin to embrace that everything is driven by energy.

the more that we understand energy, especially the subtle ones. The easier time, in our lives, our health, our mental health, well being our emotional well being our spiritual well being, but also for our clients because we're interfacing in energies all the time. And the biggest thing that I started to see was that not many people understood energy, or even knew how to see it, or to see how it moves in a body.

And what I'm here to say to all of you, which is also part of this mission, is that it's not rocket science. Many times I found myself envious of people of these great spiritual gifts that I didn't have. I do have many spiritual gifts.

over time, these skills are learnable. we can master these spiritual skills of hearing, seeing, feeling, if we put the time and the effort into it. So that also became part of the mission

As we're interfacing with energies, especially those subtle ones, they're sneaky and so they find their ways into little nooks and crannies. And then oftentimes I can only speak for therapists because that's my experience. I found myself many times feeling more and more depressed, feeling more tired, feeling less creative, I thought maybe it was just because I was doing too much work, but the other part that I didn't realize as I started to learn was that energy played a huge part and that I was carrying around a lot of energy from other people and just like a weight.

It just kept weighing me down, and we know that the body keeps the score, so to speak, and over time we feel the pain, So it wasn't until I really began working with the brothers and making several trips to Peru each year that I was able to start learning about energy and how to protect myself. How to move energy, how to see energy coming at me from other people, and how in a discreet way that I could interface with people, not necessarily touching them. Keeping a little bit of a distance, but a healthy one where, I could protect my energy fields became really important to me because I was having these symptoms. So that was a part of the mission. And I stayed with that mission and then mission has absolutely changed over time. As little by little I tend to be in a hurry.

And so the brothers always say poco poco, which is little by little, and they always used to keep saying to me, don't worry, little by little things will happen. I wanted it yesterday. So the culmination of everything that has started to happen has really evolved. I would say over 13 years of time I feel like this is the time and things are going to happen and people are open and they're ready. When I started, many people weren't ready for this.

And of course, I was some crazy white woman who was hiking up in mountains. You know, and all kinds of things the shamarama woman is what I used to get called the witch doctor, all these crazy things. then Paul and I hit a point in our life. I was renting a space in her building from her and all of a sudden out of the blue came this opportunity to move to Costa Rica. And what was really interesting is that one thing for me that's always guided me in my life with energy is when things fall into place, I know that I, I need to go or do whatever is falling into place.

It's almost like somebody giving you something on a golden platter and saying, here, do something with this. And so I knew that going to Costa Rica, we were getting a call to go to Costa Rica. And so Paul and I packed everything up and we went. And I can honestly say for the last probably eight years of my life because you need to be in this mindset in order to do these types of things.

I got rid of a lot of my fears around money and scarcity. I learned to trust that whatever information I was getting was correct, There were times when I would ask for confirmation and it does build our confidence in our information that we're receiving through our spiritual gifts.

So, I was sure when I got this call to go to Costa Rica, this is the plan. my life changed when I got over the fear of money So what I always say when I'm teaching or talking to people is when spirit calls, I just answered the call.

I'd have my backpack ready, my suitcase ready. I've made. many trips to Peru that were not planned There are certain signs that I get, and I know it's time. I'm being called to go. And so to live one's life that way can be challenging, but it can also be really for me, it has been very rewarding. So I'm really happy even with all the challenges. I try to look at things as I'm learning as I go. And I think that's just going to be the rest of my life. I'm never going to know it all. I will know some. And, when I pass into the next dimension, it's going to be a set of new learning. So from coming to Costa Rica, the mission became I needed to have a space that people could come to. the message that I got was Costa Rica was the bridge to Peru. It was also the bridge to the United States. And I knew that I was A bridge. And so that also fit in with my mission.

All of it came together because think about what a bridge does. It, it connects things. And I knew that a big part of my work was connecting people to people, people to places, And so I just followed that thread,

I honestly wouldn't change anything about the journey that I've had. And now more than ever, that mission that we talked about, has become really important. I'm going to be 58 this year. Hopefully I live a nice long life, but I never bank on anything. And with some deaths in my life, I've always been very cognizant of the last couple of years when people have passed away.

It always brings me to a space of my life doing a life review and what do I want to do at this point So moving to Costa Rica, and now these messages started to come about really helping people to understand energy and being in integrity with connecting people with the wisdom.

That they needed and could give it to them in a way that they could hear it that they could understand it and that they could begin to practice it. And so those were all of the messages that started to come for me in the last couple months, I've been doing this all along. now, the focus has moved from the people who carry the Mises and the Kipus.

We have lots of people who carry that, and there's always room for more folks, if it's something that you feel called to. the most important thing. has been being able to connect with this new mission we need to get all the other people on board now. times are changing and we need the people that are going to be able to shift and to evolve with our changing times. And so this last part of this mission and I, I think it, it will probably be a huge part of the last juncture of my life as I think of going into my quote unquote, golden years. And for me, I'm also a believer in, I want to do things when I feel good in my health.

I'm feeling like I'm viable and can do these things. So for me it pushed things a little bit more. But also the messages I was getting from spiritual resources was that the time is now, and that this will continue over time.

And so when I met Cherie, she had just. gotten her feet firmly planted into the brain spotting. unfortunately, that's the time when I was going to live in Peru and she had said, you should come with and, and I couldn't because I was on a different mission, but, here again I always say soul sisters always find themselves back to each other and connecting.

So here we are. what was really beautiful as she was doing this learning and I was doing my learning and then as these messages came, I really started to think about the process of brain spotting it goes back to so many ancient cultures. It goes back to shamanic ways. It goes back to energy work.

people need to understand energy. They got to get the foundation first, so that they realize what's happening with all of this. And I'm here to tell you that when you do understand energy, and you can manage it, and you can harness it.

it's extraordinary how it can change your life, how you create this power within yourself, but also this beautiful relationship with energy and how, when things get difficult, you have ways to shift it and you can manage it. It no longer has to put us in burnouts.

It no longer has to put us in an emotional drain And so this has been one of the most helpful things for me was to learn how to manage that energy. It's not that I don't have heavy emotions and I don't have a lot of things to still work on.

I do. But the beautiful thing has been the shift. with that understanding of energy came the understanding that everything has an equilibrium. that's where my fears and worries about how am I going to do all of this started to subside. I know that if I match the energy of what was being asked of me, I was always going to be okay.

And it truly has been that way. that's really the mission. the mission here in Costa Rica started out as just Paul and I moving down here. then we had such a beautiful space and all of the vision started to come. the land started really speaking. And the land made it clear that it wanted to work and that it wanted to be a space where people could come for healing.

And that's exactly what I set out to do. when Paul and I got here, things were an absolute mess. And we had a very long road ahead of us. And now we see the light at the end of the tunnel. There will always be something to work on here and to do. But what's really been beautiful is we have been able to create.

I feel a sacred container for people. we've had people come down. And what I really love is for the first couple of months, the land wasn't doing much with me. The land was giving me more challenges than it was opening itself to me. So I did call in my brothers from Peru and I flew them in to help me understand the energy of the land.

And how do I harness that energy of the land? How do I manage it? And also, how do I give my gratitude and pay my homage to the land and the spirits that live here? I started doing the practices, really working with the land and the land started to open these beautiful doors of spirit animals everything is energy, even the elements, each element has an energy to it. And so I would start to notice different things coming in and then the beings and we do have a couple beings that are very prevalent on the property.

They began to allow themselves to be noticed. They were always there. I wasn't on the same wavelength, but as I spent more time here, I got on the same wavelength. And so I feel like the mission of my life here is to continue to have this beautiful space where people can have an intimate experience.

[00:19:42] Teri Nehring: Yes. the name of our place is called Via Inti Wasi. It was called via fauna, which, which is kind of like via is kind of like a step up from a basic house.

It sounds a little more expensive, I guess. And then fauna was all about the foliage that was here. And when I came I just really felt the warmth of the sun. So I changed the name to Via Inti Wasi. And what that means in the Quechuan language is it means the house of the sun.

And the sun is a very powerful energy. there are many cosmic beings that are connected with the energy of the sun. The sun never says to the earth, you owe me. the sun is a, beautiful energy to work with.

I just felt like it was really fitting For this place. When I think of the sun, I think of the warmth. I think of rays. I think of an incredibly huge energy in the sky and I felt like that really just felt the vibe of what Paul and I have created here.

[00:21:05] Teri Nehring: Yeah. Yeah. And, and again, the sun is something that's near and dear to my heart.

we depend on the sun in so many ways, but it was more the symbology of the energy of what the sun brings. when I redesigned Intiwasi, I was very intentional in everything that I did. I don't want to go as far as to say, feng shui but I do want to say is that I was very intentional in the way that I align the energies here so that when people would come, the minute they walk in, it's like they feel like they've entered a whole different world or dimension.

And most people say they feel the peace right away. that makes me really happy to know, that we were able to establish that. The other thing that the medicine people helped me with is our land is also underneath our land is all white boards and I live on my house is actually built on the mountain called what the local people call it is Madera, which means wood in Spanish, there was a beautiful energetic vortex on my land. the brothers and other medicine people that have come, They really helped to open up that vortex for me.

And again, was another learning curve because when you have something like that, you have to manage it. And there's a lot that goes into taking care of that space. So that's where we put our Chicana, where we have our fire ceremonies. And we work really hard to manage it because when you have a vortex, that means not only can energies go in, but energies come out.

Sometimes we have some interesting characters that show up, but through that training and that understanding it's been okay to work with them because most of the time those energies are just curious. And they're normally just passing through. So we have our normal guardians and our energy keepers here.

And they're pretty stabilized here. And again, the logistics of coming here lent this place to be a beautiful place for the brothers to also be able to come. Because when we try to bring the brothers to the United States, Unless their passports are all up to snuff there's a huge process that they have to go through to get a visa.

And it's very difficult in South and Central American countries to get visas to travel. And what was beautiful about Costa Rica is the brothers don't need a visa, they just need their passport. And the logistics for most people to get here is pretty simple. everything just kind of came together in the way of logistics as well,

Paul and I have created, our own water source here. We have a huge greenhouse and most of our land here is planted. our mission was to immerse ourselves in nature and to get off the grid. all of you folks who are working a lot of hours.

I'm not saying I don't work a lot of hours, but I got out of that fast paced Western energy. It has been a really good thing. I have a lot less stress in my life. I'm more creative than I've ever been because I feel like I have that flow.

And now that I'm not afraid about all those other things that hold people back, the money, the time, all those things, a whole new world. As far as what I'm doing and being able to create has opened up for me That's really wonderful. it's like being able to really jump into the coloring book and color any picture that you want.

And so I feel blessed for that.

So we'll make sure that underneath this podcast. The best place to for people to reach you if they want to bring a small group to the property we'll have links underneath the podcast.

That is part of the mission is, to inspire people to evolve and to create a space where they could do that. And then where Peru is involved, the bigger mission there is because the brothers are just such beautiful, authentic people and they carry so much wisdom with them.

Their lineage has never been a written lineage. it's been learning by talking and it's been handed down for hundreds of years. And so to be able to have access to that wisdom, to see how they manage things and they live their lives so differently and their points of view on things.

And it's extraordinary. And so that's why to getting as many people to, to meet them, because to me, they're like everything I would want to be as far as having a peaceful life.

part of that bridge is that on your website, there's going to be some classes you're offering so they can have access to the brothers. you also have some planned trips. if people want to go to Peru, I will be bringing a group in 2025 .

So there'll be lots of opportunities for folks that are maybe listening to this and are really interested on learning about the principles of energy. And how to manage them so they can feel their vital life force expand while doing healing work. we're talking about healers right now and doing the healing work and the impacts of doing the healing work.

could you share from all of these years of going there and your own life? some of the healings that you've seen,

they are what I call masters of living energy. I went to Peru, I'll share this story. I had had a very off pap smear and I had gone in for some tests and the doctors wanted me to come back after the trip and they wanted me to start going through all these other tests to see how much of the cancerous cells were there.

And I was very scared at the time. I remember talking to my doctor I said, I'm going to Peru in a month. I said, do you think. That we could rerun that pap smear when I come back do I need to act on this immediately?

And he said, no, I think it's okay. So, long story short, I went to Peru. we went up to Ausangate the oldest mountain in Peru.

the mountains in Peru are very alive and well, and there are spiritual beings that live within these mountains. And that particular one has one being, but this being called Ausangate has three different parts. It's, There is a young part, there is an adult part, and then there's the old man.

And I've met, I've met, I've heard, I've worked with I've seen this particular being many, many times because he and I are very connected and very close. So, they took me up to the mountain, and laid me down on the mountain. It was sleeting and raining, I will never forget that day. And they brought out their medicine bundles.

And all I remember from that moment was them carrying a huge pile of rocks and one of the Paco's running as fast as he could to the stream to get rid of those rocks. And in the process, I was screaming because I could feel this pulling coming out of, my vaginal area.

afterwards everything was fine. I felt okay. And the brothers had felt really good. They're like, the energy is gone. So I got home two weeks later and I scheduled for that pap smear. And when I went back for the pap smear, all the cancerous cells were gone, completely gone.

And I went back another two months later just to follow up again, right? Because this is a bit of a phenomenon. So this is what I can tell you. when you understand energy and the medicine bundle and you know how to work with it These are the things that happen and that many of our illnesses and sicknesses are driven by energies Many of the practices that I've learned over time are really simple.

one of them is learning how to recenter oneself, how to protect oneself. we have some tricks of the trade, We have our little medicine bags that we wear many of us bought and I've had because I have one of those quipu belts, which protect our middle part of our energy because we have different energetic centers

So Florida water is an interesting thing that when we breathe it in, it realigns us. It hits you a bit. I love the smell of it. Some people hate it. But what's really beautiful is that if you're feeling tired or confused the Florida water alone, just. brings you right back front and center. So a lot of those things have, helped me in my everyday life. I have practices that I do in the morning. I do what's called the sun salutation moving the hands, working with the different centers. all while facing to the east and saying good morning to the sun.

I often go out and make offerings to the land. every time that I travel, these are practices that I do. I take flowers. We are made up of an essence. the land understands you. By your smell and each one of us has our own individualized perfume the earth, the cosmic beings, all of the beings know that smell and they love the smell of flowers.

So often I'll pluck a flower and put a little prayer into it and three breaths because the breath is our energy and We're moving energy. We're giving our energy is going out there. And it's so beautiful that when you have these practices, I feel like before I travel, I always buy carnations and lay down 2 to 3 flowers with kintos, which in the Peruvian tradition symbolize the carrying of the messages to the spiritual beings.

And I just feel instantly there with me. They travel with me. They protect me. I've had issues and traveling and customs. but it's never been anything that I couldn't get out of or that didn't pass. when I stick to those practices of gratitude and making them a part of my life and saying thank you for supporting me, acknowledging them, asking for help, it's changed my life dramatically.

And I feel like when I walk anywhere, there's a band of beings surrounding me and I know you often talk about your spiritual circle, right? That's the one beautiful thing about my spiritual path. maybe that has something to do with age and how much we've experienced in our lives, but it's really beautiful to feel that certainty that you're not alone and I never question that anymore.

[00:32:01] Teri Nehring: And so, those practices, That's what helps me maintain that connection. Also, the connection to the energy, to the beings, because there are certain things that we do. Incenses, Palo Santo. There are certain things that attract the beings to us that say that they're welcome.

Creating altars and special places for them to come and visit. And I think when one starts to understand this, you have to number one, you got to believe, and then you have to trust, you have to trust that there are beings out there, there is higher intelligence out there that is streaming from all kinds of places.

And the other thing is, we all know too, and I believe in all the masters, God included. God is a very big part of my life, the Madonnas, all of them. But the beautiful thing is when people say, often spirits, God, whomever, it comes through us.

It's another being trying to get the word out through us, and Tupac, I remember we were sitting on a mountain, and he would always say, never underestimate who the Messiah is. And Tupac says never underestimate when the Apu shows up. And I've had those experiences because those beings can manifest in different forms.

And one time on the mountain, it came in the form of a five year old little boy sat for three hours in a circle with us going from lap to lap. And it was a beautiful experience to see when we're conscious about energy, because what are spirits?

they're living energy. But they're living in a different form. They're not in the human form anymore. They're in an energetic form. And when we begin to understand this, when we can sink our teeth into that, it's amazing. The different worlds that open to you,

And just for yourself, how evolved and more cognizant you become of every little thing that happens in your life. @ Because most of everything that goes on, there's meaning. behind it. Very few things I think happen without there being some kind of meaning, motivation this is on your path, whatever it is, there's something behind it.

I don't believe that we live lives of nothingness, or too much randomness.

Episodes where I'm talking to Tito, he's one of the brothers and he's sharing his journey and talking about the living energy in Peru and the Peruvian traditions. And so, I hope people find this fascinating and they're curious and like you said, open,

Something shifting in this world so that more people are wanting to explore or expand their worldview. East and West are meeting a little bit more, folks from the West are opening up because people are on a path of self discovery.

Who am I? Why am I here? They're asking the existential questions. And so that's part of this podcast stories of hope and healing and all the different ways.

And again, what I want to just encourage whatever it is you're seeking, do your homework, talk to people that you know it's really important to make sure that we can connect as many people with people who are authentic, as we come into this new slash old ancestral way of learning.

We're aligned in that way. thank you again for spending some time with us. And maybe we'll have you on here again. follow up to our projects, right? That what we're all working on.

[00:36:23] Cherie Lindberg: Thanks, Teri. Bye.