Finding Her Feathers: Westporter Turns to Healing

Westporter Denise Lamoureux sometimes goes by another name -- Shakti Das.

It means "Servant for the Divine," and was bestowed upon Lamoureux when she began training to become an Ignite Your Spirit (IYS) therapist with Shanti Mission, an organization dedicated to spreading peace.

Lamoureux has committed herself to spreading peace in Fairfield County through her healing center, Finding Feathers in Fairfield.

The center was established in 2009 after the building its housed in on Commerce Drive was struck by lightning -- a "sign from above," according to the Finding Feathers website. As Lamoureux began rebuilding the structure -- tucked behind her former restaurant, Tucker's Cafe -- she felt there was something guiding her to create a "beautiful building." That building became her healing center.

It wasn't until recently that Lamoureux decided it was time to devote herself to her training and healing others full time, so she sold Tucker's in June and threw herself into her studies with Shanti Mission.

"Service has always been key in my life. I had an opportunity to focus and make [healing] my full-time job," Lamoureux said. "[Finding Feathers] is growing, and I want to give the people who come my full attention."

She was spurred into action after attending a spiritual healing with the Shanti Mission's guru Shakti Durga. Lamoureux was on painkillers for a wrist injury, but quickly forgot about the pain after working with the Guru.

"I was amazed by her work," Lamoureux said. "I have never come across something I felt so strongly about."

She's nearly done with the one-year training program to become an IYS therapist, and is currently an experienced Reiki Master and Theta Healer.

Lamoureaux's goal with Finding Feathers is to help people work on their unresolved issues through healing -- whether one-on-one or in groups.

"I'm working on releasing old issues and focusing on the positive," Lamoureux said. "The more work you do, the more joy you have."

Through spiritual healing, Lamoureux believes, people can achieve a "state of peace, happiness, and serenity" by letting go of past problems, like childhood traumas, addiction, and grief.

During a healing, the client will sit in a chair with his or her feet on the floor and hands facing upward for "energy receiving," according to Shanti Mission's website.

The therapist will scan the client's energy field and assess its strengths and weaknesses. The therapist may give initial feedback about a client's energy anatomy and what it is that they wish to focus on, the website explains.

Sessions take no more than 45 minutes. During that time the therapist will focus on the client's physical, mental, emotional, and soul bodies.

"Sometimes you just need a good clean out. Other times you will be assisted to harmonize difficult relationships. You will receive spiritual guidance based on the state of your chakras," according to the website.

Through this work, Shanti Mission practitioners believe people can find and develop inner peace.

"The growth, the miraculous healing I've seen has brought me such pride," Lamoureux said. "The intention is to help people as we have been helped, to give back."

Lamoureux has help conducting one-on-one and group healings with practitioners from the Shanti Mission home center in Sydney, Australia. Healer Stellar Maya and others visit year-round to help keep Finding Feathers running.

"It's a good service for the community all around," Stellar Maya said.

She said people who have come to Finding Feathers are "so keen, so hungry for what it is we have to offer." 

Everything Finding Feathers offers is based on donations except for one-on-one spiritual healings with a therapist.

In addition to healings, Finding Feathers conducts Satsang on Thursday evenings. Satsang is music and group meditation.

"In the end, I'm really happy," Lamoureux said of Finding Feathers' growth. "It's been my pleasure, my honor, to do this."

Learn more about Finding Feathers and its services here.