Curriculum Vitae - Betsy Leighton

Betsy Leighton is a spiritual mentor and coach, author, and blogger.

Books

Living In The Light (2025), available here

Living In The Light: Healing with Forgiveness, Sound, and Light, Betsy Leighton’s fifth book, highlights the most effective tools she has used to heal: Forgiveness, through her novel co-creative healing modality called the Sacred Self-Healing Method; Sound, through sound healing and nervous system retraining with the Safe and Sound Protocol; and Light, by entraining her circadian rhythm with sunlight and beneficial frequency. Drawing on Leighton’s complex chronic illness journey, including Lyme disease and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, she explains how her earlier work informs this guide. Living In The Light underscores the role of frequency as a potent tool for health and forgiveness. Leighton seeks to empower readers with straightforward self-healing methods that don’t require complex or costly resources. The book explores the deep connection between frequency, health, and forgiveness, encouraging readers to unlock their full potential.

Rocks and Roots (2024), available here

Rocks and Roots: Solo Backpacking My Way to Health on the Superior Hiking Trail is Betsy Leighton’s story about section hiking the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) in 2024 as a solo female backpacker with a chronic illness. Leighton journeys alone into the wilderness of northern Minnesota while overcoming nervous system dysregulation, gut dysbiosis, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) symptoms to successfully hike a total of 328 miles. Leighton’s account includes a deep dive into the often misunderstood condition of MCAS, calling attention to the difficulty of obtaining a correct diagnosis, common triggers of symptom flares, and the struggle of exercising with the condition. Interspersed with her daily journal entries from the SHT, Leighton covers treatments, medications, supplements, and dietary changes that help her to manage MCAS; as well as the complex relationship between histamine, sulfur, oxalates, and food sensitivities. Leighton also delves into the logistics of section hiking, discussing the gear choices she made for her trek and evaluating their performance on the trail. Leighton considers the challenges presented by the terrain and shares insights from fellow hikers and helpful people who provided rides and treats along her journey, known as “trail angels”. Leighton’s book is an engaging story of surrendering to her dreams while adjusting her expectations to her health condition. Along the way, she confronts fears, finds opportunities for forgiveness, and focuses on enjoying every step on the path. Her hard-won realizations about solo backpacking as a woman with a chronic health condition highlight the resilience of the human spirit and inspire solo female travelers of all kinds.

The Sacred Self-Healing Method (2024), available here

The Sacred Self-Healing Method is a healing modality that combines intention, forgiveness, and connection with divine beings to support self-healing. The benefits of the Sacred Self-Healing Method include increased peace, reduced stress and anxiety, improved relationships, and a deeper connection to your true self. The Sacred Self-Healing Method gives you tools for: – Setting intentions – Working in sacred space and a healthy resonant field – Maintaining healthy boundaries, and learning physical and emotional inquiry processes to determine imbalances – Discovering many Sacred Self-Healing protocols for self-regulation – Developing a forgiveness practice – Connecting with your inner guidance and protecting your medicine body – Meeting your spirit guides – Crafting rituals to shift energy, care for the living and the dead, and honor transitions – Creating transformation in your life! This book can be used by itself or as a companion to Betsy’s online Sacred Self-Healing Certificate Program, an independent online program in the Sacred Self-Healing Method, where you can apply your learning in practical skills exercises and earn a Certificate in the Sacred Self-Healing Method in a supportive container.

Sacred Self-Healing Workbook (2022), available here

The Sacred Self-Healing Workbook combines experiential tools for practicing forgiveness with stories of healing, dozens of creative pages, chakra explorations, forgiveness teachings, Sacred Movements, and over thirty guided meditations to help you to create, write, move, and forgive. Leighton’s approachable tools give readers access to stores of past hurts in the body, mind, and spirit, so they can be brought to the Light for healing. The Sacred Self-Healing Workbook is a companion to Leighton’s first book, Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness.

Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness (2019), available here

“Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness” combines memoir, caregiver survival manual, channeled ageless wisdom, and practical guidance on receiving spiritual guidance and healing. Leighton gently guides the reader through intention-setting, meditation, sound healing, identifying your higher-self sign, balancing the chakras, and other spiritual practices, culminating in the ultimate healing technology: forgiveness. In addition to sharing the many energy healing skills she has gathered over decades of spiritual and metaphysical study, Leighton draws on her experience caregiving her chronically ill children, providing useful tips for self-care, honoring grief, and relieving the effects of trauma. The core of the book is Leighton’s unique co-creative spiritual healing process, Sacred Self-Healing, which is based on forgiveness. The free companion audio recordings available on her YouTube channel provide instruction in balancing the chakras through sound healing, timeless chants, guided meditations, and a demonstration of the Sacred Self-Healing process. “Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness” provides accessible, practical information for anyone seeking a deeper connection with Spirit.

Articles

“Blessings of Homebirth” published at Mothering.com (2011)

Betsy Leighton’s essay, published on the Mothering website at https://www.mothering.com/threads/blessings-of-homebirth.1622578/, offers a thoughtful and heartfelt exploration of the emotional, physical, and spiritual benefits of homebirth. In her reflection, Leighton emphasizes how the intimate, natural setting of a home birth fosters a deeper connection between mother and child, as well as between mother and her support network—such as partners, doulas, and family members. She highlights the sense of empowerment and autonomy that comes with birthing in a familiar environment, where decisions are made with greater confidence and awareness. Leighton also notes reduced medical interventions, an emphasis on natural processes, and the profound sense of peace and presence that often accompany a home birth. Through personal anecdotes and thoughtful analysis, she presents a compelling case for the value of homebirth not just as a birthing method, but as a holistic and meaningful experience that honors the body’s innate ability to give life. The essay resonates with many expectant parents who are seeking a more grounded, less clinical approach to childbirth

“Spiritual Birth: A Personal Reflection on the Birth of a Spiritual Mentor and an Exploration of Spiritual Birth”
Presence: the Journal of Spiritual Directors International, VOL. 15, NO. 2, JUNE 2009 · Jun 1, 2009

A peer-reviewed journal article that offers a deeply personal and reflective account of the transformative process of experiencing a spiritual awakening through the physical process of giving birth. The author explores the concept of ‘spiritual birth’ as a profound inner experience of awakening, in which a person’s sense of self, purpose, and connection to the spiritual realm undergo a significant shift. This reflection examines the emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of this liminal moment, highlighting how the spiritual mentor emerged from the birth of her twins and presenting the results of her research on spiritual birth among surveyed women. As a spiritual mentor, Betsy’s presence serves as a catalyst for personal growth, self-discovery, and a deeper understanding of the spiritual journey. The piece is both intimate and insightful, blending narrative elements with theological and philosophical considerations to illustrate how spiritual awakening can occur through the formative event of a biological birth. Through this exploration, the article contributes to a broader understanding of spiritual development by highlighting the roles of relationships, trust, and vulnerability in childbirth and spiritual life.

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