The Mindful Medium: A Practical Guide to Spirituality, by Alison Grey
6th Books, 9781803412658, 248 pages, March 2024
In her book The Mindful Medium, author Alison Grey shares “an inspiring, practical guide for awakening”1 as she relays her journey to becoming a psychic medium, spiritual teacher, and healer.
Grey has been a professional reader for over 14 years and also hosts a weekly spiritual development circle in her area and online. As part of her spiritual training, she has studied reiki, meditation, mental health awareness, crystal healing, Moonology and past life regression, as well as mediumship with several mentors.
As a twenty-year experienced teacher in primary school and children with special needs, She has also created Calmer-Kids, which is a program for children with emotional and behavioral difficulties. Grey lives in Cotswolds, UK with her husband and four sons. You can learn more about Alison, her background and the services she offers on her website.
I was interested in this book because Alison’s journey and training are similar to my own. I was excited to learn more about her and the helpful tips she has to share for living life as a spiritual being.
The book is divided into three parts and thirty-two, easy-to-read chapters: “Part 1: Welcome” (where Grey shares her story), “Part 2: Understanding Spirituality” (where she provides tips, tools and practices), and “Part 3: Mindfulness Approach” (where you learn about her Calmer-Kids Program and how to use mindfulness to navigate your life).
Grey begins the book by sharing the story of her awakening, including some experiences she had as a young girl and well as this passage:
“Being pregnant stirred up my sensitive side, my senses became extra heightened, and I started to get my ‘funny feelings’ of floating again. . . After my second son was born, images repetitively flashed into my mind. I could see flashes of people I knew were in the spirit world and images of things connected to them.”2
Although she went to see a medium who confirmed that Grey had her own spiritual gifts, she didn’t begin her spiritual training at that time. Later, she began to attend a healing circle with her aunt and learn how to channel healing for other people. After becoming a reiki master, Rahanni teacher, and reiki drum practitioner, Grey began to study crystals. Lastly, she found a mediumship circle and she and her aunt attended it weekly to develop their psychic skills.
In “Part 2”, Grey shares many of the tools, practices and resources a person needs to live as a spiritual being. She covers guides, tarot, healing modalities, numerology, angel numbers, the moon, and past lives, among other topics. I particularly enjoyed the two chapters “Understanding Crystals” and “What Are the Chakras?”. Her explanation of how crystals work is one of the most clear and succinct I’ve ever read:
“This is because crystals have a physical, balancing effect as they realign atoms in our body. The energy our Earth puts into the creation of crystals transforms into power for healing properties. Holding one of these gifts of nature, allowing it to resonate with our own energies, allows it to assist us in our healing.”3
The chapter on chakras is the longest chapter in the book because Grey goes into such great detail. She talks about each of the seven chakras, crystals for each, crystal grids for healing and how to use a pendulum for checking and balancing the body’s energy system. Grey also discussed how to treat the chakras for animals and use crystals to heal plants!
In the chapter called “The Afterlife,” Grey shares what she has been shown about life after death and includes a very personal story about the loss of her unborn child. She also touches on suicide and those who die relatively early in life, including two personal accounts. Here’s what she shares about suicide:
“I also believe that there is much learning for the families who are left behind and not only emotionally, but I’ve also heard amazing stories of charities which are formed to raise awareness of people with mental health issues, and this is a good thing which grows from tragedy. There is a higher purpose and the beautiful soul agreed to be that soul who leaves Earth too soon.”4
In “Part 3”, Grey presents the idea of The Mindfulness Approach and talks extensively about meditation, affirmations, prayer and her program Calmer-Kids. This process for teaching children mindfulness techniques came out of her work as a teacher for young children:
“With my carefully designed programme, it offered children the chance to breathe, take time out and build a relationship with themselves, bringing back self-choice and ultimately begin to understand themselves better. . . The goal is for children to be able to apply learnt strategies for coping with stressful situations, to learn about themselves, begin to live their life and become confident.5
In this part of the book, she also goes into much more detail on meditation. She has included several guided meditations within her book and my favorite one is called “Breathing Technique,” which is found on page 190-191. This meditation helps the reader to be present and connect fully with their body.
Next, Grey presents a chapter called “Putting it All Together-The Mindful Medium” where she discusses life, life’s challenges, and provides a simple grounding exercise. She adds a few pages of FAQs, where she covers topics that were not discussed earlier in the book. Lastly, she adds her “Final Thoughts,” including a beautiful poem about time and freedom.
My favorite chapter in the book was Chapter 26 called “Colour Therapy.” She presents nine colors and the energy or qualities of each color. Her meditation called “The Healing Ocean” is another favorite of mine. This guided meditation brings in all the colors of the rainbow, as you use the imagery of the ocean to cleanse your energy.
I really enjoyed The Mindful Medium. It is beautifully written and is a great resource for spiritual teachers and students alike. Someone who is new to studying spirituality, mediumship, or meditation will especially benefit from the wealth of knowledge that Grey shares. I plan to recommend it to clients for whom I do readings and those who come to me to develop their spiritual gifts. I will also pass it on to my husband, who is a psychic medium. He loves to read about other professionals and learn about their journeys.
Grey ends the book with a beautiful poem, and I’ll share the part which really resonates with me:
“We are one,
From source.
Feel our hearts beat simultaneously,
Sense our rhythm,
The flow of life.
Allow our voice to speak
Express how we feel
Never doubt the reason.
Be free.
Be determined.
Be love.”6
PJ Spur is an author, intuitive, spiritual mentor, astrologer, and hypnotist. She does tarot & oracle card readings, natal chart readings, grief coaching, and relationship healing. She also has hosted a weekly “Coffee & Cards” event with her Soul Compass Community for the past four years. Her book Navigating Grief with Grace is available on Amazon. Learn more at www.dearpj.com