Tomorrow is the summer solstice here in the U.S. It’s the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. For my fellow Cancerians, it’s our birth month, the time when the sun enters our zodiac sign, shining blessings upon us. 🦀 🎂
All this sunshine and the resulting heat can easily tip us out of balance if we don’t take care. For me, irritation is very close to the surface this time of year.
Especially when I see temperatures in the high 90s when it’s only June! 😖
Given the choice of suffering greatly while feeling wilted and like a volcano ready to erupt or taking action to alleviate the excess heat, I choose prevention.
I enjoy the cooling effects of sun tea made with fresh mint leaves. Making cucumber water is as simple as dropping a few slices in a jug and letting the flavor infuse the water and has the added bonus of feeling fancy.
I’m especially fond of a pranayama practice called sitali breath. It’s sometimes called “taco breathing” as you make a shape like a hard taco shell with the tongue. No worries if you can’t do that (I recall a 9th grade biology lesson that says some people are genetically incapable of doing so); there’s a modification.
If you find yourself getting overheated just thinking about stepping away from the air conditioner, this can really help. Add a cool, wet towel to the back of the neck if you’re very heat averse or tend to generate a lot of internal heat.
I’m seeing a lot of heightened emotions out there. Given the state of the world, it’s no surprise. Emotions aren’t a problem in and of themselves, but when we hold them in, they wreak havoc with our health, and when we fling them about carelessly, they wreak havoc in our relationships and contribute to the collective chaos.
There’s another way! We can alchemize our feelings using practices such as this meditation that my Reiki teacher Laura Bruno shares. Rather than repressing, suppressing, avoiding, escaping, or projecting you could engage in a process of responsibly and compassionately acknowledging and transmuting these powerful emotions.
It’s been a game changer for me and I hope you’ll give it a try.
I’m seeing a lot of heightened emotions out there. Given the state of the world, it’s…
I often imagine a world in which children are taught important life skills in kindergarten.
Things like meditation. Nervous system regulation. Reiki.
How different things would be if everyone had the capacity to nurture calmness, vitality, and presence in themselves. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
Which is why I just love teaching Reiki classes! There’s something magical that happens in Reiki 1 after the attunement, when students open their eyes and recognize that they now have lifetime access to this amazing healing energy.
I was telling my mother recently how excited I am about the upcoming training I’m offering.
Her response? “But then they won’t need you.” As if teaching people how to use Reiki for themselves was going to put me out of business.
I guess that’s one way of looking at it.
In my experience, though, it’s not usually the case.
Giving yourself a Reiki treatment every day is a profoundly healing experience. It is the fuel that allows long-standing problems to begin to shift gradually.
It’s not the same thing as leaving your home and the chores that need doing, coming to my cozy office which smells yummy and has soft music playing, and being the recipient of 100% of my attention.
We can all benefit from doing our work and cultivating a self-care routine. That doesn’t necessarily take the place of receiving support from a professional. It often does allow folks to go longer in between appointments, but most people continue to see me while doing their own thing too.
Taking a Reiki training doesn’t mean that you need to shoulder the entire burden for your healing journey. It just means that you’re willing to do your part and be on the team. It means you can have blasts of healing energy any time you want and share it with your friends and family.
And if the budget is super tight, yes, it does mean you can take the Reiki ball and run with it, taking full responsibility for your healing life-force energy deposits.
I want everyone to have access to Reiki in the way that works best for them. If you’re in the Philly area, check out my upcoming class. If you’re elsewhere in the world, send me a message and we’ll see if we can pull together a virtual training that suits your schedule. If you already have too much on your plate, schedule a session, in-person or remote, and I’ll do all the work.
I often imagine a world in which children are taught important life skills in kindergarten. Things…
A new client just left my office. After the session was over, she proclaimed, “That was crazy!”
I’m always delighted to hear what people have to say about their time on the table. Everyone uses unique words to describe their healing experiences.
“I was floating on waves of peace.” Mmhmm, that sounds nice!
A lot of people drop into a deep place, not quite awake, not quite asleep. I suspect they are going into delta or theta brainwave grooves, but have no way of measuring. I just know that it’s an altered state that opens the gate for profound healing to happen.
I remember a time when I received a treatment from a friend. I’d been in her space dozens of times before, but on this particular day when the session ended and she left the room, I thought to myself, how did the door get over there?! I’d been so deeply immersed in the spiritual realm that the 3D space seemed off.
Some people see colors or hear music. Everybody is different. Most people just feel a warmth or a sense of calm and relaxation that eclipses their ordinary reality.
I wonder if this is how we’d feel most of the time if we lived lives more closely connected to our natural rhythms.
I guess I’ll never know, but it’s my goal to help people go there, into their deepest selves, as best I can. It’s like having a two week tropical vacation condensed into an hour- with no sunburn or hangover!
Want to surf the waves of peace? Get yourself some Reiki! And if you’re in the Philly area, go for the combo and try my Reiki-massage combo.
A new client just left my office. After the session was over, she proclaimed, “That was…
Do you know Jeff Foster? He teaches an embodied form of meditation. Very different than the new age-y approach of trying to escape the body.
He’s offering a freebie on January 14, 2pm eastern. I’ve done several of these offerings with Jeff and find them very nourishing.
It’s an opportunity to experience his work without charge. If you like it, you can sign up for his community; he will mention that. But, unlike most free offerings/masterclasses, his webinars have never felt like an infomercial.
(I’m not an affiliate, btw. Just a fan.)
If you’ve found it difficult to meditate in the past yet yearn for the myriad benefits, why not check it out?
“How do you get ‘there’? You don’t. Even if you did, you’d still be here. Be here. That’s how you get ‘there’. In presence, in stillness, let life carry you…”
Do you know Jeff Foster? He teaches an embodied form of meditation. Very different than the…
I just got back from the most glorious hike. It’s drizzly and cold here in Philly, but it’s my day off and I wanted to go to the woods. While I was trekking through the trees, I chuckled to myself about descriptors people often use for days like today.
Dreary.
Miserable.
Dreadful.
Come on, now! You can write a story in your head about it being a miserable, rainy day, and it will most definitely be true for you.
But is it True, with a capital T?
No!
It’s rainy. It’s wet. The sky is gray. There are mud puddles. The fallen leaves are slippery. These statements are objectively True. That means I need to dress appropriately and be careful where I step on the trail.
So I did. No biggie. And you know what?
Nowhere did I find any misery.
Instead, I found fresh, clean air. Mud puddles! (My inner child was delighted to have a splash.) And magic. That’s the story I told myself, and for me it became True.
I did pass a couple along the path and we all agreed that it was wonderful being out there without much company. The fellow said that the rain keeps the amateurs away and we all had a good laugh.
As adults, we have myriad opportunities to stretch our comfort zone and rewrite our stories. If we don’t, the zone shrinks over time and we begin to lose freedom of choice. It’s up to each of us to recognize how much discomfort we can face in order to grow and build resilience. Or we can wallow in our restrictive demands for comfort and forever remain an amateur.
For me, hiking in a drizzle is not much of a stretch. Perhaps that’s because I have a great affinity for water and a disposition and constitution that enjoys the cold. There are other areas of life that are much more challenging for me, and this new insight has all sorts of ideas brewing about how I can better meet them with grace and willingness if not ease.
And it all begins with the words I use to describe the event/situation/environment I choose to face. Will it be dreadful or simply unknown? Dreary or just wet? Miserable or potentially magical?
You tell me.
(Please do! I’d love to hear what words you use to rewrite an old story that keeps you from experiencing absolute freedom. What’s your rainy day equivalent?)
I just got back from the most glorious hike. It’s drizzly and cold here in Philly,…
I recently saw a post online about self-care not being enough. It immediately caught my attention. I was intrigued thoroughly, mostly because it triggered my argumentative streak. The man went on to say that he was an active participant in self-care, but it wasn’t enough to prevent burnout.
He exercised daily and ate lots of vegetables and meditated regularly.
He also worked 60+ hours each week and had a few side gigs going.
While I can’t fault him for the self-care aspect, I’d say it was an incomplete attempt. Movement, nourishment, and mindfulness are all excellent practices. But they don’t override our need for a healthy work-life balance.
In my eyes, self-care includes knowing how much we can handle and modifying our lives so that we don’t overdo it.
It’s not that self-care wasn’t enough, but that he ignored part of the equation.
You’ve heard it all before- we all need adequate nutrition, hydration, oxygen, sunlight, exercise and rest to be healthy. You can eat all the broccoli in the world, but if you hardly ever drink water, it’s not going to be enough to stay well.
I’d like to redefine self-care as caring for ourselves with kindness and curiosity. This means paying attention to what we need and responding accordingly rather than following a protocol prescribed by a so-called expert. What I need is very different from what you need. Heck, what I need in this moment is different from what I needed last week. It’s always changing.
This requires developing our self-awareness and capacity to respond with compassion (rather than the pushing/forcing/punishing energy I often seen in runners or folks at the gym).
I endeavor to speak to myself the same way I would to my 10-year-old niece- I wouldn’t shout at her for getting something wrong or berate her for not trying harder or doing more. I’d be encouraging and willing to explore what could be done differently next time.
Rather than jumping on some TikTok bandwagon and following rules developed by someone who has a completely different constitution, history, and lifestyle than yourself, what if you slowed down and listened to your body? To your heart?
This, my friends, is revolutionary behavior and exactly what we need to thrive in a world that is full of stress and toxins. A few years back, I did a 40-day series on self-care if you need some ideas. You can search for the “Radical Self-Care” posts.
But don’t take those articles as a prescription or even a recommendation.
You do you. How could I know if you need more rest or activity or broccoli?
What is one small thing you could do for yourself today that would be a step towards optimal wellness? Don’t overthink it! I bet something has already popped into your mind. How can you make it happen? And this is an important step- afterwards, acknowledge the rewards of your efforts and give yourself a pat on the back. That will make it more likely that you’ll keep going.
I recently saw a post online about self-care not being enough. It immediately caught my attention.…
I’m getting older and let me tell you, it’s pretty amazing! Today is my birthday and rather than lamenting the fact that I’m aging, I’m celebrating. I’m not supposed to tell you that I’m 53, but I’m delighted to do so! I’m not ashamed to be in my 50’s. Quite the opposite. I find it quite empowering.
I know who I am and what I want in ways that I never did when I was younger. It’s very refreshing! No more am I trying to fit myself into someone else’s expectations and the sense of freedom is invigorating.
We’ve been sold a narrative that once you reach a certain age, health begins to fail. Well, that’s just bullshit! It’s perpetuated by the marketing industry trying to sell us stuff that treats the surface symptoms, but never the root cause. If it treated the cause, we wouldn’t need to buy it anymore.
The vast majority of symptoms that I see are simply a result of chronic stress, energetic overspending and under-receiving, suppressed emotions causing a continuous cortisol drip, exposure to toxic chemicals, and neglect/misuse/abuse of the body.
We have control over much of this!
This is the work I do. Relieving stress and pain, integrating emotions, supporting the body’s needs so it can detox and repair, and filling up the energetic tank. I see it working day after day in my clients and students and I am a living, breathing, joyful example that making healthful choices consistently has a tremendous impact on well-being.
What is one thing you can do today to nourish yourself?
What is one thing you can do today to support your body, mind, heart and spirit?
What is one thing you can do today that reduces your exposure to chemicals- be it in food, water, personal care products or your environment?
What is one thing you can do today to protect your energy? It might entails saying NO, better yet, HELL NO! to something you don’t want to do.
What is one thing you can do today to move your body in a way that feels pleasurable?
Just one thing! Do that one simple thing for a week or two and then add another thing.
I bet you already have a thing in mind. Something that you’ve been thinking about for a while and just lacking the motivation to take the plunge.
Today is the perfect day to get started on the next level of your healing journey. Any empowered action in the direction you want to go will ripple outwards and affect others as well.
If you want, you can get started right now by placing a hand on your heart and making a commitment to yourself.
Perhaps you’d like to repeat these words from the mindful self-compassion tradition:
May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
May I be kind to myself.
May I make choices to support my overall wellness.
If you’d like some support, that’s what I’m here for! I do Reiki healing sessions for people around the globe and soothing, nurturing bodywork here in Philadelphia. It’s my mission to spread this message of self-care and empowerment. I’d be delighted to work with you if that sounds appealing.
But not today. Today, I’m going on a hike, eating fabulous food, reading a fun book and connecting with my friends. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow and ready to give from my overflowing tank.
I wrote an article over on Substack about my process of reviewing the year through a holistic health and spiritual journey lens. Check out Annual Review if you’d like to learn more about this radical way of thinking.
I’m getting older and let me tell you, it’s pretty amazing! Today is my birthday and…
I get so frustrated when doctors diagnose arthritis and lead people to believe that there is nothing to be done about the pain they are experiencing. Gah!
True. There is no cure for arthritis. AND that doesn’t mean that it is a sentence to hopelessness and increasing discomfort.
We’re talking about inflammation of one or more joints. It can be quite unpleasant when left untreated. But don’t despair. It’s possible to manage inflammation and to create space in joints that might be jammed together because of tension or imbalanced movement patterns.
(If you’re over 20, I can practically guarantee you have at least one imbalanced movement pattern; perhaps from an old injury that didn’t heal 100% or repetitive actions from a job or hobby.)
It’s possible to have arthritis and to minimize the resulting pain. I see it all the time and feel it in my own body. Reducing inflammation, tension and misalignment can only benefit us. Why not give it a try?
Reiki is an amazing holistic healing technique that utilizes spiritually-guided life-force energy to reduce stress and pain. Stress is a primary driver of inflammation. It stands to reason, and has been backed up by my 20+ years of experience, that minimizing stress can provide relief to inflammatory conditions.
Reiki can also help process suppressed emotions. Releasing anger, resentment, worry and grief that might be blocking the body’s energetic flow can help joint issues. And will help prevent us from tipping over into the stress zone where cortisol triggers more inflammation.
You know what doesn’t help joint issues? A diagnosis presented without hope of a remedy. It’s unclear to me why the medical establishment hasn’t grasped this fact yet. Despair feeds tension that puts greater strain on the joints.
Reducing stress and re-establishing a healthy flow of energy in the body can support the reduction of muscle tension. This encourages circulation, providing the muscles with fresh oxygen and removes cellular waste, reducing pain in the muscles which can trigger a cycle of clenching, pain, clenching and more pain. It also allows for more space in the joints.
Reiki can also support body awareness and increase access to inner wisdom, helping us to notice when we’re using poor body mechanics and guiding us to new patterns or even therapies, such as Somatics, Feldenkrais or Gyrokinesis that promote balanced, healthy movement patterns, or products that activate the body’s innate healing abilities.
It might take time to relearn how to sit, stand and move in alignment, meet with and metabolize feelings and trauma, manage stress and reduce inflammation.
This is what holistic healing looks like: addressing the causes of imbalance rather than trying to eliminate the effects while carrying on with the offending behavior. It’s possible that these causes have been developing for decades; reversing this requires some patience and self-compassion.
But with some attention, effort and consistent Reiki support, there is hope of finding greater comfort and ease in the body and peace of mind.
To me, that seems like a much better option than doing nothing and bemoaning the doctor’s verdict.
I’d be delighted to work with you if you’re interested in pursuing Reiki treatment, or massage if you’re in the Philly area. You might consider taking a Reiki 1 class and learning how to give yourself daily treatments.
If that’s not your thing, I’d encourage you to explore one of the movement therapies I listed above, an anti-inflammatory diet or some form of herbal or homeopathic support.
Most importantly, know that there is hope, as hope is one of the greatest medicines available.
Luminous Heart Reiki & Massage 