holistic healing

Healing is an alchemical practice of transformation. We dream of what we want to create without being attached to it while simultaneously making space for our current situation and being willing to release that which stands in the way.

If we’re particularly intrepid and devoted, we might choose to surrender entirely to our soul’s plan and simply follow the breadcrumbs.

The plan is essentially the same, no matter if I’m working on a knee injury, an auto-immune condition, wonky hormones, anxiety, accessing inner strength and guidance, spiritual awakening, or cultivating peace, joy, and prosperity. (I know this because I AM working on all these things!)

It’s rarely (if ever!) a linear path where 2+2=4. It’s more like M.C. Escher’s “Relativity”.

I have developed a basic recipe that captures the complexity of this equation. (Yes, a recipe for an equation, because that’s how un-logical healing is!)

Compassion+intention+non-attachment+nourishment-energetic drains/blockages=optimal wellness.

Each of these elements varies from moment to moment and person to person.

Optimal wellness for me is built on the foundation of my lineage, history, constitution, beliefs, circumstances and resources. Yours will likely be very different from mine.

If we break it down into segments, it can be easier to approach. These segments aren’t actually separate stages of the journey as everything is intertwined, but it can be helpful to look at it this way for easier understanding.

Compassion. The basic art of being kind to ourselves, no matter what. Easier said than done!

Intention. What is the destination of this healing journey? It might take some time and effort to sort through the “shoulds” of what society, family, religion, school, and the advertising industry have led you to believe are the necessary accomplishments of a successful human.

Non-attachment. Allow yourself to want what you want without clinging to it. Goals tend to change slightly (or entirely!) as you begin to move towards them. Often we gain insight and wisdom along the way, perhaps acceptance or forgiveness, and maybe a good dash of humor or humility that changes our perspective. This is why it’s important to hold the vision loosely and allow it to unfold organically.

Nourishment. I’m not talking about eating delicious home cooked meals, although that could certainly be a factor. I’m talking about spiritual nourishment.

For me this can look like sitting by the creek, reading a good book on the porch, lingering in bed when I don’t have to get up right away, laughing with my niece and nephews, meditating, or a playful hour with colored markers. The common factor here is that none of these activities can be labeled as “productive” or “profitable” outside of my healing journey and require a devoted mindset to carving out the time to make them happen.

Prioritize the journey. This means I need to keep my intention in mind when making decisions and say no to things that would derail me. There are a thousand reasons to deviate from the plan, but very few of them are as important as the healing journey itself. It helps to remind myself frequently about the original desire, or to put it another way, why I’m on this path in the first place.

Navigate the obstacles. They will present themselves without any effort on your part- all you need to do is make a plan to move towards your preferred destination and see what emerges. I call them the “yeah, buts”. Yeah, I want that, but… xyz. They often expose limiting beliefs about scarcity and unworthiness.

They will be tasks, relationships and thoughts that drain your energy and block your progress. AND they are another form of breadcrumbs, showing you what needs your compassionate attention.

Some of these things might be easy to release. Many of them will require some introspection and TLC as they are actually wounds coming to the surface for healing. If we push them away or try to skip over them, we miss an opportunity to alchemize coagulated emotions or integrate fragmented parts of ourselves.

All of this requires not only the willingness to stay put and face the seeming obstacles attached to our desires and abilities to nourish ourselves, but also the skill to interrupt survival and coping mechanisms. This is where nervous system regulation comes in handy. It’s the key that makes the other steps manageable. It’s practically impossible to do any of the above work if your mind is screaming “DANGER! EVACUATE! DANGER!” at top volume.

I made this video outlining some very simple steps to turn off those alarms when they aren’t needed. Let’s face it, most of the time we aren’t in mortal danger. Yet biology stimulates this overblown response and it’s crucial to have a plan for dealing with it.

By far, the easiest way I know (and believe me, I’ve spent 30 years looking for the easiest, simplest, most effective solution to my own struggle with chronic pain and anxiety) to support us on our healing journeys is Reiki. That’s why I’m offering a Reiki 1, Healing for Yourself and Your Loved Ones class that begins May 4. If you’re interested in the way of self-empowerment in order to maximize your wellbeing and connect with your inner strength and wisdom, I’d be delighted to have you aboard.

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A Healing Recipe for ALL the Things

Healing is an alchemical practice of transformation. We dream of what we want to create without…
Understanding the difference between coping and healing is important for those of us on the holistic path. We don’t often see folks modeling a balanced, integrated approach to dealing with challenges. Coping is very popular in our culture- just turn on the TV for a few minutes and you’re sure to see an example. Or ten.

In my experience, coping comes in a variety of flavors, all of which lean towards checking out of difficult or unpleasant situations. Numbing, distracting, and suppressing are all members of the coping family. If you’re anything like me, you have a wide array of options to choose from, many of which have been perfected over the years.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a time and place for coping. If you’re in over your head and need a break from overwhelming emotions, sensations, or circumstances, checking out might be the healthiest option available to you in that moment. Sometimes our sanity or survival relies on our ability to put our heads down and slog through whatever crisis lies ahead. There’s absolutely no shame in doing what you need to do to get through the day.

And… coping doesn’t address the source of the problem, so its effects are, at best, temporary and unsatisfying, and often come with undesirable consequences. Reserve coping strategies for the times when there are no other options. Do what you need to do and let’s talk about a plan for treating the root of the problem when the resources to do so become available.

Healing, or treating a symptom, disease, disorder, malady, or pattern means correcting any imbalance that contributes to its existence. This means looking at belief systems, thought patterns, unexpressed emotions, habits, repetitive movements, and energy flow to see what can be adjusted to support the healing process.

Not nearly as much fun as frozen margaritas and brownies, I know! But immensely more effective and with no queasy regrets the next morning.

OK, great. But now what? How do we actually go about it? I have a lot of ideas, some of which will resonate and others that will likely evoke a … meh… reaction. Depending on your personality and constitution, you’ll either be drawn to the deep end or the gently sloping end of the pool. There is no wrong way to approach healing. The right way is the one that works for you.

Becoming more mindful of what’s actually going on under the surface is a crucial step on the journey. For those of us with unprocessed trauma in our systems, this can stir up some messy, sometimes overwhelming feelings. It is wise to enlist the support of a professional before poking around in your darkest corners if you have difficult, violent, or upsetting experiences in your past that have not been assimilated. Get yourself some guidance before you begin exploring the inner labyrinth.

Efforts that can be applied to healing include, but are not limited to:
- Self-compassion
- Prioritize your needs and desires in order to make space for them
- Set boundaries
- Honor those boundaries!
- Regulate the nervous system
- Make space for your emotions and the accompanying energy
- Move your body in a way that feels good
- Slow down/do less
- Practice being present with yourself no matter what
- Minimize multitasking
- Explore and inventory your limiting beliefs and decide which are keepers and which need to be released.
- Meet every seeming obstacle as an opportunity to heal what lies beneath it.
- Get lots of support
Reiki is an amazing tool that can help with all of the above activities. It regulates the nervous system and provides an infusion of healing life-force energy, giving us the motivation and capacity to face whatever comes up and deal with it accordingly.

If that sounds like something you’d like to have available at you very fingertips, I’d be delighted to have you in my upcoming beginners Reiki class: Reiki 1, Healing Yourself and Your Loved Ones. We gather online for four sessions, starting on May 4.

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Coping vs. Healing

Understanding the difference between coping and healing is important for those of us on the holistic…
Why am I always talking about the nervous system?

Because I see it as an important key to being healthy and happy. A lot of us spend a lot of time in the disregulated state where it’s nearly impossible to feel good or get anything meaningful accomplished.

If you’re exploring your inner world through meditation or any of the healing arts, you’re likely going to run into some protective mechanisms that will activate your survival response, AKA sympathetic nervous system.

This is a very useful response if you need to lift a car off someone trapped underneath or run away from an attacker.

If you don’t need heroic strength or speed, it can cause very uncomfortable sensations in the body, such as anxiety, tension, or even panic attacks. It absolutely erodes your health over time.

For those of us who live in the modern world, stress is unavoidable. However, we can learn to navigate it so that it doesn’t derail our peace of mind or transformational endeavors.

I’ve assembled some simple and doable tools can help you stay present when your inner judge, perfectionist or bully, suppressed emotions, or unprocessed trauma come to the surface. Staying present is the key to healing and integrating these energies. The alternative is avoiding them, which only delays their emergence, usually until a stressful moment causes a very inconvenient eruption and/or meltdown.

Haven’t we all “been there, done that” enough already?!

I made this <10 minute video to demonstrate some super-easy ways to deactivate the alarm bells and impending panic when things get stirred up. They work wonders! No Reiki is required to utilize these techniques, but they do pair quite nicely with Reiki if you’ve been initiated.

If this sort of self-care and healing work interests you, you’d be most welcome in my upcoming Reiki 1, Healing for Yourself and Your Loved Ones class.

And if your brain is going to explode if you have to learn one more thing and all of this seems just too much, consider booking a Reiki session. Let me and the healing energy do all the work while you lie back and rest.

It’s possible to cultivate a different way of being. It requires some consistent effort to reprogram your operating/nervous system. I can’t imagine any other effort that is more important than taking good care of yourself and cultivating the greatest possible wellness.

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How to Regulate Your Nervous System

Why am I always talking about the nervous system? Because I see it as an important…
I use dry brushing as a simple practice to keep my lymph system healthy. I love it! It’s easy, quick, and feels great. I credit this technique as a vital piece of my wellness program. Managing stress, cultivating life-force, minimizing toxins, and boosting the lymph system is my recipe for vitality and healthy aging and dry brushing is a crucial ingredient.

This video does a nice job of clearly explaining the process. This is something anyone can do on a daily or weekly basis. I do it several times per week before bathing. Those with lymph issues will want to check out her other video (linked in this one) for a different routine. My philosophy is do the maintenance work and prevent issues whenever possible.

For a one-time cost of about $20 for a brush, and about 10 minutes per session, you can take action to promote greater immune system function and overall health. It doesn’t get easier than this, folks! Give it a try.

An Easy Technique for Lymph System Care

I use dry brushing as a simple practice to keep my lymph system healthy. I love…
I’ve joined this wonderful 21 day meditation challenge led by my dear friend Becky. Today was our second day of meeting online and being guided into a silent meditation and then serenaded with lovely poetry. It’s not too late to join this very doable practice- just 15 minutes, and it’s recorded if you can’t make it live.

It’s been a wonderful addition to my day. Join us! There’s something extra special about meditating in community. Becky makes it super-accessible by offering her gifts on a donation basis.

I just had to share the beautiful poem she read this morning. Such wise and compassionate words by Orion Mountain Dreamer. I felt tingles all over simply from listening.

What if There’s No Need to Change?

What if there is no need to change?
No need to transform yourself
Into someone who is more compassionate, more present, more loving, or wise?
How would this affect all the places in your life where you are endlessly trying to be better, or different?
What if the task is simply to unfold
To become who you already are in your essential nature –
Gentle, compassionate,
and capable of living fully and passionately present?
What if the question is not,
Why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be?
But ‘why do i so infrequently want to be the person i really am?’
How would this change what you think you have to learn?
What if becoming who and what we truly are happens not through striving and trying
But by recognising and receiving the people and places and practices
That are for us the warmth of encouragement we need to unfold?
How would this shape the choices you make about how to spend today?
What if you know that the impulse to move in a way that creates beauty in the world
Will arise from deep within
And guide you every time you simply pay attention
And wait.
How would this shape your stillness, your movement,
Your willingness to follow this impulse
To just let go
And dance?

Let’s Meditate Together!

I’ve joined this wonderful 21 day meditation challenge led by my dear friend Becky. Today was…
Managing stress is my number one strategy for being happy, healthy, and creative. It’s my long-term plan for healthy aging and what keeps me sane in a chaotic world.

Let’s start with what I actually mean by “managing” stress. I’m not talking about avoiding it altogether. As if! While I do make targeted efforts to minimize external stressors (by saying no to voluntary tasks that don’t bring me joy and being mindful about the amount of sensory stimulation I expose myself to), it’s not possible to avoid it completely. Certain kinds of stress, such as some challenges and physical exercise are even beneficial.

I’m also not talking about tropical vacations or spa days. These may or may not be helpful in managing stress, but they are too few and far in between to be relied upon. If you experience stress on a daily basis, you need a tool in your back pocket ready to go at all times.

What I am talking about is working with the stress that occurs in your life to prevent the potential damaging effects on your body and psyche. It’s not so much the stress itself that’s the problem, but the way your body instinctively responds to it, specifically via the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn (or the 4 Fs) mechanism. When you get stuck in a perpetual state of hyperawareness and survival, you’ve got all the ingredients necessary for chronic pain, fatigue, tension, anxiety, depression, illness, and burnout.

Why? When your primitive brain perceives a threat, it responds by preparing to run away, attack, hide, or … (insert other survival strategy that would have made sense to a cave dweller, but is not so much helpful to a modern day person) to survive. It deliberately shunts life force energy to the extremities, the heart and lungs, and senses. Digestion, detoxification, cellular repair, elimination, fertility, sexuality, focus, clarity, creativity, and all systems that are not essential in a crisis go offline. It’s not a problem when this happens occasionally, but many of us live in this state of having nearly all our energy usurped for action that never actually occurs.

Learning how to activate your body’s natural antidote to the 4Fs will allow you to experience more ease, vitality, joy, and peace despite outer circumstances. You can learn to become the eye of the hurricane rather than reacting to every dumpster fire that those around you might be starting, fanning, or lamenting. (I’d enjoy having more company here in the eye of the hurricane! There’s plenty of room for you in here.)

Popular culture would have us believe that turning to alcohol, comfort foods or social media is such a remedy. This is a myth. While there’s nothing wrong with mashed potatoes, wine or Instagram, in general, these are tools for distracting ourselves and have absolutely zero impact (make that zero positive impact) on how your body metabolizes stress hormones. They might make you feel better for a quick minute, but the 4Fs remain unchanged.

Instead, I’m inviting you to try something different. Something somewhat radical. Something that will actually help you feel better, not just feel less.
1. Notice. The first step is paying attention to your inner landscape, so that you can recognize when one of the 4Fs gets activated. This means slowing down, tuning in, and developing a relationship with yourself so that you can recognize when the survival urges kick in. I’ve yet to meet anyone who learned this growing up, so it will take a bit of practice. Believe me, having access to this early warning system is immensely beneficial.
2. Breathe. Breathing into your belly and gently extending your exhales sends a signal to the nervous system that you are safe. Adding an audible sigh is even more potent. Unless you’re in a business meeting, that is! Getting fired is unlikely to help your stress level.
3. Shake. This is what animals do in nature, but generally we humans are too self-conscious to allow this impulse to manifest. It might not be appropriate in the situation you find yourself in, but as soon as possible, make your way to a private space, such as the restroom, and shake it out. Start with jazz hands, turn it up, let that movement spread to your arms, into your shoulders, neck and head. Let it flow down into the hips, let your knees jiggle, and and maybe lift and lower your heels, letting them thump on the floor. Keep breathing and keep shaking as long as time allows or until you feel a shift in your body.
Once you’ve turned off the alarm bells, it’s much easier to move to the next stage: prevention. Now that you have a strategy in place for dealing with stress in urgent situations, I’d suggest a follow-up; creating a daily practice to build up your resilience, a preventative strategy to minimize the amount of time you need to recover from an activated 4F situation. There are lots of ways to do this, and the only “right” way is the one that works for you and is enjoyable enough to keep you coming back.

Massage, Reiki, meditation, mantra, yoga and nature are tools that give me tremendous benefit. You might already have some tools ready to go or a list of things in your head that you’ve heard about and would like to try. Once you get out of the chronic survival mode that 21^st century living seems to inspire, you’ll have a much better chance of following through and implementing any plan you make.

If your plate is overflowing and you just want to lie back and receive some nourishment and healing, that’s exactly what I do for my clients. Reiki and gentle massage are both incredible remedies for chronic 4F activation. You could schedule a remote Reiki treatment from anywhere in the world or a Reiki-massage or in-person Reiki in Philadelphia if you’d like some support managing stress and moving beyond survival mode. Or get on the mailing list to be informed about upcoming classes and learn how to heal yourself with Reiki.

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Three Simple Ways to Manage Stress

Managing stress is my number one strategy for being happy, healthy, and creative. It’s my long-term…
There seems to be a common misconception that receiving a remote Reiki treatment is some sort of pathetic consolation prize for folks who can’t make it to the office for the real thing.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

In fact, I often find the potency of a remote session to be even more powerful. As if I can plug into the energetic grid directly without having to first sink through the layers of flesh.

Sure, it’s nice to get out of the (possibly chaotic) house and enter the serenity of a professional space. To have pleasant surroundings and a comfortable place to lie down where you won’t be disturbed for the duration of the treatment. I can’t argue with that. But the environment is just the icing.

Reiki is not dependent on the setting in which it’s received.

Healing life-force energy surrounds us all, all the time. Sadly, as a modern society, we have become disconnected from nature’s rhythms and energies. That which was likely an organic and harmonious relationship for our ancestors has become estranged these days. For a trained Reiki provider, however, accessing this energy is simple and connecting it to others, near or far, couldn’t be easier.

Just as an automatic deposit into your checking account is no less valid than personally depositing a check at the bank, getting a Reiki infusion from the comfort of home is just as potent as an office visit.

Particularly for people who are too busy or not well enough to travel. You can get your medicine delivered to you, wherever you, at the times when you most need it!

Clients often wonder what they will feel during a session. That depends. How attuned are you to feeling subtle energies? Most of us have zero training in this realm. It’s common not to feel anything. For those with a devoted meditation, yoga, tai chi or qi gong practice, there might be some awareness of sensations like warmth or tingling. Perhaps not. Not feeling anything doesn’t mean it isn’t working. It just means we haven’t developed our feelers.

So how does it work logistically? That’s easy! Contact me to arrange an appointment and let me know what your goals for the session are. There’s absolutely nothing you need to do during the session itself. (There is no link, no recording. There’s nothing to see.) You can set yourself up for a period of relaxation if that feels good, or you can go on about your business. Reiki requires nothing from you other than the willingness to receive it.

I’ll connect Reiki with your energy field and open to guidance from a combination of Reiki itself, intuition, and directions from your higher self, or soul. Afterwards, I’ll send a message outlining the work I was led to do and follow-up suggestions, if any come through.

It really is that easy!

To make it even easier, I’m offering a Spring Special. The 4 for 3 Bundle. 4 Remote Reiki sessions for the price of 3 if purchased before June 1, 2023. You’ll have a year to use the sessions, so you can space them out accordingly.

Some people like to get biweekly or monthly treatments, others wait for special occasions or particularly stressful events. They could also be used as extra doses in between in-person sessions. It’s your choice, but I will just mention that consistent application is more likely to make noticeable shifts in wellness than sporadic application. Just like exercise and dental hygiene.

30 or 45 minute sessions are available.

Four 30 minute sessions = $150

Four 45 minute sessions = $225

That’s a 25% savings!

If you’d like to purchase a bundle as a gift, we can arrange that as well. I can provide a PDF gift certificate for you to email the recipient.

It’s my goal to make Reiki as accessible as possible to people who want to receive it. Next to taking a class and giving yourself daily doses of medicine (get on my mailing list if that’s your preferred route and keep in the loop about upcoming trainings), this is the most affordable option on my menu.

Remote Reiki -it’s just as powerful as in-person sessions.

Really.

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Spring Special/ Remote Reiki Bundle

There seems to be a common misconception that receiving a remote Reiki treatment is some sort…
As soon as I posted my blog on Reiki, the Vagina, and Holistic Healing, a followup began to emerge. That post was pretty lengthy and I decided to keep it readable rather than sharing everything I have to say on the topic. I thought that an exploration of the mental, emotional, and energetic patterns that contribute to lack of wellness in the reproductive and sexual organs would satisfy the assignment Spirit had given me.

Not so.

My new assignment is to cover the nature of our relationships with our bodies. I’m here to suggest that befriending the physical body is a means to creating wellness and accessing inner wisdom and power. Heretical? Maybe! Uncomfortable? Absolutely. Worth the effort? Hell, yes! We cannot be whole (healed) while rejecting any part of ourselves.

Living in the modern western world, we’re taught to identify with our minds, thinking that Logic and Reasoning are the bomb. We’re taught that the physical body and the emotions are messy inconveniences, best avoided until they complain too loudly, and then silenced with any number of harmful behaviors or substances so that we can get back to our planning, thinking, and analyzing.

We expect the body to perform as a vehicle, carrying around our heads with very minimal support. We berate it for needing so much sleep and nourishment, we criticize it for not complying with our wishes to be a certain shape or size, for aging, for aching and eventually breaking down.

As women, we’re taught to compete with insanely impossible Beauty Ideals and to judge our worth in comparison to photoshopped, waif-like, supermodels who have a team of professionals tampering with their natural appearance. Body dysmorphia is common as a result.

It’s quite normal in this day and age to have a very dysfunctional, neglectful, even abusive, relationship with one’s own body! Sadly, the body receives these disparaging messages and responds defensively. It senses danger and activates survival mechanisms that wear it down over time.

Imagine how you would react if someone were constantly yelling at you, complaining about you and lamenting your very being. You’d want to run away, hide, or lash out, right? Self-criticism chronically activates the fight/flight/freeze response and creates a toxic chemical soup that encourages inflammation.

Can you see how such a relationship would ultimately disrupt the flow of life-force energy? Since the vagina, vulva, and reproductive organs are not essential for survival in the face of immediate danger, these areas are among those that are most affected by the disrupted energy flow. If you want to heal yourself, it’s important to look at any habits that cause the body to think it’s in danger (including self-criticism). Then… just stop. Stop berating your body with negative self-talk and then wondering why it’s not healing.

Learning to befriend the body might seem like a radical suggestion if you’ve been treating it as your archenemy for decades. What would it be like to listen to your body’s sensations and learn to respond the same way you would to a friend?

To eat when you’re hungry, and maybe even eat the foods that your body is requesting?

To rest when tired?

To empty your bladder at the first signal rather than waiting till you’re about to burst?

To move in ways that feel good rather than pushing yourself to do vigorous workouts when fatigued?

What if you learned to honor your body as the expert on what it needs, rather than relying on externally imposed dogma?

Let’s go one step further and tune into the vagina (or whichever parts are asking for your attention). I bet there are specific requests about what and what not to be inserting in there. Overriding these requests is the opposite of honoring. At the very least listen and acknowledge her.

Yes, I refer to my vagina as “her” and listen to what she has to say.

I’m not asking you to perform the heroic act of loving your body. That’s master level kung fu. Let’s start with not being a bully. Maybe you can work your way up to compassion eventually. I often repeat the phrase “May I be kind to myself.” as a reminder of my intention to befriend my body.

I can also recommend Dr. Rick Hanson’s book “Hardwiring Happiness” as a source of helpful and very doable techniques for changing habitual thoughts and behavior patterns.

And since I’m a devotee of the Reiki system of healing, of course I believe that it can be a supportive tool to help repair any neglect or abuse that has damaged the body as well as helping to create new healthier habits of listening and honoring.

Because building new neural pathways requires consistent attention, I highly recommend finding a daily practice to support your efforts. If you are interested in learning how to give yourself daily doses of Reiki, I have an online training coming up that’s just the thing.

Learn to give yourself Reiki!

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Reiki, the Vagina and Holistic Healing: Befriending the Body

As soon as I posted my blog on Reiki, the Vagina, and Holistic Healing, a followup…
Recently I wrote about my choice to heal a knee injury holistically. It prompted some questions about what holistic healing actually means.

First, a disclaimer.

I’m not a doctor and have no intention of providing any medical advice. I’m just sharing my story. I’ve been in training for the past 30 years, learning to listen to the wisdom of my body, my intuition, and divine guidance. This makes me particularly well equipped to go on such adventures.

I feel qualified to give this a go without medical intervention. I am able to walk freely, use the stairs, and put on my own socks. There is only mild inflammation in the joint, and no swelling or edema elsewhere. No discoloration or zingy nerve pain, tingling, burning, or numbness. Having treated hundreds of clients with injuries over the years, I feel confident that I’m within the realm of what I can handle.

Should I one day get a nudge to see a doctor and get X-rays or whatever, I will grumble for a few moments and release the attachment I have to doing it my way. I’m not too proud or too stubborn to get the help that I need.

Disclaimer complete.

To me, “holistic” means looking at the entire being, correcting any imbalances, and addressing ALL obstacles to wellness. This includes physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, energetic and circumstantial.

Rather than looking at the one joint that is complaining, I’m looking at every possible factor that affects this joint.

That means investigating the stability, strength, and flexibility (or lack thereof) of the feet and ankles. ALL the muscles that attach near or cross the knee (on both legs, they work as a team), particularly the quads and hamstrings, glutes, adductors, abductors, lateral rotators, and my frenemy, the psoas.

It means getting quality sleep, developing better body mechanics when I’m working, providing the nutrients that my body requires to repair tissue and heal. And flooding my entire system with Reiki frequently.

I’m also looking at my internal chatter and directly addressing the feelings and thoughts of irritation, annoyance, and impatience that arise around the situation. I’m not suppressing any of these, but I am actively engaging in cultivating acceptance and compassion as my default zone.

I’m seeing this event as an opportunity to do some internal inquiry and have found a deposit of old resentment that may not be related, but is definitely doing me no good. I’m letting myself feel the underlying hurt and disappointment while letting the energy move and release so that it will no longer impede the flow of life-force.

I’m also looking at the yin-yang (im)balance in my life. Am I overly focused on doing at the expense of being, am I relying on thinking more than feeling, or giving out of proportion to receiving? Do I need to slow down even more, stop and smell the roses, sit my butt down and be still?

A trusted friend has recommended barefoot shoes. I think that’s what they’re called. Shoes with a minimal sole. He makes a good argument and his story is compelling. I found myself utterly resistant as last year I bought FIVE new pairs of shoes. (I realize that might not be a lot for some people, but for me it really was.) Apparently, at age 50, my feet had grown (what?!) and I needed to replace a lot of my footwear. I went with cushy soles on all of them.

Then I caught myself- am I resisting a potential remedy simply because I’m highly invested in something else, something that might be less than helpful, and potentially harmful to me? Sheesh. That would be a YES. It’s so strange catching myself doing something so very human, yet so utterly ridiculous!

Which highlights the practice of examining attachment to the way things are and resistance to change. That is a pattern that can really inhibit mobility, particularly in the joints. Can I change my mind about something despite having spent a lot of money on it? Am I committed to continuing on my current path just because I don’t want to admit I might be going the wrong way?

These are the areas I’m exploring on this healing journey. I’m playing detective and investigating anything that could be contributing to the imbalance that causes this pain. Should I decide medical intervention in the form of a shot or pills would be helpful, I’d continue my sleuthing to get to the root of the problem, knowing that suppressing the symptoms is a temporary fix at best, and can sometimes mask deeper issues.

It’s been over a week since I started writing this article. I got sidetracked and am finally returning to put the finishing touches on the words I wrote many days ago. In that time, discomfort has decreased drastically and I’m able to move more freely. There are some movements that are still unmanageable, but there is definitely progress.

Whatever treatment you pursue for whatever ailments you may experience, I hope you’ll also make the effort to look at the bigger picture as well. These things tend to recur if the underlying conditions aren’t resolved. I hope I’ve managed to demonstrate that “underlying conditions” can mean any sort of imbalance- physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, energetic, or circumstantial.

At the very least, it will give you something to ponder while you’re resting and waiting for the body to heal.

If you’d like to learn how to use Reiki to support endeavors like this, it’s last call for my Reiki for Self-Care and Empowerment online training. We begin on March 23. Having access to healing powers at my very fingertips is what makes all this possible.

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Holistic Healing; What does that even mean?

Recently I wrote about my choice to heal a knee injury holistically. It prompted some questions…

holistic healing

What if There’s No Need to Change?