Reiki

From the very first twinge of pain I felt in my knee, I’ve been using Reiki. For starters, it’s the most effective natural pain reliever I know. It keeps the ki (life-force /qi/chi/prana- all different words for the same energy) flowing. Combined with the breath, it allows me to release discomfort instead of tensing up, which only worsens pain. So Reiki has been helping me with pain management without dulling my senses. As I’m working on healing a meniscus tear with entirely holistic and alternative treatments, I need to fully feel all the sensations as I believe they are informing me of what my body needs.

I’m also using Reiki to promote the overall healing process. I truly believe that the body has innate healing abilities. I want to support this process by maximizing the resources available for this inside job. That means reducing stress which drains internal ki, making it less available for cartilage repair. That also means boosting energy to all systems (muscular, digestive, endocrine, etc) as they work together to promote harmony within. And of course that means providing healing energy directly to the knee to facilitate the process at the injury site.

I’m also experiencing a great deal of mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. Acceptance, forgiveness, patience, willingness to integrate wisdom, alignement with my life purpose, awakening, mindfulness, surrender to the divine plan, peacefulness, even joyfulness are all outcomes of the work this injury has inspired. I’m also facing fears of financial scarcity as I’ve been guided to eliminate a day of working at a spa, which is good for my wallet but not my health or mission. Reiki is supporting this deeper level of healing by balancing body, mind, and spirit in each moment.

One of the amazing things about Reiki is that it is activated by my intention, yet guided by spirit, or my Higher Self. I can “program” it to flow steadily for the goal of healing the meniscus tear. I call this the slow release technique, which is amplified by the symbols learned in Reiki 2. Then spirit guides that process; which means I don’t need an intellectual understanding of what the highest good is or what needs to happen. I simply trust in the intelligence of Reiki to cover those aspects which are beyond my pay grade.

It’s spectacularly simple, yet incredibly powerful! Anybody can learn Reiki in a short period of time and use it for anything and everything that ails them. I have several Reiki classes coming up. I’d love to have you attend! If Philadelphia isn’t convenient for you, I bet there’s a Reiki Master in your area who enjoys spreading the healing as much as I do.

Healer, Heal Thyself Part 5: Reiki

From the very first twinge of pain I felt in my knee, I’ve been using Reiki.…
I love it when my students and clients ask questions I’d never before considered! Most recently I was stumped by, “Can you use Reiki to have a good hair day?” As my approach to Reiki has always been experimental, I generally reply to these inquiries with “I’m not sure. I don’t see why not. Give it a try and let me know!”

I teach three general guidelines about practicing Reiki.
- Use Reiki for everything, all the time! No book or course could come close to covering the myriad applications of Reiki; hence my experimental approach. Students have reported success when Reiki’ing all sorts of things I never taught them: windshield wiper blades and goldfish, for example!
- Don’t attempt to interfere with anyone’s free will. When we learn this amazing healing technique, it’s tempting to want to help friends and family, but often they are not interested in receiving our help. Free will always takes precedence over well-meaning interference.
- Reiki always works for our highest good, but not always in the way we want it to work. Just like every process in life, we benefit from trusting in divine wisdom and remaining unattached to the form of the outcome.
Let’s look at how we can apply these guidelines to a “Can you use Reiki…” question.

If you’re not attempting to manipulate someone’s opinion or behavior, I’d suggest giving it a try. This holds true for Reiki for good hair as much as it does for Reiki for healing mysterious illnesses or relationship harmony or world peace. It’s a universal guideline that can be consulted for any situation.

Perhaps the most intriguing piece of this analysis is that Reiki always works for the highest good. Often we don’t see the big picture and therefore remain ignorant of what our highest good is. In this case, it could mean that the hair-holder’s (pun intended 😉 intuition would be heightened and the perfect stylist, technique, or product would be revealed. It could mean that greater self-love, -acceptance, and -appreciate begin to develop, making concerns of good hair days less important. It could mean an actual hair crisis that would lead to meeting a person of consequence or a significant learning experience.

If we remember that an intelligence greater than us has our best interest at heart, it’s much easier to Reiki our goals and release expectation. If we remember that we don’t always know what’s best for ourselves, let alone anyone else, it’s easier to let go of trying to manage another’s health and well-being. When we remember the Reiki is a spiritually guided life-force energy, it’s easier to see how it can support us in enjoying our greatest good in every aspect of life.
Can You Use Reiki for …

I love it when my students and clients ask questions I’d never before considered! Most recently…
So. I injured my knee. Much of the time it doesn’t hurt at all. Until it does. And sometimes it really freakin’ does! My chiropractor did an orthopedic test (specific movements with joints held in specific positions) and it appears I have a torn meniscus. Crap. Although… it is a wonderful opportunity to practice what I preach about self-care and alternative medicine.

Let me begin by saying I’m not a doctor. I’m not offering medical advice. I have no idea what you should do about your knee injury. I’m certainly not suggesting you shouldn’t seek medical attention simply because I’m not. However, you might like to include some complementary methods with whatever treatment you are receiving. Legal disclaimer over.

I’m exploring a wide range of holistic techniques to heal my knee. I’m quite certain that the problem is not the lack of a pharmaceutical drug, and surgery or other invasive procedures will only be considered if all other, and I mean ALL other, plans fail.

I believe in the power of body-mind-spirit healing, and listening to the messages the body provides.

I believe in the healing power of Reiki, bodywork, and compassionate touch.

I believe in using plants and food as medicine.

I believe that minimizing stress and inflammation supports optimal health and healing.

I believe in using mindfulness and breath as tools of integration.

I believe in the ancient sciences of yoga and Ayurveda.

I believe healing comes from the inside out and that my body knows what it needs if I only slow down enough to listen.

I believe I am the ultimate authority when it comes to my health, and while I will research techniques and therapies and consult with other holistic health practitioners, my treatment must align with my beliefs.

This is the beginning of a series in which I explore the journey of healing my knee using holistic, energy, plant, and spiritual medicine. And a magnetic knee brace, which I was gifted today. Because I also believe in synchronicity and kindness and hey, it certainly can’t hurt!

Up next: body-mind-spirit healing for a meniscus tear.

Healer, Heal Thyself Part 1

So. I injured my knee. Much of the time it doesn’t hurt at all. Until it…
Occasionally I have the distinct honor of introducing someone to the body-mind-spirit healing realm. While many of my students have an established meditation, yoga, or spiritual practice, some of them find Reiki as their introduction into the metaphysical world. I attribute this to the wave of awakening that seems to be prevailing on this planet.

Last week a student looked at me with bright eyes and asked, “You mean my thoughts affect my health?”; I could practically see the light bulb over her head! We had been talking about Ki (life-force energy) and how we can expand or diminish it in normal, everyday life. While Reiki is a tremendously easy and effective way to boost Ki, our lifestyles, habits, thoughts, and beliefs also have a huge impact on our health by either draining or building Ki.

Becoming aware that my thoughts, notably the persistent and recurring type thoughts that I engage in constantly, affect my well-being shifted my life more than any other lesson in this lifetime. Recognizing that I have so much control (and eek! responsibility) was truly empowering. To offer this medicine to another young woman beginning her healing journey was such a blessing! As much for me as it was for her.

Of course I appreciate all my students’ questions. Many of them keep me on my toes with deep and insightful queries. I enjoy all the challenges they bring and every discussion about Reiki and healing is valuable to me. In fact I learn just as much from my students as they do from me. I love it when an unusual question activates a level of thinking that I hadn’t accessed before. I am on a lifetime journey myself and every student and client contributes to my map.

Likewise, I enjoy cheering them on for their individual journeys; from those taking their first steps to those in the midst of a marathon. Each of them brightens my life with their curiosity and willingness to learn. Knowing that I have such amazing company on my journey is truly inspiring. I’m feeling both deeply humbled and extremely blessed to allow Reiki to teach through me. It’s quite possibly the best job ever!

A Reiki Teacher’s Dream!

Occasionally I have the distinct honor of introducing someone to the body-mind-spirit healing realm. While many…
I’ve been confused by the expression “spiritual healing” for some time now. At first I thought it meant to heal one’s spirit. But over the past few years of spiritual exploration and practice, I’ve come to recognize that spirit can never be damaged or broken. It remains as it was created: perfect, whole, and complete. No healing needed. Ever!

Well then, what the heck is spiritual healing if not healing of the spirit?

I now realize that spiritual healing is about reconnecting with spirit and reclaiming our essential nature of wholeness, worthiness, and innocence. It’s about remembering that we are one with spirit, life, love, the universe, the divine; whatever words you use to describe the eternal source of all that is. Spiritual healing is about removing the blockages that prevent us from experiencing ourselves as spiritual beings.

The blockages come from traumatic experiences, cultural conditioning, and ancestral beliefs; as well as unprocessed feelings of shame, fear, anger, and sadness. They get installed every time we shut down a part of ourselves to escape or prevent pain or to please others. They are absorbed from a society that promotes superficial values. They are presented in messages about not being good enough; being too needed, too sensitive, too whatever; or having too much or too little of some arbitrary trait that the media currently idolizes or abhors.

The blockages arise from not having basic needs met and not knowing how to handle the resulting pain; and the subsequent use of self-medicating behaviors or substances; and the emerging shame, guilt, humiliation, or despair experienced from falling into this destructive pattern yet again. This is a vicious cycle that contributes to separation from spirit almost as much as experiencing violence, neglect, or abuse.

The blockages are ubiquitous. We all have them to varying degrees.

And yet we all have access to the underlying perfection of spirit that is waiting patiently to be unveiled. This is the gift that spiritual healing provides. Reiki is one of the many paths that can lead us on this journey back to our True Selves, our essential natures, our invincible spirits. It’s a journey of remembering who we really are by allowing healing life-force energy to remove all that we are not.

Spiritual Healing

I’ve been confused by the expression “spiritual healing” for some time now. At first I thought…
I’m trying something new this year. 2018 is the time for me to feel all my feelings. It doesn’t sound all that impressive, I know. Yet it is a huge undertaking! The vast majority of my emotions have been ignored, suppressed, or deflected for decades. They’re still buried within, waiting to be experienced, digested, and released. It seems that this is the process that needs to be allowed for true healing to occur.

There are several key components that I’ve committed to in order to support this endeavor. I’ve recently realized that lasting change requires all of the pieces to be in play simultaneously.
- Gathering a team of compassionate, understanding, and supportive friends who can witness my journey without judging, blaming, shaming, or advising.
- Eliminating self-medication strategies such as alcohol, sugar, and processed foods and limiting time spent on social media, watching TV, and engaging in meaningless chit-chat.
- Devotion to spiritual practices that release blockages and reroute that freed energy for a higher purpose.
- Willingness to be radically honesty with myself about what is coming up in each moment.
- Commitment to stillness when uncomfortable emotions arise.
Ugh! It’s so much easier to eat something, to distract myself with electronics, or to check out with a nice pint of beer. I’ve become a master at using yoga, dance, and Reiki to shift the energy of discomfort. I now recognize this behavior as misusing these powerful techniques to avoid the work of healing by preventing emotions from rising to the surface for processing. Discomfort cannot be avoided in the healing process. Ugh!

Perhaps the most valuable lesson I’m learning is that there are multiple ways to use Reiki for emotional healing. First, it can be a remedy for getting through difficult situations by providing comfort in the moment. Second, it can be used to prevent emotions from becoming festering wounds that develop over time through neglect and abandonment. And thirdly (perhaps most importantly) it can be used to muster up the courage and willingness to sit quietly in loving awareness with whatever is true in each moment; without moving to escape or repair it.

So here I sit, prepared to experience whatever arises; willing to feel all my feelings despite great discomfort and the urge to flee. It might not sound impressive, but when I am able to allow complete emotional honesty, the liberation I experience is phenomenal. While the rewards are mostly internal, they are truly transformative. And that is more valuable to me than sounding impressive.
Emotional Honesty

I’m trying something new this year. 2018 is the time for me to feel all my…
It’s time for me to examine the goals I wish to pursue by redefining the word “success”. Enough of allowing the media, Hollywood, and Wall Street to influence my perception of success as a six figure income, superficial popularity, and meaningless (to me anyway) status. As I welcome in the new year, I’m using Reiki to get clear about what will serve me best in my quest for success.

When I sit in contemplation about how I wish to feel and what I wish to offer in 2018, I place one hand on my heart and the other on my solar plexus, willing Reiki to flow and guide me. I consider my challenges and victories of the past year and ask for clarity about what I need to release and what I need to cultivate. I allow my heart to open and my willpower to activate as I invite guidance about achieving these desires.

For starters, how can I deepen my spiritual connection and sense of worthiness? How do I uncover the sparkle of my inner light and extended it to brighten the world for myself, my friends, family, clients, and all beings? What resources do I need to support this goal and what actions can I take right now to start moving in that direction? What time drains, bad habits, or inefficiencies can be released?

Next I consider magnifying my physical, mental, emotional, and energetic health. How can I create more time for rest and play, for preparing and mindfully consuming nurturing meals, for reading (both for pleasure and growth), for expression and creativity, and for recreation and connection with those who inspire and uplift me? What obligations can I surrender that will free me to pursue my unique version of success rather than conforming with society’s version?

My career falls third on my list of pursuits. While increasing prosperity is indeed on my wish list, I will only consider myself a success if my work doesn’t hamper my spiritual growth or well-being. Pretty radical redefinition, isn’t it? Yes, I long for a tropical vacation, and we’ve only just begun the winter experience here in Philadelphia. Yes, there are several courses that would expand my ability to serve my students and clients better. Without a doubt I would enjoy attending concerts, the symphony and theater much more regularly this year. Yet, none of that is worth sacrificing my health or peace of mind.

Making the commitment to pursuing personal, spiritual, and wellness development as my primary priority seems like a no-brainer to me. Yet every advertisement I see is urging me to find meaning and self-worth through a purchase or experience that is rarely aligned with my values. In 2018, I’m vowing to continue my redefinition of success as it applies to me. I am wholeheartedly secure in the knowing that a daily Reiki practice will help me stay true to myself and optimize each moment, allowing success to flow into my life.

It could easily do the same thing for you.

Redefining Success for 2018

It’s time for me to examine the goals I wish to pursue by redefining the word…
Here we go again! Thanksgiving is still over a week away and already I’m seeing Christmas decorations in some local stores. This season can be overwhelming and super-stressful for so many of us. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the busy-ness of holiday traditions and seemingly endless to-do lists. It’s no coincidence that it’s also a season of colds and flus as we run ourselves ragged.

I encourage people to evaluate their intentions before overcommitting. Learning to say “no” is often one of the healthiest and empowering actions we can take when an activity is not aligned with our goals. Allowing time for rest and restoration is important all year long, but invaluable in the colder months of long, , dark nights. Choosing to stay home and recalibrate rather than overeating, overdrinking, overgiving, or overspending can be so supportive of health and well-being.

For those who are determined to push through and do it all, I highly recommend scheduling some healing support. Why wait till things go wrong, till the immune system crashes, the headaches descend or the low back gives out? Prepare yourself and prevent the aftermath of overdoing by making time for a massage, Reiki or acupuncture treatment, a trip to the chiropractor or hot baths, extra yoga or dance classes, or whatever you favorite mode of relaxation may be.

Make it a priority now and get it on the calendar! Save yourself the misery of getting sick or injured or suffering from stress and tension. Having two jobs, my own business, plans to travel to the Michigan tundra for a family Thanksgiving, an upcoming move to a different home, and all the other ordinary everyday stuff I’m loading up on self-care practices; including eliminating all inflammatory thoughts and foods, boosting my immune system with plant medicine, and receiving treatments from my awesome team of holistic health providers. Seriously, I don’t mess around!

If you’re wondering if a session with me would be helpful, let’s schedule a complimentary 15 minute phone consultation. Even if you’re not in the Philadelphia area, long-distance Reiki is an excellent option to stress relief, recharging batteries, and keeping life-force energy flowing and balanced. If we’re neighbors, let’s get you on the table for a therapeutic massage or Reiki treatment! Check out my website for details or contact me to schedule.

Holiday Madness

Here we go again! Thanksgiving is still over a week away and already I’m seeing Christmas…
I get this question a lot from clients, often when they are in great pain; either physical, psychological, or spiritual. They come seeking relief, having been sent by a friend or Google search, correctly informed that Reiki and massage are powerful, holistic healing techniques. Recently a young woman jokingly requested that I vacuum out all her anxiety. If only I could! Alas, healing does not work this way.

Human touch and muscle manipulation are potent vehicles of healing, as is the universal life-force energy transferred during a Reiki session. They can provide the nudge that the body or psyche needs to return to alignment with the Spirit. They can also offer the boost in motivation to follow through on lifestyle changes, the release of self-sabotaging beliefs, and the comfort of remembering that we are not merely broken bodies with problems struggling alone in an unfriendly universe. Reiki and massage are some of the most powerful healing tools that I’ve ever come across in my twenty plus years of spiritual awakening.

And yet it is up to each of us individually to decide if we wish to receive the many benefits these tools have to offer. We are ultimately the ones in control of our own healing and well-being. Providers like myself can offer support to our clients, but until emotions have been fully acknowledged, felt, and released there is no shortcut. Our pain is very often an indicator that we have gotten off-track. It serves the function of reminding us of our greater purpose, our true nature, and our mission in this lifetime.

My compassion allows me to dream of taking away the discomfort everyone experiences, but my inner knowing counsels that this would indeed be a disservice to the evolution and ultimate wellness of others. Being human is a difficult job. But we have been blessed with countless systems of support, transformation, and integration. If you’re wondering if a treatment with me might be helpful, please check out my website! I offer a free 15 minute phone consultation for this very reason. If you’re just not into massage or Reiki, that’s cool too. I hope you seek out one of the other alternative options so readily available today.

Can You Fix Me?

I get this question a lot from clients, often when they are in great pain; either…