wellness

Yesterday was my day to go for a hike in the woods, but I just didn’t have the energy. I was in need of rest, but I knew that I always feel better when I spend some time outside. So I decided to go for a short walk at the arboretum in my neighborhood.

I was pleased to see a few deer grazing in the meadow. You’ll have to trust me when I say that’s what the shape below in the center is as it was too far away to get a good pic.

I was strolling about with the intent of finding a sunny bench to read my book. The spot I was thinking of was overrun with dozens of 10 year-olds on some sort of field trip and seemed very unappealing.

I tried a path I’d never been down before and a hawk popped out of the bushes just a few feet in front of me and swooped up into a nearby tree. Whoa! That made me take notice. I don’t recall ever seeing one so close and at eye level before. It must have been on the ground just off the path.

Below the tree where it perched was an empty grassy area with a few patches of sunlight. I decided that the universe had chosen an unlikely messenger to suggest that I have a seat here. I decided to lay down in the grass, realizing that earthing (the act of connecting with the ground and absorbing healing energy) was a better aligned with my needs of the day than hiking.

It’s rare for me to come into contact with the earth without rubber soles in between us. I don’t have a yard and spend most of my outdoor time on sidewalks or rocky terrain, neither of which are amendable to bare feet. It was an extra special treat to breathe fresh air, bask in the sun, and feel supported by the ground.

On my way back to the car, I saw much evidence of ground hogs and one of the critters itself. At least that’s what I think the furry thing scurrying underground was! Hard to be certain from a distance. I finally did find a bench in the sun as was able to spend some quality time with a novel in the great outdoors.

I’m so glad I didn’t push myself to do my scheduled activity or abandon my nature therapy altogether. I’m even glad for the bus load of rowdy kids who steered me in a different direction so I was available to be ushered by a hawk to a different form of nature therapy.

It was a wonderful two hours and a lesson to be willing to adapt my plans to suit my needs and the resources available. And a reminder that many of the best things in life are free if we only pay attention.

Thank goodness for getting rerouted

Yesterday was my day to go for a hike in the woods, but I just didn’t…
Developing access to intuition is a whole lot easier when we start with the basics. Rather than jumping in the deep end when the pressure is on, we can start in the kiddie pool and practice until we get the hang of it. Approaching intuition like any other skill that takes time to master can prevent us from unrealistic expectations.

I’ve been collecting the real-life, seemingly silly presentations of my inner voice. None of these are monumental, and that’s exactly why I was able to benefit. There was nothing much on the line, so I could relax into the practice. I track these incidents so I can build trust in the process. When I can look back at a series of messages that were indeed in my best good, I’m more able to welcome the next message that comes through, even when it doesn’t make much sense in that moment.

Intuition: Get a spoon.

Me: What? No. I’m just going to the bedroom. I won’t need a spoon in there.

Me, 20 minutes later, in the bedroom, wishing I had a spoon.

Intuition: Put the house key in your pocket.

Me: Why? I’m not going outside.

Me, 3 hours later, locked out. GAH!

Intuition: Go to the co-op now.

Me: Are you crazy? It’s senior discount day, it will be super crowded. Fine, I’ll play along, but I don’t really want to…

Me, 15 minutes later at the co-op finding everything on my list on a one-day-only sale and running in to a client who wants to schedule another session but never remembers to email me.

People want access to intuition when a big change looms, but if they haven’t developed trust already, it can be difficult to hear. It would be like showing up at the marathon without having done any training.

In addition to paying attention to the unbidden guidance, you can ask for specific answers. Start with something easy.

Me: What should I wear?

Intuition: Sneakers!

Me: Really? I was thinking I should wear the cute (but not entirely comfortable) sandals.

Me, later in the day: Oh, am I going on an unexpected three mile walk? So glad I’m wearing sneakers!

Me: What should I watch on TV?

Intuition: Let’s watch this show that a friend suggested.

Me: What? I’m not really in the mood for a documentary.

Me, an hour later: Wow that was awesome and answered my question about how to treat this annoying problem.

Once you get a few dozen of these playful episodes under your belt, you can assess if you’re ready to tackle some bigger issues. But if you haven’t yet conditioned your intuition muscles, expecting clarity on a major life decision is likely going to lead to confusion and frustration.

Today’s a great day to get started with the basics. Choose a notebook or app to track your intuitive experiences. Make note of the ideas that appear out of nowhere. Ask for guidance on everyday issues. Follow that guidance! And remember to log the results.

Intuition Chronicles: Start with the Basics

Developing access to intuition is a whole lot easier when we start with the basics. Rather…
I recorded a guided practice for my Reiki students and figured I’d share it here. It’s for anyone who has received a Reiki attunement. This is a meditative practice for meeting whatever is alive in the moment with compassion and healing energy.

I hope you find it helpful! Let me know what you think. 🙂

Guided Reiki Practice

I recorded a guided practice for my Reiki students and figured I’d share it here. It’s…
Here’s the thing about Reiki: it’s an amazing healing technique. I’ve personally experienced incredible transformation simply by applying it consistently over the years and I’ve witnessed the same in countless clients.

But it’s not a magic wand. People don’t experience incredible healing while continuing the behavior that caused their lack of wellness. There’s is no escaping the universal law of cause and effect.

Makes sense, right?

You can’t keep eating poison and expect to get well. Health is about balance. Somehow in our modern society we’ve lost track of that. We’ve been ensorcelled into believing that we can carry on dysfunctional patterns and treat the symptoms with pills, and the side effects of those pills with other pills. The proliferation of pharmaceutical commercials has conditioned us to believe this is a normal approach to healthcare.

It is not.

Strangely, we call this covering up of symptoms “medicine” in our society, but it’s definitely not healing. Healing involves cleaning the mess up that’s been swept under the rug and looking at the hidden motivations for continuing unhealthy behavior so we can stop harming ourselves.

Reiki can help with all of that. It helps us get clear about why we’re feeling compelled to do the very thing we’ve promised ourselves we won’t, how to get a handle on the compulsion, and how to face the underlying triggers.

My post about Reiki and bladder issues is one of the most popular articles I’ve ever written. Every month more than one hundred people open it. I’m assuming these are people who suffer ongoing bladder issues that “medicine” has failed to eradicate.

However… zero people have contacted me to schedule an appointment! Seriously, not a single one. I suspect they’re not keen on the idea of looking at the unexpressed anger that I mentioned in that blog as being a prime suspect.

I get it. Nobody enjoys spelunking in the caverns of messy emotions. It’s uncomfortable and inconvenient and might cause a revelation that a relationship or career is just too toxic to be sustainable.

Yet going through this exploratory process, which is temporary (depending on one’s willingness to really face reality and stop feeding the anger) is the solution that will prevent future occurrences of a painful condition.

In holistic healing, we go to the source of the problem to remove the imbalance. That is often chronic stress, unhealed trauma, or suppressed emotions. These factors wreak havoc on our bodies from the inside (via our hormones) until we intervene.

Yes, it’s no fun going there. But neither (I’m guessing) are recurrent UTIs. On the other side of meeting with the anger, or whatever else has been festering deep down, is a sense of freedom that is most delightful.

It’s important to note that you’re not doing this work alone. Reiki is a powerful source of healing energy. It is spiritually guided life-force and it totally works. I have countless texts from clients post-treatment expressing gratitude and sometimes awe about this. Reiki works. But you need to let it in and you need to be willing to meet with the emotions that arise as a result.

You don’t need to do it all at once and it’s rarely necessary to make sweeping lifestyle changes. And for those who are adamantly opposed to addressing emotional factors, consistent Reiki treatment can help manage symptoms. But for true healing, most people need a combination of support from a practitioner and the courage to look within and the willingness to find a safe expression of the pent-up feelings. (I’m a fan of writing expressive letters that I’ll never mail. Then I can ceremoniously burn or shred them. Other people like smashing cheap dishes or hitting pillows.)

About 95% of my clients experience relief after their first session. Shifting the underlying patterns takes some time; usually a series of about seven sessions, depending on the duration and severity of the condition. Often people find the rewards so impactful that they continue on with a monthly-ish maintenance treatment and enjoy watching the benefits spread into all areas of their lives.

Wherever you are in the world, you can receive a remote treatment from the comfort of your own space. If you’re in the Philly area, you can visit me in Mt. Airy.

Book a Session

Reiki and Bladder Issues, part 2

Here’s the thing about Reiki: it’s an amazing healing technique. I’ve personally experienced incredible transformation simply…
Fatigue is one of the more common ailments that brings clients to me for treatment. Very often people have been through a barrage of testing and are told there is nothing wrong. Gah! This is so frustrating. Just because the medical system can’t find a cause doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I think we can all agree that when someone is so exhausted they can barely function despite getting adequate sleep and nutrition, there is indeed something wrong.

If we look through a holistic lens, we’re more likely to notice dysfunction or imbalance that exists in the mental, emotional, spiritual, energetic, relational, and lifestyle areas. Correcting any of these conditions can have a profound effect on physical health and overall wellness. Reiki is a very useful tool for doing that.

First and foremost, it’s a gentle infusion of pure life-force energy which can begin to shift chronic energy depletion.

Second, it releases stress and tension, which are gigantic drains on our systems. Chronic stress is the equivalent of having a gaping hole in your fuel tank. No matter how often you fill up, gas is just sloshing out all over the place.

Third, it can help dissipate blockages, allowing for a more healthy flow of energy. Common blockages include unprocessed trauma and suppressed emotions. These form a sort of coagulation of life-force which can impede the flow.

Fourth, Reiki can help balance hormones, which have a tremendous effect on our energy levels.

Fifth, it fosters better quality sleep. ‘Nuff said.

Sixth, it can activate clarity and enable access to intuition, helping us to see where and how our energy is being wasted or siphoned in our daily lives. Very often there are some uncomfortable conversations around boundaries that can help protect our energy levels. Saying yes when we really mean NO! is a tremendous drain of energy. Persistent over-giving when our tanks are empty takes a toll on our bodies. We need to rebel against the BS cultural conditioning that it’s better to give than receive and prioritize our own well-being.

I could probably keep going, but I imagine you get my point. It addresses the inflow and outflow of energy and supports a healthy balance so that we can thrive rather than merely surviving.

Perhaps the best thing about using Reiki as a treatment for fatigue is that it can be administered remotely. Yup. You can stay at home if you’re unable or just uninterested in venturing out into the world and receive a session from the comfort of your own space. Just like a automatic deposit to your bank account, there’s nothing that you need to do!

I’ve found that when somebody has been chronically fatigued, it can take three or four sessions for a shift to be noticed. Then gradual improvements are reported. When the client is able to remove some of the worst energetic vampires and willing to meet with the stored emotions that arise, a more balanced flow becomes the new normal.

True, it takes some time and consistent application and often some lifestyle upgrades for lasting results to take root. Just as it’s harder to get out of debt without curbing spending, it’s harder to heal fatigue when dysfunctional relationships or circumstances are not addressed. So it goes with holistic healing- we look at all imbalances from the biochemistry to the psycho spiritual factors. There’s only so much I can do for folks who are committed to unhealthy habits. Those who are serious about getting well realize that if they want things to change, they have to make some changes.

If you’re ready to get started on this journey, I invite you to book a remote Reiki session. You could also come for an in-person session if you’re in the Philly area and need a change of scenery. Once you start feeling better, you might like to learn how to give yourself Reiki. It’s easy to do and no special psychic or mystical powers are necessary.

Reiki has helped me more than any other technique with chronic pain, autoimmune issues, anxiety, and fatigue. And it can help you too!

Book a Treatment

Contact Pamela

Reiki for Fatigue

Fatigue is one of the more common ailments that brings clients to me for treatment. Very…
I took a class with Lee several years ago and learned so much about correcting postural imbalances and relieving the resulting discomfort in simple and gentle ways. He’s the one who taught me that many tight muscles are screaming because they are already overstretched and that stretching an overstretched muscle is downright counterproductive, if not harmful.

Yup. Radical, huh? Keep to stretching for muscles that are shortened, and bring some slack into the over- elongated ones. This was so profound for me that I finally made a video about upper back and neck pain because I got tired of explaining it over and over.

In this short video, he shares tips for sitting upright to reduce pain. It’s so simple! I remember a fellow student in that class I took waiting all weekend for some mind blowing, high-tech solution for improved sitting strategies. He seemed disappointed that it was so easy and involved a cheap pillow.

Isn’t it funny how our minds can correlate expensive and complicated with effective? Curiously our Reiki lineage includes this thinking. That’s why Mrs. Takata charged $10K for Master Teacher training! Luckily, one of her students disagreed.

But I digress.

Here’s the video. Check it out. I bet you can easily give it a try without spending a dime or more than 10 minutes. Let me know what you think!

Lee Alpert’s Advice on How to Sit for Less Back Pain

I took a class with Lee several years ago and learned so much about correcting postural…
Today is the summer solstice for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere; it’s the longest day of the year. I saw my first firefly last night, which confirms the arrival of summer here. Ironically we have a blessedly cool day blooming, despite the sun working overtime.

For everyone in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s winter solstice and the longest night. For all of us, it’s a turning point. A time when the pendulum reaches the extreme end of its arc before beginning it’s journey towards center.

It’s a great time to review the past 6 months, noticing any patterns, stuckness, or imbalance. Are you in harmony with nature’s energy? Is there anything you can learn that will benefit you moving forward?

I find it helpful to do a simple inventory of where I am currently (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, energetically, circumstantially) this time of year to help me evaluate where I am going in the next 6 months.

Themes that are up for me are prosperity, musculoskeletal health, and community. I’m going to spend some time contemplating how I can support my goals while surfing the soon-to-be waning sun and lengthening nights energies.

If that seems like too much bother, a simple way to honor this day is to enjoy local fruits and vegetables. Celebrating the bounty of the summer crops by savoring the harvest (cherries, strawberries, sugar snap peas, and cucumbers for me) can help us get in touch with the land where we are and align with the season.

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, I wish you a lovely day filled with all your favorite things. May the sun shine gently upon you.

Happy Solstice!

Today is the summer solstice for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere; it’s the…
Today is the summer solstice for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere; it’s the longest day of the year. I saw my first firefly last night, which confirms the arrival of summer here. Ironically we have a blessedly cool day blooming, despite the sun working overtime.

For everyone in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s winter solstice and the longest night. For all of us, it’s a turning point. A time when the pendulum reaches the extreme end of its arc before beginning it’s journey towards center.

It’s a great time to review the past 6 months, noticing any patterns, stuckness, or imbalance. Are you in harmony with nature’s energy? Is there anything you can learn that will benefit you moving forward?

I find it helpful to do a simple inventory of where I am currently (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, energetically, circumstantially) this time of year to help me evaluate where I am going in the next 6 months.

Themes that are up for me are prosperity, musculoskeletal health, and community. I’m going to spend some time contemplating how I can support my goals while surfing the soon-to-be waning sun and lengthening nights energies.

If that seems like too much bother, a simple way to honor this day is to enjoy local fruits and vegetables. Celebrating the bounty of the summer crops by savoring the harvest (cherries, strawberries, sugar snap peas, and cucumbers for me) can help us get in touch with the land where we are and align with the season.

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, I wish you a lovely day filled with all your favorite things. May the sun shine gently upon you.

Happy Solstice!

Today is the summer solstice for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere; it’s the…
Last week a potential client asked me what my success rate was.

Ummmm…

I really had to give that some thought! I am 100% successful at delivering Reiki and/or massage to the clients who request it.

But that obviously wasn’t what she was looking for. She wanted to know how many of my clients were relieved of their symptoms, but that’s not a question I can accurately answer. I’d estimate that 95% of the time, people feel better when they leave my office. What happens after that is generally out of my hands.

Imagine you were seeking treatment for insomnia. Reiki and massage are both fabulous at calming the nervous system so people can fall asleep more easily and stay asleep. I can do my very best work, you’d feel calm and rested when we parted, but you could go home and drink a pot of coffee before bedtime. You probably won’t sleep very well, but you still received many of the wellness benefits anyway.

Holistic healing is a lot like not drinking a pot of coffee before bed. Or getting out of debt by curtailing spending and taking up a side job. All of our choices are affecting our progress.

My clients who switch to decaf after lunch experience tremendous results. Those who rely solely on me while continuing to drink coffee at bedtime get temporary relief.

There’s no judgment here. Anybody can get a session and feel better. Those who want to continue feeling better work with me. We become a detective team, exploring the options that they face every day to pursue or decline wellness.

Success rate? Here’s a more accurate question, one I wasn’t quick enough to express on that phone call. Are you willing to adapt your behavior and make healthier choices that support your goals? Your response is directly correlated to the success rate you can expect. And my services will mostly definitely support you in the process.

Whether or not you’re wanting to participate in your wellness pursuit, gentle massage and Reiki treatments can promote vitality, peace, calm, creativity, and health. Schedule a session without any guilt or shame about your habits. We don’t have to discuss anything you don’t want to!

Your Healing Session

Success Rate of Healing Treatments?

Last week a potential client asked me what my success rate was. Ummmm… I really had…