Don’t we all?! 21st century living isn’t for wimps. Between the toxins, the perpetual busyness, and the information overload, wellness requires some effort these days.
It doesn’t help that our nervous systems respond to deadlines, traffic, and emails from the boss with the same physiological response as if we were being chased by a tiger. All that adrenaline pumping in our veins and nowhere to go. We wonder why we feel anxious when we try to sit still and act normal, but our body is screaming for us to punch, kick, run, or hide under the table.
Yeesh. It’s exhausting.
For most of us, chronic stress and go-go-go lifestyles are here to stay. Rather than bemoaning that fact or hiding our heads in the sand, we can acknowledge that this is less than ideal and take action to mitigate the damage.
That’s where Reiki comes in. It’s a holistic healing technique that calms the nerves, relieves stress and pain, and stimulates the body’s innate healing abilities. It’s powerful, safe, effective, and…
wait for it…
Anyone can learn how to do Reiki.
Even better- you can use it for yourselfanywhere, anytime.
While Reiki can indeed be shared with others, I see its most important use as a self-empowerment practice that allows you to actively contribute to your own wellness.
By “practice”, I mean it’s something that needs to be utilized consistently for the best results, like brushing your teeth or exercise. What better way to get daily deposits of universal life-force energy than to tap into the infinite supply and saturate yourself from top to toe?
Which is why I’m excited to announce my next Reiki 1 Certification course. This is an in-person training in my Mt. Airy (that’s a neighborhood in Philly) studio.
Four Thursdays, noon- 2pm
Feb 27, March 6, 13 & 20
(alternate date in case a class is cancelled because of snow- March 27)
This training does include how to give sessions to friends and family, but the foundation is using it as a self-care practice. You know, put your own oxygen mask on first.
You needn’t be psychic or spiritual. You don’t need to know anything about chakras or crystals or own a meditation cushion or yoga mat.
What it takes is curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to follow through. The benefits come from the doing, not the learning. The class itself won’t change your life, but if you engage the tools I teach, well, get ready for the magic to unfold.
Investment = $300 with a $25 early bird discount if registered by January 31, 2025. Seats are limited. Literally- I only have 6 chairs, so if you want to join us, claim your spot now.
Got stress? Fatigue? Anxiety? Overwhelm? Don’t we all?! 21st century living isn’t for wimps. Between the…
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…
Here we are, at the beginning of 2025, launching into a new year. I’m seeing lots of posts about kicking it off in style, crushing it, being the best version of yourself.
Which might seem like an impossibility if you’re struggling just to get through the days. This is the season when Nature is urging us to rest and restore, to take some downtime, and get extra sleep. It is not the season for crushing it, unless we’re talking about naps.
So if I could encourage us all to do just one thing right now, it would be to listen to our own bodies. Let them guide us through this new year portal.
Inquire within and listen with compassion and curiosity:
How am I feeling right now? What do I need? What activity or lack of activity would be most supportive?
Rather than jumping on someone else’s, even a so-called expert’s, bandwagon, tune in to yourself. Let your self-care be for YOU.
All journeys begin with the first step. Don’t let the distance between your current location and your destination derail your departure.
Research shows that small habits have a big impact overtime. Pick one thing to do, or not do, this week. Next week or next month, or whenever the time feels right, add one more thing to do or not do.
It could be as simple as taking three conscious breaths while the coffee brews or smiling at yourself in the mirror.
I’ve been having my tea outside at sunrise for six months now. Supposedly the light at dawn is very healing on a cellular level. I can’t say that my cells feel different, but I’ve come to look forward to this quiet moment every morning. Getting bundled up when it’s below freezing has become a challenge that I enjoy. On the long road of healing, it’s just a baby step, but one I’ve made nearly 200 times, thereby shifting my trajectory into one aligned with vibrant mitochondria and cellular health.
What small shift can you make in your trajectory?
Sunrise is at 7:23 tomorrow- you’ve welcome to join me for a cuppa. Don’t forget the layers. Lots and lots of layers. 🤩
If you want a jumpstart, consider booking a Reiki treatment and fill up your life-force tank.
Here we are, at the beginning of 2025, launching into a new year. I’m seeing lots…
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 had a great time sitting by the creek yesterday. I call this video: Mixed Doubles Synchronized Swimming. There are three pairs of mallards enjoying a cold sunny day.
Aren’t they adorable?
If you didn’t know that they were feeding themselves, wouldn’t they look ridiculous? Turning themselves butt up, heads submerged in frigid water seems an odd sort of behavior, no?
It got me thinking about how much energy is wasted judging other people’s actions when we don’t know the full story.
Of course, the flip side of this is how much energy is wasted worrying about what other people think. These ducks, I can assure you, did not concern themselves with my opinion of their swimming routine. I doubt they cared what the robins and sparrows thought either.
A few weeks ago, I had FOUR flies in my kitchen. So annoying. I didn’t want to kill them, so I opened the window and used a kitchen towel to try to chase them out. I laughed, thinking that I must look utterly crazy to any neighbors who might have caught a glimpse of my shoo-fly dance.
There is so much energy that we fritter away every day that can be repurposed for healing, creativity, productivity, and vitality. It’s our life-force! Shall we not try to spend it wisely? Frugally, even?
I hope these ducks can help us all remember to carry on about the day without critiquing things we don’t understand and to do our own thing without concern for appearances.
You do you, little ducks. I’ll be over here doing me.
I had a great time sitting by the creek yesterday. I call this video: Mixed Doubles…
I know it might sound weird, but one of the things I’m most grateful for is the back pain I experienced in my younger years.
Yes, that’s right. I’m expressing gratitude for pain.
Why?
It created a seismic shift in my trajectory.
I seriously doubt I would have learned about yoga, the body-mind connection, food as medicine, bodywork, or Reiki.
I definitely wouldn’t be writing this article, maybe not even writing at all. I wouldn’t have my own business helping others. I wouldn’t even have met most of my dearest friends. 💕
I cannot fathom my life without these treasures. The tools I collected to relieve pain became the backbone of my very world.
I became an empowered, embodied, mindful woman who takes responsibility for creating a healthy lifestyle that supports optimal well-being. I have come to understand that healing is multifaceted, unique, and unfolds over time.
I cannot fathom who I’d be without the journey I’ve taken. Like the Japanese tradition of repairing broken pottery with gold, I myself am improved and strengthened by the trials and tribulations I’ve experienced.
And for having experienced these trials and tribulations, I’ve learned to open to greater joys as well.
Of course, this understanding took time to develop. Hindsight is indeed 20/20. I didn’t feel this way through much of my life.
Which has me wondering, which of the seeming problems in my life/health/world today are actually blessings, only I don’t yet know it?
I know it might sound weird, but one of the things I’m most grateful for is…
I met a client this week who shared after her session that she was surprised that I didn’t painfully dig in to her muscles. (She came to me by way of a gift certificate and hadn’t seen my website where I very clearly state that my style of bodywork is NOT painful.)
It gave me the opportunity to address what I believe is a very common myth that pushing really hard on sore muscles is the way to create relief. In my experience, this is absolutely not true! At least for me and the thousands of people I’ve worked with.
What happens when the body feels pain? It tenses. How does that help? It doesn’t.
And when someone is experiencing chronic pain, their muscles are already tense and their nervous system set to hyper-protection mode. Even the hint of pain activates an instinct to fight or flee. How does that help? It doesn’t!
Instead, I find that a soothing, gentle approach allows the nervous system to calm and the muscles to melt. I meet the painful areas with a curious and compassionate attention: “Hello, I see you there, what can I do for you?” Rather than an attack: “Bad muscle, I’ll pummel you into submission!”
I don’t know where where this “no pain, no gain” mentality comes from in the massage realm, but it saddens me that people think that they need to suffer to experience relief. Or worse yet, that because they are unwilling to suffer, bodywork is not for them.
There are tons of deep tissue therapists out there who want to jab an elbow into your achy spots. If that’s your thing, you’ll have no problem finding someone to hurt you. But it isn’t me.
If you are pain averse and want your session to be enjoyable while leaving you feeling relaxed and gooey, that’s my wheelhouse.
Working with the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, endocrine system, emotional and energetic bodies is a lot more nuanced and effective than pushing hard on a sore spot.
It doesn’t mean a feather-light touch, either, just in case that’s a concern. It means meeting the tissue as it is, sinking in as far as it allows, and responding when it says stop.
It’s a technique that respects the body and its innate wisdom rather than trying to force an arbitrary solution from the outside.
If you’re in the Philly area, I’m here to be of service. If you live elsewhere, don’t be afraid to inquire with the provider before you book a session. Any respectable therapist will be able to answer your questions and confirm if they are able to offer a pain-free experience.
This seems particularly relevant now. Just because you’re sensitive doesn’t mean you have to absorb all…
For the past few days, I’ve experienced an intermittent burning sensation on the sole of my right foot.
#$%
I had the great displeasure of living with plantar fasciitis about 12 years ago and I’m not keen to revisit those days. I immediately took action with the intention of tending to body, mind, emotions, spirit, and energy system.
What does that look like? A holistic approach is about recognizing all aspects of ourselves and investigating what is out of balance. I want to address all factors that could be contributing to the imbalance, not just pushing away discomfort at any cost.
Therefore, I did not take Advil or any anti-inflammatory meds. I don’t want to suppress the pain; I want to treat it. At its source. Inflammation is a message of an underlying problem. Squashing it is like shooting the messenger.
Same for ice. I might consider it if the pain was intense, but I’m not there now.
I didn’t try to stretch it out. The connective tissue is irritated, it doesn’t need me trying to force it to lengthen. Not did I go at it with a tennis ball or other massage tool.
I noticed that a low-grade freak out kicked. That’s an uncomfortable state of being and such a contrast to the inner peace that I’ve cultivated that the shift was obvious immediately.
I checked in- what’s going on? Fear. Fear of pain, immobility, and my life being disrupted.
I let my emotions have some space rather than trying to shut them down. I imagined myself on a mountain top, surrounded by the infinite sky and let out the energetic equivalent of a banshee wail. I live in an apartment, so I turned the volume of my voice way down to not disturb the neighbors but turned intensity all the way up. Quiet anguish. Great for discharging energy without alarming others.
Then I got busy tending to my nervous system. This was pure fight or flight mode. My body was itching to DO something, to GO somewhere, to tackle this head on. While that’s perfectly understandable, we can’t access intuition or cognition in this state. Rather than just doing anything, going anywhere, tackling whatever, I figured it was better to have a plan.
Normally I use my rebounder and some vigorous movement to release this activation, but that wasn’t feasible given my desire to protect my foot. Instead, I did some vigorous breathing, extending my exhales while shaking my arms wildly.
When calm descended, I began to strategize.
I pulled up on my mental screen everything I know about inflammation. Stress and cortisol are great contributors, and I was already addressing this. Gut health factors in, so I considered how I could plan meals around healing foods like bone broth, sauerkraut, and ginger.
I applied a salve I’d made from essential oils, as well as arnica gel. (Best to buy these things at a health food store to assure quality and the absence of chemicals. I like to be able to pronounce all the ingredients of products I slather on my skin.) Aromatherapy oils help to stimulate the body’s healing abilities- which is very different from suppressing symptoms.
I reviewed what I know about the fascia system and how it connects from sole to calf to hamstring and spent some time using a foam roller on my calves, hoping to create some slack that would provide ease for my feet.
I’m not exactly an expert on fascia, despite having a good working knowledge. I turned to Foundation Training, an app I use to relieve pain, build strength and balance, and improve posture. There I found some basic exercises for the feet and integrating the rear fascial chain.
All the while I kept a compassionate eye on my emotions. They were very active. Thoughts like – I should know better. I should have been able to avoid this. How bad will it get? How long will it last? Will I become homeless, live under a bridge, and get eaten by cats? OK, that last one is an exaggeration, but you know how the catastrophising can go!
I welcomed all the thoughts and feelings (vs. suppressing which only pushes problems into the future) and paid attention with curiosity and compassion. I was also careful not to let it snowball into a pity party. Basically, I took the role as the wise, loving grandmother, listening to all the children’s worries and then taking charge of the situation.
I looked at several metaphysical connections to the feet- dragging the feet, standing on one’s own two feet, sure-footedness, slowing down, etc. to see if any resonated and if there was some work that needed to be done in the realm of limiting beliefs.
I viewed my feet through the chakra lens, as part of the root system and my connection to the earth. I made plans to get to the park soon to put my bare feet on the grass to help ground my energy.
I considered my shoes and whether or not I needed more support or more freedom for my toes.
Perhaps most importantly, I saturated both feet (they work together as a team, and whenever one is affected, it can easily spread to the other via compensation or defensive mechanisms) with Reiki.
In addition to infusing my soles with life-force energy, this began the healing of any energetic, emotional, psychological or even spiritual contributions. Plus it’s easy, so I can do it without much effort. It’s portable, so I can practice out in the world, with or without shoes, with or without touching my feet. If you ran into me in public, you wouldn’t even know I was engaged in a powerful healing modality while we chatted over tea.
Essentially, I’m looking for anything that could be contributing to the imbalance and everything I can do to promote healing. It might seem like a lot of effort, but knowing how miserable PF can be and how it usually takes months to abate, I think it’s worth the effort.
My friend and I had plans to go for a hike this morning. I debated canceling our outing, but my desire to be out in nature and spend time with someone important to me won out. I slowed down my pace and was more mindful of where/how I placed my feet. I’m delighted to report that I didn’t feel even a hint of that burning while we walked or in the several hours since then.
See how the leaves are in the process of changing color!
So, there you have it! Probably more than you ever wanted to know about addressing plantar fasciitis holistically. If you have any tips or tricks that helped you, I’d love to hear them. The conventional treatment is woefully inadequate and there’s no need for anyone to suffer needlessly if there are any natural remedies that can help.
Luminous Heart Reiki & Massage 