self-care

For a few weeks now I’ve been working on this article about clarifying desires for 2024 and moving towards them.

During the writing process, an entirely different article emerged. One about letting the soul lead the way. While there is quite a bit of overlap and the methods are complementary, there’s a distinct difference that prevented me from blending them into one article.

In fact, the second article didn’t really feel like it belongs here on this blog. I don’t want to presume that just because you’re reading these words that you’re interested in embracing the new development.

It’s entirely possible that I’m overthinking things, which I’ve been known to do! Regardless, I’ve launched a new blog.

So, I’ll endeavor to continue reporting on holistic health and healing here. And if you’d like to join me on Substack, you’ll find an exploration of placing the divine in charge of life. Blogs about wheel of the year and lunar cycle practices will be forthcoming, along with chronicles of my journey; including the bumps and blips.

Now back to the main event… Envision 2024

Envision is a process I’ve developed to gain clarity about goals and how to move towards them in a sustainable and empowered way. Below you’ll find the inquiry I utilize to jumpstart the new year. I often share it with my clients and Reiki students who report it to be helpful. You will find no attempts to motivate you to work harder or do more. Quite the opposite, in fact!

This is mostly an internal process. We will need to follow through to experience results, but first we want to get clear about the starting point, the desired destination and the predictable obstacles. Then any activity out in the external world comes from an aligned and inspired source rather than just doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff.

For optimal results, carve out 30 minutes and a quiet place where you can complete the inquiry without interruption. You’ll need a pen and paper or keyboard and screen. Perhaps you’d like to brew a cup of tea, turn on some uplifting music, or light a candle to signify that you are entering sacred space, but really all you need is the willingness to uncover the longing within your heart.

I find that the most fruitful results emerge when I’m starting from a calm, relaxed place and centered within myself. I like to place a hand on my heart and inhale through my nose, deep into my belly, feeling it expand. I exhale with an audible sigh, feeling the sound vibrations in my torso. Ten to twenty breaths can make a huge difference and really help me drop into my body.

If you have a meditation or movement practice, you can spend a few minutes preparing yourself by using the techniques that best help you become present. If you have access to Reiki, absolutely turn it on and allow the flow of spiritually guided life-force energy to support you. If you work with guides, ancestors, or angels; invite them in.

If these past few sentences have made no sense to you, just ignore them and keep on going. You don’t need any experience, special skills, or woo-woo connections to participate.

Now for the inquiry:
1. What change would you like to experience in 2024? List 3-5 things off the top of your head. Don’t overthink this! If it’s helpful, you can use the prompts: I’d like to have… I’d like to feel… I’d like to experience…
- Choose one of these desires to work with now, knowing you can repeat this process with the others later if you wish. How will you feel when you have this, feel this, or experience this desire? I call this getting to know your why. What is the deeper desire underneath? Rather than focusing on a strategy, it can be very empowering to recognize the underlying motivation and open the door to any other strategies that may yet to be revealed.
- List all the reasons you can’t have, feel, experience this desire. I call this exposing the “yeah, buts”. (Yeah, I want xyz, but I can’t because…) These need to be addressed, otherwise they’ll disrupt your progress from the shadows. Be honest; acknowledging these fears and limiting beliefs helps to drain their power. We’re looking at the crud lurking in the corners of the basement. Don’t try to dress it up. We just need to identify what’s there, so it won’t sabotage our efforts.
- Review your “yeah, but” list. Are any of these really true? For those that are, can you adapt your original desire to include a workaround? If your wish is simply not possible at this stage in your life, better to rewrite it than to continue longing for something that is simply not for you. For example, at age 52, I’m clearly not going to produce any biological children. If being a mother were my wish, I can acknowledge that my uterus is retired, but it’s still possible to find another way to experience mothering. While intention is quite powerful, it doesn’t supersede biology.
- For those “yeah, buts” that are false or misaligned with your current reality, can you craft an alternative statement to use as a mantra? Choosing a statement to repeat to yourself can help disentangle any conditioning that is not beneficial and begin to rewrite your story moving forward. You’ll want to post these somewhere highly visible and work them into your daily routine. I find that “I am willing to become/learn xyz” is often easier to work with than “I am xyz” for the sake of believability and will help get the subconscious onboard.
- List three simple action steps you’re willing to take in the next weeks to start moving in the direction you’d like to go.
- Make room on your calendar for these steps. Edit them to be doable. If you take on too much, you risk getting discouraged and giving up before you’ve even started.
- If you’re really serious about this goal, go further. Become an embodiment of your desire. This is a simple exercise but might not be easy if you’re new to it. Imagine having your goal now. Feel it in your bones. Savor the sensation of being the person who has what you want. What would it look like? Sound like? Feel (both sensations and emotions) like? Smell like? Taste like?
Adding imagination and your five senses to the process amplifies the power. This practice is particularly potent when first waking up and right before sleep. Spend a few minutes every morning and night tapping into your felt sense of being, doing, experiencing your desire and invest your time and efforts in amplifying your vision.

Ideally, this exploration will have revealed a plan that is actionable, highly effective and quite unique to your circumstances. It’s up to you to follow through while allowing space for adaptations that may emerge.

I’d love to hear what you’re working on! I find that we can often learn a lot from one another. When we do this in a group, there is always a lot of head-nodding and affirmative mmmhmmm… sounds. People hear nuances in others’ statements that help to clarify their own goals or think of things from a slightly different perspective.

And if you want to explore the version of letting your soul take the lead and show you what it has planned for your new year, join me over on Substack.

Pamela’s Substack
Envision Your New Year

For a few weeks now I’ve been working on this article about clarifying desires for 2024…
A new friend asked me the other day how I unwind.

It took me several moments to realize that I don’t. Or at least I endeavor to not need to unwind.

My response was unexpected, so I took a few moments to gather my thoughts. I have come to realize that my thought process is rather unusual, and wanted to provide a gentle introduction to someone who didn’t yet know my kooky ways. They were expecting me to say something like guided meditation and aromatherapy, both of which I enjoy, but not for the purpose of unwinding.

My strategy is to prevent myself from being wound up in the first place. I am not always successful, but I do make an effort to keep myself from getting too tense or overwhelmed. I find prevention is much easier than recovery.

I’ve noticed that the feeling of being wound up or stressed out is highly unpleasant. I don’t like it. Not at all! And I know from experience that I tend to make unwise decisions when in that state, looking for relief that can often be unhealthy, due to sheer desperation to feel better. A distraction. A numbing out. Delaying the unpleasantness and adding undesirable consequences.

Prevention is not only more enjoyable, but also more effective. I don’t have to deal with the uncomfortable body-mind state or the aftermath of the coping mechanisms that just postpone the inevitable.

I’ve learned that when I spend time in the mornings getting my desires and actions harmonized with the day’s agenda, I have smoother sailing than when I don’t. When I set myself up with a hearty breakfast and move my body in ways that feel good, when I pay attention to my needs and emotions, I start off with a full tank and a clean slate. I have more clarity and the means to move in the direction I desire to go.

Granted, I’ve built a life over the past several decades that is centered around having this luxury of a morning ritual. It’s what works for me and I’ve strived to give it to myself most days. I get that it isn’t for everyone. It’s not the specifics of what I do or how I do it that I’m championing. My way is uniquely mine.

What I’m here to suggest is a simple shift in perspective.

If I could propose just one thing to everyone whose path crosses mine, it would be to get proactive. Conjure up some courage and motivation to get off the merry-go-round of repetitive behavior patterns and do something differently if you want to experience different results.

You might need to experiment a little (or a lot!) to figure out what you need and how to provide it in a way that makes sense for your personality, circumstances, and resources. Even a quick 10-minute breathing/stretching/dancing/walking/journaling session will be effective if tended to consistently.

Find your thing! Know that it will evolve over time. It may even be different on a day-by-day basis. It’s the act of committing to doing something, anything really, for yourself on a consistent basis that will help you stay unwound and free you up from the more challenging task of unwinding in a healthful and productive way.

What’s just one thing that you can do today? I bet you already know what it is. Take that first step and you just might sense the universe meeting you halfway. When tomorrow comes it will be easier to take the next step because you’ll have the knowing that you can do it and that you’re on your path to creating a more enjoyable future for yourself.

If you need some support getting started, check out my December Reiki special. Clearing the chakra system is one way to jumpstart a new habit.

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Chakra Special

Unwinding

A new friend asked me the other day how I unwind. It took me several moments…
The word is getting out about this amazing healing modality and lots of people are curious and eager. I mean, what’s not to like about an infusion of life-force energy that can be directed towards healing any malady or supporting any goal?

Chronic pain, anxiety, fatigue, procrastination; developing intuition, patience, compassion, motivation, productivity; releasing stress, anger, grief, resentment; healing old wounds, psoriasis, digestive issues. These are just some of the reasons people come to me.

Taking the first step towards experiencing Reiki can seem daunting to folks. Just like anything new, there might be some hesitance. Often clients come for their first session and say something along the lines of, “I’ve wanted to try this for years and now I finally am.”

If you have a friend, colleague or loved one who fits in this category, consider gifting them with a remote Reiki session. It’s the most wonderful treatment! Folks can stay at home with all their creature comforts. They don’t even have to get dressed or comb their hair or navigate to an unknown place in the rain.

Remote Reiki sessions begin with a phone call to discuss the goals of the session. I’m a compassionate listener and it’s pretty difficult to shock me with statements like: I know it sounds weird, but…

I’ve pretty much heard it all in my 20 years of practice!

So, a brief phone call with a kind person (that’s me!) to clarify the intention. No judgment, no advice, no trying to turn the spotlight back on myself. Many people find this short conversation to be as healing as the treatment itself.

Then we disconnect the call so I can focus on the energetic connection and applying Reiki towards the goals we discussed.

That’s it! There’s nothing that needs to be done other than a willingness to receive the energy. Some people like to light a candle or burn some incense, meditate or listen to soothing music. Others just carry on about their day.

IMO, it’s the simplest, most user-friendly introduction into a brand new world. A world in which the flow of life-force can enhance and support any desire that is in one’s best interest.

Now, if $100 (that’s the minimum as it’s the cost of a session and I think it’s uncool to give a gift that requires the recipient to shell out their own money) is more than you want to spend, there’s nifty feature on the site that allows you to share the cost with others. You’ll see the “Group Gift Card” option on the first page.

A screenshot of the webpage. There are a wide variety of themes to choose from.

And if you’re thinking, wow, that sounds great, I wish someone would gift me a Reiki treatment, now is the time to share this valuable information with your inner circle. You can take the pressure off someone trying to choose the right gift out of an endless sea of possibilities.

If you’ve already received a gift and want to schedule a session, you’ll just need to send me a message. You can have a look at the online calendar to see what’s available if you like, but sadly the system won’t let you schedule it yourself. No worries, I can handle it from my end quickly and easily.

Gifts are easily purchased online and you can even decide when the email notification goes out to recipient. Supply is limited: I only offer as many as I can absorb into my schedule in a timely fashion. I don’t want anyone having to wait for months to experience their gift.

Certificates can be used for any service I offer, including coaching, in-person Reiki and massage. If you’re outside the Philly area, you might like to share with your recipient that you’re gifting them a remote Reiki treatment to avoid any confusion.

Feel free to message me with any questions.

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Reiki Gift Certificates!

The word is getting out about this amazing healing modality and lots of people are curious…
Whoop whoop!

I’ve scheduled a Reiki 2 class for my Philly area friends. Anyone who has previously taken a level 1 certification training, with me or another teacher, is invited to attend.

Many students who join this training are eager to do remote treatments so they can send healing energy to friends and family from afar. It’s pretty amazing and we have a lot of fun with this.

But that’s not the only benefit of this training.

The distance symbol can also be used to send healing back to traumatic moments, mitigating the present day effects of previous woundings. We can give ourselves the acceptance, understanding, love and attention that we wish we had had in the past.

It can also be used to deposit Reiki in the future to optimize each day or smooth the way through upcoming challenges. And to secure parking spaces and restaurant seating in advance. 🙂

I use the power symbol each time I get in the car to build a protective force field around me. It also amplifies traditional healing and space clearing endeavors. And so much more!

And the mental/emotional symbol is quite useful for treating anxiety and depression, while simultaneously cultivating focus, clarity, and memory. Because it looks like a creature with an open mouth, I imagine it munching up limiting beliefs and cultural conditioning just like PacMan.

Of course, this is just the teaser! We spend quite a bit of time getting to know each symbol and how we can use them in a variety of ways.

Intrigued? We’d love to have you.

5 Thursday evenings from 6-8pm September 14, 21, & 28, October 5 & 19 (no class on October 12)

I’m offering a $25 early bird discount off the regular fee of $275 through August 24. We meet in my Mt. Airy office, near the intersection of Germantown & Mt. Pleasant Aves. I support your comfort to provide the best learning opportunity, so whatever you may need to make that happen is welcome. Let’s chat if you’re unsure if this is a match for you.

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Announcing In-person Reiki 2 Certification

Whoop whoop! I’ve scheduled a Reiki 2 class for my Philly area friends. Anyone who has…
I have a lot of fun getting creative with my Reiki practice.

Most people think of Reiki as a treatment- something that happens on a massage table in a spa-like environment.

But that’s only one of it’s expressions. Reiki is spiritually-guided life-force energy. It can be applied anywhere and everywhere to support our goals and desires.

Recently I activated Reiki to open myself to my inner wisdom and connect with a sacred symbol. A downward facing triangle emerged. A few days later I was inspired to make a crystal grid for prosperity and while wondering how to set it up, I was nudged towards the triangle I had downloaded.

It’s not the typical grid format and while pondering the solution, I was guided to create a ring around the edges with a necklace. And finally to use these green citrine crystals I bought ages ago in a Reiki class.

I charged all the stones with the intention of receiving prosperity and fit them into the triangle shape intuitively. I placed the necklace around the triangle and voila! A unique crystal grid, perfect for my needs.

I followed all of this up with a Reiki Healing Attunement, which my teacher, Laura Bruno calls one of the most powerful ways to create change. It was already pretty potent, but what the heck? I tend to use all the tools at my disposal.

I’ll charge this up everyday with more Reiki and my intentions. I find I’m more likely to engage with a practice that is personalized and creative than following some prescribed protocol.

How can you spice up your Reiki practice with something fun and enlivening?

Reiki and Crystal Grids

I have a lot of fun getting creative with my Reiki practice. Most people think of…
Lots of people recognize Reiki as a fantastic tool for healing physical, mental, and emotional issues. It’s even being used in hospitals and hospice to reduce pain and meds, speed recovery, and promote comfort.

And… for those of us who are on a spiritual path, wanting to go deeper and experience belonging and awakening in mystical ways, Reiki can also provide a key for us.

For starters, it can help us be present with whatever is arising. Staying present (vs. distracting, avoiding, numbing or procrastinating) is a necessary skill that is made much easier when our nervous systems are regulated and our minds are calm.

It can highlight what needs to be released, processed or integrated.

It can help us access our inner wisdom and power and sense of innate worthiness.

When we become more grounded, more centered, more aligned with our essence, the way forward becomes clearer. Breadcrumbs appear at just the right time.

When we’re connected to the divine within and to a sense of belonging, it’s easier to surrender to the flow of life and to set boundaries.

When we’re comfortable facing the unknown, we gain tremendous confidence and courage.

When we don’t need to know all the answers or figure it all out, we can show up every day for spiritual practice and allow our awakening to unfold organically without striving, clinging or forcing.

Reiki is a resource that can be woven into your prayers, meditations, spells, and incantations. It’s simply an energy; one that can be used to enhance and deepen that work that you’re doing.

It has been the tool that has been most transformative and nourishing for me on my decades long spiritual healing journey. Devoting time to being with myself and cultivating a soul-lead lifestyle has been a portal for spiritual awakening and connection with the divine.

My clients and students often report mystical experiences without having the vocabulary to describe them. The lack of descriptive words makes them no less real. They express a feeling of time being suspended, going on magical journeys, and feeling more at home than they knew was even possible. I have no way of measuring, but I suspect some people go into a theta brainwave state, which is deeply healing, and/or have pineal gland activations.

If you’re interested in journeying down this path with me, you’d be most welcome in my upcoming Reiki 1 class. We meet online 4 times, beginning May 4. Or, if you prefer a more receptive route, schedule a session and I’ll be the transmitter for you while you can catch up on some rest.

Reiki 1 Certification

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Reiki as a Mystical Practice

Lots of people recognize Reiki as a fantastic tool for healing physical, mental, and emotional issues.…
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’m so excited to be on the receiving end of a remote Reiki session today!!! A few weeks ago I’m was feeling pretty worn down and recognized that I needed some extra support. I remember listening to a podcast where the woman being interviewed recommended getting LOTS of support, not just the bare minimum. I chuckled to myself, and thought, hmmm… that’s what I’ve been doing! Just getting the minimum to keep going and relying, over-relying actually, on my self-care routines.

It took me a few moments to figure out what would be the most helpful. The idea of dragging myself to yet another appointment, potentially trading working hours for relaxation, didn’t resonate at all. Even trying out a new-to-me bodyworker in the neighborhood didn’t float my boat. These things are so subjective!

I’m not sure why it took so long for me to figure out that thing that would help me the most is the thing I most often recommend. Didn’t see the forest for all the tree, I guess. 🙂 I booked a long-distance session with my teacher, Laura Bruno, who happens to live 1,000 miles away. No worries. Reiki can travel. And it can bend time, so I’ve set up my session so that she can do it during her working hours, and arrange for it to arrive at 10pm. When I will be off my feet, no longer tending to busyness or business, tucked into bed and maximally receptive.

Even we caretakers need some caretaking. I seem to have taken on the role of the caretakers’ caretaker, as I have many clients who are in heavy duty caretaking roles. They come to me for support when they get depleted, or better yet to prevent getting depleted. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I need to keep my own tank full so I can keep operating. And tomorrow morning, I will wake up with a full tank, magically restored while I was resting.

How does it get better than that?

Happy Reiki Day!

I’m so excited to be on the receiving end of a remote Reiki session today!!! A…
Reiki helps to correct any type of imbalance, and it can be fun to think of choosing the goal of a session as if from options on a menu. A sense of humor can be very helpful in the healing process! Sometimes my clients come up with comical names for the type of treatment they desire. One asks repeatedly for The Reboot; a session devoted to resetting the nervous system and activating the relaxation response. She finds it incredibly recuperative given the intense demands of her career.

The Deactivator is also popular, especially for those recovering from trauma or dealing with chronic pain. It helps to break the uncomfortable cycle triggered by hyper-vigilance and near-constant sympathetic nervous system (AKA fight-flight-freeze) activation. Occasionally folks ask for The Activator when they’re feeling stuck or blocked and can’t seem to get motivated. Kinda like all-natural, energetic uppers and downers with no negative side-effects!

Over the past couple of years, most of my work has been centered around The Fill ‘er Up treatment. People who have become depleted energetically, physically, and emotionally seem to be developing bizarre symptoms such as rashes, digestive upset, or severe joint pain as the tank runs dry and there just isn’t enough energy for the body to do much more than survive. Physiological systems begin to break down and mysterious ailments pop up.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

For the past few months, there’s been an emerging trend that stems from The Fill ‘er Up. The Flush and Fill; the perfect remedy for those who have experienced the emotional equivalent of running a marathon in a toxic waste dump. So many of my clients are empathic and tend to pick up unwanted energies as they go about their days. When tanks are already low, there are few resources available for protecting personal boundaries or lugging around accumulated burdens, and eventually the body and the psyche begin to suffer. Burnout looms on the horizon.

Reiki can transform any and all energies that do not belong to us or that have worn out their welcome. Breaking free from the heavy loads that are outdated or not even ours to bear is incredibly invigorating. I don’t know of any other therapy that is so simple, so gentle and so powerful; certainly not any that can be received from the comfort of home or in a practitioner’s office; or learned in just a few hours for those who desire frequent application.

If you’d like to learn how to give yourself daily Flush and Fills, consider taking a Reiki 1 class. I am offering one online beginning in July, and others are teaching in-person classes. If you can’t stand the idea of adding one more task, no matter how wonderful the results, to your to-do list, that’s what we professionals are here for. If you’re already a practitioner, simply set your intention to transform anything that is not aligned with your highest good to that which is, and proceed with the hand positions you’ve been taught. Whatever your desired degree of participation (or lack thereof!) is, Reiki has a niche just for you.

Options on the Reiki Menu

Reiki helps to correct any type of imbalance, and it can be fun to think of…

self-care

5 Thursday evenings from 6-8pm September 14, 21, & 28, October 5 & 19 (no class on October 12)