self-care

I’m super-psyched to announce that Luminous Heart Reiki has found a home in Philadelphia. Next week I will begin offering treatments and classes on a regular basis. While this is a dream come true, on the practical side, things are getting rather hectic. Just a few weeks ago I took on part-time work at a nearby spa to provide the financial stability necessary to pursue building a private Reiki practice. Now I have two PT jobs and a new business, all of which demand attention.

As I will be doing more massage than I have in years and spending hours in front of the computer launching a new business, it’s absolutely necessary to step-up my self-care program. I need to better manage my dwindling free time and maximize my ki/chi/qi/prana and overall wellness. I’ve decided to commit to a 40 day radical self-care adventure. I’ve read that it takes 40 consecutive days of practice to create a new habit, so I’m going to spend that time exploring a variety of options to refine my daily routine.

Today is Day 1. It’s also the day I signed a lease for my new office space, so it seems like the perfect day to begin. And my revolutionary self-care act for today, was to NOT go for a hike. That’s right! I skipped it altogether. The last two times I hiked in the woods, I felt a sharp pain in my ankle on the return trip. As much as it feeds my soul to meditate by the creek in the morning, I chose to stay home. I opted to rest and simply hold my ankle between my hands and flood it with healing Reiki energy.

So that’s it for Day 1. I tuned in and honored my body where it was at and sat on my butt for an entire 15 minutes! Sometimes less is more. And I’m truly grateful to begin this voyage with a lesson in being rather than doing. Stay tuned for more exploration into the world of self-care. I can’t be sure that I’ll be posting everyday as I want to remain in the flow of what I need in every moment, but I will indeed report back faithfully.

Buckle Up! Radical Self-Care, Less is More

I’m super-psyched to announce that Luminous Heart Reiki has found a home in Philadelphia. Next week…
This morning I took a yoga class where the instructor offered an optional intention of extending unconditional friendliness, first to ourselves and our bodies, and then outwards towards others. I hopped on board right away, touched by the simplicity and power of this expression. In just two words, he summed up my approach to health and healing.

Let us approach our bodies with friendliness. No matter what. For me this meant backing off quite a bit during class as I was feeling tired and somewhat fragile. Rather than pushing through fatigue or forcing my body to hold poses it wasn’t really up to, I chose friendliness and rested frequently. I had planned to do a vigorous practice as I was feeling stiff and wanted to let go of accumulated tension. My body’s innate wisdom had a different plan for me, and because I was willing to listen, I benefited greatly.

This philosophy is also how I approach bodywork. So often we treat our bodies as the enemy; something to be conquered or beaten into submission, punished or ignored. Thousands of times I’ve seen pain melt away during a session in which I used friendliness as an intention rather than aggression or manipulation. To me it is intuitively obvious that we don’t lessen suffering by hurting one another or ourselves.

This newfound clarity has inspired me to behave differently. I’m decided to make friends with my body; to respect, honor, listen, cherish, and treat her with kindness. I will speak to her lovingly and give her the support she needs to thrive. It’s high time I make unconditional friendliness an internal priority rather than merely an external one. After all, my body will be with me for the rest of my life, we might as well be the best of friends!

Unconditional Friendliness

This morning I took a yoga class where the instructor offered an optional intention of extending…
I like to think of my health as a savings account. Every day I make deposits and withdrawals based on my thoughts, words, and actions. Obviously I want to continuously increase my balance, so I aspire to make more frequent and larger deposits than withdrawals. This way I am giving my body the support it needs to do its job of being well and energetic.

Stress seems to be the number one withdrawal to our health accounts in modern society. Whether it be at work or home, from family or society, financial or social; it seems inescapable. Worse yet, it often drives us to seek comfort in activities that further deplete our health such as over-drinking, -exercising, -eating, numbing out in front of the TV, or any type of distracting behavior that saps our life-force energy. When these withdrawals exceed our healthy deposits, we make ourselves more vulnerable to disease and discomfort.

Perhaps the most healthful thing we can do for ourselves is to practice kindness; not only towards others, but also towards ourselves. This looks different for each person as our passions and challenges are all unique. For me, being kind to myself means planning nutritious meals and regular mealtimes, making time to rest, meditating, reading inspiring books and blogs, and dancing. These are all activities that make me feel great and boost my energy. And they all take time, special props or settings, and a good deal of effort.

I have discovered a super-power for creating limitless deposits with little effort. I’m talking about daily application of Reiki healing energy. Reiki is a powerful healing technique that uses gentle touch to flood one’s body with universal life-force energy. This is the same energy that the immune system uses to function at maximum effectiveness. Most people don’t have the luxury of scheduling an appointment every day with a professional Reiki practitioner, so I am a huge proponent of self-treatments.

One of the great things about Reiki is that is can do no harm. For this reason, it’s super easy to learn and to treat oneself. There are no prerequisites or special abilities involved. I’ve distilled the essence of what people need to know for self-use into a three hour class that promotes a simple sequence of hand positions that is my absolute top recommendation for maintaining wellness. Even better, it’s easy to give oneself a dose of Reiki “on the fly” in stressful situations or during downtime. Think meetings, airports, subways, exams, family holiday dinners, and busy checkout lines.

If you’re interested in making daily contributions to your health savings account and becoming your most vibrant self, I am here to encourage you to take a Reiki class and commit to giving yourself the gift of a 10-20 minute blast of healing energy daily. If you live in or near Philadelphia, I’d like to invite you to my Reiki for Self-Care: Banish Stress from 2016 class on Sunday, January 17. We may not have control over the amount of stress that life deals us, but we absolutely have the power to manage it with daily practices of self-care and kindness.

Daily Health Deposits

I like to think of my health as a savings account. Every day I make deposits…
These were the words of my elated client as she walked out of my door this morning. She had arrived 45 minutes earlier, stooped and fatigued, wearing slippers because she was unable to tie her shoes. Being a landscape artist causes her to misuse and abuse her body all day long, constantly. Being a determined and driven woman led her to push on through until the pain was unbearable.

It’s not uncommon for people to be in extreme discomfort when they finally seek my help. I do my best to educate folks that bodywork is most effective as a maintenance practice, rather than emergency care, and that if they commit to listening to the body’s signals they can avoid pain altogether. Often times the suggestion of daily stretching is met with a look usually reserved for divorce lawyers and dental drills, and routine massage schedules fall by the wayside.

Like I said, I do my best to educate clients. When their resistance to self-care outweighs my informative presentation, I’m always willing to offer support when it is urgently needed. I wish they wouldn’t wait until they can’t bend to call me, but when they do, I’m humbled and filled with gratitude to have the skill and training to promote bendability when it’s lacking.

I Can Bend!

These were the words of my elated client as she walked out of my door this…
Once again I have been reminded why it is that I love my work so much. Helping people release stress has a huge impact on their daily lives, allowing them to be healthier, more productive, more joyful, and more vibrant. Today I gave a therapeutic massage to a professional young woman who is very active and in the midst of planning her wedding. To say that she is busy and stressed is a huge understatement. This was her second session with me. After realizing the immense benefit of the previous treatment, she decided to make massage a part of her health care regime.

During our check-in today, I asked about her headaches. She looked at my blankly for a beat, then a huge smile spread across her face. She had completely forgotten that her primary complaint three weeks again was extreme neck tension that led to frequent and severe headaches. After just one massage the headaches had stopped completely. What a tremendous blessing! We still have a lot of work to do to create balance in her muscular structure, but the gift of living without the dread or pain of an aching head was great progress.

I do my best to educate my clients of the benefits of scheduling regular massages to stay ahead of the tension. For many people, a monthly session helps them to manage their stress and prevent incidents of pain and debilitation. I have one client who in theory knows this, but seems unwilling to prioritize self-care. She almost always cancels her appointment due to a family or work related situation, then calls several weeks later in great pain. I believe she could avoid the pain if only she got into a regular routine.

I also believe that headaches are a message from our bodies that we need to slow down and take better care of ourselves. If we listen to this message and find a way to get more rest and mediate tension, quite often they simply go away. It really brings me great joy to assist my clients in this process. There is absolutely no need to suffer anymore. Massage is not the only way to manage stress, but it is one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to release tension. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of relaxation for overall health. Let a trained professional help you re-establish your innate well-being and say goodbye to chronic headaches once and for all.

Headaches? What Headaches???

Once again I have been reminded why it is that I love my work so much.…
Some of the most profound changes I see in my Reiki practice come when I work with caregivers. Whether amateur or professional, full or part time, people who take care of others give a lot of themselves, and unfortunately often take on unwanted and unnecessary energy during their acts of service. Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, bodyworkers, councilors, and ministers are just a few examples of what I am referring to. Often the type of person who is drawn to such fields is sensitive, empathic, generous, and loving. They want to help others, and if they’re not careful, they do so at great personal cost.

I learned very early in my massage career how important clean boundaries are. I had excellent tools to clear my energy field and prevent my clients’ issues from affecting me. Yet there were days when I was tired, overworked, or stressed out that my boundaries were weak and I got “slimed”. I remember one day in particular when all four of my clients had neck pain as their primary complaint, and later that night, so did I! Alas, it’s not always so easy to track stray energy. Sometimes we feel drained, funky, tired, cranky, or just “off” for no obvious reason. Especially when working with clients who are in pain, it is easy to over-give or pick up vibes that don’t belong to us. I think we can all agree that this serves no one. We can never suffer enough to alleviate someone else’s suffering. It just doesn’t work that way.

Reiki is the most powerful technique I have experienced for clearing any unwanted energies from our auras, bodies, hearts, and souls. It re-establishes healthy energy flow within, connects us to natural cosmic vibrations, and releases any excess junk that we may have picked up inadvertently. Reiki helps us return to ourselves and renew our connection to Spirit. What’s even more exciting in my eyes, is that regular Reiki “tune-ups” can keep our energy fields vibrant and shiny and our protective force fields healthy and strong. It’s so much easier, more comfortable, more convenient, more balanced to prevent ourselves from allowing unwanted energy in than to release it once it is already present. There is enough pain, discomfort and disease in the world already; we don’t need to absorb any of it in the process of helping others.

Reiki for Caregivers

Some of the most profound changes I see in my Reiki practice come when I work…
I am a huge proponent of self-care and actively participating in creating my own well-being. When I share my strategies with others, the most common response I hear is, “I don’t have time to do all that. I’m too busy.” It seems to me that when we are most busy, it is when we most benefit from paying attention to the needs of our bodies, minds, and spirits. Today I need to leave my house by 8:20 to give a massage at 9:00. (Now this is quite unusual. Generally my day starts later.) My last massage of the day begins at 6:30 pm. It will be a rather long day, even with a few substantial breaks throughout. I realized that I absolutely cannot skimp on my routine. And if I can do it all before 8:20 am, so can most people. At least those without young dependents.

I have already given myself a Reiki treatment, and tuned-up my crystals that are supercharging long-distance Reiki for a few clients. (https://pamelahipp.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/supercharged/). I’ve hydrated myself with warm lemon water, rinsed my sinuses with the neti pot, sat at my altar connecting with the divine and getting clear about my intentions. I briefly practiced pranayama, meditated, bounced on the rebounder, and did a condensed strengthening yoga series. As these words came bubbling up during savasana, I decided to postpone the walk I often take to feel the first rays of sunlight until later this afternoon. Self-care does not need to be rigid. It does need to be a priority, prepared for (I set myself up for success the night before and make sure I have quick and easy meals ready to go.), and practiced daily for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

In general, it seems best to avoid the pitfalls of TV (trust me, I haven’t seen the news in years. You will survive, perhaps even thrive by not subjecting yourself to world tragedies before breakfast) or Facebook. I usually don’t even turn on my computer or look at my phone until my routine is complete. Today I needed to share these words, and have set a timer for 30 minutes to allow time for creative expression without sacrificing anything. My breakfast is leftovers from dinner the other night, waiting to be heated on the stove, and eaten while sitting down, and chewed thoroughly. While the sauce pot is simmering, I will pack my lunch and a snack to keep my body fueled in a healthy way. I can be washed and dressed in about 15 minutes as superficial appearances are not a priority. Yes, I will comb my hair & brush my teeth, but I do not feel the need to poof or smear or primp. I probably will not get to the dishes this morning and that’s ok.

I have honored the body temple with nourishment, hydration, and movement and aligned my spirit with my mental/emotional body, and clearly seen the day I wish to create. And I had fun doing it. And best of all, I did it out of love for myself and the joy of feeling great and being energized all day long, not fear of illness or punishment or judgement.

I’m Too Busy

I am a huge proponent of self-care and actively participating in creating my own well-being. When…