Trust and faith on the waxing moon

Here we are, retreating on Sark, and I cannot tell you the relief; I’m a traveller at heart and my feet were itchy for new territory and my eyes for new landscape. I love Sark as most of you know, love Sark, love Sark, it’s got a deep soul. Here we are on the Soulful Sark retreat and unintentionally on a waxing super full moon too, there’s a divine timing to these things!

When I realised, I was a little aghast, because I have had a funny run of full moon retreats, the one on Herm, also a super full moon where my waters broke 7 weeks early and E and I had to be transferred to Guernsey by lifeboat in the middle of the night with the full moon shining roughly over head - that moon had been all about surrender and I did have to surrender to the flow of things, I wrote Dancing with the Moon about this.

Then there was a full moon retreat in Glastonbury where many of the ladies spent the weekend in tears, the full moon triggering a big release, let alone the energy of Glastonbury and the Goddess permeating the land there too. There was another full moon, a blue one on Samhain last year, when we were on Herm and there was a risk of us not getting back as the wind as so strong, triggering again, for some. So I did say no more retreats on full moons, as the weather is often challenging and the tides to, but here we are…

I’ve been giving a lot of Reiki this week and have noticed a commonality in that there has been a common imbalance in both root and crown chakras. I’ve a sense that this full moon is all about trust and faith; trusting in the support of the earth below us and faith in the sky above us. I love this interplay. There’s this beautiful quote from Vanda Scaravelli’s book, where she questions why we are practising yoga and writes:

“…We do it for the fun of it. To twist, stretch, and move around, is pleasant and enjoyable, a body holiday. There is an unexpected delight in meeting earth and sky at the same moment”.

I have been reading this beautiful little book called “Sun, Moon & Earth” about the alignment of them all, of teh relationship between earth and sky and the stone circles which track the movement of the moon and sun and the effect this has on us on earth. Stonehenge stands testament to this, as the oldest known calendar, remarkable! Even here on Guernsey we have ancient stone alignments, to the sun most definitely, but to the moon today. I found a stone alignment to the Beltane sunrise this week, which excited me, as the land and at the ancients revealed more of themselves to me.

Here on Sark there is a perplexing dolmen as its alignment makes little sense, We visit it when we’re here, maybe sometime it will reveal itself to us. I find that you have to build a relationship with these places, allow them to talk to us, a little bit like the moon, we have to be with her, notice her rising and setting and the time in the sky in-between and then she reveals more of her learnings and messages for us to navigate our lives.

Full moons, and especially super full moons, shine a light into the shadows, highlighting areas of healing, where we might need to pay attention, let go of an outdated story, something we have been holding onto. I had a trigger in my own life this week, so that I could see an old pattern more clearly, feel it in my body too, so that i could see more of the truth of it, and realise that it wasn’t my stuff, but someone else’s that I had taken on. This is the joy of working with the moon, she helps us to know more of our own truth. She also helps us to cultivate greater trust and faith, as does yoga and Reiki and spending time in nature.

Pay attention to what’s happening in your life, some old pattern coming up again, that same old situation, the same thought going around and around, same ache and pain in the body, same disagreement with someone, highlighting where we’ve changed and need to let go (the sting in the tail, it’s a Scorpio full moon). So do, use the full moon to forgive (yourself as much as anyone else) and notice where you have resistance to this and are holding onto your victimhood, this will often be so subtle that we have to really drop into it, accept where we are creating our own limited story and version of ourselves, the victim is a tricky one.

If we cannot forgive then basically we are allowing ourselves to continue playing out the victim. It takes courage to be really honest wit ourselves, some part of us will keep on bringing it up until we make resolution, or don’t and then it will just keep coming up again and again and we will find ourselves stuck, blaming everyone else rather than taking responsibility ourselves. It’s challenging at times, to see where we are off track and to take ownership of that. Good luck!

Trust and faith. That’s where it is at. Trusting in the universe, in ourselves, faith in the powers that be and faith in ourselves. We can be all of it! There’s a sting in the tail of this moon though, Scorpio, so pay attention! We will likely be triggered. There’s also passion to it, so maybe we get to notice more of where we should instead be placing our energy, what makes us feel alive?

Sark makes me feel alive and we’re already enjoying our time here, soulful Sark on a waxing full moon, clear skies to, I’m grateful for the powers that be that have brought me here this weekend with a very lovely bunch of students and friends.

Enjoy the wax!

Love Emma x

Vitality, power and the super full moon ahead

We’ve a super full pink moon approaching next week, 4.31am on Tuesday 27 April. I’m really excited about this and have been avidly watching and feeling into the moon since before the last full moon. The skies are so clear at the moment that it’s difficult to miss her.

I spent the last full moon in a dolmen, which was really special, because more of the dolmen revealed itself, this after the Spring Equinox, where I found a sun alignment. I followed the waning moon, visited the same dolmen on the new moon to feel an energy shift and see the most incredible skies without the light of the moon, and all these stars, even a shooting one! It was most definitely an emotional new moon, I was teaching Level One Reiki that day and there was definitely a vulnerability in the air.

Yesterday on the waxing moon I taught another Reiki Level One and the energy was very different. I had felt deleted on Saturday but yesterday there was a definite shift, and I was up early for sunrise, which helped to further energise for the day ahead. I even managed to get back out to a dolmen last night, to feel the energy shift on the waxing moon, skies still beautifully clear but no shooting stars, just a sense of something in the dolmen instead.

I’m expecting the energy to keep building this week. Full moons illuminate into the shadows, and they have a whole heap of energy to them too. Yikes, my waters broke six weeks earlier than expected (or perhaps just at the right time!) on that fateful super full moon in October 2016 on Herm! Who knows what might happen this weekend, although I’m hoping that Vicki’s waters don’t break on the first of our run of Sark retreats, this one the Soulful Sark retreat. What a time to run a soulful retreat - in the build up to a super full moon! I’d like to say that was planned, but it wasn’t, at least not by me.

I am continuously reminded though, that there is a timing to everything. Reiki enters our life when we need it the most, then it connects us to people at just the right timing. I am continuously blown away by this, it really is like magic, and I am delighted that increasing numbers of people are bringing Reiki into their lives as they seek greater meaning in their lives and recognise the need to explore, reveal and integrate their spiritual side, as well as attend to the many wounds we bring with us into this life and create within this life too, self healing then.

We are being awoken, I know it is becoming a little of a cliche, because everyone is saying it, but it is true. There is a bigger picture at work here beyond our mundane existence, if only we can see through more of the maya, the illusion. We’re being encouraged to do so though and this is evidenced, as I mentioned, by the increasing numbers of people opening themselves up to the spiritual. There are lots of tears at the moment, a combination of overwhelm, busy, busy, busy and also still this ongoing uncertainty about what might come next, because life has been turned on its head.

Of course many are crazing a return to ‘normal’ whatever that might be, some certainty, because it is known, and are hopeful that the vaccine will pave the way towards this, but I can’t help thinking it’s just a sticking plaster, just a flood gate, holding back the water, for now anyway. Like ants trying to save the eggs and rebuild the nest elsewhere, busy, busy, busy, this keeps us feeling sane, because on some level busyness is known and tried and tested and gives our life some meaning.

But many are awakening, perhaps you too, perhaps you awoke a while ago now, and recognised that we have been sold a lie. Humanity has become fragmented, we have lost our way. We’ve become obsessed by technology and science, to the detriment of our own sanity and wellbeing. Does technology truly make our lives easier, or do we find we are more rushed than ever? Does our emphasis on science, as a representation of western supremacy, makes our lives happier, more contented and fulfilled?

We are all born with the wisdom to heal and preserve life, and all living things are connected - even Covid, it’s not something to be feared, but something that brings with it the opportunity for transformation and change, to take greater responsibility for our health and wellbeing, to look honestly at how our lives are being lived, at our priorities and the way we utilise our precious time on Planet Earth. The greatest lie is the one that has us caught in fear, that has us thinking that a Covid diagnosis finds us in hospital fighting for our lives (and this is a reality for some, but a very small minority), that has us scared to live.

I’ve lost count of the number of conversations I have been party to recently, where people tell me how extremely busy they are, don’t have time to truly connect with children, or friends, no time for their spiritual practice, to live the life of their dreams, impossible to live any other life, because of the demands of work and the need to pay the mortgage, pension, all those things that lay heavily on us - the price for being alive in this age. Maybe there is no other way, maybe the only way is to get caught up in the craziness of thinking that’s the only way and paddling like mad to stay afloat. I always wonder what might happen if we just let go.

Let go of how we think it should be, of what society has told us, of the political agenda, let alone the pharmaceutical one, of having a good hard look at what life might mean for us, on Planet Earth, if only we could take the time to slow down and smell the roses, hear the bird song, appreciate the abundance of life lived in connection with nature, our nature, nature generally out there, with all its splendour and beauty. The tide that comes in and out in its own rhythm, the moon, cycling, the sun up and down, the birds and their morning chorus, collecting worms, pottering, knowing their place in the grand scheme of it, all of life trying to live, we all of us, ALL living things have an intelligence, an intelligence to live.

But how are we living? Sometimes it can be helpful to ask ourselves this. We’ll offer a million reasons to maintain the status quo. We feel we have no choice. We feel we have no choice. This is part of the lie that we have been sold.

Through media and clever advertising campaigns, the majority of the world’s population have been conditioned to rely heavily on modern technology and to buy into the illusion that power and money create happiness, this at the expense of our health and wellbeing. We feel we have no choice. Money buys happiness. Busyness lets us feel safe, gives our life purpose…until we slow down and ask, what next?

Many are recognising this now though, and making changes, re-aligning themselves, finding a new way. Reiki helps people to connect more deeply to their truth and to see things differently. It changes things. I love nothing more than sharing Reiki with people and seeing them coming alive again, beginning to recognise that they have a choice as the veils are removed one by one, as their consciousness strengthens and their vibration raises and what wasn’t fitting anyway, not drops away.

We begin to take back our power, that’s what really happens and we re-evaluate and make changes, realise that what was once a priority is not so important now. Our families start to see more of us, more of the real us too, not the us we have been groomed to be in this world, but the authentic version of us despite to break free, to dance, sing, express ourselves as the creative beings that we are at heart. All of life is a creative process why should we be any different, why would we want to want to be different?

This notion of power is very much in the field at the moment; reclaiming our power, trying to keep our power, cultivate our power, noticing the ways in which we are giving our power away and decreasing our vitality. It is this, this loss of vitality, that is also drawing people to Reiki.

Reiki is the gift of vitality and self-healing encoded into the genetic makeup of every living being, the higher self’s connection to the universal energy that breathes life into all living things. We are all born with the wisdom to heal and preserve life, and all living things are connected - our ancestors used and relied on their own abilities and instincts (their natural gifts) but unfortunately these basic skills have been forgotten and overlooked in humanity’s relentless ambition for achievement and progress.

There are a number of things that weaken our vitality and the free flow of the universal life force in each of us, including:

·       Too much alcohol

·       Poor diet

·       Insufficient exercise/excessive exercise

·       Drugs (both pharmaceutical and illegal)

·       Not enough rest/sleep

·       Stress

·       Tobacco

·       Negative habits

·       Negative thought patterns and core beliefs

·       Time spent on phones and social media

·       Too much TV

·       Poor breathing

·       Negative psychic activity

 It really is time to look more honestly at how we are spending our time here, to see where we are losing our energy and doing something about it, reclaiming our power and taking ownership for our experience of life, take responsibility for how we are living and to see through the lies we have been sold, and to appreciate the many lies we tell ourselves too, in our denial. The super full moon will illuminate more of this, help to shine a light into the shadows. It’s a scorpio full moon too, so it has a sting in its tail, we won’t be able to ignore it!

For those needing some help feeling into this moon, I’ll be running the online Reiki share through Zoom on Sunday night as usual, 8.30-8.50pm, check the timetable for details, we’ll be feeling into the moon and being open to what it is trying to reveal to us.

But otherwise take time to reflect, to consider how your life is being lived. Don’t try to figure out how to make changes, because this becomes overwhelming and we can only base our thinking on what has happened previously, so if we want the new, we have to surrender to something else to usher that in for us…and that happens when we let go. Nature abhors a vacuum; we let go and we open up to allowing the new in, and it will rush in, when the timing is right and the conditions are set, it’s like planting seeds, we prepare the soil, and wait…the universe has our back, we just have to believe in it.

Happy week!

xx

Practicing and raising our vibration!

It’s been a funny old time, the Equinox ushered in a significant change for us all in some way or form, there was a whole heap of synchronicity flying around in my life at that time, and then onto the full moon, which was just amazing!

It honestly felt like a gift from the goddess, a clear sky and a very large moon, simply because she was closer to the earth than usual that evening. I went out later at night, rare for me, but to meet a friend who also shares a love of the goddess, the moon, dolmens, nature and working with energy.

I was buzzing for a good while off the back of all that energy and life had a certain fullness and vibrancy that comes from spending time on the earth and communing with it, watching sunrise and sunset, moon rise and moon set. This all coincided of course with the really high morning tides and that beautifully warm March weather, which found us enjoying the fisherman’s slip at Saints harbour for before-school swims. Bliss!

Then everything shifted again, because this is the nature of cycles and our own cycles too. My body started doing a re-aligning exercise, after the effect of all the shifting in vibration, what with an additional online Reiki attunement I received, and attuning others, plus the time spent in dolmens and witnessing nature’s cycle, which will always change things. 

Admittedly, there was a sense of overwhelm about all that is going on here with Beinspired, as I attempt to write new material to allow for some of the ideas whizzing through my head of the workshops I’d like to share with you, both Reiki and yoga, such is my passion for both. Often I get asked, “how do you manage it all?”. It’s easy really, because of the practice.

Yoga and Reiki are both all about practice. The yoga sutras makes this very clear; in the first chapter, sutra 12, “abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tat-nirodhah, which means mastery of those [fluctuating activities of the mind] comes from practice together with detachment. Then sutra 13 reads, “tatra sthitau yatnah-abhyasah”, which is translated by Frans Moors as “practice is the sustained effort to remain there, in this place [or direction] of mental stability.” 

 In Reiki, Mrs Takata, the first female Reiki Master who is accredited with bringing Reiki to the West, stressed the importance of practice on ourselves first and foremost. At Reiki Level One we are invited to consciously develop a daily practice, so that we can extract the goodness and nourishment of Reiki on a daily basis. The more we practice, the greater our understanding and the greater our understanding, the more committed we are to practice! 

Like yoga ‘trainings’, Reiki ‘trainings’ don’t really teach us Reiki; they teach us how to practice Reiki, and it is through practice, and practice alone, we come to understand Reiki more deeply – so it is with yoga too! And how do we practice? On ourselves first! Why is practice more important than study? Because yoga and Reiki are spiritual practices rather than learned skills. It is through practice that we strengthen our connection to what is already there, what is already ours: the access to primordial consciousness that is our birth right. 

This is one of the many reasons I love Reiki, and of course yoga, albeit Reiki changes things in a different way. It’s more accessible for people for a start and it has less connotations attached to it - or perhaps that’s just my interpretation! Unfortunately yoga has now become so mainstream that it has lost (in my humble opinion) some of its essence, becoming little more than an exercise class, feeding our obsession with manipulating the body and being ‘seen’ to be someone. 

This external ‘drive’ has become an obstacle for many on the spiritual path – many don’t even appreciate the inherently spiritual nature of yoga, and in our typical western way we have extracted the bits of eastern practice that feed more of our superficial nature and our resistance to go deeper. Not everyone, and I don’t mean to sound judgmental either. 

Only that I have witnessed a significant shift in yoga over the last 15 years that I have been teaching. I’m grateful to my students for going deeper and appreciating the spiritual nature of yoga practice and regularly practising with me, because it is only through dedicated regular practice, on good days and bad days, that the potential of yoga unfolds in our lives.

With, Reiki, we know from the outset that it is a spiritual practice. Maybe people don’t realise this when they initially come for a treatment, but with attunements there is an eagerness to embrace the personal spiritual development aspect of Reiki, and the healing opportunity too. There is a recognition of what might have otherwise been lacking in their lives – a deep yearning for something beyond the mundane and material. 

I have witnessed an increasing number of people drawn to this ancient practice over the last few years, especially. On some level, we know that this is a time of awakening, to move towards that which we thought was never possible and attempt to raise vibration – even the vocabulary around this has changed so that we can actually say this nowadays without people freaking out!

Or perhaps the point is, that I can no longer pretend that it is about anything other than discovering and realising the self and raising our vibration in the process for the good of humanity and this planet. It’s simple to me and the various synchronicity and coincidence in my own life recently have validated this to me – the earth talks of this too, a language that is beyond logic and our English vocabularly, that is embodied and known instead.

So how do we raised our vibration? Well it’s really easy. You just have to practice! I think people think it is more complicated than it is and this allows them to play out their “I’m not good enough” theme, which is huge, that and “I am not worthy”. You are good enough and you are worthy! You are a child of the creator, in whatever guise you use to describe the omniscient presence that supports our lives. It’s true. [I’m not religious – and I stress that, because the mention of creator and such is our conditioning that it makes people run a mile with fear of…gosh I don’t even know.]

So raising our vibration comes when we connect with higher divine consciousness. Reiki and Yoga allow this, so too visiting ancient sites, chanting mantra, meditating, connecting with feelings of love, oneness and connectedness with all other beings etc. This means avoiding anything which lowers and  dampens our vibration such as alcohol, recreational drugs (including cannabis btw), negative and draining people, clutter, TV, heavy music, activities, spaces and places which in any way depress us and reduce our vibrancy and lower auric field etc.

 It’s really important we keep our energy channels as clear as possible and eating a relatively clean diet is essential – it doesn’t have to be raw and vegan (definitely not in this colder weather) but energetically light is best, lots of vegetables, for example and being conscious  of where food is coming from and the resonance it has picked up along the way, fresh and local over international and air freight, for example. Also we might try and prepare food with awareness and love – with Reiki too if we are Reiki attuned!

Connecting with nature is a must, getting our bare feet on the earth, on sand, our body too if we can. Spending time alone in nature is helpful, listening, truly listening to the sounds around us and taking it all in, being conscious of the land and the flora and fauna, the birds and insect life, the changing season and weather patterns. Taking deep breaths of fresh air, feeling the sun on our skin, being conscious of our footprint and the way in which we relate to Mother Earth. 

We should never underestimate the power of positive thinking in keeping our vibration high either. Sometimes people say to me that they are doing all they can to keep themselves healthy with diet and exercise but are still suffering with some condition or another, and I then discover that they have an underlying negative mental imprinting, their thinking patterns both in relation to themselves and others are incredibly critical and negative and they hold on to outdated and unhelpful core beliefs. 

 The fundamental core beliefs that many fall victim to at some point include not being worthy, not being good enough, not being loveable, feeling unsafe and relating to the world as a bad and dangerous place, thinking everything is our fault, that we are somehow different/an outsider, that there’s something wrong with us. There’s no truth in our core beliefs, they are exactly that, ‘beliefs’, not truths. Beliefs we bought into at some point during our childhood, which are no longer helpful in adulthood. 

Sadly though, they are self-perpetuating, like magnets they attract evidence that makes them stronger, and they repel those things that might challenge them. So if we feel unworthy, we will attract situations that feed our sense of unworthiness, and repel those situations, which may help to build our self-esteem and make us feel worthy. These core beliefs are formed early in our lives and shaped by our upbringing and experiences, by the language that was used by parents, caregivers, teachers and society at large at that time. 

These core beliefs may well have been helpful initially, in helping us to make sense of our experiences, but they become harmful and unproductive later in life. We cling onto them though like any bad habit and increase toxicity in our auric field and further damaging our relationship with self. We continuously reinforce them too, to the extent that we don’t realise that we have a choice, that it is we (ha, the irony!) who choose to harm ourselves by holding onto these untrue core beliefs and repetitive negative mental imprintings. Every moment we have an opportunity to change our thinking.

It’s a form of self-harm in many respects, the way we cause so much of our suffering by the thoughts we think and the way we relate to ourselves. These core beliefs and our negative and self-critical thinking create our neuroses, our anxiety and depression, more so than life experience itself. 

Some don’t make it to Reiki attunement sessions or a yoga classes, for example, such is the ingrained nature of their core beliefs, causing them to truly believe that they are not good enough, before they have even given it a try. Some loathe themselves and the way they look to the extent that they struggle to attend thinking that others will be judging them and forgetting that everyone has their own neurosis. 

Thus we need to be increasingly honest with ourselves about the way we drain our own vibration. It’s all very well eating clean food and avoiding social media and the news, but if we then constantly criticise ourselves and give ourselves a hard time, judging others and feeding our fear in the process, then the effect of all our efforts are limited to an extent. We have to start on the inside, is my take on things. I know that’s terribly tricky, but otherwise we are just constantly bypassing.

And this is something else that I have witnessed frequently over the years, in yoga, where people say all the right things, look the part, but are bypassing, not doing the deeper work. Our modern yoga focused on exercise alone allows this – we are practicing yoga, but we are not always allowing yoga to touch and change us beyond increasing our physical flexibility and strength. 

Many give up or take breaks when it begins to get a little more inwardly demanding. There are many reasons that people give for this, but at the end of the day, it’s difficult coming face to face with the many ways we have been kidding ourselves and creating so much of our own suffering, the many lies we tell ourselves and the manner in which we limit ourselves with our fixed thinking. This before we even get to the spiritual ego, which is probably our greatest obstacle on the spiritual path. 

Often we just keep going around in circles, and nothing changes, not really, not long term, we still harbour the same insecurities and neurosis which might come and go, but are inherently there underneath it all. So we come back to the practice, and we commit to it, to one practice too (the yoga sutras stress this, choose one practice and stick to it). We practice through the highs and the lows, through the physical, mental and emotional discomfort, the resistance and agitation, the tears and the joy. It’s not all about love and light! If we think it is, then we should know that we are bypassing!

As far as connecting with our inner guide is concerned, well we all have one, that little voice inside that doesn’t sound like its coming from us. The trouble is, that little voice often gets drowned out by the bigger voice with all its judgements and opinions and attempts at organising and control. This is why we practice! To quieten the bigger voice so we can hear more of the smaller and quieter voice, that gently whispers to us, and guides us to allow more of our soul expression in this world, raising our vibration in the process. 

The voice may have a different tone or a different accent, different terminology too, than our bigger voice. Sometimes the voice doesn’t come as words but as images and sounds, we should pay attention! There will be signs all around us guiding us, if only we can slow down and notice. The voice and the signs will be persistent and keep repeating, nudging us to pay attention, the message may even come through another person. Our bigger voice is generally self-critical and this little, quieter voice is different, coming from a place of love and kindness, supporting us in a positive direction. 

Reiki absolutely helps us to connect with this voice and deepens our relationship with intuition so that we pay attention to the hunches we receive and act upon them – it is often the voice of our inner guide that has brought us to Reiki in the first place. The same can be said of yoga too, although I feel that more of us needs to be committed to Reiki than it does to yoga, simply because yoga doesn’t always demand so much of us initially – we just come and go from classes, cherry pick etc. in a way we don’t when we are undertaking our Reiki training. 

Ultimately the universe, the creator, the goddess, our higher self, all of this is trying to help us raise our vibration and make this world a better place to live. I believe that once we can elevate our perspective to the bigger picture, our own limited neurosis seems less important, when we reflect on the individual role we play in the collective energy – we are the micro of the macro, the more we can love and accept ourselves, raise our vibration, the more the planet and all of humanity benefits. We just need to get out of our own way!

Happy practising! 

Love Emma xx

Making your own deodorant

I don’t wear much of anything, scent-wise, unless I feel the need, generally from a ‘needing some lavender in my life’ perspective rather than ‘everyone does it so I should do it’ type perspective. Heck I’ve even stopped shaving, suddenly couldn't see the sense in it, maybe that’ll change as the temperature warms, but you get my drift, the need for ‘natural’ and being ‘in one’s nature’ has set in. Blame lockdown, it gave a wonderful opportunity to explore more of simplicity and to enquire into the reason I was doing ‘things’ in the first place.

Anyhow, a lovely friend put me onto this recipe for natural deodorant. She had been making it for me for a while and then lockdown came in so I was tasked with making some for myself. That moment finally arrived and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s always empowering making your own ‘products’ and I thought some of you might like to give it a whirl too.

Here it is:

1 tbsp of Shea butter
1 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tbsp of cornflour
1 tbsp of baking powder
10 drops or so of Essential oils of your choice eg bergamot, lavender and lemon grass

Melt the oils together over a Bain Marie or in microwave, blend in the flour and baking powder, add the essential oils and pour into a screw top jar. Add Reiki and love too!

The recipe doesn’t ask you to pop the jar in the fridge but I did so anyway, to help the setting process. It smells wonderful! I will now smell of lavender and ylang ylang, my two favourite essential oils!

Give it a try if you can and be kind to those pits!

Love Emma x

Curious about Reiki

I love Reiki, it has been without doubt the most positive thing I have ever brought into my life. From the very first Reiki session something changed and it has kept positively changing ever since then. Reiki changes lives in positive ways, it helps us to grow as more conscious and compassionate human beings. Even one Reiki session can change things, but it is the attunements that really changed things for me. I wasn’t always aware of it at the time, as these things can take time to integrate, but any attunement was soon followed by a significant change in my life.

Recently I have been furthering my Reiki studies and was reminded of the manner in which the natural intelligence of the Reiki energy connects us to those with whom we need to connect and invites in often mind-blowing synchronicities and coincidence. There’s been a Bengal theme since deepening my studies, random encounters with Bengal cats and a particularly random meeting with a previously unknown Reiki attuned Bengal cat owner at 6am on the Spring equinox in one of our local dolmens aligned to the spring equinox sunrise. 

This after a strange old week of other coincidental stuff occurring, like me buying Elijah a large Pooh Bear fluffy toy from the local hospice shop and days later the Reiki guide, producing the exact same Pooh Bear in one of her videos! Too much of a coincidence to be ignored! This is the thing with Reiki though, it changes things, brings in more magic to life, helps us to see things differently, directs you on a more aligned path and heals all at the same time. 

Fire has also been a theme this week, off the back of reading the really inspiring The Children’s Forest by Mac Macartney and more work with my Ayurvedic doctor. Fire really cleanses and shifts things. We acknowledged the spring equinox with a fire at the stone circles at my folks’ house with some friends and tea, bringing more light in now as we burn up more of that we don’t now need. I’m curious to see how the energy settles the next few days, but I have a feeling we have to keep stepping up and moving into unknown territory and will be encouraged to do so too. 

Reiki helps us to let go and find new ways to be, it nourishes and calms the soul and allows us to hear it’s voice more clearly, nudging us to make changes, go somewhere different, get out of bed at silly times of the morning to see a sunrise, or stay up late to dance with the moon. It takes us into the sea, onto the earth, doing some stuff we never thought we might do. I really truly believe that everyone should have Reiki in their lives and I have a few ideas of how we might make it more accessible to you, but we’ve got offerings, treatments, attunements, online Reiki share and the forthcoming Safer Event. So if you’re tempted, heed the call, it’s time!

I’ve put together some info about Reiki below. Fortunately it is becoming more well-known and accepted these days, not quite so esoteric as it was when I discovered it back in 2004. Reiki has supported me through all my life challenges since then, and while there have been moments where it has asked me to dig deep, go to those dark places inside, it has always helped me to pop through the other side, lighter, brighter and clearer, so that I wholeheartedly welcome healing crises because as horrible as they are at the time, they are an absolutely necessary stage of our healing and evolution as conscious beings. Anyhow here you go:

What can Reiki do?
Reiki works with the energetic, physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of the individual to address imbalances on all levels. The reason you may wish to experience a Reiki session include:

• General balancing

• Clearing emotional blocks

• Physical pain

• Increasing clarity

• Issues with life

• Personal spiritual development

How is Reiki different from other therapies?

Reiki is holistic in its approach and addresses not only the symptoms an individual experiences but the root cause of the imbalance as well. Reiki helps to restore the body’s natural ability to heal and create balance.

How do I know this is right for me?

People who have a nagging feeling that something in their life or body mind is out of balance or they feel like they are struggling within themselves and their environment usually find Reiki at the perfect time for them. The fact that you are reading this blog is likely a sign that your body/mind/soul is ready for healing and to experience growth.

What exactly is Reiki energy?

The Japanese word ‘Reiki’ means ‘universal life force energy’.  It refers to an ancient hands-on healing art developed by Dr Mikao Usui in Japan in the early 1900’s for the passing of healing energy onto others and personal spiritual development. 

Eastern medicine has always recognised and worked with this energy, which flows through all living things and is vital to well-being. Known as ‘ki’ in Japan, ‘chi’ in China and ‘prana’ in India. Acupuncture, T’ai chi and Yoga are also based on the free-flow of this energy in a person.

Reiki can be likened to a free flowing river.  This river is like energy flowing easily down through the body.  Occasionally a pebble or a rock may fall into that river making the flow of water a little more difficult.  

These pebbles can be compared to human emotions such as worry, guilt, sadness, fear, shame, anxiety and anger, with each pebble building one on top of the other.  Soon there is only a trickle of water running in that once free-flowing river and at this point physical pain may also be experienced.  By receiving Reiki more energy is offered to the body.  This extra energy is like a flood that washes down through our rivers removing and dissolving the obstacles in its way, such as the trapped emotions that have caused our loss of wellbeing and often kept us stuck. 

What to expect during a Reiki session

You will lie fully clothed on a bed (on the floor or a treatment couch) with the option of being covered with a blanket. You will be encouraged to relax as best you can. The practitioner will place her hands on various parts of your body and channel Reiki to you. Reiki might be experienced as heat or cold, tingling, or nothing at all! It usually induces a state of deep relaxation, which can be healing in itself. The session generally lasts one hour.