A healing crisis

With all the recent healing work, a healing crisis was inevitable.  It was funny as I hadn't identified with it as such, I just knew something was "off" and was trying to figure out the reason for this.

In the back of my mind I had this thought that I needed to write about healing crises in my Reiki Level One Manual, because following a Reiki attunement (and each of the three levels) you go through a 21 day healing process.

The number 21 is very significant in spiritual fields as it means that new beginnings and change are coming in, and this should bring greater balance and harmony, and therefore should be positively embraced. However often this means that the old needs to break down to make space for the new to come in and this is not always an easy process.  

So there I was thinking about writing about a healing crisis but not having identified with it.  Then rather coincidentally (but of course there are no coincidences), a good friend asked me what a healing crisis meant. Suddenly it dawned on me, "ah ha, of course, yes, this is what I am going through, a healing crisis!".

They are never easy to go through at the best of times and this one lingered on for a good ten days, bringing up old anxious and sickness energy from my solar plexus and sacral chakras. I knew it wasn't how I felt now, but it was unsettling all the same. Obviously I just wanted it to go, but this is the thing about the healing process, you have to feel it for it to truly leave the body. That's often the reason that we need to do some healing work in the first place, because we never felt the emotion or whatever it may have been at the time, and stuffed it away, where it becomes a stagnant and stuck energy and subtly (and not so subtly) affects our lives.

So what is a healing crisis?  Let me try and explain.

Well as I've just mentioned energy gets stuck for a reason.  Often it’s because you can’t or don’t want to face something difficult. Thus energy can also get stuck from trauma, crises, numbness, or denial. Some part of you, whether it’s the ego, body wisdom or spirit, is trying to protect you. Rather than feeling everything in that moment and letting it pass through, thoughts and emotions (energy in motion) gets stuffed down into the energetic corners, so to speak. Stuck energy can lead to pain and disease. It’s protection and in the short term it has a place, but when numbing and holding on becomes a habit and a default coping method then it can lead to long term problems.

Healing work is essentially about releasing the stuck energy that no longer has a purpose and serves the individual. If it’s not acute or obvious, it could simply be a feeling of life being “off balance” or something just not feeling quite right. Whatever the reason for the healing work –receiving Reiki for example – the goal is generally to feel better, not worse.

Any type of cleansing or healing that you do will come with a release. This can happen on a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual level, and often happens on several levels simultaneously. When toxins and toxic energy are released, your body and mind have to deal with a sudden and powerful shift in balance. It’s impossible to have a release in any of your bodies (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, energetic) and not have the others affected. 

The body is good at maintaining a balance, so the symptoms are usually mild. But symptoms are always unique and dependant on your sensitivity, your level of illness or disease, the extent of your denial, and/or your frame of mind during a session. This is referred to as a “healing crisis”. Essentially you are releasing the old stuck energy with new energy and your whole system has to adjust to the change and you may experience uncomfortable symptoms.

The healing crisis can be unpleasant and even take you a while to identify that this is what you’re experiencing - this is what happened to me!  It's always a relief when you recognise that you are simply going through a healing crisis. It’s all part of the healing process and essential to complete the healing – better out than in! Essentially you’re releasing all the stuck anger, hurt, broken heart, anxiety, depression, sadness, betrayal, unhealed trauma, unspoken feelings, resentment, frustration, rejection, loss etc. that you’ve been holding onto inside.

The thing is, you won’t be able to release it all without feeling some of it again. It’s like you have to feel it, to release it and let it move on. Sometimes the release is quick, e.g. an overwhelming sense of anger and need to run it off, or scream it out, momentary feelings of sadness and unexpected tears. There may be vomiting or diarrhoea, muscle ache, fatigue, the need to forgive a past situation or person, or make amends with someone, and/or a large emotional purge. Sometimes you might pick a fight with a partner or friend, simply as a way of releasing pent up frustration or anger. 

Sometimes the release might take a few days or a week or so, where you don’t feel quite right, to the extent that you might start wondering if your old anxiety, depression, resentment, sadness, grief, or whatever it might be, has come back again, and this might make you feel a little panicky. 

I've certainly gone through a combination of healing crises in the past.  When I was doing my Reiki training all those years ago, I got what I thought were a lot of vomiting bugs, but I later realised that these were healing crises, the old coming out. In these early days, especially with the yoga I had some sudden anger outbursts that came from nowhere and these too, I came to realise were healing crises too.

Please don’t worry of you too go through a healing crisis from yoga or a holistic treatment or practice. It’s just the old moving out to make way for the new, and your body needs time to find a new balance and adjust to the higher vibrational energy. It should be embraced rather than feared as it is a true sign of healing. Please don’t think that the practitioner or teacher did anything wrong or you did anything wrong, it’s simply the healing process. The deeper and more intense the healing crisis, the deeper and more intense the healing. 

You might find that after a healing crisis things change for you.  Your vibration has changed so situations and the people you attract into your life will also change.  This may mean that there will be some dis-resonance with people and situations already in your life, and some of these will adapt and morph with your own energy, and others will drop away. Please just trust the process, it is all for the higher good and may highlight to you, relationships and situations that are no longer serving you. You’ll shine lighter and brighter as a result. 

Try to drink lots of water during this time, and move your body, getting out into nature, getting your feet on the Earth, perhaps journaling, doing a guided relaxation, holding rose quartz or chakra balancing crystals and just trying to be super compassionate and kind to the self. 

I've found myself drawn to do all these things during the healing crisis, especially running, as if trying to sweat and move it out, running my life forward. I've also drawn on the yoga nidra network and listened to some lovely free and nourishing Yoga Nidras, while holding rose quartz. I've also played a lot with the children and swum in the sea, getting outside as much as possible. It's all helped!

As it happens a 21 day cleanse from the last Reiki attunement session I ran ends today, hoorah for that, it coincides with the weather shifting and my cycle shifting to the autumnal stage and no doubt things will shift during this moon phase.  Happy healing!!

Dancing the dream with womb yoga and healing

Wow, so it's been a fairly intense month of healing.  The moon has certainly been putting it in the field - there was a lot of fear, anxiety and agitation coming up for so many, and the need to root down.

I was lucky, as I had been feeling a pull to dig deep into some inner healing work, and in many respects this turned out to be perfectly timed, as it helped support me during these, um, testing times.

The Ayurvedic treatment and the herbs, combined with some Reiki and massage, and the most amazing sound gong bath all helped on some level to awaken some old stuff and keep me on a level throughout. I fell in love with Sabine's rain stick, but that is a whole other story as I've got one on order (a rain stick that is, not Sabine, she's absolutely one of a kind and Guernsey is lucky to have her) and I cannot wait to use it to soothe away residual tension at the end of class.

My month of healing work came to a delightful end with the most amazing day drinking in the energy of the the delightfully delightful, and ever so phew, amazing, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and Sivani Mata in one of THE best venues ever for training...the Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Centre for World Peace and Health in Bermondsey, London. This was followed, the next day, by the finale of a ki massage treatment with the most gifted and intuitive healer I have ever had the fortune to meet, Jo de Dielpold Braham. 

I can truly credit Uma with bringing me home to myself when I discovered her during my second pregnancy. I've always been drawn to the Tantric approach to yoga, Rod Stryker, being my main inspiration, but then in stepped Uma with her womb yoga and Tantric practices, and I felt that finally, it all made sense. As if all the pieces came together and I found my heart AND my womb. Hoorah for that, the heart is great, but being a woman, there is much power in the womb space too.

So I was suitably excited in joining her in circle again for a day of creativity, sexuality and cycles of our lives.  I was not disappointed. Oh my gosh.  I LOVE the energy of Tibetan Buddhism, having discovered this on my many trips to Nepal - I resonate with the energy, and it fits in so nicely with the Tantric teachings and the Reiki, and here now with Uma. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Laying on a sheepskin rug, the first thing we did was practice Yoga Nidra together, and the rest of the day fairly much floated in the most ecstatically joyful and poetic way - we were weaving the dance with some movement to really bring some light into the darkness of the womb and heart spaces, into the solar plexus and then the throat with some breathing exercises.  And then the joyful of joyful moments for me, Bhakti yoga, yoga of the heart, and the chanting of mantra to music, sweet voices, and the energy raising, hearts opening, tears flowing.  I LOVE Bhakti yoga.

Then it just kept giving - homemade, fresh, loving, dahl and rice in the Tibetan cafe making new friends, and then chai, that I didn't have to make. Back to class, and then another Yoga Nidra, drifting in a liminal space of healing, and then waking to chocolate, oh my gosh, we were given dark chocolate to ground us after the practice.  Oh Uma, I love that you give us permission to eat chocolate in class, I really did die and go to Heaven! 

Sivani is also a joy.  She lives and breathes kirtan and the sharing of sound and her beautiful voice.  So too her love of yoga for women, and she showed us how to massage our breasts for health and wellbeing, and led some of the session, increasing sensitivity with the most gentlest and smallest of movement, proving again and again the need for all the undoing, undoing, undoing. It's so simple.

I was reminded that absolutely nothing has to look a certain way.  Not me, not you, not the practice, not our bodies, not our yoga, not our anything needs to look a certain way. Just be me, just be you, just be however it greets you. 

Perhaps because of the expansion and openness that arose sharing my day with 47 or so other ladies, the majority in the autumnal phase of the cycle (this alone was truly fascinating), and chatting with beautiful Chris from the moment we left Guernsey to the moment we returned, so I'm not even aware of the travel (it felt like we floated to the centre and back again in Bermondsey, and yet I have vague memories of the plane and of walking along the Embankment and through Borough Market, neither here nor there, a day of that beautiful liminal space), I was ready and open to complete the healing with Jo, and this we did, and this by doing nothing...the undoing, undoing, undoing, by not doing, not a thing, not even speaking, just feeling the energy and witnessing the unfolding, not getting lost in story, letting the body undo all the doing. 

There are times in life when we have absolute certainty that things were meant to be and that we're guided. Like maybe a handful of times when the stars and the moon align and every light is green, and every person smiles, and there is chocolate in yoga, and the robins keep appearing, and the doors are opening, and you can see inside yourself in a way you've never done previously and it all just feels right. Well that was then. That was one of those moments and I'm so grateful to have shared it with Chris and to the Universe and the angels for bringing me these most amazing women into my life. 

Thank you beautiful ladies, and thank you Ewan, for helping me to indulge in such a way, Uma has inspired and there is a greater coming home to the self...Jai ma! Yoni Shakti should be a definite on every (wild) yogini's reading list and definitely try and find your way to Jo in Guernsey or the UK. 

With eternal gratitude and love xxx

Ayurveda - needing some TLC

A few weeks ago now I became painfully aware that I needed to step out of my denial and do something about the inherent tiredness I was feeling.

I'd seen a visiting Peruvian healer who highlighted to me low kidney energy, and the impact this was having on my wellbeing  I knew this really, just like I knew that there were things I was doing that actually weren't supporting my wellbeing at this particular moment in my life - like prolonged sea swimming (making me too cold and further stressing kidneys) and eating far too many nuts (also stressing kidney energy).  

This made me increasingly aware how we do things thinking, on one level that they are good for us, but knowing, on a deeper level, that they are actually not. So that was the sea swimming put on hold, and a change of diet required. The Peruvian healer shared wise words, "get more out of the head and into the heart". My sentiments exactly! he also encouraged rest. 

Not long after that I saw the wonderfully intuitive visiting Ki massage practitioner and osteopath Jo de Diepold Brahman (every one should see Jo, she's incredibly attuned!), and we looked at the tiredness from another angle...and that was enlightening as ever as it highlighted the energy centre imbalance and the carrying of old memories and stories that one re-plays over and over until that stuff is finally dealt with. Sigh. She also highlighted the need for rest. 

So this found me eleven days later having a Skype call with an Ayurvedic doctor in Purley Okas - not my usual doctor, Dr Deepika, as she's now busy doing the trainings, but another lady, Dr W, who has joined her from Sri Lanka. 

I discovered Ayurveda not long after I started teaching yoga back in 2006. I befriend a British girl on a retreat in Bali, who had been seeing Dr Deepika for a few years.  I was curious.  I knew I needed healing and I loved the idea of trying something so connected to yoga.  When i was back home in Guernsey I made contact with Dr Deepika and travelled over to meet her at her clinic, maybe 25-30 minutes from Gatwick. There began my love affair with Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is truly inspiring, the most ancient and authentically recorded health system in history, over 5,000 years old, it was created by yogis who spent their lives studying nature and the human condition.  Meaning “the science of life” it is exactly that, viewing health in four dimensions of physical, sensory, mental and spiritual and is centred on preventative medicine and bringing a person back to balance.  It shows how an imbalance in one part of a person’s being will affect them in another, i.e. if a person isn’t being true to their life path (dharma) then physical and mental illnesses can arise which cannot be effectively treated with modern medicines but can be helped by Ayurveda.

Ayurveda uses elemental medicine which means that they balance out earth, fire, water, air and ether in the body.  These are divided into three doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which are the basis of a person’s constitution and also the factors that can create imbalances.  Ayurveda places great emphasis on diet, lifestyle, yoga, meditation, massage and herbal medicines to bring a person back to health and keep them there.

I've seen Dr Deepika a number of times over the years - in person and through Skype.  I've followed an Ayurvedic diet as much as I can too - although there have been periods were I have been swayed (yes, even me) by Western approaches to nutrition, and gotten myself in a fix until Dr Deeika has given me a good talking to and got me back on the straight and narrow (well actually not so straight and narrow, that's the joy of Ayurveda).  

So, for example in the Ayurvedic world too much juice will make you damp on the inside and might lead to damp conditions like thrush (yep, that certainly happened to me), and then all the sauerkraut and gut "friendly" foods, can agitate people like me, with all that vinegar and salt, so that we become imbalanced, too much fire and drying out. It;s truly fascinating - especially when you switch to an Ayurvedic diet and realise how nourishing and kind it is to your constitution (dosha then).

I did a ten day Panchakarma at the Ayurvedic Home in Kathmandu (Nepal) once.  This was an incredible experience. Panchakarma is most definitely the ultimate mind-body healing experience for detoxifying the body, strengthening the immune system, and restoring balance and well-being. It is one the most effective healing modality in Ayurvedic Medicine. It promotes detoxification and rejuvenation and is recommended on a seasonal basis, as well as when an individual feels out of balance or is experiencing illness.

Panchakarma essentially removes the excess doshas and correct imbalances in them as well as eliminating the harmful ama (waist matter from toxins that can create dis-ease) out of your system through the body’s own organs and channels of elimination (colon, sweat glands, lungs, bladder, urinary tract, stomach, intestines, etc). Panchakarma purifies the tissues at a very deep level. It involves daily massages and oil baths, herbal enemas, nasal administrations and - from experience - is a very pleasurable experience. 

I did a three day Panchakarma when I needed to sort myself out after a failed IVF round, and to prepare for our final round of IVF.  This was a treat in itself - two nights and three days away from the family, and spending much of it in silence, bliss for me! 

I accredit the Ayurveda for helping me with lots of my healing - of cysts on the ovaries and PMS, and also helping to support the IVF in helping me get pregnant.  I've also learned a lot about energy from working with Ayurveda and of course health and wellbeing.  Dr Deepika has been, and  continues to be a spiritual teacher for me too. 

My favourite treatment is Shirodhana, which involves warm oil being poured on the third eye.  I find it deeply relaxing and soothing, helping me to let go and drop in on a deep level, and leaving me feel restored afterwards.  I enjoyed two of these treatments from trained Ayurvedic practitioners offering their services at Satsanga, where we stayed for the Goa retreat.  It was sublime as ever.

So to cut a long story shorter (hopefully - I need to get to bed!), I ended up going over to the Ayurvedic clinic a week ago or so for a Panchakarma, and timed this with a night in Gatwick (of all places - my first night away from my still-breast feeding throughout the night son, Eben (poor Ewan didn't get much sleep!)) so I could also say goodbye to my brother who was flying back to Australia first thing in the morning, so he went one way and I went another, back to Guernsey. 

I'm on Ayurvedic herbs too and back on the diet and I feel so much better already.  Admittedly I still need to do a little bit more resting, but i feel grateful for having Ayurveda in my life and for my body creating the conditions for me to tap into it again...and over the shifting Equinox too, not that was good coincidental timing!

I've had some Reiki and massage since being back home to compliment the Ayurveda and I've managed one tiny dip (tea bag) in the sea, but you know what, I need to keep warm for now, until I feel fully restored again, there will be plenty of time for swimming (it's freezing right now in there, like hurts its so cold!).

So if you're in need of some TLC, then I wholeheartedly recommend the Ayurvedic Clinic, it's brilliant!!! Incidentally, Dr Deepika specialises in fertility so if you have these issues, it's well worth checking her out if you;re having issues there.  Her website is http://www.theayurvedicclinic.com

x

Crystals - the best Christmas present ever!

Crystals

Crystals are powerful healing tools; they can help with physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health; and they can help you and your family sleep better, amplify your healing power, and assist you in feeling calm, balanced and peaceful.

Crystals are a gift from Mother Earth to amplify the power of love and light and have been used for healing since before Egyptian times.

Although they may seem like inert objects crystals are very much alive, they are both filled with energy and are conduits of energy – that is one of the reasons crystals are used in watches, radios and modern medical devices.

We live in a world of constant vibration, intelligent vibration actually, because everything that exists is really energy information, or energy in-formation – vibration. These vibrations form matter, substance or intangible things. 

The key frequency of vibration of an object, a person, a plant or an animal etc. is known as its resonant frequency.  Like you and I, crystals also have their own resonant frequency. This is the reason that we are drawn to a particular crystal more than another – a bit like we are drawn to one person more than another!

Choosing crystals

I find that crystals tend to choose us as much as we choose them. They stand out to us when we see them, or we put our hand into a bowl of crystals and one feels good in our hand.

I believe that you intuitively know the crystal that is meant for you at any particular time. It comes into your life!

Sometimes crystals are with you for a whole lifetime.  But other times you also get a sense when it’s time to let a crystal go and pass it on to someone else. Sometimes they just disappear out of your life. It’s a bit like that saying, “people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime”, it’s the same with crystals!

Choosing crystals for friends is fairly much the same – you just have a sense that your friend needs the one to which you are drawn when thinking about him/her. I like to buy my friends crystals and just go with what I’m drawn to, even if it’s not something I’d usually consciously choose for that person. It always has an appropriate meaning for that person.

Cleansing/energising crystals

Crystals often attract all kinds of energy vibrations both negative and positive.  Remember that your crystal may have travelled many thousands of miles and been handled by many people before you received it.  Therefore, your crystal may have acquired some negative energies and it is important to cleanse it before you use it.

There are serval ways you can cleanse crystals including the following:

• Putting them in the garden under the light of the full moon (this is my favourite way);

• Putting them in sea salt or a natural water source (sea, stream, river);

• Burying them in the earth;

• Placing them in sunlight;

• Holding them in your hand and setting your intention that they be cleansed by Reiki.

More about crystal properties and working with them next...xx

Changing the mind!

It has to be said that that was a very tricky moon cycle, between swimming in the pool under the light of the-almost-peaking full moon on Friday 3 November 2017 in Goa, and the full moon that I celebrated in the dark and cold here in Guernsey on Saturday 2 December 2017. 

The wheels fell off for a time. We invited Shiva into our lives in Goa so I shouldn't have been surprised. India alone will bring you to your knees, but Shiva, well he's something else.  I knew there was a reason I needed to invest in a little statue of Ganesha, remover of obstacles, before I left Goa. He's been a central part of my Altar this last month!

Things need to fall apart so that we can grow, at least spiritually, but it's a tough process to go through.  I questioned every aspect of my life wondering what needed to change, what I no longer needed and what had to stay.  Of course I knew deep down that it wasn't about changing the external, but I was trying to maintain some control...the ego likes control. It makes us feel safe.

But I wasn't feeling so safe and with my right ear deaf for a good month, I've had to be honest about what I'm not listening to. Ah yes.

The healing came as it does.  The anger, the fury, the tears, the everything that we need to go through to reach our bottom where we finally surrender and let go.

That's where the magic lies. In the letting go. Because only then does grace enter in and all is revealed, as if emerging from the fog.  I felt foggy that's for sure, being partially deaf does that to you, and blocked sinuses that make it difficult to think clearly, and the extreme tiredness post long haul travel with children who take time to adjust to the time difference and a partner who's sick from the flight. 

It's not easy feeling so raw and vulnerable and wondering where it all went so wrong. Of course it never did go wrong, it's just about perception and realising that it's time to transition from one way of being to another.  The dream has shifted - it's no longer just my dream, my life, now part of  family, and with that priorities change.

Essentially the mind changes.  That's where the pain comes in. Changing my mind. Becoming more aligned. There's a poetic rhyme to it. And it is poetry really, the rawness of it.

I read probably one of the most poetic books I've read in a long time, "When breath becomes air" by Paul Kalanithi, which is nothing short of genius. An amazing book and an inspired mind and heart, that man. This lead me to read Henry Marsh's "Do no Harm".  There was a theme here, brain surgery, death and meaning in life.

It's been a heavy month! But I've learned more about the brain, about the mind, about faith and spirit and the ego and about the manner in which life unfolds, how it changes. 

I've recognised that it was my mind that needed to change, not the external of my life, but the internal tapestry that gives rise to a change on the outside. There was no effort required either, it was just about going through the process. Being present. Sitting with the pain (of change) and listening to the body as it communicated it's needs.    

The mind resides everywhere, not just in the brain. It fascinates me. My mind. Everyone's minds. Changing minds.  It's all there.

We make changes on the inside, often having to do a complete turn-around in how we believed things to be, so that we see things completely differently - the pre-school I didn't think I liked, becomes the place that actually I really love, the place I didn't ant to visit on holiday becomes the very place I now long to go, then person I didn't initially like on meeting is now my close friend.  

Everything I resist persists and becomes an integral part of my life.  So there's something to look out for. Resistance. It's often the very thing we need.

So once the mind changes, the inner world changes, then the outer world changes too. Not hugely necessarily, it all looks the same but it feels very different, more aligned, heartfelt and joyful.  It feels right somehow. 

It was a joy therefore to teach the waning moon and for everything to settle.  Shiva worked his magic, destroyed so that life could be re-created. I'm just grateful for the practice, for the mat beneath me, that space, for the breath and the Yoga Nidra and for the light of the candle reminding me to keep heading towards the light, the heart the truth.

Changing minds is never easy but it's essential too.

With love and gratitude. 

x

Reiki - it's positive impact on my life

These days most people have heard of “Reiki” but not many know what it is actually is.  They often assume it is a form of religion or a form of massage and they often wonder if it dangerous.  No, is the answer to all these assumptions.  It is neither a belief system nor a physically manipulative technique and it is completely safe.  Essentially it is a way of being true to yourself so that you do things consciously, with awareness, sincerity and intention.

I must admit when that when I went for my first Reiki session, I had no idea what was really involved.  I recall lying on the treatment couch wondering what on earth was going to happen to me. Relaxing music played in the background and candles enhanced the natural light of the room.  The practitioner talked about angels and fairies and when my stomach started to gurgle she told me that was a sign they were in the room.  I couldn’t quite relax, any moment I was expecting to see apparitions and have a strange out-of-body-type experience.

In my ‘out-of-balance, want-to-be-balanced’ kind of way back then I suspect I was looking for a miracle cure that day.  But of course it didn’t happen.  After the session, I still felt like the same old me, a little out of sorts, a little unhappy.  The only difference being the fact that I knew a little bit more about angels.  The practitioner had told me that every time she drives into town she asks her angels to find her a parking space, and every time she goes to park the car there is a space waiting for her.  This stuck in my mind and I started doing this myself and I must admit it certainly works – you have to believe however!

Regardless of whether I felt the effects of the Reiki during that first session, the seed had been sown.  I was clearly drawn to Reiki for a reason and it was only a matter of time before it presented itself to me again – and the second time around, I had not gone searching.  You see, quite unbeknown to me at the time, I started to attend a meditation class which was led by a Reiki Master teacher.  Most of the meditation attendees were Reiki attuned and there was often much chatter about Reiki and the Reiki courses led by the teacher.  I would listen to them talking about metaphysical energy, auras, crystals and Chakras and wonder what on earth it was all about – it was a different world to the one I lived in at that time.

But times change and only a matter of weeks later I came across an advertisement pinned to the notice board at work advertising Reiki treatment sessions with – coincidentally (and this is something that becomes more prevalent in the Reiki world (coincidences that is) - the same lady who was leading the meditation classes.  I was fascinated as I read the advertisement; it mentioned how Reiki can encourage and support positive personal changes, helping to balance the emotions and free us from restrictive mental attitudes and behaviour patterns.  It explained how Reiki can help to improve the quality of our relationships, help us to de-stress, reduce our need for alcohol and tobacco, improve our diet and help us to respond more calmly to situations and events in our lives.  

This resonated with me immediately and while I still knew very little about the ‘how’, I was at a point in my life where I was willing to give anything a go.  This is often the nature of Reiki – you may not be aware of it at the time, but it tends to come into your life when you need it the most; you just simply have to be open to receiving it.  Of course, this is the other thing with Reiki, it cannot be forced upon you, you are either willing to go there or you aren’t and no amount of pressure from family or friends will change that – all they can do is plant the seed by making you aware that it exists in the first place.

From my own experience I know that Reiki offers a great many benefits.  Essentially it is a holistic relaxation therapy that focuses on the root cause of conditions rather than merely on the symptoms.  Thus not only can Reiki be used to induce a sense of deep physical relaxation but it can also be used to promote the healing of a wide range of ailments.  These include everything from stress related complaints such as insomnia to joint aches and pains (such as arthritis), headaches, stomach aches, depression, backache, menstrual problems, anxiety, asthma, colds and flu etc.

The Japanese word Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) means ‘Universal Energy’ and is based on the free flow of this energy in a person.  Eastern medicine has always recognised and worked with this energy, which flows through all living things and is vital to well-being.  It refers to an ancient hands-on healing art developed by Dr Mikao Usui in Japan in the early 1900’s for personal development and the passing of healing energy onto others.  Dr Usui believed that by clearing the body energetically it was possible to feel more connected to life, more relaxed, physically healthier and less unbalanced emotionally.

The second Reiki treatment provided a very different experience to the one I had experienced only a few months earlier.  Practising Reiki tends to enhance the intuition of the Reiki practitioner and this Reiki practitioner was certainly intuitive – not only that but I felt more of a connection.  She was able to feel what was going on for me, beyond the ego and the conscious thought patterns, and articulate these feelings to me in such a way that I could not have said them better myself.  It was a liberating and enlightening experience as I finally started to acknowledge a few of those things I had pushed down and tried to push away.

After the session I felt quite emotional and the practitioner assured me that this is not unusual.  The practitioner explained to me that it is a little like peeling an onion – the more you receive Reiki, the more you remove the layers, and the closer you come to your core, your true self – I guess it is a little like discarding the baggage, step by step, a fantastic form of personal development.  Of course it is different for everyone - some people may only want one session to merely relax while others will want more sessions to continue peeling away the layers.

Reiki treatments tend to last anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour and are carried out with you lying in a comfortable and peaceful environment. There is no need to remove any clothing and you are often given the opportunity to cover yourself with a blanket to encourage relaxation and make you feel a little more comfortable.  The practitioner may gently lay their hands on different parts of the body corresponding with the Chakras or energy centres, working from the head to the toes.  You may be asked to turn over so the practitioner can work on the other side of your body too.

Reiki has its own intelligence and the practitioner will be drawn intuitively to those parts of the body where the Reiki needs to go.  The body automatically draws in only as much Reiki as is needed using it in whatever way is most appropriate at that time. The Reiki energy may be felt as a flow of energy, mild tingling, warmth, heat, coolness, other sensations, or nothing at all.  It is common to drift off to sleep and you are often encouraged to do so as it promotes a deeply relaxing experience, calming the mind as much as the body.

As for the ability to practise Reiki, well it  does not take years of training, nor is it dependent upon intellectual capacity; it is simply passed from a teacher to the student.  As soon as this happens, one has the ability to channel Reiki for the whole of one’s life and can be learned by anyone.  The attunement is a powerful spiritual experience and can increase psychic sensitivity.  However, like most situations in life, people respond differently and the Reiki attunement is no exception. 

There are three levels of study and they are all independent of each other. The first level teaches you how to use Reiki for your own personal self-development, self healing and also the healing of others.  The second provides you with additional tools to work with Reiki and enables you to become a registered professional practitioner.  The third level, where you become a Reiki Master, teaches you how to further your own interest in Reiki, where you simply ‘be Reiki’.  You can then go one step further and train to become a teacher yourself.

The attunement process starts a cleansing process that can affect you on all levels as many of the toxins that have been stored in the body are released along with feelings and thought patterns that are no longer required.  Each level of attunement tends to increase the strength of the energy, encouraging personal development, self -healing, greater clarity of mind, increased intuition and potential increase in levels of consciousness.

Over two years I undertook each level of training and I have been a Reiki Master teacher for some time offering Reiki treatments and attunement sessions.  Each level brought with it new insights and it has been an empowering experience, which has not only increased my awareness of the world around me but changed the way I perceive so many aspects of life. I have a far greater understanding and appreciation of healing, health and wellbeing, metaphysics, the Chakra system and the flow of energy within the body. 

Furthermore, Reiki has profoundly helped me on a personal level so that it has literally been life changing, incredibly empowering and transformative and helped me (and continues to help me) to find the strength, clarity, self-belief and faith to make significant life changes more in tune with my true self.  In addition, it has helped to support me through many life challenges, not only emotionally, but physically, mentally and spiritually too.

Reiki helped support me on my trek to Everest Base Camp, and the trials and tribulations that brought with it.  It’s been there on my all my travels around the world, helping to calm me when travelling on my own and ground me after flying. It’s been there every night, helping me to go to sleep, and during relaxation at the end of Yoga to assist me in resting. I believe that Reiki had a role to play in bringing my beautiful life partner to me as I used it to empower this dream.

I used it to empower my dream of having children too and Reiki was ever present during my IVF journey. I channelled Reiki onto my eggs growing in preparation for use in the IVF process. I channelled Reiki on the embryos growing inside me and throughout pregnancy so that I now have two Reiki babies. I was able to use Reiki before and after the caesarean birth of both my boys and in the special care unit on my second son when he was born premature and needed oxygen to be able to breathe properly.

Reiki was invaluable in helping me to heal from the caesarean sections, and in coming to terms with the manner in which my first son arrived into this world. I have no doubt that Reiki had a role to play in the lessons that I learned through my quest to have children and the journey that this took me on, spiritually as much as anything else. Reiki is there for me to use on my boys, the big one and the two smaller ones and on other family and friends.

Over time, my life has become much more aligned with my truth and with the gifts I’ve been given, so that my soul has greater expression. I am certainly far happier, healthier, positive and balanced than I was before I discovered Reiki.   I have become far more in touch with my intuition and truth plus much more sensitive to energy – both my own and other people’s - plus of course nature and the natural flow of things.

Needless to say there is absolutely nothing special about me.  People often assume I must tire from channelling Reiki to others, but this is merely a misconception of what Reiki is all about – I am not a healer in the “laying on of hands” type way, I am simply a channel for the Reiki energy.  In fact, treating others is as relaxing and meditative for me as it is for the client and independent research has actually shown that during a treatment the brain wave patterns of practitioner and client become synchronised in the alpha state, characteristic of deep sleep and meditation.

Life still continues to present its many challenges, but I believe Reiki helps us to have a greater connection with our sense of self.  Feeling more strongly connected to yourself means that you are less likely to feel so overwhelmed by these stresses and you are more likely to see them for what they truly are.  Furthermore, Reiki can help you to realise what it is you need in your life (which is not always the same as what you think you want) and as a consequence, it encourages you to take control by letting go of all those things you no longer need. 

Simply put Reiki – as both a personal development and energy healing technique -can be a life changing experience that helps to enhance your experience of life and make you feel more connected to all of life, recognising (without doubt) that we are all one.

The Joy of Yoga Nidra

Today I came across an article I wrote a while ago now for a Yoga magazine on the joys of Yoga Nidra.  I still thoroughly enjoy Yoga Nidra and have spent this year undertaking a foundation course on it.  This has meant I've practiced a lot of Yoga Nidra in all different formats and from different traditions this past year too, which has really helped me with the post-natal exhaustion.

I've also found that Yoga Nidra has helped to me to connect more deeply with my creativity, I've been writing a lot! I've also re-discovered a love of painting and have more creative ideas than I may have done previously.

Everyone should practice Yoga Nidra!  This is one of the reasons I incorporate Yoga Nidra into all of my retreats and ensure that we finish the Sunday morning Yoni Yoga class with one.  Bliss!!

If you'd like to know more then keep reading:

When I initially started practicing Yoga almost 10 years ago now, I simply could not relax.  It was impossible.  At the end of the Yoga class when the teacher announced Savasana, I would try and find any possible excuse to leave the class early so that I could avoid the last few minutes of relaxation. 

It was not so much that I was adverse to the idea of relaxation per se, it was more so that I found relaxing so mentally uncomfortable.  There were simply too many thoughts, too many tick lists, too many things I should be doing, rather than simply lying there on the floor trying to relax.

When I first ventured out to Byron Bay in Australia to immerse myself in Yoga a year into my practice, I shall never forget my first 2 hour Yoga session (the normal length of the classes out there at that time).  While I loved every single minute of the asana practice, the problem came, however, with a 20 whole minutes of quiet relaxation at the end of the class.  Proper quiet that is, with no music, no distraction, nothing.  Those were the longest 20 minutes of my life, or so it seemed in that moment!

Still with me attending these 2 hour sessions once or twice a day every day for a month and unable to leave the class early (many teachers will understandably discourage you from doing so), I quickly developed my own way of dealing with the mental chatter.  I imagined in my mind a train line with open trucks in which I placed each of my thoughts and then watched them pass by, one after the other, until I was able, eventually, to experience some relief from the constant background mental chatter.

Over the next year I practiced a lot of Yoga as I developed my practice both on and off the mat, qualifying as a Yoga teacher in the process.  My ability to relax improved hugely, but it wasn’t until I assisted on a teacher training course at Govinda Valley, Sydney that I discovered the joy and indeed benefit of Yoga Nidra. The relaxation became something I enjoyed rather than something that I endured at the end of a Yoga class.

I can still remember the experience of that first Yoga Nidra clearly.  There we were, the whole class of students, lying comfortably in the corpse pose, a bolster under knees and a blanket covering each of us to keep us warm as the teacher’s gentle voice soothed us into a state of cosy bliss as we relaxed each part of our body part by part, experiencing sensations and bringing awareness to the natural breath; it was a journey like no other I had experienced previously.

Time lost all meaning, what was actually 30 minutes felt like 5, and before I knew it we were back in the room, on our mats, in our bodies, feeling much more centred and grounded than I had felt at the beginning of the class.  What was also noticeable was the fact the mental chatter had eased, I had managed to drift beyond it into that wonderful state of being between being awake and asleep, the hypnotic state, where real healing takes place.  I felt brighter, lighter, rested and renewed. 

Essentially Yoga Nidra is a powerful meditation technique inducing complete physical, emotional and mental relaxation.   During Yoga Nidra one appears to be asleep but the consciousness is functioning at a deeper level of awareness so that you are prompted throughout the practice to say to yourself mentally, “I shall not sleep, I shall remain awake”.

Before beginning Yoga Nidra you make a Sankalpa, or a resolution for the practice.  The Sankalpa is an important stage of Yoga Nidra as it plants a seed in the mind encouraging healing and transformation in a positive direction.  The Sankapla is a short positive mental statement established at the beginning of the practice and said mentally to yourself in the present tense, as if it had already happened, such as “I am happy, healthy and pure light”, or “I am whole and healed”.

A Sankalpa can also be used to encourage you to let go of something in your life like smoking or overeating, focusing on the underlying feeling that leads you to smoke or to overeat such as “I love and care for myself and my body”, or “I choose to eat foods that support my health and wellbeing” or “I am relaxed and contented”.    In fact simply having the opportunity to establish a Sankalpa is powerful in itself as it gives you a focus and enhances your awareness of self.

It is actually in connecting with yourself that you come to realise all the deep seated tensions that Yoga Nidra helps you to release.  These are all the unconscious and unresolved issues that are playing a role in some of the unwanted habits and behaviour patterns you are noticing consciously.  This is the stuff that goes through your mind time and time again, the stuff you resolve to change at the beginning of each year but that “will” alone will not change.  What you need to do is get to the root of the problem and Yoga Nidra provides you with a means to do this.

With all the letting go of this “stuff”, such as trapped emotions and feelings, you become lighter and there is more energy available to be used in a more positive manner.  Plus with the power of intention in the form of Sankalpa, that which we attract into our life also changes.  It is in this way that Yoga Nidra offers us so much potential for transforming our lives in an even more positive direction than we can ever imagine.

Of course let us not forget the physiological benefits too, such as lowering of the heart rate and blood pressure, the release of lactate from the muscles that can cause anxiety and fatigue, a more restful night’s sleep and, ultimately, a calming and unwinding of the nervous system, which is basically the foundation of the body’s wellbeing.  So you see our physical health and sense of wellbeing can improve too.

Over the years Yoga Nidra has helped me in so many ways.  At times of crisis, when I have been tired and exhausted, sick and stressed, it has helped to restore, renew and heal me.  At confused times in my life when I have been unclear of the way forward then it has provided me with much needed clarity.  At other times it has helped me to let go of unhealthy addictions and behaviour patterns, the most profound was changing my relationship to myself and therefore enabling me to effortlessly let go of the need to smoke tobacco after so many years of battling with this nicotine addiction.

These days relaxation comes easily to me and I positively seek out and embrace any opportunity for Yoga Nidra for it is just such an amazing practice. In this stressful and fast paced world we live, where we can feel so disorientated and fragmented, it really helps to bring us back together and connect with ourselves again. Needless to say, I cannot promote the benefits of Yoga Nidra to you enough. But of course you cannot benefit from merely intellectualising these things, and reading about it will not necessarily change things.  What you really need to do is make a commitment to take the time out for yourself.  Lie comfortably, cover yourself with a blanket, close your eyes and allow yourself to be guided through a Yoga Nidra session.  I doubt you will regret it, in fact you may find it a life changing experience.

Saturday's Reiki Level 2 attunement session

I had a fab day on Saturday attuning 5 lovely ladies to Reiki 2. This means that those 5 ladies are now Reiki practitioners who can practice professionally on the general public, spreading the light and love of Reiki.

I love Reiki attunement sessions and sharing my love of Reiki with others.  Reiki is amazing and has supported me so much in my life. Not only in terms of my personal development but also as an opportunity to heal myself and others. It's deeply healing and empowering and has also helped me to connect more fully with my intuition and learn to trust in this.  It's amazing!

There are 3 levels too Reiki.  Reiki Level 1 where you learn to channel Reiki and can use it to help to heal yourself, family, friends and pets, this level works more so on the physical level.  Then there's Reiki 2 where you learn 3 of the 4 symbols and this level enables you to obtain insurance to practice professionally.  Here you also learn about crystals and pendulum downing and this level works more so on the mental and emotional bodies.  You also learn distance healing.  Then there's Reiki Master level where you learn the 4th symbol.  This level works more so - from my experience - on the spiritual level.

I love introducing Reiki to students during the level 1 as it is all so new and they are often blown away by the sensations they feel in their hands once they are attuned. You can use Reiki from the moment you are attuned to it and your connection with it never goes away, although it is heightened the more you practice with it.

I love Reiki 2 too as here we get to learn about the symbols and play around with pendulum dowsing, which I love, and also look at crystals and how these can be used to enhance healing. Anyone who knows me knows I love crystals so it really is a delight to share these with others.

Reiki Level 1 and 2 attunement sessions follow a similar format.  We meet at our cottage and have a chatter over a cup of tea or coffee, getting to know one another a bit and sharing any experiences we may have had of Reiki - some have never received Reiki and this is perfectly fine, I'm also curious to find out what has brought students to the sessions.

Then we follow the manual and learn about Reiki relevant to the level we are studying.  We then stop and enjoy a biodynamic energy session and some gentle yoga to bring some movement into the day and to move energy and strengthen our energy channels.  I guide the students through a chakra balancing relaxation and help them to ground their energy before the attunement itself.

The attunement is a little like being tuned into a wave - the Reiki wave.  It's painless and simply means that while you are meditating - I try to guide you into a meditative state - I place symbols and mantras in your aura which tune you into the wave.  It sounds all esoteric and wacky on an intellectual level but its very real and you will start to feel the Reiki flowing from your hands when you then have the intent to heal. It's a special time and takes about 5 minutes per student.

After the attunement we enjoy a vegan soup or salad together depending on the season.  There is always some humus and cheese, and bread and rice cakes and various other seasonal delights. It's important to eat following the attunement, to ground our energy, but we also want to ensure its clean food.

After lunch we follow the manual again.  Reiki 1 we may learn how to channel Reiki to others and about healing crisis and where you may place your hands. In Reiki 2 we learn about pendulum dowsing and crystals and about the responsibilities of being a professional Reiki practitioner.

We then get the treatment couch out and have a go channelling to and receiving Reiki from each other. This is great.  I'm only sorry I don't get the opportunity to lie on the bed and have all those hands channelling Reiki onto me too! We share our experiences and just see what happens.

Then what better way to finish the day then with angel cards? I love my angel cards and they always have an appropriate message for the recipient, even if its not obvious initially.

You go through a 21 day cleansing period following the attunement so I send people on their way with a crystal to support this and also an encouragement to spend time in nature drink plenty of water and rest when you can.  Oh and to practice Reiki!

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to you lovely ladies on Saturday for sharing your beautiful energy with me, I was hyper by the evening and truly inspired by our learnings - much gratitude.

x