Wanderings' Wanderings

No Limits

There exists within our minds vast undiscovered territories where limits have been removed and everything is possible, but in order to get there we must risk our entire beings through discovery and self examination.  In Reiki we are taught to know ourselves so we do not risk transferring our issues onto our clients, but not everyone believes this kind of transference can occur.  Transference and counter-transference are real issues which every Reiki practitioner must take into serious consideration.

We Reiki practitioners must be aware of transference and counter-transference in two separate and distinct ways.  First we must be aware of the emotional mental component as taught in most ethics courses, but then we must also be aware of energetic transference.   In terms of energy, we often refer to energy transfer between client and practitioner as Wash Back.  This is a concept where the energy normally flows through the practitioner to, and through the client.   Wash Back allegedly occurs when the energy flows from the practitioner to the client, then for some reason reverses and flows back to the practitioner.

In traditional Usui method there is no such thing as “Wash Back”, which means that neither the client nor the practitioner can pick up the other persons’ issues or energy.  The reality is of course much different than the theory.  There have been many times where practitioners have walked away from Reiki sessions wondering why they suddenly felt something opposite they did when they first began the session.  At other times the client may feel something totally contrary to what they felt coming into the session.

Wash back is that empathic leftover feeling where the practitioner walks away from the session feeling the fullness of what the client is experiencing, whether positive or negative, as if they were actually experiencing the emotions or physical ailments.

Some refer to the “no wash back” effect as the emotionless healing, which means the practitioner does not involve themselves in any way in the healing other than being the conduit for the healing energy. While it is entirely possible to give a Reiki session in this way, it is also lacking in that it completely disregards the scan; the sensing for the flow of energy in particular chakras, as well as disregards the fact that practitioners are human beings filled with emotion, and have within them the capacity for empathy.

The most recent line of thought on “no wash back” is that if you are fully engaging in the Reiki energy, wash back is unavoidable, but easy to deal with and easy to overcome.

There are many times during a session where a Reiki practitioner must “check in” with the energy to see if more or less is needed in particular areas, or to determine when to move on to the next area. In fact, the very first thing a practitioner does in the course of a session is to scan the client and assess what is happening with the energy. This is the first moment where a practitioner opens themselves to connect with the energy of the client. During the session the practitioner should be checking to see if they are using too much or too little energy, or if they should be smoothing energy in certain areas or increasing it in other areas. Essentially there is an almost constant interaction between the energy of the practitioner and the energy of the client.

Image via Wikipedia

It is therefore essential that the practitioner has worked on, and continues to work on themselves by understanding who and what their emotional, physical, or other issues, or limitations might be. The practitioner must be able to differentiate between their client’s energy and their own without pause, and without doubt.

The moment a practitioner feels something out of the ordinary going on within them, they should deal with it then and there. If through the process of discernment it the practitioner discovers the emotion or physical symptom is not theirs, then it needs to be released immediately. The practitioner should never allow the energy, which is not theirs, to take hold or it can become a permanent part of their person until formally released.

With enough practice and self-knowledge the wash back effect will not be an issue, however, it is a concept which should not be ignored.

Whatever your school of thought about wash back remember this: you as the practitioner must always be aware of who YOU are and you MUST be aware of your own issues.   Being a Reiki practitioner does not excuse a person from working on themselves.  It is extremely important that a practitioner undergo regular self-examination to make sure they too are growing and healthy. If the practitioner is not whole and complete, then it will be nearly impossible to work on others as one will find themselves drawn to those who mirror their own issues and needs.

To be fully present to your clients needs you MUST understand and come to terms with your own issues so you do not project them on your client. It is the responsibility of the healer to make sure they are also healed or in the process of healing before approaching the Reiki table or a client.

If you are a model of health and well-being, then you will impart that sense of well-being to your client who will feel encouraged to continue seeking their own growth.

Related articles

• Of course we all have our limits, but how can you possibly find your boundaries unless you explore as far and as wide as you possibly can? I would rather fail in an attempt at something new and uncharted than safely succeed in a repeat of something I have (quotationsbook.com)
• How Will You Embrace Your Limits? (caregiving.com)
• Reiki as a Tool for Healing from Child Abuse (faithallen.wordpress.com)
• A Simple Overview On The Benefits Of Reiki (e-prescribe.biz)
• Reiki As My Teacher (teachstreet.com)
• Reiki Classes: Change for Life for People and Animals (teachstreet.com)
• RaK added a discussion to the group Animal companions (humanityhealing.ning.com)
• Taking Reiki on the Road (teachstreet.com)
• Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing? (using-spiritual-energy.blogspot.com)

Other Related articles

• Reiki As My Teacher (teachstreet.com)
• Reiki Classes: Change for Life for People and Animals (teachstreet.com)
• RaK added a discussion to the group Animal companions (humanityhealing.ning.com)
• Taking Reiki on the Road (teachstreet.com)
• Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing? (using-spiritual-energy.blogspot.com)

healing of karmic illusions

I’ve visited Mexico City many times in my life and each time I would watch in wonder as people would process towards the Basilica de Guadalupe on their knees. At that time I did not understand why these people would suffer so much so that suffering would end, but ultimately their faith would help pave the way for change in their lives. They believed they would be helped if they paid a price. As I grow in the Reiki healing modality, I begin to understand that one’s frame of mind has everything to do with one’s ability to heal.

If we are so engrossed in our own discomforts and can not see past our infirmities, we struggle with moving beyond what is keeping us from health, but when we can see a clear path to health we often travel the path much faster and with little, if any complications.

What brought this up? I read an article today where someone was in the hospital and saw an event which concluded with negative results. The person witnessed someone else experiencing severe pain. A passing nurse offered Reiki to help ease the pain. The nurse claimed she was a Reiki master and so the person experiencing the pain agreed.  The “master” placed a hand above the person’s head and one behind her back while concentrating with her eyes closed. After a few moments she made motions like she was pulling something out of the person’s body and throwing it away. The nurse repeated the motion several times with her hands in different positions. The whole process took 5 to 6 minutes. The nurse stopped when she was paged to a patient’s room. The person receiving the treatment never noticed the nurse left because her pain was overwhelming. The person’s response was, “I just need my morphine.” The writer of the article then goes on to say they suspected the person was addicted to the morphine. The writer also stated that Reiki was “bullshit” because of that one experience.  If that was my only experience with Reiki, I might say the very same thing.

There are of course several things going on in this example, the first of which is that the alleged Reiki master should have known better than to offer Reiki to someone in acute distress. Reiki is NEVER a substitute for real medical emergency care and should only be offered when the person is not in critical need. Reiki is not a crutch, it is a tool to help a person grow towards health and wellness; not some quick fix. A real Reiki master would know that, especially given that the alleged master in this case was also a nurse.

You were my favorite drug

Second, the person experiencing the pain was under the influence of a highly addictive narcotic which just happens to also cloud the mind. If I see someone in excruciating pain, the first thing I’m going to ask is did they take something for the pain. We would have gotten to the fact this person was using harsh pain killers in which case the alleged master should have again recommended immediate emergency care and NOT Reiki.

All this brings us to the third thing: what was the person’s intention? If all they wanted was their morphine then the alleged master asserted their own dominance and control over the situation by not asking for the person’s intent. Reiki practitioners are not supposed to be ego driven miracle workers. We are supposed to be people who help others walk their own paths of health and wellness.

This brings us to the third thing: what was the person’s intention? If all they wanted was their morphine then the alleged master asserted their own dominance and control over the situation by not asking for the person’s intent. Reiki practitioners are not supposed to be ego driven miracle workers. We are supposed to be people who help others walk their own paths of health and wellness. The practitioner was passing by and inserted themselves in a situation that could have proven disastrous.

The person experiencing the pain may have been going through withdrawals from the narcotic, there is just no way of knowing, and an alleged master broke with ethical practice to help where they may not have been wanted, but more to the point, the person on the morphine may not have been in any frame of mind for healing. A drug addict only wants the next fix, not the solution. Because of the actions of one alleged master, one person has a negative opinion of this wonderful healing modality.

Healing must first begin with a person wanting to be healed. All the best medicine in the world will never be enough if a person does not actually want to be healed. There are people who thrive on illness because it provides them attention. They will never reach full health because their minds will continue creating one illness after another.  Care must be given to empower a person to want to heal, then and only then can true healing begin.

Healing must begin with the willingness to heal.  When a person wants to heal, they will find the right path and avenue to achieve that end result.

Related articles

• Reiki tiki bullshit (mojoey.blogspot.com)
• Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing? (using-spiritual-energy.blogspot.com)
• Can You Really Heal Your Body By Using Your Mind? (hilarytopper.com)
• 10 ways to build a healing mentality (wow.com)

For some unknown reason the song “Put On A Happy Face” has been running through my mind this morning.  Perhaps it is the gray clouds lingering behind from the midnight showers, or perhaps because of a bit of personal apprehension regarding an upcoming presentation in a new and totally unknown forum.  What ever the reason, the way I personally get through the anxiety is to focus on the needs of the people I am serving at that moment, and only that moment.  From the moment I let go of my own anxiety and walk a path mindful of others along the way, I begin to release what ever tensions have built up inside myself.

Hearing all of this is truly nothing new, but I do believe this is the first time I have heard a leader in the religious world actually say that we should not ignore our own needs in favor of someone else’.  I simply can not stress enough how important it is to be aware of your own needs during times of anxiety.

Anxiety and fear make us hyper aware of our immediate surroundings and so we quickly pick up on things which may pose threats to our own well being.  When we ignore those signs in favor of taking care of someone else, we risk hurting ourselves, which can be a subtle form of self-destructive behavior.

A great many professional and religious leaders have said time and time again, that when we are “broken” we are less likely to help others around us because we are unable to do so based on our own state of being.  Basically that means we can’t help others when we are broken.

The aforementioned focusing on others is a tool to focus on something other than our anxiety or fear.  It is not meant to supersede our own needs, but is instead meant to help us through a moment which is perceived to be difficult.

In a nutshell, we can use focusing on others as a tool to get through our own stress.  Another tool we can use is by replaying the following words over and over and over and over and over in your minds.

Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Wipe off the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face

…

So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face.
~ “Put On A Happy Face” from the musical Bye Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart (That one took some research to figure out… Who’da thunk.  I always thought the lyrics came from the TV commercial for a mop product…)

Light and Love Everyone!

Related articles

• When Anxiety Hits, Do You Take Charge or Freak Out? (lifescript.com)
• Overcoming Fear (lifescript.com)
• Overcoming Anxiety with Mindfulness Therapy (psychologytoday.com)
• Panic Attacks and How to Overcome Them (mindbodyfitness.suite101.com)
• Is Your Anxiety Worse than You Thought? (healthadel.com)

Words Cannot Express

So many voice, but only one mind to control them.
So many facets of one being, but only one being; all.

This is how it has been since the beginning of time, and this is how it shall always be, and yet beneath the frailty of our being exists a beauty seen only in rare glimpses when we bear ourselves open to the fullness of the Great Divine in all things, and all of being-ness.

We ARE the purified expressions of a created-ness long ago made manifest through the Divine universal energy which exists in, through, and around all things.

And still we bumble about wondering who we are and where we are going little realizing we are still a part of the very thing which created us.

We are energy.  We ARE energy.  We are ENERGY~

Blessings+

We all live in our own bubbles

Imagine for a moment you are walking down the street and can actually create the world in which you live.

This past week we had a client who continually said they didn’t want to be around negative or incompetent people, and she kept saying that over and over again, and then it hit me: the reason she was surrounded by those types of people is because she was continually focusing on that type of energy.  She was subconsciously drawing in the negative energy she was trying to keep out because her focus was on the negative, not the positive. When we brought this to her attention she looked like someone had slapped her in the face.

We sometimes become so focused on what we don’t want in this life that we forget to focus on what it is we DO want.  When become mired in the difficulties we never see that the path actually deviates around the problems.   Then we sit on our pity-pots crying the world is unfair and that we are incapable of positive things in our lives.

The world is exactly what we make it.  When we see only the strife and hardships,  then we are really focusing in on that type of energy and draw it towards ourselves, allowing it to feed upon our fears, and upon our own negativity.  When we are able to look beyond the mess in front of us to the possibility of hope and joy, then we allow for the opportunity for growth and new life.

When negative stuff happens, learn from it.  Take something positive away with you when you leave the negative behind.  Find a lesson worth learning and turn the page to a new chapter.

What do you want in this lifetime? Set a goal.  Now go get it and stop focusing on why you can not achieve your goal.  Focus instead on the goal and think of it as already achieved.

As you begin to focus on the positive in life, so too will you reflect that positivity to others.  When you show a positive and loving light, so too will you attract that positivity to your own life.

Go forth and reflect.

Waterfall With Sunrays

With all that happens in the world, how do you take time for yourself?  Do you take time for yourself?

Self Care is much more than personal health maintenance [Wikipedia:Self_care], it is an assurance that you are looking after your own needs in a way that keeps you both healthy and happy.

Self Care regimens should include one or more of the following:

1. Taking time out of a busy day to relax and breath; if everyday is busy then this should be done everyday.
2. Making sure you are physically healthy.
3. Making sure you are emotionally healthy.
4. Making sure you are psychologically healthy.
   (The above three should really be considered as one large point, but they are equally valid independent of the others.)
5. If you are a spiritual person, then you should also make sure you are spiritually healthy.
6. Take time away from work (in other words do not go into, or bring home work from the office on your days off.)
7. Continuing education (no matter what kind of class you take you should continue to learn and grow.)
8. Making sure you are ethical in all things.

Innerworks has a wonderful chart of 60 ways to nurture the self located at: http://www.innerworkspublishing.com/news/vol1/selfcare.htm

One of the ways I used to take care of myself was by driving out of town once a week to a remote location.  The actual location didn’t much matter, but the driving and getting away from my normal surroundings was a very important routine which helped me decompress and let go of the stuff which may have come up during the week.  I would often find secluded spots in the mountains or near a lake, and I would spend hours just staring off into the beauty that surrounded me.  I let go of that routine a long time ago in favor of the more… harried …pace and have noticed a change within my core being, until my wife and I finally took a much needed vacation.  Three years without a vacation equals not good.  Add to that rarely taking days off, or on those days off doing nothing but chores.

The consequence for not taking care of the self can be devastating.

Find a way to ensure you are taking care of yourself.  Let go of bad habits and negative people which may surround you, and remember this: if you are ill or unable to take care of yourself, how can you expect to take care of someone else?

Related articles

• Desiring a Happy and Successful Life (socyberty.com)
• Happy, Happy Things (weirdomatic.com)
• The Key To Happiness (selfimprovementbase.com)
• Find Happiness (lifescript.com)
• Charting Happiness: Study Finds It Comes With Age (npr.org)
• Self-Care Tips (innerworkspublishing.com)

The seven major Chakras

The Fifth Chakra is more than just the center for the throat.  Aside from the obvious, this chakra focuses on the expression of one’s self through thought as well as voice.  Clear communication, where thoughts and ideas are expressed, come from this chakra. This is the center for one’s needs, wants and feelings. It deals with ideals, philosophy, psychology and the need to understand at the intellectual level.

Thoughts too have a voice of their own and can carry with them the full power of the throat chakra. How much of one’s thoughts remain in the past, or worry about the future, and have difficulty dealing with, and remaining in the present?

Thoughts are not merely expressions of the mind, but help us further our own needs.  We  carefully discern what it is we choose to say by rationalizing our thoughts, thinking how we wish to convey our message, and then finally formulating the words which will be expressed.  Much of this happens with lightening speed, but it is the same process for each and every person.

So, let’s use our Fifth Chakra for a moment and think about how thoughts then relate to energy.

We know sounds we make through our mouths carry with them a form of energy known as frequencies.  They are real waves that can be measured by scientific equipment.  Well, so too can thought be measured by scientific devices, only those devices measure a different type of frequency known as “Waves”, and are broken down into 4 main waves: alpha, beta, delta, and theta ["The Physics Factbook" http://hypertextbook.com/facts/].  These waves can move far beyond the person from whom they are emanating.

Now, put intention behind those thoughts.  What do you think will happen?

Reiki teaches us that energy will go where it is needed, but so too will energy which is given life and purpose through our thoughts.  When we think negative thoughts, we create for ourselves a negative environment and attract like energy.  When we think positive thoughts the same thing happens and our surroundings become filled with positivity and renewed vigor.

But think for a moment what happens when we direct our thoughts towards someone else, or towards another situation separate from ourselves.  What happens then?  Energy is put into motion through intention, whether realized or not, and goes out to that particular situation.  If someone there picks up on that energy and accepts it, then cycles whether negative or positive, are perpetuated.  Regardless of whether the thoughts are positive or negative, they are sent and the person sending those thoughts MUST be willing to accept responsibility for those thoughts.

Thoughts have power and can either support us and bring us to new heights, or can depress us and force us to new lows.

Which would you rather have?

Related articles

• The Seven Chakras and What They Mean (brighthub.com)
• Exploring the Chakras (slideshare.net)
• Chakra Meditations (lifescript.com)
• The Aura and the Chakras: Spiritual Healing (chakrayoga.suite101.com)
• The Fifth Chakra: Throat (brighthub.com)

What do I want to do when I grow up?

I remember being asked the all important question every child faces on an almost daily basis, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I quickly became frustrated with that question because it seemed no one wanted to get to know who I was, they only wanted to know what I wanted to become.  As a child, I couldn’t care less what I would become so I would often announce my career choice based on what ever happened to impact me that day.  Seldom, if ever, did any of those announcements carry with it the weight of “WHO” I was to become, only what I wanted to do with my life.

I also remember one particular day when I looked up at my father and said with all my might and the largest smile I could muster, “I want to be a good and wise man when I grow up.” I was quickly admonished for not thinking about what to do with my life, but I kept that lofty goal in my heart where it would remain safe and sound till I could once again look upon its innocent wisdom.  In the past few months I have often sat alone with myself in quiet contemplation thinking back to that day when I boldly stated who I wanted to be, rather than what I wanted to be.  Little did I know that one day would have such a lasting and permanent effect on my being.

“WHAT” we want to do with our lives changes greatly from time to time throughout our lives, but “WHO” we want to be should be the foundation of our entire way of life, and not just something to which we aspire, but actually something practiced and honed which will, in the long run, give us that personal sense of accomplishment and value.

Well, I’ve long sense grown and still find myself constantly evolving and growing, and I still ask myself the questions, “What do I want to do?”, and “Is this all there is?”  I find very little solace in empty answers.  But when I change my question to “Who do I want to become” suddenly the doors open wide and the limits disappear.

We are a people who constantly reinvent ourselves, but we are also on a evolutionary road.  We have the opportunity to become greater than the sum of our parts and grow into the type of being we wish to be, rather than focus on our life’s career path.

Let’s face facts, the career choice will always be an issue.  Do I work here, or there?  Do I change jobs?  Do I become a doctor, or take a different career path?  Do I go back to school and do something else with my life?  These are all questions we face throughout our lives.

Our internal personal growth, however, should remain fairly constant and maintain a singular focus on our internal being.  It may vary from time to time, but “WHO” we are should seldom, if ever change.  Sitting with ourselves and truly examining our core help us to grow in ways we may never have allowed ourselves to contemplate.

For you parents, it is nice to have children who can support themselves and do well in the world, but is that all there is?  Is that all you want for your child?  Try asking the truly difficult question and see what happens.  Instead of the usual, ask “WHO do you want to become?”

My answer is: Me. If your answer is that you want to be like someone else, then perhaps sit in silence with yourself and try to discover why you would rather be someone other than yourself.

Peace to all.

Related articles

• Return to Nothingness (3quarksdaily.com)
• Jan Shepherd: Living a Life With Meaning (huffingtonpost.com)
• Mid Career Advice (tobiasbuckell.com)

Just for this moment, just for this one brief period of time, sit alone with yourself and allow for the perception of craziness by talking to yourself.  Yes I know that is a vision often reserved for those individuals who have been pushing their lives down the streets in little steel caged buggies often called shopping carts, but allow yourself this one indulgence.  Believe you me, they who talk to themselves openly are the lucky ones.  They have not a care in the world and are free to “be” as they please and often without limitations imposed by society.

Let us take a few moment from our busy lives to examine a form of private meditation which allows an individual to come to a greater awareness of themselves through open communication with all parts of individual identity.  I have found great comfort in silence and often sit with myself in personal examination and discovery.  It is through this sitting in silence with the self that we grow beyond our current limitations.

To begin, just relax, focus on your own breathing, and from time to time  silently ask yourself this question: “Who is aware?” In the silence of the response, you will begin to feel your own consciousness rise up from the very core of your being. Instead of asking “Who is aware,” you can instead repeat your own name silently to yourself over and over, trying to determine what your name really means.  Of course what ends up happening is not so much discovering what your “name” means, but what you mean to yourself.

By observing yourself observing yourself, you enter an infinite progression or mental loop, until there is no difference between you the observer, and you the person doing the observation, or between you and your own consciousness.  That intimate core awareness is a big part of your true identity, your true self.

Out of the intense focusing of your own being on yourself, something wondrous begins to unfold; your individuality begins to fade away and you begin to realize the vastness to which you are eternally connected.

Through this type of meditation, you will begin to realize that the loss of the ego-dominated personality is not an extinction of the self, but is instead the only true purity of life and just the beginning of a wondrous and awesome exploration of all that exists.

Sit in silence with yourself and being your own discovery of being-ness.

Related articles

• Vedic Meditation – The Effortlessness of Nature (teachstreet.com)
• Powerful Self Suggestions (socyberty.com)
• When You Help Yourself, Which Self Are You Helping? (beliefnet.com)
• The Origin of Fear (beliefnet.com)

the path

I sometimes reflect on a song by Michael Card and John Michael Talbot called “One Faith”.  It’s a great song.  I like it.  It gets my toes to wiggling, and my foot to tapping, but sometimes I sit with a very specific line from the chorus, “There is one faith, one hope, and one baptism, one God and father of all.”  No matter who you are, where you are from, or what you believe, there is something in that sentence which binds us all to one another.

One Faith
We share a common bond that we exist together with the understanding that first and foremost, we exist. We have faith we exist not because we think we exist, but because we are aware enough to realize we do exist. We have individual thoughts, and we are not all the same.  It is our common bond which unites all people everywhere.

We are not talking belief here, we are talking true acceptance of a thing which we know exists because we experience it in the fullness in which it exists.  It is corporeal and others share in its reality.

One Hope
Let’s be honest in that one thing we can all agree upon is that we all have a hope of some sort, whether that hope is of something tangible or intangible, or secret or common knowledge.  Our hope is for something which personally affects us in some way even if the affect is that we are happy our hope has been fulfilled.  Our hopes may not be for the same thing, but we do hope.

One Baptism
Yes, even those who are not religious have One, and only one baptism: birth.  We are all born.  We have all come into existence.  Our existence takes on a ceremonial significance through our emergence into this world through our births, and with us comes the water of life which sustained us through our growth in the womb.  We enter the world soaking wet from head to toes and our life is in itself a celebration.

One God
Despite its name, there exists only one unifying force of the Universe.  It has gone by many names throughout the history of this world and to be honest, it really doesn’t matter how many different names there are; what matters is only that it exists regardless of its function or name.  This force exists through, with, and in all things everywhere in the known and unknown.  It’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves how we celebrate that unifying force.

One Father
I could go the easy route and say that yes, we each have a male parent because scientifically we each have male and female parts which have combined to create cellular division in the womb.

I could also go the other easy route and say that the One God, or the one unifying force of all creation is God the Father as represented by the Holy Bible, and exists as the Only God who shepherds us and takes care of us like a father with His children.

Instead I think I’m going to take a different tack.  There is another definition of Father which is a singular person who guides (1913 Webster).  There is a guiding force throughout the universe, call it what you will, which helps us on our individual paths of life.  Sometimes the One Father is the biological father in our lives.  Sometimes the Father is the Deity in which we place our faith and trust.  Sometimes the One Father is that nagging feeling in the back of our minds that we left the iron on, or the stove, or something else which just seems amiss and out of the ordinary.  What ever you choose to call it, it is that one guiding force which helps move us along our paths in life.

We exists as single entities of this world interconnected through the Divine or through the common existence we share upon this earth.  We are here and there are those around us with whom we share our being.  We are diverse.  We have our own ways of doing things which sometimes coincides with the ways others do things, but we ARE, first and foremost.

Once we allow ourselves to open to the One-ness which exists in all things, then we can finally open ourselves to the possibility of existing together as One in BEING!  Though we may have many different skin types, colors, and patterns, we are still one LIVING force.

Period.

Ruminating is fun when you really think about it. 

K