Via Ruth Lera on Mar 17, 2015

“When your chakras are aligned, you have the most direct access to Source, however you may define Source (within yourself, outside yourself, or both simultaneously). Just as you hold a glass under the tap so it can be filled, we align with Source by facing into it, turning our attention toward it, and opening our ‘vessel’ in the most direct way possible to receive whatever we are seeking (or whatever Source has in mind). Aligning with Source should be a regular part of your practice whenever you’re focused on manifestation.” ~ Anodea Judith and Lion Goodman, Creating on Purpose

The other day I was visiting with some friends and we were talking about chakras and manifesting, when their 10-year-old son, who was listening to the conversation, interrupted us with this:

“I don’t believe in any of that stuff. What you see is what you see. I just file all of that crazy stuff in my mind as Feng Shui.”

And I have to say, this little speech was pretty cute, coming at us from a face covered in freckles.

But here is the interesting thing—whether we believe in the reality of energy fields and chakras or we don’t believe in the reality of energy fields and chakras, we are affected by their the reality just the  same.

Of course, the concepts of energy fields and chakras are pretty intangible and elusive to many of us, and this is normal. But perhaps it is normal because we’re so caught up with the next iPhone we’re going to purchase or the most recent post on our Facebook wall that we’re missing what is literally right in front of our faces.

And we’re missing it because we lack the skills, motivation and, more importantly, belief. But we all know that belief does not make something real or not real.

I can’t believe gravity to be real or not real. I can’t believe the wifi connecting me to the internet is real or not real. There are a lot of things we can’t see that we can’t use belief to make exist or not exist.

But belief does give us a choice.

We can feel powerless.

We can feel like there’s nothing we can do to effect change in our lives.

Or we can become curious and start investigating what some healthy choices might be in the area of energetic and chakra hygiene.

Truly, the choice is up to each of us.

So, below I am offering 10 signs that can point to the fact that our energy fields and chakras could use some extra love and attention.

1. Feeling overwhelmed easily.

2. Having difficulty making small decisions.

3. Having difficulty having enough money.

4. Having difficulty securing housing.

5. Feeling unsatisfied in relationships.

6. Exhaustion.

7. Finding it impossible to believe in anything.

8. Being uninterested in sex, having fun or creativity.

9. Feeling anxious, stressed or depressed.

10. Not knowing what to do in life.

Yes, these are all very common symptoms.

And this isn’t surprising to me because when our energy field is spread out way too far from our body what happens is that we take in too much information.

This is the true meaning of attention overload.

Many times when I have a session with a client their energy field isn’t even in the room.

Imagine walking around town taking in information from everything going on in the entire city block you’re walking down, or the entire office building you work in. This would be maddening. And many people do find their daily experiences to be maddening, overwhelming and more then they feel they can handle.

And the simple exercise of pulling in our energy fields closer to our bodies can mitigate some of these negative feelings and sensations.

It does take some practice and intention to learn how to work with our energy field in this way, but I believe it is possible for everyone.

And then there are our chakras.

Our information center processors.

The chakras channel information in and out of our systems. If the chakras are blocked then we have to make all of the decisions on our own without the support of these powerful movers and shakers. And this can be very difficult. And exhausting. And can make it feel like we’re putting in a lot effort into our lives for little result.

Just like the quote at the beginning of the article says. When the chakras are aligned the glass fills easily.

When the chakras are aligned what we want becomes clear and getting it becomes easy.

I have had this experience happen in my own life many times.

But of course, I have also had the opposite experience of nothing working out. We all have. I have been exhausted, overwhelmed and felt like my life is never going to come together the way I want it to. And actually, I couldn’t even figure out how I wanted it to come together.

This isn’t a sign of failure. It’s just a sign that we’re human. And it just means normal human stuff is happening to us. But when we’re open to working with the energy field and chakras we have many tools at our disposal to move towards towards health, healing and opportunity.

And all it takes is intention.

The intention to care that our energy field and chakras are healthy and supporting us.

Because the external world is simply a reflection of our internal world. And the internal world gets knocked around daily by the circumstances that occur in the external world.

Life is a delicate dance of internal alignment and external circumstances.

And some of this dance is in our control and some of it isn’t.

But here is what I know. The dance goes much smoother if we can just choose to go right to the middle of the dance floor and boogie our hearts out.

And while were in the middle of the dance floor of our life we can send some love and healing to our energy field and chakras.

Source; http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/03/10-signs-your-energy-field-chakras-are-out-of-whack/

 

7 Ways to Bring Reiki Into Your Life
By Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac

Reiki is described as a holistic therapy, which brings about healing on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level. The belief is that the energy will flow through the practitioner’s hands whenever the hands are placed on, or held near a potential recipient. Some teachings stress the importance of the practitioner’s intention or presence in this process, while others claim that the energy is drawn by the recipient’s need to activate or enhance the natural healing processes. (I believe both are true). Furthermore, the belief is that the energy is “intelligent”, meaning that the Reiki knows where to heal, even if a practitioner’s hands are not present in the specific area. This is Universal attention.

Learning to work with Reiki gives you the ability to connect with an inexhaustible source of energy, which can be used to induce a healing effect. Anyone can gain access to this energy by means of an attunement process carried out by a Reiki Master. (I personally believe that anyone can gain access to this energy, because it is Universal. No one holds control or a patent to energy).

Consider these suggestions for bringing reiki energy into your life: 

Just for today

1. Life unfolds in the present. But so often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squandering the precious seconds of our lives as we worry about the future and ruminate about what’s past. “We’re living in a world that contributes in a major way to mental fragmentation, disintegration, distraction, decoherence,” says Buddhist scholar B. Alan Wallace. We’re always doing something, and we allow little time to practice stillness and calm. When we are at work, we fantasize about being on vacation; on vacation, we worry about the work piling up on our desks. We dwell on intrusive memories of the past or fret about what may or may not happen in the future. We don’t appreciate the living present because our “monkey minds,” as Buddhists call them, vault from thought to thought like monkeys swinging from tree to tree.

2. Most of us don’t undertake our thoughts in awareness. Rather, our thoughts control us. “Ordinary thoughts course through our mind like a deafening waterfall,” writes Jon Kabat-Zinn, the biomedical scientist who introduced meditation into mainstream medicine. In order to feel more in control of our minds and our lives, to find the sense of balance that eludes us, we need to step out of this current, to pause, and, as Kabat-Zinn puts it, to “rest in stillness – to stop doing and focus on just being.”

3. We need to live more in the moment. Living in the moment, also called mindfulness, is a state of active, open, intentional attention on the present. When you become mindful, you realize that you are not your thoughts; you become an observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them. Mindfulness involves being with your thoughts as they are, neither grasping at them nor pushing them away. Instead of letting your life go by without living it, you awaken to experience.

4. Cultivating a nonjudgmental awareness of the present bestows a host of benefits. Mindfulness reduces stress, boosts immune functioning, reduces chronic pain, lowers blood pressure, and helps patients cope with cancer. By alleviating stress, spending a few minutes a day actively focusing on living in the moment reduces the risk of heart disease.

5. Mindful people are happier, more exuberant, more empathetic, and more secure. They have higher self-esteem and are more accepting of their own weaknesses. Anchoring awareness in the here and now reduces the kinds of impulsivity and reactivity that underlie depression, binge eating, and attention problems. Mindful people can hear negative feedback without feeling threatened. They fight less with their romantic partners and are more accommodating and less defensive. As a result, mindful couples have more satisfying relationships.

6. Mindfulness is at the root of Buddhism, Taoism, and many Native American traditions, not to mention yoga. It’s why Thoreau went to Walden Pond; it’s what Emerson and Whitman wrote about in their essays and poems. “Everyone agrees it’s important to live in the moment, but the problem is how,” says Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Mindfulness. “When people are not in the moment, they’re not there to know that they’re not there.” Overriding the distraction reflex and awakening to the present takes intentionality and practice.

7. Living in the moment involves a profound paradox: You can’t pursue it for its benefits. That’s because the expectation of reward launches a future oriented mindset, which subverts the entire process. Instead, you just have to trust that the rewards will come. There are many paths to mindfulness and at the core of each is a paradox. Ironically, letting go of what you want is the only way to get it.

http://omtimes.com/

References:

Benor, D.J. (2002) Spiritual Healing: scientific validation of a healing revolution. Professional Supplement. Vision Publications, Southfield MI.

Pacholyk, A (2012) Crystal Ascension Reiki: Combining the Power of Crystals and Reiki Energy Together

Oschman, J.L. (2000) Energy Medicine: the scientific basis. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh.

Wallace, Allan, The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind

Kabat-Zinn, Jon, The Mindfulness Revolution: Leading Psychologists, Scientists, Artists, and Meditatiion Teachers on the Power of Mindfulness in Daily Life (A Shambhala Sun Book)

McTaggart, L. (2002) The Field: the quest for the secret force of the universe. Harper Collins Publishers, New York.

Langer, Ellen, Mindfulness (A Merloyd Lawrence Book) by -Da Capo Press-

There are a some common misconceptions among non-practitioners who hear about Reiki, but don’t have time or interest to go deeper. Or even sometimes (rarely though) among practitioners who are just getting into the Reiki training. Here are a few of them:

1. Healers are using their own energy to heal the patient

This is not correct. A healer is but a channel through which the healing energy flows. The source of the energy is the God, or Allah, or the Universe, the Creator, or as some call  ”the Source” (capital S) – or whatever you choose to call it. Once attuned, healers become capable of channeling Reiki energy.

2. Mikao Usui was a Medical Doctor

Dr. Mikao Usui was actually not a physician. He might have been a Dr. in literature, according to some sources, or he may not have had any doctorate title at all, according to other sources – and the Dr. title would come from the best translation Mrs Takata could find for “sensei”.

To make for even more confusion  , “sensei” in Japanese is a term that applies to “medical doctors” in addition to the more widely-used sense (of e.g. teacher, or someone senior with experience and knowledge).

3. Reiki only works if you believe in it

Some people seem to think that Reiki is some sort of placebo effect, which only works if you believe it works. This is also not correct. Reiki will work regardless of whether you believe it or not, as long as you don’t artificially block it, by resisting the flow or refusing treatment.

 

 

Reiki is not placebo, it is real healing energy flowing through our bodies, as many practitioners have experienced.

Bonus Myth: Watches, jewelry, and other metal objects are blocking the flow of Reiki

Some think that healers and patients should not wear metal objects such as watches, necklaces, and other jewelry, because it supposedly blocks the flow of energy.

Again this is incorrect, Reiki has been experienced and proven to work and “pass through” not only metal objects placed closed to the body, such as jewelry, but also through walls, through mountains, across oceans, even across the entire planet – distance healing sessions are a very common practice in Reiki.

Reiki (Ray-key):

What is Reiki? Translated from Japanese as the Universal Life Force Energy.
Rei meaning: Spiritual Wisdom, and Ki meaning: the Life Force.

Our whole world is composed of particles that vibrate. Reiki masters are energy healers who use these vibrations to heal individuals who feel suffering, emotionally or physically in affected areas.

The 7 Chakras
The 7 Chakras are the energy centers in our body in which energy flows through: Root Chakra (Base of spine in tailbone area), Sacral Chakra (Lower abdomen, about 2 inches below the navel and 2 inches in), Solar Plexus Chakra (Upper abdomen in the stomach area), Heart Chakra (Center of chest just above heart), Throat Chakra (Throat), Third Eye Chakra (Forehead between the eyes), Crown Chakra (The very top of the head).

 

 

Making Reiki Real
By Kathie Lipinski

As a Reiki Master-Teacher, I have been working with Reiki energy for nine years and am always amazed at the questions people ask about Reiki, their perceptions and misconceptions of what it is, what it does, and how it works. In this article I would like to share with you what I believe about Reiki.

I believe that there is an invisible life force that surrounds and permeates all living things. This universal life force energy animates all living things, gives order to our world, and is the underlying creative intelligence of the universe. The Japanese know it as Ki, the Chinese refer to it as Chi, in Sanskrit it is referred to as Prana, and in Hawaiian is called Ti or Ki. It has also been called bioplasma, orgone and odic force.

Reiki (pronounced RAY-key) is a high vibrational form of this universal life force energy similar to light energy. It is also a precise method for connecting to the universal life force energy for healing as well as managing every day life.

Reiki is spiritually guided life force energy. This means that it has a higher intelligence, knows what the person needs, and is guided by the Higher power or Higher self of the person. A person receiving a Reiki treatment gets what they need at the time. It brings the highest healing for all concerned and this is where many people get confused about Reiki.

Reiki is a balancing energy. What is in excess, Reiki lessens (like pain). What is lacking, Reiki increases and fills. So one can say that Reiki restores and balances one’s physical, mental, and emotional energies. It puts one’s physical body in the best condition to promote healing. When people are anxious, Reiki relaxes them. When they are in pain, Reiki can reduce or eliminate it. When people are emotionally upset, Reiki can calm them and balance their emotions so that they can see their situation and problems more clearly.

One of the misconceptions about Reiki is that many people think that one session will cure their disease, eliminate their problems, or calm anxieties forever. In reality, Reiki is not a one shot deal. People don’t get the way they are in one day. There has been a lifetime of bad habits, fearful or anxious thoughts, poor eating habits, etc. Like any chronic disease or condition, it takes time and many treatments to bring the body back to balance. And this is the major reason that Reiki practitioners encourage their clients to take Reiki training so that they can give themselves (as well as friends and family) every day.

(Note: I have seen cases where one treatment was enough to unblock the blockage; change the person’s life; heal the unhealable, etc. I believe that these people had a spontaneous healing because they were ready, had the right frame of mind, and were willing to do the work necessary for their own healing.)

The other misconception is that a Reiki practitioner will “fix” me. A Reiki practitioner acts only as a channel to bring this universal energy to a person. It is the person who is responsible for their own healing. A skilled Reiki practitioner can facilitate healing and guide you through the process, but if you don’t do your human homework (get counseling, change eating behaviors, change negative thinking, change the way you treat people, get out of a relationship, etc.) you may not see the changes you desire.

The reason that Reiki works is that it connects the universal life force energy with the body’s innate (inborn) powers of healing. Reiki also induces the relaxation response and puts the body in the best condition for healing. And we know that it is the body that eventually heals itself. The body’s innate intelligence regulates the amount of Reiki that one receives and where it goes so one cannot give or receive too much Reiki.

Reiki speeds up the process of healing and can be used in conjunction with many medical technologies, and therapies, as well as psychological counseling, to bring about healing. It is not a substitute for medical care. Reiki is not a religion; it is a way to focus energy as well as an energy source that one may tap into. Reiki energy can be used for physical problems, mental or emotional conditions, and for sending healing to those at a distance (this is taught in Second degree Reiki.) Reiki is much like prayer. You focus on the person that you want to send healing to, bring in Reiki energy, and “send” it across time and space.

The best part of Reiki is that it is not just about healing others; it is about healing yourself. And we all know that we need to take care of ourselves and heal ourselves before we can truly help others. A person can use Reiki every day (or several times a day) to help heal situations, physical problems, emotional problems, calm anxiety, send blessings, give thanks, etc.

Reiki is for real people. You don’t have to be spiritually evolved or the most intelligent person. Anyone can go through the training and work with the energy of Reiki. My children have had Reiki since they were four and seven years of age (children are pure channels and work easily with Reiki energy.) My husband is also a Reiki practitioner and we give each other Reiki whenever we can.

Reiki is a wonderful gift that families can learn. Those that are taking care of loved ones who have cancer, AIDS, or any serious or terminal condition can bring the healing energy of Reiki to them every day. They can also bring it to themselves to keep up their strength during this difficult time. Reiki has been known to make the transition to spirit easier for all concerned. Reiki can also be used to treat burns, headaches, clean out a person’s body before and after surgery, chemotherapy treatment, and help heal any aspect of their lives.

Reiki is a natural hands on healing art and is our birthright as human beings. We are all like houses wired for electricity. The Reiki training is the light switch that turns on the ability to channel this energy for ourselves or others. And it doesn’t take years of training. Once you are “initiated” or “empowered” by the Reiki Master Teacher, you can begin working with the Reiki energy immediately. The teacher provides you with basic information about Reiki, “turns on” the switch (ability) and teaches you the basic hand positions; but it is working with the energy that teaches you the most about Reiki.

Reiki is usually taught in three or four degrees (levels). Each degree builds upon the other and increases one’s ability to hold and channel this life force energy. Reiki has been known to change people’s lives, increase creativity, and put one on their true path. It gives each person exactly what they need at the time.

And that is what Reiki is all about: trusting in divine order; trusting in the process of healing and trusting that you will receive exactly what you need at just the right time. Reiki is a hands on healing system as well as an energy source that restores balance and promotes healing on all levels; physical, mental and emotional. It always bring you your highest good.

Why not contact a Reiki practitioner in your area for a Reiki session and find out what its all about for yourself. Then you can experience what Reiki really is.

The Guest House

by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.