2012: A Reiki Odyssey

Today was our monthly Reiki and Integrated Energy Therapy (R) Share and Student clinic after which I did a session for a longtime client who has been a major supporter of the Reiki Center of Greater Washington aka RCGW. It was a good day.

I have been working on updating the website for RCGW, but have run into a bit of a connundrum: I usually put six months of events on the site, but I'm planning on being in another place starting in June 2012, Longmont, Colorado. How to reconcile this? My guidance says to continue putting six months up on the website, first perhaps putting only the class titles without a location, next, once I have a definite location, posting in on the site.

Our plans are dependent on lots of factors: selling our house, my partner Steve finding a position in Colorado, and finding space for home and office in the Boulder area. I have been in this process for almost three years, but now a greater urgency is pushing harder in that direction and I can't (or won't) ignore it any longer.

I know that several of my clients and students would rather I not go. I wish I could pack them in my suitcase and do a reiki caravan to the West. But my soul's mission seems to be pulling me there and I know there is no such thing as really losing anyone, we actually live in a small town from a soul perspective and continue to reconnect with those we love and work with.

So...I will be true to my journey and put up all events through the end of June, keeping to my process. We'll see how things evolve from there.

Thanks for listening!

Second blizzard of February 2010

It's February 10, 2010, two feet of snow are in development in Maryland with about 18 inches on the ground so far. Yesterday, my Dad called me from Minnesota to tease, "is this the guy who moved South to avoid the snow?"

I have several pictures on my cellphone, but am not particularly technical, so for this posting you probably won't see them. Suffice it to say that our beagles, Lucy and Toby, aren't tall enough to walk through it without jumping up, and they are 13" and 15" respectively.

Steve is listening to Scarecrow and Mrs. King on his computer; our wi-fi network, newly-installed the day before the storm, is working fine...

One of my clients called me today looking for a remote session. Reiki and other methods have this available to help people with or without a telephone intermediary. I am thinking seriously about doing more remotes, or distant reiki, as they are usually called, to keep my practice thriving when clients can't get out. If the weather is indeed changing as Healing Angel Michael talked about in my last post, it may be time for Reiki Masters to develop better ways of teaching and healing distantly, with a quality training technology that lets people be interactive at a distance as well as hands-on.

Steve and I have not done much towards our move to Colorado in the past couple of months. So, spirit brings Colorado snows to us. Looking at the snow, I am thinking I will need to get more comfortable with my Yin energy, the energy of receiving, listening, meditating, being quiet and attracting. Living in the Washington, DC metro area for so long (26 years at last count), I have gotten very good at being "productive". I put the word in quotes because I refer to the action of being active, rather than necessarily being effective. If you are doing activity that is what is important in this area, even if the activity doesn't seem to do much for you. People here work till they drop and then they collapse into zombies watching television or taking sleep meds to quiet their minds for five hours to try to fill up a bit before doing it all again.

I am changing my pattern now. I am regularly meditating, asking spirit to show me, rather than telling spirit to direct me. I am working towards a pattern of health, rather than recreating a pattern of chronic illness as so many of my clients have. I am looking at causes that may go back to many past lifetimes where I died from lung ailments. In this lifetime, when my own lungs seem to be very tight, that is the very time I need to look at my life.

I don't know if this entry is very inspirational or just the ramblings of someone caught in the snow. Either way, it feels really good to sit in a comfortable chair, hearing the roar of the wind outside with a warm beagle lying next to me with her head on my leg. Right now, we have power, we have had eggs in the basket for breakfast and Earl Grey tea, we are safe, warm and loved. Right now is the most important time for us to live. Right now is the eternal time in which all life really happens.

Healing Angel Michael Speaks on Earth Changes

What follows is a channeling of Michael, one of the Archangels. Michael works as one of the team of Healing Angels in the Integrated Energy Therapy (R) healing system, also known as IET, practiced and taught at the Reiki Center of Greater Washington. In the IET system, Michael works on points on the human body that related to a release of fear and imprinting of safety. For more information about IET, please click on the link above.

Thank you, David, for your kind introduction. As you sit tonight watching the extensive snowfall in your area of Rockville, Maryland, it is difficult to believe that your planet is in the process of a great warming. This great warming is causing movements of the climate to different zones, as evidenced by what you term natural disasters of different types happening outside of where they "usually" do.

Examples:

• The Haitian earthquake where one had not previously been known.
• Reduction in temperatures in the temperate zones of the United States and Europe.
• Desertification moving southward on the African continent.
• Magnification of storms in all seasons.
• Droughts developing in zones where water had been previously abundant.

What we would like all of you to remember is that there is no cause for fear in these developments. It is just important to be aware that change is to be expected and to adjust oneself to it, rather than trying to keep it from happening.

A helpful question to ask oneself might be: "what is this development to teach me?" Please note that there is teaching in all of these developments, allowing humans to make necessary changes. The necessary changes will help humans to move forward down the path to their development, a place where the Earth will be more like the Heaven known in your religious teachings.

Do not fear. Live, love, be grateful, learn. This is the world that you live in. You are never alone...

November...a Month of Quiet Gratefulness

November 2009 has been a month of quiet gratefulness for me. It has been a chance to catch my breath, to host small, intimate classes, to explore my need for rest, spirit, and connection to others.

My parents and family have been talking to me lately about the transition my parents are going through, mostly due to some changes in health recently. I hear all sides, but I'm not really there, so the feeling of powerlessness arises that can really drain the energies, if not worked on. I know that there is little I can do other than to offer comfort. Health issues due to aging can be the hardest ones, since you assume that the trend is towards eventually transitioning from the earth plane to the other side. I have also had some health issues this month that have forced me to rest, reconnect with my home, puppies, and breathing...slowly, in and out, in and out, filling with the life-giving air and letting the old air go.

I now have a "wi-fi" connection that lets me blog at Panera and this feels very 21st century, very hi-tech, very "connected". But am I really connected OR am I sharinng a space with others who are connecting to their own worlds? We share coffee and bagels, I watch an old man adjust his pants in front of me, the fire is burning, someone next to me fiddles with his bills, another man is watching a movie, someone else is reading a book. Are we really connected here? We have the semblance of being "together" but we aren't interacting with one another at all.

With Reiki, I try to help my students to truly connect with themselves and others. Connection in this case means touch, energy, questioning and sharing impressions, and "holding space" for another's healing process. Even in someone who is presumably healthy, there is room for healing, a movement back to increased wholeness.

I had asked my guides whether November was going to be a good month and received the message that December would be wonderful...such is the case with rest: it's needed, but doesn't seem to fill the coffers. I was a bit freaked out that I had such quiet this month, but now I see that I have been given a gift, the chance to see how things have evolved while I was too busy to pay attention fully to them. What I see is that I need to make room for the earth and daily maintenance tasks as I quest for greater and greater energy experiences. I need to do the laundry, shop for and fix meals, pay the bills, clean the house, take care of the dogs, etc. When I don't do these things for awhile, they feel like they mount up in an overwhelming mound of stuff that I feel is too much to handle. I just need to do a bit every day and let go of the worrying.

This Thursday, when I join Ridgely and Amy at their Thanksgiving dinner, I will invite my spirits and friends energetically to join us in thanking our creator for the opportunity to see how things have evolved while we were busy doing other things. Thanks for the time to find stillness once again.

Linda Karin Boichat Pallansch and Melody Hill

In the past week, I have attended two friends' memorial services. I have known both of them over ten years; I was shocked at both their deaths, because they both died earlier than would have been expected, Linda, whose memorial service was today, died on Friday, July 31 of swine flu; Melody, whose memorial service was last Monday, died on Monday, July 20 of cancer.

What I value from these memorial services is the memories that both of these friends touched in me, remembering how they were teachers to me and affected the outcomes of my life. Melody was the first metaphysical teacher I ever had. I am now a professional healer and intuitive, so this was major. Linda was a recovery friend who referred me to a position at Kaiser Permanente in 1997 that helped me develop a customer service skill that I use in my Reiki practice today.

I need to thank these women for their gifts and wish them well on their journeys to the next level of spirit. Go in peace, ladies...

Grocery Shopping with Dad...a Mirror for Me

I spent the afternoon with my Mom and Dad...first at Chili's for lunch, then with Dad at Cub Foods on Texas Avenue in St. Louis Park, Minnesota for a mega-shopping expedition. My
Dad, Al (or Big Al as many call him) has been getting over a cold that has settled in his chest. Between coughs and looks at my Mom's extensive list, we had a chance to connect among the various vegetables in the immense produce section.

I have an annual migration to St. Louis Park, a city of 50,000 or so in the southwestern suburbs of Minneapolis. Their house is actually only two blocks from the city and within a short walk of three beautiful lakes (Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles, and Lake Calhoun {don't ask why it isn't Lake Cedar}). All of the lakes have beautiful paths around them that are wonderful to hike when the weather is nice, which it was today. But, of course, being Minnesota, tomorrow it is going to snow.

Dad and I talked about his role as a "shlepper". This is a Yiddish term that means one who goes to get for someone else, usually in this case Dad for Mom. Passover time is a busy season for shleppers and I consider myself an honorary shlepper when Mom begins the cooking ritual for the upcoming Seders. This year will be the first that Mom and Dad haven't hosted it since I was a toddler.

I'm feeling the energy of things changing, even as I return to the same house I grew up in. The house has new siding and roof, courtesy of the insurance company thanks to last summer's hailstorm. There is new paint on some of the walls (since the house itself may be transitioning as my parents move to the next stage of their lives).

It feels odd to return and see the change that my family that lives here sometimes misses because it happens so gradually.

What I saw today was my Dad's tendency to be particular about simple things:

• How to double bag (I learned that you don't open the inside bag until it's in; actually a helpful hint).
• How to interpret my Mom's grocery list (get one of each option). When I called on this one, my Mom actually asked for one of each.
• How to pick apples (red tastes better).
• How to give the right of way to a pedestrian (avoid hitting her and go first).

My Dad is slowing down; won't take a pleasure walk, but has no problem with shlepping. He says that if he has a choice of which to do, why not do the one that is needed. I see this as his philosophy of life: love is duty to those we love...we do for them as a way to show them they are loved. Mom and Dad regularly do for one another (as my partner Steve and I try to do in Maryland). I think it keeps them going. What I see is that I was raised by parents who tried to do the right thing, literally, for me and demanded the same thing from me in return. I may not always succeed, but I try to be what Steve terms "a good citizen". I think I get this from these two lovable shleppers who raised me.

My Journey with Integrated Energy Therapy

Last weekend, I went to Richmond, Virginia to complete my Master-Instructor training with Karen Puglia in Integrated Energy Therapy (TM), a modality developed by Stevan Thayer. I can now teach six classes:

• IET Basic
• IET Intermediate
• IET Advanced
• IET for Pets
• IET for Kids
• Angels of the Energy Field

I started my journey with IET with Diane Shewmaker, my teacher for the Basic, Intermediate, Advanced and Angels classes. IET restricts its Master-Instructors from offering its Master-Instructor course to a very few, only three at the moment worldwide, including the developer of the system.

IET is billed as a successor system to Reiki, but my reasons for taking it were mostly about the concept of the emotional connection to the physical and energetic body. In the IET system, various emotional points or cellular memory areas or maps, are held throughout the body, running from the head to the feet.

The crown center is said to hold the emotion of guilt.
The forehead center is said to hold the emotion of distrust.
The back of neck region is said to hold threat.
The shoulders are said to hold the "shoulds" from the men and women (starting with Dad and Mom) in our lives.
The heart center is said to hold heartache.
The throat and lungs are said to hold shame.
The upper abdomen is said to hold anger and resentment.
The lower abdomen is said to hold stress and powerlessness.
The lower back and legs are said to hold fear.

In IET, we ask a group of nine angels to assist us in imprinting new energies to replace the energies of the negative emotions above. We do this with hand positions somewhat similar to Western Reiki, but also with energy points on the back and pulling out negative energies through the auric field.

I continue to love learning new things, but I am finding some definite synergies between IET and Chinese Medicine in how they work with the body. I do think they vary a bit around the abdomen, however.

In Chinese Medicine,

The Liver meridian is about Anger.
The Heart meridian is about Joy.
The Spleen meridian is about Worry.
The Lung meridian is about Sadness.
The Kidney meridian is about Fear.

Most of these compare similarly to the IET with only the Spleen meridian varying. In IET, that area is said to hold resentment. If you think of it being more internal to external, then worry and resentment are both internal processes.

I will begin teaching IET classes starting in May 2009. Diane Shewmaker is offering the classes once again starting with the IET Basic on February 28, 2009. You can find out more information by clicking on the name of this article above or going to http://www.reikicenter.info/new.htm#iet.

Thinking about the "Other America"

There was an interesting article in the first section of today's Washington Post discussing how people in rural Arkansas feel about being in Obama's America. You can see it at http://www.washingtonpost.com/.

One of the quotes from an interviewee was that once he heard about Barack Obama's election, he went out and spent $400 on ammunition because of his fear that he would lose his ability to use his guns or find ammo for them after increased regulation happened.

I was struck by how fear makes us do some pretty weird things.

Much of this man's reaction was due to a comment Obama made about those in rural America clutching their guns and religion, intimating that this was detrimental to the "reality" of the New World. It made me see that things I may say offhandedly may come back to bite me, if I am not careful about them.

We are going into a cycle this next week or so of a Solar Eclipse. My astrologer, Bonnie Miller Donaldson, indicates that this may make us react thoughtlessly, causing us to regret what we say later.

Everyone is a teacher for everyone else in some way. Look around and see all the "others" in your life today. What do they have to teach you?