This is a post about rocks.
The next stop in my journey into the metaphysical and energetic realms involves rocks. The healing powers of crystals to be exact.
There is a little shop in Alton, Illinois that I had heard many things about and had never been. It's Raining Zen is a metaphysical/new age store that was a catalyst in my crystal healing journey. If you are ever in the area, you should definitely stop in. But, onward to the real reason I'm writing this, as a way to document and share my journey. (PS: I promise the Christianity aspect will come into play eventually. Probably not in this post, but maybe in the next and/or the final installment.
Previously I mentioned I moved to a more rural community. Part of that move meant being a couple hours away from my family, a group of people that mean the most to me. The other half of that coin means I visit the Alton area frequently. On one of these trips, I decided to swing by Zen and have a look around.
Hold on. I need to rewind this story a wee bit. In the summer of 2016, I suffered a major blow in my life. Remember that amazing family I spoke of? The one that means the most to me? That summer, I lost my dad very suddenly, very unexpectedly, and in a tragic way. The phone call I got telling me my dad was dead is one I won't forget. Moments with that level of emotion are forever ingrained into our person. I have just reached a place of peace with what I cannot change. (Reaching this point involved A LOT of work.) The week between my dad's death and his funeral is a big blur, minus my shoulder starting to hurt. My right shoulder was aching, I went and got a massage from one of my best friends (who I went to massage school with). The end result of that was being told I was in fight or flight mode and I was fighting hard. AKA: No relief in should pain. When I left the funeral home to get in my car to drive to the cemetery, I was overcome with emotional pain. I fell to my knees as I released what I was feeling inside. The benefit of this release is my shoulder stopped hurting. Through this experience, I learned I store all of my dad-related emotions in my right shoulder. So, I put a big goose tattoo on it in remembrance of my dad.
Fast forward to this initial trip to It's Raining Zen. I came across all of the crystals and some prescription cards that stated what crystals were good for what ailment. I ended up purchasing some crystals to help with my anxiety and depression as I had reached a hurdle/wall in getting back to me post-mourning the passing of my father. I also came across a book on crystal healing and opened up to a section that would help one of my empath clients.
Insert life changing moment here.
Crystals were miracle workers in my life. My anxiety and depression was more manageable. I was able to start working through the wall I had hit in my personal healing. I sought out more information, more training. I got really lucky and hit the "sale" lottery. I found an online school that was having a buy one, get one free sale on their courses. Add in they are NCBTMB certified and I have classes on crystals that count towards my requirements for my massage license. YES, PLEASE!! Oh, and throw in that I have some money available for continuing education. EVEN BETTER!!
I ended up purchasing a certification on Crystal Therapy for Bodyworkers and a certification in Crystal Reiki! This training further expanded my knowledge and love for crystals and energy work. I have been able to expand my practice to include chakra balancing and reiki with crystals. I have learned SOO much and have been able to apply this knowledge in both my personal and professional life. Plus, I got to add more letters behind my name. :)
Through a combination of crystal therapy and reiki, my energy healing has greatly expanded and has helped me help others.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Christianity and the Metaphysical and Energetic Realms- Part 2
In the first installment of this series on my personal journey, we left off with the amazingness that is lomi lomi.
I shared this transformational bodywork with a few clients over the period of a few years. Helping others to heal their self with lomi was a gift and a learning ground for me. During this time, I had a full-time job and massage was purely on the side for fun. I accepted a promotion at my day job that was phenomenally more stressful and with a lot more responsibilities. This caused massage to be on a VERY LIMITED back burner. Add in the stress of personal relationships changing, and not always for the better, and I had gotten away from lomi.
Depression and me have a long and complicated relationship. Additionally, my healer nature is a double edged sword. I tend to put my own needs as secondary to everyone else, especially in relationships, and this ends up fueling my depression in a sneaky, underhanded way. I don't recognize it until I'm in the trenches of it. I want to say I'm a lot better about it now, but still not proficient. I'm a work in progress.
More life happened, my second daughter was born thus ending my day job, we relocated to a more rural area where my job was to be mom and wife. When my youngest was a little over 1, I started looking for an avenue to resume massage. Part of this journey "forced" me to find an in-person continuing education course. This path led me to discovering the healing power of Usui Reiki.
I do not ignore the initial reaction I had when I first heard of reiki. It was the same time I learned about lomi lomi. Another student in my class did their modality presentation on reiki. When I first heard about it, I though reiki sounded like a bunch of hooey. Imagine my surprise when I ended up in a Reiki I class. I was more receptive to energy work at this point in my journey. When I first learned about lomi, I didn't really know or understand the energy aspect of that modality.
Reiki took me by surprise. The first level includes 4 attunements, after which we wrote down our initial thoughts and feelings. The surprise came during the second attunement (possibly the third as I don't have my notes here with me to verify this fact). During this attunement, I was sitting in a chair with my eyes closed while the reiki master did his part behind me. No one was touching me AT ALL during this experience. I began feeling an intense pain in the middle of my back. The intensity was so severe that I began to cry and tears were streaming down my face. It was hard to sit up straight. I remember slumping forward slightly to relieve some of the pain and pressure. Afterwards, as we were discussing our thoughts and feelings, I shared my experience. The reiki master told me to stick with it, the next attunement would be better, that before we can pour from our cup of light, we must first empty that cup of the dark/stuff that is already there.
I can attest that the other attunements were much better. The process was solidified in my mind as being 'worth the benefits that I received' and I finished the course and still practice this work today. Some of the most moving healing sessions I have completed have involved reiki. I plan to further my training in this area as time and money allows. SPOILER ALERT: I'm a reiki master in a different type of reiki that I will discuss in the next installment.
Reiki opened my soul up to this higher level of thinking and feeling. I have a hard time describing reiki to my clients because I feel so strongly about it and I don't want people to discredit the benefit energy work, such as reiki, can bring to a session.
In closing, reiki is a type of energy healing that brings universal healing energy in. Your body is capable of so much. I merely act as a vessel/conduit to help my clients receive this universal healing energy. I do not claim to be a medical doctor, the energy work I do and describe in this blog are a COMPLEMENTARY method and are not a replacement for traditional medical care. I dislike disclaimers, but felt I needed to include it in this post.
Next up: My love affair with rocks. (FYI: This is shaping up to be a 4 or 5 part journey. I'm leaning more towards 5. )
I shared this transformational bodywork with a few clients over the period of a few years. Helping others to heal their self with lomi was a gift and a learning ground for me. During this time, I had a full-time job and massage was purely on the side for fun. I accepted a promotion at my day job that was phenomenally more stressful and with a lot more responsibilities. This caused massage to be on a VERY LIMITED back burner. Add in the stress of personal relationships changing, and not always for the better, and I had gotten away from lomi.
Depression and me have a long and complicated relationship. Additionally, my healer nature is a double edged sword. I tend to put my own needs as secondary to everyone else, especially in relationships, and this ends up fueling my depression in a sneaky, underhanded way. I don't recognize it until I'm in the trenches of it. I want to say I'm a lot better about it now, but still not proficient. I'm a work in progress.
More life happened, my second daughter was born thus ending my day job, we relocated to a more rural area where my job was to be mom and wife. When my youngest was a little over 1, I started looking for an avenue to resume massage. Part of this journey "forced" me to find an in-person continuing education course. This path led me to discovering the healing power of Usui Reiki.
I do not ignore the initial reaction I had when I first heard of reiki. It was the same time I learned about lomi lomi. Another student in my class did their modality presentation on reiki. When I first heard about it, I though reiki sounded like a bunch of hooey. Imagine my surprise when I ended up in a Reiki I class. I was more receptive to energy work at this point in my journey. When I first learned about lomi, I didn't really know or understand the energy aspect of that modality.
Reiki took me by surprise. The first level includes 4 attunements, after which we wrote down our initial thoughts and feelings. The surprise came during the second attunement (possibly the third as I don't have my notes here with me to verify this fact). During this attunement, I was sitting in a chair with my eyes closed while the reiki master did his part behind me. No one was touching me AT ALL during this experience. I began feeling an intense pain in the middle of my back. The intensity was so severe that I began to cry and tears were streaming down my face. It was hard to sit up straight. I remember slumping forward slightly to relieve some of the pain and pressure. Afterwards, as we were discussing our thoughts and feelings, I shared my experience. The reiki master told me to stick with it, the next attunement would be better, that before we can pour from our cup of light, we must first empty that cup of the dark/stuff that is already there.
I can attest that the other attunements were much better. The process was solidified in my mind as being 'worth the benefits that I received' and I finished the course and still practice this work today. Some of the most moving healing sessions I have completed have involved reiki. I plan to further my training in this area as time and money allows. SPOILER ALERT: I'm a reiki master in a different type of reiki that I will discuss in the next installment.
Reiki opened my soul up to this higher level of thinking and feeling. I have a hard time describing reiki to my clients because I feel so strongly about it and I don't want people to discredit the benefit energy work, such as reiki, can bring to a session.
In closing, reiki is a type of energy healing that brings universal healing energy in. Your body is capable of so much. I merely act as a vessel/conduit to help my clients receive this universal healing energy. I do not claim to be a medical doctor, the energy work I do and describe in this blog are a COMPLEMENTARY method and are not a replacement for traditional medical care. I dislike disclaimers, but felt I needed to include it in this post.
Next up: My love affair with rocks. (FYI: This is shaping up to be a 4 or 5 part journey. I'm leaning more towards 5. )
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Christianity and the Metaphysical and Energetic Realms- A Multi-part Post
Hey there visitors! Rather than recreate the wheel and starting a whole new blog, I'm unearthing one from the past.
Long, lost readers of the past, this will still be my ramblings albeit a smidge more focused on things from my professional life. However, my professional and personal lives greatly overlap and are kinda one and the same.
New readers, I'm leaving the old stuff up as a testament to the brokenness found inside of all of us. Everyone has skeletons, everyone has things they are trying to stay on top of and things they are trying to work through. Even more importantly, everyone has things they are repeatedly working through that are a constant struggle.
Celebrate the victories, no matter how small. Progress is progress.
Onward and upward, time to get to the post the title suggests.
In my line of work, there are many avenues of education and focus one can take. Initially, my planned path was one of manual therapy, one that dealt in physical disfunction and the correction of those things. Life has a way of taking the best laid plans and turning them upside down.
My path into the energetic realm of massage therapy began during my college coursework for massage therapy. We were given a family tree of sorts that listed a large quantity of modalities that fall under the umbrella of massage. I have a bit of rebellious or comical nature, depending on your view, so I chose the one that sounded the most obscure. My choice was lomi lomi. Little did I know that one casual, or serendipitous, decision was going to be the fuel to my soul's purpose. I completed the assignment, got an 'A' (I'm a perfectionist when it comes to schoolwork) and started searching for training in this modality.
Fast forward through an Associate's of Applied Science in Therapeutic Massage, a national exam and one professional license later, and I was on a plane to Tampa, Florida to take a workshop on Sacred Lomi. During one of the first hands on experiences, at the completion, I felt like I was going to explode. I had sooo much energy coursing through my body and no knowledge on how to release it. The assistant teacher saw I was in distress and taught me a very effective way to release this unneeded energy.
So, I'm in Florida, hugging a palm tree, asking the earth to absorb this excess energy. I literally felt energy leaving my person like water from a faucet. I thanked the earth for the help and resumed the training.
Lomi lomi will always hold a special place in my heart for this introduction into a new level of awareness.
So, this is a lot longer than I thought. This viewpoint/story will have to continue on in a multi-part adventure.
Long, lost readers of the past, this will still be my ramblings albeit a smidge more focused on things from my professional life. However, my professional and personal lives greatly overlap and are kinda one and the same.
New readers, I'm leaving the old stuff up as a testament to the brokenness found inside of all of us. Everyone has skeletons, everyone has things they are trying to stay on top of and things they are trying to work through. Even more importantly, everyone has things they are repeatedly working through that are a constant struggle.
Celebrate the victories, no matter how small. Progress is progress.
Onward and upward, time to get to the post the title suggests.
In my line of work, there are many avenues of education and focus one can take. Initially, my planned path was one of manual therapy, one that dealt in physical disfunction and the correction of those things. Life has a way of taking the best laid plans and turning them upside down.
My path into the energetic realm of massage therapy began during my college coursework for massage therapy. We were given a family tree of sorts that listed a large quantity of modalities that fall under the umbrella of massage. I have a bit of rebellious or comical nature, depending on your view, so I chose the one that sounded the most obscure. My choice was lomi lomi. Little did I know that one casual, or serendipitous, decision was going to be the fuel to my soul's purpose. I completed the assignment, got an 'A' (I'm a perfectionist when it comes to schoolwork) and started searching for training in this modality.
Fast forward through an Associate's of Applied Science in Therapeutic Massage, a national exam and one professional license later, and I was on a plane to Tampa, Florida to take a workshop on Sacred Lomi. During one of the first hands on experiences, at the completion, I felt like I was going to explode. I had sooo much energy coursing through my body and no knowledge on how to release it. The assistant teacher saw I was in distress and taught me a very effective way to release this unneeded energy.
So, I'm in Florida, hugging a palm tree, asking the earth to absorb this excess energy. I literally felt energy leaving my person like water from a faucet. I thanked the earth for the help and resumed the training.
Lomi lomi will always hold a special place in my heart for this introduction into a new level of awareness.
So, this is a lot longer than I thought. This viewpoint/story will have to continue on in a multi-part adventure.
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