Your Two Brains

In traditional Yogic chakra theory, there are 7 major chakras in the body.  These chakras are like emotional and spiritual transducers that absorb and distribute life energy to various body organs and tissues.   In the same way that physical toxins can produce illness, emotional toxins can poison the physical and spiritual body in many subtle ways.

To read my previous post on the heart chakra please click here.  Today we explore the solar plexus chakra.

The Solar Plexus Chakra

This chakra, located just below your sternum, is associated with your stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, kidneys, and adrenal glands.  These are the organs associated with digestion.

Emotionally and spiritually your solar plexus chakra is related to your sense of personal power - your self-esteem and self-worth.   It is said this is where we hold on to our perceptions of how we compare with others and our issues of responsibility.  People who feel strongly the emotions of fear and intimidation, and those chronically stressed by their responsibilities, often complain of indigestion, heartburn and gastritis - all digestive ailments.

We tend to place our hand over our solar plexus chakra when we're experiencing a "gut reaction" or having a "gut feeling".  It's also the area of our body we instinctively protect by crossing our arms when we feel we're being emotionally attacked.  This is no coincidence.  Research shows that our gut has a mind of its own.  Just like the larger brain in our head, our digestive system receives impulses, records experiences and responds to emotions.  Its nerve cells are influenced by the same neurotransmitters that are found in our brain.   It's a two-way street.  Our gut can affect our brain the same way our brain can affect our gut!  This means balancing the energy in your solar plexus chakra will bring relief not only to your stressed-out digestive system, but to your stressed-out brain as well.  And who couldn't use a little stress relief?

Feeling Your Heart Energy

In traditional Yogic chakra theory, there are 7 major chakras in the body.  These chakras are like emotional and spiritual transducers that absorb and distribute life energy to various body organs and tissues.   In the same way that physical toxins can produce illness, emotional toxins can poison the physical and spiritual body in many subtle ways.

The Heart Chakra

Located in the centre of your chest, your heart chakra is associated with your heart, lungs and thymus gland.  These are related to the bodily functions of circulation and immunity.  

Emotionally and spiritually your heart chakra is related to issues of love - loving relationships with others, with yourself and with all of life.  The Institute of Heartmath is doing some very interesting research into how our hearts are also involved in intuition.

Your Heart Energy

Feeling your heart energy isn't anything weird or woo-woo.  It's a real physical sensation.  It's that warm feeling in your chest when you remember a time you felt loved unconditionally.  It's the lightness you feel when you forgive someone who has caused you harm.   But what if you don't feel the love, and you're not ready to forgive? Then create your own positive heart energy and fake it til you make it.

A good way to do this is to watch a feel-good movie - something that gives you a comforting physical sensation in your heart centre.  (I find a good romantic comedy can resonate in my chest for hours.)  While you're feeling the physical sensations the movie creates, meditate on it. 


Sit comfortably, breath deeply and slowly, and focus on that awareness in your chest.  How does it feel?  What words would you use to describe it?  With practice you'll be able to re-create those feelings during meditation without even watching the movie. 

Once you become aware of your heart energy, you may be surprised how often your heart sends you messages.  Learn to listen to them, and learn to live from your heart.

Speak Easy

 
Do the words we speak - about ourselves and others - affect our health and well-being?  You bet they do!  Not only do they affect us, they affect those around us.

Although there may be sounds in our lives that we cannot change, we always have some control over what we allow in our environment.

 

Here are four proactive steps to improve the sounds that surround you.  Take a moment and think about your sound life:

1.  Which sounds and words are positive and which do you find abrasive?  Do you allow yourself intervals of quiet and silence?  Do you reserve time for yourself where you control what's in your air space?

2.  Think about the words you hear from others.  Are there any that are consistently negative and that make you unhappy or drag you down?

3.  The sounds of your own discontent can create discontent within others.  Think about the words you speak that impact those in your sphere of influence.  Where is there room for improvement?

4.  Imagine your ideal sound environment.  What kinds of sounds would you include?  What sounds would you eliminate?

I'd love to hear from anyone who tries this for themselves.  Please leave a comment or send me an email sharing your experience.  Did you make quiet time for yourself?  Identify and eliminate your own personal negative words?  Create your preferred sound environment?  Did this make any difference at all in the way you felt that day?  The following day?  Did those around you behave differently when you changed the words you used?  Your feedback is appreciated.

Yangin' around

"Y" is for Yin-Yang 
 

The yin-yang symbol represents the ancient Chinese Taoist idea that there are two energies - the yin energy and the yang energy - that created the universe, and oppose each other to keep the universe in balance.  If you go too far along one, it becomes the other.  A great example of this is temperature.  If you put your hand in a bucket of ice water at first it feels really cold.  But if you leave it in there longer, you will feel a burning sensation - just like heat. 

Yin-yang is the unifying principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine (including proper diet and exercise).

You can find a very interesting pictorial explanation of how this symbol was developed here.

And here's what wikipedia has to say on the subject.
  
There's much symbolism within the symbol itself, and there's a myriad of interpretations. Here's a few of the ones I like:

Water energy

"W" is for Waterfalls

Went for a walk yesterday, by the waterfalls.

Mount Albian Falls, Hamilton Ontario

The ground was wet after the morning rain and I picked my route carefully, trying not to slip in the mud, trying to keep my running shoes relatively dry.  Kids and dogs caked in brown splashed past me.  I left the main trail and headed up the sharp hill, making my way around the rim of the falls, until I was directly opposite the rushing water.  I stood quietly, letting the sound of the water fill my ears.  Gradually I became aware of the energy of the water, the powerful surge as it hit rock, the reverberating splash into white.  The energy embraced me, pulling me forward.  I felt dizzy and held on to a small tree, afraid I would fall into the gorge below.  It was scary, yet exhilarating, and I stood mesmerized until footsteps in the gravel behind me broke the spell.  I tried to refocus on the energy, but the moment was gone, everyday reality flooded back in.   I was disappointed, but smiled at the couple as they took my place at the edge.  As I walked back to my car I wondered if they were feeling the pull of the water.... the energy of nature.

The Uncomfortable Monarch

"U" is for Unknown

The unknown is a very unacceptable place to be these days.  Science is uncomfortable with the unknown, and at this point in human history science is King.  And what happens to the guy who makes the King uncomfortable?

"Off with his head"!

From my practice in the complementary healing arts of Reiki and Sound therapy I have come to realize that people are more than a collection of organs, bones and muscles wrapped around a personality.  But what exactly is that "more" made of?  We don't know....yet.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when doctors scorned the idea that invisible germs were responsible for hospital infections.  In fact, this idea was so widely ridiculed that doctors would wipe their scalpel on their shoe prior to surgery just to prove how wrong it was.  Well, we all know how that story turned out, and how silly those doctors ended up looking.  

But what about the part of our story that's yet to be written?  The part when future historians say "There was a time when the idea of (INSERT CURRENT UNKNOWN QUALITY HERE) was widely scorned until (INSERT NAME OF RIDICULED SCIENTIST HERE) proved that ........"

Until that time comes and that part of our story is filled in, we in the complementary healing arts are just going to keep right on working with the unknown. 

May the King show a little mercy in the meantime.

Get rid of that achy with Reiki

"R" is for Reiki

Reiki is a holistic healing method using natural energy forces to create balance, vitality and wellness at the physical, emotional and spiritual level.  Reiki works by placing the hands over the major glands of the endocrine system - called chakras - which governs hormone production.  This system controls metabolism, growth, aging, resistance to stress and the body's ability to heal itself.  Reiki helps the body balance the system resulting in deep relaxation which also enhances the body's ability to heal itself.   From "Practical Reiki" Mari Hall, Director, International Association of Reiki

Before you're ready to pick up the phone and schedule your first appointment, you probably have some questions you'd like answered.  Here are there top 5 questions my Reiki clients ask me, along with my answers:

Q. What exactly do you do?

A. I smooth your energy field.  Each body has a bio-field, or aura, which is affected by physical and emotional states of being.  It is this smoothing that results in deep relaxation, increased energy, feelings of well being, and reduced stress which all enhance your body's ability to heal itself.

Q.  How do you feel my energy field? 

A.  Once prepared for a treatment, my hands are highly sensitized and tingle as I put them into your bio-field.   Some areas feel smoother than others.  The smooth areas feel tingly, while the rough areas send little jolts of energy through my fingers.  It feels like little bolts of lightening or electrical shocks.  I can also experience heat (in my hands only or in my whole body), coolness in my hands, or even a "spacey" feeling in my head.   I focus on the rough areas, working on them until they feel smooth.  Once the whole bio-field feels smooth, your treatment is complete.

Q.  How does the healing happen?

A.  No one knows for sure.  What I can tell you is that intention is the most important thing.  My intention is to be an energy conduit, to provide you with whatever you need for your  "highest and best".  This means I don't try to direct the energy in any way.  Nor do I take credit for the healing that takes place.  I am only a conduit for the universal energy - it and your body do the rest.

Q.  Why was your treatment different from my last Reiki treatment?

A.  Each Reiki student is taught the history of Reiki, shown the proper hand positions, receives an attunement, practices under the watchful eye of their master, then offers Reiki to others.   Because intuition varies from one Reiki practitioner to the next, and because intuition is a large part of Reiki, each practitioner slowly develops her/his own style.  

Q.  Can I learn Reiki? 

A.  YES!  Everyone can learn to give Reiki.  I believe it is something each and every human being can learn because energy is the nature of our existence. 

Want to learn to feel energy?  Try the simple practice exercises found here and you will be feeling your own energy in no time!

New Eyes

"N" is for New

The word "New" has several definitions, including:

• being other than the former or old
• made or become fresh
• has not been known before or not experienced before

Perhaps Marcel Proust had all of these in mind when he said "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes."

Below is a list of books that have moved my heart, challenged my brain, changed my perspective or made me question my assumptions - all prerequisites to seeing things through new eyes.

Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert
Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore
Sounds of Healing by Mitchell Gaynor
The Heart's Code by Paul Pearsall
The Way of Qigong by Ken Cohen
Discover your Psychic Type by Sherrie Dillard
Travels in a Stone Canoe by Harvey Arden & Steve Wall
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Trust Your Vibes by Sonia Choquette

Check one or two of them out.  Let me know if you find them as eye-opening as I did!

Call it kooky

  "K" is for Kook: one whose ideas or actions are eccentric, fantastic or insane



I don't want to be thought of as kooky.  I've worked hard to be a respectable parent, neighbour and employee.  But, like anyone who admits to walking an alternate path, I get my share of condescending comments and looks of derision.  I must admit, when I first started learning about ancient wisdom systems I was a big skeptic (check out "D" is for Doubt) but the more I learned about energy and healing the more sense it made.  Then I started to practice energy healing and saw first hand the amazing results.  As I continue to learn, practice and join the larger energy community I realize what we're doing is remembering ancient human truth.  The truth that we can tap into the universal consciousness and use that energy to help and heal.

Most people turn their backs on this glorious opportunity.....I think maybe that's a bit kooky.

Manifest that

"E" is for Energy

Science tells us that energy has many forms, like vibration, heat, particles and waves.  Einstein's famous "energy = matter times the speed of light squared"  explains (at least to those scientists) how energy can change form.  When we non-scientists say we "don't have the energy" for something we mean we're physically or emotionally tired. So what does a healer mean when she says "energy"?

She means all of the above and so much more.  She means the subtle energy field that surrounds your body.  She means the universal creative energy, the ultimate power that manifested all things.  (You may know it by another label - "spirit", "the divine" and "god" are popular ones.)  And she also means all that's been manifested including people, animals and all of nature.

We are energy that has been manifested into matter.... not matter that emits energy.

You Are Energy!

The very essence... is that man is a spirit, and has a body,

and not that man is a body and may have a spirit also.  

Swami Vivekananda

Mind-Body Reality

Many months ago I heard about Dr. Candace Pert and decided to read her book "The Molecules of Emotion".   I added my name to the waiting list at my local library, then forgot all about it.  A few months after doing this, I decided to take a physiology / anatomy night school class.   Our second class was about cell structure and how substances move across cell membranes.  The day after the cell lesson my library called with an automated message that a book was ready for me to pick up.  As I had completely forgotten which book it was, I headed off to the library wondering what I might find.    And there it was, a book about how emotions move back and forth between the physical and non-physical as information chemicals absorbed into cells, delivered to me the day after I learned how the cell receptor mechanism operates.  What an interesting coincidence!

Though I've witnessed amazing healing take place through my Reiki practice, my internal skeptic is uncomfortable with not being able to explain, in any scientific way, what it is exactly that I do.  Always looking for a more tangible explanation, I was eager to read the supporting science that is Ms. Pert's amazing career.   Her decades of experiments clearly demonstrate the interconnectedness of the various body systems, and debunks the idea that the brain is the body's control centre.  She has proven that instructions do not initiate in the brain and disseminate to the body through it's various systems.  Instead, the execution of the instructions take place simultaneously in the brain and the body using exactly the same chemicals.  Functionally, you cannot separate the body from the mind - they are the same thing.   Finally - here was the proof I'd been looking for!  I couldn't wait to finish reading the book - to find those tangible answers I could share with my clients.

As with any book on the subject of mind-body connection, eventually she had to leave the hard science behind and speculate what some of her findings might mean.    If the circulation of emotional and spiritual information throughout the body-mind is a chemical process,  and if this chemical process is what sifts through our thoughts, determining which ones rise to our consciousness, then is our body our unconscious mind?   Do the paths these chemical processes follow throughout the body flow along what has come to be known as the acupuncture meridians?   Is this chemical movement what generates subtle energy?  If emotions are chemicals stored in our cells, does this mean our bodies literally hold our memories? 

These are exciting questions!  Imagine how our understanding would grow if we had the answer to even one of them.   Her book addressed so many important questions, so why does it feel that so much was left unanswered?

If you visualize all knowledge as an island of information, and the surrounding ocean as all that is yet to be learned, then the shoreline is the edge of the known/unknown.  As more is learned, the island gets larger.  And as the island gets larger, the shoreline gets longer, making the known and unknown grow at the same rate.

Perhaps it's time to leave my skepticism on the beach and just wade out into the water......

Considering Reiki? Here's what you should know.

Before you're ready to pick up the phone and schedule your first appointment, you probably have some questions you'd like answered.  Here are there top 5 questions my Reiki clients ask, along with my answers:

Q. What exactly do you do?

A. I smooth your energy field.  Each body has a bio-field, or aura, which is affected by physical and emotional states of being.  Reiki, Shamballa, Therapeutic Touch and Chi Healing all work on the same principal.  Though they may use different approaches, they all aim to smooth the bio-field.  It is this smoothing that results in deep relaxation, increased energy, feelings of well being, and reduced stress which all enhance your body's ability to heal itself.

Q.  What do you feel when you're doing Reiki? 

A.  Once prepared for a treatment, my hands are highly sensitized and tingle as I put them into your bio-field.   Some areas feel smoother than others.  The smooth areas feel tingly, while the rough areas send little jolts of energy through my fingers.  It feels like little bolts of lightening or electrical shocks.  I can also experience heat (in my hands only or in my whole body), coolness in my hands, or even a "spacey" feeling in my head.   I focus on the rough areas, working on them until they feel smooth.  Once the whole bio-field feels smooth, your treatment is complete.

Q.  How do you prepare?

A.  I take ten minutes to relax, calm my mind and set my intention.  My intention is to be an energy conduit, to provide you with whatever you need for your  "highest and best".  This means I don't try to direct the energy in any way.  Nor do I take credit for the healing that takes place.  I am only a conduit for the universal energy - it and your body do the rest.

Q.  Why was your treatment different from my last Reiki treatment?

A.  Each Reiki student is taught the history of Reiki, shown the proper hand positions, receives an attunement, practices under the watchful eye of their master, then offers Reiki to others.   Because intuition varies from one Reiki practitioner to the next, and because intuition is a large part of Reiki, each practitioner slowly develops their own style.   It's kind of like cursive writing.  Remember how we were all taught to write our upper and lower case letters exactly the same?  They even gave us special paper with extra lines so our letters would all be exactly the same size.   Yet as we practiced over time we all developed our own distinct writing style.  The same thing happens with Reiki.

Q.  Can I learn Reiki? 

A.  YES!  Everyone can learn to give Reiki.  I believe it is something each and every human being can learn because energy is the nature of our existence.  Think about it this way:  Everyone can run, but only a tiny percentage of us are born with the ability to be an olympic athelete.   But that doesn't stop the rest of us from running marathons to raise money for charity, or running to catch the last bus.  It's the same with energy.  A tiny percentage of us are born with a natural talent, but that shouldn't stop the rest of us from learning enough to treat our own aches and pains, help relieve a friend's headache, or ease a loved-one's depression.  

 
Want to learn to feel energy?  Try the simple practice exercises found here and you will be feeling your own energy in no time!

4 Secrets for Reducing Your Stress

You know you need to reduce your stress - but how?  
Here are 4 easy ways:

1.  Have a Reiki treatment.  Reiki is a holistic healing method using natural energy forces to create balance, vitality and wellness.   Reiki works by placing the hands over the major glands of the endocrine system, which governs metabolism, growth, aging, and the body's ability to heal itself. 

2.  Have a Sound Therapy treatment.   Sound therapy is the therapeutic use of sound and music to reduce anxiety and emotional stress, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and promote healing.   It's like a sound massage for your organs, bones and tissues.

3.  Learn to meditate.   Meditation teaches you to calm your mind, and a calm mind is the key to your health.   There are many different types of meditation to choose from.  You can meditate alone or with others, for as long or as little as you like.  Daily meditation leads to a sense of peace, insight and clarity.

4.  Learn Tai Chi.  Tai Chi is a moderate cardiovascular training exercise that can be done by virtually anyone regardless of their condition.   Tai Chi helps regulate the immune system, improves posture, and helps to focus your mind.  In fact, Tai Chi is called "moving meditation".   It has all the benefits of meditation with the added benefits of exercise.  It's the perfect stress reducer!

The benefits of having a Reki or Sound Therapy treatment are immediate, and arranging a treatment is as easy as phoning your local practitioner.   Learning meditation or Tai Chi takes some commitment, but the long term stress reducing benefits are more than worth the effort. 

I recommend starting your stress reduction program with a few Reiki or Sound Therapy treatments to get you on the road to relaxation.  Then add meditation and/or Tai Chi to build on your success.

Old Zen saying "Slow down and the thing you are chasing will come around and catch you."  

What everyone should know about sound therapy.

 
Are you looking for an easy way to relax and rejuvenate?   Then you're looking for sound therapy! 

What is sound therapy? 
 It is the therapeutic use of sound and music to promote healing. 

What benefits can you expect?

    * Better sleep
    * Reduced stress and its related disorders 
    * Improved mental concentration and creativity

How does it work?
By encouraging your body to resonate at a cellular level, and at a specific frequency, for each gland, organ, system and subtle body.  This helps your body to relax and balance itself, returning to a state of homeostasis and more optimal functioning.    

Why does this happen?
There is an incredible amount of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence supporting the benefits of sound therapy.   Researchers are working to bring this evidence to bear the weight of standard scientific scrutiny.  Below is a sampling of the many areas being investigated:

1.  Our whole universe, including our bodies, is made up a extremely tiny vibrating strings.  This idea is known as string theory and describes our universe as being composed of vibrating filaments (strings) and membranes (branes) of energy.  They vibrate and twist into different shapes, connect together and break apart.   This theory has important implications in modern energy healing arts and its concepts are similar to many ancient healing traditions.    Patricia R. Spadaro has more on the science of energy here:  The Science of Energy

2.  Our cells vary in size, and are giant compared to those theoretical strings.   The Centre for Neuroacoustic Research has studied direct stimulation of living cellular tissue with sound frequency vibration.   Since the human body is over 70% water, and since sound travels 5 times more efficiently through water than through air, sound frequency stimulation directly into the body is a highly efficient means for total body stimulation, especially at a cellular level.   They have also found that sound frequency pulse waves played directly into the body has a profound effect on the nervous system.   Far-reaching possibilities are inherent in using this type of vibrational technology in the areas of massage, energy work, physical healing, emotional release work, hypnosis, stress reduction, relaxation and meditation.

3.  Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto has studied the effects of sound by photographing water crystals.   He plays different kinds of music next to the water samples, then freezes the samples resulting in crystals.  These crystalline structures are remarkably different, depending of the type of music they were exposed to.   To see some of his many beautiful photos click here.

Energy Healing or the Placebo Effect?

The placebo effect.  Is it just "all in your head"?  Not according to an experiment reported at http://www.physorg.com/news105029324.html.  The experiment, led by Tor Wager, Columbia professor of psychology, found when scientists applied a placebo cream to volunteers’ forearms,  opioid release occurred in brain areas associated with pain relief.    Wager explains: “These results extend our knowledge of how beliefs and expectations affect the brain's neurochemistry and show that one's mental response to a challenge can affect the brain and body in ways that are relevant to health.”

Even the folks at http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html admit there is something more to the placebo effect than pure psychology.  They report that according to Dr. Walter A. Brown, a psychiatrist at Brown University:    " ...there is certainly data that suggest that just being in the healing situation accomplishes something."  Dr. Brown and others believe that the placebo effect is mainly or purely physical and due to physical changes that promote healing or feeling better. 

Physical changes..... caused by our beliefs....... that result in healing?  How do we tap into this unbelievable power?   Many of us already are!   Practitioners of Reiki, Sound Therapy, Shamballa and other healing energy arts draw on this power during every treatment.  The therapeutic effects are real: opioid release reduces pain; endorphins, cortisol and adrenaline changes result in reduced stress.  Stress reduction prevents or slows further harmful physical changes.   Does this explain everything that happens during an energy treatment?  Absolutely not.  But understanding there is a direct link between our psychology and our physiology is one more tiny step along the path of understanding.

Seeing the Energy of Sound

The science and art of cymatics, a process for making sound waves visible, is demonstrated by Evan Grant.  Cymatics is useful for analyzing complex sounds (like dolphin calls), it also makes complex and beautiful designs.



What does Cymatics mean for energy healing?   According to Biosonics.com cymatic sound patterns help us visualize the behaviors of energy fields.   Energy Medicine practitioners observe physical, emotional, and mental patterns to arrive at an understanding of the energy field that causes those patterns.  When we listen to sound in the right setting it tunes us to a specific vibrational field. Within that energy field our awareness will shift, the tone of our nervous system will change, and the connective tissues throughout our body will vibrate to the sound.  Now there's scientific evidence, found at Sound Therapy Induced Relaxation, showing this sets off a cascading resonance of physiological events causing our cells to rhythmically puff nitric oxide, which then signals the release of the consciousness altering molecules. 

Even without modern scientific evidence the ancients understood the healing benefits of sound.  In ancient Greece music and sounds were played in spiritual temples where people came for healing.   The intervals of Gregorian chants sung in the great churches of Europe were designed to resonate with the physical proportions of the church.  These spiritual spaces were like tuning forks, leading people to higher states of consciousness.

Healing Intentions

Did you imagine a new world on Nov 11th?  If you missed it, you can still be part of the global consciousness.     The New Reality Transmission continues with daily meditation at 11:11 p.m. for the 11 days following Nov 11th.  Just click on the "Heal the Earth" link in the previous post and join in.

Or you can try Jonathan Goldman's "Temple of Sacred Sound".  There are three toning chambers where you can listen to different tones, watch some interesting visuals and meditate on healing the earth.  There's even an option to join in using your own microphone.     Enter the Temple of Sacred Sound

Creating a better future through positive intention.  Let's give it a try!

New Reality Transmission

Heal the Earth on November 11th

This inspirational video invites you to join the New Reality Transmission - a group whose goal is to have one million people across the globe mentally project a unified vision of a new paradigm for our species... a new reality.  The very real physics that connects human consciousness with molecular structure will be harnessed en masse during the largest scale simultaneous manifestation transmission in recorded history.

Can we create a better future by imagining it into reality?  Can we really visualize world peace into existence?  Is it worth a try?

The Science of Energy Healing

Here's a quote from Zhuang Zi's "Inner Chapters" (4th century BCE)

"There must be some primal force,
but it is impossible to locate.
I believe it exists, but cannot see it.
I see its results,
I can even feel it,
but it has no form."

This is a reference to chi, but if you think about it, applies equally today to something we all take for granted - gravity.   Scientists can tell us the effects of gravity, and there are numerous gravitation theories, but no one has found the "gravity particle" or any other energetic evidence of what makes gravity work.   So it's not surprising that science can't really explain the energy healing arts either.  But the information at the following links is a really good start! 

The Human Energy Field

The Science of Energy Healing