Witness

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This week has been eventful. I came to a new realization about an energy healing technique called scanning and it also ties into a way of looking at life. Events in my life lately have tied into the concepts related to this idea too, so it's become another of those "my, how things all work together" moments.

I had been thinking first about scanning. Scanning is a technique of checking a person's energy field for imbalances during or before an energy healing session. The practitioner runs her hand down and through the energy field, either in person or by distance, and "tunes in" to the sensations received. For me, this is a variation in the tingles I feel in response to the person's energy. When my hand tingles "harder" or "more actively," I know there is a need for healing in that area of the person's energy or physical being. During a healing session, I pause there, until the feel of the energy changes again.

The Reiki method I use most often is Kundalini Reiki. It involves a simple intend-and-send process, and one need not employ scanning unless one wants to. The energy goes where it's needed, whether scanning is a part of the method being used or not. I frequently use scanning during a healing session, to get a sense of the person's energetic needs and report back some feedback to the person on what I notice.

I learned, in Usui Reiki, that one progresses down a series of hand positions, or to different areas on the person, to give healing to that particular place. I have another idea though, that seems to answer the question of how the energy goes where it's needed if, (as in Kundalini Reiki), it is not being sent to each specific location step by step.

My idea is that instead of sending the energy to each place via a series of hand positions or while scanning, instead I am simply witnessing the recipient getting energy where it's needed. For example, if I am scanning during a healing and I notice tingles at the throat chakra, this means that the person's throat chakra is receiving more energy there, and I'm noticing it. I am being made aware of their need in that location, and feeling the energy being received there. I am not doing the healing, I am instead witnessing the healing taking place as it happens.

This jibes with a session I had once with Sarah Weiss, a medical intuitive. She intuitively watches the angels do the healing, and tells me what they are showing her. She doesn't "do" the healing; she tells me what is happening. And I feel it very strongly. She's the translator, or the narrator, of the experience. It's quite powerful.

I think that I am doing a version of this when I am giving a Reiki healing session. I am intending for the connection, for the energy to flow where it is needed. Then I can, if I choose to, notice the areas which are receiving the most energy, and report this back to the recipient. It makes sense to me and becomes consistent with the way Reiki seems to work. If I know the recipient has a headache, I can intend for the energy to work to relieve his headache. As the energy is flowing, I can scan his head and notice more energy flowing there. I can notice when it evens out. I am part of the process, the facilitator of the connection. I am not the healer. The recipient is receiving the healing he is ready for.

So how does this apply to other areas of my life?

Wednesday and Thursday of last week, I kept noticing repeated messages with one theme - Acceptance. I saw blogs about it, read tweets about it on Twitter, and email newsletters from various sources that appear in my inbox were focused on this theme. It kept popping up. It worried me a little because I got the feeling something was coming that I'd need to be prepared to handle with presence instead of panic. Acceptance is a concept of taking what is coming and dealing with it, staying strong and positive, and not fighting it, even when you don't like it. The idea is that resisting would make it worse and harder to get over. Even when something is painful, instead of fighting against the pain or railing against the injustice, simply facing it, being in it, accepting it, can help it resolve. It's about stepping a bit outside our natural tendency to fight it, and witness the event happening in a less emotionally attached way.

On Friday, my husband, who had been in a new job for four months following a stretch of unemployment lasting eight months, got laid off from his new job. His position was eliminated after his boss was fired. He was hired to support his boss, and so when his boss was fired (yes it was with due cause, but had nothing to do with Evan), there was no longer a need for Evan to be in his position. This is why I was receiving the message. Here's my opportunity to practice acceptance.

That isn't to say, "Yay! I am so happy this happened!" Please. Although his job was difficult, and not the right long-term position for Evan, a sudden change such as this carries a lot of weight and pressure. Acceptance means taking the present circumstance and working with it, doing what is needed and steering clear of worry about what could happen. It's an exercise in living in the present, separating from the emotional attachment, and being in the moment. I'm not going to panic or get depressed, and neither is he. He has already made some contacts, applied for four positions for which he is qualified, and believes that something better is coming soon. We are going to enjoy the extra time together, the opportunity to do some home repairs, and actively look and be open to that right opportunity for him, wherever it may be.

So the tie here is in the idea of witnessing - practicing a detached observation that allows me to take in the details as they happen, during a Reiki session, and during this time of transition for our family. Acceptance. I'm gonna try it for a while.

On a side note, to anyone with connections in health care, Evan is a visionary and innovative administrator with MBA, MSSA and LISW-S degrees and certifications. His linkedIn profile is here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/elangholt . We are open to relocation for the right position.

Thanks for reading. Your comments are always welcome.

P.S. If you are on Facebook and want to help us win $1,000 for some goofy dancing, we'd appreciate your vote! To vote: 1) click here and "like" the Motorcars page. 2) go to the "Wall" of the Motorcars page and click "like" under the video of Alice & Evan. (Watch us dancing our silly dance and enjoy :D) It's the page with the new car dance videos, not the pet contest. You can also find it on the "Video" tab of the Motorcars page. Thanks for your support!

Spiritual Ties

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I've been thinking lately about energy and the spiritual connection. I have some ideas I'd like to share and I hope they can come out in a coherent way. These things are hard to explain, and they are very subjective in nature. Plus, terms like "vibration," "frequency" and "energy" also have scientific definitions that don't exactly apply in the way I'm going to use them. There is a similarity in meaning, but they are not scientifically measurable so a scientist would say I'm using them wrong. So be it. This isn't a science related post. This is my attempt to explain my thoughts on spirituality, energy, and the way I am seeing life lately. Good luck to me. Ha.

Life force energy. This is the basis of Reiki. It is also the energy that animates all living things, plants, animals, and people. There is also energy in the earth, and around us. This energy connects us all, like a web or a grid. Someone who is dead does not have this life force energy running through his body anymore. That's the energy I mean.

Science doesn't have an explanation for how life begins. Sure, sperm meets egg. That part we know. Been there, done that. Four times. But what about the soul (life force energy) entering the union of those microscopic parts? That's beyond science. Life is a combination of the physical and the spiritual. We, as living beings, are both matter and energy, physical and spiritual in one package. Our energetic selves extend beyond our physical boundaries. Science gets much about the matter part, but still has trouble explaining the spiritual aspects. And yet we are combinations of the physical and spiritual, with systems that affect each other, intertwined. An example of this is how emotions have a physical affect on our health. Think of ulcers that develop from stress. That's just one example. I'm not saying anything new here, I know.

Now Reiki. Practicing Reiki is a way of putting one's awareness on the energy aspect in order to intend for that life force energy inside us to connect to the grid of the energy around us, and flow more of it to another living being, ourselves, a goal, or the earth itself. We are always connected to this energy, but the act of intending to connect, "turning on" the Reiki energy, raises our awareness of this connection so we can ask for this energy to flow in a certain way. When I do this, I have a physical response in the form of tingles in my hands, and a light pressure around my head and face. Every time. This physical-spiritual connection is consistently validated when I'm working with Reiki energy. I know I am connected by the sensations I experience. I am also able to sense imbalances in another person's energy field by intending to receive information as I'm giving a Reiki healing to that person. This also validates the idea that we are all connected. The recipient feels the energy and experiences receiving it. Stress, pain, emotional blockages are released, and balance is gently encouraged. The recipient is an active participant in his or her healing, as I'm not a "healer," but a facilitator of another person's ability to heal via this energetic connection.

So what does this have to do with spirituality? I'm getting to that. Thanks for bearing with me here.

Okay.

I think that this energy that's inside us, our soul, our life force energy, is all part of Spirit. You know, God, Source, whatever term works for you. We feel separate, and yet we are not. When we do things that raise our vibration to a frequency that allows us to consciously connect with the greater source of this energy (scientific language borrowed here), meaning things like meditation, yoga, energy healing practices, and even gratitude and heartfelt prayer, we become consciously more aware of this connection to the greater Source, and receive its benefits. We can also intend through this connection to share the energy with others. Doing so is really only helping the other person to connect in the same way, so he or she can benefit from receiving an extra measure of life force energy where it's needed. In addition, we can learn to become intuitively aware of the energetic state of other people. It's a process which develops through practice. The more we place our awareness on our intuitive senses, the more that awareness develops.

Many of us feel separate, our energy gets depleted, we get sick or emotionally blocked, because we consciously stay at our "lower vibration," disconnected to the source of the energy that can help us balance, cope and heal. We get caught up in our daily lives and forget to care for ourselves energetically, which is also physically since we are intertwined physical/spiritual beings. Reiki self-healing, and other practices I mentioned, help correct this imbalance, and help us be more whole.

So what I'm suggesting here is that we are always One with the Source, via our energy beings, and when we consciously connect with this Source (via Reiki or other practices I mentioned), we feel connected with the life force energy that's synonymous with God. God is not separate, God is the spiritual aspect of ourselves, and all life, and the earth too. We are all part of God.

I sound so religious right now. Or maybe anti-religious since this is rather different from the way many religious teach about God. Talking about God in a religious sense isn't in my comfort level. But I think a new understanding of spirituality is developing for me, and I want to try it out. My friend Jonathan calls this gnosis - a spiritual knowing that comes from experience rather than intellectual cognition.

There are people who have psychic gifts of clairvoyance, or they see angels, see or hear guidance, etc. They all know how to access this higher "vibration" of energy that allows them to be intuitively aware of these spiritual-based energies. It's all energy, but different from the life force energy shared by living beings. Angels can do healing work on our energy if we ask for their assistance. They live in this "energy realm" and vibrate at a slightly higher frequency than we as physical beings can consciously learn to access.

So there it is. My idea of spirituality, Reiki, life, and all that.

I know what I'm saying is not new, and countless great thinkers have put this idea out there in more eloquent terms in long chapter books already. You'll find shelves of them in the local bookstore and pages upon pages on Amazon. But it's new for me, and it's been pulling at me hard enough to feel I need to share it with you, for your consideration.

Any comments? (I ask nervously....)