The Miracles of Possibility

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Last weekend, I was reminded that anything is possible. Here's what happened:

I was at the Gift of Light Expo in Columbus, Ohio, teaching a workshop and giving Reiki healings at my booth. I met lots of nice people, shared Reiki, and had a really good time. The last big expo I was at was in November, in Cincinnati, Ohio, called the Victory of Light. I'll be there again the second week in April.

Flash back to November, 2010, at the Victory of Light in Cincinnati. The last day of the expo, a woman (I'll call her Jean) came to my booth, brought by her friend. Jean was stooped over, walking slowly with a cane. She was obviously in pain, said she couldn't turn her head, stand straight, and couldn't stand or walk for long. She said she had a cancerous tumor on the base of her spine and constant pain that made it impossible to sleep well at night. Her friend convinced her, with some urging, to try 10 minutes of Reiki. Rather reluctantly, Jean sat in my chair.

I gave her Reiki for 10 minutes. At the end of that time, Jean was surprised to find that she could turn her head back and forth without pain. She was very impressed, and I was grateful that the Reiki had done some good for her. Her friend also had a session, and the two of them left.

Now flash forward to last weekend, in Columbus. I was at my booth, when Jean and her friend came over. Jean was walking tall, smiling, without a cane, and as she came closer, she danced the rest of the way to my booth! I was amazed and exclaimed how great she looked. Jean said that she had to come and see me to thank me for introducing her to Reiki. She said that since meeting me in November, she had been getting weekly Reiki treatments from a woman in her local area. And now, she is completely healed. I mean completely. Jean said she stands taller than she ever has, walks, dances, and moves without pain. The cancer is gone. The pain is gone. She sleeps, and dreams, at night. She was smiling broadly as she told me all of this. I hugged her, overjoyed to find this out. Jean also told me that next week she was being attuned to Reiki.

Seeing Jean again has had a deep impact on me.

I realized that we never know how much Reiki can help someone. Sometimes it is a little, sometimes it is with miraculous results, as in Jean's case. I'm only grateful that I was in the right place for Jean to experience the start of a life-changing journey of healing.

The experience illuminated for me that I am here to present an opportunity for those who are searching for ways to experience and learn how to access this beautiful healing energy for themselves.

I hope that all who teach Reiki get to meet their Jean.

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Here's a reminder that Reiki practitioners of all levels and modalities are invited to come together the weekend of May 13-15 in Peninsula, Ohio, to share the joys and challenges of this work at the 2011 Reiki Retreat.

Learn more and register here.

Communicating with Angels with Your Feet on the Ground

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I have just spent an afternoon absorbed, fully enrapt, in a book. This is rare for me because I have very limited chunks of time. But I couldn't, wouldn't drag myself away. It was just this good. I have to tell you about it, and also tell you why it is incorporated into the way I'm thinking these days.

First though, a little background.

Last summer, I went to a free talk. One of those Feel Your Power, Own Your Life (not the real name) kind of things. One of my friends was involved in putting the presentation together, and mostly I went because I wanted to support her. It was well done and I liked it. I signed up for the mailing list, and told my husband about it too. He also signed up for the mailing list. We started getting daily "inspirational" emails. They were just little messages about incorporating love and spirituality into your life daily. To tell you the truth, I unsubscribed after about a week because I really can't deal with daily email newsletters. I just get too many to read them all and I feel overwhelmed. I prefer a slower paced newsletter subscription. My husband, though, stayed on the list, saying he liked the little daily messages. Cool.

So some of the little daily inspirations were worded kind of whimsically. This week, my husband shared with me one of them, laughing. The message at the end of a post about looking within was "Go Deeper." He said that he couldn't help but shoot off a teasing quote from one of our favorite TV shows as a reply. He sent "That's what she said." I guessed it before he told me. We laughed and I told him he had chutzpa (brazen nerve) to reply that way.

The author of the daily emails didn't like it. She sent out an email to everyone on her list chastising them for "going there" and guilting them into failing to receive the message as a higher-consciousness one. Evan (my husband) actually sent out a reply to her again, this time saying that it was a joke, and that sometimes, when sending out a message as strong in entendre as that one, such replies are inevitable.

She didn't like that either, and wrote back a personal response to him, accusing him of being creepy and she even quoted laws of sexual harassment in her email. He apologized for offending her, said he felt she was out of line in taking it so seriously, said that a life in balance seems to be important, even for someone "enlightened" and "spiritual," and then he unsubscribed from her list. He wrote eloquently and I was proud of him.

He got me thinking.

Balance. It is very important. I am a person who has a day to day live here now kind of life. I also have a seeking that spiritual connection, higher vibrations, help the world kind of life. Both are important and essential for me. I think that people who live entirely in one world or the other are missing something essential for fully experiencing this life we are given. For example, people who just do the day to day 5-senses only experience are missing the beautiful experience of feeling the Divine is a part of them. And people who only talk and walk in etheric energy, looking down from their holy perch to chastise those who are making bawdy jokes or having a beer, are not grounded in the real world, and as such, are not fully LIVING in this gift of a body we are given. I think we need both.

I am a mom of four kids. I take care of them, clean up after them, shop and cook for them, help them with their homework, and even yell at them when they aren't listening to me tell them in my soft way the first or second time. I enjoy a little obnoxious humor from time to time, I may occasionally drop an f-bomb (not to my kids), and I like a beer now and then. I do other work - I write content for board games and do social media networking for a few businesses.

I also spend a lot of time teaching and sharing healing energy with my family, students, clients, patients at The Cleveland Clinic, and others in need. I meditate, read on spirituality, talk to my angels and guides. I have regular sessions and receive instruction from a psychic. I think about spirituality every day for hours, mixed in with my daily life.

I think I'm in pretty good balance with my woo-woo and my chop wood, fetch water sides. I may veer one way or the other at times, but I tend to move back to center pretty quickly afterward.

I am writing this post because I think it's important for us to fully experience this gift of a life we have from all sides. We need to live in the here and now present, and also take time to experience the spiritual. We can alternate between them quickly, and integrate them as well. Finding the balance, the rich sweetness of life with both the grounded and the spiritual, can help in so many ways.

Which brings be back to my reading experience today. I read Sea of Miracles by Amy Oscar. What a gorgeous, inspiring, elevating book. Amy acknowledges the connection to angels from a place of grounded reality. She talks from the perspective of one who has had her life infused with Grace as she became aware of the signs and assistance she was being given by the angels in her life. She teaches how to integrate the spiritual with the grounded in an approachable and relateable way. I came away from reading her book knowing that I am, as is anyone else who reads it, fully capable of having the same experience - of elevating my life through embracing this connection that's just waiting for me to see and feel it. The bare truth in her words touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I felt little touches of truth on my face as I read - this is how I experience the angels when I'm giving Reiki - as feather-light touches on my face and forehead.

Amy doesn't know I'm writing this. She didn't ask me to review her book. But it had such a profound impact on my heart, my day, and my spirituality, that I had to share it.

And also, it reinforced my feeling of needing to talk about living a balanced existence - with head in the clouds and feet on the ground, placing attention on each in a gentle, ebbing flow, sometimes consciously immersed in both at the same time.

Live. Feel. Love. Reach out. Listen. Reflect. Acknowledge. Share. Repeat.
All of it.

Thank you for this message, Amy.

Everyone, get this book. Click on the picture below to go to Amy's website.

The Full Potential Show

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Hello Everyone! I'm so honored to have been a guest of James Rick on The Full Potential Show, and I wanted to share the interview with everyone. I think he did a great job, asked intelligent, thoughtful questions, and really "got me" during this interview. I love the way it's edited and the only thing I'd change about it is the messy basement in my background! I didn't know it would be seen quite so clearly! LOL!

Enjoy and please feel free to comment. Here's the video, and the link to the website is below it! Enjoy!





http://www.fullpotential.com/alice-langholt/

Peace.

Intention and Attention

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I've learned and have been exploring lately, the differences and interplay between intention and attention. I invite you to enter into this discussion with me so we all can grow together.

First, when working with Reiki energy, one is taught to begin by intending to connect with the Reiki energy. We put our attention on the flow of the energy. Then, we intend for the energy to flow to the recipient, either ourselves (as in self-healing), another person, or a goal (as in attracting abundance). Once we set our intention, we are to simply place our attention on the flow of the energy as it goes. I think of it a little like giving the cab driver directions and then letting him to the driving to the destination. Already, in these first few seconds of a Reiki session, the interplay between intention and attention has occurred twice.

One can think of the attention part as surrender, but I think it's more than that, I think it's observation - this attention to the feeling of the energy flowing. One can put as much attention into a Reiki session as one wishes. What I mean is, I can send a "shot" of Reiki energy to a person by just intending to send Reiki to him or her, noting the feeling of the energy flowing for about five seconds, and then going about the rest of my day. The energy will get there and do some good.

I can also sit for about ten minutes and simply focus on sending that same person Reiki, and for that entire time, I can attentively feel the energy tingling and pulsing between my hands as the energy flows via the connection between us.

Or, I could spend that same ten minutes while the Reiki is flowing, tuning into the recipient's energy, and using my hands to "scan" through the person's energy, observing which chakras or physical parts of the body are receiving the most energy. I can mention to the recipient those areas of need I observed, and ask him or her about any concerns related to those areas. This takes very focused attention.

In the Medical Intuition class I took during January, we learned that the mere act of observing triggers the healing process to begin. One of the key pieces to doing medical intuition that was emphasized in the class is to earn to tune in and observe the body parts inside yourself (and eventually another person). But this observation itself seems to be more than just looking. Healing begins here.

This idea of observation is also noted in the technique called Remote Viewing. It isn't the goal of remote viewing, but one of my students who knows how to do this technique, told me about an experiment done by a team of remote viewers and some plants that had been infected with a plant virus. The viewers were supposed to determine which plants had the virus, and which did not (they were attempting to "see" the plants from some other location, without knowing in advance which group of plants was which). The plants that were remote viewing targets, and had been infected with the plant virus, did not develop symptoms, while a control group of plants infected with a virus did. The non-infected plants were fine. It was a surprise to the group conducting the remote viewing exercise that the plants did not get sick, but it was an example of how just observing the inside of the plants for signs of infected cells had a direct effect on the health of the plants.

In physics, this is called the Observer Effect - that even quantum particles that are observed will behave differently than those that are not. On a molecular level, something about the energy of observation changes the behavior of the observed particles.

If a Reiki practitioner sets his intention to start the healing, but does not then step back and adopt a presence of attentive observation during the energy flow, will also make it harder for the energy to work. The practitioner who is focused on intention the whole time will likely end up using his own personal energy to drive the healing, making him end up exhausted at the end. Think of telling the cab driver where to go and then pushing the cab the whole way instead of letting the cab driver do his job and drive there.

Attention is important beyond energy healing too. For example, my kids always want attention. They want me to look at them, talk to them, play with them, listen to them. It's a natural human instinct to crave relationship and the simple act of attentiveness is a way of showing respect and love. My kids want me to show them how to draw a new picture, and then watch them do it, but they don't want me to push the pencil for them.

It's a little like surrender, or trust. You set the intention for the energy to work and then step back and let it go, trusting that it will work towards the highest good of the recipient. It takes the ability to let go for the energy to work.

Another thing is that the energy doesn't always work exactly as we expect it to. It may work in some other, more needed, way. It's not just about us as the practitioners, but the recipient's readiness to receive the energy also comes into play here. That may be on a subconscious level as well. So we need to let go of the focus on the results after setting the intention for the energy to flow, and trust that it is being received where the recipient is ready for the energy to work. That is not always our decision alone, and sometimes isn't even something we can predict.

When I am asked by someone new to Reiki what the energy is going to feel like, I tell them to simply relax and observe "what's different" as the energy is flowing. This helps the person focus in on his or her own sensations and then give those sensations attention. The more the person can pay attention to the sensation of the energy, the more he or she will begin to notice.

There is an interplay between intention and attention in the Law of Attraction too. We put our intention out there to manifest what we envision for ourselves. Then we let it go and allow the angels to arrange the things that need to fall into place in order to allow our dreams to become real. We need to pay attention to opportunities and signs along the way that will lead us to fulfilling our dream. Excess effort in trying to push and make it happen is discouraged. Put it out there, and step out of the way while the universe is bringing it to you on that stream of creation energy you have set out there with your intention.

What we place our attention on grows, and what we ignore goes away (eventually). So with energy, so with a lot of things in life.

I'm fascinated with the interplay between intention and attention. I think that it's helping me allow for the flow to come to me without me getting into my own way. Peace.

Am I a Healer?

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Am I a healer?

Lately, this question has been coming up. It was brought to my attention by one of my new students, who is an MD, and has the view that Reiki practitioners are, and should refer to themselves as "healers" or they are not bringing respect to what they do. According to Debra Katz,

"Any person who attempts to help another living being to transform them to a greater state of health is a healer. They don't need a medical degree because the energy used doesn't come from a pharmaceutical company or a corporation (at least not yet!). Reiki is the most well known modality of energy healing in the western world. If you ask a person what they do they will say they are a healer before anything else. If you ask a physician what they do they usually will say they are a doctor before they say they are a healer. To say a person who does Reiki is not a healer is like to saying a person who sings is not a singer or a person who drives a car is not a driver. It makes no sense."

I agree, to a point.

However, my opinion differs in that there is a connotation of arrogance to saying "I am a healer." It implies that those who I offer healing energy to are passive recipients, rather than participants in their own healing. I prefer to think of myself as an energy worker, one who works with subtle energies, Reiki being primary. I facilitate healing by offering one the opportunity to receive the healing that he or she is ready for. There is a dialogue, a give and take, and the recipient must be willing and open to receiving the Reiki energy. I am not "making you heal" as the word "healer" implies. I am offering healing energy to you, in the hopes that you will receive benefit from the energy.

It's a little like teaching, really. Yes, I am a teacher. That word is completely acceptable by the masses as being one who offers knowledge, and who facilitates another's ability to assimilate the knowledge. As a teacher, I have this knowledge, these skills, to offer you, the learner. You can decide that you cannot or will not learn what I am trying to teach you. You can decide that I am not a teacher that you can relate to. In that case, you can choose to find another teacher or subject that best fits with your needs. In this role of teacher, therefore, I am more accurately "a facilitator of your ability to increase or assimilate new knowledge". I can't make you learn any more than I can make you heal. That part is up to you. I can do my best to make the knowledge clear, to adapt to your unique way of learning so that it makes sense to you.

So as a "healer" I am attempting to offer you energy that you are able to assimilate into your own, to then benefit from this energy in the ways that make the most sense to your needs.

The problem is in the connotation, rather than the definition here. It sounds arrogant to say that I am a healer. I am a healer in that I work with healing energy. I am not a guru, or one who can "make" you heal if you are not ready to heal, or willing to heal on some level.

In another sense, we are all healers - people who recover from illnesses. We heal ourselves, so we are healers. But the word "healer" is taken more widely to mean one who heals other people. I don't think I do that. I present the opportunity for others to receive healing energy. That I'm comfortable saying.

Do I want you to heal? Yes. I want you to feel better, I want you to enjoy and benefit from the beautiful energy that is flowing through me to you. I am deeply grateful for the ability to be connected to the Source of Reiki energy and to be able to pass that energy to you. I am also extremely grateful for the ability to pass this ability to others who wish to learn to do the same thing. I am a teacher.

So you won't find me putting "healer" on my business card. It says Reiki Master Teacher.

Reiki Master comes with its own connotations, for I am not a "Master of Reiki" (there's that guru connotation again). But it's easily explained that Reiki Master is a level designation that means one has received the proper training and attunements to enable one to teach and attune others. Like having a Master's degree - it is a definition of training. It doesn't make you any more holy or genius than anyone else.

So to Debra Katz, and to my Reiki student, MD, I say, I am in the practice of working with healing energy. In that sense I may be a healer, but I will not refer to myself that way for the reasons that I don't want to be mistaken for someone who will heal you. Only you can heal you. I can offer you energy that can help you heal, and will joyfully do so.

We are all healers.

Peace.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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This morning I was greeted by some hostile posts on my Facebook page. They were made by another Reiki practitioner who disagreed with the fact that I charge for distance healing. Despite my telling her that I balance my professional practice with volunteer service as a Group Leader with the Distance Healing Network, weekly giving Reiki at The Cleveland Clinic, and twice monthly at a cancer support center, The Gathering Place, and that I accept exchanges and will reduce or eliminate entirely fees for those who are unable to contribute, she continued to berate me and tell me that I dishonor the practice of Reiki by charging for distance healing. I told her that I offer the same time and mindful attention to my clients, whether distance or local, she retorted that it only takes a few minutes to send distance Reiki. I deleted the posts, realizing that nothing I could say would prevent her from saying I was wrong.

My husband said not to blog about it, because that would add more energy and attention to the issue. I understand the philosophy of whatever we give attention to increases, and that which we ignore goes away (eventually). I see his point.

But this was staying with me, and I felt the need to address it.

The point is not whether or not I choose to accept an exchange for distance Reiki. The point is how Reiki practitioners treat one another. I advocate for respect. If she doesn't like that I charge for Reiki, she can go to another Reiki practitioner who does not. She doesn't need to attack my choices, and also my integrity. I bear no hostility towards her because her opinion is different from mine.

As people sharing healing energy with others, I would like to suggest that we all see each other as sharing the same goal of helping the world be a better place. That's it. Anyone who is trying to help others, educate about healing, and share energy with those who need it deserves to be seen as such. We should not turn on each other for using a different Reiki modality, trying to support our family so we can dedicate our time fully to a healing practice, or for disagreeing over how Reiki is shared or learned. I believe that in this work we are held to a higher standard. That isn't to say that we can't be human. I'm extremely human. I sometimes swear. I enjoy drinking wine or beer on occasion. I make mistakes. I sometimes worry, despite my efforts not to. But I also have internalized the Reiki precept, "Just for today, I will treat all living things with kindness" to the best of my ability. I honestly try to live that way.

The Reiki precepts are a beautifully written simple and yet complex set of values that anyone working with life force energy is encouraged to attempt to live by. They are:

Just for today...
I will avoid anger.
I will avoid worry.
I will do my work honestly.
I will be grateful for all I have.
I will treat all living things with kindness.

I honestly try to live by these, and hope that others, especially those who embrace Reiki as part of their path, will do also. They are not laws, commandments, and we are not bound by them. They are just suggestions, good ones, for how one may choose to elevate his or her life.

So I put out there: Please, all of you who are involved in this practice of sharing energy healing, respect the basics of our practice. Respect those who are on the same journey. Make your choices and let others make theirs. Walk your talk.

Thank you.

Tax Relief for Us All

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Well, here's an unpleasant surprise. Today, in the mail, came a letter from the IRS. I had many jobs in 2009 - teaching, freelance writing, game content writing, Reiki classes, and even worked for Google for a while. Apparently, on last year's tax return, one of my W2 had not made it into my 2009 tax return. In fact, I had never even received it and it was overlooked. But not, apparently, by someone at the IRS. We're being charged a rather alarming sum of back taxes based on unclaimed earnings. Blah.

So I'm deciding to make a win-win situation out of this instead of lamenting it.

My Energy Healing Certification Program, a nine month comprehensive program in advanced studies of energy healing, usually has a $1,500 tuition fee. To give you prospective students a break, and to encourage the possibility of making the program possible for more of you, I'm offering the program (which starts this Sunday, January 9 or Thursday, January 13 - two different tracks will be running concurrently to meet demand), at a discounted rate of 3 payments of $330, or one payment of $940.

You and I will have more money left to deal with our taxes, and more of us can enrich our lives with learning and growing intuitive abilities.

I like looking at a troubling situation as a win-win instead.

So the only catch is that the program is starting so soon. I have to give a deadline for registration. The good news is that the class is recorded, so if you miss the first one because you need a week to get your own finances organized, you can watch the introductory lesson after the fact.

Therefore, you may register no later than Saturday, January 15, to receive the discount for the Sunday or Thursday program.

All of the dates and topics for the Energy Healing Certification Program can be found here. Check it out. This is a life-changing opportunity.

And there's another win involved. This training, from the second week forward, gives you skills that you can apply toward helping others. That also includes guidance and support from me on growing a practice for yourself that can bring in some money in exchange for your services. As your skills increase, so will the number of opportunities that come your way.

I guess that makes this win-win-win. Take that, IRS!

P.S. Here are some FAQs about the Energy Healing Certification Program:

• Q: Can I really learn Reiki this way? Doesn't this training need to be done in person?
• A: Reiki energy is not limited by distance. Attunements are fully effective either way, and will be experienced same as in person by each student. Everyone who receives training this way is completely capable of connecting to the Reiki energy immediately following the first attunement.
  
  
• Q: I'm skeptical. Will Reiki work for me? Will I feel it? Don't I have to believe in it for it to work?
• A: Skeptics are welcome. All you need is a basic curiosity - enough to say, "I don't know if this will work, but I'll give it a try and see." I encourage everyone to let experience be his or her teacher. I'm here to allow and facilitate you being able to experience this for yourself.
  
  
• Q: I'm afraid to pay for something if I don't know if it will work or not. Is there some way to try Reiki before I commit to the program?
• A: I offer free 15 minute phone consultations. Email me for a time, or call and I'll talk to you right then or call you back shortly. My number is 216-469-2499. I'll give you Reiki while we're on the phone and you can try it for yourself. I'll also answer all your questions. Talk to me. I'm here to help.
  
  
• Q: How is this program taught?
  
• A: We meet live, online, via wiziq.com, using a link I will send you for our online virtual classroom. You'll need a webcam, internet access, and earphones.
  
  
• Q: I already know Reiki. Is this program for beginners?
• A: Whatever level of Reiki you have, or other energy healing experience, this program will take you farther, deeper, and enrich your skills in a multitude of ways. I'm here to work with each individual to help you meet your goals - from where you are to where you'd like to be.