The Reiki Connection

I recently wrote the following article for possible inclusion in a well known local magazine, I will list the name of the publication if it is indeed to be used in the February 2010 issue.

“Experiencing a Brain State (BST®) assessment & intensive treatment was part of my training to become a Brain State Technician. My mind was full of incredibly elaborate details and nuances of my new job, I had severe stress in my personal life and was adjusting to going from a stay at home Mother of four to 12 hours per day full time training while maintaining personal work as a Shamanist. Symptoms manifested as trouble falling asleep, never feeling rested during the day, extreme sensitivity to other people’s energy, not able to ‘turn off’ my mind, quite self conscious, a nervous passenger in vehicles and a tendency to take on tough situations then burning out. These issues were present most of my life heightening whenever ‘things got tough’.
I felt immense relief from the very first BST session. A sense of calm peace that emanated from within was a nice reprieve from the anxieties I had been feeling. After that, the benefits came exponentially. A wonderful surprise was how Shamanic and spiritual brain training was for me. The simple visualizations I was asked to do while I listened to the tones produced by my brain activity, correlated wonderfully with shamanic journeying and healing. Not only was I balancing the electrical frequencies in my brain, but also receiving spiritual guidance and support. As a Technician, this opened up intrinsic knowledge of the vast plethora of visualizations that can be tailored to each individual client depending on their life situations and belief systems. Being a technician also showed me how my own brain activity is affected during high stress situations, this knowledge incorporates nicely when analyzing our clients data. After my BST intensive, I felt rested and alert after 6 hours sleep, felt no twinges of pain in my body when around people expressing anger or depression, could ride in vehicles without anxiety, I felt a deep pervasive sense of calm despite outer circumstances, my memory improved and I engaged in public speaking with ease. A year later I am still reaping benefits of my Brain Training!”

Within the walls of Heart Quest Holistic Wellness Center we smudged the room and ourselves. I rang the singing bowl and put on Sandra Ingerman’s drumming CD. We lay on the reiki table side by side, our sides touching and holding hands.

I began to journey, met my Power animal, Musha - an Elephant, and asked her to take me to the Lower World to retrieve my daughter’s Power Animal.

There was a tiger, and I was in the process of trying to dismiss it (I was having a hard time discerning if this was true or my ego talking as we have had much reference to her being born the year of the tiger and a Chinese man once told us she had many tiger qualities) when she piped up and said, “Mom, I see a totem pole!”

I asked Musha to take me to the pole and part of it came to life as a Bear. This was her Body Protector. Apparently I needed to retrieve this as well as her Power Animal. I confirmed that the tiger was indeed the right animal, ego or not and asked first the Body protector to come back with me so I can bring it to her in Ordinary Reality.

After I camayed the spirit energy of the Bear Body Protector into her chakras and sealed in the energy, I went back to the lower world for her Tiger Power Animal and repeated the ritual process.

Since then, she has been able to connect with these spirit helpers along with many others even without ‘formal’ training on how to journey. She simply intuits and sees their presence and opens dialogue. She has clairsentient ability along with clairvoyant and clairaudient abilities. Sometimes this sensitivity makes life tough as we encounter strong unwanted energy in many places in our daily lives, but she also has much strength and help with which to draw resources from.

June 22, 2009

Journeyed on the Sea Bus to my Power Animal to ask what I can do today to keep me on my life & soul path.

The familiar “Eat and Breathe” message was given to me. “This comes first, you can’t do much affectively if you don’t take care of your basic needs first. Open your eyes and see the seals.”

I opened my eyes and scanned the water, it felt better to have eyes closed and I hadn’t really left my Power Spot.

Messages of living according to my soul – checking in and making sure I am comfortable. Lossening my grip on the “too sweet” self. Those times when I try hard to be nice and deliver some message while the other person misses my point or importance because of it. There are times I don’t need to be “nice” I need to be honest and clear.

Just as the Sea Bus was closing in, in it’s docking bay, I saw it. A silver and brown speckled harbour seal in no hurry to leave despite the boat closing in. I was able to watch for a nice time before it slipped under the water with a flip of it’s tail.

The intent for this Shamanic Journey was to retrieve a Power Animal for a young lady I had recently met. It was late and I was tired so I asked my Power Animal to help the message come quickly and clearly – and it certainly did! Before we even entered the portal to the Lower World a flash of the animal came to mind, dismissing it I descended and again so it flash before my mind’s eye. Other animals were around, but they all seemed to be crawling, slithering, bounding etc away from us. I had been told if you see an animal three times on this type of journey it is the one. Well again it came before me, large and clear. It was a Bald Eagle, just to help be sure it wasn’t my own ego insisting on this animal I asked it if it was indeed her Power Animal. Instead of answering as they sometimes do, it simply cocked it’s head to one side like birds do and opened it’s wings – larger than a human this bird was – it enveloped me and up it flew with me little in it’s talons. Off to her house we flew and it perched outside her bedroom window to peck at the glass. There she lay sleeping in bed. The window opened and this bird (now more realistically sized) hopped onto her chest. It was then I held out the quartz crystal and asked if it would come into it and back with me to Ordinary Reality to help my friend. Zzzzip! Off it flew into the crystal to await transfer. Just like that!

I came down the portal with Musha (who was very “tangible”) to the woman I was facilitating a healing for. She was lying on the ground of the Lower World. A being of light was standing over her - eyes glowing red. Presumably this is the Light Being she saw during a meditation earlier that day. From somewhere near my right side I was told I needed the protection of a guise. In the Lower World I began to don a mask I recently made with my Shaman Woman Aprenticeship group. I was guided it wasn’t the one for today and spontaneously began shapeshifting into a Bear. Not completely a bear, just on the surface - it was still a mask and costume.

The Light Being told me I had to collect something for him if he was going to help heal this woman. I felt a little unclear how responsible he was. Turtle came and guided me to seek the Gaurdians of the Directions. In the West was the old man on top of snowy mountain peaks. His voice radiates out like radio waves from a tower. He’s not the Guardian of the West, but he is on the way and played a part in the first Mediumship journey I went on. Without words being exchanged he passed me something he took from the folds of his robes. A black stone shaped like the male orca’s dorsal fin. Then to the woman wearing white furs - the Guradian of the North. She gave me an identical stone, again with out words from either of us. The Air in the East did likewise. There was no inkling of a need to visit the South and so returned to the being of light with the woman still lying before him. 

I brought him the stones and he quickly gathered them into his arms and then into his body. The red eyes turned bright green and the black stoned began to glow white. They floated out of his torso and down into the young woman’s stomach, chest and forehead. Light began to pass over her body as I turned to leave. It was very late; I was so tired from earlier events of the day, quite thankful for the help and guidance I had in this journey and nicely relieved I hadn’t fallen asleep!

The next day, or maybe the day after, I was given a grey blue stone of the same shape. It stands upright nicely on my window sill and the sun traces fabulous shadows as the day passes.

During a recent House and new work space Clearing I went on a shamnic journey after the smudging, drumming, calling in helping spirits, gleaning insights about the dynamics of the place etc. I was given a variety of new symbols to use. I have begun a series of paintings reflecting them. I have not asked about how much information to share about them so for now I will just put up my first painting of the series without further description.

So many Shamanic events occured through this process I can only relate the ones that stand out the most.

During a protocol designed to quiet Beta brain wave activity on one side of my brain while raising the other side respectively, I was encoraged to visualize the energy shifting over in various ways. Often what happened to me was Spirit took over my visulizations to a degree no matter what I was “supposed” to be seeing. Archangel Michael often came to me during this protocol and would brush the side of my head that needed Beta brainwave activity encouraged with is wing tips. Fairies would glitter and twinkle hovering over my left ear or my Power Animal would suck over the energy. It appealed to my “left brain” to also listen to the audio response given by my own brain during this balancing technique as well as to witness the numerical data following this process. As I relaxed and actively participated in the visualizations the tones reflecting my brain wave activeity became lower and lower, creating a pleasent somatic sensation. The clear the imagery the more response from my brain and beneift - new neuropathways were being created, establishing everything from clearer thinking to a greater sense of inner calm during hectic or stressful situations.

Another protocol I experienced had to do with my corpus collosum. This area is responsible for diserning information from the left and right hemispheres of the brain. In women this area is more ‘permeable’, able to go from considering details to a ‘big picture’ point of view very quickly. This stems from ancient times though we still encounter similar situations today, maybe even to a more heightened degree. On a daily basis experiences such as taking children down to the water hole - not only is awareness and attention on the safety of the children near water, but also on the look out for encroaching dangers in the surrounding lands - is there a lion stalking? Too much activity in this area can manifest as rapid changes from negative to positive thinking. The calming visualization is very somatic based and is designed to center oneself, feel grounded and connected to your higher state of being. I usualy had the sweet and empowering vision of my ‘wise self’ the part of me that always was and always will be, sitting lotus like down in my belly, a bubble of manifestation radiating outward with my breath.

On this particular day I was spirited back to a past life (I’ll write more on this life in another article). I was in an Egyptian Temple, I believe in Karnak. There before me was Horus, falcon headed with one moon eye and one sun eye, sceptor in hand. Beside him stood the king. I knelt down and bowed low. Horus anointed me with his sceptor, a long rod running parallel to my corupus collosum. Blessings were spoken and I was honoured as a healer. What an empowering experience!

There is more to this journey, but my notebook in on the lam. I do remember holding a copper or clay vessel and looking at the hieroglyphics on the walls. For the sake of expediency I will publish this now and add more when my notebook and I are reunited.

I recently was privileged enough to join my Shaman Woman group with Angela Prider (www.weastcoastshamanic.com) in making our shamanic drums! It was a wonderful process, journeying for, soaking, stretching, drying, painting and dedicating our important companions to our shamanic practices. We used elk skin over maple frames, and reverently approached their gifts to such a spiritual cause. I painted my drum with 10 of my main shamanic guides and ancestors symbols. It really reflects my shamanisim at this point in time. I wont go into too much detail here in such a public forum, but if you are a friend of mine and are interested, just send me an e mail and I will gladly share what each stands for and their relationship with me.I imagined I would find it difficult to drum and journey at the same time. I had always been very still and quiet - often without any drumming at all to listen to, lying with a cloth over my eyes in places I would most likely not be disturbed. I was oh so pleasantly surprised (and then again not surprised as had drummed and journeyed before me) to find it was even better to drum for myself! Very easy - almost too easy - I have to have dicipline to come back! I could journey for hours it seems. Very intense and super packed with wonderful information. I love it! I have discovered my drum is somewhat tempermental. After I took it out walking through town on a winters day and into a warm car on my way home, my lovely drum WARPED! It’s a little egg shaped now and if its not nice and warm has a fwap fwap sound to it. I will try tightening the skin a bit further using teeny tiny wedges between the skin and the frame, but as long as it’s warm and I drum on the sweet spot the tone is still beautiful and deep. SO deep it will rattle vents or glasses close together if they are in the room!

I recently was privileged enough to join my Shaman Woman group with Angela Prider (www.weastcoastshamanic.com) in making our shamanic drums! It was a wonderful process, journeying for, soaking, stretching, drying, painting and dedicating our important companions to our shamanic practices. We used elk skin over maple frames, and reverently approached their gifts to such a spiritual cause. I painted my drum with 10 of my main shamanic guides and ancestors symbols. It really reflects my shamanisim at this point in time. I wont go into too much detail here in such a public forum, but if you are a friend of mine and are interested, just send me an e mail and I will gladly share what each stands for and their relationship with me.I imagined I would find it difficult to drum and journey at the same time. I had always been very still and quiet - often without any drumming at all to listen to, lying with a cloth over my eyes in places I would most likely not be disturbed. I was oh so pleasantly surprised (and then again not surprised as had drummed and journeyed before me) to find it was even better to drum for myself! Very easy - almost too easy - I have to have dicipline to come back! I could journey for hours it seems. Very intense and super packed with wonderful information. I love it! I have discovered my drum is somewhat tempermental. After I took it out walking through town on a winters day and into a warm car on my way home, my lovely drum WARPED! It’s a little egg shaped now and if its not nice and warm has a fwap fwap sound to it. I will try tightening the skin a bit further using teeny tiny wedges between the skin and the frame, but as long as it’s warm and I drum on the sweet spot the tone is still beautiful and deep. SO deep it will rattle vents or glasses close together if they are in the room!We have since made our shamanic rattles. I have dried and filled mine on an auspicious night for me, but have not decorated it yet. It will resemble my drum beater when it is finished. Keep and eye out for any photos here if I am guided.

Namaste!

Immediately during my Brain State Conditioning intensive I realized how Shamanic this could be. 2 hours per day for 9 days - encouraged to focus on healing specific visualizations while listening to the notes my brainwaves generated.

The first protocol that was run for me I was asked to visualise being in a calm, quiet, healing place in somewhere nature. Well I went to my Power Spot of course! I had a wonderful experience on the beach with my Power Animal. Tracing my fingers in the sand and receiving Spirit guided messages (so cool!) little oceanic animals coming to me and sharing some healing. Jelly fish, sea gulls, eagles - the clearer and calmer  the visual, the sweeter and lower musical tones I could hear which resonated in my physical body. A hermit crab scuttled over and picked off unwanted energy that no longer served me well. My Power Animal stroked my hair and shared a healing light with me.

Turtle came - my clan animal, and beckoned me toward my portal to the Lower World. Of course I followed! There she took me to a shelter to crawl into. It was shaped very much like a turtle shell. A healing place - akin to a sweat lodge. Inside, the sections shaped like those found on a turtle shell lit periodically with soft glowing purple & blue light. I curled up inside and felt a wonderful warm healing take place.

Grandmother Spider came, oversaw the event and added her own wise healing venom to the mix as my Power Animal stood strong and still beside us.

In Ordinary Reality I was listening to and balancing specific brain waves in my temporal lobes (over and behind your ears) This area is believed to be responsible for language function, audio perception, memory, emotion, mirror neurons involved with empathy and much more. These are typically balanced the longest in Brainstate conditioning and is considered a priority. The idea is to have all of your brainwaves (delta, theta, betas, alphas, gamma) fairly balanced between the left and right sides with Beta slightly higher on the left and Alpha slightly elevated on the right.

Another protocol called for visualizing very “centered” thoughts. Feeding a healing glow or imagining your higher or wise self. For me it turned out to be my Wise Self, sitting lotus style at my sacral chakra. Gentle leaves falling over me giving healing light where they touched on the way past. A bubble of personal power and manifestation expanding with each of my deep breaths right out past my body. The message “All the healing is available. .The process has begun” came to me. I had the very empowering experience of giving my Wise Soul Self permission to create & manifest all that is needed.

The Ordinary Reality healing had to do with “quieting” or calming and lowering the activity of my Midline. The center running from front to back of my brain. This part interprets and connects the information from the left and right hemispheres. If it is too active it might show up as faster fluctuations between emotions.

I left feeling very relaxed and “cozy” yet alert. I am typically quite empathic and have a hard time around high emotions. A physical “pit in the stomach” feeling is a normal reaction I tend to get quite often and have to consciously work hard at times to keep from internalising other people’s upset. I encountered a good number of people displaying hostility that day on my way home. Road rage etc between drivers, aggravated travelling companions, and through a section of road that I find particularly difficult to travel over. The norm for me there is to focus completely on Reiki on “tune out” where I actually am. During all of this I felt a true sense of calm and was completely unaffected by what was happening around me. There was no effort, not even a slight twinge in my stomach as drivers yelled at each other before me, no anxious feelings and thoughts over that section of the highway. I did not have to do anything! It came so easily to simply observe and yet without a “deadening” feeling of being shut off. I felt a strong sense of inward peace and healing.

Immediately during my Brain State Conditioning intensive I realized how Shamanic this could be. 2 hours per day for 9 days - encouraged to focus on healing specific visualizations while listening to the notes my brainwaves generated.

The first protocol that was run for me I was asked to visualise being in a calm, quiet, healing place in somewhere nature. Well I went to my Power Spot of course! I had a wonderful experience on the beach with my Power Animal. Tracing my fingers in the sand and receiving Spirit guided messages (so cool!) little oceanic animals coming to me and sharing some healing. Jelly fish, sea gulls, eagles - the clearer and calmer  the visual, the sweeter and lower musical tones I could hear which resonated in my physical body. A hermit crab scuttled over and picked off unwanted energy that no longer served me well. My Power Animal stroked my hair and shared a healing light with me.

Turtle came - my clan animal, and beckoned me toward my portal to the Lower World. Of course I followed! There she took me to a shelter to crawl into. It was shaped very much like a turtle shell. A healing place - akin to a sweat lodge. Inside, the sections shaped like those found on a turtle shell lit periodically with soft glowing purple & blue light. I curled up inside and felt a wonderful warm healing take place.

Grandmother Spider came, oversaw the event and added her own wise healing venom to the mix as my Power Animal stood strong and still beside us.

In Ordinary Reality I was listening to and balancing specific brain waves in my temporal lobes (over and behind your ears) This area is believed to be responsible for language function, audio perception, memory, emotion, mirror neurons involved with empathy and much more. These are typically balanced the longest in Brainstate conditioning and is considered a priority. The idea is to have all of your brainwaves (delta, theta, betas, alphas, gamma) fairly balanced between the left and right sides with Beta slightly higher on the left and Alpha slightly elevated on the right.

Another protocol called for visualizing very “centered” thoughts. Feeding a healing glow or imagining your higher or wise self. For me it turned out to be my Wise Self, sitting lotus style at my sacral chakra. Gentle leaves falling over me giving healing light where they touched on the way past. A bubble of personal power and manifestation expanding with each of my deep breaths right out past my body. The message “All the healing is available. .The process has begun” came to me. I had the very empowering experience of giving my Wise Soul Self permission to create & manifest all that is needed.

The Ordinary Reality healing had to do with “quieting” or calming and lowering the activity of my Midline. The center running from front to back of my brain. This part interprets and connects the information from the left and right hemispheres. If it is too active it might show up as faster fluctuations between emotions.

I left feeling very relaxed and “cozy” yet alert. I am typically quite empathic and have a hard time around high emotions. A physical “pit in the stomach” feeling is a normal reaction I tend to get quite often and have to consciously work hard at times to keep from internalising other people’s upset. I encountered a good number of people displaying hostility that day on my way home. Road rage etc between drivers, aggravated travelling companions, and through a section of road that I find particularly difficult to travel over. The norm for me there is to focus completely on Reiki on “tune out” where I actually am. During all of this I felt a true sense of calm and was completely unaffected by what was happening around me. There was no effort, not even a slight twinge in my stomach as drivers yelled at each other before me, no anxious feelings and thoughts over that section of the highway. I did not have to do anything! It came so easily to simply observe and yet without a “deadening” feeling of being shut off. I felt a strong sense of inward peace and healing.