My Corona

I should probably start this blog entry off with the fact that, as far as I know, I do not have the Corona Virus. At this point, the UK is about a week or so into 'lockdown' or let's say restricted physical movement because of this virus that is slowly spreading worldwide. We are looking at six months possibly until things will slowly come back to normal, and then, it is predicted, we will have another wave of it, before it totally dies out. So, everyday life, as we know it, has been totally turned upside down for the foreseeable future. 

Sensitive people and certainly anyone who is an energy worker of any kind, will be feeling the fears, angers and frustrations of the collective energy around them. If you are particularly empathic, you will be aware of incredibly heightened energies being generated from the people that you are living with or who are in your personal energetic circle. Many of you will be sighing with relief at what they are calling 'social distancing,' as the actual physical distancing that this involves means that you are not sharing fields of energy with other people, which normally you would be more than comfortable without, anyway!

When you are using reiki or any energy healing modality in your life, the awareness that this brings can be very helpful. You come to realise the importance of energy hygiene as much as physical hygiene. However, in these swiftly changing times we are now living through, it becomes more important than ever for us to get into that state of balance, maintain our inner pendulum in neutral and ground our energy so that we can withstand this energetic onslaught. By taking care in this way, we can use this energy to help and stabilise others, who might be having a difficult time, either because they are living in fear of the future (rather than creating in the present) or sitting in the past, and not letting go of yesterday. 

We do, of course, need to attend to the very real practical issues that living through this lock-down will involve, taking reasonable and sensible precautions over hand washing, maintaining physical distance, making sure we are getting good nutrition and supplementing, if necessary with other vitamins. As we will be spending most of our time indoors, we must make some time (daily if possible) to include a physical exercise of some kind (ask your body what it needs every day) so that we remain grounded and aware of what our body is telling us (I have written another blog that talks about the physical/spiritual dynamic). Maintaining social relationships these days will now of course be through social media or the good, old fashioned phone call or letter!

Corona, the Spanish name, means 'crown' you will know. This virus is messing around with our crown chakra, it is making us look at the direction of our lives. We have this time (especially if you are unable to work) to take stock and reflect on where we would like our lives to go, when this is all over. It is also a time to reflect on how much we are sovereigns of self, in the small scale (within our relationships) and on a larger collective scale (in the way our community or country's government operates). How much do we rely on what we are told, rather than listening to ourselves? How much power have we given to others to make decisions for us, how much are we reliant on pleasing others, rather than leading our lives from our heart, with radical self honesty? 

This theme is particularly relevant to healers, who, at their best, listen to and support others in their journey, coming from a place of knowing just a little bit more about a particular life lesson. It is about allowing someone to find their own answers, with some help. 

Parents among you will know how important it is for the soul's you are guiding to make their own mistakes, and know when it is appropriate to intervene. 

We must take care then, in these current circumstances, to use our lights as warriors, not dictators. We must all wear our own crown and know that we are ultimately responsible for our own direction in life, our moral / ethical awareness and standpoints. Now might be a good time to reflect on these and see where we might make a few adjustments. The collective crown of humanity is, let's say, definitely a little rusty... time to get out the polish, clean up our acts and start envisioning a healthier collective future.

 Stay safe, look after yourself and remember to count your blessings

Lesley

                                     

Roseheart Therapies

Allowing Reiki - Progressing with Reiki through the Precepts

One of the most instructive and wonderful reiki books I have come across is the revised published version of Hiroshi Doi’s A Modern Reiki Method for Healing, (Vision Publications, 2014). In it, Hiroshi Doi explains that when we take a reiki course and decide to use reiki in our lives, what we are really doing is allowing it into our lives, allowing it to work through us. The more we allow the reiki to flow through us, through our reiki meditations, treating other people, etc. the greater our potential for healing ourselves and others and attaining the 'personal perfection' that is mentioned in the reiki precepts. By 'personal perfection', I take this to mean the perfect, most authentic version of your soul's expression, not a paragon of virtue, or anything like that, unless, that IS you, of course :) 

What I have learnt is that reiki is all about raising your vibration, purifying your energy field and clearing energetic blocks that separate you from the source of reiki, universal energy. Where you believe the energy comes from is another topic (you don’t actually have to believe anything to experience it) but there an important element that is the attitude of allowing reiki to flow through you.

The degree of readiness that we feel may be hindered a number of different energies that would tend to divert, or distort the healthy flow of natural energy in our bodies that is our birthright. These are the energetic blocks and resistance that we need to try and clear in order to fully experience the wonder and good health that reiki can potentially bring, and the spiritual progression that it walks hand in hand with.

Some of the energetic blocks are caused by thoughts and beliefs that originate from low self esteem, or a sense of not being worthy to receive. They may also be caused by habitual patterns of self defeating thought that some call the ego or the devil on our shoulder.  We are all, of course, worthy to receive, it is just our perception that causes interference in the flow.  Of course, the wonderful thing about reiki is that in giving we are receiving and this creates a beautiful balanced energetic flow as the practitioner benefits as well as the recipient of the treatment.

I have often wondered why some people seem to progress really quickly with reiki and others take more time. We are all on different paths and what is true for one person will not be true for you, or it may only be a partial part of your truth and your healing progress. What we can be sure of, is that we will attract those people who will benefit us and reflect back to us what we are needing to work upon and what energetic blocks in the form of unhelpful thoughts and beliefs are coming up for clearance. 

There is a well-known channel, called Daryl Anka, whose helping spirit Bashar, says that “you are the only person in the room” This really struck a chord with me, it felt such an evident truth and one that we would be wise to remember! I take this to mean that the only reality we have is our own inner reality and by extension what we see around us is a reflection of that. If there are parts of that reality that we do not like, this brings the wonderful opportunity then to do some inner work and change that energy or vibration to one that is more to our liking and help us achieve greater well-being.

It is my belief that there are qualities or energies that people are in the habit of allowing that will help them progress faster on the reiki path. This is where the precepts come in but I would not limit practise to the precepts, although they are an excellent place to start. Two of the precepts are more about releasing energies: Do not anger and do not worry; these are important blocks that can lower our vibrations and hinder the natural flow of reiki. It is not just about trying not to be angry about something, it is more about releasing any anger that we may have stored within our energy system, from past or present imagined hurts or grievances, often by working out why we are angry, which often stems from an unacknowledged fear. The anger that lies within us can erupt or be brought to the surface by other people who hold or express an anger, often when we least expect it. It is the tiger we need to tame and transform.  Releasing worry, in this we are surrendering our need to micro manage our lives, not giving in to bleak thoughts about the near or distant future and trusting in a benevolent universe and our ability to handle whatever comes.

The three other precepts are more about allowing energies in: the energies of honesty, gratitude and compassion. The allowing is not just a passive allowance, not just sitting there feeling honest or grateful or compassionate (although this is a start, I am not knocking that) It is the active practise of all of these  that will really help to keep our reiki flow strong and pure and lift us to higher levels of awareness and vibration. So, I will give thanks for every gift I receive in physical form or otherwise, I will not let someone’s else’s mistake be an opportunity for me to profit,  I will be compassionate to myself by viewing others with understanding and love, helping them with discernment and objectivity when I can. We can expand this idea and work with other energies to enhance our lives, such as loyalty; tolerance and acceptance; stillness; sharing; joy; you can add to the list and pick which one you would enjoy and benefit from the most at any particular moment. There may be an activity that will bring you joy, a place where you find it easy to tap into stillness or an opportunity to be true to another person in sharing friendship.  Each one will shine like a facet in the diamond that is reiki or source energy.

By having in mind the feeling of “allowing” these energies to flow through us, we can start to harvest a rich and abundant future for ourselves, accelerate our personal healing and release any resistance to a healthy and meaningful life.

Lesley Sherlock

www.roseheart-therapies.com

Do we find our spiritual way through the body?

It's important to acknowledge that, whatever methodology, spiritual discipline or healing technique that we learn, this is, of course, going to change us and how we then view our world. We learn to filter our experiences in a different way, depending on what new things we are finding out about. I feel it is important to continually review how we are processing our life experience and if we need to sit back and have a look at where we are coming from, energetically. If you are attuned to reiki and consciously want to learn more about yourself, there are some ways to do that, by exploring the Five Precepts for instance, which can assist you in learning about your individual healing process.  You will also find that many things will present themselves for you to deal with as you move along your healing path, sometimes they will be mental health/emotional issues, at other times you might have physical/bodily challenges that come up and reiki can of course help you cope with both of these.

In terms of energy and with my Reiki practitioner hat on (which is a gold hat with amethyst and diamonds on it by the way!) this is of course, mostly about setting intentions. With Reiki, we are setting a healing intention, that the reiki flows for the highest healing good of the recipient.  This is our energetic standpoint. At the same time, by doing this we are neither putting restrictions nor expectations on what kind of healing will arise when we channel the energy for someone else. So we can look at reiki energy as an unconditional type healing source that will raise the vibration of the receiver, creating an environment that promotes a healing response in both the energy and physical bodies. The physical body, which has its own intelligence, will use the reiki energy in the best and most efficient way.


I was listening to a popular spiritual teacher recently who stated, in his usual dramatic and jokily awe inspiring manner, that our consciousness is not on a spiritual journey, it is our body that is on the journey. Our consciousness uses the body to interact with the world, so of course, it makes sense in a way if we view the body as the spiritual explorer and not our soul/consciousness. As our bodies age and move through life, they are what have the ups and the downs, they get sick, feel pain, bear scars and are a road map of what we have been through and where we have been. What I found quite interesting as well is that he said that our body will take its own good time about when it heals and how it heals. We think 'we' our consciousness or soul is on the journey and ignore that it is in fact our bodies that are on the spiritual journey. What do you think about that idea?

Can we also measure our spiritual progress through the lens of our physical body? I feel that in some way, we can do that. I don't mean that, if you have an illness,  you are spiritually lacking or have failed. I do think the body can be a fantastic barometer however of our overall health both emotionally, mentally and spiritually and a good pointer of where we can start to focus our healing attention. Metaphysical writers such as Louise Hay have clearly put forward their ideas about the correlation that they have witnessed between certain emotional states and illnesses that arise in the physical body.

It is ironic to consider, that although we may have embraced and understood healing concepts and mentally we may have done the good work and feel good, the body will need time and patience in order to adjust energetically and allow the new perspective/subjective filter to be integrated. In this sense we are merely the directors and caretakers of our physical body, the body may not give us the instant results that we are hoping for in healing terms. This I feel is a sensible viewpoint to take, rather than expecting an instant, miracle body fix, we must be patient with our bodies and give them what they need without demanding that they instantly get well.

This is a good reason why after having healing attunements/ empowerments in a Reiki workshop, you are often encouraged to give yourself a typical three weeks or 21 days afterwards to let your new energy pathways 'settle in', to allow your body to re-calibrate and get used to the new energies it is receiving (as well as echoing the 21 day meditation retreat that Mikao Usui is said to have carried out on Mount Kurama).

As a student of energy and healing, it's important to realise that healing is a process. If we are serious about progressing, we need to be consistent and realistic with our discipline, knowing that at times we might feel we are leaping ahead and at others, the going is slower with whatever healing goal we are aiming for.  We can learn to make our meditations and self healing treatments a regular part of our daily lives, so that we are more able to feel the accumulated benefits that taking time for our practice of choice will bring.

We can take time to become more aware of and look after our physical bodies, let them have adequate rest and sleep, give them good, healthy food, nurture them with massage and keep them strong with exercise. By doing this, no matter what else is going on in the world, we can feel more centred, present in our bodies and more in charge of our own day to day reality. And our bodies, which are our personal direct spiritual feedback tools, will be sure to tell us how well we are doing that, as they are where the buck really stops.

#reiki #healing #spirituality #pathways #energy  #bodyaware            www.learnjapanesereiki.com

Zero Point Balance - A point of unconditional love

There is a wealth of information out there now in the Mind, Body, Spirit field, with the growth of the internet this has meant that information of all kinds has to go through a bit of an internal discernment filter when we look at it, as to how we feel when we read it. Whether we find it resonates (finds a compatible frequency within us) or doesn't. As spiritual or truth seekers we do well to question what we find 'out there' and give some time to how we feel about what some people call 'core' beliefs or foundational points of reference, our guiding principles and whether we feel they are serving us, are they outdated, do they need some tweaking? Have we taken a look at them recently, is there room for improvement, are we aware we even have any core unconscious or conscious beliefs that are shaping our lives and daily experience?

I feel drawn very often to ponder on the nature of unconditional love and what it really means to me. I find that when I am getting towards that state, I feel completely at peace, balanced and totally in the moment, allowing each event to unfold as it is, neither labelling it good, bad, dark or light. There is a total absence of judgement yet a healthier feeling of discernment and neutrality about my daily experience that is totally liberating and yet often elusive. I wonder if any of my readers feel this? I wonder if this means I am just a passive bystander, a detached observer or if my reluctance to engage in drama of any kind is a positive sign of spiritual progress? How do we measure such things anyway?

There are people who when we are around them, they really seem to press our buttons. We can go from zero, balanced point to incensed and irritated. These are normally people who know you very well and if they are wanting to, habitually try to provoke you or are in an unconscious pattern of doing so. The great thing about learning an energy healing technique such as reiki is that it helps foster an awareness of energy and how we can use it to help ourselves.





We begin to realise that only we are in control of our own energy and where we notice and direct it.  And since every person can be viewed as a mirror of a part of ourselves, any potential person we see an irritating or annoying can be just showing us that part of ourselves that we haven't totally come to terms with and are still meting judgement out to (this can be calling ourselves good OR bad) In acceptance of ourselves and our human experience, we can really get to grips with what we might look at that we feel is good/bad, dark/light, since it is, after all, just a matter of perspective.  An event that you might judge as bad, might actually turn out to be 'good' in the end and vice versa.



So, looking at things without judgement can be looked at as an immense freeing up of your personal energy in that you are letting things flow and not making yourself feel either happy or sad, depending on how you judge things. It is also a point of freedom as your feelings as not being controlled by circumstances outside of yourself. If you want to, you can still maintain a positive outlook, whatever happens on the outside.

The dance of life and energy is constantly changing and finding balance within that can be a daily challenge. If you accept what is, without question, if you accept yourself as you are now, without question, you can find an inner balance much more easily. This zero point, feeling totally balanced, feels like unconditional love for myself and my life. This neutral, zen like perspective is really helpful, although it may seem a little passive, it helps you to create what you want from life, rather than be at the mercy of circumstances.

#reiki #healing #unconditionallove  #zen  www.roseheartreiki.com

Doing What Works

I know what I am supposed to be doing. I am probably supposed to be making an organised list of some kind, scheduling this or that, so that I can tick things off and feel accomplished. 







This is all well and good but no, this is my day off. I am going to do what works for me, which today involves having a lie in, enjoying a carefully brewed cup of tea whilst browsing an inspirational book on drumming. Phew, that's three things on a day off, on top of writing this new blog. At this point I am tempted to go off on a tangent, which I often do,but let's remain on track with what brings me to the theme of this blog, which has been inspired by a simple sentence in my drumming book.



We are just coming into my favourite time of year, SPRING! To be honest, I have a hard time in the winter months like a lot people, especially during January and February, I know I am not alone in missing the bright sunshine of other times of the year. So, I have to create my own inner sunshine to keep me going through the duller days. How do I do that? Well it's a mixed self prescription: listening to some of my favourite types of music, 80's soul, gospel with a bit of flamenco or opera mixed in; doing some yoga stretches; having lovely inspirational chats with other people's pets; doing some extra self reiki, maybe going for a swim, taking a leisurely walk in nature. Depending on my energy levels and what I feel I need, I might pick one or two of these. So I have to ask you, what do you find makes you feel more alive and happy? Take some time to reflect on that and if you have been allowing yourself some of that. Follow through on some of your ideas, maybe try something new. Is it your body, mind or spirit that is calling for some attention......what do you think you need at the moment?

So, coming back to the book I was reading by Michael Drake called The Shamanic Drum. In his introduction he says 'I practise Shamanism myself, not because I understand why it works, but simply because it does work'. Speaking for myself as a reiki practitioner, I understand fully why he has expressed himself this way; there are some things beyond our human comprehension or scientific enquiry, they are based on our experiences as individuals and cannot be measured or judged in any other way. Some things just seem to work for us, we have no idea why, they just do.  One translation of Reiki is 'mysterious spiritual energy'. This is such a good description because the wonderful feeling you can get when working with reiki is, really, a truly mysterious yet special one.

I love drumming and using reiki at the same time, the energy it creates is amazing and like nothing else I have experienced. I have always known I would love this way of working although I realise it's not for everyone. About 15 years ago I attended a personal retreat holiday on the island of Skyros and one of  the workshop leaders used a drum to lead a meditation. The sacred special atmosphere the drum's voice created is something I remember so well. It was on that holiday that I had my first experience of reiki too. Years later and here I am with a passion for drums and Reiki, who knew?

We can only really use what works for us as individuals and also acknowledge that of course, this may change as we evolve and grow. Reiki has been called a path of healing love that we can accept and grow with if we choose. It can help us be more of who we really are or get us back on track with who we are, if we have drifted off course. It can help us heal our relationship with our inner self and give us clearer personal boundaries, as we acknowledge the energetic realm and our place within it. It also helps us foster greater self respect and care. In doing this, we can find what really makes us tick (if we haven't properly understood that before) and what gives us the most joy.

So, Spring is now springing.....how does your personal energy feel and where does it want to take you right now, just for fun?


www.roseheartreiki.com           #reiki #drumming #healing #shamanism

Why I am a Reiki Practitioner

The thing about Reiki is......it pretty much defies explanation.....

End of blog (hah!). One of the trickiest things I find about talking about Reiki is that unless you experience it for yourself, there are simply not the words to express the kind of feeling you get when in the Reiki ‘zone’, either by giving a treatment or receiving one, or giving the Reiju empowerments that are part of my reiki style and lineage when initiating students.

Some of the words that have been coming up when I think about what reiki energy feels like are peace, purity, magic, stillness, timelessness, pure awareness and sacred space. Reiki takes me to a place where all is good, I am totally connected to my inner self and it brings in a deeper sense of intuitive knowing that maybe I had lost touch with. It makes me aware of the vastness of life itself, the utter beauty of the stillest moment and the amazing creative power that we all have within us.

This pure creative power is a sacred tool for living and this is where Reiki energy takes you, to your own inner power and ability to create yourself anew, every day. The treatment session holds you in that space of peace and stillness, so that you might find your way back to a renewed sense of who you are and what you are about. 

My experience of reiki is that it ‘resets’ you, it is a resounding ‘hello again, where have you been all this time, let’s get on with life again’ sort of frequency, if you have gone off course for a while. It allows your own energy to starting flowing clearly again by pushing through the dark spaces and blocks and bringing in the light of your own energy, so that you are able to function better on every level. It is like one long, deep prayer or meditation, a gentle wakeup call to your spirit within to come out to play; his is one of the reasons I call myself a light player, and one of the main reasons I am a Reiki practitioner. For me, Reiki is a source of self empowerment, self love, spiritual growth, peace and joy.

*Ahem*..... Thanks for the Mercury Retrograde...

If you follow Astrology at all, you will know that we have just been through what is termed a 'mercury retrograde' phase, when communications of all sorts get jangly, computers crash, we sometimes say things we didn't mean, things generally can go off course if we are not careful. With this being the last day of this current phase, it's a good time to reflect on how communication problems can affect us in our everyday lives and what we can do to help ourselves.


It seems as if lately all I see are articles and posts about difficulties with expression and communication and I would like to explore this a little in terms of how this can make us feel and what problems in this area can relate to. If we have a weakness in our throat area, I have found that this can not only relate to blockages in expression (this is an obvious one) but also the feeling of overwhelm and of not having enough time, resources or energy to accomplish everything we want to accomplish.

I am feeling also at the moment that lightworkers (or lightplayers!) are feeling more and more urgency in their missions and things are speeding up and moving at such a rate, it can get us a bit giddy, so it is just as well to take a look at what is happening within ourselves energetically and how we are coping with world energies, as well as those in our direct orbit.

Fifth Chakra colours in bloom!

In terms of spiritual anatomy of course, the throat is governed by the fifth chakra and imbalances in that chakra can show up in many ways and can have a number of different causes. Sore throats, neck tension/stiffness, coughs, talking incessantly or talking too little, not being comfortable with silence, these can all mean there is a weakness or  bit of an imbalance in that area. How our energy is operating in our energy centres in other parts of the body will also have a bearing on our energy in any one centre, as their is a constant flow within, without and between each centre.

The times we are living in are ones of accelerated consciousness and awareness and sometimes it is helpful to just take a step back and review how we are feeling on all levels and where we can improve things and stabilise ourselves. I am mentioning this because personally, I do find that when I am trying to do too much, I start to have issues in my throat area and it means I need to slow down and take life a little easier. So this is exactly what I am doing in one of my favourite activities, which is to write! I haven't added to my blog posts for a while, so I am energising things on this level. Very often we can get carried along on the wave of the needs and desires of other people, especially if there are many demands on our time. Another aspect of an unbalanced throat chakra is the feeling that we do not have enough, either of time, money, resources.... you name it, it will be felt very often in our throat area. So having a balanced energy centre here will help us to express and also to be aware of the richness already present in our life.

Lotus Blossom

So, as well as self treating with reiki for longer in this area and paying more attention to this energetic area in our meditation sessions, vocal toning, singing or chanting will also help to clear and balance the centre and this forms the latter part of the Lotus Blossom Head Massage that I offer as a therapeutic treatment, using toning to help clear the three upper personal chakras.

It's probably a good time to review what we do actually have (perhaps by having a physical clear out or declutter in our homes) or by acknowledging all the help and kindness we have received from others and keeping a gratitude journal to remind us of all the good that comes our way; another idea is to write little notes about all the good things that happen and save them up in a jar, to review later on in the year, at Christmas time perhaps.

As well as appreciating what we have (to make us ready for further good things and enjoy them), it is also a good to remember on the heart chakra level that we are deserving of them when they do arrive and to know that it is safe to receive what we have asked for (assuming we have asked for what we really want, which is another matter!) It is also useful, I find, to remember that even if we don't yet have what we think we need, it will find it's way to us, one way or another and we don't need to worry about the 'hows' as they say. So, as a final note, dear reader, stay open to what is winging its way to you, be happy with what you have right now, and, know that you will always.......... have enough!

In gratitude (but at the moment, with a bit of a cough, nevertheless!)

Lesley