Reiki

The Wounded Healer

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Lately I’ve been thinking about the Chiron path we all walk. In Greek mythology, Chiron was a great centaur whose wisdom, gift of prophecy, and abilities as a healer and teacher were renowned. Because he was the son of the Titan Cronus and an ocean nymph, he couldn’t die. He was wounded by an arrow poisoned with the Hydra’s blood, leaving him forever the wounded healer who could heal anyone except himself. He ended up giving away his immortality, saving Prometheus in the process, and he became the constellation Centaurus.

I don’t recall ever meeting a healing practitioner who wasn’t wounded in some way along their path. The place where we hold our wounds reveals important information to us. Although the planetoid Chiron’s placement in our birth charts can certainly teach us a great deal, I’m not speaking of astrology here.

I’ve had many wounds in my life and held them both physically and psychologically/emotionally in certain chakras. For example, feelings of uncertainty and lack of safety during childhood anchored in my root and led me down a path where I had to discover ways to ground myself, to find my center, to regain my sense of security. A severe wound that happened in early adolescence focused on my sacral chakra, and part of my journey to wholeness lay in finding a way to tangibly create and manifest in the world.

We are not Chiron. We don’t have to live our wounds forever. We could walk through life forever living the wound, of course, and sometimes we feel as if we have no choice. But we also can seek to find the wisdom, the teachings, the often oh-so-hidden gift of our wounds.

Wherever we have been hurt, therein lies our greatest strength. It may be covered by the blocked energies we placed over the wound just to survive, and I can’t say uncovering it is easy. It requires fortitude, tenacity, and courage. We have to prove to the small self that we’re not going to give up on the task.

The higher self and the beloved angels of Light definitely help us in the process. Archangel Michael gave me so much aid with the issue of feeling safe while I uncovered, cleared, and healed some of my oldest wounds, those that ran so deep I couldn’t always acknowledge them. He’s a great friend to have when seeking to find hidden truth. I’ll always be grateful to Archangel Michael and my higher self for allowing me to feel secure while I dug up the deeper reasons behind my pain.

But that was my journey. Yours may be completely different. The important thing to remember is that (1) you are never alone on your healing journey, and (2) your wound reveals the path to empowerment, to your greatest healing gift, the one only you can share. Pain may seem to hold no purpose, but it always points the way to our strength should we choose to take the path toward finding it.

I don’t claim to have found my way to all my hidden truths or to have uncovered all the healing power beyond my wounds. After 22 years on a conscious healing path, I realize how far I have yet to go. But many gifts have been discovered as I follow the wounds to the wisdom that lies within.

Sometimes, of course, we heal miraculously and instantly. I’ve both experienced and seen those moments too and always feel thankful for them. But if and when we are led to walk the path of the wounded healer, we may find the deepest of miracles, the ones that show us how to help others.

Thank you, dear souls, for the willingness to walk your own path no matter where it leads you. Thank you for showing the grace it takes to navigate the shifting seas of life. Thank you for shining light and touching others with your unique and beautiful soul. It means the world, you know.

Things I Learned from My Dog

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For the first time since childhood, I welcomed a wonderful dog into my life. Our precious collie Laddie died after being run over by a car when I was 10. When I saw the face of this beautiful dog who now shares our lives, I knew I had to save her. She was in a kill shelter just one day away from being put to sleep.

Training our dog has become a part of our lives each day, and, truth be told, it’s really more about changing ourselves. After three weeks of intensive training with a professional (Jason, a true “dog whisperer,” of Sgt. Rosco’s Boot Camp), our wonderful dog needed us to follow through with the approach she knew and embraced.

Although I knew a great deal about energy already, seeing how important it is to dog training and what a visible impact it makes is rather amazing to me. With dogs, it really is all about the energy and intention! Fellow Reiki practitioners, I know you understand what I mean. Here are a few of the things I’ve noticed in the process of dog training that relate to energy.

  1. Own the space around you. I’ve taught people about setting energetic boundaries and creating a field of protection for years, but oddly enough I never imagined I would be doing that with a dog. In order for our dog to feel safe in a strange environment or in the presence of unknown dogs or people, I have to create a safe space around us. I have to walk with calm confidence and a demeanor that relays that (shoulders down, chest up, grounded in stance). I also know well that dogs are able to pick up our telepathic images as well as our emotions, so I picture an orb of protective energy extending around us whenever we come into a challenging situation or energy. More than this, though, I have to claim the space. I must walk like I own whatever place I happen to be in, because in truth we have to hold our energy field—that space around us—as our own. In doing so, others are unable to encroach on our energy. This is not about being angry, territorial, or aggressive. It’s about being responsible for our own energetic welfare and realizing that we must maintain our sacred boundaries of personhood (and dog-hood). A pack leader is loving but always capable of creating and maintaining personal space.
  2. It’s not about shouting. The energy emanating from our beings does not have to be blaring in order to lead. There is a major difference between confidence and combativeness, between assertiveness and aggression. Shouting at a dog is entirely ineffective. We’re most likely to get barking in response. Dogs and people respond to self-assured, harmonious energy.
  3. Stay focused in the moment. We all know the mind can wander. But this is one of the most important things in the dog training process (and in life). If I take my attention away from the current environment, I am relinquishing my pack leader status, and the dog has to take the reins. When I pay attention and am focused where I am, we have a successful walk. In life, if we’re too busy giving our energy to the past or pondering the future, we give up the great gift of conscious co-creation with the Divine.
  4. Checking in is important. In order to successfully train a dog, we have to become self-aware. Are our energies remaining constant? Where are our thoughts and emotions? If I’m walking our dog and I start projecting my thoughts into the future—especially worrying about something—my entire demeanor changes. I start to slouch or raise my shoulders. The moment that happens, our dog starts pulling on her leash. She knows almost instantly when I’m not being pack leader and she quickly assumes the role. So I have to continue to check in on my inner self and maintain the composure I seek to create for her.
  5. Setting the stage allows for positive outcomes. Our trainer taught us that the success of our dog walk depends on our readiness before we step out the door. We don’t want to begin the walk in a state of overexcitement. We center ourselves, get grounded, make sure we’re feeling harmonious and confident; then we have our dog sit, make eye contact, and we set our intentions for a happy walk and project that to her. It’s interesting how much like preparing for a client session dog walking can be! What if we all did this before we went out into the world or began the workday? Getting centered and grounded, establishing our intentions, and checking in on our thoughts and emotions can go a long way toward having a successful workday.

No doubt I will continue to learn more about dog training as time passes and incorporate the wisdom of the dog world into my daily life. For now, I hope you enjoy these thoughts and benefit from them.

One last note to self: Barking never solves a problem.

My Real Job

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9thRayLionessCpyRtProfessionally, I wear many hats. I’m a Reiki master teacher, Sacred Heart Soul Healing founder, healing arts practitioner, ascension artist, writer, editor, speaker, organizer of A Gathering of Angels Meetup and a few other things, but in truth I have only one real job: to LOVE without condition and honor every being with whom I share this journey.

As a sensitive or empath who feels the emotions of others (not quite as fully as Deanna Troi on Star Trek Next Generation but more than enough to be sure), I recognize that the thing that is most needed for the purpose of healing is unconditional LOVE. The energy modalities I use in my work flow with an endless fountain of that vibration and quality, which is why I joyfully embrace daily self-work with Reiki and Sacred Heart Soul Healing and also why I love teaching these techniques to others so that they can imbibe the gracious gift of infinite LOVE.

I was sent to this world to LOVE without end every single life. This doesn’t mean that I don’t discern that some are on a completely different wavelength from me, but my job is to see the Light within each soul no matter how much shadow appears on the surface. That may not be easy (especially in this election year), but it is the most important thing I can do in every moment. LOVE!!

Love and judgment cannot exist in the same space at the same time; so I realize that when I fall into judgment of anyone (and, yes, that means people in the public eye and the political arena), I have taken myself out of the frequency of LOVE, out of the vibration where I am meant to live.

When we judge another person, we both align ourselves energetically with the thing we are judging and more firmly entrench that person in the energy that prompted such a judgment. Since my job is to LOVE everyone, judgment is off my to-do list from now until forever. I can and do discern what is right for me, and I most assuredly use that discernment to live a better life and to envision and birth a more radiant reality. But I want EVERYONE to rise to a higher state of consciousness; so I have to avoid labeling anyone in a way that builds on the shadow reality a person is already choosing.

When someone is spouting hate, I recognize that he or she likely lives in a state that is far outside the realm of grace. That person does not know LOVE. In most cases, people were taught to hate and molded by others and by circumstance to become someone who loathes rather than loves.

An empath must avoid looking in the direction of such a person for very long, because hate and fear tend to breed more of the same. However, holding love for those who have been caught in the vibration of hatred is vital if we expect those individuals ever to be able to move beyond that hate frequency. I find it necessary to remove myself quickly from such intense, fear-based energies while setting an intention of shifting ever more completely into LOVE—even for those who have no conception of what that beautiful, enlightened emotion is.

I have seen unconditional love in the public eye only a few times in my life. Once on an Oprah show, a woman came on to discuss how she had forgiven the man who murdered her daughter. Her ability to forgive and even extend love to this man was truly LOVE beyond the level of most human conception. Yet, as an intuitive, I felt and accepted the truth of her emotion.

I knew that this was possible, because I had been able to forgive deeply the murderers of my first love, my best friend and another dear friend. Of course, for me this took decades to achieve while for the mother who appeared on Oprah it had been only a few years. Seeing and hearing her story helped me to find love in my heart enough to extend to those who had taken the lives of my two young and cherished teenaged friends and my 21-year-old first love. In doing so, I freed myself from the pain of that time in my life when I lost so many who were close to me, and I opened the door for more and more LOVE to flow into my life. Letting go of those deep wounds that lived in my heart for so long made room for the amount of LOVE required to change the world—at least my little corner of it.

So, friends, that’s my real job and the most important one of this or any life. Living LOVE is everything. It feeds the soul, heals the psyche and blesses every aspect of life with its rich, glorious pure LIGHT, and for this I am ever grateful.

Usui Shiki Ryoho: Reiki: A Matter of Degree

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Reiki1-2TemplateCpyRSo much of what happens in our lives is a matter of timing. We heal when we’re ready to heal. We learn our lessons at the exact moment we are prepared to experience the great aha!

The same is true when we embark on the path of the healer. Because the world has accelerated and our vibrations are rising as Lightworkers, it’s ever more important to embrace our gifts by allowing ourselves to process them fully. When learning the Usui System of Natural Healing, more commonly known as Reiki, we have a responsibility to honor the power of this amazing energy by integrating each of its levels or degrees before moving on to the next one.

Because I recognize the impact and power of each degree of Reiki, I teach the three levels successively allowing sufficient time for the cleansing and integration process between each class.

I remember well how eager I was to learn the second level after taking Reiki I. As a fire sign (Sagittarius) who wants everything to happen yesterday, I was champing at the bit.  But I recall with equal clarity that period of processing after the first incredible Reiki class. During those first three weeks, I experienced some detoxification or clearing, which is relatively common. More importantly, I truly could sense the tremendous changes taking place as the energy became more and more at home in all aspects of my life.  It was beautiful to experience the power of Reiki unfolding like the petals of a lotus blossom.

When I took Reiki I in 1997, I received four attunements—each one more potent and amazing than the last.  There are Reiki Masters who shortcut this process and teach Reiki I in an afternoon offering only one brief attunement and little instruction. As a Master teacher, I prefer to honor the power of Reiki I by offering four attunements to my own students, just as I received, because I wouldn’t want them to miss out on any aspect of the full first degree Reiki gifts. I give the attunements over a span of time (Reiki I is a 10-hour class) along with the knowledge of how to use the energy more effectively.

On my own path as a student of Reiki, I waited a little over a month between Reiki I and II. My patience couldn’t hold out for longer, and I sensed intuitively that the time was right.  Because I had fully processed the first degree energy, when I was attuned to the second level, I could distinguish the difference in the vibration of this life force energy.

To make an analogy to music, I liken Reiki I to middle C on the scales. Reiki II raises the vibration an octave higher, and Reiki III an octave higher still. Had I taken all the levels at once or too close together, I would never have known that first beautiful note that so graciously set the tone for everything that followed.

As an intuitive, I listen to my inner voice and connect with the Divine to seek insight and guidance. For me that wisdom was clear: To learn and to teach Reiki as a matter of degree—one class at a time on a path to greater enlightenment.

My inner sense is that those who learn Reiki as a brief workshop or take two or three levels at the same time miss something vital in the awakening process. A greater concern is that taking too many levels at once could cause an energetic overload unless the attunements given were far less powerful than those I received when opening to this wondrous energy.

I grew up taking piano lessons for seven years. My teacher didn’t start me out playing Bach, because I wasn’t ready for that. First I had to learn the scales. Of course, learning Reiki is much easier than learning piano. For many, it feels like coming home to the light of the spirit that has always been there.

The point is we need to ground ourselves in one level before moving to the next. For some, that time is shorter than for others, but the time required for processing, 21 days, has not changed in the years since I began teaching in 1998.

As a Reiki Master I place great value on each level of Reiki. Each has its unique resonance, its perfect flow of Light and Life Force. I invite those interested in opening to the gifts of Usui Shiki Ryoho to find a Reiki Master teacher who embraces the complete power of each degree of Reiki and honors its mastery.

copyright 2004 L. Diana Henderson, Reiki Master Teacher