Using Reiki with Sounds, Colours, and Crystals

I wanted to comment about a book I recently read, "Practical Reiki" by Dr. Mari Hall. The sub-title is: A practical step by step guide to this ancient healing art. I am going to preface this post by saying I am not a Reiki master and the information in this post all comes from the above-mentioned book. I am simply a person who is very interested in Reiki, has read some books on it, and has received Reiki. If you have more knowledge on Reiki, I'd be very interested to hear from you, especially if this needs editing. Think of the following post as a wikipedia entry, if you will. :)

For people who are unfamiliar with Reiki (pronounced "Ray-Key"), it originated in Tibet over 3,000 yrs ago and is a completely non-invasive healing technique. The person giving the Reiki is an instrument (through their hands) that transfers the universal energy into the fully-clothed recipient, leaving them filled with peace and balance and allowing self-healing to occur. Dr. Hall writes: "Reiki is not mind-directed energy, polarity therapy or therapy using magnets... With Reiki, you do not have to see the energy, nor concentrate on it at all. Nor do you remove energy from someone, or give them your energy. Reiki energy balances and harmonizes. In a a balanced state, the individual has the potential for self-healing. The energy is transmitted simply by placing your hands on yourself or another individual. We do not diagnose with Reiki. Rather, we understand that the body is in a state of balance or imbalance. Reiki makes its way to the areas of imbalance during a treatment. Reiki is given from the heart and is often experienced as the receiving of unconditional love. This love has the power to bring us back to a state of peace and harmony." (p.6-7)

Besides a history and introduction to Reiki, the book covers self-treatment positions as well as information on treating others, including positions for specific imbalances. I especially enjoyed chapter 8, Other Ways of Using Reiki, where she writes about using Reiki in a group setting, or with babies or children, animals and plants, as well as distant healing. Reading about using Reiki with sound, colour therapy, crystals, and meditation, and the associations of sound, colour, and crystals with the different chakras was really interesting (chapter 9).


Here is what I'd like to remember from reading this wonderful book:

Chakra - Colour - Tone - Crystal - Associated Endocrine Gland
7th Crown - White - G - Clear Quartz - Hypothalamus
Connects us to our spiritual self. White helps connect you to your purity and innocence, bringing spiritual expansion and connection to others, and reduces pain. Gold enhances the higher mind and connection to God and the spiritual strength in you, and has a masculine energy. Silver has a feminine energy and helps you to move faster and communicate better (gold, white and silver are all associated with the 7th chakra). Clear quartz reflects clear white light than can be directed to everyday thoughts, feelings, words and situations. It has sa tremendous ability to vibrate on the levels of colour frequencies. Milk quartz is said to enhance milk production, strengthening bones and teeth.

6th Third Eye - Purple - D - Amethyst - Pituitary
Located one inch above the centre of the eyebrows, this is our body's intuitive centre; the seat of will and clairvoyance. Purple opens up spiritual perception, brings a feeling of ecstasy and sense of royalty, increasing your sense of leadership and respect. Amethyst enhances right brain activity and is one of the best stones for meditation, calming everyday thoughts. It is an excellent room cleanser and inspires and encourages intuition.

5th Throat - Blue - A - Blue Agate, Lapis Lazuli, Sodalite, Turquoise - Thyroid & 4 parathyroids
The blue colour associated with this chakra helps you to speak the truth, increases your sensitivity, strengthens your inner teacher and brings peace, truth, and a quiet sense of order. It is wonderful for all issues of trust and communication. Dark blue in particular helps put you in touch with a deeper sense of purpose. The throat chakra connects our heart and head, and is a medium for the expression of our thoughts. When we do not express ourselves and feel restricted, the throat chakra becomes constricted and can cause headaches and an imbalance in the throat. Blue agate helps us to express truly our thoughts and feelings, both conscious and subconscious, and is a good counteraction of red nergies like passion, infections, inlammation and fever. Lapis lazuli has always been a symbol of power and majesty and is used for mental and spiritual cleansing, strengthening the skeletal system and activating the thyroid, thus releasing tension and anxiety, encouraing mental clarity and creative expression. Sodalite strengthens the metabolism and lymphatic system, and balances the masculine/feminine polarities. It aids the pancreas and balances the endocrine system, calms and clears the mind, thus alleviating fear. It cuts through density and illusion, bringing clarity and truth and enhances communication and creative expression. It is slightly grounding and acts like a sedative. Turquoise attunes and empowers the whole body. It helps with circulation and the respiratory system, vitalizing blood and stabilizing the nervous system. Use it for balancing the mind during meditation, for promoting constructive expression, communication, friendship and loyalty. It encourages a person to listen to their inner voice. Turquoise is sensitive to touch and loses its shine if not used for a while. It is known as a happy stone.

4th Heart - Green, Pink - G - Aventurine, Chrysopras, Malachite, Rhodochrosite, Rose Quartz - Thymus
The heart chakra is about love. Green promotes a strong active love for others and emovidies the balance and fullness of love and is nurturing. Pink represents a soft, yielding love for others. The clear green healing essence of aventurine has a calming vibration; it counteracts the emotions and gives greater balance to the physical body. Wear aventurine when stressed to release deep emotional trauma and soothe stress, anxiety, and fear. Chrysopras moderates depression, harmonizes sexual imbalance, dispels pain and sadness and brings inner peace. It has a prevailing feminine aspect that fosters qualities such as gentleness, patience, tolerance, humanity and grace. It bolsters hormone regularion during the menstrual cycle and helps men feel and heal emotional problems. Malachite aids the functioning of the pancreas and spleen and aids sleep. It promotes tissues regeneration and strengthens the heart, and helps reveal subconscious blocks. Rhodochrosite acts as a bridge for the heart, solar plexus and root centres, enabling the person to have a clear capacity for selfless love and compassion, empowering a person to utilize their full creative potential. Rose quartz promotes peace and has great healing potential; it is a stone for people who have not enjoyed live, either as a result of not receiving or giving enough love. It helps to clear stored anger, resentment, fear and jealousy, helps the kidneys and circulation, increases fertility, calms sexual and emotional imbalance, and helps clear accumulated anger, aiding in the development of forgiveness, compassion and love.

3d Solar Plexus - Yellow - F - Citrine, Tiger's Eye, Topaz - Adrenals
The solar plexus is the power and wisdom centre. It draws in energy, expels stress and relates to connections and attachments to people and things. Yellow is good for mental clarity and a sense of what is just or fair. It is a warming, soothing colour, like sunshine and is goof for all organs in the solar plexus area. Citrine's energy is similar to that of the sun - energizing, calming and life-giving. It helps to increase creative power and define ambition. For sensitive people, it is good to wear or carry citrine. The yellow vibration create an aura of security. It helps one to see clearly into one's personal problems, alleviates depression to bring about a sense of light-heartedness. Tiger's eye has a strong vibration that grounds energy into the roots of the earth. The saturation of teh brown background colour symbolizes the richness of the Earth and the golden light is a statement of the crown chakra. Topaz supports a clear strem of self-empowerment and enhances our connection to the Earth. Our solar plexus energy is important to our life happiness. If this centre is constricted, then our ability to accept knowingly the way things are, or to be more flexible, is restricted.

2nd Sacral/Base - Orange - D - Carnelian - Testes/Ovaries
The second or sacral chakra is the centre of sexual energy and is our feeling and emotional centre. It is linked with family ties, social behaviour patterns, sensitivity and social consciousness. Orange stimulates sexual energy and enhances the immune system. It increases your ambition and opens you to creative expression. Carnelian's colour vibrates on a lower frequency than do quartz or amethyst and is a symbol of the power and beauty of our Earth. Think of a sunrise, sunset, autumn leaves and the rich colours of the Earth. It is a grounding energy and is great for pre-occupied people or those who find it difficult to concentrate. It focuses attention on the present moment. It empowers potency and pregnancy and cleans the blood in the reproductive organs. It is warm, sociable and joyful.

1st Root - Red or Black - G (below C) - Blood Jasper, Obsidian - Superadrenals
Red increases your connection to the Earth and strengths your basic will to live in the physical world. It is the colour of passion and will. Black helps you to come within yourself and be centered. It is a more masculine energy and can be like coming back ito the void to find deep, internal creative forces. Used well, it can support and strengthen you; overuse can bring depression. Blood jaspis incorporates green for the heart and red for the blood. It is slightly masculine and is good for cleansing the blood and can help people who have been through mental or physical problems, providing increased light and energy. Black obsidian acts like a magnet and brings spiritual power into the body and manifests the connection to outward expression. It makes the ego soft and clear. Obsidian demonstrates the ability to remain connected with the light in the real world, to keep a balanced mind in the rush of modern life. It looks at all appearnace from a neutral perspective, helping us to discern the truth clearly. It is good for emotional people with a tendency to be distance, because it stabilizes unstable energies. Use it carefully; be prepared for changes which you need to go through to get higher in your spiritual journey. Obsidian can be like a mirror that reflects mistakes and increases fears and temptations to be self-centred. Hematite enhances personal magnetism, optimism, well-being and courage. It will reflect the subconscious. It is good to use after operations, for shock, trauma, and stressful situations, and for people who suffer from nightmares or insomnia - place it under your pillow.

With blessings and gratitude to Dr. Hall for her writings,
Namaste
~n~

Raw Juice

Today is a raw juice day. I've had (so far) more than 5L of raw, organic, fresh juices... 1L each of kale, celery, carrot, and apple (well, actually it was probably 1L of kale, 750mL each of celery & carrot, and 1.5L of apple). I stopped by Cafe Bliss while in town and ordered up a L of "Doris" - yam, carrot, apple, ginger, cinnamon. DEEEEEEEElicious. I really need to expand my horizons at home making juice. I usually just make simple combinations: apple carrot ginger, or my usual like I had today: greens, celery, carrot & apple. That's a staple juice for me. But checking out their menu (www.cafebliss.ca) there are some delectable combinations they've come up with that I'm yearning to try soon.

I'm off to Tai Chi class tonight - in jeans since I forgot my comfy cotton yoga pants at home :(
This weekend I'm doing the first part of the Tai Chi Instructor Training program and am looking forward to that.

Feeling great today; a little tired since I was up from ~3-5 this morning. I woke up with a moderate to severe leg cramp in one leg and was wondering how it could possibly be that I was deficient in potassium (which I've heard is the source of leg cramps like that) since I ate three bananas yesterday in an ultimate smoothie for dinner. LOL I got up and walked it out. One of my eyes has been twitching all day (you know how when you're tired your eye pulses, and you think EVERYone must be able to see it, but it's not outwardly visible?). A good sign I'm tired and probably still recovering from the travel & time change. (I must be over 30; this paragraph sounds like I'm falling part! LOL) Not a big deal; I'll sleep super-solid after class tonight and wake up refreshed tomorrow.

Namaste
~n~

Morning comes extremely early sometimes...

Well, with the time change the kids were up at 5 this morning. (I laughed that this seems really early for us, but is really normal for other families we know) They had slept for 10 & 13 hrs, so they did get enough sleep, I think. Our house was chilly this morning; I'm too cheap to turn the electric heat up much, so by 6:30 I had the woodstove going and although it's still going, my teeth were actually chattering about half an hour ago. Part of it is that when I drink cold liquids (water, juices), I feel really cold. And this morning I've had about 1L of water so far. I'm amazed how quickly 12 oz of water go into me. I found it very challenging on the trip to drink enough water each day - when you're spending hours each day driving you don't want to have to stop every fifteen or thirty minutes for bathroom breaks, so I am really appreciating being back at home and getting back into the routine of drinking lots of liquids.

I've been reading a new book: Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children: Becoming a Mindful Parent, by Sarah Napthali. So far (and I'm not very far into it yet) it's really enjoyable. I'll comment more as I read through it.

Other than that, I've noticed my hair coming out lately (and graying, as well). It's been 5 and a half months since I've gone raw, and the same thing happened after going vegan - about 5-6 months after initially changing my diet, I noticed hair coming out whenever I'd run my hands through it - maybe just 3 or 4 or 5 at a time, but the number of times I run my hands through my hair, well... I know they say that we lose on average 100 hairs a day, maybe it's not that I'm losing more than anyone else, I'm just aware of it right now. Anyways, from experience I know that this is temporary and my hair resumes its thickness (I have always had quite thick hair, so a little thinning isn't the end of the world for me) in due time - when it happened the first time (after going vegan), I read that it was a body's way of displaying "shock" at the new, healthier regime, and it's not like it's clumps coming out, it's definitely just a general thinning. I have also read that some people as raw vegans experience a darkening (not graying) of their hair and a thickening as well, so I'm sure that with more dark leafy greens, seaweeds, and algae in my diet, things will balance themselves out.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to drinking lots of green juice and water in the days ahead, and embracing daily movement and meditation into my life. On with my day!

Vacation Update #3

Well, we're home sweet home now. The last few days of the holiday were a gigantic whirlwind of driving and activities... Update #2 ended with us in Moncton, NB. The next day we visited the Hopewell Rocks and the Bay of Fundy, which incidentally has some of the highest tides in the world. Truly amazing. We went to Fredericton where we went to Science East, which is located in the old Fredericton Jail building. Outside, it doesn't look anything like Science World in Vancouver at all, but inside - oh my - we were engrossed in over 150 hands-on experiments and totally lost track of time - we spent well over 1.5 hrs in there and only left because it was closing time! We easily could've spent more time there, and we had the entire place to ourselves!! It was such a fun afternoon. Friday we went past the Radio Canada International Short Wave transmitter station just east of Sackville, NB, to the Anne Murray Centre in Springhill, NS, to the beaches of Parrsboro, NS where we went rockhounding and to the Fundy Geological Centre. We found quartz and other gemstones right on the beach! It was a wonderful time on the beach. We headed up to Sydney, NS to see dh for another weekend. Saturday we were on the road, driving from Sydney down through Baddeck to New Glasgow to Caribou... to the ferry to PEI. We drove around PEI, down historical scenic dirt roads, past potato fields being harvested, to the Lucy Maud Montgomery Heritage Sites and Anne of Green Gables. Lots of fun. The traffic lights in Charlottetown are sideways and each colour has its own shape - red is square, green is circle, amber is diamond! We crossed back over Confederation Bridge - 13 kms long!! - and went to Moncton for the night. We took dh to Magnetic Hill and to the zoo there, which was fun. The next day we drove back to Sydney, NS and had a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner at the Sunshine Cafe on Main St in Antigonish, NS. The entire holiday was really fantastic and it was so so sooooooo nice to spend some time as a family again. We sadly said goodbye to dh and returned home today - flying from the East coast to the West coast of North America in mere hours - mind boggling, really, if you stop to think about it.

Looking forward to starting a juice feast very soon... stay tuned for more on that... and to getting back into rowing regularly. Wahoo! My motivation has finally returned. LOL

Peace and love,
~n~

Vacation Update #2

After Monday's wonderful drive around the Cabot Trail, Tuesday we "rested" in Halifax. We visited the Citadel National Historic Site, a star-shaped military structure set atop a hill, built in the 1800s to protect Halifax harbour. The changing of the guards on the hour was very neat. DS *loved* it! My son was running around pretending we were being attacked and was fighting off his imaginary attackers. We also visited Point Pleasant Park, which was ravaged in Hurricane Juan in 1996, where the Prince of Wales tour is. We also visited the Museum of Natural History, which was fantastic for the kids. Unfortunately we were there 35 minutes before closing, so we didn't have to pay admission, but we also didn't get time to enjoy it all.

We ate at Satisfaction Feast, possibly the only 100% vegetarian restaurant in all of Nova Scotia (the only one I've heard of, anyways). The kids devoured dessert: chocolate tofu truffles and peanut butter balls! We visited a meditation/book store (Drala Books) which was well worth the stop, and also MEC, one of my fave places to shop.

Outside the public library, DS noticed a panhandler. He asked if we could give him some money, but I didn't have any cash on me. For at least an hour after, ds was nearly in tears, upset and feeling helpless. It was really a big moment for him - seeing someone begging for change. He brought it up once or twice to try and talk about it and process it, but after that, he's started to try to stuff it down and doesn't want me to bring it up. I did tell him that ignoring it doesn't make it go away; we need to think of things we can do to solve the problem. I'm sure he'll remember that moment, observing the man from across the street, for the rest of his life. I even felt as I watched him watching the man, that time was somehow going slower than normal.

Wednesday we left Halifax and drove south to Peggy's Cove, with its lighthouse - the most photographed lighthouse in all of North America, reputedly. Stunning and rugged around there; absolutely beautiful with the fall colours. Also near Peggy's Cove, sadly, is the memorial for Swiss Air Flight 111 which crashed on September 2, 1998. We also went down to Mahone Bay, where the annual Scarecrow Festival was on. Honestly, I had no idea how crazy this town gets over its scarecrow festival. For such a small town, nearly every business or home had a scarecrow outside - one was decorated like Marilyn Monroe, another like the Mona Lisa, there was an RCMP scarecrow in red serge, a couple of scarecrows getting married... on and on. The kids ***LOVED*** it. With the beautiful natural surroundings of the fall colours and harbour, it was really really beautiful. AND there was a deli that sold organic vegetables (which have been hard to come by) and a restaurant with a smoothie bar (another rarity).

Afterwards, we headed up to Truro to the Tidal Bore Interpretive Centre and then onto Moncton, New Brunswick. One thing I've noticed about NB so far is that it is VERY bilingual. Whereas in BC I certainly don't get the impression that Canada has two official languages, out here, you'd be blind to miss it. (Did I mention on most of Cape Breton all the road signs are in two languages: English & GAELIC?! There's even a Gaelic College! On the Western shore of Cape Breton, near Cheticamp, it is very Acadian and most of the signs are French first, English second. And in Sydney, I got lost and ended up in a First Nations neighbourhood where the signs were only in the native language. Luckily the shape of a stop sign means the same in whatever language you write it).

We visited the infamous Magnetic Hill, which for us, well - we just didn't get it. You're supposed to go to this certain spot, put your car in neutral and your car is supposed to appear to climb this little hill... in neutral, thereby defying gravity. To me, it seemed like you put your car in neutral, but there was a slight downhill before the uphill part, so you just picked up speed because you were coasting. I don't know.... but like I say, we just didn't get it. Maybe we're just used to the hills in coastal B.C. LOL :) Oh, and the highlight for the kids I'm sure has been the indoor waterslide where we're staying at right now. DS just LOVES swimming.

We have been blessed with beautiful sunshine on this trip. This morning it is cloudy and reportedly going to rain today, but so far we have been very lucky. That's the news for now. Yes, I'll definitely upload pics to dropshots when I either get the chance or get home.

Namaste
~n~

Vacation Update #1

Well, here we are in Sydney, Nova Scotia. We left Victoria last Thursday evening, flew all night, and arrived in Halifax at 6:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. PDT). We drove north 4+ hrs from Halifax to Cape Breton Island (Sydney). Spent Friday night here in Sydney, then Saturday morning we were up early (early for us West Coasters, anyway) and on the Maritime Atlantic MV Joseph & Clara Smallwood heading for Port-aux-Basques, NFLD. I should add that this is a 96 nautical mile/7 hour ferry crossing. DH always wondered why I wasn't so enthused on spending 7 days on an Alaskan cruise for our 10th anniversary (he ended up taking ds instead!) - I get sea sickness. Luckily, I knew this and had brought accupressure bands. Wearing them the entire team alleviated most of the nausea and we had a cabin with two bunk beds so we could rest comfortably, too. For some of the crossing you are on open ocean - no land in sight - and the Atlantic Ocean can get some good waves. Arriving in Port-aux-Basques, we drove 216 km north to the second largest city in Newfoundland, Corner Brook and spent the evening there (after dining in Stephenville en route). The next morning we were up early and were surprised to see the beautiful view from the hotel - the fantastic fall colours - truly amazing! - and a beautiful view down to the harbour. But we had to leave early and drive back down for the ferry ride back to Nova Scotia. The kids & dad went swimming at the hotel's pool last night and we had a tour of the Coast Guard College where dh is studying. The kids were very happy to spend the weekend with dad, after not seeing him for 2 1/2 months, and Dad had made a lot of effort to make us feel welcomed - veggies and dip on ice when we arrived at the hotel, flowers for dd & myself... little gestures like that.

Today we are going to be heading back South to Halifax. Depending on how we're doing, we might drive the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton Island on our way south; I'm not sure yet.

As far as eating raw on the trip, I'd packed my Vitamix and ended up at Sobey's buying fruit and veggies and juicing them in the hotel room, which works just fine. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a big 4L portable drink cooler and with some ice in it, it works very well at keeping an entire day's worth of juice cold and accessible. It takes me about 60-90 mins in the morning to juice and clean up; I'm sure I could do it faster in my own kitchen, but travelling alone with children everything seems to take a little longer.

Oh! And we saw a fox when we first arrived on Cape Breton - a real fox! I was so stunned, I pulled over and took photos. I'm sure people thought I was nuts, but I've never seen one before. And apparently there are moose around, although I haven't seen any yet.

I guess that's all for today. We're off to take our photo in front of the giant fiddle. :)

Daily report

Busy week here with errands and the kids' classes and planning. I've committed to completing the Taoist Tai Chi Instructor Training later this month (I assisted with the beginner class last night - great fun!) and have also registered to take Reiki Level One the weekend after that. And I'm applying to become a Marriage Commissioner in our province, so please send me some positive energy around that! I think it would be a fun job and a real honour to share in a couples' life as they commit to each other through marriage. Plus, as anyone who knows me knows, I have an articulate voice that carries well, a definite bonus so that you don't end up with a marriage commissioner who sounds like the priest from The Princess Bride, "Mawage...." LOL Also trying to organize the Annual Walk for Breastfeeding and collect pledges as well ($160 collected so far). It's pure busy-ness but so far I'm calm and handling it all well. Mind you, it's nearly noon and I'm still in my pajamas. LOL

Namaste
~n~