Reiki II - Healing Others

So much has happened in the last several months. I earned my Reiki II certificate. The class was fantastic. It was all women in this group, a small class of eight. One of the women from my Reiki I class was there, so it was nice to see a familiar face. She was healing from addiction and breast cancer, and said that reiki lessened the affects of the cancer treatments she went through, and even helped her hair grow in faster. She looked fantastic, her skin was glowing. The other ladies had various reasons for taking the class. Some were massage therapists who wanted to learn more to enhance their massage practices and also earn continuing education credits. Others wanted to learn so they could heal themselves, friends, family and even begin their own practices. 

Along with being attuned to the power, harmony and distance symbols, I also learned how to send distance reiki using a surrogate. I sent reiki to my bestie 1,800 miles away during the class. It was only a 5 minute session, but it was great to learn how to do it so I could continue practicing at home. It is amazing that reiki can be sent anywhere in the world, to people, animals, places, and situations. This is such a loving modality, and it shows that we are all one and truly connected to each other. I learned how to heal things in the past, present and future, how to help in healing addictions, and more about working on others.

One at a time, as in the Reiki I class, we were individually attuned in a separate room. After the attunement, I came back into the classroom and hopped on a massage table to close my eyes and integrate this sacred experience for a moment. 

We practiced on each other in class and learned how to do an aura cleansing. For everyone, and especially empaths who pick up everyone else's energy, this is a great way to cleanse the residue of other people's anger, fear, hostility, etc off of your auric field. Ever walk in a room and pick up the vibe in the air? Well, that energy can get stuck in your aura. We used a selenite wand and palo santo and learned to feel the layers of the aura. Each layer is connected to one of the 7 chakras and has a connection to our body, emotions, and spirit. 

You can use palo santo or sage whenever you want to cleanse your aura yourself, you don't need a reiki attunement to do that. Just light the palo or sage, blow it out so you have smoke.  Gently wave the stick over your head, down your body, over your hands and under your feet. Make sure to completely distinguish the stick. I usually put mine in a small glass. 

Our reiki teacher offered that we could come in after our class and use her tables to practice with each other. After the class she sent us all a follow up email, and I responded to let everyone in the class know that I would love to practice with any of them. I heard from one of the ladies in the class, and I was so psyched to be able to swap reiki with someone in a professional setting. 

We scheduled a time to meet up after work one weekday. I packed up my reiki toolkit including quartz crystals, chakra stones, a selenite wand, water, and some palo santo. Quartz crystals go around the head of the one receiving reiki to amplify the energy. The chakra stones go next to or on the chakras. Just being near the stones alone can activate the chakras. As previously mentioned, the selenite wand and palo santo sticks are used to cleanse the aura. I arrived first and took the time to sit quietly and connect to reiki. When she arrived, it was apparent she had a challenging day at work, so I offered to give her reiki first.  Then she gave me reiki and I felt sensational after! We both left the healing center on a cloud. We met once a month after that, and each time felt great. It was wonderful to have a reiki friend to learn with, share what we were experiencing during the sessions, and practice, practice, practice. 

I practiced long distance reiki on friends and family. I felt as time went on, I got better at it, and started feeling more confident in connecting and sending. There is a level of focus and intent that built up over time by consistently practicing. I developed an ease in using the symbols and hand positions. I also continued to get reiki and acupuncture during this time and practiced self reiki for 21 days after my attunement, as recommended. Self care is as important for the healer as it is for the one being healed.

I am truly grateful to my friends and family at home and at a distance who allowed me to be a conduit of reiki energy for them. I am also grateful to my teacher, my reiki friend, and reiki itself. Having this gift of reiki to share with others is a blessing beyond measure.

My next blog will be about my Reiki Master class, stay tuned!

In Gratitude & Love,

Kerri Mulhern
www.suitablegifts.com

Smudging: A Beginner's Journey

Smudging is a custom of Native Americans and other cultures to clear negative spiritual energy from a space, an object and even people. I have been wanting to smudge my home for quite awhile, so I ordered a Home Blessing & Cleansing kit. A beautiful feather, abalone bowl, oil, salt crystals and more soon arrived. I wanted to literally clear the air in our home. The intention was to release any heaviness and have our home feeling light, positive and happy.

I am most grateful to the amazing Reiki Master Sharna Langlais, who I came to know through Instagram (@sharnalanglais). She had posted beautiful instructions on smudging, and I felt even more inspired to try it. I had also read tips and prayers from Hayhouse author, soul coach and space clearing extraordinaire Denise Linn.

Home Blessing & Cleansing Kit

I held onto the kit for months, feeling a little tentative about trying it... waiting for just the right moment. Well honestly, I was a little scared of trying something new! But that's when you really need to do something! So I decided to smudge during my sons' first day of school.  I thought it would be a good way to kick off the school year, and the house would be quiet for me to figure out what I was doing.

Combining what I learned from Sharna, Denise, the sage kit, and my own inner guidance, I set out to smudge. I held the feather to my chest and blessed and thanked the beautiful bird that it came from. I opened the windows (but not enough, I found out later!), lit the bundle of sage and set it in the bowl. Now mind you, the instructions clearly stated to blow out the fire once it started. I thought, how can I make it through my entire house without it completely extinguishing itself? A lesson in stubbornness or trust for me, perhaps? I now know to follow the instructions! Because I left some of the embers burning, I had quite a bit of smoke. But I had nothing to compare it to, since I've never done this before. So I started on my journey, billowing smoke and all...

I said a prayer and smudged myself as best I could. I used the feather to waft the smoke, and went from the top of my head to my toes, and up the back of myself as far as I was able to reach. Next I went to the front door and even outside at the threshold, said the prayer, smudged and made the eternity symbol with the sage. Here is the prayer I said. You can say what feels right to you:

"Dear God, Jesus, angels, archangels, spirit guides, divine masters and my guardian angels- please remove any negative energy caused by myself or others and sent it up to Heaven for transmutation. And so it is."

I was nervous. Was I doing this right? Was I saying the right words? I felt a bit stressed. 

Next I went to the dining room/living room (it's one big room, so I did it all together). Starting in the east corner (iPhone compass app was invaluable) I said my cleansing prayer and went in a clockwise motion around the room (some go counterclockwise when smudging, clockwise just felt right for me). I fanned the increasingly thick smoke into the air. I stopped at every window and made the sign of the cross with the sage. My kit did contain oil for the windows and salt crystals for the doorways, but it felt a little extreme for my first smudging, so I left that for next time (maybe). When I made it back to my starting point, I said the same prayer again. I ended by making the infinity sign with the sage. 

I did the same ritual in the kitchen and garage. At this point, I realized I'd better blow out the sage before the cats collapsed, or it set off the fire alarm. I blew the sage bundle and the ashes went flying. Setting the house ablaze was also not in my plans, so I made sure I collected the ashes and placed them in the bowl. I smudged the back door, the first floor bathroom, the closet  and even the staircase to the second floor. I started and ended each area with the prayer, made the cross symbol at the windows and the infinity symbol when I returned to each starting point.

By the time I got upstairs I suddenly became aware that I felt calm. I was kind of flitting through the rooms at this point, and it felt like a spiritual, moving ceremony. I was in my smudging zone and it felt beautiful. I felt so joyful when I realized how relaxed I was.

I finished the smudging and my house felt at peace. I felt at peace. Um, but the house was filled with smoke. The air was so still outside, that it didn't pull the smoke out. I was a little concerned that everyone in the house would be breathing too much sage smoke, so I cranked the fans on full blast for awhile. 

I definitely learned that blowing out the smudging stick was sage advice! (drum roll please) I also learned to push myself when there is something I want to do, but don't know how to do it. When I don't have the answers, there are wonderful people out there that do. Feel the fear, and do it anyway. I know that when I do this again, I won't feel that apprehension. I also don't have to feel that it has to be done "perfectly." All I need is a positive intention. And isn't that true for anything?

In Gratitude (and a puff of smoke),

Kerri

www.suitablegifts.com