Reiki Week

To celebrate Reiki Awareness Week in Australia, I wanted to bring you some information on what Reiki is and my first experience of Reiki.

 

Reiki is a form of energy healing that has been practised worldwide since the early 1900’s. It was first developed as a healing system in Japan, by Mikao Usui, and has been further developed over the years.

 

I enjoyed finding out the literal translation of Reiki.

 

Rei = “God’s Wisdom” or “the Higher Power”

Ki = “Life Force Energy”

 

Reiki is considered to be both a spiritual practice and a healing art, working on enhancing the body’s innate healing abilities.  I like this as it relates to my underlining philosophy of using nature to promote self-healing. It’s the body’s own ability to heal that is being stimulated, much like when I use homeopathy or aromatherapy as a stimulant to support the body in what it aims to do best, which is to return to homeostasis, or balance.

 

My first experience with Reiki occurred on a whim.  I was in London and had spare time so was wandering about some streets, wondering what I could do with my time.  I walked into a wonderful feeling shop, lots of crystals, essential oils and the like giving a great experience.  There was a Reiki Master working from this shop and he just happened to have a free one hour space – I quickly grabbed the opportunity to try something that I’d never experienced before.

 

The treatment room was soothing and relaxing. I was asked to take my shoes off and lie on the towel on the floor, to relax and close my eyes. Gentle music was playing in the background. This was a great beginning after wandering the busy streets of London.

 

From there, I felt an energy pass into my body, it was sometimes moving and sometimes it was stopped in a particular area, all the time, I could feel this amazing strong energy flowing freely from my big toe. This was it, for a period of one hour, I lay on a floor, listening to the music, noone touched me, nor did I move.  It was exhilarating!

 

After the treatment, I discussed the bumpy energy flow in spots over my body. It was explained that the practitioner had not stopped and concentrated in any one particular area, it was my body that needed particular healing in those areas so the energy had remained over those spots until the healing had occurred and it could move on.  The energy flow from my big toe was explained as the exit of the energy from my body once it had targeted what was required.

 

The experience is one that I have never forgotten, it occurred over 14 years ago.   I was attuned to Reiki some years ago, and regularly practice self-healing with Reiki.  A truly wonderful treatment that anyone can be attuned to and can utilise in their daily lives.

 

The purpose of Reiki, from the Reiki Australia website:

 

“The true purpose of the Reiki method is to correct the heart-mind, keep the body fit, and lead a happy life using the spiritual capabilities humans are endowed with since birth.”

Here is a great video on how we all practice Reiki on a daily basis, and have not maybe realised it previously

Enjoy learning more about Reiki and ask me about how it will complement your treatment plan.

Secrets to Avoiding Acid Reflux

Just a very quick post today as I slip out of the clinic.

 

I was reading this wonderful email about using 5 home remedies to treat acid reflux and thought you might like to try them out!

My favourites are

 

• apple cider vinegar
• lemon juice (I love starting my day with fresh lemon juice in water)

 

The remaining 3 home remedies can be found here.

Enjoy the read and let me know if you have used them before

Aromatherapy Blends

I’ve realised it’s been a while since I’ve written about one of my passions in life – aromatherapy, and the blends I make with these amazing products of nature.

Essential oils have more properties than just the physical ones that the scientists may rave over in randomised controlled trials (well, they actually are more inclined to rave over the physical properties of the individual chemical constituents than the oil itself, we do live in a reductionist society after all, where we need to break everything down to the smallest particle to ‘understand’ it!)

As many of you know, I’ve been on a journey this last few months, and within that journey, I’ve been turning to my essential oils to boost my mental and emotional wellbeing at the same time.

The question may be, how do I know what essential oils to use, and when?

The thing I love about essential oils is that they have the ability to work on more than just the physical level. There are different ways of using the oils, spiritually, emotionally and physically. They are even spoken about working on the aura.  No, we cannot document this, and we cannot show it scientifically in the current paradigm. One day, I believe there will be techniques available for measuring these changes – now that will be a WOW factor for me!

In the meantime, we operate on these levels based on feedback from the users of the oils for these particular purposes. We also evaluate what the properties are that relate to the physical symptoms that the oils are beneficial for, and then correlate them to emotions.

This can be shown in things such as

• anti inflammatory = anti inflammatory for the emotions, e.g., reduce anger
• analgesic (pain reliever) = suffering from pain of guilt, or pain of grief
• litholytic (ability to break down stones in the body) = break down hardness, e.g., when one hardens due to a pain, and they do not forgive easily, so to soften a hardened person
• carminative (gas-releasing) = someone with trapped emotions, that need to be released
• cicatrizant (healing) = healing of emotional situations, e.g., where there are emotional scars remaining

As you can see, it becomes easier to relate the essential oils to emotional issues, when you delve further into the physical properties the essential oils are known to be effective on.

I now want to begin a journey of essential oil blends for you to share with me.  Over time, these will fill the pages of a beautiful book, but in the meantime, I’m happy to share them here for  you.

Aromatherapy

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Essential oils & Homeopathy

Various homeopathic remedies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As an aromatherapist and homeopath I am often told that we cannot use the two modalities together, however I have different thoughts on that idea.  I’ve never been one to run with the crowd, so I’m not surprised that I’m not doing so on this idea either!

When I discuss ‘subtle aromatherapy’ I am discussing the use of essential oils in a diluted manner, very similar to the preparation of homeopathic remedies. The low % use in ‘subtle aromatherapy’, 1% or less, allows for the spiritual and emotional use of the essential oils rather than relating specifically to the physical use, when the blend is approximately 2 – 3%. I am going to be addressing the spiritual and emotional level of the essential oils and homeopathic remedies, rather than just the physical level, though I will briefly refer to this also.

When assessing essential oils for their subtle aromatherapy properties, I need to assess what chakra it may relate to, what it may be used for physically and if it has been given a personality profile.  When assessing the homeopathic remedies, I will also be assessing these aspects and matching them.  This match should then be beneficial.

I want to run a series of blogs that looks at the essential oils, and how they are used, and also look at homeopathic remedies and how they’re used, joining the two together to make a real justification for their joint use.

These blogs will contain the beginning aromatic blend.  After this details on each individual essential oil will follow.  This will include the history of use, the plant it’s from, the chemical constituents and the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of each oil.  Once each oil is explored, I then will continue with equivalent homeopathic remedies that will be supported by each oil.

As aromatherapists tend to utilise blends of essential oils in carrier oils (for therapeutic massage or products) I will also be exploring the use of the unique blend to support differing homeopathic remedies also.

As you can see, this will entail some dialogue, so this will become a series of blogs.  I trust you will enjoy the journey with me in learning more about the essential oils and the homeopathic remedies that relate well to these oils.

Blend 1: Cedarwood, Jasmine, Nutmeg

To begin this journey, I want to use my intuitive side to see what emerges for study.  So, I used my Aromatherapy Insight Cards this morning to see what essential oils I should be discussing in my blogs (I chose three cards as my aromatherapy blends usually contain three essential oils to give a balance).

The essential oils I am to look at with you in this series are:

Cedarwood – base to middle note

Jasmine – middle note

Nutmeg – middle to top note

With the balancing effect of the three types of notes, it appears that I have intuitively chosen a balanced blend.

The use of the terms base, middle and top note reflects the overall molecular weight of the essential oils, the heavier base notes stay on the skin for longer, thus also holding onto the lighter top and middle note oils to ensure effective use.

As I mentioned earlier, I want to explore each oil individually, and then the blend in total, while also investigating which homeopathic remedies appear to reflect the totality of each essential oil, and ultimately the blend.

Let’s begin with…… Cedarwood

Cedarwood, Cedrus atlantica – essential oil

  Name: Also known as Cedrus libani subsp atlantica (Note: cedarwood is obtained from many different sources, so the source is important to know), though we typically see it for sale as Cedrus atlantica.

Source: Cedrus atlantica is native to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria.  Other types of cedarwood are found in differing areas, e.g., Turkey, Lebanon, and Nepal.  Due to the nature of gardening it is also within Europe and America today. Other essential oils commonly called cedarwood are Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar, or Eastern Juniper) and Cedrus deodora (cedarwood Himalayan). So, if you are going to choose cedarwood after reading about it here, make sure you are sourcing the one I’m discussing.

Folklore: Cedar oil was said to be used for embalming by the Egyptians, and is used in temple incense in Tibet, while Turkish carpet shops are often constructed from cedar to deter moths.  Folklore describes the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Solomon’s Temple as being built using cedarwood. Typically though, cedarwood oil has been used to deter insects.

General chemical makeup: Cedarwood comprises 50% sesquiterpenes, or hydrocarbons, while the remainder of the constituents are alcohols (30%) and ketones (20%).  Boring stuff, but vital in order to understand the potential therapeutic uses of cedarwood essential oil.  In this instance the presence of a higher percentage of ketones gives us an indication that it would not be suitable to use for pregnant women. However, the presence of hydrocarbons and alcohols allows us to speculate that the therapeutic properties will include those of antiseptic, bactericidal, anti-inflammatory, calming and generally immune system boosting.

Enough of the chemical aspects I hear you say, what does it get used for??

Subtle Aromatherapy:

Strength & Courage

in times of adversity, with fairness

Positive Personality:

 Powerful, dignified, strengthening, grounding, kindness

Negative Personality:

 Dictatorial, obsessive, demanding, selfish, paranoid

Related Chakra:

 Solar Plexus

 

Physical Aromatherapy:

Used physically for bronchial and urinary infections; breaking up catarrh, antiseptic, healing of wounds, calming and as a stimulant for the lymph and circulation systems

Overall Use of Cedarwood:

Based on these properties and principles, Cedarwood can be considered where:

1.  The emotions need to be flowing more freely, releasing & healing toxic emotions, such as jealousy, obsessions, gloom, selfishness
2. There is fear of the next obstacle to be faced, to support the individual’s growth in their own unique place in the world
3. There is a need to persist in the journey ahead, to stand in your own space without judgement of others, or becoming irrational or oversensitive
4. Focus and willpower are required

In order to achieve:

1. an identity that is uniquely your own
2. to face the hurdles of life today, with strength and integrity
3. self-acceptance
4. self-respect
5. balance and control over your own life
6. emotional healing of past events, hurdles, lack of self-worth
7. stimulation of a clogged mind

To Be

Next time…… which homeopathic remedy suits Cedarwood?

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