Today I want to talk about what it means to sit and be with whatever it is you’re feeling in the moment and the importance of allowing yourself to explore whatever emotions you’re feeling, regardless if they feel icky, unpleasant or unwanted. So let me ask you…Can you invite those icky, unpleasant, unwanted feelings in- without running from them? Can you allow yourself to observe what that feeling of emotion is trying to inform you without judgment? And can you resist the resisting?
This leads me to the next topic- healing. I’m not just talking about physical healing, I’m talking about an all encompassing healing that takes place when we awaken to our truth; the kind of healing that is felt and experienced on a deeply profound level. There are two beautiful sayings by Rumi which I love, two sayings that speak to our capacity to not only awaken to our deepest truth but experience a profound healing.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
“You already have the precious mixture that will make you well. Use it.”
As a Reiki teacher & practitioner, sometimes people will ask me what Reiki is, how it’s “transmitted”, what the experience of Reiki will be like, etc.- I love those questions and I love sharing what I do. But the truth is, I probably don’t give the answer most people want hear. In fact, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- Reiki is so many things and the experience of a Reiki session, like any other experience in life will vary from person to person. However, since I’m discussing the topic of healing and Reiki, maybe I have piqued your interest and perhaps a more detailed explanation is order.
To me, Reiki is the Universal Life Force Energy of Unconditional, Omnipresent LOVE. That being said, we can all attune ourselves to Reiki because it’s what we are all comprised of. Like most practices including yoga, meditation, running, and virtually any sport or martial art- the more you practice Reiki, the more adept you become and the more attuned you become to the benefits of the practice itself. Eventually the benefits of that practice affects various aspects of your life for the better. Why? Because the practice, the sport, the art- it IS the thing that lights you up and makes you come alive. However, I want to highlight why it’s important not to get wrapped up in the conceptualization of Reiki, yoga, meditation or any other practice and/or become addicted to the feeling those practices elicit.
I have seen many people (myself included) get wrapped up in the ideal of something. For instance, when I awakened to a “spiritual path”, I felt a tremendous shift in my being that was so great- it was life changing. As a result, I developed a kind of addiction if you will- to chasing that feeling. I believed that by adopting some sort of spiritual practice, including meditating for a certain length of time, devoting myself to a guru, and/or a particular spiritual teaching that I would eventually have all the answers to life’s greatest questions. Funny I know!
What’s even funnier is that I spent a great deal of time invested in the belief that through meditation, “letting go”, “surrendering”, and transcending my body self- that I might one day dwell in a state of samadhi- that I would somehow be able to sustain the transformative peak experience that I had experienced before. Even at the very beginning of my yoga teacher training, I found myself using those same concepts to teach meditation to students and fellow peers. It was my teacher who helped me come to two very important realizations with regard to the concept of letting go and surrender. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try- we can’t let go or surrender our thoughts or our feelings. Secondly, why should we? Now don’t get me wrong- there are plenty of let’s say, “useless” thoughts or “not so good” feelings that might not be beneficial to our well-being and yes, there are plenty of people who are consumed by their thoughts and feelings. What I’m pointing to is something much deeper. The reason why we shouldn’t get wrapped up in the idea of letting go or surrendering our thoughts and feelings is because part of the experience of being a human being IS experiencing.
As the completion of my yoga teacher training draws near, one thing I’ve come to realize is that being in our bodies- feeling whatever feelings that arise in this moment is part of experiencing what it means to be alive. To deny our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, and our body, is to deny the human experience- to deny the Divine gift of life that we have been given. When I finally stopped chasing enlightenment and the feeling of being awakened and alive, all that was left was to be in my body, to be open, to be present, to be awake, and to be alive. 🙂
Healing is about discovering the light of who we are and shinning that light upon all aspects of our being- including the dark and every shade or gray in between. Healing can happen on many levels- physical, mental, emotional, and Spiritual- it can be transformative. But at the most fundamental level, healing is about awakening to our deepest truth, surrendering to life and everything contained within the scope of experiencing life. Yes, Reiki is one of many pathways that can illuminate that truth. But at the heart of the matter, The Radiant Well of Divine sacredness, IS the wholeness, Oneness, and All encompassing LOVE that resides in YOU right now. It is from this space of presence and awareness that we realize we don’t have to go searching outside ourselves for the truth, we don’t have to commit ourselves to a monastic life, devote ourselves to a guru, meditate for hours on end, or experience Reiki to become “healed” or enlightened- that’s right, that which you seek, is that which YOU already are.
With Love & Light,
Namaste
Alana
Adventures In Solitude 