Healing in All Forms

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I'm at the three week mark,

almost a month, in this new assignment...

I can't believe it!

This is a really great place.


I've come to enjoy how easy it can be to do therapy when you have all  

• the staff (5 OTs/5 PTs/1 ST)
• equipment (anything we need)
• beautiful living environment  (clean, quiet, well decorated, like a hotel)
• and support (manageable caseloads and efficiency standard/tech/great Director)

that is possible in a company.

It’s nice to have an easy  assignment!!

In addition to work, I'm enjoying visits with my parents every weekend, laughter and deep life discussions with my many siblings, and working on a small cottage my twin and I purchased near mom and dad. I’m connecting with dear friends from the area. Family is why I have returned.


I loved California so very much. Although it was difficult to leave there, I am grateful for this time with my family and lifelong friends.


It's amazing how when we make a change, our schedules and daily priorities can shift!


At times during the week, I find myself

 lonely.

 OK, this is a bit dramatic!! Not this lonely!

It is natural when one is in a new assignment. It is easy to connect with the patients. It's not always easy to make new friends right away. In fact, I found that the point at which you really make a good friend is about the four-month mark, just after I have extended... It just seems to happen that way…for me, anyway.


Something happened today that lessened the loneliness.


Today, I had the pleasure of co-treating with a physical therapist with whom I have had limited contact.  Our patient, Eva, admitted on Thursday evening last week following a hip revision (a re-do) in which the ortho surgeon actually broke her femur as he was trying to get her original hardware out.

Poor gal!

To top it off, when I evaluated Eva on Friday, she was having hallucinations from her medications and was unable to keep food or fluids down. She required max x 2 for all tasks (that means she needed almost total help for moving in bed, dressing, toileting and standing). She could not cognitively follow the NWB order (non-weight bearing) on her leg.


She was just a mess.


I came in this morning (Monday) a few minutes after the PT had arrived. We gently guided Eva from lying in the bed to sitting up, allowing her to do as much as possible. The PT was on one side of the bed facing Eva’s back, and I was on the other in front of her. As soon as I saw the PT place hands lightly on Eva’s shoulders to guide her, I knew immediately that she was a fellow energy worker.


It was the intention she used. It was lovely!


“Do you do energy work?” I asked her.


She looked me in the eye. I smiled. She smiled back.


“Yes.”


“I’m a Reiki practitioner,” I revealed. I was so happy to find someone like me. It’s the same way I feel when I meet a twin, or a person from a large family, or a person who loves the same out-of-the-way places and activities that I like. Or a kindred spirit like Elsje, a talented ST I met through writing this blog.


“You’re one of only two people who have noticed this in all my years of doing PT.”


Eva began struggling with nausea and pain. We moved from our conversation to supporting her with healing intentions. What followed has few words to describe.


Our focus became only about silently providing Eva with the highest level of support to assist her in moving past this difficult place in which she found herself. We moved in tandem as if we knew what the other was thinking without speaking. Eva reached a point in which she could sit nearly unsupported; however, we both kept hands on her as she began a series of deep, thrusting dry heaves and began vomiting.


I have to admit here that I have never been able to deal with vomit, except when my children were young. I could hold a cool cloth to their heads and take care of them without blinking an eye. When it comes to any other person in the world, my hyperactive gag reflex kicks in and I will lose it if I am in the presence of someone losing their lunch.


We were in such a deep and almost meditative place of providing support for Eva that in a surreal way, it was the first time I didn’t bolt for the door and call for a nurse. It was as if the three of us were surrounded by Divine support and guidance. It’s difficult to imagine that a scene such as this could be a spiritual experience, but it was.


It was about caring for someone else at the most basic level – and really, it’s about why we are all here. It’s about loving humankind. We intended God’s highest and holiest healing for her, and it took us out of the “now” moment of oh-my-gosh-she’s-puking to a place  I can’t describe.


In a few minutes, Eva made a remarkable change.


She was able to get dressed with assistance, make an amazingly improved transfer following her weight bearing status from the bed to the wheelchair and then pushed the wheelchair to the therapy department.


If you had seen this woman at the beginning of the treatment, you would never have guessed she would be able to do this.


I am convinced  that something very meaningful occurred,  that it propelled Eva’s healing…and that it came from a Presence much greater than either of us.

Divine Shine...

What IF …

each day

we intend

the highest and holiest healing

of EVERY ONE?

Energy 101

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Today, I want to share about the ENERGY that resonates in all of us.

Kirlian Photograph of the Hands

Have you ever been around someone and when you parted, the interaction left you feeling full of energy? In reverse, have you ever left the presence of someone completely exhausted for no apparent reason at all?

What you may have felt but not seen or been aware is that your energies co-mingled. Interaction with some people can enhance your energetic vibration, and with others, it can drain your energy source like a sieve, leaving you almost weak.

People can sometimes be somewhat threatened by that which they cannot see. When the talk turns to energy work or people who are gifted with it, out come silly assertions like, "It's evil" or "dangerous." This could be further from the truth!

“A mind is like a parachute.

It doesn't work if it is not open.”

Frank Zappa

If you read the Bible, a person's ability to assist with healing is even mentioned right in 1 Corinthians 12:28:

Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.

When I offer energy work (in my practice, I use Reiki), I explain it to the recipient and let them decide if they want to receive it. For people who are Christians, another term for energy work is "laying on of hands."

I became aware of the energies of others in 1998, when I was doing OT with patients in the midwest. I did not seek this out!  I was initially taken aback and a little freaked out that I could "feel things." I decided to study energy medicine to understand what I was able to intuitively feel with my hands.

What Did I Feel?

I could feel warmth or cool, tingling, and density when my hands passed within a person's energy field. (A person's energy field reaches approximately as far as their arms will reach in all directions around them.)

A very basic description of what I discovered:

We have seven energy centers called chakras in the human body. They are spinning vortices aligned just outside the physical body along the spine. The chakras run from the base of the spine through the crown of the head. Take a look:

Location of the Seven Main Chakras:

Chakra Chart

As you can see, they run like ROY G. BIV (remember the colors of the rainbow from school?) Their colors are significant. Their roles are specific. Their names relate to their location.  We'll go over that later. There's too much information to share in one blog entry...

The most basic point I want to make is that if you have an imbalance in your energy centers, you cause dis-ease. 

Disease!

Got it?

All the more reason to keep our energy centers in our body clear and flowing.

What is so important about the chakras?

Each chakra has its own electromagnetic property. Each chakra influences the organs, muscles, ligament, veins and body parts within its energy field. Chakras influence the endocrine system. They are also associated with your moods, personality, and overall health. .

If you understand how energy centers work in each of us, and the symbolism behind illness in each part of the body, you can assist your patients, friends, or family members to participate in their own healing.

For example, when I see someone with chronic stomach or GI (gastointestinal) issues, I am aware that they have probably been in deep conflict within themselves, with someone else or even with a system. This may be someone who has worked for years in a job they hated, someone who has lived an antagonistic lifetime with a spouse or who has fought an ex-spouse, or someone who has an extreme beef with a institution like a government agency (the Timothy McVeigh types).

The solar plexus (stomach area) is the chakra here that is out of balance.

The Solar Plexus Chakra (yellow) is located at the stomach area, near the bottom of the rib cage. This chakra represents your body, mind and emotions and relates to how you see yourself in the world.

The solar plexus chakra meanings relate to self esteem and confidence as well as a sense of self worth. This chakra's meaning is all about the concept of ‘the will’. This chakra is responsible for the effective flow of energy not only to this region but throughout the whole body.

Improving energy flow to the solar plexus may clear problems that have been producing lack and limitations.

This chakra stores energy, be it good or bad – pain, fear and stress as well as positive energy for growth and healing. It controls our will, our issues from the past, our pain and fear as well as our ambition to succeed.  

This great description is from http://energywrap.net/

 The easiest way to become aware of energy is to rub your hands together briskly until you feel heat (energy!)....then pull them apart a foot and right away start to bring them slowly back together. What you will feel is a magnetic pull, almost a density. You may feel tingling.

This is the energy of your own body.

As you become aware of how you feel around others, like an ebb and flow within your system, you will find yourself more present to who you feel good around and who you don't.

You'll become more aware that energy imbalances are what cause illness. With that information, you can begin to manage your own energy for better health.

More on the chakras later....

Check out http://healingmycatholicheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/day-2-understanding-54-day-novena.html   for Tre's insights on the "new project."

Gratitude

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I'm getting ready to return to work after the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the first year in many that I had Thursday and Friday off! In the rehab world, therapy still has to be done 5 days a week, so I worked on Saturday.

I spent the holiday with my "adopted California family." As I drove the three hours to their home, I was overcome by the beauty of the coast, the forest and, as I neared their home, the vineyards in fall splendor.

Northern Cal vineyard in fall

I nearly had to stop the car! I felt tears choking me. That led to a long list of other things that I felt thankful for. I literally spent the trip in prayer, Thanksgiving prayer...

There have been a number of years in my life in which I have not been able to see the good in everything. This hard work of forgiving and releasing all that does not positively serve my life is paying off.

It leaves only that which brings the best of thoughts.

May each of you focus on the best of your thoughts this week. Forgive. Let small things go. Give people the benefit of the doubt. See what happens!

Click Here!!

Want to Heal? Or Not?

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I'm happy to see recent readers from Poland, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, United Arab, Germany, Indonesia and USA! I'd love to have your perspectives on the issues that I write about. Please comment!

In my years working with sick people, I have found that many people want to heal,

but some do not.

In an effort to understand why, I turned long ago to the amazing works of Caroline Myss. Last week, I pulled one of her books off the shelf, drawn for unknown reasons. Tonight, I realized the connection.

I had been re-reading Why People Don't Heal and How They Can.  In the years since I studied the book, much of the information has integrated spontaneously into my practice; however, I always learn something new when I digest a book like this again. It's a new perspective driven by personal and professional experiences I have had since I initially held the book in my hands and mulled over its message.

Last night, I read about Myss' concept of "woundology." Myss writes early in the book, "when we define ourselves by our wounds, we burden and lose our physical and spiritual energy and open ourselves to the risk of illness."

OK....so stop for a moment and think.

Is there a physical or emotional wound

you experienced earlier in life

that still drives your decisions or reactions?

Each of us has had either a critical parent, a rocky relationship in the household, a physical injury, the death of a loved one, a moment of terror, or a bad experience in school...

the question is,

Do you covet it?

Do you emotionally "feed and water" it like a houseplant?

Do you allow it to be the excuse

that you can't live authentically

or without fear, anger or depression?

A friend called tonight. His ex-wife has been diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer that has metastasized to other organs. He needed to brainstorm what to do.

I gave suggestions regarding the western medicine perspective (insurance talk/hospitals/recommendations for questions to ask). The discussion turned toward how he could support her.

They are both in anguish. Despite the fact that they no longer live together, he wants provide emotional, physical and financial support of a loyal mate. What a good heart he has!

I also wanted to know from an energy medicine standpoint what may have contributed to the illness. The location of her illness had to do with honoring relationships, learning to "let go", lessoning control issues, and finding balance in life.

My friend related that his ex-wife's childhood included the traumatic loss of her father, a controlling and negative mother, and a lifetime of focusing on negativity. I understood immediately these concepts that Myss wrote about in reference to this cancer patient.

In the book, Myss says that "we are not meant to stay wounded. We are supposed to move through our tragedies and challenges and to help each other move through the many painful episodes of our lives."

and this part I love!  She says, "Wounds are the means through which we enter the hearts of other people. They are meant to teach us to become compassionate and wise."

Myss talks about the concept of a cellular bank account. Radically abbreviated (read the book!), she explains about life force energy (aka chi, qi, grace, holy spirit or prana), "Everything in our lives - every thought we have, every action we are involved with - requires some of this energy."

If you can replace the image of the ebb and flow of energy in our bodies with the image of money in and out of a bank account, you'll get the idea of
the give and take of energy and how it affects the body. For example, if you attempt to take out more money than you have in your bank account, what happens? Your debit card gets declined or you bounce a check.

Myss says that we either obtain energy from other people (parasitic/not good) or from our own cell tissue. We have to come up with a fresh supply of energy each day to properly care for our bodies. If we spend too much energy holding on to events in our lives, the cost takes a toll physically on our bodies.

"Refusing to let go of past events, whether positive or negative, means throwing away some part of your daily energy budget." She mentions the positive energy part because many people spend way too much time revisiting better times in the past....the goal is actually to concentrate on the present!

"You have to accept the stage of life in which you find yourself and maintain it with consciousness."

What to do with others who are suffering? She writes, "Viewing a trauma or a tragedy happening in somebody else's life demands of us a compassionate response, since compassion is an energy charge that assists a suffering person."

By the way, Myss also writes, "We need to realize that in some cases it may be Divine will that we do not heal at the physical level but learn from a chronic or terminal disease certain lessons that our soul needs to discover. At other times, we are meant to absorb spiritual virtues that are available to us only through illness and perhaps by doing so, inspire others."

A lot to digest, isn't it?! 

I recommend this book to healers and those who wish to be healed! I've only scratched the surface...



Reminiscing Can Heal our Childhoods

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I had a playful discussion with Bertie yesterday. We were sitting on the mat in the gym trying to "open up" her shoulder blades. (When people lose range of motion in their shoulders due to injury (like a rotator cuff tear) or disease process (like arthritis), they also lose motion in their shoulder blades. You have to  get the scapula (shoulder blade) moving in (rotating) in order to get the arm moving above shoulder height. Just a little fyi.

We were chatting as I mobilized the scapula. She started telling me about how she spent summers in New York with her grandmother. There were no little girls to play with there, but there were two naughty little boys who really didn't want her around.

http://www.photos-public-domain.com/2010/12/15/apples-closeup/

She got tickled when she related a story about throwing apples into a cider press, a contraption that squeezed out the juice and made cider. The little rascals turned a hose from the cider press on her, the way a fireman points a hose at a fire.

"I can still feel the way it knocked me down!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Those boys got in such trouble!"

We had such a delightful session, with me asking bunches of questions, and Bertie sharing from her past. I asked her, "Bertie, do your children know these stories from your childhood?"

She paused...."no, they don't!"  She paused again.

    "Bertie, have you thought of telling them all the stories you just told me?"

"No, but I really should."

     "I think they would really enjoy knowing this side of you!"

And from there, she formed a plan. When she is with her daughter and son this weekend, she is going to start telling her stories.

Of course, this made me think of my own parents. My parents both experienced traumatic events that affected their childhoods, which always made me and my siblings hesitate to ask them about details of their growing-up years. I can count the number of fond memories they have shared with us on one hand.

It's been a closed book.

As a healthcare professional, I think that it's time to open the book.

We therapists have animated discussions among ourselves about how our parents will listen to other therapists but not their own children who are experts in the field! My parents may not agree with my opinion, but here it is:

When people have experienced great grief, trials or heartbreaks in early life, it's as if a piece of them splinters off to protect themselves. Some people hold that part of themselves tightly guarded without ever reintegrating and healing that part. I'm not saying people disassociate, like multiple personalities! I'm saying that we lose a bit of ourselves when we experience some loss as a child.

We have the opportunity to heal ourselves when we come to understand our childhood from an adult perspective, when we allow ourselves to be in touch with our Inner Child, when we laugh at all the things we thought were hilarious when we were little, and when we revisit what life was like.

It's important to remember both the good and the bad.

Why?

The good reminds us that there was, indeed, good in our lives, that we had friends, that we laughed, that we were (and still are) beautiful souls on this earth learning our way. It helps us remember the kindness of other people, whimsical events, magical moments and joy.

Sorting through the bad allows us the opportunity to surround the incident with love, forgiveness and healing, to let it end, to diffuse its potential to hurt us again. We are free to release it, to stop carrying it with us like rocks in our pockets. It's okay to let it heal!

Some people do not want to let go of what pains them. They want to carry it like a visible scar. They want others to know they are a victim.

Let me ask you this:

Does it serve you to be a victim?
No.







Does it serve you to forgive? To let go?

Yes.

Is it difficult to revisit painful events?

Yes.

It is necessary to "close the circles" as we age. The earlier we can do it, the better. We live more life with greater joy and less anger, bitterness or depression. When you go to the places that have held you back, sit in those places, heal them and move forward, you take off at warp speed.

It changes your life.

Who were you as a child?

What made you laugh?

Who made you cry?

Have you told your children your stories?

Have you asked your parents to tell you theirs?