I've been sending my almost 76 year old father reiki in an effort to help pull him out of his descent into dementia as much as I can. Since the last post, much has happened. He is much more lucid, not completely himself, but borderline, understand what I'm talking about and can hold a conversation. (Actually, in my lifetime, I've never known him to hold much of one with me, but he did the other day).
The remarkable story goes like this... I picked him up from the retirement home (where he's been living for a few days since his wife kicked him out), and took him for dinner. Now, I've been sending him reiki daily, just hoping it helps his mind. In my wildest dreams, I'd wished all my life that he would amidst to the many heinous things he'd done during my life, but that wish was mostly in the back of my mind, as apology is not in his nature, nor is introspection.
But that night, something happened.
After showing him several photos of where I lived in B.C., I ran out of things to talk to him about (since I do most of the talking) so I decided to wing it and ask what career would he have chosen if he hadn't done fashion or if he really had another choice in life (he probably went into fashion because his mother had).
Now, I'm not sure if it was a result of the reiki I've been sending him for a few weeks (I'd like to think so), or if he mis-heard me, or if his failing health has scared him, but slightly above the din of the noisy restaurant, I heard him say someting about "father and daughter" and feeling "bad". So I asked him what he meant, to make sure I was even hearing "feeling bad" wrong, as that would normally not be in his vocabulary.
But, I heard it wright. He said he felt bad because of how he treated me, and that he shouldn't have treated his daughter that way, and that he made so many mistakes and did so much wrong. Was I in shock. While he was on a roll, I thought I'd ask exactly what he remembered as haing done wrong, but he wouldn't go there, other than to say he did many things wrong. And he actually sounded quite distarught about it. The closest I can think of hearing someone so distraught in an apology was Schindler of Schindler's List (the movie).
It was quite amazing. So amazing that all I can imagine is that the reiki I've been sending him has been aligning him with his guides more, and aligning me somehow so that they can tell what I emotionally need, and that they came through him and helped him say what he was truly feeling deep down, as his whole tone of voice and being were quite different, almost like he was channeling someone in.
By the time we got back to the retirement home , about 20 min later, he was almost his old self, talking about how bad my skin looked, and being once again the father he apologoized for being.
But I like to think of that as his "demented" side and the other as his wise or "higher Self" side, and as he isn't reliable, this thought will be, and may sustain me for the rest of my days. Unless his apologies run deeper and provide me with more succor.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Reikiing my father
I began reiking my father, long-distance (well, from my house to him in his!), about a month ago. Since having chemotherapy drained down a tube and into a hole drilled into his skull a few years ago (because of lymphoma which spread to his brain) he's slowly been getting dementia. It got so bad, that a couple times he ended up in the hospital not really knowing who or where he was, then started acting normally there, and they released him again.
When I recently returned from BC to show him the new yoga book I'd published, he didn't even know what it was. Just flipped through it in the car and put it back on his lap. "What's the book about?" I asked him. "Oh, this and that," he said.
Then, at the restaurant, he wasn't even sure how to sign the credit card slip. I had to do it for him. That's when I REALLY knew he was in bad shape. So, since his wife keeps trying to put him in a nursing home, I thought I'd send him long-distance reiki every day as I did with my grandmother when she got really bad (that story is for another post).
As I've done this, he's become much more coherent and like his old self (good in some ways, not in others!), so much so that compared to the past few years, he sounds like a new person! The doctor's going to be shocked.
Doesn't sound like a zombie, remembers things, and is driving his employees people nuts again!
Stay tuned--he may even start cooking for himself, doing yoga and driving soon! Now, that would be scary!
When I recently returned from BC to show him the new yoga book I'd published, he didn't even know what it was. Just flipped through it in the car and put it back on his lap. "What's the book about?" I asked him. "Oh, this and that," he said.
Then, at the restaurant, he wasn't even sure how to sign the credit card slip. I had to do it for him. That's when I REALLY knew he was in bad shape. So, since his wife keeps trying to put him in a nursing home, I thought I'd send him long-distance reiki every day as I did with my grandmother when she got really bad (that story is for another post).
As I've done this, he's become much more coherent and like his old self (good in some ways, not in others!), so much so that compared to the past few years, he sounds like a new person! The doctor's going to be shocked.
Doesn't sound like a zombie, remembers things, and is driving his employees people nuts again!
Stay tuned--he may even start cooking for himself, doing yoga and driving soon! Now, that would be scary!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Grinding no more!
Recently, the power of reiki has truly been confirmed to me by a little four year old boy. My friend's son has to go from one parent's home to the other parent's each week, and as his father has abused him in the past (and the legal system has once again failed), he grinds his teeth all night. I witnessed it. It's awful. Thankfully, the night I slept at my friend's apt., it finally dawned on me that I could try reiki on him. I've never actually tried to treat an illness, let alone teeth-grinding, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
So, while he slept in the living room on the air mattress with his mother's arms wrapped around him, I told her I'd try it and, in the air, I did the three key symbols above his body. Then, he stopped and sighed. While still asleep. It was the most astounding thing I think I've ever seen!
I had to do it the next night as he started up again, then he stopped again. And when I went home for his last two nights there, I sent it long distance, and that worked too.
So, reiki has been a blessing for both of us, not that I didn't think it worked anyways; I was just astonished that even giving symbols without a full reiki treatment would work. But it's all in the intention, I was reminded.
Off to bed now, and to do some more symbols over his beautiful etheric body.
So, while he slept in the living room on the air mattress with his mother's arms wrapped around him, I told her I'd try it and, in the air, I did the three key symbols above his body. Then, he stopped and sighed. While still asleep. It was the most astounding thing I think I've ever seen!
I had to do it the next night as he started up again, then he stopped again. And when I went home for his last two nights there, I sent it long distance, and that worked too.
So, reiki has been a blessing for both of us, not that I didn't think it worked anyways; I was just astonished that even giving symbols without a full reiki treatment would work. But it's all in the intention, I was reminded.
Off to bed now, and to do some more symbols over his beautiful etheric body.
Friday, November 21, 2008
kiki and electa and phyllis dai komyo
For some reason I have avoided phyllis dai komyo. This potent symbol has a similar name to a buddhist chant I do-- daimoku--which is interesting, and I've only started using it because long distance reiki worked so well when I did it without Phyllis. But she's needed now as I need all the help I can muster for a couple of my great friends.
One of them is my best friend's grandmother, Electa, a vibrant 94 year old who stayed up until 1am to watch Barak Obama win; she'd been following the election for two years, and her dream was to see him become president. It's fascinating to watch: a small white woman, born at the beginning of the century who puts a black man at the top of her list. CNN has been her best companion for the past two years of both of their lives.
Her mind works better than mine, she reads a book a week, she hobbles around her spacious apartment where she remarkably lives on her own and marvels at the flashing coloured lights she can see stream up and down the CN tower from her window. As a gift, I bought her Obama's autobiography before I left Toronto, and she relished and devoured it within a couple weeks.
Few visit her other than myself, her hairdresser, and her sister. She eats frozen food as it's just easier to heat food in the microwave than cook, she says.
I visit her once a week when I'm in town and bring her fresh food, movies, and just listen to her talk about how she used to be in plays and always got the starring role when she was younger, how she'd play hockey, her wonderful sister, and how her great grandchildren ask her if she was born in the age of the dinosaurs!
She usually goes to bed at 9, but has been feeling quite tired and "off" since staying up late that Nov. 4 to watch the election. I'd like her to live the rest of her life at home, with great quality, so I'm sending her reiki twice a day and empowering it with Phyllis. When I return to Toronto, she will receive some in person too!
For Kiki, another great friend, I'm doing the same. She's an incredible singer (at www.myspace.com/kikimisumi) and she inspired me to join Buddhism and to practice it daily which has saved my life. Now her life needs saving, as a cancer has come back--this time in her lungs. Just two years ago, she had a huge tumour removed from between her heart and lungs and she's been in great fear since. Maybe the fear attracted more, maybe the mold in her house did, maybe the cancer just spread despite all the vitamins she has taken, but she needs a big dose of reiki before the surgeon does another Cat Scan in December to decide whether to open her up again in January. I've been so ill that many times I have wanted to die, and she wants to live so desperately that she puts me to shame.
I send her reiki whenever I think of her each day, ending in Phyllis to help aussage my worries, and I ask you to visit her webpage photo and send it to her also.
I've taken up the practice of also sending reiki to other souls in need that I read about in newspapers, new ones each week; perhaps Kiki and Elekta can be the ones you add to yours.
One of them is my best friend's grandmother, Electa, a vibrant 94 year old who stayed up until 1am to watch Barak Obama win; she'd been following the election for two years, and her dream was to see him become president. It's fascinating to watch: a small white woman, born at the beginning of the century who puts a black man at the top of her list. CNN has been her best companion for the past two years of both of their lives.
Her mind works better than mine, she reads a book a week, she hobbles around her spacious apartment where she remarkably lives on her own and marvels at the flashing coloured lights she can see stream up and down the CN tower from her window. As a gift, I bought her Obama's autobiography before I left Toronto, and she relished and devoured it within a couple weeks.
Few visit her other than myself, her hairdresser, and her sister. She eats frozen food as it's just easier to heat food in the microwave than cook, she says.
I visit her once a week when I'm in town and bring her fresh food, movies, and just listen to her talk about how she used to be in plays and always got the starring role when she was younger, how she'd play hockey, her wonderful sister, and how her great grandchildren ask her if she was born in the age of the dinosaurs!
She usually goes to bed at 9, but has been feeling quite tired and "off" since staying up late that Nov. 4 to watch the election. I'd like her to live the rest of her life at home, with great quality, so I'm sending her reiki twice a day and empowering it with Phyllis. When I return to Toronto, she will receive some in person too!
For Kiki, another great friend, I'm doing the same. She's an incredible singer (at www.myspace.com/kikimisumi) and she inspired me to join Buddhism and to practice it daily which has saved my life. Now her life needs saving, as a cancer has come back--this time in her lungs. Just two years ago, she had a huge tumour removed from between her heart and lungs and she's been in great fear since. Maybe the fear attracted more, maybe the mold in her house did, maybe the cancer just spread despite all the vitamins she has taken, but she needs a big dose of reiki before the surgeon does another Cat Scan in December to decide whether to open her up again in January. I've been so ill that many times I have wanted to die, and she wants to live so desperately that she puts me to shame.
I send her reiki whenever I think of her each day, ending in Phyllis to help aussage my worries, and I ask you to visit her webpage photo and send it to her also.
I've taken up the practice of also sending reiki to other souls in need that I read about in newspapers, new ones each week; perhaps Kiki and Elekta can be the ones you add to yours.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Grace of Reiki
Some people are drawn to places for their beauty, others are drawn there by community, others by an energetic "pull". I like to think that I was drawn to the magical BC island where I learned reiki by all of the above, perhaps with karma being the source.
After several months of doing mostly Barbara Brennan healing which showed me that the brain is actually an energy field throughout our entire body and can be healed so that we feel whole again, I found myself on the magical island of Salt Spring where, after several weeks of house-hunting, I surrendered on a yoga mat.
I just innately sent out a prayer into the surrounding ether, as I did my deep inbreaths, that I find the perfect house. Little did I know that manifestation can work so quickly while one is moving energy, and my new landlord would offer both me and the yoga teacher rooms in her house (well, I overheard the offer to the yoga teacher and I asked if she had anothe room I could rent too!). I needed the energy of a female household after living with a person who knew no boundaries.
Within a couple weeks, Brenda's friend, Annie Klein came to visit, took one look at me lying slumped on the couch oblivious to all the laughter between the two and announced, "you need energy and I can teach you how to bring some in for yourself." Little did I know that I'd have to travel 5000 kms (from Toronto) to meet one of my greatest karmic guides. And, initially, I scoffed, but thought I'd try it. "After all," I thought, "What do I have to lose?". The healings others were doing on me were costing me $90 a week and to remain sane, with my brain injury, I seriously needed them daily.
After a couple hours training, I had Reiki Level 1, but my stubborness hadn't given out yet. I would wait for 8 months to seriously try it on myself, so great was my disbelief I could actually do self-healing like this. I was back in Toronto, lying on the bed of a Howard Johnson's hotel (where I was living till I found a place), and felt like a truck had driven over me. I seriously thought someone would find me dead. "Well," I thought, "Things don't enter my life by sheer coincidence, and meeting Annie was too special, so in honour of both her and myself, I'm going to try this."
I quieted my mind, announced to the universe that "now I'm doing reiki" and just travelled my hands over the chakras of my body. By the time my hands reached my waist about 25 minutes later, I had felt such a woosh of energy enter my body and felt so clear-headed, I jumped out of bed, called Annie long distance and thanked her for truly giving me an amazing gift..and saving my life.
The grace of reiki is many things, for many people. In my case, reiki saved my life, made me whole, returned me to my sense of self after years of loss from multliple chemical sensitivity due to lead and mercury poisoning which had me often in a state of stupor so severe I could barely function. So bad was it that I had to leave my education in a medical school. But such was the grace that I came to be introduced to reiki which, other than yoga, was a greater life gift than any other I have ever received in my adult life. The following posts will detail the beautiful reiki stories that have entered my life and are also yet to come.
Love Alissa
After several months of doing mostly Barbara Brennan healing which showed me that the brain is actually an energy field throughout our entire body and can be healed so that we feel whole again, I found myself on the magical island of Salt Spring where, after several weeks of house-hunting, I surrendered on a yoga mat.
I just innately sent out a prayer into the surrounding ether, as I did my deep inbreaths, that I find the perfect house. Little did I know that manifestation can work so quickly while one is moving energy, and my new landlord would offer both me and the yoga teacher rooms in her house (well, I overheard the offer to the yoga teacher and I asked if she had anothe room I could rent too!). I needed the energy of a female household after living with a person who knew no boundaries.
Within a couple weeks, Brenda's friend, Annie Klein came to visit, took one look at me lying slumped on the couch oblivious to all the laughter between the two and announced, "you need energy and I can teach you how to bring some in for yourself." Little did I know that I'd have to travel 5000 kms (from Toronto) to meet one of my greatest karmic guides. And, initially, I scoffed, but thought I'd try it. "After all," I thought, "What do I have to lose?". The healings others were doing on me were costing me $90 a week and to remain sane, with my brain injury, I seriously needed them daily.
After a couple hours training, I had Reiki Level 1, but my stubborness hadn't given out yet. I would wait for 8 months to seriously try it on myself, so great was my disbelief I could actually do self-healing like this. I was back in Toronto, lying on the bed of a Howard Johnson's hotel (where I was living till I found a place), and felt like a truck had driven over me. I seriously thought someone would find me dead. "Well," I thought, "Things don't enter my life by sheer coincidence, and meeting Annie was too special, so in honour of both her and myself, I'm going to try this."
I quieted my mind, announced to the universe that "now I'm doing reiki" and just travelled my hands over the chakras of my body. By the time my hands reached my waist about 25 minutes later, I had felt such a woosh of energy enter my body and felt so clear-headed, I jumped out of bed, called Annie long distance and thanked her for truly giving me an amazing gift..and saving my life.
The grace of reiki is many things, for many people. In my case, reiki saved my life, made me whole, returned me to my sense of self after years of loss from multliple chemical sensitivity due to lead and mercury poisoning which had me often in a state of stupor so severe I could barely function. So bad was it that I had to leave my education in a medical school. But such was the grace that I came to be introduced to reiki which, other than yoga, was a greater life gift than any other I have ever received in my adult life. The following posts will detail the beautiful reiki stories that have entered my life and are also yet to come.
Love Alissa
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