Wanda moves on...

It wasn’t my usual day at the clinic; I had been called in by the nurses because she was in so much pain and very agitated. It is wonderful to see Reiki being increasingly accepted in clinical settings like this.

As I sat with her, my hand on her head giving her Reiki, I found that I wasn’t sure what to say to her. Before we had always chatted about life together, but she could no longer speak coherently. After feeling a little nervous at first, I decided to sit in silence until something came to me that I really wanted to say. After 10 minutes or so I found myself naturally telling her the beautiful things I could see in her, in her eyes.

After about 15 minutes or so, Wanda began to calm down considerably, her pain seemed to ease and she stopped writhing. She looked up at me in the way a child does when asking for reassurance, and I found myself telling her that she was going on a wonderful journey and that all she had to do was to let go. She began to drift in and out of sleep and I continued to talk to her, encouraging her to relax and let go.

Seeing how much Reiki helped Wanda in her pain and eased her transition as she left her body was an incredible experience for me. Thinking of how much pain and discomfort my father was in when he died 8 years ago, I wish I had known Reiki then to be able to have had a similar experience with him.

Wanda's wisdom....

23rd April 2008

It's funny but the more I spend time with people close to dying, the more I realise that some of what is labelled, 'ramblings' may have a great deal of wisdom within.

Wanda doesn't seem too far from transitioning and leaving her ailing body behind. She is lonely, painfully thin and has some kind of condition where her skin is peeling so severely that she has to wear mittens all the time. She looked so forlorn when the nurse showed me into her room to see if Reiki would help her with the constant pain in her stomach.

As I sat with her, my hands on her stomach, we talked. She asked about my background and what I am studying at university here and then began chatting away about herself. At first I couldn't make out what she was saying as she was becoming so sleepy and slurring her words. After a while I worked it out... she was talking about when she was alive in the 1800s and the white man was taking over America. Though many thought it a bad thing, she explained, she knew that diversity was the way forward.

Many would say that she is just confused because of the drugs and how sick she is, yet when I looked into her eyes as she said this, the 'dead glare' she had was gone and they were shining so brightly.
I felt really honoured to be there with her at that moment.

Good spirits

16th April 2008

Marc was waiting for me when I arrived with a big smile on his face. He cracked himself up all the way through the treatment today - more than usual :) and at one point made himself cough so much that he had to sit up for a minute. It is great to hear him in such good spirits, I am really growing fond of him and he recommends some really good movies too which is always good.

I would love to do some kind of study looking at the effects of Reiki on people with HIV/AIDS. Perhaps measuring T cells. I can see for myself and so can those I have treated here how much of a great effect it has on their general feeling of well being, but it would be interesting to see the effects biologically too.

Ben, who is perhaps the youngest here, has been having behaviour issues and is finding life difficult at the moment. He has never expressed an interest in receiving Reiki. Today I found him sitting in his wheelchair in the corridoor looking very sorry for himself. When I asked him how he was he told me in a very dejected voice, "I'm trying not to upset anyone." I asked him if he wanted some Reiki and he shrugged his shoulders and started off towards the treatment room I use.

At first he was restless and asked me several times how long it would be but after about 10 minutes he settled down. The byosen on his head was the strongest I have felt in a while and I sensed so much angst in him. 40 minutes later, he stirred and told me he needed the bathroom - but it was too late. The incredible nurses came and cleaned everything up while I reassured Ben that it was no problem - and to be honest he didn't seem worried anyway. I was probably more concerned than he was. I wonder whether it was that so many toxins were being released that he had no time or just that he didn't want to stop the treatment?

About 10 minutes later when I walked into the dining room, he was sitting in fresh clothes eating a meal and grinned at me as I passed by - the first time he has acknowleged me.

I am sure the Reiki will help him out in whichever way is best for him.

Keith leaves...what about my haircut?

9th April 2008

Walking into the clinic I felt great as I melted into that homely, loving atmosphere that presides here again. After my trip back to the UK to teach seminars for a while, it was good to see everyone. Keith is doing so well that he is leaving in a couple of days and has found a great apartment round the courner from the clinic. Everyone here says they will really miss him as he is a big character and a huge positive influence for the others. I will miss him too as I loved seeing him and speaking to him every week. I also want the haircut he promised me!! Hopefully we will meet up again as he has told me he wants to continue recieving Reiki after he leaves :)

Marc is doing really well too and the energy is flowing much better around his body now. He has started going out more and getting involved in the activites too, which is great to see.

Fingerprints,TB and Yahtzee

Friday 15th February

In the US, you can't volunteer places without the FBI doing everything but give you an internal to check you are who you say you are. I had to get my fingerprints done today, which proved a problem because apparently I have very bad prints. This is good news if I ever find myself wanting to commit a crime, but not so good if I am standing in a police station trying to get the computer to accept my prints whilst other people pretend they are ok with waiting so long and having to rush out to put more money on their parking meter. Apparently I must have ironed my fingers or something when I was small. Still, eventually it kind of worked, so I was able to go to the centre and present them with my poor prints and ask them to check my latest TB test while I was there.
Not only do I have bad fingerprints, but I must have been exposed to TB somewhere along my travels too. The tests show positive, though I don't actually have it and am not infectious. I still have to have a chest x-ray now to check my lungs are clear. I am not sure whether my insurance would pay for that, so I may have to start the project of trying to find the cheapest clinic for x-rays around here.

Whilst the nurses were discussing what to do with me, Keith appeared with Ken, a resident who I haven't seen before because he was in hospital sorting out his broken hip. Ken said he wanted to try Reiki next Wednesday because Keith had been telling him about it. We started chatting, and ended up playing an amusing game of Yahtzee in which I learned that I am going to like Ken very much, he has a wicked sense of humour and took great delight in 'whipping everyone's ass' (I believe this is the correct phrase here) at Yahtzee.

It's weird - but it's doing something....

Wednesday 13th February

Keith was feeling much better this week. He told me his shoulder and hip pain were much better, which was great to hear. After the treatment, where I concentrated on his head and back because he has the most byosen there right now, he talked more about his experience of Jikiden Reiki. He said, "I don't know what it is, it's weird, but it's doing something". He described feeling 'lighter' and 'better', before shrugging his shoulders and leaving.

Marc has recently given up smoking after a long time of being a heavy smoker. He needed to stop immediately because of his health, so he is using some kind of drug to do it. It's working well so far and he hopes the Reiki will help his lungs and general condition. It is harder to feel the byosen on Marc, though more came through today, especially on his legs. Sometimes if the toxins are buried deeper, or if someone is on a great deal of medication, it can be more difficult to feel byosen, though of course it is still there. However, I usually find the more often I treat someone, the easier it becomes to feel it as their body gets used to the Reiki and the toxins start to come to the surface more.

I spoke to Stuart, an older resident today too, and he wants to receive some Reiki next week for the pain in his legs. He had not heard of it before and listened carefully to what I was telling him about it, all the while looking very skeptical. I was really surprised when he said he wanted to try it. I'm happy someone else is interested too.

TB test day - and cookies...

Wednesday 6th Feb

I wasn't sure whether to go in today or not because I was sneezing a little this morning and I know that people with hiv and Aids have to be extremely careful around any kind of germs. In the end, I phoned the clinic and they decided that as I had no cold it was probably an allergy. I made an agreement with myself that if I sneezed again before I was due to go (2 hours later) then I would cancel. I didn't sneeze and was fine, so treated both Keith and Marc again before getting a not-as-painful-as-I-expected TB test (compulsory for all volunteers) and making my way out with some of the cookie stash from the kitchen (I did ask, honest).

The first time....

Wed 30th Jan

I felt a little nervous going into the clinic today but the kitchen volunteers home-baked cookies soon sorted me out. Besides, the people that work there are so friendly and jolly that I can see it is going to be a great place to be. I have a good feeling about it.

Katie took me around the place and introduced me to some residents. The mood amongst them was pretty low and Katie explained that there have been an unusually high number of deaths in the last few weeks and people are feeling it. One lady, who I would have loved to treat, Margaret, has a great many ailments - painful knees and back, eye and ear problems and primarily anxiety. Katie told her I was here to give Reiki to anyone who wanted it, but she told us she was 'too ill' to get Reiki. I have heard people say that before and it fascinates me as this is the perfect time to receive it. However, I can see that as Margaret has so much anxiety, something new to her like Reiki may well seem very scary. I will try to chat to her and get to know her a bit before suggesting it again.

Two people jumped at the chance to get Reiki, though one hadn't had it before, he claimed he was up for anything. Keith has been in the facility a while, but is doing well and is hoping to move out into an apartment by himself soon. He is pretty healthy, but has joint pain, shoulder pain and neuropathy. I worked on his shoulders today as they were giving him the most pain. After the treatment he told me he felt energy running through his body and his arm and leg were twitching throughout the treatment. He booked in for next wednesday.

Marc has general pain and neuropathy too. He is an art lover and travel bug like me, so we chatted about that a little before the treatment, which he must have enjoyed because he crashed out completely during the session and booked in for next week too.

Going to volunteer

Yesterday I went to a residential facility for people living with AIDS who can no longer live alone to chat with a few of the residents about the possiblity of coming to give them Reiki treatments each week.

I cleverly got off the bus 20 blocks too early, so had to run like crazy to get there on time. It's always good to arrive at a new place, where you want to make a good impression, sweating profusely and out of breath I find. Anyway, despite this, things went well and the volunteer manager would like me to start this week :)

Having a look round, the place felt very peaceful and the staff were all smiley and friendly. On reading the literature I was given, I realised that the chief concern is really not about there being any danger to me, but that any germs I may have could be lethal to the residents.

I'm really excited to see how Jikiden Reiki will help the people here. I know that it is not likely to save their lives, but I dearly hope that it can make a difference to their lives, their level of pain or anxiety and their general comfort while they are living. I anticipate that if they received it regularly, they would most likely find a difference in 3 main areas:
Relief from symptoms of whatever sickness they have
Relief from side effects of drugs
Stress and anxiety levels

It is possible that their immune system will be strengthened too, but we will have to see.

I will keep notes on the results here, so do come back to take a look if you are interested.

Thanks

If you're interested in Jikiden Reiki, take a look at my site at www.learnjikidenreiki.com