Reiki for Weight Loss? Christina Aguilera Says Yes

Christina Aguilera: a healthy look

Pop star Christina Aguilera gives credit to Reiki treatments for losing 30-pounds and keeping it off. Aguilera, a celebrity coach on The Voice, has discovered two major ways in which Reiki helps towards weight loss. She says, “Reiki puts her mind in a good place and also gives her the discipline to eat healthy and maintain weight loss.”

She's not alone. Many Hollywood stars have reported having discovered the subtle and yet powerful effects of Reiki including Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Aguilera, a busy 32-year-old mom, receives Reiki treatment three times each week. Any new moms here wonder how she does it? Me too!

Aguilera with her 5-year old son, Max

Reiki and weight loss programs

Just like Aguilera, many people who have experienced Reiki report that it helps them:

• feel calmer, more balanced
• make better choices, including regarding what they eat
• have fewer cravings for addictive substances, including emotional eating
• better and more easily manage everyday stresses
• sleep better (insomnia has been linked to obesity)
• exercise and take better care of themselves.

While it's fantastic that Aguilera is focusing on her health and well-being, the truth is most of us can't go for Reiki treatments three times a week. Especially busy working moms.

This is why learning Reiki Level One for self-treatment is such a smart investment.

Transformation: Aguilera at American Music Awards 2012 (Left) and 2013 (Right)

Reiki self-treatment

A Level One Reiki Course is an easy 2-day course that anyone can take and costs about the same as three Reiki treatments. By learning Reiki, we can practice on ourselves as much as we like (ideally every day!) and share the amazing benefits of Reiki with others.

Reiki helps our system more efficiently and easily manage stress, helps strengthen all of our natural healing systems and increases the flow of energy through our body.

What about emotional eating?

Another benefit of adding Reiki to any physical fitness regimen is that even just a few minutes of Reiki self-healing can balance our system and stop food cravings and emotional tendencies to eat.

Because Reiki is holistic, working subtly on physical, mental-emotional and spiritual levels, it has the ability to quickly calm emotions. The sense of wholeness and contentment balances our system, melting away emotionally-driven cravings and the heightened awareness motivates us to take better care of ourselves.

Healthy weight

Celebrities are judged by their appearance way more than us living in the real world. Fashion magazines are notorious for air-brushing or zooming in on faces when bodies don't "fit" society's idea of beauty. We don't need to look like a celebrity to feel good about ourselves but it's clear that Christina Aguilera has found Reiki helps her feel better -- and when we feel better will always look our best. 

Get Reiki or learn Reiki self-care

If you would like more information about Reiki, you can look into receiving Reiki Treatments or Learning Reiki here.

The New Year's Evolution

Happy New Year! 

Really, it's just another day in the continuum of life. Even still, drawing a line in time that says, "this is officially a new year!" reminds us of making a fresh start.

Enter the New Year's Resolution. Yikes!

Resolutions: an overwhelming To-Do list of items that never cross off.

I've always hated these three words put together. They are almost as scary as "Projections" or "Forecasts" except tinged with a thinly-veiled sense of greater control. And worse, we make these promises to ourselves (multiple ones, all at once!) that set us up for shame and failure right in the bleak dead of winter three weeks later. Well, not me. I have another way.

So, I Opted for a New Year's "Evolution"

Evolution: A long, unsteady and natural process

So much better. An "Evolution" is a long, unsteady and natural process (and hopefully going in the right direction). We know at the end of an evolution, the finished product (in this case, "me", or "you") will be different from what it is now. We don't need to know or control what that product will be. We just take note along the way of what is.

So instead of promising, "Starting today, I'm going to do blah, blah blah...", I take a key insight from the past year, months, weeks or days (something meaningful to me and others, hopefully) and watch how I'm evolving with it.

So here's one of my 2014 New Year's Evolutions. Are you ready? 

"I'm more aware of my plastic consumption."

Most of us don't even use these any more. Where are they coming from?

Taaa-Daaa! That's it. Are you surprised? Instead of starting or stopping doing something (aren't we doing enough already?) I've decided to simply become more aware of a habitual reaction to something. So sometime last year I had a moment like this:

Yikes! One look and you want to run out of there

It hit me like a Mack truck. Intellectually I always knew that there were healthier products and unhealthier ones. But the healthier ones *are* the unhealthy ones. I examined ingredients more closely. Apart from MSG, HFCS, BHA, and other obvious toxic chemicals there were literally hundreds more scientific names I'd never heard of. What were they? Were they deadly things pretending to be healthy or healthy things that just sound deadly? Tired, I left empty-handed.

Reading this would scare the bananas out of anyone, and yet it's perfectly healthy!

Even the fruit from the market was later eyed with suspicion. I can't always know every ingredient, so I made a promise then in the back of my mind, that I'd eat responsibly, eat well, eat happily and gratefully and be aware of how I felt after.

My plastic Evolution is similar. Not long ago, I was stuck in a space with the smell of melting plastic. Have you ever smelled melting plastic? Don't! It is noxious. It lingered in my lungs for a long time.

I was trapped by smells like this nose-pinching statue in a dirty Florence back-alley

When I got home I began noticing plastics around me, in my recycle bin, in the plastic bag storage. Even though I eat from the garden in summer, buy dry goods in bulk (bring my own containers), have carried cloth shopping bags for decades, gave up shampoo for a whole summer (trust me it was brutal) and generally am super sensible and sparing about packaging, I realised more than 50% of what I buy is still packaged in plastic. Oh, but it's recyclable, you say. I researched how it's recycled: a long and imperfect process and most plastic still winds up in landfills less than a year from the time it was purchased. Plastic near food and beverages is toxic and don't get me started on the environmental impacts! I became very aware that I wanted none of it.

Awareness of Direct Experience

This is the key ingredient to making it work. Awareness is the opposite of doing (or stopping doing) anything. So instead fearing being fat, ugly, old, broke, sick or dying and then doing something about the fear (dieting, exercising or quitting smoking for example), we simply become aware of our direct experience. And guess what? This awareness of direct experience is mindfulness practice. Come on, you didn't think I'd write a post without mentioning meditation, did you??

Isn't the skin enough? Absurdly over-packaged.

Evolution In Action

I notice every time I want to buy a package of rice crackers packaged in plastic. I may still buy them. I just become aware of my reaction (disappointment, whatever). The point is, I don't do (or stop doing) anything. I just notice what's going on inside. Eventually I may be so aware of the negative feelings that I lose the taste for rice crackers or become aware of alternatives. The habit forms or drops naturally, all by itself, when the mind is ready to drop it, not because I impose a Resolution.

Alternatives!

Et voilà!

That's the whole method. Trust me if you're looking to form a healthy habit or stop a negative habit (listen up if you want to quit smoking, lose weight, exercise more or sleep better!) this is the most natural, inexpensive and long-lasting way to go about it. Evolve!

If you were inspired into an Evolution with your own plastic habit, here is a handy-dandy guide to help you get started. Or tell me, what's your Evolution?

Essential Reiki Kit

One of the reasons I absolutely love Reiki is that doesn't require any props or equipment. No pills, no liquids, lights, gadgets, implements, chemicals... and really no technique... just your hands.

This is also why self healing with Reiki is so easy to do while on the go. Even if you just need a spot healing you can always put your hands on the affected area for a short time and feel the discomfort begin to melt.

...But what about giving someone else Reiki? 

As someone who often travels to see clients, I really feel that it's not necessary to take much. I do have a small Essential Reiki Kit that lives in my purse though, for client visits. And I'm going to spill it. Here's what's inside:

1. Alcohol 

No... not rum, whiskey or gin! You always want to make sure your hands are clean when you are giving a Reiki treatment. I carry a small spray sanitizer bottle in my purse, filled with 99% alcohol. It's better than regular hand sanitizers because it's cleaner, free of soapy and perfumey fragrances and it dries better. If you didn't know, the drier the hands, the more sensitive they are, so put off moisturising until after the session is done.

2. Music

If the person receiving the treatment agrees to music, it can perform three functions. First, soothing music helps to relax the person during the session, which can be difficult when they're still in their own environment. Second, it muffles background sounds and distracting reminders of busy every day life. And third, since you don't want to be glancing at a clock, it helps keep time.

I keep it simple and use my phone. iPods or mp3 players are great too. Newer ones don't need speakers and can amplify in a small room just fine. I play one track. It's 25 minutes of relaxing healing music set on repeat. Each time the track ends I know how much time I have left or whether to begin wrapping up, which for a 60 minute session is a few minutes into the third play.

3. Crystals

This is entirely optional. If you bring crystals, make sure they are spotlessly clean and energized and you know how to use them. I keep them in a small container that has padding on the bottom and is pretty tight when they are all stacked inside. This prevents crushing and chipping. Although I used crystals all the time in the past, I now feel I only need them when they are called for, for example if I need a terminator wand to concentrate a laser beam of healing directed at a tumour. Or when someone requests them.

.... And that's it.

My whole Essential Reiki Kit fits in the palm of my hand.

I ask new clients if they need me to bring a Reiki / massage table (which I'd bring with clean, fresh sheets) but most people are comfortable across the foot of their beds or on a sofa and their favourite pillows and throws for any extra support or comfort.

If you have an Essential Reiki Kit, what's inside?

Psychic Sensing with Reiki

A few weeks ago a student asked: "I pick up psychic information when practising Reiki. Where is it coming from? ...And how is it being sensed?"

I almost jumped up and down. I LOVE getting questions like this! Not because I love discussions with a high "woo-woo" factor, but because it means that people are practising! We talk about this stuff in Reiki courses and training, but we only really understand with experience. I'm basically doing the Snoopy dance.

Drumroll Please! It's Coming from...

Your Guidance! You knew I'd say that didn't you? We learn that once we are attuned to Reiki, we are connected with healing guidance from and for the highest of good. This guidance intelligently knows what's required for healing, and focuses its attention accordingly. We practitioners are simply the conduit or channel.

Sometimes students are skeptical. That's okay. I was too. Yet soon I started knowing things I couldn't have known - important things that pointed to the root cause of the issue or helped me direct healing energy to best address the issue, whether physical, emotional or spiritual. There's nothing like direct experience.

The more we practise, the better we get at understanding how our Reiki guidance is communicating with - and working through - us. Doubt will rear it's ugly head! But if we block out our guidance, we may be limiting healing potential. The more open, patient and unassuming we are, the more easily and accurately we will understand the guidance we are getting and the more healing will be possible. So that's half the answer...

How do we Know Without Knowing How we Know?

If we pay attention (or in this case if we practice mindfulness) we may wonder how this psychic information is being sensed. Guidance comes in many forms. We could see colours or pictures, hear words, feel emotions, or feel prompted to speak, make sound, dance or move. We could just know something without knowing how we know it.

So we can perform studies and look at outcomes, but how do we explain how this works scientifically?

We don't. Simply put, science can't explain everything you experience. Over the last ten thousand years we have relied on science to understand our experience of reality. And while it's given us so much, it can't explain what lies beyond the common five senses because it bases our whole understanding of reality as perceived only through them. Understandably so: science must be measurable. But there are things we just can't measure.

We all have the ability to sense beyond the standard five senses, but this ability has been violently squashed over the last ten thousand years. "Witches" and "charlatans" suspected of having extra sensory perception or psychic abilities were publicly burned or drowned. No wonder we haven't recognized or cultivated these abilities. We've been well trained not to!

Buddha and the Bigger Picture

If we turn to Buddha, the original teacher of mindfulness and one of the sharpest minds ever known, we get a fuller and clearer picture of reality. This is because the Buddha discovered and taught that we have a sixth sense with which to perceive reality: the mind.

In fact, your mind is sensing information into reality from your guidance in the same way as your eyes are sensing the realness of these squiggles I've typed out on the screen right at this very moment. The eyes see, the ears hear, the body moves and feels, the nose smells, the tongue tastes and the mind knows. And yes thanks to science we know the mind isn't restricted to the brain. Neuropeptides, the molecules that know emotions, are scattered throughout the brain and the entire body. A human being is a brilliantly interconnected communication network thanks to our trillions of space-filled cells.

It's fascinating how it works. During Reiki, the mind senses impressions made by your Reiki guidance, and depending on your guidance and your individual makeup, your mind processes the impressions into one or more recognizable "formats". You may know in pictures (clairvoyance), in sound (clairaudience), in smell (clairalience), in feeling (clairsentience), in tasting (clairgustance) or in perhaps the most direct way, in thought or knowing (claircognizance). And although not necessary, once you understand what you're sensing from your guidance, you can then be a conscious partner in the Reiki treatment.

Just know

So next time you are giving a Reiki treatment and "just know" that your hands need to stay at a certain spot longer, that you need to say something, or even that the person had cold pizza for breakfast, know that your mind is sensing this information from your Reiki guidance, from the highest of good. And that you're receiving it for the best possible healing outcome.

Okay, so now that that's done, any more questions? I wanna do the Snoopy dance again!

See Also:

Psychic Skill Building Course

Learn Reiki

About Salima

Contact Me

Blocking EMF Rays... Tips to Prevent Frying

Being energy sensitive can come with a few surprising "bonuses". Sometimes without realising it, we may

A bit scary but we made them, we can manage them

pick up on the energy of another person, or become sensitive to certain foods. Other times we notice our fingertips frying against laptop keys or smartphone touch screens. There are times when I feel pressure in my chest when in front of the laptop or typing on my phone.

I've been doing a little reading and found that I'm not alone. There is a tonne of emerging research into the effects of our modern devices on our health and well-being. In fact, the lists of symptoms contributed to exposure to electromagnetic field (EMF), which is the stuff that's emitted from modern devices like laptops, tablets, iphones, androids, blackberries and even cordless phones, include some pretty serious complaints. Here is a list of what I found (please try not to get scared):

• Abdominal pain;
• Anxiety
• Behavioral disorders (e.g. attention deficit disorder, ADD)
• Brain-degenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer–s)
• Cancerous afflictions: leukemia, brain tumors
• Cardiac: palpitations, arrhythmia, pain or pressure in the chest, low or high blood pressure, slow or fast heart rate, shortness of breath
• Chronic exhaustion
• Concentration problems
• Depression
• Dermatological: skin rash, itching, burning, facial flushing
• Deteriorating fillings
• Deteriorating vision
• Digestive problems
• Dizziness
• Dryness of lips, tongue, mouth, eyes; great thirst; dehydration
• Enlarged thyroid
• Epilepsy
• Extreme fluctuations in blood pressure, ever harder to influence with medications
• Fatigue
• Flu-like symptoms, fever. More severe reactions can include seizures, paralysis, psychosis and stroke
• Hair loss
• Heart rhythm disorders
• Immune abnormalities
• Impaired sense of smell
• Increased blood sugar level
• Irritability
• Itching
• Memory loss
• Nausea
• pain or burning in the eyes, pressure in/behind the eyes, deteriorating vision, floaters, cataracts.
• Pain in the teeth;
• Respiratory: sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma.
• Ringing in the ears.
• Seeing flashes
• Sleeplessness, daytime sleepiness
• Strokes among an increasingly younger population
• Susceptibility to infection
• Sweating, cold sweating, tremors
• Testicular/ovarian pain
• Tingling
• Tremors
• Weakness

Satellites never sleep

Before Tossing the Laptop and Phone... Read On

The idea isn't to move off the grid (although it sounds very tempting) but to change a few simple things to limit our health risks and risks to those close to us. And they really are simple. 

Here are a few tips to block or limit the radiation that comes from your electronic devices:

1. Airplane or Flight Mode 

I can't stress how useful this is. When you sleep your cell phone is receiving pings by the minute from radio towers, just to ensure the signal is working. This can cause all sorts of sleep disturbances and wreak havoc on your body at the cellular level. And why put yourself at risk when you're sleeping? Keep all devices away from you when you sleep. Even better, put your cell phone on airplane or flight mode or unplug your router and cordless phones overnight.

2. Batch Computer Time 

If you don't need to be at the computer all day long, then batch your tasks during the day so that you are not spending all extra time in front of screens. One thing I'm experimenting with is keeping a paper to-do list so that I'm not going to the phone every 30 minutes to check what I must be doing. I even used to park my car in 1-hour spots to make sure I'd get up and outside to break up my computer time. While I can't measure how much less EMF I'm ingesting, let's just say it's made a huge difference in the quality of my days.

3. Limit Talk Time & SMS 

Some signals can be deadly

Let's face it. If you want to have a long talk with someone, it's better done in person. If they are far away, use Skype or speakerphone and keep the phone a couple of feet away from your head. Also, let's admit it, 50% of SMS messages are useless anyway. I've also resurrected the ancient art of snail mail. I could very well be keeping Canada Post alive.

4. Get the Laptop off your Lap

Let's face it there are some sensitive parts down there and we'd like to preserve them. This goes for carrying cell phones in your pants pockets. Ladies, easy - put the cell in the purse or bag. For guys, it's a good idea to move the cell phone to different pockets so it's not constantly in contact with one part of the body. Or invest in a man-purse.

5. Hands off Kids!

Let's face it, children's bodies are growing and they will have a longer lifetime with electronics around. Keep them away from gadgets that we haven't yet had enough long term research on. They may just thank you and take care of you when the time comes! 

and lastly...

6. Use those Crystals

Certain crystals are great for shielding, others for emanating and still others for sucking energy. You can wear earthy crystals like Jasper and Green Aventurine to absorb rays. Any reflective crystal like Pyrite or Flourite will create a barrier to the EMF rays so you can put them on your desk. Remember to cleanse these and power them up regularly and they will help block those unwanted rays from your devices.

... and there you have it. Time to turn off the computer and get some fresh air. That means me and you.

where do bombings come from?

simple. from in here.

How about Bombs?

let me illustrate. today i walked into a car dealership. i purposely didn't look at the three salespeople idly sitting around because i felt them staring at me. instead i eyeballed the large hunks of glossy metal-on-wheels scattered across the floors throughout the brightly windowed space.

even more than feeling their gaze i began to hear the thought bubbles emerging from their heads. "cute but i won't close a sale..."

then i had thought bubbles of my own. "stop staring at me like that". small flickers of disappointment and fatigue came up after each thought.

what's this got to do with bombs, you ask? keep reading

a minute later we were discussing one of the hunks of metal. every question i posed resulted in a more disgruntled look, every answer was increasingly snide. and in me, small flickers of anger arose, little sparks... each spark emerged, was witnessed and died out. until finally one caught me off guard. I didn't catch it in time. it was a fire. noticing it appear i excused myself. "thanks, i'll think about it. have a good night". and i left.

these little fires make the bombs go off. no lie.

It lights itself, notice it and it's extinguished

it's the same angry fire that caused yesterday's bombings in boston resulting in three deaths and dozens injured. but that's not all. yesterday the same fire also killed 13 and wounded 200 in iraq through car bombs. it killed 30 people at an afghani wedding via a US bombing. it claimed the lives of 25 people -- including children -- by government bombing in syria. and it killed 30 in somalia by islamist bombing.

sounds like common sense, doesn't it? anger causes violence? but we often fail to recognize two things:

1. it's not just a bomber / terrorist / lost soul's anger, it's the same anger in us.
2. it's really hard to extinguish because we subjectively feel that "our" anger is justified.

extinguishing the spark

so do we resign ourselves to suffer at the hands of fire, anger, violence?

the truth is that suffering is up to us to endure. as humans we have the ability to be consciously aware. with some practice (enter mindfulness) we can notice anger as soon as it has appeared in our mind. by doing this it's automatically disarmed and can't breed into action. it's like calling out a villain. at that moment, they stop dead in their tracks. they drop their weapons. they lose their power. the same goes for our anger. once we notice it or call it out, it too loses power.

no force

that's right, the process shouldn't include any force. to do so would mean suppressing the anger, and we all know what happens when a fire is suppressed. it explodes like a bomb. so we notice calmly and without force or manipulation. the impartial noticing is what has the power to extinguish the spark before it blows up.

so remember... next time you feel anger or outrage or righteousness coming on:

Watch your beliefs... they become your thoughts,
Watch your thoughts...they become your words,
Watch your words... they become your actions,
Watch your actions... they become your habits,
Watch your habits... they become your values,
Watch your values... they become your destiny.

and in the process of watching, if you notice a nice car for me to buy, drop me a line.

7 Tips for Smoother, Smarter, more Soulful Travel

you can lose yourself, even when you know where you are

This past summer, for me, was four months of constantly moving around. Bay of Quinte. Toronto. Tampa. Toronto. San Francisco. Toronto. Montreal. Toronto. San Francisco. Toronto. San Francisco. Toronto. Bay of Quinte. Toronto. Beijing. Xi'an. Shanghai. Hong Kong. San Francisco and back to Toronto. I'm now grounded for the rest of the year.

I help professionals, entrepreneurs and busy parents manage their health, stress and energy through mindfulness, meditation, and self-healing; but you can imagine how so much moving around affects my own energy... and how that affects my work.

Travelling is a fun and mind-broadening activity but the joy of it quickly fades when you find yourself constantly packing and unpacking, going through endless security checks, living out of a bag while spending a great deal of time in airports, lounges, cabs and hotel rooms. It is also easy to forget your daily meditation or mindfulness practice and even easier to experience illness when you're constantly on the go.

Over the years I've come to understand seven simple ways to save time, keep my energy and spirits up, protect myself against burn-out and make the most of my travels. Here they are;

travel light - suitcases should be smaller than you

1. Pack what you know. 

Packing has always been my least favourite activity. While running the communications department for an African organization a few years ago, I created a time-saving standard packing list. I still use this today, allowing for minor adjustments depending on destination. I used to roll everything but now I use the KonMari method. It's much neater than a big mass of rolled up clothes and everything goes directly from drawer to bag. My advice: take your favourite clothes with you. If you have something sitting in the closet that you never wear, keep it there or better yet, give it away. Making sure you are comfortable is the priority. When you're comfortable, people feel comfortable around you. Pretty simple right?

2. Coordinate and consolidate. 

I like to travel for work but always find time for pleasure when I'm away. I recently spent two weeks hopping around China with family and proceeded directly to a workshop in California, carrying only a small roll-on and purse. So, I needed everything to do double or triple-duty. That meant packing wrinkle-resistant, colour-coordinated items that were easy to hand-wash, dried fast and could be layered. Must-take item: A couple of nice, big scarves to wrap around me on chilly flights, fold and use as neck or lower back supports, wear as beach cover ups or sarongs, and yes as a scarf or accessory.

keep these things safe!

3. Tech up and back up. 

Remember Murphy's Law? Make sure you have back-up plans. Remember your power converters; take that extra cable, and the spare drive with a copy of your files. The last thing you want to do is arrive to a work destination and be unprepared. Keep a backup of your ID by scanning and emailing yourself a copy of your passport, visa, driver's licence, health insurance, other important documents, bank account numbers and corresponding emergency telephone numbers. While you're at it, backup your phone. Last time I travelled, my iPhone plummeted to the bottom of an elevator shaft the day before I was coming home. It's a hassle replacing these things when you're away, and once you’ve done this, you won’t need to again for a while.

4. Spread those wings before you fly. 

don't try this in the airport - they may give away your ticket

Airports and planes are designed to get the most people to a destination using the least amount of space, resources and tools. Some airports have begun to make a shift, though. San Francisco International Airport has a yoga room in the domestic departures lounge. It's small but does the trick - get a few stretches in if you can, especially if you're waiting for a long-haul flight. Some airports have quiet rooms or meditation rooms too. Even without these, you can usually find space for stretching, taking some revitalizing deep breaths or closing and sunning your eyes and face by those big windows at your gate. Instead of shopping, tweeting or firing up your tablet, waiting in the lounge or at your gate is a great time to meditate or practice mindfulness before take-off. There's enough noise and movement to observe your body and mind, and the stiff benches at gates are perfect for sitting up a little straighter, just uncomfortable enough to help ward off sleepiness.

wouldn't this be so nice?

5. Make space in the sky. 

Your movements are limited on the flight, so take care of yourself in the air. There's usually space near the kitchen or washrooms to go for a stretch. I've found that rather than getting stares from people, they were more likely to come by for a stretch too. Flying with recycled air is drying, so bring an empty travel bottle, fill it with hot or cold drinking water and a lemon wedge from a restaurant at your gate to keep hydrated throughout the flight.

In your purse or travel bag, keep a set of ear buds, clean underwear and a t-shirt, a small notebook and pen, healthy snacks like carrots and fruit, and at least a one night’s stay worth of currency for each country you're travelling to. Who knows, you might be struck by a brilliant idea to jot down, run into delays, be stuck somewhere for hours or perhaps even overnight. If the in-flight movie selection disappoints, you will thank yourself if you took the time to prepare a playlist of your favourite relaxing music, guided meditations or audiobooks to listen to, or brought along a timeless, inspirational read.

I've even noticed the flight goes by faster when I practice mindfulness or close my eyes and meditate while in the plane. If I end up talking to the person sitting next to me, my interactions are so much more pleasant and sweet. Which brings me to...

6. Talk to people. 

Just a friendly hello to the person sitting next to you at the gate, on your flight or on the train can enrich your travel experience. I can't say how many times a stranger has made my day or given me amazing insights into life.

Once on a Chennai-Mumbai flight I teared up with an excruciating earache while flying with a cold. The guy sitting next to me somehow fashioned a finger puppet out of his croissant in efforts to cheer me up. On a rather uncomfortable Paris-New York flight, the guy sitting next to me and I snuck away from our noisy section to the back of the plane and played charades and laughed for hours.

On my way home from Amsterdam once, I sat next to a woman who was leaving her whole world behind to make a fresh start in Toronto. Additionally, she had a fear of flying and was clenching the armrest in panic. I read her A Meditation for the Jet-Set during our take off. We still keep in touch today.

no lie. i sat next to her on a red eye home.
she slept faceplant style on her seat the entire flight

7. Sleep. 

If you are crossing time zones and need to sleep in order to stay fresh and alert on landing, do what you need to do. I set my internal clock to destination time when I board a plane. You can also bring a good bedtime tea with you. I love Clipper's organic Sleep Easy tea. You can check your local health food store for one containing valerian root.

For mid-afternoon jet lag after arriving at your destination, I set an alarm for a 12-minute nap or practice intense deep breathing for 30 seconds, enough to freshen up for a few hours. Other things you can use are eye masks, smartphone "white noise" apps (crashing waves work wonders for me), earplugs and travel pillows.

Practice the "shutdown" meditation: move your awareness from your feet up to your head, relaxing and releasing each part of the body as you go.

Take it easy...

view from my virgin atlantic flight
to delhi.  relax and take it all in

The last thing I can say is this: pace yourself. Don't travel to twelve places in four months and try and keep your regular workload. It's just too much to keep anyone healthy, grounded and mindful. This summer was an experiment on myself I won't need to repeat. By the end of it, I was exhausted, had a bad cold and came home needing a cocoon and silence, when I usually feel brighter, recharged and revitalized.

As Marcel Proust said: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but seeing with new eyes.” So make your journey comfortable with less of the stress. No matter where you find yourself, if your body, mind and spirit are comfortable, you will soak up more richness from your travel experiences than you had imagined.

"how did you do that?"

sending healing through the atmosphere?

i know, it sounds like fiction.

the truth is that science will probably catch up in 300 years. until then, sorry. we can't bottle and sell it on shelves under a generic or commercial name. but it's real.

if you asked me about this ten years ago i'd have laughed in your face. but i do it all the time now and it's become pretty natural - to me at least. to others, they still wonder. and still ask...

so how does it work, exactly?

the psychic healing? healing transmission? mechanism of action? automatic writing? the truth is that we don't know entirely. we know, maybe, but we can't explain it in scientific terms. metaphysics doesn't yet know. quantum physics doesn't yet know. look at masaru emoto and the hidden messages in water. we know there is intelligence in intention. and if we're smart we don't take it lightly or misuse it. in fact, reiki can only be used for the highest of good and healing. it's something i teach my level two students, and only after they have learned and begun to practice the basics of self-healing and primary healing for others.

the appointment

most distance healing is for people who are far away. asia, north america, south america, africa, europe. but sometimes it's a convenient option for busy people who live pretty close by, who really need a healing but can't get to an in-person appointment because of work or family.

just like an in-person session, we book an hour-long appointment. but it's not over the phone. at our appointment start time, the recipient sits or lies down in a quiet place without distractions. that means turn off music, turn off the computer, the ringer, buzzer, beeper, close the door. and i do the same.

although this is not a requirement, it's important for two reasons:

first - if someone is committing to their healing then spending the time and effort towards it means they are energetically "showing up", and being an equal partner in their healing. i can't stress enough the importance of this.
second - and this is mainly to show them how sensitive they are - they are far are more likely to feel the effects of the treatment if they're still and not engaged in other activities.

science fiction can be prediction

the secrets of the hour

so here's how it goes. i myself come to stillness. for distance reiki to work i only need to know the name of the person and their geographic location. like i said, it sounds like fiction but it's real. science can't explain it yet, but if it works (and it does), why wait for science to catch up?

using a surrogate or a model (i use a pillow or a doll), initiate the treatment. first is a chakra assessment - a scan through the recipient's major energy centres to locate areas of trapped negative energy. then the treatment. exactly like an in-person treatment, only using the surrogate as a stand-in for the recipient.

i go into a meditative state as i do the treatment. one hand is on the 'body'; the other hand is typing. there's no force. information comes through and the report writes itself, automatically - what's being felt, what it means, where and it comes from, who it relates to and when it began.... basically whatever the recipient needs to know to heal from whatever wounds brought them to me. while the information is being recorded, reiki is being sent. it's like a closed circuit - the information comes through one hand, is recorded through the other hand and then....

i hit 'send'

after the treatment, i email what i've typed as a confidential report to the recipient.

and then crickets. it's usually quiet for a couple of days after this. i mostly forget about it. and then i get an email or a call that goes something like this: "that treatment was amazing. i could feel my hands / feet / head tingling! i saw colours. i felt a presence. i felt really light. and what you wrote to me - it was so... accurate. how did you know? how did you do that?"

...well, now you know.

Salima Pirani is a Siam Reiki Master Teacher and offers distance Reiki to help people 
release trapped pain and suffering, whether it's physical, emotional or spiritual in origin. 
If you wish to discuss how to bring healing into your life, you can contact Salima here.

bruce lee: using no way as way

no formula: bruce lee's freedom fighting

we all get hurt. we get kicked in the ass. we fall down.

even bruce lee

sometimes it's best not to get up right away, but to understand what happened and what you are to learn from it... for bruce lee, that meant rest and expanding his mind. while recovering from a serious back injury, lee turned to buddha, alan watts, jiddu krishnamurthi and others for inspiration.

it was krishnamurthi's words that struck him: "you have to be a light to yourself".

recovery

bouncing back from his injury stronger than ever, lee adopted a new stance. rather than developing his superlative method, he rejected all methods, styles, or doctrines and instead approached his martial artistry with a boundless enthusiasm that encouraged a total freedom to act and react.

no way. no limitation.

the answer is to simply to know oneself, one's own gifts, weaknesses and power and to act in the present moment with total awareness.

in meditation, this concept is evident when you move away from focused or concentrative pursuits, such as intently focusing using a given technique: repeating a mantra, breathing in a certain way or focusing on one particular object to the exclusion of everything else. when you reject technique you loosen control and witness what arises in the present moment, attentively and inwardly. this letting go of control and witnessing is what we call mindfulness.

"using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation". 
                                                                     - bruce lee

reiki: use it or lose it (well... sort of)

i'm looking forward to hosting my april reiki share tonight... 

this is a monthly social and healing gathering where reiki healers interact and swap treatments. i give suggestions, answer questions and help healers feel the energy coming through, interpret how it wants to work and what that means for the specific healing situation.

why share reiki?

i was a bit of a 'reiki slut' when i first trained - i'd meet someone and next thing i knew i was giving them a treatment. i'd dart out of the office to give treatments every night. practising on strangers was great - i knew nothing about them so i didn't feel limited by shyness or fear of what they would think.

most healers don't do this. and so a big challenge after learning reiki is the lack of opportunity to practice on diverse people. without practice, it's hard to gain the self-confidence you need as a healer. this is where practical hands-on experience comes in, to move beyond self-doubt.

with practice, doubt dissipates. you start to feel more natural about identifying or interpreting blockages and warnings, developing bedside manner and communicating or relaying root causes of symptoms that are felt during a treatment.

amazingly, the more you practice and develop focus and intention, the more reiki is available to you. you become expert at grounding, protection, cleansing and intuition. it is subtle and yet powerful - it requires time to sense and identify what the energy means to each healer.

so developing your circle of reiki healers is important as we often need to discuss challenges, share approaches, practice and hone skills, and remind each other to practice.

as a teacher, it's an amazing opportunity to share in the development of students and help them break free of self-doubt and rigidity, as well as hone their sense of trust and intuition. 

and tonight...

my intention for tonight's coaching is to "pull out all the stops", which quite literally means to pull out all the limits, the barriers and stop signs pinning us down and to let go!!   or as we say in our circles... let the reiki flow.

making your full moon wish

make a wish and send it out...
image: double dandelions by dennis vebert

as far back as i can remember i'd duck and hide on the full moon. something odd would always seem to happen...

one time my car window was smashed in, parked right in front of my apartment window. for apparently no reason, nothing was stolen...

another time, someone dropped their phone on the sidewalk and when i went to pick it up my vintage dress suddenly ripped open all down the back...

even as a teenager, i nearly sliced my finger off in class once and while the instructor was talking to me i fainted standing up...

people would always say "full moon"... let's just say it got my attention. i'd cringe at it looming on the calendar. but recently i took some time to study the cycles of the moon and here's what i found.

opposition

for centuries, many calendars, festivals and events were set by the lunar cycle. farmers would plant and harvest based on the movements of the moon. the full moon is the brightest and most luminous part of the cycle because at that point the sun and moon are in opposition. this positioning across from each other on either side of planet earth elicits special behaviours...

animals become more active. ocean waves and tides get more violent. humans act up. paramedics know it. prison officers know it. emergency room staff know it. remember the riots in vancouver after they lost to boston? toronto's transformation from a clean, decent city to mass chaos during a the G20 summit? full moons. i wished governments knew it.  

if we are all energy, then we are all connected energetically. and if energy intensifies at the full moon, no wonder we experience intense emotions, express ourselves more intensely and encounter intense situations. we feel each other's energy more intensely. but this is not always a bad thing.

making the most of full moonery

if we think in terms of the intensity of a full moon, we can consciously choose to be at our intensely best at the full moon. we could be our most intensely inspirational. our most intensely influential. our most intensely genuine, our most intensely vital, intensely creative.

so instead of ducking for cover during the full moon, here's what i suggest.

• take a moment. take a deep breath. step into your true integrity, your true self. 
• create a vision of something simple you want. in other words, make a wish. a great one, for you and for everyone around you. 
• breathe and meditate on it, filling it in with details. allow your vision to intensify and get energized. 
• imagine the vision taking place now, in reality. allow yourself to feel it in every cell of your body.
• release the vision after a few minutes allowing it to float out through the breath. release your ownership of it. 

now, instead of looking at the calendar and getting anxious, i feel more optimistic. i've even built a whole manifestation meditation program around the lunar cycle, with each position of the moon a reminder of the next step in the process, which culminates around the full moon.

so take a moment and create that vision for what you want in your life. may your full moon wishes come true.

your win-culture

win-culture: this darling finished 1st in 20 of 21 races

i had one of those days. the kind when you feel like closing the blinds and hiding. too much fear abound. i get calls from people asking me to give them yes/no answers about their future. 60 questions fired at me in 20 minutes. and i feel queasy after. don't get me wrong, i don't dislike people. in fact i love them very much. but, this is the way we are living our lives? so here's a hint: if you want to ask me questions about your future, please don't. instead, read this. 


many years ago i remember being forced to go to a horse race track. 


it was my sister's birthday and that was her wish: to have a decadent afternoon brunch spent betting on horses. now, i absolutely *hate* gambling, lotteries, casinos, horse betting, wagers... the energy around these things still gives me the heebie-jeebies. but some how, i managed to find myself at the monolith toronto woodbine racetrack. i even found myself having a monolith brunch and i even placed bets. 


a funny thing happened. i won a whole lot that day. every single horse i bet on finished within the top three. how did i do it? the formula was equal parts intuition and study. and no fear. 


since i was stuck at the race track and since they went through the trouble of publishing statistics on each horse, i studied them. all the horses i chose had this in common: none achieved anything less than wins within in the last 6 months of their racing careers, and all their trends were upward. why were these details important? because these young horses were developing a personal culture of winning. my study told me that winning was in their mindset. my intuition said it was in their blood.   


simply put, if you want to be the best, then develop your win-culture, your personal culture of being nothing but the best. sure there will be adrenaline. but it's gotta be the healthy kind. the excited, passionate kind. not the looking-over-your-shoulder-for-what's-going-to-beat-you kind. that's plain fear. too much of that and you will wind up looking everywhere but at your prize.


so if you are looking for answers, this is it. you don't need a fortune teller or a horseshoe up your ass. develop your personal win-culture. and if you really, really want something and you dedicate yourself fully to it with passion... i bet anything that you will have it. 

three things i loved about learning reiki

And you get to work with your hands

teaching reiki is tiring work... but i love it. one of the best parts is watching the shift people experience as they go through an intensive weekend with you. some see bright colours, others feel sensations that are new and exotic to them. others still beam like sunshine after they are done. there are three huge reasons why i love teaching reiki to people:

#1: i love the feeling of "beginner's mind" 

it was shunryu suzuki who said: "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. in the expert's mind there are few".

i remember my first Reiki course. it was supernatural. i was in awe at my teacher. i mean, he saw things. i couldn't discuss it with anyone. and yet, as soon as i had the chance i pounced on my homework: 10 treatments on other people.

it was my icebreaker at parties. 

i'd sidle up to someone. "hey, are you free tuesday night?" knowing the answer would be a yes,  i'd follow up with, "great, can you lie down for an hour so i can put my hands on you and give you a reiki treatment?" nobody ever said no. i learned a lot this way. 

in two months, i had given close to 40 treatments to different people.

#2: i love intuitive experimenting. 

if practised correctly, you get to hone your intuition. feeling the different energies, the difference in sensation in each treatment, trying out new things and feeling creative again. noticing when i'd need to make movements, sounds or speak and deliver an important message. simply letting go of any control and letting reiki radiate, pulse or flow out, drenching the person in pure vital energy.

i found the more i let go, the more effective the treatment was. i'd pick up images, and know immediately that something they thought was the problem was just a physical manifestation of something hidden. and then hearing what people felt and sensed and knowing i felt and sensed the same things was amazing confirmation that reiki was working in subtle and powerful ways.

#3: you start with yourself 

reiki is one of the few things you can actually do for yourself first. it's part of the course. you give yourself a treatment before you give anyone else a treatment. and as you do, you notice how effortless it is, how amazing you feel after and how beneficial it is to practice on yourself as much as possible. (i still do).

selfish, you say? sure. but who am i to tell you about you, before i start with me? and so i did. the transformation was slow but profound. i had radical shifts in perception. i had amazing shifts in my ability sense energy, target pain and illness and discover its roots. and i transformed from a pretty cynical hospital worker into a reiki healer and teacher. who woulda thought?

so even though teaching is hard work, it's a privilege to pass this ability on. and to anyone who feels the pull to learn reiki... get pulled! besides being easy and transformational, it's super natural.

want to learn?

Salima teaches weekend Reiki courses in Toronto each month. Find out more about learning Reiki or get a Reiki treatment and feel the difference it makes for yourself!

what i learned from juggling

do try this at home!

a few months ago i helped organize a retreat called the art of seeing clearly.

it was a weekend in the country by the water, designed to help people learn how to improve their vision naturally. amazing right? what's even better was the full body and mind approach.

juggling class

so one afternoon we broke into groups. each group learned a new skill or talent. i was giddy. i was going to learn how to juggle!

now, i had done this a lot in my life. with work, with time, with people... just not with my hands. little did i know what i was about to experience was more than a mere trick or circus act.

time after time, my little hacky sacks would fall to the floor. plop-plop-plop! a little embarrassed and a little determined, i'd quickly swipe them up and try again. over and over. sometimes i'd catch them. sometimes they'd fall to the floor, making that terrible bean-baggy sound. less plops, more pshh-pshh-pshh!

where was i going wrong? so i started to mindfully watch what was happening, blow by blow, noting every move like a sports commentator. and here's what i noticed.

le trick: let go

we tend to believe when we start out, that juggling is about catching things. yes, catching is important, but in reality the hardest part about juggling is actually the letting go.

if you are a juggler, you know. the whole trick is in the constant and mindful release. the opening up of the clenched hands, the hands that want to cling, covet, keep these prized objects. when really, they are just hacky sacks.

in an instant i saw how everything in life is a hacky sack. everything! and we are made to think that we need these things. but if we learn to let go, to open up and throw everything into the air, to mindfully release, we find that the catching takes care of itself.

so next time i drop the ball, i'm going to pick it up and toss it high up. i might just make enough space to see a bit more clearly. or i might join the circus, who knows.

the meditative child

i remember as a child, being woken up at 3am and taken by my parents to the mosque in twilight.  i'd sit motionless for an hour in the pitch dark, breathing and repeating... and waiting for the appearance of  'the light'. 

so naturally i am intrigued at the growing interest in parents and caregivers to help children meditate. in the last few weeks, i've seen adverts for events geared to help children meditate, books on the subject by notables like goldie hawn, and social media groups promoting meditation for children. 

all of this is great. heck, i should know, i'm practically a poster-child. 

yet when i started it was simply what was done as a matter of faith. today people are turning to meditation to help their children cope and manage attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd), manage stress levels and anxiety through mindfulness-based stress reduction (mbsr) or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (mbct), and work through their trauma and fear. 

you may wonder... how can children bear so much? well, think back. did you? sure, we all did. and let's face it, meditation beats popping pills.

which brings me the sources of children's stress. we know kids model their behaviour after us, so we should ask ourselves... how do we manage our own stress? it becomes clear that for anyone wanting their child to learn meditation, mindfulness for the parent is a must.   

the description of an upcoming workshop on mindfulness for parents explains: "faced with issues such as fatigue and frustration, we have the chance to discover things about ourselves and the world that we might never experience otherwise. when we are mindful and aware we receive the opportunity to cultivate unconditional acceptance, patience, and loving-kindness."

who wouldn't want that for their children? and for themselves?  

the underlying message here is that our children are our teachers. we attract what we attract, and if we are stressed, chances are our children are stressed. if our children are in need of care, compassion, acceptance and discipline, then chances are... we are too.

"we are incapable of loving another unless we love ourselves, 

just as we are incapable of teaching our children self-discipline 

unless we ourselves are self-disciplined. it is actually impossible to foresake 

our own spiritual development in favour of someone else's." 

- m. scott-peck, author of the road less travelled