The Insanity of it All

I have heard that one of the definitions of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over in life with a certain ending only to expect a different outcome.

One of my children's favorite movies when they were growing up was the Disney movie Bambi. In one of the scenes Bambi's mother is shot by a hunter and killed. It can be a real tear jerker if you sit down and become invested in the movie. I remember several times I would sit with the kids and watch it with them and when it came to that particular scene I would psych myself up for a different outcome wanting the mother to see the hunter and get away. Then the hunter would kill the mom and I would be devastated crying like a baby over an animated movie.  After this happened I am sorry to say more then a few times I realized that I was just setting myself up for failure and a big disappointment. Not to mention making myself crazy.

This in itself may sound silly but think about those people who date the same type of person over and over. Thank about someone who is always choosing the same kind of friends or works for a particular kind of boss who under appreciates them. What about someone who continues to rescue a certain type of person from their own fate. Monotony, frustration, disappointment, pain, fear, anger, depression, etc... which are all attached to repeating a broken pattern in our lives that no longer serves us. In one way or anther we have all experienced this kind of insanity. Sometimes we are aware of the pattern and other times we sleepwalk through it only to find ourselves back on the hamster wheel.

The really good news is like in the Bambi example it may only be that first step in recognizing the insanity that helps us recalculate so that we can remove a lot of unnecessary stress and pain in our lives. We have the ability to learn from these broken patterns allowing us to take the responsibility for ourselves and not blame others for the things that are not panning out. This also gives us the power to change our course in life and steer it in another direction that is more in line with what we wish to accomplish.


Photographs by Steve Noyce - The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

"Sending Love out Into the World".

Love is something that we have great abundance of when we remember who we really are. Here is a powerful meditation that can be used to send out love into the world.  

• First find a quiet place where you can sit and relax. 
• Then when you do find your center and focus your attention on the Heart Chakra.
• Follow your breath at a regular pace and when you are comfortable breath in white light and release anything that no longer serves you on the out breath. Do this awhile until you feel you have filled the Heart center with white light.    

• When you are ready place your intentions into a ball of pink rose light for Love inside the Heart Chakra as it is cradled in white light. Give the pink rose light a little time to settle into the white light. 
• As it does allow the ball of pink rose colored light to grow inside your Heart Chakra so it expands throughout your whole body.
• Then expand the ball of pink rose light out through your skin and into your whole aura.

• Sit with the energy of the pink rose light for a while as you place your intention to saturate your whole being with Unconditional Love. 
• Then expand the pink rose light out into the world as far as you can go. Each time going farther sending love out into the world and the whole universe.

• Feel free to stay there for as long as you want.
• When you are ready bring your awareness back into you heart allowing the pink rose light to continue to encase you for the rest of the day as you ground yourself back into the physical world.   

• Now you continue to carry love in your aura and physical body as you go about your day sharing it with others. 

Side Note; Remember when you are connected into your Heart chakra you are connected into the All and the energy is flowing through you, not from you so you have unlimited access and are not drained.

Here is a fun website that explains the colors and meanings 

http://www.color-meanings.com/pink-color-meaning-the-color-pink/

Photographs by Ana

"The Antagonist In Our Lives"

I think one of the most confusing relationships in life is the one with an Antagonist. These people either show up when we least expect it, or they have been there all our lives as a family member. When we take the time to actually evaluate our experiences with them it is easy to see the relationship as rather a large nuisance especially when we are in a position where these encounters create chaos, and brings out our personal fears.

These kind of relationships can become quite difficult as we find ourselves scrambling to use coping skills that may, or may not work, or even be in our best interests influenced by triggers from past emotional traumas opening up our basic instincts of fight, or flight. Then without an understanding of what is happening to us we face these encounters as blocks within ourselves giving us a feeling of being stuck causing us to have feelings of being out of control, helpless, or even hostel. To complicate matters if we don't learn how to heal our emotional wounds from these interactions with our Antagonist physical illnesses have an opportunity to set into the body as fear, or obsessiveness places untimely stress on our whole well being.

On the flip side to this relationship the antagonist can actually be a blessing because when we take the time to look back on past experiences with them we are able to see that these people not only create a large impact on us, but also help us identify how we define ourselves by our interactions with them. They are the teachers in our lives that reflect those parts of ourselves that make us uncomfortable. When we have an understanding of this we know that when the antagonist shows up they give us an opportunity to learn how to maneuver through our own life lessons by the choices we make when we are with them.

It is through these encounters that we can grow as we learn about our own fears so that they become less, and less of a threat that push us off balance. Once we establish this we see that the relationship is bittersweet as we still want to proceed with some caution while recognizing that we have the choice to either be destroyed by our experiences with our antagonist, or to learn how to step into our own personal power so that we can take control of our own lives.

Photographs by Ana

"Esoteric Acupuncture"

In 2010 I was working at an Acupuncture clinic in Fort Worth Texas as a Reiki Practitioner.  I had the opportunity to learn about Acutonics which uses tuning forks and how they work on the different meridian points on the body. It was because of this that the concept that kept coming to mind was that since Reiki was a healing energy channeled through the hands why wouldn't it be possible to do the same thing with the Acupuncture points.

Reiki is very simple process as the energy flows through the practitioner's hands into the client. Since the energy comes from Source it goes directly to the places in the body that it is most needed for healing. Reiki has also been described as a laying of hands energy prayer. In the case of Acupuncture the practitioner is physically engaged with different points on the body that follow the energy flow through the meridians using needles, or tuning forks to help with healing. What caught my attention was that since energy could be channeled through the practitioner why couldn't the energy as a healing vibration be mentally guided instead of using physical instruments on the client.  

As a Reiki practitioner it may all seem a little complicated but what I found working at the Acupuncture clinic was that people wanted to use different techniques that resonated with their own healing process. This idea of mentally guiding the energy flow through the meridians was just another way of working with the healing energy. Also I loved the fact that it didn't need any physical tools to create the same affect. 

I went home one night and searched on the internet to see if anyone else had come up with the same idea. What I found was that there was one man named Dr. Mikio Sankey who not only knew about this technique but had even published a few books about it calling it Esoteric Acupuncture. He even had a wonderful YouTube video describing his work and the success he had using it. Thrilled I couldn't wait to share what I had learned the next day with the Acupuncturists who ran the clinic. To my surprise I found out that she not only read the books but had met Dr. Sankey in Austin. She was happy that I was excited about the whole process and offered to loan me her books.

After reading about how Esoteric Acupuncture worked I asked the Acupuncturist if we could use the same techniques with some of her clients. She thought about it and felt like there were a few clients that would be open to trying that kind of acupuncture out and would really benefit from it. The outcome was amazing. The clients that agreed to use the process were happy with the results and it seemed to speed up their healing process.

I ended up leaving the clinic in 2012 to take time off to write a book and begin teaching about energy patterns. But I will never forget my time learning about the different ways that Acupuncture can be applied in helping to heal the physical and emotional body.

Note: If you are interested in Esoteric Acupuncture here are a few books on the process.

* Esoteric Acupuncture; Gateway to Expanded Healing by  Dr. Mikio Sankey P. Hd. L.Ac

* Discern the Whisper,  Esoteric Acupuncture Vol.2, Dr. Mikio Sankey P.Hd. L.Ac

* Climbing Jacob's Ladder, Esoteric Acupuncture Vol. 3, Dr. Mikio Sankey P.Hd. L.Ac

Photographs by Ana