Healing through the chakras....

This post is on request from my dearest friend, Geetali Tare.
She had a few questions like what are chakras, function and purpose of chakras, obstacles to the chakras etc.
So, where do I start from……
All we have to do is google the word, chakra and huge amount of information on chakras is available. There can be a beginning in ‘knowing’ the chakras but no end; it’s like diving into the deep sea. There is so much to know and understand. I would rather like to share my perceptions and feelings about the chakras.
As the name indicates, it is a wheel. I call it the wheel of energy flow. They are like turbines in our system, which blend the Universal vital life energy into our endocrine system for our continuous and smooth performance at the physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual levels.
I have seen the chakras look like the orbits of the planetary system, reflecting the macrocosmic mystery of the movement. They all move in the anti-clockwise movement. So do our chakras.

Our system is made up of 72000 nadis and chakras, including all the major and minor chakras.
The 9 major chakras are the ones I scan when I heal. Every chakra has its own qualities and specific role; each has a different story to tell about a person. The chakras combined with the Aura of a person help the healer to locate the blocks as well as the causes of the dis-ease.
The aura is the energy or magnetic field emanating from every individual. It comprises of 7 levels of consciousness or etheric energy layers, which are the etheric body, emotional body, mental body, spiritual body, past mental body, past emotional body, past physical body. The last three layers contain the past life memories and healers can tap into these for healing purpose.

The movement of the chakras gets affected by any block, imbalance, trauma, shocks, fears, past lives’ unresolved issues etc; at these etheric layers. The vital life energy is deflected, stuck or their movements become sluggish and dense, which are manifested in physical symptoms of dis-ease.

So what does a Reiki healer do to ‘heal’ with the help of chakra movements? As a channel we allow energy to pass through us to the person. Our systems are quite capable of self-healing and allowing more energy simply improves this ability. Channeling Reiki into a person’s aura and chakras removes the blocks and enables a free, smooth, swift and clear flow of energies. All the elements of fire, earth, water and air blend into each other in a beautiful balanced way; dancing with joy and rhythm of life.
In my experience of various healings I have come to the conclusion that we all have to resolve all our issues at a spiritual level as a block at this level percolates to the other levels, finally getting manifested at the physical level. Whether we do it consciously or not we all are on a journey of spiritual growth. The ones who have chosen to learn spiritual lessons from all the experiences are enjoying the journey in their knowingness……….

The music of river teaches us to live and I would like to share this video of “nothing remains the same and everything returns-like the river….live in the present and resolve your issues”

ADOPT THE WINNING ATTITUDE – BREAK THE BOARD WITHIN

Geetali came up with the idea and I think it "rocks" - like my kids would say. Asha Sridhar is my guest blogger for this post. She is into training and motivating and writes her blog on 'Self-leadership'. This article is all about 'shifting/changing paradigms within'.

ADOPT THE WINNING ATTITUDE – BREAK THE BOARD WITHIN

When we first came up with this idea of contributing to each other’s blogs as guest bloggers, my first thought was that everything I knew about Reiki, I knew from Ranjani’s blog. How could I then add anything of substance to it, which all of you had not read on her blog before?

I therefore decided to do a piece on something other than Reiki. I completed my certification as a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) last year and I wish to share some of the things that have happened to me since then.

NLP was created by John Grinder and Richard Bandler, by a process of observation and modeling other techniques and processes that had proven to be successful. A basic premise in NLP is that people are equal in terms of mental and physical capabilities. The difference arises as a result of values, beliefs, attitudes – all of which impact motivation. Motivation either drives people to be excellent or mediocre.

Having been created by modeling other successful models and concepts, NLP has successfully proven that success can be modeled. To drive home this point during our training, we did a board-break exercise. Some of you may either have been exposed to this yourselves or you might have heard about this ‘magical’ experience from others. There is nothing magical about it, believe me. The key to breaking the board is in the following process:

 Find a model of real excellence. Find somebody who is excellent at the behaviour you wish to model. The key is to find real excellence. If you model an average behaviour, what you will achieve is mediocrity.

 Identify what makes this model of excellence tick. Find their:

o Beliefs and values (why do they believe what they believe? What are the values they have held? What are their motivations, their desires? What are their enablers?)
o Strategies (how do they speak to themselves? How do they build a picture of success?)
o Physiology (breathing patterns, posture, body language)

 Install the above in yourself without any modification.

Skeptical? The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. We all had thick wooden planks to break. 99 out of the 100 participants broke the board that day by simply following the above process. Over 75 of us (including yours truly) did this at the first attempt.

We modeled our trainer Dr. Adriana James at this task. We spent time with her, eliciting her beliefs and her values. We learnt about her strong self belief – that she can do anything she wants to do. We found out how she spoke to herself. She said, “my brain is really good at processing positives. I build a picture of success for it. I imbue the picture with beautiful and strong colours, sounds and feelings and I can feel the feelings of success coursing through my body”. She then showed us how she did it. I paid close attention to her posture, her breathing and her body language. All this helped me, as I am an extremely visual person.

I took what Dr. James said and built a picture for my brain. The picture was of myself with the broken pieces of the board in my hand, clapping hands with my classmates at the successful completion of the task. My ego started talking to me telling me that I’d look foolish if I could not break the board. I firmly muted my ego and started my breathing exercises to enable me to get strong. And then I was placing my board on the bricks. I took my position, took 3 deep breaths, closed my eyes and brought back to mind the picture of success I had made. I saw my hand touch the floor beneath the board. I opened my eyes and wham! My palm smacked the middle of the board and it touched the floor just where I had known it would. The sense of achievement was actually numbing. I did not feel exhilarated, because I had known all along that I could do it.

To you all, my dear friends, let me say: I have not broken any other physical boards, but since then, I have broken a lot of mental boards, which were acting as brain barriers and stopping me from reaching my potential. First of all, I started to write seriously. There was a wooden board inside me that stopped me from writing and my ego kept that board healthy by adding negative messages. I used the above model to get over this.

 I identified a model of excellence – somebody in my circle who writes exceedingly well – my friend Geetali. I have modeled her – consciously and unconsciously – and have actually become a regular blogger.

 I started communicating with my unconscious mind and I realized I had a friend within myself. A friend who did not chastise, who did not criticize and who did not tell me that I was going to look like a fool or worse. A friend who said, “go ahead and do this, because it is good for you. I am there through thick and thin with you”. I tasked my unconscious mind with reminding me to get back on track and to help me find the right resources – both within and external – to help me with this and guess what! It has performed this task wonderfully!

 I constantly now build an image of success when I embark on a new journey.

Why don’t you all do this too? Start off small and see the big difference it makes in your lives.

Watch us break our boards here

Conflict leads to growth…..

Why does conflict happen?
Is it destructive?
Why is it so important that we all should accept each other's perspective?
How does Reiki help in conflict situations?

Conflict leads to vibrations, which consists of energies of disagreements.
Vibration releases energy, too much vibration results in excess unused energy. This causes stress and imbalances in the environment.

One has to have a great self control and understanding to be able to control these vibrations of conflict. It requires the ability to stand behind the short wall in order to mentally and emotionally move away from the situation and see the larger picture. This step enables us to watch the play of various energies with a certain sense of detachment. This in turn leads to a stillness and silence of the soul.

The soul’s stillness and silence creates heightened awareness for deep introspection and see others' perspective very clearly…..
This does not happen easily, it requires huge amount of will power and ability to ignore the voice of our ego.

Using the Reiki energy in such a situation allows the mind and emotions come into a state of balance and achieve the calmness and stillness of the soul. In that calmness we need to hear our inner voice to learn. The deeper understanding of the learning in the conflict situation takes us to the higher level of existence or consciousness.

Conflict is a process, a means to an end. It leads to growth……

Music heals.......

Melodious, mesmerizing, joyful, inspiring, soothing, lilting, assuaging, uplifting, harmonizing, rejuvenating.....I can go on and on about Music.....

Music is for fun, expression of joy, for spiritual awakening and......
Music heals.....

When I think of my formative years, I remember the ubiquitous Bollywood music blaring out of radios everywhere. The pure melody and the romantically philosophical lyrics would take me to a place beyond the 'noise' of daily life. One of my favourite numbers is

मैं ज़िंदगी का साथ निभाता चला गया, हर फिक़्र को धुएँ में उड़ाता चला गयाबर्बादियों का शोक मनाना फ़िज़ूल था, बर्बादियों का जश्न मनाता चला गयाजो मिल गया उसीको मुक़द्दर समझ लिया, जो खो गया मैं उसको भुलाता चला गयागम और खुशी में फ़र्क़ ना महसूस हो जहाँ, मैं दिल को उस मकाम पे लाता चला गया

The lyrics primarily refer to 'celebration of life'.

There was always an intense desire to learn music since childhood and it came true when I was in Dhaka in 2006. I began learning Hindustani classical and Rabindrasangeet. While practising the 'shuddha swaras' of Raag Bilawal, the connection between the 7 swaras and the 7 major chakras became very clear to me. Every note set the various chakras vibrating and facilitated removal of blocks through a smoother flow of energy.

Initially I thought that It was my imagination working overtime and then I began looking for more information on this.

During my quest I came across the following link which allows one to understand the close relationship between the musical notes and each chakra.

The release of some of my major blocks and the opening up of my third eye took me to a higher plane of intuition and existence.

Music heals........

When asked about his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein said: "It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception."

As Dr. John Diamond states: "To me, as to Pythagoras, music is not merely entertainment or amusement...but therapy...for actuating...the healing power that exists within us all: Life Energy."

So, dear readers revel, rock, enjoy and heal your body, mind and soul.....all you need to do is listen to Music and allow it to seep within you........

Blessed sleep

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10.30 a.m -  I was at the Reiki healing centre with my one and half year’s old daughter as I could leave her home unattended.

I still remember the mild fragrance of the healing room. Mr. Surinder Makkar’s wife, Dolly Makkar did my healing. I was asked to lie down on a comfortable floor divan. Soft soothing music was on and Dolly assured me that while she would take care of my daughter I should just close my eyes and listen to the music. For few minutes I kept wondering what would happen and then I passed out. This would be my first long sleep in one and half years, since the earthquake. What bliss!!

I opened my eyes around 4.30 pm….I had slept like a log for almost 6 hours…. Unbelievable!!... My first thought when I woke up was that I had never felt such calm and peace. It seemed as if I had gone back in time and was that old Ranjani, the one  before the earthquake had struck.

In the meanwhile Sir had called my husband to pick up my daughter and she was at home.

Sir and Dolly offered me tea very graciously. For me this experience was like an eye opener. I remember telling Sir that I want to become a Reiki healer. It was as if my purpose on earth was suddenly clearly laid out in front of me. Reiki would be my life henceforth.

I was 95% healed. This session was followed by a few distance healing sessions. After a few days I had one of my last massive panic attacks in the middle of night and had to call Sir for support. I still remember his wonderful calmness which made me immediately go off to sleep, safe and secure in the knowledge that he was supporting me.

My Reiki classes were scheduled after two weeks and my mother came to help me. The first day of my class was truly amazing. The best part was at the end when I came out of the class and bumped into one of my friends who had a perpetual pain in her left arm. Eager to help her out, I offered Reiki healing and took her home. I had not yet learnt ‘partner healing’ but I intuitively put my hands on her left shoulder and arms. To my surprise she went off to sleep in few minutes. I had to wake her up after half an hour. Looking slightly dazed she told me that the pain had gone.

That was my first experience as a Reiki healer and I have not looked back. Almost two hundred cases in my 8 years of Reiki experience.

And the journey goes on…………….

Light at the end of the tunnel....

The first experience with Reiki was forgotten as I got on with my life in the year 2000. My colleague who is a Reiki Master offered to teach me Reiki but I was not ready for any such programmes. My self confidence in my ability to lead a healthy life without any support, was at its peak.
Rini was born in November 2000 and I was busy with my post-delivery-recuperation. Calamity struck on 26th Jan 2001, the earthquake which hit Gujarat at 7.40 am (Bhuj was the epicenter), shattered my equanimity completely. I had picked up my two months old infant and literally flown out of the third floor apartment in a ten-storied building. The stairs were coming up at an angle of 45 degrees. It lasted for almost one minute but had seemed like ages then. We spent the whole day on the roads in our car, not daring to go back to the apartment. The sight of the cracked, crooked and collapsed buildings will remain etched in my memory forever.
I always considered myself as a brave person and was not scared of anything. The earthquake and the after-shocks completely paralyzed me. I began suffering from insomnia and acute anxiety.
The year 2001 saw the nightmarish WTC attack on nine-eleven. Following year we had the Gujarat riots in February. This just made the matters worse for me. Life seemed like an unending sequence of calamities, either man made or natural. I lost all appetite, sleep and peace of mind. Being a mother there were two small children to be taken care of, apart from the regular home management. All this began to take a toll on my health and I started losing weight. I couldn’t sleep, eat or function with my usual high energy, then began the panic attacks. The first time it happened I thought I was having a heart attack. Repeated visits to the doctor and all kinds of medical checkup did not solve the problem.
On the way back from one such visit I needed to climb up to my third floor apartment as both the lifts were out of order. On the first floor I sat down on the steps to catch my breath; climbing stairs with my one and half year old daughter in my arms was tiring. My gaze fell on a green door with words ‘Aashirwad Healing Centre’. I still don’t know what attracted me, the soothing green or the word healing and I rang the bell. The door was promptly opened by a gentleman with kind twinkling eyes, who welcomed me with a smile. In that moment he seemed like Santa Claus to me. I followed him to the counseling room and sat at a table across him. This impulsive behavior was completely bewildering, even to me! What followed was quite amazing. I poured my heart out to him and found it ever so easy to tell him all that was happening to me. He did not utter a single word throughout my monologue. I ended up bursting into tears and wanting to die rather than live in fear of unknown all the time.
At last he spoke and his words were like soothing balm to the fire-ravaged. He diagnosed me as a victim of post-trauma-stress-disorder, apparently quite common when one is subjected to prolonged situations of extreme fear and stress….earthquake/riot. The suppression of these feelings were now manifesting in me with these scary “symptoms”, so to say. He offered two to three days healing for the problem. Suddenly I realized that I didn’t know what kind of healing he was offering. When he said the word ‘Reiki healing’, I was stunned. Something happened in that moment and I realized that this was destiny working its wondrous ways for me, bigtime! I told him about my first contact with Reiki and my healer’s intuitive insistence that I should learn Reiki.
After that what happened was no less than a certified miracle. For me, meeting my Sir, Mr Surinder Singh Makker was like the manifestation of the proverbial angel sent down by the Almighty for my salvation. The angel who showed me that ever so elusive ‘light at the end of a dark and scary tunnel’.
Thank you Sir……………

My first experience of Reiki healing.

My vision of Reiki

This is my first posting. As I sit, gazing at the monitor, I ask myself that why I need to blog about my association and deep involvement with Reiki?

There is quite a lot of information available on Reiki out there. A holistic approach towards the well-being of humans is very old, probably as old as human life on earth. There are so many techniques, therapies and systems of holistic healing. So, why another blog?

What I have gathered over eight years is my perception and understanding of healing at physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels of humans. This is a very personal view of my experiences as a Reiki healer and teacher. I believe that I have gathered some very useful and interesting experience which will help many people.

Where did the journey begin? In May 2000 I had gone to Vadodra in Gujarat for my B.ed exams, with two of my colleagues . I was four months pregnant and one day before the exam I developed a pain in my abdomen. Since I had a bad experience during my first pregnancy with severe appendicitis infection, I was worried. One of my colleagues saw my discomfort while we were struggling with our notes on 'History of Education in India' and offered to do some Reiki for me. It sounded so weird but since the other painful choice was to look for a doctor, I readily agreed. She asked me to lie down and then sat in meditation. I was highly amused and kept watching her in disbelief. I don't know when I dozed off. When I woke up after twenty odd minutes, not only my stomach ache had disappeared, in my head I felt very calm. Curious and intrigued, I wanted to know more about Reiki from her.
Then came the weirdest part, she had some intuition and told me that I am meant to learn Reiki. At that moment I just brushed aside the suggestion and continued with my process of taking the exam.