Castor Oil and lymph improvement part 3

The importance of castor oil improving the lymph system

1. Poor lymphatic drainage can be settle. Most people don't notice any issues with their lymph drainage and most doctors don't take notice until it is a sever problem seen as edema ( swelling)

2.  When cells are pushed away from blood vessels and the chance to receive nutrients and oxygen from the blood they become unhealthy,

3. If the lymph is not moving,  then cells are slow at dumping their waste and toxins outside of  their shells.  Not only does this happen with individual cells but it happens with organs.

4. Increase of fluid outside of cells in the spaces between tissues cause the skin to stretch which puts pressure on the surrounding structures. This leads to stagnation/blockage and pain.

5. So far I do not know of a drug that helps improve the flow of lymphatic system. If there were MDs would be using it as a cure for lymphedema. To date the MDs say there is no cure for lymphedema

What happens when castor  oil is absorbed through the skin

1. The # of lymphocytes in the blood increases. This improves the immune system.

2.  The lymph begins to move , which in turn moves cellular waste and toxins. Which improves muscle nutrition  and function.

3. The lymph in the intestinal lining is better able to absorb fat molecules and help the body which allows the cell the chance for growth and repair

4. The area is stimulated to self lubricate better.

This is just a short example of how castor oil interacts with the lymphatic system. For more information contact me via email and I can send the next installment.

Curious about Reiki

Reiki
 is a purely energetic bodywork technique. This session is mainly used for relaxation and chakra balancing. For those more familiar with Reiki the session will be customized to your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual needs. A full session utilizes hand positions on both the front and back of the body. Energy travels from the chakras in the practitioners hands to the client’s chakras. This is experienced differently by different people. The sensations have been described as heat, cold, tingling or a variety of other sensations. Clients often fall asleep.  There is no manipulation of muscles or skeletal structure. The client wears loose, comfortable clothing and remains clothed throughout the session.

The end of Reiki Principles Explored

We made it through the end of 2016 and worked through 4 of the Reiki principles to give us a good foundation for 2017. Exploring anger and worry allowed us to open our hearts and truly find gratitude. We found new understanding of being honest in our work, which took us through our first month of 2017. How appropriate we come to " Just for Today, I will be kind to Every Living Thing" during the month of Love-February.

It really makes sense to end with kindness. For how can you be kind when you are filled with anger? How can you be kind when you are overcome with worry? If you can't be grateful for all that comes into your life, how can you be kind? If you can't be honest with yourself and how you work, how can you be kind?

When we are grounded and free of vulnerability we can truly work from our accessory tanks and interact with others and all life forms with generosity, consideration, compassion and general kindness. Our light amplifies the light in others.

Remember one reason I started this exploration was to do a cleanse of sorts. I wanted to clear out my emotional, mental and spiritual bodies before I did my physical cleanse. The more I began to understand cellular memory, the more I was moved to understand the need to clear the energy field before the physical. Energetic teachers have long expressed the concept that illness and dis-ease comes to us well before it reaches our physical body. We can't clean our energy field via eating or not eating. One way to move toward more complete healing is to find the appropriate tool to work with each body (emotional, mental, spiritual and physical). In the current world we lean heavily toward tools that care for the physical body. We have not been effectively taught how to use emotional, mental or spiritual tools. Yes, we have those tools but often we will use a mental tool to address an emotional tool and on and on. We can equate this to using scissors to hammer a nail. It's possible to get results but at what expense.

I wanted to take this last exploration to invite you to create your own list of words to explore. You don't have to be a Reiki practitioner or be drawn to Reiki to create this kind of exploration. Words have a vibration and when we explore or mediate on them we move their vibration through us and we can learn. We can learn about ourselves and then our surroundings. What are the first 5 words that come to mind? What 5 words cause a visceral response? These will be your guides and teachers. I'd love to hear where your exploration takes you.

For those of you who have done physical body cleanse before, I invite you to try doing either this Reiki exploration or your own word exploration prior to doing your next juice cleanse or elimination diet and let me know how it changes the outcome of your traditional cleanse/detox. If you have never done a physical body cleanse or detox before, maybe now you will be intrigued to try this energetic cleanse first.

I really hope this exploration of the 5 Reiki Principles brought you insight and joy. Would you like to learn more about Reiki? When was your last Reiki session? How often do you do Self Reiki?
Feel free to contact me at 2dolpincolette@comcast.net if I can be of help or guidance.

Working Honestly Reiki Principle4

We have come to terms and moved through anger and worry. With these cleared we were able to come from our hearts and truly find and experience gratitude all around us both in the positive and the challenges.

Now we turn to the 4th Reiki principle," Just for Today, I will do my work Honestly."

In the past I would think of this mainly as being ethical in my work. This mediation took me back to self again. When I sat and explored : "how will I do my work honestly today," I was brought again and again to start with being honest with yourself.

What does this mean, being honest with yourself to do your work honestly? To me it means asking yourself who you really are as a being. If we can't be honest with ourselves, how can we be honest with anyone else?

As you sit and explore the vibration surrounding "Just for Today, I will do my work Honestly," begin to ask yourself the easy and hard questions. Who do you think you are? Does this image match what others see? Are you living the life you want to live or the life others think you should? Are you using your gifts to serve your highest purpose and those around you? Are you working just to make ends meat, working to survive, rather than thrive?

When you get up in the morning do you dread going to work? If so how can you do your work honestly? Once at work do you keep your head down and just try to get through the day as fast as possible?  In this state are you doing your work honestly? If you have to go to work and dress a certain way but it makes you feel restricted or just not yourself, can you do your work honestly?

As an adjective honest is defined as being free of deceit and untruthfulness or being sincere, while as an adverb it is used to persuade someone of the truth of something. Have you been doing your work from the stand point of an adverb? Meaning have you been trying to convince yourself that you love your job and the how and why of it? With all things connected to Reiki we are asked to start centered in our heart and move from a place of truth. Reiki's energy does not want us to pretend if we haven't yet reached the energy. We are asked to understand why we haven't reached the energy and see how we benefit from our current situation.

This exploration brought me to the understanding this principle isn't speaking about working ethically. We are not asked to judge if we are doing our work from a good/bad or right/wrong way. It is not asking us to weigh ourselves down in duty and obligation. My understanding is when we can come to a place of acting from inner truth we are aligned with a power greater than self. When we are in alignment and harmonizing with this greater power then we will be acting for the highest good of all and there is no question of right/wrong or good/bad.

Think about those people who are truly using their gifts and how easy it is for them to flow through life and how easy it is for them to interact with others. When they work from their gifts they don't need to manipulate others to come to their way of being and because of this they are seen as sincere.

Using ones gifts doesn't have to be grand it just has to be what makes you unique and what moves you to do the best job possible. I know a person whose gift is cleaning other peoples homes. She loves being detailed as she cleans every aspect of a person's home. She wants the toilets to shine and all the dust bunnies out of the corners. When she works, she does it with a smile.  She leaves with a sense of satisfactions. Then she goes home and continues making sure her own home is shiny and clean. Now, I, on the other hand, strongly dislike cleaning my own home and would not want to do it for others. My friends laugh at me because I take care to keep my office clean but my home is low on the priority list because of how much time I put into the office. Cleaning is not one of my great gifts, so when I clean I can't honestly say I'm enjoying it. It is a means to an end. Now when it comes to massaging, I can work long hours and not feel depleted because I honestly love me work. Clients always say you must be really tired at the end of the day. My answer is always no, not from massaging. I thank my clients because working with them uplifts me and it allows me to exercise.  I joke with them saying they are the reason I don't have to go to the gym weekly (in reality this isn't a joke).

My office is in Portland, Oregon. We recently had a snow storm which slowed our normal functioning. On one occasion a snow day gave me the ability to reorganize and rearrange my office. One of the things I changed was placing my alter which honors my massage teachers, reiki and my clients in my massage room in a more visible location. I had been hesitant to put it in such a visible place as I didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. The first week back to business after the snow storm clients looked at the alter and questioned had they missed seeing it before. I replied by saying it has always been in the office just not in that visible spot. One person said she was glad I had changed the location because it really had a pleasant feeling. I thanked her and told her of my past hesitation and she said well, "it is part of you so I can't imagine anyone would feel uncomfortable." This conversation occurred while I was exploring this principle and I understood it was the Reiki energy explaining what it meant to work honestly.  My alter is similar to the alters you have probably noticed in Thai and Pho restaurants. They are visible and don't inhibit or distract from the eating experience in those restaurants because it is a natural and honest thing for them to do. I now understand it is also a natural and honest thing for me as well.

Doing my work honestly, also brings to mind one of my favorite self care metaphors, we must put our oxygen masks on before helping those around us. We all understand, if we don't put our mask on first and we pass out, we are of no help to our loved ones and others, rather we become a burden. Anytime, I get caught up feeling selfish for taking care of myself first, I try to remind myself of this metaphor. This metaphor is true for the understanding of this 4th Reiki principle; before we can be honest in our work we must first and foremost be honest with ourselves.

If you have been following this Reiki exploration from the beginning you know one of my motivations for starting it was to cleanse my energetic being before starting a physical cleanse. Have you gotten a sense how working through your emotions and how you work in the world can help you clean out your energetic field? Are you gaining an appreciation for incorporating an energetic cleanse before a physical one?

Reading to this point are you thinking about how you will do your work honestly from a different mind set? Will you change the way you work tomorrow?

I invite you to take time to explore for yourself " Just for Today, I will do my work Honestly."

Please feel free to share your insights in the comments below. If you would like to share privately, feel free to email me at 2dolphincolette@comcast.net

Reiki Principle 3

Hi all. I was hoping to get this extended exploration out a bit sooner. It really turned into an extended exploration.

When we in Reiki circles speak about the third principle " Just for today, I will be grateful", we discuss being grateful from the heart. I take this to mean trying to really feel the gratitude, rather than doing the; fake it till you make it, practice. 

The weeks previous had been going so well. I mediated on not being anger and not worrying and it felt really good. I was so proud of myself. When it came to the gratitude day I thought " this is going to be a piece of cake". That day was a trying day. I felt pulled in all sorts of directions. I felt I was running on my primary tank rather than my auxiliary tank (for clarification, my auxiliary tank is my over flow tank. drawing energy from this tank keeps my primary tank full and me from getting depleted).  Then at the end of my work day I got bad news. You got it, I was back to exploring not being anger and not worrying. In the moment I couldn't find gratitude and couldn't sit down to write all of you from a false heart. I went deeper. 

Next my part of the world was hit by a snow storm. I thought, how perfect that when I decided to go deeper with my thoughts, Nature gave me the space. Then I caught a cold (for the first time in over a year),which meant I was going to stay inside and really have time to reflect.

Part of my anger was coming from my difficulty having the means at this time to speak my truth. This is a Throat Chakra imbalance. Remember when I spoke about holding onto anger we can develop blockages. My difficulty speaking my truth is coming from a timing issue. It just isn't the right time to express what I need to, to the correct individual. My issue is dependent on several people making it complicated for me to create an action plan of my own and move forward at my own pace. Though I started to verbally set boundaries in other areas of my life, I wasn't moving the source energy. Consequently, I lost my physical voice.  

My cold symptoms were also no surprise as they were a representation of both my anger and my worry. I had mucous, cold feet and hands (Worry) and flushing of heat from the anger. 

Once I reflected on how beautiful the process was, the gratitude started to emerge from my heart. I truly was coming to a place of being Thankful. I thought how great the snow storm hit and allowed me to go within, to be silent without having the obligations of work. Being sick was another blessing for it allowed my to remain still rather than trying to do a bunch of household work. This allowed for more mediation. I was able to work through feeling like I had no control over my situation to feeling like it was giving me the opportunity to explore boundaries and set up new organizational systems in the future. I was grateful I had the privilege to put my own oxygen mask on before helping others. The other point to this principle is being able to have internal gratitude. The question being can you be grateful for being you and your circumstances? Once you can do this it is easier to find areas outside of self to be grateful.

The concept of internal gratitude reminds me of a Thai abdominal massage technique called the inner smile. We direct our self or the client to imagine the smile we get when looking at a baby. Then we direct that smile to ourselves. Take a moment find a place in your body that feels a bit out of balance or raw. Find that smile you give to adorable babies and directed to the out of sorts body area. Take a breath in, pause for a moment and now exhale. How do you feel? Did you feel that smile working it's magic?

One lesson this exploration offered me was; sometimes to move forward we must first step back.

I hope you will have a meaningful exploration and mediation on this third principle. May your inner smile bring you warmth and joy. May you shine this light into the world to help others see their own light. 

Reiki Principles 2 Worry

How did your exploration of the first Reiki Principle Just for Today, I will not Be Angry, go for you?

With anger out of the way, we can now move onto worry. As I write this I actually have a smile on my face and I almost laughed out loud. The thought of being ready to move onto worry is funny. In reality though this is what often happens. We stop being angry about something and worry about someone judging us for our anger. In the last post I said anger takes us all over the place, our past, our present and our future. Worry, I find mostly takes the majority of us into the future but can also reach back to the past. When we leave the present to travel to this unknown realm of worry, we use up needed present day energy.

Some say worry is not always a negative occurrence. I'm not sure about that idea. What do you think, can worry be a positive occurrence?

By definition worry as a noun is " a state of anxiety or uncertainty over actual or potential problems" or as a verb is " giving way to anxiety or unease; allowing one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles". From the dictionary.com

If we have anxiety or unease for a short period of time and then come up with a solution for the problem, difficulty or trouble we move worry quickly through our body with little prolonged effects. However, if we repeated visit the realm of worry or stay there for an extended period, we create blockages in our energy field and eventually our physical body.

Let's explore the second Reiki Principle:

Just for Today, I will NOT WORRY

Thai massage teaches that Worry is held in the Spleen. The spleen is said to be connected to thinking, studying and memory. This is where I believe people find the positive in the emotion of worry. Many people value those you study hard, are big thinkers and have great memories. We move into problems when we take thinking and studying into over time and get nothing accomplished because we get hyper-focused on one thing to the point of exhaustion.

An imbalanced spleen trapped by worry can be expressed with problems of digestion, mucous, loose stool, bleeding disorders, weak muscles, cold feet and hands and bruising easily .

What can we do to help the spleen? Have you ever wondered why I try my best to give you room temperature or warm water to drink after your massage? One reason is because cold water will cause your muscles to contract in an attempt to warm the water up. When this happens too rapidly then we can get muscle cramping or spasms and we have defeated our massage. I also do it because most people have some kind of spleen deficiency (remember I'm using the Thai/Chinese medicine term not the western organ idea of spleen) and cold water further taxes it. If you tend to be a worrier or have the signs of worry mentioned above try drinking warmer water in general and at least one hour before meals.

In Thailand multitasking was not big. They were all about being intentional. The family would have meals where everyone joins to eat. There is no eating and watching TV or study. Every task has its own time. When you think about it (hahaha but don't over think this) performing or placing your attention on one task at a time allows you to be intentional and the mind to work at ease. This in turn takes pressure off the spleen.

Chi Nei Tsang which is the form of Thai abdominal massage I perform teaches us the 6 healing sounds to care for the internal organs. The sound for the spleen is " Who". We take a breath in and on the exhale we release the sound Who and repeat it two more times. When you get more connected to this sound and the spleen you will notice the sound originating on your left side at the base of your ribs over the spleen area. Go ahead put your hands on either side of your ribs and sound out Who and see which side vibrates more.

Maybe now before you sit down to tackle a large work project or a study session you'll try sounding out Who and support your spleen to ward off worry.

If you are already dealing with spleen issues from over worry try looking at your diet. Are you eating too many raw foods (this is know as cold foods), cold drinks, gluten, carbs, sugar, dairy, coffee or alcohol? Think about reducing or eliminating some of these for a while.

What have I been working on from my exploration of Worry? I've been asking myself: is there anything I can do right now to address this issue, if my answer is no, I look for something I can work on that has a positive outcome. Later I'll revisit the other issue and ask where can I search to find an answer or solution and try something new. If it works then I'm set; if it doesn't, I try to move one. For me if I try to just think about a problem I get stuck and become stagnate. Then I find myself getting discouraged and depressed and the issue goes on much longer. With my new attempts, though the issue may take a while to find a solution, at least I'm no longer dealing with it day end and day out. This seems to help give me mental breaks and decrease worry.

I invite you to explore :
Just for Today, l will Not Worry

I would love to hear any sights this exploration brings. Specially if it helps you develop new habits.

Meditating on the 5 Reiki Principles for the New Year

For the New Year I decided to review and mediate on the 5  Reiki Principles.

Before New Year's Eve I started with the first principle.

Just for Today, I will not be Angry

I wanted to go into the New Year by cleaning up all my bodies (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual). I didn't want to take any energy that was no longer serving my highest good into the new year. This first principle was a great place to start. Understanding and working through Anger sets the stage to freeing blocks on many levels.

From my meditations on this saying I have come to understand It to mean Free yourself from becoming anger.

Anger is a valid emotion, how we work with and through it is important. If we select to understand where the anger comes from and what it has to teach and then let it leave our body/being we are free.

Denying anger, holding onto it in our bodies, or directing it at others can create blockages within our body/being and we become anger and invite disease/illness and pain.

Anger can come to us from disappointment, dissatisfaction  over issues connected to our past, present or future or a multitude of other reasons. When we get stuck or fixated on the Dis-appointment or Dis-satisfaction of an issue or situation we bring the energy into your physical body and create Dis-ease.

Anger in its positive form motivates us to create change in the world. When we listen to anger and seek a positive action we create movement of energy away from our physical body and transmute energy into a more productive form. If we can't find a solution to our "Dis" of our situation then doing something that creates movement away from the body helps free us  from fixation and buys us time to develop an action plan.  Dancing, martial arts, vocalizing (singing, toning, yelling), punching a pillow or punching bag are great ways to direct anger away from self and others.

Energetic body work techniques teach the practitioner that the blockages in the physical body often start in the non-physical. Many come from emotions one being anger. The longer the non-physical body goes without attention the more the energy is drawn into the cells of the physical body. We fine many emotions trapped in the organs. Some organs are more prone to attract certain emotions over others. Thai massage (based on Chinese medicine) has taught me the Liver tends to hold anger.  Along with the liver you can find the Gallbladder housing anger.

When you have experienced anger where have you noticed it in your body or have you? Have you noticed more issues with gall stones, trouble eliminating toxins, issues of the bile,  high blood pressure, pain in the right side of your mid- body, a reddening of the face or chest or migraines. 

Also if you find yourself having a hard time overcoming a cold/flu asses your liver and any possible stored anger. The liver is connected to your immune system. If anger is causing stagnation of the liver your immune system can become weakened and colds can persist. 

Watching young children (usually before they turn 5) can teach us a lot about the tools to work with emotions. What I have noticed from children is the emotional body works best when we stay in the present moment and we allow the emotions to be felt and move through us as quickly as possible. Young kids will yell and stomp their feet  expressing their anger; promoting action and movement. When you ask them about it later they are not attached ,they often can't even remember the moment. Once they release one emotion they move on to the next. It is easy for them to move from anger to laughter/joy seamlessly. As we become adults we start to move away from feeling our emotions to analyzing them. Frequently, this keeps us stuck in the past looping back to a situation over and over again, which begins to trap the emotion in our cells. Now any movement, smell, or experience that resembles the original occurrence will trigger the cells to respond as though we are back in the original point of emotional disturbance.

In ideal situations we express emotions before they get lodged into our cells and require physical release from the body. I mentioned a few options above to moving the anger through your body. Another technique Thai massage taught me is the 6 healing sounds connected to the internal organs. The sound for the liver is "Sh" like you are telling someone in the library to be silent. How we use it is to take a breath in and on the exhale we release the sound "Sh" and repeat 2 more times. You will notice the more you perform  this technique the sound does not have to be very loud and can at times be more of an internal process.  I hope some of these techniques can help you find ease of expression of your anger.

I invite you to explore this Reiki saying for yourself and see how it helps you enter  the New Year. I hope this saying helps you become more connected to your body and more empowered to healing yourself. 

I invite you to share, if you feel moved , your insights from exploring :

Please remember any and all information shared is from my own personal experience and learning and is not meant to serve as health advise. You should always consult your MD or other health care practitioner if you have any illness or disease.