Tag: Healing Touch

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Flow Is A Healing State

I have heard athletes talk about being “in the zone,” and I have read many accounts of artists and musicians describing their experience of “aesthetic rapture.” Now I am finding people from every discipline talking about “Flow.”

Flow is a state of complete focus, mental clarity, and instinctive action. These are the characteristics of Flow: the sensation of being outside normal reality; the feeling of timelessness; the sense that you are part of something larger; the absence of physical pain; and the experience of ecstasy.

The term Flow was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (pronounced “CHICK-sent-me-high-ee”) one of the world’s leading researcher on positive psychology. Check out his Ted Talk “What makes a life worth living?”

In a WIRED interview about, of all things, websites, Csikszentmihalyi  was asked: “What do you mean by flow?” His response was:

“Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

I experience the state of Flow every workday in my healing practice. I watch my clients’ access Flow. Healers are Flow Hackers.

My fascination with the concept of Flow began when a friend sent me an NPR link of Dave Iverson interviewing Steven Kotler. Kotler is the author of “The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance”. Kotler is now on my genius list and “The Rise of Superman” is waiting for me at my local bookstore. In the video below Kotler takes the concept of Flow to a new level:

In his video How Far Will You Go For Greatness – The Dark Side of Flow Steven Kotler states

“Flow is built around Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Three of the most powerful motivators known to man. This is a dangerous edge to walk.”

This video addresses the addictive side to Flow when reached through high-performance athletics such as skateboarding and mountain climbing. It also touches upon the neurochemicals the state of Flow releases in the physical body.

Steven Kotler’s website is the Flow Research Collective.  Click on the link for more information.

I would say that as a healer, I have experienced Flow through Connection with Higher Source, Mastery and Setting a Loving Intention.

I propose that Flow + Love = Sacred Space.

I think it’s all the same state. When attained through energetic healing and breathwork there isn’t the addictive aspect of the flow state. Healing makes whole, and after a healing clients feel much less addicted, unbalanced, and needy long after the session. In fact, in my practice, energy work has helped many clients overcome physical and emotional addictions.

Flow is a healing state.

Please comment with any thoughts, experiences or ideas.

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch, Reiki, and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California. 510-601-9632

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Healing Touch California’s 8th Annual Regional Symposium: “Healing From The Heart”

Healing Touch California’s 8th Annual Regional Symposium: “Healing From The Heart”
Ann Seckinger’s Workshop, Healing Touch: The Heart of Hospice

It has been almost a month since I attended this year’s Healing Touch California Symposium. I cannot believe it has taken me so long to write this post. Needless to say, it has been a busy month.

These regional symposiums are such a wonderful opportunity to meet other Bay Area healers, take a few workshops, and hear lectures and new ideas specific to energy healing. I always come back to my healing practice invigorated.

This year there were nearly 100 Healing Touch practitioners, students, and instructors from Healing Beyond Borders, Healing Touch Program, Healing Touch for Animals and Healing Touch Spiritual Ministry. Michele Bernhardt, Vice President of Healing Touch California, described the gathering in a recent newsletter as,  “…a community of sharing, learning, light and love.”

Click here to get an overview of the conference, keynote speakers and pre-symposium workshops.  Check out the photos, too.

In this post I want to focus on Ann Seckinger’s presentation, Healing Touch: The Heart of Hospice. Ann Seckinger is a Chaplain at Gentiva Hospice in San Jose and has served on the Board of Directors of Healing Touch California for six years. Ann is passionate about providing heart-centered care for those facing the end of life.

Ann’s well organized, two-hour presentation covered how Healing Touch is used in hospice to help people with less than six months to live. She talked about how Healing Touch can help manage physical pain, balance emotional needs and create a deeper spiritual connection for people as they prepare to make their transition.

As Ann said, “Hospice adds life to days when days can no longer be added to life.”

She explained that Hospice care is composed of a multidisciplinary team that includes the patient’s physician, hospice doctor, registered nurse, certified health aides, medical social worker and chaplain.

She also presented research on how Healing Touch has been shown to help hospice clients by reducing leg pain, giving relief from constipation, and decreasing the amount of pain medications needed. To learn more, check out her slide presentation here.

Ann’s stories about her work were the best part of the presentation. I was impressed by her case load of 40 patients; seeing some patients one or two times a month. Ann has a strong work ethic, and is committed to being fully present for her patients. While I was inspired to learn about the benefits of Healing Touch in hospice, I was really moved by Ann herself.

Ann Seckinger is heart-centered. Yet, what I was really struck by was her strength, clarity and humility in which she brought that heart energy into the world. Ann is really making a difference for many people in a medical culture that is often less than accommodating.

I realized that being heart-centered is more than being sensitive to other peoples’ emotions and needs in the external world. Being heart-centered is also an internal source of strength that guides you and helps you create a great sense of peace and presence every day.

I came away with a renewed faith in the human spirit.

Thanks Ann.

Photo by Geoffrey Matsumoto

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch, Reiki and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California. 510-601-9632

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Healing Touch In The Hospital

Healing Touch In The Hospital
Healing Touch In The Hospital

A few months ago I was asked to do a series of healings in a nearby hospital. My client could not be touched because she was in a very fragile state, had intense pain, and was in contact precautions. In this picture I am wearing the protective gloves, mask and paper robe I was asked to put on before entering my client’s room.

Healing Touch doesn’t require physical touch and is very effective when I work off the body, directly in my client’s energy field. This set of healing sessions helped significantly to reduce my client’s physical pain. I was told she also slept better and had fewer side effects from her pain medication.

I also gave my client’s daughter a healing, even if I only had 15 minutes for her, every time I went to the hospital. Caregivers can really benefit from even a few minutes of energy work, especially when they are also sleeping overnight at the hospital.

So you don’t have to wait to get a healing until you, or a loved one, are discharged from the hospital. Ask about Healing Touch at your medical facility. You can also check here for a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner in your area.

Note to healers: If you are wearing a sweater, I suggest taking it off before putting on the paper suit. Even though it feels thin and light, the paper is really warm.

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm,in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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Healing Is A Sacred Process

Flowers From Susan
Flowers From Susan

“Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.”
Gary Zukav

Healing Touch Scope and Standards of Practice, a concise and well-written booklet published by the Healing Touch Program, describes the standards and responsibilities that all Healing Touch Practitioners and students are accountable to. It also provides the history and background of the Healing Touch program, as well as outlines the benefits and use of the modality of Healing Touch.

On page 15 there is a section titled Major Concepts and Principles Specifically Taught in the Healing Touch Curriculum. It lists 30 statements which define the core of my healing practice. The five below best describe my experience of sacred space:

Number 7. The healing act is a sacred process. The practitioner intends to energetically create sacred space no matter what the physical environment is.

Number 8. The practitioner is a conduit for Universal Energy. Practitioners do not give up their own energy but in fact receive energy when treating others. Synonyms for Universal Energy include Source, Spirit, God, Goddess, Love, the Universe and the All as well as, other terms based on the practitioner’s preference.

Number 9. As practitioners allow energy to flow through them for the benefit of another, they receive benefit. Therefore, the treatment will positively influence both the practitioner and the recipient.

Number 14. All healing is self-healing between the person and his/her spiritual source. The practitioner influences, but does not control the outcome of the treatment.

Number 30. We acknowledge that pure spiritual love is life’s most powerful healer. Love is understood, felt and demonstrated through human thinking, feeling, and actions.

After a healing session, clients often describe their experience as spiritual. Some, even after only one healing, have told me their perception of life had shifted forever. They often report that everything feels more connected, and they felt real peace for the first time.

This peace, this connection, is the energy that does all the healing and is present in every session. Connecting with this energy creates peace in the body, the mind and the emotions. Anxiety attacks become less and less frequent, headaches ease, guidance is heard and sleep is more restful. This is the energy that expands perceptions, heals wounds, contains all possibilities, and includes everything and everybody.

Healing is the experience of pure spiritual love.

c. Jeri Lawson 2014 "Centered" All Rights Reserved

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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Healing Touch Brings Relief to Cancer Patients

DSC_4049I would like to thank Johanna McCloy for the wonderful article,  “Healing Touch Brings Relief to Cancer Patients.” She wrote about Healing Touch, my healing practice, and how beneficial energy work can be for anyone going through Chemotherapy or Radiation.

Thank you, Johanna!

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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A Healing Touch Milestone

NCCA

There is big news in the Healing Touch Community.

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Healing Touch Certification and Healing Touch Program have announced that the Healing Touch Certified Practitioner credential has become the first Energy Medicine profession to achieve accreditation through the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the accrediting body of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence.

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Healing Touch is also accredited through such programs such as American Nurses Credentialing Center, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, and many more.

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It is a significant milestone for all energy medicine modalities to have our profession and credential recognized as a professional occupation. It’s another step in the integration of energy work into our healthcare culture and our lives.

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Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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Healing Touch and Parkinson’s Disease

Garden Flowers
Garden Flowers

One of my first long-term Healing Touch clients had Parkinson’s Disease. He came for Healing Touch because his condition had advanced to the point where he was going to have to start taking medication due to his tremors.  He had been referred to me through a friend who had experienced a great deal of relief in his Healing Touch session for a completely different condition.

He told me before we started that first session that I was the first alternative healing practitioner he had visited. (No pressure!)

After that first session, his hands, which had been shaking quite a bit, were just barely vibrating. For the next year he came weekly and his shaking, although never completely balanced, was always greatly reduced at the end of the session. He always told me our sessions deeply relaxed him. After a year of Healing Touch, he still needed to start taking medication, which initially reduced his shaking. The energy work continued to greatly enhance his quality of life.

Although the Healing Touch treatments did not cure my client’s Parkinson’s, our sessions did keep him off medication for a year. At that time, which was over ten years ago, the drugs had some serious side effects and cost $300.00 a month.

Another client who came because of Parkinson’s did not shake at all. He was losing his balance. After the first session he was surprised at how much better he felt: relaxed, peaceful and much more positive. He came to me once a week and after every session, he felt emotionally clear and then noticed that he was physically more balanced about 4 hours after the session. His friends started to comment on how much he had improved after a few months of healings.

In my experience, there seems to be as many types of Parkinson’s as there are people diagnosed with the condition. Sometime people shake and sometimes they don’t. I find different energy patterns in every client and use different techniques to balance the energy. Healing Touch can be an amazingly effective intervention for Parkinson’s Disease.

A note to other Healers here: When giving a healing to a client with Parkinson’s that has tremors, start with the leg/side that shakes the most if you are doing a full body balancing technique. This has proven to be the more relaxing for my clients. When I start with the more stable leg, clients have said that it can feel agitating in the beginning of the session.

I have also had sessions where my client’s Parkinson’s symptoms were not that dramatically affected in the first session. Most of the time, clients who do not get significant relief from the first session do not come back, so I don’t know if several treatments would have helped more. Everyone does report that they feel much more relaxed and peaceful after the healing.

If you, or someone you care about has Parkinson’s Disease, I highly recommend Healing Touch, Reiki or Energy Work. You might already have a friend or family member that is a Reiki Master. You can also check the Healing Touch website for a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner in your area.

At the very least, the session is relaxing. It might also be, like many of my clients have found, the intervention that greatly increases your quality of life.

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch, Reiki and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

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More About Reiki and Better Sleep

ReikiThis post gives me another opportunity to state my world vision:

Everyone has the opportunity to learn Reiki, Healing Touch or other hands-on-healing modality, and can choose to give regular treatments to themselves, family members, and friends. Everyone has the option to use energy work to feel less anxious, more emotionally balanced and reduce pain in their physical body.

Over a year ago, I decided to give myself daily Reiki treatments. I am still amazed at the results. Reiki keeps me emotionally centered and in a state of better health, with higher energy and mental clarity.

For me, regular self-treatments also includes better and more restful sleep.

About 4 months ago, during a very busy time in my life, I found I was consistently waking up during the night. I took that time to do extra Reiki on myself. Sometimes I would fall asleep soon after starting the healing, but sometimes I would complete a full hour session while wide awake. The most interesting thing is that even when I was up for several hours at night, I was very rarely tired the next day. I found that I stopped worrying about how fatigued I was going to be the next day when I couldn’t sleep. That in itself was very, very – like phenomenally – helpful.

When doing energy work my hands sometimes get hot and sometimes they don’t. During those night sessions my hands were super hot, which felt great in the cold weather. I started really enjoying the late night healings. It was so relaxing, quiet and peaceful.

Eventually, though, I started sleeping though the night. I feel so fortunate to have such a valuable resource at my fingertips.

You can have it too.

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

 

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More Healing Music

I find the process of selecting the music for my clients an integral part of preparing the healing space for my clients.

This is the most soulful music I have ever heard: Djivan Gasparyan‘s The Moon Shines At Night. Djivan is an Armenian musician and composer and plays the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument. Really, even if you never use this music in a healing session, this music is incredible and I invite you to check it out.

Enjoy.

Happy Holidays.

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.

Jeri Lawson has a full-time healing practice in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California. She is available for Healing Touch, Reiki, Distance Healings and Clarity Breathwork Monday through Friday.

510-601-9632

jerilawson@mac.com

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Healing Touch and Good Sleep

IMG_4795My clients report two things most often after a healing touch session.

The first is usually right after the healing. ‘I am so relaxed.” Or “I have never felt this peaceful.”

The second benefit is usually reported one or two days after the session. “I am sleeping so much better.” “I did not wake up one time last night.” “I feel so much more rested during the day.”

Healing Touch and Reiki can promote healthy sleep patterns. It seems that no matter why my clients come for a healing – medical condition, emotional crisis, or regular self-care, they find they sleep better. Getting a good night’s sleep is extremely helpful in keeping their energy system balanced and healthy.

As an energetic practitioner, I often sense that my client’s nervous system is “reset” during the healing. I do not have any nervous system reset monitors that can scientifically prove this, but I have often felt my client’s energy field “click” into alignment.

Sometimes one healing is all it takes to create this shift and often, since getting better sleep is a byproduct of a session and not the reason the client originally booked the session, the client will not even have noticed it until I ask about how the session affected them.

For most clients, it takes several sessions to create deeper sleep patterns, especially if the client has been out of energetic alignment for a longer time. The first session may create a shift in their sleeping patterns that last one or two days, the next session affects them for a week, and so on.

Good sleep is a good thing.

Jeri Lawson is available for Healing Touch and Clarity Breathwork sessions Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm, in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.