white noise

On Saturday, I went with Marni to Roanoke Valley’s Expo for Mind, Body and Soul. We sat through 50 min. classes on Reiki, awareness of the higher-self, and spirituality at work. It was educational, entertaining and fun. We also chanced upon friends from our “New Alchemy” book club (for want of a better name!). We sat through some talks with George and Shirley and also roamed around the exhibitors hall chatting with them.

The greatest ally in promoting spirituality and health is self-awareness. This is what I learned from connecting to the higher-self, which — I should add — is something I learned in the Witchcraft, Myth, and Religions class I took at Sierra college in ’91, but that I didn’t fully grasp. That class taught me about ego, and about fear. Hank Wesselman, our professor (and the author of Spiritwalker: Message from the Future) helped us explore many different philosophies from other cultures, and he also managed to show us how similar or how tied to each other they are. He was heavily into shamanism and you could see, whenever he demonstrated it, how it transported him from professor to shaman. It’s the expressions on his face, the serenity and devotion, that I can recall the most.

Now, I wish I’d have dug deeper into that class. It was ever-fascinating, but I had my hands full struggling with algebra, too.

I feel more centered these days, and certainly more at peace inside myself. It’s that unshakable peace that I strive for, that place within me that will keep me grounded, even in the face of chaos.

The demonstration on Reiki was amazing. The energy transfer I felt was certainly much higher than when we explored it in the earlier class with Karen Winstead, who practices axiatonal therapy (aka reconnective therapy). Karen demonstrated our connection to energy, having us hold the magnets apart, either pole, to feel the push or pull of their energy. In the Reiki session, we each got a small demonstration from student and master teacher practioners from the Loving Touch Center, here in Virginia (sorry, the website is a bit hideous :). I intend to explore Reiki more because that short bit of time under Anita’s hands wiped out most of my exhaustion (we were at the end of the day and I was pooped!), almost as if I’d taken a cat nap.

My goal for the next month is to seek out some form of meditation which will work for me. Jon suggested it the other night as a means to relax and move away from stress. Stress is evil, I tell you, and next to not sleeping, appears to be the second greatest factor in how much I hurt or can function on a daily basis.