So last night I had my first, but certainly not my last, Reiki massage.  For those of you who are not new ages, I suggest that you never get a Reiki massage, as you will be too freaked out to ever appreciate what it is that you are being given.  I however, believe in the possibility of everything, and the fact that a culture thousands of years old could possibly be on to something.  And although there is no way to prepare yourself for a Reiki massage, if you are open to the simple possibilities, I have to tell you it is a trip.

To put it all in layman terms, basically you lie down on a bed (fully clothed and comfortable) and a practitioner uses the heat and energy from their hands to “correct” the energy flowing through you.  It is done without a “massage” in that there is no rubbing of hands onto your muscles, but rather simply a resting of a hands occasionally on key points of your body to create what I surmise is conduits.  The practitioner moves up and down your body and you lie there silently.  My practitioner put crystals on my body which I don’t know if it made better or did nothing at all but it couldn’t have hurt.  Then she finished the session by ringing bells, as everything in our universe can be used to further our healing; including sound.

When I first entered the session she told me to not have any preconceived notions, so instead as a devout yogi, I decided to simply clear my mind and go into a meditative state.  My pseudo friend (see last post) went into a similar state.   And the strangest thing happened.  I often wonder when strange things happen if it is a coping mechanism in my mind, a simple placebo effect, or if I am truly experiencing all that I am.  But I decided in this case to go with it.  So there I was lying on the table taking a journey of a lifetime.  As she touched and held certain parts of my body (my meridians or energy sources) my mind brought so many different images into my eyes.  When she held my legs, the past come though – amazingly easy images of a back porch of a house I once lived, or my mother doing the laundry.  When the practitioner was somewhere else I flew literally over the ocean and watched the dolphins play, or studied a blood-red sun.  I traveled, I flew, I literally moved with my body; not outside my body but with my body, with my mind, with my soul.

I work hard to be open to these kind of experiences; and I think my yoga taught me how.  Ever practiced a sport that immediately will change the shape, diameter, and area of your body, your skin, your very heath?  Try yoga.  (It doesn’t really work if you teach yourself, go find someone who knows what they are doing).  Yoga taught me that doing something not exactly mainstream or normal would easily and almost seamlessly change my life.  And I have taken that lesson into all areas of my life.

I think of it this way:  our brain is only working at 10% each and every day.  Therefore, we are literally missing 90% of the world and its knowledge.  We are babies in the world of science, math, even history.  We are nobodies yet when it comes to the cosmos or even the depths of the ocean.  So why wouldn’t something like yoga or reiki work? Why shouldn’t my mind be open to it?  Why isn’t it possible that there is something beyond what I can see, what I can feel, what I can know?   There are those of us that simply can’t work this way, and I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing.  That 90% we don’t know – it can’t all be good.

But I might have found freedom that I need.  I don’t know as I continue my practice if the experience will be enhanced, or if I will simply have all my meridians fall into line and not need it.  I am not sure how my bi-polar brain will work with this freedom, or this flying.  I am not sure how my brain will cope with medicine that does not come in a bottle.  I understand intimately, that I will never be able to use this coping to get rid of my meds, that isn’t even smart in my case.  But maybe I can use it as an antecedent to the truth.  Maybe I can use it as another solution, another way, and another experience that will make me more human.

I refuse to settle for only using 10% of my brain. Call me crazy, but good or bad, curiosity kills or not, I need to know what is beyond.  Our brain, our Gods, our very world has to have something more than what we know.  Otherwise, I am doomed to beauty in one dimension.