How Reiki Can Be Complementary Medicine

I've often described Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) as alternative medicine, but in actuality it can be complementary to traditional allopathic/Western medicine.

Here are a few ways that Reiki can be complementary to Western medicine:

• It can provide psychological help. For instance, residents in nursing homes report much more positive outlooks about their living situation after receiving Reiki sessions.
• It can assist with radiation treatments. Patients receiving Reiki directly after their radiation treatments report feeling stronger and having more energy than when they don't receive the Reiki after the treatments. It can greatly improve the speed of healing and decrease or eliminate side effects.
• Reiki also assists before and after surgery. Patients report little to no anxiety before going into surgery after receiving Reiki before their surgery. They report being calm. By receiving Reiki after surgery, expected complications are often completely eliminated and recovery time is vastly improved.

Reiki is a Japanese form of deep relaxation that also promotes healing. It is a form of energy healing that balances the energy in the body. What you say? Energy in the body? Quantum physicists confirm the presence of energy in the body. In addition, consider neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters allow electro-chemical communication between nerve cells. Nerve cells (called "neurons") do not actually touch each other. Instead they are in close proximity with a "gap" (synapse) between each nerve cell. The electrical signal is relayed from one neuron to the next by neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters released at the end of the one nerve cell float across the synapse where they bind to receptors on the next neuron in sequence, triggering an electrical impulse. Thus, there is energy in the body on a very basic level.

When the energy in the body becomes unbalanced, the body's response to invaders (viruses, cancerous cells, etc.) becomes impaired. By balancing the energy via Reiki, the body now has the ability to heal and to fight those invaders.

Recently, Dr. Mehmet Oz, named Reiki as his #1 recommended alternative therapy. I'd like to say that it should be your #1 complementary therapy as well.

Let me know what you think about Reiki. Have you heard of it? What questions do you have about it?

Cooking Is Like Love

I love this quote by Harriet Van Horne: Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all. Since my second son developed Multiple Food Protein Intolerance (similar to food allergies) shortly after birth, I became very knowledgeable about food and what we put into our bodies. I started reading ingredient lists from restaurants, labels on grocery store food, and questioning waiters at restaurants. What I discovered is that the only way to truly know what we are consuming is to make it myself using whole foods. If it's food, eat it. If it has words you can't pronounce or has been previously processed, is it really food that our body can use?

So, with abandon, I have cooked. I've cooked some really good things, and I've cooked some really bad things. But I just keep cooking. Every morning my youngest gets up and one of the first things out of his 3-year old mouth is, "Mommy, what'chu going to make today?" Sometimes it's just apples and pecans, sometimes it's gluten-free vanilla hazelnut pancakes. But always it's made with love.

It's my belief that cooking can heal you and your loved ones through the mind, body and spirit. Cooking is therapy for the mind--you can cry over a cup of hot tea, take out some anger by chopping veggies, create love through baking or cooking a special dinner. What happens when you are cooking something your mom, dad or grandparents made, especially if you are using their recipe? It provides comfort and peace, which calms your mind and thus your body.

Cooking heals your body by nourishing it with what it needs and giving it energy. Eating whole foods can cure cancer, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, eczema, allergies and many other maladies. I recently watched a movie called Simply Raw where 6 people with diabetes went on a completely raw foods, vegan (no meat or dairy) diet and within one week, all but one were completely off ALL of their medications, including their insulin. This is the power of healthy food.

Cooking is spiritual in many ways. When you're preparing food for yourself, friends or family, your love is absorbed by the food. When together you enjoy the food you've prepared, you're creating a memory or a set of memories and long after the food is gone, that energy and those memories stick with you and them. And isn't it a spiritual experience when you bite into that piece of chocolate? Come on, you know it is!!

How does cooking heal you? Do you cook? If not, why not?

Which Wolf Do You Feed?

I took some time off from most social media to do some soul searching about what direction I was headed in professionally. In the last few weeks, I've come back to my Twitter account (HealingInside) and am posting more there and am working on my Facebook Fan page and a web site. But I wasn't sure where to start with my blog again. Until today, when a friend sent me an e-mail with the following story:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is evil--It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is Good--It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "Whichever one you feed."

This has described the battle I've had not only in the last few months but in the last few years. And the wolf I've now chosen to feed is Good. I can honestly say that in the past, that was not the case. I fed and fed the Evil wolf until he almost consumed ME. But I've stopped feeding him and I'm coming alive again.

What about you? Which wolf do you feed?