Roots That Heal

T and I went for a wonderfully wet walk yesterday in the rain and were blessed (yes blessed) to see the beautiful colours of the leaves as they fell from the trees. I just love this time of year, always have and always will, and yet yesterday something struck me. Why do so many of us love the colours as the leaves change and often choose Autumn as our favourite season, yet we fear the Autumn of our own lives?

I couldn’t help but wonder why, if we are so happy to celebrate the turning of the leaves and see the beauty in it, why does our society still scorn the turning of our own hair to grey and white (which can be a most dignified look) and the changing of our own skin. Why are we so sad about it?

I guess on the grand scale of things we know that the trees will blossom and bloom again within a few months - over and over this pattern has played in our lives so we do not doubt the return of youth the coming Spring. Do the trees of our world play out the cycle of our own births, lives, deaths and rebirths? Do you even believe in reincarnation? Perhaps it is this fear that once we are old there is no more youth that scares so many of us.

But with age comes great beauty as the trees demonstrate so well. Autumn is not yet the stark landscape of winter (which can be equally as beautiful in its own way) - so why do we fear it in our lives as well as our winters? I could not help but wonder…

At the moment I am being challenged by health issues I never thought I would face at this time in my life. One of the difficulties this has brought with it is the inability to sleep. As someone who has always slept very deeply, to have disturbed sleep each night is a bit of a shock. So the other night I came to the conclusion that I needed to do more to make my bed a peaceful haven from the rest of the world. So I meditated upon this and was inspired to created a post at each corner of my bed to protect me from energies that may disturb my sleep.

The meditation grew and eventually I had four beautiful tree trunks, one at each corner, towering above me, spreading their branches across the bed to form a canopy not unlike the pattern formed in a Cathedral ceiling where the it comes out of the pillars to join in a seamless pinnacle in the middle. From this canopy, which swayed ever so gently in an unseen breeze, fell leaves of light, sparkling in a beautiful blue, then green, then white pattern. They drifted down to dissipate just before touching my skin, bringing with them healing and calm. Leaves also fell beside the bed, creating a curtain between myself and the world, allowing me the privacy and santuary I was seeking.

I felt safe and comforted in my bed that night and decided that such a beautiful meditation could not be kept to myself. Therefore I hope that you will perhaps try this yourself the next time you are struggling to get a good night’s sleep.

Blessings
Amanda xx

As the seasons change T and I have been trying to make the most of getting out and enjoying the beauty of autumn. We are taking as many pictures as possible because we have dreams and plans of putting together lots of beautiful and hopefully useful things for ourselves, friends and readers. This means that een though there hasn’t been a post for a while, I have not forgotten about Roots That Heal. I sometimes feel bad that I do not post as frequently as I could - but then I remember how my Reiki journey is about living the principles and that involves going out and being in Nature - and as I cannot take my laptop to the woods with me it also means I do not have as much time to blog.

 I have had a couple of responses to my request for guest bloggers and I am looking forward to bringing them onboard. The offer is still open and even if you do not feel you write very well, please do contact me if you feel the desire to be a part of this blog. I would like to create a community here and that means including you all in some way :o)

Whilst talking about community, perhaps you could leave me a message letting me know which of the following you would be interested in seeing here:

The continuation of our forum (I am thinking if we keep it we may change it to a more general spiritual/healing forum)

A Reiki/Celtic Circle - a healing group one night per week where we all join and send healing and love to the world

A Book Group - where we read a book and then all discuss it

A Monthly Spotlight on a Reiki/Spiritual blog - to expand your blog reading

For now though, I will leave you with a few more pictures of our recent jaunt into Nature and will get working on the updates I have been thinking about adding to the site. Please do have a look around over te next few days/weeks to see the new additions.

Blessings
Amanda

Whilst I get my act together and upload the hundreds of photos I’ve taken and prepare my notes for upcoming posts I need something to put on here to keep the energy going. What could that be, I wondered, late last night whilst trying to get to sleep. Does anyone else find it hard to clear their mind to sleep when they are ill? I don’t find it too hard when I’ve been at work all day and am exhausted by the time I drop into bed but when I’ve done nothing but sit in bed all day my mind just refuses to shut up!

Anyway, I thought about the guest post I wrote which started this blog and then the guest post my Reiki Master wrote for me and realised it was high time I included some more. But who do I ask? How can I choose between all the wonderful blogs I read and also, how do I know if I’m missing the wonderful words of someone who reads my blog but does not have one of their own. So here’s the deal - I’m asking for anyone who wishes to contribute a guest post to Roots That Heal to email me at rootsthatheal@live.co.uk with a suggestion of the topic you wish to write about and any information about yourself and why you want to write for this site.

Topics you may be interested in writing about should centre around healing (of any kind, not just Reiki) and/or nature. It doesn’t even have to be very spiritual - if you want to write about the plants in your garden that’s fine too - because at the end of the day all of life and nature is spiritual whether we decide to focus upon it or not. Of course I’m not going to allow posts that have nothing to do with celebrating life, ourselves, nature, God/Goddess, Spirit, healing… but I am open to any and all suggestions you might have.

So let me know if you’re interested and hopefully we’ll be seeing a few new faces on here over the next few weeks and/or months!

With Love
Amanda xx

My dear friend Tammy over at Rainbows and Sunshine was so kind as to present me with the following award.

 Now as you can imagine I was over the moon to receive this. When TC asked me to start a new blog based on Celtic Reiki I was so thrilled and hoped that I would attract readers who would enjoy and appreciate what I had to share and this award shows me that in some part I have achieved that aim. So my thanks go to Tammy and following the rules of the award (and paying attention to the law of flow) I shall now pass this award on to blogs that I love and hope that you might enjoy visiting them yourself! Some have been listed on my links list here and some over on my personal blog, which reminds me that I really must get around to updating my link list. I must also add that I may not always comment over on the following blogs but I do really love to visit them!

So my nominees for this award are:

Isabella Mori over at Change Therapy - Isabella’s blog is a true gem and I have learnt so much from reading her posts.

Beth Hansen-Buth over at Reiki Artist Blog - Beth is a truly amazing artist and I adore her work but even more than that I love to check in and hear about her journey with Reiki

TC over at ReikiBlogger - not only would this blog not exist without the thought and vision of TC but also I discovered the world of Reiki blogging through his blog and love to check in and see what is going on whenever I can

Solomon Grey over at Things I’m Grateful For - Solomon is an inspiration to me with this blog as I know that often I am not grateul enough and were I to show more gratitude I might see even more beauty in life than I do now. Very commendable work!

Beverley Keaton over at Embrace Your Gifts and Soar - Beverley writes some beautifully inspiring posts and I just feel so uplifted whenever I have read one. Which reminds me of a challenge/request she set me to post about how I am soaring which I must do.

Carla Blazek over at Zena Musings - I loved Carla’s blog as soon as I stumbled upon it but even more endearing was the Sacred Life Sunday movement she started, whereby bloggers can post on a Sunday about the Sacred in their lives. I have done this a few times over on my personal blog and am thinking of moving it over to here as well.

Janet over at The Reiki Digest - Janet works so hard to bring up to date information and links to Reiki articles and goings on in the world each week and I love being able to catch up with what’s happening when I get the chance - so thanks for all the time and effort you put into it, Janet!

 If I haven’t mentioned your blog please do not think I don’t love what you do and say - I do but these 7 blogs (and it states 7 blogs in the rules) all touch me that little bit deeper. And for those of you who wish to accept the award and pass it on here are the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog;

2. Link the person you received your award from;

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;

4. Put links of those blogs on yours; and

5. Leave a message on the blogs that you’ve nominated.

Now on to the other part of the post - The Rewards of Nature. As the autumn is getting ready to arrive here in England I cannot help but look forward to the Harvest season and the changing of the leaves and the preparation for cold, winter months. Harvest is a time of reaping the rewards of Nature herself and although she provides the whole year round it seems so much more visible when the farmers are in their fields cutting their crops and the trees are bearing their fruits and my dad piles mountains of vegetables onto my kitchen table that he has grown this year. And this has inspired me to start a new series on this blog - The Rewards of Nature.

One thing I ssaid to T the other day was that I wanted to start documenting the changes in the world as the year went by so that next year we could create our own calendar for friends and family. We never go anywhere without our trusty camera and have already started a small collection of photos and notes on what is happening in our world. We want to live more in harmony with the changes and to live seasonally and close to nature herself. And so I’d live to invite you to join me in watching as the seasons change and pop by once in a while to see what we have noticed ourselves. Perhaps you might even like to visit our forum and start up a diary there. We are still unsure as to whether to keep the forum up and running or close it down - so if you do want to use it please make the most of it while it is still there.

I must go now as I have a birthday cake to decorate but I will see you all soon

With much love and many blessings

Amanda xx

This week I was honoured to be given the opportunity to offer my first Reiki Attunement via Distance. Although I have been asked to do this previously, I had always declined because I wanted to have practised a few attunements in person before attempting it at a distance. The reason for this is because without having the person directly in front of you a lot more intention and imagination is required and I wanted to make sure I was confident and comfortable with the actual process before adding another dimension to the whole thing.

I set the room up as I would for an in-person attunement and drew upon my experiences sending Reiki healing to distant places. Whenever I did this I would choose some crystals to represent certain chakras in the body. I found that this not only helped me to focus my attention on a particular chakra more easily but also that it amplified the energy. Last week I had the distinct pleasure of using two very powerful quartz points that T bought recently to use with his Crystal Healing course. On top of those I used a smaller quartz point for the crown chakra, some amethyst for the third eye, aventurine for the heart and I used this stone also for the hands, because they were positioned in front of the heart for a lot of the process.

My manual suggests using a teddy bear as a representation of the person, helping you to focus your mind on the process, however I don’t own a teddy bear. So I simply used my visualisation and intention, asked my guides and the Angels to help me direct the energies where they needed to go and confirmed that this was an attunement for the person who was currently residing in “x”. As with all Reiki, attunements rely on your intention to send the energy in a certain way.

I seemed to finish the attunement in record time - perhaps because I was relying on my own visualisation, rather than having to wait for the recipient to move their hands to a certain position etc. So having already advised the recipient to relax for half an hour I set the intention that the remaining minutes would be left for her to relax and adjust to the new energies - after all a little relaxation and meditation does no one any harm!

So, now that I have done my first attunement by distance I look forward to trying it some more. A little at a time, as I do believe in making Reiki a part of your lifestyle not just a convenient add-on and as I am about to start a new career and am recovering from a very nasty illness, I am choosing to spend most of my time realigning the energies within myself and living out the Reiki precepts rather than rushing to Reiki everything and everyone. I may not be around for a few weeks, but know I am still here, still practising the best I can, and will be back with much more to share with you all.

With many Blessings
Amanda xx

In recent weeks my whole life has been turned around by a nasty illness. Due to damage caused to my inner ear I have been unable to do many of the things I took for granted - such as going to the supermarket, carrying babies up and down stairs at work, and even more fundamentally taking an evening walk without having T close by in case I lost my balance or became suddenly dizzy. I am now coming to the end of this period in my life, as my brain has learnt to compensate for this damage in most daily situations, however it has been a terrifying time in which I have wondered how this was going to affect me longterm. And yet, for all the fear and sickness it caused, I wouldn’t change a thing because I have learnt an incredible lesson of self-love through it.

You see, I used to run around, trying to be the best I can be in all situations - at work, with friends, for family, online… I would tire myself out and cut out sleep so desperately needed because some part of me felt that I had to do and be everything for as many people and in as many situations as possible. I found it hard to just stop and be - something I had no choice but to do once the illness struck. Whereas before I would be taking the time I had to spend in bed reading a book, learning a new skill, writing for my blogs, or planning a new way to help the world, this time all I could do was lie there and think. And think I did. Soon, thinking turned into meditating and meditating turned into self-reflection.

Within this self-reflection I realised I was so busy giving out to the entire world that I was neglecting the first person any one of us should look after - myself. Nobody can change the world without first changing themselves and the phrase “charity begins at home” really begins to make sense when we remember that to heal another we must first heal ourselves. When we forget to do this our bodies and lives throw up all sorts of obstacles to show us how out of balance we are. I had long manifested illnesses as a way to get out of the pressures and responsibilites of life. I had even recognised this pattern within my own life, but was unable to change it because I couldn’t change how I felt about myself. My self-worth lay entirely upon how much I did for others and whether they’d be able to say “Amanda truly made a difference in her lifetime”.

But you know what? The biggest difference I can possibly make is to be happy and healthy myself. I can live as an example in a world full of people struggling to get through the day where the only way to heal them is not to offer to help but to show them another way. Ultimately the only way I learnt this was to become so ill I couldn’t function anymore. Thankfully, this time, I think I got the message.

And so I would like to send a loving message out to my readers today to remember to take some time to give to yourself. Give yourself time, give yourself love, give yourself everything you would wish for your nearest and dearest - do not neglect the most important person in your life - YOU! If you can look after yourself and show compassion to your own being you can do anything - because in a world where we are constantly asked to achieve this and achieve that the hardest thing to do is often to say “No”.

Have a wonderful weekend and take care of yourselves
Amanda xx

Sorry about the lack of posts for so long - I must admit that these past few weeks have been hard on T and I. Both of us have suffered from ill health, brought on by our disregard for the signs our bodies were sending us to slow down. We carried on and so our bodies took the only course of action left in order to stop us - and stop us they did! T has been out of work for several weeks due to wrist problems and I have been off work and only able to work part-time due to an inner ear problem. Both of these have not only affected our working lives but also our personal lives - as T has been unable to do a lot of things he’d normally find easy and even walking and reading/internet surfing etc has been hard for me due to the dizziness and nausea I have been experiencing.

So we have been made to take a slower pace these past few weeks and it has taught us an awful lot. I have in recent years been learning that illness can be as much a blessing as a curse, and sometimes it is only through having to take care of my body that I take care of my soul as well! One of the major differences this has brought to our lives is the integration of evening walks (and daytime ones if we can afford the time from work) and fllowing our hearts and spending more time in nature than ever before. We had always taken walks at weekends, but they had always been rushed into a spare slot in our schedule - now they are the first thing we try to plan!

In fact - today T is on a shamanic workshop and I am about to head out to the common, with my iPod in my pocket and camera round my neck, ready to sit and relax, watching the hours go by, snapping anything that strikes me as beautiful of inspiring and listening to the language lessons I have downloaded and wanted to listen to for several months (if not years!) Normally I would stay home and panic about all the things I have to get done - but today I am taking time for myself!

The summer is here (well in the UK it is) and we plan on enjoying every last second of it. I hope that you too manage to find the time in your hefty schedules to get out and about and truly feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair and smell the roses - because life CAN be beautiful!

With Love and Blessings
Amanda xx

I thought it was prudent to write a follow up to my previous post about attunement symptoms. I realised a few days ago, upon reflecting on our situation, that my post may well have scared some of our readers. I remember being scared myself as people commented on the incredible changes and challenges they faced after an attunement!

My desire is not to scare you but to encourage you to see Reiki as a beautiful energy and maybe even inspire you to explore it further yourself. So let me explain about attunement symptoms a bit further:

When you are attuned to Reiki it is like having a dear friend turn up and help you do a massive spring clean. Together you go through all the bits and pieces you have stored in your attic (head) and basement (heart and solar plexus), whilst dusting away the cobwebs throughout the whole house (your whole body). In doing so you will discover two things - treasures you had long forgotten you possessed (memories, achievements etc) and things you have hidden away because you didn’t want to see them again (perhaps a memory of an argument you’d had, the fear of moving forwards in an area of your life, or even a “gift” someone gave you that you didn’t really want but felt you had to keep!)

You may have tried this kind of spring clean multiple times before - but each time you found a treasure you couldn’t see it for the dust that had formed through the years and every time you found a painful memory you closed down and decided you couldn’t face it. Even if you felt you had faced it, you may find it popping up in some other guise to tear you down again. I know I had!

But with this dear friend called Reiki you find that the dust just blows away without so much as a whip of your cloth and suddenly beauty appears before you everywhere you go. And when the pain resurfaces from those not-so-pleasant issues you find a friend who can hug you from the inside out and dry your tears as they fall. This friend understands your pain, but also knows the strength that lies within you. This friend offers you the power to heal yourself and whispers gently in your ear that you can do it!

For T, his heart and soul had been fightin against his work as a plumber for a good many years previous to his attunement. Yet he had kept going due to guilt, fear and a sense of duty or responsibility. He had taken actions to move forwards and a trip to Thailand followed by an attunement to Usui Reiki had created a great shift in his perceptions - even brought the two of us together (we would never have met if T hadn’t developed an interest in Reiki and found me online)!! Both our lives had moved forwards independently with a lot of help from our dear friend Reiki - but then Reiki called to us to work together with her!

After his attunement to Celtic Reiki 1 we both felt a shift deep within ourselves. Just as I had been urged to make changes to my life after each of my attunement, T found his body telling him without question that now was the time to walk away from that which caused him so much pain. And I found myself urged on to expand Roots That Heal as I have dreamt of for many months, even years!

Please do not think that if you are attuned to Reiki that you wil suddenly develop painful physical issues or that you will be reduced to tears because of all the things that suddenly come up for you. You will not be overwhelmed, for Reiki knows your limits (and knows they are far greater than you ever imagined!) and will always show you the paths forward, especially if you remember to tun to her and use her gift in times of need. And at the end of it all you will be so much happier and calmer and you will see so much of life you were missing due to the fog you had pulled around yourself. It is a beautiful thing!!

So, remember that Reiki will always be your friend, whether you are attuned to it or not, and an attunement will never be an unpleasant thing - it is just the friend who shows you the truth you were perhaps afraid to see about yourself. And the truth is - you are far more powerful and beautiful than you ever dreamed!

With love
Amanda xx

We’d like to invite you to visit our new forum.

Having helped to run a similar forum a couple of years ago I decided the time was right to start one connected to this blog, to enable our readers to fully interact with each other.

We hope that the forum will become a community where you can meet like-minded people, share advice and stories and even set up Reiki swaps, books swaps, share prayers and meditations and make it your own space.

Please pop along and visit us there - we would love to see you. Just click on the link to your left!

Blessings,
Amanda and T