Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Reiki and The Importance of Sleep



This is Lizard. In Native American Lore, Lizard spends much of his time in sleep. Why? He is dreaming.  He dreams of the future before it arrives. He dreams me, you, everything. Most of his time is spent in DreamTime, not here in the Illusion. Lizard. When lizard shows up into your world, the symbol means 'pay attention to dreams and give yourself time to dream them.'

My mother is from Italy. She doesn't 'get' American culture when it comes to sleep. In Europe it is something to be enjoyed. It is good for you. It is healing. Rejuvenating. Important. None of this 'five hour energy' drink so you can make the need for sleep go away. Mom IS a night owl. She stayed up most of our childhood. She liked the quiet when the rest of the house was asleep. Even as a kid, she stayed up late with a flashlight and a book reading under the covers. Although her need for sleep was LESS, she respected the need for it.

My son takes after my Mom and his father, someone who has to resort to taking chemicals to induce sleep. He fought it. Ever since he was little. He did not like to cozy up and rest.

Intuitively, I wonder if he must have died in his sleep in a past life? It makes sense, doesn't it, for one to be averse to sleep in this life if they did.

That is where the Reiki part came in.  I practice at night on my son. He calls is Energy Massage. Guess what? Once I got to Reiki Three Level, boom! He would be off to sleep, a contented one, before I finished the Reiki Treatment.

One of the things about Reiki Sleep is it is Restful. My patients often wake up saying, 'I feel so refreshed!'. Of course! I untangled the knots in your energetic system while you were asleep!

What is Sleep? 

I am going to go out on  a Limb here. The Toltecs (Don Miguel Ruiz books. I love him!) call this Life, The Illusion. It is a type of Dream State. I think perhaps our DreamTime is when we Go Back Home. This is when you have the vivid dreams of your Loved One who has Passed. This is when you get ideas (I used to solve geometry problems in my sleep). This is when you tweak your game for the next day, if you ask me.

Ask Lizard. In many ways we are like Him.

I have been fighting a cold. Or allergy. Not sure what, exactly. All I want is sleep. I got one hour after work yesterday. And eight hours last night. I feel much better. I could use a day of rest. But with only two cases in the OR, each taking about four hours, I am not going to exert myself. I hope I can get some rest again tonight. I look forward to it. And yes, I go to sleep giving Reiki to myself, too.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc