Energy and Spirituality

       A teammate shared some exciting news with me last week that they were taking their Reiki level 1 training.  Part of this was inspired by the fact that I did some distance Reiki for them a while back.  I received my level 1 & 2 training back in the summer of 2010, which was also the end of my first year of acupuncture training.  I would later receive my master level in 2018.  I am happy that I helped inspire this, and also happy that there will be another person sharing energy healing with others.

       I’ve always been sensitive to energy.  Probably one of the reasons why I really enjoy Tai Chi, and also probably why I gravitated to acupuncture.  I like to feel the energy around me, swirling, connecting me to my surroundings and (7others.  I use this sensitivity in my work to find blockages in people’s Qi, and I use it in my Tai Chi to feel the space around me, and how I can subtly redirect the flow of energy around me.  I also can feel where my own Qi is blocked and freely flowing.  It can tell me if I’m connected or disconnected with my movements and intent.  On a basic level it is the feeling of releasing energy in our techniques, but on a deeper level it involves the purity of energy from my physical-mental-emotional-spiritual bodies.  I also find I can be impacted by other’s energy too, adapting how so approach someone based on what I’m feeling from them.

       I am a spiritual person. Never been one for religion.  Spirituality is more than some omniscient, omnipotent being, and more to do with being connected with the world (and beyond) around me.  It’s realizing that I am just a small piece in the tapestry being infinitely weaved.  I am energy that is here to experience life before returning to the greater energy.  This is also tied into science.  We are all just stardust essentially and we are all just energy, and energy isn’t created or destroyed, just transformed.  My spirituality plays a bigger role in how I live my life.  This understanding that I’m just a piece of the whole helps me to shed my ego, even just a little bit, and opens me up to possibilities, people and places.  

         As far as my Kung Fu is concerned, I believe spirituality is deeply connected with it.  The physical stuff is just a gateway.  It builds discipline.  A healthy body also helps support a healthy mind.  By connecting with how I feel within, so can I connect and express how I feel outwardly.  The more adept my skills become, the less I ever want to use them.  The more I train with others, the more I understand them.  The more understanding I have, the more compassionate and empathetic I become.

        Sometimes I get too absorbed, or perhaps a better saying is that I can become untethered.  I float too freely outside of myself and am no longer anchored to the earth.  On the other hand, sometimes I’m way too tied down and forget to look around me.  It can be hard to present though, because sometimes being present can be painful and you’ll reach for whatever distraction you can or bury your head in whatever project to avoid it.  The simple act of sitting and breathing can seem like a lot, but if you can work through the uncomfortableness, it can really help ground you. Which takes me to where I was going with all of this.  

      Being present, especially with the people in my life.  Realizing I have a finite amount of time with each of them. I have a lot of commitments and responsibilities and it can feel overwhelming to try and balance it all.  It really makes me sit with the thoughts of what my priorities really are.  I’m still working on what I find is truly important in my life and filtering out the chaff.  I know for certain my family is my number 1 priority, and the things I do when I’m away is to support them.  Even Kung Fu is my way of supporting them, because it helps ground me.