Calm Down Part II: Meditation, Riki, Journeying

By: KimLien LaFitte

In the past few weeks I’ve had several people ask me about things that can help with stress. The first thing I suggest is meditation. One person said, “I wouldn’t even know how to do that†and pretty quickly changed the subject. Another person said, “I really don’t have time for thatâ€, and yet another said they didn’t believe in that “woo woo stuffâ€.

Without “quite time†as I call it, I would be a freaking mess.

Meditation is probably not what you think it is. (From the Princess Bride, Inigo Montoya, “you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it meansâ€)

Thank goodness there is so much mainstream information on meditation, that anyone can benefit from this powerful stress relieving practice.

There are even apps so it can’t get much easier. I have tried both Insight Timer and Calm and I like them both. I mostly do lying meditation for short periods of time. Sometimes I listen to guided meditation and sometimes I just listen to my breathing and music to quite my mind. Sometimes, I unintentionally fall asleep.

(: If you’re thinking you have to do hours of seated meditation to gain any sort of benefit, I invite you to think again and just start somewhere. 

---

Reiki

I am a level 2 Reiki practitioner and I do Reiki on myself. Reiki is a form of energy healing that is very calming and transformational. I feel the calming and centering effects for days after. Here’s a great article about Reiki. When I do Reiki on myself and others, I can feel the energy moving and it is a strange and wonderful thing.
 

---

Journeying

I learned how to journey from Shamanic practitioner Mara Bishop. She is a gem in this world.

When I was in massage school, sometimes I’d hear someone talk about “journeyingâ€, and I was like “what the hell…??†I was introduced to the writing of Carlos Castanada at that time too and read about his journeys and I thought “whoa that sounds cool†and “whoa, no way would I want to experience thatâ€.

Quite a few years after massage school, I sought out Mara for counseling (a local astrologer recommended her) and it would be even more years before she led me on journeys, and I learned how to journey for myself.

There are other ways of journeying too – chakra journeys, cosmic journeys, dreamwork, and probably many more ways I’m not familiar with. Journeying is a way to open your mind/heart to receive visions and messages that have deeper meaning.

We can get so caught up in our little world, we forget how to connect to the universal energies that are there to support us. 

---