We are now starting our fourth week of lockdown and I was wondering how you are faring?

From my own experience, and that of everyone else I have spoken to, this is a time, more than ever, of real ups and downs. I don't know a single person who hasn't admitted to at least the odd tough day here and there. Anxiety levels are raised, motivation is challenged, (as many of us have to be more self-sufficient at home), sleep may be affected and the sense of isolation is palpable.

We may also find ourselves turning to less healthy habits such as eating, drinking alcohol or smoking more than usual, scrolling endlessly through social media and news sites or spending the day in our pyjamas. It isn’t that most of things aren’t OK in moderation but if we do any of them too much we can start to have problems.
 

Burning sage can be a great way of cleansing negative energies from within our homes, places of work and our own energy system. At the moment many people are feeling more bombarded than normal by the worries and anxieties of the world and the people close to us. This can happen in spite of us generally coming into direct contact with far fewer people than we might be accustomed to.

Reiki can  help us to deal with the wear and tear that effects our body and our aura. Meditation can help us to slow down and rebalance our minds. Burning sage can help us to keep the space we inhabit and our own energy as clean and clear from accumulated negative energies around us as possible.

If you'd like to read more on this topic I would highly recommend an article written by my wonderful Reiki Master and Teacher Chyna Honey, author of Understanding Reiki: From self-care to energy medicine. You can find her excellent article: How to use smoke to cleanse negative energies here.

I have a limited supply of sage bundles, also known as smudge sticks, if you would like me to arrange to post one to you. I have some large bundles for £15 and a twin pack of small bundles for £10. These prices include UK postage. I do also have copies of Chyna's book if you find yourself with a little more time than usual and you fancy doing some reading about Reiki. The cost for those is £10 plus £1.50 postage. 

Take good care of yourself.
Karen

Dr Karen Janes ©
2nd April 2020

I'll be writing some more articles soon. I hope to include some tips and advice to help manage the stress that this difficult time is creating or adding to any existing challenges. I also have some exciting new things coming up that I will be able to offer you online. 

In the meantime please have a read of my most recent newsletter, which tells you a bit more about what I'm up to and how I may be able to help if you're struggling.

I hope you stay safe and well and I am here if I can be of any help at all. 

There are so many aspects of self-care that, despite us knowing they are good for us we either don’t do at all or we don’t do very consistently. These things aren’t rational.

Everyone who smokes knows that it is increasing their risk of certain illnesses yet they continue to smoke, when we don’t get enough sleep we know we would benefit from more hours in bed or if we eat too many takeaway dinners we know that isn’t the best food to keep our digestive system working at its best. Lots of things get in the way and make it harder for us to do these things that we ‘know’ are good for us. This is true even when we really want to and on days when we are doing our best to take good care of ourselves.

The challenge of self care

As with taking care of our physical body, many things can get in the way of us using our Reiki once we become a channel. This is one of the reasons why sharing clear and full explanations to students at each level of attunement can be so helpful to us. Understanding this can help us to develop a regular and committed practice. There is however another key thing which can really help us with our Reiki, but is also something that is relevant to learning more generally and that is to do with repetition, which I will come to in a little more detail shortly.

We may find ourselves getting angry or frustrated or feeling guilty about anything we perceive as lacking with our self-care. Instead it can be helpful to try to understand a little more about the nature of human beings as a species. In that way we really can start to treat our desire to take care of ourselves as something that we can continue to refine and develop and that it will always be a work in progress. I hope this article adds a little to that knowledge.