Many of you reading this are, like me, engaged and invested in the realm of transformation and healing for yourself and others through a wide range of methods and practices. For me this is primarily through the system of Reiki. I want to encourage us to talk more openly about the fact that, even in our sincere intention to bring healing into the world, it is entirely possible for us to unknowingly duplicate systems of oppression and harm within our practices.

And let’s talk about the fact that there are pathways out of these systems. Pathways back into integrity with the practices we love. One of these pathways is to cultivate a trauma-informed lens within our practice.

Have you had this experience before? Your intuition urging one direction, but you choose another? Or perhaps you did follow what you thought was the voice of your intuition, but instead it was the voice of an old fear or limiting belief, and it led you astray? Sometimes the outcomes of such intuitive mishaps are inconsequential. But sometimes they are not, resulting in harm to ourselves or others.

Do you ever have an impulse about something, but you aren't sure whether it is your intuition talking to you (and therefore valuable to follow) or something.....else? Something like old fears, limiting beliefs, the residue of trauma, or the influence of others? How do we know that an impulse is trust-worthy, especially those that feel risky, but could lead to something right and good?

Spiritual practice is not always beautiful, not always easeful, and does not always feel good. And its not meant to. A spiritual practice, like Reiki in its original Japanese form, is meant to bring us into the messy, dark, pressure-filled spaces of our being. Because, just like the cocoon for the caterpillar, it is within these dark and difficult liminal places that transformation and true connection becomes possible. 

The echoes of our drums fade away as we breathe deeply into our bellies, sitting in front of the fall altar, and a smaller one  just crafted spontaneously for this night’s ceremony.  I lead us in a meditation to connect with the resonant field of our glorious community, the NorCal region of Shakti Rising, tapping into our intertwined roots.  We listen and are seeking to answer these questions:  What is the nature of the living energy of our region?  What are the special medicines we add to the pot of magic Shakti is cooking up across our five regions?  What is needed to expand this medicine, particularly in the Sacramento micro-region where we live and teach?  And why does it matter?  We are exploring , in the fall tradition of Shakti Rising, to Uncover Our Roots.