Is it East vs West?

My dad’s a psychologist. He’s also a big Ayanna supporter. I called him at his office to talk about Reiki. My short term goal was to show him the undeniable benefits of a Reiki session but long term…I’m insanely curious about Reiki’s ability to help mental illness, brain damage and conditions like autism. Could energy work help people who live in uncomfortable to hellish mental realities find peace?

I started this line of thought a few months ago on the bus. Was riding home when I saw a child and his mother. The boy was 8 or 9 and clearly had some issue with controlling himself and relating in the world in a socially acceptable way. His mother seemed embarrassed but not surprised. She hit him for singing at a screaming volume. She fussed for him racing a car in another passenger’s personal space. She stared out of the window when he was quiet. The boy resorted to humming and banging his head on the bar attached to the back of the sat. He seemed to be calming himself. I’m sure, like most children, he wanted his mother to be happy with him. So he calmed himself in the way he knew how. My heart was automatically captured by him.

I watched and learned all over again about the smallness of a child’s world view and the intense openness of a child’s heart. Open even in the face of rejection. That’s why they cry so much. They can’t feel anything without feeling it fully. Adult’s hearts are like Venus Flytraps. We have to ability to open and close at will. Only allowing the desired things inside, leaving the rest out. I strive to have an open heart like a child. What’s more difficult is to stay present with all that my heart feels. This is why when my dad didn’t want a Reiki session I was shocked…although I shouldn’t have been. He's not a stranger to me. As he says, he's a western medicine kind of guy and that going to my yoga class was stretching it. Besides, doesn’t believe in Reiki. It's really not as big of a deal now that I think about it.

But it was then. I could now take this post in a direction where I talk about our need to over come the road blocks between us and the non believers. I could say that he’s terrible because he doesn’t want to have a Reiki session. I could make all kinds of judgments about this but that’s not what I want to get out of the situation. What we need to over come are our reflexes to close our hearts. In situations like this we tend to find any focal point other then dealing with the work that needs to be done inside. I’m guilty of it and so are most people. The work is never done. You can chop down a tree of issues or habitual patterns but the roots are still in existence. They are alive, growing twice as fast and as strong as weeds. We don’t have to beat them with brute force. We just have to stand still with open eyes and open hearts. Commit to let the work be done.