Stats for June…most popular time to read this blog is Wednesday at 7pm. Guest Blog Number 7 was the most read post. Top five countries reading the blog (after the U.S.) are Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, China and New Zealand. Most of you…in fact, everyone, believes that marital rape is a thing and is included under physical abuse. One reader said it has happened to them. And most people are not familiar with energy work.

I realize that when it comes to religion or politics, people have different viewpoints. And we survivors get triggered by things easily. Whenever I share information that may seem unfamiliar or controversial, I’m not doing so to offend anyone. I’m just sharing information. Some people may embrace an idea and find it helpful to their healing. Others may be fearful of anything new or different. Some people may be able to relate, and others may not.

Like many people, I was raised to believe in God and Jesus and guardian angels and miracles and sin and Heaven and Hell. We were told to pray for people who had passed away in case they didn’t make it into Heaven. They had to wait in Purgatory, which I can only imagine resembles a parole board hearing where you are required to spend time pondering your sins until you come before the board. Then if you don’t get approved, you have to start the process again until you either get enough prayers from people speaking for you, or you have been there long enough, so they decide to take a chance on you and send you through to Heaven, but you have to check in with your guardian angel on a regular basis. You screw up, it’s straight to that “other place”.

Nobody really tells you anything about yourself when you are a kid and learning about religion. Where did you come from? Your mom and dad. Why are you here? Because you were born. Where did I come from? From God. What does that mean? We don’t know. Why do bad things happen? It’s God’s will. Why did everything happen over 2000 years ago? Here is a book to tell you about it. How do we know this really happened? Because we say so. What does my guardian angel do? Protect us from evil and tell us to be good. Who are we exactly? Children of God. Why is everything so vague? Have faith, my child.

The problem, I think, could be that we as children are taught things in simple language so that we as children behave because we fear punishment. And many of us never really grow in our wisdom as we grow into adults with adult issues. And those who taught us the basics when we were children, were teaching us from what was understood over 2000 years ago. And even if there was more to be understood or told, the stories were passed along so that the people at that time could accept and understand them.

As children, we are shown pictures of holy people with halos around their heads. We never really question this. Some people merit halos, but most of us don’t. That’s how it goes. The pope has to say you deserve a halo in order for you to be shown in a picture with one over your head. You have to be a saint. You have to have that special glow. Mainly, we learned that most of the saints died horrible deaths for their beliefs. I give them much respect. However, not everyone who has died a horrible death standing up for their belief has been given sainthood. So, what are halos exactly and why do we see them over the heads of holy people in the bible?

From what I have read about halos, there are a couple of beliefs about how they came about to depict a holy person in a painting or a stained-glass window. Firstly, when telling a story to many people over 2000 years ago, you were basically trying to convey an idea to people who could not read or write for the most part. And throughout history, the story was retold to illiterate people, and to people who spoke different languages. Showing a glowing light coming from the crown of the head, said what needed to be said without words. These people were special. These people were blessed. These people had God within them.

Another interesting theory about halos…is that way back when, before streetlights and electric light bulbs and neon lights and TV’s and loud music and computers and phones, and car engines and planes and all that we have in this modern day that we tend to drown out and tune into, is that people were more sensitive to the energy of other people. In fact, it is believed that way, way back, people could actually see, the halos, or energy fields of others. Someone emitting a white aura was said to radiate peace.

Today those energy fields are known as auras, and although most of us cannot see them, they do exist. We are spiritual beings inside human bodies. Our spirits are energy.

And this is why energy healing is a thing. And has been for centuries.

But, as I have said, the things we don’t understand can scare us.

I first began to understand death when my grandfather died when I was eight years old. It was my first time going to a wake and I had never seen a dead body before. I understood from losing my grandmother two years before that death meant you wouldn’t see a person again. But this was my first time realizing there was a process that was done leading up to that.

My mother has always been a paradox. She taught me to be afraid of many things in order to protect me, but if she sensed fear in me, she would inevitably push me to get over it. And so, in order for me to get over feeling uncomfortable around a dead body, my mom kept pushing me to kiss my grandfather goodbye. No way was I going to do that. I’d kissed my grandfather’s scruffy, drooly, tobacco scented cheek many times when saying goodbye, but this was different.

Thing is, death is an unknown. We see the scary and sad side of it. My dad tried to explain the concept of our energy living on by saying that my dead grandfather could be in the room with me, but I just couldn’t see him. Well, that just made things worse. Then he told me that they were a new star in the sky. I became afraid of stars. Then they gave me my grandmother’s old sleigh bed. I had just seen my first coffin. Do you know what a sleigh bed resembles? For me, at least, I was terrified of every sound at night. I was sure that I would wake up in a coffin next to my dead grandfather.

It was because of my fear and the lack of satisfactory answers in part, that drove me to become more curious about life on the other side and other unexplained mysteries and things that I had never been taught growing up in Catholic school and in a time when answers to these questions were just becoming available.

My first introduction to energy healing was after my mother had gone through cancer treatments. She brought me to one of the classes that was being offered for women healing from breast cancer. It was called Chi Qiong which translated from Chinese means, “energy cultivation” or “working with the life energy”. Chi Qiong is visualization, breathing, poses, and meditation with a goal of quieting the mind and releasing unneeded energy while accepting healing energy. We visualized the energy within ourselves in order to achieve a healthy balance within.

The woman who held the class is also an energy healer who does Reiki, a form of energy balancing and sweeping while also detecting blocked energy within the body causing disease or distress.

I understand that many people reading this may distrust a person who claims to be able to heal someone with energy. And usually, nobody makes that claim. Someone who is a true healer is not someone who makes any claims. Nor would they try to take advantage of anyone.

Energy balancing is said to be essential to our health. I am reading about Chakras and the energy of stones. The body is said to contain seven Chakras. They are the Root Chakra, the Sacral Chakra, the Solar Plexis Chakra, the Heart Chakra, the Throat Chakra, the Third Eye Chakra, and the Crown Chakra. Each of the Chakras is like a vortex of energy located at different parts of the body. If the body is in balance, then the cells of the body work in harmony. But if the energy in the body is off, physical and psychological illnesses can result.

Trauma can and does affect the Chakras. Addiction is said to be located mainly in the Throat Chakra, but other Chakras can be affected as well, depending upon the cause of the addiction, such as if there is shame, avoiding processing painful emotions, feelings of low self-worth or powerlessness, heartbreak, or feeling alone and disconnected…each affects different Chakras.

In addition, each Chakra has a specific location on the body, physical body parts that it affects, dysfunctions that may arise if out of balance, mental and emotional issues if out of balance, possible causes of energy blockages, crystals or stones that may be carried or placed on the body for their healing energy, and essential oils that have healing properties.

The book also discusses diet, yoga, meditation, has yoga positions and photos of different stones and crystals. I am just a beginner really. So, this book is a wonderful guide for me.

The name of the book is “Chakra Healing, A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Healing Techniques That Balance the Chakras” by Margarita Alcantara.

Like I said, this may sound strange or scary to some people and other people may not believe something they can’t actually see. But then again, isn’t that what faith is all about? Believing that something unseen exists?

This kind of healing technique may not be for everyone. Scents can trigger memories so be careful there. Meditation and visualization can be used for calming and grounding and have been found to be a good way to lower blood pressure and clear the mind when overwhelmed. As with everything, do only what is right for yourself and don’t push yourself to do anything uncomfortable or triggering.

Have a wonderful week, and take care of yourself.