Journey Into the Healing Arts

My exposure to “hands on healing” came about through a desire to ease a nagging pain in my shoulder that I had experienced for about three years. Despite various types of treatments, I finally found myself going in to a chiropractor 2 – 3 times per week. The pain would subside following a visit, but after only a day or so, it would return. At the time, I was working as a Registered Dietitian at a large hospital. One of my assigned floors was the Physical Rehabilitation Unit.

In November 1996, a young teenager that had been involved in an accident suffered several major traumas, including fractures of the C-1 and C-2 vertebrae in the neck. In reviewing his chart, numerous references were made about his “miraculous recovery” by his attending physicians. In speaking with his mother to obtain diet history, she brings up “Reiki” and asked me if I had ever heard of it. She claimed his survival and recovery was partially due to a hands-on healing technique called Reiki. She discussed the subject at length. The whole time I was thinking – this lady has “hospitalitis” and she really needs some rest. Little did I know that very soon, Reiki would become a large part of my life, changing it forever.

Within a months’ time, I heard of Reiki on two other occasions: 1) at a seminar on “Alternative Therapies” that I attended for CEU’s; 2) at a party where a guest began asking about “nutrition and cancer”. The woman, Linda, told me that her husband was undergoing chemo and radiation therapy for cancer and was doing other alternative methods of therapy. She said he was doing remarkably well on all levels – physically, emotionally and mentally. Considering I had just attended the seminar, I asked what the alternative treatment was. Yes, it was Reiki. After talking with Linda for a bit, I decided to look further into what Reiki was about, and that included experiencing it for myself. Linda provided me with the name and contact information of a local Reiki Master (Doris). I slipped the information into my wallet.

On January 1, 1997, I made a resolution to at least try this technique to help ease my shoulder pain. On January 3rd, I went in for a 90 minute session. When it was completed, I was totally relaxed. I felt as though I was walking on air AND there was no pain in the shoulder. What went through my mind was – OK, how long will it last – one or two days? After two weeks with no pain, I contacted Doris as to how I could learn to do Reiki. I have always been the type of individual to take responsibility for my situations, and my well-being was no different. My level 1 attunement occurred on January 18th – fifteen days from that first session. Did I believe that I could actually do this? Would I feel the heat and sensations that I felt when I was being worked on? Would this attunement really work for me? These were the questions running through my mind prior to the attunement process. Once the attunement was done, Doris had me place my hands on the other individual attuned along with me. Immediately I felt heat and a tingling sensation in my hands. I was totally amazed. Yes, it worked. It was so exhilarating to know that I now had a tool that I could use on myself and others to improve quality of life. I couldn’t help but use Reiki on anyone and anything. Shortly thereafter, I also studied Healing Touch Levels 1 and 2 and attained Reiki Levels 2 and Reiki Master/ Teacher. I continued with these modalities for many years. Although I was teaching Reiki to many, there were so many others who truly had difficulty with the “attunement” process. I looked for a modality that could possibly be more easily accepted by mainstream society and yet resonated with me. That is when I ran into someone who was about to take a Quantum Touch® workshop. She shared what she knew and it was enough to send me searching for more information. By way of breath work and body awareness techniques, I knew that this was the modality I was looking for: one that was effective, yet the process acceptable by those not open to Reiki attunements. I proceeded to take the first workshop, and I soon knew that my experiences with Reiki were truly “supercharged” with QT. I also knew from my initial exposure that this was a modality that I wanted to teach. I became a certified practitioner and then a certified instructor.

In the interim, my interest evolved into healing with sound and color. The evolution of healing with sound began with Tibetan singing bowls, then on to Quartz Crystal singing bowls. Tuning forks came into play as an extension/adjunct of the bowls. For those who have difficulty accepting the concept of hands on healing – well, these are tangible and can be more easily accepted by some. Sound healing has been a wonderful addition to my life. The sounds of the bowls are amazing and the experiences with the tuning forks have been nothing short of incredible. I have a friend who teases me, saying that I have all that I need for a “cosmic salad” – singing bowls, tuning forks, and energy work in the mix.

All is frequency – including the world of color. Much is experienced when color is added to the modalities. Again, color is easily related to and much has been written about how color affects our emotions and well-being. I remember “Color My World” back in the 1980’s. It was all about how each person falls into a primary “season”. Were you a spring, summer, fall/autumn or winter? Particular colors were related to that season. To look and feel your best, you chose things based on your color scheme/season. So for women, the choice of makeup and clothing were based on their “season”. That was my first introduction to the concept of color affecting my life. Of course, since that time, much has been written about color and its effects on us as individuals. This exposure and explanation has made it easier to incorporate color into the healing modalities.

Also, during these past 23 years, I’ve had growing interests in crystals, minerals and rocks. Being the rock hound that I am, I quickly realized the reason for my affinity to these rocks. It is truly about the frequency. I’m saying frequency again, lets see – singing bowls, tuning forks, color , QT, Reiki – there seems to be a pattern – everything has a frequency.

What has evolved from all of the above? Well, we’ve built a structure housing my “rock shop”, a work room for classes/energy healing sessions, and an area for creating wire art jewelry. Paul calls the shop “Ann’s Playhouse”, and indeed it is. Life is wonderful and I hope you have an opportunity to experience a bit of it with me.