Tag: nature

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Give a Reiki Hug!

People who hug more are happier!

I feel that hugs are forgotten all too often in our busy modern world and taken advantage of.  For sure by me, so, of course it must be true for many others.  Right?

It’s a very good thing my husband is such a good hugger and hand-holder, he literally keeps the good vibes flowing around here and reminds me to do so too! I more easily than him, get caught up in the “to do’s” of the modern world.  He quite often stops me, gives me a hug to help me breath deeper, calmer and to reconnect,  then we go on about our day again.  It helps so much.

So, here is a quick and easy reminder as to WHY hugs are so important and HOW to improve the hugs you give to your loved ones.

Free hugs and quote taken from article on www.squidoo.com

A HUG

“It’s like an emotional Heimlich (maneuver).  Someone puts their arms around you and they give you a squeeze and all your fear and anxiety come shooting out of your mouth in a big wet wad and you can breathe again.” Chuck Charles, Pushing Daisies

WHY Hugs are so Important:

Lets change the image of a tree hugger, ANYONE and EVERYONE can benefit from hugging trees.
Marilyn Monroe photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1961

Do you know that hugs?……….

  • Reduce stress
  • Lower blood pressure
  • Boost our moods in positive ways with mood boosting bonding chemicals in our body, oxytocin and serotonin
  • Help couples be happier in their relationships with just a simple four hugs a day (at least six seconds each)
  • Babies who are hugged show more physical and brain power development
  • Hugging trees multiplies our natural cancer-killer cells, improves mood, promotes well-being, reduces anger and provides a natural healing effect.  (OMG, did you read that and actually TAKE IT IN?  Hugging trees FIGHTS CANCER!)
(Read the full article here at www.voices.yahoo.com)
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Children who GET hugs, GIVE hugs!              Josslyn Streett said that!

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“Children who get a sustained form of touching, such as one hug every day are smarter.” Jay Gordon, M.D., co-author of “Brighter Baby”

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“I will not play at tug o’ war
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs….”
~Shel Silverstein

HOW to improve the hugs you give to your loved ones

Step 1. Find someone to hug!

REIKI HUGS!!

It is so easy to improve the Love that comes from your hugs. Put some INTENTION into your hugs!  Here are a couple of tips on how to give a Reiki hug.

  1. Find someone to hug (Ok, now what?)
  2. Ask them for a hug and GIVE the hug
  3. Sustain the hug slightly longer than usual
  4. While hugging, hold the intention that the Reiki Blessings flow out your hand chakras AND your heart chakra and into the person you are hugging. (As a beginner to Reiki hugging it may be best to start with one person at a time, then move up to more later, it’s your call.  It is always ok to send Reiki Blessings.)
  5. It may help to visualize a loving color, such as pink or green for the heart chakra.
  6.  Or visualize a shape or an item, like a heart shape, a red box of chocolates or a fuzzy kitten to help lighten your energy, mood and feelings towards the person you are hugging.  (This helps if this is a person who maybe you’ve had an argument with or difficulties of some sort.  Yes, hug our enemies too, especially our enemies.)
  7. or Chant a phrase that helps such as, “Loving blessings, love is flowing out my hands, love, love.”  

    Being social creatures is in our DNA, we NEED each other.
  8. Continue running the Blessing Reiki energy as long as the hug continues.
  9. Practice giving Reiki hugs as often as you can and see if you and your relationships become more loving.  See if your friends and family want to be around you more often.  See if your kids do not hug you more easily and for longer.  It has worked with my kids, it can work with yours too.
Hug your pets!

Now you may want some ideas as to WHO to give Reiki hugs to.  I say everyone!! But here are some ideas and WHY.

  • Obviously your family would be the best place to start, significant other, children, grandparents.  Children don’t want lectures, they want hugs.  I have found this out the hard way.  (How wonderful for your children to SEE you and your spouse hugging regularly.  What a wonderful mirror of a loving relationship for your family!)
  • Pets, our pet friends soak up much of our emotions in them trying to help us be happier and more balanced people on earth.  Lets take some of that burden off of them with a Reiki hug.
  • Friends
  • Anyone who is in pain, emotional, physical or other. This can lift their spirits and help them cope with the pain better, especially with Reiki blessings.  (Please do not use other symbols unless you have their permission first)
  • Trees and plants  – Lets be Tree Huggers!! They fight cancer for you AND it just FEELS good to hug a tree.  (How do I know? I DO IT REGULARLY!! I am an admitted Tree Hugger!)
  • Other Reiki friends, lets spread the Love and Light through Reiki hugs.  What better way to practice and perfect your Reiki hug than to practice on other Reiki community members.  Come to circle and lets practice our Reiki hugs!!
Hug the elderly, you will both be rewarded.
Photo credit: Milk Photo
  • The elderly, we sometimes forget how much touch heals, one can heal down to the soul with a good hug.  What a beautiful gift to give and receive.
  • Our enemies, or more like people you’ve had differences with.  They probably need a Reiki hug really badly.  (See if you can’t turn an enemy into a friend again with a Reiki hug, both must choose to hug, of course.)
  • Rocks and crystals – I know, I’m a little loopy when it comes to my healing stones, but I really do love them.  I regularly sit and hold my rocks and crystals to let them know how much I appreciate their healing gifts that they lend to me.  Then I give them a Reiki hug, a cleansing and an energizing too.  I have very happy rocks!
  • Anyone else you can think of to hug?  Please comment here on WHO YOU ARE GOING TO PRACTICE YOUR REIKI HUG ON!!  Watch out, it’s contagious!

“Arm ourselves for war?  No!  All the arms we need are for hugging.” ~Author Unknown

A special Thank You to my Reiki and Stones and Crystals teacher, Jade Elizabeth for sharing this idea with me many years ago.  She gives GREAT Reiki hugs!!

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Frog Totem

One of the many aspects of living in the Pacific North West that I am so enamored with is hearing the frogs in the spring time.  (I’m sure this happens other places but not where I lived before) We have a creek and a pond in our backyard and every year in the spring we are honored by the pleasing symphony of the frogs song.  I heard them last night for the first time this spring, the night before the new moon, and I remembered once again, how much they help me to connect to the earth and her cycles of seasons, change and growth.

When I was a little girl in Southern California I used to fill up my dad’s wheel barrow with dirt, plants, water and sticks to make a habitat for the frogs and toads I’d find.  I thought I was helping them, of course, by making them this nice safe place to live.  I’d get my Noah’s ark that I’d collected piece by piece from Arco service stations and add that to the scene for fun.  I spent hours, days playing this way.  I’d let them go at the end of the day because as most moms do, mine told me I had to.  In my memories I spent a great deal of time playing with my arc and the frogs.  I’d forgotten until I moved up here how much I was fascinated by frogs when I was a kid.  I guess that’s true for a lot of people, as we get older, go to school, then college or a job, we lose touch with some of the nature we treasured as a child.  Moving to the Olympic Peninsula has helped me to get some of that admiration back.  I don’t have to fly or travel to nature, it’s right here in my yard again, all around me wherever I go here.

Western Green Tree Frog

It always amazes me how the frogs  all start-up their earthly singing at the same time with one little guy or gal leading the way, then end all at the same time.  Robert and I sit up in bed listening, enjoying the natural melodic hum of their reverberations.  In spiritual circles it is said that frogs are the pulse of the earth.  That they feel the energy from the earth and through their night sounds are relaying to us what is going on with the weather, with the earth and even with us.  When doing research on frogs I read stories such as in China, where a huge frog migration was seen as a bad omen by many of the local people.  The government told them it was a normal propagation migration.  Seven days later they had a large earthquake and thousands of people were killed.  When civilians were angered by the scientists not being able to predict the earthquake,as the frogs did, Chinese scientists stated that animals have a much better sense of detecting natural disasters.

Original art by Sue Coccia at Earth Art International in Edmonds, Washington

In Feng Shui it is said that a family of frogs living in your garden will bring good luck to your home and it’s occupants.  In Chinese culture frogs and toads are symbols of immortality, healing, money, the moon and frivolity.  In the North West Coast People’s beliefs frogs are considered good luck as well and it is not considered wise to demean or injure them.  And they have native stories about little children who have done this with negative repercussions.  In the Bible many of the stories of frogs speak of them being unclean, dangerous spirits and not to be trusted.  I liked this Hebrew translation of the stories of frogs from the Bible that I read on this website best.  You can read about that at this website if you like.  She does a much better job and is more an expert than I am.  It is extremely interesting.

“The frog does not drink up the Pond in which he lives.”  Sioux

If you enjoy the sounds of the frogs as much as I do and feel frogs may be one of your totem animals then read on.  I have enclosed a transcript from my favorite animal totem book by Dr. Steven D. Farmer, “Animal Spirit Guides.”  Enjoy.

If Frog shows up, it means:  (choose only those that apply to you)  (shows up means, in life, dreams, meditations, a story you hear, etc.)

  • If you hear a frog during the daytime, it will rain very soon.
  • Do a physical cleanse to detoxify your body.
  • Do an emotional cleanse by letting yourself really feel your emotions, and cry as much as you need to in order to clear and release any emotional toxicity.
  • Singing or chanting out loud will help you feel more balanced, at peace, and connected to the divine.
  • You’re entering into a time of plenty and abundance.
  • This is the start of a slow and steady transformational process for you, a movement from an old life to a new.        
Call on FROG when:
  • It’s time to cleanse your life of people, places, or things that no longer fit in with your present lifestyle and who you are.
  • You’re in the midst of any life change, whether small or large, and you need the emotional sustenance and strength to go through it in a fluid and graceful way.
  • You’re planning to do a clearing and blessing ceremony for your home, office, or a specific space.
  • You feel intimidated or hesitant about honestly stating your thoughts, feelings, or opinions to someone.
  • You simply feel overwhelmed with negativity and want to clear it up.
If FROG is your POWER ANIMAL:  (Most will apply if FROG is your power animal)
  • You’re a very sensitive and compassionate person, and readily express deep feelings in words and actions.
  • Your voice, and especially your singing, can at times arouse deep emotions, yet at the same time soothe anyone within its range.
  • To others you initially seem rather remote and self-absorbed, yet once they get past their first impressions of you, they discover the depth and nobility of your character.
  • In your work, you seem to plod along very slowly and have trouble getting started, but you stay with it and get the job done.  You enjoy the study of ancient mysteries and particularly the art of magic.