Thursdays 5:30-7pm 6 weeks- $90

It sometimes surprises me how much my way of practicing Reiki has changed since I began a number of years ago.  As my Buddhist and Reiki practices gradually and simultaneously deepened, I found that they became inseparable for me, and that I was both consciously and unconsciously bringing my Buddhist training and study to bear as I practiced Reiki.  I shifted away from a novice’s enthusiastic desire to fix every condition a client brings with him, to offering Reiki with no goal or outcome in mind, aside from that of offering the recipient a loving presence and connection.  Teaching my students the value of approaching Reiki this way has been easy, except when it came to teaching the Reiki symbols in Level II.  But in my Reiki II class last month, I suddenly came to see a way to teach these symbols that’s consistent with my overall approach to Reiki.

Let me start by explaining what the Reiki II symbols are.  These are supposedly images that Mikao Usui, Reiki’s founder, received during meditation and passed on to his students. When I received Reiki II training, my teacher taught that we can use these three images during our sessions to give recipients strength, or to promote emotional balancing or release or to help alleviate distress from the past and facilitate spiritual development. We are told that we can imagine or trace the symbols in the air with our hands while reciting the words that identify them, to help effect certain changes in the recipients.

I didn’t question this when I was first starting out with Reiki, but as my way of practicing Reiki changed, I found that I was uncomfortable with this explanation.  I didn’t want to pass it on to my students, because it seemed so at odds with the way I was teaching them: how can you take such care to help people practice Reiki without focusing on getting results and then give them these symbols that are presented as a powerful way to facilitate a specific outcome?

Then I recalled what I know about how Usui Sensei seems to have used the symbols.  We’re told that he didn’t teach them to all of his students. He taught them only when he felt a student needed help establishing a connection with the recipient.  Sometimes he would teach the student one or more of the actual symbols.  Other times he would teach them the mantra associated with a symbol and have them repeat it in their minds.  Now, I was taught that these were the symbols’ names, but if Usui Sensei gave them to students to help their focus, then it makes much more sense that they would be mantras, which are a common method within Buddhist practice of helping practitioners distract their busy minds and enter a meditative state. And this is exactly the state most suitable for practicing Reiki, assuming you’re practicing without trying to make something happen in the recipient.  So, concentrating on tracing a symbol with your finger in the air, or visualizing it in your mind, or repeating one of the symbols’ mantras silently can help clear away the distractions we may experience when we’re doing a Reiki session, so that we can be more fully connected with the recipient.

Thinking of the symbols that way was a start for me, but it didn’t totally solve my dilemma. After all, I teach three symbols in Reiki II.  If they’re intended just to help the practitioner concentrate, why do we need three? The traditional explanation is that as we give Reiki to someone, we are open to gaining awareness of the recipient’s physical and mental state.  When we sense physical weakness and want to send power, we use the first symbol; when we sense emotional or psychological disturbance and want to promote balance and release, we use the second symbol, and when we pick up that the recipient is striving for spiritual development and want to provide a boost in that area, we use the third symbol. But that seems impossibly results-oriented. That’s what’s been bothering me.

But then, one day, it clicked into place for me.  Here’s the way I explained using the symbols to my most recent Reiki II students.  Most Reiki practitioners enjoy it when they pick up some intuitive information about the recipients when they’re giving Reiki.  Maybe they sense sadness or anger or weakness, etc.  There’s no problem with becoming aware of the recipient’s physical or emotional state.  The problem comes — and this is totally my view; some practitioners might disagree with me — when you take that awareness and based on it, you try to make the feeling release or shift energy away from or into a certain area of the body.  It’s analogous to if your best friend showed up on your doorstep terribly upset and instead of hugging her and listening to everything and just being there with her, you immediately started trying to fix everything without even hearing her out.

But there’s another way to respond to her.  You can sit and just be with her in her distress, hold her hand, let her know you love her and are there with her and for her.  That’s a cliché, but it doesn’t make the approach any less valuable. Be with her and let her know you care.  She will probably feel very comforted and soothed. Then if she wants to ask for help, she will.  But most of the time, the help she wants most is your focused, loving presence and attention.

This is just the way I encouraged my students to think of the Reiki symbols.  If you’re giving someone Reiki and sense distress when you have your hand on her heart, feel free to imagine the second symbol or repeat its mantra. As you do that, you are giving your full attention to having a strong connection with her, to simply being with her and letting her know you are supporting her with your loving presence. Without trying to fix anything.  It’s as if you’re saying, “I can tell you’re upset.  I’m going to sit here with you for a bit and be with you in your sadness. ”  Or weakness, or vulnerability, or anger, or desire for spiritual clarity.  Approach it this way, and each time you use a symbol, it can be a sacred affirmation of your commitment to just being right there with the recipient in that moment in time, giving him or her your full, loving attention. As if you’re saying, I sense your suffering, and I’m right here with you.  That’s what the Reiki symbols can help you say, if you’ll let them.

Serving the meal

Dakotaskye’s puppet show

Tracy, Tanaya, Shelly, Adrianna, and Bernice enjoying the alpacas

Loren’s all age improv games -super fun!

The Prince of Color delights.
See more of Cynthia Roderick’s wonderful photos of the May 15th meal here: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/roderick/
Warmly, Karen

Karen Kisui Werner Montague Farm Zen House DirectorZen Peacemakers177 Ripley Road,Montague, MA 01351413-367-5275karen@zenpeacemakers.comWww.zenpeacemakers.org

For More information read article below.

By Ellen Edwards
Kaiya Larson pressed a small, thin needle against the patient’s skin.

A licensed acupuncture practitioner, Larson focused intently as she felt for the right spot – not here, not there … then ping, she pushed the needle in and turned it a little to the right, as though she were turning up the volume on her car radio.

The 31-year-old patient, hoping that acupuncture would increase her energy level and relieve her occasional stomach problems, said she felt a brief “grab.” Then nothing. She lay on the exam table for 20 minutes more while that needle, and four others, remained in place.

Larson, demonstrating the procedure at the Tai Sophia Institute outside suburban Columbia, Md., had already taken the patient’s pulses; in Chinese medicine, there are six of them, which measure not heartbeats but energy flow, and are taken at two levels of pressure on both wrists. Besides having a discussion about the patient’s general health, she had also examined the woman’s tongue, finding diagnostic clues in its color and texture.

Physicians taking notice

The process bore little resemblance to a visit to a conventional American doctor. But it’s becoming familiar to an increasing number of Americans. A study published in December by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health, found that 3.1 million adults and 150,000 children used acupuncture in 2007, seeking relief from ailments including headache or back pain, insomnia and attention-deficit disorders. That was about 1 million more adults than in 2002, when the last NCCAM survey was done.

“In the consciousness of the American public, acupuncture has become white bread,” said Joseph Helms, a physician who trains medical doctors in acupuncture techniques.

The people who go regularly for treatment swear by it.

The American Medical Association takes no position specifically on acupuncture; the AMA groups it with other alternative treatments, saying “well-designed, stringently controlled research” is needed to evaluate its efficacy.

In 2007, NCCAM spent about $9.1 million on acupuncture research. While more is planned, Brent Bauer, an internist at the Mayo Clinic and director of its complementary and alternative medicine program, said the research is in its “toddlerhood.”

More research sought

“Some of the most interesting research on acupuncture is how it might impact brain functioning,” said Richard Nahin, acting director for research at NCCAM. Magnetic resonance imaging observations during acupuncture have shown specific areas of the brain that respond to the treatment, he said. The field of pain relief is getting the most attention in these studies, but they hold promise in many areas.

Bauer also said he has seen remarkable results in pain management, adding, “I don’t fully understand how it works.”

In 2004, researchers at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland tested the effects of acupuncture on 570 people over 50 with osteoarthritis in the knee, splitting patients into three groups that got different treatments. Those who received true true acupuncture recorded an improvement of 40 percent; the other two groups showed improvement of just 22 to 31 percent.

Other preliminary research shows promise when acupuncture is used as part of treatment for infertility, obesity, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression and pain relief. But many of those studies were small, and more work needs to be done for them to be validated.

However, an analysis of 13 studies of pain treatment with acupuncture, published online this month by the journal BMJ, concluded there was little evidence of difference in the effect of real, sham and no acupuncture.

Bauer said that patients are increasingly asking about incorporating acupuncture into their care and that doctors, especially younger ones, are more willing to give it a chance. “I would call it evolutionary,” he said of physicians’ attitudes. “Twenty years ago there was more antagonism and much more hard-core skepticism. Now there is a lot more of an open attitude.”

Brian Berman, director of the University of Maryland center, came to acupuncture after feeling that something was missing in his practice of family medicine.

“I was well trained with acute problems such as an asthma attack, trauma, heart attack,” he said. “But when it came to chronic pain, I didn’t have all the answers. Eventually that led me to taking the acupuncture course in 1983, then further training in the U.K., and I incorporated it my practice.”

Scientific support lacking

When he first suggested it to his patients, he said, they were skeptical. They were looking for a “magic pill” that would cure them: “Sometimes we had tried the pill and they still had their problems, and I would ask, `Would you consider acupuncture?’ ” Often, it worked.

Gastroenterologist Linda Lee, director of Johns Hopkins’s new Integrative Medicine and Digestive Center, said it’s hard to find scientific support for acupuncture, but she sees anecdotal evidence.

“We have this double standard,” she said of the medical profession. “We are completely comfortable using pharmacological therapies that have not been subjected to clinical trials for the purposes we use them, but we are super suspicious of alternative therapies that haven’t been tested with randomized placebo trials. From a research point of view, I understand the criticism. But we physicians are in the healing business, and we have to go beyond the pharmacological solutions to understand the whole person,” she said. “Acupuncturists start with the whole person.”

At the Hopkins center, acupuncture is used in conjunction with more-conventional medical treatment, said Lee.

“I have been very impressed by how much the acupuncturists pay attention to everything else going on in the body,” said Lee, who is not trained in acupuncture. “I’m a specialist. I’ve been trained to (home) in on one system.”

Unexpected, rapid relief

Elise Feingold, 51, a human geneticist from suburban Silver Spring, Md., began trying acupuncture seven years ago for chronic back and knee pain. She says she reaped unexpected benefits: dramatic and rapid relief from hot flashes that had been waking her seven or eight times a night, as well as relief from 11 months of coccyx (tailbone) pain that her doctors had been unable to help.

“You see benefits over a period of time,” said Feingold. “You’re not always going to have that home run like (with) the hot flashes.”

She said she has also found relief for less tangible and perhaps more emotionally based issues such as sleeplessness and stress, some of which she attributes to the time the practitioner spends talking with her. “There’s a therapy aspect to this, too,” said, Feingold, who gets acupuncture about once a month for general health maintenance.

“I decided to leave my science brain aside,” she said. “I felt it had helped other people, and it might help me. I don’t know how it works, but it’s got 4,000 years of Chinese medicine behind it.”

Reiki Table

I went to the opening of Share the Sweater’s new space for healing and meditation. What a great place to chill. If you are ever in Easthampton or work, live nearby go check it out. Here is what Susan Downing, founder and director of Share the Sweater had to say:

I’ve opened the Share the Sweater Center for Healing and Meditation as a refuge, a place where you can come for healing sessions, to use the meditation and reflection room, or to just sit in a calm, soothing space and have a cup of tea, read a book, be quiet… This is something unique in our area – a quiet, calm space for you to just sit and relax, or meditate without distractions of music or people talking or food being served around you.

Center is open 30 hours a week for you to visit and use the space. During the group meditation times each day I will open and close the meditation session and offer simple meditation instructions for anyone who would like them. Think of the other hours as drop-in times when you can come to sit, reflect or meditate on your own, or to spend extra quiet time before or after a healing session. There may or may not be others on site during these hours, and you are welcome to make yourself at home!

Really, do think of us as your refuge – you can drop in for a few minutes or a few hours during your day, whenever you need a little calm in the storm of your life.

To find out more visit Share The Sweater or New England Abundance

The low income clinic is a drop in clinic so no appointment is necessary, just come in and we will check in with you to see how we may help you the most. Our goal is to facilitate your healing process.

The goal of the Low Income Clinic is to make wholistic healthcare accesible and effective. We offer Acupuncture, Massage, Craniosacral Therapy and Energywork for $25 per session. Session times will vary depending on your needs as well as the demand for the day. Sessions will be more focused than a privately scheduled appointment so that we may help as many people as possible. Our goal is to have you come in and feel much better by the time you leave, whether your session is 1/2 hour or 45 minutes. Please leave extra time to relax before and after your session.

Low Income Clinic Hours:

Acupuncture: Monday 4-8 pm & Wednesday 8:30am-12:30 pm

Massage & Bodywork: Monday 4-8 pm, Wednesday 8:30-12:30 am & Thursday 4-8 pm

Please Call about low cost Osteopathy, Homeopathy & Wellness Consultation!

To schedule an appointment please call Indigo Massage at 413.529.9993. There is a 24 hr cancellation policy.

More Massage Links HERE

His career as an entrepreneur and self-described community systems engineer spans nearly thirty years of developing businesses and organizations that have at their core a deep commitment to economic justice and sustainability. A founding member of Business for Social Responsibility, a long-term active member of the Social Venture Network, and a founding board member of BALLE, he has served as finance chair and treasurer of our organization since its inception and has performed many key organizational capacity-building functions. In addition he has founded and chaired business alliance networks in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts since 1992, including one of BALLE’s first networks, Pioneer Valley Local First.

“The response to our search for a new executive director was extremely gratifying – through the process we met extraordinary national leaders,” said Michelle Long, board chair. “I’m absolutely delighted to be able to announce Doug Hammond as the right choice for executive leadership as BALLE moves forward to do what we believe is the most exciting and important work of our times.”

In accepting the position, Doug offered these thoughts: “As I prepare for this new role and consider the economic and environmental challenges we face, I am reminded of another role I had the great privilege to provide as a parent of two young daughters. I was their storyteller, and we would gather each evening to conjure up tales full of imagination and possibility. We created a set of characters for whom no situation or set of conditions was insurmountable. Not individual superheroes, but rather common-good contributors who intuitively understood that it was the path of community cooperation that led to greatest achievements. I am mindful of the parallels of those stories to our shared quest today. Epic challenges lie before us as does an urgent call for bold next steps. I’m absolutely confident that it will be through both a strategic and collaborative approach that our vision of local living economies will be fully realized. Together we are a remarkable set of common-good contributors, and as David Korten, a fellow founding BALLE board member, so clearly states in The Great Turning, we indeed are the ones we’ve been waiting for. I am honored to begin this next story with all of you.”

Judy Wicks, BALLE’s co-founder, spoke enthusiastically about the new executive director: “I have worked closely with Doug for fifteen years in the responsible business arena and for the past seven years in taking BALLE from its infancy to a critical force in addressing the dire economic, environmental, and social challenges we face today. Doug has the passion, entreprenuerial know-how, and strategic approach to lead us at this critical juncture. He is committed, heart and soul.”

Doug has outlined ambitious priorities for his first ninety days as executive director that include assessing operational capacities, reaching out to network leaders, meeting with individual and organizational funders and partners, moving forward on BALLE Bold initiatives, and other strategic priorities for the organization. He begins his work for BALLE on October 1 and will move into full-time capacity by January. Doug currently resides in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, and will be moving to San Francisco later this fall.

For those of us from Pioneer Valley Local First in Western Massachusetts, while we are sad to lose Doug to the left coast, we whole-heartedly congratulate him on his new position and feel that BALLE will be very well served by his leadership. Doug, we look forward to continuing to work with you to effectively address the economic and environmental challenges facing communities and local businesses.

Open to all students for a multi-dimensional practice to address body, prana, heart, mind and spirit. Students goals of practice help create the format of class. Approach uses therapeutic understanding, gentle dynamic movement coordinated with breath, and adaptations to the individual.

6 weeks for $72
Drop in for $14

Yoga for WellBeing

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An Evening with Arun Gandhi

Arun Gandhi, the grandson of India’s legendary leader, “Mahatma” Gandhi.

You are invited to attend a global reception with Arun Gandhi, the grandson
of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi.

Unity First invites you, your family, co-workers and friends to attend
this celebration honoring those people in our communities who inspire new generations
of success. Let’s celebrate our collective ability to be the change that our children
and communities want to see and believe in.
June 4, 2009 (5:30 pm – 7:30 pm)
Location: Pan African Historical Museum
Tower Square, 1500 Main St. (Second Floor)
Springfield, MA01115
Arun Gandhi Creating a new legacy of leadership

FOR TICKETS
(includes book)Leader: $65
(includes Arun Gandhi’s book (1), two tickets and recognition as a supporter)
To register via email, send an email with your
contact information (phone, address) and ticket
request to: info@unityfirst.com. Payments may be
made via credit card. FYI, ticket confirmations will be issued.

How much do we know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families? Though our food appears the same-a tomato still looks like a tomato-it has been radically transformed.

In Food, Inc., producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) lift the veil on the U.S. food industry – an industry that has often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment.

With the use of animation and compelling graphics, the filmmakers expose the highly mechanized, Orwellian underbelly that’s been deliberately hidden from the American consumer.

They reveal how a handful of corporations control our nation’s food supply. Though the companies try to maintain the myth that our food still comes from farms with red barns and white picket fences, our food is actually raised on massive “factory farms” and processed in mega industrial plants.  The animals grow fatter faster and are designed to fit the machines that slaughter them.  Tomatoes are bred to be shipped without bruising and to stay edible for months. The system is highly productive, and Americans are spending less on food than ever before.  But at what cost?

Cattle are given feed that their bodies are not biologically designed to digest, resulting in new strains of the E. coli virus, which sicken roughly 73,000 Americans annually.  And because of the high proliferation of processed foods derived from corn, Americans are facing epidemic levels of diabetes among adults and alarming increases in obesity, especially among children.

And, surprisingly, all of it is happening right under the noses of our government’s regulatory agencies, the USDA and the FDA.  The film exposes a ”revolving door” of executives from giant food corporations in and out of Washington D.C. that has resulted in a lack of oversight and illuminates how this dysfunctional political system often operates at the expense of the American consumer.

In the nation’s heartland, farmers have been silenced – afraid to talk about what’s happening to the nation’s food supply for fear of retaliation and lawsuits from giant corporations.

Foodincmovie

Sustainability