Tag: continuing education

Continuing Education, Human energy field, Massage & Bodywork

Unwinding the Meridians

Suzanne Hollifield-Eller

I recently took a new Craniosacral Therapy class from the Upledger Institute on unwinding the meridians. We studied the rudiments of Traditional Chinese Medicine in massage school, and there was a good bit of TCM on the NC Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy licensing exam, which I took in 2007. (Wow! Have I been doing massage that long?)

We also took Touch for Health Level 1 in massage school as the owner of the now closed Whole You School of Massage and Bodywork, Cheryl Shew, believed it was one of the best classes to prepare us for the massage exam. It is based on TCM and applied kinesiology and is an incredibly effective method for balancing meridians and toning muscles.

After I finished massage school, I took the Levels, 2, 3, and 4 Touch for Health classes, and my teachers, Larry and Arlene Green, offer refreshers and online “get together” frequently. When I began the Unwinding Meridians class, I suspected my TFH books and charts might come in handy, I was right. Much of the material I had previously learned was applicable to the new technique.

I realized I needed to brush up on things though, and it actually got me excited. The more something in the class triggered previous knowledge, the more confident I felt that this is a modality I can use.

So what is it that got me so pumped? Well first of all, I could actually feel the craniosacral rhythm/energy movement when I put my fingers on the acupuncture points. As with traditional craniosacral therapy, the touch is light and less like acupressure or Shiatsu massage.

Before I tried the work on a client, I made sure to look up the acupuncture points for a problem I know she has. I could feel the rhythm shifting and changing even more strongly, maybe because I was working on a real problem. She shared my excitement.

Using craniosacral therapy to unwind the meridians can help with the emotions as well. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, each meridian is associated with organs, emotions, seasons, colors, and a whole wealth of other correspondences. If a client has several points that need to unwind along the same meridian, you can sometime discover old trauma that is the source of chronic pain that seems to have no cause by asking questions related to the meridian correspondences. The inner physician knows and will often lead you to the truth you may be avoiding.

Unwinding the Meridians with Craniosacral Therapy is now a tool in my toolbox. I hope the more that I use it, the better I will get at help clients become pain-free and enjoy life more.

Continuing Education, Tapestry Life Resource

Usui Reiki II Class Offered

Suzanne Hollifield-Eller

Reiki kanji and hands
Reiki is a powerful energy healing modality that anyone can learn.

Now that I’ve received my NCBTMB Approved Provider number (451254-10), I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching an Usui Reiki II class on August 7, 2010, at the Wepner Wellness Center, LLC, in Newton, from 9 AM – 6 PM for 8 CE hours for licensed massage and bodyworkers. However, you can take the class whether or not you are a LMBT if you have the Usui Reiki I prerequisite.

The cost is $150 if you register by July 23, and $200 thereafter. 

Reiki is the first modality I learned. In fact, I probably would never have considered massage school if it hadn’t been for Reiki. One of the students whom I know will be attending this Reiki II class just told me today that she is enrolling in massage school in the fall. Including myself, she is the third person I know who came to massage and bodywork by way of Reiki.

Reiki (pronounced ray-key) is an energy modality that was developed during the last century by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese healer. (The history of Reiki is readily available online and is both interesting and controversial.) The word itself means “universal life energy”, and Reiki is administered by “laying-on hands”. It is a simple and powerful technique that can be learned by anyone. It is passed from teacher to student by attunement. 

The thing that continues to excite me about Reiki is that first of all, it works, and secondly, that experiments in quantum physics are proving this beyond doubt. I use Reiki nearly every day on myself, my clents, and even my dog and my plants. Furthermore, what Dr. Usui, other Eastern healers and their patients, and countless Reiki practitioners have proven by experience is now being proven in Western laboratories through double-blind studies.

One of the things that quantum physicists have proven is the existance of the Zero-Point Field, which is a substructure of energetic frequency (sometimes wave and sometimes particle) that underpins the universe. The Zero-Point Field also functions as a recording medium of everything, providing a means for everything to communicate with everything else. When you consider that on a subatomic level, cells and DNA also communicate through frequencies unrelated to the physical nervous system and that they also communicate directly with the Zero-Point Field, you have the basis for how Reiki works. 

Reiki makes use of the energy from the Zero-Point Field to balance the Human Energy Field. The attunements that Reiki healers receive (and that students will receive in my class) set intentions that, incredibly, are part of the record of the Zero-Point Field and serve to insure that Reiki does no harm to the healer or the client. It seems that the more people who hold and intention over time, the greater the probablility that the intention becomes “fixed” and affects the physical universe from its quantum origin.

Reiki kanji
The Reiki kanji: the top symbol is "rei" or "universal", and the bottom symbol is "ki" or "life force"."

If this seems to resonate with your own understanding of how things work and you’d like to take the class, please contact me through my website or my email link. 

The Usui Reiki II course outline includes:

  • Atunement to the Usui Reiki II symbols
  • Meanings and uses if the Usui Reiki II symbols
  • Self-healing teachniques
  • Working with clients and distance healing
  • Building a Reiki practice
  • Ethical considerations
  • Hands-on practice
  • Certificate of attendance