Seeing red

My mum came to visit us for Christmas and I was keen to show her how the Reiki I’d learned to use can work. So on Christmas eve, with the dulcet tones of the chipmunks on the telly in the background – we’d tried to find somewhere quiet and relaxing but hey, excited children have a habit of following you when Santa’s due anytime – I gave her a full Reiki treatment.

I really wanted her to feel the heat or sensations felt by other family members I’ve treated. I was a bit disappointed when I swept her aura that, although I could sense a mild vibration, it was nowhere near as strong as I’d felt with other people. I had to give myself a sharp reminder that this is not a party trick and that the energy knows what is required; I am merely the channel.

Unlike on the previous day, I was only able to sense colours when I shut my eyes, and the energy rippling under my hands was very gentle. I saw lots of pale green, verging on gold.  When I laid on hands to the right of her heart chakra, for the first time ever, I saw a very vivid block of red, the first time I’ve ever really seen this colour in any strength, so I let my hands stay there until the colour started to subside. My mum had a mastectomy of the right breast several years ago following treatment for breast cancer. Other than that the treatment was pretty unremarkable.  Afterwards mum reported feeling deeply relaxed but otherwise had not experienced anything of note. I, however, had a nagging pain in my left foot, a kind of throbbing.

However, within an hour or so, she said ‘Do you know? My back is feeling much better, and I can’t feel my ankle any more’. For years she has suffered from lower back pain, and had a weak ankle that had intermittently bothered her. By the following morning she was free from pain from both.

I woke up on Christmas morning with mild and short-lived diarrhoea. I hadn’t eaten anything suspect the night before, nor had I been in contact with anyone who had been ill. My left foot was throbbing and quite painful, and throughout the day I had what I can only describe as pulsing energy in my root chakra, getting progressively more insistent as the day went on. In the end I took myself off and did some self-Reiki. Things definitely seemed out of kilter in my root chakra, and for the first time when treating myself I saw a strong red colour when I was in this area.

I was very confused as I was under the impression that people didn’t generally pass on their ailments during Reiki.  Mindful that I shouldn’t try to analyse the treatments too much, I nevertheless wanted to learn more about the root chakra, and the colour red that I had seen, and whether disease could be passed between practitioner and patient, so did some research on the Internet. This article http://www.algonet.se/~anki-p/Rootchakra.html astounded me. Not only could I reply positively to seven of the eight tests to see whether my own root chakra was working or not, but pretty much all the ailments I have had throughout my life seem to be associated with this first chakra.

While I don’t want to try to over-analyse things - it’s all too huge to try to rationalise - my instinct tells me that she did not pass on her own pain.  When I treated my mum I also treated myself and I believe it likely that we shared some of the same suppressed emotions, which triggered my own reaction. My intuition is that it may link to my Dad leaving home when I was very small, and that this is an area I need to work on if I want to be fully healed.

Incidentally, the self-Reiki session worked well and the pain and the pulsing sensation have now completely gone.