Spirituality Archives - Anna Warwick

Seven Reasons to Try Reiki

Anna Warwick — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:15:14 +0000

Feeling stressed, tired or out of whack? Palm off inner baddies with this ancient Japanese healing technique. Regular attunement sessions will promote balance within your system and help you move forward.

1. Reiki balances emotions

As a coping mechanism, our emotions are often suppressed during stressful times, especially when we’re children. According to Reiki master Alexis Hamer, these feelings can come back to haunt you. In Reiki, the healer channels universal life force energy (chi) to unblock chakras and the emotional issues that they’re holding onto. “We all know that stress and tension can cause headaches, fear can cause breathing problems, nervousness can cause sweaty palms, and heartbreak can cause your heart to physically ache,” says Hamer. “It’s clear there’s a definite link between our emotional and physical selves.”

2. It treats everything

People come to Hamer seeking relaxation and relief from stress, pain, symptoms or emotional issues. But the benefits may show up in unexpected ways. “Reiki doesn’t discriminate; the chi energy just flows through your body and is used wherever it’s most needed.”

3. All you do is lie down

A Reiki session involves lying fully clothed on a treatment table covered with a blanket for 60 to 90 minutes. The practitioner lightly places their hands on or over different parts of your body, holds them there for a few moments, and moves them elsewhere. “I’ll scan the body’s physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, auric and chakra energy fields to detect any blockages or misalignments,” says Hamer. “Then I’ll bring clearing, strengthening and balancing energies to the specific areas.”

4. You don’t need to be a believer

Although Reiki is spiritual, it isn’t a religion. So for it to have a positive effect on your wellbeing, you don’t need to be convinced it works. In fact, most people are quite skeptical at first. But the basis of Reiki is the very same concept as rubbing a numb foot to get the circulation flowing again. And the effects can be just as obvious.

5. It’s different each time

Each Reiki treatment is a highly individualised experience. You may feel relaxed during a session, or you may feel heat, coolness, pulsing or tingling under the practitioner’s hands. You may feel your body is shifting to naturally re-adjust itself. “People will have all sorts of reactions to Reiki, such as twitching, crying, seeing colours and images, hearing stomach noises, feeling different sensations through the body,” says Hamer. “It’s all just energy being released – which is a good thing!”

6. It’s fast-working

You’ll walk out of a treatment feeling relaxed, dozy and light. You may notice that pain has disappeared, the frog in your throat has gone, the heaviness in your chest has dissolved, your hips are loose… You may effortlessly say and do things you haven’t been able to bring yourself to say or do. You may feel like a huge emotional weight has finally been lifted. Or you may just get a great night’s sleep. “Top benefits I’ve seen are decreases in pain and sickness, more energy and an increased sense of wellbeing,” says Hamer. “People feel more calm and more grounded and connected to themselves.”

7. You can do it yourself

Once you’ve experienced the benefits of Reiki, you may feel the urge to learn how to use healing hands to help people yourself. As well as being a great way to assist others, Reiki is a powerful tool for inner peace, healing and personal transformation.
This article first appeared in Women’s Fitness Magazine.

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Journey to the Mystical Red Centre

Anna Warwick — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 10:43:33 +0000

My journey to the centre of Australia with Ayurvedic Practitioner Helen Gregoriou was an empowering, transformative experience.
It was a dream of mine to see the rock. How wonderful, then, to step into warm sunlight at Alice Springs airport in the middle of a cold winter. Tour director Helen Gregoriou was welcoming in a drizabone and dusty boots. I’d met her once and found her elegant and poised. Now her long hair was in plaits and her childlike smile disarming. Our driver and guide Ringer, Aussie lad with an akubra and a twinkle in his eye, hefted our bags into the small bus. As we hit the road into the scrub, a sense of freedom dawned on the eight of us guests (by chance all women) and we fell into the gentle rhythm of the outback.
Helen handed us folders with exercises and charts and began to talk us through this Ayurvedic journey of self discovery that we’d be taking in combination with our journey to the centre of Australia. The energy of the group focused in the bus and a sense of trust and warmth enveloped us. Helen played beautiful music and we sang ancient happy Indian songs, our “city selves” melting away and our inner children popping out to play. The adventure had begun.
The open desert was surprisingly fertile, covered in soft grasses. ‘Roos hopped by and bizarre red rock formations, worn with time yet intensely present, skirted the horizon. At the incandescent ochre pits of Ormiston Gorge we drew green, red and white dots on each other’s faces. Ringer, who’d spent years worked closely with the traditional land owners, began to tell us about the complex ancient communities and how deeply they valued the ochre, which they used for art and to trade.
We hit the first campsite at the coincidentally named Glen Helen, with huge green canvas tents nestled below the peachy cliffs. Sitting as a group at the table in the big dining tent to peel and chop, preparing an Ayurvedic soup packed with grains and vegetables. We ate our dinner it by Ringer’s roaring camp fire, with Chai tea to finish. Helen began to take individual sessions, reading our Ayurvedic Dosha’s and analysing how we could adjust our lifestyles for more energy and balance. Ringer rolled out the big blue canvas swags for the hot blooded members of the group (mostly Pittas and Kaphas) and they stuffed them with sleeping bags and pillows. I slept in my huge tent. We woke in the chill to the smell of campfire smoke, and breakfast of Quinoa porridge, fruit and toast.
In the morning, the sky was a bright, clear blue. We set off for the exquisite Ormiston Gorge, reading tarot cards and listening to Ringer talk about the region as the bus bumped along. When we reached the gorge – the water still and milky brown and rimmed by pale green scrub – we all fell into a peaceful reverie. I noticed that while the Pitta girls jumped straight into the water; the Vata girls stretched and climbed the red rocks, and the Kaphas walked and waded, gazing at the play of light on the water through the bending gum trees.
Later, we sat in the sun and ate lunch on the sandy creek bed below Mount Sonder. This was a mountain so impossibly old, I felt it’s presence from a kilometer away in the bus. Even now, worn almost level to the ground… the spirit of the mountain remains monumental. Camped beside it, Helen invited us to pair up and we began bonding over an exercise called “Why not?”. The idea was to make a statement about ourselves, a negative self belief such as “I can’t lose weight” and for our partner to keep asking us “why not?”, until we had unraveled our core obstacles. It was quite emotional and confronting, but we felt a lot closer to each other and ready to face our demons.
That night Helen continued her consultations over dinner, and – after a warmup singalong around the campfire – Ringer gave an impromptu concert at the Glen Helen station pub. He sang classic Aussie tunes and held the whole pub in raptures.
Our second stay was on the stunning remote property of Lilla. The landowner hosts have granted Initiate Tours exclusive camping rights. We arrived at Reedy Creek as the sun set, golden grasses catching the lilac evening light. After dinner, our terrible didgeridoo attempts brought peals of laughter from the house of our hosts. Vivian (5) came to see for herself, curling up on Helen’s lap. We all slept around the campfire in a circle of swags under the blaze of stars that night.
In the morning Vivian, her grandmother Sonya, and her uncle Clinton – who had recently returned to his bush home after living and working in the hospital of Alice Springs – took us on a tour of the property. Sonya led us to a sacred women’s cave where generations of her tribe had given birth and carried out sacred rituals. Further on, Clinton showed us bush medicine plants and a learning cave covered in ochre rock paintings. The red swirls were the three sacred water holes – symbol for the Lilla area – and the hand prints were family portraits. Vivian crawled over the rocks and placed her hand against a tiny red print made by her great grandfather when he himself was five. Next, we were taken to sit in silent contemplation by a exquisitely beautiful water hole.The shaded water was pure and tranquil and bottomless, a perfect mirror to the cliffs and could scudded sky. Sonya closed her eyes to commune with the spirits. I could almost hear them whispering in the blue gums overhead.
That afternoon Vivian, Cliton and Sonya took us out into the plains to find bush tucker. Along the way to the site, we stopped to buy a ‘roo tail to cook on the campfire. My kangaroo rights instinct flared up, but I knew it wasn’t the indigenous over-culling adult roos along the east coast. The Kangaroo was totem to many tribes of this region – sacred and revered. As we trecked out into the open desert, Clinton and Ringer dug for honey ants, trying five or six spots before unearthing a nest, like fishing. The sun beat down on our backs. It had traced a simple, unobstructed arc across the sky and was now directly overhead. At that moment, watching the intent labour of Sonia, Clinton, Vivian and Ringa, my “cultural travel experience” became a stark reality: life in the desert was sun up, search for food, sun down, rest; and it had been this way for thousands and thousands of years.
When Clinton at last struck golden honey ants, Vivian was overjoyed. He set about digging a pit in the orange sand. It took him the better part of an hour and he was covered in sweat by the time he uncovered the small dark corridors of the nest. One by one, he delicately took out the boated insects and handed them to Vivian, who placed them in a pile for her guests.
Sonya boiled water for tea and singed the hair off the kangaroo tail, cutting it into chunks for us to eat. Once the honey ants were eaten (just the fat golden tail, not the ant itself, but this doesn’t spare them), we dug in the tree roots for witchetty grubs and cooked them in the coals. Being a vegetarian I sated myself with tea. That night I was grateful for Helen’s delicious damper and veggie curry.
As our Initiate tour continued the next morning, we climbed the red cliffs of the extraordinary Kings Canyon. Along the way Ringer told us about how the elder tribesmen walked the desert at night, completely overtaking young white travelers who attempted to cross it by day. When we made it to the flat top of the cliffs we lay with our faces over the edge of the canyon, hair blowing in the wind, and gazed way down at the tiny white cockies sailing between the treetops far below. We ate lunch and Helen took us through a deep guided meditation. The sense of space was awe inspiring, the sunlight dazzling. I felt a peace.
The next day we walked up into the high red domes of Kata Tjuta, the Valley of the Winds — sacred to elder Anangu men. I had been excited about this. I’d read about the concept that Kata Tjuta and Uluru form the sacral chakra of the Earth – a centre on the planet’s energy meridians. They are also powerful dreamtime sites on the songlines. It felt strange, walking into Kata Tjuta, as though something was resisting our presence. The atmosphere was dense and haunting as we climbed up into the windy valleys. On a stony plateau Ringer spread out a map of Australia, covered in the small countries of the Indigenous tribes. He told us that in tribal wisdom, knowledge was reserved for different levels of maturity. Some knowledge was so complex and powerful it could only be passed on to the very wise. As we left, I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the spirits of the region and breathed a sigh of relief.
When at last we spotted Uluru from the windows of the bus, silhouetted on the horizon, she took our breath away. “She is the rainbow serpent” said Ringer, “can you see her coils?” I stared, slack-jawed, at the purple shadows cast over her red expanse. She was so pretty. I was surprised. I had expected magnificence but I had not expected her to be so soft and smooth. We parked at the lovely Uluru campsite and marched up to the viewing platform as the sun set over the rock. Detox over – it was time to crack open the champagne. At camp that night we were all excited. Our tarot cards proffered unexpected yet fortuitous destinies for all as we shared our deepest wishes by the fire. Sleep did not come easily…
Just before dawn we piled out of the steamy-windowed bus into the cold darkness, and found ourselves parked with dozens of tour buses just half a kilometer from the rock. We huddled together with hot tea and coffee along with the hundreds of international travelers, watching the golden sun came up over her magnificent arches. Helen led us on a walk among the swaying yellow grasses at her base. We trod the winding path with the wonder of children walking into a fairytale… Green bushes nestled among the boulders. Her shoulders were set proud and free and rusty red against the ultra blue sky. She was carved with smooth round caves inhabited by silver trees and soaring birds.
We stopped at a magical golden billabong at the base of Uluru and in the still water I could see the sun-drenched red rock reaching to the clear blue sky. The energy was pure joy and we all felt it, flopping over each other on the bench for photos. I was so light and happy. A lifelong dream had come true. The tour ended with Helen’s final workshop at a table in the centre of the Australian outback, Uluru beside us. We visualised our goals and made new dreams for oursleves. We set intentions and were flooded with new purpose.
I returned to my life energised and centred and with some lovely new friends. Through the money raised for the local communities by Initiate Tours, I also felt empowered to help and make change.
This story first appeared on moonology.com.

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Find Inner Peace Through Meditation

Anna Warwick — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 14:24:29 +0000

Meditation is a simple technique which facilitates the return to a child-like state of presence, inner peace and stability.
In the Western world, where walking around stressed and anxious is completely normal and the resulting health problems are rampant, Meditation, the ancient and timeless practice of deep conscious relaxation, is gaining popularity like never before.

Meditation v Medication

While prescription medicines like anti-depressants can be of enormous relief to sufferers of stress-related disorders and mental illness in the short term; they do not treat the source of the imbalances and are therefore impermanent. This is why many doctors say clinical depression is incurable, and sufferers are often told they will need to be medicated for life.
On the contrary, the simple practice of Meditation can have immediate short-term benefits; improving mental, emotional and physical balance. In the long term it can create lasting and permanent change.
Our minds are often stuck in fight-or-flight mode, when there is no immediate danger whatsoever. The worrying, fearful mind creates emotions, and tension in our muscles and nervous systems. This tension creates pain. In Meditation we are training ourselves to come out of pain and into peace.
Scientific studies have proven that Meditation deactivates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight arousal), and activates the parasympathetic nervous system (relax-and-recuperate), which allows the body to return to a balanced state of equilibrium (known as “homeostasis”). When active, the parasympathetic nervous system slows down heart rate, dilates blood vessels, activates digestion, and stores energy.

Calm and Grounded

Says Australian Vedic Meditation teacher Lee Te Hira: “Meditation works on a deep level, relieving the body of stresses that have been accumulated over the years. Even a new meditator will start to purify the body of stresses in the first weeks of practice. Long term Meditators report that they become much more adaptable to everyday stressful situations. To use an analogy, think of a piece of rope being twisted and pulled, eventually the rope will be all knotted and tangled up. Meditation, in this analogy, will release the tension in the rope and any new knots will be easily dealt with, keeping the rope nice and loose. When the backlog of stresses has been relieved through a daily Meditation practice, any potentially stressful life situation is easily dealt with from a calm, grounded place.”

The Art of Stillness

The aim of Meditation is to rise out of the mind into the higher consciousness, the self that is watching the thoughts, but doesn’t think. In order to do this the mind must be trained to focus in observation, for example observing the breath, a mantra, the body, or the voice of a Meditation guide.
There are many Meditation techniques, developed over many centuries across many cultures. Says Te Hira: “Vedic Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique from ancient India. It is practiced for twenty minutes in the morning and evening, sitting comfortably in a chair with the eyes closed. A personalized Mantra is selected for the Vedic student, which when correctly, allows their awareness to dive quickly in to a deep meditative state.”
“The meditative state may be described as a state of restful awareness” Te Hira explains. “In this state you are completely relaxed, even more so than when asleep, yet still completely conscious. Once you enter the meditative state the conditions are perfect for the body to start to self repair and normalize, thereby throwing off stresses. Many benefits flow from a daily Meditation practice, such as growth of creativity and intelligence, sharper perception and general improvement in health.”
A key benefit to rising out of the mind is a sharper intuitive sense and the ability to make decisions based on “gut feelings” or a sense of ease, rather than worry and fear.

The First Step

A simple Buddhist Meditation technique that you might want to start with is to sit with the eyes closed and watch the breath. Take a few deep breaths to start but then do not control it, simply watch it. It’s easiest to leave your focus on one point, like the nostrils.
Thoughts will come up and attempt to engage you in a “story” (past or future), a “list” (to do), or a rotating “tape” (I’m not good enough/my life is awful/he or she does this to me/I can’t do this/this is stupid, etc.).
The challenge of Meditation is to let these thoughts go, no matter how dramatic and vivid and immediately urgent they may seem, and return to watching the breath. This is not the time for problem solving. This is the time for self-nurturing. The fact that thoughts have floated across your consciousness means your subconscious has already released them, like ripples across a pond.
Emotions, too, will arise as you go deeper into the meditative state. Feel the emotions – they are not wrong – but do not think about them. Do not create new reasons to perpetuate them. Just as a child or a puppy dog would, allow yourself to feel the emotion and let it go. Return to that simple, warm, golden place of peace, which is your higher consciousness and your connection to the Universal flow of energy.

Practise Makes Perfect

Even after many years the meditative state can be elusive, so bear with yourself and remember – the instant that you notice your mind has wandered, you are present. You have succeeded in detaching from the mind. Just a few minutes in this state is deeply beneficial, and just twenty minutes of Meditation is equivalent to eight hours of sleep.
This article originally appeared on Blacklemag.com

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A Moment of Clarity: Meditation For Mindset

Anna Warwick — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 13:53:17 +0000

The simple practice of meditation can have immediate short-term benefits, improving your mental, emotional and physical balance. In the longer term, it can create lasting calm and good health.
Have people ever told you, “Stop thinking so much!” If they do, you probably react by having yet another thought: “Yeah right! How?”
Human beings have been working on this for thousands of years, and the good news is there is a way. It’s not easy, but if you’re willing to try, you really can clear your mind using meditation. Even a few moments of clarity a day will do you the world of good.

The Art of Stillness

At 12WBT we talk a lot about becoming “your best self”. One aspect of this involves finding that line between pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, stretching yourself further than you ever dreamt possible, and at the same time treating yourself kindly and with compassion.
To do this we need to switch off those tapes that play in endless rotation in our minds, and instead tune in to our inner selves.
For this to happen we have to train the conscious mind to focus on something – for example, by observing the breath, using a mantra (a repeated word or sound), observing the physical body or following the voice of a meditation guide.
Think of the conscious mind as a well-trained dog – it needs something to chew on, so the subconscious mind can get to work letting go of deep-set negative and self sabotaging beliefs.

Clarity and Healing

The immediate benefit of meditation is that it wipes away the clouds of confusion and allows blue-sky clarity back into the mind.
The practice is soothing on every level. Scientific studies have shown that meditation deactivates the sympathetic nervous system (switching off the fight-or-flight arousal that kicks in when we’re stressed or anxious) and activates the parasympathetic nervous system (which looks after our relax-and-recuperate response).
When active, the parasympathetic nervous system slows down the heart rate, dilates blood vessels, activates our digestion and stores energy. This allows the body to return to a balanced state known as “homeostasis”. This is the state in which healing takes place.

What Does Meditation Feel Like?

The meditative state may be described as a state of restful awareness. You’re completely relaxed, often more deeply than when you sleep, yet still conscious.
Think of how you feel when you’re absorbed in a task: maybe doing your favourite workout or working in the garden. Afterwards you’re refreshed and invigorated. This is the feeling we’re after.
Once you enter the meditative state, conditions are perfect for the body to start to stabilise and repair itself.

The First Step

A simple Buddhist meditation technique that you might want to start with is to sit with the eyes closed and observe your breath as you inhale and exhale. It’s easiest to focus on one point, like the nostrils.
Thoughts will come up and attempt to engage you in a “story” (past or future), a “list” (to do) or a rotating “tape” (I’m not good enough/my life is awful/he or she does such-and-such to me/I can’t do this/this is stupid, etc).
The challenge of meditation is that as soon as you notice you’re thinking something, you must return to observing the breath.

Practise Makes Perfect

Even after many years, the meditative state can be elusive, so bear with yourself and remember: the instant you notice your mind has wandered from those persistent thoughts, you’ve succeeded in detaching from them.
Just a few minutes in this state is deeply beneficial, and just 20 minutes of meditation is said to be the equivalent of eight hours of sleep.
In the long term, many benefits flow from a daily meditation practice, such as growth of creativity and intelligence, sharper perception and general improvement in health.
A key benefit is a sharper intuitive sense and the ability to tune into your “gut feelings” much more easily.

Absolute Beginner?

If you’d like to try meditating but need a little help, a guided meditation or relaxation is the best place to start. In a guided meditation a calming voice takes you through the process of focusing the mind, allowing you to fall into a deep relaxation.
Check iTunes or YouTube for downloads, or you can buy meditation CDs. Listen in, tune out and let meditation work its magic on you.
This article first appeared on 12WBT

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