REIKI

Hello! I am back in Fort Kochi...already since Wednesday...:-) Denise and I had a great long travel weekend! The best weekend i had so far in India! It was great! We enjoyed it very much and it just makes me want to be on the road again and travel MORE!!!! ;-) We had to catch up with some sleep and organizational things since we are back...so i haven't written a new post about our travels yet...it will follow soon! Just to update you about what i have been up to in these past few days (next to receiving our internship evaluation froms and finally feedback of our bachelor thesis project plan! jupiiii our graduation is coming closer!!) here i have two photos/picture for you and added a little explanation to each of them ;-)

 I read "The kite runner" by Khaled Hosseini quite a while ago and was carrying the thought around with me of reading his second book as well. My mother who usually takes time to enjoy books to the fullest read this book in just two nights on her way from india to germany. (which means this must be an outstandingly good book!) This week Mary gave me her version of it to read. So this is one of my wonderful excuses to not write posts on this blog...;-) I am only on page 80, but this book is shocking and touching and emotional and gripping and everything from the first page on...curious what more will happen on the next 320 pages. I can't imagine more horrible stories adding to what has already happened....

Does this sign seem to be familiar to anyone? YES! It's REIKI!! Rei = spiritual/sacred, Ki= energy. Today I proudly received a certificate of having received the first degree initiation of the Usui-Tibetan System of Natural Healing. Denise and I are using this weekend to follow a reiki course - it is very interesting to learn to apply it ourselves. Although sometimes it does seem a little spooky and strange, having to ignore the questions and demands in my mind: where is the scientific research?!?!? But just let go and go with the flow...! it is definitely a great additional repertoire in my bag and something i will be using as deep relaxation techniques. They say 1 hour of reiki has the same effect on you as 6 hours of sleep! (So i ask myself: why don't we just all have 1.5 hours of reiki everyday and skip sleeping? wouldn't that be wonderful? ;-))

Anyway, being a guinea-pig and practicing reiki on myself, i can say it is a wonderful thing to experience. I feel really rested and energetic afterward. I am a little skeptical whether you can really use it for healing health conditions. (maybe experience will show...) But it is a great way to make people relax and get in contact with- and experience their own body. Tomorrow evening I will be able to present to you my certificate of the SECOND degree! jupiiiiii!! My homework: practicing reiki for 15 minutes everyday in the next 3 weeks.