A part of my internship for clinical massage therapy included work with cardiac patients less than an hour after they came out of open-heart surgery. The work was a very specific protocol of gentle compressions on the lower legs to help regulate circulation. (Normally there are machines that do the squeezing, but as part of a study we were allowed to add a human component to the recovery process.)
I loved the work, but always felt, at the end of one of those shifts, like some ancient Sumerian mythical character who journeys to the Underworld. I have no language to describe the energy fields of those patients. Post-surgery energy is completely unfamiliar - to me, but also (it seemed) to the patient as well.
Another one of my clients has taken a turn for the worse. Somehow the family has convinced someone(s) at the hospital to twist the rules (perhaps money changed hands?) so that I can visit my client in the Intensive Care Unit. I'm being given ten minutes to sit with my client. What am I supposed to do with those ten minutes? I have no idea, and I've promised nothing to the family of my client. But I'm going to go, even if only to soothe the family members, make them feel like someone who cares will be close-by for a few minutes. Also I have to admit, I'm curious. It's been ten years since I visited the Underworld. How will it seem to me today?
What does a person do to prepare for a journey to the Underworld? My strategy included double meditation time this morning, a half hour of "Ohm"-ing (I was so loud that my sinuses felt like they were rattling. After about three minutes of this uber-Ohming, the dog went to hide in the bathroom). Step three? warrior pose. I'm going to pray all the way to the hospital, asking for divine guidance, divine wisdom, and divine love. I will gather my spirit guides around me, stand up tall and walk with confidence into that scary room. I hope!
I'm very grateful to have fortified myself this week with all that cherry blossom energy. I also saw the Sufi acupuncturist yesterday; I'm sure that will help. I'm ready as I'll ever be. Wish me luck?
See you on the flip side!
24 comments:
I think that anyone who has a profession as important as yours feels or will feel the way you describe it at some point. It's a visit to the Underworld, but also a visit to a place where many of us would not like to go ever. Many thanks for your work and your post.
Greetings from London.
Your energy is what this family wants and I am sure you will deliver. As you surely must know, your power is divine and if it can reach me so well via cyberspace I can only imagine what you can do in person. You will be wonderful.
i have been in the 'recovery' ward with a souple of people right after surgery adnd Yes, the energies are totally and completely different to an active, well, functioning physcial body.
Its a strange mixture of 'suspended life force' but not quite death.......interesting xx
I think just being there will help immensely, Reya, regardless of what you "do." I have full confidence that you will know what's best, but I'm sending you good vibes as supplementary energy. :)
sometimes a person just needs a mediator so they can cross over
my rabbi provided this to some of his congregants
just held their hand(s) and allowed them to feel they had an escort of sorts
Hannah allowed Karen to go with a few simple words of support--that she would care for those left behind and that Karen could go--she did--a gentle, loving passing
Maybe your client's spirit is seeking a transition guide
Hope you are gentle and good with yourself before and after
with sweet warm fluids
soft winds
perhaps a nap
love and more love
I feel your energy, Reya. What ever happens in that netherworld, I know you will help both the patient and the family. I know it.
Brave Reya, I'm sure your energy will match the situation, whatever is needed. I hope you will write more about this experience.
Take care of yourself.
I love the photo of the arrow.
my thoughts are with you, Reya.
all the best =)
Energy work. Lots and lots of energy work. Everything you are doing is perfect. Soothe and connect with the physical body with a touch and the rest of the communique will be auric. I am holding space for both of you.
So, the art of uber-ohming was lost on Jake? Oh, those sensitive creatures. I'm sure their connection to the vibration of creation is so much more developed than ours that they view us as cavemen.
I am sure you will do just fine. It is so great that you can do this, it takes a special person.
I suspect that your client's family are feeling what you felt - like strangers in a strange land -and they hope you can help their loved one to feel a little less frightened, a little more at home. You will be fine, Reya.
When I was visiting my college roommate in the hospital last summer after she had her stem cell transplant, a massage person who worked for the hospital came in and rubbed her feet and lower legs for about 10 minutes. There was an amazing shift in energy during that short session, not just for her, but also for her mother and me. You will be able to make everyone in the room feel better when you visit and apparently they already know it.
Reya, don't think about it, you will just know...
It was a great experience. It's going to take awhile to process, but wow.
BTW my client is not dying. He's going to be fine.
Also need to say: I love nurses. They are the best.
Thanks for all the encouragement!!
When there are no words, a touch means everything.
I think you are as prepared as you possibly can be. Good luck! And please continue this story.
luck reya, and love
You're right about nurses, usually they are overshadowed by doctors' leading roles. And yet, as I have found myself, nurses (male and female) can be just as if not more caring than the professional practitioners. Many thanks.
So glad to hear the client is going to live, it sounds like you had a nice experience. I think it was all the preparing for it that made it such a nice experience.
Jake just probably is not used to so much of it and will be just fine.
Good luck,
God bless.
This is important work you venture on, Reya. Miracles often come in small doses. Your presence may make all the difference to this person. Bathe yourself in the white light of the divine.
Barbara I did put myself in a column of white light right before and right after my visit.
And Cuban, YES, nurses are the healers. This is always my experience when I attend births in hospitals as well. Doctors are more like technicians; nurses to the actual interactions.
what a wonderful and important path you are taking ....thanks for sharing the journey.
and thanks for bring some of that beautiful pepto pink to the drab recesses out here.... it's a spectacularly drab day today ---grey, cool and wet.... but april showers do bring may flowers!! just as long as the april snow misses us! I'm so over that....
I remember coming out of surgery and hearing, "Hi, Aunt Susan". My husband's niece "coincidentally" was working in the recovery room.
Rather than having the automated compressions, to have the human touch physically and yes, spiritually, will make an impact on patients' recoveries.
So even if you don't know for sure what your visits to the Underworld are about, trust. Sometimes it's just about human presence and not being alone.
You are entrusted with an important work!
What is the condition? You said you didn't sense the energy? It seems a few inches above the chest, maybe up to or around the throat area there should be some active energy field? Or around the neck and shoulders?
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