Welcome to the Cocoon

Welcome to Week 2 of the 2021 Summer Reiki Revival: Nurturing the New Renaissance. Over these several weeks together we’re learning about and using Reiki and other wellness techniques to create our personal and collective Cocoon of safety and comfort, naturally Transform through relaxation and exploration, courageously Emerge to spread our newfound wings, and confidently Flourish long into the future, returning to the Cocoon to repeat the cycle as often as we like.

This week we’ll begin to create our Cocoon, the safe and sacred physical and energetic space that supports our healthy transformation.

A caterpillar only turns into a butterfly once in its lifetime, but we can recreate this cycle of healing and transformation many times, perhaps more like a turtle retreating into its shell as needed. This week I invite you to join me in turning inward, both individually and as the Essential Arts community, to heal and rest, and to discover and celebrate what’s inside.

Whether you’re feeling like you’re caught in a web not of your choosing, exposed and wishing for protection, or just a little weary and wishing for rest, you can use the power of the Cocoon to center, focus and create protective boundaries, and to surround yourself with the types of energies you want to experience and give yourself some breathing room.

Your Cocoon may even contain multiple layers or strands of energy that you can work with consciously to craft your most nurturing space. Here are a few of the strands of the stories weaving around me lately, and ways I’ve used my Cocooning skills to nurture them.

I have been immersed in a wonderfully creative Cocoon recently, delighting in manifesting a program I look forward to sharing with you in a few weeks that will help you Bring Reiki to Life in your life. It’s for both folks who are new to Reiki and want to get started with the practice, and those who have had Reiki training previously but want a more satisfying and successful personal Reiki practice, and even some help discerning your best Reiki Path in life. There are so many possibilities!

Since the launch of the Reiki Revival last summer I’ve also been guiding the Vision of Light Church of Spiritualism & Healing successfully through our first year as a completely virtual community and this summer we’ve tested the waters of a hybrid model. I worked with the Vermont Reiki Association for several months during a time of transition and wish them well as they continue to adjust to changing times. And I have been peeling back fascinating layers through the mists of time via genealogy research resulting in some surprizing synchronicities and revelations from my own family history I’ll be sharing in future articles and presentations, combined with studying anthropogeny (investigating the origins of the human phenomenon).

Some of the layers of my Cocoon include using time, space, intention and action to influence my surroundings and my experience within them.

Time

I have created a detailed yet flexible schedule format that combines my work and personal life so I can see where my time goes and what kind of balance I’m creating between self-care and serving others, work and play, household and family life, and other things that are important to me. I often use my phone timer with a gentle sound set to let me know when I need to transition to another activity, including plenty of warning time so I don’t end up either watching the clock or losing track of time.

Space

Spending nearly all my time at home now, I’ve created various stations around the house so I’m moving through my day and my week in a flow that supports my wellbeing and various activities. While I could probably go through most of my day without even getting out of bed, I prefer a change of scenery that suits the rhythms of life and work at home. On days when I do go into town, I bring my portable office not only in the form of laptop and mobile phone, but also things like Essential Arts inspirational card decks, pendulum for energy clearing, sometimes a crystal or two in a pocket, journal for mental and emotional processing and brainstorming. I fill the space I’m working in with Reiki symbols and energy and use affirmations, self-Reiki and Divine guidance to support my work and wellbeing, whether I’m in my home office or a cafe.

Intentions

I use foundational intentions that are the same each day for my whole day and some that are specific for my work, as well as whatever suits the day, situation and projects at hand. One of the most important Cocoon skills is simply giving myself permission to devote some time and attention to creating time and space that allow me to do better work, feel better and be more present for all areas of my life. Choosing to prioritize the Cocoon in our lives can immediately lower our stress because we’re no longer on center stage all the time, and we can proactively center our wellbeing instead of merely reacting to other people and situations demanding our time. Even if not much looks different from the outside it can feel so different to know we’re choosing deliberately, feeling more empowered and mindful.

Activities

I begin and end my days with self-care, from a few minutes to over an hour depending on the day. Reiki is the foundation of my practice which also includes yoga, exercises, walking, meditation, prayer, journaling, connecting with Nature and Spirit, spiritual community, blessing the spaces I occupy, listening to uplifting music and singing, watching inspirational and educational videos and eating a balanced healthy diet (full disclosure - this includes treats!), and definitely also receiving support from others. You might wonder how I have time for work or anything else with so much self-care! Some of these things only take a moment, and I don’t do them all every day. Again, I know that creating a supportive Cocoon actually helps me do better work and be more effective, healthy and present in whatever I’m doing.

The Cocoon can be completely invisible or it can be setting a boundary with others or physically moving to another space and closing the door. The Cocoon is essentially a practice, or set of practices on many levels. We surround ourselves with physical reflections of our intentions, use these to evoke feelings of calm, clarity, healing and enthusiasm, and then we take these sensations with us anywhere we go. We can feel more protected and supported in any situation once we become familiar with these practices and the feelings that result, creating habits that become second nature.

Collective Cocoon

The Essential Arts community is a kind of Cocoon itself, and now there’s another way to gather safely and comfortably online. I’m shifting the Reiki Revival group from Facebook to the private Essential Art of Reiki Virtual Circle. It’s housed right on the Essential Arts website, so there’s no need to sign up for another social media service that’s going to mine your personal information and target you with ads. In the Virtual Circle, it’s just us Reiki enthusiasts getting to know each other and sharing our questions, practices, ideas and resources around Reiki and general wellbeing. You can post in the group, respond to others’ posts and connect with people who share your interests.

We’ll also be creating another Essential Art of Reiki group for Bring Reiki to Life, the upcoming Live Virtual Class. In the class and the private group for students we’ll be able to dig deeper into our Reiki practices and the special Reiki Paths that call to each of us.

Let’s talk more about creating our individual and collective Cocoons in this week’s Reiki Cafe, Wednesday at 3. Essential Arts members will receive the Zoom connecting information for the Reiki Cafe, so sign up or log in at the upper right corner of the Essential Arts website.

Thanks for being here with me in my Cocoon today. I’m excited to be part of a Reiki community with you that’s friendly, welcoming and empowering, where we can skillfully Cocoon, Transform, Emerge and Flourish - together.