Talking Plants and Healing Scents...and a Chakra or Two

As of late, I have taken to turning to my friends, learning more about their passions, pastimes and interests and using those to inspire some "firsts". Turns out I have very interesting friends!

I'd like to introduce Jill. I've always been impressed by her ability to successfully straddle the corporate world and the spiritual one. Over the years I've listen to her talk about her feeling of personal connectedness to nature. I've devoured the pictures posted of her artwork, her clean cuisine, her Ayurvedic tea creations, aromatherapy balms and scrubs. I've found fascinating her dialogue on chakras, energy and the connectedness of all things; even agreeing to sit down and watch the retro 70's "The Secret Life of Plants". Which, by the way, is a kind of a big deal for me!

It's kind of a big deal because when I first moved here and started hearing about these sorts of things, I really didn’t get it. I thought it was self-indulgent and too "tree-huggerish" for this brazen, East Coast pragmatist. But years later, the more settled and softer version of me found that as these concepts presented themselves, they began to resonate...even talking plants. So when Jill mentioned she had moved into practitioner work for others, I wanted to try!

What Jill does is work on rebalancing people's energy. She takes from her tool chest, those bits a pieces that combined, will resonate most with the person she works on. Using Reiki techniques bolstered by the use of aromatherapy, herbs, vibrational bowls and crystals, she places you in the center of a circle of life and light. You immediately feel relaxed as you lay back surrounded by an abundance of plants and candles and soft music to settle and ground you.

Everything on the planet is made of protons, neutrons and electrons that vibrate and create energy. Pulled from around us and within us, these vibrations are our life force (wow, I'm super tempted to quote Star Wars right now). Anyway, think of your chakras as valves that allow life force to circulate throughout the mental, spiritual, emotional and physical body. Now think of Reiki as attention given to the Chakras as a way to cleanse, open and align your life force for health and wellness.

Reiki, with Japanese provenance, is made up of ‘Rei’ which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and “Ki” which is ‘life force energy". Reiki 's intention is to spiritually guide life force energy and bring about equilibrium. Using one's palms and working the chakras, the practitioner allows the energy that exists in the universe to be focused on your body and to allow your chi to flow to where it needs to.

Jill worked on me twice. The first time, after some consultation on my current state, we played with different scents to help open up the chakras and generally, bring joy to the day. During the Reiki, I intentionally meditated throughout process and was therefore somewhat dissociated from the experience. But I left her home feeling calm and invigorated. A relatively rare combination for me.

The second session was at night. And surrounded by the glow of candles I let the experience take me away. I found myself quickly transported away to a deep place of stillness. A different version of a meditative place. As Jill moved over my body, she noted a density changes  over my left hip. My very problematic hip. And although you can argue that one finds what one expects to find, she didn’t  know which hip was problematic and I do believe in flow of energy. And I do believe in chakras and in the benefit of the vitality and alignment of them. Wow, what has happened to me ;) !

Should anybody want to learn more about some of the creative applications of this energetically driven Chartered Herbalist, you can visit or contact Jill via https://www.facebook.com/JilliopathicTendacies. 

Thank you Jill for tremendous insight into energy balancing and the tranquil experience of spending time with you.