One of the unique features of the healing work in the Five Element Medicine Path is that no symptom is treated, no specific concern addressed. Instead, the treatment serves to restore balance and harmony, within all the networks and channels of life force flow, and within the body, mind, and spirit. As such, it is not possible to predict what clients will experience from a session. Once the innate healing abilities are strengthened and our capacity for innate intelligence restored, well . . . I like to consider that it’s now in the hands of the Great Mystery.
Having said that, there are two features that are common enough to be recognizable, and therefore attributable, to this work.
The first is that clients can leave a session feeling an experience of mild bliss. And in this state, when they encounter something in the natural world, it fills them with awe. In contrast, before the session, a tree that may have been barely noticed, or considered scrawny, now strikes them as the most adorable little tree they’ve ever seen. Sometimes they even stop to marvel at it!
The second, and this is more the experience after a series of treatments, they feel like they have returned once again to their true nature. They describe, “feeling like myself again.”
Of course, this doesn’t happen with every client, or in every session, but the pattern is evident, and for the practitioner, is most satisfying feedback.
The following story of Lilah is a good example. But more than that, it shows how participation from the client and a willingness to notice shifts, both subtle and not so subtle, encourages the innate healing abilities that a treatment opens the possibilities for.
As a bit of background, in the past Lilah had received the occasional treatment (Nov 2019, Feb. 2020, Jan 2021). In late 2021 some significant symptoms arose and stayed. At this point we decided on more frequent, and regular sessions (Dec 2021, Jan/Feb//Mar 2022), and because she lived out of province, they would need to be offered at a distance.
On February 16th, 2022, after the December and January treatments, Lilah and I had a Zoom consultation followed by a long-distance healing session. Some of the notes I took during our Zoom chat were:
Lilah speaking: The digestion is doing much better now – only occasional regurgitation, maybe 3 or 4 times in the last month. But I’m still craving sugar (and eating it) like crazy. Christmas, birthdays, Valentines. I wish I didn’t crave it. Its like an obsession. I don’t think I can make it even 24 hours without it. Maybe for the first two meals of the day but then in the evening I start eating it and telling myself that I’ll stop tomorrow. So, I’ve kept the extra weight on and I know I won’t like that in the summer. It feels so good to be lighter when the weather is warmer. But my right knee is doing better – maybe 80% better. I don’t know if some of that is just time . . . There’s definitely been some improvement physically. Emotionally I feel more positive and hopeful than when we started working on this.
As is my usual practice, after the healing work I immediately send off any notes I have taken on what I experienced during the session:
Jaki’s email to Lilah: The treatment went really well. As you'll read from my notes, it felt like it was very much needed., even though you clearly are feeling much better than you were a few months ago. It just felt like your systems and your meridians were struggling to do their best. There was also some intrusive energy that required clearing and a left/right imbalance on the kidney meridian (The Official in Control of the Waterways) –which, by the way, felt like it was really affecting you. It also felt like . . . at the very end . . . well, that it was really magical today.
(Jaki’s treatment notes): As I close my eyes, I feel multiple swirls of energy coursing around you. But they feel restrictive in some way. Like . . . you want to move forward but you end up moving sideways, because that’s the way the energy flow supports movement in that moment. Its as if you are in a whirlpool, you have to go with it, you can’t go in a different direction. Slowly, slowly, the swirls ease up and I begin to get a sense of flow. It is such a relief and feels so good. And then I realize that with the easing of the swirls, I can now notice there is actually a lack of momentum; the meridians, the energy flow pathways, are a little lost. My sense is that this treatment is really needed—that there needs to be some ‘re-calibration’.
There was one other thing I noticed during the treatment but didn’t write down. I didn’t intentionally leave it out, it was more like an undercurrent to what was happening, not something specific. By the time I’d typed the notes and edited them, I’d actually forgotten about it. It was a feeling of . . . almost a feeling that this is it – that there’s no point – it’s no use. Might as well give up.
Lilah’s email response later the same day: Thank-you so much for the treatment today. It did indeed feel MAGICAL! I lay down in bed, after we got off Zoom, and the cat curled up next to me. Some of your words were echoing in my head...the reminder that when I stop eating added sugar, the intense sugar cravings won't last forever...maybe 4 or 5 days, as the gut flora changes. I heard a melody in my head, along with the words (almost like a lullaby) "It's just a few days, Love, it's just a few days." And I perceived tiny blue flowers, with white centers (forget-me-nots?) that could be worn like a garland or crown, to remind me that I've already made a change, and the sugar cravings won't last forever. (Such a different feeling from "Tomorrow I'll stop eating sugar, but tonight I'll have some chocolate.") Then after a while, when I thought you might be finished, I asked for a symbol to represent the experience of balance and was shown a bird of paradise flower...strongly rooted, and the colourful bird head a symbol for flight. Then I took the dog for a walk by the river and the red wing blackbirds in the marsh were calling to each other and singing their hearts out. This was the first time I've heard them this year. My absolute favourite bird song from childhood. And maybe a sign of spring stirring. Also, I forgot to tell you on the Zoom chat about my most troubling physical symptom: awful pain in my left hip for several weeks now. I can no longer sleep on my left side it hurts too much. It hurts to walk up stairs. I've shortened my walks with the dog, as it really hurts to walk. So upsetting; I love to walk. But after today's treatment I took her for a long walk...and my hip didn't start hurting until the last 10 minutes. Then I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and bought 3 bags of veggies and some fruit. Real food! On the drive home, I came around the corner and WOW! the giant, luminous full moon had just risen above the mountains. Breathtaking. I made roasted veggies and tuna for supper. No dessert.
I was so moved by Lilah’s response that I emailed her the following day:
What a wonderful note to read while drinking my morning coffee. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this all out for me. Of course, I loved the story of the melody, “Its just a few days Love, its just a few days.” What a beautiful way to open the door to transition and change! And then the flowers to show YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE THE CHANGE. Wow. Lilah, honestly, you should give lessons on how to receive a treatment! And then the symbol . . . and that you even thought to ask.
Lilah - February 28 follow up email: Things are going really well since our Five Element Healing session on Feb 16th. I sang the little melody I heard, "It's just a few days, Love, it's just a few days" and visualized the blue & white flowers, and the bird of paradise flower... and it seemed like changes happened very quickly and surprisingly, quite easily. As I ate whole foods, I started craving more whole foods. I started to experience feeling full (sometimes even before finishing a meal) which hadn't happened in a very, very long time. I'm no longer binge eating sugar. My body started asking for more wet foods, like fruit and raw veggies. I started going to bed earlier and waking up earlier, before the alarm, and even caught a few sunrises! So beautiful! I already lost 8lbs. Things on my to-do list that used to feel totally overwhelming, paralysing even, no longer feel so out of reach, and I'm making some progress. Something about the meridians not being so "stuffed" seems to free up energy for accomplishing other things. This is the most fascinating part. A very big thank-you for helping me out of what felt like a self-destructive, depressing downward spiral. ❤
Lilah email March 9th : I'm still feeling quite amazed by the dramatic changes! I'm still asking myself if there was some level of readiness present that wasn't there before? (But I would have sworn, I felt ready and desperate since that last awful flare-up of IBS or diverticulitis or whatever that was.) Or was it some kind of readiness/willingness to participate in the shift? Or more like carry forward the magical healing of my Five Element session with you? (Like a relay race, where you pass the baton.) The song felt especially important, and I would sing it out loud, as I walked my dog by the river.
Lilah - March 6 follow up email: I have now lost 12lbs. I'm feeling so different, it's hard to describe. I'm confident I'll be able to continue on this path. It's a lovely idea to write up a little story about my healing experience. I would like it to be anonymous. I realized a few days after our session that the melody for the words I heard actually sounds a lot like the melody for John Lennon's "All we are saying, is give peace a chance." My soul feels a lot more peaceful since that healing session. One thing that really struck me about the simple song I received is how it feels like the comforting and reassuring words that a Mom would say to her child, like a soothing lullaby...that the discomfort will only be temporary, "It's just a few days, Love...it's just a few days." That turned out to be true!!!
Lilah – March 16 email: It's been one month since that truly magical, transformational, life-altering Five Element Healing session with you. I feel like you gave me the magic blue pill! I have lost 16lbs (and it's usually such a struggle to lose weight.) I'm eating a very wide variety of foods, and dairy doesn't seem to be a problem (bonus!) just no flour of any kind and no added sugar. I must admit though I'm still dreaming about sugar. I dreamt I was in Vancouver and went to Starbucks to order a caramel macchiato! I'm feeling more like "me." My voice feels stronger and my work is more fun all the time. My heart no longer pounds when I'm in bed at night. OH MY GOSH, I JUST REALIZED IN THIS VERY MOMENT THAT IT HAS BEEN DAYS AND DAYS SINCE I'VE HAD THAT AWFUL FEELING AND FEAR THAT I MIGHT DROP DEAD FROM A HEART ATTACK!!!! That weird daily experience was with me for so very long (years) and I don’t think I ever mentioned it to you. I'm totally shocked that when you no longer have a symptom, you actually forget about it. I'm excited about new projects and completing old ones that I have been putting off. I really feel like I can do this. All I can say is thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. The work you do is so very precious.
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