knitting updates!

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the post:  blend of Samurai Chai Mate and White Ayurvedic Chai from Teavana. Didn't drink that in quite a while lol. What tea would you like to be served today?? Before I start with the main topic of this post, allow me to officially welcome and introduce you to two new **Tea Mates**: Sreelatha and My Getaway. Thank you again for stopping by the **Tea House**! I hope you have both received my welcome email :-) Will be checking out your blogs soon!

Finally, here is the update about my knitting (see my previous knitting post here) and my thoughts about my first knitting products and services from Darn Good Yarn online. Although the products took a while to ship, the balls of yarn I bought were AWESOME, I got a free size 11 bamboo circular, a free crochet needle, the yarn prices were reasonable, and the person who runs this online store is SUPER friendly; she even sent me a handwritten personalized card and had stopped by the **Tea House**! Thank you again Nicole! And please do sip some more **tea** here! :-) In other words, I am overall very satisfied with my purchase.

The yarn sold in this store are recycled, hand-spun, and fairly traded. There is a variety of colors and choices and the store keeps adding more products that keep getting better and better. I plan to buy more of my knitting items from there. For those of you who are into knitting or are even just starting like me, please do check it out for yourselves!

When I first received the stuff I had ordered, I was experimenting with one of the balls of yarn as I watching video tutorials about knitting (check out KnitPicks for free video tutorials combined with pictures and written step-by-step guides great for beginners like me. They also seem to sell good products and I may consider buying from them and testing them out). I then finally decided that I'd like to knit a scarf; its seemed quite easy and I thought it was a great opportunity for plenty of practice.

However, I came to realize that the amount of yarn I was having was not even close enough to knit even half a scarf!! LOL am I a "smart" or what??!! Thus, for this reason, combined with my busy schedule, I stopped for quite a while and decided that I'd like to order some more of that yarn online when I'm free. Now that my Spring semester has ended and my vacation has finally started, I looked at the Darn Good Yarn store today and saw that the particular ball of yarn I wanted was sold out! :-( Looks like I need to wait a bit longer...*sobs*...

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

my experience with reiki

TEA TIME!!!!


Tea for the day: Two Leaves & A Bud Tea Company's Whole Leaf Organic Darjeeling Tea Sachets. I had apparently over steeped it but I was in need of it regardless; I've been having a soar throat these past few days; probably due to the changing weather in Boston. What tea would you like to be served today?


This may seem random, but I thought that I'd like to share this post I had written in my Facebook notes about my Reiki I Training which I completed on Saturday. Enjoy :-) :


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I had recently completed a Reiki I training and attunement in the Sacred Space of my campus. The price was cheaper than typical Reiki I trainings and was definitely worthwhile. I must admit, I did have my doubts but my trainer gave me a great way to think about it: "Do you meditate?" she asked me, "Yup" I responded, "Then take Reiki as a meditation, that's what it is. And be a scientist; experiment with it."

I was also told that although Reiki is secular, I may use my own religious and spiritual background to aid me in grounding myself before and as I'm doing it for myself or someone else as long as I do not neglect the Chakra system--if I'm not comfortable, the person I do it for will also not feel comfortable.

Therefore, Reiki doesn't interfere with anyone's belief system or anyone's "non-belief". The Chakra system, although being based on Ayurvedic Hinduism, doesn't in itself conflict with any belief system; it is just a tool and a framework diagraming energy centers (some forms of Sufism, Kaballah, and some Native American spiritualities also have similar concepts although the "energy centers" are diagramed differently and called different things). In fact, traditional Reiki as it is practiced today originally started off when the founder was asked about how exactly could Jesus (pbuh) have healed others with touch? Therefore, traditional Reiki doesn't really have a "religious" label attached to it. My trainer also emphasized the importance of joints as energy centers to be focused on since most movement produces a lot of energy. Among the goals of Reiki is to unblock these energy centers mainly via Chakras or joints.

Basic Reiki is done through touch or merely having the hands glide over the person without actually touching him. Advanced Reiki (i.e. Reiki II) focuses on the non-touch aspects of Reiki and on healing or reducing emotional and mental suffering through energy. Reiki III is the master level and is typically taken when one wants to teach it to others.

Energy is sensed in different ways for different people. I personally sensed it in the forms of vibrations, heat (sometimes internally; not just the natural way it is generated with any touch), magnetic field, or as a warm air going to areas of pain and energy blockage. Since I take Reiki as a meditation, I think that even the natural physical expressions of heat and touch itself helps me focus on that area that is currently being touched or at least visualize energy flowing with the same results as actually directly sensing the energy. Sometimes, Reiki can intensify a pain or reveal a pain you did not sense before hand and then slowly alleviate it. According to my trainer, pain always has something to tell us and we need to listen to it especially when it arises in the process of doing the Reiki.

Reiki practitioners do not claim to be the source of healing. In fact, it is considered to be more of a stress reduction technique which could potentially result in the body naturally and gradually healing itself with its innate wisdom or at least as a preventative measure when it is done frequently. It does not actually guarantee healing for everyone or in just one sitting. To me at least, the meditative aspect of Reiki is done by both the practitioner and the client, and to me also, unless both of them are in a meditative state then it won't fully work. The source of such healing or energy is believed to come from the Universal Life Energy (which some have identified as God or His "barakah" as some Sufis may label it or simply mere energy in the none divine sense of the word). The Reiki practitioner is merely a channel of energy.

I remember that before ever hearing about Reiki, I used to perform particular kind of supplication for pain I learned in a book of "azkar". It involved touching the area of pain and saying three times (translation); "In the name of Allah the Gracious, the Merciful" and then 7 times: "I seek refuge with Allah and His Words from the evil of whatever I find and undergo." I noticed that whenever I did this with total concentration, it always worked with either alleviating the pain or simply reducing its severity. There are more examples of such practices in Islam that involve invocation of God and I've even heard of a story of the Prophet (pbuh) healing a man's ankle by touching it and supplicating. To me, I'd think that such things are a sort of "reiki". Thus, if we are define such practices as forms of reiki, although not "traditional" or structured, then we could argue that Reiki is indeed as old as time itself and is more universal than a lot of people think.

One of my friends here has shared a beautiful and heartwarming blog post about reiki (or at least a form of it), I highly recommend you to read it, it's called Healing through Compassion: http://darvish.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/healing-through-compassion/ he also told me that there is an actual clinical offshoot of Reiki called Polarity Therapy. I don't know anything about it but I'd love to research it.

I had an intense experience during the attunement process in Reiki I and I am currently brainstorming a poem about that, so stay tuned!


From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)

befriend me and your fellow **tea mates** on facebook!

TEA TIME!!!

Tea for the post, Numi Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea. Besides this tea, I have so far tried their powdered Moroccan mint tea and chamomile/lemon tea and I must say that I like the latter best. At first, I used to like the mint tea but there are times when it makes me feel like I am drinking minty toothpaste. What **tea** would you like me to serve you today?

I have been so bad with blogging since November till now lol. However, I am glad that I have gained another **Tea Mate** again, therefore let me officially introduce you all to her. I'd like you all to welcome Neva Flores. I'm currently following her blog where she writes beautiful poetry, I'd highly recommend you to check it out.

I finally uploaded my knitting pictures but I decided that I'd type up this particular post for another purpose and (once again) procrastinate updating you about my knitting. But no worries **Tea Mates** and **Tea Guests**, I will share that pretty soon. My Spring semester is ending in two weeks and its also getting busier with final papers, presentations and interviews with potential employers for my very first internship.

Anyhow, I just thought I'd like to let you know that I have created a Facebook account  (yes, I already have my own but I have some private information in that one and I'd rather reserve that for my family and the friends I've met in person) so that I can actually get to know you **Tea Mates** better and also to connect with my other online friends (however, those whom I've known for a longer time, I may add them in original Facebook account). I think it'll also be nice for you to get to know one another as well if you're interested.

Anyhow, on the right margin of my blog, I have placed a widget that connects to my Facebook account if you're interested in connecting. Alternatively, you could search for my username which is: Tea Hostess Reema, but if you still can't find me, then you could search for me via my email: rpen90@gmail.com

See ya there!

From your Tea Mate,
Reema B. :-)