July 4, 2012 (Healing Sessions)
During the 2012 Spring Forest Qigong World Conference I had the opportunity to have two healing sessions with Rhonda Battisto.
In the first, my focus was the removal of three chronic blockages:
my right great toe – in the mid-90s, I had dropped something directly on the toe and since then the joint in the foot just below the toe is sometimes extremely painful and enlarged in size
my right knee – in the late 90s, the knee became swollen. I had difficulty walking and wondered if I’d ever ride a bike again. Sometimes the knee seemed to simply “collapse to the outside of the joint”, and just two weeks prior to this session, I had re-injured the joint
my left ear – since the mid-90s, the ear has felt closed to me, making it difficult to monitor the loudness of my voice
I briefly summarized these blockages to Rhonda, telling her she could choose the one she’d like to work on, and asking her to also choose between qigong and Qi-ssage as her method of treatment.
She centered herself and told me she’d work on all three using qigong. Rhonda began at the left ear, as I sat quietly with my eyes closed. Almost immediately she asked me to describe a door that apparently had shown up in her visualization. I, too, clearly saw the door – it was a smooth, single panel door with a round gold knob on the left side as I looked at it. The door was a medium to high shade of green, and was a little more than slightly open toward me. There was no frame around the door and no hinges on it.
Rhonda continued to work on the ear. Then she moved to the right side of my body to focus on the knee and great toe.
When she finished, we discussed the door. I knew immediately that it represented a person with whom I have an extremely difficult relationship. The green color represented the heart chakra. Rhonda said she had tried opening and closing the door, then had the idea to simply pick up the door and set it to my right side. I knew this meant I, too, had to remove the door that was blocking my heart, and resolve this relationship in order to bring healing to my physical body. Since I had seen the door opening toward me, I felt the door was blocking energy flowing into my heart.
I did not consciously experience changes in the ear, the knee, or the toe. However, the removal of the door was a strong message to me that in order to heal my physical body, it is critical that I first dis-connect myself from the debilitating relationship. This realization was very welcome and I resolved to take steps to do so. That process is ongoing.
During the second healing session, I asked Rhonda to focus on my lungs. For the past few years, I’ve noticed that when I cough, the sound is not clear. This time Rhonda chose to do Qi-ssage. She also showed me how to cross my wrists and cup the “windows of the lungs” to help open them. Later she did cupping on my back, again to promote opening the lungs. At the end of the session, she told me she had seen a white peacock – something I’d never heard of.
The next morning during the group meditation following the Spring Forest active exercises, I experienced two clear visualizations. In the first, smooth, mostly round, light gray stones continuously poured out the inside of my elbow joints and down my arms to dissolve into pure energy. Next I saw pieces of black, gray and white metal releasing from the tops of my lungs. The pieces were all uniform in size – about half an inch long and a millimeter wide and thick. The pieces were connected to one another, 10-12 pieces wide and were flowing from the top of the lungs in a direct 45-degree angle out, down, and away from the front of my body. They formed a metal strip and were flowing quickly like a conveyer belt. An identical flow was happening down and away from my back, placing me in the center of a pyramid formed by the two strips.
To me, these images were strong signs of releases of massive blockages in my body. Metal is associated with the lungs, grief, and the time of activation is 3-7 A.M. I often wake at 3 A.M. I have experienced grief from estrangement with my adult children, now 40 and 41 years old. Years ago, I considered suicide when my daughter who was almost 13 at the time, told me she didn’t want to live with just me, her single mother. She was going to live with her dad who had re-married. Moving there would allow her to live in a “real” family. She did move and never returned to live with me. Her decision was so painful. It nearly killed me. I can still see images of how gray and swollen, and oozing my heart looked at that time.
To cope with my daughter’s rejection, I moved to the Caribbean and worked as a speech pathologist for a year. Then my career took me to Germany. I eventually found my way to Japan and Okinawa; then back to Germany and the Netherlands. This journey lasted 22 years. Five years ago my husband of nearly 24 years retired and we moved to Columbia, MO where my daughter lives. She and I have been re-building our relationship, and have had some time to become re-acquainted. I believe I have stored “all that metal” in the area of my chest as protection, so the release described above was most welcome. I also believe not saying what I need to say to end the “green door relationship” has kept my voice (and cough) unclear. I am firmly committed to resolve that relationship. I also still have major relationship work with my son who I feel has never forgiven me for divorcing his father when he was just four years old…the lessons this life brings! (~:
When I returned home after the conference, I researched “peacock”. It is a symbol of resurrection and wise vision (watchfulness). The eerie call of the peacock has a kind of laughter quality reminding us to laugh at life. For anyone who has peacock as a totem, an examination of mysticism and symbolism of th e feet is encouraged. They are our support system and the foundation of our structure. They enable us to move and be upright.
Of all birds, the peacock most resembles traditional descriptions of the phoenix – the legendary bird of resurrection. Because of this, it is associated with immortality. The many “eyes” in the tail feathers, symbolize wisdom and vision – heightened watchfulness.
In summary, I am extremely grateful for these two sessions with Rhonda. She created a sacred space of acceptance where immense healing took place. To me, the results are proof that emotional and mental blockages cannot be separated from the wellness of the physical body. I am taking steps to resolve the current difficult relationship, continuing to let my daughter know how much I love her, and when I feel stronger emotionally, I will do the same with my son.
R. S.
Columbia, MO
USA
