Kitchen Sink Spirituality – Mark and Jackie

This is women's radio station. You're with Avril Price, Kitchen Sink Spirituality, the holistic voice of London. And welcome, everybody, and thank you so much for joining us today. And in the hot seat, we have double trouble. We have the very fabulous Mark and Jackie Thompson. Hello there. Thank you very much for coming in. Hi, Avril. Thank you for having us. Yes, thanks, Avril. Absolute pleasure. I have to say I've been really looking forward to our chat today. One of the reasons that I wanted you to come and do this show with me is that you are a couple. We are with a rather lovely story of how you got together. But you're also, you know, I always. I see you as real troopers in a very difficult industry because the spiritual quote, unquote industry can be very demanding. And you've got to be really on the ball. You've got to really believe in yourself. But in the time that I've known you, you've really come a long way. And I know that some of the things that you're trying to achieve and will achieve are really fabulous. So I'm hoping to talk about some of that today, if that's all right with you. Absolutely fine. Can't wait. Okay, so let's kick off then. Introduce yourself to our listeners. Who are you and what are you about? Okay. Hi, everyone. I'm Jackie. I used to call myself a healer, but I don't actually call myself that anymore because I don't heal anybody. What I do is give people, show people the tools to heal themselves. So I've come from a long history of actually being nothing to do with spiritual work at all, although I had experiences when I was younger and I dabbled around the edges of it. But I was actually in my 50s before I fully embraced spirituality. And in doing that, I just opened so many doors and walked through them, just embraced everything I could soak up. And it's brought me to where I am today. You see, I really love that, that you can say that you were in your 50s before you found a window in your life in order to truly embrace your spiritual path, as it were. And I think there are probably a lot of people out there that will really warm to that and somehow feel comforted by it. Because. Because I think coming into spirituality is a bit of a journey, isn't it? Oh, absolutely. And it was a really radical, total life change that gave me the opportunity, if you like, to find my spiritual side, my spiritual self. Oh, go on, spill the beans. Spill the beans. Well, I. I've been married three Times. Okay. The first one, I went through an abusive marriage. The second one was unfaithful. And I found myself in the position where I didn't know who I was anymore. And I decided the only way I was going to find out was to actually move away from everyone and everything. So I moved 180 miles away to where nobody knew me, I didn't know anybody, and I was completely on my own. So I actually had to go out and make a new life for myself. And the very first person I spoke to in that new place actually became a very, very good friend and introduced me to all the spiritual circles in the area. So did I find it or was I led there? Ah, now you see, there's a bit of a 64 million dollar question. Do you think that actually our spiritual path is predestined or do you think it's much more opportunistic? I think it's predestined, but I think we have to grab the opportunity. I certainly think spirituality found me. I didn't go looking for it. I had experiences as a child. I had imaginary friends and I had one or two experiences that now I know were very spiritual. But when I moved this vast distance for this new life, I had no intention of anything really. I just wanted to see where life took me. The one thing I didn't want was another relationship. She says, chuckling to herself. I was not going to get involved with men ever again. I was quite happy on my own and that's the way I liked it. But that's another part of the story, really, which we're going to come to in a moment. But I just want to ask you before we move on, now that you've, you're in this new pathway, this, this new bubble of your life, if you like, and you look back at your past, do you look at it through a spiritual lens or is it something very separate? Do you feel like you were a different person then? I guess I was a different person, but yes, I do look back and see that some of the things that happened actually did have quite a spiritual nature, the way I thought about things and, and the way I took things on. I believe there was a spiritual side to that then. I, I'm a great believer in everything happens for a reason. And I learned lessons along the way, and some of them the hard way, but some of them were a lot easier and a lot more pleasant. And do you kind of incorporate some of those lessons into your work or is it just something much more personal to you? No, I absolutely incorporate them. Because I understand if somebody says that they've suffered abuse in any form and I don't necessarily mean physical abuse, it can be emotional abuse, it can be mental abuse, I can understand where they're coming from. And I think my experiences actually help me give a more rounded approach to the healing. And I use that word in inverted commas. I actually came across something this morning, if you don't mind, I'd just like to read it because I think it encapsulates what I do and the way I look at it, brilliant. And I feel that by facing and defeating our greatest fears, we empower ourselves and grow more resilient and effective against adversity. This leads to the individual's beliefs that they are no longer simply powerless. The empowered individual ultimately has the capability to influence and affect the outcome of events and change perceptions. And that's where I come from and that's what I did. That's really amazing. So now I think we are going to go to a break. Hi, I'm Sarah Austin and I'm the founder of the really Helpful Club, an online and offline community that helps, supports and connects thousands of women in our personal and business lives. We are buzzing. Join us to share and discover your best ideas. Come to our events to meet other members and learn something new. Book now for our London workshop on 10 May helping you prepare for a and manage the menopause. Membership is free. Join now by visiting reallyhelpfulclub.com Please also find us on thewomensradiostation.com hi, I'm Yekaterina Abrekhova, Head of Conference Production City and Financial Global and I want to tell you about our vote 100 Women in Business Summit at the Royal garden hotel on 17th of April. 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So, listeners, as you know, that I really, really love bringing you insights and information and people and to let you know what's happening out there in spiritual London. And I've got to say, it's absolutely thr. And today I have two very, very lovely people who I actually, really believe in what they're trying to do. And it's Mark and Jackie Thompson. And we were just speaking to Jackie Thompson a moment ago, and she gave us a lovely rendition of a poem that really kind of resounded with her, and we really enjoyed that. Thank you very much, Jackie. You're very welcome. And now I'd like to turn to Mark. Hello, Mark. Hello, everyone. And we've known each other a little while, I have to say. We have, yes. Our paths crossed at the College of Psychic Studies. They did the grand old battleship that it is. It is a wonderful place. It is a wonderful place, a great meeting ground. And we share a love of tarot, do we not? We do. Yes, we do. And I came across tarot in 1960, 1976, when I was 20. That was the summer of hotness and 10cc, if I remember rightly, in Britain, it was in New Zealand. I was in a small. I was in a town. We called it a city there, but 100,000 people, very insular place. And I must have found the only tarot pack in the whole of the city. That's your name on it, Mark. It was the James Bond 007 tarot pack because they'd just done a James Bond movie and they had tarot in it with James. I think it was Live and Let Die. And so they put this out as part of the merchandising. And I saw this and I just wanted to. I just had to get it. I just had to get it. I'm just laughing to myself because for the listeners just to say that in the break, James and I were making this comment about how spirituality finds you. And there you are, Mark. You're kind of reinforcing that conversation. So there you are with your tarot deck. So how did you get to be in the uk? Oh, well, actually, my spiritual journey started a year before, or two years before I found the tarot deck, because I had a nervous breakdown. I went to university and just fell to pieces. And I went looking for something and I found meditation and astrology and then tarot and I got very interested in those things. I got interested in drama and then I ended up sort of finally realizing I needed to get some money because acting and drama is not a very profitable place unless you're sort of somebody very big like Sam Neill or. But certainly most of us don't make much money out of it. And I think I was the only student in my journalism class that said I was there to make some money. They didn't understand that. And did you? No, not much. Anyway, I made a bit. But yeah, I came over here because I got my first marriage. The lady was British and wanted to come back to see family and friends and do some traveling. I didn't want to come here at all. And we arrived in Heathrow and I fell in love with the UK and out of love with my first wife, of course. As you do. As you do, yes. She's been back in New Zealand for many years. Do you swapped countries? We swapped countries, yes. Yes. I am the extreme exchange for Dorothy Golder Bliss. I'm not sure you got a bargain. Do you know what I love about these stories, though? I mean, it really is blood on the tracks, and I think that is what it's all about. And that's actually the nature of kitchen sink spirituality, is that you don't have to wear white. You don't have to be a yogi or a guru or have really high powered, lofty ideas. It's about, you know, the spirituality in all of us that emerges at various times in our lives. So do carry on with your story because it's absolutely rooting. So what happened then? Well, I ended up doing tarot in London. I did some readings in Greenwich Market, of all places. I did abysmally, really abysmally. I did get one of two people, but not many. And I met my second wife and we had a child and we got a mortgage and I wanted to sort of get out of the area of work I was in. I was working in the civil service, but so I trained in massage and reflexology. But to make money out of those things is quite difficult and we really couldn't afford me to do that. So I just sort of put all that on hold. And it stayed on hold for many years, that dream of being able to go out and work with holistic therapies and the tarot and various other things. Well, I know that you're quite well. Excuse me, take me front teeth out. I know that you're quite well versed in various spiritual philosophies and I hope to be able to talk about that in a moment. But what I really do want you to tell our listeners is how you two met, because it's really wonderful story. Well, Jackie probably tells most of it better than I do, but I will, I will. I will do the start of my end of the story and then pass over, if you like. Go on. My second wife died unexpectedly and I had a lot of grief to work through because my mom died the same year and I did a lot of work on that. I had quite a lot of healing from a lovely woman who was a shaman. She said as part of the healing process, I should enroll in an online dating site. I said, what? I was not keen on this idea at all. I really was not. Anyway, at the end of the treatments, I agreed that I would do this. So I did and it was fine. I sort of worked out the sort of partner I would like and all that sort of stuff. And I would meet up with people and they're absolutely terrified because I wasn't. I actually wanted someone my own age. I was in my 50s then, so I wanted somebody in their 50s. And of course, anybody who's single then has baggage like I did. And I thought, are there no woman out there who's prepared to just, you know, take a small risk? Apparently not. And after about the fourth one of this, I thought, hang on a moment, I've got all these scared women. Why am I attracting all these scared women? Could it be that I'm a tinsy wincy bit frightened? Well, scared scared. The High Evans myself. And the answer is, yes, terrified. Absolutely terrified. So I thought, okay, let's just drop all this. So a few months later, I sort of went up to St. James's where alternatives is. I didn't go there very often, Picked up this magazine. There was an advertisement for a Doreen Virtue angel course. And I thought, looked, and I thought, I'd like to do that. It was a lot of money. I had the money, but I'd never spent that sort of money on myself. Yeah, that's quite common. Yeah. Anyway, eventually I was prodded somehow or other, I don't know who, by somebody upstairs to spend the money. And I went on the engine. Aren't you glad you did in the end? I am extremely glad because you bagged yourself something rather special. I did, yeah, I did. And I met Jackie at a book signing queue. That's rather wonderful. So I think we're going to hear a little bit more about that after our next break. Hollywood Babes is a unique ladies wear boutique situated in Thorpe Broadway in South End on Sea. We carefully select all our lines and offer you only the very best in women's clothing. Here at Hollywood Babes, we ensure you look and feel the part, whether it is for a special occasion or loungewear. We can help you find that special something to make you feel a million dollars. So pop on down to Hollywood Babes, Thought Bay, Broadway, Essex and get ready to be styled. Today's giveaway will be two VIP theatre tickets to the productions playing at the wonderful German Street Theatre located just off Piccadilly in London's West End. It's free to enter and all the details are on our website, www.womensradiostation.com. competition page Women's radio station Voice of women's music Worldwide. The Soap Co is a social enterprise manufacturing soap in East London and in Keswick in the Lake district. 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So Jackie, what do you think about the story thus so far far? What's your take on it? Well, my take on it is much the same as Mark's. But I'd really embraced all this spiritual stuff that was being thrown at me. And my journey to that workshop was a little bit different in that I went to an angel workshop and during a meditation I had a very clear message that I had to go to this particular workshop with Doreen Virtue in London. And one of the issues I had was I really couldn't afford it. I had no money to spare, I was living on my own, you know, just getting by day to day really. But I had a very clear message that I had to go to this workshop and I vocalized that in the sharing afterwards and I thought, well, that's it, I've put it out there now. I've, I, I'm gonna go somehow. And I got home from that workshop and there on the doormat was a check, but just the right amount of money for me to pay for that workshop. So what do I do? You go at the workshop, I suppose. And, and I really wanted to see Doreen Virtue working and you know, I'd read a lot about her and, and I'd got some of her cards and I thought, oh, go on, let's, let's do this. So I paid my dues and off I went to the workshop. Had to book some accommodation in London which meant I had to find a little bit of money, but I actually got an amazing deal on that and, and got five nights for the price of three or something ridiculous. And it was only about 30 pound a night. So I toddled along to this workshop and I walk into this room and it's absolutely massive. So I set my sights on walking to the other side of the room which involved walking between rows of tables. And I got to the end of this particular row of tables and there was a lady sat there, so I asked her to push a chair in so I could get past. And as I'm doing this I thought, this is wrong, I shouldn't be walking past, I need to meet people. So I actually said, well, do you mind if I sit next to you? And she said, no, feel free, feel free. And we spent the first morning working in the workshop together. We managed to draw the same cards from the same decks. All those lovely synchronicities, absolutely amazing. And, and to cut a long story short, she's actually become a very, very good friend of both of us. Very special day. But I went off on this workshop and, and this strange man spoke to me in the book signing queue. He's not very strange anymore. Though, is he? Well, that's debatable, but he's no stranger. Let's put it like. Yeah, yeah. I just think that's such a wonderful story because romance isn't dead. And it just shows you, you know, how synchronicities. Those front teeth are mine again. How they work, how they operate in life, and they draw people together that need to be together. And I say need because you two now work together in the holistic field. And it's that I want to turn to now. I'd like you to tell us a bit about your work, because I think you do quite a lot of different things. I was very fortunate enough to attend your Shine youe Light seminar last year. And as far as I'm aware, that's still something that's ongoing and developing. We are planning another one this year in September. Yes. So start us off then with that. What's shining your light about? Basically, it's a series of mini workshops and speakers who try to help people find the light that's inside them, find their little spark, and encourage them to let that light shine. So in shining your light, you're helping other people in whatever form. And it's not just about therapists. It's anybody who works with people or deals with people, works with children, anything like that. It's just helping them find their light and giving them confidence to shine it. Can I just add to that? For me, it's about taking your power. It is safe for me to be powerful. A lot of people don't feel safe about being powerful because they think of power as something that's imposed on other people, power being over people. And we see a lot of that in the world today. The sort of power I'm talking about is a different kind of power. It's the power where you're actually doing. It's for your own highest good and for the highest good of everybody else around you. And it's based on love. And we need people to take their power and work on those principles. And unfortunately, a lot of people that are very loving for some reason don't seem to want to step up. And it's time they did, because we need them. We really do. We need. I think one thing you came up with at the Shine youe Light event we did last time that really struck a chord with me was you coined a phrase spiritual activism. And by golly, we need some of that right now. When you see what's happening in the world around us, I think. Yeah. And it's one of the things that I love about your work because I feel that it's a really fabulous vehicle for spiritual activism. Because I think part of spiritual activism is about looking at the semantics that we use, like power. And I've come across that myself, insofar as it's something that I've had to work on and about stepping into my own power. I find it a lot easier these days. Maybe it's come with age, I don't know. But I also think that it's a lot of. It's how we brought up. It's very cultural. We tend to associate the word power with tyranny or despotism and so on and so forth, and we never. It doesn't sit with our aesthetic vision of ourselves. So I think, you know, part of the work is encouraging people to see power as something that's like a life force that's natural. It's something that's a place that we're meant to be in. Absolutely. I think that we are so conditioned as children and as we grow up by society, by our parents and people around us, that we lose sight of that power. And it's not about being aggressive. It's. It's about you can be powerful without being aggressive. And. And you can have a powerful healing, for instance. And it's nothing that's been done to you. It's just the way it works within you. And I. Yeah, I'm not very good at expressing myself in words sometimes. And. And that's something I'm having to learn is. Is standing in my power to. Because by standing in my power and speaking my truth, I can help other people find their power and speak their truth. Fabulous. Because speaking your truth is really, really important. Because I don't think any of us really do. Too much conditioning, indeed. That's a whole different conversation, I think. Absolutely. So we're getting back to this. Shine your light. So you. We associate light with power. Then if somebody's bringing light to the table, they're bringing power to the table. Can I just say what I think? By the light. There's a wonderful thing in the Kabbalah, just Jewish mysticism originally, which is that when God created people, there was a little spark of God that went into them, which was their soul or spirit. And that light, for me, is your spirit. And by actually coming into your power, you're actually owning who you are and revealing who you are. You're being authentic. You're allowing your spirit to shine forth here on earth. And that's, for me, what it's about. There's a wonderful thing in the New Testament where Jesus says, don't hide your light under a bushel, don't hide your light. Bring it out and it's only one candle. Dispels darkness. You don't need much of it. That sounds very roomy esque, but I think all the, all the religions and philosophies kind of work from that kind of sentiment. And I'm very familiar with that Kabbalistic thread. You know, this idea of being, of God being so omniscient and so omnipotent that he was a bit of a dysfunctional personality. So in order to know of himself, herself or itself which, however you perceive it, he sent forward little shards of light which were us so that we could reflect the Godhead back. And it's a case of the sake of self to share or the sake of self alone. And on that note, we're going to another break sale sale sale at Queenstyle furniture. Up to 50% off all our furniture styles. We've got new styles, styles and traditional styles, Italian styles and German styles, Styles for your living room or styles for your bedroom, dining table styles or a variety of lighting styles. Queen style furniture, Uxbridge Road, South Hall. We've got style. Ready for a challenge then take on the pink ribbon walk for breast cancer care. Coming to Oxfordshire and Essex this summer, we've got everything covered from snacks along the route to a massage and medal when you cross the finish line. And while we support you with every step, you'll be doing something special to support the thousands of people going through one of the toughest challenges they'll ever face. Breast cancer. Visit breastcancercare.org.uk Walk Adam and Alice London are a British luxury fashion label offering timeless collections for bold and beautiful women at affordable prices. Enter the giveaway lucky draw for a chance to win a fabulous silk dress made from pure silk crepe, fully lined with digital printed silk and handcrafted details. Worth 475 pound. Available in two colours, Mazarine Blue and pastel. See the dress and enter our competition on the giveaway page on womensradiostation.com hello, my name's Jacqueline Clarke, I'm a therapist. I work in the field of mental health as a counsellor, hypnotherapist and life coach. 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So, guys, I know that you've got lots of different skills and talents under your belt, but I know that you work with various healing modalities. Can you tell us a little bit about them and what is healing? Let's start off with that. Okay, well, the first question, what is healing? We both practice and teach USUI Reiki and Angelic Reiki. Now they are both energy healing, but they're slightly different modalities. The word Reiki literally means a spiritual life force energy. And the idea is that the healer will channel. It's based on the principle that the healer will channel energy into the recipient by means of touch. So it's a very gentle, hands on approach. There's no massage or anything involved. And basically what we're doing is working and activating the natural healing processes that are all already within the body to restore physical and emotional well being. With USUI Reiki, then we are, if you like, connected to Source, the universe, divine healing, whatever you want to call it. With Angelic Reiki, it works slightly differently. It's a higher vibration energy. So the, the therapist will act as a, if you like, a transformer between the angel energy and the recipient. So basically one is working with universal life force energy and the other one is being channeled direct from the angels, who of course have an even better connection to Source than we do. They're a bit closer. They are anti vibration. Okay, so this sounds very intriguing. So what's usui, what does that mean? Well, it's named after the man who had the vision that created modern day Reiki, a Mr. Usui who went up on a mountain, had a vision quest and received the Reiki symbols and instructions on how to use them. And he then set up teaching in Tokyo. And from there it sort of spread through the west via Hawaii and also through Japan to other parts of the world. So that's why it's called Yasui Reiki, because it's based very much on what he originally found and taught, but because it's something that's happened through revelation, every now and then somebody has a bright idea and has another revelation. So there are lots and lots of different streams of Reiki these days. There must be at least 30 or more. Can I just go back to the Angelic very briefly? The Angelic is very interesting because when we teach people this, we connect them with a healing angel that works with them. And that healing angel can pull in other beings of light and love to also add their healing energy to the client that's come to see you. So you can pull in the ascended masters, people like Jesus Christ, for example, various others. There's an enormous range of energies that's available. It's almost like a structured way of exploring the spiritual universe, but via the healing medium. And you're not doing anything. You're just acting as a channel for these beings to send healing through the angel and through you into the client. Marvelous. I just want to unpack some of that for some of our listeners who may not be familiar with what Reiki is. So, say, for example, I came to one of your classes. Can anyone learn Reiki? Absolutely. Yes. Anybody can become a healer if they've a mind to. They just have to have an open mind and a willingness to learn and to try things. And what we have to remember is this is a long history. Before Reiki, people were healing with touch, people healing with spiritual energy. This is just a latest development of it, if you like. It's something that's been around for, well, probably since human beings first came into being. Now, this may be a crass question, but does it work? Absolutely, absolutely. Have you found this yourself? When somebody comes to us for a treatment for USUI Reiki, for instance, the treatment would be an hour long, and people can come along with anxiety. They come and they relax while they're with us, which helps them deal with the anxieties inside. And more often than not, actually, when we're giving a treatment, the recipient will fall asleep, which gives the body a chance to heal if they've come with pain. We get quite a lot of people with sort of backache or arthritis pain and things like that. And of course, when you're relaxed, the endorphins is. It build up and it relieves the pain. Now, that's interesting, that kind of link to the endocrine system with healing. And I think there may be a lot of truth in that. There might be, like, a dualistic thing going on insofar as that you've got this energy of light being transmitted to the client, which in turn, knowing that that's happening to them raises their serotonin and endorphin levels. So you've got, like this double whammy which kind of incurs this healing process. That's really interesting. They've also got somebody who's Prepared to listen to them? Yeah. And prepared to give them the time and space to have that hour of total relaxation. And we may well incorporate something else in the session. It's not limited to an hour and it's not limited to Reiki. Right. Because if they're having issues in their life, we can give them a reading to give them some guidance. Okay, so let's, let's just have a look at that because we've got to remember that some people are listening to us probably haven't got a clue what a reading is or indeed what happens in a Reiki session. So say I come to you for some Reiki healing, what's going to happen to me? How do you do it? How do you perform a healing session? Well, we'd sit down, have a chat. We'd want a brief medical history and we would then give you a treatment. We've got a treatment cart. So you'd lie down on the couch and we would put on some relaxing music. Just get you to close your eyes. Usually within about 10 or 15 minutes, people are snoring, which is a great sign. You know you're doing your job. Because what you're doing is you go into a very deep, relaxed, meditative state. You take the client there with you. And in that deep, relaxed, meditative state, their own healing system can work. Because what happens in modern day life is many of us are very, very stressed. And when you're stressed, that's great for taking action, for fight or flight, but it's not so good for other things like digestion. It weakens your immune system, it lowers your sex drive. There's lots of things that being in that permanently stressed situation does that puts extra wear and tear on the body. So what you're doing is you're taking people and you're putting them into an environment where they're not stressed. It's like giving them a mini holiday. So they're on there and then they come out of it. They're in a very deep state of relaxation. They go off and then. And that will last for the healing will keep going for several days after that. When they come in, of course, we have this discussion. The treatments are always given fully clothed. So it's not like a massage where, you know, you would strip off and just be covered with a towel or a sheet or whatever. You're fully clothed. You don't have to take anything off if you don't want to. It'll work through blankets. So we'll make sure you're warm and comfortable. And we always talk to the clients as well and tell them what's going to happen. Yes. Before it happens. Do you kind of put your hand on the body or over the body? What? It works both ways, right? I prefer personally to work with gentle touch. Yeah. But if the client doesn't want that, that's fine. I can work above the body in. In the aura. Yeah. The energy will still work. And generally, with a USUI treatment, like Mark said, you'll be on the couch and. And I will place my hands gently at various points, starting with the head, and I might hover over the eyes or the ears and the throat, and I work my way down the body, spending a few minutes in each place. And it will literally be from head to toe. We work on the chakra centers, if you know what those are. If you don't know, it doesn't matter because we'll still work on them anyway. And it's just, you know, whatever is comfortable for the client. If we're giving an angelic Reiki treatment, it is done slightly differently. Generally, you will sit in a comfortable chair and just close your eyes, and we will put our hands on your shoulders. Oh, wow. But it's a much shorter treatment because it's a higher vibration energy. I see. But it's much the same. It's just, you may feel heat, you may feel coolness, you may feel tingling, you may feel nothing at all. It doesn't matter. It's still working. So I've heard that you work with symbols. Is this correct? Yeah. If you're working with USUI Reiki. Yes. You will, as a practitioner, know the symbols, and you work with those. They simply enhance the energy. There's one for what we call a power symbol, which will. If you're going for pain relief or something like that, it will help with that. The other one is a harmony symbol, so it will work with the emotional side of things. And the other one can be used for distant healing or for healing past hurts, or even it can be used for sending healing to future situations. Yeah, I'm a big fan of distant healing, I have to say. Exactly. Amazingly effective. You can send, if you're going to. As it is, but. Yeah, yeah. If you're going for an interview and you're getting really stressed about it, the therapist can actually send healing through you to that future situation which you download, if you like, at the time of your interview, and it will keep you calmer. Wow. So it's time now to go to another break. And after that, we shall be right Back with Mark and Jackie Thompson Women's Radio Station will give a voice to your brand. Advertise your product, services or goods on air with a package tailored to suit you. For more information visit womensradiostation.com hi, I'm Michelle Bartlett, the founder of Live Laugh Love Ladies Club. We're looking for ladies to link arms across the globe. This is a new vibrant brand connecting women socially. Our club members enjoy great food, fun and inspiring speakers whilst making friends in a room of all generations. If you're a social butterfly in the community, this fast growing franchise could be for you. If you would like to know more about stepping into our pink shoes then look at the business opportunity page on our website livelaughladies.club also@womensradiostation.com hi, I'm Hope Virgo with Stand Tall on Women's Radio Station. The programmer will be talking about mental health and eating disorders. 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Now, Reiki isn't a cure, but it can help ease symptoms and give people comfort and relief. And Reiki is actually very good for people who are about to pass. It will ease their passing. There's research on using it in PTSD and things like that. It's great for anxiety, it's great for pain management. So as it gets out into the Media more and into the medical world. The NHS does use Reiki occasionally now, then it will just develop from there, I feel. Do you know what kind of form this research has taken? I don't offhand. I have shared a couple of articles that I've picked up. I can't remember who they're from, but they are what are called double blind trials. But they're usually small groups. You know, a trial in terminal people is not likely to be a massive one, but I. I believe regulation is coming in to actually enhance the regulation of therapy and things like that. So, you know, as time goes on, we will get more and more research will come to the fore. I'm particularly interested in this bit about Reiki helping people transition at the point of death. Partly because of my own interests as a spiritualist medium and from my experience over the years, I have discovered that people get a lot of comfort in those final days or moments to have someone there offering prayer, petitioning, healing, so on and so forth. Yeah. And through those that being able to contact loved ones, the feedback has been that the healing process helped that transition. Why do you think that is? Well, it's a very peaceful, relaxing healing energy. It just helps people feel calmer. It deals with things like fear and anxiety. And there are times, because our culture is not always the best at supporting people when they're leaving this world through the process of death. And so there is a lot of anxiety that people have because they're going into the unknown and a lot of them fear it. And the energy is very calming, very peaceful. I think that's how it would help. I haven't actually done this myself. What I have seen, however, we had one person who came to us who wanted to be trained in Reiki, who was a very difficult student to start off with. He was all over the place and we did teach him and he came back a few months later to one of our Reiki shares and we were amazed at the difference in him and he sat down and said, yes, When I first came and saw you, I was bipolar and I was having some real issues at that stage. He's obviously still bipolar, but he's been doing his self healing every day and it's helped regulate the condition so he can live with it much better and he's much calmer. One of my friends has a disability, which, amongst other things, means that she's allergic to virtually every fruit and vegetable she doesn't have. Ten a day, five a day, by any matter of means. I think she can just about eat A small amount of lettuce and carrots, that's about it. And she has various disability, various parts of this condition that really affect her energy. And we taught her the Reiki and for her it helps her to manage her energy levels. It means she can stay in employment. She works for Al Jazeera television and it's quite a high pressure job that she's doing, booking in camera crews and all the rest of it. And she finds it helps lift her energy so that she can stay in employment, which I think is a wonderful thing. If it helps, it's got to be a wonderful thing. So when somebody comes to you, do you decide whether they have a new SUI treatment or an angelic treatment? We talk to them. And to be fair, some people don't believe in angels. And we would probably ascertain that before we started giving a treatment. We do a lot of coaching alongside the Reiki. So when people talk to us and tell us what's wrong, we try and get them to tell us what's really wrong. And it may be some people just the word angel is really freaky to them and they do not want to know. So we would then go with the USUI Reiki. But most people who come to us are pretty open minded and they'll listen, you know, in conversation and they'll hear what we say and then we just leave it up to them, really, and ask them what they want. If we haven't got much time with them, some people, you know, they've popped in from work and really don't have a lot of time. Then if possible we would go with an angelic healing. And because it's a much shorter process, I just want to move on a little bit now while we've still got some time. You guys studied with Louise Hay, am I right? No, not quite. But we did study to become Healing Life workshop leaders and spiritual coaches. Spiritual life coaches. Louise Hay is an amazing woman and quite well known, but she majored, I suppose, on the mind body connection. Her first sort of port of call was how the emotions in the mind affect your health. And she did amazing work with people suffering from AIDS in New York in the early 1980s when there were no treatments for AIDS and there was a lot of fear, particularly in the gay community. And she reached out to them and helped a lot of people. She was an amazing woman. She set up Hay House Publishing and it's become the largest publishing company for spiritual and self help and self development books in the world, probably now. It's absolutely amazing. Her Life story. But one of the people that we met, the person that we met that Jackie was talking about earlier at the angel workshop, she had done the training and she asked Jackie if she could help set up a workshop in the town where Jackie was then living. So she did and I went along and sue said to us, you can do this. And we thought, can we? And we looked at it and so we went and had the training for, with a lady called Patricia Crane, who Louise had commissioned to go and train people in her techniques around the world. And she goes around places like India, Saudi Arabia, the uk, Canada, all over the place, training people. And it's wonderful, wonderful work because what it really helps people to do is it helps people to identify the stuff that's holding them back. The negative, limiting beliefs. Stuff like, I'm no good, I don't deserve this, I'm unlovable, unworthy, nobody wants me. All those things we feel in the dark night of the soul or in the middle of the night and helps you to get rid of them and replace them with much more positive things. It teaches people how to love themselves more effectively. She was a great believer that virtually all of the world's issues and health issues came down ultimately, when you go back far enough to a lack of love. So put very simply, her work is about helping people to love themselves better. And that's great. Yeah, I've got to say that I've got a lot of respect for that lady. I mean, she transitioned last year at the grand old age of 90. That's right, something like that. And I think she's probably going to go down in the annals of time as being one of the greats. Certainly. I have a couple of her books on my shelf and have been a go to in the past because in actual fact, it's very intriguing, her work, this whole mind, body connection. And I know from my own experience where I've been served a couple of curveballs health wise, that I can actually see how the mind has either created or interfered with the healing. And I think that she, she, I mean, she had nearly every illness known to mankind in, in her book, where it might have come from as a, as a, as a source. And I love this work that she does on language. So what do you do with her work now? You're taking the ball and you're running with it and what you're doing with it? Well, we're running a two day workshop towards the end of April and what that will do is, well, briefly outline the philosophy, then we'll get people to work with each other and they will identify the things that the people that they still have negative emotions towards. So it helped them to release and deal better with those difficult kind of emotions like guilt, shame, fear and hate, you know, all those. And anger, those things. And also it'll just help to identify the limiting beliefs I was talking about early earlier. You know, the fact that you don't feel loved, you're not worthy, you don't deserve, you're not good enough. Because you know, when I say, I say to students, you can't help people. You can only love people because it's only love is real. And I sincerely believe that love is the greatest power that. Look you, you guys are doing some great work. So before we sign off from our show, can you tell people where they can find you? I would love to come to your, your weekend workshop. It sounds absolutely fantastic. And if you know, and I would really encourage our listeners to come along. So where can people find out more about you? Okay, well, we're on Facebook, Reiki Healing London. Life loves you. Love yourself. We have a website, reikihealinglondon.uk that's without a co. That's just.uk we're on the phone. Our pictures are all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, website. Website is reikihealinglondon.uk okay. And there's links on that to everything else that we do. Marvelous. We have phone numbers and emails as well, so people can get into it. She's quite ready and easily find you, it seems. Yes. Mark and Jackie Thompson, it's been absolutely wonderful chatting to you and I'm sure that our listeners will have found it of great interest and I hope they're enthusiastic about your work as I am. Thank you very much for coming in. Thank you for having us.