Therapy in Various Forms

I spent Wednesday in two different, but equally interesting and exciting (to me anyway), forms of therapy. The first is one I've done for years. You see, I spent the entire day cooking. The entire day. Technically I had started the night before, having made the first of three lasagnas. Then on Wednesday I made the other two... tons of angel hair pasta with homemade pesto... sauteed zucchini and summer squash with cheese... and chicken picatta. Which, incidentally, did not turn out as well as it usually does; this is the first time I've tried to do it in bulk, and, well... bad idea. At least without more practice. The occasion? Really... nothing. I mean, we were going to have a luncheon at work, and one of my coworkers had the responsibility for it thrust upon him. I had been looking for an excuse to cook like that for a while anyway, so I told him to just bring salad and garlic bread, and we'd be fine. And then spent all day cooking. By the time the last dish was washed and the counter wiped at my friend's hijacked kitchen, it was 2 a.m. But it was worth it, because for me, cooking is therapy. There's something about working with your hands, and working with all your senses - does the sauce smell right, does the cheese look melted and browned as it should, can you taste the fresh basil and garlic, does the consistency of the sauce feel right as you stir... and do you hear the silence as people are too busy eating to talk? A good meal, well prepared and served with love, is its own reward.

In the midst of the cooking, I also had the chance for the second form of therapy. First, let me back up and say that I commandeered a good friend's kitchen to do all this, and she had another houseguest as well at the time. And so it was that, during a much-needed break, I gave her other guest a Reiki treatment. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-reiki.htm) Now, when my sister, an accomplished practitioner herself, first taught me to do it, she actually taught me how to do it without the laying-on-of-hands part, which is actually the only part of Reiki that many people even know about. She later sent me a book, though, that also goes over the hand positions and such. Still, I had never actually given a treatment like that before. So. This friend-of-my-friend, we'll call him Todd, was actually in town as part of a circuitous trip that included medical appointments for his bad back. Knowing that he had at least one serious health issue, I had offered to do the treatment. I warned him that I was new to that part of the treatment, and he promised to bear with me. We went through the cycle, probably faster than I should have, but the more I practice the better I will be. The odd thing was, I think in giving him the treatment, it actually did some good and some healing for me. Now, I shouldn't be surprised over that, it's not a rare experience within the practice of this particular art, but I was surprised at how easy it was, how quickly I took to it. I even managed to identify a health issue about which he had not spoken (and which he initially denied because Mr. Precision claims I asked the question wrong LOL). But overall, the whole experience was peaceful and cleansing for me, and I got positive feedback from him as well. I plan to continue the treatment in its long-distance form, and hopefully it will do him some measure of good.

Meantime, I spent a long day and am now pleasantly exhausted. On one scale of measurement, I didn't get a whole lot accomplished in that time. On another... well, on another it was a very productive day indeed, and I couldn't be more content. Even if I could stand to be more awake.