I went to see a Kung Fu Master this week for an energy healing sessions.
I had no desire or plan to go.
I don’t go to healing sessions often. I’ve chose to learn modalities myself and am really particular, guarded even and often weary of trying new healers when it is not a tradition I am myself acquainted with.
The Universe knows this about me and obviously sent me exactly this, that I’ve been avoiding. Being loving and gentle, it came to me in the form of an invitation from a loving friend. An extra slot had opened up and she invited me to go with her. I sat with this invitation for a few moments, and when I tuned-in, I found no red flags and no reason not to go. So, I said yes.
As if daring me to trust, there was no information on what occurred in this session and what I could expect.
My mind tried it’s best to prepare me through the uncertainty and vagueness of this session by flashing scenes from shows and movies like a montage.
Scenes included, but we not limited to Master Yoda teaching Luke, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe learning their new skill, General Iroh and Sifu Katara instructing Zuko and Aang in the ways of bending elements, Mr. Miyagi’s wax on-wax off, Sensei Splinter and his turtles…. you get the idea. I watched Marco Polo last year, and I remembered this line spoken by 1000 Eyes, a blind Master as he explain Kung Fu to a foreigner trying to learn:
‘It is supreme skill from hard work.
You possess none.’
I knew I wasn’t going for a martial arts lesson, but the mind is imaginative as it is wild. I immediately felt unprepared because I am not one with discipline; it is like the feeling I used to get walking into class having completely forgotten that there would be a test today.
I had never before been in the presence of a Master, and I knew and felt that this was a big thing. I felt unsettled because I didn’t want parts of myself to be revealed that I was happily in denial of. I also wasn’t sure what I would blurt out and what the Master would see in me.
We sometimes seek approval in the oddest ways, don’t we. Some external authority telling us we are okay and giving us thumbs up to prove that we are in fact on the right path. This is certainly true when we feel our paths are a bit different that those of our culture and family.
Eventually, I settled myself and when morning came, I had to settle myself even more.
During my morning prayers, I wondered what to expect and which one of my many problems I should list first for this Master to heal and how I should show up to this 30-min session.
When my mind finally did quieten, I heard from within:
Let the Master meet the Master within.
Well that answers that question then… not!
As I puttered around getting ready to leave, I didn’t have a lot of thoughts, which is definitely odd for me. My friend picked me up and we drove up, arriving on the dot of our appointed time.
The place was not fancy. It was functional, basic and up to the walls with acupuncture diagrams and traditional medicines. I loved it so much!
As we waited, I noticed how relaxed I felt. I have so many guards up normally, especially in waiting rooms of people who call themselves Healers.
I realized that perhaps some of my past experiences with Healers came from a mistrust in self. I often felt unsafe, vulnerable susceptible of becoming dependent on Healers. Even when I had good experiences, I would often place the Healer on a pedestal from which their fall was terrible and inevitable. That deepened my mistrust.
I would still go and see them, especially if they were highly recommended, but I would on guard with walls up.
But this time, as I sat and waited. There were no guards and no thoughts in particular. I just looked around taking in the physical space, like a child in a new room.
Master & Medicine
The Master popped out. He spoke quickly. Some alignment and patience was needed on my part as there was a slight language and understanding issue. He ushered me into a room for ’The Healing’.
He asked some questions. I answered. I have no recollection of what exactly was said, but it was hilarious. We both laughed loudly and thought the other was very funny. He checked my energy and pulse and noted I was in good health with no problems.
Then I remembered my list of problems that he was supposed to be solving.
I started telling him about them, prioritizing my list in my mind.
He put his hand up, stopping me mid-sentence and said ’These are not problems’, and continued with his assessment.
I really wanted to be offended, but in all honesty, it was funny.
It was funny because he was right.
That turned out to me the potent medicine I needed that day.
The brilliance of being in the presence of a Master, is that you cannot bullshit them and so cycling through your own self-created crap is also not possible.
I remember asking him how long he had done this healing work in addition to teaching the Kung Fu discipline. He smiled, broadly and without looking at me said:
‘Work? This is not work. This is fun!’
I released more than I expected to, and gained way beyond what I imagined. More importantly, I laughed and he laughed and we both had fun.
Since the whole place was small and not very private, I heard him later on with other patients where he did not stop them from listing their problems. Likely, because they were actually going through the things they were listing.
We know the quote: “laughter is the best medicine”
Had it not been for this experience, I wouldn’t have known the magnificence and ineffable truth of that statement.
Earlier in the day when I heard that phrase:
Let the Master meet the Master within; I didn’t know what it meant.
At the session, as we talked and laughed easily, I learned that I can actually get out of my way, engage with the session and receive what I actually needed without even naming it specifically. That, when allowed myself, I could take a step towards showing up to a session like this differently and letting a new and previously walled part of me come through.
Maybe it takes someone in true Mastery to evoke that in us.
Maybe it takes a person who allows vibrant life force to flow through them because it is truly fun and incredible, rather than someone fixated on healing you.
Maybe it takes humour to release the seriousness and rigidity of our being.
For the first time, I understood the sentiment and action of bowing to a Master.
In Yoga, we bow to the Guru all the time.
I had done so myself millions of times.
You bow to the Guru within and the Guru without.
I knew this intellectually and yet, in all the millions of times, I never allowed the profound resonance of that to ring through my Being.
Why do we bow to the Master
?
Perhaps because we feel they are greater or better than us.
Or, because they have more knowledge and can heal us or teach us.
That’s all probably true.
To me, it is because, we are meeting the Master within ourselves for the first time.
The Master outside is a person on our journey with a genuine disarming innocent smile, who has been kind enough to show us that such a thing exists within.
A Note on Finding Healers:
Energy medicine comes in many different forms and formats through many great and powerful healers. I count myself blessed to know and work with a few of them.
Please use your intuition and intellect when choosing a Healer and Healing modality.
It is a thing of grace to be open, vulnerable and receptive while also being discerning, in your own power and strong to our truths.
I wish you Mastery in your journey.