Reiki, Hypnosis and Dementia... does it work?

For as long as I can remember, I've been curious about the mind and why people do the things that they do. I often asked the question to myself, "why are some people wealthy and others not so wealthy?"

My family, we were blue collar, not financially wealthy at all. However, my siblings and I all went to a private Catholic school. Our Aunt Jay helped pay for our education, she felt it was very important that we learned how to be good Catholics.

The school we attended is where all the rich kids went. All the State Senator's kids. Some were really nice and others were snots toward the kids who were not as well off as their families. I've actually formed some of my political views early on in my life based on who was a shit head and who wasn't.

We lived near the public library. My sister Ann taught me how to write my name when I was 3 so that I could get a library card. It's my earliest memory, writing my very long name all around the little 3 x 5 index card that would go into a big antique file cabinet. It was an exciting day. I don't remember the librarian's name now, it's been a very long time, but I remember her face. I remember her dark curly hair and big smile when I was able to write my long last name. Ahhhh, a library card... Yay! Now I needed a purse.

I was about 8 when I checked out a book, "How the Brain Works." I didn't understand it, but I tried. I wanted to understand how the brain worked, I was passionate about the brain. I wanted answers. I wanted to understand life better and why some kids sucked and others were awesome.

Fortunately for my mom, my obsession with the brain led me down alternative paths.

Years ago I told my mom that I wanted to find a Reiki Master to teach me Reiki. I had no idea where to look for a good one, someone who was good at attunements, someone who believed in the power of Chi... internal life force energy.

My mom lived with me in a house that I had bought 11 years ago, long before I knew my husband. There was a Senior Center around the corner that she used to visit.

One day she went to the Senior Center. I worked from home at the time. She came home from the Center about an hour later all excited. She yelled up the stairs where my office was and said, "Susie, come down here. I have to tell you about this lady named Ricky."

I had no idea what she was talking about. I came downstairs and saw her face. It was bright. Her cheeks were rosy. She began to tell me about Ricky and how she made her 3rd Eye open up, that she saw a light a bright light that was beautiful. She felt relaxed, totally relaxed.

My mom handed me the woman's card. She was a Reiki Master. I called Celia and set up an appointment where I could have her give me a Reiki session, my first one ever.

Celia did attune me to Reiki Master status. It was like being a fish in a huge ocean. The world appeared vast, I needed more. I love Reiki energy, God energy, Universal Love Energy... it's all the same regardless of what people call it. All I know is that when I give Reiki I get Reiki - the energy is freakin amazing.

My mom loved it when I was in training. I gave her Reiki. She'd later tell me that she would feel more than my hands on her, healing her. The Universal Forces flowed through me and my mom sucked it up.

Never happy to not learn something new, or improve on an old idea, I was given an opportunity to learn Clinical Hypnotherapy by Dr. Donald Schnell.

So many years after my initial fascination with the brain, I was finally provided a new road to travel to search for the answer to my childhood question. How does the brain work?

Hypnosis is amazing. What I've learned is that the human mind is extremely suggestible. People are mesmerized every day, every minute. Folks who say, "oh, I can't be hypnotized." My reply, "oh ya? Suggestions are being thrown your way constantly."

Next time you are out buying something, especially a food item, ask yourself why you are buying it? It's really crap and not food at all. It's designed to make you enroll in the prescription subscription plan. When you pay attention, you can spot the manipulation on TV, the key is to be aware.

The news media can get masses of people believing what they say. Repetition and the methods of delivery easily manipulate the minds of people. People become sheep, where their master becomes the mighty TV. It's all an illusion, a narcissistic ploy to use people against themselves.

The subconscious mind is extremely powerful. It's our greatest tool to achieve everything, even those things that are deemed "impossible" can be achieved using the power of the mind.

Does a combination of Reiki, Hypnosis, Nutrition and Exercise help to alleviate the frustration and fright for people with Dementia?

I believe it does. I've only been using all 4 of these techniques with my mom for a few days. I do know that the one night I skipped her Reiki and Hypnosis session as she was drifting off to sleep, it was a rough night of hallucinations and sleep walking for her.

I'm learning that the human touch is very important for folks like my mom. She responds well. The suggestions that I make are comforting. I listen to what she says during the day. I listen for things that are bothering her. At night, I make suggestions to put her mind at ease, to take away the fear so that it doesn't cause her to freak in the middle of the night.

Today, I had a bright idea. I thought I'd have my mom take a nice warm bath with bath salts. I turned her bathroom into a mini-spa. She loved the soak in the tub. She smiled and told me that she could get used to it... that I was spoiling her.

Not sure we'll do a bath again anytime soon. Getting her out was tough. Especially with my mom laughing so hard that she didn't have the strength to grab onto the bars. She told me, "you better get help." I said, "no one here to help." That's when I lifted her out of the tub, with her laughing like a hyena.