R & R: Reiki and Rock Climbing

I initially wanted to talk with Joe about rock climbing but while we were on the ground in between climbing routes and I was doing a little acupressure on Patti, I found out that Joe is a Reiki practitioner and I ended up talking with Joe about R & R: rock climbing and Reiki.


‘Drea: So, tell me about Reiki. What drew you to Reiki?

Joe: A couple of different things. I’ve always wondered about what was really happening in all those stories in the Bible with Jesus healing people and Reiki seemed like an intriguing possible framework for understanding Jesus’ healing and, also, I just enjoy learning about different kinds of ways of looking at how different human beings can care for each other or help each other and so that healing energy concept was really fascinating to me.

‘Drea: Did you have a Reiki treatment before…?

Joe: Not really -- not until I was actually going through the process myself. And part of it was, it was described to me as something you kind of -- you need to just experience it to get it... It seemed like a no lose situation. You can try it out and it might not really be your thing or you can try it out and find that it is nice and then you can practice it.

‘Drea: And what level are you at?

Joe: I'm just level one.

‘Drea: Do you plan on going any further with it?

Joe: I’m hoping for that. I’m just not sure…There are so many things that I’m interested in and I’m not sure if that’s the one that I want to create that space and spend that money and time on.

‘Drea: And what else are you interested in? Number one?

Joe: I’m kind of interested in everything but, like I was saying before, I’m really into that Integral Life Practice – the framework for understanding all of the insights into humanity and then practicing and developing as human beings and kind of creating a new paradigm for organized religion and I’m really interested in nature and spending more time in nature and learning about nature, especially trees. I love trees. I love reading literature. I love reading poetry. I love listening to new music. I like listening to old favorites, writing music, playing guitar, playing the drums and singing...

‘Drea: I didn’t know you were a guitar player.

Joe: I’m not very good at guitar but I’m working on it.

‘Drea: There’s always room for improvement. Are you self-taught?

Joe: Yeah.

‘Drea: So, who are some of your favorite musicians?

Joe:...The Beatles but I like a wide variety of music. I really enjoy classical music and I enjoy jazz.

‘Drea: What about literature? Poets?

Joe: For poetry, I particularly like Wilke and Wallace Stevens and, actually, one of our friends, Anthony Carelli, is writing poetry right now. He’s just coming out with a book in the spring and I think he’s an incredibly gifted poet in addition to being a really wonderful human being so I can’t wait to see his book and I hope that it really does well.

‘Drea: Favorite poem? Hard to pick one?

Joe: It’s hard to pick one, yeah, but most recently I really was enjoying the poem that a couple picked for having it read at their wedding. It ends with “Wing to wing and oar to oar…” I’m trying to remember – The Master Speed by Robert Frost…That was beautiful.

‘Drea: Your favorite book? Or, one of your favorite books?

Joe: I like a lot of different authors and a lot of different subjects and stuff. I keep coming back to – I just plain enjoy Huckleberry Finn and I enjoy it as a metaphor for all kinds of human experiences...

‘Drea: What’s your favorite place to climb?

Joe: Wherever the heck I can…(laughter) I’ve been climbing trees in Tower Grove Park and that’s been really fun.

‘Drea: Cool…



Wild Moves On The Rock, Part I