Maidstone School of Complementary Therapy

16/08/2026

10/08/2026

Energy Care For Low Days: Reiki And Emotional Healing:

Everyone experiences difficult days. Times when motivation feels low, emotions feel heavier than usual, and even simple tasks require extra effort. For those living with depression, these low days can feel especially challenging, bringing feelings of exhaustion, disconnection, sadness, or emotional overwhelm. During these moments, selfcare is not about forcing positivity or ignoring difficult emotions, instead, it can be about offering ourselves kindness, patience, and support. Reiki is one complementary practice that many people turn to as a way of creating space for relaxation, emotional care, and gentle restoration.

Understanding Emotional Healing
Emotional healing is the process of recognising, accepting, and caring for our emotional experiences. It does not mean eliminating difficult feelings or moving through challenges quickly. Instead, it involves developing a compassionate relationship with ourselves and allowing emotions to be acknowledged without judgement.
Depression can often leave people feeling disconnected from themselves. It may create a sense of emotional heaviness, where joy feels distant and everyday activities become overwhelming. Emotional healing focuses on rebuilding a sense of connection, self-awareness, and inner support. Small moments of care, rest, reflection, connection, and relaxation, can become meaningful steps towards emotional balance.

Reiki as a Form of Energy Care
Reiki is a Japanese healing practice developed in the early 20th century by Mikao Usui. It is based on the traditional belief that life energy flows through all living beings and that supporting this energy may encourage balance and wellbeing.

Reiki focuses on creating a peaceful environment where deep relaxation can occur. Many people describe reiki sessions as calming and restorative. Some report sensations of warmth, comfort, or emotional release, while others simply appreciate the opportunity to pause and rest.

Finding Support During Low Days
Low days often come with an inner pressure to push through or return to normal as quickly as possible. Reiki offers a different approach; allowing space for rest and compassion. For some individuals, a reiki session can provide:
• A Safe Space to Slow Down: Modern life often leaves little time for stillness. A reiki session creates intentional space away from daily demands, allowing the mind and body to settle. This quiet time can be particularly valuable for people experiencing emotional fatigue, as it provides permission to rest without expectations.
• Relaxation During Times of Stress: Stress and emotional strain can affect the body as well as the mind. Tension, disrupted sleep, and feelings of being constantly overwhelmed are common experiences during difficult periods. By encouraging relaxation, reiki may help some people feel calmer and more grounded.
• Emotional Awareness and Reflection: Healing does not always happen through action. Sometimes it begins with awareness, and recognising what we are feeling and understanding what we need. The stillness of a reiki session may encourage people to reconnect with their emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations in a gentle way.
• A Sense of Comfort and Support: Feeling cared for can be an important part of emotional wellbeing. Reiki offers a compassionate setting where individuals can receive support without needing to explain or justify their feelings. For some, this experience can help reduce feelings of isolation and encourage a greater sense of self-compassion.
• Reiki and the Mind-Body Connection: Emotional experiences are closely connected to the body. Depression and prolonged stress can influence sleep, energy levels, muscle tension, appetite, and overall physical comfort.

Reiki reflects a holistic approach by recognising that emotional and physical wellbeing are interconnected. Taking time to relax and reconnect with the body may support healthier selfcare habits and greater awareness of personal needs.

The Importance of Compassion on Difficult Days
Low days are part of the human experience, but they can feel especially heavy for those managing depression. During these times, compassion can be one of the most valuable forms of care. Compassion means recognising that struggles are real while still offering kindness and support. It means allowing space for difficult emotions without judgement and remembering that healing is often a gradual process. Reiki can be a gentle reminder to slow down, reconnect, and offer ourselves the same care we would offer someone else.

Important Considerations
Energy care through reiki provides many people with a peaceful opportunity to relax, reflect, and reconnect with themselves. While it is not a replacement for medical or psychological treatment, it may offer meaningful support as part of a wider approach to emotional wellbeing.

On difficult days, healing does not always need to mean making big changes. Sometimes it begins with something simple like creating a moment of calm, allowing yourself to rest, and receiving support with compassion. Reiki offers one such moment; a gentle space to pause, restore, and care for yourself through life's heavier seasons.

15/06/2026

Reiki Shower Energy Cleansing:

A reiki shower is a visualisation-based practice that blends principles from reiki with the everyday act of showering. Instead of relying only on physical water, the practitioner imagines healing energy flowing through and around the body, much like a cleansing shower. This is believed in reiki traditions to help clear stagnant energy, restore balance, and support emotional wellbeing.

Reiki itself originates from the early 20th-century Japanese teachings of Mikao Usui. While interpretations vary across practitioners, the reiki shower is commonly used as a simple selfcare or grounding technique.

At its core, a reiki shower combines two ideas:

• The physical cleansing of water.
• The imagined flow of healing or universal energy.

During the practice, water or visualised light is thought to wash away emotional heaviness, stress, or stagnant energy, leaving the person feeling clearer and more balanced. Whether viewed spiritually or symbolically, it functions as a structured relaxation ritual.

Potential benefits include:

• Deep relaxation: The combination of slow breathing, warm water (or guided visualisation), and focused attention can calm the nervous system and reduce physical tension.
• Emotional release: A reiki shower is often used as a symbolic way to let go of stress, frustration, or emotional overwhelm, creating a sense of mental reset.
• Sense of energetic cleansing: Within reiki traditions, water is seen as a carrier that helps wash away dense or stagnant energy from the body and aura.
• Improved mindfulness and clarity: Focusing attention on imagery or intention encourages presence in the moment, which may reduce mental clutter and improve clarity.
• Support for reiki practice: Reiki practitioners sometimes use this technique before or after sessions to centre themselves and maintain a sense of energetic balance.

How to Do a Simple Reiki Shower (Visualisation Method):

A reiki shower does not require physical water. It can be done anywhere as a short guided visualisation:

• Sit or stand comfortably and take a few slow breaths.
• Imagine a bright healing light above your head.
• Visualise it flowing down through your body like a gentle waterfall.
• Picture it carrying away stress, tension, or heaviness.
• Continue for 3–5 minutes while breathing slowly and steadily.

The practice is often used as a quick mental reset during stressful moments.

The Physical Reiki Shower:

Some people also apply reiki principles during an actual shower. In this version, warm water is combined with intention and visualisation to enhance relaxation and emotional cleansing. While showering, a person may:

• Set an intention such as feeling renewed or emotionally clear.
• Imagine the water carrying away stress or negativity.
• Focus on the sensation of warmth and flow over the body.

This turns a routine activity into a mindful, restorative ritual.

Some practitioners add small sensory elements to deepen the experience, such as:

• Aromatherapy, such as, lavender or eucalyptus.
• Sea salt scrubs for symbolic cleansing.
• Slow breathing or quiet reflection.
• Gratitude or intention-setting before finishing.

Walking in the Rain as a Reiki-Inspired Practice:

In a reiki-inspired rain walk, rain is seen symbolically as a cleansing force. Instead of focusing only on getting wet, the experience is reframed as:

• Water washing over the body like an energetic cleanse.
• Each drop representing renewal or release.
• Movement through space combining physical and emotional clearing.

This creates a simple but structured way to turn an ordinary walk into a reflective or grounding practice.

Potential benefits include:

• Emotional release and stress relief: Walking in rain can feel cathartic on its own. When combined with intentional visualisation, it may support the feeling of letting go of stress, tension, or emotional weight.
• Heightened mindfulness: Rain naturally draws attention to sensation; sound, temperature, rhythm, and movement. This makes it easier to stay present and grounded in the moment.
• Sense of renewal: The imagery of being ‘washed clean’ by rain can create a symbolic reset, especially after a difficult day or period of stress.
• Nervous system calming: The steady sound of rainfall and rhythmic walking can have a soothing effect, similar to other repetitive natural environments.
• Connection with nature: For some, intentionally engaging with rain can strengthen feelings of connection to the natural world and its cycles.

This practice is simple and flexible, requiring no formal technique:

• Step outside in light or moderate rain, dressed comfortably and safely.
• Begin walking at a relaxed pace, focusing on your breathing.
• Imagine the rain as soft, cleansing energy flowing over your body.
• Visualise it washing away stress, tension, or mental clutter.
• With each step, reinforce an intention such as calm, clarity, or release.
• Stay present with the sensation of rain, sound, and movement.

The goal is not control, but awareness, allowing the experience to feel like a moving meditation.

While symbolic and meditative in nature, a rain walk is still a physical activity. It is important to consider:

• Appropriate clothing and footwear to avoid slipping or getting cold.
• Avoiding severe weather conditions, such as, storms or heavy wind.
• Respecting personal comfort levels with cold or wet environments.

The practice should feel supportive rather than uncomfortable or forced.

A reiki-inspired rain walk transforms an ordinary moment into a reflective and grounding practice. By combining movement, rain, and intention, it offers a simple way to reset emotionally and mentally while engaging with the natural world.

Ultimately, its value lies in how it shifts attention, away from internal noise and toward the steady, cleansing rhythm of rain and breath.

A reiki shower, whether visualised, in the shower, or on a rain walk, is best understood as a mindfulness and relaxation technique inspired by reiki principles. It combines intention, imagery, and sensory awareness to create a calming mental reset.

For many people, its value lies not in measurable energy shifts, but in the simple and effective experience of slowing down, releasing stress, and feeling more grounded in the moment.

With grounded power and cosmic grace, blessed be.

12/04/2026

Thinking of adding to your massage treatment? This is a fantastic technique! Indian Head Massage is a great add-on for massage therapists because:
• Quick & versatile: Can be done laying down, seated, clothed, and in shorter sessions.
• High demand: Popular for stress relief, headaches, and desk-related tension.
• Minimal equipment: Easy to offer in clinics, events, or mobile settings.
• Boosts revenue: Simple way to expand your service menu.
• Complements other work: Pairs well with full-body or relaxation treatments.

07/04/2026

Finding Calm: Reiki Meditation For Depression:

A reiki meditation ritual blends gentle mindfulness with the energy-healing principles of reiki, and it is typically calm, simple, and focused on awareness, intention, and relaxation, rather than anything elaborate or rigid. Reiki is a practice from Japan that is based on the idea of channelling the Universal Life Energy (often called ki).

Practicing reiki meditation to help with depression is not about fixing the condition, it is about giving your mind and body a state of calm, safety, and stillness that you may often struggle to reach on your own. In meditation form, it usually involves sitting or lying quietly, gentle breathing, placing hands on or near the body (or just resting them), and focusing attention on sensations, relaxation, or intention.

Even if you do not think in terms of energy, the practice works in very familiar ways:
• Mindfulness is bringing attention to the present moment.
• Body awareness is noticing physical sensations, which can ground you.
• Relaxation response causes a slowing of breathing and calming of the nervous system.
• Intention setting will gently guide your thoughts.

This can help with depression, without ‘fixing’ it, as it gives you a temporary sense of calm or relief, helps create a feeling of safety in your body, offers a break from constant negative thinking, and makes it easier to rest, breathe, and slow down. For someone with depression, even a few minutes of quiet, stillness, and reduced mental noise, can be meaningful.

The meditative, relaxing aspects of reiki are widely supported by research for improving mood and stress. So, you can think of it as a gentle, supportive, structured way to access calm. The benefits of reiki meditation includes:
• Slows everything down: Depression often comes with racing negative thoughts, mental fatigue, and emotional heaviness. Reiki meditation forces a pause where you focus on breathing and stillness, which interrupts that cycle, even briefly.
• Reduces rumination: A big part of depression is looping thoughts, so focusing on your breath, hands, and physical sensations, gives your brain something else to do. It does not erase thoughts, but it loosens their grip.
• Creates a form of self-soothing: Placing your hands on your body might seem simple, but it can trigger a calming response, make you feel more grounded, and reduce emotional numbness. It is a bit like giving your nervous system the signal that you are ok right now.
• Builds a gentle routine: Depression often disrupts structure. Even a small ritual gives your day a starting point or anchor, builds a sense of consistency and control, and creates a habit of checking in with yourself.
• Asks very little from you: When you are depressed, motivation is low. Reiki meditation works because no intense focus is required, no performance or success is needed, and you can do it even when you feel flat or tired.

A simple Reiki Meditation Ritual:
• Sit or lie down comfortably.
• Place your hands on your chest or stomach.
• Breathe slowly and deeply.
• Observe your body; warmth, pressure.
• Silently affirm, “I am safe right now.”
• Repeat for 5–10 minutes.

You can also adapt the ritual to meet yourself where you are:
• If stillness feels difficult, you can keep your eyes open or focus on a soft object.
• If your mind feels loud, you can count your breaths instead of using affirmations.
• If touch feels uncomfortable, simply rest your hands beside you and focus on the feeling of the surface supporting you.
• If 10 minutes feels like too much, even 1–2 minutes is enough to begin.
It can also help to link the practice to something you already do, like just after waking up or before going to sleep. This removes the pressure of ‘finding the right time,’ and makes it easier to become a gentle habit rather than another task.

Practicing reiki meditation for depression creates small moments of calm, control, and connection, which are the things that depression tends to take away. Even if it only helps a little, those small shifts can add up over time. You do not need to do it perfectly for it to help. What matters most is simply showing up to and being present in the moment, even if your mind is busy, your mood is low, or you feel disconnected. If your thoughts wander, if you feel nothing, or even if you feel uncomfortable at first, the practice is still working in subtle ways by creating space and slowing things down. Over time, you will notice small shifts, not necessarily a sudden lift in mood, but moments where your breathing feels easier, your body feels slightly less tense, or your thoughts feel a little less overwhelming. These are quiet changes, but they are meaningful. Depression often narrows your experience, and practices like this gently widen it again, even if only by a small degree at first.

At its core, this practice is less about energy or technique and more about giving yourself permission to pause, breathe, and exist without pressure for a few moments. In depression, that alone can be powerful.

Reiki meditation is intentionally forgiving. This means the practice is designed so you can not really do it wrong, and you are not expected to meet any strict standard while doing it. Many types of meditation can feel frustrating because people think they need to keep a completely clear mind, focus perfectly the whole time, feel calm or good immediately, and sit still without distraction. Reiki meditation takes a different approach, as it assumes that your mind will wander, your mood might stay low, you might feel restless, numb, or distracted, and some days will feel harder than others. It treats all of this as part of the practice, not a failure. So, forgiving means:
• If your thoughts drift, you gently come back, no judgment.
• If you feel nothing and that is ok, you are still practicing.
• If you stop early, it still counts.
• If you are tired, low, or unmotivated, the practice adapts to that.

There is no score, no outcome you must achieve, and no bad session. Even just sitting, breathing, and placing your hands on your body for a moment is considered enough. This is especially important for depression, because depression often comes with self-criticism, low energy, and difficulty concentrating. A forgiving practice removes pressure. Instead of asking if you are doing this right, it shifts the focus to, can you just be here for a moment? This shift from performance to presence is what makes it accessible, and often more sustainable over time. Over time, this shift from trying to do the practice correctly to simply being in the practice can quietly change your relationship with yourself. Instead of approaching your inner experience with pressure, judgment, or frustration, you begin to meet it with a little more patience and acceptance, which is something depression often takes away. Reiki meditation gently reintroduces self-permission that allows yourself to pause without needing to justify it, self-contact that notices your body, your breath, your presence, and self-kindness that responds to difficulty with softness rather than criticism. These are small things, but they build a different internal environment over time. You might not notice dramatic changes right away, but what matters is the consistency of giving yourself these moments where nothing is required of you, nothing needs to be solved, and nothing needs to be fixed. Just a few minutes of existing without pressure can act as a counterbalance to the constant strain depression creates.

It can also help to think of reiki meditation practice as a support system you can return to. On harder days, it may simply be a place to sit and breathe. On slightly better days, it may feel calming or grounding. Both are equally valid. If you continue with it, you will begin to notice increased awareness of when you are overwhelmed, the ability to pause before getting caught in thought spirals, and moments where your body feels a bit more settled than usual. These are subtle shifts, but they are meaningful signs that your nervous system is getting brief periods of rest.

Reiki meditation offers something simple and valuable; a repeatable way to step out of noise and into a few moments of quiet. In a society where everything can feel heavy, fast, or overwhelming, the quiet can be enough to begin with. You do not have to feel ready, you do not have to feel hopeful, you do not even have to believe it will work, simply taking a moment to pause, breathe, and rest your attention on something gentle is enough.

Reiki meditation meets you exactly where you are, not where you think you should be. Whether your mind is loud or quiet, whether your body feels tense or numb, whether your mood feels heavy or flat, the practice does not ask you to change it, only asking you to notice and to stay, even briefly. In this way, it becomes less about escaping how you feel, and more about learning how to sit beside it without becoming overwhelmed. Over time, these small moments of allowing can begin to soften the edges of your experience. Not by removing difficulty, but by giving you a little more space around it, a little more room to breathe, and a little more distance from the intensity of thoughts and feelings.

Reiki meditation is not about progress in the usual sense, it is about returning, gently and without pressure, to yourself. This quiet return, repeated over time, can become a steady and supportive presence, and something that you can come back to whenever everything else feels too much.

With grounded power and cosmic grace, blessed be.

About the author: I’m Emily, an holistic, spiritual, intuitive concoction of a human being here to write about and awaken wisdom, wellbeing, and whimsy. Having a background in Biomedical Science, nursing, massage therapist and instructor, reiki master, worship leader, witch, and even a bit of a burlesque dancer, I combine all of my collective knowledge and care into my work and writing.

Check out my Witch+Craft Wellness Journal: A guide to help you craft your personal journey with mindfulness and magic by EJ Bly £10.00: Click Here Books & Journals – Emily J Bly https://blyemilyj.wordpress.com/books-journals/

16/02/2026

Depressive Mental Loops And The Reiki Reset:

Depression is strongly characterised by persistent mental loops, which are repetitive, self-referential thought patterns that revolve around loss, inadequacy, regret, and/or hopelessness. These loops are not random, they reflect how the depressed brain processes information under conditions of low mood, reduced motivation, and altered neurochemistry.

At a cognitive level, depression is associated with rumination, a form of repetitive thinking focused on why you feel bad and what that says about yourself. Unlike problem-solving, rumination does not lead to action or resolution. Instead, it repeatedly replays negative interpretations of past events and bleak predictions about the future. This reinforces depressive beliefs, such as, feeling like a failure, that nothing will change, or there being something wrong with yourself.

Neuropsychologically, mental loops in depression are linked to increased activity in the default mode network (DMN). This is a brain network involved in self-reflection and autobiographical memory. When the DMN becomes overactive and poorly regulated, the mind turns inwards excessively, looping over personal narratives rather than engaging with the external world. At the same time, reduced activity in executive control regions makes it harder to interrupt or shift attention away from these thoughts.

Reiki’s primary contribution to adjusting mental loops lies in its capacity to induce a parasympathetic (‘rest and digest’) state. When the body relaxes deeply, the brain receives a signal that immediate threat has passed. This physiological shift reduces the urgency that fuels compulsive thinking. In other words, Reiki does not argue with the content of the loop, but rather, it softens the internal environment that keeps the loop running. When the system feels safe, the brain no longer needs to panic over scenarios in search of control or certainty.

Emotionally, depression narrows the range of affect and dampens reward sensitivity. Positive experiences fail to register fully, while negative ones are amplified and revisited. This imbalance strengthens mental loops because the brain receives little corrective feedback. Without moments of relief, pleasure, or engagement, the mind continues replaying the same themes, assuming they must be important or unresolved.

Reiki supports emotional processing that mental loops often orbit around but never resolve. Loops tend to circle unresolved feelings, such as, grief, anger, and shame, without fully contacting them. By calming the system and increasing internal safety, Reiki can allow these emotions to surface and discharge gently, reducing the need for repetitive mental rehearsal. In this way, the loop does not disappear through suppression, but it dissolves because the underlying charge has been metabolised.

Mental loops also serve a maladaptive coping function in depression. The brain attempts to make sense of emotional pain by analysing it repeatedly, believing that understanding will lead to relief. However, because depression impairs cognitive flexibility, the analysis becomes circular. Each pass through the loop deepens feelings of helplessness and exhaustion, which in turn fuels further rumination. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle of low mood triggering rumination, and rumination sustaining low mood.

Importantly, Reiki does not aim to eliminate thought or enforce stillness, its function is to increase choice. When energy flows more freely and the nervous system is regulated, the individual gains greater agency, and they can notice a loop arising, feel it in the body, and allow it to pass without being pulled into it. The result is not a small, silent mind, but a more relaxed, spacious one. The result is greater ease, presence, and compassion towards the mind’s attempts to cope.

Behaviourally, depression reduces activity and social engagement. Withdrawal removes external stimuli that might disrupt loops, this includes, conversation, movement, novelty, and/or feedback from others. In the absence of these interruptions, the mind defaults to repetitive internal dialogue. Over time, this isolation strengthens the sense that the loop reflects reality rather than a mood-dependent mental state.

Over time, repeated Reiki sessions may help loosen the identification with looping thoughts. As the practitioner experiences moments of mental quiet or spaciousness, even briefly, a new reference point emerges; ‘I am not my thoughts, my thoughts arise within me.’ This experiential insight complements the cognitive reframing; ‘This is just my brain trying to make sense of things.’ This operates at a felt, embodied level rather than an analytical one, and the loop loses authority.

Breaking depressive mental loops does not require eliminating negative thoughts, but changing the relationship to them.

Energetically, Reiki is often described as restoring coherence. Mental loops tend to fragment attention; part of the mind is in the past, part in an imagined future, and very little of it is in the present. During Reiki, attention is gently drawn back into bodily sensation and subtle awareness of the moment. The practitioner does not have to redirect thoughts, instead, awareness naturally settles as energy balances. This passive reorientation can be especially helpful for people whose loops are reinforced by effortful overthinking.

One of the most consistent effects reported during Reiki is deep relaxation. From a psychological perspective, this matters because depression and rumination are strongly linked to a nervous system that is either overactivated (anxious depression) or under-activated (shutdown, numbness). Reiki tends to support a move toward parasympathetic regulation, where the body experiences safety rather than threat. When the body feels safer, the brain reduces repetitive threat-monitoring thoughts.

Reiki helps by interrupting habitual self-focus. Depressive mental loops are inward-facing and narrative. During Reiki, attention often shifts away from story-based thinking and towards sensation, subtle awareness, or quiet presence. This shift resembles mindfulness, but it happens without effort. The loop weakens not because it is challenged, but because attention is no longer feeding it. You focus on:
• Metacognitive awareness: Recognising rumination as a mental process rather than a truth.
• Attentional shifting: Gently redirecting focus to sensory experience or purposeful action.
• Self-compassion: Reducing secondary loops of self-criticism about having negative thoughts.

Another key mechanism is reducing cognitive effort. Depression exhausts the mind, yet rumination paradoxically requires constant mental energy. Reiki creates a context where nothing needs to be solved, analysed, or improved. This absence of demand allows the brain to temporarily stop its problem-solving loop. Even short periods of this can be powerful, because they show the system that relief is possible without thinking harder.

Crucially, mental loops in depression are not signs of laziness, weakness, or flawed character. They reflect a brain operating under the constraints of low energy, impaired reward processing, and heightened self-focus. As these constraints ease, the loops lose intensity and frequency.

Ultimately, recovery involves restoring cognitive flexibility, which is the ability to notice a thought without being trapped inside it, to experience emotion without endlessly analysing it, and to re-engage with the present moment even when the mind pulls toward familiar narratives. Depression narrows the mind, and healing gradually widens it again.

Reiki does not work by changing thoughts directly. Instead, it helps by shifting the internal state that keeps certain thoughts alive and heavy. Mental loops thrive when the nervous system is chronically stressed, depleted, or shut down. Reiki’s primary effect is helping the body move out of this state.

From a Reiki-informed perspective, mental loops are not only cognitive habits but also expressions of energetic congestion. When the mind becomes caught in repetitive thought patterns, Reiki practitioners often interpret this as a disruption in the natural flow of energy, particularly in areas associated with perception, emotional processing, and self-regulation (often mapped to the head, heart, and solar plexus). Rather than trying to solve the loop intellectually, Reiki works by creating conditions in which the nervous system can settle enough for the loop to lose momentum.

In short, Reiki helps not by fixing the mind, but by softening the system. When the system softens, mental loops lose urgency, emotions move more freely, and you have more room to respond rather than react. Even small shifts in state can create meaningful relief when you have been stuck in a loop for a long time.

With grounded power and cosmic grace, blessed be.

About the author: I’m Emily, an holistic, spiritual, intuitive concoction of a human being here to write about and awaken wisdom, wellbeing, and whimsy. Having a background in Biomedical Science, nursing, massage therapist and instructor, reiki master, worship leader, witch, and even a bit of a burlesque dancer, I combine all of my collective knowledge and care into my work and writing.

Check out my Witch+Craft Wellness Journal: A guide to help you craft your personal journey with mindfulness and magic by EJ Bly £30.00: Click Here Books & Journals – Emily J Bly https://blyemilyj.wordpress.com/books-journals/